diff options
Diffstat (limited to '29912-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 29912-0.txt | 7673 |
1 files changed, 7673 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/29912-0.txt b/29912-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71ef618 --- /dev/null +++ b/29912-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7673 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Social Principles of Jesus by Walter +Rauschenbusch + + + +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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Social Principles of Jesus + +Author: Walter Rauschenbusch + +Release Date: September 5, 2009 [Ebook #29912] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF JESUS*** + + + + + + College Voluntary Study Courses + + Fourth Year—Part 1 + + The Social Principles Of Jesus + + By + + Walter Rauschenbusch + + Professor of Church History, Rochester Theological Seminary + + Written under the Direction of Sub-Committee on College Courses, Sunday + School Council of Evangelical Denominations, and Committee on Voluntary + Study, Council of North American Student Movements + + The Woman’s Press + + 600 Lexington Avenue + + New York City + + 1917 + + Copyright, 1916, by + + The International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Associations + + Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London, 1916 + + All Rights Reserved + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Introduction +Part I. The Axiomatic Social Convictions Of Jesus + Chapter I. The Value Of Life + Chapter II. The Solidarity Of The Human Family + Chapter III. Standing With The People +Part II. The Social Ideal Of Jesus + Chapter IV. The Kingdom Of God: Its Values + Chapter V. The Kingdom Of God: Its Tasks + Chapter VI. A New Age And New Standards +Part III. The Recalcitrant Social Forces + Chapter VII. Leadership For Service + Chapter VIII. Private Property And The Common Good + Chapter IX. The Social Test Of Religion +Part IV. Conquest By Conflict + Chapter X. The Conflict With Evil + Chapter XI. The Cross As A Social Principle + Chapter XII. A Review And A Challenge +Footnotes + + + + + + +COLLEGE VOLUNTARY STUDY COURSES + + +“The Social Principles of Jesus” takes seventh place in a series of +text-books known as College Voluntary Study Courses. The general outline +for this curriculum has been prepared by the Committee on Voluntary Study +of the Council of North American Student Movements, representing the +Student Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations and the +Student Volunteer Movement, and the Sub-Committee on College Courses of +the Sunday School Council of Evangelical Denominations, representing +twenty-nine communions. Therefore the text-books are planned for the use +of student classes in the Sunday School, as well as for the supplementary +groups on the campus. The present text-book has been written under the +direction of these Committees. + +The text-books are not suitable for use in the academic curriculum, as +they have been definitely planned for voluntary study groups. + +This series, covering four years, is designed to form a minimum curriculum +for the voluntary study of the Bible, foreign missions, and North American +problems. Daily Bible Readings are printed with each text-book. The +student viewpoint is given first emphasis—what are the student interests? +what are the student problems? + + + The Bible text printed in short measure (indented both sides) is + taken from the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, + copyright, 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by + permission. + + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +This book is not a life of Christ, nor an exposition of his religious +teachings, nor a doctrinal statement about his person and work. It is an +attempt to formulate in simple propositions the fundamental convictions of +Jesus about the social and ethical relations and duties of men. + +Our generation is profoundly troubled by the problems of organized +society. The most active interest of serious men and women in the colleges +is concentrated on them. We know that we are in deep need of moral light +and spiritual inspiration in our gropings. There is an increasing +realization, too, that the salvation of society lies in the direction +toward which Jesus led. And yet there is no clear understanding of what he +stood for. Those who have grown up under Christian teaching can sum up the +doctrines of the Church readily, but the principles which we must +understand if we are to follow Jesus in the way of life, seem enveloped in +a haze. The ordinary man sees clearly only Christ’s law of love and the +golden rule. This book seeks to bring to a point what we all vaguely know. + +It does not undertake to furnish predigested material, or to impose +conclusions. It spreads out the most important source passages for +personal study, points out the connection between the principles of Jesus +and modern social problems, and raises questions for discussion. It was +written primarily for voluntary study groups of college seniors, and their +intellectual and spiritual needs are not like those of an average church +audience. It challenges college men and women to face the social +convictions of Jesus and to make their own adjustments. + + + + + +PART I. THE AXIOMATIC SOCIAL CONVICTIONS OF JESUS + + + + +Chapter I. The Value Of Life + + +Whatever our present conceptions of Jesus Christ may be, we ought to +approach our study of his teachings with a sense of reverence. With the +slenderest human means at his disposal, within a brief span of time, he +raised our understanding of God and of human life to new levels forever, +and set forces in motion which revolutionized history. + +Of his teachings we have only fragments, but they have an inexhaustible +vitality. In this course we are to examine these as our source material in +order to discover, if possible, what fundamental ethical principles were +in the mind of Jesus. This part of his thought has been less understood +and appropriated than other parts, and it is more needed today than ever. +Let us go at this study with the sense of handling something great, which +may have guiding force for our own lives. Let us work out for ourselves +the social meaning of the personality and thought of Jesus Christ, and be +prepared to face his challenge to the present social and economic order of +which we are part. + +How did Jesus view the life and personality of the men about him? How did +he see the social relation which binds people together? What was the +reaction of his mind in face of the inequalities and sufferings of actual +society? If we can get hold of the convictions which were axiomatic and +immediate with him on these three questions, we shall have the key to his +social principles. We shall take them up in the first three chapters. + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Worth of a Child + + + And they were bringing unto him little children, that he should + touch them: and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, + he was moved with indignation, and said unto them, Suffer the + little children to come unto me; forbid them not: for to such + belongeth the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever + shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall + in no wise enter therein. And he took them in his arms, and + blessed them, laying his hands upon them.—Mark 10:13-16. + + +The child is humanity reduced to its simplest terms. Affectionate joy in +children is perhaps the purest expression of social feeling. Jesus was +indignant when the disciples thought children were not of sufficient +importance to occupy his attention. Compared with the selfish ambition of +grown-ups he felt something heavenly in children, a breath of the Kingdom +of God. They are nearer the Kingdom than those whom the world has smudged. +To inflict any spiritual injury on one of these little ones seemed to him +an inexpressible guilt. See Matthew 18:1-6. + +_Can the moral standing of a community be fairly judged by the statistics +of child labor and infant mortality?_ + +_What prompts some young men to tyrannize over their younger brothers?_ + +_How does this passage and the principle of the sacredness of life bear on +the problem of eugenics?_ + + + +Second Day: The Humanity of a Leper + + + And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes + followed him. And behold, there came to him a leper, and + worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me + clean. And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I + will; be thou made clean. And straightway his leprosy was + cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go, + show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses + commanded, for a testimony unto them.—Matt. 8:1-4. + + +Whenever Jesus healed he rendered a social service to his fellows. The +spontaneous tenderness which he put into his contact with the sick was an +expression of his sense of the sacredness of life. A leper with fingerless +hands and decaying joints was repulsive to the æsthetic feelings and a +menace to selfish fear of infection. The community quarantined the lepers +in waste places by stoning them when they crossed bounds. (Remember Ben +Hur’s mother and sister.) Jesus not only healed this man, but his sense of +humanity so went out to him that “he stretched forth his hand and touched +him.” Even the most wretched specimen of humanity still had value to him. + +_What is the social and moral importance of those professions which cure +or prevent sickness?_ + +_How would a strong religious sense of the sacredness of life affect +members of these professions?_ + + + +Third Day: The Moral Quality of Contempt + + + Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not + kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: + but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother + shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his + brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever + shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of + fire.—Matt. 5:21, 22. + + +In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus demanded that the standards of social +morality be raised to a new level. He proposed that the feeling of anger +and hate be treated as seriously as murder had been treated under the old +code, and if anyone went so far as to use hateful and contemptuous +expressions toward a fellow-man, it ought to be a case for the supreme +court. Of course this was simply a vivid form of putting it. The important +point is that Jesus ranged hate and contempt under the category of murder. +To abuse a man with words of contempt denies his worth, breaks down his +self-respect, and robs him of the regard of others. It is an attempt to +murder his soul. The horror which Jesus feels for such action is an +expression of his own respect for the worth of personality. + +_How is the self-respect and sense of personal worth of men built up or +broken down in college communities?_ + +_How in industrial communities?_ + + + +Fourth Day: Bringing Back the Outcast + + + Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing near unto him to + hear him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, + This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. + + And he spake unto them this parable, saying, What man of you, + having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, doth not + leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that + which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he + layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he + calleth together his friends and his neighbors, saying unto them, + Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say + unto you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven over one + sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine righteous + persons, who need no repentance. + + Or what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, + doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently + until she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth + together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I + have found the piece which I had lost. Even so, I say unto you, + there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner + that repenteth.—Luke 15:1-10. + + +Every Jewish community had a fringe of unchurched people, who could not +keep up the strict observance of the Law and had given up trying. The +pious people, just because they were pious, felt they must cold-shoulder +such. Jesus walked across the lines established. What seems to have been +the motive that prompted him? Why did the Pharisee withdraw, and why did +Jesus mix with the publicans? + +_What groups in our own communities correspond to the __“__publicans and +sinners,__”__ and what is the attitude of religious people toward them?_ + +_What social groups in college towns are spoken of with contempt by +college men, and why?_ + +_Is there a Pharisaism of education? Define and locate it._ + + + +Fifth Day: The Problem of the Delinquents + + + For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was + lost.—Luke 19:10. + + +Here Jesus formulates the inner meaning and mission of his life as he +himself felt it. He was here for social restoration and moral salvage. No +human being should go to pieces if he could help it. He was not only +willing to help people who came to him for help, but he proposed to go +after them. The “lost” man was too valuable and sacred to be lost. + +_How does the Christian impulse of salvation connect with the activities +represented in the National Conference of Charities and Correction?_ + +_How does a college community regard its __“__sinners__”__?_ Suppose a man +has an instinct for low amusements and a yellow sense of honor, how do the +higher forces in college life get at that man to set him right? + + + +Sixth Day: Going Beyond Justice + + + For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that was a + householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers + into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a + shilling a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out + about the third hour, and saw others standing in the marketplace + idle; and to them he said, Go ye also into the vineyard, and + whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. + Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did + likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others + standing: and he saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day + idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He said + unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard. And when even was come, + the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the laborers, + and pay them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. + And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they + received every man a shilling. And when the first came, they + supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received + every man a shilling. And when they received it, they murmured + against the householder, saying, These last have spent but one + hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who have borne the + burden of the day and the scorching heat. But he answered and said + to one of them, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree + with me for a shilling? Take up that which is thine, and go thy + way; it is my will to give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is + it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? or is thine + eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the + first last.—Matt. 20:1-16. + + +Judaism rested on legality. So much obedience to the law earned so much +reward, according to the contract between God and Israel. Theoretically +this was just; practically it gave the inside track to the respectable and +well to do, for it took leisure and money to obey the minutiæ of the Law. +In this parable the employer rises from the level of justice to the higher +plane of human fellow-feeling. These eleventh-hour men had been ready to +work; they had to eat and live; he proposed to give them a living wage +because he felt an inner prompting to do so. In the parable of the +Prodigal Son the father does more for his son than justice required, +because he was a father. Here the employer does more because he is a man. +Each acted from a sense of the worth of the human life with which he was +dealing. It was the same sense of worth and sacredness in Jesus which +prompted him to invent these parables. + +_Do we find ourselves valuing people according to their utility to us, or +do we have an active feeling of their human interest and worth?_ Let us +run over in our minds our family and relatives, our professors and +friends, and the people in town who serve us, and see with whom we are on +a human footing. + + + +Seventh Day: The Courtesy of Jesus + + + And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all + the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And + the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken in adultery; and + having set her in the midst, they say unto him, Teacher, this + woman hath been taken in adultery, in the very act. Now in the law + Moses commanded us to stone such: what then sayest thou of her? + And this they said, trying him that they might have whereof to + accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on + the ground. But when they continued asking him, he lifted up + himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let + him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and with + his finger wrote on the ground. And they, when they heard it, went + out one by one, beginning from the eldest, even unto the last: and + Jesus was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the midst. + And Jesus lifted up himself, and said unto her, Woman, where are + they? did no man condemn thee? And she said, No man, Lord. And + Jesus said, Neither do I condemn thee: go thy way; from henceforth + sin no more.—John 8:2-11. + + +Was there ever a more gentlemanly handling of a raw situation? This woman +was going through one of the most harrowing experiences conceivable, +exposed to the gaze of a leering and scornful crowd, her good name torn +away, her self-respect crushed. Jesus shielded her from stoning by the +power of his personality and his consummate skill in handling men. He got +inside their guard, aroused their own sense of past guilt, and so awakened +some human fellow-feeling for the woman. When he was alone with her, what +a mingling of kindness and severity! Surely she would carry away the +memory of a wonderful friend who came to her in her dire need. Why did +Jesus twice turn his eyes away to the ground? Was he ashamed to look at +her shame? + +Such a sudden, tragic happening is a severe test of a man’s qualities. It +brought out the courtesy of Jesus, his respect for human personality even +in its shame. _How can we train ourselves so that we may be equal to such +emergencies?_ Would continued spiritual contact with Jesus be likely to +make a difference? + + + +Study for the Week + + +The passages we have studied are inductive material. Can there be any +doubt that Jesus had a spontaneous love for his fellow-men and a deep +sense of the sacredness of human personality? Physical deformity and moral +guilt could not obscure the divine worth of human life to him. To cause +any soul to stumble and go down, or to express contempt for any human +being, was to him a horrible guilt. + + +I + + +This regard for human life was based on the same social instinct which +every normal man possesses. But with Jesus it was so strong that it +determined all his viewpoints and activities. He affirmed the humane +instinct consciously and intelligently, and raised it to the dignity of a +social principle. This alone would be enough to mark him out as a new +type, prophetic and creative of a new development of the race. + +Whence did Jesus derive the strength and purity of his social feeling? Was +it simply the endowment of a finely attuned nature? Other fine minds of +the ancient world valued men according to their wealth, their rank, their +power, their education, their beauty. Jesus valued men as such, apart from +any attractive equipment. Why? “The deeper our insight into human destiny +becomes, the more sacred does every individual human being seem to us” +(Lotze). The respect of Jesus for every concrete person whom he met was +due to his religious insight into human life and destiny. But how did he +get his insight? + +Love and religion have the power of idealistic interpretation. To a mother +her child is a wonderful being. To a true lover the girl he loves has +sacredness. With Jesus the consciousness of a God of love revealed the +beauty of men. The old gods were despotic supermen, mythical duplicates of +the human kings and conquerors. The God of Jesus was the great Father who +lets his light shine on the just and the unjust, and offers forgiveness +and love to all. Jesus lived in the spiritual atmosphere of that faith. +Consequently he saw men from that point of view. They were to him children +of that God. Even the lowliest was high. The light that shone on him from +the face of God shed a splendor on the prosaic ranks of men. In this way +religion enriches and illuminates social feeling. + +Jesus succeeded in transmitting something of his own sense of the +sacredness of life to his followers. As Wundt says: “Humanity in this +highest sense was brought into the world by Christianity.” The love of men +became a social dogma of the Church. Some other convictions of Jesus left +few traces on the common thought of Christendom, but the Church has always +stood for a high estimate of the potential worth of the soul of man. It +has always taught that man was made in God’s image and that he is destined +to share in the holiness and eternal life of God. + + +II + + +What effects has this registered on social conduct? Has the Church +intelligently resisted social forces or conditions which brutalized or +shamed men? + +It is most difficult to estimate accurately the historic influence of +religious ideas. They are subtle and hard to trace. But we can justly +reason from our own observations in evangelism and foreign mission work. +Those of us who have gone through a clearly marked conversion to +Christianity will probably remember that we realized our fellow-men with a +new warmth and closeness, and under higher points of view. We were then +entering into the Christian valuation of human life. In foreign missions +the influence of Christianity can be contrasted with non-Christian social +life, and there is often a striking rise in the respect for life and +personality as compared with the hardness and callousness of heathen +society. This is one of the distinctive marks of the modern and Western +world compared with the ancient and the Oriental. Those individuals among +us who have really duplicated something of the spirit of Jesus are always +marked by their loving regard for human life, even its wreckage. That +sense of sacredness is the basis for the whole missionary and +philanthropic activity of Christian men and women. + +It is also an important force in the social movements. Have there been any +widespread, continuous, and successful movements for social justice +outside of the territory influenced by Christianity? Was there any causal +connection between the historic reformation and purification of +Christianity since the sixteenth century and the rise of civil and social +democracy? Does the spread of Christian ideas and feelings predispose the +powerful classes to make concessions? What contribution did the Wesleyan +revival among the working people of England make toward the rise of the +trade union movement, the education of stable leaders, and the faith in +democracy? It takes idealistic convictions a long time to permeate large +social classes, but they often spring into effectiveness suddenly. +Certainly a belief in the worth and capacity of the common man is a +spiritual support of democratic institutions, and where the Church really +spread the Christian sense of the worth and sacredness of human life, it +has been a great stabilizer of civil liberty. + +Jesus asserted with religious power what all men feel. Sometimes it +requires the solemn presence of death to brush aside the artificial +distinctions of society and to make us realize that a life is a life, and +precious as such. But when we are at our best, we do feel the sacredness +of human life. + + +III + + +Does our present social order develop or neutralize that feeling in us? + +Presumably it works both ways. For those who want to spread the spirit of +Christ, it becomes important to inquire at what points our social +institutions cheapen life and take the value out of personality. + +The class differences inherited from the past are designed to hedge the +upper classes about with honor, but they necessarily depreciate the lower +classes by contrast and neutralize the tie of the common blood. In some +countries the self-respect of the lower classes is affronted by degrading +forms of legal punishment reserved for them. Forms of servility are +exacted from servants and peasants. The practical working of class +differences is most clearly seen in the relation of the sexes. Love is a +great equalizer; hence it clashes with class pride. The plot of +innumerable dramas and novels turns on the efforts of love to overcome the +laws of social caste. Where class spirit is traditional and fully +developed, men have a double code for the women of their own class, and +those of the lower classes. It is a far greater offense for a gentleman to +marry a girl of the lower class than to ruin her. + +It is the glory of America that our laws do not intend to recognize class +differences. The conditions of life on a raw continent and the principles +embodied in religious and political idealism fortunately cooperated. Will +this last, or are the great differences in wealth once more resulting in +definite class lines and in class pride and contempt? What does the phrase +“of good family” imply by contrast? What evidence does college fraternity +life offer as to the existence of social classes? How is immigration +likely to increase the cleavages by adding differences of race and color, +religion, language, and manners? What light does the history of +immigration in America cast on our valuation of human life in strangers? + +Political oligarchies have usually defended their rule by the assumption +that the masses are incapable and the few are superior. The laws made by +them, however, have usually shown ignorance and indifference as to the +human needs of the working masses. The same fundamental adjustment exists +in industry. It is not an expression of the worth of the working people if +they have no right to organize or to share in governing the conditions +under which they work, and if years of good work earn a man no ownership +or equity, no legal standing or even tenure of employment in a business. +Is the right to petition for a redress of grievances an adequate +industrial expression of the Christian doctrine of the worth and +sacredness of personality? Is not property essential to the real freedom +and self-expression of a human personality? + +War and prostitution are the most flagrant offenses against this social +principle. War is a wholesale waster of life. Prostitution is the worst +form of contempt for personality. + +Does our intellectual and scientific work ever tend to chill the warm +sense of human values? Do we acquire something of the impassiveness of +Nature in studying her enormous waste of life? Do we transfer to human +affairs her readiness to use up the masses in order to produce a higher +type? Jesus did not talk about eliminating the unfit. He talked about +saving them, which requires greater constructive energy if it is really to +be done. It also requires a higher faith in the latent recuperative +capacities of human nature. The detached attitude of scientific study may +combine with our plentiful natural egotism to create a cold indifference +toward the less attractive masses of humanity. We need the glow of +Christ’s feeling for men to come unharmed out of this intellectual +temptation. + + +IV + + +Doubtless the objection has arisen in our minds that it is not in the +interest of the future of the race that religious pity shall coddle and +multiply the weak, or put them in control of society. + +But did Jesus want the weak to stay weak? Was his social feeling ever +maudlin? He was himself a powerful and free personality, who refused to be +suppressed or conformed to the dominant type. He challenged the existing +authorities, one against the field. Even in the slender record we have of +him we can see him running the gamut of emotions from wrath and invective +to tenderness and humor. It was precisely his own powerful individuality +which made him demand for others the right to become free and strong +souls. Other powerful individuals have used up the rest as means to their +end. What human life or character did Jesus weaken or break down? He was +an emancipator, a creator of strong men. His followers in later times did +lay a new yoke on the spirits of men and denied them the right to think +their own thoughts and be themselves. But the spirit of Jesus is an +awakening force. Even the down-and-out brace up when they come in contact +with him, and feel that they are still good for something. + +“Jesus Christ was the first to bring the value of every human soul to +light, and what he did no one can any more undo” (Harnack). But it remains +for every individual to accept and reaffirm that religious faith as his +own guiding principle according to which he proposes to live. We shall be +at one with the spirit of Christianity and of modern civilization if we +approach all men with the expectation of finding beneath commonplace, +sordid, or even repulsive externals some qualities of love, loyalty, +heroism, aspiration, or repentance, which prove the divine in man. Kant +expressed that reverence for personality in his doctrine that we must +never treat a man as a means only, but always as an end in himself. So far +as our civilization treats men merely as labor force, fit to produce +wealth for the few, it is not yet Christian. Any man who treats his +fellows in that way, blunts his higher nature; as Fichte says, whoever +treats another as a slave, becomes a slave. We might add, whoever treats +him as a child of God, becomes a child of God and learns to know God. + +“The principle of reverence for personality is the ruling principle in +ethics, and in religion; it constitutes, therefore, the truest and highest +test of either an individual or a civilization; it has been, even +unconsciously, the guiding and determining principle in all human +progress; and in its religious interpretation, it is, indeed, the one +faith that keeps meaning and value for life” (President Henry C. King). + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _The Ordinary Estimate of Men_ + +1. How much do we care for a man if he is of no practical use to us? + +2. On what basis do we ordinarily value men? + +II. _Jesus’ Estimate of Men_ + +1. Which source passages in the daily readings seemed to put the feeling +of Jesus in the clearest light? + +2. How did the religious insight of Jesus reenforce his social feeling? + +3. To what extent is it possible to duplicate his sense of humanity +without his consciousness of God? + +III. _The Valuation of the Individual in Modern Life_ + +1. List the evidences that modern society values men as such apart from +economic utility or standing, or show that it does not so value them. + +2. Is the tendency in modern life toward a lower or higher valuation of +the individual? To what extent is this due to the influence of +Christianity? + +3. How do the statistics of industrial accidents agree with our Christian +valuation of life? + +IV. _The Test of History_ + +1. What widespread and successful movements for social justice have there +been outside the territory influenced by Christianity? + +2. How do modern missions serve as an experiment station for the problem +of this chapter? + +3. What connection was there between the Wesleyan revival and the rise of +the trade union movement in England? + +V. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. Do permanent class differences necessarily result in a slighter social +feeling for the inferior class? + +2. Describe the class lines drawn in your home town. + +3. Did you feel these lines more or less when you entered college? + +4. Does college life tend to make us callous or sympathetic? + +5. Does life in social settlements seem to increase or decrease respect +for human nature in college men and women? + +6. How would you preserve your self-respect if you were a working man +placed in degrading labor conditions? + +7. Does an honor system build up self-respect? + +8. Have your scientific studies, and especially evolutionary teachings, +increased your regard for humanity in the mass? + +9. According to your observation, does religion make a man a stronger or +weaker personality? + + + + +Chapter II. The Solidarity Of The Human Family + + +Every man has worth and sacredness as a man. We fixed on that as the +simplest and most fundamental social principle of Jesus. The second +question is, What relation do men bear to each other? + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Social Impulse and the Law of Christ + + + And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him: + Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said + unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and + with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and + first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt + love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole + law hangeth, and the prophets.—Matt. 22:35-40. + + +Which among the multitudinous prescriptions of the Jewish law ought to +take precedence of the rest? It was a fine academic question for church +lawyers to discuss. Jesus passed by all ceremonial and ecclesiastical +requirements, and put his hand on love as the central law of life, both in +religion and ethics. It was a great simplification and spiritualization of +religion. But love is the social instinct which binds man and man together +and makes them indispensable to one another. Whoever demands love, demands +solidarity. Whoever sets love first, sets fellowship high. + +_When Jesus speaks of love, what more than mere emotion does he mean?_ + +_Is love really the highest thing?_ + +_What do you think of the epigram of Augustine:_ AMA ET FAC QUOD VIS? + + + +Second Day: Jesus Craving Friendship + + + Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and + saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray. + And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began + to be sorrowful and sore troubled. Then saith he unto them, My + soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: abide ye here, and + watch with me. And he went forward a little, and fell on his face, + and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup + pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. + And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them sleeping, and + saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch + and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is + willing, but the flesh is weak. Again a second time he went away, + and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I + drink it, thy will be done. And he came again and found them + sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them again, and + went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words. + Then cometh he to the disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on + now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son + of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us be + going: behold, he is at hand that betrayeth me.—Matt. 26:36-46. + + +Jesus was personally very sociable. He evidently enjoyed mixing with +people. He liked the give-and-take of life. He had friendships. A group of +men and women gathered around him who gave him their devoted loyalty. He +in turn needed them. The denial of Peter and the betrayal of Judas hurt +him, partly because they were defections from the comradeship of his +group. In Gethsemane he craved friendship. He prayed to God, but he +reached out for Peter and John. The longing for friendship and the unrest +of loneliness are proof of a truly human and social nature. + +_In how far is a need for others a sign of strength or of weakness?_ + +_What connection has the spirit of a team, or the loyalty of a college +class, with the Christian law of love?_ + + + +Third Day: Restoring Solidarity + + + Then came Peter and said to him, Lord, how oft shall my brother + sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? Jesus saith + unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until + seventy times seven.—Matt. 18:21-22. + + +Love binds together; hate and anger cut apart. They destroy fellowship. +Therefore the chief effort of the Christian spirit must be to reestablish +fellowship wherever men have been sundered by ill-will. This is done by +confession and forgiveness. Forgiveness was so important to Jesus because +social unity was so important to him. In the Lord’s Prayer he makes full +fellowship with men a condition of full fellowship with God: “Forgive us +our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.” + +Are there any personal injuries which are beyond forgiveness? + +_Think back to any striking experience of forgiving or being forgiven. +What was the religious and moral reaction on your life?_ + + + +Fourth Day: The Christian Intensification of Love + + + Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we + ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath the + world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up + his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? My + little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; + but in deed and truth.—1 John 3:16-18. + + Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every + one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that + loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. Herein was the love + of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son + into the world that we might live through him.—1 John 4:7-9. + + Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No + man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God + abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us.—1 John 4:11-12. + + +These are quotations from one of the early Christian writings. They are +evidence of the emphasis put on love as a distinctive doctrine of the new +religion. Note how the natural social instinct of human affection is +intensified and uplifted by religious motives and forces. Which of these +motives are directly taken from the personality and life of Christ? + +_Do you remember any quotations from non-Christian literature in which a +similar love for love is expressed?_ + + + +Fifth Day: Solidaristic Responsibility + + + Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty + works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, + Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had + been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would + have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, + it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of + judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted + unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty + works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would + have remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall be + more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than + for thee.—Matt. 11:20-24. + + +We know that by constant common action a social group develops a common +spirit and common standards of action, which then assimilate and +standardize the actions of its members. Jesus felt the solidarity of the +neighborhood groups in Galilee with whom he mingled. He treated them as +composite personalities, jointly responsible for their moral decisions. + +_What groups of which we have been a part in the past have stamped us with +the group character for good or evil? How about those of which we are now +a part?_ + +_What have we learned from the Great War about national solidarity?_ + + + +Sixth Day: The Solidarity of the Generations + + + Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the + sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the + righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we + should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the + prophets. Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of + them that slew the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your + fathers. Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape + the judgment of hell? Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, + and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; + and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and + persecute from city to city: that upon you may come all the + righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the + righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye + slew between the sanctuary and the altar. Verily I say unto you, + All these things shall come upon this generation.—Matt. 23:29-36. + + +Jesus saw a moral solidarity existing, not only between contemporaries who +act together, but between generations that act alike. Every generation +clings to its profitable wrongs and tries to silence those who stand for +higher righteousness. Posterity takes comfort in being fairer about the +dead issues, but is just as hot and bad about present issues. The sons +reenact the old tragedies on a new stage, and so line up with their +fathers. In looking back over the history of his nation, Jesus saw a +continuity of wrong which bound the generations together in a solidarity +of guilt. + +_Does the connection consist only in similarity of action, or is there a +causal continuity of wrong in the life of a community?_ + +_Is there anything in our personal family history or family wealth and +business which threatens to line us up with past evils?_ + + + +Seventh Day: Social Consciousness in the Lord’s Prayer + + + After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven, + Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in + heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive + us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us + not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.—Matt. + 6:9-13. + + +_Is there anything more solitary than a human soul calling to the +invisible Presence? Is there anything more social in consciousness than +the Lord’s Prayer?_ + +_Where in these petitions do you feel the sense of social coherence as the +unspoken presupposition of the thought?_(_1_) + +_Could Jesus have thought this prayer if the unity of the race had not +been both an instinctive reality and a clear social principle with him?_ + + + +Study for the Week + + +That man is a social being is the fundamental fact with which all social +sciences have to deal. We may like or dislike people; we can not well be +indifferent to them if they get close to us. As Sartor Resartus puts it: +“In vain thou deniest it; thou _art_ my brother. Thy very hatred, thy very +envy, those foolish lies thou tellest of me in thy splenetic humour; what +is all this but an inverted sympathy? Were I a steam-engine, wouldst thou +take the trouble to tell lies of me?” + +Sex admiration, parental love, “the dear love of comrades,” the thrill of +patriotism, the joy of play, are all forms of fellowship. They give us +happiness because they satisfy our social instinct. To realize our unity +gives relish to life. To be thrust out of fellowship is the great pain. +Many evil things get their attractiveness mainly through the fact that +they create a bit of fellowship—such as it is. The slender thread of good +in the saloon is comradeship. (See Jack London, “John Barleycorn.”) + + +I + + +None ever felt this social unity of our race more deeply than Jesus. To +him it was sacred and divine. Hence his emphasis on love and forgiveness. +He put his personality behind the natural instinct of social attraction +and encouraged it. He swung the great force of religion around to bear on +it and drive it home. Anything that substitutes antagonism for fraternity +is evil to him. Just as in the case of the natural respect for human life +and personality, so in the case of the natural social cohesion of men, he +lifted the blind instinct of human nature by the insight of religion and +constituted it a fundamental principle of life. It is the business of +Christianity to widen the area of comradeship. + +Common human judgment assents to the valuation of Jesus. Wherever an +effective and stable form of fellowship has been created, a sense of +sacredness begins to attach to it, and men defend it as a sort of shrine +of the divine in man. Wherever men are striving to create a larger +fellowship, they have religious enthusiasm as if they were building a +temple for God. This is the heart of church loyalty. + +The family is the most striking case of solidarity. It is first formed of +two units at opposite poles in point of sex, experience, taste, need, and +aims; and when they form it, they usually have as much sense of sacredness +as their character is capable of feeling. When children are added, more +divergences of age, capacity, and need are injected. Yet out of these +contradictory elements a social fellowship is built up, which, in the +immense majority of cases, defies the shocks of life and the strain of +changing moods and needs, forms the chief source of contentment for the +majority of men and women, and, when conspicuously successful, wins the +spontaneous tribute of reverence from all right-thinking persons. In using +the equipment of the home, in standing by one another in time of sickness +and trouble, and in spiritual sympathy, a true family practices solidarity +of interests, and furnishes the chief education in cooperation. + +Political unity was at first an expansion of family unity. The passionate +loyalty with which a nation defends its country and its freedom, is not +simply a defence of real estate and livestock, but of its national +brotherhood and solidarity. The devotion with which people suffer and die +for their State is all the more remarkable because all States hitherto +have been largely organizations for coercion and exploitation, and only in +part real fraternal communities. Patriotism hitherto has been largely a +prophetic outreaching toward a great fellowship nowhere realized. The +peoples walk by faith. + +What evidence does college life furnish us of the fact that social unity +is realized with some sense of sacredness? Why do the years in college +stand out in the later memories of graduates with such a glamour? Why do +students devote so much unpaid service to their teams and fraternities? Is +it for the selfish advantages they hope to get, or because they feel they +are realizing the best of life in being part of a solidaristic group? Do +the dangers of college organizations prove or disprove the principle that +fellowship is felt to be something sacred? + +Any historical event in which men stood by their group through suffering +or to death is remembered with pride. Any case of desertion or betrayal is +remembered with shame. No group forgives those who sell out its solidarity +for private safety or profit. + +Insurance and cooperation are two great demonstrations of the power of +solidarity. In insurance we bear one another’s burdens, “and so fulfil the +law of Christ.” The cooperative associations, which have had such enormous +success in Europe, succeed only where neighborhood or common idealistic +conviction has previously established a consciousness of social unity. +They have to overcome the most adverse conditions in achieving success. +When they do, the effect on the economic prosperity of the people and on +their moral stability and progressiveness is remarkable. + + +II + + +Thus the instincts of the race assent to the social principle of Jesus, +that fellowship is sacred. The chief law of Christianity does not +contradict the social nature of man but expresses and reenforces it. It is +the special function of Christians to promote social unity and expand its +blessings. To do this intelligently we should take note where, at present, +solidarity is frustrated. + +For instance, it is important to inquire how social unity is negatived in +commercial life. Is competition necessarily unfraternal? Would a Socialist +organization of society necessarily be fraternal? Is it a denial of +fellowship to exact monopoly profit from consumers, or to take advantage +of the ignorance or necessities of a buyer? Is the law of the market +compatible with a fraternal conception of society? + +Where can you trace the principle of solidarity actually at work in +industrial life? Give cases where you have observed a real sense of human +coherence and loyalty between employer and employes. How had the feeling +been promoted in those cases and what effect did it have on the economic +relations of the two groups? Why is the feeling of antagonism between +these groups so common? Does the wages system make this inevitable? How +ought we to value the willingness of organized labor to stand together, +especially on strike, and what connection does the bitterness toward +“scabs” have with our subject? + +War is a rupture of fellowship on a large scale. The Great War of 1914 has +been the most extensive demonstration of the collapse of love which any of +us wants to see. As soon as one nation no longer recognizes its social +unity with another nation, all morality collapses, and a deluge of hate, +cruelty, and lies follows. The problem of international peace is the +problem of expanding the area of love and social unity. It is the sin of +Christendom that so few took this problem seriously until we were +chastised for our moral stupidity and inertia. The young men and women of +today will have to take this problem on their intellect and conscience for +their lifetime, and propose to see it through. + + +III + + +Does religion create social unity or neutralize it? Does prayer isolate or +connect? Has the force of religion in human history done more to divide or +to consolidate men? + +Evidently religion may work both ways, and all who are interested in it +must see to it that their religion does not escape control and wreck +fraternity. Even mystic prayer and contemplation, which is commonly +regarded as the flower of religious life, may make men indifferent to +their fellows. + +It is worth noting that the prayer experiences of Jesus were not ascetic +or unsocial. They prepared him for action. When he went into the desert +after his baptism it was to settle the principles on which his Messianic +work was to be done; his temptations prove that. When he went out from +Capernaum to pray “a great while before day,” it was to launch his +aggressive missionary campaign among the Galilæan villages. Prayer may be +an emotional dissipation. Prayer is Christian only if it makes us realize +our fellows more keenly and affectionately. + +It is one thing to praise love and another thing to practice it. We may +theorize about society and ourselves be contrary and selfish units in it. +Social unity is an achievement. A loving mind toward our fellows, even the +cranky, is the prize of a lifetime. How can it be evoked and cultivated in +us? That is one of the most important problems in education. Can it be +solved without religious influences? Love will not up at the bidding. We +can observe the fact that personal discipleship of Christ has given some +persons in our acquaintance a rare capacity for love, for social sympathy, +for peaceableness, for all the society-making qualities. We can make test +of the fact for ourselves that every real contact with him gives us an +accession of fraternity and greater fitness for nobler social unity. It +makes us good fellows. + + +IV + + +The man who intelligently realizes the Chinese and the Zulu as his +brothers with whom he must share the earth, is an ampler mind—other things +being equal—than the man who can think of humanity only in terms of +pale-faces. The consciousness of humanity will have to be wrought out just +as the consciousness of nationality was gradually acquired. He who has it +is ahead of his time and a pioneer of the future. The missionary puts +himself in the position to acquire that wider sense of solidarity. By +becoming a neighbor to remote people he broadens their conception of +humanity and his own, and then can be an interpreter of his new friends to +his old friends. The interest in foreign missions has, in fact, been a +prime educational force, carrying a world-wide consciousness of solidarity +into thousands of plain minds and hones that would otherwise have been +provincial in their horizon. + +A world-wide civilization must have a common monotheistic faith as its +spiritual basis. Such a faith must be unitive and not divisive. What the +world needs is a religion with a powerful sense of solidarity. + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _Solidarity in Human Life_ + +1. Are comradeship and team-work instinctive, or must they be learned? + +2. Do the symptoms of hatred prove or disprove social unity? + +3. Does a strong sense of social unity make a vigorous individualism +harder to maintain? + +II. _Christianity and Solidarity_ + +1. Give proof that Jesus felt a human hunger for companionship. + +2. How does the place assigned to love in the teachings of Jesus bear on +solidarity? How does the duty of forgiveness connect with this? + +3. How does the spirit of the Lord’s Prayer prove the place of solidarity +in Christianity? + +III. _Jesus and the Social Groups_ + +1. Where did Jesus treat communities as composite personalities? Would it +be equally just today to hold cities responsible as moral units? + +2. How did Jesus trace a moral solidarity between generations? + +IV. _Solidarity in Modern Life_ + +1. Where do you see the principle of solidarity accepted and where do you +see it denied in modern social life? + +2. In what way does war outrage Jesus’ principles of social unity? Does it +ever promote fraternity and solidarity? If so how? + +3. Is class consciousness a denial of social solidarity or an approach to +it? How can group loyalty be made to contribute to the common weal? + +4. How should we value the willingness of organized labor to stand +together, particularly on strike? What light does bitterness toward scabs +throw on social solidarity? + +5. Why is the feeling of antagonism between employer and employe so +common? Does a wage system make this inevitable? Can a real sense of +cooperation be secured? If so how? + +6. If a manufacturer has a monopoly, how much profit will loyalty to +Christian principles permit him to make? + +7. When is competition unfraternal? Would socialism insure fraternity? + +8. Do college fraternities practice fraternity? + +V. _Strengthening Solidarity_ + +1. How can the law of love be made the basis of modern business? + +2. Does religion create social unity or neutralize it? How about prayer? + +3. How does the Christian law of love bear on the relations of the races +in America? + +4. What have Christian missions done to lead society from the +nationalistic to the international and inter-racial stage? + +5. Can world-wide social unity be secured without the influence of +Christianity? + +VI. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. To what extent does our present commercial and industrial organization +furnish a basis for experience of solidarity and education in it? + +2. What aspects of modern advertising are Christian and which are +non-Christian? + +3. To what extent is the law of the market compatible with a fraternal +conception of society? + +4. Would a successful socialist organization create a stronger sense of +solidarity or would divisive interests get in by new ways? + +5. Which has the better inducements to loyalty, a college, or a trade +union? Which has more of it? + +6. How does the team spirit go wrong among students? + + + + +Chapter III. Standing With The People + + +We have found two simple and axiomatic social principles in the +fundamental convictions of Jesus: The sacredness of life and personality, +and the spiritual solidarity of men. Now confront a mind mastered by these +convictions with the actual conditions of society, with the contempt for +life and the denial of social obligation existing, and how will he react? +How will he see the duty of the strong, and his own duty? + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Social Platform of Jesus + + + And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he + entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, + and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of + the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place + where it was written, + + The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, + Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: + He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, + And recovering of sight to the blind, + To set at liberty them that are bruised, + To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. + + And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat + down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. + And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been + fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at + the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth: and they + said, Is not this Joseph’s son?—Luke 4:16-22. + + +Luke evidently felt that this appearance of Jesus in the synagogue of his +home city at the outset of his public work was a significant occasion. The +passage from Isaiah (61:1f) was doubtless one of the favorite quotations +of Jesus. He saw his own aims summarized in it and he now announced it as +his program. Its promises were now about to be realized. What were they? +Glad tidings for the poor, release for the imprisoned, sight for the +blind, freedom for the oppressed, and a “year of Jehovah.” If this was an +allusion to the year of Jubilee (Lev. 25), it involved a revolutionary +“shedding of burdens,” such as Solon brought about at Athens. At any rate, +social and religious emancipation are woven together in these phrases. +Plainly Jesus saw his mission in raising to free and full life those whom +life had held down and hurt. + +“As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them.” Must the +platform of Jesus be our platform and program? + + + +Second Day: The Social Test of the Messiah + + + And the disciples of John told him of all these things. And John + calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to the Lord, + saying, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another? And when + the men were come unto him, they said, John the Baptist hath sent + us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for + another? In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and + evil spirits; and on many that were blind he bestowed sight. And + he answered and said unto them, Go and tell John the things which + ye have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame + walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are + raised up, the poor have good tidings preached to them. And + blessed is he, whosoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in + me. Luke 7:18-23. + + +Was Jesus the Coming One? He did not quite measure up to John’s +expectations. The Messiah was to purge the people of evil elements, +winnowing the chaff from the wheat and burning it. His symbol was the axe. +Jesus was manifesting no such spirit. Was he then the Messiah? + +Jesus shifted the test to another field. Human suffering was being +relieved and the poor were having glad news proclaimed to them. Sympathy +for the people was the assured common ground between Jesus and John. Jesus +felt that John would recognize the dawn of the reign of God by the +evidence which he offered him. + +What, then, would be proper evidence that the reign of God is gaining +ground in our intellect and feeling? + + + +Third Day: The Church, a Product of Social Feeling + + + And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in + their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and + healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. But when + he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, + because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a + shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is + plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of + the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest. And he + called unto him his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over + unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of + disease and all manner of sickness.—Matt. 9:35-10:1. + + +The selection of the Twelve, their grouping by twos, and their employment +as independent messengers, was the most important organizing act of Jesus. +Out of it ultimately grew the Christian Church. Now note what motives led +to it. Jesus was relieving social misery. He was oppressed by the sense of +it. The Greek verbs are very inadequately rendered by “distressed and +scattered.” The first means “skinned, harried”; the second means “flung +down, prostrate.” The people were like a flock of sheep after the wolves +are through with them. There was dearth of true leaders. So Jesus took the +material he had and organized the apostolate—for what? The Church grew out +of the social feeling of Jesus for the sufferings of the common people. + +To what extent, in your judgment, does the Church today share the feeling +of Jesus about the condition of the people and fulfil the purpose for +which he organized the apostolate? Or has the condition of the people +changed so that their social needs are less urgent? + + + +Fourth Day: Jesus Took Sides + + + And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed are + ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that + hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: + for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and + when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, + and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice + in that day, and leap for joy: for behold, your reward is great in + heaven; for in the same manner did their fathers unto the + prophets. But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received + your consolation. Woe unto you, ye that are full now! for ye shall + hunger. Woe unto you, ye that laugh now for ye shall mourn and + weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for in + the same manner did their fathers to the false prophets.—Luke + 6:20-26. + + +In these Beatitudes, as Luke reports them, Jesus clearly takes sides with +the lowly. He says God and the future are not on the side of the rich, the +satiated; the devotees of pleasure, the people who take the popular side +on everything. Ultimately the verdict will be for those who are now poor +and underfed, who carry the heavy end of things, and who have to stand for +the unpopular side. In the report of the Beatitudes given by Matthew +(5:3-12) the terms are less social and more spiritual, and the contrast +between the upper and lower classes is not marked; but even there the +promise of the great reversal of things is to the humble and peaceable +folk, the hard hit and unpopular; they are to inherit the earth, and also +God’s kingdom. + +Would it make Jesus a wiser teacher and nobler figure if he had reversed +his sympathies? + + + +Fifth Day: Salvation through the Common People + + + In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I + thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst + hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst + reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing + in thy sight.—Luke 10:21. + + For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the + flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God chose + the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them + that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he + might put to shame the things that are strong; and the base things + of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, + yea and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the + things that are: that no flesh should glory before God.—1 Cor + 1:26-29. + + +The actual results of his work proved to Jesus that his success was to be +with the simple-minded, and not with the pundit class. He accepted the +fact with a thrill of joy, and praised God for making it so. Paul verified +the same alignment in the early Church. The upper classes held back +through pride of birth or education, or through the timidity of wealth. In +bringing in a new order of things, God had to use plain people to get a +leverage. + +_What really was it that Jesus saw in the lowly to attract him?_ + + + +Sixth Day: Jesus, a Man of the People + + + And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and came unto Bethphage, + unto the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying + unto them, Go into the village that is over against you, and + straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose + them, and bring them unto me. And if any one say aught unto you, + ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will + send them. Now this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled + which was spoken through the prophet, saying, + + Tell ye the daughter of Zion, + Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, + Meek, and riding upon an ass, + And upon a colt the foal of an ass. + + And the disciples went, and did even as Jesus appointed them, and + brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their garments; and + he sat thereon. And the most part of the multitude spread their + garments in the way; and others cut branches from the trees, and + spread them in the way. And the multitudes that went before him, + and that followed, cried saying, Hosanna to the son of David: + Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the + highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was + stirred, saying, Who is this? And the multitudes said, This is the + prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.—Matt. 21:1-11. + + +Here was a democratic procession! No caparisoned charger, but a +burro—though a young and frisky one, carefully selected—no military escort +with a brass band and a drum major, but a throng of peasants, shouting the +psalms of their fathers and the hope of a good time coming; no costly rugs +to carpet the way of the King, but the sweat-stained garments of working +people and branches wrenched off by Galilæan fists. What was he, this King +of the future, ridiculous or sublime? + +If Jesus is ever to make his entry into the spiritual sovereignty of +humanity, will the social classes line up as they did at Jerusalem? + + + +Seventh Day: The Final Test for All + + + But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the + angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: and + before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall + separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the + sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right + hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them + on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the + kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I + was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me + drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed + me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came + unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when + saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or athirst, and gave thee drink? + And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and + clothed thee? And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came + unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I + say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, + even these least, ye did it unto me. Then shall he say also unto + them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal + fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was + hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave + me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and + ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. + Then shall they also answer, saying, Lord, when saw we thee + hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in + prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, + saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one + of these least, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away + into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal + life.—Matt. 25:31-46. + + +“Whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” Think of +it—absolute justice done at last, by an all-knowing Judge, where no +earthly pull of birth, wealth, learning, or power will count, and where +all masks fall! By what code of law and what standard shall we be judged +there? Here is the answer of Jesus: Not by creed and church questions, but +by our human relations; by the reality of our social feeling; by our +practical solidarity with our fellow-men. If we lived in the presence of +hunger, loneliness, and oppression, in the same country with child labor, +race contempt, the long day, rack rents, prostitution, just earnings +withheld by power, the price of living raised to swell swollen profit—if +we saw such things and remained apathetic, out we go. + +_You and I—to the right or the left?_ + + + +Study for the Week + + +No one can turn from a frank reading of the Gospels without realizing that +Jesus had a deep fellow-feeling, not only for suffering and handicapped +individuals, but for the mass of the poorer people of his country, the +peasants, the fishermen, the artisans. He declared that it was his mission +to bring glad tidings to this class; and not only glad words, but happy +realities. Evidently the expectation of the coming Reign of God to his +mind signified some substantial relief and release to the submerged and +oppressed. Our modern human feeling glories in this side of our Saviour’s +work. Art and literature love to see him from this angle. + + +I + + +His concern for the poor was the necessary result of the two fundamental +convictions discussed by us in the previous chapters. If he felt the +sacredness of life, even in its humble and hardworn forms, and if he felt +the family unity of all men in such a way that the sorrows of the poor +were his sorrows, then, of course, he could not be at ease while the +people were “skinned and prostrate,” “like sheep without a shepherd.” +Wherever any group has developed real solidarity, its best attention is +always given to those who are most in need. “The whole have no need of a +physician,” said Jesus; the strong can take care of themselves. + +So he cast in his lot with the people consciously. He slept in their +homes, healed their diseases, ate their bread, and shared his own with +them. He gave them a faith, a hope of better days, and a sense that God +was on their side. Such a faith is more than meat and drink. In turn they +rallied around him, and could not get enough of him. “The common people +heard him gladly.” + +Furthermore, the feeling of Jesus for “the poor” was not the sort of +compassion we feel for the hopelessly crippled in body or mind. His +feeling was one of love and trust. The Galilæan peasants, from whom Peter +and John sprang, were not morons, or the sodden dregs of city slums. They +were the patient, hard-working folks who have always made up the rank and +file of all peoples. They had their faults, and Jesus must have known +them. But did he ever denounce them, or call them “offspring of vipers”? +Did he ever indicate that their special vices were frustrating the Kingdom +of God? They needed spiritual impulse and leadership, but their nature was +sound and they were the raw material for the redeemed humanity which he +strove to create. + + +II + + +There is one more quality which we shall have to recognize in the attitude +of Jesus to “the poor.” He saw them over against “the rich.” Amid all the +variations of human society these two groups always reappear—those who +live by their own productive labor, and those who live on the productive +labor of others whom they control. Practically they overlap and blend, but +when our perspective is distant enough, we can distinguish them. In Greek +and Roman society, in medieval life, and in all civilized nations of +today—barring, of course, our own—we can see them side by side. Each +conditions the other; neither would exist without the other. Each class +develops its own moral and spiritual habits, its own set of virtues and +vices. Some of us were born in the upper class, some in the lower; and in +college groups the majority come from the border line. By instinct, by the +experiences of life, or by national reflection, we usually give our moral +allegiance to one or the other, and are then apt to lean to that side in +every question arising. + +Now, Jesus took sides with the group of toil. He stood up for them. He +stood with them. We can not help seeing him with his arm thrown in +protection about the poor man, and his other hand raised in warning to the +rich. If we are in any doubt about this, we can let his contemporaries +decide it for us. Plainly the common people claimed him as their friend. +Did the governing classes have the same feeling for him? It seems hard to +escape the conclusion that Jesus was not impartial between the two. Was he +nevertheless just? To the æsthetic sense, and also to a superficial moral +judgment, the upper classes are everywhere more congenial and attractive. +To the moral judgment of Jesus, as we shall see more fully in a later +chapter, there was something disquieting and dangerous about the spiritual +qualities of “the rich,” and something lovable and hopeful about the +qualities of the common man. Was he right? This is a very important +practical question for all who are disposed to follow his moral +leadership. + +The perception that Jesus championed the people can be found throughout +literature and art. Our own Lowell has expressed it in his “Parable” in +which he describes Jesus coming back to earth to see “how the men, my +brethren, believe in me.” + + + “Have ye founded your thrones and altars, then, + On the bodies and souls of living men? + And think ye that building shall endure, + Which shelters the noble and crushes the poor? + + “With gates of silver and bars of gold + Ye have fenced my sheep from their Father’s fold; + I have heard the dropping of their tears + In heaven these eighteen hundred years. + + “Then Christ sought out an artisan, + A low-browed, stunted, haggard man, + And a motherless girl, whose fingers thin, + Pushed from her faintly want and sin. + + “These set he in the midst of them, + And as they drew back their garment-hem + For fear of defilement, “Lo, here,” said he, + ‘The images ye have made of me.’ ” + + +III + + +We shall get the historical setting for Christ’s championship of the +people by going back to the Old Testament prophets. They were his +spiritual forebears. He nourished his mind on their writings and loved to +quote them. Now, the Hebrew prophets with one accord stood up for the +common people and laid the blame for social wrong on the powerful classes. +They underlined no other sin with such scarlet marks as the sins of +injustice, oppression, and the corruption of judges. But these are the +sins which bear down the lowly, and have always been practiced and hushed +up by the powerful. “Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that oppress the +poor, that crush the needy.... Ye trample upon the poor, and take +exactions from him of wheat; ... ye that afflict the just, that take a +bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right.... For +three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the +punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and +the needy for a pair of shoes; they that pant after the dust of the earth +on the head of the poor” (Amos 4:1; 5:11-12; 2:6-7). Micah describes the +strong and crafty crowding the peasant from his ancestral holding and the +mother from her home by the devices always used for such ends, exorbitant +interest on loans, foreclosure in times of distress, “seeing the judge” +before the trial, and hardness of heart toward broken life and happiness +(Micah 2:1-2; 2:9; 3:1-2). We cannot belittle the moral insight of that +unique succession of men. Their spiritual force is still hard at work in +our Christian civilization, especially in the contribution which the +Jewish people are making to the labor movement. + + +IV + + +Among the Greeks and Romans political and literary life was so completely +dominated by the aristocratic class that no such succession of champions +of the common man could well arise. Yet some of the men of whom posterity +thinks with most veneration were upper-class champions of the common +people—Solon, for instance, Manlius, and the Gracchi. + +In recent centuries the vast forces of social evolution seem to have set +in the direction toward which Jesus faced. Since the Reformation the +institutions of religion have been more or less democratized. The common +people have secured some participation in political power and have been +able to use it somewhat for their economic betterment. They share much +more fully in education than formerly. Before the outbreak of the Great +War it seemed safe to anticipate that the working people would secure an +increasing share of the social wealth, the security, the opportunities for +health, for artistic enjoyment, and of all that makes life worth living. +Today the future is heavily clouded and uncertain; but our faith still +holds that even the great disaster will help ultimately to weaken the +despotic and exploiting forces, and make the condition of the common +people more than ever the chief concern of science and statesmanship. + +Jesus was on the side of the common people long before democracy was on +the ascendant. He loved them, felt their worth, trusted their latent +capacities, and promised them the Kingdom of God. The religion he founded, +even when impure and under the control of the upper classes, has been the +historical basis for the aspirations of the common people and has readily +united with democratic movements. His personality and spirit has remained +an impelling and directing force in the minds of many individuals who have +“gone to the people” because they know Jesus is with them. In fact we can +look for more direct social effectiveness of Jesus in the future, because +the new historical interpretation of the Bible helps us to see him more +plainly amid the social life of his own people. + + +V + + +So we must add a third social principle to the first two. The first was +that life and personality are sacred; the second that men belong together; +the third is that the strong must stand with the weak and defend their +cause. In his description of the Messianic Judgment, Jesus proposed to +recognize as his followers only those who had responded to the call of +human need and solidarity. He created the apostleship and therewith the +germ of the Church in order to serve the people whose needs he saw and +felt. + +How does this concern college men and women? By our opportunities and +equipment we rank with the strong. Disciplined intellect is armor and +sword. Many of us have inherited social standing and some wealth; it may +not be much, but it raises us above the terrible push of immediate need. +What relation do we propose to have with the great mass of men and women +who were born without the chances which have fallen to us without +exertion? Do we propose to serve them or to ride on them? Will we seek to +gain some form of power by means of which we can live in plenty, with only +slight and pleasurable exertion? In that case we can hardly return to our +fellow-men in work as much as we take from them in enjoyment and luxury. +We shall be part of that dead weight which has always bent the back of the +poor. Is that an honorable ambition? Or do we propose to enter the working +team of humanity and to hold up our end? Our end ought to be heavier than +the average because we have had longer and better training. “To whomsoever +much is given, of him shall much be required.” + +The moral problem for college communities is accentuated when we remember +that few students pay fully for what they get. Whether our institutions +are supported from taxation or from endowments, a large part of their +incomes are derived from the annual labor of society; tuitions pay only a +fraction of the running expenses and of the interest on the plant. Even if +a student pays all charges, he is in part a pensioner on the public. The +working people in the last resort support us; the same people who are +often so eager for education, and who can not get it. Some of them would +feel rich if they had the leavings of knowledge which we throw to the +floor and tread upon in our spirit of surfeit. To take our education at +their hands and use it to devise ways by which we can continue to live on +them, seems disquieting even to a pagan conscience. It ought to be +insufferable to a sense of social responsibility trained under Christian +influences. + +Here is a test for college communities more searching than the physical +test of athletics, or the intellectual tests of scholarship. Do we feel +our social unity with the people who work for their living, and do we +propose to use our special privileges and capacities for their social +redemption? + + + “When wilt Thou save the people? + O God of Mercy, when? + Not kings and lords, but nations, + Not thrones and crowns, but men. + Flowers of Thy heart, O God, are they. + Let them not pass like weeds away, + Let them not fade in sunless day! + God save the people!”—EBENEZER ELLIOTT. + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _The Partisanship of Jesus_ + +1. Did Jesus really take sides with the poor? Prove it. + +2. Try to prove the other side. + +3. Which would be safer evidence: single sayings, or the total impression +of his life and teachings? + +4. What do you conclude regarding the attitude of Jesus? + +II. _The Church and the People_ + +1. What motives led Jesus to organize and send out the twelve? What was +the historical significance of that action? + +2. When and how did the Church lose its working class character? + +3. Does the Church today share Jesus’ feelings about the condition of the +people? Sum up evidence for and against. + +4. What is the true function of the Church in society so far as the poor +are concerned? + +III. _Standing up for the People Today_ + +1. Is it a superficial or profound test to range a man according to his +sympathy with the common people? + +2. What does it involve to stand up for the people today? How does it +differ from charity and relief work? + +3. Name some men and women in our own times who seem to have stood up for +them most wisely and effectively. + +4. What are the vices of social reformers? + +IV. _The Concern of College Men and Women_ + +1. How can college men and women make a just return for their special +opportunities? + +2. What movements in college and university life in recent years are in +line with this social principle of Jesus? + +3. What part have the university students of Russia, Austria, Germany, and +England taken in social movements? Have American students ever taken a +similar interest in working class movements? If not, why not? + +V. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. Is it an advantage or disadvantage to Christianity that it began among +the working class? What effects did that have on its ethical points of +view and its impulses? + +2. Why did the regeneration of ancient society have to come through the +lowly? Will it have to come the same way today? + +3. Is it ethical to live without productive labor? Is it morally tolerable +to enjoy excessive leisure purchased by the excessive toil of others? + +4. Is there any clear conviction on this question in the Christian Church +today? + +5. Is the fact that a person has sprung from the working-class a guarantee +that he will have the working-class sympathies? + +6. Who seem to have more natural democratic feeling, the men or the women +of the upper classes? + + + + + +PART II. THE SOCIAL IDEAL OF JESUS + + + + +Chapter IV. The Kingdom Of God: Its Values + + +_The Right Social Order is the Highest Good for All_ + +The first three chapters dealt with simple human principles which are +common and instinctive with all real men. Jesus simply expanded the range +of their application, clarified our comprehension of them, placed them in +the very center of religious duty, and so lifted them to the high level of +great social and religious principles. + +In the next three chapters we shall take up a conception which is not +universally human, but which Jesus derived from the historic life of the +Hebrew people—the idea of the “Kingdom of God.” A better translation would +be “the Reign of God.” This conception embodied the social ideal and +purpose of the best minds of one of the few creative nations of history. + +How did Jesus interpret this inherited social ideal? What did the Kingdom +of God seem to him to offer men? What did it demand of them? What +immediate ethical duty did this social ideal involve? Our inquiry will +move along these lines in the next three chapters. + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Main Chance + + + The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the field; + which a man found, and hid; and in his joy he goeth and selleth + all that he hath, and buyeth that field. + + Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant + seeking goodly pearls: and having found one pearl of great price, + he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.—Matt. 13:44-46. + + +When war was common, property insecure, and safe deposit vaults were +scarce, it was common for men to bury treasure in time of trouble and to +forget it when they were dead. Whoever accidentally found it “struck pay +dirt” and hastened to locate his claim. An extraordinary jewel, too, was a +bonanza. The infant capitalists of that day were wise enough to liquidate +their other holdings and invest everything in the main chance. Jesus calls +for the application of the same method on the higher level. The Kingdom of +God is the highest good of all; why not stake all on the chance of that? +These parables were spoken out of his own experience. He was gladly +surrendering home, comfort, public approval, and life itself to realize +the Reign of God in humanity. + +Imagine that Jesus had surrendered his religious idealism, had gained +wealth and official standing, and died of old age. Would he have gained? +What would the world have lost? + + + +Second Day: The Master Fact + + + From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for + the kingdom of heaven is at hand.—Matt. 4:17. + + +The Kingdom of God is a master fact. It takes control. When the Kingdom +becomes a reality to us, we can not live on in the old way. We must +repent, begin over, overhaul the values of life and put them down at their +true price, and so readjust our fundamental directions. The conduct of the +individual must rise in response to higher conceptions of the meaning and +possibilities of the life of humanity. Tolstoi has described his +conversion in the simplest terms in the introduction to “My Religion:” + + + “Five years ago faith came to me; I believed in the doctrine of + Jesus, and my whole life underwent a sudden transformation. What I + had once wished for I wished for no longer, and I began to desire + what I had never desired before. What had once appeared to me + right now became wrong, and the wrong of the past I beheld as + right. My condition was like that of a man who goes forth upon + some errand, and having traversed a portion of the road, decides + that the matter is of no importance, and turns back. What was at + first on his right hand is now on his left, and what was at his + left hand is now on his right; instead of going away from his + abode, he desires to get back to it as soon as possible. My life + and my desires were completely changed; good and evil interchanged + meanings. Why so? Because I understood the doctrine of Jesus in a + different way from that in which I had understood it before.” ... + “I understood the words of Jesus, and life and death ceased to be + evil; instead of despair, I tasted joy and happiness.” + + +Some seek religion to escape hell and attain heaven; some to attain a +perfect personality; some to bring in the Reign of God. Give cases. +Estimate the relative religious and social significance of these different +spiritual experiences. + + + +Third Day: Baptism and the New Order + + + Even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, + Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, + Who shall prepare thy way; + The voice of one crying in the wilderness, + Make ye ready the way of the Lord, + Make his paths straight; + + John came, who baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism + of repentance unto remission of sins. And there went out unto him + all the country of Judæa, and all they of Jerusalem; and they were + baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. And + John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leathern girdle + about his loins, and did eat locusts and wild honey. And he + preached, saying, There cometh after me he that is mightier than + I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and + unloose. I baptized you in water; but he shall baptize you in the + Holy Spirit.—Mark 1:2-8. + + +The men who were baptized by John were not looking forward to death and to +salvation after death, but to the coming of the Kingdom of God and of his +Messiah. They repented and accepted the badge of baptism in order to have +a share in the blessings of the Kingdom and to escape the imminent +judgment of the Messiah. Baptism was then the mark of a national and +social movement toward a new era, and was a personal dedication to a +righteous social order. This original idea of baptism was practically lost +to the Christian consciousness in later times. Every man who today +realizes the Kingdom of God as the supreme good, can reaffirm his own +baptism as a dedication to the social ideal and to the leadership of Jesus +who initiated it. Such a social interpretation of our personal +discipleship will bring us into closer spiritual agreement with the +original aim of Christianity. + +_Has our baptism ever had a social significance to us?_ + + + +Fourth Day: The Way to Happiness + + + Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye + shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye + shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body + than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow + not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your + heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than + they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the + measure of his life? And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? + Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, + neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all + his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so + clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is + cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of + little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? + or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For + after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly + Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye + first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things + shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: + for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day + is the evil thereof.—Matt. 6:25-34. + + +This is a song of divine carelessness; not the recklessness of a tramp who +has lost his self-respect and his capacity for long outlooks, but the +carelessness of an aristocratic spirit, conscious of his high human +dignity. God has given us life; will he not give what life needs? If the +birds and the lilies can make a living, can not we? It is pagan and +low-bred to wear out our souls with worry about minor needs. + +The key to this passage lies in the words “your Father,” and “his +Kingdom.” Man is a child of God, and that dignity gives some calm and +assurance amid the worries of life. If we set our life toward the Kingdom +as the supreme aim, all the lesser interests will drop to their proper +place. In the measure in which the will of God is done and his +righteousness practiced among men, the satisfaction of the main material +wants will be easy. The Kingdom, the true social order, is the highest +good; all other good things are contained in it. + +To worry or not to worry, that is the question. _Have we ever tried the +adoption of a high aim as the way to happiness?_ + + + +Fifth Day: Sunny Religion + + + And John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they come + and say unto him, Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the + Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto + them, Can the sons of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom + is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they + cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shalt be + taken away from them, and then will they fast in that day. No man + seweth a piece of undressed cloth on an old garment: else that + which should fill it up taketh from it, the new from the old, and + a worse rent is made. And no man putteth new wine into old + wine-skins; else the wine will burst the skins, and the wine + perisheth, and the skins: but they put new wine into fresh + wine-skins.—Mark 2:18-22. + + +Fasting was an important part of piety with strict Jews. It was an +expression of religious sorrow and self-abasement. Afflicting the body +intensified this spiritual emotion. The disciples of the Pharisees and of +John were surprised and shocked by the fact that Jesus and his group +disregarded this custom. The reply of Jesus shows the religious temper of +Jesus in a new light. He says his disciples were happy, like guests at a +wedding; why should they act as if they were mournful? Fasting was alien +to the spirit which ruled in his company. It would be just as +inappropriate as to patch a piece of unshrunken stuff on an old garment, +or to put fermenting wine in old and brittle skin bottles. The religion of +Jesus, then, was distinguished from other earnest religion by its happy +and sunny character. See also the sharp distinction he makes between the +ascetic life of John and his own enjoyment of social life (Matt. +11:16-19). Yet Jesus was a homeless man, moving toward death. + +There seems to be a difference between the self-denial of ascetic +religion, and the surrender of self to the Kingdom of God. What is it? + + + +Sixth Day: The Poise of Expectancy + + + Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who + took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five + of them were foolish, and five were wise. For the foolish, when + they took their lamps, took no oil with them: but the wise took + oil in their vessels with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom + tarried, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there is a + cry, Behold, the bridegroom! Come ye forth to meet him. Then all + those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said + unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are going out. + But the wise answered, saying, Peradventure there will not be + enough for us and you: go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for + yourselves. And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came; + and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast: + and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, + saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I + say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know not the + day nor the hour.—Matt. 25:1-13. + + +The Lord was to return soon and consummate the establishment of his +Kingdom. The first two generations of Christians took this hope very +seriously. Expectancy was the true pose of Christians. Under the +conditions of that time this was their way of declaring that the Kingdom +of God is the highest good and that all our life should be concentrated on +it. If Jesus lived today he could find even more effective exhortations to +look sharp and not get left. But is the constant expectation of a divine +catastrophe from heaven possible for modern minds? Must we translate that +expectation into the hope of moral and social development? By doing so, +can we still have a religious sense of a great and divine future +overhanging humanity which will give to our life the same value and +solemnity which the first generation felt? + +_Explain what a strong social hope and faith would contribute to a +person’s life in the course of years._ + +How do faith and practical social effort react on each other? + + + +Seventh Day: The Coming Joys + + + Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. + Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for + they shall be filled. + Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. + Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. + Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God. + Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ + sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.—Matt. + 5:5-10. + + +In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus formally outlined his conceptions of +ethical and religious life as distinguished from those then current. It +was the platform of the Kingdom of God. We might expect it to begin with +denunciation. Instead it opens with a spontaneous burst of joy. A great +good was coming. It would bring a store of blessings to all who had the +inward qualifications to receive them. All who felt the divine +dissatisfaction with themselves and the craving for social justice and +righteousness, would get their satisfaction (v. 3, 4, 6). The higher +social virtues, gentleness, purity of heart, peaceableness, would get +recognition and gain ascendancy (v. 5, 7, 8, 9). But the climax of praise +and promise is for those who propagated righteousness where it was not +wanted, and suffered for it (v. 10-12). “These words belong to the +greatest ever uttered” (Hegel). They are pure religion, and they were +called forth by religious faith in a social ideal. + +Have we known men and women who had some of these qualities, who lived +within the Kingdom of God, and who enjoyed its blessings? If they have +ennobled our life, let us think of them a moment with a silent +benediction. + + + +Study for the Week + + +We see from the passages we have studied that the mind of Jesus was +centered on a great hope which was just ahead. It was so beautiful that +even in anticipation it was filling his soul with joy and he knew it would +bless all who shared in it. It seemed to him so valuable and engrossing +that a man ought to stake his whole life on attaining it, and subordinate +all other aims to this dominant desire. + + +I + + +He spoke of this great good as “the Kingdom of God.” Even a superficial +reading of the first three Gospels shows that this was the pivot of his +teaching. Yet he nowhere defines the phrase. He took an understanding of +it for granted with his hearers, and simply announced that it was now +close at hand, and they must act accordingly. What did the words mean to +them? The idea covered by the phrase was an historic product of the Jewish +people, and we shall have to understand it as such. + +The Hebrew prophets had concentrated their incomparable religious energy +on the simple demand for righteousness, especially in social and national +life. The actual life of the nation, especially of its ruling classes, of +course never squared with the religious ideal. The injustice and +oppression around them seemed intolerable to the prophets, just because +the ethical imperative within them was so strong. So their unsatisfied +desire for righteousness took the form of an ardent expectation of a +coming day when things would be as they ought to be. God would make bare +his holy arm to punish the wicked, to sift the good, to establish his law, +and to vindicate the rights of the oppressed. This great “day of Jehovah” +would inaugurate a new age, the Kingdom of God, the Reign of God. The +phrase, then, embodies the social ideal of the finest religious minds of a +unique people. The essential thing in it is the projection into the future +of the demand for a just social order. The prophets looked to a direct +miraculous act of God to realize their vision, but they were in close +touch with the facts of political life and always demanded social action +on the human side. + +Plato’s Republic and More’s Utopia are intellectual productions which have +appealed to single idealistic minds. The Hebrew prophets succeeded in +socializing their ideal. By the force of religion they wrought the +conception of the Kingdom of God into the common mind of a nation as a +traditional conviction which was assimilated by every new generation. + +But when a great idea is appropriated by the masses, it is sure to become +cruder to suit their intellect and their need; and when a national ideal +is handed on for centuries, it will change with the changing fortunes of +the people that holds it. When the Hebrew nation came under the foreign +rule of the Assyrians, Persians, and finally the Romans, its freedom and +chance for political action were lost, and its political ideals, too, +deteriorated. The Kingdom hope became theological, artificial, a scheme of +epochs of predetermined length and of marvelous stage settings. Yet, even +in this form, it was a splendid hope of emancipation, of national +greatness, and of future justice and fraternity, and it helped to keep the +nation’s soul alive amid crushing sorrows. + +The people at the time of Jesus in the main held this apocalyptic +conception of the Kingdom. It was to come as a divine catastrophe, +beginning with an act of judgment and resulting in a glorious Jewish +imperialism. Jesus shared the substance of the expectation, but as a true +spiritual leader he reconstructed, clarified, and elevated the hope of the +masses. He would have nothing to do with any plans involving blood-shed +and force revolution. The Hebrew Jehovah became "our Father in heaven" and +this democratized the Reign of Jehovah. The pious Jew expected God to +enforce the ceremonial laws; Jesus had little to say about religious +ceremonial, and a great deal about righteousness and love. Under his hands +the Jewish imperialistic dream changed into a call for universal human +fraternity. He repeatedly and emphatically explained the coming of the +Kingdom in terms taken from biological growth, and his thoughts seem to +have verged away from the popular catastrophic ideas toward ideas of +organic development. These changes—if we have correctly interpreted +them—represent Jesus’ own contribution to the history of the Kingdom +ideal, and they are all in the same direction in which the modern mind has +moved. (For a fuller statement of these modifications see Rauschenbusch, +“Christianizing the Social Order,” p. 48-68.) + + +II + + +So much by way of historical information. Now let us emphasize again that +this social ideal seemed to Jesus so fair and fine that he gave his whole +soul to it. Naturally he would. Since he loved men and believed in their +solidarity, the conception of a God-filled humanity living in a righteous +social order, which would give free play to love and would bind all in +close ties, would be the only satisfying outlook for him. He promised that +all who hungered and thirsted after righteousness would be satisfied in +the Kingdom, and he was himself the chief of these. The Kingdom of God was +his fatherland, in which his spirit lived with God; and with that vision +of perfect humanity before him, he kept its calm and tranquillity amid the +enmity of men as he sought to win men to its better ways. + +The Kingdom of God is the highest good. The idea of God is the highest and +most comprehensive conception in philosophy; the idea of the Kingdom of +God is the highest and broadest idea in sociology and ethics. It is so +high and broad that many find it hard even to grasp the idea. Just as a +barbaric tribe of hunters or fishermen would find it impossible to +comprehend the social coherence and the patriotism of a nation of a +hundred millions; just as the narrow nationalist of today falls down +intellectually and morally when he confronts world-forces and relations: +so we who are trained to think in terms of family and State, give out when +we are to treat the Kingdom of God as a reality. It takes faith of the +intellect to comprehend a stage of evolution before it is reached. It +takes faith of character to launch yourself toward a great moral goal +before its tangible and profitable elements are within reach. It takes +more moral daring today than for a century past to believe in the +reemergence and final victory of God’s social order. But this is the time +for all true believers to square their shoulders and say with Galileo, +“And yet it moves.” + +Any man whose soul is kindled by the conception of the Kingdom of God is a +real man. Whoever loves the idea, must turn it into reality as far as life +lets him. Whoever tries it, will suffer. But even if he suffers, he will +be more blessed and more truly a man than he would be if he did not try. +In seeking the Kingdom he realizes himself. “He that loseth his life for +my sake, shall find it.” + + +III + + +Jesus bade us “seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,” and +he obeyed his own call. The main object of his life was the ideal social +order and the perfect ethic. Now if Jesus is our ideal of human goodness, +is any goodness good unless it works in the same direction? If a man is of +flawless private life, but is indifferent to any social ideal, or even +hostile to all attempts at better justice and greater fraternity, is he +really good? Even a strong desire for personal perfection, if there is no +desire for a regeneration of society in it, must be rated as sub-Christian +because it is lacking in the sense of solidarity and may be lacking in +love. + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _The Power of a Great Idea_ + +1. Did the idea of the Kingdom of God ever play a part in your religious +education? + +2. Did you feel any response to it in studying this lesson? Does it have +reality? + +3. Suppose an entire study group should fail to see anything in it, would +that prove it valueless? + +II. _Historical Changes in the Kingdom Ideal_ + +1. How did the Kingdom ideal take shape in the minds of the Hebrew +prophets? + +2. Explain the nature of the apocalyptic hope and its divergence from the +prophetic ideal. + +3. What passages seem to throw the most light on Jesus’ conception of it, +and his feeling about it? What do you think about the Beatitudes from this +point of view? + +4. At what points did Jesus clarify and elevate the hereditary hope of his +nation? Summarize the conception of the Kingdom as it lay in the mind of +Jesus. + +III. _Present Possibilities of the Kingdom Idea_ + +1. What value would the preaching of the Kingdom of God have in +evangelistic work today? + +2. How would it affect religious education and the moral outlook of the +young? + +3. How would the possession of the Kingdom faith equip the Church for +leadership in an age of social movements and unrest? + +4. How does the Kingdom hope add to the joyousness of the Christian life? + +5. How does Jesus’ conception of the Kingdom of God connect with the great +social and national hopes of today? + +IV. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. How does a man realize himself in seeking the Kingdom? How does a man +realize the Kingdom in developing himself? + +2. Does the idea seem to offer a religious vehicle for conceptions you +have derived from sociological work? + +3. Does a social concept like the “Kingdom of God” gain anything for its +practical efficiency today from being ancient, and from being religious? + +4. Will such a concept ever be effective with the masses unless it is +essentially religious? + + + + +Chapter V. The Kingdom Of God: Its Tasks + + +_The Right Social Order is the Supreme Task for Each_ + +The perfect social order is the highest good. In so far as it is a gift of +God, offered to the individual like the fertile earth and the oxygen of +the air, we must appropriate it and enjoy every approximation to the +perfect society. But what is the responsibility of the individual toward +the achievement of the ideal social order? What task does it lay on him? +How did Jesus see this problem? It is finely stated in the words with +which Émile de Laveleye closes his book “Sur la propriété”: “There is a +social order which is the best. Necessarily it is not always the present +order. Else why should we seek to change the latter? But it is that order +which ought to exist to realize the greatest good for humanity. God knows +it and wills it. It is for man to discover and establish it.” + +What, then, is the responsibility of the individual with regard to the +achievement of this highest good? + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Kingdom of Hard Work + + + For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his + own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he + gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each + according to his several ability; and he went on his journey. + Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with + them, and made other five talents. In like manner he also that + received the two gained other two. But he that received the one + went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. Now + after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and maketh a + reckoning with them. And he that received the five talents came + and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst + unto me five talents: lo, I have gained other five talents. His + lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou + hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many + things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord. And he also that + received the two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst + unto me two talents: lo, I have gained other two talents. His lord + said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast + been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things; + enter thou into the joy of thy lord. And he also that had received + the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a + hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where + thou didst not scatter; and I was afraid, and went away and hid + thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own. But his lord + answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou + knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not + scatter; thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the + bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own + with interest. Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and + give it unto him that hath the ten talents. For unto every one + that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from + him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away. + And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: + there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.—Matt. + 25:14-30. + + +Evidently the sympathy of Jesus was with the two men who hustled, and not +with the fellow who took it out in growling and blaming the boss. Jesus +would have agreed to the proposition that to live an unproductive life is +one of the cardinal sins. Evolution and Christianity agree on that. This +exhortation to do good work was given when Jesus was looking forward to +his death and his absence. He would leave the Kingdom of God as an +unfinished task. He wanted his disciples to carry forward their Master’s +business under their own initiative when he was not there to direct them. +The new conditions would throw even heavier responsibilities on them. + +Can you translate this parable into terms of college life and sketch three +college students as companion pieces to the three business men? + + + +Second Day: The Call to Action + + + And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew + the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were + fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will + make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they left the + nets, and followed him. And going on a little further, he saw + James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in + the boat mending the nets. And straightway he called them: and + they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired + servants, and went after him.—Mark 1:16-20. + + ------------------------------------- + + And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, + sitting at the place of toll: and he saith unto him, Follow me. + And he arose and followed him.—Matt. 9:9. + + ------------------------------------- + + And as they went on the way, a certain man said unto him, I will + follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, The + foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the + Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto + another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and + bury my father. But he said unto him, Leave the dead to bury their + own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God. And + another also said, I will follow thee, Lord; but first suffer me + to bid farewell to them that are at my house. But Jesus said unto + him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is + fit for the kingdom of God.—Luke 9:57-62. + + +The way in which Jesus called his disciples shows that he felt he had a +big business in hand. It was a call to action, to conflict and loss, and +there was snap in it. Leaving their boats and nets doubtless seemed a big +proposition to these four fishermen; but they did it. Matthew had to give +up a government job with pickings. These five rose to their chance with +courageous decision, and their names are still borne by millions of boys +today. The names of the other three are lost to fame. One of them gushed +and Jesus cooled off his emotions. The second and third wanted to +procrastinate and hid behind social obligations. Note that epigram about +the ploughman. It is a splendid expression of intelligent and concentrated +energy. You can’t drive a straight furrow while you “rubber.” You’ve got +to “tend to your job.” + +Four of the first five are said to have died a violent death. Would they +have been wiser if they had looked out for Number One? + + + +Third Day: The Futility of Talk + + + Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the + kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is + in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not + prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy + name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I + never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. + + Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth + them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon + the rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the + winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was + founded upon the rock. And every one that heareth these words of + mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who + built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the + floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it + fell: and great was the fall thereof.—Matt. 7:21-27. + + +Jesus evidently felt deeply the emptiness and futility of much of the +religious talk. He was interested only in those emotions and professions +which could get themselves translated into character and action. Words +have always been the bane of religion as well as its vehicle. Religious +emotion has enormous motive force, but it is the easiest thing in the +world for it to sizzle away in high professions and wordy prayers. In that +case it is a substitute and counterfeit, and a damage to the Reign of God +among men. + +How about our own religious talk? + +Would it be better, then, to give up preaching and public prayer? + +_What has the utterance of religion done for us?_ + + + +Fourth Day: This Camel Passed Through + + + And he entered and was passing through Jericho. And behold, a man + called by name Zacchæus; and he was a chief publican, and he was + rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the + crowd, because he was little of stature. And he ran on before, and + climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass + that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and said + unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must + abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received + him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, He + is gone in to lodge with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchæus + stood, and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods + I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any + man, I restore fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, To-day is + salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of + Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which + was lost.—Luke 19:1-10. + + +Zacchæus was engaged in the profitable but shady business of farming the +Roman taxing system in one of the richest districts of Palestine. He was a +politician and business man combined, and the kind of man that is “bound +to land.” Being only five feet one he had no chance amid a crowd in a +narrow street watching a procession. So he climbed a tree. Imagine a +corporation president climbing a telegraph post to see Jesus! This spirit +of determination appealed to Jesus and he promptly made friends with him, +though he well knew he would lose some more of his reputation by +identifying himself with a publican. Zacchæus proved his fitness for the +Kingdom of God by parting with his accumulated graft at a single sweep. +Fifty per cent of his property given away outright; the balance used to +make restitution at the rate of four hundred per cent—how much was left? +Here a camel passed through the needle’s eye, and Jesus stood and cheered. + +At what points is the moral energy of college men and women most severely +tested? Where do they meet their great spiritual decisions? + + + +Fifth Day: Will in Prayer + + + And he spake a parable unto them to the end that they ought always + to pray, and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge, + who feared not God, and regarded not man: and there was a widow in + that city; and she came oft unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine + adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said + within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because + this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest she wear me out + by her continual coming. And the Lord said, Hear what the + unrighteous judge saith. And shall not God avenge his elect, that + cry to him day and night, and yet he is longsuffering over + them?—Luke 18:1-7. + + +In most of his sayings on prayer Jesus either objected to the wordiness of +prayers (Matt. 6:5-13), or he demanded more will and persistence. In the +story of the widow and the judge the odds were against the widow. Being +only a widow she had no pull and no vote. The judge was frankly a tough +case, untouched by religion and conscience, and thick-skinned as to public +opinion. Yet the widow won out by sheer doggedness. Surely the mind that +sketched the reiterating widow and the collapsing politician had an +admiring eye for energy of action. Jesus wanted that spirit and +determination put into prayer. But note that he was thinking, not of +personal edification, nor of private benefits to be obtained, but of the +“avenging of God’s elect”; that is, of straightening out the affairs of +the world so that the wrongs of the righteous would be redressed. A keen +social consciousness about the condition of God’s people, coupled with +“hunger and thirst for justice,” can turn prayer into action. + +_Have we any experience of prayer concentrated on great public evils?_ How +does that differ from prayers centering about our own interests? (See +Fosdick, “The Meaning of Prayer,” Chapter X.) + + + +Sixth Day: Twelve against the Field + + + And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. + Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out + demons: freely ye received, freely give. Get you no gold; nor + silver, nor brass in your purses: no wallet for your journey, + neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy + of his food. And into whatsoever city or village ye shall enter, + search out who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go + forth.... And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your + words, as ye go forth out of that house or that city, shake off + the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more + tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of + judgment, than for that city.... And be not afraid of them that + kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.—Matt. 10:7-11, + 14-15, 28a. + + +This whole chapter expresses with immense vitality the heroic spirit +called forth by the Kingdom propaganda. Jesus sent these twelve men +through the villages of Galilee to duplicate and multiply what he was +doing. The natural leaders of society, the able, the educated, the +powerful, were concerned in setting up their own kingdom and enslaving +their fellows to serve them. So Jesus took what material he had, peasants +and fishermen, and created a new leadership. He flung them against +existing society, knowing well that they would have to face opposition. In +fact, they were destined, one by one, to go to death for their cause. He +tells them not to mind a little thing like death, but to do their work and +rally the people around the idea of the Reign of God. + +Can the men and women who are today trying to rebuild human society on a +basis of social justice and fraternity claim any right of succession in +the sending of the Twelve? + + + +Seventh Day: Doing All, and Then Some + + + But who is there of you, having a servant plowing or keeping + sheep, that will say unto him, when he is come in from the field, + Come straightway and sit down to meat; and will not rather say + unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and + serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt + eat and drink? Doth he thank the servant because he did the things + that were commanded? Even so ye also, when ye shall have done all + the things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable + servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do.—Luke + 17:7-10. + + +Jesus often boldly took his illustrations from the facts of life even when +they were repellent to him. Here he holds up the joyless life of a Syrian +agricultural laborer. After plodding all day in the field, this man comes +home, tired and hungry. Is he promptly cared for? No, he must first cook +and serve his master’s meal. Then he can eat what’s left. Does he get any +thanks for working overtime? Not a thank. Now, says Jesus, what this man +does under the hard coercion of his lot, you and I must do of our own free +will. After we have done a man’s work, let us go and do some more for the +sake of the cause, and disclaim praise. That spirit of utter service is, +in fact, the spirit in which men work when the Kingdom vision gets hold of +them. They become greedy for work and can not satisfy themselves. The +strong and inspired men always feel at the end that they have not done +half they ought to have done. The last words of Martin Luther, scribbled +on a scrap of paper, were: “We are beggars. That’s true.” + +What would Jesus say to a college student who is chronically tired and who +feels that he is laying his professors and his father under heavy +obligation by working at all? + + + +Study for the Week + + +Is it not a strange fate that down to the most recent times art has +pictured Jesus all meek and gentle, and theology has emphasized his +passive suffering? Yet he was high-power energy. His epigrams and +hyperboles crack like a whip-lash. He was up before dawn. He always rose +to the sight of human need. To do the will of his Father was meat and +drink to him. His life was a combat. He faced opposition without flinching +and “stedfastly set his face to go up to Jerusalem” when he knew it meant +death. Even when he stood silent before the court and when he hung nailed +to the gallows, he was a spiritual force in action and men were disturbed +and afraid before him. + + +I + + +He communicated energy to others. He hated mere talk and discouraged +fruitless theorizing. He praised energetic action when he found it, as in +the case of Zacchæus, and of the men who climbed the roof with a paralytic +man and dug up the roofing to let him down to Jesus. He called that sort +of thing “faith.” Faith, in Jesus’ use of the word, did not mean shutting +your eyes and folding your hands. He said it was an explosive that could +remove mountains. He gave three of his disciples nicknames, and they were +all given to express forcefulness; Simon he called Peter, the Rock; and +James and John he called Boanerges, the sons of thunder. He sent his +disciples open-eyed to face trouble; he told them the wolves were waiting +for them, but to rejoice and be exceeding glad for the chance of lining up +against them. Let us clear our minds forever of the idea that Jesus was a +mild and innocuous person who parted his hair and beard in the middle, and +turned his disciples into mollycoddles. Away with it! + +Though the spirit of Jesus has never had more than half a chance in +historic Christianity, yet it is demonstrable that the total efficiency of +humanity, the bulk of work done, and the capacity for heroic tension of +energies have been greatly increased by it. Taking it on the smallest +scale—every real conversion means a break with debasing habits, with +alcoholism, with the waste of sexual energies; it means more self-control, +more responsiveness to duty, more capacity to take a long outlook, and +consequently better work. We can observe this in ourselves and others. We +still need the coercion of stern necessity and of public opinion to keep +us straight, but an inward compulsion is added. A Christian carries his +policeman around inside of him. Where Christianity gets a really firm hold +on men or women, especially if there is a basis of natural ability, it +pushes them on to lead in moral movements and they break away for human +progress. + +When Christianity multiplies such cases, and makes soberness, duty, and +hard work the habit of entire communities, we have a social fact of +first-class importance; for the human animal is naturally lazy, sluggish, +and inclined to live for today. The capacity to subordinate immediate +gratification for a future good is scarce; the capacity to subordinate +selfish advantage to a great common and moral good is scarcer still. + +We can see this force working on a larger scale on the foreign mission +field where Christianity is a new social energy. There it is easier to +disentangle it from other social forces. What are the comparative results +when it gets a lodgment in a single social class or tribal group? This +question will bear watching during the next fifty years. The full social +results of Christianity will not show till the third generation. + +We get another demonstration of increased working efficiency in humanity +wherever Christianity has passed through an internal purification which +has set free more of its spiritual energies. What, for instance, has been +the historic connection between the development of capitalistic industry +in Holland, England, and France, and the sober and frugal piety and +patient laboriousness created in the Calvinists of Holland, the Puritans +of England, and the Huguenots of France? + + +II + + +The contributions made by Christianity to the working efficiency and the +constructive social abilities of humanity in the past have been mainly +indirect. The main aim set before Christians was to save their souls from +eternal woe, to have communion with God now and hereafter, and to live +God-fearing lives. It was individualistic religion, concentrated on the +life to come. Its social effectiveness was largely a by-product. What, +now, would have been the result if Christianity had placed an equally +strong emphasis on the Kingdom of God, the ideal social order? Other +things being equal, a Christian father and mother are better parents than +others because they have more sense of duty, more love, and a higher +valuation of spiritual things. But if, in addition, they have a religious +desire for a higher social order and realize that noble children are a +splendid contribution to it, how will that affect their parenthood? A +teacher, artist, or scientist who is also a religious man, will do +conscientious work if he works under the motives of individualistic +religion. But if he has a vision of the Kingdom of God on earth and sees +the contributions he can make to it, will not that raise the character of +his output? A business man of strong Christian character will work hard, +keep his word in business, and deal fairly with employes and customers. +But would not a new direction be given to his moral energies if his +religion taught him that he must help to shape the workings of industry +and trade so that hereafter there will be no fundamental clash between +business and the morals of Christianity? + +What the world of Christian men and women needs is to have a great social +objective set before them and laid on their conscience with the authority +of religion. Then religion would get behind social evolution in earnest. + +This would be no new and foreign element imported into our religion. It +would be a modern revival of the doctrine of Jesus himself, which has been +too long submerged and neglected. One chief reason why it was side-tracked +is that no despotic State and no society dominated by a predatory class +ever wanted religion applied to a reconstruction of the social order. The +idea of the Kingdom of God reawoke with the rise of modern democracy. Now +is the time for it. + + +III + + +The idea of the Kingdom of God is not identified with any special social +theory. It means justice, freedom, fraternity, labor, joy. Let each social +system and movement show us what it can contribute and we will weigh its +claims. We want the old ideal defined in modern terms, in the terms of +modern democracy, of the power machine, of international peace, and of +evolutionary science. But we want to embrace it with the old religious +faith and ardor, so that we can pray over it. + +This great task of establishing a righteous social life on earth embraces +all minor tasks in so far as they are good. The mother who tries to make a +good home, the farmer who feeds the people, the teacher who trains them, +the scientist who gets the facts for all, the merchant, the workingman, +the artist, the leader in play—they are all contributing to the Kingdom, +provided they view their work so, and are trying to put an evolutionary +_plus_ into it which will lift the total nearer to the divine will. The +Kingdom is the supreme task, and all small tasks are part of it. That +gives every man a place in it who works—where is the idler’s place in +it?—and it hallows all good work with religious glory. + +It may seem as if this social aim of religion may depreciate the aim of +developing our own personality and of saving our souls. It ought not. +Sometimes it does for a time. But we are each so enormously important to +ourselves that we are not likely to forget ourselves, and the practical +struggle with temptation and sorrow will teach us to seek strength for our +personal needs from Christ. In time we shall learn to say with Jesus, “For +their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified.” In time +surrender to the Kingdom ideal, toil for it, self-denial for it, +cooperation with others for it, will have the strongest kind of reactions +on ourselves and our moral fiber. Gymnasium work is all right, but real +work in the open is better. We are most durably saved by putting in hard +work for the Kingdom of God. + +In every great task a religious man is consciously thrown back on the aid +of God—most of all in the greatest task of all. Eternal powers are +cooperating with our puny efforts. That alone guarantees that our work is +not wasted. We plant and water, but unless God’s sun shines upon it, our +work is nothing. He is a fool that is not reverent and humble. We sorely +need this faith in the collaboration and patience of God today when so +much of the best spiritual achievement of mankind is swept away, and we +seem far away from a kingdom of love. “As the heavens are higher than the +earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your +thoughts.” + + +IV + + +Here, then, we have another social principle of Jesus. A collective moral +ideal is a necessity for the individual and the race. Every man must have +a conscious determination to help in his own place to work out a righteous +social order for and with God. The race must increasingly turn its own +evolution into a conscious process. It owes that duty to itself and to God +who seeks an habitation in it. It must seek to realize its divine destiny. +“Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven!” +This is the conscious evolutionary program of Jesus. It combines religion, +social science, and ethical action in a perfect synthesis. + +What has this to say to students? Everything, it seems. + +First, whatever is to be our particular job, we must relate it to the +supreme common task at which God and all good men are working. Unless we +see and assert that relation, we are mere day-laborers or slaves, with +neither intelligence nor enthusiasm. + +Second, anyone who, instead of loyally relating his life-work to God’s +work, pursues his own ambition at the expense of the Kingdom and damages +it to make profit for himself, is like a man who takes pay to damage his +country. He makes the work harder for all who are more faithful than he, +and their blood will be upon him. + +Third, “_noblesse oblige_.” If we belong to the republic of learning and +education, something extra is justly due from us. Here, for instance, is +the evangelization of the world in this generation. An organization has +been created to accomplish it. Heroic pioneers have died, preparing the +way for larger forces. Is our life fit and good enough to put into that? +Here is the Christianization of the social order in the next two +generations. What have all our social studies been for in the design of +God? To fit ourselves for exploiting our fellows or to show them the way +to the Kingdom of God? + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _Our Untapped Reserves_ + +1. How far is a person who produces nothing, of use to the community? Is +increase of productive efficiency the test of progress? + +2. Does religion help to call out reserves of energy in human nature? + +II. _The Energy of Jesus_ + +1. How far did Jesus give evidence of audacity and high power energy? Has +the Christian Church realized this? How about the portrayals of him in +art? + +2. Furnish evidence that Jesus demanded sincere work. How was this +connected with the Kingdom of God in his mind? + +3. Give proof that he demanded heroism of his followers as a commonplace +thing. + +4. How did this temper affect his view of prayer? + +III. _Christianity and Work_ + +1. Has Christianity ever promoted idleness? If so, what type of +Christianity was it? + +2. Taken as a whole has Christianity increased the amount of work done, or +lessened it? Give historical proof. + +3. Would it raise the economic efficiency of an African tribe to become +Christians? Would it raise the efficiency of the Mexican people if they +adopted a purer type of Christianity? How? + +4. Where is the idler’s place in the Kingdom of God? + +IV. _The Reenforcement of Christianity by the Kingdom Ideal_ + +1. Is a call to be converted a call to enjoy spiritual peace or to exert +spiritual energy? + +2. How has the idea arisen that Christianity is a "dope" to make people +contented amid wrong conditions? + +3. How would the Kingdom faith give religious quality to the plain man’s +job? + +4. Other things being equal, has a religious man more or less fighting +energy against wrong than a non-religious man? + +5. If a man passes from an individualistic to a social conception of +religion, what change will it make in moral action? + +6. To what extent is the enterprise of the Kingdom of God a dynamic +expression of accepted sociological principles? + +7. What is the special obligation of college men and women to the Kingdom +of God? + +V. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. Is the Kingdom of God to be brought about by an act of God in the +future or by the work of men in the present? Does the one exclude the +other? + +2. Does our social order call out the full energy and intelligence of the +working people? + +3. Can an overworked and underpaid workman feel that _he is working_ for +the Kingdom of God? + +4. Does the Kingdom of God necessarily involve elements of social +readjustment and change? + +5. Would a predatory governing class in the past have allowed the +preaching of a social conception of the Kingdom of God? + + + + +Chapter VI. A New Age And New Standards + + +_As the Kingdom Comes Ethical Standards Must Advance_ + +Every approximation to the Reign of God in humanity demands an advance in +the social relations of men, that is, an advance in ethics. Every really +epochal advance must have it or slip back. There must be, first, better +obedience to the moral principles already recognized and accepted by +society; second, an expansion of the sway of ethical duty to new fields +and wider groups of humanity; and third, a recognition of new duties and +the assimilation of new and higher ethical conceptions. + +To what extent did Jesus appreciate these supreme needs? + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: Living up to the Old Standards + + + In the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came + unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into + all the region round about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of + repentance unto remission of sins; as it is written in the book of + the words of Isaiah the prophet, + + The voice of one crying in the wilderness, + Make ye ready the way of the Lord, + Make his paths straight. + Every valley shall be filled, + And every mountain and hill shall be brought low; + And the crooked shall become straight, + And the rough ways smooth; + And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. + + He said therefore to the multitudes that went out to be baptized + of him, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the + wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, + and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our + father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to + raise up children unto Abraham. And even now the axe also lieth at + the root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth not + forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.—Luke 3:2-9. + + +The ABC of social renewal and moral advance is for each of us to face our +sins sincerely and get on a basis of frankness with God and ourselves. +Therefore Christianity set out with a call for personal repentance. If we +only acted up to what we know to be right, this world would be a different +place. But we fool ourselves with protective coloring devices in order to +keep our own self-respect. Take our language, for instance; it reeks with +evasive euphemisms intended to make nasty sins look prettier. We call +stealing “swiping” and cheating “cribbing.” When we have been drunk we say +we were “squiffy.” As soon as we face the facts, we realize that what we +call peccadilloes in ourselves are the black sins that have slain the +innocents and have hag ridden humanity through all its history. That is +the beginning of social vision. Personal repentance is a social advance. + +What equivalent have college men and women for the plea of the Pharisees +that they were Abraham’s children and had a pull with God? + + + +Second Day: Expanding the Area of Obligation + + + And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and made trial of him, + saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he + said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And + he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy + heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with + all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, + Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, + desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my + neighbor? Jesus made answer and said, A certain man was going down + from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, who both + stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. + And by chance a certain priest was going down that way: and when + he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And in like manner a + Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on + the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came + where he was: and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion, + and came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on them oil and + wine; and he set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, + and took care of him. And on the morrow he took out two shillings, + and gave them to the host, and said, Take care of him; and + whatsoever thou spendest more, I, when I come back again, will + repay thee. Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved neighbor + unto him that fell among the robbers? And he said, He that showed + mercy on him. And Jesus said unto him, Go, and do thou + likewise.—Luke 10:25-37. + + +A meaty story and a famous one. The lawyer found his own answer +uncomfortably simple when it was taken up in such a matter-of-fact way. It +was suddenly up to him to act on his own advice. He tried to hedge by +raising a new question: “Love my neighbor? Certainly. But who is my +neighbor?” Who is within the cordon of fraternal fellowship with me? All +men of my people and religion? Or only the good and desirable people? +Where do you draw the line? Follows the story of the Good Samaritan. “Your +neighbor? The alien and the heretic.” The logic of the reply demanded that +some good Jew would be shown caring for a wounded Samaritan. Jesus gives +it a smashing effectiveness by reversing the role and showing the hated +Samaritan as the heroic lover of his kind. To get the situation we must +remember the historic enmity between the Jews and the half-breed aliens +who had stolen their land and their religion while they were exiled. If we +substitute Spaniard and Moor, Kurd and Armenian, Serb and Bulgar, we may +get the tension. + +_Who are our American Samaritans?_ + + + +Third Day: Raising the Standards + + +We must live up to what we know is right, and we must expand the area of +ethical obligation to take in even men of alien race and hostile religion. +But beyond that, we need a conscious advance in the ethical standards +themselves. Jesus worked out this principle with perfect clearness in a +part of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:17-48. He states the need, and +then shows in six cases how such an advance would work out. We shall take +these up in their order. Matthew has introduced scattered sayings of Jesus +which serve as corollaries, but which do not bear directly on the real +course of the argument; for instance, Matthew 5:23-26; 29-30. In our +quotations in this and the following days we shall confine ourselves to +the main line of thought in order to concentrate attention on that. + + + Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came + not to destroy, but to fulfil.... For I say unto you, that except + your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes + and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of + heaven.—Matt. 5:17, 20. + + +Apparently conservative Jews soon felt the spiritual freedom and force in +the teachings of Jesus. He seemed to them to be attacking the sacred Law, +the foundation of morality and religion. Jesus mentions the charge but +denies it. His purpose was not destructive but constructive. He demanded +not less righteousness but more. The lines of right living needed to be +prolonged. The traditional standards were no longer adequate. A man might +obey them and yet not be a good man. The scribes and Pharisees were the +model church members of Judaism and experts in piety, yet they were not +qualified to enter the Kingdom of God. + +_Are we also good people who are not good enough?_ + + + +Fourth Day: The Sins of Hate + + + Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not + kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: + but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother + shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his + brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever + shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of + fire.—Matt. 5:21, 22. + + +The Law of Moses forbade murder; a man-slayer was amenable in the ordinary +court. Was this an adequate expression of the sacredness of human life and +personality? It never even scratched a man or woman who assaulted the soul +of another with anger and curses. Jesus proposed that these sins be +restandardized. Plain anger ought to be valued about as murder used to be. +And if anybody went so far as to revile a brother and deny his moral or +intellectual worth, the Supreme Court and Gehenna would be about right for +him. The lawyers’ gauge of culpability can not get down to the subtler +expressions of lovelessness which break the prime law of the Kingdom. + +_By what methods is contempt expressed in our own social life?_ + +_How highly do we rate the moral value of self-respect?_ + + + +Fifth Day: The Sins of Sex + + + Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery: + but I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust + after her hath committed adultery with her already in his + heart.... + + It was said also, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give + her a writing of divorcement: but I say unto you, that every one + that putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, + maketh her an adulteress; and whosoever shall marry her when she + is put away committeth adultery.—Matt. 5:27, 28; 31, 32. + + +These two cases deal with sex. The old law forbade adultery, the +infringement of family life, and stopped there. Jesus goes back of the act +to the lustful imaginations and the wandering eye, which may lack +opportunity but which are the real spring of all uncleanness. He runs the +line of ethical obligation farther back. + +The law of divorce (Deut. 24:1), especially as interpreted by the scribes, +was very comfortable—for the male. He could divorce his wife for almost +any cause. Her only protection was that a formal paper had to be given her +which enabled her to marry again. As a woman’s economic and social +standing in that age depended almost wholly on her family relations, she +was at the mercy of the man. Jesus demanded more protection for her. To +him the relation was indissoluble. The Mosaic provision for divorce was a +concession to the low moral level of the people. The ideal was the “one +man, one woman” provision of the Creator. (See Matt. 19:3-8). The +disciples ruefully remarked that such a strengthening of the bond did not +add to the attractiveness of marriage—for the male (19:10). + +Where do we draw the line between the rightful, natural desire of sex and +lawless predatory lust? + + + +Sixth Day: The Sins of Words + + + Again, ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou + shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine + oaths: but I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by the + heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor by the earth, for it is + the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of + the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, for thou + canst not make one hair white or black. But let your speech be, + Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these is of the + evil one.—Matt. 5:33-37. + + +Current morality had reached the point of insisting on truthfulness when a +man was under oath. Solemnly to call God to witness a statement and yet to +fool your neighbor by it, was downright wicked. But it was very handy. So +they developed a joyful lot of casuistical distinctions as to which kind +of oaths were binding and which didn’t count. See how Jesus ridiculed this +(Matt. 23:16-22). Here he proposed that the obligation of veracity be +extended to all statements. A truthful man needs no oaths to assure a +doubting world that this time he is really telling what is so. Oaths are a +device of the devil to limit the amount of truth in the world. + +How about oaths for legal purposes? Could they be dispensed with? Have +they done more good or harm? + + + +Seventh Day: The Sins of Strife + + + Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for + a tooth: but I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil: but + whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other + also. And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy + coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee + to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him that asketh thee, and + from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. + + Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and + hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray + for them that persecute you; that ye may be sons of your Father + who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and + the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. For if ye + love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the + publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do + ye more than others? do not even the Gentiles the same? Ye + therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is + perfect.—Matt. 5:38-48. + + +The Law restricted the natural desire for revenge to the limit of a strict +equivalent. If a man knocked out your tooth, you could knock out one for +him, but not two teeth, nor all he had. Of course retaliation never heals +a feud. Jesus proposes to limit revenge still farther and to retaliate +only by acts of kindness. That is, in fact, the only way to end a quarrel +completely and victoriously. It reestablishes fellowship and kills an +enemy. + +The Law called for love for one’s neighbors; the scribes had added the +permission to hate one’s enemies. Jesus raises the standards of good-will. +The law of love applies to all. There is nothing great in loving those who +love us. Anybody can do that. Heroic love begins where no love comes to +meet it. Those who can win that triumph show the true family likeness of +God, and are now living in his Kingdom. + +_What are our personal experiences as to the utility of revenge?_ + +_What is the difference between the non-resistance which Jesus proposed, +and cowardice?_ + +_Is there such a thing in fact as loving your enemies?_ + + + +Study for the Week + + +I + + +The Hebrew religion was an unfinished religion. That is one of the best +proofs of its divine inspiration. The prophets had the forward look. Great +things were yet to come. As one of the most daring expressed it, the old +and hallowed covenant, made by God at the Exodus, would be superseded by a +new and higher relation; God would write his law into the hearts of the +people; the old drill in outward statutes would disappear, for all men +would know God by an inward experience of forgiveness and love (Jeremiah +31:31-34). + +Jesus not only shared this expectation of a new religious era, but set it +in the center of his teaching. Religion to him was not static. He lived in +a moving world. A new age was coming, and he would be the initiator of it. +“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of God suffereth +violence, and men of violence take it by force.” John had been the +greatest of the prophets; with him a new swift movement had begun; but +something far greater was coming; even the least in the new age would have +an advantage over John (Matt. 11:11-19). + +The popular conception expected the new age to come by divine miraculous +interference simply. The Messiah would descend from heaven with angelic +legions, expel the Romans, judge the nation, punish the apostate Jews, and +then the new Jerusalem, which was already complete and waiting in heaven, +would descend from above. That was the Utopia of Jewish apocalypticism. +Jesus never eliminated the direct acts of God and the significance of +divine catastrophes from his outlook. But in his parables taken from +biological processes (see especially Matthew 13) he developed a conception +of continuous and quiet growth, culminating at last in the judgment act of +God. The Kingdom of God, he said, is like a farmer who sows his grain and +lets the forces of nature work; he goes about his daily tasks, and all the +time the tiny blades come up, the ear forms and gets heavy, and then comes +the harvest (Mark 4:26-29). Jesus was working his way toward evolutionary +conceptions. They were so new to his followers that he put them in parable +form to avoid antagonism. + +Such a conception of the Kingdom brought it closer to human action. It was +already at work; it was in one sense already present (Luke 17:20-21). It +was possible then to help it along. + +The most obvious duty was for every man to clean up his own backyard and +repent of his sins. Every one should approximate the life of the Kingdom +by living now as he would expect to live then. But, as we have seen from +his sayings, Jesus went far beyond this. He demanded an elevation of the +accepted ethical standards. It was not simply a matter of erring and +lagging individuals, but of the socialized norms of conduct. He had deep +reverence and loyalty for the religion of his nation, and never told his +followers to break with it. But he asserted boldly that the customary +ethics of Judaism, based on the Decalogue and its interpretation by the +Jewish theologians, was not good enough. It was good as far as it went, +and he had no destructive criticism of it, but it needed to be “fulfilled” +and to have its lines prolonged. + +We have studied the six sample instances which he offered in order to +explain his principle of moral and social progress. In each case he +accepts the law as it stood, but asks for more of the same thing, more +respect for personality, more reverence for womanhood, more stability for +the home, more truthfulness, more peacefulness, more love. Thus he +combined continuity with progress, conservatism with radicalism. + + +II + + +The platform for ethical progress laid down in the Sermon on the Mount is +a great platform. When Tolstoi first realized the social significance of +these simple sentences, it acted as a revelation which changed his life. +Even men who reject the supernatural claims of Christianity uncover before +the Sermon on the Mount. Yet its fate is tragic. It has not been “damned +with faint praise,” but made ineffective by universal praise. Its +commandments are lifted so high that nobody feels under obligations to act +on them. Only small sections of the Christian Church have taken the +sayings on oaths, non-resistance, and love of enemies to mean what they +say and to be obligatory. Yet all feel that the line of ethical and social +advance must lie in the direction traced by Jesus, and if society could +only climb out of the present pit of predatory selfishness and meanness to +that level, it would be heaven. + +Do you and I believe in it? Do we believe that it is not enough to keep +out of the spiritual hell and damnation of adultery, but that a clean mind +would be the most efficient and cheerful mind? Do we believe that a man +who forgives and keeps sweet is happier and safer than a man who always +resents things and stirs the witches’ caldron of hate in his soul? If a +man loved his enemy and turned the other cheek, would he be everybody’s +door-mat or everybody’s temple of refuge? + +Suppose we mark for the present those parts which we are willing to accept +as our own standards of action. If there are portions which do not seem +practicable, let us post them in our minds as debatable propositions, as +points to be tested by the experience of coming years, or as working +hypotheses in the science of living. + +But whatever we may think of single points, let us stick to the leading +thought of Jesus, that every advance toward the Kingdom of God, that is, +toward the true social order, involves a raising of the ethical standards +accepted by society. This is a principle of social progress which every +leading intellect ought to know by heart. + + +III + + +When Jesus offered his six sample cases of ethical progress, he had no +intention of exhausting the principle of advance which he laid down. There +was more to say about the Jewish law. It is now for his followers to treat +the inherited ethical conceptions of traditional Christianity with the +same combination of reverence and courage with which he treated the Jewish +law. + +From the beginning Christianity taught self-control and the mastery of the +spirit over physical desires. It always condemned drunkenness. But ancient +Christianity never demanded abstinence from fermented drink. With modern +methods of manufacturing alcoholic drinks and modern capitalistic methods +of pushing their sale, the danger has become more pressing. With modern +scientific knowledge the physiological and social problems of drink have +become clearer. Modern life demands an undrugged nervous system for quick +and steady reactions. It was said of old time, “Thou shalt not get drunk”; +but today the spirit of Christianity and modern life says, “Thou shalt not +drink nor sell intoxicants at all.” + +In every case in which the interests of woman came before Jesus, he took +her side. At that time woman was the suppressed half of humanity. The +attitude of historic Christianity has been a mixture between his spirit +and the spirit of the patriarchal family. Today Christianity is plainly +prolonging the line of respect and spiritual valuation to the point of +equality between men and women—and beyond. + +From the beginning an emancipating force resided in Christianity which was +bound to register its effects in political life. But in an age of +despotism it might have to confine its political morality to the duty of +patient submission, and content itself with offering little sanctuaries of +freedom to the oppressed in the Christian fraternities. Today, in the age +of democracy, it has become immoral to endure private ownership of +government. It is no longer a sufficient righteousness to live a good life +in private. Christianity needs an ethic of public life. + +It was said of old “Thou shalt not commit murder.” It is said to us, “Ye +shall not wear down life in the young by premature hard labor; nor let the +fear of poverty freeze the fountain of life; and ye shall put a stop to +war.” + +It was said of old, “Thou shalt not steal.” It is said to us, “Ye shall +take no unearned gain from your fellows, but pay to society in productive +labor what ye take from it in goods.” + + +IV + + +This matter of raising the moral standards of society is preeminently an +affair of the young. They must do it or it will never be done. The Sermon +on the Mount was spoken by a young man, and it moves with the impetuous +virility of youth. The old are water-logged physically. They are mentally +bound up with the institutions inside of which they have spent a lifetime, +and they want to enjoy in peace the wealth and position they have +attained. We shall be just the same forty years from now. But while we are +young is the time to make a forward run with the flag of Christ, the +banner of justice and love, and plant it on the heights yonder. We must +not only be better men and women than we are now. We must leave a better +world behind us when we are through with it. Whatever we affirm in our +growing years will work out in some fashion in our years of maturity and +power. If fifty thousand college men and women a year would range +themselves alongside of Jesus Christ, look at our present world as +open-eyed as he looked at his world, see where the social standards of +conduct are in contradiction with his spirit and with modern need, and +work to raise them, the world would feel the effect in ten years. And +those who would strive in that way would live by faith in the higher +commonwealth of God and have some of its nobility of spirit. + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _Living Up to the Old Standards_ + +1. What would happen if a college community began to live up to the +standards of work and honor which all acknowledge? + +2. Does human nature welcome a moral advance? + +II. _The Ethical Program of Jesus_ + +1. What advance does Jesus’ program make necessary? State the main +principle in Matt. 5:17-48, and the six applications made by Jesus +himself. How was this principle connected with his idea of the Kingdom? + +2. Can we agree with the principle? How far can we go with Jesus in his +application? + +3. Would a man get more or less satisfaction out of life if he obeyed +these maxims in private life? + +4. How far could a man hold his own if he obeyed them in a reasonable way +in business or in public life? If a man loved his enemies and turned the +other cheek, would he be everybody’s doormat or everybody’s friend and +refuge? + +III. _Raising the Standards Today_ + +1. On what ethical questions have we come to the point where the moral +standards accepted by society can be and must be raised? + +2. If you could purchase one single advance by your life, what would you +choose? + +3. How does an expansion of the area of full social obligation operate to +raise the standards of conduct? Who is my neighbor, and who is not? + +IV. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. A new intellectual age has opened with the rise of modern science; what +new moral standards should be the result of our new knowledge? + +2. A new economic age opened with the invention of power machinery and the +social organization of labor; what new moral standards should have been +the result of the new wealth of civilization? + +3. A new political era opened with the rise of democracy; what new moral +standards should be achieved in the life of States and cities? + +4. A new era began in world-wide relations with the beginning of +steam-carried commerce; what new standards are needed for international +and inter-racial relations? + + + + + +PART III. THE RECALCITRANT SOCIAL FORCES + + + + +Chapter VII. Leadership For Service + + +_Ambition Must Get Its Satisfaction by Serving Humanity_ + +The Kingdom of God was an ideal. If it was to be turned into concrete +realities, it would encounter the recalcitrant and stubborn instincts of +human nature and the conservative forces of society. Where did Jesus +locate the obstacles? At what points was he aware of resistance? Did he +realize the force of ambition and the love of power? Did he gauge the pull +of the property instinct? Did he feel religion as a help or a hindrance in +realizing the Kingdom of God? These questions we shall follow up in three +lessons. + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Trustee + + + And Peter said, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even + unto all? And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise + steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them + their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom + his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto + you, that he will set him over all that he hath. But if that + servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and + shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to + eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant shall + come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he + knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion + with the unfaithful. And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, + and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten + with many stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of + stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And to whomsoever much + is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom they commit + much, of him will they ask the more.—Luke 12:41-48. + + +The preceding verses (v. 35-40) dealt with the faithfulness of the rank +and file; this parable deals with the responsibility of official position +and sketches the alternative of selfish and serviceable leadership. The +head steward had charge of a great estate, directing the labor of workmen +and maids, dealing out supplies, and controlling the welfare and happiness +of all. The absence of the master made his authority for the time +absolute. Would he use it for the good of all? If so, wider scope and +higher honor would come to him. Or would he become intoxicated with power, +take things easy, boss his fellow-servants around, and become a petty +tyrant? If so, he would get what was coming to him. Every man’s duty is +measured by his knowledge and by his power. If, therefore, a man rises to +leadership, and finds his elbow-room enlarging, let him stiffen his sense +of duty to correspond, or there will be trouble. Degeneration by power is +written all over history. + +The functions of a head steward belong to the age of great landowners. How +would you modernize this parable to express the same ideas? + + + +Second Day: Preparing for the Use of Power + + + Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be + tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty + nights, he afterward hungered. And the tempter came and said unto + him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become + bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live + by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth + of God. Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set + him on the pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou art + the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, + + He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and, + + On their hands they shall bear thee up, + Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone. + + Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not make + trial of the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him unto an + exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the + world, and the glory of them; and he said unto him, All these + things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. + Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is + written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt + thou serve.—Matt.4:1-10. + + +The baptism of Jesus was an act of dedication to the coming reign of God, +and it brought him a deep spiritual experience. He came out of it with the +sense of an immediate mission, of being called to a supreme leadership, +and with the consciousness of power to correspond with his destiny. At +once he confronted the question: How would he employ his Messianic power? +By what means would he obtain leadership? In the desert his mind was +concentrated on these problems. This story displays the temptations of a +leader, and sums up his settlement on three points: first, he realized +that he must not swerve aside for personal gratification, but must serve +the will of God only; second, he must not debase his power by playing for +popularity by means of spectacular, miraculous display; third, he must not +win his leadership by methods that would mortgage him to the prince of +this world, for instance by the use of force. + +How would these points apply to a young man seeking political office, +intellectual eminence, or artistic achievement? + +_Have we ever had a time of religious concentration to consider the +problems of our future leadership?_ + + + +Third Day: The New Principle of Leadership + + + Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, + worshipping him, and asking a certain thing of him. And he said + unto her, What wouldest thou? She saith unto him, Command that + these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand, and one on thy + left hand, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know + not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to + drink? They say unto him, We are able. He saith unto them, My cup + indeed ye shall drink: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left + hand, is not mine to give; but it is for them for whom it hath + been prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were + moved with indignation concerning the two brethren. But Jesus + called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the rulers of the + Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise + authority over them. Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever + would become great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever + would be first among you shall be your servant: even as the Son of + man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give + his life a ransom for many.—Matt. 20:20-28. + + +This passage is fundamental for our subject. It is the clearest +formulation of the social principle involved in leadership. It contrasts +two opposite types of leadership throughout human history. Salome and her +sons thought Jesus was going to Jerusalem to inaugurate his Kingdom. They +asked for an advance pledge assuring them of the chief place. Jesus +replied that that place would not go by favoritism. There is a price to be +paid for leadership in his reign, and God alone will allot the final +honors. He felt in their request a relapse into conceptions that he +detested. In all political organizations he saw the tyrannical use of +power over the people. There must be an end of that in the new social +order. Ambition must seek its satisfaction by distinguished service, and +only extra-hazardous service shall win honor. He himself proposed to be a +leader of that new type, and to give his life as a ransom for the +emancipation of the people. + +Our Master here offers each of us the conscious choice between two +principles of action. _Have we made our choice?_ + +He offers a norm for estimating the real value of men in public life. +_Have we ever tried to apply it?_ + + + +Fourth Day: The History of a Governing Class + + + Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who + planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a + winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, + and went into another country. And when the season of the fruits + drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive his + fruits. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and + killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants + more than the first: and they did unto them in like manner. But + afterward he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence + my son. But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among + themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his + inheritance. And they took him, and cast him forth out of the + vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard + shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto + him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let + out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the + fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read + in the scriptures, + + The stone which the builders rejected, + The same was made the head of the corner; + This was from the Lord, + + And it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The + kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to + a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And he that falleth on + this stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall + fall, it will scatter him as dust. And when the chief priests and + the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of + them. And when they sought to lay hold on him, they feared the + multitudes, because they took him for a prophet.—Matt. 21:33-46. + + +A delegation of the chief priests, lawyers, and elders challenged the +authority of Jesus to act as he did. He replied by challenging their +authority to act as they did. The vineyard parable sums up his view of the +moral history of the governing class in his nation. It was like a group of +men who had rented a vineyard on shares, but took advantage of the owner’s +absence to embezzle his share, insolently to beat up his representatives, +and to put themselves in possession of the farm. Every demand of God for +righteousness in the history of Israel had been resisted by those in +power. What title, then, did they have to the rights they claimed? Unless +they fulfilled the function of true leaders, why should they not be put +out of power and brought to justice? In this passage, then, we have a +characterization of leaders who take the profits and honors of leadership, +without performing its higher duties to God and humanity. + +Is there any connection between this challenge of Jesus, and the +functional theories of society and the evolutionary conception of history? + + + +Fifth Day: An Indictment of a Governing Class + + + Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, + The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, all things + therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but do + not ye after their works; for they say, and do not. Yea, they bind + heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s + shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their + finger. But all their works they do to be seen of men: for they + make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their + garments, and love the chief place at feasts, and the chief seats + in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces, and to + be called of men, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is + your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father + on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven. + Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the + Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. + And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever + shall humble himself shall be exalted. + + But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye + shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in + yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to + enter.—Matt. 23:1-13. + + +The invective against the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 23) is a +characterization of selfish leadership in the field of religion. Its +fundamental elements have remained the same in all religions and through +all history: fine talk and little action; religion turned into a law and a +burden, in order to hold the people in obedience to the interests of the +leaders; pride and ambition exploiting religion to get honors. Jesus tells +the people to revolt against the titles in which this domination had found +decorative satisfaction. He demands democracy, humility, brotherliness. + +Does this description justly apply to the Christian ministry today, or has +there been a great historical change by which that profession has become a +profession of service? + +Where in modern social life would the invective of Jesus against selfish +leadership still be true? + + + +Sixth Day: The Lost Leader + + + And in these days Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, and + said (and there was a multitude of persons gathered together, + about a hundred and twenty), Brethren, it was needful that the + scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spake before + by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to them that + took Jesus. For he was numbered among us, and received his portion + in this ministry. (Now this man obtained a field with the reward + of his iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the + midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all + the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch that in their language that + field was called Akeldama, that is, The field of blood.) For it is + written in the book of Psalms, + + Let his habitation be made desolate, + And let no man dwell therein: + + and, + + His office let another take.—Acts 1:15-20. + + +The character and motives of Judas remain an unsolved riddle. The Gospels +leave no doubt that money played a part with him. But could a man whom +Jesus selected and trusted be actuated by so sordid a motive alone? Was he +perhaps embittered because he had staked his ambition on the Galilean +Messiah and Jesus failed to act the part assigned to him? Was he hoping to +force him to revolutionary action? We may be sure that Judas was no +slinking thief only. In Rubens’ picture of the Last Supper at Milano Judas +has a strong and noble face, but troubled and restless eyes, telling of a +hurt soul. The other disciples were deeply impressed by his betrayal of +the Master and of the common cause. Judas is the type of the lost leader. +“Just for a handful of silver he left us, just for a ribbon to stick in +his coat.” Some leaders blunder and learn better; some sag to lower levels +but plod on; some sell out. Judas could not bear to live. Read James +Russell Lowell’s “Extreme Unction.” + +Have you known of cases today of men who have abandoned or betrayed a +cause to get office or income? Any who abandon humanity itself to get +thirty pieces for themselves? + + + +Seventh Day: The New Order of Leaders + + + And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in + their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and + healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. But when + he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, + because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a + shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is + plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of + the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest. + + And he called unto him his twelve disciples, and gave them + authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all + manner of disease and all manner of sickness. + + Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, + who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of + Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, + and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphæus, and Thaddæus; + Simon the Cananæan, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed + him.—Matt. 9:35-10:4. + + +We have studied part of this passage before as an expression of the social +feeling of Jesus. Note now that it was their leaderless condition which +impressed him. Plenty of priests, lawyers, and experts on the Bible, but +no friendly shepherds for the people. When he created the apostolate, he +initiated a new order of leadership, a band of men who would serve and not +exploit. Read the instructions he gave them (Chap. 10), and see how +carefully he fences out selfish gain. Service versus exploitation, that is +one of the tests of all who claim leadership in his name. We realize that +in the field of religion. But why should not the same test be made in +professional, political, and business life? Predatory action may not be as +glaringly shameful there, but is it any the more moral? + +_Now what about you and me?_ + + + +Study for the Week + + +I + + +The desire to lead and excel is natural and right. Because men are +gregarious, they need leadership for their social groups, and social +progress depends largely on securing adequate leaders. Those who have the +natural gifts for leadership—and also those who merely think they +have—usually have a keen desire for its satisfactions. College life is a +miniature world of criss-cross ambitions and of contrivances for trying +out leaders. + +Jesus did not demand self-effacement and the suppression of ability. He +welcomed evidences of noble self-assertion. His own Messianic call was a +summons to the highest leadership. His temptations were the settlement of +leadership problems. His final lament over the city of Jerusalem was a +burst of sorrow because he had failed to win his people to follow him. + +Now, in moving about among men to win them for the Kingdom, Jesus +encountered the leaders who were on deck before he came—the wealthy men +who controlled the economic outfit; the official groups who held what +political power was left to the Jews; and the lawyers, theologians, +priests, and zealots who dominated the religious life of a very religious +people. These classes overlapped; together they constituted the oligarchy +of his nation. Both sides soon realized that there were fundamental +antagonisms between them. The conflict grew acute, until it headed up in +the great duel of the last days at Jerusalem. His experiences in this +conflict with hostile leadership are recorded in the passages which we +have studied and others like them. + + +II + + +In the fundamental reply to James and John he formulated his observations +in a great political generalization: “Ye know that the rulers of the +nations lord it over them and their great men hold down the rest by +force.” In its earlier and cruder forms, the State is a contrivance of a +victorious group to hold down the conquered, and exploit them. If anyone +has not yet read political history as an account of systematic +exploitation of nation by nation and class by class, he has some education +still coming to him. + +Even where political leadership has not been plainly predatory but rested +on real service, humanity has often had a heavy price to pay for it. +Successful military leaders were able to perpetuate a royal dynasty and +perhaps fasten a race of hereditary incapables on a nation, to be +maintained in royal splendor. The feudal nobility performed useful work in +the earlier, turbulent times, but it continued to take rent and tribute +for centuries after its useful functions had lapsed. Modern business men +who have organized public service corporations have often served the +nation well, but they now own the highways and fundamental outfit of the +nation, and if their descendants or assignees collect tribute, perhaps on +inflated capitalization, for generations to come, it looks like rather +costly service. The obligations of power have a curious way of getting +lost in the shuffle of time, but titles, rank, legal privileges, rent, and +interest are carefully groomed. If one man loses them, some other man +nurses them, and the people always pay. + +The Kingdom of God sets a fraternal and righteous social order against the +predatory and unrighteous order which humanity has inherited from the +past. The new order must have a new dynasty of leaders, for every social +order has its own kind of aristocracy. Jesus does not propose to abolish +leadership, but he proposes a new basis for greatness which is sharply +opposed to the old: “Whoever has ambition to be a great man among you, let +him be your servant; and whoever is ambitious to rank first among you, let +him be your bondservant. Just as the Son of Man did not come to have +others serve him, but to render service and to give his life as a ransom +for many.” Ability and ambition are still to lead, but they are to be +yoked to the service of all. Not he who kills and subjugates, but he who +makes life safe and happy, shall have the statue set up in his honor. Not +the great warrior and killer, but the great healer and the man who +multiplies the blades of grass and the ears of wheat and the size of +potatoes shall be the great names treasured. The higher the honor craved, +the more strenuous must be the service; if a man wants first prize, he +must get down to voluntary slavery. The old way to leadership was to knock +others down and climb up on them; the new way is to get underneath and +boost. + + +III + + +Jesus put himself under this law of leadership. We see from his words that +the cross was the outcome of a consistent principle adopted by him. The +rules he laid down for his apostolate were meant to bar out selfish +acquisition: “Freely ye received, freely give. Get you no gold, nor +silver, nor brass in your purses; no wallet for your journey, neither two +coats, nor shoes, nor staff; for the laborer is worthy of his food.” It is +a significant fact that again and again religious leaders who really cared +for the condition of the people, have tried to create a genuine leadership +for them along the same lines; Francis of Assisi gathered his “little +brothers”; Peter Waldus his Bible teachers; Wycliffe his “poor preachers”; +John Wesley his local preachers and itinerants; William Booth his ensigns +and captains with the big bass drum; and the entire foreign mission +propaganda calls for leaders who will go to the people and offers them +nothing but enough to live in health. Today practically the entire +Christian ministry, one of the most important bodies of men, has come +under the law of leadership for service. It was once, at least in its +upper-class sections, rich with unearned incomes, pervaded by graft, and +domineering in spirit; it is now a clean and plain-living profession; +whatever its shortcomings, graft and extortion are not of them. + +The question is now, whether other professions will go through the same +historical process of cleansing. The religious spirit has pioneering +qualities; under its impulse men blaze the trail which broad social +movements or historical developments follow later. Greedy leadership first +seemed intolerable in the Church; after a time it may become intolerable +in politics and business. The trend of civilization is toward intelligent +service on plain pay. Educators, judges, scientists, doctors are on that +basis now. It has become dishonorable for them to use their positions for +a holdup. The great discoverers in the line of sero-therapy might have +taken toll in golden streams, but they did not. It would have been +contrary to the ethics of their profession. That means that their +profession is on a Christian basis. Where graft is taken out of politics, +officials become devoted public servants. The reproach has been made +against a man of great ability that at the end of his life his name is not +connected with any great cause or measure for the welfare of the people. +Whether the judgment was just or not, that point of view is the one to +take. + +Can business be brought under the law of service? Or is commerce +constitutionally incapable of it? There are many indications that a +conscious spiritual change is coming over those men in business who have +enough intellect and character to look beyond immediate needs. The type of +business leadership which took millions out of filthy factory towns, wore +out women and took the youth out of children, cleared twelve per cent from +slum tenements, kept men and women from marriage by underpayment, and kept +the cradle empty by high prices and fear of the future—this type of +leadership is antiquated. It belongs to a pre-Christian and pagan age. It +is only a question whether business leaders will voluntarily turn their +back on such misuse of power or have a change forced on them. Those who +mark time on the old methods will become moral derelicts, and their wealth +will not forever screen their moral obtuseness. + +The nation needs leaders who will persuade conservative farmers to use +scientific methods; who will teach our wasteful people the value of +self-restraint, and the beauty of cooperative buying and selling; who will +teach our communities that it is a sin to rob our own children by leaving +soil, water, and forests poorer than we found them; who will give the +people good housing without taking the unearned increment; who will +organize the dangerous industries for safety; who will place the relations +of leaders and workers in industry on a basis of justice and goodwill so +that industrial peace can be attained. Is such an object satisfying to a +young man of business capacity, or does he want to build a million dollar +house and populate it with one child? It is confessed that civilization +has been succeeding on the technical side and failing on the ethical. The +more the machinery of life is concentrated in the hands of a limited group +of business leaders, the more important does the social enlightenment and +moral objective of these leaders become to society. To which of the two +types do we belong? + + +IV + + +Will a life of service satisfy the capable and call out their best powers +for the service of humanity? Men will play the game according to the rules +of the game. If humanity changes the rules, its strong men will still let +out their energies, because they can not help it, and they will like +themselves all the better for being on the side of their fellow-men. There +is no pleasure in being isolated, eyed with resentment, and conscious of +hardness. If ten per cent net means long hours, low wages, and repression, +and if six per cent would mean good will and contentment, it might pay the +leaders of industry to take less in dividends and take it out in the +higher satisfactions. + +For men of great ability this is the chance for enduring fame. Who will +remember the men that did nothing but amass wealth? Who of our presidents +are remembered and loved? Those who suffered with and for the people. + +The leadership of service validates its rightness by its intellectual +results. Predatory and parasitic classes become intellectually sterile and +ignorant of real life. A man who wants to serve men, must get close to +them. If we carry a load uphill, we have to choose our footing, and will +perforce become intimately acquainted with the law of gravitation. Nothing +develops the intellect like heading a just cause and fighting for it. + +Here, then, we have another social principle of Jesus. The ambition of the +strong must be yoked to the service of society. Power and honor must be +earned by distinguished and costly service. Progress along this direction +marks the progress of the Kingdom of God. Extortionate and domineering +leadership must be superseded where the Kingdom of God moves forward. + + +V + + +Does the life of our colleges and universities square with this principle? +College men and women crave honor from their fellows, or their +fraternities crave it for them vicariously. How do the “big men” in +college win it? Do they win it by raising the standards of intellectual +work for all? By making fun clean and honorable through the power of a +clean public opinion? By creating a college spirit which will put manhood +into every generation of Freshmen that plunges into it? Or do they win +honor by organizing parties, by intoxicating themselves and others with +frothy “social” successes, by acting for the gallery to see and applaud, +and by wasting the dynamics of youth on shooting rockets that look like +stars and come down like sticks? Such men are essentially selfish; even +their service is self-seeking and deserves no honor from others. The more +talented and attractive they are, the more damage do they do. They +perpetuate their kind. If fraternities or honorary societies honor and +reward that sort of leadership, they force individuals into futility, and +reenforce the natural temptation to shallow work and display by the +powerful pressure of socialized public opinion. + +What has just been said applies to the inner life of the college group +during its brief command over young men and women. But meanwhile the +outside life is waiting for them. Society creates and finances the +colleges and universities from the social fund created by those who work. +A college man who toys with his work and fights those who want to make him +work, ought to be demoted and his chance given to some workingman who has +intellectual hunger and would use it. But even of the able and efficient +college men society has a right to inquire whether it is training enemies +and exploiters or friends and leaders. This question will be asked more +and more insistently by democracy as it becomes intelligent. Christianity +anticipates this inquiry by its appeal to the individual conscience. Every +college man and woman should choose the principle on which he proposes to +exercise leadership in case he wins it. Are we willing to gain wealth by +impoverishing others? Are we willing to get pleasure by degrading others? +Are we willing to gain power and freedom for ourselves by making others +powerless and unfree? Jesus distinguishes three kinds of men who are +interested in the sheep—the robber, the hireling, and the shepherd. You +can tell the presence of the robber by the death of the sheep; the +hireling by his cowardice; the true leader by his valor and love. + +A special word should be said to college women. In her book on “Woman and +Labor,” Olive Schreiner has pointed out that as families rise to wealth, +the women slip into parasitism more readily than the men. They cease to do +productive work, accept the luxuries of life as their right, and fall in +with upper-class pretensions. The means of leadership—time, wealth, social +resources—are at their command. How will they use them? The number of +women with unearned incomes is increasing rapidly in America. Now, if much +is given them, much will be required. Can they produce enough social +values to justify what they consume? The least we can do is to give as +much as we get. Anything less is immoral. + +What kind of influence do college girls exert on able young men who turn +toward them in love? Nothing will shrivel the idealistic conceptions of +life in a young man as thoroughly as love for a selfish woman. The world +is full of eyeless Samsons, grinding the money-mills, and whipped to a +quicker pace by smiling grafters—who would not recognize this description +of them if they saw it. + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _The Need of Leadership_ + +1. Does the need of leadership diminish with the spread of democracy? With +the growth of education? + +2. Do we need leadership more or less in America today than fifty years +ago? + +II. _Jesus on the Problems of Leadership_ + +1. Give proof that Jesus consciously confronted the problem of social +leadership. + +2. What elements did he condemn in the old leadership of his nation? + +3. What principle of leadership did he lay down for the new social order? + +4. What body of leaders did he create, and what standards of special honor +did he impose on them? + +5. What do we think of the historic effectiveness of the leadership he +created? What is the true interpretation of Judas Iscariot? + +6. What evidences are there in Jesus’ career that he was true to his +ideals of leadership? + +III. _The Problem of Leadership in History_ + +1. How have the great leaders in the field of religion attacked the +problem of leadership in the Church? What does the Protestant Reformation +signify from this point of view? + +2. How have the landed aristocrats of the past met the Christian test of +leadership? + +3. Give examples from history and from modern life of men who exercised +power in the way Christ condemned. Give examples of others who exercised +it according to Christ’s law. + +IV. _The Problem of Leadership in Modern Life_ + +1. In what professions is ambition now securely tied up with service, so +that a man must serve well in order to rise? + +2. In what positions can a man still gain power and wealth by exploiting +society? + +3. Is the consciousness that they are public servants spreading among +business men? If so, to what is this due? + +4. Is society paying too big a price for the leadership of the industrial +aristocracy today? + +5. When the interests of the stockholders are set over against the health +of women and children, and the safety of employes, which consideration +determines the wages paid? + +6. How have the social leaders of the past mortgaged the economic +resources of nations to their own families? To what extent is this true of +our country? + +7. How can society protect itself against exploitation under present +conditions? + +V. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. A corporation has averaged 24 per cent to its stockholders. It pays +twelve dollars a week to its ordinary workmen. Would you call this +predatory leadership? Where do you draw the line? + +2. Does the salary of teachers in our country indicate that we give honor +according to service rendered? + +3. How does the increasing size of business undertakings and their +importance for public welfare emphasize the ethical importance of right +leadership? + + + + +Chapter VIII. Private Property And The Common Good + + +_Private Property Must Serve Social Welfare_ + +A glance across history or a simple acquaintance with human life in any +community will show us that private property is at the same time a +necessary expression of personality and stimulator of character, and, on +the other hand, a chief outlet and fortification of selfishness. Every +reformatory effort must aim to conserve and spread the blessings of +property, and every step toward a better social order will be pugnaciously +blocked by its selfish beneficiaries. + +What were Jesus’ convictions about private property? + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Rival Interest + + + And he spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the + sower went forth to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the + way side, and the birds came and devoured them: and others fell + upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth: and + straightway they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth: + and when the sun was risen, they were scorched; and because they + had no root, they withered away. And others fell upon the thorns; + and the thorns grew up and choked them: and others fell upon the + good ground, and yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, + some thirty.... When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and + understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away + that which hath been sown in his heart. This is he that was sown + by the way side. And he that was sown upon the rocky places, this + is he that heareth the word, and straight-way with joy receiveth + it; yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while; and + when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, + straightway he stumbleth. And he that was sown among the thorns, + this is he that heareth the word; and the care of the world, and + the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh + unfruitful. And he that was sown upon the good ground, this is he + that heareth the word, and understandeth it; who verily beareth + fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some + thirty.—Matt. 13:3-8; 19-23. + + +This parable was intended to explain to the disciples why the Kingdom was +not coming with a rush, as they expected. The story embodies the practical +experiences of Jesus in his propaganda. He saw his work as a duplication +of the sower’s work on a higher level. The success of both depends on the +receptiveness of the soil. The sower encounters hard trodden ground, rocky +patches, and spots where hardy thorns or thistles drain the soil and where +his work produces only empty ears and futile beginnings. So Jesus met the +stolid conservative and also the emotional type. But the climax of his +difficulties was a mind preoccupied by property worries, or lured by the +illusions of wealth. He early found, then, that devotion to property is +likely to be a rival to the higher interests and the common good. + +How do modern social groups line up when measured by spiritual +receptiveness? + + + +Second Day: The Accumulator + + + And one out of the multitude said unto him, Teacher, bid my + brother divide the inheritance with me. But he said unto him, Man, + who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, + Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness: for a man’s + life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he + possesseth. And he spoke a parable unto them, saying, The ground + of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully; and he reasoned + within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where + to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down + my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my grain + and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much + goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be + merry. But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy + soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, + whose shall they be? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, + and is not rich toward God.—Luke 12:13-21. + + +Most men today would have no fault to find with this man. He was only +doing what the modern world is unanimously trying to do. Having made a +pile, he proposed to make a bigger pile. Meanwhile he slapped his soul on +the back and smacked his lips in anticipation. To Jesus the fat farmer was +a tragic comedy. In the first place, an unseen hand was waiting to snuff +out his candle. To plan life as if it consisted in an abundance of +material wealth is something of a miscalculation in a world where death is +part of the scheme of things. In the second place, Jesus saw no higher +purpose in the man’s aim and outlook to redeem his acquisitiveness. The +man was a sublimated chipmunk, gloating over bushels of pignuts. If wealth +is saved to raise and educate children, or achieve some social good, it +deserves moral respect or admiration. But if the acquisitive instinct is +without social feeling or vision, and centered on self, it gets no +respect, at least from Jesus. + +Unlimited acquisition used to be considered immoral and dishonorable. How +and when did public opinion change on this? + + + +Third Day: Quit Grafting + + + And the multitudes asked him, saying, What then must we do? And he + answered and said unto them, He that hath two coats, let him + impart to him that hath none; and he that hath food, let him do + likewise. And there came also publicans to be baptized, and they + said unto him, Teacher, what must we do? And he said unto them, + Extort no more than that which is appointed you. And soldiers also + asked him, saying, And we, what must we do? And he said unto them, + Extort from no man by violence, neither accuse any one wrongfully; + and be content with your wages.—Luke 3:10-14. + + +The social teachings of John the Baptist were so close to those of Jesus +that we can safely draw on them in this passage. + +John told the people that a new era was coming and they would have to get +a new mind and manner of life as an outfit for it. The people asked for +specifications. John’s suggestions ran along two lines. He encouraged the +plain working people to be neighborly and friendly, and share with a man +who was hard up. With powerful individuals, like hired soldiers and Roman +tax-farmers, he insisted that they must quit using their physical force +and legal power as a cinch to extort money. In other words, they must quit +grafting. In the Kingdom of God the “big, black book of graft” will be +closed, and men will no longer eat their protesting fellow-men. The more +we realize that some form of graft is at the bottom of most easy incomes, +the more good sense will we see in this kind of evangelism. + +Have we ever been a victim of extortion? How did it feel? Did it sour the +milk of human kindness in us? + + + +Fourth Day: God versus Mammon + + + Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and + rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay + up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust + doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: + for where thy treasure is there will thy heart be also. The lamp + of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy + whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy + whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that + is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness! No man can + serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the + other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye + cannot serve God and mammon.—Matt. 6:19-24. + + +Acquisition may operate on different planes. A man may accumulate material +stuff, or he may acquire spiritual faculties, memories, and relations. In +a balanced life the two work side by side in peace, and each may aid the +other. But the experience of all spiritual teachers shows that practically +the acquisition of property often becomes a passion which absorbs the man +and leaves little energy for the higher pursuits. Most men who have used +up their life to acquire wealth look back with homesickness to some +idealistic aspiration of their youth as to a lost Edenland. Jesus felt the +antagonism of private wealth and the Kingdom of God so keenly that he set +God and Mammon over against each other, and warned us that we must choose +between them. Placed in this connection, the saying about the darkening of +the inner light seems to refer to the influence of money-getting on the +higher vision of the soul. This entire passage is fundamental and will +explain other sayings which follow. + +Do God and money come into flat collision in college life? + + + +Fifth Day: The Divisive Influence of Riches + + + Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and + fine linen, faring sumptuously every day: and a certain beggar + named Lazarus was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to + be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table; yea, + even the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that + the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels into + Abraham’s bosom: and the rich man also died, and was buried. And + in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth + Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, + Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may + dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am + in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that + thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus in + like manner evil things: but now here he is comforted, and thou + art in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you there is + a great gulf fixed, that they that would pass from hence to you + may not be able, and that none may cross over from thence to us. + And he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest + send him to my father’s house; for I have five brethren; that he + may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of + torment. But Abraham saith, They have Moses and the prophets; let + them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one go to + them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If + they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be + persuaded, if one rise from the dead.—Luke 16:19-31. + + +Why does Jesus send the rich man to hell as if it were a matter of course? +No crimes or vices are alleged. It must be that a life given over to +sumptuous living and indifferent to the want and misery of a fellow-man at +the doorstep seemed to Jesus a deeply immoral and sinful life. Jesus +exerted all his energies to bring men close together in love. But wealth +divides. It creates semi-human relations between social classes, so that a +small dole seems to be a full discharge of obligations toward the poor, +and manly independence and virtue may be resented as offensive. The sting +of this parable is in the reference to the five brothers who were still +living as Dives had lived, and whom he was vainly trying to reach by +wireless. See verse 14 in explanation. + +Is it fair to call the relations between the selfish rich and the +dependent poor “semi-human relations”? + + + +Sixth Day: Get a Plank for the Deluge + + + And he said also unto the disciples, There was a certain rich man, + who had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he was + wasting his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, What is + this that I hear of thee? render the account of thy stewardship; + for thou canst be no longer steward. And the steward said within + himself, What shall I do, seeing that my lord taketh away the + stewardship from me? I have not strength to dig; to beg I am + ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the + stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. And calling to + him each one of his lord’s debtors, he said to the first, How much + owest thou unto my lord? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. + And he said unto him, Take thy bond, and sit down quickly and + write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And + he said, A hundred measures of wheat. He saith unto him, Take thy + bond, and write fourscore. And his lord commended the unrighteous + steward because he had done wisely: for the sons of this world are + for their own generation wiser than the sons of the light. And I + say unto you, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of + unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you + into the eternal tabernacles.—Luke 16:1-9. + + +This is one of the wittiest stories in the Bible and must be read with +some sense of humor. The tenant farmers of a great estate paid their rent +in shares of the produce. This elastic system offered the steward a chance +to make something on the side. He was found out and discharged, but while +he was closing up his accounts he still had a short spell of authority. +Things looked dark. He did not care to blister his white hands with a +hoe-handle, nor his social pride by begging. So he grafted one last graft, +but on so large a scale that the tenants would be under lasting +obligations to him. The scamp was a crook, but at least he was +long-headed. Jesus wished the children of light were as clever in taking a +long look ahead as the children of this world. In that case men would get +ready for the new age, in which mammon loses its buying power, by making +friends with it now, and their friends would take them in as guests after +the great reversal. + +How do you like the humorous independence of Jesus? + + + +Seventh Day: Stranded on His Wealth + + + And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Teacher, what shall I + do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest + thou me good? none is good, save one, even God. Thou knowest the + commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, + Do not bear false witness, Honor thy father and mother. And he + said, All these things have I observed from my youth up. And when + Jesus heard it, he said unto him, One thing thou lackest yet: sell + all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt + have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. But when he heard + these things, he became exceeding sorrowful; for he was very rich. + And Jesus seeing him said, How hardly shall they that have riches + enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to + enter in through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into + the kingdom of God.—Luke 18:18-25. + + +A fine young man, of clean and conscientious life, but with unsatisfied +aspirations in his soul. Jesus invites him to a more heroic type of +excellence, cutting loose from his wealth and devoting himself to the +apostolate of the Kingdom of God. It was a great chance for a great life. +He might have stood for God before kings and mobs, and ranked with Peter, +John, and Paul as a household name. He did not rise to his chance. What +held him? Jesus felt it was his wealth. A poor man would have had less to +leave, and might have left it cheerfully. So Jesus sums up the +psychological situation in the saddened exclamation that it is exceedingly +hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom where men live in justice, +fraternity, and idealism. + +Have you noticed that in recent years an increasing number of this man’s +grandsons are trying to cut loose and find the real life, eternal life? +Can you name any? + + + +Study for the Week + + +Evidently the dangers connected with property were much in the mind of +Jesus. He seems to have emphasized them more fully and frequently than the +evils of licentiousness or drunkenness. The modern Church has reversed the +relative emphasis. Why? + +Of course we must not look for the methods or viewpoints of political +economy in his teachings. His concern was for the spiritual vitality and +soundness of the individual, and for the human relations existing among +men. He was interested in property only in so far as it corrupted the +higher nature or made fraternity difficult. But let no one underestimate +the importance of these considerations. These things are the real end of +life. All the rest is scaffolding. We should be farther along if the +economic and social sciences had kept these fundamental questions more +sternly in sight. + + +I + + +Plainly Jesus felt that the acquisitive instinct, like the sex instinct, +easily breaks bounds and becomes ravenous; there is even less natural +limit to it. It absorbs the energies of intellect and will. As with the +rich fool, the horizon of life is filled with chances to make the pile +grow bigger. Life seems to consist of money, and the problems of money. + +People are valued according to that standard. Marriages are arranged for +it. Politics is run for it. Wars are begun for it. Creative artistic and +intellectual impulses are shouldered aside, fall asleep, or die of +inanition. Property is intended to secure freedom of action and +self-development; in fact, it often chains men and clips their wings. This +is what Jesus calls “the deceitfulness of riches” and “the darkening of +the inner eye.”(2) + +In addition to the blight of character, wealth exerts a desocializing and +divisive influence. It wedges apart groups that belong together. Dives and +Lazarus may live in the front and rear of the same block, but with no +sense of solidarity. Dives would have been deeply moved, perhaps, if one +of his own class had punctured a tire in the Philistian desert and gone +for two days without any food except crumbs. The separation of humanity +into classes on the lines of wealth is so universal and so orthodox that +few of us ever realize that it flouts all the principles of Christianity +and humanity. + +In the case of the young ruler Jesus encountered the fact that wealth bars +men out of the world of their ideals. The question was not whether the +young man could get to heaven, but whether he could have a share in the +real life, in the kingdom of right relations. It is hard to acquire great +wealth without doing injustice to others; it is hard to possess it and yet +deal with others on the basis of equal humanity; it is hard to give it +away even without doing mischief. + +We have seen that Jesus believed profoundly in the value and dignity of +human life; that he sought to create solidarity; that he was chiefly +concerned for the saving of the lowly; and that he demanded an heroic life +in the service of the Kingdom of God. But wealth, as he saw it, flouted +the value of life, dissolved the spiritual solidarity of whole classes, +and kept the lowly low; the wealthy had lost the capacity for an heroic +life. + +This is radical teaching. What shall we say to it? Jesus is backed by the +Old Testament prophets and the most spiritual teaching of the Hebrew +people, which condemned injustice and extortionate money-making even more +energetically than did Jesus. Medieval Christianity sincerely assented to +the principle that private property is a danger to the soul and a +neutralizer of love. Every monastic community tried to cut under sex +dangers by celibacy, and property dangers by communism. This was an +enormous misinterpretation of Christianity, but it shows that men took the +teachings on the dangers of private property seriously. The modern +Christian world does not. It has quietly set aside the ideas of Jesus on +this subject, lives its life without much influence from them, and +contents itself with emphasizing other aspects. + +Has the teaching of Jesus on private property been superseded by a better +understanding of the social value of property? Or has his teaching been +suppressed and swamped by the universal covetousness of modern life? “Our +moral pace-setters strike at bad personal habits, but act as if there was +something sacred about money-getting; and, _seeing that the master +iniquities of our time are connected with money-making_, they do not get +into the fight at all. The child-drivers, monopoly-builders, and crooked +financiers have no fear of men whose thought is run in the moulds of their +grandfathers. Go to the tainted-money colleges, and you will learn that +Drink, not Graft, is the nation’s bane” (Edward A. Ross, “Sin and Society, +an Analysis of Latter-day Iniquity,” p. 97—the italics are his). + + +II + + +The machinery for making money which Jesus knew, was simple, crude, and +puny compared with the complicated and pervasive system which the magnates +of modern industry have built up. There was probably not a millionaire in +all Palestine. What would he have said to our great cities? + +We need a Christian ethics of property, more perhaps than anything else. +The wrongs connected with wealth are the most vulnerable point of our +civilization. Unless we can make that crooked place straight, all our +charities and religion are involved in hypocrisy. + +We have to harmonize the two facts, that wealth is good and necessary, and +that wealth is a danger to its possessor and to society. On the one hand +property is indispensable to personal freedom, to all higher +individuality, and to self-realization; the right to property is a +corollary of the right to life; without property men are at the mercy of +nature and in bondage to those who have property. On the other hand +property is used as a means of collecting tribute and private taxes, as a +club with which to extort unearned gain from laborers and consumers, and +as the fundamental tool of oppression. + +Where do we draw the line? Is it true that property created by productive +labor is a great moralizer, and that property acquired without productive +labor is the great demoralizer? Is it correct that property for use is on +the whole good, and property for power is a menace? + +What is the relation between property and self-development? At what point +does property become excessive? At what point does food become excessive +and poisonous? At what point does fertilizer begin to kill a plant? Would +any real social values be lost if incomes averaged $2,000 and none +exceeded $10,000? + +To what extent does a moral purpose take the dangers out of acquisition? + +Is any life moral in which the natural capacities are not sincerely taxed +to do productive work? If a man’s wealth is destined to cut his +descendants off from productive labor, is it a blessing? What is the moral +difference between strenuous occupation and labor? How large a proportion +of our time and energy can be devoted to play and leisure without +softening our moral fiber? + +At what points does private property come to be anti-social? If we could +eliminate the monopoly elements and the capacity to levy tribute, would +there be much danger in the remainder? + +Does private property, in the enormous aggregations of today and in +control of the essential outfit of society, still correspond to the +essential theoretical conception of private property, or have public +properties and public functions fallen under private control? “Much that +we are accustomed to hear called legitimate insistence upon the rights of +property, the Old Testament would seem to call the robbery of God, and +grinding the faces of the poor” (The Bishop of Oxford). + + +III + + +The religious spirit will always have to call the individual farther than +the law can compel him to go. After all unjust and tainted portions have +been eliminated from our property, religion lays its hands on the rest and +says, “You are only a steward over this.” In the parables of the talents, +the pounds, and the unjust steward, Jesus argues on the assumption that +our resources are a trust, and not absolute property. We manage and +control them, but always under responsibility. We hold them from God, and +his will has eminent domain. But the will of God is identical with the +good of mankind. When we hold property in trust for God, we hold it for +humanity, of which we are part. We misuse the trust if by it we deprive +others of health, freedom, joy, hope, or efficiency, for instance, by +overworking others and underworking our own children. + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _The Love of Money_ + +1. Define graft. What is wrong in it? Where do we see it? Where are we +myopic about it? + +2. Why did Jesus have so much to say about money and so little about +drink? Why does Paul call the love of money “the root of all evil”? + +II. _Jesus’ Fear of Riches_ + +1. On what ground does Jesus fear the influence of riches and of their +accumulation? + +2. Summarize Jesus’ teachings regarding wealth. + +3. In what respects is his attitude different from the ordinary viewpoint +of the modern world? + +4. Was Jesus opposed to the owning of farming tools or fishing smacks? +Where would he draw the line between honest earnings and dangerous wealth? + +5. Was his teaching on wealth ascetic? Was it socialistic? + +6. To what extent should we recognize his insight on this question as +authority for us? + +III. _The Problem of Wealth in the Modern World_ + +I. Are the "master iniquities" of our age located in sex life, politics, +or business? + +2. Distinguish between “property for use” and “property for power.” + +3. What are the moral evils created by mass poverty? By aggregations of +wealthy families? + +4. Why has the modern world set aside Jesus’ teachings about wealth? To +what extent have we substituted a better understanding of the social value +of property? How far should we be satisfied with our present adjustment of +the property question? + +5. What methods of money making are condemned by the common sentiment of +the Church? Is there anything which ought to be included in this +condemnation? If so, what? + +IV. _The Christian Attitude Toward Property and Wealth Under Modern +Conditions_ + +1. At what point does the amassing of private property become contrary to +the principles of Jesus? + +2. What legalized property rights are antagonistic to Jesus’ principles? + +3. How can society accumulate wealth without the injustice and social +divisions which now accompany the amassing of private fortunes? + +4. If a man has an invested income, has he the right to live a life of +leisure? When is it right to be a non-producer? + +5. How rich has a Christian a right to be? In a Christian society what is +the minimum limit of income? + +6. Would economic democracy eliminate or enforce the doctrine of +stewardship? + +7. How can we pluck the sting of sin out of private property? + +V. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. Are millionaires a symptom of social disease or a triumph of +civilization? + +2. Should social science reckon with the influence of wealth on personal +character? + +3. What moral conviction is expressed in the condemnation of usurious +interest and of rack-rent? Should excessive profit be included? + +4. How could industry be financed if there were no wealthy investors with +accumulations? + +5. When is a college student a parasite? + +6. If college communities had less money would they breed better men and +women? + +7. How have the successes of predatory finance affected the outlook and +morality of college students? + + + + +Chapter IX. The Social Test Of Religion + + +_Religion Must be Socially Efficient_ + +The teaching of Jesus dealt with three recalcitrant forces, which easily +escape from the control of social duty and become a clog to spiritual +progress: ambition for power and leadership, and the love of property, +have been considered. How about religion? Is it a help or a hindrance in +the progress of humanity? Opinions are very much divided today. No student +of society can neglect religion as a social force. What did Jesus think of +it? + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: Worship is not Enough + + + What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah: I + have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed + beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, + or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath + required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more + vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and + sabbath, the calling of assemblies,—I cannot away with iniquity + and the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts + my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing + them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes + from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your + hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the + evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn + to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the + fatherless, plead for the widow.—Isa. 1:11-17. + + Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the + high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with + calves a year old? will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, + or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born + for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? + He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah + require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to + walk humbly with thy God?—Micah 6:6-8. + + +These two passages are classical expressions of a note which runs through +all the prophetic teaching of the Old Testament. There was a fundamental +antagonism between those who saw the service of God in the inherited +ritual and sacrificial action, and those who felt that the essential +service of God is righteousness of life. The prophets wanted a religion +that would change social conduct, and repudiated religious doings that had +no ethical value. They held that worship alone is not enough. God wants +life and conduct. + +Suggest parallels from the history of the Christian or the non-Christian +religions. + + + +Second Day: The Test of Social Value + + + And it came to pass, that he was going on the sabbath day through + the grainfields; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck + the ears. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on + the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, + Did ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was + hungry, he, and they that were with him? How he entered into the + house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the showbread, + which it is not lawful to eat save for the priests, and gave also + to them that were with him? And he said unto them, The sabbath was + made for man; and not man for the sabbath: so that the Son of man + is lord even of the sabbath. + + And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there + who had his hand withered. And they watched him, whether he would + heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he + saith unto the man that had his hand withered, Stand forth. And he + saith unto them, Is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good, or to + do harm? to save a life, or to kill? But they held their peace. + And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being + grieved at the hardening of their heart, he saith unto the man, + Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth; and his hand + was restored.—Mark 2:23-3:5. + + +The Mosaic law intended the Sabbath to be a haven of rest for all who were +driven, the slave, the immigrant, even the cattle. It was a precious +institution of social protection. But the strict religionists of Jesus’ +time had made a yoke of tyranny of it, so that hungry men could not rub +the kernels from ears of grain without being charged with threshing, and +Jesus could not heal a poor paralytic without getting black looks. A fine +institution of social welfare and relief had been turned into an +anti-social regulation. Jesus fell back on the fundamental maxim of the +prophets, “I desire kindness and not sacrifice,” and laid down the +principle that “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the +Sabbath.” The religious institution of the Sabbath must have social value; +this is the essential test even in religion. + +Is the Sabbath more useful to society now than in Puritan times? + +From which do we suffer more today, from excessive strictness or excessive +looseness in Sabbath observance? + +How is the social value of the rest-day frustrated for the working class? + + + +Third Day: Natural Duty above Artificial + + + And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why walk not thy + disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their + bread with defiled hands? And he said unto them, Well did Isaiah + prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, + + This people honoreth me with their lips, + But their heart is far from me. + But in vain do they worship me, + Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. + + Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of + men. And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment + of God, that ye may keep your tradition. For Moses said, Honor thy + father and thy mother; and, He that speaketh evil of father or + mother, let him die the death: but ye say, If a man shall say to + his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been + profited by me is Corban, that is to say, Given to God; ye no + longer suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother; making + void the word of God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: + and many such like things ye do.—Mark 7:5-13. + + +Contemporary Jewish religion was full of taboos, defilements, and +purifications. Read Mark 7:1-23. Jesus was so indifferent about the +religious ablutions that he was brought to book for it by the pious. He +replied that these regulations were not part of the divine law, but later +accretions the product of theological casuistry, and that they tended to +obscure the real divine duties. He cited a flagrant case. By eternal and +divine law a man owes love and support to his parents. But the scribes +held that if a man vowed to give money to the temple, this obligation, +being toward God, superseded the obligation to his parents, which was +merely human. To Jesus this seemed a perversion of religion. +Ecclesiastical claims were made to stifle fundamental social duty. To +Jesus the latter had incomparably higher value. Religion had become a +social danger through such teaching. + +Give proof from modern history that religious institutions may become +injurious to social morality and welfare. + + + +Fourth Day: Religion Which Obscured Duty + + + Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint + and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters + of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to + have done, and not to have left the other undone. Ye blind guides, + that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel! + + Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse + the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are + full from extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first + the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof + may become clean also.—Matt. 23:23-26. + + Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass + sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye + make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves.—Matt. 23:15. + + +The great invective of Jesus against the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew +23) deals wholly with the perversions of religion. In these verses he +emphasizes the fact that the solemn importance attached to external +minutiæ turned the attention of men from the really fundamental spiritual +duties, such as justice, mercy, and good faith. As the blood was supposed +to be the sacred element of life, it had to be drained off in butchering, +and a drowned animal could not be eaten. Jesus wittily describes the +Pharisee filtering out drowned gnats from the drinking water, but bolting +some camel of a sin without blinking. The outside of the cup was kept +scrupulously scoured, but the inside was filled with the products of +rapacity and the material for luxurious excess. When religion had become +of such a sort, even missionary activity became an actual damage, for the +converts were turned into fanatical sticklers on trifles. In all this we +can see him striking out for a kind of religion that would result in +righteous conduct and have social value. + +_Have we had any experience of religion which obscured duty to us? Have we +had any experience of religion which revealed duty to us?_ + + + +Fifth Day: Religious Wonders and Social Realities + + + And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and trying him asked him to + show them a sign from heaven. But he answered and said unto them, + When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the + heaven is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day: + for the heaven is red and lowering. Ye know how to discern the + face of the heaven; but ye cannot discern the signs of the times. + An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there + shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of Jonah. And he left + them, and departed.—Matt. 16:1-4. + + +This demand for a miracle pursued Jesus all through his teaching activity. +He settled with it on principle in his desert temptation; he would not +leap from the pinnacles of the temple, or do anything to turn his work +into a holy circus. But the demand followed him to his death: “If thou art +the Son of God, come down from the cross.” A good, stunning miracle seemed +a short cut to faith, the most convincing way of furnishing proof of his +divine mission. Also, it would be mighty interesting. But he never catered +to the demand. His power was only for the relief of suffering. He tried to +keep his acts of healing private. In this passage he advised his opponents +to use their intellect in more useful directions than stargazing for signs +from heaven. They were weather-wise. Let them read the signs of the times. +Storms were brewing on the horizon. Forty years later Titus destroyed +Jerusalem and broke the back of the Jewish nation. The prophetic mind of +Jesus saw it coming (Luke 19:41-44). + +If they had accepted his teaching of peace instead of getting intoxicated +by the visions of revolutionary apocalypticism, the doom might have been +averted. He was trying to bring their feet to the ground, turn their mind +to realities, and make their religion socially efficient. + +Would the sight of a miracle have effected a moral change in a Pharisee? + +How would religion be affected, if miraculous demonstrations could be +furnished at will? + + + +Sixth Day: When Religion Separates Men + + + And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, + sitting at the place of toll: and he saith unto him, Follow me. + And he arose, and followed him. + + And it came to pass, as he sat at meat in the house, behold, many + publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his + disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his + disciples, Why eateth your Teacher with the publicans and sinners? + But when he heard it, he said, They that are whole have no need of + a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what this + meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice: for I came not to call + the righteous, but sinners.—Matt. 9:9-13. + + +The Jewish community, religious at the core, had a fringe of people who +had failed to live up to the requirements of the Law. They came under the +condemnation of the respectable people and of their own conscience, and +drifted into the despised and vicious occupations. These were the +“publicans and sinners,” the “publicans and harlots,” to whom the Gospels +refer. A socially efficient religion would have prompted the good people +to establish loving and saving contact with these people. Actually +religion so accentuated the social divergence that the Pharisees were +shocked when Jesus mingled in a friendly way with this class and even +added one of them to his traveling companions. The parables of the lost +coin, lost sheep, and prodigal son were spoken in reply to the slur, “This +man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them” (Luke 15). The elder brother +of the prodigal pictures this loveless and censorious religion. + +Jesus crossed the line of demarcation and established social contact and +friendliness, through which salvation could come to these religious +derelicts. He quoted again the old saying of the prophets, “I desire +mercy, and not sacrifice.” God was not as much concerned about correct +religious performances as the Pharisees thought, and a great deal more +concerned about mercy for the fallen, and the simple human qualities which +bring the strong and the weak together. + +What experiences have we had of refusal to associate? Was the cleavage +along lines of race, wealth, education, morals, or religion? + +_Has religion with us been an impulse toward men, or away from men?_ + + + +Seventh Day: Be Useful or Die + + + And he spake this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in + his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none. + And he said unto the vinedresser, Behold, these three years I come + seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why + doth it also cumber the ground? And he answering saith unto him, + Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and + dung it: and if it bear fruit thenceforth, well; but if not, thou + shalt cut it down.—Luke 13:6-9. + + +Jesus evidently had some interest in scientific agriculture. Both the +owner and the vine-dresser in this parable were out for agricultural +efficiency. The owner hated to see soil and space wasted; the vine-dresser +was reluctant to sacrifice a tree, and proposed better tillage and more +fertilizer. Taking this parable in connection with what precedes, we see +that Jesus was concerned about the future of his nation and its religion. +Both would have to validate their right to exist; God could not have them +cumber the ground. They must make good. This is the stern urge of the God +whom we know in history and evolution, with the voice of Christ pleading +for patience. But it is agreed between them that ultimately the law of +fitness must rule. Religion can not bank on claims of antiquity alone. +Every generation must find it newly efficient to create the social virtues +then needed. Remember that this was spoken by a Jewish patriot and the +supreme exponent of the Hebrew religion. + +Give historical instances of the permanent downfall or decline of nations. +Trace the connection between their fate and their religion. + + + +Study for the Week + + +Jesus Christ was the founder of the highest religion; he was himself the +purest religious spirit known to us. Why, then, was he in opposition to +religion? The clash between him and the representatives of organized +religion was not occasional or superficial. It ran through his whole +activity, was one of the dominant notes in his teaching, culminated in the +great spiritual duel between him and the Jewish hierarchy in the last days +at Jerusalem, and led directly to his crucifixion. + + +I + + +The opposition of Jesus was not, of course, against religion itself, but +against religion as he found it. It was not directed against any departure +from the legitimate order of the priesthood; nor against an improper +ritual or wrong doctrine of sacrifices. In fact, it did not turn on any of +the issues which were of such importance to the Church in later times. He +criticized the most earnest religious men of his day because their +religion harmed men instead of helping them. It was unsocial, or +anti-social. + +The Old Testament prophets also were in opposition to the priestly system +of their time because it used up the religious interest of the people in +ceremonial performances without ethical outcome. It diverted spiritual +energy, by substituting lower religious requirements for the one +fundamental thing which God required—righteousness in social and political +life. They insisted over and over that Jehovah wants righteousness and +wants nothing else. Their aim was to make religion and ethics one and +inseparable. They struck for the social efficiency of religion. + +At the time of Jesus the Jewish sacrifices had lost much of their +religious importance. During the Exile they had lapsed. They were +professional performances of one class. The numerous Jews scattered in +other countries perhaps saw the temple once in a lifetime. Modern feeling +in the first century was against bloody sacrifices. The recorded sayings +of Jesus hardly mention them. On the other hand the daily life of the +people was pervaded by little prescribed religious actions. The Sabbath +with its ritual was punctiliously observed.(3) There were frequent days of +fasting, religious ablutions and baths, long prayers to be recited several +times daily, with prayer straps around the arm and forehead, and a +tasseled cloth over the head. The exact performance of these things seemed +an essential part of religion to the most earnest men. + +We have seen how Jesus collided with these religious requirements and on +what grounds. If men were deeply concerned about the taboo food that went +into their bodies, they would not be concerned about the evil thoughts +that arose in their souls. If they were taught to focus on petty duties, +such as tithing, the great ethical principles and obligations moved to the +outer field of vision and became blurred. The Sabbath, which had +originated in merciful purpose toward the poor, had been turned into +another burden. Religion, which ought to bring good men into saving +contact with the wayward by love, actually resulted in separating the two +by a chasm of religious pride and censoriousness. A man-made and +artificial religious performance, such as giving toward the support of the +temple, crowded aside fundamental obligations written deep in the +constitution of human society, such as filial reverence and family +solidarity. + +Other reformers have condemned religious practices because they were +departures from the holy Book or from primitive custom. Jesus, too, +pointed out that some of these regulations were recent innovations. But +the real standard by which he judged current religious questions was not +ancient authority but the present good of men. The spiritual center on +which he took his stand and from which he judged all things, was the +Kingdom of God, the perfect social order. Even the ordinances of religion +must justify themselves by making an effective contribution to the Kingdom +of God. The Sabbath was made for man, and its observance must meet the +test of service to man’s welfare. It must function wholesomely. The candle +must give light, or what is the use of it? The salt must be salty and +preserve from decay, or it will be thrown out and trodden under foot. If +the fig-tree bears no fruit, why is it allowed to use up space and crowd +better plants off the soil? This, then, is Christ’s test in matters of +institutional religion. The Church and all its doings must serve the +Kingdom of God. + + +II + + +The social efficiency of religion is a permanent social problem. What is +the annual expense of maintaining the churches in the United States? How +much capital is invested in the church buildings? (See U. S. Census +Bulletin No. 103, of 1906.) How much care and interest and loving +free-will labor does an average village community bestow on religion as +compared with other objects? All men feel instinctively that religion +exerts a profound and subtle influence on the springs of conduct. Even +those who denounce it, acknowledge at least its power for harm. Most of us +know it as a power for good. But all history shows that this great +spiritual force easily deteriorates. _Corruptio optimi pessima._ + +Religion may develop an elaborate social apparatus of its own, wheels +within wheels, and instead of being a dynamic of righteousness in the +natural social relations of men, its energies may be consumed in driving +its own machinery. Instead of being the power-house supplying the Kingdom +of God among men with power and light, the Church may exist for its own +sake. It then may become an expensive consumer of social wealth, a +conservative clog, and a real hindrance of social progress. + +Live religion gives proof of its value by the sense of freedom, peace, and +elation which it creates. We feel we are right with the holy Power which +is behind, and beneath, and above all things. It gives a satisfying +interpretation of life and of our own place in it. It moves our aims +higher up, draws our fellow-men closer, and invigorates our will. + +But our growth sets a problem for our religion. The religion of childhood +will not satisfy adolescent youth, and the religion of youth ought not to +satisfy a mature man or woman. Our soul must build statelier mansions for +itself. Religion must continue to answer all our present needs and inspire +all our present functions. A person who has failed to adjust his religion +to his growing powers and his intellectual horizon, has failed in one of +the most important functions of growth, just as if his cranium failed to +expand and to give room to his brain. Being microcephalous is a +misfortune, and nothing to boast of. + +Precisely the same problem arises when society passes through eras of +growth. Religion must keep pace. The Church must pass the burning torch of +religious experience from age to age, transmitting the faith of the +fathers to the children, and not allowing any spiritual values to perish. +But it must allow and aid religion to adjust itself. Its inspiring +teaching must meet the new social problems so effectively that no evil can +last long or grow beyond remedy. In every new age religion must stand the +test of social efficiency. Is it passing that test in Western +civilization? + +Religion is a bond of social coherence. It creates loyalty. But it may +teach loyalty to antiquated observances or a dwarfed system of truth. Have +you ever seen believers rallying around a lost cause in religion? Yet +these relics were once a live issue, and full of thrilling religious +vitality. + +Society changes. Will religion change with it? If society passes from +agriculture and rural settlements to industry and urban conditions, can +the customary practices of religion remain unchanged? Give some instances +where prescientific conceptions of the universe, embodied in religion, +have blocked the spread of scientific knowledge among the people. The +caste distinctions of Hinduism were the product of a combination between +religion and the social organization of the people; can they last when +industrialism and democracy are pervading India? The clerical attitude of +authority was natural when the Catholic clergy were the only educated +class in the community; is it justified today? Protestantism won the +allegiance of industrial communities when the young business class was +struggling to emancipate itself from the feudal system. It developed an +individualistic philosophy of ethics. Today society tends toward +solidaristic organization. How will that affect religion and its scheme of +duty? Thus religion, by its very virtues of loyalty and reverence, may +fall behind and lose its full social efficiency. It must be geared to the +big live issues of today if it is to manifest its full saving energies. + +How does this problem of the efficiency of religion bear on the foreign +missionary movement? How will backward or stationary civilizations be +affected by the introduction of a modern and enthusiastic religion? + +We may feel the defects of our church life at home, but there is no doubt +that the young men and women who go out from our colleges under religious +impulses, are felt as a virile and modernizing force when they settle to +their work in Turkey or Persia. Christian educational institutions and +medical missions have raised the intellectual and humane standards of +young China. Buddhism in Japan has felt the challenge of competition and +is readjusting its ethics and philosophy to connect with modern social +ideals. The historical effects of our religious colonization will not +mature for several generations, but they are bound to be very great. The +nations and races are drawing together. They need a monotheistic religion +as a spiritual basis for their sense of human unity. This is a big, +modern, social task. It makes its claim on men and women who have youth, +education, and spiritual power. Is the religious life of our colleges and +universities efficient enough to meet the need? + +Here are the enormous tasks of international relations, which the Great +War has forced us to realize—the prevention of armed conflicts, the +elimination of the irritant causes of war, the protection of the small +nations which possess what the big nations covet, the freedom of the seas +as the common highway of God, fair and free interchange in commerce +without any effort to set up monopoly rights and the privilege of +extortionate gain, the creation of an institutional basis for a great +family of nations in days to come. These are some of the tasks which the +men and women who are now young must take on their mind and conscience for +life, and leave to their children to finish. What contributions, in your +opinion, could the spirit of the Christian religion make to such a +program, if it were realized intelligently and pressed home through the +agencies of the Christian Church? In what ways has American religion shown +its efficiency since the war broke out? + +Christianity has been a great power in our country to cleanse and +fraternalize the social life of simple communities. Can it meet the +complex needs of modern industrialism in the same way? It can not +truthfully be claimed that it has done so in any industrial country. Its +immense spiritual forces might be the decisive element, but they have been +effectively organized against a few only of the great modern evils. On the +fundamental ethical questions of capitalism the Church has not yet made up +its own mind—not to speak of enforcing the mind of Christ. Nor have the +specialists in the universities and colleges supplied the leaders of the +Church with clear information and guidance on these questions. We can not +make much permanent progress toward a just social order as long as the +masses of the working people in the industrial nations continue in +economic poverty and political helplessness, and as long as a minority +controls the land, the tools, and the political power. We shall linger on +the borders of the Inferno until a new accession of moral insight and +spiritual power comes to the nations. How will it come? + + +III + + +What could the churches in an average village community accomplish if they +intelligently directed the power of religion to foster the sense of +fraternal unity and to promote the institutions which make for unity? How +could they draw the new, the strange, and the irregular families into the +circle of neighborly feeling? In what way could they help to assimilate +immigrants and to prevent the formation of several communities in the same +section, overlapping, alien, and perhaps hostile? How would it affect the +recreational situation if the churches took a constructive rather than a +prohibitive attitude toward amusements, and if they promoted the +sociability of the community rather than that of church groups? + +With the rise of land prices and the control of transportation and +markets, the rural population is moving toward a social crisis like that +which transformed the urban population in the industrial revolution. +Agriculture will become capitalistic, and the weaker families will drop to +the position of tenants and agricultural laborers. Cooperation is their +way of salvation. Its effectiveness has been amply demonstrated in older +countries. It requires a strong sense of solidarity, loyalty, and good +faith to succeed. It has made so little headway in America because our +national character has not been developed in these directions. What could +the churches do to save the weaker families from social submergence by +backing cooperation and developing the moral qualities needed for it? + +The strong religious life of our people might be more effective if the +churches were less divided. Their economic and human resources are partly +wasted by useless competition. Our denominational divisions are nearly all +an historical heritage, imported from Europe, and coming down from a +controversial age. Their issues all meant something vital and socially +important in the midst of the social order of that day; but in many cases +the real significance has quietly crumbled away, and they are not really +the same issues that deeply engaged our forefathers. We are all “tithing +mint, anise, and cummin,” and forgetting the weighty matters, such as +social justice and Christian fraternity. Everybody is ready to acknowledge +this about every denomination except his own. We need a revaluation of our +religious issues from the point of view of the Kingdom of God. That would +bring us into harmony with the judgment of Jesus. Nothing else will. + + +IV + + +The social efficiency of religion—what call is there in that to the +college men and women of this generation? Shall they cease to worship and +pray, seek the salvation of society in ethics and sociology, and abandon +religion to stagnation? Or shall they seek a new experience of religion in +full sight of the modern world, and work by faith toward that reign of God +in which his will shall be done? + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _When the Salt Loses its Savor_ + +1. What is the individual to do when religion becomes a hindrance to +religion? + +2. What types of revolt against inherited religion have you met in +college? + +II. _Prophetic Religion Against Traditional Religion_ + +1. What did the prophets criticize in the religion of their day? + +2. What was Jesus’ test of religion? + +3. Give instances in which he found religion to be a hindrance to the +highest welfare. How did religion obscure duty? + +4. What was the essential cause of the clash between Jesus and the +religious leaders of his day? + +III. _The Historic Reformation of Religion_ + +1. In studying history, what sins or failures of the Church have impressed +you most? + +2. What did the Protestant Reformation contribute to make religion +efficient? + +3. Has the Church been a rival or a feeder of the Kingdom of God? + +4. Give historical examples of the failure of religion to meet the changed +requirements of a new epoch. + +5. What contributions has the Church made to social progress? + +IV. _Religion Today_ + +1. What have Christian missions done to change the social conditions in +non-Christian countries? + +2. How do you rate the social service value of a first-class minister in a +community? On what does his value depend? + +3. Of what social value to a community is a costly and beautiful church +building? + +4. What investment in capital and annual expenditure does the maintenance +of the churches in your community entail? Does the social return to the +community justify the investment? + +5. Are the issues which divided the Protestant denominations in the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries still vital enough to justify the +continuance of the divisions? Summarize the evils of the divisions and +their counter-balancing good. + +6. Is the ordinary criticism of the churches fair? Are ministers overpaid +or underpaid? Do the churches graft? How do the churches compare in social +efficiency with other similar social institutions? + +V. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. Why did the reformation of the Church historically precede the reform +of politics and industry? + +2. Do the unsolved social problems of Christian nations prove the social +inefficiency of religion? Could religion alone change the maladjustment of +society? + +3. Why has religion been more effective in the field of private life than +of public life? + +4. If you had full control of the churches in a given country or village +community, on what aims would you concentrate their forces? + + + + + +PART IV. CONQUEST BY CONFLICT + + + + +Chapter X. The Conflict With Evil + + +_The Kingdom of God Will Have to Fight for Its Advance_ + +The great objective is the Kingdom of God. In realizing the Reign of God +on earth three recalcitrant forces have to be brought into obedience to +God’s law: the desire for power, the love of property, and unsocial +religion. We have studied Christ’s thought concerning these in the +foregoing chapters. The advance of the Kingdom of God is not simply a +process of social education, but a conflict with hostile forces which +resist, neutralize, and defy whatever works toward the true social order. +The strategy of the Kingdom of God, therefore, involves a study of the +social problem of evil. + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Consciousness of Sin in the Lord’s Prayer + + + And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. + And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil + one.—Matt. 6:12, 13. + + +The Lord’s Prayer expresses the very mind and spirit of the Master. It +begins with the Kingdom of God; it ends with the problem of sin. As we +stand before God, we realize that we have loaded up our life with debts we +can never pay. We have wasted our time, and the powers of body and soul. +We have left black marks of contagion on some whose path we have crossed. +We have hurt even those who loved us by our ill-temper, thoughtlessness, +and selfishness. + +We can only ask God to forgive and give us another chance: “Forgive us our +debts.” Looking forward we see the possibility of fatal temptations. We +know how fragile our power of resistance is. “Lead us not into temptation, +but deliver us from evil.” Thus the consciousness of sin is written across +this greatest of all prayers. + +Is a sense of unworthiness an indication of moral strength or of weakness? + +_Where do we draw the line between a normal and abnormal sense of sin?_ + + + +Second Day: Evil Embodied in Character + + + Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree + corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its + fruit. Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good + things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. + The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: + and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil + things. And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall + speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For + by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt + be condemned.—Matt. 12:33-37. + + +Character is formed by action, but after it is formed, it determines +action. What a man says and does, he becomes; and what he has become, he +says and does. An honest and clean-minded man instinctively does what is +kind and honorable. But when a man for years has gone for profit and +selfish power, you can trust him as a general thing to do what is +underhanded and mean. Since selfish ability elbows its way to controlling +positions in business, politics, and society, the character reactions of +such men are a force with which the Kingdom of God must reckon. They are +the personal equipment of the kingdom of evil, and the more respectable, +well-dressed, and clever they are, the worse it is. + +What man or woman of our acquaintance would we single out as the clearest +case of an evil character? + +Why do we so judge him? + + + +Third Day: The Social Pressure of Evil + + + And he said unto his disciples, It is impossible but that + occasions of stumbling should come; but woe unto him, through whom + they come! It were well for him if a millstone were hanged about + his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he + should cause one of these little ones to stumble.—Luke 17:1, 2. + + +A sex story lodging in a young mind, an invitation to companionship and a +drink, a sneer at religion which makes faith look silly—such things trip +us up. They are stumbling-blocks, like wires stretched across a path in +the dark. Just because we are social and easily influenced by friendship, +admiration, or persuasion, one man’s suggestion or example draws the other +man on. Jesus knew that social solicitation and pressure toward sin was +inevitable. It is the price we pay for our social nature. But, all the +same, it is a terrible thing to contaminate a soul or steer a life toward +its ruin. This saying about the millstone is one of the sternest words +ever uttered. + + + “Three men went out one summer night, + No care they had or aim, + And dined and drank. “Ere we go home + We’ll have,” they said, “a game.” + + Three girls began that summer night + A life of endless shame, + And went through drink, disease, and death, + As swift as racing flame. + Lawless and homeless, foul they died; + Rich, loved, and praised the men; + But when they all shall meet with God, + And justice speaks—what then?” + + +Let us enumerate to our own minds cases where others drew us into wrong, +and cases where we were a cause of evil for others. About which do we feel +sorest now? Why? + + + +Fourth Day: Moral Laziness + + + No man having drunk old wine desireth new; for he saith, The old + is good.—Luke 5:39. + + +This is a chance remark, but a keen observation. In wine-raising countries +an expert tongue and nice discrimination between the fifty-seven varieties +is one of the most coveted talents. A man who would prefer some recent +stuff to the celebrated vintage of 18—, would commit intellectual +_hari-kari_. It is said that in some of the celebrated vaults of France +they breed spiders to cover the bottles with webs and dust to convey the +delicious suggestion of antiquity. Jesus uses the preference for old +vintage to characterize the conservative instinct in human nature. This is +one of the stickiest impediments to progress, one of the most respectable +forms of evil-mindedness. “The hereditary tiger is in us all, also the +hereditary oyster and clam. Indifference is the largest factor, though not +the ugliest form, in the production of evil” (President Hyde). Men are +morally lazy; they have to be pushed into what is good for them, and the +“pushee” is almost sure to resent the pushing. The idea that men ardently +desire what is rational and noble is pernicious fiction. They want to be +let alone. This is part of original sin. + +Was the above written in haste, or will it stand? + + + +Fifth Day: Satanic Frustration of Good + + + Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven + is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field: but while + men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, + and went away. But when the blade sprang up and brought forth + fruit, then appeared the tares also. And the servants of the + householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good + seed in thy field? whence then hath it tares? And he said unto + them, An enemy hath done this. And the servants say unto him, Wilt + thou then that we go and gather them up? But he saith, Nay; lest + haply while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with + them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of + the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares, + and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into + my barn.—Matt. 13:24-30. + + +Here we encounter the devil. There is more in sin than our own frailty and +stupidity, and the bad influence of other individuals. There is a +permanent force of organized evil which vitiates every higher movement and +sows tares among the grain over night. You work hard on some law to reform +the ballot or the primary in order to protect the freedom and rights of +the people, and after three years your device has become a favorite tool +of the interests. You found a benevolent institution, and after you are +dead it becomes a nest of graft. Even the Church of Jesus was for +centuries so corrupt that all good men felt its reform in head and members +to be the greatest desideratum in Christendom. Evil is more durable and +versatile than youth and optimism imagine. The belief in a satanic power +of evil expresses the conviction of the permanent power of evil. In early +Christianity the belief in the devil was closely connected with the +Christian opposition to the idolatrous and wicked social order of +heathenism. In the Apocalypse the dragon who stands for Satan, and the +beasts who stand for the despotic Roman Empire, are in close alliance. + +What are the satanic social forces today? + +The parable of the tares grew out of a personal experience. _Has our +observation ever furnished anything similar?_ + + + +Sixth Day: The Irrepressible Conflict + + + Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to + send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance + against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the + daughter in law against her mother in law: and a man’s foes shall + be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more + than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter + more than me is not worthy of me. And he that doth not take his + cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth + his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake + shall find it.—Matt. 10:34-39. + + +Into a world controlled by sin was launched the life of Christ. The more +completely he embodied the divine character and will, the more certain and +intense would be the conflict between him and the powers dominating the +old order. He accepted this fight, not only for himself but for his +followers. It would follow them up into the intimacies of their homes. Any +faith that takes the Kingdom of God seriously, has its fight cut out for +it. Unless we accept our share of it, we are playing with our +discipleship. But when the fight is for the Kingdom of God, those who +dodge, lose; and those who lose, win. + +Which involves more conflict, a life set on the Kingdom of God on earth, +or a faith set on the life to come? + +_Does the idea of a fighting faith attract us?_ + +_Would this serve as a __“__substitute for war__”__?_ + + + +Seventh Day: Militant Gentleness + + + But I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them that + persecute you; that ye may be sons of your Father who is in + heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, + and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.—Matt. 5:44, 45. + + Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable + in the sight of all men. But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if + he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap + coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome + evil with good.—Rom. 12:17, 20, 21. + + Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom + were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should + not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from + hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus + answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been + born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear + witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my + voice.—John 18:36, 37. + + +When we call out the militant spirit in religion, we summon a dangerous +power. It has bred grimness and cruelty. Crusaders and inquisitors did +their work in the name of Jesus, but not in his spirit. We must saturate +ourselves with the spirit of our Master if our fighting is to further his +Kingdom. Hate breeds hate; force challenges force. Only love disarms; only +forgiveness kills an enemy and leaves a friend. Jesus blended gentleness +and virility, forgiving love and uncompromising boldness. He offered it as +a mark of his Kingdom that his followers used no force to defend him. +Wherever they have done so, the Kingdom of heaven has dropped to the level +of the brutal empires. His attack is by the truth; whoever is won by that, +is conquered for good. Force merely changes the form of evil. When we +“overcome evil with good,” we eliminate it. + +What did Paul mean by saying that acts of kindness to an enemy heap coals +of fire on his head? + +How about moral crusades that aim to put joint-keepers and pimps in +prison? + + + +Study for the Week + + +All great religious teachers have had a deep sense of the power of evil in +human life. Jesus apparently was not interested in the philosophical +question of the origin of evil, but accepted the fact of evil in a +pragmatic way, and saw his own life as a conflict with sin and wrong. + +Some facts, as we have seen, were clearly written in his consciousness: +the frailty of our will; the consolidation of evil in men of bad character +and the automatic output of lies and distortions coming from such; the +power of social pressure by which the weak are made to trip and fall; and +the pervasive satanic power of evil which purposely neutralizes the +efforts leading toward the Reign of God. + +The fact that Jesus realized evil in individuals and society, that he +reckoned with it practically, and that he set himself against it with +singleness of purpose, constitutes another of his social principles. Any +view of life which blurs the fact of evil would have seemed to him an +illusion. He would have foretold failure for any policy based on it. His +great social problem was redemption from evil. Every step of approach +toward the Kingdom of God must be won by conflict. + +Modern science explains evil along totally different lines, but as to the +main facts it agrees with the spiritual insight of Jesus. Psychology +recognizes that the higher desires are usually sluggish and faint, while +the animal appetites are strong and clamorous. Our will tires easily and +readily yields to social pressure. In many individuals the raw material of +character is terribly flawed by inheritance. So the young, with a maximum +of desire and a minimum of self-restraint, slip into folly, and the aging +backslide into shame. Human nature needs a strong reenforcement to rouse +it from its inherited lethargy and put it on the toilsome upward track. It +needs redemption, emancipation from slavery, a breaking of bonds. + + +I + + +Evangelism is the attack of redemptive energy in the sphere of personal +life. It comes to a man shamed by the sense of guilt and baffled by moral +failure, and rouses him to a consciousness of his high worth and eternal +destiny. It transmits the faith of the Christian Church in a loving and +gracious God who is willing to forgive and powerful to save. It teaches a +man to pray, curing his soul by affirming over and over a triumphant +faith, and throwing it open to mysterious spiritual powers which bring +joy, peace, and strength beyond himself. It sets before him a code of +moral duty to quicken and guide his conscience. It puts him inside of a +group of like-minded people who exercise social restraint and urge him on. + +When all this is wisely combined, it constitutes a spiritual reenforcement +of incomparable energy. It acts like an emancipation. It gives a sense of +freedom and newness. The untrained observer sees it mainly in those cases +where the turn has come in some dramatic form and where the contrast +between the old and new life is most demonstrable. But the saving force is +at work even when it seeps in through home influences so quietly that the +beneficiary of it does not realize what a great thing has been done for +him. + +The saving force has to attack the powers in possession. Only those who +have helped in wresting men free from sin can tell what a stiff fight it +often is. Here is an intellectual professional man who goes off for a +secret spree about once in sixty days; a respectable woman who has come +under the opium habit; a boy who is both a cigarette fiend and sexually +weak; a man who domineers and cows his wife and family; a woman who has +reduced her husband to slavery to supply her expensive tastes; a girl who +shirks all work and throws the burden of her selfish life on a hard-worked +mother; a college man whose parents are straining all their resources and +using up their security for old age to keep him at college, and who +gambles—complete the catalogue for yourself. To make these individuals +over into true citizens of the Kingdom of God and loyal fellow-workers of +their fellow-men means constructive conflict of a high order. It has been +done.(4) + + +II + + +The problem of evil becomes far more complicated when evil is socialized. +The simplest and most familiar form of that is the boys’ gang. Here is a +group of young humans who get their fun and adventure by pulling the +whiskers of the law. They idealize vice and crime. Leadership in their +group is won by proficiency in profanity, gambling, obscenity, and +slugging. The gang assimilates its members; there is regimentation of +evil. It acts as a channel of tradition; the boy of fifteen teaches the +boy of twelve what he has learned from the boy of eighteen. + +How is the problem of evil affected when the powers of human society, +which usually restrain the individual from vice and rebellion, are used to +urge him into it? Should the strategy of the Kingdom of God be adjusted to +that situation? It is not enough to win individuals away from the gangs. +Can the gang spirit itself be christianized and used to restrain and +stimulate the young for good? Has this been done, and where, and how? Is +Christian institutional work sufficient to cope with the problem? What +readjustments in the recreational and educational outfit of our American +communities are needed to give a wholesome outlet to the spirit of play +and adventure, and to train the young for their life work? Would such an +outfit do the work without personal leadership inspired by religion? + +Christian evangelism in the past has not had an adequate understanding of +the power of the group. In what connections has the Church shown a true +valuation of the social factor in sin and redemption? At what points has +its strategy been ineffective in dealing with socialized evil? What +contributions can social science make to the efficiency of evangelism? +Would a correct scientific analysis of the constructive and disintegrating +forces in society be enough to do saving work? + + +III + + +The bad gangs of the young are usually held together by a misdirected love +of play and adventure. The dangerous combinations of adults are +consolidated by “the cohesive power of plunder.” That makes them a far +more difficult proposition. + +Any local attack on saloons and vice resorts furnishes a laboratory +demonstration of socialized evil. The object of both kinds of institutions +is to make big profit by catering to desires which induce men to spend +freely. Music and sociability are used as a bait. The people who profit by +this trade are held together by the fear of a common danger. Since the +community uses political means of curbing or suppressing the vice +business, the vice group goes into politics to prevent it. It seeks to +control the police, the courts, the political machines by sharing part of +its profits. Lawyers, officials, newspaper proprietors, and real estate +men are linked up and summoned like a feudal levy in case of danger. +Drugstores, doctors, chauffeurs, messenger boys, and all kinds of people +are used to bring in trade and make it secure. The exploded fictions of +alcoholism are kept circulating. Like a tape-worm in the intestines, these +articulated and many-jointed parasitic organizations of vice make our +communities sick, dirty, and decadent. + +We have learned to read the sordid trail of the drink and vice traffic in +American communities. There is another kind of organized evil, even more +ancient, pervasive, and deadly, which few understand, though it has left a +trail sufficiently terrible. + +Wherever we look in the history of the older nations, we see an alignment +of two fundamental classes. The one is born to toil, stunted by toil, and +gets its class characteristics by toil. The other is characterized by the +pleasures and arts of leisure, is physically and mentally developed by +leisure, and proud and jealous of its leisure. This class is always +class-conscious; its groups, however antagonistic, always stand together +against the class of toil. Its combination of leisure and wealth is +conditioned on the power of taking tribute from the labor of many. In +order to do this with safety, it must control political power, the +military outfit, the power of making, interpreting and executing the laws, +and the forces forming public opinion. + +Before the advent of industrialism and political democracy, it secured its +income by controlling the land and the government of nations; and the +effects of its control can be read in the condition of the rural +population of Russia, Austria, Eastern Germany, Italy, France before the +Revolution, England, and especially Ireland. The development of industry +has changed the problem of economic and political control; but the +essentials remain, as we can see in the condition of industrial +communities and the history of labor legislation. + +The fundamental sin of all dominant classes has been the taking of +unearned incomes. Political oppression has always been a corollary of +economic parasitism, a means to an end. The combination of the two +constitutes the largest and most continuous form of organized evil in +human history. + +Jesus used the illustration of pegs maliciously driven into the path to +make men stumble and fall. It would require some illustration drawn from +modern machinery to express the wholesale prostration of bodies and souls +where covetousness has secured continuous power and has been able to get +in its full work. Anyone who has ever looked with human understanding at +the undersized and stupid peasants of countries ruled by their landlord +class, or at the sordid homes and pleasures of miners or industrial +workers where some corporation feared neither God nor the law, ought to +get a comprehension of the power of evil that has rested like an iron yoke +on humanity. + +We think most readily of the children of the poor as a product of +exploitation; underfed and overstimulated, cut off from the clean +pleasures of nature, often tainted with vice before knowledge has come, +and urged along by the appetites and cruel selfishness of older persons, +they are a standing accusation against society itself.(5) Jesus would have +felt that the children of the rich are an even worse product of +exploitation than the poor. When “society” plays, it burns up the labor of +thousands like fireworks. The only possible justification for the +aggregations of wealth is that the rich are to act as the trustees and +directors of the wealth of society; but their children—except in +conspicuous and fine exceptions—are put out of contact with the people +whom they must know if they are to serve them, so that it takes heroic +effort on the part of noble exceptions to get in contact with the people +once more, and to discover how they live. In all nations the atmosphere of +the aristocratic groups drugs the sense of obligation, and possesses the +mind with the notion that the life and labor of men are made to play +tennis with. The existence of great permanent groups, feeding but not +producing, dominating and directing the life of whole nations according to +their own needs, may well seem a supreme proof of the power of evil in +humanity. + + +IV + + +If evil is socialized, salvation must be socialized. The organization of +the Christian Church is a recognition of the social factor in salvation. +It is not enough to have God, and Christ, and the Bible. A group is +needed, organized on Christian principles, and expressing the Christian +spirit, which will assimilate the individual and gradually make him over +into a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Salvation will rarely come to anyone +without the mediation of some individual or group which already has +salvation. It may be very small and simple. “Where two or three are +gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” That saying +recognizes that an additional force is given to religion by its embodiment +in a group of believers. Professor Royce has recently reasserted in modern +terms the old doctrine that “there is no salvation outside of the Church,” +calling the Church “the beloved community.” Of course the question is how +intensively Christian the Church can make its members. That will depend on +the question how Christian the Church itself is, and there’s the rub. + +The Church is the permanent social factor in salvation. But it has cause +to realize that many social forces outside its immediate organization must +be used, if the entire community is to be christianized. + +In the earliest centuries Christianity was practically limited to the life +within the Church. Being surrounded by a hostile social order, and +compelled to fence off its members, it created a little duplicate social +order within the churches where it sought to realize the distinctively +Christian social life. Its influence there was necessarily restricted +mainly to individual morality, family life, and neighborly intercourse, +and here it did fundamental work in raising the moral standards. On the +other hand, it failed to reorganize industry, property, and the State. +Even if Christians had had an intelligent social and political outlook, +any interference with the Roman Empire by the low-class adherents of a +forbidden religion was out of the question. When the Church was recognized +and favored under Constantine and his successors, it had lost its +democratic composition and spirit, and the persons who controlled it were +the same sort of men who controlled the State. + +The early age of the Church has had a profound influence in fixing the +ideals and aims of later times. The compulsory seclusion and confinement +of the age of persecution are supposed to mark the mission of the Church. +As long as the social life in our country was simple and rural, the +churches, when well led, were able to control the moral life of entire +communities. But as social organization became complex and the solidarity +of neighborhood life was left behind, the situation got beyond the +institutional influence of the churches. Evidently the fighting energies +of Christianity will have to make their attack on broader lines, and +utilize the scientific knowledge of society, which is now for the first +time at the command of religion, and the forces set free by political and +social democracy. We can not restrict the modern conflict with evil to the +defensive tactics of a wholly different age. Wherever organized evil +opposes the advance of the Kingdom of God, there is the battle-front. +Wherever there is any saving to be done, Christianity ought to be in it. +The intensive economic and sociological studies of the present generation +of college students are a preparation for this larger warfare with evil. +These studies will receive their moral dignity and religious consecration +when they are put at the service of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _The Natural Drift_ + +1. If left alone, which way do we tend? Does a normal and sound individual +need spiritual reinforcement to live a good life? + +2. How do you account for the fact that the noblest movements are so +easily debased? + +II. _Jesus and Human Sin_ + +1. Did Jesus take a friendly or a gloomy view of human nature? How did the +fact of sin in humanity impress him? + +2. Why did he condemn so sternly those who caused the weak to stumble? +Estimate the relative force of the natural weakness of human nature, and +of the pressure of socialized evil, when individuals go wrong. + +3. Do you agree with the exposition in the Daily Reading for the Fourth +Day? Do men want to be let alone? Is this an evidence of sinful tendency? + +4. What personal experiences of Jesus prompted the parable of the tares? +Was the conception of Satan in Jewish religion of individual or social +origin? When did it have political significance? + +III. _The Irrepressible Conflict_ + +1. Why did Jesus foresee an inevitable conflict if the Kingdom of God was +to come? Has history borne him out? + +2. Does mystical religion involve a man in conflict? Does ascetic +religion? Which books him for more conflict with social evil—a life set on +the Kingdom of God on earth, or a faith set on the life to come? + +3. What form does the conflict with evil take in our personal life? What +reinforcement does the Christian religion as a spiritual faith offer us? +What personal experience have we of its failure or its effectiveness? + +4. What is meant by evil being socialized? In what ways does this increase +the ability of evil to defend and propagate itself? + +5. What are the most dangerous forms of organized evil today? How do they +work? + +6. What are the most disastrous “stumbling blocks” today for working +people? For business men? For students? + +7. The Church sings many militant hymns. Is the Church as a whole a +fighting force today? + +IV. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. How should an individual go about it to fight concrete and socialized +evils in a community? + +2. How can a church get into the fight? Should the Church go into +politics? Why, or why not? + +3. Would Christianity be just as influential as a social power of +salvation if the Christian Church did not exist? + +4. Will the fight against evil ever be won? If not, is it worth fighting? + + + + +Chapter XI. The Cross As A Social Principle + + +_Social Redemption is Wrought by Vicarious Suffering_ + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Prophetic Succession + + + And he began to speak unto them in parables. A man planted a + vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a pit for the + winepress, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and + went into another country. And at the season he sent to the + husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of + the fruits of the vineyard. And they took him, and beat him, and + sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; + and him they wounded in the head, and handled shamefully. And he + sent another; and him they killed: and many others; beating some, + and killing some. He had yet one, a beloved son: he sent him last + unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those + husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us + kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, + and killed him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard. What + therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and + destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto + others.—Mark 12:1-9. + + +The vineyard parable was meant as an epitome of Jewish history. By the +servants who came to summon the nation to obedience, Jesus meant the +prophets. The history of the Hebrew people was marked by a unique +succession of men who had experienced God, who lived in the consciousness +of the Eternal, who judged the national life by the standard of divine +righteousness, and who spoke to their generation as representatives of +God.(6) The spirit of these men and the indirect permanent influence they +gained in their nation give the Old Testament its incomparable power to +impel and inspire us. They were the moving force in the spiritual progress +of their nation. Yet Jesus here sketches their fate as one of suffering +and rejection. + +Have other nations had a succession of men corresponding to the Hebrew +prophets? + +Are there any in our own national history? + + + +Second Day: The Suffering Servant of Jehovah + + + Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we + did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was + wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; + the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes + we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned + every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the + iniquity of us all. + + He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his + mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that + before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By + oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his + generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of + the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom + the stroke was due?—Isaiah 53:4-8. + + +In the latter part of Isaiah are a number of sections describing the +character and mission of “the servant of Jehovah.” Whom did the writer +mean? A single great personality? The suffering and exiled Hebrew nation? +A godly and inspired group of prophets within the nation? The Christian +Church has always seen in this servant of Jehovah a striking prophecy of +Christ. The fact that the interpretation has long been in question +indicates that the characteristics of the servant of Jehovah can be traced +in varying degrees in the nation, in the prophetic order, in single +prophets, and preeminently in the great culminating figure of all +prophethood. Isaiah 53 describes the servant of Jehovah as rejected and +despised, misunderstood, bearing the transgressions and chastisement of +all. It is the first great formulation of the fact of vicarious suffering +in humanity. + +Why and how can the sins of a group fall on one? + + + +Third Day: A Contemporary Prophet + + + And as these went their way, Jesus began to say unto the + multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness + to behold? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out to + see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft + raiment are in kings’ houses. But wherefore went ye out? to see a + prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This + is he, of whom it is written, + + Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, + Who shall prepare thy way before thee.... + + But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto + children sitting in the marketplaces, who call unto their fellows + and say, We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and + ye did not mourn. + + For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a + demon. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, + Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans + and sinners! And wisdom is justified by her works.—Matt. 11:7-10; + 16-19. + + +To Jesus prophetism was not merely an historic fact, but a living reality. +He believed in present-day inspiration. He and his contemporaries had seen +one great prophet, fearless, heroic, with all the marks of the type, a +messenger of God inaugurating a new era of spiritual ferment (vs. 12, 13). +But John had to bear the prophet’s lot. He was then in prison for the +crime of telling a king the truth, and was soon to die to please a +vindictive woman. The people, too, had wagged their heads over him. Like +pouting children on the public square, who “won’t play,” whether the game +proposed is a wedding or a funeral, the people had criticized John for +being a gloomy ascetic, and found fault with Jesus for his shocking +cheerfulness. There was no way of suiting them, and no way of making them +take the call of God to heart. Long before electricity was invented, human +nature knew all about interposing nonconductors between itself and the +truth. + +_Have we ever noticed students interposing a general criticism between +themselves and a particular obligation?_ + +Can it be that one of the uses of a higher education is to furnish greater +facility in fuddling inconvenient truth? + + + +Fourth Day: Looking Forward to the Cross + + + And it came to pass, when the days were well-nigh come that he + should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to + Jerusalem.—Luke 9:51. + + In that very hour there came certain Pharisees, saying to him, Get + thee out, and go hence: for Herod would fain kill thee. And he + said unto them, Go and say to that fox, Behold, I cast out demons + and perform cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I am + perfected. Nevertheless I must go on my way to-day and to-morrow + and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish out + of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, + and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have + gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her own + brood under her wings, and ye would not!—Luke 13:31-34. + + +Jesus early knew that the decision was going against him. He saw the cross +on the horizon of his life long before others saw it. Painters have +pictured him in his father’s carpenter shop, with tools on his shoulder, +gazing down at his shadow shaped like a cross. He accepted death +consciously and “stedfastly set his face to go up to Jerusalem,” though he +knew what was awaiting him. Jerusalem had acquired a sad preeminence as +the place where the struggles between the prophets and the heads of the +nation were settled. He saw his own death as part of the prophetic +succession. He went to it, not as a driven slave, but as a free spirit. +That jackal of a king, Herod, could not scare him out of Galilee. His time +was in his Father’s hand. Today, tomorrow, and the day following, he would +work, and then he would be perfected. + + + +Fifth Day: New Prophets to Follow + + + Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the + sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the + righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we + should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the + prophets. Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of + them that slew the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your + fathers. Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape + the judgment of hell? Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, + and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; + and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and + persecute from city to city: that upon you may come all the + righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the + righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye + slew between the sanctuary and the altar. Verily I say unto you, + All these things shall come upon this generation.—Matt. 23:29-36. + + +This is the climax of the great invective against the religious leaders of +the nation. The last count in the indictment is that they were about to +complete the record of their fathers by rejecting and persecuting the +prophets of their generation. The fact had sunk into the public mind that +former generations had been guilty of this. “If we had been in the days of +our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of +the prophets.” Jesus promises to make a test of this and foretells that +they will go the old way and so declare their spiritual solidarity with +the sins of the past. We see here that he thought of his disciples as +moving in the prophetic succession. + + + “Hast thou chosen, O my people, on whose party thou shalt stand, + Ere the Doom from its worn sandals shakes the dust against the + land?” + + “Never shows the choice momentous till the judgment hath passed + by.” + + + +Sixth Day: The Cross for All + + + From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples, that he + must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and + chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be + raised up. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be + it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee. But he + turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art a + stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, + but the things of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any + man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his + cross, and follow me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose + it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find + it.—Matt. 16:21-25. + + +When the tide was turning against Jesus, he tested the attitude of the +inner circles of his disciples, and drew from Peter on behalf of all a +ringing declaration of faith and loyalty (vs. 13-16). “From that time” +Jesus began to share with them his outlook toward death. Peter expressed +the shock which all felt and protested against the possibility. The +vehemence with which Jesus repelled Peter’s suggestion gives us a glimpse +of the inner struggles in his mind, of which we get a fuller revelation in +his prayer in Gethsemane. But instead of receding from his prediction of +the cross, he expanded it by laying the obligation of prophetic suffering +on all his disciples. Their adjustment toward that destiny would at the +same time be the settlement of their own salvation. When the Kingdom of +God is at stake, a man saves his life by losing it and loses his life by +saving it, and the loss of his higher self can not be offset by any amount +of external gain. + +_Looking ahead to the profession which we expect to enter, where do we +foresee the possibility of losing our lives by trying to save them, or of +saving our lives by apparently losing them?_ + + + +Seventh Day: The Consolations of the Prophet + + + Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye + therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of + men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their + synagogues they will scourge you; yea and before governors and + kings shall ye be brought for my sake, for a testimony to them and + to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up be not anxious how + or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour + what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit + of your Father that speaketh in you.—Matt. 10:16-20. + + Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read the scriptures, + + The stone which the builders rejected, + The same was made the head of the corner; + This was from the Lord, + And it is marvellous in our eyes?—Matt. 21:42. + + Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ + sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men + shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil + against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: + for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the + prophets that were before you.—Matt. 5:10-12. + + +These three passages express three great consolations for those who share +prophetic opposition with Christ. They will have to face great odds; +numbers and weight will be against them. But there will be a quiet voice +within to prompt them and sustain them: “It is not ye that speak, but the +Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.” + +The second consolation is that the higher court will reverse the verdict +of the lower. The stonemasons may look a stone over and conclude that it +will not fit into the building; but the architect may have reserved that +stone for the head of the corner. The prophet rarely lives to see his own +historical vindication, but faith knows it is inevitable. + +The third consolation is contained in the last of the Beatitudes. Those +who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake may well rejoice for the +company they are in, for the Leader whose name they bear, and for the +Kingdom of God which is now and ever shall be their heritage. + +Imagine two classmates in the same profession, reaching the end of their +career. The one has attained success, wealth, eminence, together with a +reputation of never having done a courageous and self-sacrificing action, +and with the consciousness that his soul has grown small as he has grown +old. The other has been a fighter for the right, a conspicuous man, but +has kept out of office, tasting poverty and opposition with his family, +yet with the consciousness that he has had the salt of the earth for his +friends and that he has put in some mighty good licks for righteousness. +_Which would we rather be?_ + + + +Study for the Week + + +Christian men have differed widely in interpreting the significance of +Christ’s suffering and death, but all have agreed that the cross was the +effective culmination of his work and the key which unlocks the meaning of +his whole life. The Church has always felt that the death of Christ was an +event of eternal importance for the salvation of mankind, unique and +without a parallel. It has an almost inexhaustible many-sidedness. We are +examining here but one aspect. We have seen in the passages studied this +week that Jesus himself linked his own suffering and rejection with the +fate of the prophets who were before him and with the fate of his +disciples who would come after him. He saw a red line running through +history, and his own life and death were part of it. He himself +generalized the social value of his peculiar experience, and taught us to +see the cross as a great social principle of the Kingdom of God. He saw +his death as the highest demonstration of a permanent law of human life. + + +I + + +Evil is socialized, institutionalized, and militant. The Kingdom of God +and its higher laws can displace it only by conflict. “Truth forever on +the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.” This clash involves suffering. +This suffering will fall most heavily on those who most completely embody +the spirit and ideas of the Kingdom, and who have the necessary boldness +to make the fight. + +In most men the eternal moral conflict gets only confused understanding. +Sometimes they are aroused by sentimental pity or indignation, but soon +tire again. If their own interests are affected they fight well. But there +are men and women whose minds have been made so sensitive by personal +experiences or so cleansed by right education and by the spirit of God +that they take hold of the moral issues with a really adequate +understanding. Living somehow on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Heaven, +they have learned to think and feel according to its higher ways, and when +they turn toward things as they now are, of course there is a collision; +not this time a collision of interests, but a clash of principles, of +justice with wrong, of truth with crafty subterfuges, or of solidarity +with predatory selfishness. + +The life and fate of these individuals anticipates the issues of history. +This is the prophetic quality of their lives. Working out the moral and +intellectual problems in their minds before the masses have realized them, +they become the natural leaders in the fight, clarify the minds of others, +and thus become, not only forerunners, but invaluable personal factors in +the moral progress of the race. “The single living spirits are the +effective units in shaping history; all common tendencies working toward +realization must first be condensed as personal forces in such minds, and +then by interaction between them work their way to general recognition” +(Lotze). Lowell’s “Present Crisis” is perhaps the most powerful poetical +expression of the prophetic function in history. + + + “Count me o’er earth’s chosen heroes—they were souls that stood + alone, + While the men they agonized for hurled the contumelious stone, + Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden beam incline + To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their faith divine, + By one man’s plain truth to manhood and to God’s supreme design. + + "By the light of burning heretics Christ’s bleeding feet I track, + Toiling up new Calvaries ever with the cross that turns not back, + And these mounts of anguish number how each generation learned + One new word of that grand Credo which in prophet-hearts hath + burned + Since the first man stood God-conquered with his face to heaven + upturned.” + + +II + + +During the centuries when the Church was herself in need of redemption and +her purification was resisted by the dominant ecclesiastical interests, +such prophetic spirits as Arnold of Brescia, Wycliffe, Huss, and +Savonarola were most frequently found battling for the freedom of the +Church from the despotic grafters inside and outside of the hierarchy, and +for the purity of the gospel. The Church was a chief part of the social +order, and the reform of the Church was the preeminent social problem. +Today the Church is on the whole free from graft, and as openminded as the +state of public intelligence permits it to be. Therefore the prophet minds +are now set free to fight for the freedom of the people in political +government and for the substitution of cooperation for predatory methods +in industry, and the clash is most felt on that field. + +The law of prophetic suffering holds true as much as ever. Probably no +group of men have ever undertaken to cleanse a city of profit-making vice +without being made to suffer for it. In the last thirty years this country +has watched eminent men in public life in various great cities making a +sincere drive to break the grip of a grafting police machine, or of a +political clique, or of public service corporations. For a while such a +man has public sentiment with him, for all communities have a desire to be +moral. But when it becomes clear that he really means what he says, and +that important incomes will be hurt, powerful forces set on him with abuse +and ridicule, try to wreck his business or health, and sidetrack his +political ambitions. An eminent editor in the Middle West, speaking before +the Press Association of his State several years ago, said: “There is not +a man in the United States today who has tried honestly to do anything to +change the fundamental conditions that make for poverty, disease, vice, +and crime in our great cities, in our courts and in our legislatures, who, +at the very time at which his efforts seemed most likely to succeed, has +not been suddenly turned upon and rent by the great newspaper +publications.” A volume of truthful biographical sketches of such leaders +would give us a history of the cross in politics, and would tell us more +about Christianity as an effective force in our country than some church +statistics. + + +III + + +Jesus took the sin of throttling the prophets very seriously. It is sin on +a higher level than the side-stepping of frail human nature, or the wrongs +done in private grievances. Since the Kingdom of God is the highest thing +there is, an attempt to block it or ruin it is the worst sin. Our hope for +the advance of the race and its escape from its permanent evils is +conditioned on keeping our moral perceptions clear and strong. Suffocating +the best specimens of moral intelligence and intimidating the rest by +their fate quenches the guiding light of mankind. Is anything worse? + +Jesus held that the rejection of the prophets might involve the whole +nation in guilt and doom. How does the action of Caiaphas and a handful of +other men involve all the rest? By virtue of human solidarity. One sins +and all suffer, because all are bound together. A dominant group acts for +all, and drags all into disaster. This points to the moral importance of +good government. If exploiters and oppressors are in control of society, +its collective actions will be guided and determined by the very men who +have most to fear from the Kingdom of God and most inclination to stifle +the prophetic voices. + +But the same solidarity which acts as a conductor of sin will also serve +as a basis to make the attack of the righteous few effective for all. If +the suffering of good men puts a just issue where all can see and +understand, it intensifies and consolidates the right feeling of the +community. The suffering of a leader calls out passionate sympathy and +loyalty, sometimes in a dangerous degree. In the labor movement almost any +fault is forgiven to a man who has been in prison for the cause of labor, +and death for a popular cause will idealize the memory of very ordinary or +questionable characters. But if the character of a leader is pure, +suffering accredits him and gives him power. The cross had an incomparable +value in putting the cause of Christianity before the world. It placed +Jesus where mankind could never forget him, and it lit up the whole +problem of sin and redemption with the fire of the greatest of all +tragedies. + + + “The cross, bold type of shame to homage turned, + Of an unfinished life that sways the world.” + + +IV + + +But not all righteous suffering is socially effective. A good man may be +suppressed before he has won a following, or even before he has wrought +out his message in his own mind, and his suppression leaves only a few +bubbles on the waters of oblivion. In that case his life has failed to +discharge the redemptive force contained in it. It only adds a little more +to the horror and tragedy of a sinful, deaf, and blood-stained world. Many +of the men whose lives ebbed away behind the cruel silence of the walls of +the Spanish Inquisition, were such men as Spain needed most. What saving +effect did their death exercise? The uncounted patriots whose chains have +clanked on the march to Siberian exile, have not yet freed Russia from its +blind oligarchy. Our faith is that their lives were dear to God, and that +their sorrows and the bitter tears of those who loved them are somehow +part of an accumulating force which will one day save Russia. But this is +religious faith, “a conviction of things not seen.” We can not prove it. +We can only trust. + +Meanwhile it is our business to see that no innocent blood is wasted. Pain +is a merciful and redemptive institution of nature when pain acts as an +alarm-bell to direct intelligent attention to the cause of the pain. If +pain does not force the elimination of its own cause, it is an added evil. +The death of the innocent, through oppression, child labor, dirt diseases, +or airless tenements, ought to arrest the attention of the community and +put the social cause of their death in the limelight. In that case they +have died a vicarious death which helps to redeem the rest from a social +evil, and anyone who utilizes their suffering for that end, shows his +reverence for their death. We owe that duty in even higher measure to the +prophets, who are not passive and unconscious victims, but who set +themselves intelligently in opposition to evil. The moral soundness of a +nation can be measured by the swiftness and accuracy with which it +understands its prophetic voices, or personalities, or events. The next +best thing to being a prophet is to interpret a prophet. This is one of +the proper functions of trained and idealistic minds, such as college men +and women should possess. The more the Kingdom of God is present, the less +will prophets be allowed to suffer. When it is fully come, the cross will +disappear. + + +V + + +The social principle of the cross contains a challenge to all who are +conscious of qualities of leadership. Let the average man do average +duties, but let the strong man shoulder the heavy pack. It is no more than +fair that persons of great natural power should deliberately choose work +involving social hardships. At present the theory seems to be that the +strong have a right to secure places where they will be freed from the +necessity of exerting themselves, and can lay their support on the +shoulders of the poor. That is the law of the cross reversed. Our +semi-pagan society has always practiced vicarious suffering by letting the +poor bear the burdens of the rich in addition to their own. Instead of +encouraging the capable to hunt after predatory profit and entrusting +public powers to those who have been most successful in preying, we ought +to encourage solidaristic feeling, and give both power and honor to those +who are ready to serve the commonwealth at severe cost to themselves. + +What has the principle of the cross to say to college men and women? If +they have an exceptional outfit, let them do exceptional work. A knight in +armor was expected to charge where others could not venture. A college +education entitles a Christian man to some hard knocks. It seems +contemptible for us to walk off with the pleasures and powers of +intellectual training, and to leave the work of protecting children and +working girls against exploitation to men and women without education, +without leisure, and without social standing, who will have to pay double +the tale of effort for every bit of success they win. In some European +countries foreign mission service has been left mainly to men and women of +the artisan class. In our country college men and women have volunteered +for it. That is as it ought to be. On the other hand, in the struggle for +political liberty the European universities have taken a braver and more +sacrificial part than has ever fallen to our lot. + +Those who are conscious of a prophetic mission have a redoubled motive for +a clean, sober, and sincere life. Especially in its initial stages an +ethical movement is identified with its leaders and tested by their +character. A good man can get a hearing for an unpopular cause by the +trust he inspires. His cause banks on his credit. The flawed private +character or dubious history of a leader is a drag. It is worse yet if a +man whose name has long been a guarantee for his message, backslides and +brings doubt upon all his previous professions. Cases could be mentioned +where noble movements were wrecked for years because a leader forfeited +his honor. Constant fighting against evil involves subtle temptations. To +stand alone, to set your own conviction against the majority, to challenge +what is supposed to be final, to disregard the conventional standards—this +may lead to dangerous habits of mind. If we propose to spread a lot of +canvas in a high wind, we need the more ballast in the hold. Through the +thin partitions of a summer hotel, a man heard Moody praying God to save +him from Moody. Imagine what it must be to lose standing and honor among +your fellow men by secret weakness. Imagine also the poignant pain if your +disgrace pulls down a cause which you have loved for years and which in +purer days you vowed to follow to its coronation. + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _Vicarious Suffering and Social Progress_ + +1. Does suffering benefit humanity? Titus crucified thousands of Jews +during the destruction of Jerusalem. Did their death have any saving +effect? + +2. What is the connection between vicarious suffering and social +salvation? + +II. _Prophetic Suffering_ + +1. What was the fate of the Old Testament prophets? What was their +influence in the life of Israel? To what extent is Mark 12:1-9 a fair +epitome of the treatment of the prophets by the Hebrew nation? + +2. What is the significance of Isa. 53:4-8? Why and how can the sins of a +group fall on another? + +3. Where did Jesus see the continuity of prophetic suffering in his own +times? + +4. What place did he give to vicarious suffering in the life of his +followers and in the conquest of the Kingdom? How does the law of the +Cross connect with the fact of solidarity? + +5. In what respects was Christ’s Cross unique? In what respects does it +express a general spiritual law? + +III. _Vicarious Suffering Today_ + +1. Give instances of persons in public life today whose careers were +wrecked because they assailed socialized evil or graft. How does this +differ from the fate of the prophets? + +2. Are the sacrifices of prophetic leaders ever useless and actually +ineffective? Do you feel an inward protest against that? On what ground? + +3. To what extent is the call to be a Christian a challenge to vicarious +suffering? What social significance, then, would Christian baptism have? + +4. Is there anything wrong with a Christian life which does not incur +suffering? + +5. Would suffering be normal in the religious life of the young? + +6. Why does this social principle apply especially to college men and +women? + +IV. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. What qualities constitute a man a prophet? + +2. Are there embryonic prophets? Or spent prophets? Is a prophet +necessarily a saint? + +3. Do prophets arise where religion deals with private life only? What is +the social value of prophetic personalities? + +4. Name men in secular history and literature who have the marks of the +prophet. Any in recent times? + +5. Does learning create prophetic vision or blur it? + +6. Does the ordinary religion today put a man in line for the Cross or for +a job as a bank director? + +7. Can you think of anything that would bring the Cross back into the life +of the churches today? + +8. Would vicarious suffering diminish if society became Christianized? + + + + +Chapter XII. A Review And A Challenge + + +_The Social Principles of Jesus Demand Personal Allegiance and Social +Action_ + +DAILY READINGS + + + +First Day: The Social Mission of Christians + + + Ye are the salt of the earth.... Ye are the light of the + world.—Matt. 5:13, 14. + + +“Jesus speaks here with the consciousness of an historic mission to the +whole of humanity. Yet it was a Nazarene carpenter speaking to a group of +Galilean peasants and fishermen. Under the circumstances, and at the time, +it was an utterance of the most daring faith—faith in himself, faith in +them, faith in what he was putting into them, faith in faith. Jesus failed +and was crucified, first his body by his enemies, and then his spirit by +the men who bore his name. But that failure was so amazing a success that +today it takes an effort on our part to realize that it required any faith +on his part to inaugurate the Kingdom of God and to send out his +apostolate.”(7) + +If the antiseptic and enlightening influence of the sincere followers of +Jesus were eliminated from our American communities, what would be the +presumable social effects? + + + +Second Day: The Great Initiator of the Kingdom of God + + + At that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, + Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from + the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, + Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. All things have + been delivered unto me of my Father: and no one knoweth the Son, + save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, + and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him. Come unto me, + all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. + Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in + heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is + easy, and my burden is light.—Matt. 11:25-30. + + +This is one of the most thrilling passages in the Bible. It has always +been understood as a call to intimate religion, as the appeal of a +personal Saviour to those who are loaded with sin and weary of +worldliness. But in fact it expresses the sense of a revolutionary mission +to society. + +Jesus had the consciousness of a unique relation to the Father, which made +him the mediator of a new understanding of God and of life (v. 27). This +new insight was making a new intellectual alignment, leaving the +philosophers and scholars as they were, and fertilizing the minds of +simple people (v. 25). It is an historical fact that the brilliant body of +intellectuals of the first and second centuries was blind to what proved +to be the most fruitful and influential movement of all times, and it was +left to slaves and working men to transmit it and save it from suppression +at the cost of their lives. + +Then Jesus turns to the toiling and heavy laden people about him with the +offer of a new kind of leadership—none of the brutal self-assertion of the +Cæsars and of all conquerors here, but a gentle and humble spirit, and an +obedience which was pleasure and brought release to the soul. + +These words express his consciousness of being different, and of bearing +within him the beginnings of a new spiritual constitution of humanity. + +When individuals have really come under the new law of Christ, does Jesus +make good? + +Would he also make good if humanity based its collective life on the +social principles which we have studied? + +If the choice is between Cæsar and Christ, which shall it be? + + + +Third Day: The Kingdom of Truth + + + Pilate therefore entered again into the Prætorium, and called + Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus + answered, Sayest thou this of thyself, or did others tell it thee + concerning me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and + the chief priests, delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? + Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom + were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should + not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from + hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus + answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been + born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear + witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my + voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? + + And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and + saith unto them, I find no crime in him.—John 18:33-38. + + +All kingdoms rest on force; formerly on swords and bayonets, now on big +guns. To overthrow them you must prepare more force, bigger guns. Jesus +was accused before Pilate of being leader of a force revolution aiming to +make him king. He claimed the kingship, but repudiated the force. To his +mind the absence of force resistance was characteristic of his whole +undertaking. Instead, his power was based on the appeal and attractiveness +of truth. When Pilate heard about “truth” he thought he had a sophist +before him, one more builder of metaphysical systems, and expressed the +skepticism of the man on the street: “What is truth?” But Jesus was not a +teacher of abstract doctrine, whatever his expounders have made of him. +His mind was bent on realities. If we substitute “reality” for “truth” in +his saying here, we shall get near his thought. + +Which is more durable, power based on force, or power based on spiritual +coherence? + + + +Fourth Day: A Mental Transformation + + + I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to + present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, + which is your spiritual service. And be not fashioned according to + this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, + that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will + of God.—Rom. 12:1, 2. + + +In the first century the Christians were a new social group, confronting +the social order of the Roman Empire with a new religious faith, a +revolutionary hope, and a powerful impulse of fraternity. Those who had +come out of pagan society still felt the pull of its loose pleasures and +moral maxims, and of its idolatry. Paul here challenges them to submit +fully to the social assimilation of the new group. It involved an +intellectual renewal, a new spiritual orientation, which must have been +searching and painful. It involved the loss of many social pleasures, of +business profit and civic honor, and it might at any time mean banishment, +torture, and death. The altar symbol of sacrifice might become a scarlet +reality. Yet see with what triumphant joy and assurance Paul speaks. + +If a student should dedicate himself to the creation of a Christian social +order today, would it still require an intellectual renewing? + +Would it cramp him or enlarge him? + + + +Fifth Day: The Distinctive Contribution of Christ + + + There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, + coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made + through him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and + they that were his own received him not. But as many as received + him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to + them that believe on his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of + the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the + Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, + glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and + truth. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came + through Jesus Christ.—John 1:9-14, 17. + + +Here is the tragedy of the Gospel story, seen from a long perspective and +stated in terms of Greek philosophy. The Light which lighteth every man, +the _Logos_ through whom God had created the _kosmos_, had come to this +world in human form, and been rejected. But some had received him, and +these had received a new life through him, which made them children of +God. They had discovered in him a new kind of spiritual splendor, +characterized by “grace and truth.” Even Moses had contributed only law to +humanity; Christ was identified with grace and truth. + +How would you paraphrase the statements of John to express the attitude of +nineteen centuries to Christ? + +What has he in fact done for those who have received him? + +What would be the modern equivalent of “grace and truth” to express the +distinctive contribution of Christ to human history? + + + +Sixth Day: The Master of the Greatest Game + + + Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great + a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which + doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race + that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter + of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the + cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the + throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying + of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in + your souls.—Heb. 12:1-3. + + +The man who wrote the little treatise from which this is quoted saw the +history of humanity summed up in the live spirits who had the power of +projection into the future. Faith is the quality of mind which sees things +before they are visible, which acts on ideals before they are realities, +and which feels the distant city of God to be more dear, substantial, and +attractive than the edible and profitable present. Read Hebrews 11. So he +calls on Christians to take up the same manner of life, and compares them +with men running a race in an amphitheatre packed with all the generations +of the past who are watching them make their record. But he bids them keep +their eye on Jesus who starts them at the line and will meet them at the +goal, and who has set the pace for good and fleet men for all time. + +What is the social and evolutionary value of the men of “faith” in the +sense of Hebrews 11? + +_Have we left Jesus behind us by this time?_ + + + +Seventh Day: The Beginning of the Greatest Movement in History + + + Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, + preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, + and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the + gospel. + + And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew + the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were + fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will + make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they left the + nets, and followed him. And going on a little further, he saw + James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in + the boat mending the nets. And straightway he called them: and + they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired + servants, and went after him.—Mark 1:14-20. + + +Here we have the beginning of organized Christianity. This is the germinal +cell of that vast social movement of which foreign missions, the +establishment of the American Republic, and the modern labor movement are +products. It began with repentance, faith, and self-sacrificing action, +and it will always have to advance by the same means. To those four men +Jesus was an incarnate challenge. He dared them to come, and promised to +put their lives on a higher level. He stands over against us with the same +challenge. He points to the blackened fields of battle, to the economic +injustice and exploitation of industry, to the paganism and sexualism of +our life. Is this old order of things to go on forever? Will our children, +and their children, still be ground through the hopper? Or have we faith +to adventure our life in a new order, the Kingdom of God? + + + +Study for the Week + + +Has our study of the “Social Principles of Jesus” revealed a clear and +consistent scheme of life, worthy of our respect? + + +I + + +We have seen that three convictions were axiomatic within Jesus, so that +all his reasoning and his moral imperatives were based on them, just as +all thought and work in physics is based on gravitation. These convictions +were the sacredness of life and personality, the solidarity of the human +family, and the obligation of the strong to stand up for all whose life is +impaired or whose place within humanity is denied. + +It can not be questioned that these convictions were a tremendous and +spontaneous force in the spirit of Jesus. That alone suffices to align him +with all idealistic minds, to whom man is more than matter, more than +labor force, a mysterious participant of the spiritual powers of the +universe. It aligns him with all men of solidaristic conviction, who are +working for genuine community life in village and city, for a nation with +fraternal institutions and fraternal national consciousness, and for a +coming family of nations and races. It aligns him with all exponents of +the democratic social spirit of our day, who feel the wrongs of the common +people and are trying to make the world juster and more fraternal. + +The best forces of modern life are converging along these lines. There is +no contradiction between them and the spirit of Jesus. On the contrary, +they are largely the product of his spirit, diffused and organized in the +Western world. He was the initiator; we are the interpreters and agents. +Nor has he been outstripped like an early inventor and discoverer whose +crude work is honored only because others were able to improve on it. +Quite the contrary; the more vividly these spiritual convictions glow in +the heart of any man, the more will he feel that Jesus is still ahead, +still the inspiring force. As soon as we get beyond theory to life and +action, we know that we are dependent for the spiritual powers in modern +life on the continued influence of Jesus Christ over the lives of others. + + +II + + +We saw in the second place that Jesus had a social ideal, the Reign of God +on earth, in which God’s will would be done. This ideal with him was not a +Utopian and academic fancy, but the great prize and task of life toward +which he launched all his energies. He called men to turn away from the +evil ways of the old order, and to get a mind fit for the new. He set the +able individuals to work, and put the spirit of intense labor and devotion +into them. He proposed to effect the transition from the old order to the +new by expanding the area of moral obligation and raising the standards of +moral relationships. + +By having such a social ideal at all, he draws away from all who are +stationary and anchored in the world as it is; from all who locate the +possibility of growth and progress in the individual only; and from all +whose desire for perfection runs away from this world to a world beyond +the grave. + +By moving toward the new social order of the Kingdom of God with such +wholeness of determination, he is the constant rebuke for all of us who +are trying to live with a “divided allegiance,” straddling between the +iniquities of force, profit, and inhumanity, and the fraternal +righteousness of the Gospel we profess to believe. Jesus at least was no +time-server, no Mr. Facing-both-ways, no hypocrite; and whenever we touch +his elbow by inadvertence, a shiver of reality and self-contempt runs +through us. + + +III + + +We saw in the third place that Jesus dealt with serious intelligence with +the great human instincts that go wrong. + +The capacity for leadership and the desire for it have fastened the +damning institutions of tyranny and oppression on humanity and tied us up +so completely that the rare historical chances of freedom and progress +have been like a tumultuous and brief escape. Yet Jesus saw that ambition +was not to be suppressed, but to be yoked to the service of society. In +the past, society was allowed to advance and prosper only if this advanced +the prosperity and security of its ruling classes. Jesus proposed that +this be reversed, so that the leaders would have to earn power and honor +by advancing the welfare of society by distinguished service at cost to +themselves. + +The desire for private property has been the chief outlet for selfish +impulses antagonistic to public welfare. To gain private wealth men have +slaughtered the forests, contaminated the rivers, drained the fertility of +the soil, monopolized the mineral wealth of the country, enslaved +childhood, double-yoked motherhood, exhausted manhood, hog-tied community +undertakings, and generally acted as the dog in the manger toward +humanity. Jesus opposed accumulation without moral purpose, the inhumanity +of property differences, and the fatal absorption of money-making. Yet he +was not ascetic. It is probably safe to say that he would not be against +private property in so far as it serves the common good, and not against +public property at all. + +Like ambition and the property instinct, the religious impulse may go +wrong, and subject society to its distortions or tyranny. Jesus always +stood for an ethical and social outcome of religion. He sought to harness +the great power of religion to righteousness and love. With a mind so +purely religious we might expect that he would make all earthly and social +interests subservient to personal religion. The fact that he reversed it, +seems clear proof that he was socially minded and that the Kingdom of God +as a right social organism was the really vital thing to him. + + +IV + + +We have seen, finally, that Jesus had a deep sense of the sin and evil in +the world. Human nature is frail; men of evil will are powerful; organized +evil is in practical control. Consequently social regeneration involves +not only growth but conflict. The way to the Kingdom of God always has +been and always will be a _via dolorosa_. The cross is not accidental, but +is a law of social progress. + +These conceptions together seem to shape up into a consistent conception +of social life. It is not the modern scientific scheme, but a religious +view of life. But it blends incomparably better with modern science than +the scholastic philosophy or theology of an age far nearer to us than +Jesus. It is strange how little modern knowledge has to discount in the +teachings of Jesus. As Romanes once pointed out,(8) Plato followed +Socrates and lived amidst a blaze of genius never since equalled; he is +the greatest representative of human reason in the direction of +spirituality unaided by revelation; “but the errors in the dialogues reach +to absurdity in reason and to sayings shocking to the moral sense.” + +The writer of this little book has come back to an intensive study of +Jesus at intervals of years, and every time it was like a fresh +revelation, leaving a sense of mental exhilaration and a new sense of joy +in truth. Never was there a feeling that Jesus was exhausted and had +nothing more to say. + +For a true valuation of his intellectual contribution to mankind we must +remember that we have not a page of his own writing. We are dependent on +the verbal memory of his disciples; so far as we know, nothing was written +down for years. The fragments which survived probably had to stand the +ordeal of translation from the Aramaic to the Greek. Simply from the point +of view of literature, it is an amazing thing that anything characteristic +in Jesus survived at all. But it did. His sayings have the sparkle of +genius and personality; the illustrations and epigrams which he threw off +in fertile profusion are still clinchers; even his humor plays around +them. Critics undertake to fix on the genuine sayings by internal +evidence. Only a mind of transcendent originality could win its way to +posterity through such obstructions. + +But we ought not to forget the brevity of our material when we try to +build up a coherent conception of his outlook on society. There is little +use in stickling on details. The main thing is the personality of Jesus, +his religious and ethical insight into the nature and needs of the social +life of mankind, the vital power of religious conviction which he was able +to put behind righteousness, and the historical force which he set going +through history. + +From the indirect influences which Jesus Christ set in motion, no man or +woman or child in America can escape. We live on him. Even those who +attack the Christian Church, or who repudiate what they suppose Christ to +stand for, do so with spiritual weapons which they have borrowed from him. +But it does make a great difference whether the young men and women of our +day give their conscious and intelligent allegiance to Christianity or +hold aloof in misunderstanding. Without them the Christian movement will +mark time on old issues. With them it will dig new irrigation channels and +string the wires for new power transmission. + +In return, Christianity can do more for students than they themselves are +likely to realize in youth. Men grow tired. Their moral enthusiasm flags. +Scientific sociology may remain academic, cold, and ineffective. We need +inspiration, impulse, will power, and nothing can furnish such steady +accessions of moral energy as living religion. Science and the Christian +faith combined are strong. Those who succeed in effecting a combination of +these two without insincerity or cowardice are the coming leaders. + +If a student’s mind has given inward consent to the teachings of Jesus in +this course of study, that constitutes an appeal for personal +discipleship. Can we go with Christ in living out these principles, and +meanwhile draw on his spiritual wealth to build up our growing life? If +there is a student who can not at present affirm all that the Christian +Church holds concerning the nature of Christ, why should he not approach +him as the earliest disciples did, by personal love and obedience, +following him and cooperating with him in the business of the Kingdom of +God, and arriving in time at full faith in his Messiahship? A great and +firm faith is the product and prize of a lifetime of prayer and loving +action. “Light is sown to the righteous.” As we gather the wisdom of life, +and find that while we move from knowledge to knowledge, we are also +advancing from mystery to mystery, many of us will be ready and glad to +join in the highest affirmation of faith about Jesus Christ, in whom we +have learned to see God. + + + “If Jesus Christ is a man, + And only a man, I say + That of all mankind I cleave to him, + And to him I cleave alway. + + “If Jesus Christ is a God, + And the only God, I swear + I will follow him through heaven and hell, + The earth, the sea, and the air.” + + —RICHARD WATSON GILDER. + + +If Christianity henceforth is to discharge its full energy in the +regeneration of social life, it especially needs the allegiance of college +men and women who have learned to understand to some degree the facts and +laws of human society. The development of what is called “Social +Christianity” or “the social gospel,” is a fusion between the new +understanding created by the social sciences, and the teachings and moral +ideals of Christianity. This combination was inevitable; it has already +registered social effects of the highest importance; if it can win the +active minds of the present generation of college students, it will swing +a part of the enormous organized forces of the Christian Church to bear on +the social tasks of our American communities, and that will help to create +the nobler America which we see by faith. + +Christians have never fully understood Christianity. A purer comprehension +of its tremendous contents is always necessary. Think what it would +signify to a local community if all sincere Christian people in it should +interpret their obligation in the social terms which we have been using; +if they should seek not only their own salvation, but the reign of God in +their own town; if they should cultivate the habit of seeing a divine +sacredness in every personality, should assist in creating the economic +foundations for fraternal solidarity, and if, as Christians, they should +champion the weak in their own community. We need a power of renewal in +our American communities that will carry us across the coming social +transition, and social Christianity can supply it by directing the plastic +force of the old faith of our fathers to the new social tasks. + +Jesus was the initiator of the Kingdom of God. It is a real thing, now in +operation. It is within us, and among us, gaining ground in our +intellectual life and in our social institutions. It overlaps and +interpenetrates all existing organizations, raising them to a higher level +when they are good, resisting them when they are evil, quietly +revolutionizing the old social order and changing it into the new. It +suffers terrible reverses; we are in the midst of one now; but after a +time it may become apparent that a master hand has turned the situation +and laid the basis of victory on the wrecks of defeat. The Kingdom of God +is always coming; you can never lay your hand on it and say, “It is here.” +But such fragmentary realizations of it as we have, alone make life worth +living. The memories which are still sweet and dear when the fire begins +to die in the ashes, are the memories of days when we lived fully in the +Kingdom of Heaven, toiling for it, suffering for it, and feeling the +stirring of the godlike and eternal life within us. The most humiliating +and crushing realization is that we have betrayed our heavenly Fatherland +and sold out for thirty pieces of silver. We often mistake it. We think we +see its banner in the distance, when it is only the bloody flag of the old +order. But a man learns. He comes to know whether he is in God’s country, +especially if he sees the great Leader near him. + + + +Suggestions for Thought and Discussion + + +I. _The Social Principles of Jesus_ + +1. Sum up the social principles of Jesus which we have worked out in this +course. + +2. Do they seem incisive? Would they demand far-reaching social changes? +What changes? + +3. What conceptions acquired in philosophical and social science studies +connect fruitfully with the principles of Jesus? Do any scientific +conceptions conflict with the essential ideas of Jesus? + +II. _Social Salvation_ + +1. What is your frank estimate of the value of the social principles of +Jesus as a religious and ethical basis for the regeneration of society? + +2. Does the spiritual development of modern life tend toward the position +of Jesus or away from it? + +3. What opportunities and methods does modern life offer for carrying out +these principles in our social order? + +4. If society cannot be saved under the spiritual leadership of Jesus, how +can it be saved? + +III. _The Leader_ + +1. As this course proceeded, has our respect or reverence for Jesus Christ +increased or diminished? In what ways? + +2. Would it be possible to join the forward Christian forces in working +for the Kingdom of God even if the theological questions are still +unsolved in our minds? + +3. What seem now the best methods of carrying out these principles in our +own community and in the world? + +IV. _For Special Discussion_ + +1. Does the salvation of society seem to make the salvation of the +individual unnecessary or trivial? Have you lost interest in it? + +2. How should social and personal salvation connect? + +3. What would a loyal religious dedication to Christ and Christianity mean +to our scientific social intelligence? + +4. What would it mean to the course of our life? + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 Rauschenbusch, “Prayers of the Social Awakening,” p. 15, on “The + Social Meaning of the Lord’s Prayer.” + + 2 See the chapter on “The Tragedy of Dives” in Rauschenbusch, + “Christianizing the Social Order,” p. 291. + + 3 Edersheim, “Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah,” Appendix XVII, + give a detailed account of Sabbath regulations. + + 4 See, for instance, Begbie, “Twice Born Men.” + + 5 See Jane Addams, “A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil.” + + 6 Why not give a fresh reading to the Hebrew prophets? Read them as if + they had just been dug up in the East. Read them with the insight + into social life developed by economic and sociological work in + college. Read them with the critical social and political situations + in mind. Read entire books at a sitting to absorb the spiritual + valor of the prophets and their sense of God and of righteousness. + George Adam Smith’s “The Book of the Twelve Prophets” has fine + social understanding, and gives the necessary historical background. + + 7 “Christianity and the Social Crisis,” p. 415. + + 8 G. J. Romanes, “Thoughts on Religion,” p. 157. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF JESUS*** + + + +CREDITS + + +September 5, 2009 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Bryan Ness, David King, and the Online Distributed + Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. (This book was + produced from scanned images of public domain material from + the Google Print project.) + + + +A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 29912-0.txt or 29912-0.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/9/9/1/29912/ + + +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. Special rules, set forth in the +General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and +distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the Project +Gutenberg™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered +trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you +receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of +this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away +— you may do practically _anything_ with public domain eBooks. +Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE + + +_Please read this before you distribute or use this work._ + +To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or +any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), +you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg™ +License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. + + +General Terms of Use & Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works + + +1.A. + + +By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ electronic work, +you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the +terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) +agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this +agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of +Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee +for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work +and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may +obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set +forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + + +1.B. + + +“Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or +associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be +bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can +do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying +with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are +a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you +follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to +Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + + +1.C. + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” or +PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual +work is in the public domain in the United States and you are located in +the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, +distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on +the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of +course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of +promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project +Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for +keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can +easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you +share it without charge with others. + + +1.D. + + +The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you +can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant +state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of +your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before +downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating +derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. +The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of +any work in any country outside the United States. + + +1.E. + + +Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + + +1.E.1. + + +The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access +to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear prominently whenever +any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase +“Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” +is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or +distributed: + + + 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 http://www.gutenberg.org + + +1.E.2. + + +If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived from the +public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with +permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and +distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or +charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you +must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 +or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + + +1.E.3. + + +If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted with the +permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply +with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed +by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project +Gutenberg™ License for all works posted with the permission of the +copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + + +1.E.4. + + +Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ License +terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any +other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. + + +1.E.5. + + +Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic +work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying +the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate +access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg™ License. + + +1.E.6. + + +You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, +marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word +processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version posted +on the official Project Gutenberg™ web site (http://www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. +Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as +specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + + +1.E.7. + + +Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, +copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works unless you comply +with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + + +1.E.8. + + +You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or +distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided that + + - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to + the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has agreed to + donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 + days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally + required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments + should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, + “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary + Archive Foundation.” + + You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. + You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the + works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and + all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works. + + You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + + You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. + + +1.E.9. + + +If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ electronic +work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this +agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from both the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Hart, the owner of the +Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in +Section 3 below. + + +1.F. + + +1.F.1. + + +Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to +identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread public domain +works in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these +efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they +may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, +incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright +or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk +or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot +be read by your equipment. + + +1.F.2. + + +LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES — Except for the “Right of +Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ +trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ +electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for +damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE +NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH +OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE +FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT +WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, +PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY +OF SUCH DAMAGE. + + +1.F.3. + + +LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND — If you discover a defect in this +electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund +of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to +the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a +physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. +The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect +to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the +work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose +to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in +lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a +refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem. + + +1.F.4. + + +Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in +paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ’AS-IS,’ WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + + +1.F.5. + + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the +exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or +limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state +applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make +the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state +law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement +shall not void the remaining provisions. + + +1.F.6. + + +INDEMNITY — You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark +owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of +Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and +any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution +of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs +and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from +any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of +this or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect +you cause. + + +Section 2. + + + Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ + + +Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic +works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including +obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the +efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks +of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance +they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s goals and ensuring +that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain freely available for +generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for +Project Gutenberg™ and future generations. To learn more about the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations +can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation web page at +http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. + + + Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of +Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. +The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. +Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. Contributions to the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full +extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. + +The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. +S. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 North +1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact information +can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official page at +http://www.pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. + + + Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive + Foundation + + +Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without wide spread +public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the +number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment +including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are +particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. +Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable +effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these +requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not +received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or +determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have +not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against +accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us +with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any +statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the +United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation methods +and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including +checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please +visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. + + + General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. + + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg™ +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with +anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg™ +eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed editions, +all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. unless a copyright +notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance +with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook’s eBook +number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, compressed +(zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected _editions_ of our eBooks replace the old file and take over the +old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org + + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg™, including how +to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, +how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email +newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + + + + + +***FINIS*** +
\ No newline at end of file |