April 1932
154
B u s i n e s s
T h e
K i n g ’ s
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OF JACOB
By WILL H. HOUGHTON* New Yorîf, N. Y.
from seizing his brother’s place at the beginning to clinging to God at the end, but God brought him all the way. The first part o f Jacob’s story can be found in fiction and history. It is in today’s newspaper. It is the story of the supplanter, the man who is trying to get ahead of others at any cost. The climax of Jacob’s story is not found in the newspaper, nor in fiction. In fiction, the villain can be kill ed but he cannot be made into a saint. The grace of God does what neither fiction nor the newspapers nor the sci ence of psychology can do. G o d ’ s grace regenerates, makes a new man. The schemer becomes a prince. The drunkard becomes a so ber man. The thief becomes honest. J acob ’ s H ome C onditions T he record of the journey from the depths o f con niving to the heights of sub mission is worth reading again and again. We are able, in the very vivid picture which Moses sets before us, to see the mental and emo tional background out of which Jacob came. There in the home were twin brothers: Esau, the elder by a few mo ments of time, who, accord ing to custom and tradition, had the privileges of prece dence; Jacob, the younger, appreciated the significance of Esau’s birthright priv ilege in a way that Esau,
O ne of the newest fads in literature is what is called psychography. We have had in biography a mere record of the deeds of a man and the things which happened to him or because of him. P sychography I n the recent emphasis on phychology, it is quite nat ural that men should live over again these biographies o f the past, and should now try to set down more than a plain record of deeds—that they should try to make a record of the mind and motives behind the deeds. Auto biography is a man’s record of his own life. Biography is the record as seen and written by others. Psychography is the record of his mental life, the moods and desires which motivated him. The biographical sketches given in the Bible are almost entirely psychographical. Once again the thing which is considered new is as old as the Bible itself. The present- day understanding of psychology should lead us back to the New Testament emphasis on the inner life. Christ con stantly reminded His hearers that the test of life was not what they did but why they did it. The Pharisee was not condemned for praying on the street corner, but because of his wrong motive— to be seen of men. Jesus described the condition thus: “ This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Bradford says that “ psychography is the attempt to portray character.” At first thought, some of us will say that biography does that. Further thought, however, will lead us to realize that, while one is led through biography to an opinion, and sometimes the writer expresses opinions o f the character about whom he writes, yet the proper province of biography is to give the plain record o f the life and the events surrounding it. But, psychography turns from the thing done to the inner process which brought the event to pass. If you were to write the biography of one of the dis ciples, you would set down the scene described in John 20:19 to 29. Biography would say that Peter was in the room behind closed doors. Psychography would say he was there for fear of the Jews. It is evident from a host of Bible illustrations that the Bible very keenly sets forth the deed and the motive, the man and his inner life. To write a mere biographical, sketch of Jacob would be to tell an interesting story of the man who began as a sup- planter and ended as a Prince of God. It is a long way *Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church.
In this great New York building, the Calvary Baptist Church of which Mr. Hough ton is the pastor, the New York Summer School of Theology will open its first session on June 27. On the faculty will be such stalwarts as Dr. A. T. Robertson, Canon Dyson Hague, and Dr. J. Oliver Buswell. The school presents a unique opportun ity, especially to ministers. Write Mr. Houghton, 123 W. 57 St., Manhattan, New York, fo r full information.
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