The Weber Literary Journal mentals of all civil law. Blackstone, the great English statesman and lawyer, upon whose interpretations of law much of the present civil law of the world rests, based his deductions upon the law of Moses as it is found in the Book of Exodus. Likewise, the sociologist will frequently turn to the scriptures for the source of his written law regarding that which is right or wrong ethically and morally. The student of literature has almost an inexhaustible field for thought and study in the scriptures. He has, aside from over two thousand pages of interesting, thought provoking reading material, types of many forms of literature, as witness, for example, the poetry in the Psalms of David, the drama in the Book of Job, the narrative in the Book of Ruth, and in the first two books of Nephi, the perfect model of direct expository discourse in the Savior's sermon on the Mount, and the terse maxims of the Book of Proverbs. The artist has ever found the scriptures a source of inspiration. Probably no single medium has ever excited as many beautiful products of the brush as has the medium of the scriptures. The masterpieces of Michael Angelo and other famous artists have been portrayals of characters of the Bible, and modern artists are frequently producing some scene or character which they find portrayed in modern scripture. In fact, the list of those to whom the scriptures are of service as basic texts might be indefinitely extended, but it is now time to turn attention to a reason for scripture study which is perhaps more important than the aggregate of all others. The world has very recently emerged from the horrible maw of its greatest war a war which tried the souls of men as gold is tried in a furnace a war started by the unholy desire of a few men and carried on by sheer intellectual force and scientific learning until all of the best mental, muscular, and moral force in the world had to be marshalled to bring it to a close. The hearts of men cried, "War is sin!" "Let it cease!" But the minds of men rebelled, and war continued its course of devastation. Surely men have now experienced enough to teach them that humanity's great need, is not war but benevolence the possession of which will make war with its motives and products, terrifying, agonizing, and detestable. Happily, the war humbled men. The universal cry of today is, 18 The Weber Literary Journal "Give us peace." Men now realize that their souls need some tempering influence some influence to teach them to use intelligently, the mental energy of which they are possessed. In brief, the world today is not in need of greater intellects, however desirable they may be, its greatest need is a testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ from which will flow benevolence and all other desirable graces. But from whence, and how shall men obtain such a treasure? "There is nothing of which I am aware that will so enrich the soul of man as a daily reading of the scriptures," are the words used by a prominent Utah educator in summing up the candid opinion of many modern students. Is this quotation practical? Does daily scripture reading have the same reaction upon the souls of all men? Here are two challenges: Let any person turn to any part of any one of the books of scripture and conscientiously read, let it be little or much as he chooses, then let that person say honestly, "This scripture leads me to envy or to hate my fellowman." And again, let any person read as before and honestly say, "I have received nothing of value from the scripture which I read." There is a thought provoking, soul enriching, message in every passage of scripture, but above all, there rests within those Holy Books, a testimony of the divinity of the Son of God for him who honestly seeks it. In conclusion, the historian, the lawyer, the sociologist, the student of literature, and the artist, all find intellectual stimulus and material benefit in a study of the scriptures. But of far greater importance is the fact that a study of the scriptures will fill the greatest need of the world the need of a greater love and a greater peace through an individual testimony of the divinity of the Son of God. 19