Already once or twice in this chapter, reference has been made to Socrates and his method. Much of the following passage would apply equally well to Jesus or James or Paul: "He generally begins with some question, apparently so simple, so stupidly simple, and at such a distance from the field of discussion, that his opponent often hesitates whether most to admire the docility or wonder at the stupidity of the querist, and with a complacent smile, half of pity, half of contempt, promptly replies. Other questions succeed faster and faster, more and more difficult, and gradually approaching, in one long spiral of interrogations, the central position in which the unhappy sophist's argument stands. He now finds it impossible to escape, and confounded, perplexed and irritated, discovers that he is compelled to admit some palpable contradiction to his original assertions, and this too by means of those simple and innocent premises which he had so unsuspectingly granted. He feels himself within the coils of a great logical boa-constrictor who binds his folds together tighter and tighter till the poor sophist is absolutely strangled." VIII. THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates; in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof!"--_Solomon._ THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. "The oldest jibe in literature is the ridicule of false religion."--_Emerson._ "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall hold them in derision."--_Psalms._ In the Bible, the elements of wit and humor are effectively employed in dealing with the sins of men. Evil doing, in its various motives and manifestations, is denounced, rendered repulsive, made ghastly and terrible, and when everything else has been done, it is exhibited as grotesque and ludicrous. Sin is the great absurdity of the universe. Were it not so tragic, it would shake the very heavens with laughter. One of the old English poets has these lines:-- "He who does not tremble at the sword, Who quails not with his head upon the block, Turn but a jest against him, loses heart; The shafts of wit slip thro' the stoutest mail. There is no man alive that can live down The inextinguishable laughter of mankind." With this fact the writers of the Bible were quite as well acquainted as are the writers of modern times. They took advantage of it for the same purpose.