30 THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 







There is one strange and interesting passage in 

 John's Gospel, xv. 1 : "I am the true vine." My 

 father used to tell us that the Greek word a\y6iv?j, 

 rendered true, is usually employed of the genuine in 

 distinction from the counterfeit, the reality in dis- 

 tinction from the shadow and image. Is not this per- 

 haps the clew to our Lord's use of natural imagery? 

 Nature was always the presentation to his senses of 

 the divine thought and purpose. He studied the 

 words of the ancient Scripture, he found the same 

 words and teachings clearly and concretely embodied 

 in the processes of Nature. The interpretation of the 

 Parable of the Sower was no mere play of fancy to 

 him ; it was the genuine and fundamental truth, deep- 

 er and more real than the existence of the sower, the 

 soil, and the seed. The spiritual truth was the sub- 

 stance ; the tangible soil and seed really only the 

 shadow. And thus all Nature was to him divine. 



We all of us need to offer the prayer of the blind 

 man, " Lord, that our eyes may be opened." Let us 

 learn, too, from the old heathen giant, Antaeus, who, 

 after every defeat and fall, rose strengthened and vivi- 

 fied from contact with his mother Earth. You will 

 experience in life many a desperate struggle, many a 

 hard fall. There is at such times nothing in the world 

 so strengthening, healing, and life-giving as the 

 thoughts and encouragements which Nature pours 

 into the hearts and minds of her loving disciples. 

 She will set you on your feet again, infused with new 

 life, rilled with an unconquerable spirit, with unfalter- 

 ing courage, and an iron will to fight once more and 

 win. In every battle her inspiring words will ring 

 in your ears, and she will never fail you. We may 



