ry man at heart when He prepared the
earth for his abode and gave him dominion over it. And He yearned for
his deliverance from a fallen estate when He gave him a revelation of
His infinite redeeming love. The eye of God is upon each individual of
the race, as upon every sparrow. He has in thought, in word and in
works, not the favoring of one of an hundred, while the ninety and
nine are crushed or neglected, but the happiness and highest good of
every one of the hundred.

The ethics of the Bible and the ethics of nature, as wrought out by
the earnest heathen philosophers, mainly agree. It is an astonishment
to some that there is so much agreement in the systems of heathen
morals and the revealed moral law. The moral law is written on men's
hearts, and can be read there by the diligent and careful student; but
the consciences of men, enlightened and quickened by the revealed
Word, produce the highest ethical types the world knows.

The Bible is not a work on political economy, yet there is nothing out
of harmony with the most perfect political institutions. When we find
political principles clearly revealed, we shall find the same truths
when we study the most orderly relations of men in their social
organization.

The Bible is not a work on economics, yet it advances no economic
principles that work a hardness or injustice to any. When we find
economic principles clearly stated, we shall surely find the same
truths confirmed in a careful study of the nature of things.

As the written Word forbids usury or interest, it can be presumed that
the nature of things and man's highest good also forbids it; that it
is not an arbitrary prohibition, but is given in love because it is in
its very nature a ruinous evil. As we find a positive prohibition of
taking usury or interest in the old dispensation and the confirmation
of it in the new, both by the words of the Master and the
understanding and practice of the disciples and fathers, we may
confidently expect that it will be confirmed by a correct and careful
study of ethics and of the relation of man to things.

We may learn duty from either or both sources. To some men the Bible
comes with the greatest clearness and the utmost force of authority.
Others find in nature their highest conception of the Infinite, and
their best directions for a correct life. If usury or interest is
found to be a sin from the Word, there is no need for those to enter
into the economic proof