Chapter VI

We each have a blind spot. We see truth fragmentarily. If only the excellent lady in the Scottish church could have seen, in the minister's text, what Huxley saw in it! But she didn't; and, because she was blind to its beauty, she called it '_the worst text in the Bible!_' And if only Huxley could have grasped those precious truths that were so dear to her! But he never did. He could only shake his fine head sadly and say, 'I do not know!' 'I would give my right hand,' he exclaims, 'if I could believe that!' Mr. Clodd adorns the title-page of his _Life of Huxley_ with the words of Matthew Arnold: 'He saw life steadily and saw it whole.' That sad shake of the head, and that passionate but melancholy exclamation about giving his right hand, prove that the tribute is not quite true. Huxley, as he himself more than half suspected, missed the best.

When Sir George Adam Smith, in his _Book of the Twelve Prophets_, comes to this great passage in Micah, he prints it in italics right across the page:

_What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?_

This, says Sir George, is the greatest saying of the Old Testament; and there is only one other in the New which excels it:

_Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest._

Huxley had eyes for the _first_, but none for the _second_; the Scottish lady had eyes for the _second_, but none for the _first_; but they who 'see life steadily and see it whole' will stand up to salute the majesty of both.

VII

It is customary for the Presidents of the United States to select the passage which they shall kiss in taking the oath on assuming the responsibilities of their great office. President Harding had no hesitation in making his choice. He turned to this great saying of Micah. '_What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?_' The lady in the Scottish church would frown and shake her head, but the President felt that, of all the texts in the Bible, _that was the best_.