Part 15

Our time needs again more the prophet and less the priest. It needs the God-impelled life and voice of the prophet with his face to the future, both God-ward and man-ward, burning with an undivided devotion to truth and righteousness. It needs less the priest, too often with his back to the future and too often the pliant tool of the organisation whose chief concern is, and ever has been, the preservation of itself under the ostensible purpose of the preservation of the truth once delivered, the same that Jesus with his keen powers of penetration saw killed the Spirit as a high moral guide and as an inspirer to high and unself-centred endeavour, and that he characterised with such scathing scorn. There are splendid exceptions; but this is the rule now even as it was in his day.

The prophet is concerned with truth, not a system; with righteousness, not custom; with justice, not expediency. Is there a man who would dare say that if Christianity--the Christianity of the Christ--had been actually in vogue, in practice in all the countries of Christendom during the last fifty years, during the last twenty-five years, that this colossal and gruesome war would ever have come about? No clear-thinking and honest man would or could say that it would. We need again the voice of the prophet, clear-seeing, high-purposed, and unafraid. We need again the touch of the prophet's hand to lead us back to those simple fundamental teachings of the Christ of Nazareth, that are life-giving to the individual, and that are world-saving.

We speak of our Christian civilisation, and the common man, especially in times like these, asks what it is, where it is--and God knows that we have been for many hundred years wandering in the wilderness. He is thinking that the Kingdom of God on earth that the true teachings of Jesus predicated, and that he laboured so hard to actualise, needs some speeding up. There is a world-wide yearning for spiritual peace and righteousness on the part of the common man. He is finding it occasionally in established religion, but often, perhaps more often, independently of it. He is finding it more often through his own contact and relations with the Man of Nazareth--for him the God-man. There is no greater fact in our time, and there is no greater hope for the future than is to be found in this fact.

Jesus gave the great principles, the animating spirit of life, not minute details of conduct. The real Church of Christ is not an hierarchy, an institution, it is a brotherhood--the actual establishing of the Kingdom of God in moral, ethical and social terms in the world.

Among the last words penned by Dr. John Watson--Ian Maclaren--good churchman, splendid writer, but above all independent thinker and splendid man, were the following: "Was it not the chief mistake and also the hopeless futility of Pharisaism to meddle with the minute affairs of life, and to lay down what a man should do at every turn? It was not therefore an education of conscience, but a bondage of conscience; it did not bring men to their full stature by teaching them to face their own problems of duty and to settle them, it kept them in a state of childhood, by forbidding and commanding in every particular of daily life. Pharisaism, therefore, whether Jewish or Gentile, ancient or modern, which replaces the moral law by casuistry, and the enlightened judgment of the individual by the confessional, creates a narrow character and mechanical morals. Freedom is the birthright of the soul, and it is by the discipline of life the soul finds itself. It were a poor business to be towed across the pathless ocean of this world to the next; by the will of God and for our good we must sail the ship ourselves, and steer our own course. It is the work of the Bible to show us the stars and instruct us how to take our reckoning * * *.

"Jesus did not tell us what to do, for that were impossible, as every man has his own calling, and is set in by his own circumstances, but Jesus has told us how to carry ourselves in the things we have to do, and He has put the heart in us to live becomingly, not by pedantic rules, but by an instinct of nobility. Jesus is the supreme teacher of the Bible and He came not to forbid or to command, but to place the Kingdom of God as a living force, and perpetual inspiration within the soul of man, and then, to leave him in freedom and in grace to fulfil himself."[G]

We no longer admit that Christ is present and at work only when a minister is expounding the gospel or some theological precept or conducting some ordained observance in the pulpit; or that religion is only when it is labelled as such and is within the walls of a church. That belonged to the chapter in Christianity that is now rapidly closing, a chapter of good works and results--but so pitiably below its possibilities. So pitiably below because men had been taught and without sufficient thought accepted the teaching that to be a Christian was to hold certain beliefs about the Christ that had been formulated by early groups of men and that had come down through the centuries.

The chapter that is now opening upon the world is the one that puts Christ's own teachings in the simple, frank, and direct manner in which he gave them, to the front. It makes life, character, conduct, human concern and human service of greater importance than mere matters of opinion. It makes eager and unremitting work for the establishing of the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of right relations between men, here on this earth, the essential thing. It insists that the telling test as to whether a man is a Christian is how much of the Christ spirit is in evidence in his life--and in every phase of his life. Gripped by this idea which for a long time the forward-looking and therefore the big men in them have been striving for, our churches in the main are moving forward with a new, a dauntless, and a powerful appeal.

Differences that have sometimes separated them on account of differences of opinion, whether in thought or interpretation,[H] are now found to be so insignificant when compared to the actual simple fundamentals that the Master taught, and when compared to the work to be done, that a great Interallied Church Movement is now taking concrete and strong working form, that is equipping the church for a mighty and far-reaching Christian work. A new and great future lies immediately ahead. The good it is equipping itself to accomplish is beyond calculation--a work in which minister and layman will have equal voice and equal share.

It will receive also great inspiration and it will eagerly strike hands with all allied movements that are following the same leader, but along different roads.

Britain's apostle of brotherhood and leader of the Brotherhood Movement there, Rev. Tom Sykes, who has caught so clearly the Master's own basis of Christianity--love for and union with God, love for and union with the brother--has recently put so much stimulating truth into a single paragraph that I reproduce it here:

"The emergence of the feeling of kinship with the Unseen is the most arresting and revealing fact of human history. * * * _The union with God_ is not through the display of ritual, but the affiliation and conjunction of life. We do not believe we are in a universe that has screens and folds, where the spiritual commerce of man has to be conducted on the principle of secret diplomacy. The universe is frank and open, and God is straightforward and honourable. _In making the spirit and practice of brotherliness_ the test of religious value, we are at one with Him who said: 'Inasmuch as ye do it unto one of the least--ye do it unto me.' _We touch the Father when we help His child._ Jesus taught us not to come to God asking, art Thou this or that? but to call Him Father and live upon it. Do not admit that many of our Brotherhood meetings are in 'neutral' or 'secular' halls and buildings! 'Where two or three gather in My name, there am I.' Where He is, there is hallowed ground."

We need a stock-taking and a mobilisation of our spiritual forces. But what, after all, does this mean? Search as we may we are brought back _every time_ to this same Man of Nazareth, the God-man--Son of Man and Son of God. And gathering it into a few brief sentences it is this: Jesus' great revelation was this consciousness of God in the individual life, and to this he witnessed in a supreme and masterly way, because this he supremely realised and lived. Faith in him and following him does not mean acquiring some particular notion of God or some particular belief about him himself. It is the living in one's own life of this same consciousness of God as one's source and Father, and a living in these same filial relations with him of love and guidance and care that Jesus entered into and continuously lived.

When this is done there is no problem and no condition in the individual life that it will not clarify, mould, and therefore take care of; for "[Greek transliteration: me merimnate te psyche hymon]"--do not worry about your life--was the Master's clear-cut command. Are we ready for this high type of spiritual adventure? Not only are we assured of this great and mighty truth that the Master revealed and going ahead of us lived, that under this supreme guidance we need not worry about the things of the life, but that under this Divine guidance we need not think _even of the life itself_, if for any reason it becomes our duty or our privilege to lay it down. Witnessing for truth and standing for truth he again preceded us in this.

But this, this love for God or rather this state that becomes the natural and the normal life when we seek the Kingdom, and the Divine rule becomes dominant and operative in mind and heart, leads us directly back to his other fundamental: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. For if God is my Father and if he cares for me in this way--and every other man in the world is my brother and He cares for him in exactly the same way--then by the sanction of God his Father I haven't anything on my brother; and by the love of God my Father my brother hasn't anything on me. It is but the most rudimentary commonsense then, that we be considerate one of another, that we be square and decent one with another. We will do well as children of the same Father to sit down and talk matters over; and arise with the conclusion that the advice of Jesus, our elder brother, is sound: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."

He gave it no label, but it has subsequently become known as the Golden Rule. There is no higher rule and no greater developer of the highest there is in the individual human life, and no greater adjuster and beautifier of the problems of our common human life. And when it becomes sufficiently strong in its action in this, the world awaits its projection into its international life. This is the truth that he revealed--the twofold truth of love to God and love for the neighbour, that shall make men free. The truth of the Man of Nazareth still holds and shall hold, and we must realise this adequately before we ask or can expect any other revelation.

We are in a time of great changes. The discovery of new laws and therefore of new truth necessitates changes and necessitates advances. But whatever changes or advances may come, the Divine reality still survives, independent of Jesus it is true, but as the world knows him still better, it will give to him its supreme gratitude and praise, in that he was the most perfect revealer of God to man, of God in man, and the most concrete in that he embodied and lived this truth in his own matchless human-divine life; and stands as the God-man to which the world is gradually approaching. For as Goethe has said--"We can never get beyond the spirit of Jesus."

Love it is, he taught, that brings order out of chaos, that becomes the solvent of the riddle of life, and however cynical, skeptical, or practical we may think at times we may be, a little quiet clear-cut thought will bring us each time back to the truth that it is the essential force that leads away from the tooth and the claw of the jungle, that lifts life up from and above the clod. Love is the world's balance-wheel; and as the warming and ennobling element of sympathy, care and consideration radiates from it, increasing one's sense of mutuality, which in turn leads to fellowship, cooperation, brotherhood, a holy and diviner conception and purpose of life is born, that makes human life more as it should be, as it must be--as it will be.

I love to feel that when one makes glad the heart of any man, woman, child, or animal, he makes glad the heart of God--and I somehow feel that it is true.

As our household fires radiate their genial warmth, and make more joyous and more livable the lot of all within the household walls, so life in its larger scope and in all its human relations, becomes more genial and more livable and reveals more abundantly the deeper riches of its diviner nature, as it is made more open and more obedient to the higher powers of mind and spirit.

Do you know that incident in connection with the little Scottish girl? She was trudging along, carrying as best she could a boy younger, but it seemed almost as big as she herself, when one remarked to her how heavy he must be for her to carry, when instantly came the reply: "He's na heavy. He's mi brither." Simple is the incident; but there is in it a truth so fundamental that pondering upon it, it is enough to make many a man, to whom dogma or creed make no appeal, a Christian--and a mighty engine for good in the world. And more--there is in it a truth so fundamental and so fraught with potency and with power, that its wider recognition and projection into all human relations would reconstruct a world.

_I saw the mountains stand Silent, wonderful, and grand, Looking out across the land When the golden light was falling On distant dome and spire; And I heard a low voice calling, "Come up higher, come up higher, From the lowland and the mire, From the mist of earth desire, From the vain pursuit of pelf. From the attitude of self: Come up higher, come up higher."_

_James G. Clark_

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: The Emmanuel Movement in Boston in connection with Emmanuel Church, inaugurated some time ago under the leadership and direction of two well-known ministers, Dr. Worcester and Dr. McComb, and a well-known physician, Dr. Coriat, and similar movements in other cities is an attestation of this.

That most valuable book under the joint authorship of these three men: "Religion and Medicine," Moffat, Yard and Company, New York, will be found of absorbing interest and of great practical value by many. The amount of valuable as well as interesting and reliable material that it contains is indeed remarkable.]

[Footnote B: "War and Laughter," by James Oppenheim--The Century Company, New York.]

[Footnote C: Henry Holt in "Cosmic Relations."]

[Footnote D: From a notable article in the New York "Times Magazine," Sunday, April 1, 1917, by George W. Perkins, chairman Mayor's Food Supply Commission.]

[Footnote E: Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? And are his sisters not here with us?--Mark 6:3.]

[Footnote F: From that strong, splendid poem "Buttadeus," by William Samuel Johnson.]

[Footnote G: "God's Message to the Human Soul"--_Revell_.]

[Footnote H: The thought of the layman in practically all of our churches is much the same as that of Mr. Lloyd George when he said: "The Church to which I belong is torn with a fierce dispute; one part says it is baptism _into_ the name of the Father, and the other that it is baptism _in_ the name of the Father. I belong to one of these parties. I feel most strongly about this. I would die for it, but I forget which it is."]

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Transcriber's Notes

Made minor punctuation, spelling, and hyphenation changes for consistency.

Corrected the following typos:

Page 81: Changed Pharasaic to Pharisaic. (come into being a Pharisaic legalism)

Page 140: Changed subconsious to subconscious. (the slumbering subconsious mind)

Page 193: Changed independant to independent. (guided by their own independant judgment)

Page 217: Changed terriffic to terrific. (What a terriffic price to pay to learn the lesson)

Page 221: Changed symathy to sympathy. (He had, as we have seen, infinite symathy for and forbearance)

Page 232: Changed accompaniament to accompaniment. (Misunderstanding is not infrequently its accompaniament.)

Page 237: Changed viligant to vigilant. (And unless viligant and determined)

Page 245: Changed tyrany to tyranny. (ungoverned by the law of mutuality, becomes tyrany.)

Page 245: Changed malignent to malignant. (the use of force to restrain malignent evil,)

Page 253: Changed inaliable to inalienable. (the inaliable right that every child has)

Page 258: Changed impertinances to impertinences. ("sectarian peculiarities are obsolete impertinances.")

Page 259: Changed Chrisitianity to Christianity. (Chrisitianity of the Christ)

Page 260: Changed heirarchy to hierarchy. (The real Church of Christ is not an heirarchy,)

Page 262: Changed that to than. (human service of greater importance that mere matters of opinion.)