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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:33:43 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10004-0.txt b/10004-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a459d14 --- /dev/null +++ b/10004-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4941 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10004 *** + +THE WARRIORS + +BY ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY PH.D. + +AUTHOR OF + +WHAT IS WORTH WHILE? +CULTURE AND REFORM +THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH + + + + +PREFACE + +This work was begun nearly five years ago. Since then, the whole face of +American history has changed. We have had the Spanish-American War, and +the opening-up of our new possessions. In this period of time Gladstone, +Li Hung Chang, and Queen Victoria have died; there has also occurred the +assassination of the Empress of Austria and of President McKinley. There +has been the Chinese persecution, the destruction of Galveston by storm +and of Martinique by volcanic action. Wireless telegraphy has been +discovered, and the source of the spread of certain fevers. In this time +have been carried on gigantic engineering undertakings,--the +Trans-Siberian Railroad, the Trans-Balkan Railroad, the rebuilding of +New York. We have also looked upon the consolidation of vast forces of +steel, iron, sugar, shipping, and other trusts. We have witnessed an +extraordinary growth of universities, libraries, and higher +schools,--the widespread increase of commerce, the prosperity of +business, the rise in the price of food, and the great coal-strike of +1902. Perhaps never before in the world's history have there been +crowded into five years such dramatic occurrences on the world-stage, +nor such large opportunities for the individual man or woman. + +It is interesting for me to notice that since the first outlines of the +book were written, many things then set down as prophecy have now been +fulfilled. It was my purpose, in projecting the essays at what seemed +to me to be the dawn of a great religious era, to help the onward +movement by a few earnest words. History itself has swept the world far +beyond one's dreams, and in completing them, I only ask that they may +stand a further witness to the overwhelming majesty and influence of the +Christian faith. + +ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY + +_Philadelphia, November_ 1_st_, 1902 + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + I. CHORDS OF AWAKENING: + THE HIGHER CONQUEST + + II. PRELUDE: + THE CALL OF JESUS + +III. PROCESSIONAL: + THE CHURCH OF GOD + + IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: + OF KINGS + OF PRELATES AND EVANGELISTS + OF SAGES + OF TRADERS + OF WORKERS + + + + +I. CHORDS OF AWAKENING: THE HIGHER CONQUEST + + [CUTLER] + + _The Son of God goes forth to war, + A kingly crown to gain: + His blood-red banner streams afar: + Who follows in His train? + + Who best can drink his cup of woe, + Triumphant over pain; + Who patient bears his cross below, + He follows in His train! + + They met the tyrant's brandished steel, + The lions gory mane; + They bowed their necks the death to feel: + Who follows in their train? + + They climbed the steep ascent of heaven + Through peril, toil, and pain: + O God, to us may grace be given + To follow in their train!_ + + REGINALD HEBER + +The universe is not awry. Fate and man are not altogether at odds. Yet +there is a perpetual combat going on between man and nature, and between +the power of character and the tyranny of circumstance, death, and sin. +The great soul is tossed into the midst of the strife, the longing, and +the aspirations of the world. He rises Victor who is triumphant in some +great experience of the race. + +The first energy is combative: the Warrior is the primitive hero. There +are natures to whom mere combat is a joy. Strife is the atmosphere in +which they find their finest physical and spiritual development. In the +early times, there must have been those who stood apart from their +tribesmen in contests of pure athletic skill,--in running, jumping, +leaping, wrestling, in laying on thew and thigh with arm, hand, and +curled fist in sheer delight of action, and of the display of strength. +As foes arose, these athletes of the tribe or clan would be the first to +rush forth to slay the wild beast, to brave the sea and storm, or to +wreak vengeance on assailing tribes. Their valor was their insignia. +Their prowess ranked them. Their exultation was in their freedom +and strength. + +Such men did not ask a life of ease. Like Tortulf the Forester, they +learned "how to strike the foe, to sleep on the bare ground, to bear +hunger and toil, summer's heat and winter's frost,--how to fear nothing +but ill-fame." They courted danger, and asked only to stand as Victors +at the last. + +Hence we read of old-world warriors,--of Gog and Magog and the Kings of +Bashan; of the sons of Anak; of Hercules, with his lion-skin and club; +of Beówulf, who, dragging the sea-monster from her lair, plunged beneath +the drift of sea-foam and the flame of dragon-breath, and met the clutch +of dragon-teeth. We read of Turpin, Oliver, and Roland,--the +sweepers-off of twenty heads at a single blow; of Arthur, who slew +Ritho, whose mantle was furred with the beards of kings; of Theodoric +and Charlemagne, and of Richard of the Lion-heart. + +There are also Victors in the great Quests of the world,--the Argonauts, +Helena in search of the Holy Rood, the Knights of the Holy Grail, the +Pilgrim Fathers. There are the Victors in the intellectual wrestlings of +the world,--the thinkers, poets, sages; the Victors in great sorrows, +who conquer the savage pain of heart and desolation of spirit which +arise from heroic human grief,--Oedipus and Antigone, Iphigenia, +Perseus, Prometheus, King Lear, Samson Agonistes, Job, and David in his +penitential psalm. And there are the Victors in the yet deeper strivings +of the soul--in its inner battles and spiritual conquests--Milton's +Adam, Paracelsus, Dante, the soul in _The Palace of Art_, Abt Vogler, +Isaiah, Teufelsdröckh, Paul. To read of such men and women is to be +thrilled by the Titanic possibilities of the soul of man! + +The world has come into other and greater battle-days. This is an era of +great spiritual conflicts, and of great triumphs. To-day faith calls the +soul of man to arms. It is a clarion to awake, to put on strength, and +to go forth to Holy War. If there were no fighting work in the Christian +life, much of the intense energy and interest of the race would be +unaroused. There are apathetic natures who do not want to undertake the +difficult,--sluggish souls who would rather not stir from their present +position. And there are cowards who run to cover. But there is +in all strong natures the primitive combative instinct,--the +let-us-see-which-is-the-stronger, which delights in contests, which is +undismayed by opposition, and which grows firmer through the warfare +of the soul. + +It is this phase of the Christian life which is most needed to-day,--the +warrior-spirit, the all-conquering soul. In entering the Christian life, +one must put out of his heart the expectation that it is to be an easy +life, or one removed from toil and danger. It is preëminently the +adventurous life of the world,--that in which the most happens, as well +as that in which the spiritual possibilities are the greatest. It is a +life full of splendor, of excitement, of trial, of tests of courage and +endurance, and is meant to appeal to those who are the very bravest +and the best. + +There are two forms of conquest to which the soul of man is called--the +inner and the outer. The inner is the conquest of the evil within his +own nature; the outer is the struggle against the evil forces of the +world--the constructive task of building up, under warring conditions, +the spiritual kingdom of God. + +The real world is far more subtle than we as yet understand. When we +dive down into the deep, sky and air and houses disappear. We enter a +new world--the under-world of water, and things that glide and swim; of +sea-grasses and currents; of flowing waves that lap about the body with +a cool chill; of palpitating color, that, at great depths, becomes a +sort of darkness; of sea-beds of shell and sand, and bits of scattered +wreckage; of ooze and tangled sea-plants, dusky shapes, and +fan-like fins. + +Or if we look upward we reach an over-world, where moons and suns are +circling in the heights. What draws them together? What keeps a subtle +distance between them, which they never cross? How do they, age after +age, run a predestined course? We drop a stone. What binds it earthward? +Under our feet run magnetic currents that flow from pole to pole. In the +clouds above, there are electric vibrations which cannot be described +in exact terms. + +Thus also, in spiritual experiences, there are currents which we cannot +measure or describe. The psychic world is the final world, though its +towers and pinnacles no eye hath seen. If we try to shut out for an hour +the outer world, and descend into the soul-world of the life of man, we +find ourselves in a new environment, and with an outlook over new forms +and powers. We find ourselves in a world of images and attractions, of +impulses and desires, of instincts and attainments. It is not only a +world of separate and individual souls, but each soul is as a thousand; +for within each man there is an inner host contending for mastery, and +everywhere is the uproar of battle and of spiritual strife. + +What is the Self that abides in each man? Is it not the consciousness of +existence, together with a consciousness of the power of choice? Our +individuality lies in the fact that we can decide, choose, and rule +among the various contestant impulses of our souls. Herein is the +possibility of victory and also the possibility of defeat. + +Looking inward, we find that Self began when man began. We inherit our +dispositions from Adam, as well as from our parents and a long ancestral +line. When the first men and women were created, forces were set in +action which have resulted in this Me that to-day thinks and wills and +loves. Heredity includes savagery and culture, health and disease, +empire and serfdom, hope and despair. Each man can say: "In me rise +impulses that ran riot in the veins of Anak, that belonged to Libyan +slaves and to the Ptolemaic line. I am Aryan and Semite, Roman and +Teuton: alike I have known the galley and the palm-set court of kings. +Under a thousand shifting generations, there was rising the combination +that I to-day am. In me culminates, for my life's day, human history +until now." + +Individuality is thus a unique selection and arrangement of what has +been, touched with something--a degree of life--that has not been +before. To rise above heredity is to rise above the downward drag of all +the years. It is not escaping the special sin of one ancestor, but the +sin of all ancestors. _This is the first problem that is set before each +man: to rise above his race--to be the culmination of virtue until now_. + +_The second problem is not greater, but different. It is to mould +environment to spiritual uses_. The conditions of this struggle and the +opportunities of this conquest are the content of this book. It is meant +to deal with the more heroic aspects of the Christian life. + +What is environment? Is it the material horizon that bounds us? If so, +where does it end? Our first environment is a crib, a room, our mother's +eyes. Sensations of hunger, heat, and motion beat upon the baby-brain; +there is a vague murmur of sound in the baby-ears. Yet it is this babe +who, in after days, has all the universe for his soul's demesne! His +environment stretches out to towns and rivers, shore and sea. Looking +upward into space, he can view a star whose distance is a thousand times +ten thousand miles. Beyond the path of his feet or of his sight, there +is the path of thought, which leads him into new countries, new climes, +new years! His meditations are upon ages gone; his work competes with +that of the dead. In his reveries and imaginings, he can transport +himself anywhither, and can commune with any friend or god. Hence to be +master of one's environment is really to have the universe within +one's grasp. + +We are too much afraid of customs and traditions. We are put into our +times, not that the times may mould us, but that we may mould the times! +Ways? Customs? They exist to be changed! The _tempora_ and the _mores_ +should be plastic to our touch. The times are never level with our best. +Our souls are higher than the _Zeitgeist_. Why should we cringe before +an inferior essence or command? But society seals our lips: we walk +about with frozen tongues. + +Each asks himself at some time: How shall I become one of the Victors of +the race? Is it in me? Mankind is weighted by every previous sin. Where +am I free? How am I free? Can I do as I choose? Or are there bourns of +conduct beyond which I can never go? Am I foreordained to sin? Do the +stars in their courses lay limitations on free will? + +There are in man two forces working: a human longing after God, and, in +response, God inly working in the soul. The Victor is he who, in his own +life, unites these two things: a great longing after the god-like, which +makes him yearn for virtue,--and the divine power within him, through +which and by which he is triumphant over time and death and sin. + +Whatever our trials, sorrows, or temptations, joy and courage are ever +meant to be in the ascendant; life, however it may break in storms upon +us, is not meant to beat down our souls. Unless we are triumphant, we +are not wholly useful or well trained. Will and heart together work +for victory. + +As there flashes and thrills through all nature a subtle electric +vibration which is the supreme form of physical energy, so there runs +through the history of mankind a current of spiritual inspiration and +power. To possess this magnetism of soul, this heroism of life, this +flame-like flower of character, is to be Victor in the great combats of +the race. It is the spirit of courage, energy, and love. Nothing is too +hard for it, nothing too distasteful, nothing too insignificant. Through +all the course of duty it spurs one to do one's best. Its essence is to +overcome. This is the indwelling Holy Spirit, wherein is freedom, power, +and rest. To its final triumph all things are accessory. To joy, all +powers converge. + + + + +II. PRELUDE: THE CALL OF JESUS + + [VOX DILECTI] + + _I heard the voice of Jesus say + Come unto Me and rest; + Lay down, thou weary one, lay down + Thy head upon My breast. + I came to Jesus as I was, + Weary and worn and sad; + I found in Him a resting-place, + And He has made me glad._ + + _I heard the voice of Jesus say + Behold I freely give + The living water; thirsty one, + Stoop down and drink, and live. + I came to Jesus, and I drank + Of that life-giving stream; + My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, + And now I live in Him._ + + _I heard the voice of Jesus say + I am this dark world's light; + Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise, + And all thy day be bright. + I looked to Jesus, and I found + In Him my star, my sun; + And in that light of life I'll walk, + Till travelling days are done._ + + HORATIUS BONAR + +It is a world of voices in which we live. We are daily visited by +appeals which are ministering to our growth and progress, or which are +tending to our spiritual downfall. There are the voices of nature, in +sky, and sea, and storm; the voices of childhood and of early youth; the +voices of playfellows and companions,--voices long stilled, it may be, +in death; the voices of lover and beloved; the voices of ambition, of +sorrow, of aspiration, and of joy. + +But among all these many voices, there is one which is most inspiring +and supreme. When the _Vorspiel_ to _Parsifal_ breaks upon the ear it is +as if all other music were inadequate and incomplete--as if a voice +called from the confines of eternity, in the infinite spaces where no +time is, and rolled onward to the far-off ages when time shall be no +more. Even so, high and clear above the voices of the world, deeper and +tenderer than any other word or tone, comes the voice of Jesus to the +soul of man. + +Look, if you will, upon the World of Souls, many-tiered and vast, +stretching from day's end to day's end,--a world of hunger and of anger, +of toiling and of striving, of clamor and of triumph,--a dim, upheaving +mass, which from century to century wakes, and breathes, and sleeps +again! Years roll on, tides flow, but there is no cessation of the march +of years, and no whisper of a natural change. Is it not a strange thing +that one voice, and only one, should have really won the hearing of the +race? What is this voice of Jesus, so enduring, matchless, and supreme? +What does it promise, for the help or hope of man? + +There are some who say that Jesus has held the attention and allegiance +of the race by an appeal to the religious instinct; that all men +naturally seek God, and long to know Him. But if we try to define the +religious instinct, we shall find it a hard task. What might be called a +religious instinct leads to human sacrifice upon the Aztec altar; +directs the Hindu to cast the new-born child in the stream, the friend +to sacrifice his best friend to a pagan deity. + +There are others who say that Christ appeals to the gentler instincts of +man,--to his unselfishness, his meekness and compassion. Yet some of the +most admirable Christians have been ambitious and aggressive. Others +say, He appeals to our need of help. But self-reliance is a Christian +trait. Others say, He appeals to our sense of sin--our need of pardon. +But many a Christian goes through life like a happy child, scarcely +conscious at any time of deep guilt, and never overwhelmed by intense +conviction or despair. + +The truth seems to be that Christ appeals to our whole selves. He calls +us by an attraction which is unique. In the universe there exists a +force which we must recognize--though we do not yet in the least +understand it--which is gradually drawing the race Christward. The law +of spiritual gravitation is, that by all the changing impulses of our +nature we are drawn upward unto Him. Spohr's lovely anthem voices this +cry of the soul: + + "_As pants the hart for cooling streams, + When heated in the chase, + So longs my soul, O God, for Thee, + And Thy refreshing grace. + + "For Thee, my God, the living God, + My thirsty soul doth pine; + Oh! when shall I behold Thy face, + Thou Majesty divine_?" + +1. Jesus calls us by the mystery of life. There are hours of silence and +meditation when the great thought _I am_ beats in upon the soul. But +what am I? Whence came I? A heap of atoms in some strange human +semblance--is that all? And so many other heaps of atoms have already +been, and passed away! Blown hither and thither--where? The universe +reels with change. Star-dust and earth-dust are alike in ceaseless +whirl. Little it profits to build the spire, the sea-wall, the dome, the +bridge, the myriad-roofed town. A new era shall dawn upon them, and they +shall fall away. + +Not only that, but each man who lives to-day has less possible material +dominion than he had who preceded him. Only so many square feet of +earth, and now there are more to walk upon them! The ground we tread was +once trodden by the feet of those long dead. I am taking up their room, +and in due time I must myself depart, that there may be footway for +those who are to come after me. Only the under-sod is really mine--the +little earth-barrow to which I go. + +There is no question more baffling than this simple, ever-recurring one: +What am I? If I should decide what I am to-day, I discover that +yesterday I was quite a different person. To-day I may be six feet in +height, and climb the Alps; yesterday I lay helpless in swaddling +clothes. Yesterday I was a thing of laughter and frolic; to-day I am +grave, and brush away tears. As a babe, was I still I? What is Myself? +When did I come to Myself? How far can I extend Myself? My feet are +here, but in a moment my spirit can flee to Xanadu and Zanzibar. There +is no spot in the universe where I may not go. Where, then, are the +limits of Myself? + +Personality is never for a single moment fixed: it is as changing and +evanescent as a cloud. We are whirlwind spirits, swept through time and +space, bearing within our souls hopes, fears, joys, sorrows, which are +never twice the same. Every aspect of the universe leaves new +impressions on us, and our wills, in their world-sweep, daily desire +different things. + +Incompleteness lies on life--restlessness is in the heart. True love has +no final habitation on earth; there is no abiding-place for our deepest +affection, our most tender yearning. It is curious how deeply one may +love, and yet feel that there is something more. In all our journeys, +skyward and sunward, we never reach the End of All. + +Over against this vague and changing self, there stands out the figure +of the changeless Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. In +Him we find the environment of all our lives, and the sum of all +our dreams. + +2. Jesus calls us by our earth-born cares. In Mendelssohn's _Elijah_, +there is a voice which sings: "O rest in the Lord!" This angel's message +is the voice of Jesus to the human race. + +The voice of Jesus calls us to awake to toil. We sometimes forget this, +and imagine that if we follow Jesus, we shall never have anything to do. +Christ does not still the machinery of the world, nor shut the mine, nor +take away the sowing and the reaping. The call of Jesus is not a call to +rest from work, but to rest in work. The rest we receive is that of +sympathy, of inspiration, of efficiency. Christ really increases the +toil-capacity of man. Man can do more work, harder work, and always +better work, because of the faith that is in him. What makes the +confusion and fatigue of life is, that men are everywhere scrambling +for themselves, and trying to manage their own undertakings, instead of +falling into harmony with God, and through Him, with all that is. What +wears the soul out is not the work of life itself--it is its drudgery, +its monotony, its blind vagueness, its apparent purposelessness. We do +not wish to scatter our lives and spend our years in nothingness. + +Christ comes into the world and says: Over-fatigue is abnormal. There +is not enough work in the universe to tire every one all out. There is +just enough for each one to do happily, and to do well. I am come as the +great industrial organizer. My mission is not to take away toil, but to +redistribute it. My industrial plan is the largest of history--it is +also the most simple. I look down over the world, as a master upon his +men. My work is not to found an earthly kingdom, as some have thought; +it is not primarily to set up industrial establishments, or syndicates, +or ways of transport and trade. My work is to build up in the universe a +spiritual kingdom of energy, power, and progress. To this kingdom all +material things are accessory. In My hand are all abilities, as well as +all knowledge. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without My notice. Not +a lily blooms without My delight. Not a brick is laid, not a stone is +set, not an axe is swung, except beneath My eye. I provide for My own. +To each man I assign his work, his task. If he takes upon him only what +I give him to do, he will never be under-paid, or over-tired. + +Hence the first step towards an industrial millennium is to arise and do +what Jesus bids. Heaven is heaven because no one is unruly there, or +idle, or lazy, or vicious, or morose. Each soul is at true and happy +work. Each energy is absorbed; each hour is alive with interest, and +there are no oppressive thoughts or ways. + +If each heart and soul responded to the call of Jesus, there would be a +new heaven and a new earth--a Utopia such as More never dreamed of, nor +Plato, nor Bellamy, nor Campanella in his _City of the Sun_. Each hand +would be at its own work; each eye would be upon its own task; each foot +would be in the right path. All the fear, the weariness, the squalor, +and the unrest of life would be done away. The life of each man would be +a life of contentment, and of economic advance. + +3. Jesus calls us by the scourging of our sins. Flagellation is not of +the body--it is of the soul. Remorse is as a scorpion-whip, and memory +beats us with many stripes. The first sin that besets us is +forgetfulness of God. Apathy creeps over the spirit, and sloth winds +itself about our deeds. Nothing is more pathetic than the decline of the +merely forgetful soul. "Be sleepless in the things of the spirit," says +Pythagoras, "for sleep in them is akin to death." + +Sin lifts bars against success: the root of failure lies in irreligion. +Pride, conceit, disobedience, malice, evil-speaking, covetousness, +idolatry, vice, oppression, injustice, and lack of truth and honor fight +more strongly against one's career than any other foe. No sin is without +its lash; no experience of evil but has its rebound. To expect a higher +moral insight in middle age because of a larger experience of sin in +youth, is as reasonable as to look for sanity of judgment in middle age +because in youth a man had fits! + +Looking at ourselves in a mirror, do we not sometimes think how we would +fashion ourselves if we could create a new self, in the image of some +ideal which is before us? Would we not make ourselves wholly beautiful +if we could make ourselves? + +Even so, looking out upon our own spirits, do we not some day rouse to +the distortion and deformity of sin? Do we wish to retain these +grimacing phases of ourselves? Do we not yearn eagerly for the dignity +and beauty of high virtue? Do we not long for the graces and perfections +which make up a radiant and happy life? If we could be born again, would +we not be born a more spiritual being? + +It is to this new birth that Jesus calls our souls. All around the babe, +hid in its mother's womb, there lies a world of which it has neither +sight nor knowledge. The fact that the babe is ignorant does not change +the fact that the world is there. So about our souls there lies the +invisible world of God, which, until born of the Spirit, we do not see +or understand. It is a world in which God is everywhere; in which there +is no First Cause, except God; in which there is no will, except the +will of God; in which there is no true and perfect love, except from +God; no truth, except revealed by God; no power, except from Him. + +Conversion is the outlook over a world which is arranged, not for our +own glory, but for the good of God's creatures; in which what we do is +necessary, fundamental, permanent--not because we ourselves have done it +well, nor, in truth, because we have done it at all--but because what we +have done is a part of the universe which God is building. We change +from a self-centre to a God-centre; from the thought of whether the +world applauds to whether God approves; from the thought of keeping our +own life to the thought of preserving our own integrity; from isolation +from all other souls to a sympathy with them, an understanding of their +needs, and a desire to help their lives. It is a turning from a delight +in sin, or an indifference to sin, or merely a moral aversion to it, to +a deep-rooted hatred of every thought and act of sin, to penitence, and +to an earnest desire to pattern after God. + +4. Jesus calls us by our sorrows, Jesus calls us by our dreams. He +thrills us by each high aim that life inspires. His voice is one of +understanding, of tenderness, of human appeal. How could we love Jesus +if He did not sympathize with our ideals? But here is a Divine One in +whose sight we are not visionary; who lovingly guards our least hope; +who welcomes our faintest spiritual insight; who takes an interest in +our social plans, and points out to us the great kingdom that is to be. +Christ lays hold of the divine that is in us, and will not let us go. + +5. Jesus calls us by our latent gifts and powers. Which of us has ever +exhausted his possibilities? Which of us is all that he might be? + +It is an impressive thought, that nothing in the universe ever gets used +up. It changes form, motion, semblance,--but the force, the energy, +neither wastes nor dies away. Air--it is as fresh as the air that blew +over the Pharaohs. Sun--it is as undimmed as the sun that looked down on +the completion of Cheops. Earth--it is as unworn as the earth that was +trodden by the cavemen. + +No generation can ever bequeath to us a single new material atom. The +race is ever in old clothes. Nor can we hand down to others one atom +which was not long ere we were born. Yet the vitality of the universe is +being constantly increased, and this increase is also permanent. God has +a great deal more to work with now than a thousand years ago. + +For not all energy is material. With each birth there comes a new force +into the world, and its influence never dies. The body is born of ages +past, of the material stores of centuries; but the soul, in its living, +thinking, working power, is a new phase of energy added to the energy +of the race. + +This fact confers on each individual man a strange impressiveness and +power. It gives a new significance to the fact that I am. I am something +different from what has been, or ever shall be. In the great whirling +myriads, I am distinguished and apart. I am an appreciable factor in +universal development and a being of elemental power. By every true +thought of mine the race becomes wiser. By every right deed, its +inheritance of tradition is uplifted; by every high affection, its +horizon of love is enlarged. We can bequeath to others this new +spiritual energy of our lives. + +This thought gives us a new zest for life. There is an appetite which is +of the soul. It is this wish for growth, for the development of our +powers, for a larger life for ourselves and for those who shall +come after us. + +Is there any one who wishes to stay always where he is to-day?--to be +always what he is this morning? Beyond the hill-top lies our dream. Not +all the voices that call men from place to place are audible ones. We +hear whispers from a far-off leader; we are beckoned by an unseen guide. +Out of ancestry, tradition, talent, and training each departs to +his own way. + +What calls is not largeness of place--it is largeness of ideal. To each +of us, thinking of this one and that one who has taken a large part in +the shaping of the world, there comes a feeling: Beside all these I am +in a narrow way! What can I think that shall be worth the consideration +of the race? What can I do that shall be a stepping-stone to progress? +What can I hope that shall unseal other eyes to the universal glory, +comfort others in the universal pain? We say: I do not want to be mewed +up here, while others are out where thrones and empires are sweeping by! +I do not want to parse verbs, add fractions, and mark ledgers, while +others are the poets, the singers, the statesmen, the rulers, and the +wealth-controllers of the world! We wish to step out of the trivial +experience into that which is significant. Each day brings uneasiness of +soul. "Man's unhappiness," says Carlyle, "as I construe it, comes of his +greatness; it is because there is an infinite in him, which with all his +cunning he cannot quite bury under the finite." Says Tennyson: + + "_It is not death for which we pant, + But life, more life, and fuller, that we want_." + +These aspirations are prophetic. Does a clod-hopper dream? We move +toward our desires. The wish for growth is but the call of Jesus to our +souls. We sometimes hear of the "limitations of life." What are they? +Who set them? Man himself, not God. The call of Jesus urges the soul of +man to possibilities which are infinite. + +A large life is the fulfilment of God's ideal of our lives--the life +which, from all eternity, He has looked upon as possible for us. Could +any career be grander than the one that God has planned for us? God does +not think petty thoughts: He longs for grandeur for us all. + +6. Jesus calls us by the spirit of the times. There is a growing +recognition of the affinity between God and the human soul. Religion has +changed in spirit as well as in form. It used to be considered a tract +in one's experience, and now it is perceived to be all of life--its +impetus, its central moving force, the reason for being, activity, +development, for ethical conduct, and for unselfish and joyous +helpfulness. Religion is more and more perceived to be, not a thing of +feeble sentiment, of restraint, of exaction, of meek subordination and +resignation, but the unfolding of the free human spirit to the +realization of its highest possibilities and its allegiance to that +which is eternal and supreme. The nineteenth century closes with the +thinker who is also a man of meditation and devotion. We offer to Heaven +the incense of aspiration, hope, research, talent, and imagination. + +The chief thing toward which we are moving is, I believe, the +Enthronement of the Christ. Christ has always been, in the hearts of the +few, enthroned and enshrined. Even in the dark years of mediaeval +superstition and unrest, there were the cloistered ones who maintained +traditions of faith and did works of mercy, as there were knightly ones +who upheld the ministry of chivalry, and followed, though afar, the +tender shining of the Holy Grail. But now all the signs point to a great +and general recognition of the Christ--Christ to be lifted high on the +hands of the nations, to His throne above the stars! + +A new spiritual note is to be heard in modern subjects of study, is +noticeable in all paths of intellectual prestige. History is no more +looked upon as the story of the trophies of warriors, conquerors, and +kings. History, rising out of dim mists, is seen to be the marching and +the countermarching of nations in the throes of progress and of social +change. It is not the story of princes alone, but of peasants as well; +the result of myriads of small, obscure lives; of changing conditions; +of the movements of great economic, psychologic, and spiritual forces. +Looking backward over the moving processional of the nations of the +earth, we may see how, without rest, without pause, through countless +ages, the myriad legions of men have been passing across the scene of +life--passing, and fading away! + + "_All that tread + The globe are but a handful of the tribes + That slumber in its bosom_." + +Empires have risen, and empires have decayed; dynasties have been +buried, and long lines of kings, wrapping stately robes about them, have +lain down to die. Thrones have been overturned, armies and navies have +been mustered and scattered, land and sea have been peopled and made +desolate, as the thronging tribes and races have lived their little life +and passed away. Babylon and Assyria, India and Arabia, Egypt and +Persia, Rome and Greece,--each of these has had its lands and conquests, +its song and story, its wars and tumults, its wrath and praise. Under +all the tides of conquest and endeavor but one fact shines supreme: the +steady progress of the Cross. + +One principle of growth and development is being slowly revealed,--an +approach to symmetry and civic form, which is seen in freedom, justice, +popular education, the rise of masses, the power of public opinion, and +a general regard for life, health, peace, national prosperity, and the +individual weal. The day has passed when men merely lived, slept, ate, +fought; they are now involved in an intricate and progressive +civilization. Sociology, ethics, and politics are newly blazed pathways +for its development, its guidance, and its ideals. We are moving on to +new dreams of patriotism, of statesmanship, and of civil rule. + +Literature, instead of being considered as merely an expression of the +primitive experiences of a race in its sagas, glees, ballads, dramas, +and larger works and songs, is more and more revealing itself as an +appeal to the Highest in the supreme moments of life. It is the +unfolding panorama of the concepts of the soul in regard to duty, +conduct, love, and hope. Literature asks: What do I live for? as well +as, How shall I speak forth beauty? How ought the soul of man to act in +an emergency? What is the best solution of the great human problems of +duty, love, and fate? The voices of Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, +Tennyson, and Browning sweep the soul upward to spiritual heights, and +answer some of the deepest questionings of the soul of man. And hence +literature is no longer merely a thing of vocabulary, of phrase, of +rhythm, of assonance, of alliteration, or of metrical and philosophical +form. It is a revelation of the progress of the soul, of its standards, +of its triumphs, its defeats, and its desires. It is the unfolding of +one's intellectual helplessness before the unmoved, calm passing of +years; of one's emotional inadequacy without God for adjudicator. It is +a direct search for God. One finds wrapped within it the mystery, +aspiration, and spiritual passion of the soul. + +Science, no longer a dry assembling of facts and figures, is an +increasing revelation of the imagination, the exactness, the +thoroughness, and the great progressive plans of God. Evolution has +become a spiritual formula. The scientist looks out over the earth and +sky and sun and star. Against his little years are meted out vast +prehistoric spans; against his mastery of a few forms of life, stands +Life itself. Back of all, there looms up the great Figure of the +Originator of life, and of the forms of life; the Maker and Ruler of +them all. Each scientific fact helps exegesis and evidence. Each new +aspiration after truth becomes a form of prayer. + +Yes, the whole world is being subtly and powerfully drawn to the worship +of the Christ. Never before was there so deep, genuine, and widespread a +Revival of Religion. It has not come heralded with great outcries, with +flame and wind, and revolution and upheaval; it has come as the great +changes that are most permanent come, in stillness and strength. +Throughout the world there is being turned to the service of religion +the highest training, the most intellectual power. Wars are being +wrought for freedom; the Church and the university are joining hands; +the rich and the poor are drawing near together for mutual help and +understanding; industry is growing to be, not only a crude force, brutal +and disregarding, but a high ministry to human needs; the home is +becoming more and more the guardian of faith and the shrine of peace; +business houses are taking upon them a religious significance; commerce +and trade are perceiving ethical duties. Armies are marching in the +name of Jehovah, and a great poet has this one message: "Lest +we forget!" + +7. Jesus calls us by the future of the race. Life proceeds to life. +Eternity is what is just before. Immortality is a native concept for the +soul. Beyond this hampered half-existence, the soul demands life, +freedom, growth, and power. + +We stand between two worlds. Behind us is the engulfed Past, wherein +generations vanish, as the wake of ships at sea. Before us is the +Future, in the dawn-mist of hovering glory, and surprise. Looking out +over eternity, that billowy expanse, do we not see rising, clear though +shadowy, a vast Permanence, Completion, Realization, in which the soul +of man shall have endless progress and delight? This is the Promise held +out by all the ages, and the future toward which all the thoughts and +dreams of man converge. It is glorious to be a living soul, and to know +that this great race--life is yet to be! + +At the threshold of each new century stands Jesus, star-encircled, with +a voice above the ages and a crown above the spheres,--Jesus, saying, +FOLLOW ME! + + + + +III. PROCESSIONAL: THE CHURCH OF GOD + + [AURELIA] + + _The Church's one foundation + Is Jesus Christ her Lord; + She is His new creation + By water and the Word: + From heaven He came and sought her + To be His Holy Bride; + With His own blood He bought her + And for her life He died. + + Though with a scornful wonder + Men see her sore opprest, + By schisms rent asunder, + By heresies distrest; + Yet saints their watch are keeping, + Their cry goes up, "How long?" + And soon the night of weeping + Shall be the morn of song. + + 'Mid toil and tribulation, + And tumult of her war, + She waits the consummation + Of peace for evermore; + Till with the vision glorious + Her longing eyes are blest, + And the great Church victorious + Shall be the Church at rest._ + + SAMUEL JOHN STONE + + +FIRST: RECONSTRUCTION + +The subject that is being carefully considered by many thinking men and +women to-day is this: the place and prospects of the Christian Church. +All about us we hear the cry that the Church is declining, and may +eventually pass away; that it does not gain new members in proportion to +its need, nor hold the attention and allegiance of those already +enrolled. Are these things true? If so, how may better things be brought +to pass? To share in the civilization that has come from nineteen +hundred years of the work of the Church, and to be unwilling to lift a +pound's weight of the present burden, in order to pass on to others our +precious heritage, is certainly a selfish and unworthy course. It is +better to ask, What is my work in the upbuilding of the Church? What can +I do to further the Royal Progress of the Church of God? + +The root-failure of the organized Church to-day is its failure to share +in the growing life of the world. A growing life is one that is full of +new ideas, new experiences, new emotions, a new outlook over life--that +works in new ways, and that is full of seething and tumultuous energy, +enthusiasm, and hope. If we look out over the colleges, business +enterprises, periodicals, agriculture, manufacturing, and shipping of +the world, we find everywhere one story--growth, impetus, courage, +resources, vigorous and bounding life. Beside these things the average +church services to-day are both stupid and poky. The forces of religion +are neither guided nor wielded well. There is in most churches, however +we may dislike to own the fact, a decrease of interest and proportionate +membership, a waning prestige, a general air of discouragement, and a +tale of baffled efforts and of disappointed hopes. + +The Church--and by this word I here mean the organized body of both +clergymen and laymen--is meant to be the supreme spiritual leader of the +world. It is meant to possess vigor, decision, insight, hope, and +intellectual power. But before it can accomplish its high and holy work, +a great reconstruction must begin. To help in this reconstruction, to +aid in vivifying, coördinating, and ruling the varied processes of +organized religion, is your work and mine. + +1. The Church must rouse to a sense of its noble duties and exalted +powers. We underrate the Church. We are looking elsewhere for our +highest ideals, instead of claiming from the Church that spiritual +guidance and inspiration which should be its right to give. One of the +things that is a monumental astonishment to me, is that when we need +supplication, intercession, prayer for the averting of great personal or +national calamity, we flee to the Church, but we seldom think of the +Church when we need brains! + +The Church should lead, and not follow, the great dreams of the world. +In the midst of our new national life we are sending all over the +country for the best-trained help and thought in every department of +government influence and control. Our problems of the day are +preëminently spiritual ones. Colonial control is not a question of +material ascendancy--it is a rule over the minds, hearts, and ideals of +men. Its moral significance is patent. We are called upon, not only to +import provisions, clothing, and household and industrial goods into our +new possessions; we are called upon to develop a higher sense of honor, +truth, honesty, and every-day morality. Scholars, working-men, business +men, farmers, and merchants are being consulted in regard to different +phases of our national advance, and every idea which their insight and +experience furnish is seized upon. But who is consulting the Church in +these concerns, except in reference to mere technical points? Who is +looking to the intellectual, moral, and spiritual standards of the +Church for guidance? We are to-day ruled spiritually, as well as +intellectually, by laymen, and in a way which is quite outside the +organized work of the Church. + +2. The Church needs a more business-like organization and way of work. +It needs a more military spirit and discipline. The Church is diffuse +and loosely strung. There are in the United States alone about two +hundred and fifty-six kinds of religious bodies. There is no centralized +interest or work; there is no economic adjustment of funds; there is no +internal agreement as to practical methods. The result is a most +wasteful expenditure of force. Movements are not only duplicated, but +reproduced a hundred times in miniature, in one denomination after +another; special talent is restricted to a narrow field; buildings and +church-plants are multiplied, but lie largely disused; sects and +communities are at loggerheads on unessential points; all this--and the +world is not being saved! The Church fails to see openings for +aggressive work; it fails to seize strategic points; it does not carry a +well-knit local organization, with a husbanding of economic force; it +does not front the world in dead-earnest; it is not proud and honorable +in meeting its local debts; it loses progressive force, from lack of +knowledge as to how to judge men, and train them, and set them to work. + +It also lacks greatly in office-force and in supplies. The gospel itself +is without price, but in the nature of things it cannot be proclaimed, +nor church-work efficiently carried on, without financial outlay. There +should be a more adequate equipment for this work. All other enterprises +need, without question, stationery, stenographers, literature for +distribution, office-rooms, office-hours, and a general arrangement +looking toward enlargement and progress. A busy pastor should have an +office-equipment just as much as a business man, and it should be +supported, as a business office is, out of the funds of the business +organization, _i.e._ the local church. + +There should be, first of all, a united spirit, and a general +reorganization throughout the whole of evangelical Christendom, not +necessarily destroying denominational lines, with a view to quick +mobilization of energy in any direction most needed. What would a +general do, who, in looking over his troops, should find two hundred and +fifty-six provincial armies, not at ease or at peace with each other, +and yet expected to make war upon a common foe? Shall we not endeavor to +share in some broadly planned, magnificently executed scheme of +world-advance? + +The Church has reached a point where a vast constructive work is to be +done. Its scattered parts must be knit into a powerful and aggressive +whole, to turn a solid front upon the evil of the world. The times are +ripe for a successor of Peter the Hermit, of Luther, Knox, Calvin, +Zwingli, Savonarola, Whitefield, Finney, Moody. Whether a great +preacher, theologian, or evangelist, he will certainly be a business +man, a man of vast energy and executive capacity, who shall perform this +miracle of organization of which many dream, and who shall set the +progress of the Church for a full century to come! + +This united spirit should prevail, not only through the smaller bodies, +but between the Roman Catholic and Protestant communions. There has been +a distinct division between these two bodies, much mutual suspicion, +jealousy, and antagonism: it is only quite lately that Protestant and +Catholic leaders have been willing to work amicably together for great +common causes. + +A new situation has arisen. In our new possessions we are confronted +with a large population who, whatever may be the reason, are +unquestionably not, as a whole, progressive, enlightened, educated, or +highly moral. The problem now is, not for Catholic and Protestant to +waste energy and spiritual strength in contending for mastery over each +other, but for them to unite in changing and bettering the condition of +our island peoples. What is past is past. Our present duty is to bring +peace, industry, intelligence, high ideals, and spiritual living to our +new countrymen. This is a work to fill the hands and heart of both +churches, and perhaps, in a common task, each may learn to understand +and regard the other as those should understand and regard each other +who have one Lord, one hope, one heaven. + +3. The Church needs stronger and more gifted leaders. In every business +or intellectual enterprise to-day, there is an effort to place at the +head of each organization the most powerful and resourceful man whose +services can be obtained. Nothing in this age works, or is expected to +work, without the leadership of brains. A primary step, in a +far-reaching ecclesiastical policy, is to endeavor to draw into both +ministry and membership the most active and intellectual class. All +earnest souls can work, but not all can work equally effectively. +Particularly in the ministry, north, south, east, and west, men are +needed who are really _men_. This does not necessarily mean the men with +the longest string of academic degrees, the men who can write the best +poems or make the best speeches on public occasions; it means the +thinking men who are brave, talented, spiritual, and warm-hearted. + +In the Report of one of the missionary Boards, I have recently read the +following stirring words. They refer to the work of missionaries in the +far north, one of whom has lately travelled a thousand miles over the +snow in a dog-sled: "He who follows that mining crowd must be more than +the minister, who would do well for towns in the west or elsewhere in +Alaska. He must be a man who, when night overtakes him, will be thankful +if he can find a bunk and a plate in a miner's cabin; he must travel +much, and therefore cannot be cumbered with extra trappings--must dress +as the miners do, and accept their food and fare. He must be no less in +earnest in his search for souls than they in search for gold. He must be +so 'furnished' that, without recourse to books or study-table, he can +minister acceptably to men who under the guise of a miner's garb hide +the social and mental culture of life in Eastern colleges and +professional days." + +It is far from that land of frost and snow to the beautiful island of +Porto Rico, washed by tropical seas, through the streets of whose +capital there passes every day the carriage of the Governor, with its +white-covered upholstery and its livery of white. But I add this word: +The missionary sent to Porto Rico, be he Catholic or Protestant, must be +a man who can stand among statesmen and society men and women, as well +as one who can live and work among the humblest folk who lodge in +leaf-thatched huts along the roadside or far on lonely hills. +Representative men of ability, health, culture, and courage are being +chosen to carry on governmental work: it is idle to send provincial men +to the Church. What is locally true of the Church in Porto Rico is +fundamentally true all over the world, at home and abroad. Each +ministerial post to-day requires an imperial man. Not every post +requires the same sort of man, either in regard to general heredity or +education. Men are needed of the Peter-type, of the John-type, of the +Paul-type; it suffices that, they be men of unusual power, and well +fitted to their individual work. + +4. The Church needs a better system for the proper placing of men. No +phase of the world's work can be carried on merely and simply because a +man is pious. In every phase of life, there is a constant shifting of +men according to temperament, ability, and general influence and power. +In the Church we must have a quick and decisive recognition of a man's +ability, and he must be set where that talent can work easily and +effectively. Churches are not all alike. There are no two alike. When we +think of it, what a ghoulish business "candidating" is! No scheme for +the right placing of men can be devised which does not place a great +deal of power in the hand of a few leading men. This power may be +abused, but ought not to be, if it were really looked upon as under +divine direction and inspiration. Cannot a great leader be inspired to +the choice of a man, as well as a great author to the choice of a word, +a rhyme? Comparatively few men thoroughly understand how to rate other +men, and to these few men, as in all other great enterprises, must be +given the power and authority to select and adjust. By this I do not +mean that a set of ecclesiastics will alone be adequate. Ecclesiastical +vision, like all other highly specialized vision, is partial, and does +not always see quite straight. There should also be called into play the +business ability and discernment of men of large business interests or +administrative gifts. Sooner or later the various religious +organizations will have to meet, in some better way than any thus far +formulated, this growing need. + +5. We need a release of pressure on the abler men. Many a minister +to-day is a sort of community lackey. What other men are frankly too +busy to do, he is supposed to be cheerfully ready to do. The list of odd +jobs which fall to his lot would be ridiculous, were not their influence +upon his life and work so retrogressive and so sad. He lives to serve +others, but this vow of service is greatly imposed upon. If he is to +lead in intellectual and spiritual matters, he must be given fewer +errands to run, the financial burden of his church must be taken +absolutely from his shoulders, he must have a suitable salary, and his +time must be at least as carefully guarded as that of the average man. +Some calls he is bound to obey, at whatever cost of time or +strength,--illness, certain public duties, and real spiritual +needs,--but his life must not be at the mercy of cranks, or of idle +persons' whims. + +6. We need a reorganization of preaching traditions. It is a tradition +that a minister must, in general, preach two set sermons every week, +give one informal week-day lecture, and be prepared to deliver, at any +moment, funeral addresses, anniversary speeches, "remarks," or to +perform other utterly impossible intellectual feats. Anyone who writes, +or who speaks in public, knows that the preparation of a half-hour +address which is worth anything requires a great deal of time. It +cannot ordinarily be "tossed off," and help men's souls. Only an +occasional inspiration, the result of a lifetime of thought and +experience, is born in this sudden way. Usually excellence is the result +of long and careful labor. The way to help this would seem to be a +constant interchange of preachers, not only in one denomination, but +among the various denominations, so that a really fine sermon would be +heard by many people, and fewer sermons would require to be written. +This is easily done in a large city or its vicinity. What congregations +need most is not altogether formal sermons, but thoughtful, helpful +talks containing a fresh, uplifting, and spiritual outlook over life, +with a practical bearing on the occasions and duties of life. The work +of both Frederick Robertson and Horace Bushnell has this direct and +vital tone. + +Ministers must study more. If they are freed from many tasks now put +upon them, it is not unreasonable to ask that this time be put on more +careful thinking. Too many a minister of to-day is, intellectually, +something of a flibbertigibbet. His sermons do not take hold, because +they have not the roots to take hold with. How many ministers possess, +for instance, a scholarly knowledge of human nature or of the deeper +aspects of redemption? Yet these things he ought to know. There is a +large amount of intensely interesting, though spiritually undigested, +material for a minister in a book like William James's _Varieties of +Religious Experience_. + +7. Greater care must be taken of the rural church. Any one interested in +a great ecclesiastical polity must surely recognize the ultimate +possibilities of our rural regions. Here are growing up the leading men +and women of to-morrow. Ideals and inspirations set upon their hearts +will bear fruit a thousand-fold. Hence there should be a definite +arrangement by which a certain portion of the preaching time of the +really able preachers shall be placed each year in some small and remote +place. Several scattered country churches might unite for these +services. Let such a man also make helpful suggestions for neighborhood +social and intellectual life. While he is in the village, let the +country pastor go to town, browse in libraries, art-collections, hear +music, and get a general quickening of interest and inspiration. Let +each compare notes with the other. They will both gain by this +interchange. + +8. There is too little recognition of individual talent in the Church. +Too few workers are set at work which they know how to do, and the +untaught rush at tasks which angels fear to touch. We have myriads of +Sabbath-school teachers, but how many men or women really know how to +teach a little child? The man is asked to speak or pray in +prayer-meeting, who cannot possibly do it well, but no notice is taken +of the fact that he thoroughly understands public accounts. A man is +asked to subscribe ten dollars to a church affair, who cannot afford it, +but his spiritual insight might save the impending church quarrel. +People come and go in the churches, and many, I am convinced, drift away +because they are never asked for anything but money for the support and +interest of the Church. In no other sort of organization is this true. +Even in the summer camp or mountain hotel or Atlantic liner, when any +pastime or entertainment is suggested, the first thing to discover is, +What can each one _do_? One, who has the gift of organization and +management, "gets it up"; one sings; one reads or recites; one writes a +bright bit of verse; another smooths out rising jealousies, or bridges, +by a little tact, the abyss of caste. Why do we hide so many pretty +talents under a bushel, when the church-door swings behind us? Why do we +substitute such strange and foolish tasks, particularly for women? What +would leading lawyers and doctors do, I wonder, if they were asked, as +busy women often have been, to spend a precious morning in a church-room +sorting cast-off clothes? + +In every church, large or small, there are both men and women who are +talented in a special way; who could bring gifts of training and +experience to bear upon the problems and opportunities of the Church. +Tell me, in prayer or speech-making, formal or social occasion, pastor +or people, do we often bring our very deepest, tenderest, most inspiring +emotional or intellectual life? It is not a whit more spiritual to be +stupid than to be bright. This is what our church-meetings should +be--not a formal and very dull round of prayers and set remarks, more or +less pointless; they ought to be a yielding-up of our heart's best life +to others. + +9. We need, as a Church, a deeper spiritual life. We need the Power of +the Holy Ghost. In spite of all the sorrow of the world, sorrow both of +a personal nature and that which touches whole communities, there is +only one real burden upon the heart of earnest men and women: it is our +own inadequate representation of Christianity,--the disheartening +difference between what we practise and what we profess. When the Church +of God is in reality a powerful and hard-working body of sincere, +honest, and loving people, the world will soon be saved! + + +SECOND: ADHERENCE + +By the question, Why join the Church?--I do not mean alone, Why add my +name to a church-roll? I mean, Why give myself, my powers, my education, +my love, my loyalty, to advance the progress of the Church? + +There is nothing we resent more than a waste of ourselves. To attract +our service, there must be in the Church an inner vitality, a moving +and spiritual fire. + +1. The Church embodies the spiritual dreams of the world. Man does not +live by bread alone; he lives by imagination, and by religious powers. +In the Church of God, the spiritual imagination of man reached its +highest field of energy, and has brought forth its most triumphant +works. The great art of the world has centred about the Christian +Church--its architecture and much of its noblest speech. Imagine a world +in which every work which was inspired by the Church, or by the concepts +of religion embodied in it, should be left out. What would we then lack? +We would lack the greatest works of Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, +Francesca, Botticelli, Murillo; we would not see the cathedrals of +Milan, Strasburg, or Cologne; we would never read the poems of Caedmon, +Milton, or Dante. The hamlet would be without a spire; philanthropy +would be almost unknown; there would be neither night-watch nor +morning-watch of united prayer. We should have no processional of +millions churchward on the Lord's Day, no hymns to stir our souls to joy +and praise, no anthems or oratorios, no ministers, no ecclesiastical +courts and assemblies, no church conventions, no church-schools, +religious societies, nor religious press. All these works and +institutions proclaim the glory of belief, and hand down the religious +traditions and the spiritual aspirations of the generations of men. +Shall we let others share in the mystery and triumph while we stand +apart, silent, unapproving, and alone? + +The dreams of the Church are high and holy. There is the dream of +Freedom, of the Freedom of the Soul. It is an inspiring thought this, +the essential democracy of the race. We do not find intellectual +equality of souls. We see each man or woman differently circumstanced, +differently gifted, differently trained. Yet each may say, I am +spiritually free! To me also is given the opportunity of development, of +majesty of character, of high service. The soul is the thrall of none; +nothing can bind it to spiritual serfdom. + +Next, there is the dream of Allegiance. Some one has well said: "Wouldst +thou live a great life? Ally thyself with a great cause." Allegiance is +devotion of the whole of ourselves to a leader, a cause. We can no more +go through the world without allying ourselves to something than we can +go through it and live nowhere. If the object of our allegiance be a +high one, if the ideal be a grand one, our lives are in a constant +process of development toward that height, that grandeur. Each act of +faith becomes an impetus to progress. We are daily enriched by the +experience of mere obedience. To obey and follow are acts in the +universal process. + +If, on the other hand, we ally ourselves to that which is lower than +ourselves, by the very act we are dragged down. No one can remain upon +even his own level, who is in obedience and devotion to that which is +below him. Allegiance to a Higher is one of the trumpet-calls of the +world. It has been the rally of all armies, of all legions, of all +crusades. The great commander is, by his very position, a grouper of +other men, the ruler of their thoughts, their deeds, their dreams. His +power to call and to sway is beyond his own ideas of it. How otherwise +could it be that out of one century one heart calls to another--out of +one age, proceeds the answer to the cry of ages gone? + +The lover of music to-day allies himself to Bach, to Haydn, to Mozart, +to Wagner, by his appreciation, his sympathy, his understanding of what +they have done. He acknowledges their control of his musical self by his +efforts to interpret their work to others, and to create new works which +shall be inspired by their ideals. Thus he acknowledges their control of +his own powers. Such control over the spirit of man is that of the +Church over the social body; it stirs the spiritual aspiration of man, +it directs his ambition. It fixes upon a standard, the Cross; upon a +Hero, the Christ, and reaches unto all the world its arm of power, +drawing unto itself the loyalty, the faith, the affection, and the royal +service of successive generations of mankind. + +The dream of Redemption. It is not technical creeds for which the +Church as a whole stands, but for certain vital principles which concern +the life of the soul, and its relation to God and man. Virtue has always +been a dream of the heart. But how inaccessible is virtue, with a past +of unforgiven sin! The height of our ideal of redemption is conditioned +upon the depth of our realization of sin. To the shallow, redemption is +an easy-going process, a way of healing the scratches which the world +makes. To the deep and serious-minded, redemption involves the +regeneration of the race. Only the ransomed can truly work, love, +or praise! + +There is one sorrow which God never calls us to--the sorrow of a wasted +life. By redemption, the Church reveals not only a saving from +rebellion, unbelief, and crime, but redemption from sloth, from +indifference, from lack of purpose, and from low aims. Redemption looms +up as the great economic force of Time--that which inspires and +preserves our powers, directs our energies, creates opportunity, brings +to pass our most high and holy desires, and fills life with satisfying +and abiding things. + +Beauty, harmony, and affection are the natural laws of the moral world. +There is no despair where there has been no disobedience. _Christus +Salvator_ stands out before the world in majesty and power. Virtue is +enthroned in a universe which is beneficent. + +The dream of Fellowship. The Church is the great social body. We can +never live our best life in the world, and stand outside the Church. +There is something vital in personal contact, and in social affiliation. +It strengthens the best and otherwise most complete work. The Christian +Church is a body of allies, whose work is the upbuilding of the kingdom +of God. We do not realize how great a bond this is. We have our own +church centre, our own denomination, our own local interests. But by and +by a great occasion arises--a revival which sweeps the country, a +reunion of two long-divided parties, an Ecumenical Council, a Chinese +persecution--and suddenly there arises before the mind's eye a glimpse +of that Church which girdles the world, whose emissaries are in every +country, whose voices speak in every tongue. We perceive that +everywhere are + + "_Swelling hills and spacious plains + Besprent from shore to shore with steeple-towers, + And spires whose silent finger points to heaven_." + +Says Wordsworth also: + + "_They dreamt not of a perishable home, + Who thus could build_." + +Many an ideal state has been thought out, in which fellowship should be +the root of social progress. But in what state is the proffered +fellowship like that of the communion of saints? Each has his share of +work and dreams; each has his endowment of talent and of opportunity; +each has his aspirations and supreme hope. The joys of one are the joys +of all. The sorrows of one are the sorrows of all. The triumphs of one +are the triumphs of all. The World-burden is the task set to be removed. +The World-upbuilding in love, joy, peace, and truth is the final +endeavor. This community of interest is the strongest coalition the +world has yet known. + +There are those who say, I prefer to worship by myself! One might as +well say, I prefer to fight in battle by myself! There is a time for +personal worship, and there is a time for social worship. Alone, the +heart meets God. Alone, its prayers for individual needs and longings +are offered up. Alone, it asks for blessings on the individual life and +work. But the personal life is only a fragmentary part of the life +universal. Above the ages rings an Over-song of praise. From shrines and +cathedrals, from chapels, churches, tents, and caves, there arises, day +after day, this incense of united prayer, from a vast and +heaven-uplifted throng! Each of us would say, Canopied under +world-skies, I, too, would join this chorus of adoring love! + +The dream of Permanence. The immortality of the Church is akin to the +immortality of the soul. It is a connection which is never severed. When +we enter the visible body of the Church on earth, we connect ourselves +with the invisible hosts of the Church on high. We enter a company +which shall never be disbanded nor dismayed. Something subtle and +eternal seems to lay hold of our spirits, and to lift them even to God's +Throne. For this Time has been, and for this Time now is: to present +spotless before Him the innumerable company of the redeemed, the +lion-hearted who, armed by faith and shod with fire, in robes of azure +and with songs of praise, shall stand before Him even for evermore! + +2. The Church is the centre of a great circle of remembrance. One of +Constable's famous paintings represents the Cathedral of Salisbury +outlined against a storm-swept sky, with a lovely rainbow arched beyond +it. So stands the Church athwart the landscape of our lives. In each +community the church is like a living thing! How every stone grows +significant and dear! How the lights and shadows of its arches, the dim, +faint-tinted windows, the carvings and tracings, the atmosphere and +coloring, all sink into the heart, and make a background for memories +that never pass away! Who ever forgets the tones of the old organ, the +voice of the choir, the accent, look, and bearing of one's early pastor, +the rustle of the leaves without the window, the rush of the fresh +summer air, the soft falling of the rain? + +The path to the church is worn by the feet of generations. Thither the +aged go up, and thither the laughing, romping children. Weary men and +women bear their burdens thither; triumphant souls bring shining faces +and uplifted brows; love and dreams cluster round the church, and the +life of the soul, silent and hidden, is subtly acted upon by persuasions +and convictions that rule the heart amid the fiercest storms and +temptations of the world. The church is a sanctuary and shield; it is an +emblem of strength and peace. Three angels stand before its altar: Life, +Love, Death! Hither is brought the babe for the christening, hither +comes the wedding procession, and here are laid, with farewell tears, +the quiet dead. Day by day within that church, as one grows to manhood +and womanhood, one enters into race-experiences, and feels, however +vaguely, that the Holy Spirit abides within them all. + +3. The Church affords the best outlet for moral activity. Where shall we +put our moral powers? In what work shall they centre? From what point +shall they diverge? Scattered action is irresolute; it is the +centripetal powers that count. + +The Church stands ready to engage, to the full, the moral powers of man. +It can rightly distribute the spiritual vitality of the world. It rouses +the moral emotions and affections, and gives scope for contrition, +adoration, and thanksgiving,--the Trisagion of the heart. + +In the press and stir of life we sometimes forget that the highest +emotions of which we are capable are those of joy, praise, and prayer. +Joy is a heavenward uplift of life--deep happiness of spirit. Praise is +an appreciation of the greatness and mercy of the Infinite. Worship is +the outpouring of the whole nature, an ascription of blessing, glory, +honor, and power and majesty to God. It flows from the religious +imagination, and is the supreme offering of the intellectual as well as +of the emotional life. + +The Church is a body ministrant: it has received the accolade of +spiritual service. It stands among the world's forces, as one of giving, +not of gain. It holds within its scope both a teaching and a training +power. It is the school of the soul, the illuminator of the meaning and +discipline of life. Abélard is said to have attracted thirty thousand +students to Paris by his teaching. But the Church to-day calls into its +assemblies fully one-third of the millions of the world. They are held +by its tenets, guided by its ideals, thrilled by its hopes, and set to +its works of charity and mercy. The highest philanthropy is but a +scientific renewal and adaptation of work which has had its start, +primarily, in the Christian Church. Wealth is its vicegerent, and from +the adherents to the Church fall largely the contributions to great +philanthropic causes. + +Take the work of Missions alone: Has there ever before been a body which +attempted to bring the whole world into its fellowship, to make known +everywhere its ideals, and to share with all living a spiritual +inheritance? "The Evangelization of the World by this Generation" is +one of the most sublime thoughts which has come to the race. + +4. There is a large amount of ability in the world which the Church +needs, but which has not yet been thoroughly enlisted in church service. +Take business energy, executive ability. It is a common saying, that +business men are not interested in the Church, and do not work well in +it. Why? Because there is not yet in the Church enough of the active and +economic spirit to make a business man feel at home in it, or approve of +its ways of work. + +This weak spot in the Church, which business men mock at, or fret at, +exactly reveals the work that is waiting for business men to do. +Business to-day takes intellectual grasp and insight--promptness, +energy, enterprise, and common-sense. These qualities are needed at once +in the conduct of the Church. + +A second class greatly needed by the Church is the university-bred. Many +college graduates are church-members--some are even active workers. But +until lately the universities as a whole have stood rather indifferently +apart from the Church. They have somewhat indulgently regarded it as one +more historic institution for preserving myth and legend. To them the +Christ-life has meant little more than the Beówa-myth, the Arthur-saga, +the Nibelungen cycle, the Homeric stories, the Thor-and-Odin tales! +Druids, fire-worshippers, moon-dancers, and Christian communicants have +been comparatively studied, with a view to understanding the +race-progress in rite and religious form. + +This spirit is changing. The most remarkable aspect of the intellectual +life of to-day is the rise of faith in the universities. Like the +incoming of a great tidal wave at sea is the wave of spiritual insight +and religious aspiration that is rolling over the colleges of our land. + +The whole intellectual structure of the Church is approaching +reconstruction--its doctrines, creeds, tenets. This reconstruction +cannot possibly be effected by schools of theology alone. At every point +the theologian needs assistance from the man of science. Philosophy, +psychology, ethics, history, literature, sociology, language, natural +science, and archaeology are all bound up in an old creed and must be +looked into, ere a new statement can take form. Their data must be known +at first-hand. Hence there is no intellectual specialty which may not be +made invaluable to the Church. + +Too often religion has been a matter of hearsay or dogma. A bitter +conflict has always raged between theology and the latest word of +science. The Church cannot afford to be without the scientific thinkers +of the race. The time has come when there is everywhere heard the call +of Jesus to men of mind. + +What work awaits the university man or woman? It is to help free the +Church from traditions and superstitions which scholarship cannot +uphold. It is to throw fresh vigor and intellectual vitality into the +services of the Church. It is to build up a hymnology which shall be +noble and poetic in expression; it is to contribute a great religious +literature to the world. It is the work of educated men and women to add +their insight, their zeal for truth, their scholarship, their training +and ideals to the Christian community: to sweep thought and practice out +of ancient ruts, to clarify the spiritual vision of the world, and to +present new aspects of truth and new goals of human endeavor! Let +Research join hands with Prayer. + +A third class which the Church needs to-day is that of the working-man. +The hand of the working-man is the hand that has really moulded history. +Working-men lead a brave and self-sacrificing life. From their toil come +the necessaries and many of the comforts of the race. The man of labor +knows the root-problems of the industrial world. While all his industry +and skill, all his courage, heroism, and strong-armed life are so +largely alienated from the Church, the Church is deprived of one of the +fundamental sources of inspiration and growth. The tree of progress can +never grow, except it has labor-roots. It is absolutely essential for +the health of the Church that every form of human energy be represented. + +Suppose that by some great revival a very large number of working men +and women could suddenly be added to the membership of the Church. What +would happen? Would there not be at once a return to more simplicity of +life? There are two currents at work always in society--emulation and +sympathy. Rightly used, each is for the social good. If all classes of +men and women worked side by side in the Church, many great social +differences would become adjusted. + +5. It holds sway over the fortunes of the home. Where, outside of the +Church, will you find the ideal conception of marriage, and the really +united and happy home? The Church makes for domestic happiness, because +it goes straight to the roots of life and plants happiness where +happiness alone can grow. More and more the Church is lifting the +standards of a noble, proud, pure, and rejoicing married life. Its ideal +of human love is sacred, because founded on the deeper love of the soul +in God. The Church is drawing hosts of young people under the shelter of +its teaching, and is placing before men and women ideals which cannot +fail to make their mark upon the social standards of the times. It +stands for purity, for patience, for tenderness, for the love of little +children, for united education and endeavor, for mutual hopes and +dreams, for large public service. + +6. It is the militant force of time. We speak of the Church militant, +and of the Church triumphant. For us, to-day, the Church militant. +To-morrow, triumph comes. Armies have been, and armies shall be, but the +hosts of this world fight against material foes, and largely for +material ends. It is the glory of the Church militant that its conquests +are spiritual and its victories are eternal. Its fight is chiefly +against the inner, not the outer foe--against sin and wrong-doing, +impatience, strife, anger, clamor, meanness, evil-speaking, wrath. It is +the foe of tyranny and its heel is upon the head of the oppressor and +the avenger. Its banner flies over every country and has been carried +through tribulation, through sorrow, through danger, and through death +to the remotest parts of the yet-known world. Its troops are legion, +marching from the far distances of the past, and extending out to the +far confines of the eternal years. + +7. It is the ascendant force of the future. Rightly conducted, it will +surely absorb the vigor of the world. To stand apart from it is to be +out of step with the march of nations. The processional of progress +to-day is the processional of the historic influence of the Church. What +force has there been in time gone by, which has lived and so greatly +grown for nineteen hundred years? Nations have risen, and nations have +decayed. States, once prominent, have passed into the oblivion of the +years. Plato and Pericles, Socrates and Sophocles, Philip and Alexander, +the Caesars, the Georges, and the Louis have passed away. Their +politics have passed from our following; their empires are no more. But +through these centuries of change, the Church of God has risen stronger, +more powerful year by year; stretching its arm out to the uttermost +parts of the earth; levying tribute on the islands of the sea; enlisting +all ages and conditions, and looking out over coming generations--not as +a waning, but as a growing and ever-increasing power. Think you that +such a Church can die? Think you that any spiritual power aloof from +this Church can be as efficient as if it were allied with it? + +These, you say, are the reasons why one's allegiance should be given to +the Christian Church. Let us now look back over the processional as it +marches across the dim years. Saints, martyrs, confessors, evangelists, +and singing children have joined its historic train. Is there any other +processional in the world's history which, numbering such millions and +millions, began with only one? When the Christ enters the arena of +history, He comes as one to lead myriad deep-lived souls! Next, there +follow twelve. They, two by two, take up the marching line. Think of +their deeds and influence, of their inspiring power! What would have +been the record of those obscure fishermen of Galilee and of their +simple friends, had they refused to ally themselves with the leader who +called for their allegiance and their obedient love? + +Next follow the early disciples. Tried by scourging, by stripes, by +poverty, by imprisonment, by all manner of danger and trial, they yet +remain true. Then follow the prophets, those whose clear vision looks +out on things unknown and things unseen. To the prophet is intrusted the +ministry of hope and inspiration. Then follow the martyrs who yield life +for the cause they profess. In torture at the stake, and on the cross, +by fire and by sword, they show forth an unshaken and undying faith. +Then follow matrons and virgins, babes and children, reformers and +mediaeval saints with a convoy of angels, singing as they march. These +are the Church triumphant, the Church above. But to-day we have among us +the Church militant--the long processional of congregations, elders, +deacons, members, ministers and missionaries, young people, and workers +in every phase of enterprise and reform. These all communicant on earth +are the Church militant, whose work is to keep alive the traditions of +the past and to march onward to an endless victory and to an unceasing +praise. Who, looking upon that processional, filing through the ages of +the years of man, would say that there may be a parliament of religions? +A parliament of boasts and pomps, of good precepts and queries, of +misuses and half-truths, of superstitions and infinite idolatries, no +doubt; but there is but one religion, though it be perverted in many +ways and rightly revealed at divers times; and there is but one God, +infinite, true, holy, just, loving, and eternal. Where now are the gods +of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Bow thy head, +O Buddha! and do thou, O Zoroaster! hang thy head. Isis and Osiris grow +dim; Jove nods in heaven; the pipe of Pan is dumb; Thor is silent in the +northern Aurora; the tree of Igdrasil waves in midnight; Confucius is +pale; Muhammad is dust. Darkness is over the skirts of the gods of the +past--gloom receives them, Erebus holds outstretched arms. But the Lord +God, Jehovah, the Ancient of Days, encanopied in space and glory, leads +onward to the end of years His people in a mighty train, to a rule and +kingdom which shall know no end. May thou and I, dear friend-soul, in +whatsoever land thou be, may thou and I be numbered in that throng! + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF KINGS + + [DIE WACHT AM RHEIN] + + _Jesus shall reign where'er the sun + Doth his successive journeys run; + His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, + Till moons shall wax and wane no more. + + People and realms of every tongue + Dwell on His love with sweetest song; + And infant voices shall proclaim + Their early blessings on His Name. + + Blessings abound where'er He reigns; + The prisoner leaps to lose his chains, + The weary find eternal rest, + And all the sons of want are blest. + + Let every creature rise and bring + Peculiar honors to our King; + Angels descend with songs again, + And earth repeat the loud Amen_. + + ISAAC WATTS + +The elemental force of some men is appalling. They lift their +eyes--thrones tremble; they wave a hand--empires rise or fall. It comes +over the heart of many a man at times, Here am I, running my little +office, shop, factory, fire-engine, or professional circuit, with no +influence that I can see, beyond my borough or my barn-yard. But in the +world there are other men, no taller than I, no older than I--men born +within a stone's throw of where I was born--whose hand is on the fate of +nations, and whose decrees are universal law! + +It is deeply impressive, the way in which one man, born not above +myriads of his fellows, begins to rise until by and by he stands head +and shoulders above his generation! What is the inner vitality which +presses him upward? What is this hidden difference in men by which one +remains in the by-eddies of life, and another sweeps out on the crest of +the rising tide of history? + +Much of it is in the man himself. To be kingly is inborn. There is the +nature that refuses to be shut up to the petty, that will not content +itself with one street or town, that steps out into life from childhood +with the step of the conqueror, and walks among us; one who was born a +king. To be a king, one must have the powers of organization, +combination, discipline, direction, statesmanship. These qualities +enlarge as one passes from the particular to the general, from the +personal to the range of natural forces, emergencies, and wide pursuits. + +Dominion is an inherent right of the soul. In all our hearts, did we but +listen and understand, there are adumbrations of kingly ancestors, and +the latent stirrings of kingly powers. + +Which of us would want to be born at all, if we should be told in +advance, You shall never control anything? You shall never have the +slightest chance of self-assertion, of impressing your own individuality +upon the world? One might as well be born without hands or feet! + +Kingship involves ascendancy and authority. Both are truly gained, not +by chicanery, but by personal force. There is a natural gift of +leadership, which is strengthened by endurance, perseverance, and +ceaseless hard work. + +Kingship also involves a larger vision. One man looks at his +shoe-strings; another man looks at the stars. The first step toward rule +is to find a point of view from which one can look widely out over the +race. This is the primary value of education: it is not that books are +important, but that men are--the men who have swayed history--and books +tell of such men. Not the library is inspirational, but the life-spirit +of mankind, bound up in even dusty papyrus-rolls, or set on +clay-tablets of four thousand years ago. He who would serve his times +politically must first understand, so far as may be, all times. + +Another basis of supremacy is conviction. Leadership belongs to those +who believe. The man who has a definite policy to propose, and a +definite way of working for it, soon outstrips the man who is just +looking about. + +Kingship involves an iron will. An iron will does not imply necessarily +ugliness of temper, obstinacy, or pig-headedness. It is simply a +straight-forward, dauntless, and invincible way of doing things. What I +say, you must do, is back of all successful leadership, whether in the +home or in the world-arena. The man who is master of the obedience of +his child, or of his fellows, is master of their fate. We are all at the +mercy of the strong-willed. + +Growth is development in right assertion; it is the assumption of +legitimate responsibility and command. To be lowly of heart does not +mean to be inefficient; to be humble does not necessarily mean to be +obscure. Luther and Lincoln were both of a childlike humility of heart. + +What Christianity has not emphasized in the past, but what it must now +begin to emphasize, is the reality of dominion--its value, and its +relation to the kingdom of God. For centuries, religion has too often +been thought of, too often spoken of, as if it were the last resource of +the heart, A brilliant young professor of psychology not long ago +referred to religion as something to flee to, by those who were +disappointed in love! We have spoken so much of "giving up," that the +Christian life has wrongly seemed to mean the giving-up of one's +individuality, interests, powers. As well might we expert the deep sea +to give up its rolling tides, or the air to give up its four winds, as +to expect the heart of man to part with its human hopes! + +This is not a right interpretation of life. When Nature plants an oak in +the forest, she does not say, Be a lichen, an _Eozoön canadense_, a +small ground-creeping thing! She says, Grow! Become a tall, strong, +mountain tree! When we hold our baby in our arms, we do not say, My +child, be good for nothing! Neither does God say, Be nothing, do +nothing! Just exist as humbly and meekly as you can! He says, "Quit you +like men!" + +Each of us is born for a sceptre and a crown. It gives a strange new +thrill to life, to realize that we may be just as ambitious as we +please, that we may long earnestly for high things, and work for them, +if our inmost desire is not for self but for God. This new idea of +ambition should be at the root of education and of religious teaching. +Piety is not a namby-pamby sentiment; it is a great intellectual force. +Desire is architectural: our dreams should be of prestige and power. +True ambition is the reaching-out of the soul toward preordained +things. What else is the meaning of our love for excellence, our +insatiable yearning for perfection? "What is excellent," says Emerson, +"is permanent." To excel in any work is to combine in that work the most +enduring qualities of human labor; to excel in any place is to shine +forth with the great qualities of the race. Hence, ambition has a +rightful place. + +The power of a king is the power of control. All about us are moving the +great forces of the universe--physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual. +What we can do with them is a test of our power. Life is in many ways a +majestic trial of one's power to command. + +Three men buy adjoining tracts of land. One man mines coal upon his +acres. He amasses wealth and influence because he is in control of the +Carboniferous age and the human need of light and heat. The second man +tills his ground and raises wheat and corn. He is in command of living +nature--of the rotation of seasons, of wind, frost, rain; he uses them +to provide food for those that hunger and must be fed. The third man +lies under the trees. He digs no mine. He plants and reaps no corn and +grain. He simply lies under the trees, gazes into the sky and dreams. +Men call him idle, but he is not so. One day he writes a book. It lives +a thousand years. His control is over the spirit of man. He has entered +into its hopes and sorrows, its aspirations and its dreams. + +This story is a Parable of Kings. Such is the power of control that is +granted to each new soul. Each child is bequeathed at birth a sceptre +and a crown. + +The first rule is parental. The primitive monarchy is in the home. A +young baby cries. The trained nurse turns on the light, lifts the baby, +hushes it, sings to it, rocks it, and stills its weeping by caresses and +song. When next the baby is put down to sleep, more cries, more soothing +and disturbance, and the setting of a tiny instinct which shall some day +be will--the power of control. + +The grandmother arrives on the scene. When baby cries, she plants the +little one firmly in its crib, turns down the light, pats and soothes +the tiny restless hands that fight the air, watches, waits. From the +crib come whimpers, angry cries, yells, sobs, baby snarls and sniffles +that die away in a sleepy infant growl. Silence, sleep, repose, and the +building of life and nerve and muscle in the quiet and the darkness. The +baby has been put in harmony with the laws of nature--the invigoration +of fresh air, sleep, stillness--and the little one wakens and grows like +a fresh, sweet rose. The mother, looking on, learns of the ways of +God with men. + +Firmness is the true gentleness. There is a form of authority which must +be as implacable as the divine decree. Mercy is the requiring of +obedience to law; it is not a cajoling training in law-defiance, which +shall one day break the mother's heart and upset the social relations of +the world. + +The next rule is personal: the direction of one's own energy in the way +of one's own will. The child moves his hands, his feet; he turns his +rattle up and down, and shakes it about. He discovers that he can pull +things toward him and push them away; that he can reach things that are +higher than his head. He begins to creep. He touches things that are the +other side of the world from him, that is, across the room. He plucks +fibres from the rug or carpet; swallows straws, buttons, and little +strings. He pounds, and sets up vibrations of pleasant noise; he clashes +ten-pins, he blows his whistle, squeezes his rubber horse and man, +rattles the newspaper, flings about his bottle and his blocks. He feels +himself a self-directing power, and at times asserts this power against +the will of those who would make him do what he does not want to do. The +love of rule is in him, and he lays his little hands on power. + +Education determines whether this power shall be for good or for evil. +We cannot take away power from any child--he shall move the affairs of +nations--but we can direct this love of power, or crush it; strengthen +it, or weaken it; turn it toward the highest help of man, or deflect it +to tyranny, cruelty, and crime. + +Child-training is guidance in the way of God's decrees. It is not the +setting of one's own ideas upon a little child; it is not the +gratification of one's own love of power; it is not the satisfaction of +one's own self-conceit. It is a firm, humble striving to carry on the +harmony of the universe: to bring up the child to love order, justice, +mercy, and truth. + +Education is the teaching of how to direct energy for the universal +good. It lays hold of a child and, out of his destructive instincts--the +instinct to bang, and pull, and tear to pieces--it develops creative +power, the inventive genius that lies hid within him. It takes the pure +love of noise, and trains it to pitches, harmonies, intervals, and makes +a musician of the boy who used to whack his spoon. It takes the alphabet +and the early pothooks, and the boy by and by combines them into +literature. The apples and the peaches which he is taught to exchange +justly are by and by transmuted into trade and commerce. He brings +cargoes from Cuba and Ceylon, trades with Japan and Hawaii, and the +Asiatic isles. The energy of block-building is developed into sculpture, +architecture, and civil engineering. The stamping of his foot in anger +is directed to determination, perseverance, the rule of the brave +spirit, the unconquerable will. Nothing is more marvellous than this +grave upbuilding. + +The next rule is social: the direction of personal energy that shall +leave a distinct impress on other lives. It is long before we realize +that for each exertion we are responsible; that what we do is held +against us in strict account, not only by fate, which builds our destiny +for us out of our own deeds, but by every other person with whom we come +in contact. Our fellows check off daily against us so much vitality, so +much magnanimity, so much idleness, cruelty, spite, goodness, +selfishness, meanness, or loving-kindness. Life holds a record of our +every deed, and from no least responsibility can we make our escape. We +are the prisoners of events which we ourselves have brought about. + +The discipline of ethics, of home-training, of the Church, and of +religious teaching is addressed fundamentally to this social +consciousness of ours, this responsibility which we cannot evade. To +bear rule aright is to go forth into the world to build up, in +authority, talent, and influence, the kingdom of God. + +1. There is the agricultural phase of social rule. A man tills a farm. +It has upon it trees, streams, woodland, and meadow-land. He may +rule--to what end? If he rules it for his own personal ends--merely to +fill his granaries, and lay up gold--he rules it for miserliness, with a +sort of thrift that is as passing in inheritance as the flying +April rain. + +Or he may say: I will keep my land in trust for God. I will hold rain +and frost, heat and cold, storm and sun, in fee simple for the race. My +grain shall pass out into the world's mart, sent forth with love and +prayer. Such a farmer is the incarnation of moral grandeur. Let men +laugh, if they will, at his overalls and plough, his wide-brimmed hat, +his simple manners, and his homely, racy speech. His feet are by the +furrow, but his heart is in heaven, and his treasure is there also. Says +the author of _Nine Acres on the Hillside_, "The agriculturist walks +side by side with the Creator." + +There is a fine integrity which lies in land. There is a resolution +which is concerned with crops. There is a wisdom born of wind and +weather. There is a power which comes from the constant revival of life +in seed and fruit and flower. This man is King of God's Acres. Let him +not despise his kingdom, and may the succession not depart from +his house! + +2. There is a rule which is industrial. A man is sent into the world to +wield a hammer, a saw, and run an engine. If his rule over his hammer is +weak, if he does not know how to use it well, if its blow is uncertain +and its result unskilled, then he passes from the line of kings, and is +subject, instead of in authority, in his own domain. He is captive to a +piece of steel or wood. So with every tool of trade. Each man who +conquers his tool is a ruler--is in control of elements of human +happiness and good. The roof-mender, the furnace-builder, the +cloth-weaver, the yarn-spinner, the steel-worker, the miller--do not +these all keep the race warmed, and clad, and fed? + +3. The next rule is commercial. Trade itself is neither menial nor +demeaning. Rightly used, it is a high form of control. People have +things to buy and things to sell. The maker is handicapped. He cannot +travel elsewhere to dispose of what he has. The buyer is ignorant. He +does not know where to go, or cannot go, at first-hand, for the shoes, +the hat, the reaper, the bricks, the lumber, the stationery which he +must use. There appears upon the scene the man of observation, of +investigation, of capital, of shrewdness, of resources. With one hand he +gathers the products of the Pacific and of the South Seas. With the +other, he takes the output of the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf States, +the Mississippi valley, the northern lakes and hills. He sets up an +establishment, he puts forth runners, advertisements, and show-windows. +He stocks shelves, decks counters, and employs clerks, packers, +salesmen, cash-boys, buyers, and department heads. The man who wants to +buy, buys from a man across the sea and yet is served in his own town. + +The man of commercial power is a man of world-wide rule. He may lay up +in banks a fortune which he intends to try to spend upon himself; or he +may say: I am accountable for the pocket-books of the world. I am in +authority over them. I open a market, or close it. I buy, dispense, and +disperse human labor. I create wants, and I satisfy them. I will +establish honest laws of trade. What I do shall be rated as commercial +law. What I say shall be quoted as a way of equity and probity. That man +is a King of Trade. His throne is set upon hills and seas. His subjects +are all men with needs, and all men with products of the land, the +coasts, the sea, or brain, or skill. This is the lawful King of Trade. +He represents God's mart of exchange. Primarily, goods are not bought +and sold in the market. They are first transferred in that man's brain. + +4. Another rule is of concerted works: the rule of the Engineer. Back of +every advance in our country, in facilities of trade and transportation, +or of public health and safety, stands the man who thought it out. Take, +for instance, the development of the "Great American Desert." Who +projected its irrigation, by which areas have been redeemed from +barrenness and waste? Who planned the economic use of the Niagara Falls? +Who built the Brooklyn Bridge? Who projected the vast waterway from +Chicago to the Gulf? Who first thought of a cable across the depths of +seas? Who bridged the Firth of Forth, the Ganges, the Mississippi? Who +projected the gray docks of Montreal? the Simplon Tunnel? Who wound the +iron rails across the Alleghanies, the Rockies, the Sierras? Who drew +the wall that has encircled China for a thousand years? Who projected +the Suez Canal? the Trans-Siberian Railway? Who sunk the mines of +Eldorado? Who designed the Esplanade at Hamburg? the stone banks of the +Seine? the waterways of Venice? the aqueducts of Rome? the Appian Way? +the military roads of Chili and Peru? the Subway in New York? + +Gravity, stress, strain, weight, tension, sag, cohesion,--a few +mathematical formulas, and a knowledge of the primary laws of +physics,--upon such principles as these, the world is rapidly changing +form and use. + +The Engineer, in a strange and subtle way, stands near to God. His work +is done hand-in-hand with God. He takes the forces of nature and the +laws of the material world, and bends them to the needs and use of man. +Sky and sea or desert may be about him. He knows the arctic cold, the +tropic heat; the forest and the plain; the mountain and the marsh; the +brook and river; the peak and the precipice; the glacier and the tempest +in their course. Out of the very elements he is daily building new paths +for man to tread. Soon he, too, must pass; laid after death, it may be, +beside some mighty water that his handiwork has spanned. + +In loneliness and silence does he not often think, I wonder, of the God +with whom he deals? It is God who provides the river and the sea; God +who through endless ages has piled stone on stone, crust on crust, and +has crumpled the strata of the earth as tissue in His hand. It is God +who has bound every mote to the earth-centre; who has sent magnetic +currents coursing through the globe, and has made tides and sea-changes, +and the trade-winds to blow. It is the God of the Gulf Stream, the +Caribbean Sea, the God of the Appalachians, the God of the Himalayas, +the God of the Cordilleras, of the Amazon, the Yukon, the Yang-tse-Kiang +with which he really deals. + +The endless ages pass and go, but God abides. Little, daring man lifts +here and there a hand to mould the world which God has made--pricks the +earth for gold or silver, iron or coal--but GOD is everywhere immanent +and shines through every hour of change. Hence the March of Engineers is +the march of men whom God has trained; in a special sense His +master-workmen, craftsmen whom He loves. It is theirs to say, We are the +Kings of Works: the Master-builders of the Most High! + +5. There are Kings of Academic Thought, men who lead in professions and +in collegiate careers. The wise man is the true aristocrat. His court +may not be in a palace, but within its precincts are received and +entertained the leaders of the race. To be provost, to be college +president or university professor, is to be seated on an +intellectual throne. + +The problem of academic rule is not to attract a large number of +students, to put up imposing buildings, to have endowments, and fill +chairs with learned specialists; to grant many degrees, and to keep the +hum of a teaching staff and of a student body alive in the ears of a +community, marking the college group by flags and colors, cap and gown, +processions and occasions. These things are right, but are mainly +accessory. We have not all of a university when we have men and +buildings, money, students, brains. Back of a university there lies its +foundation-idea, that of academic control. + +What is academic rule? It is rule over the pride of man. A college is a +place whose chief power is to inculcate humility by the means of true +learning; to establish intellectual honor and integrity by searching out +the ways of God in nature, science, and philosophy, and in letters +and in art. + +It is the primary work of a university to make men humble. The Freshman +is not teachable. The Sophomore is an intellectual upstart. But by the +time a man has been beaten and conquered by the great ideals of the +world, which have pierced his bones and humbled his conceit--by the time +the race-passions and the race-sorrows have crept across his spirit, by +the time that he has been confronted with the achievements of Homer, +Empedocles, Hippocrates, Michelangelo, Socrates, Buddha, Plato, Emerson, +Gladstone, Bismarck, Lincoln, and Carlyle--his self-exaltation drops +from him like a garment. He--who knows how to construe a few pages of +the classics, who knows how to demonstrate a few mathematical problems, +scan a few verses, recite a few odes, carry on a few scientific +experiments, undertake a small research--how shall he compete with these +rulers of the thought of men? + +Then it is that the real rule of a university--its spirit of humility, +and of reverence for antiquity--begins. The true university man, born +and bred in the century, not in the years, in the race halls, not those +alone in his Alma Mater, is neither a scoffer nor an atheist, nor a +critic, sceptic, or cynic. He is a man of simple and exalted faith. God, +who hath brought such great things to pass in science, nature, and art, +in human character, in the destiny of nations, and the history of humble +men and women, is a God before whom there must be awe and reverence, and +not a flippant scouting of the ancient ideals. Man, who is so tried by +temptation and scourging of the spirit, is a creature to be loved, +appreciated, understood; not a being to whom shall be shown arrogance, +aloofness, and pride. The university that makes snobs of its graduates +has not yet entered into its kingdom of control. + +A university also holds rule over truth. Absolute truth is in God's +hand. But the university has class-rooms and libraries, apparatus and +laboratories, which are intended for the discovery and furtherance of +truth. The university is not a place to cry out for big salaries. The +salaries should be living salaries. The seeker after truth should not be +left without enough money for heat and shelter, for bread and meat, rest +and summer-change; for the coming of children and their education. But +truth may lodge without shame in an humble dwelling and may be greatly +furthered without an elaborate bill of fare. + +The university men of the times are the establishers of a kind of +righteousness that is not always found in books. Their individual value, +as they go out into the world, is to set right values on social customs +and decrees; to establish the law of freedom in the home; to lead men +and women out of the thraldom of ignorance, vulgarity, hearsay, and +"style," into simplicity of living and a sane scale of household +expense. The university leader of the future is the man who shall set +laws over household accounts and who shall rule over such simple things +as what best to eat and buy. He shall be an economist of the larger +sort, providing for the spiritual necessities of men and their moral +conduct, rather than for their balls, card-parties, and social +side-shows, including church entertainments and philanthropic dances and +bazaars. He shall pave the way to a larger view of wealth, influence, +and reform; endue man with a keener sense of his own responsibilities, +make him a creature of larger desires and of more aspiring wants. + +In particular, he shall pass down from generation to generation the high +and noble learning of the past; he shall keep alive the flower of +courtesy and charity; he shall tell the dreams of past sages, and +interpret them; he shall review the thronging nations; and he shall so +imbue the mind with a love of truth, of ideals, of excellence, of honor, +that a new race shall go out into a larger and a nobler world. And then +a better day shall dawn for men. + +6. The Kings of State. Says Milton, in his sonnet on Cromwell: + + "_Yet much remains + To conquer still; Peace hath her victories + No less renowned than War: new foes arise, + Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains. + Help us to save free conscience from the paw + Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw_." + +In the third moon of the year 1276, Bayan, the conquering lieutenant of +Genghis Khan, captured Hangchow, received the jade rings of the Sungs, +and was taken out to the bank of the river Tsientang to see the spirit +of Tsze-sü pass by in the great bore of Hangchow--that tidal wave which +annually rolls in, and, dashing itself against the sea-wall of Hangchow, +rushes far up the river, bringing, for eighteen miles inland, a tide of +fresh, deep-sea splendor, and thrilling all who see or hear. + +In the life of nations there are times and tides. Against the tide-wall +of history, beaten by many a storm, and battered by many a thundering +wave, there is about to sweep the incoming wave of a new life for the +race: there is about to pass a greater than the spirit of Tsze-sü,--even +the Spirit of God! + + "_We are living,-we are dwelling, + In a grand and awful time, + Age on age to ages telling, + To be living is sublime_!" + +We are moving out into a period of great statesmen, and of great +political standards and ideals. The days before us are days which will +make the Elizabethan era pale in history. Upon the head of our nation +are set responsibilities such as have never before rested on any +one man. + +The day of the true statesman is here; the day of the demagogue is done! +The rule of the orator is over the ideals and hopes of men. The +demagogue prostitutes this power. His rule is over the passions, +prejudices, and resentments of men. He cries aloud in the market-place, +and rogues and ward-heelers, and evil-minded politicians, group +themselves around him. He waves his sceptre over the vulgar and the +rascals of the town. + +The vital problem of municipal reform is not the shattering of the ring, +the overturning of the boss, the gagging of a few loud tongues. It is +the problem of the training of better bosses; the education of men and +women in social control; their enlightenment, from childhood up, in +civic duties, in national affairs, and the conduct of civil power. +Thereupon oratory turns to its higher ends. Through statesman, preacher, +and political teacher, it cries aloud of righteousness. I look for the +time when the typical politician shall be an honorable man; when to be +"in the ring" of municipal or national control shall mean to be an +integral and orderly part of the administration of God's great world; +when city life shall be purified; and when international law shall be +the interpretation of the will of the Almighty for the rule of nations. +We have honest doctors, lawyers, tradesmen; shall we not have an honest +politician and an upright ward-boss? + +Public service is a god-like service! Our Presidents shall more and more +be chosen, not alone for ideas, experience, or for party affiliations: +the President shall be chosen because he is a moral hero! Something has +stirred in the heart of the American people, which shall not soon be +stilled: a spiritual outlook upon political preferment. In the White +House we long to have the great spiritual exemplars of our race. Not +alone in church shall we offer up a "Prayer before Election." The time +is coming when each true ballot-slip shall be a prayer. + +Within the next fifty years shall be determined some of the greatest +questions of history. Among them shall be questions of industrial +adjustment and development, and of social progress. We must have in our +Cabinet not only the representatives of War and State, of Finance, +Trade, Labor, and Agriculture; but also of Education and of Social +Health. This is not a dream. You and I may live to see the results of +this religious awakening: it is elemental and epochal. + +Back of all individual dominion there is rising a yet higher +dominion--the dominion of the English-speaking race. We, having been +called by the providence of God to stand at the head of the march of +progress, may well ask ourselves concerning our imperial powers. The +line of progress for a nation is to allow no spiritual ideal to stagnate +or to retrograde. The spiritual aspiration of a nation always dominates +what is called the Social Mind. We grow toward what we worship. It is +ours to plant the dominion of civilization in foreign lands, and to +supplant a waning culture by a richer, truer, and nobler way of life. +The first thought of each of us, entering these new lands, whether +merchant, soldier, educator, or missionary, should be to hold Christ +aloft, that all tribes may come to His light, and kings to the +brightness of His rising. + +God leads us on. Said Lincoln: "I have been driven many times to my +knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My +own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day." +Like a vast Hand stretched against the sky of Time is the Hand of God--a +Hand writing, in these wondrous days, a destiny for generations yet to +be! Rising with us are all God-fearing nations--the Teutonic, Slav, and +Latin peoples. Sitting yet in darkness, and massed against us, crouch +sullenly the immemorial hordes of Asia, the wild blacks of the African +swamps and jungles, and the dwellers of Polynesian seas. Occident and +Orient, the world's battalions are forming for new encounters and new +dismays. Never since the strong-limbed Goths changed the face of Europe +has there been a period of such tense anticipation, nor so great a +possibility of volcanic change. We are entering an historic period of +reconstruction, when new maps of the world will be drawn. The sceptre is +passing into new hands: to-day the throne of civilization is being +arched above the seaway which joins London and New York. To-morrow, it +may be builded above Pacific tides, where our own shores look westward +to the ports of Asiatic Russia. For, rising on the world-horizon, are +these two World-empires, Russia and the United States. The dictators of +these two countries will soon become the dictators of the human race. +They are brave and virile nations, with untold reserves of power! As +these two giants gird themselves for World-dominion, who but God shall +gird the armor on, direct the onward course of change? + +Much of the ancient wealth and beauty shall be done away. In a few +generations the shrines of thirty centuries will be no more. Fane and +temple and pagoda will disappear; carvings, images, and Sikh-guarded +courts. Long lines of yellow-robed priests will chant their last +processional hymn to Buddha, and the smoking incense to waning gods +shall be quenched forever. Where Tao rites were celebrated, silence +shall fall; where fakir and dervish tortured and immolated their lives, +happy children shall play. Instead of the lotos of the Ganges and the +Nile, there shall bloom the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Vale. + +But as the empires of Buddha and Muhammad fall, a new Empire shall +prevail! + + "_Kings shall bow down before Him, + And gold and incense bring; + All nations shall adore Him, + His praise all people sing. + To Him shall prayer unceasing + And dally vows ascend; + His kingdom still increasing, + A kingdom without end_." + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF PRELATES AND EVANGELISTS + + [LYONS] + + _O Majesty throned, O Lord of all Light, + Shine down on our spirits and scatter the night; + As Adam received his life-impulse from Thee, + Endued with all fulness, we quickened would be_ + + _Let all that we know--love, learning, and power-- + Melt down in Thy Presence, and flame in this hour; + Anoint us and bless us and lift our desire + And grant us to speak as with tongues touched with fire_! + + _Life flows as a dream--its pleasures are dear: + The world is about us--temptation is near; + Oh, guide us, and shew us the pathway to God + The feet of the prophets aforetime have trod_! + + _The bells cease their chime,--the hosts enter in: + May many be purged of their sloth and their sin! + Cheer Thou the despondent, the weary, the sad, + Rouse all to rejoicing, that all may be glad_. + + _And when life is o'er, and each must depart + In quaking and silence,--abide with each heart; + The songs of Thy saints then caught up to the skies, + As waves of great waters shall thunderous rise_! + + ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY + +In Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_ there is the legend of the Sword of Assay. +In the church against the high altar was a great stone, four-square, +like unto a marble stone. In the midst of it was an anvil of steel, a +foot high, and therein stood a naked sword by the point. About the sword +there were letters written, saying, "Whoso pulleth out this sword of +this stone and anvil, is righteous king born of all England." Many +assayed to pull the sword forth, but all failed, until the young Arthur +came, and, taking the sword by the handle, lightly and fiercely pulled +it out of the stone! By this token he was lord of the land. + +Each man's life is proved by some Sword of Assay. The test of a man's +call to the ministry is his power to seize the Sword of the Spirit: +wield the spiritual forces of the world, insight, conviction, +persuasion, truth. To do this successfully at least five things appear +to be necessary: a sterling education, marked ability in writing and in +public speaking, a noble manner, a voice capable of majestic +modulations, and a deep and tender heart. These phrases sound very +simple, but perhaps they mean more than at first appears. Have we not +all met some one, in our lifetime, whose acquaintance with us seemed to +have no preliminaries?--some one who never bothered to say anything at +all to us, until one day he said something that leaped and tingled +through our very being? This is the power that a minister ought to have +with every soul with whom he comes in contact: his word should quickly +touch a vital spot. No one to-day cares much for mere oratory, literary +discussion, polemics, or cursory exegesis; "marked ability in writing +and in public speaking" means that grip on reality which makes people +quiver, repent, believe, adore! + +Sincerity is the basis of such power. At heart we worship the man who +will not lie; who will not use conventions or formulas in which he does +not believe; who does not give us a second-hand view of either life or +God; who does not play with our conscience because it is not politic to +be too direct; who does not juggle with our doubts, nor ignore our hopes +and powers; who also frankly acknowledges that he, too, is a man. + +A call to the ministry also involves an over-mastering spiritual desire. +Tell me what a man wants, and I will tell what he is, and what he can +best do. If a man desires above all things to conduit a great business, +he is by nature qualified for trade; if he desires knowledge, he is +designed for a scholar; if he is always observing form, rhyme, aesthetic +beauty, and striving to produce verse, he is a born poet. But if the one +thing that rules his dreams is the longing for spiritual power--the +thought of impressing God upon his generation, and leading men to a +clearer view of life and duty--he is a born minister of the Spirit, and +to the spirit of the sons of men. Along with this goes the great burden: +"Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel!" + +Wherever, to-day, there is a young man in whose heart is stirring a +great devotional dream for the race, who longs to project his life into +the most enduring and far-reaching influence, who craves the exercise of +great gifts and powers, there is a man whose heart God is calling to +possibilities such as no one can measure, and to triumphs such as no one +can forecast! The highest triumphs of these coming years are to be +spiritual. The leader is to be the one who can carry the deepest +spiritual inspiration to the hearts of his fellow-men. Do not let the +hour go by! This day of vision is the prophetic day! + +But if the call be answered, if certain high-spirited and noble-minded +men ask thus to stand as spiritual ministrants to the souls of men, how +shall they be trained for the high office? + +The old way will not do. Sweeping changes, in these last days, have come +over the commercial, academic, and social world. We do not go back to +the hand-loom, the hand-sickle, the hand-press. What is true of these +aspects of life is true of the spiritual training. It must be larger, +freer, grander, than before. Time was when a theologian, it was +thought, must be separated from the world--an ascetic working in the dim +half-light of the old library, or scriptorium, or hall. To-day, he must +gain much of his training from the great life of the world--learn how to +meet men and occasions, and be prepared to deal with modern forces and +energies with courage, knowledge, and decision. + +We read of the earnest Thomas Goodwin: his favorite authors were such as +Augustine, Calvin, Musculus, Zanchius, Paraeus, Walaeus, Gomarus, and +Amesius. What Doctor of Theology takes the last six of these to bed with +him to-day? + +Our theological courses are too dry. Look carefully over the catalogues +of thirty or forty of our own seminaries, and notice the curious, almost +monastic, impression which they make. Then realize that the men who +pursue these abstruse and mediaeval subjects are the men who go out into +churches where the chief topics of thought and conversation are crops, +stocks, politics, clothes, servants, babies! There is a grim humor in +the thing, which seems to have escaped those who have drawn up the +curriculum. + +Life is not monastic. It is very lively. We scarcely get, in all our +post-collegiate life, a chance to sit and muse. We go through +sensations, experiences, and incongruities, which stir a sense of fun. A +man reads (I notice) in his seminary, St. Leo, _Ad Flaeirmum_, and makes +his first pastoral call on a woman who proudly brings out her first +baby for him to see. _Ad Flaeirmum_ indeed! What does St. Leo tell the +youth to say? + +What should be breathed into a man in the seminary, is not the mere +facts of ecclesiastical history, but the warm pulsating currents of +human life; the profound significance of the founding and the progress +of the Church; a deep psychological understanding of human desires, +motives, joys, ambitions, griefs; the relentlessness of sin; the help +and glory of Redemption; the quickening of the Christ; the vigor and the +tenderness of faith. Coincident with these must be a growth in depth and +dignity of life. No one likes to take spiritual instruction from men who +are themselves crude, foolish, sentimental, or conceited. Many social +snags on which young ministers are sure to run, are simply the rudiments +of social conduct, as practised by the world. Noble manners are one's +personal actions as influenced and guided by the great behavior of the +race. Under the impulse of ideals, much that is untoward or superficial +in one's bearing will disappear. It is impossible to think as noble men +and women have thought--to dream, love, and work as they have dreamed, +loved, and wrought--and not have pass into one's mien the high +excellence of such lives. + +The first education is spiritual. Until mind and heart are swept by the +spirit of God, chastened, purified, ennobled, and inspired, vain is all +the learning of the schools! To this end, there should be a more deeply +spiritual atmosphere in our seminaries, less of the mere academic +impulse. In every age, there are men just to come in contact with whom +is a benediction and a help for years. Such a man was Mark Hopkins, Noah +Porter, James McCosh. Such the leading men in every seminary should be. + +The plan of education must be of principles, not of facts. The +university research-men gather facts, and scientific men everywhere +collect, analyze, and classify them. But each small department of human +learning--each minute branch in that department--needs a lifetime for +the mastery of that one theme. Hence the work of the college is quite +apart from that of the school of theology. It is the place of the school +of theology, not to ignore the New Learning, but to group, upon the +basis of a thorough college training, certain great interests and +pursuits of mankind, in such a way as to afford, by means of them, a +leverage for spiritual work. + +After all is said and done, it is not the grammar-detail of Latin, +Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic dialects that makes a minister's power. It is +the strange language-culture of the race which should enter in; the +inner vitality of words, the beauty of poetic cadences, the strong flow +of rhythm, noble themes, great thoughts, impressive imagery and appeal. +We should know the Bible as literature, not as one knows a story-book, +or a dialect-exercise, but as one knows the melodies and memories of +childhood. + +The vital thing is not a knowledge of the historical schisms and decrees +of Christendom--not the external Evidences of Religion, Ecclesiastical +History, Ecclesiastical Polity, monuments, texts, memorabilia--the vital +thing is the power to think about God, and the problems of mankind. It +is a heart-knowledge of the difficulties and questionings of a race that +yearns for virtue. + +Man thirsts for God. No one is wholly indifferent to the Spirit. I fear +that some ministers do not know--and never will know--the heart-hunger +of the world. When they rise to speak, there is always some one present +whose breath is hushed with longing to hear spoken some real word of +truth, or strength, or comfort. If he receive but chaff!-- + +Theology is not a dry thing, and ought not be made so. It is quick with +the life of the race. Each dogma is a mile-stone of human progress. It +is the sifted and garnered wisdom of the centuries, concerning God, and +His ways with men. Each student should feel, not that a system is being +driven into him, as piles are driven into the stream, but that he is +being put in philosophic contact with the thought of the race on the +great topic of Religion, with liberty himself to experiment, think, and +add to the store. + +Homiletics is not a series of nursery-rules for man--formal, didactic +droppings of a pedant's tongue. Homiletics is the appeal of man to man, +for the welfare of his soul, and the true progress of mankind. Exegesis +is not a matter of Hebrew or Greek alone. It includes the spiritual +interpretation of the great problems of the race. Homer, Tennyson, +Browning, and Dante are exegetes, no less than Lightfoot, Lange, +and Schaff. + +Pastoral Divinity is not the etiquette of a polite way of making calls: +it is an entering into the social spirit of the time; the learning of +friendliness, unreserve, sympathy, persuasion, and a way of approach. It +is the mastery of spiritual _savoir-faire_. + +Outside of this group of technical subjects there are yet others of +vital importance from a scientific understanding of the world, and of +one's work. They are Psychology, Ethics, Sociology, and Politics. + +Since we have known more of the psychological meaning of adolescence, a +new theory of Conversion has sprung up; and whether or not we accept it, +the whole outlook over the underlying principle of conversion has been +changed. We must at least recognize that conversion is a scientific +process, as much as digestion is, or respiration; it is not a purely +emotional occurrence. + +The minister must learn what society really is, and how the far still +forces of time act and react upon each other, producing group-actions, +institutions, customs, ways. There are social fossils as well as +physical ones. Sociology is not a system of fads and reforms. It is the +scientific study of society, of its constitution, development, +institutions, and growth. He must also breathe largely of the great +governmental life of the race--understand the primary principles of +politics and administration. He should have some knowledge of commercial +interests, of the formulas, incentives, and right principles of trade. + +There should also be in the seminary an inspirational atmosphere of +music, literature, and art. Literature is a revelation of the life of +the soul. The man who reads literature and comprehends its message is +receiving a fine training which shall fit him for a thorough +understanding of the heart; of its practical, ethical, and spiritual +problems; of its domestic joys and sorrows; of its human cares and +burdens; of the appeals that will come to him for sympathy; of the +temptations that beset the race; and of the hopes and trials of +the world. + +Literature is one of the best tools a minister can have. He should be +read in the great literary and sermonic literature, the work of Bossuet, +Massillon, Chrysostom, Augustine, Fénelon, Marcus Aurelius, mediaeval +homilies, Epictetus, Pascal, Guyon, Amiel, Vinet, La Brunetière, Phelps, +Jeremy Taylor, Barrows, Fuller, Whitefield, Bushnell, Edwards, Bacon, +Newman, Ruskin, Carlyle, Emerson, Davies, Law, Bunyan, Luther, Spalding, +Robertson, Kingsley, Maurice, Chalmers, Guthrie, Stalker, Drummond, +Maclaren, Channing, Beecher, and Phillips Brooks, yes, even John Stuart +Mill. All these men, by whatever name or school they are called, are +writers of essays or sermons which appeal to the most spiritual deeps +of man. + +He should read the novels of Richter, Thackeray, Dickens, Scott, Eliot, +and Victor Hugo. He should know intimately the great verse which +involves spiritual problems, and human strife and aspiration,--Milton, +Beówulf, Caedmon, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, ballads, sagas, the +Arthur-Saga, the Nibelungenlied, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Herbert, +Tennyson, Browning, Dante and Christina Rossetti, Whittier, Lowell, +Longfellow, to say nothing of Goethe, Corneille, and the Greek, Roman, +Persian, Egyptian, Hindu, and Arabian verse. + +In music his heart should wake to the beauty of oratorios, symphonies, +chorals, concert music, national and military music, and inspiring +songs, not to speak of hymns and of anthems, the progress of Christian +song! The _Creation_, the _Messiah_, the _Redemption_, Bach's _Passion +Music_, the _St. Cecilia Mass_, Spohr's _Judgment_, Stainer's +_Resurrection_, the _Twelfth Mass_, Mendelssohn's _Elijah_,--these are +monumental works and themes. + +What is a hymn? We think of it as being some simple churchly words, set +to a serious tune. A hymn is the rhythmic aspiration of the race. No one +can look through a good hymnal--through _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, for +instance, or the Church Hymnary--without feeling that therein is bound +up the devotional life of the world. The spiritual outlook is cosmic. +Our every mood of penitence, praise, and aspiration resounds in +melodious and time-defying strains. + +In art, the religious spirit broods over the great work of the world. In +Angelo, Francesca, Veronese, Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto, +and Correggio, the brush of the painter has set forth the adoration of +the Church of God. + +Thus, taken all in all, to be educated as a minister should be to be +educated in the Higher Life of the race. + +Finally, above all else is the spiritual study and interpretation of the +Word of God. A minister may be fearless of the investigations of +scientific criticism. Every truth is important to him, but not all +truths are vital. When a man such as Caspar Rene Gregory speaks, +something of the holy mystery and inspiration of biblical research, as +well as a scientific result, is presented, and one gains a new +conception of what it really means to study and to understand the +Word of God. + +Under all is the life of ceaseless and prevailing prayer. By the life of +prayer, many mean merely a way of learning to make public petitions, an +objective appeal to God. The true life of prayer is as simple, as +unteachable, and as vital as the life of a child with its mother--the +little lips daily learning new ways of approach to its mother's heart, +and new words to make its wants and interests and sorrows known. + +Prayer is the true World-Power. Just as there are vast stretches in the +world where the foot of man has never trod, so there are unmeasured +regions whereon prayer has never been. The more we pray, the more +illimitable appears this spiritual realm. And all about us in the +universe are also great hidden forces: nothing will lay hold of them +but prayer. + +Each prayer enlarges the soul. The measure of our praying is the measure +of our growth. No man has reached his full possibilities of achievement +who has not completed the circuit of his possible prayers. Power is +proportionate to prayer. + +And last of all, there is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. What it +is, who may say? But that it is real, who can doubt? To read the lives +of Wesley, Whitefield, Finney, Moody, is to feel a strange, deep thrill. +They are men who spake, and men listened; who called, and men came to +God. Others, alas, so often call, and there is no response. They cannot +make headway through the indifference, the sloth, the materialism, and +the inherent vulgarity of the world. + +The life itself is arduous. After all is said, it is not quite the same +task to examine and classify either protoplasm or the most highly +organized forms of nature, that it is to analyze and understand the +mysterious workings of the heart, the intricacies of conscience and +conduct, the possibilities of spiritual development or of moral +downfall, and the many questionings, agonies, and ecstasies of the soul +of man. And they are to be studied and understood with the definite and +positive aim of the absolute reconstruction of the world-bound spirit--a +change of its motives, purposes, affections, ideals. More than this, +there must be at the heart of the more thoughtful minister a philosophic +basis for the reconstruction of society itself. + +Youth is not an adequate preparation for this task: a man must live and +grow. To deal with such themes and occasions, there must appear in the +world lives of such vigor that they can command; of such charm, that +they can attract; of such wisdom, that they can guide and comfort; of +such vitality, that they can inspire. And hence there rises before the +mind's eye a figure that is both knightly and kingly--a man earnest in +the redress of wrong, and who yet holds a subtle authority over the +forces that make for wrong; a man burdened with the cares and sorrows of +many others, and yet conducting his own life with serenity, enthusiasm, +dignity, and hope; a man to whose keen yet tender gaze a life-history +is revealed by a word or tone, but whose own eyes receive their light +from God. A prophet and a father, a priest and a counsellor, a brother, +friend, and judge, a sacrifice and an inspiration should he be who, in +reverence and love, brings before a waiting congregation the very +Word of Life! + + +SECOND: OF SPIRITUAL RULE + +1. The primary rule is over conscience. The man who sways a conscience +sways a human life. The man who sways a nation's conscience controls +that nation's life. To rule conscience, a man must himself be +unprejudiced and well informed. He must strive, not to keep up an +unhealthy excitement which shall make conscience introspective and +morbid, but to preserve a sane moral outlook, to encourage freedom of +thought and judgment, and to develop a normal conscience which reacts +promptly against wrong. Conscience measures our inner recoil from evil. +The power of a preacher is in direct proportion to the energy with which +he reveals sin in the heart of man, and wakes his whole nature against +its insidious power. + +Sin is. To-day, sin is thought a somewhat brusque word, lacking in +polish. To use it frequently is a mark of lack of '_savoir-faire_! +Indeed to speak of it at all is as archaic as to speak of the +Ichthyosaurus. But sin is a root-fact of the life of man. It is the +office of the spiritual teacher to pluck out sin; to pierce the heart +with a recognition of the enormity of sin, and of its far-reaching +consequences; to stir the seared conscience, rouse the apathetic life, +thrill the spiritual imagination, and to quicken the heart to better +love and to nobler dreams. He rebukes the private sins of individuals +and the public sins of nations. In the _Faerie Queene_, the +"soul-diseased knight" was in a state + + "_In which his torment often was so great, + That like a lyon he would cry and rare, + And rend his flesh, and his own synewes eat_." + +But Fidelia, like the faithful pastor, was both + + "_able with her word to kill, + And raise againe to life the heart that she did thrill_." + +This power has at times been misunderstood and misapplied. No human +authority can bind the conscience, nor set rules and regulations for the +soul of man. The prerogative of final direction belongs to God alone. No +man may arrogate it--no pastor for people, no husband for wife, no wife +for husband, no parent for child. The sadness of the world has been, +that men have not always been spiritually free. Freedom has been a +social growth--a phase of progress. It has taken wars and persecutions, +revolutions and reformations, the blood of saints and martyrs, the +sorrow of ages, to plant this precept in the mind of man. + +The evangelist warns. He speaks of sin, death, hell, and the judgment +to come. It is for these things that he is sent to testify. These are +not the catch-words of a new sort of Fear King who uses oral terrors to +affright the soul of man. Heaven and hell are not a new sort of +ghost-land: retribution is not a larger way of tribal revenge. + +No. The latest facts of science present this universe as not only +progressive, but as retributive. There is a rebound of evil which makes +for pain. Each broken law exacts a penalty. Each deed of sin is a +forerunner of personal and of social disaster. The generation that sins +shall be cut off, while the stock of the righteous grows strong from +age to age. + +The scientific vista opening to the eye of man is impressive and +appalling. Each man has within himself a future of joy or sadness for +the race. Do you remember the sermon of Horace Bushnell on the +"Populating Power of the Christian Faith"? Do you recall the history of +the infamous Jukes family? That of the seven devout and noble +generations of the Murrays? The Day of Judgment is not only the Last +Great Day--it is to-day and every day. "Every day is Doomsday," says +Emerson. Nature is unforgetful. Nature is accountant. Each iniquity must +be paid for out of the resources of the race. + +It is of these grave omens that the Man of God must speak. He dare not +be tongue-tied by custom or by fear. He must proclaim hell in the ears +of all mankind. For wherever hell may be, and we do not yet know, and +whatever hell may be, and we cannot even imagine, Hell _is_; and the +soul of man must be kept mindful of these great things. + +The evangelist comforts and consoles. The heart of man is wayward and +goes oft astray. No one can be belabored into righteousness. The true +lover of souls allows for the hereditary weaknesses of man, for his +infirmities of will and temper, for his excuses, wanderings, and tears, +and presents to him Jesus, in whose sight no one is too wretched to be +received, too wicked to be forgiven. + +We must have forgiveness in order to know God. The most comforting +thought in the world is that God knows all we do. There can be no +misunderstanding between us: He cannot be misinformed. + +The evangelist must come close, in sympathy and counsel, to the personal +and individual life of those whom he would help. Perhaps the best way to +emphasize this point would be to insert here words written by a woman +who has been thinking on this subject. + +She says: "I have never had a pastor. It is the one good thing lacking +in my life. I have grown up among ministers, and have had many friends +among them--some of them have cared for me. But there has never been one +among them all who stood in an attitude of spiritual authority and +helpfulness to my life. We church-going and Christian men and women of +the educated class are almost wholly let alone; apparently no one takes +thought for our souls. We are not in the least infallible; we come face +to face with fierce temptations; we have heart-breaking sorrows; we are +burdened with anxiety and perplexity. But we are left to grope as blind +sheep; there is no one to point out the path to us, however dimly; no +one to say, at any crucial moment of our lives, Walk here! + +"Once, however," she continues, "one of my friends, a minister, knelt +down by me and prayed. It was a simple and ordinary occasion--others +were present. But every word of that prayer was meant for the uplifting +of my heart. In that hour, I was as if overshadowed by the Holy Ghost; +new aims and purposes were born within me. My friend loves me--that does +not matter--it is his spiritual intensity I care for. And this is his +reward for his fidelity and tenderness: In the hour when I come to die, +when one does not ask for father or mother, or husband or wife, or +brother or sister, or friend or child, but only for the strong comfort +of the man of God--in that hour, I say, if I be at all able to make my +wishes known, I shall send for that man to come to me. He, and no other, +shall present my soul to God." + +Reading the above words, more than one minister will cry out, his eyes +blazing: "I say the same to you! Who is there that tries to shield the +minister from sorrow and from pain? Who is there to comfort and help +_him_? You think we can just go on, and preach, preach, preach, standing +utterly alone, and with no one on earth to keep our own hearts close to +God! I tell you, it is a lonely and weary work at times, this being a +minister!" + +Yes, there must be a people, as well as a pastor. The relation is +reciprocal. Wherever there is a strong man, leaning down in fire and +tenderness to help the lives about him, there must be a loyal and loving +congregation, with here and there in it some one who more fully +appreciates and understands. Nothing beats down and discourages a man +more than to feel that he is preaching to cold air and not to human +folks, and to get back, when he offers sympathy, a stare. + +A congregation is a mysterious and subtle social force. Its effect on a +minister he can neither analyze nor explain. But he knows that its power +is mesmeric and cannot be escaped. He goes into its presence from an +hour of exalted and uplifted prayer, serene, happy, strong, and prepared +to speak words of power and life. Gazing at his people--he can never +tell why--the words freeze on his lips. An icy hand seems laid upon his +heart, and he makes a cold and formal presentation of his glowing theme, +and wonders who or what has done it all. Something satanic and +repelling has laid hold of his tongue and brain. + +Or again, he may have had a worried and troubled week, full of personal +anxiety and sorrow. He has not had full time to study--he feels quite +unprepared, and enters the pulpit with a halting step, and a choking +fear of failure at his heart. + +In a moment, the world changes. Something imperceptible, but sweet and +comforting, steals over him,--an uplifting atmosphere of attention, +sympathy, affection. He begins to speak, very quietly at first, with +quite an effort. But the congregation leads him on, to deeper thoughts, +to nobler words, to modulations of voice that carry him quite beyond +himself. His voice rises, and every syllable is firm and musical. His +language springs from some far centre of inspiration. He is conscious of +superb power, and as sentence after sentence falls from his +lips----sentences that amaze himself more than any other----he enters +into the supreme height of joy, that of being a spiritual messenger to +the hearts of longing men and women. He and they together talk of God. + +This sympathetic atmosphere makes great preachers and great men. In +return, there flows from a pastor toward his people a love that few can +know or understand. + +2. His rule is also over spiritual enthusiasm. What is a revival? We +confound it with a local excitement, a community-sensation of an +hysterical and passing type--with sensational disturbances, falling +exercises, shouts, weeping, and the like. A revival is something far +different. A revival is an awakening of the community heart and mind. It +is a quickening of dead, backsliding, or inattentive souls. + +Man as an individual is quite a different person from the same man in a +crowd. One is himself alone; the other is himself, plus the influence of +the Social Mind. A revival is a social state, in which the social +religious enthusiasm is stirred up. It is a lofty form of religion, just +as the patriotism which breaks forth in tears and cheers as troops go +out to war is a finer type than the mere excitement and fervor of one +patriotic man. What would the Queen's Jubilee have been, if but one +soldier had marched up and down? A great commemoration! If we grant the +reality of national rejoicing in the royal jubilees, commercial +rejoicing in business men's processions, university enthusiasm on +Commencement Day--shall we not grant the reality of the religious +interest and enthusiasm of a great revival, in which whole communities +shall be led to a clearer knowledge of spiritual things? + +The Crusades were a magnificent revival. The Reformation was a revival. +The Salvation Army movement is a revival. But the greatest revival of +all times is even now upon us: it is a revival in the scientific +circles of the race. Time was when science and religion were supposed to +be at odds; to-day the intellectual phalanxes are sweeping Christward +with an impetus that is sublime! Thinkers are finding in the large life +of religion a motive power for their thought, their growth--a reason for +their existence--a forecast of their destiny. We are beginning to +realize the dynamic value of Belief. This revival is coming, not with +shouts and noise, but with the quiet insistence of new ideas, of new +facts--with the still voice of scientific announcement. The atheist is +being overcome, not by emotion, but by evidence; the scoffer is being +put down by cool logic. + +Hence the evangelist of to-day is more than a man who can popularly +address a public audience, and by tales and tears arouse a weeping +commotion. The evangelist is a man of intellect and prayer, who can +preach the gospel to a scientific age, and to a thinking coterie--a +coterie of college men and mechanics, of society women and +servant-girls, of poets and of mine-diggers, of convicts and of +reformers. To-day calls for the utmost intellectual resources of the +teacher of the truth, for a great imagination, great style, great +sympathy with men, large learning, and unceasing prayer! + +3. His rule is over social ideals. He must be a man of social insight. +The social spirit is abroad in the world, but it is woefully erratic +and misguided. Any one thinks he can be an altruist. Why not? Take a +class in a college settlement, make some bibs for a day nursery, give +tramps a C.O.S. card, with one's compliments, and attend about six +lectures a year on Philanthropy--the lectures very good indeed. One is +then a full-fledged altruist, _n'est-ce pas_? + +The philanthropy of to-day has a bewildering iridescence of aspect. Each +present impulse is reformatory. Correction, like a centipede, shows a +hundred legs and wants to run upon them all. Much of the so-called +philanthropy is not well balanced and is run by cranks. Cranks attach +themselves to any social movement, as a shaggy gown will gather burrs. +It is not all of philanthropy to classify degenerates, titter at +ignorance, and to go a-peeping through the slums! We have not yet +realized the fulness of redemption. Of what avail is it to save one +street-Arab, or one Chinaman, if a million Arabs and Chinamen remain +unsaved? Redemption is a race-savior: it seizes not only the individual, +but his environment, his friends, and his future state. + +The true minister is a reformer. A reformer is one who re-crystallizes +the social ideals of man, who breaks up idols and bad customs, and +sweeps away abuses. But we must first ask: What is an idol? What is a +bad custom? What is an abuse? They are social standards which are out of +harmony with true concepts of God, life, and duty. Behind the work of +the reformer is the dream of the reformer, the meditation of the mystic, +the seer. He must first have in mind a plain, clear conception of what +the relation is of man to God, of what man's environment should be, and +of what the society of the Kingdom should be. The reformer is one who +changes an existing social environment for approximately this ideal +environment of his own thought. When he breaks an idol, it is not the +idol itself that he everlastingly hates, it is the materialistic concept +of the community. What he wishes in place of the idol is a right +conception. No man could break up every idol in the Sandwich Islands. +But a man went about implanting a spiritual idea of God, and the idols +disappeared. + +Hence the work of the reformer is deep and heart-searching work. It +means constant study of the spiritual needs of the age, continual +insight into the material forces which are moulding the age-images, +money, conquest, or whatever they may be. He wishes to maintain a +spiritual hold on civilization itself, so to transform the ideal within +a man, a community, a nation, in regard to custom, observance, belief, +that the outer rite shall follow. + +To reform is not to rush through the slums, and then preach a +sensational sermon about bad places in the slums, of which most people +never knew before! To reform is to know something of the conditions +which produce the slums--it is not to scatter the slum-people broadcast +elsewhere in the town; it is not alone to give them baths, playgrounds, +circulating libraries of books and pictures, dancing-parties, and social +clubs. To reform the slums is to set up a new ideal of God, and of +righteous conduct in the heart of the slum-dwellers. One must know +something of the slow processes of social change, of social +assimilation, growth, and stability, to have an intellectual perception +of the problem, as well as a spiritual one. One does not make an ill-fed +child strong by stuffing five pounds of oatmeal down its throat! + +The reformer must not only be a man of energy, he must be a man of +patience. Great reforms come slowly. As man has advanced, idleness, +indolence, brutality, tyranny, drunkenness, cant, and social scorn are +gradually being cast out. But behind these simple words lie hid +centuries of strife and endeavor, and limitless darkenings of +human hope. + +To fly against vice is merely to invite enmity and opposition. To +present a pure and noble ideal, to breathe forth a holy atmosphere for +the soul, are constructive works. The trouble is not, that the ministers +preach on social themes--all themes that concern the life of man are +social themes. It is that they do piece-work and patch-work of reform, +instead of plain, direct upbuilding work in the souls and consciences of +men. To preach upon horse-stealing is one thing. The horse-stealer may +be impressed, convicted, made penitent, and return the stolen horse. But +not until his heart is imbued with a spiritual conception of honesty, as +the law of God, will he steal a stray horse no more. Hence the first +questions in reform are not: How many groggeries are there in my parish? +How many corrupt polls? How many hypocrites on my church-roll? The +question is: How is my parish society in enmity to the highest spiritual +ideal I know? Many men preach about saloons, when they ought to be +preaching about Christ. + +The force of this reform-energy is uncomputed. We hear of occasional +great reformers, but forget that there has been a prevailing influence +extending over the ages, of holy men of God, who have preached and +taught and prayed; who have preserved our social institutions of +spiritual import, and have been a mighty and continuous force working +for righteousness and peace. + +Missions are a higher form of politics. To further missions is to +further government, international comity, world-peace. + +4. His rule is over creed. He is inevitably a teacher of doctrine. + +What is doctrine? Doctrine is spiritual truth, formulated in a +systematic way. It is also, in church matters, a system of truth which +has been believed in, and clung to, by a body of believers constituting +some branch of the catholic Church. + +It is a noble and serious office to hand down from generation to +generation the faith and traditions of the Church of God. But this +handing-down must be upright. "You must bind nothing upon your charges," +says Jeremy Taylor, "but what God hath bound upon you." Conviction is at +the root of the lasting traditions of the Church. Only this--his +conviction--can one man really teach another. If he try to speak +otherwise, he shall have a lolling and unsteady tongue. + +No soul is finally held by the indefinite, or the namby-pamby. It begins +to question, Upon what foundation does this phrase, this fine sentiment, +rest? It must stand upon a proposition. This proposition rests either +upon a scientific fact, or upon that which, for want of a more definite +term, we call the religious instinct of man. But a proposition cannot +standalone. It is connected with other propositions, arguments, +conclusions. Hence a system of logic, of philosophy, of expressed +belief, of doctrine, inevitably grows up in a thinking community, a +thinking Church. + +The statement of an ecclesiastical system of doctrine may not be the +absolutely true one, nor the final one. Doctrine changes, even as +scientific theories change with fuller information. Doctrine also +expands, with the growth of the human spirit and understanding. To-day, +in one's library, one has a thousand books. They are shelved and +catalogued, for reference, in a special order. But years hence, one's +grandson, who inherits these books, may have ten thousand books. The +aspect of the library is changed. It is filled with new volumes, and new +thought. Shall we give a liberty to a man's library which we refuse to +his belief? Must he--and his church--have only his grandfather's ideas, +standards, and decrees? + +The tenets of a sect are the theological arrangement of belief which for +the present seems best; it is the systematic arrangement of facts so far +examined, determined, and classified. But no system of theology can be +final. Thought is moving on. Experience is progressive. Providence is +continually revealing. The race is a creed-builder, as well as a builder +of pyramids, cathedrals, and triumphal arches. + +The building-up of doctrine is superb. Into doctrine are woven the +intellectual beliefs, the emotional experiences, and the spiritual +struggles of mankind. Doctrine is an attempt to classify the spiritual +problems of the race and to present a theory of redemption which shall +be adequate, spiritually progressive, and the exact expression, so far +as yet revealed, of the will of God for man. All Christian doctrine is +centred about one point: the redemption of the race from sin. Dealing +with such great and fundamental themes, each system of doctrine is an +intellectual triumph. + +Doctrine is an intellectual necessity. Christ is not sporadic, either in +history or philosophy. To teach Christ, as the unlettered savage may +who has just learned of Christ the Saviour and turns to teach his +fellow-savages, might do good or save a soul from death. But in order to +command the intellectual respect of the race, there must be another form +of teaching yet than this, a teaching which presents Christ in the +historic and philosophic setting: the central Figure in a great body of +associated spiritual truth; Christ as the fulfilment of prophecy, the +means of social adjustment and regeneration; the Finisher of our Faith, +and the Source of eternal joy. We must be, not less spiritual +Christians, but increasingly intellectual ones, as time rolls on. + +Who are the men who have built up doctrine? Men speak as if doctrine +were an ecclesiastical toy--to be shaken by priest or prelate, as one +shakes a rattle, for noise, for play! A doctrine is not a toy; it is the +crystallized belief of earnest, thoughtful, and godly men--belief which +has passed into a church tradition, and is now received as an act +of faith. + +Shall doctrine be taught a child? Yes! To have a specific doctrine +clearly in mind does not fetter the young soul, any more than to be +taught the apparent facts of geography and history, which may change +either in reality or in his own interpretation as his mind matures. A +doctrine is a practical and definite thing to work with; in later life +to believe, and to approve of, or disbelieve, and disapprove of. If a +man wishes to build a house, does it fetter him to know square measure, +cubic contents, geometry, mensuration, and mechanical laws? Yet when he +builds his house, he builds it in his own individual way; he stamps it +with his own personality and ideas. While building it, perchance, he +discovers some new relation or geometric law. + +Doctrine does not save from hell, but it does save from many a snare +that besets the feet of man. It is a steadier of life, a strengthener of +hope, a stalwart aid to a practical, devout, and duty-doing life. A +catechism is a system of doctrine expressed in its simplest form. +Therefore, for the intellectual and moral training of the Church, let us +have sound doctrine in the pulpit, and the catechism in the home and +Sabbath-school. + +It is objected that doctrinal terminology is too hard for a child to +understand. Is this not absurd, when the same child can come home from +school and talk glibly of a parallelepipedon, a rhombus, rhomboid, +polyhedral angle, archipelago, law of primogeniture, the binomial +theorem, and of a dicotyledon! He also learns French, German, Latin, +Greek, and the _argot_ of the public school! + +The theological leader of to-day cannot be a creed-monger: he must be a +creed-maker. Side by side with the executive officers who will +reorganize the Christian forces, there will stand great creed-makers, +giant theologians, firm, logical, scientific, and convincing, who, out +of the vast array of new facts brought forth by modern science, will +produce new creeds, a new catechism, a new dogmatic series. It is worth +while to live in these days--to know the possibility of such monumental +constructive work in one's own lifetime. The creed-makers must have a +thorough literary training; no mere vocabulary of philosophy will +answer. Like the Elizabethan divines, they must rule the living word, +which shall echo for a century yet to come. + +As the great Ecumenical Council was convened for missionary progress, so +the times are now ripe for the assembling of a historic Theological +Council, to revise and restate, not one denominational catechism, but +the creed of Christendom; to provide a new literary expression of the +Christian faith. Together we are working in God's world, and for +His kingdom. + +If doctrine be the crystallized thought and belief of godly men, what is +heresy? What is schism? Who is dictator of doctrine? How far are the +limits of authority to be pressed? What are the bounds of ecclesiastical +control? of intellectual mandate in the Christian Church? + +In the academic world, we do not cast a man out of his mathematical +chair because he can also work in astro-physics or in psycho-physics. If +he can pursue advanced research in an allied or applied field, it will +help him in his regular and prescribed work. We do not cast an English +professor out of his chair, because he announces that there are two +manuscripts of Layamon's _Brut_, and that the text of Beówulf has been +many times worked over, before we have received it in its present form. +Yet there are accredited professors of English who do not know these +facts, and who, if called upon, could neither prove them nor disprove +them. They have not worked in the Bodleian, in the British Museum, or in +other foreign libraries, on Old English texts and authorities. They +think themselves well up in Old English if they can translate the text +of Beówulf fairly well, remember its most difficult vocabulary, and can +tell a tale or two from the _Brut_. + +Not every man has Europe or Asia in his backyard, nor a lifetime of +leisure for research, for special learning, on the moot questions of +church-scholarship. Progress consists in each man's doing his best to +advance the interests of the kingdom of God in his own special sphere. +From others he must take something for granted. The ear of the Church +ought always to be open to the sayings of the specialist. A Church +should grant liberty of research, of thought, of speech--to a degree. + +But whatever may come out of twentieth-century or thirtieth-century +combats, one thing remains clear: A Church is an organization, a social +body, with a certain doctrine to proclaim, a certain faith to hand down +to men. The doctrine is not in all details final--each phase of faith +may change. But the organization, to protect its own purity and +integrity--however generous in allowing individual research, and the +expression of individual ideas--must exert authority over the teachers +in her midst, those who are called by her name, who have her children in +their charge, and for whose teaching the Church, as a whole, is +responsible. There is doubtless a time when the man who is really in +advance of his times intellectually must be misunderstood, must be +disagreed with, must be cast out. But all truth may await the verdict of +time. If he has discovered something new, something true, the centuries +will make it plain. There remains a chance--and the Church dare not risk +too great a chance--that he is mistaken, impious, presumptuous, or +self-deceived. We dare not rush to a new doctrine or spiritual +conception, merely because one man, who knows more of a certain kind of +learning than we do, has said so. One must be bolstered up by a +generation of convinced and believing men, before he can draw a Church +after him. No other process is intellectually legitimate. In any other +event ecclesiastical anarchy would reign. To maintain the historic +position of the Church is a necessity, until that position is proven +untrue. So to maintain it is not bigotry, it is not lack of charity; it +is merely common-sense. + +The question, Where is the line between ecclesiastical integrity and +individual freedom? is therefore one which the common-sense of +Christendom is left to solve--not to-day, not to-morrow, but gradually, +generously, and conscientiously, as the centuries go on. + + +THIRD: OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITY + +It is said that a minister is greatly handicapped to-day in all his +efforts for two reasons: First, that the times are spiritually +lethargic, that men are so engrossed by material aims, indifference, or +sin that a pastor can get no hold upon their hearts. Second, that he is +bound hand and foot by conditions existing in the organization and +personnel of his church, and hence is not free to act. + +What would we think of an electrician who would complain that a storm +had cast down his network of wires? Of a civil engineer who would lament +that the mountain over which he was asked to project a road was steep? +Of a doctor who would grieve that hosts of people about him were very +ill? Of a statesman who would cry out that horrid folks opposed him? It +is the work of the specialist to meet emergencies, and it is his +professional pride to triumph over difficult conditions. The harder his +task, the more he exults in his power of success. + +It is a glorious task that lies before the minister of to-day--to +maintain, develop, and uplift the spiritual life of the most wonderful +epoch of the world's history; to place upon human souls that vital +touch that shall hold their powers subject to eternal influences and +aims. The times are not wholly unfavorable: our era, which spurns many +ecclesiastical forms, is at heart essentially religious. _The World for +Christ!_ How this war-cry of the spirit thrills anew as one realizes how +much more there is to win to-day than ever before. The Warrior girds +himself and longs eagerly to marshal great, shining, active hosts +for God! + +It is true that the conditions of work are more trying than they have +usually been. A man goes out from the seminary. He has had a good +education, followed by perhaps a year or two abroad, and some practical +experience in sociological work. He has plans, ideas, ideals, a vigorous +and whole-souled personality, a frank and generous heart. + +What does he find? He soon discovers that the battle is not always to +the strong, the educated, or the well-bred. Too often he is at the mercy +of rich men who can scarcely put together a grammatical sentence; of +poorer men who are, in church affairs, unscrupulous politicians; of +women who carp and gossip; and of all sorts of men and women who desire +to rule, criticise, hinder, and distrain. They, too, are the very people +who, in the ears of God and of the community, have vowed to love him and +to uphold his work! The more intellectual and spiritual he is, the more +he is troubled and distressed. + +Many churches, too, are in a chronic state of internal war. As for +these rising church difficulties--try to put out a burning bunch of +fire-crackers with one finger, and you have the sort of task he has in +hand. While one point of explosion is being firmly suppressed, other +crackers are spitting and going off. Whichever way he turns, and +whatever he does, something pops angrily, and a new blaze begins! And +this business, incredibly petty as it is, blocks the progress of the +Christian faith. Men and women of education and refinement, of a wide +outlook and noble thoughts and deeds, are more and more unwilling to +place themselves on the church-roll; a minister sometimes finds himself +in the anomalous position of having the more cultured, congenial, and +philanthropic people of the community quite outside any church +organization. + +All these things mean, not that a minister must grow discouraged, but +that he must set his teeth, and with pluck and endurance rise strong and +masterful and say, This shall not be! Let him not listen to the barking +and baying: let him hearken to the great primal voices of man and +nature. Love lies deeper than discord. The constructive forces of +humanity are stronger than the disintegrative. The right +attraction binds. + +There are some men who by the sheer force of their personality subdue +their church difficulties. They hold the captious in awe. By a sort of +magnetic persuasion and lively sense of humor they soothe this one and +that, win the regard of the outlying community, attach many new members +to the organization, and build up, out of discordant and erstwhile +discontented elements, a harmonious and active church. This is the man +for these martial times! If there are born leaders in every other +department of the world's work, men who quietly but firmly assert their +authority and supremacy in the tasks in which they hold, by free +election or legitimate appointment, a place at the head--it ought to be +so in the Church of God! I long to see arise in the ministry _a race +of iron!_ + +There are other difficulties, seldom spoken of, of which one must write +frankly, though with the keenest sympathy, if one is to look deeply into +the modern church problem. First: Is a minister's environment favorable +to his best personal development? Does he not miss much from the lack of +the world's hearty give-and-take? He gets criticism, but not of a just +or all-round kind. Small things may be pecked at, trifles may be made +mountains of by the disgruntled, but where does he get a clear-sighted, +whole-hearted estimate of himself and his work? Who tells him of his +real virtues, his real faults? Among all his friends, who is there, man +or woman, who is brave enough to be true? + +Other men are soon shaken into place. Their personal traits continually +undergo a process of chiselling and adjustment. They are told +uncomfortable things how quickly! At the club, in the university, in +the market, the ploughing-field, the counting-room, they rub up against +each other, and no mercy is shown by man to man until primary signs of +crudeness are worn off. Let a conceited professor get in a college +chair! Watch a hundred students begin their delightful and salutary +process of "taking him down" by the sort of mirth in which college boys +excel! Their unkindness is not right, but the result is, they never +molest a man who is merely eccentric. + +Watch a scientific association jump with all fours upon a man who has +just read a paper before their body! How unsparingly they analyze and +criticise! He has to meet questions, opposition, comments, shafts of wit +and envy, jovial teasing and correction. He goes out from the meeting +with a keener love of truth and exactness, and a less exalted idea of +his own powers. Watch the rivalry and sparring that go on in any +business. Men meet men who attack them; they fight and overcome them, or +are themselves overcome. + +Human friction is not always harmful. A minister should not be hurt or +angered by disagreement and discussion. No one's ideas are final. Let +him expect to stand in the very midst of a high-strung, spirited, and +hard-working generation. Let him be turned out of doors. Let him travel, +look, learn, meet men and women, and conquer in the arena of manhood. +Then, by means of this undaunted manhood, he may the better guide the +fiery enthusiasms of men, inspire their higher ambitions, and comfort +them in their bitter human sorrows! + +Again, too often a minister is spoiled in his first charge by flattery, +polite lies, and gushing women. He is sadly overpraised. A bright young +fellow comes from the seminary. He can preach; that is, he can prepare +interesting essays, chiefly of a literary sort, which are pleasant to +listen to, though, in the nature of things, they can have scarcely a +word in them of that deep, life-giving experience and counsel which come +from the hearts of men and women who have lived, and know the truth of +life. He is told that these sermons are "lovely," "beautiful," "_so_ +inspiring," and he believes every word of praise. No one says to him, +"When you know more, you will preach better," and his standard of +excellence does not advance. This man, who might have become a great +preacher, remains, as years go on, alas! an intellectual potterer. + +He is also socially made too much of, being one of the very few men +available for golf and afternoon teas, suppers, picnics, tennis, +charity-bazaars. Other men are frankly too busy for much of these +things, except for healthful recreation; and not infrequently one finds +stray ministers absolutely the only men at some function to which men +have been invited. + +A minister is not a parlor-pet. How many a time an energetic man, +society-bound, must long to kick over a few afternoon tea-tables, and +smash his way out through bric-à -brac and chit-chat to freedom +and power! + +I should think that a real Man in the ministry would get so very tired +of women! They tell him all their complaints and difficulties, from +headaches, servants, and unruly children, to their sentimental +experiences and their spiritual problems. Men tell him almost nothing. +Watch any group of men talking, as the minister comes in. A moment +before they were eager, alert, argumentative. Now they are polite or +mildly bored. He is not of their world. Some assert that he is not even +of their sex! Hence the lips of men are too often sealed to the +minister. He must find some way not only to meet them as brother to +brother, but he must capture their inmost hearts. The shy confidence of +an honorable man once won, his friendship never fails. + +The question of a minister's relation to the women of his congregation +and the community is not only curious and complex--it is a perpetual +comedy. How do other men in public life deal with this problem? They +have a genial but indifferent dignity, quite compatible with courtesy +and friendly ways. They shoulder responsibility; they do not flirt; they +sort out cranks; they flee from simpers; they put down presumption. If +married, they laugh heartily with their wives over any letter or +episode that is comical or sentimental. If not married, they get out of +things the best way they know how, with a sort of plain, manly +directness. If a minister would arrogate to himself his free-born +privilege of being a thorough-going man, many of his troubles would +disappear. + +Let him hold himself firmly aloof both from nonsense and from enervating +praise. Let him dream of great themes, and work for great things! Let +him rely on more quiet friends who watch loyally, hope, encourage, +inspire. By and by the scales drop from his eyes; he sees himself, not +as one who has already achieved, but as one to whom the radiant gates of +life are opening, so that he, too, can one day speak to human souls as +the masters have done! He discovers that out of the heart's depths is +great work born! This is a memorable day, both for this man and for his +church. From that hour he has vision and power. + +Another error in ministerial education and outlook is that too often +ministers forget that they compete with other men: they are not an +isolated class of humanity. Competition underlies the energy and +efficiency of the world's work. When men do not consciously compete with +others, they inevitably drop behind. What a minister was intended for, +was to stand head and shoulders above other men. God seems to have +planned the universe in such a way that everywhere the spiritual shall +be supreme. He was meant to be a towering leader. Who, in other realms, +has excelled Moses, Joshua, Elijah, David, Paul? + +But if we consider the responsibilities which are now being laid upon +different classes of people, and carried by them, I think that we must +acknowledge that the statesman is looming up as the most influential and +upbuilding man to-day. He is the one who is adjusting the new +world-powers and the new world-relations, over-seeing the development of +our country, and planning for its laws and commerce. Close to him comes +the physician, who is laying his hand on world-plagues, and is studying +the conditions and the forms of disease, with a view to striking disease +at its root. The hand of the doctor is laid upon consumption, malaria, +yellow fever, diphtheria, typhoid fever, and bubonic plague, and the +advance in medical research is marvellous. + +The lawyer and the capitalist are together adjusting the industrial +relations of the country. We have trusts, syndicates, and +corporation-problems handled with a firm intellectual grasp and a wide +outlook over human affairs. + +The reading of the world is in the hands of editors of enterprise and +sagacity. They daily bring wars, statecraft, business plans, political +situations, trade openings, scientific discoveries, forms of church-work +and philanthropy, accidents, murders, and marriages, to our +breakfast-table. The press of to-day has a tremendous scope. When some +of the magazines come to hand, one feels that he is in touch with the +affairs of the universe and has reading of a cosmic order. + +The day-laborer is discovering that to ingenuity, talent, and manliness, +the whole world swings open. Carnegie's Thirty Partners, most of whom +have come from the working-ranks, demonstrate that a man can rise from +the pick, the spade, the foreman's duties, to the control of great +industrial interests. + +Bankers are thinking out the financial problems--currency, legal tender, +the best forms of money and authority; the whole monetary system of the +world is under consideration and analysis. The farmer is learning, +through chemistry and other forms of science, new ways of making his +farm productive, and the educated agriculturist is rising to be an +intellectual factor in the development of our country. Everywhere we see +Life awakening--a great renaissance! + +Has the minister, as a thinker and active force of regeneration, kept +pace with this advance? Do many sermons thrill us in this large way? +Where does he rank among the world-masters of energy and power? + +The ministry is supposed to be a work of saving souls. But if we could +know the direct effect of preaching, and the conversions which are +really due to preaching, I think we should find them comparatively few. +What touched the boy or girl, man or woman, and led him or her to Christ +was not the sermon, or pastoral talk, though this one or another may +have united with the Church after a special sermon, revival, or personal +appeal. It was the memory and influence of a mother's prayers; of early +associations; of a teacher, a lover, a friend. The conversion came +direct from God--the soul was acted upon by some special moving of the +Holy Spirit. Or it was the death of a friend, an illness, an accident, a +disappointment, which turned the thoughts to heavenly things. Or it was +a book that searched the soul's depths, or some quickening human +experience. Is this quite as it should be? Is not professional +pride aroused? + +Suppose that New York City should suddenly be invaded by the bubonic +plague or yellow fever. Would any one be to blame? Certainly! Such an +outcry would go up as would echo across the country. Where were the +quarantine officers? Where was the port physician? Where were the +specialists who attend to sanitation and disinfection? + +We say that divorce and Sabbath-breaking are sweeping over our +country--gambling, social drinking, and many other ills; a sensational +press, a corrupt politics, a materialistic greed. + +All the ministers under heaven cannot take sin out of the world, nor +uproot sin altogether from the heart of man: the plague conies in at +birth. Neither can all the doctors living remove disease, so that no one +will get sick or die. But just as the doctor can, by study, by training, +by counsel, by practice, and by the direction of wise law-making, +protect the health interests of his country or community, so the +minister should stand, yet more largely than to-day, as a break-water +between the world and the tides of sin! He should not only be able to +keep alive in a country an atmosphere of prayer, devotion, and unselfish +service--he should, by God's help, make piety the general estate of the +land; he should not only be intellectually able to show the great +advantage of the upright Christian life, he should straight-way lead +all classes into that life; he should be able to lay a hand on the moral +maladies of mankind, personal and national, and prescribe effectual +remedies; take lame, halt, sinning souls, and by God's grace and Spirit, +lift not only individuals, but whole communities, to a more +spiritual plane. + +This is a Titanic intellectual task, as well as a spiritual one. When a +doctor wishes to keep plague out of America, he goes to Asia, to see +what plague is! He takes microscopes, instruments, and drugs; he buries +himself in a laboratory, and gives his whole mind to the problem, until +one day he can come forth and tell how to heal and help. More than this, +he risks his life. For every great discovery in medical practice, +doctors and nurses have died martyrs to their faithful work. + +Moral evil must be studied in an energetic and intellectual way. The +variations of humanity from righteousness must be deeply understood. +Look at Booker T. Washington, or at Jacob A. Riis! What daring, what +indefatigable toil, what insight, patience, and swerveless hope have +been put into their task! Edison is said to have spent six months +hissing S into his phonograph to make it repeat that letter, and many +days he worked seventeen hours a day. Have many ministers ever bent +themselves in this way to solve a special moral problem--that of, say, a +disobedient child in the congregation? Have they spent six months, hours +and hours a day, to make the law of God, the word Obedience, ring in +that child's ears? Spiritual guidance is definitely and positively a +scientific task. The mastery of one fact may lead to the correlation of +a psychic law. When a minister can help a soul to overcome temptation, +and a parent to bring up a child, he is in touch with two final human +problems. As he gradually enlarges his careful and illuminating work, +his church becomes in time a body of spiritually well-educated +communicants, thoroughly grounded in doctrinal, ethical, and social +ideals, well taught in public and in private duties. It is not +self-centred or wholly denominational in spirit, but recognizes itself +to be a part of a catholic body of believers, reaches out with friendly +coöperation to near-by churches, extends its missionary efforts to +other neighborhoods or lands, and partakes of a world-life, a +world-love! + +Ruling religious thinkers should also, by and by, become leaders of +national thought and life. Great public questions should be open to +their judgment and appeal; they should be moral arbiters, and spiritual +guides in national crises. By a word they should be able to rouse the +prayers of the country, and by a word to still widespread anger and +uprising. If accredited spiritual leaders cannot help, who can? + +There are a few men living who seem to hold, for the whole world, the +temporal balance. They control mines and shipping, banks and trade. Who, +to-day, holds the spiritual destiny of the world in his hand? I long to +see men appear upon whom the eyes of the world shall be fastened, in +recognition of their spiritual preeminence, as they are now fastened on +these industrial giants. + +Rise! Let some man, earnest and endowed, look forward into the future, +and with the courage that comes from inborn power, assert himself among +the nations! Allay, O World-Evangelist, not only neighborhood disputes, +but international dissensions; project a creed that shall be profound +and universal; sweep sects together, unite energy and endeavor, baptize +with fire, bring repentance, quicken the race-conscience, uplift the +World-Hope! Erect and elemental, hold CHRIST before the race! + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF SAGES + + [ADESTE FIDELES] + + _Our Father in Heaven, + Creator of all, + O source of all wisdom, + On Thee we would call! + Thou only canst teach us, + And show us our need, + And give to Thy children + True knowledge indeed. + + But vain our instruction, + And blind we must be, + Unless with our learning + Be knowledge of Thee. + Then pour forth Thy Spirit + And open our eyes, + And fill with the knowledge + That only makes wise. + + From pride and presumption, + O Lord, keep us free, + And make our hearts humble, + And loyal to Thee, + That living or dying, + In Thee we may rest, + And prove to the scornful + Thy statutes are best._ + + THOMAS WISTAR + +If we should be told that at birth a strange and wonderful gift had +been bestowed upon us, one such that by means of it, in after life, we +could accomplish almost anything we wished, how we should guard it! With +what delight we would make it work, to see what it would do! We should +never be tired of such a toy, because every day it would reveal new +possibilities of power and delight. + +Such a gift God has given us in our power to think. What a mysterious +and deep-hid gift it is! Nerves and sensations, a few convolutions in +the brain, acts of attention and observation, certain reactions +following certain stimuli: the result, a world of worlds spread out +before us; unlimited intellectual possibilities within our grasp! + +What is thinking? Thinking is an attempt to express infinite thoughts, +affections, relations, and events, in finite terms. The child strings +buttons. The philosopher strings God, angels, devils, brutes, men, and +their appurtenances and deeds. Hence no real thought will quite go into +words. Out beyond the word hangs the infinite remainder of our idea. The +search for a vocabulary is the search for a clearer articulation +of ideas. + +Thinking is the power to take up life where the race has left off +attainment, and to lead the race one step farther on, by a new concept +or idea. It is a curious thing, this little turn in the brain, a +thought. We cannot see it, or touch it, or handle it. Yet we can give +it, one to another, or one man to the race. It has an infinite leverage. +One great thought moves millions onward. Plant the word _steam_, and +globe-transport changes. Plant _electricity_, and a hundred new +industries spring up. Plant _liberty_, tyrants fall. Plant _love_, +chaotic angers disappear. + +If we refuse to learn to think, we refuse to do our share of the world's +work. We are like a horse that balks and will not pull. While we sulk +the universe is at a standstill. + +Spelling and arithmetic, history, etymology, and geography, are not +tasks set over school-children by a hard taskmaster, who keeps them from +sunshine and out-of-door play. They are catch-words of the universe. +They are the implements by which each brain is to be trained to do great +work for the one in whom it lives. What every earnest soul asks is not +gold, fame, or pleasure. It is: Let me not die till I have brought +millions farther on. + +We cannot deliberately make thoughts. Thought is like life itself: +science has not found a formula which will produce it. But just as +marriage produces new lives, though we cannot say how, so study and +meditation produce thoughts. Something new appears: a concept which was +not with the race before. + +The work of sages has been to rule the thinking of the race. They +receive the inspired ideas and spend their lives in teaching them to +others: in setting up intellectual vibrations throughout the world. + +Some day, I hope Sargent will paint a March of Sages, as gloriously as +he has painted the panels of the Prophets. Then we shall gaze upon the +train of heavy-browed, noble-eyed, wise, gentle-mannered men, who have +been the enduring teachers of the race,--thinkers, leaders, seers. +Confucius, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, the mediaeval +philosophers, the Egyptian, Persian, and Arabian thinkers, Roger Bacon, +Thomas Aquinas, Eckhart, William of Occam, Bede, Thomas à Kempis, +Francis Bacon, Kant, John Stuart Mill, Spencer,--with what dignity the +processional moves down the years! The sum of human knowledge is vast; +but how much more vast seem the achievements of each of these men, when +we realize how few his years, and how many the obstacles and impediments +of his all too short career! There is ever a pathos in the life of +the wise. + +By thinking, we pass from the gossip of the neighborhood into the +conversation of the years. We do not know what Alcibiades said to his +man-servant about the care of his clothes, baths, perfumes,--nor what +his man-servant retailed to other retainers of the eccentricities and +vanities of his master. But we know what Pericles and Plato said to the +race. Here is the advantage of a thinking mind--that at any moment one +may enter into eternal subjects of thought, and have converse with those +who of all times have been the most profound. + +Nothing teases the soul like the thought of the unfinished, the +imperfect, the incomplete. And yet, when we have thought and planned a +really great and abiding work, whether we ever finish it or not--for +many things in life may intervene between conception and completion--to +have thought of it is to have had in our lives a pleasure that can never +die. For one blessed hour or year we have been lifted to the thoughts of +God and have entered into the great original Design. Hence it is that +the life of the real Thinker, however broken or disturbed, is at heart a +life of serenity and joy. What matters a conflagration, a +disappointment, to him whose thoughts are set upon the race? + +Thinking is a form of vital growth. We all wish for growth. Is there any +one who wishes to stay always just where he is to-day? To be always what +he is this morning? The tree grows, the flower grows, the ideals of the +race grow--shall not I? + +We are born to a destiny which has no limit of grandeur save the limit +of the thought of God, The wish for growth is the wish to enter into the +spiritual ideals of the universe,--to become one with its advancement, +one with its decrees. + +But do not the secular look upon growth as a sort of chase--a chase for +more learning, more money, a bigger business, a higher degree, a better +position, a brilliant marriage,--a struggle for wealth, renown, acclaim? +These things are not in themselves growth, nor its real index. Growth is +not a form of avarice. Growth is a vital state of being. Growth is the +assimilation of experience. Growth is development in the line of eternal +purpose. Growth is the combination of our souls with the things that +are, in such a way as to make a perpetual progress toward the things +that are to be. + +We lose much because we lose avidity out of our lives, the eagerness to +grasp what spiritually belongs to us,--to share the universal +enthusiasm, the universal hope. Day by day the world wheels about +us--sunset and moonrise, wind, hail, frost, snow, vapor, care, anxiety, +temptation, trial, joy, fear. Whatever touches the sense or the soul is +something by which, rightly used, we may grow. There is nothing we need +fear to take into our lives, if it receives the right assimilation. Each +experience is meant to be a vital accession. We narrow our lives and +enfeeble our powers when we try to reject any of these things, or +unlawfully escape them, or are yet indifferent to them. Prejudice, +cowardice, and apathy are death. + +Experience is what the race has been through. Each of us has his +personal variant of this common life. Thought is the power by which we +make it available for our own better living, and the future life of +the race. + +To the early man, there existed earth, air, water, fire, heat, cold, +tempest, and the growth of living things. He lived, ate, fought, but his +thoughts were primitive and personal. Have _I_ had enough dinner? he +asked, not, Is the race fed? + +By and by some one arose who began to consider things in the abstract, +and to relate them to his neighbor, and formulate conclusions about +them. He was the first real Thinker, Then air-philosophy and +element-philosophy grew up--beast-worship, animalism, fire-worship, and +the rudiments of simple scientific learning, as, for instance, when men +found that they could make a tool to cut, a spike to sew. + +Since then, what the sage has done is to teach men to see, read, write, +think, count, and to work; to love ideals, to love mankind and relate +his work to human progress. + +Man's first primer was near at hand. When he wished to write, he made a +picture with a stick, a stone, on a leaf, or traced his idea in the mud. +When he wanted to count, he kept tally on his fingers, or with pebbles +from the beach or brook. When he wished to communicate an idea orally, +it was with glances, shrugs, gestures, and imitative sounds. Once, in a +game of Twenty Questions, this was the question set to guess: Who first +used the prehistoric root expressing a verb of action? Who, indeed? + +Out of that leaf-writing, and bark-etching, and later rune, have grown +the printed writings of mankind. Homer, Dante, Milton, and Shakespeare +are the lineal descendants of the man who made holes in a leaf, or lines +on a wave-washed sand. Out of the finger-counting have grown up +book-keeping, geometry, mathematical astronomy and a knowledge of the +higher curves. Out of the prehistoric shrugs and sounds and grimaces we +have oral speech--much of it worthless, and not all of it yet wholly +intelligible. We are still continually being understood to say what we +never meant to say: we are forever putting our private interpretation on +the words of other men. Even yet, we are all too stupid. In our +dreariest moments does there not come to us sometimes a voice which +cries: Up, awake! Cease blinking, and begin to see! + +Language is electric. Words have a curious power within themselves. They +rain upon the heart with the soft memories of centuries of old +associations, or thoughts of love, vigils, and patience. They have a +power of suggestion which goes beyond all that we may dream. Just as a +man shows in himself traces of a long-dead ancestry, so words have the +power to revive emotions of past generations and the experiences of +former years. The man of letters, the Thinker, strews a handful of +words into the air, breathes a little song. The words spring up and +bring forth fruit. Their seed is human progress and a larger life for +men. Think, for instance, who first flung the word _freedom_ into +space!--_gravitation, evolution, atom, soul!_ There is no power like the +power of a word: a word like _liberty_ can dethrone kings. + +We get out of a word just what we put into it, plus the individuality of +the man who uses it. Some men read into noble words only their own +silliness, vulgarity, prejudice, or preconceived ideas. Another man +reads with his heart open for new impressions, new insight, new fancies +and ideals. + +Words have not only their inherent meaning; they have their allied +meanings. A word may mean one thing by itself. It may mean quite another +thing when another word stands beside it; even marks of punctuation give +words a curiously different sound and shade. Literature is a mastery, +not only of the moods of men, but of the moods of words. Corot takes a +stream, some grass and trees, a flitting patch of sky. By means of a few +strokes of his brush, he manages to present that tree, sky, stream, in a +way which suggests the pastoral experience of the ages. Where did that +misty veil come from? the trembling lights and shadows, the half-heard +sounds and silence of the woods, the changing cloud, the dim reflection, +the atmosphere of mystery and peace? + +So each man goes to the dictionary. He takes a word here, a word there, +common words that everybody knows. He puts them together: the result is +a presentation of the life of man, and lays hold of his inmost spirit. + + "_Our birth is but a deep and a forgetting; + The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, + Hath had elsewhere its setting + And cometh from afar; + Not in entire forgetfulness, + And not in utter nakedness, + But trailing clouds of glory do we come + From God, who is our home!_" + +To write, the soul chooses, and God stands ever by to help. That is why +great work always impresses us as inspired. God did it. It is God who +whispers the deathless thought and phrase: the subtler collocations +are divine. + +Take the word _star_. To the child it means a bright point that glitters +and twinkles in the sky, and sets him saying an old nursery rhyme. To +the youth or maiden it suggests love, romance, a summer eve, or a frosty +walk under the friendly winter sky. To the rhetorician it suggests a +figure of speech--the star of hope. To the mariner it suggests guidance +and the homeward port. To the astronomer it means the world in which he +lives. His life is centred in that star. To the poet it means all these +things and many more. For the poet is the one who, in his own heart, +holds all the meanings that words hold for the race. Read again the +lines just quoted, and think of Wordsworth's outlook on the star! + +The dictionary definition of a word can seldom be the real one, nor does +it reveal the deeper sense it has. It blazes a path for the +understanding, but individual thought must follow. Take the words _time, +friendship, work, play, heroism_. It took Carlyle to define Time for us. +Emerson has defined Friendship. Let the lights and shadows of the +thought of Carlyle and Emerson play upon these words, they are at once +removed from mechanical definition, and we dimly perceive that each word +is larger than the outreach of the thought of man. Another generation +than ours shall define and refine them. In heaven, in some other aeon, +we shall find out what they really mean! + +Thus knowledge is not permanent. It reels. It proceeds, it changes, it +is iridescent with new significance from day to day. + +What is true of a word, and what we make of it, is true of every phase +of learning. The black-board is not all. Learning is not tied to it, or +to any one person, demonstration, interpretation, event, or epoch. No +wise man can keep his learning to himself, and yet he cannot, though he +teach a thousand years, transmit his deeper learning to another. The +atmosphere, the casual information, the spiritual magnetism of a great +man, will teach better than the text-books, the lecture courses, and +the formal resources of academic halls. Thus Mark Hopkins is in himself +a university, given a boy on the other end of the log on which he sits. + +It is the relativity of knowledge that dances before the eye, that +bewilders, eludes, evades. Group-systems and electives seem like a +makeshift for the real thing. We cannot tie a fact to a pupil, because +to the tail of the fact is tied history itself. Until a pupil gets a +glimpse of that relation, that dependence of which we have just heard, +with all that has yet happened in connection with it, he is not yet +quite master of his fact. He recites glibly the date of Thermopylae, and +does not know that all Greece is trailing behind his desk. When, after +subsequent research, he knows something of Greece, he discovers Greece +to be dovetailed into Rome and Egypt, and they lay hold upon the plain +of Shinar and Eden, and the immemorial, prehistoric years. + +Ah, no! We never really know. Every fact recedes from us, as might an +ebbing wave, and leaves us stranded upon an unhorizoned beach, more +despairing than before. Education does not solve the problems of +life--it deepens the mystery. What, then, may the sage know? Are there +no sages? And have we all been misinformed? + +A sage is one who knows what, in his position of life, is most necessary +for him to know. The larger sage, the great Sage, is the one who knows +what is necessary for the race to know. + +It is a wrong idea of wisdom, that we must necessarily know what some +one else knows. Wisdom is single-track for each man. There are in the +world those who know how to build aqueducts, and to bake _charlotte +russe_, and to sew trousers. Aqueducts and tailor work may be alike out +of my individual and personal knowledge, yet I may not necessarily be an +ignorant man. The primitive hunter stood in the forest. For him to be a +hunting-sage, was to know the weather, traps, weapons, the times, and +the lairs and ways of beasts. He knew lions and monkeys, the coiled +serpent and the serpent that hissed by the ruined wall; the ways of the +wolf, the jackal, and the kite; the manners of the bear and the black +panther in the jungle-wilds. Kipling is the brother of that early man: +he is a forest-sage, and would have held his own in other times. + +The sea-sage was the one who could toss upon the swan-road without fear. +He knew the strength of oak and ash; the swing of oar, the curve of +prow, the dash of wave, and the curling breaker's sweep. He knew the +maelstroms and the aegir that swept into northern fiords; the thunder +and wind and tempest; the coves, safe harbors and retreats. To-day, the +sea-sage rules the fishing-boat, the ocean liner, the coastwise +steamers, and the lake-lines of the world. + +The fishing-sage knows the ways and haunts of fish. He is wise in the +salmon, the perch, the trout, the tarpon, and the muscalonge. He says. +To-day the bass will bite on dobsons, but to-morrow we must have frogs. + +No sagacity is universal, but the love of sagacity may be. The man who +starts out to implant a new way of education has a noble task before +him, but is it a final one, or even a more than tolerably practical one? +Is there such a thing as a place for Truth at wholesale, even in an +academy or college? Can a man receive an education outside of himself? +He may be played upon by grammars and by loci-paper, by electrical +machines, and parsing tables and Grecian accents, by the names of noted +authors and statesmen, and the thrill of historic battles and decisions. +He may be placed under a rain of ethical and philosophic ideas, and may +be forced to put on a System of Thought, as men put on a mackintosh. But +his true education is what he makes of these things. If he hears of +Theodoric with a yawn, we say--the college-folk--He must be imbecile. +No, not imbecile! he may become a successful toreador, or snake-charmer, +which things are out of our line! And a man may be an upright citizen, a +good husband, and a sincerely religious man, who has never heard of +Francesca, nor Fra Angelico, nor named the name of Botticelli! + +The moment we set bounds to wisdom, we find that we have shut something +out. Wisdom is the free, active life of a growing and attaching soul. +We must not only attach information to ourselves, we must assimilate it. +Else we are like a crab which should drag about Descartes, or as an +ocean sucker which should hug a copy of Thucydides. + +Education is the taking to one's self, so far as one may in a lifetime, +all that the race has learned through these six thousand years. +Education is not a thing of books alone, or schools; it is a process of +intellectual assimilation of what is about us, or what we put about +ourselves. At every step we have a choice. This is the real difference +between students at the same school or university. One puts away Greek, +and the other lays up football and college societies. A third gets all +three, being a little more swift and alert. One stows away +insubordination--another, order and obedience. One does quiet, original +work of reading and research; the other stows away schemes for getting +through recitations and examinations. No two students ever come out of +the same school, college, or shop with the same education. Their +training may have been measurably alike, but the result is immeasurably +unlike. Education, in the last analysis, is getting the highest +intellectual value out of one's environment and opportunities. There is +a cow-boy philosopher, a kitchen-philosopher, as truly as there is a +philosopher of the academic halls. + +Conduct is the _pons asinorum_ of life. Wise men somehow cross it, +though stumblingly, and with tears. Fools, usurers, oppressors, and +spendthrifts of life are left gaping and wrangling on the hellward side. +Thinkers have always been climbing up on each other's shoulders to look +over into the Beyond. What they have seen, they have told. Some men +climb so high into the ethereal places of the Ideal, that they do not +get down again. They are the impractical men. An impractical man is not +necessarily the educated man; he is the man at the top of some +intellectual fence, who wishes to come down, but has absent-mindedly +forgotten that he has legs. The legs are not absent, but his wit is. So +with the impractical man in every sphere. Education has not really +removed his common-sense, as some say, his power to connect passing +events with their causes, and to act reasonably; but it has set his +thought on some other thought for the time being, and the dinner-bell, +we will say, does not detach him from his inquiry. His necktie rides up! +He goes out into the street without a hat! Let him alone till he proves +the worth of what he is about. The practical man, who hears the +dinner-bell and prides himself upon this fact, may not hear sounds +far-off and clear, that ring in the impractical man's ear, and that may +sometime tell him how to make a better dinner-bell, or provide a better +dinner--a great social philosophy--for the race! + +The really impractical man is not he who reaches out to the intellectual +and ideal aspects of life; it is he who lives as if this life were all. +There are women who make pets of their clothes, as men make pets of +horse or dog. They have just time enough in life to dress themselves up. +Looking back over their years, they can only say, I have had clothes! In +the same number of years, with no greater advantages or opportunities, +other women have become the queenly women of the race. Some women are +girt with centuries, instead of gold or gems. Whenever they appear, the +event becomes historic; what they do adds new lustre to life. + +We are all prodigals. We throw away time and strength, and years, and +gold, and then weep that we are ignorant, and embeggared at the last. +Who shall teach us wisdom, and in what manner may we be wise? + +What say the sages of the vast possibilities of the race? With one voice +they say: Be brave! Do not cower, shrink, or whine. Throw out upon the +world a free fearlessness of thought and word and deed. Courage, +freedom, heroism, faith, exactness, honor, justice, and mercy--these +traits have been handed down as the traditional learning of the heart +of man. + +Another ideal of the race is Law. We have given up a +chaos-philosophy--the haphazard continuity of events--a cometary orbit, +for the world. There are fixed relations everywhere existent: the +succession of cycles is orderly and prearranged. + +Another ideal is Progress. We are moving, not toward the bottom, but +toward the top of possibility. We reject annihilation, because then +there is nothing left. And there must always be something +left--progress--a bigger something, a better something. Should +annihilation be the truth of things, and all the race mortal, then some +day there would be a Last Man. And after the Last Man, what? He would +die, and then all that any of the other stars could view of the vast +panorama of our earthly generations would be an unburied corpse, with +not even a vulture hovering to pick it to freshness in the air! + +A Last Man? No. Instead, the seers have shown us a great multitude in a +heavenly country, praising God, and singing forth His Name forever. +Immortality broods over the great thought of the race. All great minds +look upward to it: it is the final consummation of our dreams. + +Another ideal is social adjustment, and social service. We must do +something for some one, or we cast current sagacity behind the back. +People crowd each other to the wall. The weak of communities and nations +are too often crushed. Redress is in the air. The longed-for wisdom of +to-day shows a kaleidoscopic front, in which are turning the +slum-dweller and the millionaire; the white man, the yellow, and the +black; the town and the territorial possession. The slave-colony, +garbage-laws, magistrates, and murderers are mixed in motley, and there +are whirling vacant-lot schemes abroad, potato-patches, wood-yards, +organized charity, Wayfarers' Lodges, resounding cries of municipal +reform, and various other interests of the wisdom-scale. + +Hence, wisdom has not yet been arrived at: we are still on the run. This +twentieth century will find new problems, new queries, new cranks, and +new dismays! + +One thing, however, shines out clear: Wisdom is being recognized as +having a moral aspect, and men are looking for a Religion which shall +sum up the learning of the sages, the information of the race. + +When we look down into the physical universe, the primary thing that we +find there is gravitation. When we look into the moral universe, the +primary thing that we find there is also gravitation--a sinking to a +Lower. This is sin--a contrariness of things--which makes the world an +evil place to live in, instead of a good; which wrecks character and +states, eats the hearts out of cultures and civilizations, destroys +strong races, leaves a stain upon even the youngest child, and which is +constantly drawing the race downward, instead of upward. + +Sin, sin, sin! Everywhere the fact glares upon us, and cannot be hid, or +put away. Sin is not an intellectual toy, for philosophers to play with +or define as "a limitation of being." Sin is a reality, for men to +feel, recoil from, and of which one must repent. + +Sin is energy deliberately misplaced: energy directed against the course +of things, the infinite development, the will of God. Sin is corruption, +and desolation, and decay. Death broods over the spirit of man, unless a +Redeemer come. The unredeemed ages hang over history like a pall. In +them there are monumental oppression, cruelties, and crimes. The breath +of myriad millions went out in darkness, and there was none to save. A +plague swept over all the race. + +Hence, even scientifically considered, the final aim of thinking must +be, to arrive at some thought which will take hold of this primary fact +of sin and uproot it; which will show how the world may be purged +of sin. + +Slowly but inevitably we are moving to this great Thought. It is summed +up in one word: Redemption. The watchword of a century ago was +gravitation. It explained the poise of the universe by a great and +hitherto undiscovered law. The watchword of yesterday was evolution. It +explains progressive change: the mounting-up of life "through spires of +form." The forms of the universe are seen in a series which is in the +main ascendant, and in which the survivor is supreme. The watchword of +to-morrow is Redemption. The Thinker will some day live, who will make +that great word Redemption stand out in all its vast majesty and +significance. This, I take it, is the work of our new century. + +Redemption is the explanation of the existence of man, of his present +progress, and his future destiny. It is the great mystery of joy in +which the race partakes; the spiritual culmination of all things +earthly; the forecast of eternal things yet to be. + +Redemption is not a dogma; it is a life. Redemption is a perpetual and +ascendant moral growth. It marks a world-balm, a world-change. It is in +the spirit of man that it works, and not in his outer condition, or +external strivings. It is ultimately to root sin out of the world. + +Through stormy sorrows and perpetual desolations comes the race to God. +Zion is the Whole of things--the encompassment of space, and time, and +endless years,--an environment of immortality and peace. + +Virtue leads the race to Joy, and there is no byway to this height. The +final aspect of the universe is joy. Joy is elemental--a vast vibration +that sweeps through centuries as years! A day in His courts is as a +thousand, and a thousand years are as one day, because they thrill with +an immortal and imperishable emotion. The seraphim and cherubim, +Sandalphon and Azrael, are angels of enduring joy. Joy is the soul's +share of the life of God. + +Thus when the world has breathed to us the holy name of Christ, it has +told us the highest that it knows. The March of Sages is toward a +Redeemer! The banner of Wisdom is furled about the Cross! + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF TRADERS + + [AMSTERDAM] + + _Lo, my soul, look forth abroad + And mark the busy stir: + Wouldst thou say, in pride and scorn, + Our God is not in her! + Nay, the bonds, the wares, the coin,-- + These, in truth, are passing things; + Other treasures thrill the life + Of earth's great merchant kings! + + We, they say, would wake the power + In mountain and in mine; + And transport, from sea to sea, + The cedar, oak, and pine: + Build the bridge, and plant the town, + Enter every open mart; + Make our nation's commerce flow,-- + But this is not our heart! + + Many a prayer uplifted springs + O'er desk, and din, and roar; + Many an humble knee is bent + When the rushed day is o'er; + Far within, where God may be, + All exists His Throne to raise; + Every triumph of our power + Becomes a form of Praise! + + God of nations, hear our cry, + And keep us just and true; + Lay Thy hand on all our lives, + And bless the work we do: + Then from every coast and clime + Land and sea shall tribute bring; + Gold and traffic, world-domain + We offer to our King!_ + + ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY + +We are all traders. Each of us is endowed with some faculty, ware, or +possession which he is constantly exchanging for other things. We trade +time, talent, service, goods, acres, produce, counsel, experience, +ideals. The world is in reality a Bourse of Exchange. Each of us brings +some day his special product to the common mart. + +There are traders and traders--the just and the unjust--the man of honor +and the rogue. We set values on thoughts and on transactions, on +merchandise and on philanthropies, on ideas and on accounts; and there +is a constant distribution of the affairs, as well as of the worldly +goods of men. + +But in a restricted sense, we think of trade as the exchange of produce +which is material and mobile,--which may be touched, handled, weighed, +transported, bought, and sold. The substance of the earth is constantly +taking new shape before our eyes, being rearranged in kaleidoscopic +combinations, and transported from port to port, from town to town, from +sea to sea. One can look nowhere without seeing this ceaseless activity +progressing. Everywhere there is a whir of wheels, a plash of waves, a +din of assembly, as the new combinations take place. + +There was a day when trade was a thing of here-and-there; a thing of +sailing ships and caravans, of merchants of Bagdad, Cairo, Venice, +Alexandria, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Damascus. Ivory, gold, gems, precious +stuffs, teak and cedar wood, Lebanon pine, apes, peacocks, sandal-wood, +camel's hair, goat's hair, frankincense, pearl, dyes, myrrh, cassia, +cinnamon, Balm of Gilead, calamus, spikenard, corn, ebony, figs, fir, +olives, olive-wood, wheat, amber, copper, lead, tin, and precious stones +were the chief articles of exchange. A very little sufficed the poor; +the rich were housed in palaces and panoplied in gems. + +As time went on, the processional of traders became a processional led +out, in turn, by the merchants of one city after another. It is a +picturesque study, that of the trade-routes of the Middle Ages! There +was the Mediterranean seaboard, and there were the Baltic towns and the +Hanse towns; the Portuguese mariners and traders; the Venetian merchant +princes. There was the Spanish colonial trade; the Dutch trade of the +East Indies; the trade of Amsterdam and London. There were the +Elizabethan sea-rovers. Then came the British trade in the East Indies, +and the gradual growth of the trade of France, Germany, England, and the +United States. This is a story of human wants reaching out as +civilization advanced, and of the extending of the earth-exchange. +Everywhere there has been a correspondence between national prosperity +and increasing trade. + +To-day, each man demands more of the earth's products than ever before. +He reaches out a hand for comforts and luxuries, as well as for +necessities. He grasps not only the produces of his own and his +neighbor's field and vineyard, but demands what lies across continents +and seas. Instead of the ship, the camel, and the ass, we now have the +ocean freighter or liner, and the flying train of cars: new forces, oil, +steam, electricity, and water-power, do the carrying work of man. And +hence trade has become Trade, and each trader is involved in the +comfort, success, and prosperity of many others. A single commercial +transaction to-day involves the lives of hundreds of thousands, competes +for their toil and life-blood, carries the decision of their destiny. + +A great merchant is the real Kris Kringle. He stands at the centre of +exchange, distributes from the tropics and the arctic zones. He deals +out fur and feathers, books, toys, clothing, engines; ribbons, laces, +silks, perfumes; bread-stuffs, sugar, cotton, iron, ice, steel; wheat, +flour, beef, stone; lumber, drugs, coal, leather. He scatters +periodically the products of mills and looms, of shoe-shops and +print-works, fields, factories, mines, and of art-workers. He thus +becomes a social force of great power, a social law-giver, in fact. +Under his iron rule, the lives of the masses are uplifted or cast down. + +As large eras open, the ethical ideals become higher. We are beginning +to inquire, as never before, into the basis of trade, the place of the +trader, the right conduct of this vast problem of Distribution upon +which hinges so much of human life and fate. All things look, not only +to the integration of trade, but to its exaltation. + +Trade has ceased to be a thing of individual energy, talent, and +commercial alertness. It has risen to great proportions. The large +trader is in control of national conduit, as well as of national +expense. There is a great deal more in business than the art of making +money. Business is, at the roots, a way of making nations; of developing +the resources of a country, of handling its industries, of protecting +its commerce, of enlarging its institutions, of uplifting its training, +aspirations, and ideals. Traffic is educational. Imports influence the +national life. We may import opium or Bibles, whiskey or bread-stuffs, +locomotives or dancing pigs. + +The sceptre held by Tyre and Venice is passing into our own hands. But +trade, to-day, is a matter of the imagination, as well as of the +stock-book. 11 needs a great imagination to handle the present-day +problems of business and finance. The prosperity of a nation depends +largely on the intelligence, integrity, and magnanimity of its business +men. To be narrow-minded in business, is not only intellectual +astigmatism, it is poor commercial policy. To make use of present +opportunities to control present advantages needs a great education and +a large human experience. It is the man of insight, of sympathy, of +economic ideals, who will lastingly control our national prosperity and +advance our industrial wealth. + +With all this demand, the business man still stands largely in a class +by himself, a class apart from the great leaders of the world. He is not +yet received into the spiritual circles of the race. He goes about the +world, sits on boards and committees, fills directorships and +trusteeships, pays pew-rent, and runs towns. But when the spiritual +conclaves of the world take place, when the things of life and death are +inquired into, when words are said of the higher conduct of the life of +man, if he draw near inquiringly or unguardedly to the sacred place, +scholar and poet, priest, saint, and proud hand-worker alike rise up and +say, Go away. + +It wears upon the heart--this spiritual isolation of the business man. +Does not he often say sadly to himself, They only want my money? + +Why must he go away? What has he done, that he must be waved down? If we +discover why he must go away, we shall discover the meaning of that +great caste-line which has long been drawn, and ought no longer to be +drawn, between trade and letters, trade and the Church, trade and +social prestige. + +The reason he must go away is this: He has never ruled the higher +history of man; he does not yet quite belong to the ideal-makers of the +race. Understand, I am not now speaking of the new business man, the +exceptional one, upright, cultured, altruistic, whom you and I may know; +I am speaking of a broad class-line, a class distinction. + +It is a strange concept that would bar the business man from the ideal; +that would limit his life to an account-book, a ledger, a roll of +stocks, rents, and possessions, instead of granting him the freedom of +the universe, the privilege of ministering to the race. Singularly +enough, the business class is the last class that Christianity has set +free. Slaves have been given liberty; women, social companionship and +intellectual equality; manual labor has been lifted to dignity and +honor. But to break the shackles of the man of trade is the work of our +era, or of an era yet to come. Thousands of young men are daily stepping +into counting-houses, or behind sales-counters, or into independent +stores, who will never lift their eyes from their goods and +account-books, nor rise above the linen, hardware, groceries, or +house-fixtures which they sell. Such a situation is suicidal of national +prosperity, and blocks the high hopes of the world. + +Lack of appreciation of the life of business is sinful and unjust. A +high-principled businessman may be one of the noblest leaders of +mankind. The world needs great business men--men who will know how to +use the resources of a country, how to plan for its industry, +manufactures, and commerce: men who understand the principles of +production and exchange; ways of transportation; systems of credit and +banking: men who know the constitution of the country, and the history +of its development; its strength and weakness, its possibilities and +needs: men who will deal honorably in business contracts, both with +buyers and employees, and also with law-making bodies: men who will +steadily try to advance international prosperity, as well as +personal wealth. + +But to understand business on this plane, and to conduct it in this +large way, needs a fine education, an education built, first of all, on +a practical basis, such as the education of our common schools. Then +should follow a course in the ideals of the race, the classic studies in +language, literature, history, science, and philosophy. Then should come +a technical course, graduate or undergraduate, such as the courses +offered by the Universities of Pennsylvania, Chicago, Wisconsin, which +include, in general, lectures and special studies in Public Law and +Politics, Business Law and Practice, Political Economy, Statistics, +Banking, Finance, and Sociology. In addition to this, there should be a +thorough knowledge of the Bible and of Christian Ethics, with a deep +heart-experience of religion. + +Endowed with natural business talent, the young man who goes out into +the world with such preparation as this knows a great deal more than +just how to make money; he knows how to make it honorably and how to +spend it, in his business, family, and social life, for the public good; +he has in him the making of a statesman and a philanthropist, as well as +a man of wealth. + +Two things take one into the inner circle of the ideal-makers of the +race--imagination and sympathy. Ideals cannot be bought with gold. The +ideal is always founded on integrity, progress, and common-sense. It is +preëminently practical, as well: the thing that inevitably must be, now +or hereafter, however men laugh it to scorn to-day. + +Imagination is the faculty of perceiving the higher and final relations +of life, the relation of one's work to the progress of the world, and of +one's conduct: to spiritual history. What the ideal-maker tries to do is +to set holy standards that shall not pass away: to do abiding work, in +thought, deed, word; work philosophically planned, and perseveringly +carried out; work which he shall do regardless of the outer +circumstances of his life--poverty or wealth, of threats, +misunderstanding, or hoots of scorn. He is unmoved, both by the rage of +the populace and by its most tumultuous applause. He lives for truth, +not for personal advance; for progress, not for wealth or honor. What +he lays down as a precept, that he tries to live up to, in the way that +shall win the approval of the eternal years. + +Sordidness in commercial life is not necessary: greed is +not foreordained. Christianity establishes a new system of +trading-philosophy, and a new basis of commercial ethics. There is a +god-like way of trade--Christ might Himself have bought and sold--else +Christianity fails of its full mission, and there remains a class of the +socially lost, of the ethically unsaved. One reason why it is so hard to +get business men into the Church, or to interest them religiously in any +way, is that ministers, in general, do not understand or appreciate +business men. In one of the most stirring sermons I ever heard, occurred +this unjust sentence: "Our country has been built up by the martyr, and +not by the millionaire." No! Our country has been built up by _both_ the +martyr and the millionaire! + +Christianity projects into the world new ideals of Trade, of Gain, of +Competition, Value, and Return for Toil. + +What is Trade? Is it merely a way of making money? Then there is no +ethical basis for it. "The amount of money which is needed for a good +life," says Aristotle, "is not unlimited." + +One concept is: Trade is something which belongs to me. It is that part +of the world's exchange which I can get under my personal control. It +is the balance between human industries and human needs which I hold +for my part of the world, and which others are continually trying to +wrest from me, and which I must keep by all means, fair or foul. +Competition is the battle of the strongest, the quickest, the meanest! I +must know tricks. I must get in with people, get hold of some sort of +pull, learn to dissemble, to flatter, manipulate, hedge, dodge. Success +is a matter of being sly. Anything is allowable which comes out ahead, +which adds to the dollar-pile, or which makes the loudest +advertising noise! + +To buy at the least, and sell at the most, regardless of the conditions +under which least and most are attained--the man who enters life with +this idea of trade in his mind might just as well be born a shark and +live to prey. Every free dollar in the world will tease and fret him, +until he sees it on its way to his own pocket. If this is all there is +in trade, the noble-minded will let it alone: it gives no human outlook. +It not only undermines personal character, it is the root of national +ignominy and dishonor. + +What has Christianity to do with this shark-instinct? with the rapacity +which looks on the world as a vast grabbing-ground, and upon all natural +resources as mere commercial prey? The value of Christianity lies in its +reasonable and intellectual appeal. It does not spring upon one like a +highwayman and say, Hands up! Give me your purse! It says gently, Son, +give me thy heart. It then proceeds to refashion that heart, to fill it +with new principles and with world-dreams. + +Trade is a just exchange of what one man has for what another man needs. +It may take place individually between man and man, in which transaction +a horse, an ox, or a tool may change hands. Or one man may assume a +responsibility for a number of people, and say: I will give this whole +town shoes, in return for which you may give me a house, market-produce, +clothing, and an education for my children. The thing will come out +even, if you and I are honest. Or a climate, a civilization, may give to +another that which the other lacks. We send school-books and machinery +to China; she sends us tea, matting, and bamboo. The whole right theory +of trade is a give-and-take between men and nations, based on a just +price, and with a deep law of Value, not yet wholly formulated, +underlying each transaction. + +Bargains should not be one-sided. Trade, in a large sense, is a way of +exchange in which each party to the trade receives an advantage. Not +only this, it is a process of distribution, by which each one receives +the greatest possible advantage. Money-making is a secondary result: in +true trade it is not the final benefit. + +Take the case of a specially helpful and paying book. The author +receives a royalty, and has an income. The publisher receives his +profits, and makes a living. The public gains inspiration and ideals. +Who is loser? This is sheer business, yet it means loving service for +all concerned. + +To illustrate further: A physician has a frail child, with which the +ordinary milk in the market does not agree. To build up its health, he +buys a country place and a good cow. The child thrives. In his practice, +he sees many other frail children, and it occurs to him that they, too, +can be benefited by the same kind of care and watchfulness that he is +giving his own child. He buys more cows, has them scientifically cared +for, and his agents sell the milk. He finds himself, in the course of +time, the owner of a dairy farm, and a man of increasing income. But his +trade is not trade for the sake of money! it is trade to make sick +children strong and well. He exchanges professional knowledge, executive +ability, and human sympathy, for money; in return for which, children +receive health, parents joy, and the race a more athletic set of men and +women. This is an instance of the inner spirit of the true trade: the +spirit which may rule all trade, deny it, or discount it, or scorn it, +as you will. + +Price is a value set on material, on labor, on interest, on scarcity, on +excellence, on commercial risks; it is the approximate measure of the +cost of production. The ethical price of a commodity is the price which +would enable its producer to produce it under healthful and happy +conditions--which would insure his having what Dr. Patten calls his +"economic rights." + +This joyous exertion is not harmful; it is tonic. Excellence is an +inspiration, an intoxication. Let excellence, not Will-it-pass? be the +standard of exchange. From the very endeavor after excellence comes a +certain exaltation of spirit, which ennobles the least fragment of daily +toil. When the producer brings forth somewhat for sale, let him say: +There! That is the best that I can do! It is not what I tried to make of +it--the thing of my dreams--but it is the very best which, under the +given conditions, I could produce. Then the shoddy side of trade will +disappear. + +The Law of Equity is the final law of trade. But in whose hands is +equity? Who appraises value? Who sets price? In whose hand is the final +price of the necessaries of life--wheat, rice, sugar, soap, cotton, +wool, coal, milk, iron, lumber, ice? The man who puts a price on an +article, as buyer or seller, enters an arena which is not only +commercial--it is judicial and ethical: he declares for what amount a +man's life-blood shall be used. + +No one absolutely sets price. It is determined by far-reaching +industrial conditions, and by economic law. War, weather, famine, +stocks, strikes, elections, all have a say. Yet, to a certain degree, +there are those who rule price. As a representative of the ideal, as +executors of social trust, how shall each one use his Power of Price? +The man who has control of a price--a price for a day's labor, for +wages, for a cargo, or for any kind of product--has control of the +living conditions of the one who works for him. The question is not: How +shall I grind down price to the lowest? It is: What price will be an +ethical return to this man for his social toil?--just to me for my +brains, my capital, my energy, my distributing power,--just to him for +his brains, his time, his skill, his artistic perceptions, his fidelity +and honor? Each buyer must henceforth not only resolve: I will buy only +what I can pay for, but, what I can pay for at a just rate. So far as +lies in my power, I will make an adequate return to society for this +personal benefit. + +Some one says: Do you realize that you are making a moral laughing-stock +of much of our system of trade? that you are setting an axe to that +system, more cutting than the axe of any Socialist, Nihilist, or +Anarchist in the world? Oh, no. I have simply set myself to answer the +question: How can the business man stand among the ideal-makers of the +world, so that he shall no more, in spiritual assemblies, be told to +go away? + +Woman is the real economic distributer. The millionaire manufacturer +imagines that he himself runs his business. Oh, no. It is run by +farmers' wives. When they do not care for yarn or calico, his looms +stand idle for a year; the vast machinery of the world turns on woman's +little word: _I want_. Hence the education of women should include this +factor: the desire to want the right things. Extravagance is not a part +of woman's make-up; it is extraneous. + +_Gain is that which permanently enriches the life._ By every act of +charity, or justice, or insight, or right barter, the soul is made more +grand. True trade everywhere may be made a new method of inspiration, +growth, and power. + +Money is a makeshift of the race. God is the only real appraiser, and we +never get back a money-value for our soul's toil. Whether we pass +wampum, or nickels, or taels, or bank-checks, we are not yet paid for +our trade. + +The higher value of money is its spiritual capacity. Not what it will +bring me is primarily important, but what I can buy with it for the +race. Sometimes the question comes over me: What am I trading for money? +My time? My energy? My ideals? Part of my soul is passing from me: do +dollars ever repay? Hence it comes about that all money transactions are +fragmentary and symbolic. + +Money may lead to poverty, or to spiritual wealth. The gift of trade is +a gift of God, as much as the gift of prophecy or song. In a right way, +we should all love gain. We are not born to go out of the world as poor +as when we came into it. We should gain stature, wisdom, strength, +influence, ideals. If our latent business capacity were more fully +aroused, we should get much more out of life. We would refuse to barter +a spiritual heritage for carnal things. + +We trade thoughts and feelings. But it is very hard to trade fine +impulses with those who are intrinsically vulgar. Their treasury is +empty of spiritual coin, and their storehouse contains no +world-thoughts. We can send a caravan across the desert, a ship across +the sea, but we cannot send a Thought into a flaccid or a pompous brain. + +We trade position and influence. The evil of the spoils system is not +that one gets something for something,--it is that one gets something +for something less, or for nothing. Whatever we have to give may be +rightly given; the wrong comes when we give it to the idle or unworthy. +When we trade political preferment for high merit, both the +office-holders and the country are gainers by the exchange. + +Marriage is the great mart of exchange. Here the possessions of one sex +are set up against those of the other. Everywhere marriage is spoken of +as a good or a bad "bargain." Each man shall say: "Sweetheart, in Myself +I offer you the treasures of manhood. I give strength, courage, +magnanimity, action, protection, and the indomitable will." Each wife +should say: "Dear, in me are all gentleness, courtesy, beauty, grace, +patience, mercy, and hope. I, too, am brave, but my courage is of the +heart. I, too, am strong-willed, but my will is deep-set in love." As +years go on, there comes a time when Love says: "Between us now there is +neither mine nor thine. The universe is ours together!" + +Human love is not all. There is yet a higher impulse. The most +business-like question that ever touches the heart of man is this: For +what shall I trade my soul? We hold our souls high: we perceive that +eternity itself is not too much to ask. And hence the highest barter is +that of the earthly for the spiritual; of the temporal for the unseen +and eternal. We say, Give me God, give me heaven, give me divine and +sacrificial Love, and I will give my heart. And thus the last +transaction is between God and the soul. Godliness is great Gain, and to +exchange earth for heaven is a satisfying and unregretted Trade. + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF WORKERS + + [ARMAGEDON] + + Jesus, Thou hast bought us + Not with gold or gem, + But with Thine own life-blood, + For Thy diadem. + With Thy blessing filling + Each who comes to Thee, + Thou hast made us willing, + Thou hast made us free. + By Thy grand redemption, + By Thy grace divine, + We are on the Lord's side; + Saviour, we are Thine! + + Not for weight of glory, + Not for crown or palm, + Enter we the army, + Raise the warrior psalm; + But for love that claimeth + Lives for whom He died, + He whom Jesus nameth + Must be on His side. + By Thy love constraining, + By Thy grace divine, + We are on the Lord's side; + Saviour, we are Thine! + + FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL + +What is work? Work is energy applied to the creation of either material +or immaterial products. The digging of the soil preparatory to raising a +corn-crop is work; the making of brooms; the writing of fugues. There is +no one who does not work, at one time or another, and a man's social +value depends largely upon the amount of work that he can do. + +Even the energy which is seemingly applied to destructive tasks is +really subsidiary to a constructive ideal. Thus the hewing of timber is +a destructive task, but its object is not to scatter trees around, but +to make a clearing on which to plant wheat; or to have lumber, in order +to build a house. So, also, we blast rock, in order to get stones for a +stone wall, or for the filling of a road-bed. And we rip up old clothes +in order to have rags, and to make room in our homes for other things. +Destructiveness from a sheer love of destructiveness is not work--it is +vandalism. The true Man works. When Adam's crook-stick turned over the +brown earth to make it fertile, he began the industry of the world. The +whole horizon of man's endeavor is spanned by one word, Work. It has +built cities, bridged rivers, united continents, and sent the myriad +spindles of trade whirring under a thousand changing skies. + +Work is the open-sesame of success. It is curious to see how uneasily +some men will roam from one end of the earth to the other, trying to +find an easy place, a place where work will not be needed or required. +There is no such place. The higher the honor, the harder the work. The +power to work is ordinarily the measure of a man's possibilities of +success. Long hours, hard toil, lack of recognition and appreciation, +drudgery, a thousand attempts to one successful issue,--these are the +ways in which the colossal achievements of mankind have been built up. +Work, as has well been said, is an ascending stairway. On its broad base +are ranged all the multitudes of the earth. Those who can climb mount +the higher and ever-narrowing stair. + +The great man can begin anywhere, or with any task. He says, If I am +going into the giant-business, I may as well begin now! Born and bred in +the forest, he lays hand to his axe, and looking up at some tall oak, +cries out, I will begin here! With the first stroke of the axe, success +is not less sure than in his last endeavor. Success of the right kind is +a scientific achievement. + +The line has not yet been drawn, and I doubt whether it ever can be +drawn, between productive and non-productive labor. There is a cleavage +of tasks, however, which may be approximately expressed, as work that is +done for support, for daily bread, and work which is done because +certain faculties of mind and heart and soul demand expression, +development, and scope. We all have powers which are willing to be set +in action primarily for self-preservation--for personal, material, and +transitory ends. We are also endowed with faculties which react, +primarily, in behalf of universal aims, though that may not debar them +from also bringing an advantage to ourselves. In proportion as we are +talented, magnanimous, and high-minded, we delight in spending a part of +our lives in working for the race. + +Thus Thoreau, when he, "by surveying, carpentry and day-labor of various +other kinds," had earned $13.34, was doing income-work, the work by +which he had to live. For the same purpose, he worked at raising +potatoes, green corn, and peas. When he wrote _Walden_, he did a kind of +work which also in time brought him an income. But he did not write +_Walden_ for food or money; he wrote it primarily because he liked to +write, and for the benefit of mankind. + +In order to be contented and happy, each normal adult human being must +have at least the chance of doing these two kinds of work. Unless he or +she can do income-work, he or she is not economically independent; +unless he can do universal work, he is not socially and +spiritually free. + +Much of the present-day discontent is owing to the fact that these two +kinds of work are not represented, as they should be, in every +working-life. + +The problem in regard to the working-man is not how to pet him, nor to +patronize him, but how to educate him and inspire him! He is not a +parasite to be fed by the capitalist, nor is the capitalist a parasite +upon the working-power of the working-man. Both are men. The problem is, +How shall the capitalist lead the noblest, most public-spirited, and +helpful life in relation to those in his employ? How shall the +working-man lay hold on the best that life can give? How shall he find a +work which he is competent to do, and likes to do, and may be supported +by doing--and at the same time have a chance to grow; to enter into the +large, free culture-life of the world? + +The complaint of the working-man, when really analyzed, runs down to +this: I do income-work, but it does not bring me bread enough to live. +Not only that, but ground down as I am by toil, all possibility of the +larger, universal work is shut away from me. My faculties are +atrophied--paralyzed--and hence my soul smoulders with deep and angry +discontent. This ceaseless and sordid anxiety for bread cuts me out of +my world-life, my world-toil. I cannot do scientific research-work, or +write the books and papers that I ought. My universal labor is +interrupted: I cannot be happy until I can take up this larger +work again. + +As the trade of civilization advances, the meaning of bread changes. The +university professor, no less than the day-laborer, finds his income +too small for him, and says, "I, too, do income-work which does not +bring me bread, books, travel, society, a summer home, and surroundings +which are not only decent and sanitary, but refined and beautiful." + +Is it not also the source of the discontent to-day, among almost all +classes of women, except the most highly educated and efficient? Women +say--our modern daughters, wives, and mothers: "In the home, we do +income-work for which we do not receive income. When strangers do this +work, they are paid, and we are not." In addition, many a woman is so +bound down by daily tasks, that her whole soul cries out, and we hear of +the high rate of insanity among farmers' wives, of nervous prostration +of the housewives in our towns, and become accustomed to such +expressions as "the death of a woman on a Kansas farm." + +This discontent takes many restless forms. It leads daughters, who ought +to be at home, out into morally dangerous but income-earning work; it +takes wives out into all manner of clubs, without regard to the fact: as +to whether the particular club, in its atmosphere and influence, is good +or bad; it brings discouragement, disorder, and unrest into the home, +dissatisfaction with house-duties and home-tasks, and is sapping our +life where it should be best and strongest--in the home--taking out of +it youth, spirit, enthusiasm, inspiration, and content. + +The three questions asked in regard to each worker are: 1. What work +can he do? 2. Of what quality? 3. In what time? The difference between +industry and idleness is that work is one thing which no one may +honorably escape. Since it must be done, the problem of life is not how +to escape work, but how to find the right work, and how best to do it, +and most swiftly, when the choice is made. + +"_Forth they come from grief and torment; on they wend + toward health and mirth, +All the wide world is their dwelling, every corner of the + earth. +Buy them, sell them for thy service! Try the bargain what + 'tis worth, + For the days are marching on. + +"These are they who build thy houses, weave thy raiment, + win thy wheat, +Smooth the rugged, fill the barren, turn the bitter into + sweet, +All for thee this day--and ever. What reward for them + is meet? + Till the host comes marching on._" + + WILLIAM MORRIS + +SECOND + +The trade of toil for money has led to many problems and discussions. +To-day the trenchant question: "What More than Wages?" is a matter of +eager talk. Is this a living-wage?--Just enough warmth, not to freeze. +Just enough clothing to be decent. Just enough food to go through the +day without actual hunger. Just enough shelter to keep out the wind and +rain and snow. Just enough education to learn to read and write +and count. + +No. As the theory of bodily freedom demands for each man life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness, so the highest theory of to-day lays down +demands of economic freedom beyond the mere fad of possible existence. +Dr. Patten has formulated certain "economic rights" of man. Each +employer must say: Before I settle back with a serene belief that I have +given my men a living-wage, let me ask: Have they sun? air? sanitary +surroundings and conditions? medical care? leisure? education? a chance +to grow? Have they enough money for ordinary occasions, and a little to +give away? No man or woman has a living-wage, who has no money to +give away. + +Education and comfort add to the value of the employed. The cook who has +a rocking-chair, a cook-book, and a housekeeping magazine in her kitchen +will do more work, and better work, other things being equal, than the +cook who has none. The workman who lives in a clean, sunny, well-aired +place, where he can found a home, and bring up healthy children, will do +more work, and better work, than the workman who lives in a damp, dark, +ill-ventilated tenement, and who goes to his day's work with a heart +sullen and broken because of avoidable illness and sorrow in his poor +little home. Five thousand employees who have a night-school, +luncheon-rooms, little houses and gardens, a savings-bank, and a library +of books and pictures are worth more than those who are given no such +advantages of happiness, growth, and content. The Railroad Young Men's +Christian Associations are said to be a good economic investment, as +well as an uplifting moral influence. + +This appears to be a fundamental economic law: _Every physical, mental, +or spiritual advantage offered to an honest working man or woman +increases his economic efficiency_. Therefore even the selfish policy of +shrewd corporations to-day is to screw up, and not down; while the more +philanthropic are beginning to see, in their social power, a luminous +opportunity to do a god-like service. + +But the capitalist, however just or generous, cannot do for a man what +he cannot or will not do for himself. Too many workers imagine that a +living-wage is to be given to each man, no matter how he behaves or +works. This is a false assumption. Underlying all human effort, there +runs a final law, that of Compensation: _What I earn, I shall some day +have_. This is a very different proposition from this: _What I do not +earn, I want to have_! For every stroke of human toil, the universe +assigns a right reward--a reward, not of money only, but of peace of +heart, joy, and the possibilities of helpfulness. But when the work done +has not been done faithfully, or well, or honestly, or in the right +spirit, the reward is lessened to that exact degree. To the end of time, +the idle and the lazy must, if they are dependent on their own +exertions, be ill housed and fed. If a man wastes, or his wife does, he +must not complain that his income will not support him. If he lets +opportunities of sustenance and advancement go by, the capitalist is not +to be held to account. + +There are two chief kinds of economic difficulties. One is the problem +of the capitalist: How much ought I to pay? The second is that of the +working-man: How much service must I render? How much ought I to be +paid? Of the second kind, nearly every phase of it begins right here, +that men and women demand for labor something which they have not +earned. They do careless, indifferent, shiftless, reckless work, and +then demand a living-wage. The capitalist is not inclined to raise his +scale of prices, knowing that he has built up his business by prudence, +sagacity, and tireless application--the very qualities which his +dissatisfied employees lack. + +We need not pay--we ought not to pay--for incompetence, for +impertinence, for disobedience of orders, for laziness, for shirking, +for cheating, or for theft. To do so is a social wrong. It is the wrong +that lies back, not only of sinecures and spoils, but of employing +incompetent and wasteful cooks and dressmakers. + +What we make of our lives through wages depends upon ourselves. For +instance, a man gives each of five boys twenty-five cents for sweeping +snow off his sidewalks. One boy tosses pennies, and loses his quarter by +gambling. One boy buys cigarettes, and sends his money up in smoke. One +boy buys newspapers, and sells them at a profit which buys him his +dinner. A fourth boy buys seeds, plants them, and raises a tiny garden +which keeps him in beans for a whole season, The fifth boy buys a book +which starts him on the career of an educated man: he becomes an +inventor and a man of means. The man who paid out the twenty-five cents +to each boy is in no way responsible for the success or failure of their +investment of this quarter. He is responsible only for the fact that he +did or did not pay a fair price for the work. + +God, the great Paymaster, gives to each of us the one talent, the two +talents, or the ten talents, of endowment and opportunity: after that, +we are left to our own devices! + +There are four things which every employee should constantly bear in +mind, if he wishes to advance,--skill, business opportunity, loyalty, +and control. Until a man has mastered what he has to do, he cannot be +expected to be accounted a serious factor in the economic world. The +moment he achieves skill in what he has to do--and this is a question of +thoroughness, accuracy, and speed--he has achieved power, a possibility +of dictation in the matter of hours and wages. + +The next point is business opportunity. Two men, of exactly the same +opportunities and endowments, take up the same task. One man idles and +is surpassed by the other, or he does only what he is told to do, +without further thought. The other performs his set task, but at the +same time he is examining into the principles of his engine, or into the +conduct of the factory or business. In a few years he is the foreman, or +an inventor, or a partner, with independent capital of his own. Again, +there is a blind way of doing skilled work, or of merely doing it +without noticing where it is most needed, or how the market is going for +this special kind of work. The one who has his eyes open reads, notes +the state of the market, adds to his skill the power of counsel, and can +gradually take a larger responsibility upon him, which will advance the +economic value of his time, as well as the work. There is a constant +flux in the labor-world, which is the result largely, not of special +opportunity, but of worth, application, and concentrated thought. + +Third, loyalty has a high mercantile value. Disloyalty is a sin. + +The fourth point is control. Does it not strike wonder to think how some +men have under them, either in their industrial plant, or in their +railway systems, or in their syndicate-work, anywhere from a few hundred +to ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand men? How do they maintain +discipline, either themselves, or through their subordinates? This +problem of control is a serious one in business. Every angry threat, +every sullen hour, each case of insubordination, every strike, every +widespread dissatisfaction, means economic waste. It means expense both +of time and money to send for Pinkertons to keep order and preserve +discipline. The man who adds to his technical skill, and his knowledge +of the market, the power of control adds great force and value to his +work. Higher yet is executive force, the power to adjust +responsibilities and duties in such a way as to get back a high economic +return in the way of service. But above all, there is that force of +character which impresses itself on a company, on a decade, on a +generation--so that some names are handed down in business from +generation to generation, all men knowing that from father to son, and +again to his son, there will pass down that certain integrity, nobility, +steadfastness of purpose, fidelity, and honor which give credit +throughout the business world, and which promise health and happiness +for those who are happy to be in their employ. + +Before a man complains of his wages, then, let him ask himself: Have I +mastered my work? Am I loyal? Am I capable of larger responsibilities, +and of wider control? + + + + +THIRD + +WILLIAM MORRIS says: "_It is right and necessary that all men should +have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to +do: and which should be done under such conditions as would make it +neither over-wearisome, nor over-anxious._" + +This theorem cannot be upheld in its entirety, though there is a deep +truth beneath it. There are many things, such as the collecting of +garbage, the washing of the dead poor, the cleaning of cesspools, the +butchery of cattle for the market, and the execution of capital +criminals, which can scarcely be called pleasant to do, and must yet be +done. As long as the world is the world, and there is in it sin, decay, +disease, and death, we cannot hope to make the work or the conditions of +work absolutely ideal: we _can_ make ideal the spirit in which work +is done! + +A fine story is told that long ago, when the cholera once broke out in +Philadelphia, the hospitals fell into a fearful state. One day, a plain, +quiet little man stepped into the chief hospital, looked about a moment, +and set to work. No task was too dirty or disagreeable for him; no +detail was too disgusting. He did anything he saw to be done,--called in +additional doctors, organized the nurses, and himself waited on patients +night and day. He soon had the hospital in good shape again. When the +crisis passed, and every one began to demand, Who is this man?--they +were told: It is Stephen Girard. The work was not pleasant, but the +spirit was kind, and the heart delighted in its self-appointed toil. + +Work in general, however, that has worth has several elements. First, It +must be individual. It must be joyfully done: there must enter into work +the vitality of a happy spirit. It must be spontaneous. This is why +machine-work can never be thoroughly beautiful: it lacks the spontaneity +of life. The hand never makes two things alike. With the mood, the +weather, the occasion, there are little touches added which a machine +cannot give. Life always varies and thinks of new effects. + +When we try to realize what work is, when it is merely an amount of toil +prodded out of man or woman by a hard taskmaster, we have only to look +back to the bondage of Israel in Egypt, or to the time of Scylla, when +there were thirteen million slaves in Italy alone: slaves whose set +tasks were of over two hundred and fifty kinds; who worked on the +road-building, on public works, and in rowing in the galleys of the +slave-propelled ships. In Carthage agriculture was for a time largely +carried on by slave-labor. How different is this slave-labor from the +craft-work of mediaeval times, when, under the protection of the guilds, +manual labor became exalted to an artistic rank, and the workers at the +loom, the metal-workers, the wood-carvers, the tapestry-weavers, and the +workers in pottery and glass produced objects whose beauty has never +been either equalled or surpassed. Andrea del Sarto and Benvenuto +Cellini were workers, and their work remains. + +Again, good work is born of affection. Love teaches more art than all +the schools. What we love, we instinctively beautify. The artist +beautifies the material on which he works. He loves his task, and from +his love there begins a gradual shaping of the ideal. The product gains +a touch of beauty. The needlework of Egypt and Byzantium, the laces of +Venice and of Spain, are historic. It is said of Queen Isabella, that +she was one of the best needleworkers of her age; that "her _motifs_ +were the great events of the time." + +A peasant girl of Venice was once given a beautiful coral-branch and +some rare leaves and shells which her lover had gathered for her from +the sea-depths. She was untaught in art, and making fish-nets was her +wonted work. Day by day as she wrought her nets, she looked upon the +lovely sea-treasures, their beauty passed into her heart and mind, and +she began to copy, spray by spray, the coral-foliage, the leaves of the +sea-grasses, and the curves of the sea-shells, until after a time, in +the meshes of her fish-nets, she had imprisoned forms of exquisite +beauty, and one saw there reproduced, in dainty and artistic grouping, +what her very soul had loved and fed upon. Her fish-nets became works +of art. + +Work of a high order is always based on high ideals and on great +thoughts. It implies a vast amount of toil. The Capellmeister of the +Vatican choir to-day is that wonderful young genius, Perosi, who is +stirring all Europe by the beauty of his musical work, and by the +spirituality and fervor of his musical imagination. He has set himself +to compose twelve oratorios, which shall body forth the whole life of +the Saviour. He believes that the music-lover and the church-lover may +be identical, and has set his hand to the uniting of all true +music-lovers with the great offices and services and influences of the +Church. Here is Work exalted to its spiritual office: to carry out, not +only ideals of beauty and harmony, but to advance spiritual progress. +This is the final aim of all true work: it must be not only aesthetic, +and honest, but spiritual. The prayer of the true workman is ever to +make himself a workman approved unto God. "May the beauty of the Lord be +upon us, and the work of our hands, establish Thou it!" + +The worker should have change of work. Nature never intended that a man +should do one thing all his life. This is in harmony neither with man's +infinite capacity, nor with her inexhaustible variety. Change is +cultural, and a man's work Should, from time to time, engross every +working-power he has. + +Working-surroundings should not only be sanitary, they should be +beautiful. What influences one most at college, and makes most for one's +happiness, is not the fact of the work in recitation-rooms, out of +books, laboratories, and under teachers. The glory of college life is, +that wherever one goes, the eyes look out on beauty, and wherever one +works, there are those whom we love who work beside us. + +As one passes down the long college corridors, the eyes fall upon palm +and statue, upon frieze and fresco, and the carbon copies of immortal +paintings. Everywhere there are the inspirations of sculpture and +architecture, of music, literature, and art. Beauty is in and about the +place in which one thinks and works. This is the undying charm of +Oxford--the gathering traditions of centuries, the gleaming spires, the +age-worn walls and buttresses, the clinging vine, the tremulous light +and shadow on the ancient halls, the sculpture of porch and clerestory, +and the light that falls through richly tinted windows. + +This beauty should not be monopolized by any one class. About the places +where we work, we should have, as far as possible, something of the +beauty of the world. We should have wide, shaded streets and parks, even +in great cities; towers and pinnacles; sky-lines of vigor, grace, and +massive strength. Cannot department stores be artistically fashioned and +built? Cannot market-houses have arches and arabesques? May not even the +Bourse have something about it suggestive of great art? Cannot our +streets have curves and storied cross-ways? Cannot porters and draymen +have somewhat to arouse and satisfy aesthetic instincts? Cannot our +day-laborers be granted vision? + +Why should we have the Gothic cathedral, with its exquisite traceries +and carvings, pillars and reredos and screen, for men to pray in, one or +two hours a week, and the hideous, grime-covered, foul-smelling, +overheated factories, in which men and women spend their working-lives? +This is what Christianity must do: it must implant joy and beauty, as +well as honesty and fidelity, in the way, place, and thought of work! +When religion, education, art, and brotherly affection have joined hands +in a charmed circle, we shall have new ideas of working-places, as well +as of praying-places, and of living-places! It is not enough that a +factory should be situated, as the best factories now are, in the open +country, with sunshine and fresh air. The blockhouse parallelograms and +squares should be replaced by something that has intrinsic beauty and +the haunting completeness of memory and association, so that the place +where a man works shall no more be to him a nightmare, but the +atmosphere and inspiration of his dreams! + +And those we love shall work beside us! Here is another thought: Shall +all association in work be arbitrary? Is there not a more human way than +the chain-gang way? Could not friends work more together, so that one's +daily work should be, not a time of separation from all we love most, +but a time of intellectual sympathy and helpfulness, of companionship +and true-hearted loyalty? This, and many other good things, it is not +too much to hope for. Truly, as Morris writes, "_The Day is Coming_." + +"_Then a man shall work and bethink him, and rejoice in + the deeds of his handy +Nor yet come home in the even too faint and weary to + stand._ + +"_Men in that time a-coming shall work and have no fear + For the morrow's lack of earning and the hunger-wolf + anear._ + +"_And what wealth then shall be left us when none shall + gather gold +To buy his friend in the market, and pinch and pine the + sold?_ + +"_Nay, what save the lovely city, and the little house on the + hill, +And the wastes and the woodland beauty, and the happy + fields we till_; + +"_And the homes of ancient stories, the tombs of the mighty + dead; +And the wise men seeking out marvels, and the poet's teeming + head;_ + +"_And the painter's hand of wonder; and the marvellous + fiddle-bow; +And the banded choirs of music:--all those that do and + know._ + +"_Far all these shall be ours and all men's, nor shall any + lack a share +Of the toil and the gain of living in the days when the + world grows fair_." + + + + +FOURTH + +Good workers are trained in the home, the school, the shop, the wider +world. Every home is an industrial establishment. In it go on the +industrial processes of cooking, cleaning, sewing, washing; the care of +silver, glass, linen, and household stores; the activities of buying +food and clothing; the moral responsibilities of teaching and training +servants and children. If any healthy member of the home is excused from +at least some form of active work, he will inevitably be a shirker when +he grows up. Cannot almost all the problems of human training be run +down to this: How to teach a child to work? If he can work, he can be +happy; but if he does not want to work, he shall never be happy. No +work, no joy, is the universal dictum. + +This is the great hardship of the children of great wealth: they are not +taught to work. To avoid this difficulty, in two very wealthy families +that I know, the boys were even obliged to darn their own stockings and +mend their own clothes. One young hopeful once tore his clothes +a-fishing, and mended his trousers with a scarlet flannel patch! Some +mothers do not allow their little girls to go to school until their beds +are made up and their rooms in order. Other equally wise parents have +tools in the house, and allow the boys to do all the repair work, the +daughters all the family mending, or to care for the linen; the boys to +put in electric fixtures and bells, and keep the batteries in order. +Queen Margherita of Italy, Queen Elizabeth of Roumania, Queen Alexandra +of England, and the Empress Augusta of Germany are all women who have +been from their childhood acquainted with simple and practical household +tasks. This principle is a right one and underlies much after-success. +Each child should, first of all, have a mastery of home-tasks. Then, +whether on the prairie or in the palace, he is free and independent. + +What makes the differences in the social privileges given to one class +of workers above another? In reality, we are all workers. No one ought +to live, if in health, who does not work. But for some forms of work, +men and women receive an income, and nothing more. For other work, men +and women may or may not receive a large personal income, but their work +is recognized, they are a part of the best social circles, and when they +die, a city or a nation grieves. + +The essential difference is this: that one is honor-work, and one is +not. Wherever in the world work is done in a spirit of love and +fidelity, it brings its own reward in recognition and in personal +affection. Sooner or later, honor-work receives honor. + +Another reason for exaltation of one form of work above another, is +that some kinds of work are so very hard to do. They involve the intense +and complicated action of many and of complex powers. It may be hard +physical work to break stones for a road-way, but the task itself is a +simple one--the lifting of the arm and dropping it again with sufficient +force to split a rock apart. But the writing of a prose masterpiece, +such as the _Areopagitica_, involves the highest human faculties in +harmonious action. If we add to the requirements of prose, the rhythm, +the exalted imagery, and perhaps the assonance and rhyme of verse, we +still further increase the difficulty of the task, and the honor of its +successful achievement. The king-work of a powerful monarch, the +president-work of a republican leader, is serious work to do. Our honor +is not all given to the king or president income, salary, or office; it +is a tribute to hard and royal-minded work. + +Household service is personal service. It cannot be made a thing of set +hours, and of measurably set tasks, as office-work maybe. We may talk of +"eight-hour shifts," but they are scarcely practicable. Not every baby +would go to successive "shifts"! House-demands vary, not only with every +household, but with every day. + +When love-making is wholly scientific, then domestic service will be. +There is in it the same delicate personal adjustment, the changing +requirements of weather, health, temper, and season, of emergency and +stress, that are to be found in the most purely personal relation. When +there is a period of unusual sickness through the community, not only +the doctors have extra tasks, but all household servants as well. + +What social recognition can be given to servants who lie, steal, who +shirk every duty that can be shirked, and who are both incompetent and +unfaithful? The here-and-there one faithful helper receives her meed of +appreciation and affection. The whole aspect of household work will +change when honor-work is given: when home-helpers come up to us, from +the truthful and honor-loving class. + +The school-room is the place in which the principles of work are +implanted: thoroughness, grasp, speed, decision, and definite purpose. +The shop is the apprentice-place of work, before one takes up individual +responsibilities. The man who wishes to rise in the railroad service +goes into the shops and roundhouse. The man who wishes to take charge of +an important department in a department store is put to tying packages. + +Teachers' work will not be rightly done until certain advantages are +given to teachers that are now largely withheld. Teachers need more +society, more hours of play, freer opportunity of marriage. Instead of +being tied up to exercise-books and roll-books, in their home-hours, +they should have a chance to spend their time on the golf-links, at +afternoon teas, in visiting and in entertaining friends. Take away +society from any man or woman, and you take away the possibility of a +growing, happy, and helpful life. We need friends just as we need air. +Teachers need admiration and affection, just as much as the society +girl does. + +Universities should have, in their faculties, men and women who +represent the best social as well as the best intellectual life of the +world--who are not only, in the highest sense of the word, society men +and women, but who are social leaders, inspiring truth, inculcating +larger social ideals of the best sort. + +The problem between capitalist and laborer, however, only affects a +portion of the world; that of domestic service a still smaller +proportion; that of teachers affects only a class. There is another +problem, which affects nearly all married women, and therefore a large +section of the human race. It is the problem of mother-work. Here is +where the economist should next turn his attention. First, What is +Mother-work? Second, What are the best economic conditions under which +this work can be done? When we have solved this question, we shall have +solved a great human problem. + +Mother-work includes the bearing and the rearing of children, the +conduct of a home, and the placing of that home in the right social +atmosphere and relations. It includes manual, intellectual, and +spiritual labors. The one who lives and works, as God meant her to live +and work, will never feel over-fatigue. Why do mothers often look so +tired? It is because they too often do not have what every mother ought +to have: education, rest, change, a Sabbath-day, individual income, +intellectual interests, society. + +Whether in the simplest home or in the stateliest, there are certain +manual things to be done in regard to the care and bringing-up of +children, and the conduct of a home. To make the conditions of a woman's +life easier, the very first thing is this: 1. _Women should be educated +primarily for home-life._ By this I do not mean that a woman should be +taught cooking, and not political economy; that she should be instructed +in dressmaking and nursery-work, but not in chemistry and logic. I mean +that the very fullest education that schools, colleges, universities, +and foreign travel can give, should be given to the woman who is +fortunate enough to have them at command, and that every woman, +according to the degree of her possibilities of education and +opportunity, should have the best. But always this education should be +thought of as a part of her preparation for a woman's life. When boys +are in a business college, the principal of that college does not forget +that among the boys there may be more than one who will never have a +business life, but who will go out into other interests and pursuits. +Yet he turns the thoughts of _all_ boys in his school specially toward +business problems. In schools and colleges for women, not all the girls +will marry, not all will be mothers, but most of them will be. Is not, +then, the normal education of a woman that which, while it does not +cramp her life in one direction, nor mould her in a set way, yet keeps +always in mind the fact that the normal woman is being educated for a +normal woman's life? + +This would not necessarily change the curriculum of our colleges in any +way; it would change the spirit and atmosphere of some of them at once. +Instead of the spirit being: "My mind is just as good as a man's. What a +man can study, I can learn! What a man can do, I can do!"--the spirit +would be this: "I am going out into a woman's life, and it is my +business now to take to myself all the wisdom, counsel, experience, and +inspiration of past ages, that I may be the very grandest woman that +history has yet seen! I will be a land-mark in time: I will be a pivot +in history around which the earth shall turn. Because of my life, women +to the end of time shall be able to live a truer, freer, better life!" + +With this thought in mind, all the academic subjects would still pass +into her mind and life, but they would be much more naturally set and +their value would be greatly enhanced. Then we would not have the +too-ambitious woman stepping out of college, or the restless and +discontented one. We would have the large-minded, earnest, noble, +public-spirited one, who would go out into the world as a fine type of +woman, to live a woman's life and do a woman's work. Married or +unmarried, she would still have a woman's interests, a woman's +influence, a woman's charm. + +This higher education may or may not include practical studies in +domestic science, nursing, and household emergencies, but she should +learn somewhere the elements of these studies, so that when she goes +into a home of her own her duties and responsibilities will not be met +in a half-hearted and untrained way. + +2. Mothers should have rest-hours and rest-days. Is it not something +extraordinary, from a purely economic point of view, that while it is +widely recognized that every one should have one day in seven for rest, +that while business men are expected to close up their offices on the +Sabbath, and all working men and women are given this day in the stores, +the factories, and mines--the cook and maids have their Sundays out, and +their week-day afternoons--that nowhere on earth, so far as I know, has +there ever been a systematic arrangement by which mothers, as a class, +have any specially arranged hours or days for rest! A baby's care does +not stop on the Sabbath, and the average mother is practically on duty, +at least over-seeing, day and night, twenty-four hours out of the +twenty-four, from one end of the year to the other, no matter how many +maids and nurses she may have in her employ! + +3. Personal income and its use. What we buy marks our own individuality, +as well as what we do. The woman whose father or husband adjusts her +expenses and expenditures cannot by any possibility be the kind of woman +that the one is who chooses her own things, and spends her money +absolutely to suit herself. When a man buys cigars or fishing-tackle, +his wife may prefer to buy oratorios and golf-clubs. + +4. Mothers should have some interest outside of home-tasks, to keep them +in touch with world-interests and world-tasks. Not all mother's duty is +inside the four walls of her home. The race has demands upon her, as +well as her own child. She ought to be guarded from that short-sighted +and selfish devotion which makes her look upon her child as the centre +of the universe, and which leads her to sacrifice every hour, every +thought, every talent, to him alone. + +5. Building up the place of a home in a community means much more than a +rivalry with one's neighbors, as to which one shall have the cleanest +house, the prettiest or most expensive curtains and furniture, who shall +entertain the most, and whose children shall present the best appearance +in the world! Making a social place for a family involves a very wide +acquaintance with really great social ideals; with the best instincts +and customs; with world refinement and manners, as well as those of +one's own town or village--with the social possibilities of life in +general, as well as the etiquette of Quinton's Corners! To give the +right stamp upon her home, a mother must have a social life, as well as +domestic one. She must have time to enter somewhat into the activities +of her own neighborhood, and must have society after marriage, as well +as before. + +It is a different sort of society that she then needs. It is not a +boy-and-girl society, with its crude ways, and its adolescent ideas of +life. It is the society of earnest, cultured, and public-spirited men +and women, each of whom is adding something to the general store of +interest and ideals; each of whom is doing some phase of social work, +according to his own talent and opportunity. + +When a mother steps out into life in this large way, makes education and +training tributary to her mother-life, and does not stop growing +intellectually or spiritually,--her charm as a woman increases, instead +of diminishes, every year of her married life. Her looks mark her +everywhere as a supremely happy woman, and she goes out into the world +marked with that strange, deep, grand impress of motherhood and +womanhood, which has always made the true woman not only a +working-mother, but a love-crowned queen! + +These and many other thoughts flit over one's mind in looking at any +phase of work, or any piece of work. In the right choice of work lies +the fullest use of one's capacities; in the right conditions of work +lies the freest play of one's energies; in the right spirit of work lies +the way of one's lasting happiness, and the foretaste of eternal joys. + +Thus the world is seen to consist of great cycles of workers, rising in +tiers one above another. Those who do not work are quickly cut out from +all participation in race-progress and in race-delights; those who work +earnestly, but blindly, have their small reward. But those who work with +spiritual energy and enthusiasm are weaving their handiwork into the +very fibre of the universal frame. It is for these spiritual workers +that the great eagerness of life is undying; for them there is no shadow +of fatigue; for them there is the joy of mastery and accomplishment; for +them the peace of soul that comes from the triumphant achievement of +one's mission to mankind! + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Warriors, by Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10004 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eef79dd --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10004 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10004) diff --git a/old/10004-8.txt b/old/10004-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..37f9eef --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10004-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5361 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Warriors, by Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Warriors + +Author: Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown + +Release Date: November 10, 2003 [EBook #10004] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WARRIORS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charlie Kirschner +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +THE WARRIORS + +BY ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY PH.D. + +AUTHOR OF + +WHAT IS WORTH WHILE? +CULTURE AND REFORM +THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH + + + + +PREFACE + +This work was begun nearly five years ago. Since then, the whole face of +American history has changed. We have had the Spanish-American War, and +the opening-up of our new possessions. In this period of time Gladstone, +Li Hung Chang, and Queen Victoria have died; there has also occurred the +assassination of the Empress of Austria and of President McKinley. There +has been the Chinese persecution, the destruction of Galveston by storm +and of Martinique by volcanic action. Wireless telegraphy has been +discovered, and the source of the spread of certain fevers. In this time +have been carried on gigantic engineering undertakings,--the +Trans-Siberian Railroad, the Trans-Balkan Railroad, the rebuilding of +New York. We have also looked upon the consolidation of vast forces of +steel, iron, sugar, shipping, and other trusts. We have witnessed an +extraordinary growth of universities, libraries, and higher +schools,--the widespread increase of commerce, the prosperity of +business, the rise in the price of food, and the great coal-strike of +1902. Perhaps never before in the world's history have there been +crowded into five years such dramatic occurrences on the world-stage, +nor such large opportunities for the individual man or woman. + +It is interesting for me to notice that since the first outlines of the +book were written, many things then set down as prophecy have now been +fulfilled. It was my purpose, in projecting the essays at what seemed +to me to be the dawn of a great religious era, to help the onward +movement by a few earnest words. History itself has swept the world far +beyond one's dreams, and in completing them, I only ask that they may +stand a further witness to the overwhelming majesty and influence of the +Christian faith. + +ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY + +_Philadelphia, November_ 1_st_, 1902 + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + I. CHORDS OF AWAKENING: + THE HIGHER CONQUEST + + II. PRELUDE: + THE CALL OF JESUS + +III. PROCESSIONAL: + THE CHURCH OF GOD + + IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: + OF KINGS + OF PRELATES AND EVANGELISTS + OF SAGES + OF TRADERS + OF WORKERS + + + + +I. CHORDS OF AWAKENING: THE HIGHER CONQUEST + + [CUTLER] + + _The Son of God goes forth to war, + A kingly crown to gain: + His blood-red banner streams afar: + Who follows in His train? + + Who best can drink his cup of woe, + Triumphant over pain; + Who patient bears his cross below, + He follows in His train! + + They met the tyrant's brandished steel, + The lions gory mane; + They bowed their necks the death to feel: + Who follows in their train? + + They climbed the steep ascent of heaven + Through peril, toil, and pain: + O God, to us may grace be given + To follow in their train!_ + + REGINALD HEBER + +The universe is not awry. Fate and man are not altogether at odds. Yet +there is a perpetual combat going on between man and nature, and between +the power of character and the tyranny of circumstance, death, and sin. +The great soul is tossed into the midst of the strife, the longing, and +the aspirations of the world. He rises Victor who is triumphant in some +great experience of the race. + +The first energy is combative: the Warrior is the primitive hero. There +are natures to whom mere combat is a joy. Strife is the atmosphere in +which they find their finest physical and spiritual development. In the +early times, there must have been those who stood apart from their +tribesmen in contests of pure athletic skill,--in running, jumping, +leaping, wrestling, in laying on thew and thigh with arm, hand, and +curled fist in sheer delight of action, and of the display of strength. +As foes arose, these athletes of the tribe or clan would be the first to +rush forth to slay the wild beast, to brave the sea and storm, or to +wreak vengeance on assailing tribes. Their valor was their insignia. +Their prowess ranked them. Their exultation was in their freedom +and strength. + +Such men did not ask a life of ease. Like Tortulf the Forester, they +learned "how to strike the foe, to sleep on the bare ground, to bear +hunger and toil, summer's heat and winter's frost,--how to fear nothing +but ill-fame." They courted danger, and asked only to stand as Victors +at the last. + +Hence we read of old-world warriors,--of Gog and Magog and the Kings of +Bashan; of the sons of Anak; of Hercules, with his lion-skin and club; +of Beówulf, who, dragging the sea-monster from her lair, plunged beneath +the drift of sea-foam and the flame of dragon-breath, and met the clutch +of dragon-teeth. We read of Turpin, Oliver, and Roland,--the +sweepers-off of twenty heads at a single blow; of Arthur, who slew +Ritho, whose mantle was furred with the beards of kings; of Theodoric +and Charlemagne, and of Richard of the Lion-heart. + +There are also Victors in the great Quests of the world,--the Argonauts, +Helena in search of the Holy Rood, the Knights of the Holy Grail, the +Pilgrim Fathers. There are the Victors in the intellectual wrestlings of +the world,--the thinkers, poets, sages; the Victors in great sorrows, +who conquer the savage pain of heart and desolation of spirit which +arise from heroic human grief,--Oedipus and Antigone, Iphigenia, +Perseus, Prometheus, King Lear, Samson Agonistes, Job, and David in his +penitential psalm. And there are the Victors in the yet deeper strivings +of the soul--in its inner battles and spiritual conquests--Milton's +Adam, Paracelsus, Dante, the soul in _The Palace of Art_, Abt Vogler, +Isaiah, Teufelsdröckh, Paul. To read of such men and women is to be +thrilled by the Titanic possibilities of the soul of man! + +The world has come into other and greater battle-days. This is an era of +great spiritual conflicts, and of great triumphs. To-day faith calls the +soul of man to arms. It is a clarion to awake, to put on strength, and +to go forth to Holy War. If there were no fighting work in the Christian +life, much of the intense energy and interest of the race would be +unaroused. There are apathetic natures who do not want to undertake the +difficult,--sluggish souls who would rather not stir from their present +position. And there are cowards who run to cover. But there is +in all strong natures the primitive combative instinct,--the +let-us-see-which-is-the-stronger, which delights in contests, which is +undismayed by opposition, and which grows firmer through the warfare +of the soul. + +It is this phase of the Christian life which is most needed to-day,--the +warrior-spirit, the all-conquering soul. In entering the Christian life, +one must put out of his heart the expectation that it is to be an easy +life, or one removed from toil and danger. It is preëminently the +adventurous life of the world,--that in which the most happens, as well +as that in which the spiritual possibilities are the greatest. It is a +life full of splendor, of excitement, of trial, of tests of courage and +endurance, and is meant to appeal to those who are the very bravest +and the best. + +There are two forms of conquest to which the soul of man is called--the +inner and the outer. The inner is the conquest of the evil within his +own nature; the outer is the struggle against the evil forces of the +world--the constructive task of building up, under warring conditions, +the spiritual kingdom of God. + +The real world is far more subtle than we as yet understand. When we +dive down into the deep, sky and air and houses disappear. We enter a +new world--the under-world of water, and things that glide and swim; of +sea-grasses and currents; of flowing waves that lap about the body with +a cool chill; of palpitating color, that, at great depths, becomes a +sort of darkness; of sea-beds of shell and sand, and bits of scattered +wreckage; of ooze and tangled sea-plants, dusky shapes, and +fan-like fins. + +Or if we look upward we reach an over-world, where moons and suns are +circling in the heights. What draws them together? What keeps a subtle +distance between them, which they never cross? How do they, age after +age, run a predestined course? We drop a stone. What binds it earthward? +Under our feet run magnetic currents that flow from pole to pole. In the +clouds above, there are electric vibrations which cannot be described +in exact terms. + +Thus also, in spiritual experiences, there are currents which we cannot +measure or describe. The psychic world is the final world, though its +towers and pinnacles no eye hath seen. If we try to shut out for an hour +the outer world, and descend into the soul-world of the life of man, we +find ourselves in a new environment, and with an outlook over new forms +and powers. We find ourselves in a world of images and attractions, of +impulses and desires, of instincts and attainments. It is not only a +world of separate and individual souls, but each soul is as a thousand; +for within each man there is an inner host contending for mastery, and +everywhere is the uproar of battle and of spiritual strife. + +What is the Self that abides in each man? Is it not the consciousness of +existence, together with a consciousness of the power of choice? Our +individuality lies in the fact that we can decide, choose, and rule +among the various contestant impulses of our souls. Herein is the +possibility of victory and also the possibility of defeat. + +Looking inward, we find that Self began when man began. We inherit our +dispositions from Adam, as well as from our parents and a long ancestral +line. When the first men and women were created, forces were set in +action which have resulted in this Me that to-day thinks and wills and +loves. Heredity includes savagery and culture, health and disease, +empire and serfdom, hope and despair. Each man can say: "In me rise +impulses that ran riot in the veins of Anak, that belonged to Libyan +slaves and to the Ptolemaic line. I am Aryan and Semite, Roman and +Teuton: alike I have known the galley and the palm-set court of kings. +Under a thousand shifting generations, there was rising the combination +that I to-day am. In me culminates, for my life's day, human history +until now." + +Individuality is thus a unique selection and arrangement of what has +been, touched with something--a degree of life--that has not been +before. To rise above heredity is to rise above the downward drag of all +the years. It is not escaping the special sin of one ancestor, but the +sin of all ancestors. _This is the first problem that is set before each +man: to rise above his race--to be the culmination of virtue until now_. + +_The second problem is not greater, but different. It is to mould +environment to spiritual uses_. The conditions of this struggle and the +opportunities of this conquest are the content of this book. It is meant +to deal with the more heroic aspects of the Christian life. + +What is environment? Is it the material horizon that bounds us? If so, +where does it end? Our first environment is a crib, a room, our mother's +eyes. Sensations of hunger, heat, and motion beat upon the baby-brain; +there is a vague murmur of sound in the baby-ears. Yet it is this babe +who, in after days, has all the universe for his soul's demesne! His +environment stretches out to towns and rivers, shore and sea. Looking +upward into space, he can view a star whose distance is a thousand times +ten thousand miles. Beyond the path of his feet or of his sight, there +is the path of thought, which leads him into new countries, new climes, +new years! His meditations are upon ages gone; his work competes with +that of the dead. In his reveries and imaginings, he can transport +himself anywhither, and can commune with any friend or god. Hence to be +master of one's environment is really to have the universe within +one's grasp. + +We are too much afraid of customs and traditions. We are put into our +times, not that the times may mould us, but that we may mould the times! +Ways? Customs? They exist to be changed! The _tempora_ and the _mores_ +should be plastic to our touch. The times are never level with our best. +Our souls are higher than the _Zeitgeist_. Why should we cringe before +an inferior essence or command? But society seals our lips: we walk +about with frozen tongues. + +Each asks himself at some time: How shall I become one of the Victors of +the race? Is it in me? Mankind is weighted by every previous sin. Where +am I free? How am I free? Can I do as I choose? Or are there bourns of +conduct beyond which I can never go? Am I foreordained to sin? Do the +stars in their courses lay limitations on free will? + +There are in man two forces working: a human longing after God, and, in +response, God inly working in the soul. The Victor is he who, in his own +life, unites these two things: a great longing after the god-like, which +makes him yearn for virtue,--and the divine power within him, through +which and by which he is triumphant over time and death and sin. + +Whatever our trials, sorrows, or temptations, joy and courage are ever +meant to be in the ascendant; life, however it may break in storms upon +us, is not meant to beat down our souls. Unless we are triumphant, we +are not wholly useful or well trained. Will and heart together work +for victory. + +As there flashes and thrills through all nature a subtle electric +vibration which is the supreme form of physical energy, so there runs +through the history of mankind a current of spiritual inspiration and +power. To possess this magnetism of soul, this heroism of life, this +flame-like flower of character, is to be Victor in the great combats of +the race. It is the spirit of courage, energy, and love. Nothing is too +hard for it, nothing too distasteful, nothing too insignificant. Through +all the course of duty it spurs one to do one's best. Its essence is to +overcome. This is the indwelling Holy Spirit, wherein is freedom, power, +and rest. To its final triumph all things are accessory. To joy, all +powers converge. + + + + +II. PRELUDE: THE CALL OF JESUS + + [VOX DILECTI] + + _I heard the voice of Jesus say + Come unto Me and rest; + Lay down, thou weary one, lay down + Thy head upon My breast. + I came to Jesus as I was, + Weary and worn and sad; + I found in Him a resting-place, + And He has made me glad._ + + _I heard the voice of Jesus say + Behold I freely give + The living water; thirsty one, + Stoop down and drink, and live. + I came to Jesus, and I drank + Of that life-giving stream; + My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, + And now I live in Him._ + + _I heard the voice of Jesus say + I am this dark world's light; + Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise, + And all thy day be bright. + I looked to Jesus, and I found + In Him my star, my sun; + And in that light of life I'll walk, + Till travelling days are done._ + + HORATIUS BONAR + +It is a world of voices in which we live. We are daily visited by +appeals which are ministering to our growth and progress, or which are +tending to our spiritual downfall. There are the voices of nature, in +sky, and sea, and storm; the voices of childhood and of early youth; the +voices of playfellows and companions,--voices long stilled, it may be, +in death; the voices of lover and beloved; the voices of ambition, of +sorrow, of aspiration, and of joy. + +But among all these many voices, there is one which is most inspiring +and supreme. When the _Vorspiel_ to _Parsifal_ breaks upon the ear it is +as if all other music were inadequate and incomplete--as if a voice +called from the confines of eternity, in the infinite spaces where no +time is, and rolled onward to the far-off ages when time shall be no +more. Even so, high and clear above the voices of the world, deeper and +tenderer than any other word or tone, comes the voice of Jesus to the +soul of man. + +Look, if you will, upon the World of Souls, many-tiered and vast, +stretching from day's end to day's end,--a world of hunger and of anger, +of toiling and of striving, of clamor and of triumph,--a dim, upheaving +mass, which from century to century wakes, and breathes, and sleeps +again! Years roll on, tides flow, but there is no cessation of the march +of years, and no whisper of a natural change. Is it not a strange thing +that one voice, and only one, should have really won the hearing of the +race? What is this voice of Jesus, so enduring, matchless, and supreme? +What does it promise, for the help or hope of man? + +There are some who say that Jesus has held the attention and allegiance +of the race by an appeal to the religious instinct; that all men +naturally seek God, and long to know Him. But if we try to define the +religious instinct, we shall find it a hard task. What might be called a +religious instinct leads to human sacrifice upon the Aztec altar; +directs the Hindu to cast the new-born child in the stream, the friend +to sacrifice his best friend to a pagan deity. + +There are others who say that Christ appeals to the gentler instincts of +man,--to his unselfishness, his meekness and compassion. Yet some of the +most admirable Christians have been ambitious and aggressive. Others +say, He appeals to our need of help. But self-reliance is a Christian +trait. Others say, He appeals to our sense of sin--our need of pardon. +But many a Christian goes through life like a happy child, scarcely +conscious at any time of deep guilt, and never overwhelmed by intense +conviction or despair. + +The truth seems to be that Christ appeals to our whole selves. He calls +us by an attraction which is unique. In the universe there exists a +force which we must recognize--though we do not yet in the least +understand it--which is gradually drawing the race Christward. The law +of spiritual gravitation is, that by all the changing impulses of our +nature we are drawn upward unto Him. Spohr's lovely anthem voices this +cry of the soul: + + "_As pants the hart for cooling streams, + When heated in the chase, + So longs my soul, O God, for Thee, + And Thy refreshing grace. + + "For Thee, my God, the living God, + My thirsty soul doth pine; + Oh! when shall I behold Thy face, + Thou Majesty divine_?" + +1. Jesus calls us by the mystery of life. There are hours of silence and +meditation when the great thought _I am_ beats in upon the soul. But +what am I? Whence came I? A heap of atoms in some strange human +semblance--is that all? And so many other heaps of atoms have already +been, and passed away! Blown hither and thither--where? The universe +reels with change. Star-dust and earth-dust are alike in ceaseless +whirl. Little it profits to build the spire, the sea-wall, the dome, the +bridge, the myriad-roofed town. A new era shall dawn upon them, and they +shall fall away. + +Not only that, but each man who lives to-day has less possible material +dominion than he had who preceded him. Only so many square feet of +earth, and now there are more to walk upon them! The ground we tread was +once trodden by the feet of those long dead. I am taking up their room, +and in due time I must myself depart, that there may be footway for +those who are to come after me. Only the under-sod is really mine--the +little earth-barrow to which I go. + +There is no question more baffling than this simple, ever-recurring one: +What am I? If I should decide what I am to-day, I discover that +yesterday I was quite a different person. To-day I may be six feet in +height, and climb the Alps; yesterday I lay helpless in swaddling +clothes. Yesterday I was a thing of laughter and frolic; to-day I am +grave, and brush away tears. As a babe, was I still I? What is Myself? +When did I come to Myself? How far can I extend Myself? My feet are +here, but in a moment my spirit can flee to Xanadu and Zanzibar. There +is no spot in the universe where I may not go. Where, then, are the +limits of Myself? + +Personality is never for a single moment fixed: it is as changing and +evanescent as a cloud. We are whirlwind spirits, swept through time and +space, bearing within our souls hopes, fears, joys, sorrows, which are +never twice the same. Every aspect of the universe leaves new +impressions on us, and our wills, in their world-sweep, daily desire +different things. + +Incompleteness lies on life--restlessness is in the heart. True love has +no final habitation on earth; there is no abiding-place for our deepest +affection, our most tender yearning. It is curious how deeply one may +love, and yet feel that there is something more. In all our journeys, +skyward and sunward, we never reach the End of All. + +Over against this vague and changing self, there stands out the figure +of the changeless Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. In +Him we find the environment of all our lives, and the sum of all +our dreams. + +2. Jesus calls us by our earth-born cares. In Mendelssohn's _Elijah_, +there is a voice which sings: "O rest in the Lord!" This angel's message +is the voice of Jesus to the human race. + +The voice of Jesus calls us to awake to toil. We sometimes forget this, +and imagine that if we follow Jesus, we shall never have anything to do. +Christ does not still the machinery of the world, nor shut the mine, nor +take away the sowing and the reaping. The call of Jesus is not a call to +rest from work, but to rest in work. The rest we receive is that of +sympathy, of inspiration, of efficiency. Christ really increases the +toil-capacity of man. Man can do more work, harder work, and always +better work, because of the faith that is in him. What makes the +confusion and fatigue of life is, that men are everywhere scrambling +for themselves, and trying to manage their own undertakings, instead of +falling into harmony with God, and through Him, with all that is. What +wears the soul out is not the work of life itself--it is its drudgery, +its monotony, its blind vagueness, its apparent purposelessness. We do +not wish to scatter our lives and spend our years in nothingness. + +Christ comes into the world and says: Over-fatigue is abnormal. There +is not enough work in the universe to tire every one all out. There is +just enough for each one to do happily, and to do well. I am come as the +great industrial organizer. My mission is not to take away toil, but to +redistribute it. My industrial plan is the largest of history--it is +also the most simple. I look down over the world, as a master upon his +men. My work is not to found an earthly kingdom, as some have thought; +it is not primarily to set up industrial establishments, or syndicates, +or ways of transport and trade. My work is to build up in the universe a +spiritual kingdom of energy, power, and progress. To this kingdom all +material things are accessory. In My hand are all abilities, as well as +all knowledge. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without My notice. Not +a lily blooms without My delight. Not a brick is laid, not a stone is +set, not an axe is swung, except beneath My eye. I provide for My own. +To each man I assign his work, his task. If he takes upon him only what +I give him to do, he will never be under-paid, or over-tired. + +Hence the first step towards an industrial millennium is to arise and do +what Jesus bids. Heaven is heaven because no one is unruly there, or +idle, or lazy, or vicious, or morose. Each soul is at true and happy +work. Each energy is absorbed; each hour is alive with interest, and +there are no oppressive thoughts or ways. + +If each heart and soul responded to the call of Jesus, there would be a +new heaven and a new earth--a Utopia such as More never dreamed of, nor +Plato, nor Bellamy, nor Campanella in his _City of the Sun_. Each hand +would be at its own work; each eye would be upon its own task; each foot +would be in the right path. All the fear, the weariness, the squalor, +and the unrest of life would be done away. The life of each man would be +a life of contentment, and of economic advance. + +3. Jesus calls us by the scourging of our sins. Flagellation is not of +the body--it is of the soul. Remorse is as a scorpion-whip, and memory +beats us with many stripes. The first sin that besets us is +forgetfulness of God. Apathy creeps over the spirit, and sloth winds +itself about our deeds. Nothing is more pathetic than the decline of the +merely forgetful soul. "Be sleepless in the things of the spirit," says +Pythagoras, "for sleep in them is akin to death." + +Sin lifts bars against success: the root of failure lies in irreligion. +Pride, conceit, disobedience, malice, evil-speaking, covetousness, +idolatry, vice, oppression, injustice, and lack of truth and honor fight +more strongly against one's career than any other foe. No sin is without +its lash; no experience of evil but has its rebound. To expect a higher +moral insight in middle age because of a larger experience of sin in +youth, is as reasonable as to look for sanity of judgment in middle age +because in youth a man had fits! + +Looking at ourselves in a mirror, do we not sometimes think how we would +fashion ourselves if we could create a new self, in the image of some +ideal which is before us? Would we not make ourselves wholly beautiful +if we could make ourselves? + +Even so, looking out upon our own spirits, do we not some day rouse to +the distortion and deformity of sin? Do we wish to retain these +grimacing phases of ourselves? Do we not yearn eagerly for the dignity +and beauty of high virtue? Do we not long for the graces and perfections +which make up a radiant and happy life? If we could be born again, would +we not be born a more spiritual being? + +It is to this new birth that Jesus calls our souls. All around the babe, +hid in its mother's womb, there lies a world of which it has neither +sight nor knowledge. The fact that the babe is ignorant does not change +the fact that the world is there. So about our souls there lies the +invisible world of God, which, until born of the Spirit, we do not see +or understand. It is a world in which God is everywhere; in which there +is no First Cause, except God; in which there is no will, except the +will of God; in which there is no true and perfect love, except from +God; no truth, except revealed by God; no power, except from Him. + +Conversion is the outlook over a world which is arranged, not for our +own glory, but for the good of God's creatures; in which what we do is +necessary, fundamental, permanent--not because we ourselves have done it +well, nor, in truth, because we have done it at all--but because what we +have done is a part of the universe which God is building. We change +from a self-centre to a God-centre; from the thought of whether the +world applauds to whether God approves; from the thought of keeping our +own life to the thought of preserving our own integrity; from isolation +from all other souls to a sympathy with them, an understanding of their +needs, and a desire to help their lives. It is a turning from a delight +in sin, or an indifference to sin, or merely a moral aversion to it, to +a deep-rooted hatred of every thought and act of sin, to penitence, and +to an earnest desire to pattern after God. + +4. Jesus calls us by our sorrows, Jesus calls us by our dreams. He +thrills us by each high aim that life inspires. His voice is one of +understanding, of tenderness, of human appeal. How could we love Jesus +if He did not sympathize with our ideals? But here is a Divine One in +whose sight we are not visionary; who lovingly guards our least hope; +who welcomes our faintest spiritual insight; who takes an interest in +our social plans, and points out to us the great kingdom that is to be. +Christ lays hold of the divine that is in us, and will not let us go. + +5. Jesus calls us by our latent gifts and powers. Which of us has ever +exhausted his possibilities? Which of us is all that he might be? + +It is an impressive thought, that nothing in the universe ever gets used +up. It changes form, motion, semblance,--but the force, the energy, +neither wastes nor dies away. Air--it is as fresh as the air that blew +over the Pharaohs. Sun--it is as undimmed as the sun that looked down on +the completion of Cheops. Earth--it is as unworn as the earth that was +trodden by the cavemen. + +No generation can ever bequeath to us a single new material atom. The +race is ever in old clothes. Nor can we hand down to others one atom +which was not long ere we were born. Yet the vitality of the universe is +being constantly increased, and this increase is also permanent. God has +a great deal more to work with now than a thousand years ago. + +For not all energy is material. With each birth there comes a new force +into the world, and its influence never dies. The body is born of ages +past, of the material stores of centuries; but the soul, in its living, +thinking, working power, is a new phase of energy added to the energy +of the race. + +This fact confers on each individual man a strange impressiveness and +power. It gives a new significance to the fact that I am. I am something +different from what has been, or ever shall be. In the great whirling +myriads, I am distinguished and apart. I am an appreciable factor in +universal development and a being of elemental power. By every true +thought of mine the race becomes wiser. By every right deed, its +inheritance of tradition is uplifted; by every high affection, its +horizon of love is enlarged. We can bequeath to others this new +spiritual energy of our lives. + +This thought gives us a new zest for life. There is an appetite which is +of the soul. It is this wish for growth, for the development of our +powers, for a larger life for ourselves and for those who shall +come after us. + +Is there any one who wishes to stay always where he is to-day?--to be +always what he is this morning? Beyond the hill-top lies our dream. Not +all the voices that call men from place to place are audible ones. We +hear whispers from a far-off leader; we are beckoned by an unseen guide. +Out of ancestry, tradition, talent, and training each departs to +his own way. + +What calls is not largeness of place--it is largeness of ideal. To each +of us, thinking of this one and that one who has taken a large part in +the shaping of the world, there comes a feeling: Beside all these I am +in a narrow way! What can I think that shall be worth the consideration +of the race? What can I do that shall be a stepping-stone to progress? +What can I hope that shall unseal other eyes to the universal glory, +comfort others in the universal pain? We say: I do not want to be mewed +up here, while others are out where thrones and empires are sweeping by! +I do not want to parse verbs, add fractions, and mark ledgers, while +others are the poets, the singers, the statesmen, the rulers, and the +wealth-controllers of the world! We wish to step out of the trivial +experience into that which is significant. Each day brings uneasiness of +soul. "Man's unhappiness," says Carlyle, "as I construe it, comes of his +greatness; it is because there is an infinite in him, which with all his +cunning he cannot quite bury under the finite." Says Tennyson: + + "_It is not death for which we pant, + But life, more life, and fuller, that we want_." + +These aspirations are prophetic. Does a clod-hopper dream? We move +toward our desires. The wish for growth is but the call of Jesus to our +souls. We sometimes hear of the "limitations of life." What are they? +Who set them? Man himself, not God. The call of Jesus urges the soul of +man to possibilities which are infinite. + +A large life is the fulfilment of God's ideal of our lives--the life +which, from all eternity, He has looked upon as possible for us. Could +any career be grander than the one that God has planned for us? God does +not think petty thoughts: He longs for grandeur for us all. + +6. Jesus calls us by the spirit of the times. There is a growing +recognition of the affinity between God and the human soul. Religion has +changed in spirit as well as in form. It used to be considered a tract +in one's experience, and now it is perceived to be all of life--its +impetus, its central moving force, the reason for being, activity, +development, for ethical conduct, and for unselfish and joyous +helpfulness. Religion is more and more perceived to be, not a thing of +feeble sentiment, of restraint, of exaction, of meek subordination and +resignation, but the unfolding of the free human spirit to the +realization of its highest possibilities and its allegiance to that +which is eternal and supreme. The nineteenth century closes with the +thinker who is also a man of meditation and devotion. We offer to Heaven +the incense of aspiration, hope, research, talent, and imagination. + +The chief thing toward which we are moving is, I believe, the +Enthronement of the Christ. Christ has always been, in the hearts of the +few, enthroned and enshrined. Even in the dark years of mediaeval +superstition and unrest, there were the cloistered ones who maintained +traditions of faith and did works of mercy, as there were knightly ones +who upheld the ministry of chivalry, and followed, though afar, the +tender shining of the Holy Grail. But now all the signs point to a great +and general recognition of the Christ--Christ to be lifted high on the +hands of the nations, to His throne above the stars! + +A new spiritual note is to be heard in modern subjects of study, is +noticeable in all paths of intellectual prestige. History is no more +looked upon as the story of the trophies of warriors, conquerors, and +kings. History, rising out of dim mists, is seen to be the marching and +the countermarching of nations in the throes of progress and of social +change. It is not the story of princes alone, but of peasants as well; +the result of myriads of small, obscure lives; of changing conditions; +of the movements of great economic, psychologic, and spiritual forces. +Looking backward over the moving processional of the nations of the +earth, we may see how, without rest, without pause, through countless +ages, the myriad legions of men have been passing across the scene of +life--passing, and fading away! + + "_All that tread + The globe are but a handful of the tribes + That slumber in its bosom_." + +Empires have risen, and empires have decayed; dynasties have been +buried, and long lines of kings, wrapping stately robes about them, have +lain down to die. Thrones have been overturned, armies and navies have +been mustered and scattered, land and sea have been peopled and made +desolate, as the thronging tribes and races have lived their little life +and passed away. Babylon and Assyria, India and Arabia, Egypt and +Persia, Rome and Greece,--each of these has had its lands and conquests, +its song and story, its wars and tumults, its wrath and praise. Under +all the tides of conquest and endeavor but one fact shines supreme: the +steady progress of the Cross. + +One principle of growth and development is being slowly revealed,--an +approach to symmetry and civic form, which is seen in freedom, justice, +popular education, the rise of masses, the power of public opinion, and +a general regard for life, health, peace, national prosperity, and the +individual weal. The day has passed when men merely lived, slept, ate, +fought; they are now involved in an intricate and progressive +civilization. Sociology, ethics, and politics are newly blazed pathways +for its development, its guidance, and its ideals. We are moving on to +new dreams of patriotism, of statesmanship, and of civil rule. + +Literature, instead of being considered as merely an expression of the +primitive experiences of a race in its sagas, glees, ballads, dramas, +and larger works and songs, is more and more revealing itself as an +appeal to the Highest in the supreme moments of life. It is the +unfolding panorama of the concepts of the soul in regard to duty, +conduct, love, and hope. Literature asks: What do I live for? as well +as, How shall I speak forth beauty? How ought the soul of man to act in +an emergency? What is the best solution of the great human problems of +duty, love, and fate? The voices of Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, +Tennyson, and Browning sweep the soul upward to spiritual heights, and +answer some of the deepest questionings of the soul of man. And hence +literature is no longer merely a thing of vocabulary, of phrase, of +rhythm, of assonance, of alliteration, or of metrical and philosophical +form. It is a revelation of the progress of the soul, of its standards, +of its triumphs, its defeats, and its desires. It is the unfolding of +one's intellectual helplessness before the unmoved, calm passing of +years; of one's emotional inadequacy without God for adjudicator. It is +a direct search for God. One finds wrapped within it the mystery, +aspiration, and spiritual passion of the soul. + +Science, no longer a dry assembling of facts and figures, is an +increasing revelation of the imagination, the exactness, the +thoroughness, and the great progressive plans of God. Evolution has +become a spiritual formula. The scientist looks out over the earth and +sky and sun and star. Against his little years are meted out vast +prehistoric spans; against his mastery of a few forms of life, stands +Life itself. Back of all, there looms up the great Figure of the +Originator of life, and of the forms of life; the Maker and Ruler of +them all. Each scientific fact helps exegesis and evidence. Each new +aspiration after truth becomes a form of prayer. + +Yes, the whole world is being subtly and powerfully drawn to the worship +of the Christ. Never before was there so deep, genuine, and widespread a +Revival of Religion. It has not come heralded with great outcries, with +flame and wind, and revolution and upheaval; it has come as the great +changes that are most permanent come, in stillness and strength. +Throughout the world there is being turned to the service of religion +the highest training, the most intellectual power. Wars are being +wrought for freedom; the Church and the university are joining hands; +the rich and the poor are drawing near together for mutual help and +understanding; industry is growing to be, not only a crude force, brutal +and disregarding, but a high ministry to human needs; the home is +becoming more and more the guardian of faith and the shrine of peace; +business houses are taking upon them a religious significance; commerce +and trade are perceiving ethical duties. Armies are marching in the +name of Jehovah, and a great poet has this one message: "Lest +we forget!" + +7. Jesus calls us by the future of the race. Life proceeds to life. +Eternity is what is just before. Immortality is a native concept for the +soul. Beyond this hampered half-existence, the soul demands life, +freedom, growth, and power. + +We stand between two worlds. Behind us is the engulfed Past, wherein +generations vanish, as the wake of ships at sea. Before us is the +Future, in the dawn-mist of hovering glory, and surprise. Looking out +over eternity, that billowy expanse, do we not see rising, clear though +shadowy, a vast Permanence, Completion, Realization, in which the soul +of man shall have endless progress and delight? This is the Promise held +out by all the ages, and the future toward which all the thoughts and +dreams of man converge. It is glorious to be a living soul, and to know +that this great race--life is yet to be! + +At the threshold of each new century stands Jesus, star-encircled, with +a voice above the ages and a crown above the spheres,--Jesus, saying, +FOLLOW ME! + + + + +III. PROCESSIONAL: THE CHURCH OF GOD + + [AURELIA] + + _The Church's one foundation + Is Jesus Christ her Lord; + She is His new creation + By water and the Word: + From heaven He came and sought her + To be His Holy Bride; + With His own blood He bought her + And for her life He died. + + Though with a scornful wonder + Men see her sore opprest, + By schisms rent asunder, + By heresies distrest; + Yet saints their watch are keeping, + Their cry goes up, "How long?" + And soon the night of weeping + Shall be the morn of song. + + 'Mid toil and tribulation, + And tumult of her war, + She waits the consummation + Of peace for evermore; + Till with the vision glorious + Her longing eyes are blest, + And the great Church victorious + Shall be the Church at rest._ + + SAMUEL JOHN STONE + + +FIRST: RECONSTRUCTION + +The subject that is being carefully considered by many thinking men and +women to-day is this: the place and prospects of the Christian Church. +All about us we hear the cry that the Church is declining, and may +eventually pass away; that it does not gain new members in proportion to +its need, nor hold the attention and allegiance of those already +enrolled. Are these things true? If so, how may better things be brought +to pass? To share in the civilization that has come from nineteen +hundred years of the work of the Church, and to be unwilling to lift a +pound's weight of the present burden, in order to pass on to others our +precious heritage, is certainly a selfish and unworthy course. It is +better to ask, What is my work in the upbuilding of the Church? What can +I do to further the Royal Progress of the Church of God? + +The root-failure of the organized Church to-day is its failure to share +in the growing life of the world. A growing life is one that is full of +new ideas, new experiences, new emotions, a new outlook over life--that +works in new ways, and that is full of seething and tumultuous energy, +enthusiasm, and hope. If we look out over the colleges, business +enterprises, periodicals, agriculture, manufacturing, and shipping of +the world, we find everywhere one story--growth, impetus, courage, +resources, vigorous and bounding life. Beside these things the average +church services to-day are both stupid and poky. The forces of religion +are neither guided nor wielded well. There is in most churches, however +we may dislike to own the fact, a decrease of interest and proportionate +membership, a waning prestige, a general air of discouragement, and a +tale of baffled efforts and of disappointed hopes. + +The Church--and by this word I here mean the organized body of both +clergymen and laymen--is meant to be the supreme spiritual leader of the +world. It is meant to possess vigor, decision, insight, hope, and +intellectual power. But before it can accomplish its high and holy work, +a great reconstruction must begin. To help in this reconstruction, to +aid in vivifying, coördinating, and ruling the varied processes of +organized religion, is your work and mine. + +1. The Church must rouse to a sense of its noble duties and exalted +powers. We underrate the Church. We are looking elsewhere for our +highest ideals, instead of claiming from the Church that spiritual +guidance and inspiration which should be its right to give. One of the +things that is a monumental astonishment to me, is that when we need +supplication, intercession, prayer for the averting of great personal or +national calamity, we flee to the Church, but we seldom think of the +Church when we need brains! + +The Church should lead, and not follow, the great dreams of the world. +In the midst of our new national life we are sending all over the +country for the best-trained help and thought in every department of +government influence and control. Our problems of the day are +preëminently spiritual ones. Colonial control is not a question of +material ascendancy--it is a rule over the minds, hearts, and ideals of +men. Its moral significance is patent. We are called upon, not only to +import provisions, clothing, and household and industrial goods into our +new possessions; we are called upon to develop a higher sense of honor, +truth, honesty, and every-day morality. Scholars, working-men, business +men, farmers, and merchants are being consulted in regard to different +phases of our national advance, and every idea which their insight and +experience furnish is seized upon. But who is consulting the Church in +these concerns, except in reference to mere technical points? Who is +looking to the intellectual, moral, and spiritual standards of the +Church for guidance? We are to-day ruled spiritually, as well as +intellectually, by laymen, and in a way which is quite outside the +organized work of the Church. + +2. The Church needs a more business-like organization and way of work. +It needs a more military spirit and discipline. The Church is diffuse +and loosely strung. There are in the United States alone about two +hundred and fifty-six kinds of religious bodies. There is no centralized +interest or work; there is no economic adjustment of funds; there is no +internal agreement as to practical methods. The result is a most +wasteful expenditure of force. Movements are not only duplicated, but +reproduced a hundred times in miniature, in one denomination after +another; special talent is restricted to a narrow field; buildings and +church-plants are multiplied, but lie largely disused; sects and +communities are at loggerheads on unessential points; all this--and the +world is not being saved! The Church fails to see openings for +aggressive work; it fails to seize strategic points; it does not carry a +well-knit local organization, with a husbanding of economic force; it +does not front the world in dead-earnest; it is not proud and honorable +in meeting its local debts; it loses progressive force, from lack of +knowledge as to how to judge men, and train them, and set them to work. + +It also lacks greatly in office-force and in supplies. The gospel itself +is without price, but in the nature of things it cannot be proclaimed, +nor church-work efficiently carried on, without financial outlay. There +should be a more adequate equipment for this work. All other enterprises +need, without question, stationery, stenographers, literature for +distribution, office-rooms, office-hours, and a general arrangement +looking toward enlargement and progress. A busy pastor should have an +office-equipment just as much as a business man, and it should be +supported, as a business office is, out of the funds of the business +organization, _i.e._ the local church. + +There should be, first of all, a united spirit, and a general +reorganization throughout the whole of evangelical Christendom, not +necessarily destroying denominational lines, with a view to quick +mobilization of energy in any direction most needed. What would a +general do, who, in looking over his troops, should find two hundred and +fifty-six provincial armies, not at ease or at peace with each other, +and yet expected to make war upon a common foe? Shall we not endeavor to +share in some broadly planned, magnificently executed scheme of +world-advance? + +The Church has reached a point where a vast constructive work is to be +done. Its scattered parts must be knit into a powerful and aggressive +whole, to turn a solid front upon the evil of the world. The times are +ripe for a successor of Peter the Hermit, of Luther, Knox, Calvin, +Zwingli, Savonarola, Whitefield, Finney, Moody. Whether a great +preacher, theologian, or evangelist, he will certainly be a business +man, a man of vast energy and executive capacity, who shall perform this +miracle of organization of which many dream, and who shall set the +progress of the Church for a full century to come! + +This united spirit should prevail, not only through the smaller bodies, +but between the Roman Catholic and Protestant communions. There has been +a distinct division between these two bodies, much mutual suspicion, +jealousy, and antagonism: it is only quite lately that Protestant and +Catholic leaders have been willing to work amicably together for great +common causes. + +A new situation has arisen. In our new possessions we are confronted +with a large population who, whatever may be the reason, are +unquestionably not, as a whole, progressive, enlightened, educated, or +highly moral. The problem now is, not for Catholic and Protestant to +waste energy and spiritual strength in contending for mastery over each +other, but for them to unite in changing and bettering the condition of +our island peoples. What is past is past. Our present duty is to bring +peace, industry, intelligence, high ideals, and spiritual living to our +new countrymen. This is a work to fill the hands and heart of both +churches, and perhaps, in a common task, each may learn to understand +and regard the other as those should understand and regard each other +who have one Lord, one hope, one heaven. + +3. The Church needs stronger and more gifted leaders. In every business +or intellectual enterprise to-day, there is an effort to place at the +head of each organization the most powerful and resourceful man whose +services can be obtained. Nothing in this age works, or is expected to +work, without the leadership of brains. A primary step, in a +far-reaching ecclesiastical policy, is to endeavor to draw into both +ministry and membership the most active and intellectual class. All +earnest souls can work, but not all can work equally effectively. +Particularly in the ministry, north, south, east, and west, men are +needed who are really _men_. This does not necessarily mean the men with +the longest string of academic degrees, the men who can write the best +poems or make the best speeches on public occasions; it means the +thinking men who are brave, talented, spiritual, and warm-hearted. + +In the Report of one of the missionary Boards, I have recently read the +following stirring words. They refer to the work of missionaries in the +far north, one of whom has lately travelled a thousand miles over the +snow in a dog-sled: "He who follows that mining crowd must be more than +the minister, who would do well for towns in the west or elsewhere in +Alaska. He must be a man who, when night overtakes him, will be thankful +if he can find a bunk and a plate in a miner's cabin; he must travel +much, and therefore cannot be cumbered with extra trappings--must dress +as the miners do, and accept their food and fare. He must be no less in +earnest in his search for souls than they in search for gold. He must be +so 'furnished' that, without recourse to books or study-table, he can +minister acceptably to men who under the guise of a miner's garb hide +the social and mental culture of life in Eastern colleges and +professional days." + +It is far from that land of frost and snow to the beautiful island of +Porto Rico, washed by tropical seas, through the streets of whose +capital there passes every day the carriage of the Governor, with its +white-covered upholstery and its livery of white. But I add this word: +The missionary sent to Porto Rico, be he Catholic or Protestant, must be +a man who can stand among statesmen and society men and women, as well +as one who can live and work among the humblest folk who lodge in +leaf-thatched huts along the roadside or far on lonely hills. +Representative men of ability, health, culture, and courage are being +chosen to carry on governmental work: it is idle to send provincial men +to the Church. What is locally true of the Church in Porto Rico is +fundamentally true all over the world, at home and abroad. Each +ministerial post to-day requires an imperial man. Not every post +requires the same sort of man, either in regard to general heredity or +education. Men are needed of the Peter-type, of the John-type, of the +Paul-type; it suffices that, they be men of unusual power, and well +fitted to their individual work. + +4. The Church needs a better system for the proper placing of men. No +phase of the world's work can be carried on merely and simply because a +man is pious. In every phase of life, there is a constant shifting of +men according to temperament, ability, and general influence and power. +In the Church we must have a quick and decisive recognition of a man's +ability, and he must be set where that talent can work easily and +effectively. Churches are not all alike. There are no two alike. When we +think of it, what a ghoulish business "candidating" is! No scheme for +the right placing of men can be devised which does not place a great +deal of power in the hand of a few leading men. This power may be +abused, but ought not to be, if it were really looked upon as under +divine direction and inspiration. Cannot a great leader be inspired to +the choice of a man, as well as a great author to the choice of a word, +a rhyme? Comparatively few men thoroughly understand how to rate other +men, and to these few men, as in all other great enterprises, must be +given the power and authority to select and adjust. By this I do not +mean that a set of ecclesiastics will alone be adequate. Ecclesiastical +vision, like all other highly specialized vision, is partial, and does +not always see quite straight. There should also be called into play the +business ability and discernment of men of large business interests or +administrative gifts. Sooner or later the various religious +organizations will have to meet, in some better way than any thus far +formulated, this growing need. + +5. We need a release of pressure on the abler men. Many a minister +to-day is a sort of community lackey. What other men are frankly too +busy to do, he is supposed to be cheerfully ready to do. The list of odd +jobs which fall to his lot would be ridiculous, were not their influence +upon his life and work so retrogressive and so sad. He lives to serve +others, but this vow of service is greatly imposed upon. If he is to +lead in intellectual and spiritual matters, he must be given fewer +errands to run, the financial burden of his church must be taken +absolutely from his shoulders, he must have a suitable salary, and his +time must be at least as carefully guarded as that of the average man. +Some calls he is bound to obey, at whatever cost of time or +strength,--illness, certain public duties, and real spiritual +needs,--but his life must not be at the mercy of cranks, or of idle +persons' whims. + +6. We need a reorganization of preaching traditions. It is a tradition +that a minister must, in general, preach two set sermons every week, +give one informal week-day lecture, and be prepared to deliver, at any +moment, funeral addresses, anniversary speeches, "remarks," or to +perform other utterly impossible intellectual feats. Anyone who writes, +or who speaks in public, knows that the preparation of a half-hour +address which is worth anything requires a great deal of time. It +cannot ordinarily be "tossed off," and help men's souls. Only an +occasional inspiration, the result of a lifetime of thought and +experience, is born in this sudden way. Usually excellence is the result +of long and careful labor. The way to help this would seem to be a +constant interchange of preachers, not only in one denomination, but +among the various denominations, so that a really fine sermon would be +heard by many people, and fewer sermons would require to be written. +This is easily done in a large city or its vicinity. What congregations +need most is not altogether formal sermons, but thoughtful, helpful +talks containing a fresh, uplifting, and spiritual outlook over life, +with a practical bearing on the occasions and duties of life. The work +of both Frederick Robertson and Horace Bushnell has this direct and +vital tone. + +Ministers must study more. If they are freed from many tasks now put +upon them, it is not unreasonable to ask that this time be put on more +careful thinking. Too many a minister of to-day is, intellectually, +something of a flibbertigibbet. His sermons do not take hold, because +they have not the roots to take hold with. How many ministers possess, +for instance, a scholarly knowledge of human nature or of the deeper +aspects of redemption? Yet these things he ought to know. There is a +large amount of intensely interesting, though spiritually undigested, +material for a minister in a book like William James's _Varieties of +Religious Experience_. + +7. Greater care must be taken of the rural church. Any one interested in +a great ecclesiastical polity must surely recognize the ultimate +possibilities of our rural regions. Here are growing up the leading men +and women of to-morrow. Ideals and inspirations set upon their hearts +will bear fruit a thousand-fold. Hence there should be a definite +arrangement by which a certain portion of the preaching time of the +really able preachers shall be placed each year in some small and remote +place. Several scattered country churches might unite for these +services. Let such a man also make helpful suggestions for neighborhood +social and intellectual life. While he is in the village, let the +country pastor go to town, browse in libraries, art-collections, hear +music, and get a general quickening of interest and inspiration. Let +each compare notes with the other. They will both gain by this +interchange. + +8. There is too little recognition of individual talent in the Church. +Too few workers are set at work which they know how to do, and the +untaught rush at tasks which angels fear to touch. We have myriads of +Sabbath-school teachers, but how many men or women really know how to +teach a little child? The man is asked to speak or pray in +prayer-meeting, who cannot possibly do it well, but no notice is taken +of the fact that he thoroughly understands public accounts. A man is +asked to subscribe ten dollars to a church affair, who cannot afford it, +but his spiritual insight might save the impending church quarrel. +People come and go in the churches, and many, I am convinced, drift away +because they are never asked for anything but money for the support and +interest of the Church. In no other sort of organization is this true. +Even in the summer camp or mountain hotel or Atlantic liner, when any +pastime or entertainment is suggested, the first thing to discover is, +What can each one _do_? One, who has the gift of organization and +management, "gets it up"; one sings; one reads or recites; one writes a +bright bit of verse; another smooths out rising jealousies, or bridges, +by a little tact, the abyss of caste. Why do we hide so many pretty +talents under a bushel, when the church-door swings behind us? Why do we +substitute such strange and foolish tasks, particularly for women? What +would leading lawyers and doctors do, I wonder, if they were asked, as +busy women often have been, to spend a precious morning in a church-room +sorting cast-off clothes? + +In every church, large or small, there are both men and women who are +talented in a special way; who could bring gifts of training and +experience to bear upon the problems and opportunities of the Church. +Tell me, in prayer or speech-making, formal or social occasion, pastor +or people, do we often bring our very deepest, tenderest, most inspiring +emotional or intellectual life? It is not a whit more spiritual to be +stupid than to be bright. This is what our church-meetings should +be--not a formal and very dull round of prayers and set remarks, more or +less pointless; they ought to be a yielding-up of our heart's best life +to others. + +9. We need, as a Church, a deeper spiritual life. We need the Power of +the Holy Ghost. In spite of all the sorrow of the world, sorrow both of +a personal nature and that which touches whole communities, there is +only one real burden upon the heart of earnest men and women: it is our +own inadequate representation of Christianity,--the disheartening +difference between what we practise and what we profess. When the Church +of God is in reality a powerful and hard-working body of sincere, +honest, and loving people, the world will soon be saved! + + +SECOND: ADHERENCE + +By the question, Why join the Church?--I do not mean alone, Why add my +name to a church-roll? I mean, Why give myself, my powers, my education, +my love, my loyalty, to advance the progress of the Church? + +There is nothing we resent more than a waste of ourselves. To attract +our service, there must be in the Church an inner vitality, a moving +and spiritual fire. + +1. The Church embodies the spiritual dreams of the world. Man does not +live by bread alone; he lives by imagination, and by religious powers. +In the Church of God, the spiritual imagination of man reached its +highest field of energy, and has brought forth its most triumphant +works. The great art of the world has centred about the Christian +Church--its architecture and much of its noblest speech. Imagine a world +in which every work which was inspired by the Church, or by the concepts +of religion embodied in it, should be left out. What would we then lack? +We would lack the greatest works of Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, +Francesca, Botticelli, Murillo; we would not see the cathedrals of +Milan, Strasburg, or Cologne; we would never read the poems of Caedmon, +Milton, or Dante. The hamlet would be without a spire; philanthropy +would be almost unknown; there would be neither night-watch nor +morning-watch of united prayer. We should have no processional of +millions churchward on the Lord's Day, no hymns to stir our souls to joy +and praise, no anthems or oratorios, no ministers, no ecclesiastical +courts and assemblies, no church conventions, no church-schools, +religious societies, nor religious press. All these works and +institutions proclaim the glory of belief, and hand down the religious +traditions and the spiritual aspirations of the generations of men. +Shall we let others share in the mystery and triumph while we stand +apart, silent, unapproving, and alone? + +The dreams of the Church are high and holy. There is the dream of +Freedom, of the Freedom of the Soul. It is an inspiring thought this, +the essential democracy of the race. We do not find intellectual +equality of souls. We see each man or woman differently circumstanced, +differently gifted, differently trained. Yet each may say, I am +spiritually free! To me also is given the opportunity of development, of +majesty of character, of high service. The soul is the thrall of none; +nothing can bind it to spiritual serfdom. + +Next, there is the dream of Allegiance. Some one has well said: "Wouldst +thou live a great life? Ally thyself with a great cause." Allegiance is +devotion of the whole of ourselves to a leader, a cause. We can no more +go through the world without allying ourselves to something than we can +go through it and live nowhere. If the object of our allegiance be a +high one, if the ideal be a grand one, our lives are in a constant +process of development toward that height, that grandeur. Each act of +faith becomes an impetus to progress. We are daily enriched by the +experience of mere obedience. To obey and follow are acts in the +universal process. + +If, on the other hand, we ally ourselves to that which is lower than +ourselves, by the very act we are dragged down. No one can remain upon +even his own level, who is in obedience and devotion to that which is +below him. Allegiance to a Higher is one of the trumpet-calls of the +world. It has been the rally of all armies, of all legions, of all +crusades. The great commander is, by his very position, a grouper of +other men, the ruler of their thoughts, their deeds, their dreams. His +power to call and to sway is beyond his own ideas of it. How otherwise +could it be that out of one century one heart calls to another--out of +one age, proceeds the answer to the cry of ages gone? + +The lover of music to-day allies himself to Bach, to Haydn, to Mozart, +to Wagner, by his appreciation, his sympathy, his understanding of what +they have done. He acknowledges their control of his musical self by his +efforts to interpret their work to others, and to create new works which +shall be inspired by their ideals. Thus he acknowledges their control of +his own powers. Such control over the spirit of man is that of the +Church over the social body; it stirs the spiritual aspiration of man, +it directs his ambition. It fixes upon a standard, the Cross; upon a +Hero, the Christ, and reaches unto all the world its arm of power, +drawing unto itself the loyalty, the faith, the affection, and the royal +service of successive generations of mankind. + +The dream of Redemption. It is not technical creeds for which the +Church as a whole stands, but for certain vital principles which concern +the life of the soul, and its relation to God and man. Virtue has always +been a dream of the heart. But how inaccessible is virtue, with a past +of unforgiven sin! The height of our ideal of redemption is conditioned +upon the depth of our realization of sin. To the shallow, redemption is +an easy-going process, a way of healing the scratches which the world +makes. To the deep and serious-minded, redemption involves the +regeneration of the race. Only the ransomed can truly work, love, +or praise! + +There is one sorrow which God never calls us to--the sorrow of a wasted +life. By redemption, the Church reveals not only a saving from +rebellion, unbelief, and crime, but redemption from sloth, from +indifference, from lack of purpose, and from low aims. Redemption looms +up as the great economic force of Time--that which inspires and +preserves our powers, directs our energies, creates opportunity, brings +to pass our most high and holy desires, and fills life with satisfying +and abiding things. + +Beauty, harmony, and affection are the natural laws of the moral world. +There is no despair where there has been no disobedience. _Christus +Salvator_ stands out before the world in majesty and power. Virtue is +enthroned in a universe which is beneficent. + +The dream of Fellowship. The Church is the great social body. We can +never live our best life in the world, and stand outside the Church. +There is something vital in personal contact, and in social affiliation. +It strengthens the best and otherwise most complete work. The Christian +Church is a body of allies, whose work is the upbuilding of the kingdom +of God. We do not realize how great a bond this is. We have our own +church centre, our own denomination, our own local interests. But by and +by a great occasion arises--a revival which sweeps the country, a +reunion of two long-divided parties, an Ecumenical Council, a Chinese +persecution--and suddenly there arises before the mind's eye a glimpse +of that Church which girdles the world, whose emissaries are in every +country, whose voices speak in every tongue. We perceive that +everywhere are + + "_Swelling hills and spacious plains + Besprent from shore to shore with steeple-towers, + And spires whose silent finger points to heaven_." + +Says Wordsworth also: + + "_They dreamt not of a perishable home, + Who thus could build_." + +Many an ideal state has been thought out, in which fellowship should be +the root of social progress. But in what state is the proffered +fellowship like that of the communion of saints? Each has his share of +work and dreams; each has his endowment of talent and of opportunity; +each has his aspirations and supreme hope. The joys of one are the joys +of all. The sorrows of one are the sorrows of all. The triumphs of one +are the triumphs of all. The World-burden is the task set to be removed. +The World-upbuilding in love, joy, peace, and truth is the final +endeavor. This community of interest is the strongest coalition the +world has yet known. + +There are those who say, I prefer to worship by myself! One might as +well say, I prefer to fight in battle by myself! There is a time for +personal worship, and there is a time for social worship. Alone, the +heart meets God. Alone, its prayers for individual needs and longings +are offered up. Alone, it asks for blessings on the individual life and +work. But the personal life is only a fragmentary part of the life +universal. Above the ages rings an Over-song of praise. From shrines and +cathedrals, from chapels, churches, tents, and caves, there arises, day +after day, this incense of united prayer, from a vast and +heaven-uplifted throng! Each of us would say, Canopied under +world-skies, I, too, would join this chorus of adoring love! + +The dream of Permanence. The immortality of the Church is akin to the +immortality of the soul. It is a connection which is never severed. When +we enter the visible body of the Church on earth, we connect ourselves +with the invisible hosts of the Church on high. We enter a company +which shall never be disbanded nor dismayed. Something subtle and +eternal seems to lay hold of our spirits, and to lift them even to God's +Throne. For this Time has been, and for this Time now is: to present +spotless before Him the innumerable company of the redeemed, the +lion-hearted who, armed by faith and shod with fire, in robes of azure +and with songs of praise, shall stand before Him even for evermore! + +2. The Church is the centre of a great circle of remembrance. One of +Constable's famous paintings represents the Cathedral of Salisbury +outlined against a storm-swept sky, with a lovely rainbow arched beyond +it. So stands the Church athwart the landscape of our lives. In each +community the church is like a living thing! How every stone grows +significant and dear! How the lights and shadows of its arches, the dim, +faint-tinted windows, the carvings and tracings, the atmosphere and +coloring, all sink into the heart, and make a background for memories +that never pass away! Who ever forgets the tones of the old organ, the +voice of the choir, the accent, look, and bearing of one's early pastor, +the rustle of the leaves without the window, the rush of the fresh +summer air, the soft falling of the rain? + +The path to the church is worn by the feet of generations. Thither the +aged go up, and thither the laughing, romping children. Weary men and +women bear their burdens thither; triumphant souls bring shining faces +and uplifted brows; love and dreams cluster round the church, and the +life of the soul, silent and hidden, is subtly acted upon by persuasions +and convictions that rule the heart amid the fiercest storms and +temptations of the world. The church is a sanctuary and shield; it is an +emblem of strength and peace. Three angels stand before its altar: Life, +Love, Death! Hither is brought the babe for the christening, hither +comes the wedding procession, and here are laid, with farewell tears, +the quiet dead. Day by day within that church, as one grows to manhood +and womanhood, one enters into race-experiences, and feels, however +vaguely, that the Holy Spirit abides within them all. + +3. The Church affords the best outlet for moral activity. Where shall we +put our moral powers? In what work shall they centre? From what point +shall they diverge? Scattered action is irresolute; it is the +centripetal powers that count. + +The Church stands ready to engage, to the full, the moral powers of man. +It can rightly distribute the spiritual vitality of the world. It rouses +the moral emotions and affections, and gives scope for contrition, +adoration, and thanksgiving,--the Trisagion of the heart. + +In the press and stir of life we sometimes forget that the highest +emotions of which we are capable are those of joy, praise, and prayer. +Joy is a heavenward uplift of life--deep happiness of spirit. Praise is +an appreciation of the greatness and mercy of the Infinite. Worship is +the outpouring of the whole nature, an ascription of blessing, glory, +honor, and power and majesty to God. It flows from the religious +imagination, and is the supreme offering of the intellectual as well as +of the emotional life. + +The Church is a body ministrant: it has received the accolade of +spiritual service. It stands among the world's forces, as one of giving, +not of gain. It holds within its scope both a teaching and a training +power. It is the school of the soul, the illuminator of the meaning and +discipline of life. Abélard is said to have attracted thirty thousand +students to Paris by his teaching. But the Church to-day calls into its +assemblies fully one-third of the millions of the world. They are held +by its tenets, guided by its ideals, thrilled by its hopes, and set to +its works of charity and mercy. The highest philanthropy is but a +scientific renewal and adaptation of work which has had its start, +primarily, in the Christian Church. Wealth is its vicegerent, and from +the adherents to the Church fall largely the contributions to great +philanthropic causes. + +Take the work of Missions alone: Has there ever before been a body which +attempted to bring the whole world into its fellowship, to make known +everywhere its ideals, and to share with all living a spiritual +inheritance? "The Evangelization of the World by this Generation" is +one of the most sublime thoughts which has come to the race. + +4. There is a large amount of ability in the world which the Church +needs, but which has not yet been thoroughly enlisted in church service. +Take business energy, executive ability. It is a common saying, that +business men are not interested in the Church, and do not work well in +it. Why? Because there is not yet in the Church enough of the active and +economic spirit to make a business man feel at home in it, or approve of +its ways of work. + +This weak spot in the Church, which business men mock at, or fret at, +exactly reveals the work that is waiting for business men to do. +Business to-day takes intellectual grasp and insight--promptness, +energy, enterprise, and common-sense. These qualities are needed at once +in the conduct of the Church. + +A second class greatly needed by the Church is the university-bred. Many +college graduates are church-members--some are even active workers. But +until lately the universities as a whole have stood rather indifferently +apart from the Church. They have somewhat indulgently regarded it as one +more historic institution for preserving myth and legend. To them the +Christ-life has meant little more than the Beówa-myth, the Arthur-saga, +the Nibelungen cycle, the Homeric stories, the Thor-and-Odin tales! +Druids, fire-worshippers, moon-dancers, and Christian communicants have +been comparatively studied, with a view to understanding the +race-progress in rite and religious form. + +This spirit is changing. The most remarkable aspect of the intellectual +life of to-day is the rise of faith in the universities. Like the +incoming of a great tidal wave at sea is the wave of spiritual insight +and religious aspiration that is rolling over the colleges of our land. + +The whole intellectual structure of the Church is approaching +reconstruction--its doctrines, creeds, tenets. This reconstruction +cannot possibly be effected by schools of theology alone. At every point +the theologian needs assistance from the man of science. Philosophy, +psychology, ethics, history, literature, sociology, language, natural +science, and archaeology are all bound up in an old creed and must be +looked into, ere a new statement can take form. Their data must be known +at first-hand. Hence there is no intellectual specialty which may not be +made invaluable to the Church. + +Too often religion has been a matter of hearsay or dogma. A bitter +conflict has always raged between theology and the latest word of +science. The Church cannot afford to be without the scientific thinkers +of the race. The time has come when there is everywhere heard the call +of Jesus to men of mind. + +What work awaits the university man or woman? It is to help free the +Church from traditions and superstitions which scholarship cannot +uphold. It is to throw fresh vigor and intellectual vitality into the +services of the Church. It is to build up a hymnology which shall be +noble and poetic in expression; it is to contribute a great religious +literature to the world. It is the work of educated men and women to add +their insight, their zeal for truth, their scholarship, their training +and ideals to the Christian community: to sweep thought and practice out +of ancient ruts, to clarify the spiritual vision of the world, and to +present new aspects of truth and new goals of human endeavor! Let +Research join hands with Prayer. + +A third class which the Church needs to-day is that of the working-man. +The hand of the working-man is the hand that has really moulded history. +Working-men lead a brave and self-sacrificing life. From their toil come +the necessaries and many of the comforts of the race. The man of labor +knows the root-problems of the industrial world. While all his industry +and skill, all his courage, heroism, and strong-armed life are so +largely alienated from the Church, the Church is deprived of one of the +fundamental sources of inspiration and growth. The tree of progress can +never grow, except it has labor-roots. It is absolutely essential for +the health of the Church that every form of human energy be represented. + +Suppose that by some great revival a very large number of working men +and women could suddenly be added to the membership of the Church. What +would happen? Would there not be at once a return to more simplicity of +life? There are two currents at work always in society--emulation and +sympathy. Rightly used, each is for the social good. If all classes of +men and women worked side by side in the Church, many great social +differences would become adjusted. + +5. It holds sway over the fortunes of the home. Where, outside of the +Church, will you find the ideal conception of marriage, and the really +united and happy home? The Church makes for domestic happiness, because +it goes straight to the roots of life and plants happiness where +happiness alone can grow. More and more the Church is lifting the +standards of a noble, proud, pure, and rejoicing married life. Its ideal +of human love is sacred, because founded on the deeper love of the soul +in God. The Church is drawing hosts of young people under the shelter of +its teaching, and is placing before men and women ideals which cannot +fail to make their mark upon the social standards of the times. It +stands for purity, for patience, for tenderness, for the love of little +children, for united education and endeavor, for mutual hopes and +dreams, for large public service. + +6. It is the militant force of time. We speak of the Church militant, +and of the Church triumphant. For us, to-day, the Church militant. +To-morrow, triumph comes. Armies have been, and armies shall be, but the +hosts of this world fight against material foes, and largely for +material ends. It is the glory of the Church militant that its conquests +are spiritual and its victories are eternal. Its fight is chiefly +against the inner, not the outer foe--against sin and wrong-doing, +impatience, strife, anger, clamor, meanness, evil-speaking, wrath. It is +the foe of tyranny and its heel is upon the head of the oppressor and +the avenger. Its banner flies over every country and has been carried +through tribulation, through sorrow, through danger, and through death +to the remotest parts of the yet-known world. Its troops are legion, +marching from the far distances of the past, and extending out to the +far confines of the eternal years. + +7. It is the ascendant force of the future. Rightly conducted, it will +surely absorb the vigor of the world. To stand apart from it is to be +out of step with the march of nations. The processional of progress +to-day is the processional of the historic influence of the Church. What +force has there been in time gone by, which has lived and so greatly +grown for nineteen hundred years? Nations have risen, and nations have +decayed. States, once prominent, have passed into the oblivion of the +years. Plato and Pericles, Socrates and Sophocles, Philip and Alexander, +the Caesars, the Georges, and the Louis have passed away. Their +politics have passed from our following; their empires are no more. But +through these centuries of change, the Church of God has risen stronger, +more powerful year by year; stretching its arm out to the uttermost +parts of the earth; levying tribute on the islands of the sea; enlisting +all ages and conditions, and looking out over coming generations--not as +a waning, but as a growing and ever-increasing power. Think you that +such a Church can die? Think you that any spiritual power aloof from +this Church can be as efficient as if it were allied with it? + +These, you say, are the reasons why one's allegiance should be given to +the Christian Church. Let us now look back over the processional as it +marches across the dim years. Saints, martyrs, confessors, evangelists, +and singing children have joined its historic train. Is there any other +processional in the world's history which, numbering such millions and +millions, began with only one? When the Christ enters the arena of +history, He comes as one to lead myriad deep-lived souls! Next, there +follow twelve. They, two by two, take up the marching line. Think of +their deeds and influence, of their inspiring power! What would have +been the record of those obscure fishermen of Galilee and of their +simple friends, had they refused to ally themselves with the leader who +called for their allegiance and their obedient love? + +Next follow the early disciples. Tried by scourging, by stripes, by +poverty, by imprisonment, by all manner of danger and trial, they yet +remain true. Then follow the prophets, those whose clear vision looks +out on things unknown and things unseen. To the prophet is intrusted the +ministry of hope and inspiration. Then follow the martyrs who yield life +for the cause they profess. In torture at the stake, and on the cross, +by fire and by sword, they show forth an unshaken and undying faith. +Then follow matrons and virgins, babes and children, reformers and +mediaeval saints with a convoy of angels, singing as they march. These +are the Church triumphant, the Church above. But to-day we have among us +the Church militant--the long processional of congregations, elders, +deacons, members, ministers and missionaries, young people, and workers +in every phase of enterprise and reform. These all communicant on earth +are the Church militant, whose work is to keep alive the traditions of +the past and to march onward to an endless victory and to an unceasing +praise. Who, looking upon that processional, filing through the ages of +the years of man, would say that there may be a parliament of religions? +A parliament of boasts and pomps, of good precepts and queries, of +misuses and half-truths, of superstitions and infinite idolatries, no +doubt; but there is but one religion, though it be perverted in many +ways and rightly revealed at divers times; and there is but one God, +infinite, true, holy, just, loving, and eternal. Where now are the gods +of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Bow thy head, +O Buddha! and do thou, O Zoroaster! hang thy head. Isis and Osiris grow +dim; Jove nods in heaven; the pipe of Pan is dumb; Thor is silent in the +northern Aurora; the tree of Igdrasil waves in midnight; Confucius is +pale; Muhammad is dust. Darkness is over the skirts of the gods of the +past--gloom receives them, Erebus holds outstretched arms. But the Lord +God, Jehovah, the Ancient of Days, encanopied in space and glory, leads +onward to the end of years His people in a mighty train, to a rule and +kingdom which shall know no end. May thou and I, dear friend-soul, in +whatsoever land thou be, may thou and I be numbered in that throng! + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF KINGS + + [DIE WACHT AM RHEIN] + + _Jesus shall reign where'er the sun + Doth his successive journeys run; + His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, + Till moons shall wax and wane no more. + + People and realms of every tongue + Dwell on His love with sweetest song; + And infant voices shall proclaim + Their early blessings on His Name. + + Blessings abound where'er He reigns; + The prisoner leaps to lose his chains, + The weary find eternal rest, + And all the sons of want are blest. + + Let every creature rise and bring + Peculiar honors to our King; + Angels descend with songs again, + And earth repeat the loud Amen_. + + ISAAC WATTS + +The elemental force of some men is appalling. They lift their +eyes--thrones tremble; they wave a hand--empires rise or fall. It comes +over the heart of many a man at times, Here am I, running my little +office, shop, factory, fire-engine, or professional circuit, with no +influence that I can see, beyond my borough or my barn-yard. But in the +world there are other men, no taller than I, no older than I--men born +within a stone's throw of where I was born--whose hand is on the fate of +nations, and whose decrees are universal law! + +It is deeply impressive, the way in which one man, born not above +myriads of his fellows, begins to rise until by and by he stands head +and shoulders above his generation! What is the inner vitality which +presses him upward? What is this hidden difference in men by which one +remains in the by-eddies of life, and another sweeps out on the crest of +the rising tide of history? + +Much of it is in the man himself. To be kingly is inborn. There is the +nature that refuses to be shut up to the petty, that will not content +itself with one street or town, that steps out into life from childhood +with the step of the conqueror, and walks among us; one who was born a +king. To be a king, one must have the powers of organization, +combination, discipline, direction, statesmanship. These qualities +enlarge as one passes from the particular to the general, from the +personal to the range of natural forces, emergencies, and wide pursuits. + +Dominion is an inherent right of the soul. In all our hearts, did we but +listen and understand, there are adumbrations of kingly ancestors, and +the latent stirrings of kingly powers. + +Which of us would want to be born at all, if we should be told in +advance, You shall never control anything? You shall never have the +slightest chance of self-assertion, of impressing your own individuality +upon the world? One might as well be born without hands or feet! + +Kingship involves ascendancy and authority. Both are truly gained, not +by chicanery, but by personal force. There is a natural gift of +leadership, which is strengthened by endurance, perseverance, and +ceaseless hard work. + +Kingship also involves a larger vision. One man looks at his +shoe-strings; another man looks at the stars. The first step toward rule +is to find a point of view from which one can look widely out over the +race. This is the primary value of education: it is not that books are +important, but that men are--the men who have swayed history--and books +tell of such men. Not the library is inspirational, but the life-spirit +of mankind, bound up in even dusty papyrus-rolls, or set on +clay-tablets of four thousand years ago. He who would serve his times +politically must first understand, so far as may be, all times. + +Another basis of supremacy is conviction. Leadership belongs to those +who believe. The man who has a definite policy to propose, and a +definite way of working for it, soon outstrips the man who is just +looking about. + +Kingship involves an iron will. An iron will does not imply necessarily +ugliness of temper, obstinacy, or pig-headedness. It is simply a +straight-forward, dauntless, and invincible way of doing things. What I +say, you must do, is back of all successful leadership, whether in the +home or in the world-arena. The man who is master of the obedience of +his child, or of his fellows, is master of their fate. We are all at the +mercy of the strong-willed. + +Growth is development in right assertion; it is the assumption of +legitimate responsibility and command. To be lowly of heart does not +mean to be inefficient; to be humble does not necessarily mean to be +obscure. Luther and Lincoln were both of a childlike humility of heart. + +What Christianity has not emphasized in the past, but what it must now +begin to emphasize, is the reality of dominion--its value, and its +relation to the kingdom of God. For centuries, religion has too often +been thought of, too often spoken of, as if it were the last resource of +the heart, A brilliant young professor of psychology not long ago +referred to religion as something to flee to, by those who were +disappointed in love! We have spoken so much of "giving up," that the +Christian life has wrongly seemed to mean the giving-up of one's +individuality, interests, powers. As well might we expert the deep sea +to give up its rolling tides, or the air to give up its four winds, as +to expect the heart of man to part with its human hopes! + +This is not a right interpretation of life. When Nature plants an oak in +the forest, she does not say, Be a lichen, an _Eozoön canadense_, a +small ground-creeping thing! She says, Grow! Become a tall, strong, +mountain tree! When we hold our baby in our arms, we do not say, My +child, be good for nothing! Neither does God say, Be nothing, do +nothing! Just exist as humbly and meekly as you can! He says, "Quit you +like men!" + +Each of us is born for a sceptre and a crown. It gives a strange new +thrill to life, to realize that we may be just as ambitious as we +please, that we may long earnestly for high things, and work for them, +if our inmost desire is not for self but for God. This new idea of +ambition should be at the root of education and of religious teaching. +Piety is not a namby-pamby sentiment; it is a great intellectual force. +Desire is architectural: our dreams should be of prestige and power. +True ambition is the reaching-out of the soul toward preordained +things. What else is the meaning of our love for excellence, our +insatiable yearning for perfection? "What is excellent," says Emerson, +"is permanent." To excel in any work is to combine in that work the most +enduring qualities of human labor; to excel in any place is to shine +forth with the great qualities of the race. Hence, ambition has a +rightful place. + +The power of a king is the power of control. All about us are moving the +great forces of the universe--physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual. +What we can do with them is a test of our power. Life is in many ways a +majestic trial of one's power to command. + +Three men buy adjoining tracts of land. One man mines coal upon his +acres. He amasses wealth and influence because he is in control of the +Carboniferous age and the human need of light and heat. The second man +tills his ground and raises wheat and corn. He is in command of living +nature--of the rotation of seasons, of wind, frost, rain; he uses them +to provide food for those that hunger and must be fed. The third man +lies under the trees. He digs no mine. He plants and reaps no corn and +grain. He simply lies under the trees, gazes into the sky and dreams. +Men call him idle, but he is not so. One day he writes a book. It lives +a thousand years. His control is over the spirit of man. He has entered +into its hopes and sorrows, its aspirations and its dreams. + +This story is a Parable of Kings. Such is the power of control that is +granted to each new soul. Each child is bequeathed at birth a sceptre +and a crown. + +The first rule is parental. The primitive monarchy is in the home. A +young baby cries. The trained nurse turns on the light, lifts the baby, +hushes it, sings to it, rocks it, and stills its weeping by caresses and +song. When next the baby is put down to sleep, more cries, more soothing +and disturbance, and the setting of a tiny instinct which shall some day +be will--the power of control. + +The grandmother arrives on the scene. When baby cries, she plants the +little one firmly in its crib, turns down the light, pats and soothes +the tiny restless hands that fight the air, watches, waits. From the +crib come whimpers, angry cries, yells, sobs, baby snarls and sniffles +that die away in a sleepy infant growl. Silence, sleep, repose, and the +building of life and nerve and muscle in the quiet and the darkness. The +baby has been put in harmony with the laws of nature--the invigoration +of fresh air, sleep, stillness--and the little one wakens and grows like +a fresh, sweet rose. The mother, looking on, learns of the ways of +God with men. + +Firmness is the true gentleness. There is a form of authority which must +be as implacable as the divine decree. Mercy is the requiring of +obedience to law; it is not a cajoling training in law-defiance, which +shall one day break the mother's heart and upset the social relations of +the world. + +The next rule is personal: the direction of one's own energy in the way +of one's own will. The child moves his hands, his feet; he turns his +rattle up and down, and shakes it about. He discovers that he can pull +things toward him and push them away; that he can reach things that are +higher than his head. He begins to creep. He touches things that are the +other side of the world from him, that is, across the room. He plucks +fibres from the rug or carpet; swallows straws, buttons, and little +strings. He pounds, and sets up vibrations of pleasant noise; he clashes +ten-pins, he blows his whistle, squeezes his rubber horse and man, +rattles the newspaper, flings about his bottle and his blocks. He feels +himself a self-directing power, and at times asserts this power against +the will of those who would make him do what he does not want to do. The +love of rule is in him, and he lays his little hands on power. + +Education determines whether this power shall be for good or for evil. +We cannot take away power from any child--he shall move the affairs of +nations--but we can direct this love of power, or crush it; strengthen +it, or weaken it; turn it toward the highest help of man, or deflect it +to tyranny, cruelty, and crime. + +Child-training is guidance in the way of God's decrees. It is not the +setting of one's own ideas upon a little child; it is not the +gratification of one's own love of power; it is not the satisfaction of +one's own self-conceit. It is a firm, humble striving to carry on the +harmony of the universe: to bring up the child to love order, justice, +mercy, and truth. + +Education is the teaching of how to direct energy for the universal +good. It lays hold of a child and, out of his destructive instincts--the +instinct to bang, and pull, and tear to pieces--it develops creative +power, the inventive genius that lies hid within him. It takes the pure +love of noise, and trains it to pitches, harmonies, intervals, and makes +a musician of the boy who used to whack his spoon. It takes the alphabet +and the early pothooks, and the boy by and by combines them into +literature. The apples and the peaches which he is taught to exchange +justly are by and by transmuted into trade and commerce. He brings +cargoes from Cuba and Ceylon, trades with Japan and Hawaii, and the +Asiatic isles. The energy of block-building is developed into sculpture, +architecture, and civil engineering. The stamping of his foot in anger +is directed to determination, perseverance, the rule of the brave +spirit, the unconquerable will. Nothing is more marvellous than this +grave upbuilding. + +The next rule is social: the direction of personal energy that shall +leave a distinct impress on other lives. It is long before we realize +that for each exertion we are responsible; that what we do is held +against us in strict account, not only by fate, which builds our destiny +for us out of our own deeds, but by every other person with whom we come +in contact. Our fellows check off daily against us so much vitality, so +much magnanimity, so much idleness, cruelty, spite, goodness, +selfishness, meanness, or loving-kindness. Life holds a record of our +every deed, and from no least responsibility can we make our escape. We +are the prisoners of events which we ourselves have brought about. + +The discipline of ethics, of home-training, of the Church, and of +religious teaching is addressed fundamentally to this social +consciousness of ours, this responsibility which we cannot evade. To +bear rule aright is to go forth into the world to build up, in +authority, talent, and influence, the kingdom of God. + +1. There is the agricultural phase of social rule. A man tills a farm. +It has upon it trees, streams, woodland, and meadow-land. He may +rule--to what end? If he rules it for his own personal ends--merely to +fill his granaries, and lay up gold--he rules it for miserliness, with a +sort of thrift that is as passing in inheritance as the flying +April rain. + +Or he may say: I will keep my land in trust for God. I will hold rain +and frost, heat and cold, storm and sun, in fee simple for the race. My +grain shall pass out into the world's mart, sent forth with love and +prayer. Such a farmer is the incarnation of moral grandeur. Let men +laugh, if they will, at his overalls and plough, his wide-brimmed hat, +his simple manners, and his homely, racy speech. His feet are by the +furrow, but his heart is in heaven, and his treasure is there also. Says +the author of _Nine Acres on the Hillside_, "The agriculturist walks +side by side with the Creator." + +There is a fine integrity which lies in land. There is a resolution +which is concerned with crops. There is a wisdom born of wind and +weather. There is a power which comes from the constant revival of life +in seed and fruit and flower. This man is King of God's Acres. Let him +not despise his kingdom, and may the succession not depart from +his house! + +2. There is a rule which is industrial. A man is sent into the world to +wield a hammer, a saw, and run an engine. If his rule over his hammer is +weak, if he does not know how to use it well, if its blow is uncertain +and its result unskilled, then he passes from the line of kings, and is +subject, instead of in authority, in his own domain. He is captive to a +piece of steel or wood. So with every tool of trade. Each man who +conquers his tool is a ruler--is in control of elements of human +happiness and good. The roof-mender, the furnace-builder, the +cloth-weaver, the yarn-spinner, the steel-worker, the miller--do not +these all keep the race warmed, and clad, and fed? + +3. The next rule is commercial. Trade itself is neither menial nor +demeaning. Rightly used, it is a high form of control. People have +things to buy and things to sell. The maker is handicapped. He cannot +travel elsewhere to dispose of what he has. The buyer is ignorant. He +does not know where to go, or cannot go, at first-hand, for the shoes, +the hat, the reaper, the bricks, the lumber, the stationery which he +must use. There appears upon the scene the man of observation, of +investigation, of capital, of shrewdness, of resources. With one hand he +gathers the products of the Pacific and of the South Seas. With the +other, he takes the output of the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf States, +the Mississippi valley, the northern lakes and hills. He sets up an +establishment, he puts forth runners, advertisements, and show-windows. +He stocks shelves, decks counters, and employs clerks, packers, +salesmen, cash-boys, buyers, and department heads. The man who wants to +buy, buys from a man across the sea and yet is served in his own town. + +The man of commercial power is a man of world-wide rule. He may lay up +in banks a fortune which he intends to try to spend upon himself; or he +may say: I am accountable for the pocket-books of the world. I am in +authority over them. I open a market, or close it. I buy, dispense, and +disperse human labor. I create wants, and I satisfy them. I will +establish honest laws of trade. What I do shall be rated as commercial +law. What I say shall be quoted as a way of equity and probity. That man +is a King of Trade. His throne is set upon hills and seas. His subjects +are all men with needs, and all men with products of the land, the +coasts, the sea, or brain, or skill. This is the lawful King of Trade. +He represents God's mart of exchange. Primarily, goods are not bought +and sold in the market. They are first transferred in that man's brain. + +4. Another rule is of concerted works: the rule of the Engineer. Back of +every advance in our country, in facilities of trade and transportation, +or of public health and safety, stands the man who thought it out. Take, +for instance, the development of the "Great American Desert." Who +projected its irrigation, by which areas have been redeemed from +barrenness and waste? Who planned the economic use of the Niagara Falls? +Who built the Brooklyn Bridge? Who projected the vast waterway from +Chicago to the Gulf? Who first thought of a cable across the depths of +seas? Who bridged the Firth of Forth, the Ganges, the Mississippi? Who +projected the gray docks of Montreal? the Simplon Tunnel? Who wound the +iron rails across the Alleghanies, the Rockies, the Sierras? Who drew +the wall that has encircled China for a thousand years? Who projected +the Suez Canal? the Trans-Siberian Railway? Who sunk the mines of +Eldorado? Who designed the Esplanade at Hamburg? the stone banks of the +Seine? the waterways of Venice? the aqueducts of Rome? the Appian Way? +the military roads of Chili and Peru? the Subway in New York? + +Gravity, stress, strain, weight, tension, sag, cohesion,--a few +mathematical formulas, and a knowledge of the primary laws of +physics,--upon such principles as these, the world is rapidly changing +form and use. + +The Engineer, in a strange and subtle way, stands near to God. His work +is done hand-in-hand with God. He takes the forces of nature and the +laws of the material world, and bends them to the needs and use of man. +Sky and sea or desert may be about him. He knows the arctic cold, the +tropic heat; the forest and the plain; the mountain and the marsh; the +brook and river; the peak and the precipice; the glacier and the tempest +in their course. Out of the very elements he is daily building new paths +for man to tread. Soon he, too, must pass; laid after death, it may be, +beside some mighty water that his handiwork has spanned. + +In loneliness and silence does he not often think, I wonder, of the God +with whom he deals? It is God who provides the river and the sea; God +who through endless ages has piled stone on stone, crust on crust, and +has crumpled the strata of the earth as tissue in His hand. It is God +who has bound every mote to the earth-centre; who has sent magnetic +currents coursing through the globe, and has made tides and sea-changes, +and the trade-winds to blow. It is the God of the Gulf Stream, the +Caribbean Sea, the God of the Appalachians, the God of the Himalayas, +the God of the Cordilleras, of the Amazon, the Yukon, the Yang-tse-Kiang +with which he really deals. + +The endless ages pass and go, but God abides. Little, daring man lifts +here and there a hand to mould the world which God has made--pricks the +earth for gold or silver, iron or coal--but GOD is everywhere immanent +and shines through every hour of change. Hence the March of Engineers is +the march of men whom God has trained; in a special sense His +master-workmen, craftsmen whom He loves. It is theirs to say, We are the +Kings of Works: the Master-builders of the Most High! + +5. There are Kings of Academic Thought, men who lead in professions and +in collegiate careers. The wise man is the true aristocrat. His court +may not be in a palace, but within its precincts are received and +entertained the leaders of the race. To be provost, to be college +president or university professor, is to be seated on an +intellectual throne. + +The problem of academic rule is not to attract a large number of +students, to put up imposing buildings, to have endowments, and fill +chairs with learned specialists; to grant many degrees, and to keep the +hum of a teaching staff and of a student body alive in the ears of a +community, marking the college group by flags and colors, cap and gown, +processions and occasions. These things are right, but are mainly +accessory. We have not all of a university when we have men and +buildings, money, students, brains. Back of a university there lies its +foundation-idea, that of academic control. + +What is academic rule? It is rule over the pride of man. A college is a +place whose chief power is to inculcate humility by the means of true +learning; to establish intellectual honor and integrity by searching out +the ways of God in nature, science, and philosophy, and in letters +and in art. + +It is the primary work of a university to make men humble. The Freshman +is not teachable. The Sophomore is an intellectual upstart. But by the +time a man has been beaten and conquered by the great ideals of the +world, which have pierced his bones and humbled his conceit--by the time +the race-passions and the race-sorrows have crept across his spirit, by +the time that he has been confronted with the achievements of Homer, +Empedocles, Hippocrates, Michelangelo, Socrates, Buddha, Plato, Emerson, +Gladstone, Bismarck, Lincoln, and Carlyle--his self-exaltation drops +from him like a garment. He--who knows how to construe a few pages of +the classics, who knows how to demonstrate a few mathematical problems, +scan a few verses, recite a few odes, carry on a few scientific +experiments, undertake a small research--how shall he compete with these +rulers of the thought of men? + +Then it is that the real rule of a university--its spirit of humility, +and of reverence for antiquity--begins. The true university man, born +and bred in the century, not in the years, in the race halls, not those +alone in his Alma Mater, is neither a scoffer nor an atheist, nor a +critic, sceptic, or cynic. He is a man of simple and exalted faith. God, +who hath brought such great things to pass in science, nature, and art, +in human character, in the destiny of nations, and the history of humble +men and women, is a God before whom there must be awe and reverence, and +not a flippant scouting of the ancient ideals. Man, who is so tried by +temptation and scourging of the spirit, is a creature to be loved, +appreciated, understood; not a being to whom shall be shown arrogance, +aloofness, and pride. The university that makes snobs of its graduates +has not yet entered into its kingdom of control. + +A university also holds rule over truth. Absolute truth is in God's +hand. But the university has class-rooms and libraries, apparatus and +laboratories, which are intended for the discovery and furtherance of +truth. The university is not a place to cry out for big salaries. The +salaries should be living salaries. The seeker after truth should not be +left without enough money for heat and shelter, for bread and meat, rest +and summer-change; for the coming of children and their education. But +truth may lodge without shame in an humble dwelling and may be greatly +furthered without an elaborate bill of fare. + +The university men of the times are the establishers of a kind of +righteousness that is not always found in books. Their individual value, +as they go out into the world, is to set right values on social customs +and decrees; to establish the law of freedom in the home; to lead men +and women out of the thraldom of ignorance, vulgarity, hearsay, and +"style," into simplicity of living and a sane scale of household +expense. The university leader of the future is the man who shall set +laws over household accounts and who shall rule over such simple things +as what best to eat and buy. He shall be an economist of the larger +sort, providing for the spiritual necessities of men and their moral +conduct, rather than for their balls, card-parties, and social +side-shows, including church entertainments and philanthropic dances and +bazaars. He shall pave the way to a larger view of wealth, influence, +and reform; endue man with a keener sense of his own responsibilities, +make him a creature of larger desires and of more aspiring wants. + +In particular, he shall pass down from generation to generation the high +and noble learning of the past; he shall keep alive the flower of +courtesy and charity; he shall tell the dreams of past sages, and +interpret them; he shall review the thronging nations; and he shall so +imbue the mind with a love of truth, of ideals, of excellence, of honor, +that a new race shall go out into a larger and a nobler world. And then +a better day shall dawn for men. + +6. The Kings of State. Says Milton, in his sonnet on Cromwell: + + "_Yet much remains + To conquer still; Peace hath her victories + No less renowned than War: new foes arise, + Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains. + Help us to save free conscience from the paw + Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw_." + +In the third moon of the year 1276, Bayan, the conquering lieutenant of +Genghis Khan, captured Hangchow, received the jade rings of the Sungs, +and was taken out to the bank of the river Tsientang to see the spirit +of Tsze-sü pass by in the great bore of Hangchow--that tidal wave which +annually rolls in, and, dashing itself against the sea-wall of Hangchow, +rushes far up the river, bringing, for eighteen miles inland, a tide of +fresh, deep-sea splendor, and thrilling all who see or hear. + +In the life of nations there are times and tides. Against the tide-wall +of history, beaten by many a storm, and battered by many a thundering +wave, there is about to sweep the incoming wave of a new life for the +race: there is about to pass a greater than the spirit of Tsze-sü,--even +the Spirit of God! + + "_We are living,-we are dwelling, + In a grand and awful time, + Age on age to ages telling, + To be living is sublime_!" + +We are moving out into a period of great statesmen, and of great +political standards and ideals. The days before us are days which will +make the Elizabethan era pale in history. Upon the head of our nation +are set responsibilities such as have never before rested on any +one man. + +The day of the true statesman is here; the day of the demagogue is done! +The rule of the orator is over the ideals and hopes of men. The +demagogue prostitutes this power. His rule is over the passions, +prejudices, and resentments of men. He cries aloud in the market-place, +and rogues and ward-heelers, and evil-minded politicians, group +themselves around him. He waves his sceptre over the vulgar and the +rascals of the town. + +The vital problem of municipal reform is not the shattering of the ring, +the overturning of the boss, the gagging of a few loud tongues. It is +the problem of the training of better bosses; the education of men and +women in social control; their enlightenment, from childhood up, in +civic duties, in national affairs, and the conduct of civil power. +Thereupon oratory turns to its higher ends. Through statesman, preacher, +and political teacher, it cries aloud of righteousness. I look for the +time when the typical politician shall be an honorable man; when to be +"in the ring" of municipal or national control shall mean to be an +integral and orderly part of the administration of God's great world; +when city life shall be purified; and when international law shall be +the interpretation of the will of the Almighty for the rule of nations. +We have honest doctors, lawyers, tradesmen; shall we not have an honest +politician and an upright ward-boss? + +Public service is a god-like service! Our Presidents shall more and more +be chosen, not alone for ideas, experience, or for party affiliations: +the President shall be chosen because he is a moral hero! Something has +stirred in the heart of the American people, which shall not soon be +stilled: a spiritual outlook upon political preferment. In the White +House we long to have the great spiritual exemplars of our race. Not +alone in church shall we offer up a "Prayer before Election." The time +is coming when each true ballot-slip shall be a prayer. + +Within the next fifty years shall be determined some of the greatest +questions of history. Among them shall be questions of industrial +adjustment and development, and of social progress. We must have in our +Cabinet not only the representatives of War and State, of Finance, +Trade, Labor, and Agriculture; but also of Education and of Social +Health. This is not a dream. You and I may live to see the results of +this religious awakening: it is elemental and epochal. + +Back of all individual dominion there is rising a yet higher +dominion--the dominion of the English-speaking race. We, having been +called by the providence of God to stand at the head of the march of +progress, may well ask ourselves concerning our imperial powers. The +line of progress for a nation is to allow no spiritual ideal to stagnate +or to retrograde. The spiritual aspiration of a nation always dominates +what is called the Social Mind. We grow toward what we worship. It is +ours to plant the dominion of civilization in foreign lands, and to +supplant a waning culture by a richer, truer, and nobler way of life. +The first thought of each of us, entering these new lands, whether +merchant, soldier, educator, or missionary, should be to hold Christ +aloft, that all tribes may come to His light, and kings to the +brightness of His rising. + +God leads us on. Said Lincoln: "I have been driven many times to my +knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My +own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day." +Like a vast Hand stretched against the sky of Time is the Hand of God--a +Hand writing, in these wondrous days, a destiny for generations yet to +be! Rising with us are all God-fearing nations--the Teutonic, Slav, and +Latin peoples. Sitting yet in darkness, and massed against us, crouch +sullenly the immemorial hordes of Asia, the wild blacks of the African +swamps and jungles, and the dwellers of Polynesian seas. Occident and +Orient, the world's battalions are forming for new encounters and new +dismays. Never since the strong-limbed Goths changed the face of Europe +has there been a period of such tense anticipation, nor so great a +possibility of volcanic change. We are entering an historic period of +reconstruction, when new maps of the world will be drawn. The sceptre is +passing into new hands: to-day the throne of civilization is being +arched above the seaway which joins London and New York. To-morrow, it +may be builded above Pacific tides, where our own shores look westward +to the ports of Asiatic Russia. For, rising on the world-horizon, are +these two World-empires, Russia and the United States. The dictators of +these two countries will soon become the dictators of the human race. +They are brave and virile nations, with untold reserves of power! As +these two giants gird themselves for World-dominion, who but God shall +gird the armor on, direct the onward course of change? + +Much of the ancient wealth and beauty shall be done away. In a few +generations the shrines of thirty centuries will be no more. Fane and +temple and pagoda will disappear; carvings, images, and Sikh-guarded +courts. Long lines of yellow-robed priests will chant their last +processional hymn to Buddha, and the smoking incense to waning gods +shall be quenched forever. Where Tao rites were celebrated, silence +shall fall; where fakir and dervish tortured and immolated their lives, +happy children shall play. Instead of the lotos of the Ganges and the +Nile, there shall bloom the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Vale. + +But as the empires of Buddha and Muhammad fall, a new Empire shall +prevail! + + "_Kings shall bow down before Him, + And gold and incense bring; + All nations shall adore Him, + His praise all people sing. + To Him shall prayer unceasing + And dally vows ascend; + His kingdom still increasing, + A kingdom without end_." + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF PRELATES AND EVANGELISTS + + [LYONS] + + _O Majesty throned, O Lord of all Light, + Shine down on our spirits and scatter the night; + As Adam received his life-impulse from Thee, + Endued with all fulness, we quickened would be_ + + _Let all that we know--love, learning, and power-- + Melt down in Thy Presence, and flame in this hour; + Anoint us and bless us and lift our desire + And grant us to speak as with tongues touched with fire_! + + _Life flows as a dream--its pleasures are dear: + The world is about us--temptation is near; + Oh, guide us, and shew us the pathway to God + The feet of the prophets aforetime have trod_! + + _The bells cease their chime,--the hosts enter in: + May many be purged of their sloth and their sin! + Cheer Thou the despondent, the weary, the sad, + Rouse all to rejoicing, that all may be glad_. + + _And when life is o'er, and each must depart + In quaking and silence,--abide with each heart; + The songs of Thy saints then caught up to the skies, + As waves of great waters shall thunderous rise_! + + ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY + +In Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_ there is the legend of the Sword of Assay. +In the church against the high altar was a great stone, four-square, +like unto a marble stone. In the midst of it was an anvil of steel, a +foot high, and therein stood a naked sword by the point. About the sword +there were letters written, saying, "Whoso pulleth out this sword of +this stone and anvil, is righteous king born of all England." Many +assayed to pull the sword forth, but all failed, until the young Arthur +came, and, taking the sword by the handle, lightly and fiercely pulled +it out of the stone! By this token he was lord of the land. + +Each man's life is proved by some Sword of Assay. The test of a man's +call to the ministry is his power to seize the Sword of the Spirit: +wield the spiritual forces of the world, insight, conviction, +persuasion, truth. To do this successfully at least five things appear +to be necessary: a sterling education, marked ability in writing and in +public speaking, a noble manner, a voice capable of majestic +modulations, and a deep and tender heart. These phrases sound very +simple, but perhaps they mean more than at first appears. Have we not +all met some one, in our lifetime, whose acquaintance with us seemed to +have no preliminaries?--some one who never bothered to say anything at +all to us, until one day he said something that leaped and tingled +through our very being? This is the power that a minister ought to have +with every soul with whom he comes in contact: his word should quickly +touch a vital spot. No one to-day cares much for mere oratory, literary +discussion, polemics, or cursory exegesis; "marked ability in writing +and in public speaking" means that grip on reality which makes people +quiver, repent, believe, adore! + +Sincerity is the basis of such power. At heart we worship the man who +will not lie; who will not use conventions or formulas in which he does +not believe; who does not give us a second-hand view of either life or +God; who does not play with our conscience because it is not politic to +be too direct; who does not juggle with our doubts, nor ignore our hopes +and powers; who also frankly acknowledges that he, too, is a man. + +A call to the ministry also involves an over-mastering spiritual desire. +Tell me what a man wants, and I will tell what he is, and what he can +best do. If a man desires above all things to conduit a great business, +he is by nature qualified for trade; if he desires knowledge, he is +designed for a scholar; if he is always observing form, rhyme, aesthetic +beauty, and striving to produce verse, he is a born poet. But if the one +thing that rules his dreams is the longing for spiritual power--the +thought of impressing God upon his generation, and leading men to a +clearer view of life and duty--he is a born minister of the Spirit, and +to the spirit of the sons of men. Along with this goes the great burden: +"Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel!" + +Wherever, to-day, there is a young man in whose heart is stirring a +great devotional dream for the race, who longs to project his life into +the most enduring and far-reaching influence, who craves the exercise of +great gifts and powers, there is a man whose heart God is calling to +possibilities such as no one can measure, and to triumphs such as no one +can forecast! The highest triumphs of these coming years are to be +spiritual. The leader is to be the one who can carry the deepest +spiritual inspiration to the hearts of his fellow-men. Do not let the +hour go by! This day of vision is the prophetic day! + +But if the call be answered, if certain high-spirited and noble-minded +men ask thus to stand as spiritual ministrants to the souls of men, how +shall they be trained for the high office? + +The old way will not do. Sweeping changes, in these last days, have come +over the commercial, academic, and social world. We do not go back to +the hand-loom, the hand-sickle, the hand-press. What is true of these +aspects of life is true of the spiritual training. It must be larger, +freer, grander, than before. Time was when a theologian, it was +thought, must be separated from the world--an ascetic working in the dim +half-light of the old library, or scriptorium, or hall. To-day, he must +gain much of his training from the great life of the world--learn how to +meet men and occasions, and be prepared to deal with modern forces and +energies with courage, knowledge, and decision. + +We read of the earnest Thomas Goodwin: his favorite authors were such as +Augustine, Calvin, Musculus, Zanchius, Paraeus, Walaeus, Gomarus, and +Amesius. What Doctor of Theology takes the last six of these to bed with +him to-day? + +Our theological courses are too dry. Look carefully over the catalogues +of thirty or forty of our own seminaries, and notice the curious, almost +monastic, impression which they make. Then realize that the men who +pursue these abstruse and mediaeval subjects are the men who go out into +churches where the chief topics of thought and conversation are crops, +stocks, politics, clothes, servants, babies! There is a grim humor in +the thing, which seems to have escaped those who have drawn up the +curriculum. + +Life is not monastic. It is very lively. We scarcely get, in all our +post-collegiate life, a chance to sit and muse. We go through +sensations, experiences, and incongruities, which stir a sense of fun. A +man reads (I notice) in his seminary, St. Leo, _Ad Flaeirmum_, and makes +his first pastoral call on a woman who proudly brings out her first +baby for him to see. _Ad Flaeirmum_ indeed! What does St. Leo tell the +youth to say? + +What should be breathed into a man in the seminary, is not the mere +facts of ecclesiastical history, but the warm pulsating currents of +human life; the profound significance of the founding and the progress +of the Church; a deep psychological understanding of human desires, +motives, joys, ambitions, griefs; the relentlessness of sin; the help +and glory of Redemption; the quickening of the Christ; the vigor and the +tenderness of faith. Coincident with these must be a growth in depth and +dignity of life. No one likes to take spiritual instruction from men who +are themselves crude, foolish, sentimental, or conceited. Many social +snags on which young ministers are sure to run, are simply the rudiments +of social conduct, as practised by the world. Noble manners are one's +personal actions as influenced and guided by the great behavior of the +race. Under the impulse of ideals, much that is untoward or superficial +in one's bearing will disappear. It is impossible to think as noble men +and women have thought--to dream, love, and work as they have dreamed, +loved, and wrought--and not have pass into one's mien the high +excellence of such lives. + +The first education is spiritual. Until mind and heart are swept by the +spirit of God, chastened, purified, ennobled, and inspired, vain is all +the learning of the schools! To this end, there should be a more deeply +spiritual atmosphere in our seminaries, less of the mere academic +impulse. In every age, there are men just to come in contact with whom +is a benediction and a help for years. Such a man was Mark Hopkins, Noah +Porter, James McCosh. Such the leading men in every seminary should be. + +The plan of education must be of principles, not of facts. The +university research-men gather facts, and scientific men everywhere +collect, analyze, and classify them. But each small department of human +learning--each minute branch in that department--needs a lifetime for +the mastery of that one theme. Hence the work of the college is quite +apart from that of the school of theology. It is the place of the school +of theology, not to ignore the New Learning, but to group, upon the +basis of a thorough college training, certain great interests and +pursuits of mankind, in such a way as to afford, by means of them, a +leverage for spiritual work. + +After all is said and done, it is not the grammar-detail of Latin, +Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic dialects that makes a minister's power. It is +the strange language-culture of the race which should enter in; the +inner vitality of words, the beauty of poetic cadences, the strong flow +of rhythm, noble themes, great thoughts, impressive imagery and appeal. +We should know the Bible as literature, not as one knows a story-book, +or a dialect-exercise, but as one knows the melodies and memories of +childhood. + +The vital thing is not a knowledge of the historical schisms and decrees +of Christendom--not the external Evidences of Religion, Ecclesiastical +History, Ecclesiastical Polity, monuments, texts, memorabilia--the vital +thing is the power to think about God, and the problems of mankind. It +is a heart-knowledge of the difficulties and questionings of a race that +yearns for virtue. + +Man thirsts for God. No one is wholly indifferent to the Spirit. I fear +that some ministers do not know--and never will know--the heart-hunger +of the world. When they rise to speak, there is always some one present +whose breath is hushed with longing to hear spoken some real word of +truth, or strength, or comfort. If he receive but chaff!-- + +Theology is not a dry thing, and ought not be made so. It is quick with +the life of the race. Each dogma is a mile-stone of human progress. It +is the sifted and garnered wisdom of the centuries, concerning God, and +His ways with men. Each student should feel, not that a system is being +driven into him, as piles are driven into the stream, but that he is +being put in philosophic contact with the thought of the race on the +great topic of Religion, with liberty himself to experiment, think, and +add to the store. + +Homiletics is not a series of nursery-rules for man--formal, didactic +droppings of a pedant's tongue. Homiletics is the appeal of man to man, +for the welfare of his soul, and the true progress of mankind. Exegesis +is not a matter of Hebrew or Greek alone. It includes the spiritual +interpretation of the great problems of the race. Homer, Tennyson, +Browning, and Dante are exegetes, no less than Lightfoot, Lange, +and Schaff. + +Pastoral Divinity is not the etiquette of a polite way of making calls: +it is an entering into the social spirit of the time; the learning of +friendliness, unreserve, sympathy, persuasion, and a way of approach. It +is the mastery of spiritual _savoir-faire_. + +Outside of this group of technical subjects there are yet others of +vital importance from a scientific understanding of the world, and of +one's work. They are Psychology, Ethics, Sociology, and Politics. + +Since we have known more of the psychological meaning of adolescence, a +new theory of Conversion has sprung up; and whether or not we accept it, +the whole outlook over the underlying principle of conversion has been +changed. We must at least recognize that conversion is a scientific +process, as much as digestion is, or respiration; it is not a purely +emotional occurrence. + +The minister must learn what society really is, and how the far still +forces of time act and react upon each other, producing group-actions, +institutions, customs, ways. There are social fossils as well as +physical ones. Sociology is not a system of fads and reforms. It is the +scientific study of society, of its constitution, development, +institutions, and growth. He must also breathe largely of the great +governmental life of the race--understand the primary principles of +politics and administration. He should have some knowledge of commercial +interests, of the formulas, incentives, and right principles of trade. + +There should also be in the seminary an inspirational atmosphere of +music, literature, and art. Literature is a revelation of the life of +the soul. The man who reads literature and comprehends its message is +receiving a fine training which shall fit him for a thorough +understanding of the heart; of its practical, ethical, and spiritual +problems; of its domestic joys and sorrows; of its human cares and +burdens; of the appeals that will come to him for sympathy; of the +temptations that beset the race; and of the hopes and trials of +the world. + +Literature is one of the best tools a minister can have. He should be +read in the great literary and sermonic literature, the work of Bossuet, +Massillon, Chrysostom, Augustine, Fénelon, Marcus Aurelius, mediaeval +homilies, Epictetus, Pascal, Guyon, Amiel, Vinet, La Brunetière, Phelps, +Jeremy Taylor, Barrows, Fuller, Whitefield, Bushnell, Edwards, Bacon, +Newman, Ruskin, Carlyle, Emerson, Davies, Law, Bunyan, Luther, Spalding, +Robertson, Kingsley, Maurice, Chalmers, Guthrie, Stalker, Drummond, +Maclaren, Channing, Beecher, and Phillips Brooks, yes, even John Stuart +Mill. All these men, by whatever name or school they are called, are +writers of essays or sermons which appeal to the most spiritual deeps +of man. + +He should read the novels of Richter, Thackeray, Dickens, Scott, Eliot, +and Victor Hugo. He should know intimately the great verse which +involves spiritual problems, and human strife and aspiration,--Milton, +Beówulf, Caedmon, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, ballads, sagas, the +Arthur-Saga, the Nibelungenlied, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Herbert, +Tennyson, Browning, Dante and Christina Rossetti, Whittier, Lowell, +Longfellow, to say nothing of Goethe, Corneille, and the Greek, Roman, +Persian, Egyptian, Hindu, and Arabian verse. + +In music his heart should wake to the beauty of oratorios, symphonies, +chorals, concert music, national and military music, and inspiring +songs, not to speak of hymns and of anthems, the progress of Christian +song! The _Creation_, the _Messiah_, the _Redemption_, Bach's _Passion +Music_, the _St. Cecilia Mass_, Spohr's _Judgment_, Stainer's +_Resurrection_, the _Twelfth Mass_, Mendelssohn's _Elijah_,--these are +monumental works and themes. + +What is a hymn? We think of it as being some simple churchly words, set +to a serious tune. A hymn is the rhythmic aspiration of the race. No one +can look through a good hymnal--through _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, for +instance, or the Church Hymnary--without feeling that therein is bound +up the devotional life of the world. The spiritual outlook is cosmic. +Our every mood of penitence, praise, and aspiration resounds in +melodious and time-defying strains. + +In art, the religious spirit broods over the great work of the world. In +Angelo, Francesca, Veronese, Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto, +and Correggio, the brush of the painter has set forth the adoration of +the Church of God. + +Thus, taken all in all, to be educated as a minister should be to be +educated in the Higher Life of the race. + +Finally, above all else is the spiritual study and interpretation of the +Word of God. A minister may be fearless of the investigations of +scientific criticism. Every truth is important to him, but not all +truths are vital. When a man such as Caspar Rene Gregory speaks, +something of the holy mystery and inspiration of biblical research, as +well as a scientific result, is presented, and one gains a new +conception of what it really means to study and to understand the +Word of God. + +Under all is the life of ceaseless and prevailing prayer. By the life of +prayer, many mean merely a way of learning to make public petitions, an +objective appeal to God. The true life of prayer is as simple, as +unteachable, and as vital as the life of a child with its mother--the +little lips daily learning new ways of approach to its mother's heart, +and new words to make its wants and interests and sorrows known. + +Prayer is the true World-Power. Just as there are vast stretches in the +world where the foot of man has never trod, so there are unmeasured +regions whereon prayer has never been. The more we pray, the more +illimitable appears this spiritual realm. And all about us in the +universe are also great hidden forces: nothing will lay hold of them +but prayer. + +Each prayer enlarges the soul. The measure of our praying is the measure +of our growth. No man has reached his full possibilities of achievement +who has not completed the circuit of his possible prayers. Power is +proportionate to prayer. + +And last of all, there is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. What it +is, who may say? But that it is real, who can doubt? To read the lives +of Wesley, Whitefield, Finney, Moody, is to feel a strange, deep thrill. +They are men who spake, and men listened; who called, and men came to +God. Others, alas, so often call, and there is no response. They cannot +make headway through the indifference, the sloth, the materialism, and +the inherent vulgarity of the world. + +The life itself is arduous. After all is said, it is not quite the same +task to examine and classify either protoplasm or the most highly +organized forms of nature, that it is to analyze and understand the +mysterious workings of the heart, the intricacies of conscience and +conduct, the possibilities of spiritual development or of moral +downfall, and the many questionings, agonies, and ecstasies of the soul +of man. And they are to be studied and understood with the definite and +positive aim of the absolute reconstruction of the world-bound spirit--a +change of its motives, purposes, affections, ideals. More than this, +there must be at the heart of the more thoughtful minister a philosophic +basis for the reconstruction of society itself. + +Youth is not an adequate preparation for this task: a man must live and +grow. To deal with such themes and occasions, there must appear in the +world lives of such vigor that they can command; of such charm, that +they can attract; of such wisdom, that they can guide and comfort; of +such vitality, that they can inspire. And hence there rises before the +mind's eye a figure that is both knightly and kingly--a man earnest in +the redress of wrong, and who yet holds a subtle authority over the +forces that make for wrong; a man burdened with the cares and sorrows of +many others, and yet conducting his own life with serenity, enthusiasm, +dignity, and hope; a man to whose keen yet tender gaze a life-history +is revealed by a word or tone, but whose own eyes receive their light +from God. A prophet and a father, a priest and a counsellor, a brother, +friend, and judge, a sacrifice and an inspiration should he be who, in +reverence and love, brings before a waiting congregation the very +Word of Life! + + +SECOND: OF SPIRITUAL RULE + +1. The primary rule is over conscience. The man who sways a conscience +sways a human life. The man who sways a nation's conscience controls +that nation's life. To rule conscience, a man must himself be +unprejudiced and well informed. He must strive, not to keep up an +unhealthy excitement which shall make conscience introspective and +morbid, but to preserve a sane moral outlook, to encourage freedom of +thought and judgment, and to develop a normal conscience which reacts +promptly against wrong. Conscience measures our inner recoil from evil. +The power of a preacher is in direct proportion to the energy with which +he reveals sin in the heart of man, and wakes his whole nature against +its insidious power. + +Sin is. To-day, sin is thought a somewhat brusque word, lacking in +polish. To use it frequently is a mark of lack of '_savoir-faire_! +Indeed to speak of it at all is as archaic as to speak of the +Ichthyosaurus. But sin is a root-fact of the life of man. It is the +office of the spiritual teacher to pluck out sin; to pierce the heart +with a recognition of the enormity of sin, and of its far-reaching +consequences; to stir the seared conscience, rouse the apathetic life, +thrill the spiritual imagination, and to quicken the heart to better +love and to nobler dreams. He rebukes the private sins of individuals +and the public sins of nations. In the _Faerie Queene_, the +"soul-diseased knight" was in a state + + "_In which his torment often was so great, + That like a lyon he would cry and rare, + And rend his flesh, and his own synewes eat_." + +But Fidelia, like the faithful pastor, was both + + "_able with her word to kill, + And raise againe to life the heart that she did thrill_." + +This power has at times been misunderstood and misapplied. No human +authority can bind the conscience, nor set rules and regulations for the +soul of man. The prerogative of final direction belongs to God alone. No +man may arrogate it--no pastor for people, no husband for wife, no wife +for husband, no parent for child. The sadness of the world has been, +that men have not always been spiritually free. Freedom has been a +social growth--a phase of progress. It has taken wars and persecutions, +revolutions and reformations, the blood of saints and martyrs, the +sorrow of ages, to plant this precept in the mind of man. + +The evangelist warns. He speaks of sin, death, hell, and the judgment +to come. It is for these things that he is sent to testify. These are +not the catch-words of a new sort of Fear King who uses oral terrors to +affright the soul of man. Heaven and hell are not a new sort of +ghost-land: retribution is not a larger way of tribal revenge. + +No. The latest facts of science present this universe as not only +progressive, but as retributive. There is a rebound of evil which makes +for pain. Each broken law exacts a penalty. Each deed of sin is a +forerunner of personal and of social disaster. The generation that sins +shall be cut off, while the stock of the righteous grows strong from +age to age. + +The scientific vista opening to the eye of man is impressive and +appalling. Each man has within himself a future of joy or sadness for +the race. Do you remember the sermon of Horace Bushnell on the +"Populating Power of the Christian Faith"? Do you recall the history of +the infamous Jukes family? That of the seven devout and noble +generations of the Murrays? The Day of Judgment is not only the Last +Great Day--it is to-day and every day. "Every day is Doomsday," says +Emerson. Nature is unforgetful. Nature is accountant. Each iniquity must +be paid for out of the resources of the race. + +It is of these grave omens that the Man of God must speak. He dare not +be tongue-tied by custom or by fear. He must proclaim hell in the ears +of all mankind. For wherever hell may be, and we do not yet know, and +whatever hell may be, and we cannot even imagine, Hell _is_; and the +soul of man must be kept mindful of these great things. + +The evangelist comforts and consoles. The heart of man is wayward and +goes oft astray. No one can be belabored into righteousness. The true +lover of souls allows for the hereditary weaknesses of man, for his +infirmities of will and temper, for his excuses, wanderings, and tears, +and presents to him Jesus, in whose sight no one is too wretched to be +received, too wicked to be forgiven. + +We must have forgiveness in order to know God. The most comforting +thought in the world is that God knows all we do. There can be no +misunderstanding between us: He cannot be misinformed. + +The evangelist must come close, in sympathy and counsel, to the personal +and individual life of those whom he would help. Perhaps the best way to +emphasize this point would be to insert here words written by a woman +who has been thinking on this subject. + +She says: "I have never had a pastor. It is the one good thing lacking +in my life. I have grown up among ministers, and have had many friends +among them--some of them have cared for me. But there has never been one +among them all who stood in an attitude of spiritual authority and +helpfulness to my life. We church-going and Christian men and women of +the educated class are almost wholly let alone; apparently no one takes +thought for our souls. We are not in the least infallible; we come face +to face with fierce temptations; we have heart-breaking sorrows; we are +burdened with anxiety and perplexity. But we are left to grope as blind +sheep; there is no one to point out the path to us, however dimly; no +one to say, at any crucial moment of our lives, Walk here! + +"Once, however," she continues, "one of my friends, a minister, knelt +down by me and prayed. It was a simple and ordinary occasion--others +were present. But every word of that prayer was meant for the uplifting +of my heart. In that hour, I was as if overshadowed by the Holy Ghost; +new aims and purposes were born within me. My friend loves me--that does +not matter--it is his spiritual intensity I care for. And this is his +reward for his fidelity and tenderness: In the hour when I come to die, +when one does not ask for father or mother, or husband or wife, or +brother or sister, or friend or child, but only for the strong comfort +of the man of God--in that hour, I say, if I be at all able to make my +wishes known, I shall send for that man to come to me. He, and no other, +shall present my soul to God." + +Reading the above words, more than one minister will cry out, his eyes +blazing: "I say the same to you! Who is there that tries to shield the +minister from sorrow and from pain? Who is there to comfort and help +_him_? You think we can just go on, and preach, preach, preach, standing +utterly alone, and with no one on earth to keep our own hearts close to +God! I tell you, it is a lonely and weary work at times, this being a +minister!" + +Yes, there must be a people, as well as a pastor. The relation is +reciprocal. Wherever there is a strong man, leaning down in fire and +tenderness to help the lives about him, there must be a loyal and loving +congregation, with here and there in it some one who more fully +appreciates and understands. Nothing beats down and discourages a man +more than to feel that he is preaching to cold air and not to human +folks, and to get back, when he offers sympathy, a stare. + +A congregation is a mysterious and subtle social force. Its effect on a +minister he can neither analyze nor explain. But he knows that its power +is mesmeric and cannot be escaped. He goes into its presence from an +hour of exalted and uplifted prayer, serene, happy, strong, and prepared +to speak words of power and life. Gazing at his people--he can never +tell why--the words freeze on his lips. An icy hand seems laid upon his +heart, and he makes a cold and formal presentation of his glowing theme, +and wonders who or what has done it all. Something satanic and +repelling has laid hold of his tongue and brain. + +Or again, he may have had a worried and troubled week, full of personal +anxiety and sorrow. He has not had full time to study--he feels quite +unprepared, and enters the pulpit with a halting step, and a choking +fear of failure at his heart. + +In a moment, the world changes. Something imperceptible, but sweet and +comforting, steals over him,--an uplifting atmosphere of attention, +sympathy, affection. He begins to speak, very quietly at first, with +quite an effort. But the congregation leads him on, to deeper thoughts, +to nobler words, to modulations of voice that carry him quite beyond +himself. His voice rises, and every syllable is firm and musical. His +language springs from some far centre of inspiration. He is conscious of +superb power, and as sentence after sentence falls from his +lips----sentences that amaze himself more than any other----he enters +into the supreme height of joy, that of being a spiritual messenger to +the hearts of longing men and women. He and they together talk of God. + +This sympathetic atmosphere makes great preachers and great men. In +return, there flows from a pastor toward his people a love that few can +know or understand. + +2. His rule is also over spiritual enthusiasm. What is a revival? We +confound it with a local excitement, a community-sensation of an +hysterical and passing type--with sensational disturbances, falling +exercises, shouts, weeping, and the like. A revival is something far +different. A revival is an awakening of the community heart and mind. It +is a quickening of dead, backsliding, or inattentive souls. + +Man as an individual is quite a different person from the same man in a +crowd. One is himself alone; the other is himself, plus the influence of +the Social Mind. A revival is a social state, in which the social +religious enthusiasm is stirred up. It is a lofty form of religion, just +as the patriotism which breaks forth in tears and cheers as troops go +out to war is a finer type than the mere excitement and fervor of one +patriotic man. What would the Queen's Jubilee have been, if but one +soldier had marched up and down? A great commemoration! If we grant the +reality of national rejoicing in the royal jubilees, commercial +rejoicing in business men's processions, university enthusiasm on +Commencement Day--shall we not grant the reality of the religious +interest and enthusiasm of a great revival, in which whole communities +shall be led to a clearer knowledge of spiritual things? + +The Crusades were a magnificent revival. The Reformation was a revival. +The Salvation Army movement is a revival. But the greatest revival of +all times is even now upon us: it is a revival in the scientific +circles of the race. Time was when science and religion were supposed to +be at odds; to-day the intellectual phalanxes are sweeping Christward +with an impetus that is sublime! Thinkers are finding in the large life +of religion a motive power for their thought, their growth--a reason for +their existence--a forecast of their destiny. We are beginning to +realize the dynamic value of Belief. This revival is coming, not with +shouts and noise, but with the quiet insistence of new ideas, of new +facts--with the still voice of scientific announcement. The atheist is +being overcome, not by emotion, but by evidence; the scoffer is being +put down by cool logic. + +Hence the evangelist of to-day is more than a man who can popularly +address a public audience, and by tales and tears arouse a weeping +commotion. The evangelist is a man of intellect and prayer, who can +preach the gospel to a scientific age, and to a thinking coterie--a +coterie of college men and mechanics, of society women and +servant-girls, of poets and of mine-diggers, of convicts and of +reformers. To-day calls for the utmost intellectual resources of the +teacher of the truth, for a great imagination, great style, great +sympathy with men, large learning, and unceasing prayer! + +3. His rule is over social ideals. He must be a man of social insight. +The social spirit is abroad in the world, but it is woefully erratic +and misguided. Any one thinks he can be an altruist. Why not? Take a +class in a college settlement, make some bibs for a day nursery, give +tramps a C.O.S. card, with one's compliments, and attend about six +lectures a year on Philanthropy--the lectures very good indeed. One is +then a full-fledged altruist, _n'est-ce pas_? + +The philanthropy of to-day has a bewildering iridescence of aspect. Each +present impulse is reformatory. Correction, like a centipede, shows a +hundred legs and wants to run upon them all. Much of the so-called +philanthropy is not well balanced and is run by cranks. Cranks attach +themselves to any social movement, as a shaggy gown will gather burrs. +It is not all of philanthropy to classify degenerates, titter at +ignorance, and to go a-peeping through the slums! We have not yet +realized the fulness of redemption. Of what avail is it to save one +street-Arab, or one Chinaman, if a million Arabs and Chinamen remain +unsaved? Redemption is a race-savior: it seizes not only the individual, +but his environment, his friends, and his future state. + +The true minister is a reformer. A reformer is one who re-crystallizes +the social ideals of man, who breaks up idols and bad customs, and +sweeps away abuses. But we must first ask: What is an idol? What is a +bad custom? What is an abuse? They are social standards which are out of +harmony with true concepts of God, life, and duty. Behind the work of +the reformer is the dream of the reformer, the meditation of the mystic, +the seer. He must first have in mind a plain, clear conception of what +the relation is of man to God, of what man's environment should be, and +of what the society of the Kingdom should be. The reformer is one who +changes an existing social environment for approximately this ideal +environment of his own thought. When he breaks an idol, it is not the +idol itself that he everlastingly hates, it is the materialistic concept +of the community. What he wishes in place of the idol is a right +conception. No man could break up every idol in the Sandwich Islands. +But a man went about implanting a spiritual idea of God, and the idols +disappeared. + +Hence the work of the reformer is deep and heart-searching work. It +means constant study of the spiritual needs of the age, continual +insight into the material forces which are moulding the age-images, +money, conquest, or whatever they may be. He wishes to maintain a +spiritual hold on civilization itself, so to transform the ideal within +a man, a community, a nation, in regard to custom, observance, belief, +that the outer rite shall follow. + +To reform is not to rush through the slums, and then preach a +sensational sermon about bad places in the slums, of which most people +never knew before! To reform is to know something of the conditions +which produce the slums--it is not to scatter the slum-people broadcast +elsewhere in the town; it is not alone to give them baths, playgrounds, +circulating libraries of books and pictures, dancing-parties, and social +clubs. To reform the slums is to set up a new ideal of God, and of +righteous conduct in the heart of the slum-dwellers. One must know +something of the slow processes of social change, of social +assimilation, growth, and stability, to have an intellectual perception +of the problem, as well as a spiritual one. One does not make an ill-fed +child strong by stuffing five pounds of oatmeal down its throat! + +The reformer must not only be a man of energy, he must be a man of +patience. Great reforms come slowly. As man has advanced, idleness, +indolence, brutality, tyranny, drunkenness, cant, and social scorn are +gradually being cast out. But behind these simple words lie hid +centuries of strife and endeavor, and limitless darkenings of +human hope. + +To fly against vice is merely to invite enmity and opposition. To +present a pure and noble ideal, to breathe forth a holy atmosphere for +the soul, are constructive works. The trouble is not, that the ministers +preach on social themes--all themes that concern the life of man are +social themes. It is that they do piece-work and patch-work of reform, +instead of plain, direct upbuilding work in the souls and consciences of +men. To preach upon horse-stealing is one thing. The horse-stealer may +be impressed, convicted, made penitent, and return the stolen horse. But +not until his heart is imbued with a spiritual conception of honesty, as +the law of God, will he steal a stray horse no more. Hence the first +questions in reform are not: How many groggeries are there in my parish? +How many corrupt polls? How many hypocrites on my church-roll? The +question is: How is my parish society in enmity to the highest spiritual +ideal I know? Many men preach about saloons, when they ought to be +preaching about Christ. + +The force of this reform-energy is uncomputed. We hear of occasional +great reformers, but forget that there has been a prevailing influence +extending over the ages, of holy men of God, who have preached and +taught and prayed; who have preserved our social institutions of +spiritual import, and have been a mighty and continuous force working +for righteousness and peace. + +Missions are a higher form of politics. To further missions is to +further government, international comity, world-peace. + +4. His rule is over creed. He is inevitably a teacher of doctrine. + +What is doctrine? Doctrine is spiritual truth, formulated in a +systematic way. It is also, in church matters, a system of truth which +has been believed in, and clung to, by a body of believers constituting +some branch of the catholic Church. + +It is a noble and serious office to hand down from generation to +generation the faith and traditions of the Church of God. But this +handing-down must be upright. "You must bind nothing upon your charges," +says Jeremy Taylor, "but what God hath bound upon you." Conviction is at +the root of the lasting traditions of the Church. Only this--his +conviction--can one man really teach another. If he try to speak +otherwise, he shall have a lolling and unsteady tongue. + +No soul is finally held by the indefinite, or the namby-pamby. It begins +to question, Upon what foundation does this phrase, this fine sentiment, +rest? It must stand upon a proposition. This proposition rests either +upon a scientific fact, or upon that which, for want of a more definite +term, we call the religious instinct of man. But a proposition cannot +standalone. It is connected with other propositions, arguments, +conclusions. Hence a system of logic, of philosophy, of expressed +belief, of doctrine, inevitably grows up in a thinking community, a +thinking Church. + +The statement of an ecclesiastical system of doctrine may not be the +absolutely true one, nor the final one. Doctrine changes, even as +scientific theories change with fuller information. Doctrine also +expands, with the growth of the human spirit and understanding. To-day, +in one's library, one has a thousand books. They are shelved and +catalogued, for reference, in a special order. But years hence, one's +grandson, who inherits these books, may have ten thousand books. The +aspect of the library is changed. It is filled with new volumes, and new +thought. Shall we give a liberty to a man's library which we refuse to +his belief? Must he--and his church--have only his grandfather's ideas, +standards, and decrees? + +The tenets of a sect are the theological arrangement of belief which for +the present seems best; it is the systematic arrangement of facts so far +examined, determined, and classified. But no system of theology can be +final. Thought is moving on. Experience is progressive. Providence is +continually revealing. The race is a creed-builder, as well as a builder +of pyramids, cathedrals, and triumphal arches. + +The building-up of doctrine is superb. Into doctrine are woven the +intellectual beliefs, the emotional experiences, and the spiritual +struggles of mankind. Doctrine is an attempt to classify the spiritual +problems of the race and to present a theory of redemption which shall +be adequate, spiritually progressive, and the exact expression, so far +as yet revealed, of the will of God for man. All Christian doctrine is +centred about one point: the redemption of the race from sin. Dealing +with such great and fundamental themes, each system of doctrine is an +intellectual triumph. + +Doctrine is an intellectual necessity. Christ is not sporadic, either in +history or philosophy. To teach Christ, as the unlettered savage may +who has just learned of Christ the Saviour and turns to teach his +fellow-savages, might do good or save a soul from death. But in order to +command the intellectual respect of the race, there must be another form +of teaching yet than this, a teaching which presents Christ in the +historic and philosophic setting: the central Figure in a great body of +associated spiritual truth; Christ as the fulfilment of prophecy, the +means of social adjustment and regeneration; the Finisher of our Faith, +and the Source of eternal joy. We must be, not less spiritual +Christians, but increasingly intellectual ones, as time rolls on. + +Who are the men who have built up doctrine? Men speak as if doctrine +were an ecclesiastical toy--to be shaken by priest or prelate, as one +shakes a rattle, for noise, for play! A doctrine is not a toy; it is the +crystallized belief of earnest, thoughtful, and godly men--belief which +has passed into a church tradition, and is now received as an act +of faith. + +Shall doctrine be taught a child? Yes! To have a specific doctrine +clearly in mind does not fetter the young soul, any more than to be +taught the apparent facts of geography and history, which may change +either in reality or in his own interpretation as his mind matures. A +doctrine is a practical and definite thing to work with; in later life +to believe, and to approve of, or disbelieve, and disapprove of. If a +man wishes to build a house, does it fetter him to know square measure, +cubic contents, geometry, mensuration, and mechanical laws? Yet when he +builds his house, he builds it in his own individual way; he stamps it +with his own personality and ideas. While building it, perchance, he +discovers some new relation or geometric law. + +Doctrine does not save from hell, but it does save from many a snare +that besets the feet of man. It is a steadier of life, a strengthener of +hope, a stalwart aid to a practical, devout, and duty-doing life. A +catechism is a system of doctrine expressed in its simplest form. +Therefore, for the intellectual and moral training of the Church, let us +have sound doctrine in the pulpit, and the catechism in the home and +Sabbath-school. + +It is objected that doctrinal terminology is too hard for a child to +understand. Is this not absurd, when the same child can come home from +school and talk glibly of a parallelepipedon, a rhombus, rhomboid, +polyhedral angle, archipelago, law of primogeniture, the binomial +theorem, and of a dicotyledon! He also learns French, German, Latin, +Greek, and the _argot_ of the public school! + +The theological leader of to-day cannot be a creed-monger: he must be a +creed-maker. Side by side with the executive officers who will +reorganize the Christian forces, there will stand great creed-makers, +giant theologians, firm, logical, scientific, and convincing, who, out +of the vast array of new facts brought forth by modern science, will +produce new creeds, a new catechism, a new dogmatic series. It is worth +while to live in these days--to know the possibility of such monumental +constructive work in one's own lifetime. The creed-makers must have a +thorough literary training; no mere vocabulary of philosophy will +answer. Like the Elizabethan divines, they must rule the living word, +which shall echo for a century yet to come. + +As the great Ecumenical Council was convened for missionary progress, so +the times are now ripe for the assembling of a historic Theological +Council, to revise and restate, not one denominational catechism, but +the creed of Christendom; to provide a new literary expression of the +Christian faith. Together we are working in God's world, and for +His kingdom. + +If doctrine be the crystallized thought and belief of godly men, what is +heresy? What is schism? Who is dictator of doctrine? How far are the +limits of authority to be pressed? What are the bounds of ecclesiastical +control? of intellectual mandate in the Christian Church? + +In the academic world, we do not cast a man out of his mathematical +chair because he can also work in astro-physics or in psycho-physics. If +he can pursue advanced research in an allied or applied field, it will +help him in his regular and prescribed work. We do not cast an English +professor out of his chair, because he announces that there are two +manuscripts of Layamon's _Brut_, and that the text of Beówulf has been +many times worked over, before we have received it in its present form. +Yet there are accredited professors of English who do not know these +facts, and who, if called upon, could neither prove them nor disprove +them. They have not worked in the Bodleian, in the British Museum, or in +other foreign libraries, on Old English texts and authorities. They +think themselves well up in Old English if they can translate the text +of Beówulf fairly well, remember its most difficult vocabulary, and can +tell a tale or two from the _Brut_. + +Not every man has Europe or Asia in his backyard, nor a lifetime of +leisure for research, for special learning, on the moot questions of +church-scholarship. Progress consists in each man's doing his best to +advance the interests of the kingdom of God in his own special sphere. +From others he must take something for granted. The ear of the Church +ought always to be open to the sayings of the specialist. A Church +should grant liberty of research, of thought, of speech--to a degree. + +But whatever may come out of twentieth-century or thirtieth-century +combats, one thing remains clear: A Church is an organization, a social +body, with a certain doctrine to proclaim, a certain faith to hand down +to men. The doctrine is not in all details final--each phase of faith +may change. But the organization, to protect its own purity and +integrity--however generous in allowing individual research, and the +expression of individual ideas--must exert authority over the teachers +in her midst, those who are called by her name, who have her children in +their charge, and for whose teaching the Church, as a whole, is +responsible. There is doubtless a time when the man who is really in +advance of his times intellectually must be misunderstood, must be +disagreed with, must be cast out. But all truth may await the verdict of +time. If he has discovered something new, something true, the centuries +will make it plain. There remains a chance--and the Church dare not risk +too great a chance--that he is mistaken, impious, presumptuous, or +self-deceived. We dare not rush to a new doctrine or spiritual +conception, merely because one man, who knows more of a certain kind of +learning than we do, has said so. One must be bolstered up by a +generation of convinced and believing men, before he can draw a Church +after him. No other process is intellectually legitimate. In any other +event ecclesiastical anarchy would reign. To maintain the historic +position of the Church is a necessity, until that position is proven +untrue. So to maintain it is not bigotry, it is not lack of charity; it +is merely common-sense. + +The question, Where is the line between ecclesiastical integrity and +individual freedom? is therefore one which the common-sense of +Christendom is left to solve--not to-day, not to-morrow, but gradually, +generously, and conscientiously, as the centuries go on. + + +THIRD: OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITY + +It is said that a minister is greatly handicapped to-day in all his +efforts for two reasons: First, that the times are spiritually +lethargic, that men are so engrossed by material aims, indifference, or +sin that a pastor can get no hold upon their hearts. Second, that he is +bound hand and foot by conditions existing in the organization and +personnel of his church, and hence is not free to act. + +What would we think of an electrician who would complain that a storm +had cast down his network of wires? Of a civil engineer who would lament +that the mountain over which he was asked to project a road was steep? +Of a doctor who would grieve that hosts of people about him were very +ill? Of a statesman who would cry out that horrid folks opposed him? It +is the work of the specialist to meet emergencies, and it is his +professional pride to triumph over difficult conditions. The harder his +task, the more he exults in his power of success. + +It is a glorious task that lies before the minister of to-day--to +maintain, develop, and uplift the spiritual life of the most wonderful +epoch of the world's history; to place upon human souls that vital +touch that shall hold their powers subject to eternal influences and +aims. The times are not wholly unfavorable: our era, which spurns many +ecclesiastical forms, is at heart essentially religious. _The World for +Christ!_ How this war-cry of the spirit thrills anew as one realizes how +much more there is to win to-day than ever before. The Warrior girds +himself and longs eagerly to marshal great, shining, active hosts +for God! + +It is true that the conditions of work are more trying than they have +usually been. A man goes out from the seminary. He has had a good +education, followed by perhaps a year or two abroad, and some practical +experience in sociological work. He has plans, ideas, ideals, a vigorous +and whole-souled personality, a frank and generous heart. + +What does he find? He soon discovers that the battle is not always to +the strong, the educated, or the well-bred. Too often he is at the mercy +of rich men who can scarcely put together a grammatical sentence; of +poorer men who are, in church affairs, unscrupulous politicians; of +women who carp and gossip; and of all sorts of men and women who desire +to rule, criticise, hinder, and distrain. They, too, are the very people +who, in the ears of God and of the community, have vowed to love him and +to uphold his work! The more intellectual and spiritual he is, the more +he is troubled and distressed. + +Many churches, too, are in a chronic state of internal war. As for +these rising church difficulties--try to put out a burning bunch of +fire-crackers with one finger, and you have the sort of task he has in +hand. While one point of explosion is being firmly suppressed, other +crackers are spitting and going off. Whichever way he turns, and +whatever he does, something pops angrily, and a new blaze begins! And +this business, incredibly petty as it is, blocks the progress of the +Christian faith. Men and women of education and refinement, of a wide +outlook and noble thoughts and deeds, are more and more unwilling to +place themselves on the church-roll; a minister sometimes finds himself +in the anomalous position of having the more cultured, congenial, and +philanthropic people of the community quite outside any church +organization. + +All these things mean, not that a minister must grow discouraged, but +that he must set his teeth, and with pluck and endurance rise strong and +masterful and say, This shall not be! Let him not listen to the barking +and baying: let him hearken to the great primal voices of man and +nature. Love lies deeper than discord. The constructive forces of +humanity are stronger than the disintegrative. The right +attraction binds. + +There are some men who by the sheer force of their personality subdue +their church difficulties. They hold the captious in awe. By a sort of +magnetic persuasion and lively sense of humor they soothe this one and +that, win the regard of the outlying community, attach many new members +to the organization, and build up, out of discordant and erstwhile +discontented elements, a harmonious and active church. This is the man +for these martial times! If there are born leaders in every other +department of the world's work, men who quietly but firmly assert their +authority and supremacy in the tasks in which they hold, by free +election or legitimate appointment, a place at the head--it ought to be +so in the Church of God! I long to see arise in the ministry _a race +of iron!_ + +There are other difficulties, seldom spoken of, of which one must write +frankly, though with the keenest sympathy, if one is to look deeply into +the modern church problem. First: Is a minister's environment favorable +to his best personal development? Does he not miss much from the lack of +the world's hearty give-and-take? He gets criticism, but not of a just +or all-round kind. Small things may be pecked at, trifles may be made +mountains of by the disgruntled, but where does he get a clear-sighted, +whole-hearted estimate of himself and his work? Who tells him of his +real virtues, his real faults? Among all his friends, who is there, man +or woman, who is brave enough to be true? + +Other men are soon shaken into place. Their personal traits continually +undergo a process of chiselling and adjustment. They are told +uncomfortable things how quickly! At the club, in the university, in +the market, the ploughing-field, the counting-room, they rub up against +each other, and no mercy is shown by man to man until primary signs of +crudeness are worn off. Let a conceited professor get in a college +chair! Watch a hundred students begin their delightful and salutary +process of "taking him down" by the sort of mirth in which college boys +excel! Their unkindness is not right, but the result is, they never +molest a man who is merely eccentric. + +Watch a scientific association jump with all fours upon a man who has +just read a paper before their body! How unsparingly they analyze and +criticise! He has to meet questions, opposition, comments, shafts of wit +and envy, jovial teasing and correction. He goes out from the meeting +with a keener love of truth and exactness, and a less exalted idea of +his own powers. Watch the rivalry and sparring that go on in any +business. Men meet men who attack them; they fight and overcome them, or +are themselves overcome. + +Human friction is not always harmful. A minister should not be hurt or +angered by disagreement and discussion. No one's ideas are final. Let +him expect to stand in the very midst of a high-strung, spirited, and +hard-working generation. Let him be turned out of doors. Let him travel, +look, learn, meet men and women, and conquer in the arena of manhood. +Then, by means of this undaunted manhood, he may the better guide the +fiery enthusiasms of men, inspire their higher ambitions, and comfort +them in their bitter human sorrows! + +Again, too often a minister is spoiled in his first charge by flattery, +polite lies, and gushing women. He is sadly overpraised. A bright young +fellow comes from the seminary. He can preach; that is, he can prepare +interesting essays, chiefly of a literary sort, which are pleasant to +listen to, though, in the nature of things, they can have scarcely a +word in them of that deep, life-giving experience and counsel which come +from the hearts of men and women who have lived, and know the truth of +life. He is told that these sermons are "lovely," "beautiful," "_so_ +inspiring," and he believes every word of praise. No one says to him, +"When you know more, you will preach better," and his standard of +excellence does not advance. This man, who might have become a great +preacher, remains, as years go on, alas! an intellectual potterer. + +He is also socially made too much of, being one of the very few men +available for golf and afternoon teas, suppers, picnics, tennis, +charity-bazaars. Other men are frankly too busy for much of these +things, except for healthful recreation; and not infrequently one finds +stray ministers absolutely the only men at some function to which men +have been invited. + +A minister is not a parlor-pet. How many a time an energetic man, +society-bound, must long to kick over a few afternoon tea-tables, and +smash his way out through bric-à-brac and chit-chat to freedom +and power! + +I should think that a real Man in the ministry would get so very tired +of women! They tell him all their complaints and difficulties, from +headaches, servants, and unruly children, to their sentimental +experiences and their spiritual problems. Men tell him almost nothing. +Watch any group of men talking, as the minister comes in. A moment +before they were eager, alert, argumentative. Now they are polite or +mildly bored. He is not of their world. Some assert that he is not even +of their sex! Hence the lips of men are too often sealed to the +minister. He must find some way not only to meet them as brother to +brother, but he must capture their inmost hearts. The shy confidence of +an honorable man once won, his friendship never fails. + +The question of a minister's relation to the women of his congregation +and the community is not only curious and complex--it is a perpetual +comedy. How do other men in public life deal with this problem? They +have a genial but indifferent dignity, quite compatible with courtesy +and friendly ways. They shoulder responsibility; they do not flirt; they +sort out cranks; they flee from simpers; they put down presumption. If +married, they laugh heartily with their wives over any letter or +episode that is comical or sentimental. If not married, they get out of +things the best way they know how, with a sort of plain, manly +directness. If a minister would arrogate to himself his free-born +privilege of being a thorough-going man, many of his troubles would +disappear. + +Let him hold himself firmly aloof both from nonsense and from enervating +praise. Let him dream of great themes, and work for great things! Let +him rely on more quiet friends who watch loyally, hope, encourage, +inspire. By and by the scales drop from his eyes; he sees himself, not +as one who has already achieved, but as one to whom the radiant gates of +life are opening, so that he, too, can one day speak to human souls as +the masters have done! He discovers that out of the heart's depths is +great work born! This is a memorable day, both for this man and for his +church. From that hour he has vision and power. + +Another error in ministerial education and outlook is that too often +ministers forget that they compete with other men: they are not an +isolated class of humanity. Competition underlies the energy and +efficiency of the world's work. When men do not consciously compete with +others, they inevitably drop behind. What a minister was intended for, +was to stand head and shoulders above other men. God seems to have +planned the universe in such a way that everywhere the spiritual shall +be supreme. He was meant to be a towering leader. Who, in other realms, +has excelled Moses, Joshua, Elijah, David, Paul? + +But if we consider the responsibilities which are now being laid upon +different classes of people, and carried by them, I think that we must +acknowledge that the statesman is looming up as the most influential and +upbuilding man to-day. He is the one who is adjusting the new +world-powers and the new world-relations, over-seeing the development of +our country, and planning for its laws and commerce. Close to him comes +the physician, who is laying his hand on world-plagues, and is studying +the conditions and the forms of disease, with a view to striking disease +at its root. The hand of the doctor is laid upon consumption, malaria, +yellow fever, diphtheria, typhoid fever, and bubonic plague, and the +advance in medical research is marvellous. + +The lawyer and the capitalist are together adjusting the industrial +relations of the country. We have trusts, syndicates, and +corporation-problems handled with a firm intellectual grasp and a wide +outlook over human affairs. + +The reading of the world is in the hands of editors of enterprise and +sagacity. They daily bring wars, statecraft, business plans, political +situations, trade openings, scientific discoveries, forms of church-work +and philanthropy, accidents, murders, and marriages, to our +breakfast-table. The press of to-day has a tremendous scope. When some +of the magazines come to hand, one feels that he is in touch with the +affairs of the universe and has reading of a cosmic order. + +The day-laborer is discovering that to ingenuity, talent, and manliness, +the whole world swings open. Carnegie's Thirty Partners, most of whom +have come from the working-ranks, demonstrate that a man can rise from +the pick, the spade, the foreman's duties, to the control of great +industrial interests. + +Bankers are thinking out the financial problems--currency, legal tender, +the best forms of money and authority; the whole monetary system of the +world is under consideration and analysis. The farmer is learning, +through chemistry and other forms of science, new ways of making his +farm productive, and the educated agriculturist is rising to be an +intellectual factor in the development of our country. Everywhere we see +Life awakening--a great renaissance! + +Has the minister, as a thinker and active force of regeneration, kept +pace with this advance? Do many sermons thrill us in this large way? +Where does he rank among the world-masters of energy and power? + +The ministry is supposed to be a work of saving souls. But if we could +know the direct effect of preaching, and the conversions which are +really due to preaching, I think we should find them comparatively few. +What touched the boy or girl, man or woman, and led him or her to Christ +was not the sermon, or pastoral talk, though this one or another may +have united with the Church after a special sermon, revival, or personal +appeal. It was the memory and influence of a mother's prayers; of early +associations; of a teacher, a lover, a friend. The conversion came +direct from God--the soul was acted upon by some special moving of the +Holy Spirit. Or it was the death of a friend, an illness, an accident, a +disappointment, which turned the thoughts to heavenly things. Or it was +a book that searched the soul's depths, or some quickening human +experience. Is this quite as it should be? Is not professional +pride aroused? + +Suppose that New York City should suddenly be invaded by the bubonic +plague or yellow fever. Would any one be to blame? Certainly! Such an +outcry would go up as would echo across the country. Where were the +quarantine officers? Where was the port physician? Where were the +specialists who attend to sanitation and disinfection? + +We say that divorce and Sabbath-breaking are sweeping over our +country--gambling, social drinking, and many other ills; a sensational +press, a corrupt politics, a materialistic greed. + +All the ministers under heaven cannot take sin out of the world, nor +uproot sin altogether from the heart of man: the plague conies in at +birth. Neither can all the doctors living remove disease, so that no one +will get sick or die. But just as the doctor can, by study, by training, +by counsel, by practice, and by the direction of wise law-making, +protect the health interests of his country or community, so the +minister should stand, yet more largely than to-day, as a break-water +between the world and the tides of sin! He should not only be able to +keep alive in a country an atmosphere of prayer, devotion, and unselfish +service--he should, by God's help, make piety the general estate of the +land; he should not only be intellectually able to show the great +advantage of the upright Christian life, he should straight-way lead +all classes into that life; he should be able to lay a hand on the moral +maladies of mankind, personal and national, and prescribe effectual +remedies; take lame, halt, sinning souls, and by God's grace and Spirit, +lift not only individuals, but whole communities, to a more +spiritual plane. + +This is a Titanic intellectual task, as well as a spiritual one. When a +doctor wishes to keep plague out of America, he goes to Asia, to see +what plague is! He takes microscopes, instruments, and drugs; he buries +himself in a laboratory, and gives his whole mind to the problem, until +one day he can come forth and tell how to heal and help. More than this, +he risks his life. For every great discovery in medical practice, +doctors and nurses have died martyrs to their faithful work. + +Moral evil must be studied in an energetic and intellectual way. The +variations of humanity from righteousness must be deeply understood. +Look at Booker T. Washington, or at Jacob A. Riis! What daring, what +indefatigable toil, what insight, patience, and swerveless hope have +been put into their task! Edison is said to have spent six months +hissing S into his phonograph to make it repeat that letter, and many +days he worked seventeen hours a day. Have many ministers ever bent +themselves in this way to solve a special moral problem--that of, say, a +disobedient child in the congregation? Have they spent six months, hours +and hours a day, to make the law of God, the word Obedience, ring in +that child's ears? Spiritual guidance is definitely and positively a +scientific task. The mastery of one fact may lead to the correlation of +a psychic law. When a minister can help a soul to overcome temptation, +and a parent to bring up a child, he is in touch with two final human +problems. As he gradually enlarges his careful and illuminating work, +his church becomes in time a body of spiritually well-educated +communicants, thoroughly grounded in doctrinal, ethical, and social +ideals, well taught in public and in private duties. It is not +self-centred or wholly denominational in spirit, but recognizes itself +to be a part of a catholic body of believers, reaches out with friendly +coöperation to near-by churches, extends its missionary efforts to +other neighborhoods or lands, and partakes of a world-life, a +world-love! + +Ruling religious thinkers should also, by and by, become leaders of +national thought and life. Great public questions should be open to +their judgment and appeal; they should be moral arbiters, and spiritual +guides in national crises. By a word they should be able to rouse the +prayers of the country, and by a word to still widespread anger and +uprising. If accredited spiritual leaders cannot help, who can? + +There are a few men living who seem to hold, for the whole world, the +temporal balance. They control mines and shipping, banks and trade. Who, +to-day, holds the spiritual destiny of the world in his hand? I long to +see men appear upon whom the eyes of the world shall be fastened, in +recognition of their spiritual preeminence, as they are now fastened on +these industrial giants. + +Rise! Let some man, earnest and endowed, look forward into the future, +and with the courage that comes from inborn power, assert himself among +the nations! Allay, O World-Evangelist, not only neighborhood disputes, +but international dissensions; project a creed that shall be profound +and universal; sweep sects together, unite energy and endeavor, baptize +with fire, bring repentance, quicken the race-conscience, uplift the +World-Hope! Erect and elemental, hold CHRIST before the race! + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF SAGES + + [ADESTE FIDELES] + + _Our Father in Heaven, + Creator of all, + O source of all wisdom, + On Thee we would call! + Thou only canst teach us, + And show us our need, + And give to Thy children + True knowledge indeed. + + But vain our instruction, + And blind we must be, + Unless with our learning + Be knowledge of Thee. + Then pour forth Thy Spirit + And open our eyes, + And fill with the knowledge + That only makes wise. + + From pride and presumption, + O Lord, keep us free, + And make our hearts humble, + And loyal to Thee, + That living or dying, + In Thee we may rest, + And prove to the scornful + Thy statutes are best._ + + THOMAS WISTAR + +If we should be told that at birth a strange and wonderful gift had +been bestowed upon us, one such that by means of it, in after life, we +could accomplish almost anything we wished, how we should guard it! With +what delight we would make it work, to see what it would do! We should +never be tired of such a toy, because every day it would reveal new +possibilities of power and delight. + +Such a gift God has given us in our power to think. What a mysterious +and deep-hid gift it is! Nerves and sensations, a few convolutions in +the brain, acts of attention and observation, certain reactions +following certain stimuli: the result, a world of worlds spread out +before us; unlimited intellectual possibilities within our grasp! + +What is thinking? Thinking is an attempt to express infinite thoughts, +affections, relations, and events, in finite terms. The child strings +buttons. The philosopher strings God, angels, devils, brutes, men, and +their appurtenances and deeds. Hence no real thought will quite go into +words. Out beyond the word hangs the infinite remainder of our idea. The +search for a vocabulary is the search for a clearer articulation +of ideas. + +Thinking is the power to take up life where the race has left off +attainment, and to lead the race one step farther on, by a new concept +or idea. It is a curious thing, this little turn in the brain, a +thought. We cannot see it, or touch it, or handle it. Yet we can give +it, one to another, or one man to the race. It has an infinite leverage. +One great thought moves millions onward. Plant the word _steam_, and +globe-transport changes. Plant _electricity_, and a hundred new +industries spring up. Plant _liberty_, tyrants fall. Plant _love_, +chaotic angers disappear. + +If we refuse to learn to think, we refuse to do our share of the world's +work. We are like a horse that balks and will not pull. While we sulk +the universe is at a standstill. + +Spelling and arithmetic, history, etymology, and geography, are not +tasks set over school-children by a hard taskmaster, who keeps them from +sunshine and out-of-door play. They are catch-words of the universe. +They are the implements by which each brain is to be trained to do great +work for the one in whom it lives. What every earnest soul asks is not +gold, fame, or pleasure. It is: Let me not die till I have brought +millions farther on. + +We cannot deliberately make thoughts. Thought is like life itself: +science has not found a formula which will produce it. But just as +marriage produces new lives, though we cannot say how, so study and +meditation produce thoughts. Something new appears: a concept which was +not with the race before. + +The work of sages has been to rule the thinking of the race. They +receive the inspired ideas and spend their lives in teaching them to +others: in setting up intellectual vibrations throughout the world. + +Some day, I hope Sargent will paint a March of Sages, as gloriously as +he has painted the panels of the Prophets. Then we shall gaze upon the +train of heavy-browed, noble-eyed, wise, gentle-mannered men, who have +been the enduring teachers of the race,--thinkers, leaders, seers. +Confucius, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, the mediaeval +philosophers, the Egyptian, Persian, and Arabian thinkers, Roger Bacon, +Thomas Aquinas, Eckhart, William of Occam, Bede, Thomas à Kempis, +Francis Bacon, Kant, John Stuart Mill, Spencer,--with what dignity the +processional moves down the years! The sum of human knowledge is vast; +but how much more vast seem the achievements of each of these men, when +we realize how few his years, and how many the obstacles and impediments +of his all too short career! There is ever a pathos in the life of +the wise. + +By thinking, we pass from the gossip of the neighborhood into the +conversation of the years. We do not know what Alcibiades said to his +man-servant about the care of his clothes, baths, perfumes,--nor what +his man-servant retailed to other retainers of the eccentricities and +vanities of his master. But we know what Pericles and Plato said to the +race. Here is the advantage of a thinking mind--that at any moment one +may enter into eternal subjects of thought, and have converse with those +who of all times have been the most profound. + +Nothing teases the soul like the thought of the unfinished, the +imperfect, the incomplete. And yet, when we have thought and planned a +really great and abiding work, whether we ever finish it or not--for +many things in life may intervene between conception and completion--to +have thought of it is to have had in our lives a pleasure that can never +die. For one blessed hour or year we have been lifted to the thoughts of +God and have entered into the great original Design. Hence it is that +the life of the real Thinker, however broken or disturbed, is at heart a +life of serenity and joy. What matters a conflagration, a +disappointment, to him whose thoughts are set upon the race? + +Thinking is a form of vital growth. We all wish for growth. Is there any +one who wishes to stay always just where he is to-day? To be always what +he is this morning? The tree grows, the flower grows, the ideals of the +race grow--shall not I? + +We are born to a destiny which has no limit of grandeur save the limit +of the thought of God, The wish for growth is the wish to enter into the +spiritual ideals of the universe,--to become one with its advancement, +one with its decrees. + +But do not the secular look upon growth as a sort of chase--a chase for +more learning, more money, a bigger business, a higher degree, a better +position, a brilliant marriage,--a struggle for wealth, renown, acclaim? +These things are not in themselves growth, nor its real index. Growth is +not a form of avarice. Growth is a vital state of being. Growth is the +assimilation of experience. Growth is development in the line of eternal +purpose. Growth is the combination of our souls with the things that +are, in such a way as to make a perpetual progress toward the things +that are to be. + +We lose much because we lose avidity out of our lives, the eagerness to +grasp what spiritually belongs to us,--to share the universal +enthusiasm, the universal hope. Day by day the world wheels about +us--sunset and moonrise, wind, hail, frost, snow, vapor, care, anxiety, +temptation, trial, joy, fear. Whatever touches the sense or the soul is +something by which, rightly used, we may grow. There is nothing we need +fear to take into our lives, if it receives the right assimilation. Each +experience is meant to be a vital accession. We narrow our lives and +enfeeble our powers when we try to reject any of these things, or +unlawfully escape them, or are yet indifferent to them. Prejudice, +cowardice, and apathy are death. + +Experience is what the race has been through. Each of us has his +personal variant of this common life. Thought is the power by which we +make it available for our own better living, and the future life of +the race. + +To the early man, there existed earth, air, water, fire, heat, cold, +tempest, and the growth of living things. He lived, ate, fought, but his +thoughts were primitive and personal. Have _I_ had enough dinner? he +asked, not, Is the race fed? + +By and by some one arose who began to consider things in the abstract, +and to relate them to his neighbor, and formulate conclusions about +them. He was the first real Thinker, Then air-philosophy and +element-philosophy grew up--beast-worship, animalism, fire-worship, and +the rudiments of simple scientific learning, as, for instance, when men +found that they could make a tool to cut, a spike to sew. + +Since then, what the sage has done is to teach men to see, read, write, +think, count, and to work; to love ideals, to love mankind and relate +his work to human progress. + +Man's first primer was near at hand. When he wished to write, he made a +picture with a stick, a stone, on a leaf, or traced his idea in the mud. +When he wanted to count, he kept tally on his fingers, or with pebbles +from the beach or brook. When he wished to communicate an idea orally, +it was with glances, shrugs, gestures, and imitative sounds. Once, in a +game of Twenty Questions, this was the question set to guess: Who first +used the prehistoric root expressing a verb of action? Who, indeed? + +Out of that leaf-writing, and bark-etching, and later rune, have grown +the printed writings of mankind. Homer, Dante, Milton, and Shakespeare +are the lineal descendants of the man who made holes in a leaf, or lines +on a wave-washed sand. Out of the finger-counting have grown up +book-keeping, geometry, mathematical astronomy and a knowledge of the +higher curves. Out of the prehistoric shrugs and sounds and grimaces we +have oral speech--much of it worthless, and not all of it yet wholly +intelligible. We are still continually being understood to say what we +never meant to say: we are forever putting our private interpretation on +the words of other men. Even yet, we are all too stupid. In our +dreariest moments does there not come to us sometimes a voice which +cries: Up, awake! Cease blinking, and begin to see! + +Language is electric. Words have a curious power within themselves. They +rain upon the heart with the soft memories of centuries of old +associations, or thoughts of love, vigils, and patience. They have a +power of suggestion which goes beyond all that we may dream. Just as a +man shows in himself traces of a long-dead ancestry, so words have the +power to revive emotions of past generations and the experiences of +former years. The man of letters, the Thinker, strews a handful of +words into the air, breathes a little song. The words spring up and +bring forth fruit. Their seed is human progress and a larger life for +men. Think, for instance, who first flung the word _freedom_ into +space!--_gravitation, evolution, atom, soul!_ There is no power like the +power of a word: a word like _liberty_ can dethrone kings. + +We get out of a word just what we put into it, plus the individuality of +the man who uses it. Some men read into noble words only their own +silliness, vulgarity, prejudice, or preconceived ideas. Another man +reads with his heart open for new impressions, new insight, new fancies +and ideals. + +Words have not only their inherent meaning; they have their allied +meanings. A word may mean one thing by itself. It may mean quite another +thing when another word stands beside it; even marks of punctuation give +words a curiously different sound and shade. Literature is a mastery, +not only of the moods of men, but of the moods of words. Corot takes a +stream, some grass and trees, a flitting patch of sky. By means of a few +strokes of his brush, he manages to present that tree, sky, stream, in a +way which suggests the pastoral experience of the ages. Where did that +misty veil come from? the trembling lights and shadows, the half-heard +sounds and silence of the woods, the changing cloud, the dim reflection, +the atmosphere of mystery and peace? + +So each man goes to the dictionary. He takes a word here, a word there, +common words that everybody knows. He puts them together: the result is +a presentation of the life of man, and lays hold of his inmost spirit. + + "_Our birth is but a deep and a forgetting; + The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, + Hath had elsewhere its setting + And cometh from afar; + Not in entire forgetfulness, + And not in utter nakedness, + But trailing clouds of glory do we come + From God, who is our home!_" + +To write, the soul chooses, and God stands ever by to help. That is why +great work always impresses us as inspired. God did it. It is God who +whispers the deathless thought and phrase: the subtler collocations +are divine. + +Take the word _star_. To the child it means a bright point that glitters +and twinkles in the sky, and sets him saying an old nursery rhyme. To +the youth or maiden it suggests love, romance, a summer eve, or a frosty +walk under the friendly winter sky. To the rhetorician it suggests a +figure of speech--the star of hope. To the mariner it suggests guidance +and the homeward port. To the astronomer it means the world in which he +lives. His life is centred in that star. To the poet it means all these +things and many more. For the poet is the one who, in his own heart, +holds all the meanings that words hold for the race. Read again the +lines just quoted, and think of Wordsworth's outlook on the star! + +The dictionary definition of a word can seldom be the real one, nor does +it reveal the deeper sense it has. It blazes a path for the +understanding, but individual thought must follow. Take the words _time, +friendship, work, play, heroism_. It took Carlyle to define Time for us. +Emerson has defined Friendship. Let the lights and shadows of the +thought of Carlyle and Emerson play upon these words, they are at once +removed from mechanical definition, and we dimly perceive that each word +is larger than the outreach of the thought of man. Another generation +than ours shall define and refine them. In heaven, in some other aeon, +we shall find out what they really mean! + +Thus knowledge is not permanent. It reels. It proceeds, it changes, it +is iridescent with new significance from day to day. + +What is true of a word, and what we make of it, is true of every phase +of learning. The black-board is not all. Learning is not tied to it, or +to any one person, demonstration, interpretation, event, or epoch. No +wise man can keep his learning to himself, and yet he cannot, though he +teach a thousand years, transmit his deeper learning to another. The +atmosphere, the casual information, the spiritual magnetism of a great +man, will teach better than the text-books, the lecture courses, and +the formal resources of academic halls. Thus Mark Hopkins is in himself +a university, given a boy on the other end of the log on which he sits. + +It is the relativity of knowledge that dances before the eye, that +bewilders, eludes, evades. Group-systems and electives seem like a +makeshift for the real thing. We cannot tie a fact to a pupil, because +to the tail of the fact is tied history itself. Until a pupil gets a +glimpse of that relation, that dependence of which we have just heard, +with all that has yet happened in connection with it, he is not yet +quite master of his fact. He recites glibly the date of Thermopylae, and +does not know that all Greece is trailing behind his desk. When, after +subsequent research, he knows something of Greece, he discovers Greece +to be dovetailed into Rome and Egypt, and they lay hold upon the plain +of Shinar and Eden, and the immemorial, prehistoric years. + +Ah, no! We never really know. Every fact recedes from us, as might an +ebbing wave, and leaves us stranded upon an unhorizoned beach, more +despairing than before. Education does not solve the problems of +life--it deepens the mystery. What, then, may the sage know? Are there +no sages? And have we all been misinformed? + +A sage is one who knows what, in his position of life, is most necessary +for him to know. The larger sage, the great Sage, is the one who knows +what is necessary for the race to know. + +It is a wrong idea of wisdom, that we must necessarily know what some +one else knows. Wisdom is single-track for each man. There are in the +world those who know how to build aqueducts, and to bake _charlotte +russe_, and to sew trousers. Aqueducts and tailor work may be alike out +of my individual and personal knowledge, yet I may not necessarily be an +ignorant man. The primitive hunter stood in the forest. For him to be a +hunting-sage, was to know the weather, traps, weapons, the times, and +the lairs and ways of beasts. He knew lions and monkeys, the coiled +serpent and the serpent that hissed by the ruined wall; the ways of the +wolf, the jackal, and the kite; the manners of the bear and the black +panther in the jungle-wilds. Kipling is the brother of that early man: +he is a forest-sage, and would have held his own in other times. + +The sea-sage was the one who could toss upon the swan-road without fear. +He knew the strength of oak and ash; the swing of oar, the curve of +prow, the dash of wave, and the curling breaker's sweep. He knew the +maelstroms and the aegir that swept into northern fiords; the thunder +and wind and tempest; the coves, safe harbors and retreats. To-day, the +sea-sage rules the fishing-boat, the ocean liner, the coastwise +steamers, and the lake-lines of the world. + +The fishing-sage knows the ways and haunts of fish. He is wise in the +salmon, the perch, the trout, the tarpon, and the muscalonge. He says. +To-day the bass will bite on dobsons, but to-morrow we must have frogs. + +No sagacity is universal, but the love of sagacity may be. The man who +starts out to implant a new way of education has a noble task before +him, but is it a final one, or even a more than tolerably practical one? +Is there such a thing as a place for Truth at wholesale, even in an +academy or college? Can a man receive an education outside of himself? +He may be played upon by grammars and by loci-paper, by electrical +machines, and parsing tables and Grecian accents, by the names of noted +authors and statesmen, and the thrill of historic battles and decisions. +He may be placed under a rain of ethical and philosophic ideas, and may +be forced to put on a System of Thought, as men put on a mackintosh. But +his true education is what he makes of these things. If he hears of +Theodoric with a yawn, we say--the college-folk--He must be imbecile. +No, not imbecile! he may become a successful toreador, or snake-charmer, +which things are out of our line! And a man may be an upright citizen, a +good husband, and a sincerely religious man, who has never heard of +Francesca, nor Fra Angelico, nor named the name of Botticelli! + +The moment we set bounds to wisdom, we find that we have shut something +out. Wisdom is the free, active life of a growing and attaching soul. +We must not only attach information to ourselves, we must assimilate it. +Else we are like a crab which should drag about Descartes, or as an +ocean sucker which should hug a copy of Thucydides. + +Education is the taking to one's self, so far as one may in a lifetime, +all that the race has learned through these six thousand years. +Education is not a thing of books alone, or schools; it is a process of +intellectual assimilation of what is about us, or what we put about +ourselves. At every step we have a choice. This is the real difference +between students at the same school or university. One puts away Greek, +and the other lays up football and college societies. A third gets all +three, being a little more swift and alert. One stows away +insubordination--another, order and obedience. One does quiet, original +work of reading and research; the other stows away schemes for getting +through recitations and examinations. No two students ever come out of +the same school, college, or shop with the same education. Their +training may have been measurably alike, but the result is immeasurably +unlike. Education, in the last analysis, is getting the highest +intellectual value out of one's environment and opportunities. There is +a cow-boy philosopher, a kitchen-philosopher, as truly as there is a +philosopher of the academic halls. + +Conduct is the _pons asinorum_ of life. Wise men somehow cross it, +though stumblingly, and with tears. Fools, usurers, oppressors, and +spendthrifts of life are left gaping and wrangling on the hellward side. +Thinkers have always been climbing up on each other's shoulders to look +over into the Beyond. What they have seen, they have told. Some men +climb so high into the ethereal places of the Ideal, that they do not +get down again. They are the impractical men. An impractical man is not +necessarily the educated man; he is the man at the top of some +intellectual fence, who wishes to come down, but has absent-mindedly +forgotten that he has legs. The legs are not absent, but his wit is. So +with the impractical man in every sphere. Education has not really +removed his common-sense, as some say, his power to connect passing +events with their causes, and to act reasonably; but it has set his +thought on some other thought for the time being, and the dinner-bell, +we will say, does not detach him from his inquiry. His necktie rides up! +He goes out into the street without a hat! Let him alone till he proves +the worth of what he is about. The practical man, who hears the +dinner-bell and prides himself upon this fact, may not hear sounds +far-off and clear, that ring in the impractical man's ear, and that may +sometime tell him how to make a better dinner-bell, or provide a better +dinner--a great social philosophy--for the race! + +The really impractical man is not he who reaches out to the intellectual +and ideal aspects of life; it is he who lives as if this life were all. +There are women who make pets of their clothes, as men make pets of +horse or dog. They have just time enough in life to dress themselves up. +Looking back over their years, they can only say, I have had clothes! In +the same number of years, with no greater advantages or opportunities, +other women have become the queenly women of the race. Some women are +girt with centuries, instead of gold or gems. Whenever they appear, the +event becomes historic; what they do adds new lustre to life. + +We are all prodigals. We throw away time and strength, and years, and +gold, and then weep that we are ignorant, and embeggared at the last. +Who shall teach us wisdom, and in what manner may we be wise? + +What say the sages of the vast possibilities of the race? With one voice +they say: Be brave! Do not cower, shrink, or whine. Throw out upon the +world a free fearlessness of thought and word and deed. Courage, +freedom, heroism, faith, exactness, honor, justice, and mercy--these +traits have been handed down as the traditional learning of the heart +of man. + +Another ideal of the race is Law. We have given up a +chaos-philosophy--the haphazard continuity of events--a cometary orbit, +for the world. There are fixed relations everywhere existent: the +succession of cycles is orderly and prearranged. + +Another ideal is Progress. We are moving, not toward the bottom, but +toward the top of possibility. We reject annihilation, because then +there is nothing left. And there must always be something +left--progress--a bigger something, a better something. Should +annihilation be the truth of things, and all the race mortal, then some +day there would be a Last Man. And after the Last Man, what? He would +die, and then all that any of the other stars could view of the vast +panorama of our earthly generations would be an unburied corpse, with +not even a vulture hovering to pick it to freshness in the air! + +A Last Man? No. Instead, the seers have shown us a great multitude in a +heavenly country, praising God, and singing forth His Name forever. +Immortality broods over the great thought of the race. All great minds +look upward to it: it is the final consummation of our dreams. + +Another ideal is social adjustment, and social service. We must do +something for some one, or we cast current sagacity behind the back. +People crowd each other to the wall. The weak of communities and nations +are too often crushed. Redress is in the air. The longed-for wisdom of +to-day shows a kaleidoscopic front, in which are turning the +slum-dweller and the millionaire; the white man, the yellow, and the +black; the town and the territorial possession. The slave-colony, +garbage-laws, magistrates, and murderers are mixed in motley, and there +are whirling vacant-lot schemes abroad, potato-patches, wood-yards, +organized charity, Wayfarers' Lodges, resounding cries of municipal +reform, and various other interests of the wisdom-scale. + +Hence, wisdom has not yet been arrived at: we are still on the run. This +twentieth century will find new problems, new queries, new cranks, and +new dismays! + +One thing, however, shines out clear: Wisdom is being recognized as +having a moral aspect, and men are looking for a Religion which shall +sum up the learning of the sages, the information of the race. + +When we look down into the physical universe, the primary thing that we +find there is gravitation. When we look into the moral universe, the +primary thing that we find there is also gravitation--a sinking to a +Lower. This is sin--a contrariness of things--which makes the world an +evil place to live in, instead of a good; which wrecks character and +states, eats the hearts out of cultures and civilizations, destroys +strong races, leaves a stain upon even the youngest child, and which is +constantly drawing the race downward, instead of upward. + +Sin, sin, sin! Everywhere the fact glares upon us, and cannot be hid, or +put away. Sin is not an intellectual toy, for philosophers to play with +or define as "a limitation of being." Sin is a reality, for men to +feel, recoil from, and of which one must repent. + +Sin is energy deliberately misplaced: energy directed against the course +of things, the infinite development, the will of God. Sin is corruption, +and desolation, and decay. Death broods over the spirit of man, unless a +Redeemer come. The unredeemed ages hang over history like a pall. In +them there are monumental oppression, cruelties, and crimes. The breath +of myriad millions went out in darkness, and there was none to save. A +plague swept over all the race. + +Hence, even scientifically considered, the final aim of thinking must +be, to arrive at some thought which will take hold of this primary fact +of sin and uproot it; which will show how the world may be purged +of sin. + +Slowly but inevitably we are moving to this great Thought. It is summed +up in one word: Redemption. The watchword of a century ago was +gravitation. It explained the poise of the universe by a great and +hitherto undiscovered law. The watchword of yesterday was evolution. It +explains progressive change: the mounting-up of life "through spires of +form." The forms of the universe are seen in a series which is in the +main ascendant, and in which the survivor is supreme. The watchword of +to-morrow is Redemption. The Thinker will some day live, who will make +that great word Redemption stand out in all its vast majesty and +significance. This, I take it, is the work of our new century. + +Redemption is the explanation of the existence of man, of his present +progress, and his future destiny. It is the great mystery of joy in +which the race partakes; the spiritual culmination of all things +earthly; the forecast of eternal things yet to be. + +Redemption is not a dogma; it is a life. Redemption is a perpetual and +ascendant moral growth. It marks a world-balm, a world-change. It is in +the spirit of man that it works, and not in his outer condition, or +external strivings. It is ultimately to root sin out of the world. + +Through stormy sorrows and perpetual desolations comes the race to God. +Zion is the Whole of things--the encompassment of space, and time, and +endless years,--an environment of immortality and peace. + +Virtue leads the race to Joy, and there is no byway to this height. The +final aspect of the universe is joy. Joy is elemental--a vast vibration +that sweeps through centuries as years! A day in His courts is as a +thousand, and a thousand years are as one day, because they thrill with +an immortal and imperishable emotion. The seraphim and cherubim, +Sandalphon and Azrael, are angels of enduring joy. Joy is the soul's +share of the life of God. + +Thus when the world has breathed to us the holy name of Christ, it has +told us the highest that it knows. The March of Sages is toward a +Redeemer! The banner of Wisdom is furled about the Cross! + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF TRADERS + + [AMSTERDAM] + + _Lo, my soul, look forth abroad + And mark the busy stir: + Wouldst thou say, in pride and scorn, + Our God is not in her! + Nay, the bonds, the wares, the coin,-- + These, in truth, are passing things; + Other treasures thrill the life + Of earth's great merchant kings! + + We, they say, would wake the power + In mountain and in mine; + And transport, from sea to sea, + The cedar, oak, and pine: + Build the bridge, and plant the town, + Enter every open mart; + Make our nation's commerce flow,-- + But this is not our heart! + + Many a prayer uplifted springs + O'er desk, and din, and roar; + Many an humble knee is bent + When the rushed day is o'er; + Far within, where God may be, + All exists His Throne to raise; + Every triumph of our power + Becomes a form of Praise! + + God of nations, hear our cry, + And keep us just and true; + Lay Thy hand on all our lives, + And bless the work we do: + Then from every coast and clime + Land and sea shall tribute bring; + Gold and traffic, world-domain + We offer to our King!_ + + ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY + +We are all traders. Each of us is endowed with some faculty, ware, or +possession which he is constantly exchanging for other things. We trade +time, talent, service, goods, acres, produce, counsel, experience, +ideals. The world is in reality a Bourse of Exchange. Each of us brings +some day his special product to the common mart. + +There are traders and traders--the just and the unjust--the man of honor +and the rogue. We set values on thoughts and on transactions, on +merchandise and on philanthropies, on ideas and on accounts; and there +is a constant distribution of the affairs, as well as of the worldly +goods of men. + +But in a restricted sense, we think of trade as the exchange of produce +which is material and mobile,--which may be touched, handled, weighed, +transported, bought, and sold. The substance of the earth is constantly +taking new shape before our eyes, being rearranged in kaleidoscopic +combinations, and transported from port to port, from town to town, from +sea to sea. One can look nowhere without seeing this ceaseless activity +progressing. Everywhere there is a whir of wheels, a plash of waves, a +din of assembly, as the new combinations take place. + +There was a day when trade was a thing of here-and-there; a thing of +sailing ships and caravans, of merchants of Bagdad, Cairo, Venice, +Alexandria, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Damascus. Ivory, gold, gems, precious +stuffs, teak and cedar wood, Lebanon pine, apes, peacocks, sandal-wood, +camel's hair, goat's hair, frankincense, pearl, dyes, myrrh, cassia, +cinnamon, Balm of Gilead, calamus, spikenard, corn, ebony, figs, fir, +olives, olive-wood, wheat, amber, copper, lead, tin, and precious stones +were the chief articles of exchange. A very little sufficed the poor; +the rich were housed in palaces and panoplied in gems. + +As time went on, the processional of traders became a processional led +out, in turn, by the merchants of one city after another. It is a +picturesque study, that of the trade-routes of the Middle Ages! There +was the Mediterranean seaboard, and there were the Baltic towns and the +Hanse towns; the Portuguese mariners and traders; the Venetian merchant +princes. There was the Spanish colonial trade; the Dutch trade of the +East Indies; the trade of Amsterdam and London. There were the +Elizabethan sea-rovers. Then came the British trade in the East Indies, +and the gradual growth of the trade of France, Germany, England, and the +United States. This is a story of human wants reaching out as +civilization advanced, and of the extending of the earth-exchange. +Everywhere there has been a correspondence between national prosperity +and increasing trade. + +To-day, each man demands more of the earth's products than ever before. +He reaches out a hand for comforts and luxuries, as well as for +necessities. He grasps not only the produces of his own and his +neighbor's field and vineyard, but demands what lies across continents +and seas. Instead of the ship, the camel, and the ass, we now have the +ocean freighter or liner, and the flying train of cars: new forces, oil, +steam, electricity, and water-power, do the carrying work of man. And +hence trade has become Trade, and each trader is involved in the +comfort, success, and prosperity of many others. A single commercial +transaction to-day involves the lives of hundreds of thousands, competes +for their toil and life-blood, carries the decision of their destiny. + +A great merchant is the real Kris Kringle. He stands at the centre of +exchange, distributes from the tropics and the arctic zones. He deals +out fur and feathers, books, toys, clothing, engines; ribbons, laces, +silks, perfumes; bread-stuffs, sugar, cotton, iron, ice, steel; wheat, +flour, beef, stone; lumber, drugs, coal, leather. He scatters +periodically the products of mills and looms, of shoe-shops and +print-works, fields, factories, mines, and of art-workers. He thus +becomes a social force of great power, a social law-giver, in fact. +Under his iron rule, the lives of the masses are uplifted or cast down. + +As large eras open, the ethical ideals become higher. We are beginning +to inquire, as never before, into the basis of trade, the place of the +trader, the right conduct of this vast problem of Distribution upon +which hinges so much of human life and fate. All things look, not only +to the integration of trade, but to its exaltation. + +Trade has ceased to be a thing of individual energy, talent, and +commercial alertness. It has risen to great proportions. The large +trader is in control of national conduit, as well as of national +expense. There is a great deal more in business than the art of making +money. Business is, at the roots, a way of making nations; of developing +the resources of a country, of handling its industries, of protecting +its commerce, of enlarging its institutions, of uplifting its training, +aspirations, and ideals. Traffic is educational. Imports influence the +national life. We may import opium or Bibles, whiskey or bread-stuffs, +locomotives or dancing pigs. + +The sceptre held by Tyre and Venice is passing into our own hands. But +trade, to-day, is a matter of the imagination, as well as of the +stock-book. 11 needs a great imagination to handle the present-day +problems of business and finance. The prosperity of a nation depends +largely on the intelligence, integrity, and magnanimity of its business +men. To be narrow-minded in business, is not only intellectual +astigmatism, it is poor commercial policy. To make use of present +opportunities to control present advantages needs a great education and +a large human experience. It is the man of insight, of sympathy, of +economic ideals, who will lastingly control our national prosperity and +advance our industrial wealth. + +With all this demand, the business man still stands largely in a class +by himself, a class apart from the great leaders of the world. He is not +yet received into the spiritual circles of the race. He goes about the +world, sits on boards and committees, fills directorships and +trusteeships, pays pew-rent, and runs towns. But when the spiritual +conclaves of the world take place, when the things of life and death are +inquired into, when words are said of the higher conduct of the life of +man, if he draw near inquiringly or unguardedly to the sacred place, +scholar and poet, priest, saint, and proud hand-worker alike rise up and +say, Go away. + +It wears upon the heart--this spiritual isolation of the business man. +Does not he often say sadly to himself, They only want my money? + +Why must he go away? What has he done, that he must be waved down? If we +discover why he must go away, we shall discover the meaning of that +great caste-line which has long been drawn, and ought no longer to be +drawn, between trade and letters, trade and the Church, trade and +social prestige. + +The reason he must go away is this: He has never ruled the higher +history of man; he does not yet quite belong to the ideal-makers of the +race. Understand, I am not now speaking of the new business man, the +exceptional one, upright, cultured, altruistic, whom you and I may know; +I am speaking of a broad class-line, a class distinction. + +It is a strange concept that would bar the business man from the ideal; +that would limit his life to an account-book, a ledger, a roll of +stocks, rents, and possessions, instead of granting him the freedom of +the universe, the privilege of ministering to the race. Singularly +enough, the business class is the last class that Christianity has set +free. Slaves have been given liberty; women, social companionship and +intellectual equality; manual labor has been lifted to dignity and +honor. But to break the shackles of the man of trade is the work of our +era, or of an era yet to come. Thousands of young men are daily stepping +into counting-houses, or behind sales-counters, or into independent +stores, who will never lift their eyes from their goods and +account-books, nor rise above the linen, hardware, groceries, or +house-fixtures which they sell. Such a situation is suicidal of national +prosperity, and blocks the high hopes of the world. + +Lack of appreciation of the life of business is sinful and unjust. A +high-principled businessman may be one of the noblest leaders of +mankind. The world needs great business men--men who will know how to +use the resources of a country, how to plan for its industry, +manufactures, and commerce: men who understand the principles of +production and exchange; ways of transportation; systems of credit and +banking: men who know the constitution of the country, and the history +of its development; its strength and weakness, its possibilities and +needs: men who will deal honorably in business contracts, both with +buyers and employees, and also with law-making bodies: men who will +steadily try to advance international prosperity, as well as +personal wealth. + +But to understand business on this plane, and to conduct it in this +large way, needs a fine education, an education built, first of all, on +a practical basis, such as the education of our common schools. Then +should follow a course in the ideals of the race, the classic studies in +language, literature, history, science, and philosophy. Then should come +a technical course, graduate or undergraduate, such as the courses +offered by the Universities of Pennsylvania, Chicago, Wisconsin, which +include, in general, lectures and special studies in Public Law and +Politics, Business Law and Practice, Political Economy, Statistics, +Banking, Finance, and Sociology. In addition to this, there should be a +thorough knowledge of the Bible and of Christian Ethics, with a deep +heart-experience of religion. + +Endowed with natural business talent, the young man who goes out into +the world with such preparation as this knows a great deal more than +just how to make money; he knows how to make it honorably and how to +spend it, in his business, family, and social life, for the public good; +he has in him the making of a statesman and a philanthropist, as well as +a man of wealth. + +Two things take one into the inner circle of the ideal-makers of the +race--imagination and sympathy. Ideals cannot be bought with gold. The +ideal is always founded on integrity, progress, and common-sense. It is +preëminently practical, as well: the thing that inevitably must be, now +or hereafter, however men laugh it to scorn to-day. + +Imagination is the faculty of perceiving the higher and final relations +of life, the relation of one's work to the progress of the world, and of +one's conduct: to spiritual history. What the ideal-maker tries to do is +to set holy standards that shall not pass away: to do abiding work, in +thought, deed, word; work philosophically planned, and perseveringly +carried out; work which he shall do regardless of the outer +circumstances of his life--poverty or wealth, of threats, +misunderstanding, or hoots of scorn. He is unmoved, both by the rage of +the populace and by its most tumultuous applause. He lives for truth, +not for personal advance; for progress, not for wealth or honor. What +he lays down as a precept, that he tries to live up to, in the way that +shall win the approval of the eternal years. + +Sordidness in commercial life is not necessary: greed is +not foreordained. Christianity establishes a new system of +trading-philosophy, and a new basis of commercial ethics. There is a +god-like way of trade--Christ might Himself have bought and sold--else +Christianity fails of its full mission, and there remains a class of the +socially lost, of the ethically unsaved. One reason why it is so hard to +get business men into the Church, or to interest them religiously in any +way, is that ministers, in general, do not understand or appreciate +business men. In one of the most stirring sermons I ever heard, occurred +this unjust sentence: "Our country has been built up by the martyr, and +not by the millionaire." No! Our country has been built up by _both_ the +martyr and the millionaire! + +Christianity projects into the world new ideals of Trade, of Gain, of +Competition, Value, and Return for Toil. + +What is Trade? Is it merely a way of making money? Then there is no +ethical basis for it. "The amount of money which is needed for a good +life," says Aristotle, "is not unlimited." + +One concept is: Trade is something which belongs to me. It is that part +of the world's exchange which I can get under my personal control. It +is the balance between human industries and human needs which I hold +for my part of the world, and which others are continually trying to +wrest from me, and which I must keep by all means, fair or foul. +Competition is the battle of the strongest, the quickest, the meanest! I +must know tricks. I must get in with people, get hold of some sort of +pull, learn to dissemble, to flatter, manipulate, hedge, dodge. Success +is a matter of being sly. Anything is allowable which comes out ahead, +which adds to the dollar-pile, or which makes the loudest +advertising noise! + +To buy at the least, and sell at the most, regardless of the conditions +under which least and most are attained--the man who enters life with +this idea of trade in his mind might just as well be born a shark and +live to prey. Every free dollar in the world will tease and fret him, +until he sees it on its way to his own pocket. If this is all there is +in trade, the noble-minded will let it alone: it gives no human outlook. +It not only undermines personal character, it is the root of national +ignominy and dishonor. + +What has Christianity to do with this shark-instinct? with the rapacity +which looks on the world as a vast grabbing-ground, and upon all natural +resources as mere commercial prey? The value of Christianity lies in its +reasonable and intellectual appeal. It does not spring upon one like a +highwayman and say, Hands up! Give me your purse! It says gently, Son, +give me thy heart. It then proceeds to refashion that heart, to fill it +with new principles and with world-dreams. + +Trade is a just exchange of what one man has for what another man needs. +It may take place individually between man and man, in which transaction +a horse, an ox, or a tool may change hands. Or one man may assume a +responsibility for a number of people, and say: I will give this whole +town shoes, in return for which you may give me a house, market-produce, +clothing, and an education for my children. The thing will come out +even, if you and I are honest. Or a climate, a civilization, may give to +another that which the other lacks. We send school-books and machinery +to China; she sends us tea, matting, and bamboo. The whole right theory +of trade is a give-and-take between men and nations, based on a just +price, and with a deep law of Value, not yet wholly formulated, +underlying each transaction. + +Bargains should not be one-sided. Trade, in a large sense, is a way of +exchange in which each party to the trade receives an advantage. Not +only this, it is a process of distribution, by which each one receives +the greatest possible advantage. Money-making is a secondary result: in +true trade it is not the final benefit. + +Take the case of a specially helpful and paying book. The author +receives a royalty, and has an income. The publisher receives his +profits, and makes a living. The public gains inspiration and ideals. +Who is loser? This is sheer business, yet it means loving service for +all concerned. + +To illustrate further: A physician has a frail child, with which the +ordinary milk in the market does not agree. To build up its health, he +buys a country place and a good cow. The child thrives. In his practice, +he sees many other frail children, and it occurs to him that they, too, +can be benefited by the same kind of care and watchfulness that he is +giving his own child. He buys more cows, has them scientifically cared +for, and his agents sell the milk. He finds himself, in the course of +time, the owner of a dairy farm, and a man of increasing income. But his +trade is not trade for the sake of money! it is trade to make sick +children strong and well. He exchanges professional knowledge, executive +ability, and human sympathy, for money; in return for which, children +receive health, parents joy, and the race a more athletic set of men and +women. This is an instance of the inner spirit of the true trade: the +spirit which may rule all trade, deny it, or discount it, or scorn it, +as you will. + +Price is a value set on material, on labor, on interest, on scarcity, on +excellence, on commercial risks; it is the approximate measure of the +cost of production. The ethical price of a commodity is the price which +would enable its producer to produce it under healthful and happy +conditions--which would insure his having what Dr. Patten calls his +"economic rights." + +This joyous exertion is not harmful; it is tonic. Excellence is an +inspiration, an intoxication. Let excellence, not Will-it-pass? be the +standard of exchange. From the very endeavor after excellence comes a +certain exaltation of spirit, which ennobles the least fragment of daily +toil. When the producer brings forth somewhat for sale, let him say: +There! That is the best that I can do! It is not what I tried to make of +it--the thing of my dreams--but it is the very best which, under the +given conditions, I could produce. Then the shoddy side of trade will +disappear. + +The Law of Equity is the final law of trade. But in whose hands is +equity? Who appraises value? Who sets price? In whose hand is the final +price of the necessaries of life--wheat, rice, sugar, soap, cotton, +wool, coal, milk, iron, lumber, ice? The man who puts a price on an +article, as buyer or seller, enters an arena which is not only +commercial--it is judicial and ethical: he declares for what amount a +man's life-blood shall be used. + +No one absolutely sets price. It is determined by far-reaching +industrial conditions, and by economic law. War, weather, famine, +stocks, strikes, elections, all have a say. Yet, to a certain degree, +there are those who rule price. As a representative of the ideal, as +executors of social trust, how shall each one use his Power of Price? +The man who has control of a price--a price for a day's labor, for +wages, for a cargo, or for any kind of product--has control of the +living conditions of the one who works for him. The question is not: How +shall I grind down price to the lowest? It is: What price will be an +ethical return to this man for his social toil?--just to me for my +brains, my capital, my energy, my distributing power,--just to him for +his brains, his time, his skill, his artistic perceptions, his fidelity +and honor? Each buyer must henceforth not only resolve: I will buy only +what I can pay for, but, what I can pay for at a just rate. So far as +lies in my power, I will make an adequate return to society for this +personal benefit. + +Some one says: Do you realize that you are making a moral laughing-stock +of much of our system of trade? that you are setting an axe to that +system, more cutting than the axe of any Socialist, Nihilist, or +Anarchist in the world? Oh, no. I have simply set myself to answer the +question: How can the business man stand among the ideal-makers of the +world, so that he shall no more, in spiritual assemblies, be told to +go away? + +Woman is the real economic distributer. The millionaire manufacturer +imagines that he himself runs his business. Oh, no. It is run by +farmers' wives. When they do not care for yarn or calico, his looms +stand idle for a year; the vast machinery of the world turns on woman's +little word: _I want_. Hence the education of women should include this +factor: the desire to want the right things. Extravagance is not a part +of woman's make-up; it is extraneous. + +_Gain is that which permanently enriches the life._ By every act of +charity, or justice, or insight, or right barter, the soul is made more +grand. True trade everywhere may be made a new method of inspiration, +growth, and power. + +Money is a makeshift of the race. God is the only real appraiser, and we +never get back a money-value for our soul's toil. Whether we pass +wampum, or nickels, or taels, or bank-checks, we are not yet paid for +our trade. + +The higher value of money is its spiritual capacity. Not what it will +bring me is primarily important, but what I can buy with it for the +race. Sometimes the question comes over me: What am I trading for money? +My time? My energy? My ideals? Part of my soul is passing from me: do +dollars ever repay? Hence it comes about that all money transactions are +fragmentary and symbolic. + +Money may lead to poverty, or to spiritual wealth. The gift of trade is +a gift of God, as much as the gift of prophecy or song. In a right way, +we should all love gain. We are not born to go out of the world as poor +as when we came into it. We should gain stature, wisdom, strength, +influence, ideals. If our latent business capacity were more fully +aroused, we should get much more out of life. We would refuse to barter +a spiritual heritage for carnal things. + +We trade thoughts and feelings. But it is very hard to trade fine +impulses with those who are intrinsically vulgar. Their treasury is +empty of spiritual coin, and their storehouse contains no +world-thoughts. We can send a caravan across the desert, a ship across +the sea, but we cannot send a Thought into a flaccid or a pompous brain. + +We trade position and influence. The evil of the spoils system is not +that one gets something for something,--it is that one gets something +for something less, or for nothing. Whatever we have to give may be +rightly given; the wrong comes when we give it to the idle or unworthy. +When we trade political preferment for high merit, both the +office-holders and the country are gainers by the exchange. + +Marriage is the great mart of exchange. Here the possessions of one sex +are set up against those of the other. Everywhere marriage is spoken of +as a good or a bad "bargain." Each man shall say: "Sweetheart, in Myself +I offer you the treasures of manhood. I give strength, courage, +magnanimity, action, protection, and the indomitable will." Each wife +should say: "Dear, in me are all gentleness, courtesy, beauty, grace, +patience, mercy, and hope. I, too, am brave, but my courage is of the +heart. I, too, am strong-willed, but my will is deep-set in love." As +years go on, there comes a time when Love says: "Between us now there is +neither mine nor thine. The universe is ours together!" + +Human love is not all. There is yet a higher impulse. The most +business-like question that ever touches the heart of man is this: For +what shall I trade my soul? We hold our souls high: we perceive that +eternity itself is not too much to ask. And hence the highest barter is +that of the earthly for the spiritual; of the temporal for the unseen +and eternal. We say, Give me God, give me heaven, give me divine and +sacrificial Love, and I will give my heart. And thus the last +transaction is between God and the soul. Godliness is great Gain, and to +exchange earth for heaven is a satisfying and unregretted Trade. + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF WORKERS + + [ARMAGEDON] + + Jesus, Thou hast bought us + Not with gold or gem, + But with Thine own life-blood, + For Thy diadem. + With Thy blessing filling + Each who comes to Thee, + Thou hast made us willing, + Thou hast made us free. + By Thy grand redemption, + By Thy grace divine, + We are on the Lord's side; + Saviour, we are Thine! + + Not for weight of glory, + Not for crown or palm, + Enter we the army, + Raise the warrior psalm; + But for love that claimeth + Lives for whom He died, + He whom Jesus nameth + Must be on His side. + By Thy love constraining, + By Thy grace divine, + We are on the Lord's side; + Saviour, we are Thine! + + FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL + +What is work? Work is energy applied to the creation of either material +or immaterial products. The digging of the soil preparatory to raising a +corn-crop is work; the making of brooms; the writing of fugues. There is +no one who does not work, at one time or another, and a man's social +value depends largely upon the amount of work that he can do. + +Even the energy which is seemingly applied to destructive tasks is +really subsidiary to a constructive ideal. Thus the hewing of timber is +a destructive task, but its object is not to scatter trees around, but +to make a clearing on which to plant wheat; or to have lumber, in order +to build a house. So, also, we blast rock, in order to get stones for a +stone wall, or for the filling of a road-bed. And we rip up old clothes +in order to have rags, and to make room in our homes for other things. +Destructiveness from a sheer love of destructiveness is not work--it is +vandalism. The true Man works. When Adam's crook-stick turned over the +brown earth to make it fertile, he began the industry of the world. The +whole horizon of man's endeavor is spanned by one word, Work. It has +built cities, bridged rivers, united continents, and sent the myriad +spindles of trade whirring under a thousand changing skies. + +Work is the open-sesame of success. It is curious to see how uneasily +some men will roam from one end of the earth to the other, trying to +find an easy place, a place where work will not be needed or required. +There is no such place. The higher the honor, the harder the work. The +power to work is ordinarily the measure of a man's possibilities of +success. Long hours, hard toil, lack of recognition and appreciation, +drudgery, a thousand attempts to one successful issue,--these are the +ways in which the colossal achievements of mankind have been built up. +Work, as has well been said, is an ascending stairway. On its broad base +are ranged all the multitudes of the earth. Those who can climb mount +the higher and ever-narrowing stair. + +The great man can begin anywhere, or with any task. He says, If I am +going into the giant-business, I may as well begin now! Born and bred in +the forest, he lays hand to his axe, and looking up at some tall oak, +cries out, I will begin here! With the first stroke of the axe, success +is not less sure than in his last endeavor. Success of the right kind is +a scientific achievement. + +The line has not yet been drawn, and I doubt whether it ever can be +drawn, between productive and non-productive labor. There is a cleavage +of tasks, however, which may be approximately expressed, as work that is +done for support, for daily bread, and work which is done because +certain faculties of mind and heart and soul demand expression, +development, and scope. We all have powers which are willing to be set +in action primarily for self-preservation--for personal, material, and +transitory ends. We are also endowed with faculties which react, +primarily, in behalf of universal aims, though that may not debar them +from also bringing an advantage to ourselves. In proportion as we are +talented, magnanimous, and high-minded, we delight in spending a part of +our lives in working for the race. + +Thus Thoreau, when he, "by surveying, carpentry and day-labor of various +other kinds," had earned $13.34, was doing income-work, the work by +which he had to live. For the same purpose, he worked at raising +potatoes, green corn, and peas. When he wrote _Walden_, he did a kind of +work which also in time brought him an income. But he did not write +_Walden_ for food or money; he wrote it primarily because he liked to +write, and for the benefit of mankind. + +In order to be contented and happy, each normal adult human being must +have at least the chance of doing these two kinds of work. Unless he or +she can do income-work, he or she is not economically independent; +unless he can do universal work, he is not socially and +spiritually free. + +Much of the present-day discontent is owing to the fact that these two +kinds of work are not represented, as they should be, in every +working-life. + +The problem in regard to the working-man is not how to pet him, nor to +patronize him, but how to educate him and inspire him! He is not a +parasite to be fed by the capitalist, nor is the capitalist a parasite +upon the working-power of the working-man. Both are men. The problem is, +How shall the capitalist lead the noblest, most public-spirited, and +helpful life in relation to those in his employ? How shall the +working-man lay hold on the best that life can give? How shall he find a +work which he is competent to do, and likes to do, and may be supported +by doing--and at the same time have a chance to grow; to enter into the +large, free culture-life of the world? + +The complaint of the working-man, when really analyzed, runs down to +this: I do income-work, but it does not bring me bread enough to live. +Not only that, but ground down as I am by toil, all possibility of the +larger, universal work is shut away from me. My faculties are +atrophied--paralyzed--and hence my soul smoulders with deep and angry +discontent. This ceaseless and sordid anxiety for bread cuts me out of +my world-life, my world-toil. I cannot do scientific research-work, or +write the books and papers that I ought. My universal labor is +interrupted: I cannot be happy until I can take up this larger +work again. + +As the trade of civilization advances, the meaning of bread changes. The +university professor, no less than the day-laborer, finds his income +too small for him, and says, "I, too, do income-work which does not +bring me bread, books, travel, society, a summer home, and surroundings +which are not only decent and sanitary, but refined and beautiful." + +Is it not also the source of the discontent to-day, among almost all +classes of women, except the most highly educated and efficient? Women +say--our modern daughters, wives, and mothers: "In the home, we do +income-work for which we do not receive income. When strangers do this +work, they are paid, and we are not." In addition, many a woman is so +bound down by daily tasks, that her whole soul cries out, and we hear of +the high rate of insanity among farmers' wives, of nervous prostration +of the housewives in our towns, and become accustomed to such +expressions as "the death of a woman on a Kansas farm." + +This discontent takes many restless forms. It leads daughters, who ought +to be at home, out into morally dangerous but income-earning work; it +takes wives out into all manner of clubs, without regard to the fact: as +to whether the particular club, in its atmosphere and influence, is good +or bad; it brings discouragement, disorder, and unrest into the home, +dissatisfaction with house-duties and home-tasks, and is sapping our +life where it should be best and strongest--in the home--taking out of +it youth, spirit, enthusiasm, inspiration, and content. + +The three questions asked in regard to each worker are: 1. What work +can he do? 2. Of what quality? 3. In what time? The difference between +industry and idleness is that work is one thing which no one may +honorably escape. Since it must be done, the problem of life is not how +to escape work, but how to find the right work, and how best to do it, +and most swiftly, when the choice is made. + +"_Forth they come from grief and torment; on they wend + toward health and mirth, +All the wide world is their dwelling, every corner of the + earth. +Buy them, sell them for thy service! Try the bargain what + 'tis worth, + For the days are marching on. + +"These are they who build thy houses, weave thy raiment, + win thy wheat, +Smooth the rugged, fill the barren, turn the bitter into + sweet, +All for thee this day--and ever. What reward for them + is meet? + Till the host comes marching on._" + + WILLIAM MORRIS + +SECOND + +The trade of toil for money has led to many problems and discussions. +To-day the trenchant question: "What More than Wages?" is a matter of +eager talk. Is this a living-wage?--Just enough warmth, not to freeze. +Just enough clothing to be decent. Just enough food to go through the +day without actual hunger. Just enough shelter to keep out the wind and +rain and snow. Just enough education to learn to read and write +and count. + +No. As the theory of bodily freedom demands for each man life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness, so the highest theory of to-day lays down +demands of economic freedom beyond the mere fad of possible existence. +Dr. Patten has formulated certain "economic rights" of man. Each +employer must say: Before I settle back with a serene belief that I have +given my men a living-wage, let me ask: Have they sun? air? sanitary +surroundings and conditions? medical care? leisure? education? a chance +to grow? Have they enough money for ordinary occasions, and a little to +give away? No man or woman has a living-wage, who has no money to +give away. + +Education and comfort add to the value of the employed. The cook who has +a rocking-chair, a cook-book, and a housekeeping magazine in her kitchen +will do more work, and better work, other things being equal, than the +cook who has none. The workman who lives in a clean, sunny, well-aired +place, where he can found a home, and bring up healthy children, will do +more work, and better work, than the workman who lives in a damp, dark, +ill-ventilated tenement, and who goes to his day's work with a heart +sullen and broken because of avoidable illness and sorrow in his poor +little home. Five thousand employees who have a night-school, +luncheon-rooms, little houses and gardens, a savings-bank, and a library +of books and pictures are worth more than those who are given no such +advantages of happiness, growth, and content. The Railroad Young Men's +Christian Associations are said to be a good economic investment, as +well as an uplifting moral influence. + +This appears to be a fundamental economic law: _Every physical, mental, +or spiritual advantage offered to an honest working man or woman +increases his economic efficiency_. Therefore even the selfish policy of +shrewd corporations to-day is to screw up, and not down; while the more +philanthropic are beginning to see, in their social power, a luminous +opportunity to do a god-like service. + +But the capitalist, however just or generous, cannot do for a man what +he cannot or will not do for himself. Too many workers imagine that a +living-wage is to be given to each man, no matter how he behaves or +works. This is a false assumption. Underlying all human effort, there +runs a final law, that of Compensation: _What I earn, I shall some day +have_. This is a very different proposition from this: _What I do not +earn, I want to have_! For every stroke of human toil, the universe +assigns a right reward--a reward, not of money only, but of peace of +heart, joy, and the possibilities of helpfulness. But when the work done +has not been done faithfully, or well, or honestly, or in the right +spirit, the reward is lessened to that exact degree. To the end of time, +the idle and the lazy must, if they are dependent on their own +exertions, be ill housed and fed. If a man wastes, or his wife does, he +must not complain that his income will not support him. If he lets +opportunities of sustenance and advancement go by, the capitalist is not +to be held to account. + +There are two chief kinds of economic difficulties. One is the problem +of the capitalist: How much ought I to pay? The second is that of the +working-man: How much service must I render? How much ought I to be +paid? Of the second kind, nearly every phase of it begins right here, +that men and women demand for labor something which they have not +earned. They do careless, indifferent, shiftless, reckless work, and +then demand a living-wage. The capitalist is not inclined to raise his +scale of prices, knowing that he has built up his business by prudence, +sagacity, and tireless application--the very qualities which his +dissatisfied employees lack. + +We need not pay--we ought not to pay--for incompetence, for +impertinence, for disobedience of orders, for laziness, for shirking, +for cheating, or for theft. To do so is a social wrong. It is the wrong +that lies back, not only of sinecures and spoils, but of employing +incompetent and wasteful cooks and dressmakers. + +What we make of our lives through wages depends upon ourselves. For +instance, a man gives each of five boys twenty-five cents for sweeping +snow off his sidewalks. One boy tosses pennies, and loses his quarter by +gambling. One boy buys cigarettes, and sends his money up in smoke. One +boy buys newspapers, and sells them at a profit which buys him his +dinner. A fourth boy buys seeds, plants them, and raises a tiny garden +which keeps him in beans for a whole season, The fifth boy buys a book +which starts him on the career of an educated man: he becomes an +inventor and a man of means. The man who paid out the twenty-five cents +to each boy is in no way responsible for the success or failure of their +investment of this quarter. He is responsible only for the fact that he +did or did not pay a fair price for the work. + +God, the great Paymaster, gives to each of us the one talent, the two +talents, or the ten talents, of endowment and opportunity: after that, +we are left to our own devices! + +There are four things which every employee should constantly bear in +mind, if he wishes to advance,--skill, business opportunity, loyalty, +and control. Until a man has mastered what he has to do, he cannot be +expected to be accounted a serious factor in the economic world. The +moment he achieves skill in what he has to do--and this is a question of +thoroughness, accuracy, and speed--he has achieved power, a possibility +of dictation in the matter of hours and wages. + +The next point is business opportunity. Two men, of exactly the same +opportunities and endowments, take up the same task. One man idles and +is surpassed by the other, or he does only what he is told to do, +without further thought. The other performs his set task, but at the +same time he is examining into the principles of his engine, or into the +conduct of the factory or business. In a few years he is the foreman, or +an inventor, or a partner, with independent capital of his own. Again, +there is a blind way of doing skilled work, or of merely doing it +without noticing where it is most needed, or how the market is going for +this special kind of work. The one who has his eyes open reads, notes +the state of the market, adds to his skill the power of counsel, and can +gradually take a larger responsibility upon him, which will advance the +economic value of his time, as well as the work. There is a constant +flux in the labor-world, which is the result largely, not of special +opportunity, but of worth, application, and concentrated thought. + +Third, loyalty has a high mercantile value. Disloyalty is a sin. + +The fourth point is control. Does it not strike wonder to think how some +men have under them, either in their industrial plant, or in their +railway systems, or in their syndicate-work, anywhere from a few hundred +to ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand men? How do they maintain +discipline, either themselves, or through their subordinates? This +problem of control is a serious one in business. Every angry threat, +every sullen hour, each case of insubordination, every strike, every +widespread dissatisfaction, means economic waste. It means expense both +of time and money to send for Pinkertons to keep order and preserve +discipline. The man who adds to his technical skill, and his knowledge +of the market, the power of control adds great force and value to his +work. Higher yet is executive force, the power to adjust +responsibilities and duties in such a way as to get back a high economic +return in the way of service. But above all, there is that force of +character which impresses itself on a company, on a decade, on a +generation--so that some names are handed down in business from +generation to generation, all men knowing that from father to son, and +again to his son, there will pass down that certain integrity, nobility, +steadfastness of purpose, fidelity, and honor which give credit +throughout the business world, and which promise health and happiness +for those who are happy to be in their employ. + +Before a man complains of his wages, then, let him ask himself: Have I +mastered my work? Am I loyal? Am I capable of larger responsibilities, +and of wider control? + + + + +THIRD + +WILLIAM MORRIS says: "_It is right and necessary that all men should +have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to +do: and which should be done under such conditions as would make it +neither over-wearisome, nor over-anxious._" + +This theorem cannot be upheld in its entirety, though there is a deep +truth beneath it. There are many things, such as the collecting of +garbage, the washing of the dead poor, the cleaning of cesspools, the +butchery of cattle for the market, and the execution of capital +criminals, which can scarcely be called pleasant to do, and must yet be +done. As long as the world is the world, and there is in it sin, decay, +disease, and death, we cannot hope to make the work or the conditions of +work absolutely ideal: we _can_ make ideal the spirit in which work +is done! + +A fine story is told that long ago, when the cholera once broke out in +Philadelphia, the hospitals fell into a fearful state. One day, a plain, +quiet little man stepped into the chief hospital, looked about a moment, +and set to work. No task was too dirty or disagreeable for him; no +detail was too disgusting. He did anything he saw to be done,--called in +additional doctors, organized the nurses, and himself waited on patients +night and day. He soon had the hospital in good shape again. When the +crisis passed, and every one began to demand, Who is this man?--they +were told: It is Stephen Girard. The work was not pleasant, but the +spirit was kind, and the heart delighted in its self-appointed toil. + +Work in general, however, that has worth has several elements. First, It +must be individual. It must be joyfully done: there must enter into work +the vitality of a happy spirit. It must be spontaneous. This is why +machine-work can never be thoroughly beautiful: it lacks the spontaneity +of life. The hand never makes two things alike. With the mood, the +weather, the occasion, there are little touches added which a machine +cannot give. Life always varies and thinks of new effects. + +When we try to realize what work is, when it is merely an amount of toil +prodded out of man or woman by a hard taskmaster, we have only to look +back to the bondage of Israel in Egypt, or to the time of Scylla, when +there were thirteen million slaves in Italy alone: slaves whose set +tasks were of over two hundred and fifty kinds; who worked on the +road-building, on public works, and in rowing in the galleys of the +slave-propelled ships. In Carthage agriculture was for a time largely +carried on by slave-labor. How different is this slave-labor from the +craft-work of mediaeval times, when, under the protection of the guilds, +manual labor became exalted to an artistic rank, and the workers at the +loom, the metal-workers, the wood-carvers, the tapestry-weavers, and the +workers in pottery and glass produced objects whose beauty has never +been either equalled or surpassed. Andrea del Sarto and Benvenuto +Cellini were workers, and their work remains. + +Again, good work is born of affection. Love teaches more art than all +the schools. What we love, we instinctively beautify. The artist +beautifies the material on which he works. He loves his task, and from +his love there begins a gradual shaping of the ideal. The product gains +a touch of beauty. The needlework of Egypt and Byzantium, the laces of +Venice and of Spain, are historic. It is said of Queen Isabella, that +she was one of the best needleworkers of her age; that "her _motifs_ +were the great events of the time." + +A peasant girl of Venice was once given a beautiful coral-branch and +some rare leaves and shells which her lover had gathered for her from +the sea-depths. She was untaught in art, and making fish-nets was her +wonted work. Day by day as she wrought her nets, she looked upon the +lovely sea-treasures, their beauty passed into her heart and mind, and +she began to copy, spray by spray, the coral-foliage, the leaves of the +sea-grasses, and the curves of the sea-shells, until after a time, in +the meshes of her fish-nets, she had imprisoned forms of exquisite +beauty, and one saw there reproduced, in dainty and artistic grouping, +what her very soul had loved and fed upon. Her fish-nets became works +of art. + +Work of a high order is always based on high ideals and on great +thoughts. It implies a vast amount of toil. The Capellmeister of the +Vatican choir to-day is that wonderful young genius, Perosi, who is +stirring all Europe by the beauty of his musical work, and by the +spirituality and fervor of his musical imagination. He has set himself +to compose twelve oratorios, which shall body forth the whole life of +the Saviour. He believes that the music-lover and the church-lover may +be identical, and has set his hand to the uniting of all true +music-lovers with the great offices and services and influences of the +Church. Here is Work exalted to its spiritual office: to carry out, not +only ideals of beauty and harmony, but to advance spiritual progress. +This is the final aim of all true work: it must be not only aesthetic, +and honest, but spiritual. The prayer of the true workman is ever to +make himself a workman approved unto God. "May the beauty of the Lord be +upon us, and the work of our hands, establish Thou it!" + +The worker should have change of work. Nature never intended that a man +should do one thing all his life. This is in harmony neither with man's +infinite capacity, nor with her inexhaustible variety. Change is +cultural, and a man's work Should, from time to time, engross every +working-power he has. + +Working-surroundings should not only be sanitary, they should be +beautiful. What influences one most at college, and makes most for one's +happiness, is not the fact of the work in recitation-rooms, out of +books, laboratories, and under teachers. The glory of college life is, +that wherever one goes, the eyes look out on beauty, and wherever one +works, there are those whom we love who work beside us. + +As one passes down the long college corridors, the eyes fall upon palm +and statue, upon frieze and fresco, and the carbon copies of immortal +paintings. Everywhere there are the inspirations of sculpture and +architecture, of music, literature, and art. Beauty is in and about the +place in which one thinks and works. This is the undying charm of +Oxford--the gathering traditions of centuries, the gleaming spires, the +age-worn walls and buttresses, the clinging vine, the tremulous light +and shadow on the ancient halls, the sculpture of porch and clerestory, +and the light that falls through richly tinted windows. + +This beauty should not be monopolized by any one class. About the places +where we work, we should have, as far as possible, something of the +beauty of the world. We should have wide, shaded streets and parks, even +in great cities; towers and pinnacles; sky-lines of vigor, grace, and +massive strength. Cannot department stores be artistically fashioned and +built? Cannot market-houses have arches and arabesques? May not even the +Bourse have something about it suggestive of great art? Cannot our +streets have curves and storied cross-ways? Cannot porters and draymen +have somewhat to arouse and satisfy aesthetic instincts? Cannot our +day-laborers be granted vision? + +Why should we have the Gothic cathedral, with its exquisite traceries +and carvings, pillars and reredos and screen, for men to pray in, one or +two hours a week, and the hideous, grime-covered, foul-smelling, +overheated factories, in which men and women spend their working-lives? +This is what Christianity must do: it must implant joy and beauty, as +well as honesty and fidelity, in the way, place, and thought of work! +When religion, education, art, and brotherly affection have joined hands +in a charmed circle, we shall have new ideas of working-places, as well +as of praying-places, and of living-places! It is not enough that a +factory should be situated, as the best factories now are, in the open +country, with sunshine and fresh air. The blockhouse parallelograms and +squares should be replaced by something that has intrinsic beauty and +the haunting completeness of memory and association, so that the place +where a man works shall no more be to him a nightmare, but the +atmosphere and inspiration of his dreams! + +And those we love shall work beside us! Here is another thought: Shall +all association in work be arbitrary? Is there not a more human way than +the chain-gang way? Could not friends work more together, so that one's +daily work should be, not a time of separation from all we love most, +but a time of intellectual sympathy and helpfulness, of companionship +and true-hearted loyalty? This, and many other good things, it is not +too much to hope for. Truly, as Morris writes, "_The Day is Coming_." + +"_Then a man shall work and bethink him, and rejoice in + the deeds of his handy +Nor yet come home in the even too faint and weary to + stand._ + +"_Men in that time a-coming shall work and have no fear + For the morrow's lack of earning and the hunger-wolf + anear._ + +"_And what wealth then shall be left us when none shall + gather gold +To buy his friend in the market, and pinch and pine the + sold?_ + +"_Nay, what save the lovely city, and the little house on the + hill, +And the wastes and the woodland beauty, and the happy + fields we till_; + +"_And the homes of ancient stories, the tombs of the mighty + dead; +And the wise men seeking out marvels, and the poet's teeming + head;_ + +"_And the painter's hand of wonder; and the marvellous + fiddle-bow; +And the banded choirs of music:--all those that do and + know._ + +"_Far all these shall be ours and all men's, nor shall any + lack a share +Of the toil and the gain of living in the days when the + world grows fair_." + + + + +FOURTH + +Good workers are trained in the home, the school, the shop, the wider +world. Every home is an industrial establishment. In it go on the +industrial processes of cooking, cleaning, sewing, washing; the care of +silver, glass, linen, and household stores; the activities of buying +food and clothing; the moral responsibilities of teaching and training +servants and children. If any healthy member of the home is excused from +at least some form of active work, he will inevitably be a shirker when +he grows up. Cannot almost all the problems of human training be run +down to this: How to teach a child to work? If he can work, he can be +happy; but if he does not want to work, he shall never be happy. No +work, no joy, is the universal dictum. + +This is the great hardship of the children of great wealth: they are not +taught to work. To avoid this difficulty, in two very wealthy families +that I know, the boys were even obliged to darn their own stockings and +mend their own clothes. One young hopeful once tore his clothes +a-fishing, and mended his trousers with a scarlet flannel patch! Some +mothers do not allow their little girls to go to school until their beds +are made up and their rooms in order. Other equally wise parents have +tools in the house, and allow the boys to do all the repair work, the +daughters all the family mending, or to care for the linen; the boys to +put in electric fixtures and bells, and keep the batteries in order. +Queen Margherita of Italy, Queen Elizabeth of Roumania, Queen Alexandra +of England, and the Empress Augusta of Germany are all women who have +been from their childhood acquainted with simple and practical household +tasks. This principle is a right one and underlies much after-success. +Each child should, first of all, have a mastery of home-tasks. Then, +whether on the prairie or in the palace, he is free and independent. + +What makes the differences in the social privileges given to one class +of workers above another? In reality, we are all workers. No one ought +to live, if in health, who does not work. But for some forms of work, +men and women receive an income, and nothing more. For other work, men +and women may or may not receive a large personal income, but their work +is recognized, they are a part of the best social circles, and when they +die, a city or a nation grieves. + +The essential difference is this: that one is honor-work, and one is +not. Wherever in the world work is done in a spirit of love and +fidelity, it brings its own reward in recognition and in personal +affection. Sooner or later, honor-work receives honor. + +Another reason for exaltation of one form of work above another, is +that some kinds of work are so very hard to do. They involve the intense +and complicated action of many and of complex powers. It may be hard +physical work to break stones for a road-way, but the task itself is a +simple one--the lifting of the arm and dropping it again with sufficient +force to split a rock apart. But the writing of a prose masterpiece, +such as the _Areopagitica_, involves the highest human faculties in +harmonious action. If we add to the requirements of prose, the rhythm, +the exalted imagery, and perhaps the assonance and rhyme of verse, we +still further increase the difficulty of the task, and the honor of its +successful achievement. The king-work of a powerful monarch, the +president-work of a republican leader, is serious work to do. Our honor +is not all given to the king or president income, salary, or office; it +is a tribute to hard and royal-minded work. + +Household service is personal service. It cannot be made a thing of set +hours, and of measurably set tasks, as office-work maybe. We may talk of +"eight-hour shifts," but they are scarcely practicable. Not every baby +would go to successive "shifts"! House-demands vary, not only with every +household, but with every day. + +When love-making is wholly scientific, then domestic service will be. +There is in it the same delicate personal adjustment, the changing +requirements of weather, health, temper, and season, of emergency and +stress, that are to be found in the most purely personal relation. When +there is a period of unusual sickness through the community, not only +the doctors have extra tasks, but all household servants as well. + +What social recognition can be given to servants who lie, steal, who +shirk every duty that can be shirked, and who are both incompetent and +unfaithful? The here-and-there one faithful helper receives her meed of +appreciation and affection. The whole aspect of household work will +change when honor-work is given: when home-helpers come up to us, from +the truthful and honor-loving class. + +The school-room is the place in which the principles of work are +implanted: thoroughness, grasp, speed, decision, and definite purpose. +The shop is the apprentice-place of work, before one takes up individual +responsibilities. The man who wishes to rise in the railroad service +goes into the shops and roundhouse. The man who wishes to take charge of +an important department in a department store is put to tying packages. + +Teachers' work will not be rightly done until certain advantages are +given to teachers that are now largely withheld. Teachers need more +society, more hours of play, freer opportunity of marriage. Instead of +being tied up to exercise-books and roll-books, in their home-hours, +they should have a chance to spend their time on the golf-links, at +afternoon teas, in visiting and in entertaining friends. Take away +society from any man or woman, and you take away the possibility of a +growing, happy, and helpful life. We need friends just as we need air. +Teachers need admiration and affection, just as much as the society +girl does. + +Universities should have, in their faculties, men and women who +represent the best social as well as the best intellectual life of the +world--who are not only, in the highest sense of the word, society men +and women, but who are social leaders, inspiring truth, inculcating +larger social ideals of the best sort. + +The problem between capitalist and laborer, however, only affects a +portion of the world; that of domestic service a still smaller +proportion; that of teachers affects only a class. There is another +problem, which affects nearly all married women, and therefore a large +section of the human race. It is the problem of mother-work. Here is +where the economist should next turn his attention. First, What is +Mother-work? Second, What are the best economic conditions under which +this work can be done? When we have solved this question, we shall have +solved a great human problem. + +Mother-work includes the bearing and the rearing of children, the +conduct of a home, and the placing of that home in the right social +atmosphere and relations. It includes manual, intellectual, and +spiritual labors. The one who lives and works, as God meant her to live +and work, will never feel over-fatigue. Why do mothers often look so +tired? It is because they too often do not have what every mother ought +to have: education, rest, change, a Sabbath-day, individual income, +intellectual interests, society. + +Whether in the simplest home or in the stateliest, there are certain +manual things to be done in regard to the care and bringing-up of +children, and the conduct of a home. To make the conditions of a woman's +life easier, the very first thing is this: 1. _Women should be educated +primarily for home-life._ By this I do not mean that a woman should be +taught cooking, and not political economy; that she should be instructed +in dressmaking and nursery-work, but not in chemistry and logic. I mean +that the very fullest education that schools, colleges, universities, +and foreign travel can give, should be given to the woman who is +fortunate enough to have them at command, and that every woman, +according to the degree of her possibilities of education and +opportunity, should have the best. But always this education should be +thought of as a part of her preparation for a woman's life. When boys +are in a business college, the principal of that college does not forget +that among the boys there may be more than one who will never have a +business life, but who will go out into other interests and pursuits. +Yet he turns the thoughts of _all_ boys in his school specially toward +business problems. In schools and colleges for women, not all the girls +will marry, not all will be mothers, but most of them will be. Is not, +then, the normal education of a woman that which, while it does not +cramp her life in one direction, nor mould her in a set way, yet keeps +always in mind the fact that the normal woman is being educated for a +normal woman's life? + +This would not necessarily change the curriculum of our colleges in any +way; it would change the spirit and atmosphere of some of them at once. +Instead of the spirit being: "My mind is just as good as a man's. What a +man can study, I can learn! What a man can do, I can do!"--the spirit +would be this: "I am going out into a woman's life, and it is my +business now to take to myself all the wisdom, counsel, experience, and +inspiration of past ages, that I may be the very grandest woman that +history has yet seen! I will be a land-mark in time: I will be a pivot +in history around which the earth shall turn. Because of my life, women +to the end of time shall be able to live a truer, freer, better life!" + +With this thought in mind, all the academic subjects would still pass +into her mind and life, but they would be much more naturally set and +their value would be greatly enhanced. Then we would not have the +too-ambitious woman stepping out of college, or the restless and +discontented one. We would have the large-minded, earnest, noble, +public-spirited one, who would go out into the world as a fine type of +woman, to live a woman's life and do a woman's work. Married or +unmarried, she would still have a woman's interests, a woman's +influence, a woman's charm. + +This higher education may or may not include practical studies in +domestic science, nursing, and household emergencies, but she should +learn somewhere the elements of these studies, so that when she goes +into a home of her own her duties and responsibilities will not be met +in a half-hearted and untrained way. + +2. Mothers should have rest-hours and rest-days. Is it not something +extraordinary, from a purely economic point of view, that while it is +widely recognized that every one should have one day in seven for rest, +that while business men are expected to close up their offices on the +Sabbath, and all working men and women are given this day in the stores, +the factories, and mines--the cook and maids have their Sundays out, and +their week-day afternoons--that nowhere on earth, so far as I know, has +there ever been a systematic arrangement by which mothers, as a class, +have any specially arranged hours or days for rest! A baby's care does +not stop on the Sabbath, and the average mother is practically on duty, +at least over-seeing, day and night, twenty-four hours out of the +twenty-four, from one end of the year to the other, no matter how many +maids and nurses she may have in her employ! + +3. Personal income and its use. What we buy marks our own individuality, +as well as what we do. The woman whose father or husband adjusts her +expenses and expenditures cannot by any possibility be the kind of woman +that the one is who chooses her own things, and spends her money +absolutely to suit herself. When a man buys cigars or fishing-tackle, +his wife may prefer to buy oratorios and golf-clubs. + +4. Mothers should have some interest outside of home-tasks, to keep them +in touch with world-interests and world-tasks. Not all mother's duty is +inside the four walls of her home. The race has demands upon her, as +well as her own child. She ought to be guarded from that short-sighted +and selfish devotion which makes her look upon her child as the centre +of the universe, and which leads her to sacrifice every hour, every +thought, every talent, to him alone. + +5. Building up the place of a home in a community means much more than a +rivalry with one's neighbors, as to which one shall have the cleanest +house, the prettiest or most expensive curtains and furniture, who shall +entertain the most, and whose children shall present the best appearance +in the world! Making a social place for a family involves a very wide +acquaintance with really great social ideals; with the best instincts +and customs; with world refinement and manners, as well as those of +one's own town or village--with the social possibilities of life in +general, as well as the etiquette of Quinton's Corners! To give the +right stamp upon her home, a mother must have a social life, as well as +domestic one. She must have time to enter somewhat into the activities +of her own neighborhood, and must have society after marriage, as well +as before. + +It is a different sort of society that she then needs. It is not a +boy-and-girl society, with its crude ways, and its adolescent ideas of +life. It is the society of earnest, cultured, and public-spirited men +and women, each of whom is adding something to the general store of +interest and ideals; each of whom is doing some phase of social work, +according to his own talent and opportunity. + +When a mother steps out into life in this large way, makes education and +training tributary to her mother-life, and does not stop growing +intellectually or spiritually,--her charm as a woman increases, instead +of diminishes, every year of her married life. Her looks mark her +everywhere as a supremely happy woman, and she goes out into the world +marked with that strange, deep, grand impress of motherhood and +womanhood, which has always made the true woman not only a +working-mother, but a love-crowned queen! + +These and many other thoughts flit over one's mind in looking at any +phase of work, or any piece of work. In the right choice of work lies +the fullest use of one's capacities; in the right conditions of work +lies the freest play of one's energies; in the right spirit of work lies +the way of one's lasting happiness, and the foretaste of eternal joys. + +Thus the world is seen to consist of great cycles of workers, rising in +tiers one above another. Those who do not work are quickly cut out from +all participation in race-progress and in race-delights; those who work +earnestly, but blindly, have their small reward. But those who work with +spiritual energy and enthusiasm are weaving their handiwork into the +very fibre of the universal frame. It is for these spiritual workers +that the great eagerness of life is undying; for them there is no shadow +of fatigue; for them there is the joy of mastery and accomplishment; for +them the peace of soul that comes from the triumphant achievement of +one's mission to mankind! + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Warriors, by Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WARRIORS *** + +***** This file should be named 10004-8.txt or 10004-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/0/10004/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charlie Kirschner +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Warriors + +Author: Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown + +Release Date: November 10, 2003 [EBook #10004] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WARRIORS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charlie Kirschner +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +THE WARRIORS + +BY ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY PH.D. + +AUTHOR OF + +WHAT IS WORTH WHILE? +CULTURE AND REFORM +THE VICTORY OF OUR FAITH + + + + +PREFACE + +This work was begun nearly five years ago. Since then, the whole face of +American history has changed. We have had the Spanish-American War, and +the opening-up of our new possessions. In this period of time Gladstone, +Li Hung Chang, and Queen Victoria have died; there has also occurred the +assassination of the Empress of Austria and of President McKinley. There +has been the Chinese persecution, the destruction of Galveston by storm +and of Martinique by volcanic action. Wireless telegraphy has been +discovered, and the source of the spread of certain fevers. In this time +have been carried on gigantic engineering undertakings,--the +Trans-Siberian Railroad, the Trans-Balkan Railroad, the rebuilding of +New York. We have also looked upon the consolidation of vast forces of +steel, iron, sugar, shipping, and other trusts. We have witnessed an +extraordinary growth of universities, libraries, and higher +schools,--the widespread increase of commerce, the prosperity of +business, the rise in the price of food, and the great coal-strike of +1902. Perhaps never before in the world's history have there been +crowded into five years such dramatic occurrences on the world-stage, +nor such large opportunities for the individual man or woman. + +It is interesting for me to notice that since the first outlines of the +book were written, many things then set down as prophecy have now been +fulfilled. It was my purpose, in projecting the essays at what seemed +to me to be the dawn of a great religious era, to help the onward +movement by a few earnest words. History itself has swept the world far +beyond one's dreams, and in completing them, I only ask that they may +stand a further witness to the overwhelming majesty and influence of the +Christian faith. + +ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY + +_Philadelphia, November_ 1_st_, 1902 + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + I. CHORDS OF AWAKENING: + THE HIGHER CONQUEST + + II. PRELUDE: + THE CALL OF JESUS + +III. PROCESSIONAL: + THE CHURCH OF GOD + + IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: + OF KINGS + OF PRELATES AND EVANGELISTS + OF SAGES + OF TRADERS + OF WORKERS + + + + +I. CHORDS OF AWAKENING: THE HIGHER CONQUEST + + [CUTLER] + + _The Son of God goes forth to war, + A kingly crown to gain: + His blood-red banner streams afar: + Who follows in His train? + + Who best can drink his cup of woe, + Triumphant over pain; + Who patient bears his cross below, + He follows in His train! + + They met the tyrant's brandished steel, + The lions gory mane; + They bowed their necks the death to feel: + Who follows in their train? + + They climbed the steep ascent of heaven + Through peril, toil, and pain: + O God, to us may grace be given + To follow in their train!_ + + REGINALD HEBER + +The universe is not awry. Fate and man are not altogether at odds. Yet +there is a perpetual combat going on between man and nature, and between +the power of character and the tyranny of circumstance, death, and sin. +The great soul is tossed into the midst of the strife, the longing, and +the aspirations of the world. He rises Victor who is triumphant in some +great experience of the race. + +The first energy is combative: the Warrior is the primitive hero. There +are natures to whom mere combat is a joy. Strife is the atmosphere in +which they find their finest physical and spiritual development. In the +early times, there must have been those who stood apart from their +tribesmen in contests of pure athletic skill,--in running, jumping, +leaping, wrestling, in laying on thew and thigh with arm, hand, and +curled fist in sheer delight of action, and of the display of strength. +As foes arose, these athletes of the tribe or clan would be the first to +rush forth to slay the wild beast, to brave the sea and storm, or to +wreak vengeance on assailing tribes. Their valor was their insignia. +Their prowess ranked them. Their exultation was in their freedom +and strength. + +Such men did not ask a life of ease. Like Tortulf the Forester, they +learned "how to strike the foe, to sleep on the bare ground, to bear +hunger and toil, summer's heat and winter's frost,--how to fear nothing +but ill-fame." They courted danger, and asked only to stand as Victors +at the last. + +Hence we read of old-world warriors,--of Gog and Magog and the Kings of +Bashan; of the sons of Anak; of Hercules, with his lion-skin and club; +of Beowulf, who, dragging the sea-monster from her lair, plunged beneath +the drift of sea-foam and the flame of dragon-breath, and met the clutch +of dragon-teeth. We read of Turpin, Oliver, and Roland,--the +sweepers-off of twenty heads at a single blow; of Arthur, who slew +Ritho, whose mantle was furred with the beards of kings; of Theodoric +and Charlemagne, and of Richard of the Lion-heart. + +There are also Victors in the great Quests of the world,--the Argonauts, +Helena in search of the Holy Rood, the Knights of the Holy Grail, the +Pilgrim Fathers. There are the Victors in the intellectual wrestlings of +the world,--the thinkers, poets, sages; the Victors in great sorrows, +who conquer the savage pain of heart and desolation of spirit which +arise from heroic human grief,--Oedipus and Antigone, Iphigenia, +Perseus, Prometheus, King Lear, Samson Agonistes, Job, and David in his +penitential psalm. And there are the Victors in the yet deeper strivings +of the soul--in its inner battles and spiritual conquests--Milton's +Adam, Paracelsus, Dante, the soul in _The Palace of Art_, Abt Vogler, +Isaiah, Teufelsdroeckh, Paul. To read of such men and women is to be +thrilled by the Titanic possibilities of the soul of man! + +The world has come into other and greater battle-days. This is an era of +great spiritual conflicts, and of great triumphs. To-day faith calls the +soul of man to arms. It is a clarion to awake, to put on strength, and +to go forth to Holy War. If there were no fighting work in the Christian +life, much of the intense energy and interest of the race would be +unaroused. There are apathetic natures who do not want to undertake the +difficult,--sluggish souls who would rather not stir from their present +position. And there are cowards who run to cover. But there is +in all strong natures the primitive combative instinct,--the +let-us-see-which-is-the-stronger, which delights in contests, which is +undismayed by opposition, and which grows firmer through the warfare +of the soul. + +It is this phase of the Christian life which is most needed to-day,--the +warrior-spirit, the all-conquering soul. In entering the Christian life, +one must put out of his heart the expectation that it is to be an easy +life, or one removed from toil and danger. It is preeminently the +adventurous life of the world,--that in which the most happens, as well +as that in which the spiritual possibilities are the greatest. It is a +life full of splendor, of excitement, of trial, of tests of courage and +endurance, and is meant to appeal to those who are the very bravest +and the best. + +There are two forms of conquest to which the soul of man is called--the +inner and the outer. The inner is the conquest of the evil within his +own nature; the outer is the struggle against the evil forces of the +world--the constructive task of building up, under warring conditions, +the spiritual kingdom of God. + +The real world is far more subtle than we as yet understand. When we +dive down into the deep, sky and air and houses disappear. We enter a +new world--the under-world of water, and things that glide and swim; of +sea-grasses and currents; of flowing waves that lap about the body with +a cool chill; of palpitating color, that, at great depths, becomes a +sort of darkness; of sea-beds of shell and sand, and bits of scattered +wreckage; of ooze and tangled sea-plants, dusky shapes, and +fan-like fins. + +Or if we look upward we reach an over-world, where moons and suns are +circling in the heights. What draws them together? What keeps a subtle +distance between them, which they never cross? How do they, age after +age, run a predestined course? We drop a stone. What binds it earthward? +Under our feet run magnetic currents that flow from pole to pole. In the +clouds above, there are electric vibrations which cannot be described +in exact terms. + +Thus also, in spiritual experiences, there are currents which we cannot +measure or describe. The psychic world is the final world, though its +towers and pinnacles no eye hath seen. If we try to shut out for an hour +the outer world, and descend into the soul-world of the life of man, we +find ourselves in a new environment, and with an outlook over new forms +and powers. We find ourselves in a world of images and attractions, of +impulses and desires, of instincts and attainments. It is not only a +world of separate and individual souls, but each soul is as a thousand; +for within each man there is an inner host contending for mastery, and +everywhere is the uproar of battle and of spiritual strife. + +What is the Self that abides in each man? Is it not the consciousness of +existence, together with a consciousness of the power of choice? Our +individuality lies in the fact that we can decide, choose, and rule +among the various contestant impulses of our souls. Herein is the +possibility of victory and also the possibility of defeat. + +Looking inward, we find that Self began when man began. We inherit our +dispositions from Adam, as well as from our parents and a long ancestral +line. When the first men and women were created, forces were set in +action which have resulted in this Me that to-day thinks and wills and +loves. Heredity includes savagery and culture, health and disease, +empire and serfdom, hope and despair. Each man can say: "In me rise +impulses that ran riot in the veins of Anak, that belonged to Libyan +slaves and to the Ptolemaic line. I am Aryan and Semite, Roman and +Teuton: alike I have known the galley and the palm-set court of kings. +Under a thousand shifting generations, there was rising the combination +that I to-day am. In me culminates, for my life's day, human history +until now." + +Individuality is thus a unique selection and arrangement of what has +been, touched with something--a degree of life--that has not been +before. To rise above heredity is to rise above the downward drag of all +the years. It is not escaping the special sin of one ancestor, but the +sin of all ancestors. _This is the first problem that is set before each +man: to rise above his race--to be the culmination of virtue until now_. + +_The second problem is not greater, but different. It is to mould +environment to spiritual uses_. The conditions of this struggle and the +opportunities of this conquest are the content of this book. It is meant +to deal with the more heroic aspects of the Christian life. + +What is environment? Is it the material horizon that bounds us? If so, +where does it end? Our first environment is a crib, a room, our mother's +eyes. Sensations of hunger, heat, and motion beat upon the baby-brain; +there is a vague murmur of sound in the baby-ears. Yet it is this babe +who, in after days, has all the universe for his soul's demesne! His +environment stretches out to towns and rivers, shore and sea. Looking +upward into space, he can view a star whose distance is a thousand times +ten thousand miles. Beyond the path of his feet or of his sight, there +is the path of thought, which leads him into new countries, new climes, +new years! His meditations are upon ages gone; his work competes with +that of the dead. In his reveries and imaginings, he can transport +himself anywhither, and can commune with any friend or god. Hence to be +master of one's environment is really to have the universe within +one's grasp. + +We are too much afraid of customs and traditions. We are put into our +times, not that the times may mould us, but that we may mould the times! +Ways? Customs? They exist to be changed! The _tempora_ and the _mores_ +should be plastic to our touch. The times are never level with our best. +Our souls are higher than the _Zeitgeist_. Why should we cringe before +an inferior essence or command? But society seals our lips: we walk +about with frozen tongues. + +Each asks himself at some time: How shall I become one of the Victors of +the race? Is it in me? Mankind is weighted by every previous sin. Where +am I free? How am I free? Can I do as I choose? Or are there bourns of +conduct beyond which I can never go? Am I foreordained to sin? Do the +stars in their courses lay limitations on free will? + +There are in man two forces working: a human longing after God, and, in +response, God inly working in the soul. The Victor is he who, in his own +life, unites these two things: a great longing after the god-like, which +makes him yearn for virtue,--and the divine power within him, through +which and by which he is triumphant over time and death and sin. + +Whatever our trials, sorrows, or temptations, joy and courage are ever +meant to be in the ascendant; life, however it may break in storms upon +us, is not meant to beat down our souls. Unless we are triumphant, we +are not wholly useful or well trained. Will and heart together work +for victory. + +As there flashes and thrills through all nature a subtle electric +vibration which is the supreme form of physical energy, so there runs +through the history of mankind a current of spiritual inspiration and +power. To possess this magnetism of soul, this heroism of life, this +flame-like flower of character, is to be Victor in the great combats of +the race. It is the spirit of courage, energy, and love. Nothing is too +hard for it, nothing too distasteful, nothing too insignificant. Through +all the course of duty it spurs one to do one's best. Its essence is to +overcome. This is the indwelling Holy Spirit, wherein is freedom, power, +and rest. To its final triumph all things are accessory. To joy, all +powers converge. + + + + +II. PRELUDE: THE CALL OF JESUS + + [VOX DILECTI] + + _I heard the voice of Jesus say + Come unto Me and rest; + Lay down, thou weary one, lay down + Thy head upon My breast. + I came to Jesus as I was, + Weary and worn and sad; + I found in Him a resting-place, + And He has made me glad._ + + _I heard the voice of Jesus say + Behold I freely give + The living water; thirsty one, + Stoop down and drink, and live. + I came to Jesus, and I drank + Of that life-giving stream; + My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, + And now I live in Him._ + + _I heard the voice of Jesus say + I am this dark world's light; + Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise, + And all thy day be bright. + I looked to Jesus, and I found + In Him my star, my sun; + And in that light of life I'll walk, + Till travelling days are done._ + + HORATIUS BONAR + +It is a world of voices in which we live. We are daily visited by +appeals which are ministering to our growth and progress, or which are +tending to our spiritual downfall. There are the voices of nature, in +sky, and sea, and storm; the voices of childhood and of early youth; the +voices of playfellows and companions,--voices long stilled, it may be, +in death; the voices of lover and beloved; the voices of ambition, of +sorrow, of aspiration, and of joy. + +But among all these many voices, there is one which is most inspiring +and supreme. When the _Vorspiel_ to _Parsifal_ breaks upon the ear it is +as if all other music were inadequate and incomplete--as if a voice +called from the confines of eternity, in the infinite spaces where no +time is, and rolled onward to the far-off ages when time shall be no +more. Even so, high and clear above the voices of the world, deeper and +tenderer than any other word or tone, comes the voice of Jesus to the +soul of man. + +Look, if you will, upon the World of Souls, many-tiered and vast, +stretching from day's end to day's end,--a world of hunger and of anger, +of toiling and of striving, of clamor and of triumph,--a dim, upheaving +mass, which from century to century wakes, and breathes, and sleeps +again! Years roll on, tides flow, but there is no cessation of the march +of years, and no whisper of a natural change. Is it not a strange thing +that one voice, and only one, should have really won the hearing of the +race? What is this voice of Jesus, so enduring, matchless, and supreme? +What does it promise, for the help or hope of man? + +There are some who say that Jesus has held the attention and allegiance +of the race by an appeal to the religious instinct; that all men +naturally seek God, and long to know Him. But if we try to define the +religious instinct, we shall find it a hard task. What might be called a +religious instinct leads to human sacrifice upon the Aztec altar; +directs the Hindu to cast the new-born child in the stream, the friend +to sacrifice his best friend to a pagan deity. + +There are others who say that Christ appeals to the gentler instincts of +man,--to his unselfishness, his meekness and compassion. Yet some of the +most admirable Christians have been ambitious and aggressive. Others +say, He appeals to our need of help. But self-reliance is a Christian +trait. Others say, He appeals to our sense of sin--our need of pardon. +But many a Christian goes through life like a happy child, scarcely +conscious at any time of deep guilt, and never overwhelmed by intense +conviction or despair. + +The truth seems to be that Christ appeals to our whole selves. He calls +us by an attraction which is unique. In the universe there exists a +force which we must recognize--though we do not yet in the least +understand it--which is gradually drawing the race Christward. The law +of spiritual gravitation is, that by all the changing impulses of our +nature we are drawn upward unto Him. Spohr's lovely anthem voices this +cry of the soul: + + "_As pants the hart for cooling streams, + When heated in the chase, + So longs my soul, O God, for Thee, + And Thy refreshing grace. + + "For Thee, my God, the living God, + My thirsty soul doth pine; + Oh! when shall I behold Thy face, + Thou Majesty divine_?" + +1. Jesus calls us by the mystery of life. There are hours of silence and +meditation when the great thought _I am_ beats in upon the soul. But +what am I? Whence came I? A heap of atoms in some strange human +semblance--is that all? And so many other heaps of atoms have already +been, and passed away! Blown hither and thither--where? The universe +reels with change. Star-dust and earth-dust are alike in ceaseless +whirl. Little it profits to build the spire, the sea-wall, the dome, the +bridge, the myriad-roofed town. A new era shall dawn upon them, and they +shall fall away. + +Not only that, but each man who lives to-day has less possible material +dominion than he had who preceded him. Only so many square feet of +earth, and now there are more to walk upon them! The ground we tread was +once trodden by the feet of those long dead. I am taking up their room, +and in due time I must myself depart, that there may be footway for +those who are to come after me. Only the under-sod is really mine--the +little earth-barrow to which I go. + +There is no question more baffling than this simple, ever-recurring one: +What am I? If I should decide what I am to-day, I discover that +yesterday I was quite a different person. To-day I may be six feet in +height, and climb the Alps; yesterday I lay helpless in swaddling +clothes. Yesterday I was a thing of laughter and frolic; to-day I am +grave, and brush away tears. As a babe, was I still I? What is Myself? +When did I come to Myself? How far can I extend Myself? My feet are +here, but in a moment my spirit can flee to Xanadu and Zanzibar. There +is no spot in the universe where I may not go. Where, then, are the +limits of Myself? + +Personality is never for a single moment fixed: it is as changing and +evanescent as a cloud. We are whirlwind spirits, swept through time and +space, bearing within our souls hopes, fears, joys, sorrows, which are +never twice the same. Every aspect of the universe leaves new +impressions on us, and our wills, in their world-sweep, daily desire +different things. + +Incompleteness lies on life--restlessness is in the heart. True love has +no final habitation on earth; there is no abiding-place for our deepest +affection, our most tender yearning. It is curious how deeply one may +love, and yet feel that there is something more. In all our journeys, +skyward and sunward, we never reach the End of All. + +Over against this vague and changing self, there stands out the figure +of the changeless Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. In +Him we find the environment of all our lives, and the sum of all +our dreams. + +2. Jesus calls us by our earth-born cares. In Mendelssohn's _Elijah_, +there is a voice which sings: "O rest in the Lord!" This angel's message +is the voice of Jesus to the human race. + +The voice of Jesus calls us to awake to toil. We sometimes forget this, +and imagine that if we follow Jesus, we shall never have anything to do. +Christ does not still the machinery of the world, nor shut the mine, nor +take away the sowing and the reaping. The call of Jesus is not a call to +rest from work, but to rest in work. The rest we receive is that of +sympathy, of inspiration, of efficiency. Christ really increases the +toil-capacity of man. Man can do more work, harder work, and always +better work, because of the faith that is in him. What makes the +confusion and fatigue of life is, that men are everywhere scrambling +for themselves, and trying to manage their own undertakings, instead of +falling into harmony with God, and through Him, with all that is. What +wears the soul out is not the work of life itself--it is its drudgery, +its monotony, its blind vagueness, its apparent purposelessness. We do +not wish to scatter our lives and spend our years in nothingness. + +Christ comes into the world and says: Over-fatigue is abnormal. There +is not enough work in the universe to tire every one all out. There is +just enough for each one to do happily, and to do well. I am come as the +great industrial organizer. My mission is not to take away toil, but to +redistribute it. My industrial plan is the largest of history--it is +also the most simple. I look down over the world, as a master upon his +men. My work is not to found an earthly kingdom, as some have thought; +it is not primarily to set up industrial establishments, or syndicates, +or ways of transport and trade. My work is to build up in the universe a +spiritual kingdom of energy, power, and progress. To this kingdom all +material things are accessory. In My hand are all abilities, as well as +all knowledge. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without My notice. Not +a lily blooms without My delight. Not a brick is laid, not a stone is +set, not an axe is swung, except beneath My eye. I provide for My own. +To each man I assign his work, his task. If he takes upon him only what +I give him to do, he will never be under-paid, or over-tired. + +Hence the first step towards an industrial millennium is to arise and do +what Jesus bids. Heaven is heaven because no one is unruly there, or +idle, or lazy, or vicious, or morose. Each soul is at true and happy +work. Each energy is absorbed; each hour is alive with interest, and +there are no oppressive thoughts or ways. + +If each heart and soul responded to the call of Jesus, there would be a +new heaven and a new earth--a Utopia such as More never dreamed of, nor +Plato, nor Bellamy, nor Campanella in his _City of the Sun_. Each hand +would be at its own work; each eye would be upon its own task; each foot +would be in the right path. All the fear, the weariness, the squalor, +and the unrest of life would be done away. The life of each man would be +a life of contentment, and of economic advance. + +3. Jesus calls us by the scourging of our sins. Flagellation is not of +the body--it is of the soul. Remorse is as a scorpion-whip, and memory +beats us with many stripes. The first sin that besets us is +forgetfulness of God. Apathy creeps over the spirit, and sloth winds +itself about our deeds. Nothing is more pathetic than the decline of the +merely forgetful soul. "Be sleepless in the things of the spirit," says +Pythagoras, "for sleep in them is akin to death." + +Sin lifts bars against success: the root of failure lies in irreligion. +Pride, conceit, disobedience, malice, evil-speaking, covetousness, +idolatry, vice, oppression, injustice, and lack of truth and honor fight +more strongly against one's career than any other foe. No sin is without +its lash; no experience of evil but has its rebound. To expect a higher +moral insight in middle age because of a larger experience of sin in +youth, is as reasonable as to look for sanity of judgment in middle age +because in youth a man had fits! + +Looking at ourselves in a mirror, do we not sometimes think how we would +fashion ourselves if we could create a new self, in the image of some +ideal which is before us? Would we not make ourselves wholly beautiful +if we could make ourselves? + +Even so, looking out upon our own spirits, do we not some day rouse to +the distortion and deformity of sin? Do we wish to retain these +grimacing phases of ourselves? Do we not yearn eagerly for the dignity +and beauty of high virtue? Do we not long for the graces and perfections +which make up a radiant and happy life? If we could be born again, would +we not be born a more spiritual being? + +It is to this new birth that Jesus calls our souls. All around the babe, +hid in its mother's womb, there lies a world of which it has neither +sight nor knowledge. The fact that the babe is ignorant does not change +the fact that the world is there. So about our souls there lies the +invisible world of God, which, until born of the Spirit, we do not see +or understand. It is a world in which God is everywhere; in which there +is no First Cause, except God; in which there is no will, except the +will of God; in which there is no true and perfect love, except from +God; no truth, except revealed by God; no power, except from Him. + +Conversion is the outlook over a world which is arranged, not for our +own glory, but for the good of God's creatures; in which what we do is +necessary, fundamental, permanent--not because we ourselves have done it +well, nor, in truth, because we have done it at all--but because what we +have done is a part of the universe which God is building. We change +from a self-centre to a God-centre; from the thought of whether the +world applauds to whether God approves; from the thought of keeping our +own life to the thought of preserving our own integrity; from isolation +from all other souls to a sympathy with them, an understanding of their +needs, and a desire to help their lives. It is a turning from a delight +in sin, or an indifference to sin, or merely a moral aversion to it, to +a deep-rooted hatred of every thought and act of sin, to penitence, and +to an earnest desire to pattern after God. + +4. Jesus calls us by our sorrows, Jesus calls us by our dreams. He +thrills us by each high aim that life inspires. His voice is one of +understanding, of tenderness, of human appeal. How could we love Jesus +if He did not sympathize with our ideals? But here is a Divine One in +whose sight we are not visionary; who lovingly guards our least hope; +who welcomes our faintest spiritual insight; who takes an interest in +our social plans, and points out to us the great kingdom that is to be. +Christ lays hold of the divine that is in us, and will not let us go. + +5. Jesus calls us by our latent gifts and powers. Which of us has ever +exhausted his possibilities? Which of us is all that he might be? + +It is an impressive thought, that nothing in the universe ever gets used +up. It changes form, motion, semblance,--but the force, the energy, +neither wastes nor dies away. Air--it is as fresh as the air that blew +over the Pharaohs. Sun--it is as undimmed as the sun that looked down on +the completion of Cheops. Earth--it is as unworn as the earth that was +trodden by the cavemen. + +No generation can ever bequeath to us a single new material atom. The +race is ever in old clothes. Nor can we hand down to others one atom +which was not long ere we were born. Yet the vitality of the universe is +being constantly increased, and this increase is also permanent. God has +a great deal more to work with now than a thousand years ago. + +For not all energy is material. With each birth there comes a new force +into the world, and its influence never dies. The body is born of ages +past, of the material stores of centuries; but the soul, in its living, +thinking, working power, is a new phase of energy added to the energy +of the race. + +This fact confers on each individual man a strange impressiveness and +power. It gives a new significance to the fact that I am. I am something +different from what has been, or ever shall be. In the great whirling +myriads, I am distinguished and apart. I am an appreciable factor in +universal development and a being of elemental power. By every true +thought of mine the race becomes wiser. By every right deed, its +inheritance of tradition is uplifted; by every high affection, its +horizon of love is enlarged. We can bequeath to others this new +spiritual energy of our lives. + +This thought gives us a new zest for life. There is an appetite which is +of the soul. It is this wish for growth, for the development of our +powers, for a larger life for ourselves and for those who shall +come after us. + +Is there any one who wishes to stay always where he is to-day?--to be +always what he is this morning? Beyond the hill-top lies our dream. Not +all the voices that call men from place to place are audible ones. We +hear whispers from a far-off leader; we are beckoned by an unseen guide. +Out of ancestry, tradition, talent, and training each departs to +his own way. + +What calls is not largeness of place--it is largeness of ideal. To each +of us, thinking of this one and that one who has taken a large part in +the shaping of the world, there comes a feeling: Beside all these I am +in a narrow way! What can I think that shall be worth the consideration +of the race? What can I do that shall be a stepping-stone to progress? +What can I hope that shall unseal other eyes to the universal glory, +comfort others in the universal pain? We say: I do not want to be mewed +up here, while others are out where thrones and empires are sweeping by! +I do not want to parse verbs, add fractions, and mark ledgers, while +others are the poets, the singers, the statesmen, the rulers, and the +wealth-controllers of the world! We wish to step out of the trivial +experience into that which is significant. Each day brings uneasiness of +soul. "Man's unhappiness," says Carlyle, "as I construe it, comes of his +greatness; it is because there is an infinite in him, which with all his +cunning he cannot quite bury under the finite." Says Tennyson: + + "_It is not death for which we pant, + But life, more life, and fuller, that we want_." + +These aspirations are prophetic. Does a clod-hopper dream? We move +toward our desires. The wish for growth is but the call of Jesus to our +souls. We sometimes hear of the "limitations of life." What are they? +Who set them? Man himself, not God. The call of Jesus urges the soul of +man to possibilities which are infinite. + +A large life is the fulfilment of God's ideal of our lives--the life +which, from all eternity, He has looked upon as possible for us. Could +any career be grander than the one that God has planned for us? God does +not think petty thoughts: He longs for grandeur for us all. + +6. Jesus calls us by the spirit of the times. There is a growing +recognition of the affinity between God and the human soul. Religion has +changed in spirit as well as in form. It used to be considered a tract +in one's experience, and now it is perceived to be all of life--its +impetus, its central moving force, the reason for being, activity, +development, for ethical conduct, and for unselfish and joyous +helpfulness. Religion is more and more perceived to be, not a thing of +feeble sentiment, of restraint, of exaction, of meek subordination and +resignation, but the unfolding of the free human spirit to the +realization of its highest possibilities and its allegiance to that +which is eternal and supreme. The nineteenth century closes with the +thinker who is also a man of meditation and devotion. We offer to Heaven +the incense of aspiration, hope, research, talent, and imagination. + +The chief thing toward which we are moving is, I believe, the +Enthronement of the Christ. Christ has always been, in the hearts of the +few, enthroned and enshrined. Even in the dark years of mediaeval +superstition and unrest, there were the cloistered ones who maintained +traditions of faith and did works of mercy, as there were knightly ones +who upheld the ministry of chivalry, and followed, though afar, the +tender shining of the Holy Grail. But now all the signs point to a great +and general recognition of the Christ--Christ to be lifted high on the +hands of the nations, to His throne above the stars! + +A new spiritual note is to be heard in modern subjects of study, is +noticeable in all paths of intellectual prestige. History is no more +looked upon as the story of the trophies of warriors, conquerors, and +kings. History, rising out of dim mists, is seen to be the marching and +the countermarching of nations in the throes of progress and of social +change. It is not the story of princes alone, but of peasants as well; +the result of myriads of small, obscure lives; of changing conditions; +of the movements of great economic, psychologic, and spiritual forces. +Looking backward over the moving processional of the nations of the +earth, we may see how, without rest, without pause, through countless +ages, the myriad legions of men have been passing across the scene of +life--passing, and fading away! + + "_All that tread + The globe are but a handful of the tribes + That slumber in its bosom_." + +Empires have risen, and empires have decayed; dynasties have been +buried, and long lines of kings, wrapping stately robes about them, have +lain down to die. Thrones have been overturned, armies and navies have +been mustered and scattered, land and sea have been peopled and made +desolate, as the thronging tribes and races have lived their little life +and passed away. Babylon and Assyria, India and Arabia, Egypt and +Persia, Rome and Greece,--each of these has had its lands and conquests, +its song and story, its wars and tumults, its wrath and praise. Under +all the tides of conquest and endeavor but one fact shines supreme: the +steady progress of the Cross. + +One principle of growth and development is being slowly revealed,--an +approach to symmetry and civic form, which is seen in freedom, justice, +popular education, the rise of masses, the power of public opinion, and +a general regard for life, health, peace, national prosperity, and the +individual weal. The day has passed when men merely lived, slept, ate, +fought; they are now involved in an intricate and progressive +civilization. Sociology, ethics, and politics are newly blazed pathways +for its development, its guidance, and its ideals. We are moving on to +new dreams of patriotism, of statesmanship, and of civil rule. + +Literature, instead of being considered as merely an expression of the +primitive experiences of a race in its sagas, glees, ballads, dramas, +and larger works and songs, is more and more revealing itself as an +appeal to the Highest in the supreme moments of life. It is the +unfolding panorama of the concepts of the soul in regard to duty, +conduct, love, and hope. Literature asks: What do I live for? as well +as, How shall I speak forth beauty? How ought the soul of man to act in +an emergency? What is the best solution of the great human problems of +duty, love, and fate? The voices of Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, +Tennyson, and Browning sweep the soul upward to spiritual heights, and +answer some of the deepest questionings of the soul of man. And hence +literature is no longer merely a thing of vocabulary, of phrase, of +rhythm, of assonance, of alliteration, or of metrical and philosophical +form. It is a revelation of the progress of the soul, of its standards, +of its triumphs, its defeats, and its desires. It is the unfolding of +one's intellectual helplessness before the unmoved, calm passing of +years; of one's emotional inadequacy without God for adjudicator. It is +a direct search for God. One finds wrapped within it the mystery, +aspiration, and spiritual passion of the soul. + +Science, no longer a dry assembling of facts and figures, is an +increasing revelation of the imagination, the exactness, the +thoroughness, and the great progressive plans of God. Evolution has +become a spiritual formula. The scientist looks out over the earth and +sky and sun and star. Against his little years are meted out vast +prehistoric spans; against his mastery of a few forms of life, stands +Life itself. Back of all, there looms up the great Figure of the +Originator of life, and of the forms of life; the Maker and Ruler of +them all. Each scientific fact helps exegesis and evidence. Each new +aspiration after truth becomes a form of prayer. + +Yes, the whole world is being subtly and powerfully drawn to the worship +of the Christ. Never before was there so deep, genuine, and widespread a +Revival of Religion. It has not come heralded with great outcries, with +flame and wind, and revolution and upheaval; it has come as the great +changes that are most permanent come, in stillness and strength. +Throughout the world there is being turned to the service of religion +the highest training, the most intellectual power. Wars are being +wrought for freedom; the Church and the university are joining hands; +the rich and the poor are drawing near together for mutual help and +understanding; industry is growing to be, not only a crude force, brutal +and disregarding, but a high ministry to human needs; the home is +becoming more and more the guardian of faith and the shrine of peace; +business houses are taking upon them a religious significance; commerce +and trade are perceiving ethical duties. Armies are marching in the +name of Jehovah, and a great poet has this one message: "Lest +we forget!" + +7. Jesus calls us by the future of the race. Life proceeds to life. +Eternity is what is just before. Immortality is a native concept for the +soul. Beyond this hampered half-existence, the soul demands life, +freedom, growth, and power. + +We stand between two worlds. Behind us is the engulfed Past, wherein +generations vanish, as the wake of ships at sea. Before us is the +Future, in the dawn-mist of hovering glory, and surprise. Looking out +over eternity, that billowy expanse, do we not see rising, clear though +shadowy, a vast Permanence, Completion, Realization, in which the soul +of man shall have endless progress and delight? This is the Promise held +out by all the ages, and the future toward which all the thoughts and +dreams of man converge. It is glorious to be a living soul, and to know +that this great race--life is yet to be! + +At the threshold of each new century stands Jesus, star-encircled, with +a voice above the ages and a crown above the spheres,--Jesus, saying, +FOLLOW ME! + + + + +III. PROCESSIONAL: THE CHURCH OF GOD + + [AURELIA] + + _The Church's one foundation + Is Jesus Christ her Lord; + She is His new creation + By water and the Word: + From heaven He came and sought her + To be His Holy Bride; + With His own blood He bought her + And for her life He died. + + Though with a scornful wonder + Men see her sore opprest, + By schisms rent asunder, + By heresies distrest; + Yet saints their watch are keeping, + Their cry goes up, "How long?" + And soon the night of weeping + Shall be the morn of song. + + 'Mid toil and tribulation, + And tumult of her war, + She waits the consummation + Of peace for evermore; + Till with the vision glorious + Her longing eyes are blest, + And the great Church victorious + Shall be the Church at rest._ + + SAMUEL JOHN STONE + + +FIRST: RECONSTRUCTION + +The subject that is being carefully considered by many thinking men and +women to-day is this: the place and prospects of the Christian Church. +All about us we hear the cry that the Church is declining, and may +eventually pass away; that it does not gain new members in proportion to +its need, nor hold the attention and allegiance of those already +enrolled. Are these things true? If so, how may better things be brought +to pass? To share in the civilization that has come from nineteen +hundred years of the work of the Church, and to be unwilling to lift a +pound's weight of the present burden, in order to pass on to others our +precious heritage, is certainly a selfish and unworthy course. It is +better to ask, What is my work in the upbuilding of the Church? What can +I do to further the Royal Progress of the Church of God? + +The root-failure of the organized Church to-day is its failure to share +in the growing life of the world. A growing life is one that is full of +new ideas, new experiences, new emotions, a new outlook over life--that +works in new ways, and that is full of seething and tumultuous energy, +enthusiasm, and hope. If we look out over the colleges, business +enterprises, periodicals, agriculture, manufacturing, and shipping of +the world, we find everywhere one story--growth, impetus, courage, +resources, vigorous and bounding life. Beside these things the average +church services to-day are both stupid and poky. The forces of religion +are neither guided nor wielded well. There is in most churches, however +we may dislike to own the fact, a decrease of interest and proportionate +membership, a waning prestige, a general air of discouragement, and a +tale of baffled efforts and of disappointed hopes. + +The Church--and by this word I here mean the organized body of both +clergymen and laymen--is meant to be the supreme spiritual leader of the +world. It is meant to possess vigor, decision, insight, hope, and +intellectual power. But before it can accomplish its high and holy work, +a great reconstruction must begin. To help in this reconstruction, to +aid in vivifying, cooerdinating, and ruling the varied processes of +organized religion, is your work and mine. + +1. The Church must rouse to a sense of its noble duties and exalted +powers. We underrate the Church. We are looking elsewhere for our +highest ideals, instead of claiming from the Church that spiritual +guidance and inspiration which should be its right to give. One of the +things that is a monumental astonishment to me, is that when we need +supplication, intercession, prayer for the averting of great personal or +national calamity, we flee to the Church, but we seldom think of the +Church when we need brains! + +The Church should lead, and not follow, the great dreams of the world. +In the midst of our new national life we are sending all over the +country for the best-trained help and thought in every department of +government influence and control. Our problems of the day are +preeminently spiritual ones. Colonial control is not a question of +material ascendancy--it is a rule over the minds, hearts, and ideals of +men. Its moral significance is patent. We are called upon, not only to +import provisions, clothing, and household and industrial goods into our +new possessions; we are called upon to develop a higher sense of honor, +truth, honesty, and every-day morality. Scholars, working-men, business +men, farmers, and merchants are being consulted in regard to different +phases of our national advance, and every idea which their insight and +experience furnish is seized upon. But who is consulting the Church in +these concerns, except in reference to mere technical points? Who is +looking to the intellectual, moral, and spiritual standards of the +Church for guidance? We are to-day ruled spiritually, as well as +intellectually, by laymen, and in a way which is quite outside the +organized work of the Church. + +2. The Church needs a more business-like organization and way of work. +It needs a more military spirit and discipline. The Church is diffuse +and loosely strung. There are in the United States alone about two +hundred and fifty-six kinds of religious bodies. There is no centralized +interest or work; there is no economic adjustment of funds; there is no +internal agreement as to practical methods. The result is a most +wasteful expenditure of force. Movements are not only duplicated, but +reproduced a hundred times in miniature, in one denomination after +another; special talent is restricted to a narrow field; buildings and +church-plants are multiplied, but lie largely disused; sects and +communities are at loggerheads on unessential points; all this--and the +world is not being saved! The Church fails to see openings for +aggressive work; it fails to seize strategic points; it does not carry a +well-knit local organization, with a husbanding of economic force; it +does not front the world in dead-earnest; it is not proud and honorable +in meeting its local debts; it loses progressive force, from lack of +knowledge as to how to judge men, and train them, and set them to work. + +It also lacks greatly in office-force and in supplies. The gospel itself +is without price, but in the nature of things it cannot be proclaimed, +nor church-work efficiently carried on, without financial outlay. There +should be a more adequate equipment for this work. All other enterprises +need, without question, stationery, stenographers, literature for +distribution, office-rooms, office-hours, and a general arrangement +looking toward enlargement and progress. A busy pastor should have an +office-equipment just as much as a business man, and it should be +supported, as a business office is, out of the funds of the business +organization, _i.e._ the local church. + +There should be, first of all, a united spirit, and a general +reorganization throughout the whole of evangelical Christendom, not +necessarily destroying denominational lines, with a view to quick +mobilization of energy in any direction most needed. What would a +general do, who, in looking over his troops, should find two hundred and +fifty-six provincial armies, not at ease or at peace with each other, +and yet expected to make war upon a common foe? Shall we not endeavor to +share in some broadly planned, magnificently executed scheme of +world-advance? + +The Church has reached a point where a vast constructive work is to be +done. Its scattered parts must be knit into a powerful and aggressive +whole, to turn a solid front upon the evil of the world. The times are +ripe for a successor of Peter the Hermit, of Luther, Knox, Calvin, +Zwingli, Savonarola, Whitefield, Finney, Moody. Whether a great +preacher, theologian, or evangelist, he will certainly be a business +man, a man of vast energy and executive capacity, who shall perform this +miracle of organization of which many dream, and who shall set the +progress of the Church for a full century to come! + +This united spirit should prevail, not only through the smaller bodies, +but between the Roman Catholic and Protestant communions. There has been +a distinct division between these two bodies, much mutual suspicion, +jealousy, and antagonism: it is only quite lately that Protestant and +Catholic leaders have been willing to work amicably together for great +common causes. + +A new situation has arisen. In our new possessions we are confronted +with a large population who, whatever may be the reason, are +unquestionably not, as a whole, progressive, enlightened, educated, or +highly moral. The problem now is, not for Catholic and Protestant to +waste energy and spiritual strength in contending for mastery over each +other, but for them to unite in changing and bettering the condition of +our island peoples. What is past is past. Our present duty is to bring +peace, industry, intelligence, high ideals, and spiritual living to our +new countrymen. This is a work to fill the hands and heart of both +churches, and perhaps, in a common task, each may learn to understand +and regard the other as those should understand and regard each other +who have one Lord, one hope, one heaven. + +3. The Church needs stronger and more gifted leaders. In every business +or intellectual enterprise to-day, there is an effort to place at the +head of each organization the most powerful and resourceful man whose +services can be obtained. Nothing in this age works, or is expected to +work, without the leadership of brains. A primary step, in a +far-reaching ecclesiastical policy, is to endeavor to draw into both +ministry and membership the most active and intellectual class. All +earnest souls can work, but not all can work equally effectively. +Particularly in the ministry, north, south, east, and west, men are +needed who are really _men_. This does not necessarily mean the men with +the longest string of academic degrees, the men who can write the best +poems or make the best speeches on public occasions; it means the +thinking men who are brave, talented, spiritual, and warm-hearted. + +In the Report of one of the missionary Boards, I have recently read the +following stirring words. They refer to the work of missionaries in the +far north, one of whom has lately travelled a thousand miles over the +snow in a dog-sled: "He who follows that mining crowd must be more than +the minister, who would do well for towns in the west or elsewhere in +Alaska. He must be a man who, when night overtakes him, will be thankful +if he can find a bunk and a plate in a miner's cabin; he must travel +much, and therefore cannot be cumbered with extra trappings--must dress +as the miners do, and accept their food and fare. He must be no less in +earnest in his search for souls than they in search for gold. He must be +so 'furnished' that, without recourse to books or study-table, he can +minister acceptably to men who under the guise of a miner's garb hide +the social and mental culture of life in Eastern colleges and +professional days." + +It is far from that land of frost and snow to the beautiful island of +Porto Rico, washed by tropical seas, through the streets of whose +capital there passes every day the carriage of the Governor, with its +white-covered upholstery and its livery of white. But I add this word: +The missionary sent to Porto Rico, be he Catholic or Protestant, must be +a man who can stand among statesmen and society men and women, as well +as one who can live and work among the humblest folk who lodge in +leaf-thatched huts along the roadside or far on lonely hills. +Representative men of ability, health, culture, and courage are being +chosen to carry on governmental work: it is idle to send provincial men +to the Church. What is locally true of the Church in Porto Rico is +fundamentally true all over the world, at home and abroad. Each +ministerial post to-day requires an imperial man. Not every post +requires the same sort of man, either in regard to general heredity or +education. Men are needed of the Peter-type, of the John-type, of the +Paul-type; it suffices that, they be men of unusual power, and well +fitted to their individual work. + +4. The Church needs a better system for the proper placing of men. No +phase of the world's work can be carried on merely and simply because a +man is pious. In every phase of life, there is a constant shifting of +men according to temperament, ability, and general influence and power. +In the Church we must have a quick and decisive recognition of a man's +ability, and he must be set where that talent can work easily and +effectively. Churches are not all alike. There are no two alike. When we +think of it, what a ghoulish business "candidating" is! No scheme for +the right placing of men can be devised which does not place a great +deal of power in the hand of a few leading men. This power may be +abused, but ought not to be, if it were really looked upon as under +divine direction and inspiration. Cannot a great leader be inspired to +the choice of a man, as well as a great author to the choice of a word, +a rhyme? Comparatively few men thoroughly understand how to rate other +men, and to these few men, as in all other great enterprises, must be +given the power and authority to select and adjust. By this I do not +mean that a set of ecclesiastics will alone be adequate. Ecclesiastical +vision, like all other highly specialized vision, is partial, and does +not always see quite straight. There should also be called into play the +business ability and discernment of men of large business interests or +administrative gifts. Sooner or later the various religious +organizations will have to meet, in some better way than any thus far +formulated, this growing need. + +5. We need a release of pressure on the abler men. Many a minister +to-day is a sort of community lackey. What other men are frankly too +busy to do, he is supposed to be cheerfully ready to do. The list of odd +jobs which fall to his lot would be ridiculous, were not their influence +upon his life and work so retrogressive and so sad. He lives to serve +others, but this vow of service is greatly imposed upon. If he is to +lead in intellectual and spiritual matters, he must be given fewer +errands to run, the financial burden of his church must be taken +absolutely from his shoulders, he must have a suitable salary, and his +time must be at least as carefully guarded as that of the average man. +Some calls he is bound to obey, at whatever cost of time or +strength,--illness, certain public duties, and real spiritual +needs,--but his life must not be at the mercy of cranks, or of idle +persons' whims. + +6. We need a reorganization of preaching traditions. It is a tradition +that a minister must, in general, preach two set sermons every week, +give one informal week-day lecture, and be prepared to deliver, at any +moment, funeral addresses, anniversary speeches, "remarks," or to +perform other utterly impossible intellectual feats. Anyone who writes, +or who speaks in public, knows that the preparation of a half-hour +address which is worth anything requires a great deal of time. It +cannot ordinarily be "tossed off," and help men's souls. Only an +occasional inspiration, the result of a lifetime of thought and +experience, is born in this sudden way. Usually excellence is the result +of long and careful labor. The way to help this would seem to be a +constant interchange of preachers, not only in one denomination, but +among the various denominations, so that a really fine sermon would be +heard by many people, and fewer sermons would require to be written. +This is easily done in a large city or its vicinity. What congregations +need most is not altogether formal sermons, but thoughtful, helpful +talks containing a fresh, uplifting, and spiritual outlook over life, +with a practical bearing on the occasions and duties of life. The work +of both Frederick Robertson and Horace Bushnell has this direct and +vital tone. + +Ministers must study more. If they are freed from many tasks now put +upon them, it is not unreasonable to ask that this time be put on more +careful thinking. Too many a minister of to-day is, intellectually, +something of a flibbertigibbet. His sermons do not take hold, because +they have not the roots to take hold with. How many ministers possess, +for instance, a scholarly knowledge of human nature or of the deeper +aspects of redemption? Yet these things he ought to know. There is a +large amount of intensely interesting, though spiritually undigested, +material for a minister in a book like William James's _Varieties of +Religious Experience_. + +7. Greater care must be taken of the rural church. Any one interested in +a great ecclesiastical polity must surely recognize the ultimate +possibilities of our rural regions. Here are growing up the leading men +and women of to-morrow. Ideals and inspirations set upon their hearts +will bear fruit a thousand-fold. Hence there should be a definite +arrangement by which a certain portion of the preaching time of the +really able preachers shall be placed each year in some small and remote +place. Several scattered country churches might unite for these +services. Let such a man also make helpful suggestions for neighborhood +social and intellectual life. While he is in the village, let the +country pastor go to town, browse in libraries, art-collections, hear +music, and get a general quickening of interest and inspiration. Let +each compare notes with the other. They will both gain by this +interchange. + +8. There is too little recognition of individual talent in the Church. +Too few workers are set at work which they know how to do, and the +untaught rush at tasks which angels fear to touch. We have myriads of +Sabbath-school teachers, but how many men or women really know how to +teach a little child? The man is asked to speak or pray in +prayer-meeting, who cannot possibly do it well, but no notice is taken +of the fact that he thoroughly understands public accounts. A man is +asked to subscribe ten dollars to a church affair, who cannot afford it, +but his spiritual insight might save the impending church quarrel. +People come and go in the churches, and many, I am convinced, drift away +because they are never asked for anything but money for the support and +interest of the Church. In no other sort of organization is this true. +Even in the summer camp or mountain hotel or Atlantic liner, when any +pastime or entertainment is suggested, the first thing to discover is, +What can each one _do_? One, who has the gift of organization and +management, "gets it up"; one sings; one reads or recites; one writes a +bright bit of verse; another smooths out rising jealousies, or bridges, +by a little tact, the abyss of caste. Why do we hide so many pretty +talents under a bushel, when the church-door swings behind us? Why do we +substitute such strange and foolish tasks, particularly for women? What +would leading lawyers and doctors do, I wonder, if they were asked, as +busy women often have been, to spend a precious morning in a church-room +sorting cast-off clothes? + +In every church, large or small, there are both men and women who are +talented in a special way; who could bring gifts of training and +experience to bear upon the problems and opportunities of the Church. +Tell me, in prayer or speech-making, formal or social occasion, pastor +or people, do we often bring our very deepest, tenderest, most inspiring +emotional or intellectual life? It is not a whit more spiritual to be +stupid than to be bright. This is what our church-meetings should +be--not a formal and very dull round of prayers and set remarks, more or +less pointless; they ought to be a yielding-up of our heart's best life +to others. + +9. We need, as a Church, a deeper spiritual life. We need the Power of +the Holy Ghost. In spite of all the sorrow of the world, sorrow both of +a personal nature and that which touches whole communities, there is +only one real burden upon the heart of earnest men and women: it is our +own inadequate representation of Christianity,--the disheartening +difference between what we practise and what we profess. When the Church +of God is in reality a powerful and hard-working body of sincere, +honest, and loving people, the world will soon be saved! + + +SECOND: ADHERENCE + +By the question, Why join the Church?--I do not mean alone, Why add my +name to a church-roll? I mean, Why give myself, my powers, my education, +my love, my loyalty, to advance the progress of the Church? + +There is nothing we resent more than a waste of ourselves. To attract +our service, there must be in the Church an inner vitality, a moving +and spiritual fire. + +1. The Church embodies the spiritual dreams of the world. Man does not +live by bread alone; he lives by imagination, and by religious powers. +In the Church of God, the spiritual imagination of man reached its +highest field of energy, and has brought forth its most triumphant +works. The great art of the world has centred about the Christian +Church--its architecture and much of its noblest speech. Imagine a world +in which every work which was inspired by the Church, or by the concepts +of religion embodied in it, should be left out. What would we then lack? +We would lack the greatest works of Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, +Francesca, Botticelli, Murillo; we would not see the cathedrals of +Milan, Strasburg, or Cologne; we would never read the poems of Caedmon, +Milton, or Dante. The hamlet would be without a spire; philanthropy +would be almost unknown; there would be neither night-watch nor +morning-watch of united prayer. We should have no processional of +millions churchward on the Lord's Day, no hymns to stir our souls to joy +and praise, no anthems or oratorios, no ministers, no ecclesiastical +courts and assemblies, no church conventions, no church-schools, +religious societies, nor religious press. All these works and +institutions proclaim the glory of belief, and hand down the religious +traditions and the spiritual aspirations of the generations of men. +Shall we let others share in the mystery and triumph while we stand +apart, silent, unapproving, and alone? + +The dreams of the Church are high and holy. There is the dream of +Freedom, of the Freedom of the Soul. It is an inspiring thought this, +the essential democracy of the race. We do not find intellectual +equality of souls. We see each man or woman differently circumstanced, +differently gifted, differently trained. Yet each may say, I am +spiritually free! To me also is given the opportunity of development, of +majesty of character, of high service. The soul is the thrall of none; +nothing can bind it to spiritual serfdom. + +Next, there is the dream of Allegiance. Some one has well said: "Wouldst +thou live a great life? Ally thyself with a great cause." Allegiance is +devotion of the whole of ourselves to a leader, a cause. We can no more +go through the world without allying ourselves to something than we can +go through it and live nowhere. If the object of our allegiance be a +high one, if the ideal be a grand one, our lives are in a constant +process of development toward that height, that grandeur. Each act of +faith becomes an impetus to progress. We are daily enriched by the +experience of mere obedience. To obey and follow are acts in the +universal process. + +If, on the other hand, we ally ourselves to that which is lower than +ourselves, by the very act we are dragged down. No one can remain upon +even his own level, who is in obedience and devotion to that which is +below him. Allegiance to a Higher is one of the trumpet-calls of the +world. It has been the rally of all armies, of all legions, of all +crusades. The great commander is, by his very position, a grouper of +other men, the ruler of their thoughts, their deeds, their dreams. His +power to call and to sway is beyond his own ideas of it. How otherwise +could it be that out of one century one heart calls to another--out of +one age, proceeds the answer to the cry of ages gone? + +The lover of music to-day allies himself to Bach, to Haydn, to Mozart, +to Wagner, by his appreciation, his sympathy, his understanding of what +they have done. He acknowledges their control of his musical self by his +efforts to interpret their work to others, and to create new works which +shall be inspired by their ideals. Thus he acknowledges their control of +his own powers. Such control over the spirit of man is that of the +Church over the social body; it stirs the spiritual aspiration of man, +it directs his ambition. It fixes upon a standard, the Cross; upon a +Hero, the Christ, and reaches unto all the world its arm of power, +drawing unto itself the loyalty, the faith, the affection, and the royal +service of successive generations of mankind. + +The dream of Redemption. It is not technical creeds for which the +Church as a whole stands, but for certain vital principles which concern +the life of the soul, and its relation to God and man. Virtue has always +been a dream of the heart. But how inaccessible is virtue, with a past +of unforgiven sin! The height of our ideal of redemption is conditioned +upon the depth of our realization of sin. To the shallow, redemption is +an easy-going process, a way of healing the scratches which the world +makes. To the deep and serious-minded, redemption involves the +regeneration of the race. Only the ransomed can truly work, love, +or praise! + +There is one sorrow which God never calls us to--the sorrow of a wasted +life. By redemption, the Church reveals not only a saving from +rebellion, unbelief, and crime, but redemption from sloth, from +indifference, from lack of purpose, and from low aims. Redemption looms +up as the great economic force of Time--that which inspires and +preserves our powers, directs our energies, creates opportunity, brings +to pass our most high and holy desires, and fills life with satisfying +and abiding things. + +Beauty, harmony, and affection are the natural laws of the moral world. +There is no despair where there has been no disobedience. _Christus +Salvator_ stands out before the world in majesty and power. Virtue is +enthroned in a universe which is beneficent. + +The dream of Fellowship. The Church is the great social body. We can +never live our best life in the world, and stand outside the Church. +There is something vital in personal contact, and in social affiliation. +It strengthens the best and otherwise most complete work. The Christian +Church is a body of allies, whose work is the upbuilding of the kingdom +of God. We do not realize how great a bond this is. We have our own +church centre, our own denomination, our own local interests. But by and +by a great occasion arises--a revival which sweeps the country, a +reunion of two long-divided parties, an Ecumenical Council, a Chinese +persecution--and suddenly there arises before the mind's eye a glimpse +of that Church which girdles the world, whose emissaries are in every +country, whose voices speak in every tongue. We perceive that +everywhere are + + "_Swelling hills and spacious plains + Besprent from shore to shore with steeple-towers, + And spires whose silent finger points to heaven_." + +Says Wordsworth also: + + "_They dreamt not of a perishable home, + Who thus could build_." + +Many an ideal state has been thought out, in which fellowship should be +the root of social progress. But in what state is the proffered +fellowship like that of the communion of saints? Each has his share of +work and dreams; each has his endowment of talent and of opportunity; +each has his aspirations and supreme hope. The joys of one are the joys +of all. The sorrows of one are the sorrows of all. The triumphs of one +are the triumphs of all. The World-burden is the task set to be removed. +The World-upbuilding in love, joy, peace, and truth is the final +endeavor. This community of interest is the strongest coalition the +world has yet known. + +There are those who say, I prefer to worship by myself! One might as +well say, I prefer to fight in battle by myself! There is a time for +personal worship, and there is a time for social worship. Alone, the +heart meets God. Alone, its prayers for individual needs and longings +are offered up. Alone, it asks for blessings on the individual life and +work. But the personal life is only a fragmentary part of the life +universal. Above the ages rings an Over-song of praise. From shrines and +cathedrals, from chapels, churches, tents, and caves, there arises, day +after day, this incense of united prayer, from a vast and +heaven-uplifted throng! Each of us would say, Canopied under +world-skies, I, too, would join this chorus of adoring love! + +The dream of Permanence. The immortality of the Church is akin to the +immortality of the soul. It is a connection which is never severed. When +we enter the visible body of the Church on earth, we connect ourselves +with the invisible hosts of the Church on high. We enter a company +which shall never be disbanded nor dismayed. Something subtle and +eternal seems to lay hold of our spirits, and to lift them even to God's +Throne. For this Time has been, and for this Time now is: to present +spotless before Him the innumerable company of the redeemed, the +lion-hearted who, armed by faith and shod with fire, in robes of azure +and with songs of praise, shall stand before Him even for evermore! + +2. The Church is the centre of a great circle of remembrance. One of +Constable's famous paintings represents the Cathedral of Salisbury +outlined against a storm-swept sky, with a lovely rainbow arched beyond +it. So stands the Church athwart the landscape of our lives. In each +community the church is like a living thing! How every stone grows +significant and dear! How the lights and shadows of its arches, the dim, +faint-tinted windows, the carvings and tracings, the atmosphere and +coloring, all sink into the heart, and make a background for memories +that never pass away! Who ever forgets the tones of the old organ, the +voice of the choir, the accent, look, and bearing of one's early pastor, +the rustle of the leaves without the window, the rush of the fresh +summer air, the soft falling of the rain? + +The path to the church is worn by the feet of generations. Thither the +aged go up, and thither the laughing, romping children. Weary men and +women bear their burdens thither; triumphant souls bring shining faces +and uplifted brows; love and dreams cluster round the church, and the +life of the soul, silent and hidden, is subtly acted upon by persuasions +and convictions that rule the heart amid the fiercest storms and +temptations of the world. The church is a sanctuary and shield; it is an +emblem of strength and peace. Three angels stand before its altar: Life, +Love, Death! Hither is brought the babe for the christening, hither +comes the wedding procession, and here are laid, with farewell tears, +the quiet dead. Day by day within that church, as one grows to manhood +and womanhood, one enters into race-experiences, and feels, however +vaguely, that the Holy Spirit abides within them all. + +3. The Church affords the best outlet for moral activity. Where shall we +put our moral powers? In what work shall they centre? From what point +shall they diverge? Scattered action is irresolute; it is the +centripetal powers that count. + +The Church stands ready to engage, to the full, the moral powers of man. +It can rightly distribute the spiritual vitality of the world. It rouses +the moral emotions and affections, and gives scope for contrition, +adoration, and thanksgiving,--the Trisagion of the heart. + +In the press and stir of life we sometimes forget that the highest +emotions of which we are capable are those of joy, praise, and prayer. +Joy is a heavenward uplift of life--deep happiness of spirit. Praise is +an appreciation of the greatness and mercy of the Infinite. Worship is +the outpouring of the whole nature, an ascription of blessing, glory, +honor, and power and majesty to God. It flows from the religious +imagination, and is the supreme offering of the intellectual as well as +of the emotional life. + +The Church is a body ministrant: it has received the accolade of +spiritual service. It stands among the world's forces, as one of giving, +not of gain. It holds within its scope both a teaching and a training +power. It is the school of the soul, the illuminator of the meaning and +discipline of life. Abelard is said to have attracted thirty thousand +students to Paris by his teaching. But the Church to-day calls into its +assemblies fully one-third of the millions of the world. They are held +by its tenets, guided by its ideals, thrilled by its hopes, and set to +its works of charity and mercy. The highest philanthropy is but a +scientific renewal and adaptation of work which has had its start, +primarily, in the Christian Church. Wealth is its vicegerent, and from +the adherents to the Church fall largely the contributions to great +philanthropic causes. + +Take the work of Missions alone: Has there ever before been a body which +attempted to bring the whole world into its fellowship, to make known +everywhere its ideals, and to share with all living a spiritual +inheritance? "The Evangelization of the World by this Generation" is +one of the most sublime thoughts which has come to the race. + +4. There is a large amount of ability in the world which the Church +needs, but which has not yet been thoroughly enlisted in church service. +Take business energy, executive ability. It is a common saying, that +business men are not interested in the Church, and do not work well in +it. Why? Because there is not yet in the Church enough of the active and +economic spirit to make a business man feel at home in it, or approve of +its ways of work. + +This weak spot in the Church, which business men mock at, or fret at, +exactly reveals the work that is waiting for business men to do. +Business to-day takes intellectual grasp and insight--promptness, +energy, enterprise, and common-sense. These qualities are needed at once +in the conduct of the Church. + +A second class greatly needed by the Church is the university-bred. Many +college graduates are church-members--some are even active workers. But +until lately the universities as a whole have stood rather indifferently +apart from the Church. They have somewhat indulgently regarded it as one +more historic institution for preserving myth and legend. To them the +Christ-life has meant little more than the Beowa-myth, the Arthur-saga, +the Nibelungen cycle, the Homeric stories, the Thor-and-Odin tales! +Druids, fire-worshippers, moon-dancers, and Christian communicants have +been comparatively studied, with a view to understanding the +race-progress in rite and religious form. + +This spirit is changing. The most remarkable aspect of the intellectual +life of to-day is the rise of faith in the universities. Like the +incoming of a great tidal wave at sea is the wave of spiritual insight +and religious aspiration that is rolling over the colleges of our land. + +The whole intellectual structure of the Church is approaching +reconstruction--its doctrines, creeds, tenets. This reconstruction +cannot possibly be effected by schools of theology alone. At every point +the theologian needs assistance from the man of science. Philosophy, +psychology, ethics, history, literature, sociology, language, natural +science, and archaeology are all bound up in an old creed and must be +looked into, ere a new statement can take form. Their data must be known +at first-hand. Hence there is no intellectual specialty which may not be +made invaluable to the Church. + +Too often religion has been a matter of hearsay or dogma. A bitter +conflict has always raged between theology and the latest word of +science. The Church cannot afford to be without the scientific thinkers +of the race. The time has come when there is everywhere heard the call +of Jesus to men of mind. + +What work awaits the university man or woman? It is to help free the +Church from traditions and superstitions which scholarship cannot +uphold. It is to throw fresh vigor and intellectual vitality into the +services of the Church. It is to build up a hymnology which shall be +noble and poetic in expression; it is to contribute a great religious +literature to the world. It is the work of educated men and women to add +their insight, their zeal for truth, their scholarship, their training +and ideals to the Christian community: to sweep thought and practice out +of ancient ruts, to clarify the spiritual vision of the world, and to +present new aspects of truth and new goals of human endeavor! Let +Research join hands with Prayer. + +A third class which the Church needs to-day is that of the working-man. +The hand of the working-man is the hand that has really moulded history. +Working-men lead a brave and self-sacrificing life. From their toil come +the necessaries and many of the comforts of the race. The man of labor +knows the root-problems of the industrial world. While all his industry +and skill, all his courage, heroism, and strong-armed life are so +largely alienated from the Church, the Church is deprived of one of the +fundamental sources of inspiration and growth. The tree of progress can +never grow, except it has labor-roots. It is absolutely essential for +the health of the Church that every form of human energy be represented. + +Suppose that by some great revival a very large number of working men +and women could suddenly be added to the membership of the Church. What +would happen? Would there not be at once a return to more simplicity of +life? There are two currents at work always in society--emulation and +sympathy. Rightly used, each is for the social good. If all classes of +men and women worked side by side in the Church, many great social +differences would become adjusted. + +5. It holds sway over the fortunes of the home. Where, outside of the +Church, will you find the ideal conception of marriage, and the really +united and happy home? The Church makes for domestic happiness, because +it goes straight to the roots of life and plants happiness where +happiness alone can grow. More and more the Church is lifting the +standards of a noble, proud, pure, and rejoicing married life. Its ideal +of human love is sacred, because founded on the deeper love of the soul +in God. The Church is drawing hosts of young people under the shelter of +its teaching, and is placing before men and women ideals which cannot +fail to make their mark upon the social standards of the times. It +stands for purity, for patience, for tenderness, for the love of little +children, for united education and endeavor, for mutual hopes and +dreams, for large public service. + +6. It is the militant force of time. We speak of the Church militant, +and of the Church triumphant. For us, to-day, the Church militant. +To-morrow, triumph comes. Armies have been, and armies shall be, but the +hosts of this world fight against material foes, and largely for +material ends. It is the glory of the Church militant that its conquests +are spiritual and its victories are eternal. Its fight is chiefly +against the inner, not the outer foe--against sin and wrong-doing, +impatience, strife, anger, clamor, meanness, evil-speaking, wrath. It is +the foe of tyranny and its heel is upon the head of the oppressor and +the avenger. Its banner flies over every country and has been carried +through tribulation, through sorrow, through danger, and through death +to the remotest parts of the yet-known world. Its troops are legion, +marching from the far distances of the past, and extending out to the +far confines of the eternal years. + +7. It is the ascendant force of the future. Rightly conducted, it will +surely absorb the vigor of the world. To stand apart from it is to be +out of step with the march of nations. The processional of progress +to-day is the processional of the historic influence of the Church. What +force has there been in time gone by, which has lived and so greatly +grown for nineteen hundred years? Nations have risen, and nations have +decayed. States, once prominent, have passed into the oblivion of the +years. Plato and Pericles, Socrates and Sophocles, Philip and Alexander, +the Caesars, the Georges, and the Louis have passed away. Their +politics have passed from our following; their empires are no more. But +through these centuries of change, the Church of God has risen stronger, +more powerful year by year; stretching its arm out to the uttermost +parts of the earth; levying tribute on the islands of the sea; enlisting +all ages and conditions, and looking out over coming generations--not as +a waning, but as a growing and ever-increasing power. Think you that +such a Church can die? Think you that any spiritual power aloof from +this Church can be as efficient as if it were allied with it? + +These, you say, are the reasons why one's allegiance should be given to +the Christian Church. Let us now look back over the processional as it +marches across the dim years. Saints, martyrs, confessors, evangelists, +and singing children have joined its historic train. Is there any other +processional in the world's history which, numbering such millions and +millions, began with only one? When the Christ enters the arena of +history, He comes as one to lead myriad deep-lived souls! Next, there +follow twelve. They, two by two, take up the marching line. Think of +their deeds and influence, of their inspiring power! What would have +been the record of those obscure fishermen of Galilee and of their +simple friends, had they refused to ally themselves with the leader who +called for their allegiance and their obedient love? + +Next follow the early disciples. Tried by scourging, by stripes, by +poverty, by imprisonment, by all manner of danger and trial, they yet +remain true. Then follow the prophets, those whose clear vision looks +out on things unknown and things unseen. To the prophet is intrusted the +ministry of hope and inspiration. Then follow the martyrs who yield life +for the cause they profess. In torture at the stake, and on the cross, +by fire and by sword, they show forth an unshaken and undying faith. +Then follow matrons and virgins, babes and children, reformers and +mediaeval saints with a convoy of angels, singing as they march. These +are the Church triumphant, the Church above. But to-day we have among us +the Church militant--the long processional of congregations, elders, +deacons, members, ministers and missionaries, young people, and workers +in every phase of enterprise and reform. These all communicant on earth +are the Church militant, whose work is to keep alive the traditions of +the past and to march onward to an endless victory and to an unceasing +praise. Who, looking upon that processional, filing through the ages of +the years of man, would say that there may be a parliament of religions? +A parliament of boasts and pomps, of good precepts and queries, of +misuses and half-truths, of superstitions and infinite idolatries, no +doubt; but there is but one religion, though it be perverted in many +ways and rightly revealed at divers times; and there is but one God, +infinite, true, holy, just, loving, and eternal. Where now are the gods +of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Bow thy head, +O Buddha! and do thou, O Zoroaster! hang thy head. Isis and Osiris grow +dim; Jove nods in heaven; the pipe of Pan is dumb; Thor is silent in the +northern Aurora; the tree of Igdrasil waves in midnight; Confucius is +pale; Muhammad is dust. Darkness is over the skirts of the gods of the +past--gloom receives them, Erebus holds outstretched arms. But the Lord +God, Jehovah, the Ancient of Days, encanopied in space and glory, leads +onward to the end of years His people in a mighty train, to a rule and +kingdom which shall know no end. May thou and I, dear friend-soul, in +whatsoever land thou be, may thou and I be numbered in that throng! + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF KINGS + + [DIE WACHT AM RHEIN] + + _Jesus shall reign where'er the sun + Doth his successive journeys run; + His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, + Till moons shall wax and wane no more. + + People and realms of every tongue + Dwell on His love with sweetest song; + And infant voices shall proclaim + Their early blessings on His Name. + + Blessings abound where'er He reigns; + The prisoner leaps to lose his chains, + The weary find eternal rest, + And all the sons of want are blest. + + Let every creature rise and bring + Peculiar honors to our King; + Angels descend with songs again, + And earth repeat the loud Amen_. + + ISAAC WATTS + +The elemental force of some men is appalling. They lift their +eyes--thrones tremble; they wave a hand--empires rise or fall. It comes +over the heart of many a man at times, Here am I, running my little +office, shop, factory, fire-engine, or professional circuit, with no +influence that I can see, beyond my borough or my barn-yard. But in the +world there are other men, no taller than I, no older than I--men born +within a stone's throw of where I was born--whose hand is on the fate of +nations, and whose decrees are universal law! + +It is deeply impressive, the way in which one man, born not above +myriads of his fellows, begins to rise until by and by he stands head +and shoulders above his generation! What is the inner vitality which +presses him upward? What is this hidden difference in men by which one +remains in the by-eddies of life, and another sweeps out on the crest of +the rising tide of history? + +Much of it is in the man himself. To be kingly is inborn. There is the +nature that refuses to be shut up to the petty, that will not content +itself with one street or town, that steps out into life from childhood +with the step of the conqueror, and walks among us; one who was born a +king. To be a king, one must have the powers of organization, +combination, discipline, direction, statesmanship. These qualities +enlarge as one passes from the particular to the general, from the +personal to the range of natural forces, emergencies, and wide pursuits. + +Dominion is an inherent right of the soul. In all our hearts, did we but +listen and understand, there are adumbrations of kingly ancestors, and +the latent stirrings of kingly powers. + +Which of us would want to be born at all, if we should be told in +advance, You shall never control anything? You shall never have the +slightest chance of self-assertion, of impressing your own individuality +upon the world? One might as well be born without hands or feet! + +Kingship involves ascendancy and authority. Both are truly gained, not +by chicanery, but by personal force. There is a natural gift of +leadership, which is strengthened by endurance, perseverance, and +ceaseless hard work. + +Kingship also involves a larger vision. One man looks at his +shoe-strings; another man looks at the stars. The first step toward rule +is to find a point of view from which one can look widely out over the +race. This is the primary value of education: it is not that books are +important, but that men are--the men who have swayed history--and books +tell of such men. Not the library is inspirational, but the life-spirit +of mankind, bound up in even dusty papyrus-rolls, or set on +clay-tablets of four thousand years ago. He who would serve his times +politically must first understand, so far as may be, all times. + +Another basis of supremacy is conviction. Leadership belongs to those +who believe. The man who has a definite policy to propose, and a +definite way of working for it, soon outstrips the man who is just +looking about. + +Kingship involves an iron will. An iron will does not imply necessarily +ugliness of temper, obstinacy, or pig-headedness. It is simply a +straight-forward, dauntless, and invincible way of doing things. What I +say, you must do, is back of all successful leadership, whether in the +home or in the world-arena. The man who is master of the obedience of +his child, or of his fellows, is master of their fate. We are all at the +mercy of the strong-willed. + +Growth is development in right assertion; it is the assumption of +legitimate responsibility and command. To be lowly of heart does not +mean to be inefficient; to be humble does not necessarily mean to be +obscure. Luther and Lincoln were both of a childlike humility of heart. + +What Christianity has not emphasized in the past, but what it must now +begin to emphasize, is the reality of dominion--its value, and its +relation to the kingdom of God. For centuries, religion has too often +been thought of, too often spoken of, as if it were the last resource of +the heart, A brilliant young professor of psychology not long ago +referred to religion as something to flee to, by those who were +disappointed in love! We have spoken so much of "giving up," that the +Christian life has wrongly seemed to mean the giving-up of one's +individuality, interests, powers. As well might we expert the deep sea +to give up its rolling tides, or the air to give up its four winds, as +to expect the heart of man to part with its human hopes! + +This is not a right interpretation of life. When Nature plants an oak in +the forest, she does not say, Be a lichen, an _Eozooen canadense_, a +small ground-creeping thing! She says, Grow! Become a tall, strong, +mountain tree! When we hold our baby in our arms, we do not say, My +child, be good for nothing! Neither does God say, Be nothing, do +nothing! Just exist as humbly and meekly as you can! He says, "Quit you +like men!" + +Each of us is born for a sceptre and a crown. It gives a strange new +thrill to life, to realize that we may be just as ambitious as we +please, that we may long earnestly for high things, and work for them, +if our inmost desire is not for self but for God. This new idea of +ambition should be at the root of education and of religious teaching. +Piety is not a namby-pamby sentiment; it is a great intellectual force. +Desire is architectural: our dreams should be of prestige and power. +True ambition is the reaching-out of the soul toward preordained +things. What else is the meaning of our love for excellence, our +insatiable yearning for perfection? "What is excellent," says Emerson, +"is permanent." To excel in any work is to combine in that work the most +enduring qualities of human labor; to excel in any place is to shine +forth with the great qualities of the race. Hence, ambition has a +rightful place. + +The power of a king is the power of control. All about us are moving the +great forces of the universe--physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual. +What we can do with them is a test of our power. Life is in many ways a +majestic trial of one's power to command. + +Three men buy adjoining tracts of land. One man mines coal upon his +acres. He amasses wealth and influence because he is in control of the +Carboniferous age and the human need of light and heat. The second man +tills his ground and raises wheat and corn. He is in command of living +nature--of the rotation of seasons, of wind, frost, rain; he uses them +to provide food for those that hunger and must be fed. The third man +lies under the trees. He digs no mine. He plants and reaps no corn and +grain. He simply lies under the trees, gazes into the sky and dreams. +Men call him idle, but he is not so. One day he writes a book. It lives +a thousand years. His control is over the spirit of man. He has entered +into its hopes and sorrows, its aspirations and its dreams. + +This story is a Parable of Kings. Such is the power of control that is +granted to each new soul. Each child is bequeathed at birth a sceptre +and a crown. + +The first rule is parental. The primitive monarchy is in the home. A +young baby cries. The trained nurse turns on the light, lifts the baby, +hushes it, sings to it, rocks it, and stills its weeping by caresses and +song. When next the baby is put down to sleep, more cries, more soothing +and disturbance, and the setting of a tiny instinct which shall some day +be will--the power of control. + +The grandmother arrives on the scene. When baby cries, she plants the +little one firmly in its crib, turns down the light, pats and soothes +the tiny restless hands that fight the air, watches, waits. From the +crib come whimpers, angry cries, yells, sobs, baby snarls and sniffles +that die away in a sleepy infant growl. Silence, sleep, repose, and the +building of life and nerve and muscle in the quiet and the darkness. The +baby has been put in harmony with the laws of nature--the invigoration +of fresh air, sleep, stillness--and the little one wakens and grows like +a fresh, sweet rose. The mother, looking on, learns of the ways of +God with men. + +Firmness is the true gentleness. There is a form of authority which must +be as implacable as the divine decree. Mercy is the requiring of +obedience to law; it is not a cajoling training in law-defiance, which +shall one day break the mother's heart and upset the social relations of +the world. + +The next rule is personal: the direction of one's own energy in the way +of one's own will. The child moves his hands, his feet; he turns his +rattle up and down, and shakes it about. He discovers that he can pull +things toward him and push them away; that he can reach things that are +higher than his head. He begins to creep. He touches things that are the +other side of the world from him, that is, across the room. He plucks +fibres from the rug or carpet; swallows straws, buttons, and little +strings. He pounds, and sets up vibrations of pleasant noise; he clashes +ten-pins, he blows his whistle, squeezes his rubber horse and man, +rattles the newspaper, flings about his bottle and his blocks. He feels +himself a self-directing power, and at times asserts this power against +the will of those who would make him do what he does not want to do. The +love of rule is in him, and he lays his little hands on power. + +Education determines whether this power shall be for good or for evil. +We cannot take away power from any child--he shall move the affairs of +nations--but we can direct this love of power, or crush it; strengthen +it, or weaken it; turn it toward the highest help of man, or deflect it +to tyranny, cruelty, and crime. + +Child-training is guidance in the way of God's decrees. It is not the +setting of one's own ideas upon a little child; it is not the +gratification of one's own love of power; it is not the satisfaction of +one's own self-conceit. It is a firm, humble striving to carry on the +harmony of the universe: to bring up the child to love order, justice, +mercy, and truth. + +Education is the teaching of how to direct energy for the universal +good. It lays hold of a child and, out of his destructive instincts--the +instinct to bang, and pull, and tear to pieces--it develops creative +power, the inventive genius that lies hid within him. It takes the pure +love of noise, and trains it to pitches, harmonies, intervals, and makes +a musician of the boy who used to whack his spoon. It takes the alphabet +and the early pothooks, and the boy by and by combines them into +literature. The apples and the peaches which he is taught to exchange +justly are by and by transmuted into trade and commerce. He brings +cargoes from Cuba and Ceylon, trades with Japan and Hawaii, and the +Asiatic isles. The energy of block-building is developed into sculpture, +architecture, and civil engineering. The stamping of his foot in anger +is directed to determination, perseverance, the rule of the brave +spirit, the unconquerable will. Nothing is more marvellous than this +grave upbuilding. + +The next rule is social: the direction of personal energy that shall +leave a distinct impress on other lives. It is long before we realize +that for each exertion we are responsible; that what we do is held +against us in strict account, not only by fate, which builds our destiny +for us out of our own deeds, but by every other person with whom we come +in contact. Our fellows check off daily against us so much vitality, so +much magnanimity, so much idleness, cruelty, spite, goodness, +selfishness, meanness, or loving-kindness. Life holds a record of our +every deed, and from no least responsibility can we make our escape. We +are the prisoners of events which we ourselves have brought about. + +The discipline of ethics, of home-training, of the Church, and of +religious teaching is addressed fundamentally to this social +consciousness of ours, this responsibility which we cannot evade. To +bear rule aright is to go forth into the world to build up, in +authority, talent, and influence, the kingdom of God. + +1. There is the agricultural phase of social rule. A man tills a farm. +It has upon it trees, streams, woodland, and meadow-land. He may +rule--to what end? If he rules it for his own personal ends--merely to +fill his granaries, and lay up gold--he rules it for miserliness, with a +sort of thrift that is as passing in inheritance as the flying +April rain. + +Or he may say: I will keep my land in trust for God. I will hold rain +and frost, heat and cold, storm and sun, in fee simple for the race. My +grain shall pass out into the world's mart, sent forth with love and +prayer. Such a farmer is the incarnation of moral grandeur. Let men +laugh, if they will, at his overalls and plough, his wide-brimmed hat, +his simple manners, and his homely, racy speech. His feet are by the +furrow, but his heart is in heaven, and his treasure is there also. Says +the author of _Nine Acres on the Hillside_, "The agriculturist walks +side by side with the Creator." + +There is a fine integrity which lies in land. There is a resolution +which is concerned with crops. There is a wisdom born of wind and +weather. There is a power which comes from the constant revival of life +in seed and fruit and flower. This man is King of God's Acres. Let him +not despise his kingdom, and may the succession not depart from +his house! + +2. There is a rule which is industrial. A man is sent into the world to +wield a hammer, a saw, and run an engine. If his rule over his hammer is +weak, if he does not know how to use it well, if its blow is uncertain +and its result unskilled, then he passes from the line of kings, and is +subject, instead of in authority, in his own domain. He is captive to a +piece of steel or wood. So with every tool of trade. Each man who +conquers his tool is a ruler--is in control of elements of human +happiness and good. The roof-mender, the furnace-builder, the +cloth-weaver, the yarn-spinner, the steel-worker, the miller--do not +these all keep the race warmed, and clad, and fed? + +3. The next rule is commercial. Trade itself is neither menial nor +demeaning. Rightly used, it is a high form of control. People have +things to buy and things to sell. The maker is handicapped. He cannot +travel elsewhere to dispose of what he has. The buyer is ignorant. He +does not know where to go, or cannot go, at first-hand, for the shoes, +the hat, the reaper, the bricks, the lumber, the stationery which he +must use. There appears upon the scene the man of observation, of +investigation, of capital, of shrewdness, of resources. With one hand he +gathers the products of the Pacific and of the South Seas. With the +other, he takes the output of the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf States, +the Mississippi valley, the northern lakes and hills. He sets up an +establishment, he puts forth runners, advertisements, and show-windows. +He stocks shelves, decks counters, and employs clerks, packers, +salesmen, cash-boys, buyers, and department heads. The man who wants to +buy, buys from a man across the sea and yet is served in his own town. + +The man of commercial power is a man of world-wide rule. He may lay up +in banks a fortune which he intends to try to spend upon himself; or he +may say: I am accountable for the pocket-books of the world. I am in +authority over them. I open a market, or close it. I buy, dispense, and +disperse human labor. I create wants, and I satisfy them. I will +establish honest laws of trade. What I do shall be rated as commercial +law. What I say shall be quoted as a way of equity and probity. That man +is a King of Trade. His throne is set upon hills and seas. His subjects +are all men with needs, and all men with products of the land, the +coasts, the sea, or brain, or skill. This is the lawful King of Trade. +He represents God's mart of exchange. Primarily, goods are not bought +and sold in the market. They are first transferred in that man's brain. + +4. Another rule is of concerted works: the rule of the Engineer. Back of +every advance in our country, in facilities of trade and transportation, +or of public health and safety, stands the man who thought it out. Take, +for instance, the development of the "Great American Desert." Who +projected its irrigation, by which areas have been redeemed from +barrenness and waste? Who planned the economic use of the Niagara Falls? +Who built the Brooklyn Bridge? Who projected the vast waterway from +Chicago to the Gulf? Who first thought of a cable across the depths of +seas? Who bridged the Firth of Forth, the Ganges, the Mississippi? Who +projected the gray docks of Montreal? the Simplon Tunnel? Who wound the +iron rails across the Alleghanies, the Rockies, the Sierras? Who drew +the wall that has encircled China for a thousand years? Who projected +the Suez Canal? the Trans-Siberian Railway? Who sunk the mines of +Eldorado? Who designed the Esplanade at Hamburg? the stone banks of the +Seine? the waterways of Venice? the aqueducts of Rome? the Appian Way? +the military roads of Chili and Peru? the Subway in New York? + +Gravity, stress, strain, weight, tension, sag, cohesion,--a few +mathematical formulas, and a knowledge of the primary laws of +physics,--upon such principles as these, the world is rapidly changing +form and use. + +The Engineer, in a strange and subtle way, stands near to God. His work +is done hand-in-hand with God. He takes the forces of nature and the +laws of the material world, and bends them to the needs and use of man. +Sky and sea or desert may be about him. He knows the arctic cold, the +tropic heat; the forest and the plain; the mountain and the marsh; the +brook and river; the peak and the precipice; the glacier and the tempest +in their course. Out of the very elements he is daily building new paths +for man to tread. Soon he, too, must pass; laid after death, it may be, +beside some mighty water that his handiwork has spanned. + +In loneliness and silence does he not often think, I wonder, of the God +with whom he deals? It is God who provides the river and the sea; God +who through endless ages has piled stone on stone, crust on crust, and +has crumpled the strata of the earth as tissue in His hand. It is God +who has bound every mote to the earth-centre; who has sent magnetic +currents coursing through the globe, and has made tides and sea-changes, +and the trade-winds to blow. It is the God of the Gulf Stream, the +Caribbean Sea, the God of the Appalachians, the God of the Himalayas, +the God of the Cordilleras, of the Amazon, the Yukon, the Yang-tse-Kiang +with which he really deals. + +The endless ages pass and go, but God abides. Little, daring man lifts +here and there a hand to mould the world which God has made--pricks the +earth for gold or silver, iron or coal--but GOD is everywhere immanent +and shines through every hour of change. Hence the March of Engineers is +the march of men whom God has trained; in a special sense His +master-workmen, craftsmen whom He loves. It is theirs to say, We are the +Kings of Works: the Master-builders of the Most High! + +5. There are Kings of Academic Thought, men who lead in professions and +in collegiate careers. The wise man is the true aristocrat. His court +may not be in a palace, but within its precincts are received and +entertained the leaders of the race. To be provost, to be college +president or university professor, is to be seated on an +intellectual throne. + +The problem of academic rule is not to attract a large number of +students, to put up imposing buildings, to have endowments, and fill +chairs with learned specialists; to grant many degrees, and to keep the +hum of a teaching staff and of a student body alive in the ears of a +community, marking the college group by flags and colors, cap and gown, +processions and occasions. These things are right, but are mainly +accessory. We have not all of a university when we have men and +buildings, money, students, brains. Back of a university there lies its +foundation-idea, that of academic control. + +What is academic rule? It is rule over the pride of man. A college is a +place whose chief power is to inculcate humility by the means of true +learning; to establish intellectual honor and integrity by searching out +the ways of God in nature, science, and philosophy, and in letters +and in art. + +It is the primary work of a university to make men humble. The Freshman +is not teachable. The Sophomore is an intellectual upstart. But by the +time a man has been beaten and conquered by the great ideals of the +world, which have pierced his bones and humbled his conceit--by the time +the race-passions and the race-sorrows have crept across his spirit, by +the time that he has been confronted with the achievements of Homer, +Empedocles, Hippocrates, Michelangelo, Socrates, Buddha, Plato, Emerson, +Gladstone, Bismarck, Lincoln, and Carlyle--his self-exaltation drops +from him like a garment. He--who knows how to construe a few pages of +the classics, who knows how to demonstrate a few mathematical problems, +scan a few verses, recite a few odes, carry on a few scientific +experiments, undertake a small research--how shall he compete with these +rulers of the thought of men? + +Then it is that the real rule of a university--its spirit of humility, +and of reverence for antiquity--begins. The true university man, born +and bred in the century, not in the years, in the race halls, not those +alone in his Alma Mater, is neither a scoffer nor an atheist, nor a +critic, sceptic, or cynic. He is a man of simple and exalted faith. God, +who hath brought such great things to pass in science, nature, and art, +in human character, in the destiny of nations, and the history of humble +men and women, is a God before whom there must be awe and reverence, and +not a flippant scouting of the ancient ideals. Man, who is so tried by +temptation and scourging of the spirit, is a creature to be loved, +appreciated, understood; not a being to whom shall be shown arrogance, +aloofness, and pride. The university that makes snobs of its graduates +has not yet entered into its kingdom of control. + +A university also holds rule over truth. Absolute truth is in God's +hand. But the university has class-rooms and libraries, apparatus and +laboratories, which are intended for the discovery and furtherance of +truth. The university is not a place to cry out for big salaries. The +salaries should be living salaries. The seeker after truth should not be +left without enough money for heat and shelter, for bread and meat, rest +and summer-change; for the coming of children and their education. But +truth may lodge without shame in an humble dwelling and may be greatly +furthered without an elaborate bill of fare. + +The university men of the times are the establishers of a kind of +righteousness that is not always found in books. Their individual value, +as they go out into the world, is to set right values on social customs +and decrees; to establish the law of freedom in the home; to lead men +and women out of the thraldom of ignorance, vulgarity, hearsay, and +"style," into simplicity of living and a sane scale of household +expense. The university leader of the future is the man who shall set +laws over household accounts and who shall rule over such simple things +as what best to eat and buy. He shall be an economist of the larger +sort, providing for the spiritual necessities of men and their moral +conduct, rather than for their balls, card-parties, and social +side-shows, including church entertainments and philanthropic dances and +bazaars. He shall pave the way to a larger view of wealth, influence, +and reform; endue man with a keener sense of his own responsibilities, +make him a creature of larger desires and of more aspiring wants. + +In particular, he shall pass down from generation to generation the high +and noble learning of the past; he shall keep alive the flower of +courtesy and charity; he shall tell the dreams of past sages, and +interpret them; he shall review the thronging nations; and he shall so +imbue the mind with a love of truth, of ideals, of excellence, of honor, +that a new race shall go out into a larger and a nobler world. And then +a better day shall dawn for men. + +6. The Kings of State. Says Milton, in his sonnet on Cromwell: + + "_Yet much remains + To conquer still; Peace hath her victories + No less renowned than War: new foes arise, + Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains. + Help us to save free conscience from the paw + Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw_." + +In the third moon of the year 1276, Bayan, the conquering lieutenant of +Genghis Khan, captured Hangchow, received the jade rings of the Sungs, +and was taken out to the bank of the river Tsientang to see the spirit +of Tsze-sue pass by in the great bore of Hangchow--that tidal wave which +annually rolls in, and, dashing itself against the sea-wall of Hangchow, +rushes far up the river, bringing, for eighteen miles inland, a tide of +fresh, deep-sea splendor, and thrilling all who see or hear. + +In the life of nations there are times and tides. Against the tide-wall +of history, beaten by many a storm, and battered by many a thundering +wave, there is about to sweep the incoming wave of a new life for the +race: there is about to pass a greater than the spirit of Tsze-sue,--even +the Spirit of God! + + "_We are living,-we are dwelling, + In a grand and awful time, + Age on age to ages telling, + To be living is sublime_!" + +We are moving out into a period of great statesmen, and of great +political standards and ideals. The days before us are days which will +make the Elizabethan era pale in history. Upon the head of our nation +are set responsibilities such as have never before rested on any +one man. + +The day of the true statesman is here; the day of the demagogue is done! +The rule of the orator is over the ideals and hopes of men. The +demagogue prostitutes this power. His rule is over the passions, +prejudices, and resentments of men. He cries aloud in the market-place, +and rogues and ward-heelers, and evil-minded politicians, group +themselves around him. He waves his sceptre over the vulgar and the +rascals of the town. + +The vital problem of municipal reform is not the shattering of the ring, +the overturning of the boss, the gagging of a few loud tongues. It is +the problem of the training of better bosses; the education of men and +women in social control; their enlightenment, from childhood up, in +civic duties, in national affairs, and the conduct of civil power. +Thereupon oratory turns to its higher ends. Through statesman, preacher, +and political teacher, it cries aloud of righteousness. I look for the +time when the typical politician shall be an honorable man; when to be +"in the ring" of municipal or national control shall mean to be an +integral and orderly part of the administration of God's great world; +when city life shall be purified; and when international law shall be +the interpretation of the will of the Almighty for the rule of nations. +We have honest doctors, lawyers, tradesmen; shall we not have an honest +politician and an upright ward-boss? + +Public service is a god-like service! Our Presidents shall more and more +be chosen, not alone for ideas, experience, or for party affiliations: +the President shall be chosen because he is a moral hero! Something has +stirred in the heart of the American people, which shall not soon be +stilled: a spiritual outlook upon political preferment. In the White +House we long to have the great spiritual exemplars of our race. Not +alone in church shall we offer up a "Prayer before Election." The time +is coming when each true ballot-slip shall be a prayer. + +Within the next fifty years shall be determined some of the greatest +questions of history. Among them shall be questions of industrial +adjustment and development, and of social progress. We must have in our +Cabinet not only the representatives of War and State, of Finance, +Trade, Labor, and Agriculture; but also of Education and of Social +Health. This is not a dream. You and I may live to see the results of +this religious awakening: it is elemental and epochal. + +Back of all individual dominion there is rising a yet higher +dominion--the dominion of the English-speaking race. We, having been +called by the providence of God to stand at the head of the march of +progress, may well ask ourselves concerning our imperial powers. The +line of progress for a nation is to allow no spiritual ideal to stagnate +or to retrograde. The spiritual aspiration of a nation always dominates +what is called the Social Mind. We grow toward what we worship. It is +ours to plant the dominion of civilization in foreign lands, and to +supplant a waning culture by a richer, truer, and nobler way of life. +The first thought of each of us, entering these new lands, whether +merchant, soldier, educator, or missionary, should be to hold Christ +aloft, that all tribes may come to His light, and kings to the +brightness of His rising. + +God leads us on. Said Lincoln: "I have been driven many times to my +knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My +own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day." +Like a vast Hand stretched against the sky of Time is the Hand of God--a +Hand writing, in these wondrous days, a destiny for generations yet to +be! Rising with us are all God-fearing nations--the Teutonic, Slav, and +Latin peoples. Sitting yet in darkness, and massed against us, crouch +sullenly the immemorial hordes of Asia, the wild blacks of the African +swamps and jungles, and the dwellers of Polynesian seas. Occident and +Orient, the world's battalions are forming for new encounters and new +dismays. Never since the strong-limbed Goths changed the face of Europe +has there been a period of such tense anticipation, nor so great a +possibility of volcanic change. We are entering an historic period of +reconstruction, when new maps of the world will be drawn. The sceptre is +passing into new hands: to-day the throne of civilization is being +arched above the seaway which joins London and New York. To-morrow, it +may be builded above Pacific tides, where our own shores look westward +to the ports of Asiatic Russia. For, rising on the world-horizon, are +these two World-empires, Russia and the United States. The dictators of +these two countries will soon become the dictators of the human race. +They are brave and virile nations, with untold reserves of power! As +these two giants gird themselves for World-dominion, who but God shall +gird the armor on, direct the onward course of change? + +Much of the ancient wealth and beauty shall be done away. In a few +generations the shrines of thirty centuries will be no more. Fane and +temple and pagoda will disappear; carvings, images, and Sikh-guarded +courts. Long lines of yellow-robed priests will chant their last +processional hymn to Buddha, and the smoking incense to waning gods +shall be quenched forever. Where Tao rites were celebrated, silence +shall fall; where fakir and dervish tortured and immolated their lives, +happy children shall play. Instead of the lotos of the Ganges and the +Nile, there shall bloom the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Vale. + +But as the empires of Buddha and Muhammad fall, a new Empire shall +prevail! + + "_Kings shall bow down before Him, + And gold and incense bring; + All nations shall adore Him, + His praise all people sing. + To Him shall prayer unceasing + And dally vows ascend; + His kingdom still increasing, + A kingdom without end_." + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF PRELATES AND EVANGELISTS + + [LYONS] + + _O Majesty throned, O Lord of all Light, + Shine down on our spirits and scatter the night; + As Adam received his life-impulse from Thee, + Endued with all fulness, we quickened would be_ + + _Let all that we know--love, learning, and power-- + Melt down in Thy Presence, and flame in this hour; + Anoint us and bless us and lift our desire + And grant us to speak as with tongues touched with fire_! + + _Life flows as a dream--its pleasures are dear: + The world is about us--temptation is near; + Oh, guide us, and shew us the pathway to God + The feet of the prophets aforetime have trod_! + + _The bells cease their chime,--the hosts enter in: + May many be purged of their sloth and their sin! + Cheer Thou the despondent, the weary, the sad, + Rouse all to rejoicing, that all may be glad_. + + _And when life is o'er, and each must depart + In quaking and silence,--abide with each heart; + The songs of Thy saints then caught up to the skies, + As waves of great waters shall thunderous rise_! + + ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY + +In Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_ there is the legend of the Sword of Assay. +In the church against the high altar was a great stone, four-square, +like unto a marble stone. In the midst of it was an anvil of steel, a +foot high, and therein stood a naked sword by the point. About the sword +there were letters written, saying, "Whoso pulleth out this sword of +this stone and anvil, is righteous king born of all England." Many +assayed to pull the sword forth, but all failed, until the young Arthur +came, and, taking the sword by the handle, lightly and fiercely pulled +it out of the stone! By this token he was lord of the land. + +Each man's life is proved by some Sword of Assay. The test of a man's +call to the ministry is his power to seize the Sword of the Spirit: +wield the spiritual forces of the world, insight, conviction, +persuasion, truth. To do this successfully at least five things appear +to be necessary: a sterling education, marked ability in writing and in +public speaking, a noble manner, a voice capable of majestic +modulations, and a deep and tender heart. These phrases sound very +simple, but perhaps they mean more than at first appears. Have we not +all met some one, in our lifetime, whose acquaintance with us seemed to +have no preliminaries?--some one who never bothered to say anything at +all to us, until one day he said something that leaped and tingled +through our very being? This is the power that a minister ought to have +with every soul with whom he comes in contact: his word should quickly +touch a vital spot. No one to-day cares much for mere oratory, literary +discussion, polemics, or cursory exegesis; "marked ability in writing +and in public speaking" means that grip on reality which makes people +quiver, repent, believe, adore! + +Sincerity is the basis of such power. At heart we worship the man who +will not lie; who will not use conventions or formulas in which he does +not believe; who does not give us a second-hand view of either life or +God; who does not play with our conscience because it is not politic to +be too direct; who does not juggle with our doubts, nor ignore our hopes +and powers; who also frankly acknowledges that he, too, is a man. + +A call to the ministry also involves an over-mastering spiritual desire. +Tell me what a man wants, and I will tell what he is, and what he can +best do. If a man desires above all things to conduit a great business, +he is by nature qualified for trade; if he desires knowledge, he is +designed for a scholar; if he is always observing form, rhyme, aesthetic +beauty, and striving to produce verse, he is a born poet. But if the one +thing that rules his dreams is the longing for spiritual power--the +thought of impressing God upon his generation, and leading men to a +clearer view of life and duty--he is a born minister of the Spirit, and +to the spirit of the sons of men. Along with this goes the great burden: +"Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel!" + +Wherever, to-day, there is a young man in whose heart is stirring a +great devotional dream for the race, who longs to project his life into +the most enduring and far-reaching influence, who craves the exercise of +great gifts and powers, there is a man whose heart God is calling to +possibilities such as no one can measure, and to triumphs such as no one +can forecast! The highest triumphs of these coming years are to be +spiritual. The leader is to be the one who can carry the deepest +spiritual inspiration to the hearts of his fellow-men. Do not let the +hour go by! This day of vision is the prophetic day! + +But if the call be answered, if certain high-spirited and noble-minded +men ask thus to stand as spiritual ministrants to the souls of men, how +shall they be trained for the high office? + +The old way will not do. Sweeping changes, in these last days, have come +over the commercial, academic, and social world. We do not go back to +the hand-loom, the hand-sickle, the hand-press. What is true of these +aspects of life is true of the spiritual training. It must be larger, +freer, grander, than before. Time was when a theologian, it was +thought, must be separated from the world--an ascetic working in the dim +half-light of the old library, or scriptorium, or hall. To-day, he must +gain much of his training from the great life of the world--learn how to +meet men and occasions, and be prepared to deal with modern forces and +energies with courage, knowledge, and decision. + +We read of the earnest Thomas Goodwin: his favorite authors were such as +Augustine, Calvin, Musculus, Zanchius, Paraeus, Walaeus, Gomarus, and +Amesius. What Doctor of Theology takes the last six of these to bed with +him to-day? + +Our theological courses are too dry. Look carefully over the catalogues +of thirty or forty of our own seminaries, and notice the curious, almost +monastic, impression which they make. Then realize that the men who +pursue these abstruse and mediaeval subjects are the men who go out into +churches where the chief topics of thought and conversation are crops, +stocks, politics, clothes, servants, babies! There is a grim humor in +the thing, which seems to have escaped those who have drawn up the +curriculum. + +Life is not monastic. It is very lively. We scarcely get, in all our +post-collegiate life, a chance to sit and muse. We go through +sensations, experiences, and incongruities, which stir a sense of fun. A +man reads (I notice) in his seminary, St. Leo, _Ad Flaeirmum_, and makes +his first pastoral call on a woman who proudly brings out her first +baby for him to see. _Ad Flaeirmum_ indeed! What does St. Leo tell the +youth to say? + +What should be breathed into a man in the seminary, is not the mere +facts of ecclesiastical history, but the warm pulsating currents of +human life; the profound significance of the founding and the progress +of the Church; a deep psychological understanding of human desires, +motives, joys, ambitions, griefs; the relentlessness of sin; the help +and glory of Redemption; the quickening of the Christ; the vigor and the +tenderness of faith. Coincident with these must be a growth in depth and +dignity of life. No one likes to take spiritual instruction from men who +are themselves crude, foolish, sentimental, or conceited. Many social +snags on which young ministers are sure to run, are simply the rudiments +of social conduct, as practised by the world. Noble manners are one's +personal actions as influenced and guided by the great behavior of the +race. Under the impulse of ideals, much that is untoward or superficial +in one's bearing will disappear. It is impossible to think as noble men +and women have thought--to dream, love, and work as they have dreamed, +loved, and wrought--and not have pass into one's mien the high +excellence of such lives. + +The first education is spiritual. Until mind and heart are swept by the +spirit of God, chastened, purified, ennobled, and inspired, vain is all +the learning of the schools! To this end, there should be a more deeply +spiritual atmosphere in our seminaries, less of the mere academic +impulse. In every age, there are men just to come in contact with whom +is a benediction and a help for years. Such a man was Mark Hopkins, Noah +Porter, James McCosh. Such the leading men in every seminary should be. + +The plan of education must be of principles, not of facts. The +university research-men gather facts, and scientific men everywhere +collect, analyze, and classify them. But each small department of human +learning--each minute branch in that department--needs a lifetime for +the mastery of that one theme. Hence the work of the college is quite +apart from that of the school of theology. It is the place of the school +of theology, not to ignore the New Learning, but to group, upon the +basis of a thorough college training, certain great interests and +pursuits of mankind, in such a way as to afford, by means of them, a +leverage for spiritual work. + +After all is said and done, it is not the grammar-detail of Latin, +Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic dialects that makes a minister's power. It is +the strange language-culture of the race which should enter in; the +inner vitality of words, the beauty of poetic cadences, the strong flow +of rhythm, noble themes, great thoughts, impressive imagery and appeal. +We should know the Bible as literature, not as one knows a story-book, +or a dialect-exercise, but as one knows the melodies and memories of +childhood. + +The vital thing is not a knowledge of the historical schisms and decrees +of Christendom--not the external Evidences of Religion, Ecclesiastical +History, Ecclesiastical Polity, monuments, texts, memorabilia--the vital +thing is the power to think about God, and the problems of mankind. It +is a heart-knowledge of the difficulties and questionings of a race that +yearns for virtue. + +Man thirsts for God. No one is wholly indifferent to the Spirit. I fear +that some ministers do not know--and never will know--the heart-hunger +of the world. When they rise to speak, there is always some one present +whose breath is hushed with longing to hear spoken some real word of +truth, or strength, or comfort. If he receive but chaff!-- + +Theology is not a dry thing, and ought not be made so. It is quick with +the life of the race. Each dogma is a mile-stone of human progress. It +is the sifted and garnered wisdom of the centuries, concerning God, and +His ways with men. Each student should feel, not that a system is being +driven into him, as piles are driven into the stream, but that he is +being put in philosophic contact with the thought of the race on the +great topic of Religion, with liberty himself to experiment, think, and +add to the store. + +Homiletics is not a series of nursery-rules for man--formal, didactic +droppings of a pedant's tongue. Homiletics is the appeal of man to man, +for the welfare of his soul, and the true progress of mankind. Exegesis +is not a matter of Hebrew or Greek alone. It includes the spiritual +interpretation of the great problems of the race. Homer, Tennyson, +Browning, and Dante are exegetes, no less than Lightfoot, Lange, +and Schaff. + +Pastoral Divinity is not the etiquette of a polite way of making calls: +it is an entering into the social spirit of the time; the learning of +friendliness, unreserve, sympathy, persuasion, and a way of approach. It +is the mastery of spiritual _savoir-faire_. + +Outside of this group of technical subjects there are yet others of +vital importance from a scientific understanding of the world, and of +one's work. They are Psychology, Ethics, Sociology, and Politics. + +Since we have known more of the psychological meaning of adolescence, a +new theory of Conversion has sprung up; and whether or not we accept it, +the whole outlook over the underlying principle of conversion has been +changed. We must at least recognize that conversion is a scientific +process, as much as digestion is, or respiration; it is not a purely +emotional occurrence. + +The minister must learn what society really is, and how the far still +forces of time act and react upon each other, producing group-actions, +institutions, customs, ways. There are social fossils as well as +physical ones. Sociology is not a system of fads and reforms. It is the +scientific study of society, of its constitution, development, +institutions, and growth. He must also breathe largely of the great +governmental life of the race--understand the primary principles of +politics and administration. He should have some knowledge of commercial +interests, of the formulas, incentives, and right principles of trade. + +There should also be in the seminary an inspirational atmosphere of +music, literature, and art. Literature is a revelation of the life of +the soul. The man who reads literature and comprehends its message is +receiving a fine training which shall fit him for a thorough +understanding of the heart; of its practical, ethical, and spiritual +problems; of its domestic joys and sorrows; of its human cares and +burdens; of the appeals that will come to him for sympathy; of the +temptations that beset the race; and of the hopes and trials of +the world. + +Literature is one of the best tools a minister can have. He should be +read in the great literary and sermonic literature, the work of Bossuet, +Massillon, Chrysostom, Augustine, Fenelon, Marcus Aurelius, mediaeval +homilies, Epictetus, Pascal, Guyon, Amiel, Vinet, La Brunetiere, Phelps, +Jeremy Taylor, Barrows, Fuller, Whitefield, Bushnell, Edwards, Bacon, +Newman, Ruskin, Carlyle, Emerson, Davies, Law, Bunyan, Luther, Spalding, +Robertson, Kingsley, Maurice, Chalmers, Guthrie, Stalker, Drummond, +Maclaren, Channing, Beecher, and Phillips Brooks, yes, even John Stuart +Mill. All these men, by whatever name or school they are called, are +writers of essays or sermons which appeal to the most spiritual deeps +of man. + +He should read the novels of Richter, Thackeray, Dickens, Scott, Eliot, +and Victor Hugo. He should know intimately the great verse which +involves spiritual problems, and human strife and aspiration,--Milton, +Beowulf, Caedmon, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, ballads, sagas, the +Arthur-Saga, the Nibelungenlied, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Herbert, +Tennyson, Browning, Dante and Christina Rossetti, Whittier, Lowell, +Longfellow, to say nothing of Goethe, Corneille, and the Greek, Roman, +Persian, Egyptian, Hindu, and Arabian verse. + +In music his heart should wake to the beauty of oratorios, symphonies, +chorals, concert music, national and military music, and inspiring +songs, not to speak of hymns and of anthems, the progress of Christian +song! The _Creation_, the _Messiah_, the _Redemption_, Bach's _Passion +Music_, the _St. Cecilia Mass_, Spohr's _Judgment_, Stainer's +_Resurrection_, the _Twelfth Mass_, Mendelssohn's _Elijah_,--these are +monumental works and themes. + +What is a hymn? We think of it as being some simple churchly words, set +to a serious tune. A hymn is the rhythmic aspiration of the race. No one +can look through a good hymnal--through _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, for +instance, or the Church Hymnary--without feeling that therein is bound +up the devotional life of the world. The spiritual outlook is cosmic. +Our every mood of penitence, praise, and aspiration resounds in +melodious and time-defying strains. + +In art, the religious spirit broods over the great work of the world. In +Angelo, Francesca, Veronese, Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto, +and Correggio, the brush of the painter has set forth the adoration of +the Church of God. + +Thus, taken all in all, to be educated as a minister should be to be +educated in the Higher Life of the race. + +Finally, above all else is the spiritual study and interpretation of the +Word of God. A minister may be fearless of the investigations of +scientific criticism. Every truth is important to him, but not all +truths are vital. When a man such as Caspar Rene Gregory speaks, +something of the holy mystery and inspiration of biblical research, as +well as a scientific result, is presented, and one gains a new +conception of what it really means to study and to understand the +Word of God. + +Under all is the life of ceaseless and prevailing prayer. By the life of +prayer, many mean merely a way of learning to make public petitions, an +objective appeal to God. The true life of prayer is as simple, as +unteachable, and as vital as the life of a child with its mother--the +little lips daily learning new ways of approach to its mother's heart, +and new words to make its wants and interests and sorrows known. + +Prayer is the true World-Power. Just as there are vast stretches in the +world where the foot of man has never trod, so there are unmeasured +regions whereon prayer has never been. The more we pray, the more +illimitable appears this spiritual realm. And all about us in the +universe are also great hidden forces: nothing will lay hold of them +but prayer. + +Each prayer enlarges the soul. The measure of our praying is the measure +of our growth. No man has reached his full possibilities of achievement +who has not completed the circuit of his possible prayers. Power is +proportionate to prayer. + +And last of all, there is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. What it +is, who may say? But that it is real, who can doubt? To read the lives +of Wesley, Whitefield, Finney, Moody, is to feel a strange, deep thrill. +They are men who spake, and men listened; who called, and men came to +God. Others, alas, so often call, and there is no response. They cannot +make headway through the indifference, the sloth, the materialism, and +the inherent vulgarity of the world. + +The life itself is arduous. After all is said, it is not quite the same +task to examine and classify either protoplasm or the most highly +organized forms of nature, that it is to analyze and understand the +mysterious workings of the heart, the intricacies of conscience and +conduct, the possibilities of spiritual development or of moral +downfall, and the many questionings, agonies, and ecstasies of the soul +of man. And they are to be studied and understood with the definite and +positive aim of the absolute reconstruction of the world-bound spirit--a +change of its motives, purposes, affections, ideals. More than this, +there must be at the heart of the more thoughtful minister a philosophic +basis for the reconstruction of society itself. + +Youth is not an adequate preparation for this task: a man must live and +grow. To deal with such themes and occasions, there must appear in the +world lives of such vigor that they can command; of such charm, that +they can attract; of such wisdom, that they can guide and comfort; of +such vitality, that they can inspire. And hence there rises before the +mind's eye a figure that is both knightly and kingly--a man earnest in +the redress of wrong, and who yet holds a subtle authority over the +forces that make for wrong; a man burdened with the cares and sorrows of +many others, and yet conducting his own life with serenity, enthusiasm, +dignity, and hope; a man to whose keen yet tender gaze a life-history +is revealed by a word or tone, but whose own eyes receive their light +from God. A prophet and a father, a priest and a counsellor, a brother, +friend, and judge, a sacrifice and an inspiration should he be who, in +reverence and love, brings before a waiting congregation the very +Word of Life! + + +SECOND: OF SPIRITUAL RULE + +1. The primary rule is over conscience. The man who sways a conscience +sways a human life. The man who sways a nation's conscience controls +that nation's life. To rule conscience, a man must himself be +unprejudiced and well informed. He must strive, not to keep up an +unhealthy excitement which shall make conscience introspective and +morbid, but to preserve a sane moral outlook, to encourage freedom of +thought and judgment, and to develop a normal conscience which reacts +promptly against wrong. Conscience measures our inner recoil from evil. +The power of a preacher is in direct proportion to the energy with which +he reveals sin in the heart of man, and wakes his whole nature against +its insidious power. + +Sin is. To-day, sin is thought a somewhat brusque word, lacking in +polish. To use it frequently is a mark of lack of '_savoir-faire_! +Indeed to speak of it at all is as archaic as to speak of the +Ichthyosaurus. But sin is a root-fact of the life of man. It is the +office of the spiritual teacher to pluck out sin; to pierce the heart +with a recognition of the enormity of sin, and of its far-reaching +consequences; to stir the seared conscience, rouse the apathetic life, +thrill the spiritual imagination, and to quicken the heart to better +love and to nobler dreams. He rebukes the private sins of individuals +and the public sins of nations. In the _Faerie Queene_, the +"soul-diseased knight" was in a state + + "_In which his torment often was so great, + That like a lyon he would cry and rare, + And rend his flesh, and his own synewes eat_." + +But Fidelia, like the faithful pastor, was both + + "_able with her word to kill, + And raise againe to life the heart that she did thrill_." + +This power has at times been misunderstood and misapplied. No human +authority can bind the conscience, nor set rules and regulations for the +soul of man. The prerogative of final direction belongs to God alone. No +man may arrogate it--no pastor for people, no husband for wife, no wife +for husband, no parent for child. The sadness of the world has been, +that men have not always been spiritually free. Freedom has been a +social growth--a phase of progress. It has taken wars and persecutions, +revolutions and reformations, the blood of saints and martyrs, the +sorrow of ages, to plant this precept in the mind of man. + +The evangelist warns. He speaks of sin, death, hell, and the judgment +to come. It is for these things that he is sent to testify. These are +not the catch-words of a new sort of Fear King who uses oral terrors to +affright the soul of man. Heaven and hell are not a new sort of +ghost-land: retribution is not a larger way of tribal revenge. + +No. The latest facts of science present this universe as not only +progressive, but as retributive. There is a rebound of evil which makes +for pain. Each broken law exacts a penalty. Each deed of sin is a +forerunner of personal and of social disaster. The generation that sins +shall be cut off, while the stock of the righteous grows strong from +age to age. + +The scientific vista opening to the eye of man is impressive and +appalling. Each man has within himself a future of joy or sadness for +the race. Do you remember the sermon of Horace Bushnell on the +"Populating Power of the Christian Faith"? Do you recall the history of +the infamous Jukes family? That of the seven devout and noble +generations of the Murrays? The Day of Judgment is not only the Last +Great Day--it is to-day and every day. "Every day is Doomsday," says +Emerson. Nature is unforgetful. Nature is accountant. Each iniquity must +be paid for out of the resources of the race. + +It is of these grave omens that the Man of God must speak. He dare not +be tongue-tied by custom or by fear. He must proclaim hell in the ears +of all mankind. For wherever hell may be, and we do not yet know, and +whatever hell may be, and we cannot even imagine, Hell _is_; and the +soul of man must be kept mindful of these great things. + +The evangelist comforts and consoles. The heart of man is wayward and +goes oft astray. No one can be belabored into righteousness. The true +lover of souls allows for the hereditary weaknesses of man, for his +infirmities of will and temper, for his excuses, wanderings, and tears, +and presents to him Jesus, in whose sight no one is too wretched to be +received, too wicked to be forgiven. + +We must have forgiveness in order to know God. The most comforting +thought in the world is that God knows all we do. There can be no +misunderstanding between us: He cannot be misinformed. + +The evangelist must come close, in sympathy and counsel, to the personal +and individual life of those whom he would help. Perhaps the best way to +emphasize this point would be to insert here words written by a woman +who has been thinking on this subject. + +She says: "I have never had a pastor. It is the one good thing lacking +in my life. I have grown up among ministers, and have had many friends +among them--some of them have cared for me. But there has never been one +among them all who stood in an attitude of spiritual authority and +helpfulness to my life. We church-going and Christian men and women of +the educated class are almost wholly let alone; apparently no one takes +thought for our souls. We are not in the least infallible; we come face +to face with fierce temptations; we have heart-breaking sorrows; we are +burdened with anxiety and perplexity. But we are left to grope as blind +sheep; there is no one to point out the path to us, however dimly; no +one to say, at any crucial moment of our lives, Walk here! + +"Once, however," she continues, "one of my friends, a minister, knelt +down by me and prayed. It was a simple and ordinary occasion--others +were present. But every word of that prayer was meant for the uplifting +of my heart. In that hour, I was as if overshadowed by the Holy Ghost; +new aims and purposes were born within me. My friend loves me--that does +not matter--it is his spiritual intensity I care for. And this is his +reward for his fidelity and tenderness: In the hour when I come to die, +when one does not ask for father or mother, or husband or wife, or +brother or sister, or friend or child, but only for the strong comfort +of the man of God--in that hour, I say, if I be at all able to make my +wishes known, I shall send for that man to come to me. He, and no other, +shall present my soul to God." + +Reading the above words, more than one minister will cry out, his eyes +blazing: "I say the same to you! Who is there that tries to shield the +minister from sorrow and from pain? Who is there to comfort and help +_him_? You think we can just go on, and preach, preach, preach, standing +utterly alone, and with no one on earth to keep our own hearts close to +God! I tell you, it is a lonely and weary work at times, this being a +minister!" + +Yes, there must be a people, as well as a pastor. The relation is +reciprocal. Wherever there is a strong man, leaning down in fire and +tenderness to help the lives about him, there must be a loyal and loving +congregation, with here and there in it some one who more fully +appreciates and understands. Nothing beats down and discourages a man +more than to feel that he is preaching to cold air and not to human +folks, and to get back, when he offers sympathy, a stare. + +A congregation is a mysterious and subtle social force. Its effect on a +minister he can neither analyze nor explain. But he knows that its power +is mesmeric and cannot be escaped. He goes into its presence from an +hour of exalted and uplifted prayer, serene, happy, strong, and prepared +to speak words of power and life. Gazing at his people--he can never +tell why--the words freeze on his lips. An icy hand seems laid upon his +heart, and he makes a cold and formal presentation of his glowing theme, +and wonders who or what has done it all. Something satanic and +repelling has laid hold of his tongue and brain. + +Or again, he may have had a worried and troubled week, full of personal +anxiety and sorrow. He has not had full time to study--he feels quite +unprepared, and enters the pulpit with a halting step, and a choking +fear of failure at his heart. + +In a moment, the world changes. Something imperceptible, but sweet and +comforting, steals over him,--an uplifting atmosphere of attention, +sympathy, affection. He begins to speak, very quietly at first, with +quite an effort. But the congregation leads him on, to deeper thoughts, +to nobler words, to modulations of voice that carry him quite beyond +himself. His voice rises, and every syllable is firm and musical. His +language springs from some far centre of inspiration. He is conscious of +superb power, and as sentence after sentence falls from his +lips----sentences that amaze himself more than any other----he enters +into the supreme height of joy, that of being a spiritual messenger to +the hearts of longing men and women. He and they together talk of God. + +This sympathetic atmosphere makes great preachers and great men. In +return, there flows from a pastor toward his people a love that few can +know or understand. + +2. His rule is also over spiritual enthusiasm. What is a revival? We +confound it with a local excitement, a community-sensation of an +hysterical and passing type--with sensational disturbances, falling +exercises, shouts, weeping, and the like. A revival is something far +different. A revival is an awakening of the community heart and mind. It +is a quickening of dead, backsliding, or inattentive souls. + +Man as an individual is quite a different person from the same man in a +crowd. One is himself alone; the other is himself, plus the influence of +the Social Mind. A revival is a social state, in which the social +religious enthusiasm is stirred up. It is a lofty form of religion, just +as the patriotism which breaks forth in tears and cheers as troops go +out to war is a finer type than the mere excitement and fervor of one +patriotic man. What would the Queen's Jubilee have been, if but one +soldier had marched up and down? A great commemoration! If we grant the +reality of national rejoicing in the royal jubilees, commercial +rejoicing in business men's processions, university enthusiasm on +Commencement Day--shall we not grant the reality of the religious +interest and enthusiasm of a great revival, in which whole communities +shall be led to a clearer knowledge of spiritual things? + +The Crusades were a magnificent revival. The Reformation was a revival. +The Salvation Army movement is a revival. But the greatest revival of +all times is even now upon us: it is a revival in the scientific +circles of the race. Time was when science and religion were supposed to +be at odds; to-day the intellectual phalanxes are sweeping Christward +with an impetus that is sublime! Thinkers are finding in the large life +of religion a motive power for their thought, their growth--a reason for +their existence--a forecast of their destiny. We are beginning to +realize the dynamic value of Belief. This revival is coming, not with +shouts and noise, but with the quiet insistence of new ideas, of new +facts--with the still voice of scientific announcement. The atheist is +being overcome, not by emotion, but by evidence; the scoffer is being +put down by cool logic. + +Hence the evangelist of to-day is more than a man who can popularly +address a public audience, and by tales and tears arouse a weeping +commotion. The evangelist is a man of intellect and prayer, who can +preach the gospel to a scientific age, and to a thinking coterie--a +coterie of college men and mechanics, of society women and +servant-girls, of poets and of mine-diggers, of convicts and of +reformers. To-day calls for the utmost intellectual resources of the +teacher of the truth, for a great imagination, great style, great +sympathy with men, large learning, and unceasing prayer! + +3. His rule is over social ideals. He must be a man of social insight. +The social spirit is abroad in the world, but it is woefully erratic +and misguided. Any one thinks he can be an altruist. Why not? Take a +class in a college settlement, make some bibs for a day nursery, give +tramps a C.O.S. card, with one's compliments, and attend about six +lectures a year on Philanthropy--the lectures very good indeed. One is +then a full-fledged altruist, _n'est-ce pas_? + +The philanthropy of to-day has a bewildering iridescence of aspect. Each +present impulse is reformatory. Correction, like a centipede, shows a +hundred legs and wants to run upon them all. Much of the so-called +philanthropy is not well balanced and is run by cranks. Cranks attach +themselves to any social movement, as a shaggy gown will gather burrs. +It is not all of philanthropy to classify degenerates, titter at +ignorance, and to go a-peeping through the slums! We have not yet +realized the fulness of redemption. Of what avail is it to save one +street-Arab, or one Chinaman, if a million Arabs and Chinamen remain +unsaved? Redemption is a race-savior: it seizes not only the individual, +but his environment, his friends, and his future state. + +The true minister is a reformer. A reformer is one who re-crystallizes +the social ideals of man, who breaks up idols and bad customs, and +sweeps away abuses. But we must first ask: What is an idol? What is a +bad custom? What is an abuse? They are social standards which are out of +harmony with true concepts of God, life, and duty. Behind the work of +the reformer is the dream of the reformer, the meditation of the mystic, +the seer. He must first have in mind a plain, clear conception of what +the relation is of man to God, of what man's environment should be, and +of what the society of the Kingdom should be. The reformer is one who +changes an existing social environment for approximately this ideal +environment of his own thought. When he breaks an idol, it is not the +idol itself that he everlastingly hates, it is the materialistic concept +of the community. What he wishes in place of the idol is a right +conception. No man could break up every idol in the Sandwich Islands. +But a man went about implanting a spiritual idea of God, and the idols +disappeared. + +Hence the work of the reformer is deep and heart-searching work. It +means constant study of the spiritual needs of the age, continual +insight into the material forces which are moulding the age-images, +money, conquest, or whatever they may be. He wishes to maintain a +spiritual hold on civilization itself, so to transform the ideal within +a man, a community, a nation, in regard to custom, observance, belief, +that the outer rite shall follow. + +To reform is not to rush through the slums, and then preach a +sensational sermon about bad places in the slums, of which most people +never knew before! To reform is to know something of the conditions +which produce the slums--it is not to scatter the slum-people broadcast +elsewhere in the town; it is not alone to give them baths, playgrounds, +circulating libraries of books and pictures, dancing-parties, and social +clubs. To reform the slums is to set up a new ideal of God, and of +righteous conduct in the heart of the slum-dwellers. One must know +something of the slow processes of social change, of social +assimilation, growth, and stability, to have an intellectual perception +of the problem, as well as a spiritual one. One does not make an ill-fed +child strong by stuffing five pounds of oatmeal down its throat! + +The reformer must not only be a man of energy, he must be a man of +patience. Great reforms come slowly. As man has advanced, idleness, +indolence, brutality, tyranny, drunkenness, cant, and social scorn are +gradually being cast out. But behind these simple words lie hid +centuries of strife and endeavor, and limitless darkenings of +human hope. + +To fly against vice is merely to invite enmity and opposition. To +present a pure and noble ideal, to breathe forth a holy atmosphere for +the soul, are constructive works. The trouble is not, that the ministers +preach on social themes--all themes that concern the life of man are +social themes. It is that they do piece-work and patch-work of reform, +instead of plain, direct upbuilding work in the souls and consciences of +men. To preach upon horse-stealing is one thing. The horse-stealer may +be impressed, convicted, made penitent, and return the stolen horse. But +not until his heart is imbued with a spiritual conception of honesty, as +the law of God, will he steal a stray horse no more. Hence the first +questions in reform are not: How many groggeries are there in my parish? +How many corrupt polls? How many hypocrites on my church-roll? The +question is: How is my parish society in enmity to the highest spiritual +ideal I know? Many men preach about saloons, when they ought to be +preaching about Christ. + +The force of this reform-energy is uncomputed. We hear of occasional +great reformers, but forget that there has been a prevailing influence +extending over the ages, of holy men of God, who have preached and +taught and prayed; who have preserved our social institutions of +spiritual import, and have been a mighty and continuous force working +for righteousness and peace. + +Missions are a higher form of politics. To further missions is to +further government, international comity, world-peace. + +4. His rule is over creed. He is inevitably a teacher of doctrine. + +What is doctrine? Doctrine is spiritual truth, formulated in a +systematic way. It is also, in church matters, a system of truth which +has been believed in, and clung to, by a body of believers constituting +some branch of the catholic Church. + +It is a noble and serious office to hand down from generation to +generation the faith and traditions of the Church of God. But this +handing-down must be upright. "You must bind nothing upon your charges," +says Jeremy Taylor, "but what God hath bound upon you." Conviction is at +the root of the lasting traditions of the Church. Only this--his +conviction--can one man really teach another. If he try to speak +otherwise, he shall have a lolling and unsteady tongue. + +No soul is finally held by the indefinite, or the namby-pamby. It begins +to question, Upon what foundation does this phrase, this fine sentiment, +rest? It must stand upon a proposition. This proposition rests either +upon a scientific fact, or upon that which, for want of a more definite +term, we call the religious instinct of man. But a proposition cannot +standalone. It is connected with other propositions, arguments, +conclusions. Hence a system of logic, of philosophy, of expressed +belief, of doctrine, inevitably grows up in a thinking community, a +thinking Church. + +The statement of an ecclesiastical system of doctrine may not be the +absolutely true one, nor the final one. Doctrine changes, even as +scientific theories change with fuller information. Doctrine also +expands, with the growth of the human spirit and understanding. To-day, +in one's library, one has a thousand books. They are shelved and +catalogued, for reference, in a special order. But years hence, one's +grandson, who inherits these books, may have ten thousand books. The +aspect of the library is changed. It is filled with new volumes, and new +thought. Shall we give a liberty to a man's library which we refuse to +his belief? Must he--and his church--have only his grandfather's ideas, +standards, and decrees? + +The tenets of a sect are the theological arrangement of belief which for +the present seems best; it is the systematic arrangement of facts so far +examined, determined, and classified. But no system of theology can be +final. Thought is moving on. Experience is progressive. Providence is +continually revealing. The race is a creed-builder, as well as a builder +of pyramids, cathedrals, and triumphal arches. + +The building-up of doctrine is superb. Into doctrine are woven the +intellectual beliefs, the emotional experiences, and the spiritual +struggles of mankind. Doctrine is an attempt to classify the spiritual +problems of the race and to present a theory of redemption which shall +be adequate, spiritually progressive, and the exact expression, so far +as yet revealed, of the will of God for man. All Christian doctrine is +centred about one point: the redemption of the race from sin. Dealing +with such great and fundamental themes, each system of doctrine is an +intellectual triumph. + +Doctrine is an intellectual necessity. Christ is not sporadic, either in +history or philosophy. To teach Christ, as the unlettered savage may +who has just learned of Christ the Saviour and turns to teach his +fellow-savages, might do good or save a soul from death. But in order to +command the intellectual respect of the race, there must be another form +of teaching yet than this, a teaching which presents Christ in the +historic and philosophic setting: the central Figure in a great body of +associated spiritual truth; Christ as the fulfilment of prophecy, the +means of social adjustment and regeneration; the Finisher of our Faith, +and the Source of eternal joy. We must be, not less spiritual +Christians, but increasingly intellectual ones, as time rolls on. + +Who are the men who have built up doctrine? Men speak as if doctrine +were an ecclesiastical toy--to be shaken by priest or prelate, as one +shakes a rattle, for noise, for play! A doctrine is not a toy; it is the +crystallized belief of earnest, thoughtful, and godly men--belief which +has passed into a church tradition, and is now received as an act +of faith. + +Shall doctrine be taught a child? Yes! To have a specific doctrine +clearly in mind does not fetter the young soul, any more than to be +taught the apparent facts of geography and history, which may change +either in reality or in his own interpretation as his mind matures. A +doctrine is a practical and definite thing to work with; in later life +to believe, and to approve of, or disbelieve, and disapprove of. If a +man wishes to build a house, does it fetter him to know square measure, +cubic contents, geometry, mensuration, and mechanical laws? Yet when he +builds his house, he builds it in his own individual way; he stamps it +with his own personality and ideas. While building it, perchance, he +discovers some new relation or geometric law. + +Doctrine does not save from hell, but it does save from many a snare +that besets the feet of man. It is a steadier of life, a strengthener of +hope, a stalwart aid to a practical, devout, and duty-doing life. A +catechism is a system of doctrine expressed in its simplest form. +Therefore, for the intellectual and moral training of the Church, let us +have sound doctrine in the pulpit, and the catechism in the home and +Sabbath-school. + +It is objected that doctrinal terminology is too hard for a child to +understand. Is this not absurd, when the same child can come home from +school and talk glibly of a parallelepipedon, a rhombus, rhomboid, +polyhedral angle, archipelago, law of primogeniture, the binomial +theorem, and of a dicotyledon! He also learns French, German, Latin, +Greek, and the _argot_ of the public school! + +The theological leader of to-day cannot be a creed-monger: he must be a +creed-maker. Side by side with the executive officers who will +reorganize the Christian forces, there will stand great creed-makers, +giant theologians, firm, logical, scientific, and convincing, who, out +of the vast array of new facts brought forth by modern science, will +produce new creeds, a new catechism, a new dogmatic series. It is worth +while to live in these days--to know the possibility of such monumental +constructive work in one's own lifetime. The creed-makers must have a +thorough literary training; no mere vocabulary of philosophy will +answer. Like the Elizabethan divines, they must rule the living word, +which shall echo for a century yet to come. + +As the great Ecumenical Council was convened for missionary progress, so +the times are now ripe for the assembling of a historic Theological +Council, to revise and restate, not one denominational catechism, but +the creed of Christendom; to provide a new literary expression of the +Christian faith. Together we are working in God's world, and for +His kingdom. + +If doctrine be the crystallized thought and belief of godly men, what is +heresy? What is schism? Who is dictator of doctrine? How far are the +limits of authority to be pressed? What are the bounds of ecclesiastical +control? of intellectual mandate in the Christian Church? + +In the academic world, we do not cast a man out of his mathematical +chair because he can also work in astro-physics or in psycho-physics. If +he can pursue advanced research in an allied or applied field, it will +help him in his regular and prescribed work. We do not cast an English +professor out of his chair, because he announces that there are two +manuscripts of Layamon's _Brut_, and that the text of Beowulf has been +many times worked over, before we have received it in its present form. +Yet there are accredited professors of English who do not know these +facts, and who, if called upon, could neither prove them nor disprove +them. They have not worked in the Bodleian, in the British Museum, or in +other foreign libraries, on Old English texts and authorities. They +think themselves well up in Old English if they can translate the text +of Beowulf fairly well, remember its most difficult vocabulary, and can +tell a tale or two from the _Brut_. + +Not every man has Europe or Asia in his backyard, nor a lifetime of +leisure for research, for special learning, on the moot questions of +church-scholarship. Progress consists in each man's doing his best to +advance the interests of the kingdom of God in his own special sphere. +From others he must take something for granted. The ear of the Church +ought always to be open to the sayings of the specialist. A Church +should grant liberty of research, of thought, of speech--to a degree. + +But whatever may come out of twentieth-century or thirtieth-century +combats, one thing remains clear: A Church is an organization, a social +body, with a certain doctrine to proclaim, a certain faith to hand down +to men. The doctrine is not in all details final--each phase of faith +may change. But the organization, to protect its own purity and +integrity--however generous in allowing individual research, and the +expression of individual ideas--must exert authority over the teachers +in her midst, those who are called by her name, who have her children in +their charge, and for whose teaching the Church, as a whole, is +responsible. There is doubtless a time when the man who is really in +advance of his times intellectually must be misunderstood, must be +disagreed with, must be cast out. But all truth may await the verdict of +time. If he has discovered something new, something true, the centuries +will make it plain. There remains a chance--and the Church dare not risk +too great a chance--that he is mistaken, impious, presumptuous, or +self-deceived. We dare not rush to a new doctrine or spiritual +conception, merely because one man, who knows more of a certain kind of +learning than we do, has said so. One must be bolstered up by a +generation of convinced and believing men, before he can draw a Church +after him. No other process is intellectually legitimate. In any other +event ecclesiastical anarchy would reign. To maintain the historic +position of the Church is a necessity, until that position is proven +untrue. So to maintain it is not bigotry, it is not lack of charity; it +is merely common-sense. + +The question, Where is the line between ecclesiastical integrity and +individual freedom? is therefore one which the common-sense of +Christendom is left to solve--not to-day, not to-morrow, but gradually, +generously, and conscientiously, as the centuries go on. + + +THIRD: OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITY + +It is said that a minister is greatly handicapped to-day in all his +efforts for two reasons: First, that the times are spiritually +lethargic, that men are so engrossed by material aims, indifference, or +sin that a pastor can get no hold upon their hearts. Second, that he is +bound hand and foot by conditions existing in the organization and +personnel of his church, and hence is not free to act. + +What would we think of an electrician who would complain that a storm +had cast down his network of wires? Of a civil engineer who would lament +that the mountain over which he was asked to project a road was steep? +Of a doctor who would grieve that hosts of people about him were very +ill? Of a statesman who would cry out that horrid folks opposed him? It +is the work of the specialist to meet emergencies, and it is his +professional pride to triumph over difficult conditions. The harder his +task, the more he exults in his power of success. + +It is a glorious task that lies before the minister of to-day--to +maintain, develop, and uplift the spiritual life of the most wonderful +epoch of the world's history; to place upon human souls that vital +touch that shall hold their powers subject to eternal influences and +aims. The times are not wholly unfavorable: our era, which spurns many +ecclesiastical forms, is at heart essentially religious. _The World for +Christ!_ How this war-cry of the spirit thrills anew as one realizes how +much more there is to win to-day than ever before. The Warrior girds +himself and longs eagerly to marshal great, shining, active hosts +for God! + +It is true that the conditions of work are more trying than they have +usually been. A man goes out from the seminary. He has had a good +education, followed by perhaps a year or two abroad, and some practical +experience in sociological work. He has plans, ideas, ideals, a vigorous +and whole-souled personality, a frank and generous heart. + +What does he find? He soon discovers that the battle is not always to +the strong, the educated, or the well-bred. Too often he is at the mercy +of rich men who can scarcely put together a grammatical sentence; of +poorer men who are, in church affairs, unscrupulous politicians; of +women who carp and gossip; and of all sorts of men and women who desire +to rule, criticise, hinder, and distrain. They, too, are the very people +who, in the ears of God and of the community, have vowed to love him and +to uphold his work! The more intellectual and spiritual he is, the more +he is troubled and distressed. + +Many churches, too, are in a chronic state of internal war. As for +these rising church difficulties--try to put out a burning bunch of +fire-crackers with one finger, and you have the sort of task he has in +hand. While one point of explosion is being firmly suppressed, other +crackers are spitting and going off. Whichever way he turns, and +whatever he does, something pops angrily, and a new blaze begins! And +this business, incredibly petty as it is, blocks the progress of the +Christian faith. Men and women of education and refinement, of a wide +outlook and noble thoughts and deeds, are more and more unwilling to +place themselves on the church-roll; a minister sometimes finds himself +in the anomalous position of having the more cultured, congenial, and +philanthropic people of the community quite outside any church +organization. + +All these things mean, not that a minister must grow discouraged, but +that he must set his teeth, and with pluck and endurance rise strong and +masterful and say, This shall not be! Let him not listen to the barking +and baying: let him hearken to the great primal voices of man and +nature. Love lies deeper than discord. The constructive forces of +humanity are stronger than the disintegrative. The right +attraction binds. + +There are some men who by the sheer force of their personality subdue +their church difficulties. They hold the captious in awe. By a sort of +magnetic persuasion and lively sense of humor they soothe this one and +that, win the regard of the outlying community, attach many new members +to the organization, and build up, out of discordant and erstwhile +discontented elements, a harmonious and active church. This is the man +for these martial times! If there are born leaders in every other +department of the world's work, men who quietly but firmly assert their +authority and supremacy in the tasks in which they hold, by free +election or legitimate appointment, a place at the head--it ought to be +so in the Church of God! I long to see arise in the ministry _a race +of iron!_ + +There are other difficulties, seldom spoken of, of which one must write +frankly, though with the keenest sympathy, if one is to look deeply into +the modern church problem. First: Is a minister's environment favorable +to his best personal development? Does he not miss much from the lack of +the world's hearty give-and-take? He gets criticism, but not of a just +or all-round kind. Small things may be pecked at, trifles may be made +mountains of by the disgruntled, but where does he get a clear-sighted, +whole-hearted estimate of himself and his work? Who tells him of his +real virtues, his real faults? Among all his friends, who is there, man +or woman, who is brave enough to be true? + +Other men are soon shaken into place. Their personal traits continually +undergo a process of chiselling and adjustment. They are told +uncomfortable things how quickly! At the club, in the university, in +the market, the ploughing-field, the counting-room, they rub up against +each other, and no mercy is shown by man to man until primary signs of +crudeness are worn off. Let a conceited professor get in a college +chair! Watch a hundred students begin their delightful and salutary +process of "taking him down" by the sort of mirth in which college boys +excel! Their unkindness is not right, but the result is, they never +molest a man who is merely eccentric. + +Watch a scientific association jump with all fours upon a man who has +just read a paper before their body! How unsparingly they analyze and +criticise! He has to meet questions, opposition, comments, shafts of wit +and envy, jovial teasing and correction. He goes out from the meeting +with a keener love of truth and exactness, and a less exalted idea of +his own powers. Watch the rivalry and sparring that go on in any +business. Men meet men who attack them; they fight and overcome them, or +are themselves overcome. + +Human friction is not always harmful. A minister should not be hurt or +angered by disagreement and discussion. No one's ideas are final. Let +him expect to stand in the very midst of a high-strung, spirited, and +hard-working generation. Let him be turned out of doors. Let him travel, +look, learn, meet men and women, and conquer in the arena of manhood. +Then, by means of this undaunted manhood, he may the better guide the +fiery enthusiasms of men, inspire their higher ambitions, and comfort +them in their bitter human sorrows! + +Again, too often a minister is spoiled in his first charge by flattery, +polite lies, and gushing women. He is sadly overpraised. A bright young +fellow comes from the seminary. He can preach; that is, he can prepare +interesting essays, chiefly of a literary sort, which are pleasant to +listen to, though, in the nature of things, they can have scarcely a +word in them of that deep, life-giving experience and counsel which come +from the hearts of men and women who have lived, and know the truth of +life. He is told that these sermons are "lovely," "beautiful," "_so_ +inspiring," and he believes every word of praise. No one says to him, +"When you know more, you will preach better," and his standard of +excellence does not advance. This man, who might have become a great +preacher, remains, as years go on, alas! an intellectual potterer. + +He is also socially made too much of, being one of the very few men +available for golf and afternoon teas, suppers, picnics, tennis, +charity-bazaars. Other men are frankly too busy for much of these +things, except for healthful recreation; and not infrequently one finds +stray ministers absolutely the only men at some function to which men +have been invited. + +A minister is not a parlor-pet. How many a time an energetic man, +society-bound, must long to kick over a few afternoon tea-tables, and +smash his way out through bric-a-brac and chit-chat to freedom +and power! + +I should think that a real Man in the ministry would get so very tired +of women! They tell him all their complaints and difficulties, from +headaches, servants, and unruly children, to their sentimental +experiences and their spiritual problems. Men tell him almost nothing. +Watch any group of men talking, as the minister comes in. A moment +before they were eager, alert, argumentative. Now they are polite or +mildly bored. He is not of their world. Some assert that he is not even +of their sex! Hence the lips of men are too often sealed to the +minister. He must find some way not only to meet them as brother to +brother, but he must capture their inmost hearts. The shy confidence of +an honorable man once won, his friendship never fails. + +The question of a minister's relation to the women of his congregation +and the community is not only curious and complex--it is a perpetual +comedy. How do other men in public life deal with this problem? They +have a genial but indifferent dignity, quite compatible with courtesy +and friendly ways. They shoulder responsibility; they do not flirt; they +sort out cranks; they flee from simpers; they put down presumption. If +married, they laugh heartily with their wives over any letter or +episode that is comical or sentimental. If not married, they get out of +things the best way they know how, with a sort of plain, manly +directness. If a minister would arrogate to himself his free-born +privilege of being a thorough-going man, many of his troubles would +disappear. + +Let him hold himself firmly aloof both from nonsense and from enervating +praise. Let him dream of great themes, and work for great things! Let +him rely on more quiet friends who watch loyally, hope, encourage, +inspire. By and by the scales drop from his eyes; he sees himself, not +as one who has already achieved, but as one to whom the radiant gates of +life are opening, so that he, too, can one day speak to human souls as +the masters have done! He discovers that out of the heart's depths is +great work born! This is a memorable day, both for this man and for his +church. From that hour he has vision and power. + +Another error in ministerial education and outlook is that too often +ministers forget that they compete with other men: they are not an +isolated class of humanity. Competition underlies the energy and +efficiency of the world's work. When men do not consciously compete with +others, they inevitably drop behind. What a minister was intended for, +was to stand head and shoulders above other men. God seems to have +planned the universe in such a way that everywhere the spiritual shall +be supreme. He was meant to be a towering leader. Who, in other realms, +has excelled Moses, Joshua, Elijah, David, Paul? + +But if we consider the responsibilities which are now being laid upon +different classes of people, and carried by them, I think that we must +acknowledge that the statesman is looming up as the most influential and +upbuilding man to-day. He is the one who is adjusting the new +world-powers and the new world-relations, over-seeing the development of +our country, and planning for its laws and commerce. Close to him comes +the physician, who is laying his hand on world-plagues, and is studying +the conditions and the forms of disease, with a view to striking disease +at its root. The hand of the doctor is laid upon consumption, malaria, +yellow fever, diphtheria, typhoid fever, and bubonic plague, and the +advance in medical research is marvellous. + +The lawyer and the capitalist are together adjusting the industrial +relations of the country. We have trusts, syndicates, and +corporation-problems handled with a firm intellectual grasp and a wide +outlook over human affairs. + +The reading of the world is in the hands of editors of enterprise and +sagacity. They daily bring wars, statecraft, business plans, political +situations, trade openings, scientific discoveries, forms of church-work +and philanthropy, accidents, murders, and marriages, to our +breakfast-table. The press of to-day has a tremendous scope. When some +of the magazines come to hand, one feels that he is in touch with the +affairs of the universe and has reading of a cosmic order. + +The day-laborer is discovering that to ingenuity, talent, and manliness, +the whole world swings open. Carnegie's Thirty Partners, most of whom +have come from the working-ranks, demonstrate that a man can rise from +the pick, the spade, the foreman's duties, to the control of great +industrial interests. + +Bankers are thinking out the financial problems--currency, legal tender, +the best forms of money and authority; the whole monetary system of the +world is under consideration and analysis. The farmer is learning, +through chemistry and other forms of science, new ways of making his +farm productive, and the educated agriculturist is rising to be an +intellectual factor in the development of our country. Everywhere we see +Life awakening--a great renaissance! + +Has the minister, as a thinker and active force of regeneration, kept +pace with this advance? Do many sermons thrill us in this large way? +Where does he rank among the world-masters of energy and power? + +The ministry is supposed to be a work of saving souls. But if we could +know the direct effect of preaching, and the conversions which are +really due to preaching, I think we should find them comparatively few. +What touched the boy or girl, man or woman, and led him or her to Christ +was not the sermon, or pastoral talk, though this one or another may +have united with the Church after a special sermon, revival, or personal +appeal. It was the memory and influence of a mother's prayers; of early +associations; of a teacher, a lover, a friend. The conversion came +direct from God--the soul was acted upon by some special moving of the +Holy Spirit. Or it was the death of a friend, an illness, an accident, a +disappointment, which turned the thoughts to heavenly things. Or it was +a book that searched the soul's depths, or some quickening human +experience. Is this quite as it should be? Is not professional +pride aroused? + +Suppose that New York City should suddenly be invaded by the bubonic +plague or yellow fever. Would any one be to blame? Certainly! Such an +outcry would go up as would echo across the country. Where were the +quarantine officers? Where was the port physician? Where were the +specialists who attend to sanitation and disinfection? + +We say that divorce and Sabbath-breaking are sweeping over our +country--gambling, social drinking, and many other ills; a sensational +press, a corrupt politics, a materialistic greed. + +All the ministers under heaven cannot take sin out of the world, nor +uproot sin altogether from the heart of man: the plague conies in at +birth. Neither can all the doctors living remove disease, so that no one +will get sick or die. But just as the doctor can, by study, by training, +by counsel, by practice, and by the direction of wise law-making, +protect the health interests of his country or community, so the +minister should stand, yet more largely than to-day, as a break-water +between the world and the tides of sin! He should not only be able to +keep alive in a country an atmosphere of prayer, devotion, and unselfish +service--he should, by God's help, make piety the general estate of the +land; he should not only be intellectually able to show the great +advantage of the upright Christian life, he should straight-way lead +all classes into that life; he should be able to lay a hand on the moral +maladies of mankind, personal and national, and prescribe effectual +remedies; take lame, halt, sinning souls, and by God's grace and Spirit, +lift not only individuals, but whole communities, to a more +spiritual plane. + +This is a Titanic intellectual task, as well as a spiritual one. When a +doctor wishes to keep plague out of America, he goes to Asia, to see +what plague is! He takes microscopes, instruments, and drugs; he buries +himself in a laboratory, and gives his whole mind to the problem, until +one day he can come forth and tell how to heal and help. More than this, +he risks his life. For every great discovery in medical practice, +doctors and nurses have died martyrs to their faithful work. + +Moral evil must be studied in an energetic and intellectual way. The +variations of humanity from righteousness must be deeply understood. +Look at Booker T. Washington, or at Jacob A. Riis! What daring, what +indefatigable toil, what insight, patience, and swerveless hope have +been put into their task! Edison is said to have spent six months +hissing S into his phonograph to make it repeat that letter, and many +days he worked seventeen hours a day. Have many ministers ever bent +themselves in this way to solve a special moral problem--that of, say, a +disobedient child in the congregation? Have they spent six months, hours +and hours a day, to make the law of God, the word Obedience, ring in +that child's ears? Spiritual guidance is definitely and positively a +scientific task. The mastery of one fact may lead to the correlation of +a psychic law. When a minister can help a soul to overcome temptation, +and a parent to bring up a child, he is in touch with two final human +problems. As he gradually enlarges his careful and illuminating work, +his church becomes in time a body of spiritually well-educated +communicants, thoroughly grounded in doctrinal, ethical, and social +ideals, well taught in public and in private duties. It is not +self-centred or wholly denominational in spirit, but recognizes itself +to be a part of a catholic body of believers, reaches out with friendly +cooeperation to near-by churches, extends its missionary efforts to +other neighborhoods or lands, and partakes of a world-life, a +world-love! + +Ruling religious thinkers should also, by and by, become leaders of +national thought and life. Great public questions should be open to +their judgment and appeal; they should be moral arbiters, and spiritual +guides in national crises. By a word they should be able to rouse the +prayers of the country, and by a word to still widespread anger and +uprising. If accredited spiritual leaders cannot help, who can? + +There are a few men living who seem to hold, for the whole world, the +temporal balance. They control mines and shipping, banks and trade. Who, +to-day, holds the spiritual destiny of the world in his hand? I long to +see men appear upon whom the eyes of the world shall be fastened, in +recognition of their spiritual preeminence, as they are now fastened on +these industrial giants. + +Rise! Let some man, earnest and endowed, look forward into the future, +and with the courage that comes from inborn power, assert himself among +the nations! Allay, O World-Evangelist, not only neighborhood disputes, +but international dissensions; project a creed that shall be profound +and universal; sweep sects together, unite energy and endeavor, baptize +with fire, bring repentance, quicken the race-conscience, uplift the +World-Hope! Erect and elemental, hold CHRIST before the race! + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF SAGES + + [ADESTE FIDELES] + + _Our Father in Heaven, + Creator of all, + O source of all wisdom, + On Thee we would call! + Thou only canst teach us, + And show us our need, + And give to Thy children + True knowledge indeed. + + But vain our instruction, + And blind we must be, + Unless with our learning + Be knowledge of Thee. + Then pour forth Thy Spirit + And open our eyes, + And fill with the knowledge + That only makes wise. + + From pride and presumption, + O Lord, keep us free, + And make our hearts humble, + And loyal to Thee, + That living or dying, + In Thee we may rest, + And prove to the scornful + Thy statutes are best._ + + THOMAS WISTAR + +If we should be told that at birth a strange and wonderful gift had +been bestowed upon us, one such that by means of it, in after life, we +could accomplish almost anything we wished, how we should guard it! With +what delight we would make it work, to see what it would do! We should +never be tired of such a toy, because every day it would reveal new +possibilities of power and delight. + +Such a gift God has given us in our power to think. What a mysterious +and deep-hid gift it is! Nerves and sensations, a few convolutions in +the brain, acts of attention and observation, certain reactions +following certain stimuli: the result, a world of worlds spread out +before us; unlimited intellectual possibilities within our grasp! + +What is thinking? Thinking is an attempt to express infinite thoughts, +affections, relations, and events, in finite terms. The child strings +buttons. The philosopher strings God, angels, devils, brutes, men, and +their appurtenances and deeds. Hence no real thought will quite go into +words. Out beyond the word hangs the infinite remainder of our idea. The +search for a vocabulary is the search for a clearer articulation +of ideas. + +Thinking is the power to take up life where the race has left off +attainment, and to lead the race one step farther on, by a new concept +or idea. It is a curious thing, this little turn in the brain, a +thought. We cannot see it, or touch it, or handle it. Yet we can give +it, one to another, or one man to the race. It has an infinite leverage. +One great thought moves millions onward. Plant the word _steam_, and +globe-transport changes. Plant _electricity_, and a hundred new +industries spring up. Plant _liberty_, tyrants fall. Plant _love_, +chaotic angers disappear. + +If we refuse to learn to think, we refuse to do our share of the world's +work. We are like a horse that balks and will not pull. While we sulk +the universe is at a standstill. + +Spelling and arithmetic, history, etymology, and geography, are not +tasks set over school-children by a hard taskmaster, who keeps them from +sunshine and out-of-door play. They are catch-words of the universe. +They are the implements by which each brain is to be trained to do great +work for the one in whom it lives. What every earnest soul asks is not +gold, fame, or pleasure. It is: Let me not die till I have brought +millions farther on. + +We cannot deliberately make thoughts. Thought is like life itself: +science has not found a formula which will produce it. But just as +marriage produces new lives, though we cannot say how, so study and +meditation produce thoughts. Something new appears: a concept which was +not with the race before. + +The work of sages has been to rule the thinking of the race. They +receive the inspired ideas and spend their lives in teaching them to +others: in setting up intellectual vibrations throughout the world. + +Some day, I hope Sargent will paint a March of Sages, as gloriously as +he has painted the panels of the Prophets. Then we shall gaze upon the +train of heavy-browed, noble-eyed, wise, gentle-mannered men, who have +been the enduring teachers of the race,--thinkers, leaders, seers. +Confucius, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, the mediaeval +philosophers, the Egyptian, Persian, and Arabian thinkers, Roger Bacon, +Thomas Aquinas, Eckhart, William of Occam, Bede, Thomas a Kempis, +Francis Bacon, Kant, John Stuart Mill, Spencer,--with what dignity the +processional moves down the years! The sum of human knowledge is vast; +but how much more vast seem the achievements of each of these men, when +we realize how few his years, and how many the obstacles and impediments +of his all too short career! There is ever a pathos in the life of +the wise. + +By thinking, we pass from the gossip of the neighborhood into the +conversation of the years. We do not know what Alcibiades said to his +man-servant about the care of his clothes, baths, perfumes,--nor what +his man-servant retailed to other retainers of the eccentricities and +vanities of his master. But we know what Pericles and Plato said to the +race. Here is the advantage of a thinking mind--that at any moment one +may enter into eternal subjects of thought, and have converse with those +who of all times have been the most profound. + +Nothing teases the soul like the thought of the unfinished, the +imperfect, the incomplete. And yet, when we have thought and planned a +really great and abiding work, whether we ever finish it or not--for +many things in life may intervene between conception and completion--to +have thought of it is to have had in our lives a pleasure that can never +die. For one blessed hour or year we have been lifted to the thoughts of +God and have entered into the great original Design. Hence it is that +the life of the real Thinker, however broken or disturbed, is at heart a +life of serenity and joy. What matters a conflagration, a +disappointment, to him whose thoughts are set upon the race? + +Thinking is a form of vital growth. We all wish for growth. Is there any +one who wishes to stay always just where he is to-day? To be always what +he is this morning? The tree grows, the flower grows, the ideals of the +race grow--shall not I? + +We are born to a destiny which has no limit of grandeur save the limit +of the thought of God, The wish for growth is the wish to enter into the +spiritual ideals of the universe,--to become one with its advancement, +one with its decrees. + +But do not the secular look upon growth as a sort of chase--a chase for +more learning, more money, a bigger business, a higher degree, a better +position, a brilliant marriage,--a struggle for wealth, renown, acclaim? +These things are not in themselves growth, nor its real index. Growth is +not a form of avarice. Growth is a vital state of being. Growth is the +assimilation of experience. Growth is development in the line of eternal +purpose. Growth is the combination of our souls with the things that +are, in such a way as to make a perpetual progress toward the things +that are to be. + +We lose much because we lose avidity out of our lives, the eagerness to +grasp what spiritually belongs to us,--to share the universal +enthusiasm, the universal hope. Day by day the world wheels about +us--sunset and moonrise, wind, hail, frost, snow, vapor, care, anxiety, +temptation, trial, joy, fear. Whatever touches the sense or the soul is +something by which, rightly used, we may grow. There is nothing we need +fear to take into our lives, if it receives the right assimilation. Each +experience is meant to be a vital accession. We narrow our lives and +enfeeble our powers when we try to reject any of these things, or +unlawfully escape them, or are yet indifferent to them. Prejudice, +cowardice, and apathy are death. + +Experience is what the race has been through. Each of us has his +personal variant of this common life. Thought is the power by which we +make it available for our own better living, and the future life of +the race. + +To the early man, there existed earth, air, water, fire, heat, cold, +tempest, and the growth of living things. He lived, ate, fought, but his +thoughts were primitive and personal. Have _I_ had enough dinner? he +asked, not, Is the race fed? + +By and by some one arose who began to consider things in the abstract, +and to relate them to his neighbor, and formulate conclusions about +them. He was the first real Thinker, Then air-philosophy and +element-philosophy grew up--beast-worship, animalism, fire-worship, and +the rudiments of simple scientific learning, as, for instance, when men +found that they could make a tool to cut, a spike to sew. + +Since then, what the sage has done is to teach men to see, read, write, +think, count, and to work; to love ideals, to love mankind and relate +his work to human progress. + +Man's first primer was near at hand. When he wished to write, he made a +picture with a stick, a stone, on a leaf, or traced his idea in the mud. +When he wanted to count, he kept tally on his fingers, or with pebbles +from the beach or brook. When he wished to communicate an idea orally, +it was with glances, shrugs, gestures, and imitative sounds. Once, in a +game of Twenty Questions, this was the question set to guess: Who first +used the prehistoric root expressing a verb of action? Who, indeed? + +Out of that leaf-writing, and bark-etching, and later rune, have grown +the printed writings of mankind. Homer, Dante, Milton, and Shakespeare +are the lineal descendants of the man who made holes in a leaf, or lines +on a wave-washed sand. Out of the finger-counting have grown up +book-keeping, geometry, mathematical astronomy and a knowledge of the +higher curves. Out of the prehistoric shrugs and sounds and grimaces we +have oral speech--much of it worthless, and not all of it yet wholly +intelligible. We are still continually being understood to say what we +never meant to say: we are forever putting our private interpretation on +the words of other men. Even yet, we are all too stupid. In our +dreariest moments does there not come to us sometimes a voice which +cries: Up, awake! Cease blinking, and begin to see! + +Language is electric. Words have a curious power within themselves. They +rain upon the heart with the soft memories of centuries of old +associations, or thoughts of love, vigils, and patience. They have a +power of suggestion which goes beyond all that we may dream. Just as a +man shows in himself traces of a long-dead ancestry, so words have the +power to revive emotions of past generations and the experiences of +former years. The man of letters, the Thinker, strews a handful of +words into the air, breathes a little song. The words spring up and +bring forth fruit. Their seed is human progress and a larger life for +men. Think, for instance, who first flung the word _freedom_ into +space!--_gravitation, evolution, atom, soul!_ There is no power like the +power of a word: a word like _liberty_ can dethrone kings. + +We get out of a word just what we put into it, plus the individuality of +the man who uses it. Some men read into noble words only their own +silliness, vulgarity, prejudice, or preconceived ideas. Another man +reads with his heart open for new impressions, new insight, new fancies +and ideals. + +Words have not only their inherent meaning; they have their allied +meanings. A word may mean one thing by itself. It may mean quite another +thing when another word stands beside it; even marks of punctuation give +words a curiously different sound and shade. Literature is a mastery, +not only of the moods of men, but of the moods of words. Corot takes a +stream, some grass and trees, a flitting patch of sky. By means of a few +strokes of his brush, he manages to present that tree, sky, stream, in a +way which suggests the pastoral experience of the ages. Where did that +misty veil come from? the trembling lights and shadows, the half-heard +sounds and silence of the woods, the changing cloud, the dim reflection, +the atmosphere of mystery and peace? + +So each man goes to the dictionary. He takes a word here, a word there, +common words that everybody knows. He puts them together: the result is +a presentation of the life of man, and lays hold of his inmost spirit. + + "_Our birth is but a deep and a forgetting; + The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, + Hath had elsewhere its setting + And cometh from afar; + Not in entire forgetfulness, + And not in utter nakedness, + But trailing clouds of glory do we come + From God, who is our home!_" + +To write, the soul chooses, and God stands ever by to help. That is why +great work always impresses us as inspired. God did it. It is God who +whispers the deathless thought and phrase: the subtler collocations +are divine. + +Take the word _star_. To the child it means a bright point that glitters +and twinkles in the sky, and sets him saying an old nursery rhyme. To +the youth or maiden it suggests love, romance, a summer eve, or a frosty +walk under the friendly winter sky. To the rhetorician it suggests a +figure of speech--the star of hope. To the mariner it suggests guidance +and the homeward port. To the astronomer it means the world in which he +lives. His life is centred in that star. To the poet it means all these +things and many more. For the poet is the one who, in his own heart, +holds all the meanings that words hold for the race. Read again the +lines just quoted, and think of Wordsworth's outlook on the star! + +The dictionary definition of a word can seldom be the real one, nor does +it reveal the deeper sense it has. It blazes a path for the +understanding, but individual thought must follow. Take the words _time, +friendship, work, play, heroism_. It took Carlyle to define Time for us. +Emerson has defined Friendship. Let the lights and shadows of the +thought of Carlyle and Emerson play upon these words, they are at once +removed from mechanical definition, and we dimly perceive that each word +is larger than the outreach of the thought of man. Another generation +than ours shall define and refine them. In heaven, in some other aeon, +we shall find out what they really mean! + +Thus knowledge is not permanent. It reels. It proceeds, it changes, it +is iridescent with new significance from day to day. + +What is true of a word, and what we make of it, is true of every phase +of learning. The black-board is not all. Learning is not tied to it, or +to any one person, demonstration, interpretation, event, or epoch. No +wise man can keep his learning to himself, and yet he cannot, though he +teach a thousand years, transmit his deeper learning to another. The +atmosphere, the casual information, the spiritual magnetism of a great +man, will teach better than the text-books, the lecture courses, and +the formal resources of academic halls. Thus Mark Hopkins is in himself +a university, given a boy on the other end of the log on which he sits. + +It is the relativity of knowledge that dances before the eye, that +bewilders, eludes, evades. Group-systems and electives seem like a +makeshift for the real thing. We cannot tie a fact to a pupil, because +to the tail of the fact is tied history itself. Until a pupil gets a +glimpse of that relation, that dependence of which we have just heard, +with all that has yet happened in connection with it, he is not yet +quite master of his fact. He recites glibly the date of Thermopylae, and +does not know that all Greece is trailing behind his desk. When, after +subsequent research, he knows something of Greece, he discovers Greece +to be dovetailed into Rome and Egypt, and they lay hold upon the plain +of Shinar and Eden, and the immemorial, prehistoric years. + +Ah, no! We never really know. Every fact recedes from us, as might an +ebbing wave, and leaves us stranded upon an unhorizoned beach, more +despairing than before. Education does not solve the problems of +life--it deepens the mystery. What, then, may the sage know? Are there +no sages? And have we all been misinformed? + +A sage is one who knows what, in his position of life, is most necessary +for him to know. The larger sage, the great Sage, is the one who knows +what is necessary for the race to know. + +It is a wrong idea of wisdom, that we must necessarily know what some +one else knows. Wisdom is single-track for each man. There are in the +world those who know how to build aqueducts, and to bake _charlotte +russe_, and to sew trousers. Aqueducts and tailor work may be alike out +of my individual and personal knowledge, yet I may not necessarily be an +ignorant man. The primitive hunter stood in the forest. For him to be a +hunting-sage, was to know the weather, traps, weapons, the times, and +the lairs and ways of beasts. He knew lions and monkeys, the coiled +serpent and the serpent that hissed by the ruined wall; the ways of the +wolf, the jackal, and the kite; the manners of the bear and the black +panther in the jungle-wilds. Kipling is the brother of that early man: +he is a forest-sage, and would have held his own in other times. + +The sea-sage was the one who could toss upon the swan-road without fear. +He knew the strength of oak and ash; the swing of oar, the curve of +prow, the dash of wave, and the curling breaker's sweep. He knew the +maelstroms and the aegir that swept into northern fiords; the thunder +and wind and tempest; the coves, safe harbors and retreats. To-day, the +sea-sage rules the fishing-boat, the ocean liner, the coastwise +steamers, and the lake-lines of the world. + +The fishing-sage knows the ways and haunts of fish. He is wise in the +salmon, the perch, the trout, the tarpon, and the muscalonge. He says. +To-day the bass will bite on dobsons, but to-morrow we must have frogs. + +No sagacity is universal, but the love of sagacity may be. The man who +starts out to implant a new way of education has a noble task before +him, but is it a final one, or even a more than tolerably practical one? +Is there such a thing as a place for Truth at wholesale, even in an +academy or college? Can a man receive an education outside of himself? +He may be played upon by grammars and by loci-paper, by electrical +machines, and parsing tables and Grecian accents, by the names of noted +authors and statesmen, and the thrill of historic battles and decisions. +He may be placed under a rain of ethical and philosophic ideas, and may +be forced to put on a System of Thought, as men put on a mackintosh. But +his true education is what he makes of these things. If he hears of +Theodoric with a yawn, we say--the college-folk--He must be imbecile. +No, not imbecile! he may become a successful toreador, or snake-charmer, +which things are out of our line! And a man may be an upright citizen, a +good husband, and a sincerely religious man, who has never heard of +Francesca, nor Fra Angelico, nor named the name of Botticelli! + +The moment we set bounds to wisdom, we find that we have shut something +out. Wisdom is the free, active life of a growing and attaching soul. +We must not only attach information to ourselves, we must assimilate it. +Else we are like a crab which should drag about Descartes, or as an +ocean sucker which should hug a copy of Thucydides. + +Education is the taking to one's self, so far as one may in a lifetime, +all that the race has learned through these six thousand years. +Education is not a thing of books alone, or schools; it is a process of +intellectual assimilation of what is about us, or what we put about +ourselves. At every step we have a choice. This is the real difference +between students at the same school or university. One puts away Greek, +and the other lays up football and college societies. A third gets all +three, being a little more swift and alert. One stows away +insubordination--another, order and obedience. One does quiet, original +work of reading and research; the other stows away schemes for getting +through recitations and examinations. No two students ever come out of +the same school, college, or shop with the same education. Their +training may have been measurably alike, but the result is immeasurably +unlike. Education, in the last analysis, is getting the highest +intellectual value out of one's environment and opportunities. There is +a cow-boy philosopher, a kitchen-philosopher, as truly as there is a +philosopher of the academic halls. + +Conduct is the _pons asinorum_ of life. Wise men somehow cross it, +though stumblingly, and with tears. Fools, usurers, oppressors, and +spendthrifts of life are left gaping and wrangling on the hellward side. +Thinkers have always been climbing up on each other's shoulders to look +over into the Beyond. What they have seen, they have told. Some men +climb so high into the ethereal places of the Ideal, that they do not +get down again. They are the impractical men. An impractical man is not +necessarily the educated man; he is the man at the top of some +intellectual fence, who wishes to come down, but has absent-mindedly +forgotten that he has legs. The legs are not absent, but his wit is. So +with the impractical man in every sphere. Education has not really +removed his common-sense, as some say, his power to connect passing +events with their causes, and to act reasonably; but it has set his +thought on some other thought for the time being, and the dinner-bell, +we will say, does not detach him from his inquiry. His necktie rides up! +He goes out into the street without a hat! Let him alone till he proves +the worth of what he is about. The practical man, who hears the +dinner-bell and prides himself upon this fact, may not hear sounds +far-off and clear, that ring in the impractical man's ear, and that may +sometime tell him how to make a better dinner-bell, or provide a better +dinner--a great social philosophy--for the race! + +The really impractical man is not he who reaches out to the intellectual +and ideal aspects of life; it is he who lives as if this life were all. +There are women who make pets of their clothes, as men make pets of +horse or dog. They have just time enough in life to dress themselves up. +Looking back over their years, they can only say, I have had clothes! In +the same number of years, with no greater advantages or opportunities, +other women have become the queenly women of the race. Some women are +girt with centuries, instead of gold or gems. Whenever they appear, the +event becomes historic; what they do adds new lustre to life. + +We are all prodigals. We throw away time and strength, and years, and +gold, and then weep that we are ignorant, and embeggared at the last. +Who shall teach us wisdom, and in what manner may we be wise? + +What say the sages of the vast possibilities of the race? With one voice +they say: Be brave! Do not cower, shrink, or whine. Throw out upon the +world a free fearlessness of thought and word and deed. Courage, +freedom, heroism, faith, exactness, honor, justice, and mercy--these +traits have been handed down as the traditional learning of the heart +of man. + +Another ideal of the race is Law. We have given up a +chaos-philosophy--the haphazard continuity of events--a cometary orbit, +for the world. There are fixed relations everywhere existent: the +succession of cycles is orderly and prearranged. + +Another ideal is Progress. We are moving, not toward the bottom, but +toward the top of possibility. We reject annihilation, because then +there is nothing left. And there must always be something +left--progress--a bigger something, a better something. Should +annihilation be the truth of things, and all the race mortal, then some +day there would be a Last Man. And after the Last Man, what? He would +die, and then all that any of the other stars could view of the vast +panorama of our earthly generations would be an unburied corpse, with +not even a vulture hovering to pick it to freshness in the air! + +A Last Man? No. Instead, the seers have shown us a great multitude in a +heavenly country, praising God, and singing forth His Name forever. +Immortality broods over the great thought of the race. All great minds +look upward to it: it is the final consummation of our dreams. + +Another ideal is social adjustment, and social service. We must do +something for some one, or we cast current sagacity behind the back. +People crowd each other to the wall. The weak of communities and nations +are too often crushed. Redress is in the air. The longed-for wisdom of +to-day shows a kaleidoscopic front, in which are turning the +slum-dweller and the millionaire; the white man, the yellow, and the +black; the town and the territorial possession. The slave-colony, +garbage-laws, magistrates, and murderers are mixed in motley, and there +are whirling vacant-lot schemes abroad, potato-patches, wood-yards, +organized charity, Wayfarers' Lodges, resounding cries of municipal +reform, and various other interests of the wisdom-scale. + +Hence, wisdom has not yet been arrived at: we are still on the run. This +twentieth century will find new problems, new queries, new cranks, and +new dismays! + +One thing, however, shines out clear: Wisdom is being recognized as +having a moral aspect, and men are looking for a Religion which shall +sum up the learning of the sages, the information of the race. + +When we look down into the physical universe, the primary thing that we +find there is gravitation. When we look into the moral universe, the +primary thing that we find there is also gravitation--a sinking to a +Lower. This is sin--a contrariness of things--which makes the world an +evil place to live in, instead of a good; which wrecks character and +states, eats the hearts out of cultures and civilizations, destroys +strong races, leaves a stain upon even the youngest child, and which is +constantly drawing the race downward, instead of upward. + +Sin, sin, sin! Everywhere the fact glares upon us, and cannot be hid, or +put away. Sin is not an intellectual toy, for philosophers to play with +or define as "a limitation of being." Sin is a reality, for men to +feel, recoil from, and of which one must repent. + +Sin is energy deliberately misplaced: energy directed against the course +of things, the infinite development, the will of God. Sin is corruption, +and desolation, and decay. Death broods over the spirit of man, unless a +Redeemer come. The unredeemed ages hang over history like a pall. In +them there are monumental oppression, cruelties, and crimes. The breath +of myriad millions went out in darkness, and there was none to save. A +plague swept over all the race. + +Hence, even scientifically considered, the final aim of thinking must +be, to arrive at some thought which will take hold of this primary fact +of sin and uproot it; which will show how the world may be purged +of sin. + +Slowly but inevitably we are moving to this great Thought. It is summed +up in one word: Redemption. The watchword of a century ago was +gravitation. It explained the poise of the universe by a great and +hitherto undiscovered law. The watchword of yesterday was evolution. It +explains progressive change: the mounting-up of life "through spires of +form." The forms of the universe are seen in a series which is in the +main ascendant, and in which the survivor is supreme. The watchword of +to-morrow is Redemption. The Thinker will some day live, who will make +that great word Redemption stand out in all its vast majesty and +significance. This, I take it, is the work of our new century. + +Redemption is the explanation of the existence of man, of his present +progress, and his future destiny. It is the great mystery of joy in +which the race partakes; the spiritual culmination of all things +earthly; the forecast of eternal things yet to be. + +Redemption is not a dogma; it is a life. Redemption is a perpetual and +ascendant moral growth. It marks a world-balm, a world-change. It is in +the spirit of man that it works, and not in his outer condition, or +external strivings. It is ultimately to root sin out of the world. + +Through stormy sorrows and perpetual desolations comes the race to God. +Zion is the Whole of things--the encompassment of space, and time, and +endless years,--an environment of immortality and peace. + +Virtue leads the race to Joy, and there is no byway to this height. The +final aspect of the universe is joy. Joy is elemental--a vast vibration +that sweeps through centuries as years! A day in His courts is as a +thousand, and a thousand years are as one day, because they thrill with +an immortal and imperishable emotion. The seraphim and cherubim, +Sandalphon and Azrael, are angels of enduring joy. Joy is the soul's +share of the life of God. + +Thus when the world has breathed to us the holy name of Christ, it has +told us the highest that it knows. The March of Sages is toward a +Redeemer! The banner of Wisdom is furled about the Cross! + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF TRADERS + + [AMSTERDAM] + + _Lo, my soul, look forth abroad + And mark the busy stir: + Wouldst thou say, in pride and scorn, + Our God is not in her! + Nay, the bonds, the wares, the coin,-- + These, in truth, are passing things; + Other treasures thrill the life + Of earth's great merchant kings! + + We, they say, would wake the power + In mountain and in mine; + And transport, from sea to sea, + The cedar, oak, and pine: + Build the bridge, and plant the town, + Enter every open mart; + Make our nation's commerce flow,-- + But this is not our heart! + + Many a prayer uplifted springs + O'er desk, and din, and roar; + Many an humble knee is bent + When the rushed day is o'er; + Far within, where God may be, + All exists His Throne to raise; + Every triumph of our power + Becomes a form of Praise! + + God of nations, hear our cry, + And keep us just and true; + Lay Thy hand on all our lives, + And bless the work we do: + Then from every coast and clime + Land and sea shall tribute bring; + Gold and traffic, world-domain + We offer to our King!_ + + ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN LINDSAY + +We are all traders. Each of us is endowed with some faculty, ware, or +possession which he is constantly exchanging for other things. We trade +time, talent, service, goods, acres, produce, counsel, experience, +ideals. The world is in reality a Bourse of Exchange. Each of us brings +some day his special product to the common mart. + +There are traders and traders--the just and the unjust--the man of honor +and the rogue. We set values on thoughts and on transactions, on +merchandise and on philanthropies, on ideas and on accounts; and there +is a constant distribution of the affairs, as well as of the worldly +goods of men. + +But in a restricted sense, we think of trade as the exchange of produce +which is material and mobile,--which may be touched, handled, weighed, +transported, bought, and sold. The substance of the earth is constantly +taking new shape before our eyes, being rearranged in kaleidoscopic +combinations, and transported from port to port, from town to town, from +sea to sea. One can look nowhere without seeing this ceaseless activity +progressing. Everywhere there is a whir of wheels, a plash of waves, a +din of assembly, as the new combinations take place. + +There was a day when trade was a thing of here-and-there; a thing of +sailing ships and caravans, of merchants of Bagdad, Cairo, Venice, +Alexandria, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Damascus. Ivory, gold, gems, precious +stuffs, teak and cedar wood, Lebanon pine, apes, peacocks, sandal-wood, +camel's hair, goat's hair, frankincense, pearl, dyes, myrrh, cassia, +cinnamon, Balm of Gilead, calamus, spikenard, corn, ebony, figs, fir, +olives, olive-wood, wheat, amber, copper, lead, tin, and precious stones +were the chief articles of exchange. A very little sufficed the poor; +the rich were housed in palaces and panoplied in gems. + +As time went on, the processional of traders became a processional led +out, in turn, by the merchants of one city after another. It is a +picturesque study, that of the trade-routes of the Middle Ages! There +was the Mediterranean seaboard, and there were the Baltic towns and the +Hanse towns; the Portuguese mariners and traders; the Venetian merchant +princes. There was the Spanish colonial trade; the Dutch trade of the +East Indies; the trade of Amsterdam and London. There were the +Elizabethan sea-rovers. Then came the British trade in the East Indies, +and the gradual growth of the trade of France, Germany, England, and the +United States. This is a story of human wants reaching out as +civilization advanced, and of the extending of the earth-exchange. +Everywhere there has been a correspondence between national prosperity +and increasing trade. + +To-day, each man demands more of the earth's products than ever before. +He reaches out a hand for comforts and luxuries, as well as for +necessities. He grasps not only the produces of his own and his +neighbor's field and vineyard, but demands what lies across continents +and seas. Instead of the ship, the camel, and the ass, we now have the +ocean freighter or liner, and the flying train of cars: new forces, oil, +steam, electricity, and water-power, do the carrying work of man. And +hence trade has become Trade, and each trader is involved in the +comfort, success, and prosperity of many others. A single commercial +transaction to-day involves the lives of hundreds of thousands, competes +for their toil and life-blood, carries the decision of their destiny. + +A great merchant is the real Kris Kringle. He stands at the centre of +exchange, distributes from the tropics and the arctic zones. He deals +out fur and feathers, books, toys, clothing, engines; ribbons, laces, +silks, perfumes; bread-stuffs, sugar, cotton, iron, ice, steel; wheat, +flour, beef, stone; lumber, drugs, coal, leather. He scatters +periodically the products of mills and looms, of shoe-shops and +print-works, fields, factories, mines, and of art-workers. He thus +becomes a social force of great power, a social law-giver, in fact. +Under his iron rule, the lives of the masses are uplifted or cast down. + +As large eras open, the ethical ideals become higher. We are beginning +to inquire, as never before, into the basis of trade, the place of the +trader, the right conduct of this vast problem of Distribution upon +which hinges so much of human life and fate. All things look, not only +to the integration of trade, but to its exaltation. + +Trade has ceased to be a thing of individual energy, talent, and +commercial alertness. It has risen to great proportions. The large +trader is in control of national conduit, as well as of national +expense. There is a great deal more in business than the art of making +money. Business is, at the roots, a way of making nations; of developing +the resources of a country, of handling its industries, of protecting +its commerce, of enlarging its institutions, of uplifting its training, +aspirations, and ideals. Traffic is educational. Imports influence the +national life. We may import opium or Bibles, whiskey or bread-stuffs, +locomotives or dancing pigs. + +The sceptre held by Tyre and Venice is passing into our own hands. But +trade, to-day, is a matter of the imagination, as well as of the +stock-book. 11 needs a great imagination to handle the present-day +problems of business and finance. The prosperity of a nation depends +largely on the intelligence, integrity, and magnanimity of its business +men. To be narrow-minded in business, is not only intellectual +astigmatism, it is poor commercial policy. To make use of present +opportunities to control present advantages needs a great education and +a large human experience. It is the man of insight, of sympathy, of +economic ideals, who will lastingly control our national prosperity and +advance our industrial wealth. + +With all this demand, the business man still stands largely in a class +by himself, a class apart from the great leaders of the world. He is not +yet received into the spiritual circles of the race. He goes about the +world, sits on boards and committees, fills directorships and +trusteeships, pays pew-rent, and runs towns. But when the spiritual +conclaves of the world take place, when the things of life and death are +inquired into, when words are said of the higher conduct of the life of +man, if he draw near inquiringly or unguardedly to the sacred place, +scholar and poet, priest, saint, and proud hand-worker alike rise up and +say, Go away. + +It wears upon the heart--this spiritual isolation of the business man. +Does not he often say sadly to himself, They only want my money? + +Why must he go away? What has he done, that he must be waved down? If we +discover why he must go away, we shall discover the meaning of that +great caste-line which has long been drawn, and ought no longer to be +drawn, between trade and letters, trade and the Church, trade and +social prestige. + +The reason he must go away is this: He has never ruled the higher +history of man; he does not yet quite belong to the ideal-makers of the +race. Understand, I am not now speaking of the new business man, the +exceptional one, upright, cultured, altruistic, whom you and I may know; +I am speaking of a broad class-line, a class distinction. + +It is a strange concept that would bar the business man from the ideal; +that would limit his life to an account-book, a ledger, a roll of +stocks, rents, and possessions, instead of granting him the freedom of +the universe, the privilege of ministering to the race. Singularly +enough, the business class is the last class that Christianity has set +free. Slaves have been given liberty; women, social companionship and +intellectual equality; manual labor has been lifted to dignity and +honor. But to break the shackles of the man of trade is the work of our +era, or of an era yet to come. Thousands of young men are daily stepping +into counting-houses, or behind sales-counters, or into independent +stores, who will never lift their eyes from their goods and +account-books, nor rise above the linen, hardware, groceries, or +house-fixtures which they sell. Such a situation is suicidal of national +prosperity, and blocks the high hopes of the world. + +Lack of appreciation of the life of business is sinful and unjust. A +high-principled businessman may be one of the noblest leaders of +mankind. The world needs great business men--men who will know how to +use the resources of a country, how to plan for its industry, +manufactures, and commerce: men who understand the principles of +production and exchange; ways of transportation; systems of credit and +banking: men who know the constitution of the country, and the history +of its development; its strength and weakness, its possibilities and +needs: men who will deal honorably in business contracts, both with +buyers and employees, and also with law-making bodies: men who will +steadily try to advance international prosperity, as well as +personal wealth. + +But to understand business on this plane, and to conduct it in this +large way, needs a fine education, an education built, first of all, on +a practical basis, such as the education of our common schools. Then +should follow a course in the ideals of the race, the classic studies in +language, literature, history, science, and philosophy. Then should come +a technical course, graduate or undergraduate, such as the courses +offered by the Universities of Pennsylvania, Chicago, Wisconsin, which +include, in general, lectures and special studies in Public Law and +Politics, Business Law and Practice, Political Economy, Statistics, +Banking, Finance, and Sociology. In addition to this, there should be a +thorough knowledge of the Bible and of Christian Ethics, with a deep +heart-experience of religion. + +Endowed with natural business talent, the young man who goes out into +the world with such preparation as this knows a great deal more than +just how to make money; he knows how to make it honorably and how to +spend it, in his business, family, and social life, for the public good; +he has in him the making of a statesman and a philanthropist, as well as +a man of wealth. + +Two things take one into the inner circle of the ideal-makers of the +race--imagination and sympathy. Ideals cannot be bought with gold. The +ideal is always founded on integrity, progress, and common-sense. It is +preeminently practical, as well: the thing that inevitably must be, now +or hereafter, however men laugh it to scorn to-day. + +Imagination is the faculty of perceiving the higher and final relations +of life, the relation of one's work to the progress of the world, and of +one's conduct: to spiritual history. What the ideal-maker tries to do is +to set holy standards that shall not pass away: to do abiding work, in +thought, deed, word; work philosophically planned, and perseveringly +carried out; work which he shall do regardless of the outer +circumstances of his life--poverty or wealth, of threats, +misunderstanding, or hoots of scorn. He is unmoved, both by the rage of +the populace and by its most tumultuous applause. He lives for truth, +not for personal advance; for progress, not for wealth or honor. What +he lays down as a precept, that he tries to live up to, in the way that +shall win the approval of the eternal years. + +Sordidness in commercial life is not necessary: greed is +not foreordained. Christianity establishes a new system of +trading-philosophy, and a new basis of commercial ethics. There is a +god-like way of trade--Christ might Himself have bought and sold--else +Christianity fails of its full mission, and there remains a class of the +socially lost, of the ethically unsaved. One reason why it is so hard to +get business men into the Church, or to interest them religiously in any +way, is that ministers, in general, do not understand or appreciate +business men. In one of the most stirring sermons I ever heard, occurred +this unjust sentence: "Our country has been built up by the martyr, and +not by the millionaire." No! Our country has been built up by _both_ the +martyr and the millionaire! + +Christianity projects into the world new ideals of Trade, of Gain, of +Competition, Value, and Return for Toil. + +What is Trade? Is it merely a way of making money? Then there is no +ethical basis for it. "The amount of money which is needed for a good +life," says Aristotle, "is not unlimited." + +One concept is: Trade is something which belongs to me. It is that part +of the world's exchange which I can get under my personal control. It +is the balance between human industries and human needs which I hold +for my part of the world, and which others are continually trying to +wrest from me, and which I must keep by all means, fair or foul. +Competition is the battle of the strongest, the quickest, the meanest! I +must know tricks. I must get in with people, get hold of some sort of +pull, learn to dissemble, to flatter, manipulate, hedge, dodge. Success +is a matter of being sly. Anything is allowable which comes out ahead, +which adds to the dollar-pile, or which makes the loudest +advertising noise! + +To buy at the least, and sell at the most, regardless of the conditions +under which least and most are attained--the man who enters life with +this idea of trade in his mind might just as well be born a shark and +live to prey. Every free dollar in the world will tease and fret him, +until he sees it on its way to his own pocket. If this is all there is +in trade, the noble-minded will let it alone: it gives no human outlook. +It not only undermines personal character, it is the root of national +ignominy and dishonor. + +What has Christianity to do with this shark-instinct? with the rapacity +which looks on the world as a vast grabbing-ground, and upon all natural +resources as mere commercial prey? The value of Christianity lies in its +reasonable and intellectual appeal. It does not spring upon one like a +highwayman and say, Hands up! Give me your purse! It says gently, Son, +give me thy heart. It then proceeds to refashion that heart, to fill it +with new principles and with world-dreams. + +Trade is a just exchange of what one man has for what another man needs. +It may take place individually between man and man, in which transaction +a horse, an ox, or a tool may change hands. Or one man may assume a +responsibility for a number of people, and say: I will give this whole +town shoes, in return for which you may give me a house, market-produce, +clothing, and an education for my children. The thing will come out +even, if you and I are honest. Or a climate, a civilization, may give to +another that which the other lacks. We send school-books and machinery +to China; she sends us tea, matting, and bamboo. The whole right theory +of trade is a give-and-take between men and nations, based on a just +price, and with a deep law of Value, not yet wholly formulated, +underlying each transaction. + +Bargains should not be one-sided. Trade, in a large sense, is a way of +exchange in which each party to the trade receives an advantage. Not +only this, it is a process of distribution, by which each one receives +the greatest possible advantage. Money-making is a secondary result: in +true trade it is not the final benefit. + +Take the case of a specially helpful and paying book. The author +receives a royalty, and has an income. The publisher receives his +profits, and makes a living. The public gains inspiration and ideals. +Who is loser? This is sheer business, yet it means loving service for +all concerned. + +To illustrate further: A physician has a frail child, with which the +ordinary milk in the market does not agree. To build up its health, he +buys a country place and a good cow. The child thrives. In his practice, +he sees many other frail children, and it occurs to him that they, too, +can be benefited by the same kind of care and watchfulness that he is +giving his own child. He buys more cows, has them scientifically cared +for, and his agents sell the milk. He finds himself, in the course of +time, the owner of a dairy farm, and a man of increasing income. But his +trade is not trade for the sake of money! it is trade to make sick +children strong and well. He exchanges professional knowledge, executive +ability, and human sympathy, for money; in return for which, children +receive health, parents joy, and the race a more athletic set of men and +women. This is an instance of the inner spirit of the true trade: the +spirit which may rule all trade, deny it, or discount it, or scorn it, +as you will. + +Price is a value set on material, on labor, on interest, on scarcity, on +excellence, on commercial risks; it is the approximate measure of the +cost of production. The ethical price of a commodity is the price which +would enable its producer to produce it under healthful and happy +conditions--which would insure his having what Dr. Patten calls his +"economic rights." + +This joyous exertion is not harmful; it is tonic. Excellence is an +inspiration, an intoxication. Let excellence, not Will-it-pass? be the +standard of exchange. From the very endeavor after excellence comes a +certain exaltation of spirit, which ennobles the least fragment of daily +toil. When the producer brings forth somewhat for sale, let him say: +There! That is the best that I can do! It is not what I tried to make of +it--the thing of my dreams--but it is the very best which, under the +given conditions, I could produce. Then the shoddy side of trade will +disappear. + +The Law of Equity is the final law of trade. But in whose hands is +equity? Who appraises value? Who sets price? In whose hand is the final +price of the necessaries of life--wheat, rice, sugar, soap, cotton, +wool, coal, milk, iron, lumber, ice? The man who puts a price on an +article, as buyer or seller, enters an arena which is not only +commercial--it is judicial and ethical: he declares for what amount a +man's life-blood shall be used. + +No one absolutely sets price. It is determined by far-reaching +industrial conditions, and by economic law. War, weather, famine, +stocks, strikes, elections, all have a say. Yet, to a certain degree, +there are those who rule price. As a representative of the ideal, as +executors of social trust, how shall each one use his Power of Price? +The man who has control of a price--a price for a day's labor, for +wages, for a cargo, or for any kind of product--has control of the +living conditions of the one who works for him. The question is not: How +shall I grind down price to the lowest? It is: What price will be an +ethical return to this man for his social toil?--just to me for my +brains, my capital, my energy, my distributing power,--just to him for +his brains, his time, his skill, his artistic perceptions, his fidelity +and honor? Each buyer must henceforth not only resolve: I will buy only +what I can pay for, but, what I can pay for at a just rate. So far as +lies in my power, I will make an adequate return to society for this +personal benefit. + +Some one says: Do you realize that you are making a moral laughing-stock +of much of our system of trade? that you are setting an axe to that +system, more cutting than the axe of any Socialist, Nihilist, or +Anarchist in the world? Oh, no. I have simply set myself to answer the +question: How can the business man stand among the ideal-makers of the +world, so that he shall no more, in spiritual assemblies, be told to +go away? + +Woman is the real economic distributer. The millionaire manufacturer +imagines that he himself runs his business. Oh, no. It is run by +farmers' wives. When they do not care for yarn or calico, his looms +stand idle for a year; the vast machinery of the world turns on woman's +little word: _I want_. Hence the education of women should include this +factor: the desire to want the right things. Extravagance is not a part +of woman's make-up; it is extraneous. + +_Gain is that which permanently enriches the life._ By every act of +charity, or justice, or insight, or right barter, the soul is made more +grand. True trade everywhere may be made a new method of inspiration, +growth, and power. + +Money is a makeshift of the race. God is the only real appraiser, and we +never get back a money-value for our soul's toil. Whether we pass +wampum, or nickels, or taels, or bank-checks, we are not yet paid for +our trade. + +The higher value of money is its spiritual capacity. Not what it will +bring me is primarily important, but what I can buy with it for the +race. Sometimes the question comes over me: What am I trading for money? +My time? My energy? My ideals? Part of my soul is passing from me: do +dollars ever repay? Hence it comes about that all money transactions are +fragmentary and symbolic. + +Money may lead to poverty, or to spiritual wealth. The gift of trade is +a gift of God, as much as the gift of prophecy or song. In a right way, +we should all love gain. We are not born to go out of the world as poor +as when we came into it. We should gain stature, wisdom, strength, +influence, ideals. If our latent business capacity were more fully +aroused, we should get much more out of life. We would refuse to barter +a spiritual heritage for carnal things. + +We trade thoughts and feelings. But it is very hard to trade fine +impulses with those who are intrinsically vulgar. Their treasury is +empty of spiritual coin, and their storehouse contains no +world-thoughts. We can send a caravan across the desert, a ship across +the sea, but we cannot send a Thought into a flaccid or a pompous brain. + +We trade position and influence. The evil of the spoils system is not +that one gets something for something,--it is that one gets something +for something less, or for nothing. Whatever we have to give may be +rightly given; the wrong comes when we give it to the idle or unworthy. +When we trade political preferment for high merit, both the +office-holders and the country are gainers by the exchange. + +Marriage is the great mart of exchange. Here the possessions of one sex +are set up against those of the other. Everywhere marriage is spoken of +as a good or a bad "bargain." Each man shall say: "Sweetheart, in Myself +I offer you the treasures of manhood. I give strength, courage, +magnanimity, action, protection, and the indomitable will." Each wife +should say: "Dear, in me are all gentleness, courtesy, beauty, grace, +patience, mercy, and hope. I, too, am brave, but my courage is of the +heart. I, too, am strong-willed, but my will is deep-set in love." As +years go on, there comes a time when Love says: "Between us now there is +neither mine nor thine. The universe is ours together!" + +Human love is not all. There is yet a higher impulse. The most +business-like question that ever touches the heart of man is this: For +what shall I trade my soul? We hold our souls high: we perceive that +eternity itself is not too much to ask. And hence the highest barter is +that of the earthly for the spiritual; of the temporal for the unseen +and eternal. We say, Give me God, give me heaven, give me divine and +sacrificial Love, and I will give my heart. And thus the last +transaction is between God and the soul. Godliness is great Gain, and to +exchange earth for heaven is a satisfying and unregretted Trade. + + + + +IV. THE WORLD-MARCH: OF WORKERS + + [ARMAGEDON] + + Jesus, Thou hast bought us + Not with gold or gem, + But with Thine own life-blood, + For Thy diadem. + With Thy blessing filling + Each who comes to Thee, + Thou hast made us willing, + Thou hast made us free. + By Thy grand redemption, + By Thy grace divine, + We are on the Lord's side; + Saviour, we are Thine! + + Not for weight of glory, + Not for crown or palm, + Enter we the army, + Raise the warrior psalm; + But for love that claimeth + Lives for whom He died, + He whom Jesus nameth + Must be on His side. + By Thy love constraining, + By Thy grace divine, + We are on the Lord's side; + Saviour, we are Thine! + + FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL + +What is work? Work is energy applied to the creation of either material +or immaterial products. The digging of the soil preparatory to raising a +corn-crop is work; the making of brooms; the writing of fugues. There is +no one who does not work, at one time or another, and a man's social +value depends largely upon the amount of work that he can do. + +Even the energy which is seemingly applied to destructive tasks is +really subsidiary to a constructive ideal. Thus the hewing of timber is +a destructive task, but its object is not to scatter trees around, but +to make a clearing on which to plant wheat; or to have lumber, in order +to build a house. So, also, we blast rock, in order to get stones for a +stone wall, or for the filling of a road-bed. And we rip up old clothes +in order to have rags, and to make room in our homes for other things. +Destructiveness from a sheer love of destructiveness is not work--it is +vandalism. The true Man works. When Adam's crook-stick turned over the +brown earth to make it fertile, he began the industry of the world. The +whole horizon of man's endeavor is spanned by one word, Work. It has +built cities, bridged rivers, united continents, and sent the myriad +spindles of trade whirring under a thousand changing skies. + +Work is the open-sesame of success. It is curious to see how uneasily +some men will roam from one end of the earth to the other, trying to +find an easy place, a place where work will not be needed or required. +There is no such place. The higher the honor, the harder the work. The +power to work is ordinarily the measure of a man's possibilities of +success. Long hours, hard toil, lack of recognition and appreciation, +drudgery, a thousand attempts to one successful issue,--these are the +ways in which the colossal achievements of mankind have been built up. +Work, as has well been said, is an ascending stairway. On its broad base +are ranged all the multitudes of the earth. Those who can climb mount +the higher and ever-narrowing stair. + +The great man can begin anywhere, or with any task. He says, If I am +going into the giant-business, I may as well begin now! Born and bred in +the forest, he lays hand to his axe, and looking up at some tall oak, +cries out, I will begin here! With the first stroke of the axe, success +is not less sure than in his last endeavor. Success of the right kind is +a scientific achievement. + +The line has not yet been drawn, and I doubt whether it ever can be +drawn, between productive and non-productive labor. There is a cleavage +of tasks, however, which may be approximately expressed, as work that is +done for support, for daily bread, and work which is done because +certain faculties of mind and heart and soul demand expression, +development, and scope. We all have powers which are willing to be set +in action primarily for self-preservation--for personal, material, and +transitory ends. We are also endowed with faculties which react, +primarily, in behalf of universal aims, though that may not debar them +from also bringing an advantage to ourselves. In proportion as we are +talented, magnanimous, and high-minded, we delight in spending a part of +our lives in working for the race. + +Thus Thoreau, when he, "by surveying, carpentry and day-labor of various +other kinds," had earned $13.34, was doing income-work, the work by +which he had to live. For the same purpose, he worked at raising +potatoes, green corn, and peas. When he wrote _Walden_, he did a kind of +work which also in time brought him an income. But he did not write +_Walden_ for food or money; he wrote it primarily because he liked to +write, and for the benefit of mankind. + +In order to be contented and happy, each normal adult human being must +have at least the chance of doing these two kinds of work. Unless he or +she can do income-work, he or she is not economically independent; +unless he can do universal work, he is not socially and +spiritually free. + +Much of the present-day discontent is owing to the fact that these two +kinds of work are not represented, as they should be, in every +working-life. + +The problem in regard to the working-man is not how to pet him, nor to +patronize him, but how to educate him and inspire him! He is not a +parasite to be fed by the capitalist, nor is the capitalist a parasite +upon the working-power of the working-man. Both are men. The problem is, +How shall the capitalist lead the noblest, most public-spirited, and +helpful life in relation to those in his employ? How shall the +working-man lay hold on the best that life can give? How shall he find a +work which he is competent to do, and likes to do, and may be supported +by doing--and at the same time have a chance to grow; to enter into the +large, free culture-life of the world? + +The complaint of the working-man, when really analyzed, runs down to +this: I do income-work, but it does not bring me bread enough to live. +Not only that, but ground down as I am by toil, all possibility of the +larger, universal work is shut away from me. My faculties are +atrophied--paralyzed--and hence my soul smoulders with deep and angry +discontent. This ceaseless and sordid anxiety for bread cuts me out of +my world-life, my world-toil. I cannot do scientific research-work, or +write the books and papers that I ought. My universal labor is +interrupted: I cannot be happy until I can take up this larger +work again. + +As the trade of civilization advances, the meaning of bread changes. The +university professor, no less than the day-laborer, finds his income +too small for him, and says, "I, too, do income-work which does not +bring me bread, books, travel, society, a summer home, and surroundings +which are not only decent and sanitary, but refined and beautiful." + +Is it not also the source of the discontent to-day, among almost all +classes of women, except the most highly educated and efficient? Women +say--our modern daughters, wives, and mothers: "In the home, we do +income-work for which we do not receive income. When strangers do this +work, they are paid, and we are not." In addition, many a woman is so +bound down by daily tasks, that her whole soul cries out, and we hear of +the high rate of insanity among farmers' wives, of nervous prostration +of the housewives in our towns, and become accustomed to such +expressions as "the death of a woman on a Kansas farm." + +This discontent takes many restless forms. It leads daughters, who ought +to be at home, out into morally dangerous but income-earning work; it +takes wives out into all manner of clubs, without regard to the fact: as +to whether the particular club, in its atmosphere and influence, is good +or bad; it brings discouragement, disorder, and unrest into the home, +dissatisfaction with house-duties and home-tasks, and is sapping our +life where it should be best and strongest--in the home--taking out of +it youth, spirit, enthusiasm, inspiration, and content. + +The three questions asked in regard to each worker are: 1. What work +can he do? 2. Of what quality? 3. In what time? The difference between +industry and idleness is that work is one thing which no one may +honorably escape. Since it must be done, the problem of life is not how +to escape work, but how to find the right work, and how best to do it, +and most swiftly, when the choice is made. + +"_Forth they come from grief and torment; on they wend + toward health and mirth, +All the wide world is their dwelling, every corner of the + earth. +Buy them, sell them for thy service! Try the bargain what + 'tis worth, + For the days are marching on. + +"These are they who build thy houses, weave thy raiment, + win thy wheat, +Smooth the rugged, fill the barren, turn the bitter into + sweet, +All for thee this day--and ever. What reward for them + is meet? + Till the host comes marching on._" + + WILLIAM MORRIS + +SECOND + +The trade of toil for money has led to many problems and discussions. +To-day the trenchant question: "What More than Wages?" is a matter of +eager talk. Is this a living-wage?--Just enough warmth, not to freeze. +Just enough clothing to be decent. Just enough food to go through the +day without actual hunger. Just enough shelter to keep out the wind and +rain and snow. Just enough education to learn to read and write +and count. + +No. As the theory of bodily freedom demands for each man life, liberty, +and the pursuit of happiness, so the highest theory of to-day lays down +demands of economic freedom beyond the mere fad of possible existence. +Dr. Patten has formulated certain "economic rights" of man. Each +employer must say: Before I settle back with a serene belief that I have +given my men a living-wage, let me ask: Have they sun? air? sanitary +surroundings and conditions? medical care? leisure? education? a chance +to grow? Have they enough money for ordinary occasions, and a little to +give away? No man or woman has a living-wage, who has no money to +give away. + +Education and comfort add to the value of the employed. The cook who has +a rocking-chair, a cook-book, and a housekeeping magazine in her kitchen +will do more work, and better work, other things being equal, than the +cook who has none. The workman who lives in a clean, sunny, well-aired +place, where he can found a home, and bring up healthy children, will do +more work, and better work, than the workman who lives in a damp, dark, +ill-ventilated tenement, and who goes to his day's work with a heart +sullen and broken because of avoidable illness and sorrow in his poor +little home. Five thousand employees who have a night-school, +luncheon-rooms, little houses and gardens, a savings-bank, and a library +of books and pictures are worth more than those who are given no such +advantages of happiness, growth, and content. The Railroad Young Men's +Christian Associations are said to be a good economic investment, as +well as an uplifting moral influence. + +This appears to be a fundamental economic law: _Every physical, mental, +or spiritual advantage offered to an honest working man or woman +increases his economic efficiency_. Therefore even the selfish policy of +shrewd corporations to-day is to screw up, and not down; while the more +philanthropic are beginning to see, in their social power, a luminous +opportunity to do a god-like service. + +But the capitalist, however just or generous, cannot do for a man what +he cannot or will not do for himself. Too many workers imagine that a +living-wage is to be given to each man, no matter how he behaves or +works. This is a false assumption. Underlying all human effort, there +runs a final law, that of Compensation: _What I earn, I shall some day +have_. This is a very different proposition from this: _What I do not +earn, I want to have_! For every stroke of human toil, the universe +assigns a right reward--a reward, not of money only, but of peace of +heart, joy, and the possibilities of helpfulness. But when the work done +has not been done faithfully, or well, or honestly, or in the right +spirit, the reward is lessened to that exact degree. To the end of time, +the idle and the lazy must, if they are dependent on their own +exertions, be ill housed and fed. If a man wastes, or his wife does, he +must not complain that his income will not support him. If he lets +opportunities of sustenance and advancement go by, the capitalist is not +to be held to account. + +There are two chief kinds of economic difficulties. One is the problem +of the capitalist: How much ought I to pay? The second is that of the +working-man: How much service must I render? How much ought I to be +paid? Of the second kind, nearly every phase of it begins right here, +that men and women demand for labor something which they have not +earned. They do careless, indifferent, shiftless, reckless work, and +then demand a living-wage. The capitalist is not inclined to raise his +scale of prices, knowing that he has built up his business by prudence, +sagacity, and tireless application--the very qualities which his +dissatisfied employees lack. + +We need not pay--we ought not to pay--for incompetence, for +impertinence, for disobedience of orders, for laziness, for shirking, +for cheating, or for theft. To do so is a social wrong. It is the wrong +that lies back, not only of sinecures and spoils, but of employing +incompetent and wasteful cooks and dressmakers. + +What we make of our lives through wages depends upon ourselves. For +instance, a man gives each of five boys twenty-five cents for sweeping +snow off his sidewalks. One boy tosses pennies, and loses his quarter by +gambling. One boy buys cigarettes, and sends his money up in smoke. One +boy buys newspapers, and sells them at a profit which buys him his +dinner. A fourth boy buys seeds, plants them, and raises a tiny garden +which keeps him in beans for a whole season, The fifth boy buys a book +which starts him on the career of an educated man: he becomes an +inventor and a man of means. The man who paid out the twenty-five cents +to each boy is in no way responsible for the success or failure of their +investment of this quarter. He is responsible only for the fact that he +did or did not pay a fair price for the work. + +God, the great Paymaster, gives to each of us the one talent, the two +talents, or the ten talents, of endowment and opportunity: after that, +we are left to our own devices! + +There are four things which every employee should constantly bear in +mind, if he wishes to advance,--skill, business opportunity, loyalty, +and control. Until a man has mastered what he has to do, he cannot be +expected to be accounted a serious factor in the economic world. The +moment he achieves skill in what he has to do--and this is a question of +thoroughness, accuracy, and speed--he has achieved power, a possibility +of dictation in the matter of hours and wages. + +The next point is business opportunity. Two men, of exactly the same +opportunities and endowments, take up the same task. One man idles and +is surpassed by the other, or he does only what he is told to do, +without further thought. The other performs his set task, but at the +same time he is examining into the principles of his engine, or into the +conduct of the factory or business. In a few years he is the foreman, or +an inventor, or a partner, with independent capital of his own. Again, +there is a blind way of doing skilled work, or of merely doing it +without noticing where it is most needed, or how the market is going for +this special kind of work. The one who has his eyes open reads, notes +the state of the market, adds to his skill the power of counsel, and can +gradually take a larger responsibility upon him, which will advance the +economic value of his time, as well as the work. There is a constant +flux in the labor-world, which is the result largely, not of special +opportunity, but of worth, application, and concentrated thought. + +Third, loyalty has a high mercantile value. Disloyalty is a sin. + +The fourth point is control. Does it not strike wonder to think how some +men have under them, either in their industrial plant, or in their +railway systems, or in their syndicate-work, anywhere from a few hundred +to ten, fifteen, or twenty thousand men? How do they maintain +discipline, either themselves, or through their subordinates? This +problem of control is a serious one in business. Every angry threat, +every sullen hour, each case of insubordination, every strike, every +widespread dissatisfaction, means economic waste. It means expense both +of time and money to send for Pinkertons to keep order and preserve +discipline. The man who adds to his technical skill, and his knowledge +of the market, the power of control adds great force and value to his +work. Higher yet is executive force, the power to adjust +responsibilities and duties in such a way as to get back a high economic +return in the way of service. But above all, there is that force of +character which impresses itself on a company, on a decade, on a +generation--so that some names are handed down in business from +generation to generation, all men knowing that from father to son, and +again to his son, there will pass down that certain integrity, nobility, +steadfastness of purpose, fidelity, and honor which give credit +throughout the business world, and which promise health and happiness +for those who are happy to be in their employ. + +Before a man complains of his wages, then, let him ask himself: Have I +mastered my work? Am I loyal? Am I capable of larger responsibilities, +and of wider control? + + + + +THIRD + +WILLIAM MORRIS says: "_It is right and necessary that all men should +have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to +do: and which should be done under such conditions as would make it +neither over-wearisome, nor over-anxious._" + +This theorem cannot be upheld in its entirety, though there is a deep +truth beneath it. There are many things, such as the collecting of +garbage, the washing of the dead poor, the cleaning of cesspools, the +butchery of cattle for the market, and the execution of capital +criminals, which can scarcely be called pleasant to do, and must yet be +done. As long as the world is the world, and there is in it sin, decay, +disease, and death, we cannot hope to make the work or the conditions of +work absolutely ideal: we _can_ make ideal the spirit in which work +is done! + +A fine story is told that long ago, when the cholera once broke out in +Philadelphia, the hospitals fell into a fearful state. One day, a plain, +quiet little man stepped into the chief hospital, looked about a moment, +and set to work. No task was too dirty or disagreeable for him; no +detail was too disgusting. He did anything he saw to be done,--called in +additional doctors, organized the nurses, and himself waited on patients +night and day. He soon had the hospital in good shape again. When the +crisis passed, and every one began to demand, Who is this man?--they +were told: It is Stephen Girard. The work was not pleasant, but the +spirit was kind, and the heart delighted in its self-appointed toil. + +Work in general, however, that has worth has several elements. First, It +must be individual. It must be joyfully done: there must enter into work +the vitality of a happy spirit. It must be spontaneous. This is why +machine-work can never be thoroughly beautiful: it lacks the spontaneity +of life. The hand never makes two things alike. With the mood, the +weather, the occasion, there are little touches added which a machine +cannot give. Life always varies and thinks of new effects. + +When we try to realize what work is, when it is merely an amount of toil +prodded out of man or woman by a hard taskmaster, we have only to look +back to the bondage of Israel in Egypt, or to the time of Scylla, when +there were thirteen million slaves in Italy alone: slaves whose set +tasks were of over two hundred and fifty kinds; who worked on the +road-building, on public works, and in rowing in the galleys of the +slave-propelled ships. In Carthage agriculture was for a time largely +carried on by slave-labor. How different is this slave-labor from the +craft-work of mediaeval times, when, under the protection of the guilds, +manual labor became exalted to an artistic rank, and the workers at the +loom, the metal-workers, the wood-carvers, the tapestry-weavers, and the +workers in pottery and glass produced objects whose beauty has never +been either equalled or surpassed. Andrea del Sarto and Benvenuto +Cellini were workers, and their work remains. + +Again, good work is born of affection. Love teaches more art than all +the schools. What we love, we instinctively beautify. The artist +beautifies the material on which he works. He loves his task, and from +his love there begins a gradual shaping of the ideal. The product gains +a touch of beauty. The needlework of Egypt and Byzantium, the laces of +Venice and of Spain, are historic. It is said of Queen Isabella, that +she was one of the best needleworkers of her age; that "her _motifs_ +were the great events of the time." + +A peasant girl of Venice was once given a beautiful coral-branch and +some rare leaves and shells which her lover had gathered for her from +the sea-depths. She was untaught in art, and making fish-nets was her +wonted work. Day by day as she wrought her nets, she looked upon the +lovely sea-treasures, their beauty passed into her heart and mind, and +she began to copy, spray by spray, the coral-foliage, the leaves of the +sea-grasses, and the curves of the sea-shells, until after a time, in +the meshes of her fish-nets, she had imprisoned forms of exquisite +beauty, and one saw there reproduced, in dainty and artistic grouping, +what her very soul had loved and fed upon. Her fish-nets became works +of art. + +Work of a high order is always based on high ideals and on great +thoughts. It implies a vast amount of toil. The Capellmeister of the +Vatican choir to-day is that wonderful young genius, Perosi, who is +stirring all Europe by the beauty of his musical work, and by the +spirituality and fervor of his musical imagination. He has set himself +to compose twelve oratorios, which shall body forth the whole life of +the Saviour. He believes that the music-lover and the church-lover may +be identical, and has set his hand to the uniting of all true +music-lovers with the great offices and services and influences of the +Church. Here is Work exalted to its spiritual office: to carry out, not +only ideals of beauty and harmony, but to advance spiritual progress. +This is the final aim of all true work: it must be not only aesthetic, +and honest, but spiritual. The prayer of the true workman is ever to +make himself a workman approved unto God. "May the beauty of the Lord be +upon us, and the work of our hands, establish Thou it!" + +The worker should have change of work. Nature never intended that a man +should do one thing all his life. This is in harmony neither with man's +infinite capacity, nor with her inexhaustible variety. Change is +cultural, and a man's work Should, from time to time, engross every +working-power he has. + +Working-surroundings should not only be sanitary, they should be +beautiful. What influences one most at college, and makes most for one's +happiness, is not the fact of the work in recitation-rooms, out of +books, laboratories, and under teachers. The glory of college life is, +that wherever one goes, the eyes look out on beauty, and wherever one +works, there are those whom we love who work beside us. + +As one passes down the long college corridors, the eyes fall upon palm +and statue, upon frieze and fresco, and the carbon copies of immortal +paintings. Everywhere there are the inspirations of sculpture and +architecture, of music, literature, and art. Beauty is in and about the +place in which one thinks and works. This is the undying charm of +Oxford--the gathering traditions of centuries, the gleaming spires, the +age-worn walls and buttresses, the clinging vine, the tremulous light +and shadow on the ancient halls, the sculpture of porch and clerestory, +and the light that falls through richly tinted windows. + +This beauty should not be monopolized by any one class. About the places +where we work, we should have, as far as possible, something of the +beauty of the world. We should have wide, shaded streets and parks, even +in great cities; towers and pinnacles; sky-lines of vigor, grace, and +massive strength. Cannot department stores be artistically fashioned and +built? Cannot market-houses have arches and arabesques? May not even the +Bourse have something about it suggestive of great art? Cannot our +streets have curves and storied cross-ways? Cannot porters and draymen +have somewhat to arouse and satisfy aesthetic instincts? Cannot our +day-laborers be granted vision? + +Why should we have the Gothic cathedral, with its exquisite traceries +and carvings, pillars and reredos and screen, for men to pray in, one or +two hours a week, and the hideous, grime-covered, foul-smelling, +overheated factories, in which men and women spend their working-lives? +This is what Christianity must do: it must implant joy and beauty, as +well as honesty and fidelity, in the way, place, and thought of work! +When religion, education, art, and brotherly affection have joined hands +in a charmed circle, we shall have new ideas of working-places, as well +as of praying-places, and of living-places! It is not enough that a +factory should be situated, as the best factories now are, in the open +country, with sunshine and fresh air. The blockhouse parallelograms and +squares should be replaced by something that has intrinsic beauty and +the haunting completeness of memory and association, so that the place +where a man works shall no more be to him a nightmare, but the +atmosphere and inspiration of his dreams! + +And those we love shall work beside us! Here is another thought: Shall +all association in work be arbitrary? Is there not a more human way than +the chain-gang way? Could not friends work more together, so that one's +daily work should be, not a time of separation from all we love most, +but a time of intellectual sympathy and helpfulness, of companionship +and true-hearted loyalty? This, and many other good things, it is not +too much to hope for. Truly, as Morris writes, "_The Day is Coming_." + +"_Then a man shall work and bethink him, and rejoice in + the deeds of his handy +Nor yet come home in the even too faint and weary to + stand._ + +"_Men in that time a-coming shall work and have no fear + For the morrow's lack of earning and the hunger-wolf + anear._ + +"_And what wealth then shall be left us when none shall + gather gold +To buy his friend in the market, and pinch and pine the + sold?_ + +"_Nay, what save the lovely city, and the little house on the + hill, +And the wastes and the woodland beauty, and the happy + fields we till_; + +"_And the homes of ancient stories, the tombs of the mighty + dead; +And the wise men seeking out marvels, and the poet's teeming + head;_ + +"_And the painter's hand of wonder; and the marvellous + fiddle-bow; +And the banded choirs of music:--all those that do and + know._ + +"_Far all these shall be ours and all men's, nor shall any + lack a share +Of the toil and the gain of living in the days when the + world grows fair_." + + + + +FOURTH + +Good workers are trained in the home, the school, the shop, the wider +world. Every home is an industrial establishment. In it go on the +industrial processes of cooking, cleaning, sewing, washing; the care of +silver, glass, linen, and household stores; the activities of buying +food and clothing; the moral responsibilities of teaching and training +servants and children. If any healthy member of the home is excused from +at least some form of active work, he will inevitably be a shirker when +he grows up. Cannot almost all the problems of human training be run +down to this: How to teach a child to work? If he can work, he can be +happy; but if he does not want to work, he shall never be happy. No +work, no joy, is the universal dictum. + +This is the great hardship of the children of great wealth: they are not +taught to work. To avoid this difficulty, in two very wealthy families +that I know, the boys were even obliged to darn their own stockings and +mend their own clothes. One young hopeful once tore his clothes +a-fishing, and mended his trousers with a scarlet flannel patch! Some +mothers do not allow their little girls to go to school until their beds +are made up and their rooms in order. Other equally wise parents have +tools in the house, and allow the boys to do all the repair work, the +daughters all the family mending, or to care for the linen; the boys to +put in electric fixtures and bells, and keep the batteries in order. +Queen Margherita of Italy, Queen Elizabeth of Roumania, Queen Alexandra +of England, and the Empress Augusta of Germany are all women who have +been from their childhood acquainted with simple and practical household +tasks. This principle is a right one and underlies much after-success. +Each child should, first of all, have a mastery of home-tasks. Then, +whether on the prairie or in the palace, he is free and independent. + +What makes the differences in the social privileges given to one class +of workers above another? In reality, we are all workers. No one ought +to live, if in health, who does not work. But for some forms of work, +men and women receive an income, and nothing more. For other work, men +and women may or may not receive a large personal income, but their work +is recognized, they are a part of the best social circles, and when they +die, a city or a nation grieves. + +The essential difference is this: that one is honor-work, and one is +not. Wherever in the world work is done in a spirit of love and +fidelity, it brings its own reward in recognition and in personal +affection. Sooner or later, honor-work receives honor. + +Another reason for exaltation of one form of work above another, is +that some kinds of work are so very hard to do. They involve the intense +and complicated action of many and of complex powers. It may be hard +physical work to break stones for a road-way, but the task itself is a +simple one--the lifting of the arm and dropping it again with sufficient +force to split a rock apart. But the writing of a prose masterpiece, +such as the _Areopagitica_, involves the highest human faculties in +harmonious action. If we add to the requirements of prose, the rhythm, +the exalted imagery, and perhaps the assonance and rhyme of verse, we +still further increase the difficulty of the task, and the honor of its +successful achievement. The king-work of a powerful monarch, the +president-work of a republican leader, is serious work to do. Our honor +is not all given to the king or president income, salary, or office; it +is a tribute to hard and royal-minded work. + +Household service is personal service. It cannot be made a thing of set +hours, and of measurably set tasks, as office-work maybe. We may talk of +"eight-hour shifts," but they are scarcely practicable. Not every baby +would go to successive "shifts"! House-demands vary, not only with every +household, but with every day. + +When love-making is wholly scientific, then domestic service will be. +There is in it the same delicate personal adjustment, the changing +requirements of weather, health, temper, and season, of emergency and +stress, that are to be found in the most purely personal relation. When +there is a period of unusual sickness through the community, not only +the doctors have extra tasks, but all household servants as well. + +What social recognition can be given to servants who lie, steal, who +shirk every duty that can be shirked, and who are both incompetent and +unfaithful? The here-and-there one faithful helper receives her meed of +appreciation and affection. The whole aspect of household work will +change when honor-work is given: when home-helpers come up to us, from +the truthful and honor-loving class. + +The school-room is the place in which the principles of work are +implanted: thoroughness, grasp, speed, decision, and definite purpose. +The shop is the apprentice-place of work, before one takes up individual +responsibilities. The man who wishes to rise in the railroad service +goes into the shops and roundhouse. The man who wishes to take charge of +an important department in a department store is put to tying packages. + +Teachers' work will not be rightly done until certain advantages are +given to teachers that are now largely withheld. Teachers need more +society, more hours of play, freer opportunity of marriage. Instead of +being tied up to exercise-books and roll-books, in their home-hours, +they should have a chance to spend their time on the golf-links, at +afternoon teas, in visiting and in entertaining friends. Take away +society from any man or woman, and you take away the possibility of a +growing, happy, and helpful life. We need friends just as we need air. +Teachers need admiration and affection, just as much as the society +girl does. + +Universities should have, in their faculties, men and women who +represent the best social as well as the best intellectual life of the +world--who are not only, in the highest sense of the word, society men +and women, but who are social leaders, inspiring truth, inculcating +larger social ideals of the best sort. + +The problem between capitalist and laborer, however, only affects a +portion of the world; that of domestic service a still smaller +proportion; that of teachers affects only a class. There is another +problem, which affects nearly all married women, and therefore a large +section of the human race. It is the problem of mother-work. Here is +where the economist should next turn his attention. First, What is +Mother-work? Second, What are the best economic conditions under which +this work can be done? When we have solved this question, we shall have +solved a great human problem. + +Mother-work includes the bearing and the rearing of children, the +conduct of a home, and the placing of that home in the right social +atmosphere and relations. It includes manual, intellectual, and +spiritual labors. The one who lives and works, as God meant her to live +and work, will never feel over-fatigue. Why do mothers often look so +tired? It is because they too often do not have what every mother ought +to have: education, rest, change, a Sabbath-day, individual income, +intellectual interests, society. + +Whether in the simplest home or in the stateliest, there are certain +manual things to be done in regard to the care and bringing-up of +children, and the conduct of a home. To make the conditions of a woman's +life easier, the very first thing is this: 1. _Women should be educated +primarily for home-life._ By this I do not mean that a woman should be +taught cooking, and not political economy; that she should be instructed +in dressmaking and nursery-work, but not in chemistry and logic. I mean +that the very fullest education that schools, colleges, universities, +and foreign travel can give, should be given to the woman who is +fortunate enough to have them at command, and that every woman, +according to the degree of her possibilities of education and +opportunity, should have the best. But always this education should be +thought of as a part of her preparation for a woman's life. When boys +are in a business college, the principal of that college does not forget +that among the boys there may be more than one who will never have a +business life, but who will go out into other interests and pursuits. +Yet he turns the thoughts of _all_ boys in his school specially toward +business problems. In schools and colleges for women, not all the girls +will marry, not all will be mothers, but most of them will be. Is not, +then, the normal education of a woman that which, while it does not +cramp her life in one direction, nor mould her in a set way, yet keeps +always in mind the fact that the normal woman is being educated for a +normal woman's life? + +This would not necessarily change the curriculum of our colleges in any +way; it would change the spirit and atmosphere of some of them at once. +Instead of the spirit being: "My mind is just as good as a man's. What a +man can study, I can learn! What a man can do, I can do!"--the spirit +would be this: "I am going out into a woman's life, and it is my +business now to take to myself all the wisdom, counsel, experience, and +inspiration of past ages, that I may be the very grandest woman that +history has yet seen! I will be a land-mark in time: I will be a pivot +in history around which the earth shall turn. Because of my life, women +to the end of time shall be able to live a truer, freer, better life!" + +With this thought in mind, all the academic subjects would still pass +into her mind and life, but they would be much more naturally set and +their value would be greatly enhanced. Then we would not have the +too-ambitious woman stepping out of college, or the restless and +discontented one. We would have the large-minded, earnest, noble, +public-spirited one, who would go out into the world as a fine type of +woman, to live a woman's life and do a woman's work. Married or +unmarried, she would still have a woman's interests, a woman's +influence, a woman's charm. + +This higher education may or may not include practical studies in +domestic science, nursing, and household emergencies, but she should +learn somewhere the elements of these studies, so that when she goes +into a home of her own her duties and responsibilities will not be met +in a half-hearted and untrained way. + +2. Mothers should have rest-hours and rest-days. Is it not something +extraordinary, from a purely economic point of view, that while it is +widely recognized that every one should have one day in seven for rest, +that while business men are expected to close up their offices on the +Sabbath, and all working men and women are given this day in the stores, +the factories, and mines--the cook and maids have their Sundays out, and +their week-day afternoons--that nowhere on earth, so far as I know, has +there ever been a systematic arrangement by which mothers, as a class, +have any specially arranged hours or days for rest! A baby's care does +not stop on the Sabbath, and the average mother is practically on duty, +at least over-seeing, day and night, twenty-four hours out of the +twenty-four, from one end of the year to the other, no matter how many +maids and nurses she may have in her employ! + +3. Personal income and its use. What we buy marks our own individuality, +as well as what we do. The woman whose father or husband adjusts her +expenses and expenditures cannot by any possibility be the kind of woman +that the one is who chooses her own things, and spends her money +absolutely to suit herself. When a man buys cigars or fishing-tackle, +his wife may prefer to buy oratorios and golf-clubs. + +4. Mothers should have some interest outside of home-tasks, to keep them +in touch with world-interests and world-tasks. Not all mother's duty is +inside the four walls of her home. The race has demands upon her, as +well as her own child. She ought to be guarded from that short-sighted +and selfish devotion which makes her look upon her child as the centre +of the universe, and which leads her to sacrifice every hour, every +thought, every talent, to him alone. + +5. Building up the place of a home in a community means much more than a +rivalry with one's neighbors, as to which one shall have the cleanest +house, the prettiest or most expensive curtains and furniture, who shall +entertain the most, and whose children shall present the best appearance +in the world! Making a social place for a family involves a very wide +acquaintance with really great social ideals; with the best instincts +and customs; with world refinement and manners, as well as those of +one's own town or village--with the social possibilities of life in +general, as well as the etiquette of Quinton's Corners! To give the +right stamp upon her home, a mother must have a social life, as well as +domestic one. She must have time to enter somewhat into the activities +of her own neighborhood, and must have society after marriage, as well +as before. + +It is a different sort of society that she then needs. It is not a +boy-and-girl society, with its crude ways, and its adolescent ideas of +life. It is the society of earnest, cultured, and public-spirited men +and women, each of whom is adding something to the general store of +interest and ideals; each of whom is doing some phase of social work, +according to his own talent and opportunity. + +When a mother steps out into life in this large way, makes education and +training tributary to her mother-life, and does not stop growing +intellectually or spiritually,--her charm as a woman increases, instead +of diminishes, every year of her married life. Her looks mark her +everywhere as a supremely happy woman, and she goes out into the world +marked with that strange, deep, grand impress of motherhood and +womanhood, which has always made the true woman not only a +working-mother, but a love-crowned queen! + +These and many other thoughts flit over one's mind in looking at any +phase of work, or any piece of work. In the right choice of work lies +the fullest use of one's capacities; in the right conditions of work +lies the freest play of one's energies; in the right spirit of work lies +the way of one's lasting happiness, and the foretaste of eternal joys. + +Thus the world is seen to consist of great cycles of workers, rising in +tiers one above another. Those who do not work are quickly cut out from +all participation in race-progress and in race-delights; those who work +earnestly, but blindly, have their small reward. But those who work with +spiritual energy and enthusiasm are weaving their handiwork into the +very fibre of the universal frame. It is for these spiritual workers +that the great eagerness of life is undying; for them there is no shadow +of fatigue; for them there is the joy of mastery and accomplishment; for +them the peace of soul that comes from the triumphant achievement of +one's mission to mankind! + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Warriors, by Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WARRIORS *** + +***** This file should be named 10004.txt or 10004.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/0/10004/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charlie Kirschner +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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