arise from the employment of labor in great aggregations so that the personal relation disappears. One of the great difficulties in education is in the fact that children have to be taught in such numbers that the true education, which is the development of persons in all their social relationships, is almost impossible. The failure of the old systems of correction for the vicious and the criminal is in the fact that there is no appeal to the better manhood and womanhood in them. Repression, disgrace, punishment, suspicion never brought about the regeneration of the evil man or woman. Jesus has pointed out the only way of success as the reaffirmation of personality. To work this out is the great problem of modern society. The task of the church is presented in that supreme aspect of Jesus's teaching, that the strongest appeal to personality is in the faith that every person is a child of God, and ought not to be wandering away from his Father (Luke 15). DIRECTIONS FOR STUDY 1. Review the teaching of Jeremiah and Ezekiel on individualism. What advance did that represent on previous prophetic teaching? How was the thought of Jesus related to that of those prophets? 2. Read Isa 52. 13 to 53. 12. Note that it is a description of the exaltation of the Servant through the willing acceptance of the burdens and woes of others. 3. Compare the philosophy of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables with the teaching of Jesus. 4. Read John 13. 1-17. Note Jesus's teaching of the way of greatness. How does this illustrate the higher individualism? 5. Read Luke 15. Compare the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees and of Jesus regarding the publicans and sinners. What does this indicate as to Jesus's method of social regeneration? Who are our publicans and sinners? What are we to do with them? 6. Read Luke 7. 36-50. Compare the attitude of the Pharisee and of Jesus toward the woman. What was the basis of Jesus's treatment of the woman? Does his method seem practicable? 7. How far does the Golden Rule obtain in a well-constituted family? Could this relation be extended? 8. How far does modern society in its various aspects recognize the worth of the individual, for example, in education, in industry, in penal institutions? What is the trend in this respect? 9. It is sometimes said that Christianity has failed, or that it is impracticable, or that it has never been tried. Which of these statements would be true regarding Jesus's teaching of the worth of the individual? 10. Consider how personal sin is in every case a violation of the personality of somebody. CHAPTER XXXIII THE FAMILY § 1. THE STATUS OF THE JEWISH FAMILY No Hebrew institution developed in a more healthy and socially efficient manner than the family. In comparison with other ancient peoples the Jew had a home life that was decidedly significant. Polygamy, which was permitted by the law and had flourished in the earlier periods, had almost disappeared by the time of Christ. The position of the wife had steadily risen in dignity. The children were expected to give honor to both their parents. We have noted that the Jewish system of education centered largely in the home, and that it had some very valuable characteristics. There is every reason to believe that the Jewish home was, in general, a place of large freedom, with a religious atmosphere that had in it much of joy, and that a sincere affection bound together the members of the family (Matt 7. 9-11). Down to the present time the Jew has preserved high ideals of family life, and has fostered them by the precepts and examples of his religion. The Jewish family in the time of Jesus was not, however, a fully developed institution. While the mother was held in high esteem, yet the inferiority of woman was definitely recognized. The Jew thanked God that he was not born a Gentile, a woman, nor a slave. The children were subject to the father, even though he might be unworthy to exercise authority. Hebrew law had left the provision of divorce somewhat obscure, and there was a marked tendency to in |