Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1879 — What the Book of Esther Teaches [ARTICLE]

What the Book of Esther Teaches

Rev. J. M. Whiten la San Say Afternoon. The peculiarity of the book of Esther in omitting ail mention even of the name of God, has been suggested to my mind in looking ova* the mapof North America. - Wherever the Spaniards settled, we find such names as Vera Crus, or ‘True Cross;” Trinidad or “Trinity*" SantaFe, or “Holly Faith;” Santa Marla, or .“Holy Mary;” and a multitude of saints’ names, as San Francisco, or “Saint Francis. ”, Where ever the English settled, on the contrary, we find mostly only unconseorated names, secular or of heathen origin; only here and there a name like Salem or Providence. But wbeu we look for religion, we do not find it chiefly wnere the religious namesarefound. The thing, as contrasted with the name, we find not in Spanish but in English America. Hie Jews, for reason of their own, hold the book of Esther In high esteem according to an old saying of the rabbis, that when all the other sacred writings have perished the book of Esther will remain. May we not also accord a high rank to this book in the -sacred volume for its teaching a lesson so needful at all times, and still as needful as ever, against that tendency to be influenced by names more than things, which is the bane of religious life?Hlt strikingly illustrates God’s control ofeveuts without meution of His commandments, or even His name. It is held by theologians to be an inspired book, while looking precisely like any piece of secular history. In feet, Luther condemned it as frill of “heathen unnaturaldUes.” It carries none of those phrasemarks by which, it Would nowadays get into the “religious department” of a.denominational newspaper, rather than the “secular department.” And yet it is a part of Holy Scripture. Such a hook reads us the lesson to depend less on labels and more on conscience; to read the lessons of religion in all history and all science as well as in manuals of devotion; to recognized religious truth outside of the catchwords of our own creed. Precisely in the vein of Dean Stanley’s thought is the impression made by this book : “Whatever is good science is good theology; whatever is high morality and pure civilization is high aud pure religion.”