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diff --git a/40482-0.txt b/40482-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f61ce7 --- /dev/null +++ b/40482-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12621 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40482 *** + +Transcriber's Note: + +Italics are indicated by _underscores_. Daily quotations from +published prayers, which are italicised here and in the original, have +been indented. + +Bolding is indicated by =equal signs=. Daily quotations from +Scripture, which are bolded here and in the original, have also been +indented. + +Small capitals have been rendered in upper case. + +Inconsistencies in spelling (e.g. "Savior" and "Saviour") and in +hyphenation have been retained. + +In the two chemical formulae in Chapter 4 "^" is followed by a +superscript and "_" by a subscript. + +Minor changes have been made to the format of biblical references; and +corrections made to apparent punctuation errors elsewhere in the text. + + + + +The Meaning of Faith + + + HARRY EMERSON FOSDICK + AUTHOR OF "THE MANHOOD OF THE MASTER," "THE MEANING OF PRAYER," + "THE CHALLENGE OF THE PRESENT CRISIS," ETC. + + ASSOCIATION PRESS + NEW YORK: 347 MADISON AVENUE + 1922 + + + COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY + THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF + YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS + +Printed in the United States of America + +The Bible Text used in this volume is taken from the American Standard +Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, +and is used by permission. + + + TO + MY MOTHER + IN MEMORIAM + + + "_'Tis human fortune's happiest height to be + A spirit melodious, lucid, poised, and whole; + Second in order of felicity + To walk with such a soul._" + + + + +PREFACE + + +A book on faith has been for years my hope and intention. And now it +comes to final form during the most terrific war men ever waged, when +faith is sorely tried and deeply needed. Direct discussion of the war +has been purposely avoided; the issues here presented are not confined +to those which the war suggests; but many streams of thought within +the book flow in channels that the war has worn. Since the conflict +had to come, I am glad for this book's sake that it was not written +until it had Europe's holocaust for a background. + +Against one misunderstanding the reader should be guarded. If anyone +approaches these studies, expecting to find detailed and special views +of Christian doctrine, he will be disappointed. The perplexities of +mind and life and the affirmations of religious faith, with which +these studies deal, lie far beneath sectarian doctrinal controversy. I +have tried to make clear a foundation on which faith might build its +thoughts of Christian truth. And while I have spoken freely of God and +Christ and the Spirit, of the Cross and life eternal, I have not +intended or endeavored a complete theology. I have had in mind that +elemental matter of which Carlyle was thinking when he wrote: "The +thing a man does practically lay to heart, and know for certain +concerning his vital relations to the mysterious Universe, and his +duty and destiny there, _that_ is in all cases the primary thing +for him, and creatively determines all the rest. _That_ is his +religion." + +As in "The Meaning of Prayer," the Scripture has been used for the +basis and interpretation of the daily thought. The Bible is our +supreme record of man's experience with faith; it recounts in terms of +life faith's sources and results, its successes and failures, its +servants and its foes. And because faith is not a _tour de force_ +of intellect alone, but is an act of life, prayers have been used for +the expression of aroused desire and resolution. + +My indebtedness to many helpers is very great. But to my friend and +colleague, Professor George Albert Coe, my gratitude is so definitely +due for his careful reading of the manuscript, that the book should +not go out lacking an acknowledgment. + + H. E. F. + December 15, 1917. + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENTS + + +Special acknowledgment is gladly made to the following: to E. P. +Dutton & Company for permission to use prayers from "A Chain of Prayer +Across the Ages" and from "The Temple," by W. E. Orchard, D.D.; to the +Rev. Samuel McComb and the publishers for permission to quote from "A +Book of Prayers," Copyright, 1912, Dodd, Mead & Company; to the +American Unitarian Association for permission to draw upon "Prayers," +by Theodore Parker; to the Pilgrim Press and the author for permission +to use selections from "Prayers of the Social Awakening," by Dr. +Rauschenbusch; to the Missionary Education Movement for permission to +make quotations from "Thy Kingdom Come," by Ralph E. Diffendorfer; to +Fleming H. Revell Co., for permission to make use of "A Book of Public +Prayer," by Henry Ward Beecher; and to the publishers of James +Martineau's "Prayers in the Congregation and in College," Longmans, +Green & Co. + +None of the above material should be reprinted without securing +permission. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + PREFACE vii + + I. FAITH AND LIFE'S ADVENTURE 1 + + II. FAITH A ROAD TO TRUTH 26 + + III. FAITH IN THE PERSONAL GOD 51 + + IV. BELIEF AND TRUST 77 + + V. FAITH'S INTELLECTUAL DIFFICULTIES 103 + + VI. FAITH'S GREATEST OBSTACLE 129 + + VII. FAITH AND SCIENCE 158 + + VIII. FAITH AND MOODS 184 + + IX. FAITH IN THE EARNEST GOD 210 + + X. FAITH IN CHRIST THE SAVIOR: FORGIVENESS 237 + + XI. FAITH IN CHRIST THE SAVIOR: POWER 263 + + XII. THE FELLOWSHIP OF FAITH 289 + + SCRIPTURE PASSAGES USED IN THE DAILY READINGS 316 + + SOURCES OF PRAYERS USED IN THE DAILY READINGS 317 + + + + +PUBLISHERS' NOTE + + +The complex subject of Faith has required an extended treatment, which +has made the present volume much longer than the author's previous +works. Every item of expense connected with publishing has greatly +increased even within the past few months, and, to the regret, alike +of publisher and author, it has been found necessary to charge more +for this volume than for "The Meaning of Prayer" and "The Manhood of +the Master." + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Faith and Life's Adventure + + +DAILY READINGS + +Discussion about faith generally starts with faith's _reasonableness_; +let us begin with faith's _inevitableness_. If it were possible +somehow to live without faith, the whole subject might be treated +merely as an affair of curious interest. But if faith is an +unescapable necessity in every human life, then we must come to terms +with it, understand it, and use it as intelligently as we can. _There +are certain basic elements in man which make it impossible to live +without faith._ Let us consider these, as they are suggested in the +Epistle to the Hebrews, which, better than any other book in the +Bible, presents faith as an unavoidable human attitude. + + +First Week, First Day + + =Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things + not seen.--Heb. 11:1.= + +As Moffatt translates: "Now faith means we are confident of what we +hope for, convinced of what we do not see." When faith is described in +such general terms, its necessity in human life is evident. Man cannot +live without faith, because he deals not only with a past which he may +know and with a present which he can see, but with a _future in whose +possibilities he must believe_. A man can no more avoid looking ahead +when he lives his life than he can when he sails his boat, and in one +case as in the other, his direction is determined by his thought about +what lies before him, his "assurance of things hoped for." Now, this +future into which continually we press our way can never be a matter +of demonstrable knowledge. We know only when we arrive, but meanwhile +we believe; and our knowledge of what is and has been is not more +necessary to our quest than our faith concerning what is yet to come. +As Tennyson sings of faith in "The Ancient Sage": + + "She sees the Best that glimmers thro' the Worst, + She feels the sun is hid but for a night, + She spies the summer thro' the winter bud, + She tastes the fruit before the blossom falls, + She hears the lark within the songless egg, + She finds the fountain where they wail'd 'Mirage'!" + +However much a man may plan, therefore, to live without faith, he +cannot do it. When one strips himself of all convictions about the +future he stops living altogether, and active, eager, vigorous manhood +is always proportionate to the scope and power of reasonable faith. +The great spirits of the race have had the aspiring, progressive +quality which the Scripture celebrates: + + =These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but + having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed + that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say + such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of + their own. And if indeed they had been mindful of that country from + which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But + now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God + is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he hath prepared + for them a city.--Heb. 11:13-16.= + + _Almighty God, let Thy Spirit breathe upon us to quicken in us all + humility, all holy desire, all living faith in Thee. When we meditate + on the Eternal, we dare not think any manner of similitude; yet Thou + art most real to us in the worship of the heart. When in the strife + against sin we receive grace to help us in our time of need, then art + Thou the Eternal Rock of our salvation. When amid our perplexities + and searchings, the way of duty is made clear, then art Thou our + Everlasting Light. When amid the storms of life we find peace and + rest through submission, then art Thou the assured Refuge of our + souls. So do Thou manifest Thyself unto us, O God!_ + + _Our Heavenly Father, we give Thee humble and hearty thanks for all + the sacred traditions which have come down to us from the past--for + the glorious memories of ancient days, concerning that Divine light + in which men have been conscious of Thy presence and assured of Thy + grace. But we would not content ourselves with memories. O Thou who + art not the God of the dead, but the God of the living, manifest + Thyself unto us in a present communion. Reveal Thyself unto us in the + tokens of this passing time. Give us for ourselves to feel the + authority of Thy law: give us for ourselves to realize the exceeding + sinfulness of sin: give us for ourselves to understand the way of + salvation through sacrifice. Teach us, by the Spirit of Christ, the + sacredness of common duties, the holiness of the ties that bind us to + our kind, the divinity of the still small voice within that doth ever + urge us in the way of righteousness. So shall our hearts be renewed + by faith; so shall we ever live in God. Amen._--John Hunter. + + +First Week, Second Day + + =By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place + which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not + knowing whither he went. By faith he became a sojourner in the land + of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac + and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for + the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is + God.--Heb. 11:8-10.= + + =By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son + of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to share ill treatment with + the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; + accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures + of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. By faith he + forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as + seeing him who is invisible.--Heb. 11:24-27.= + +Man cannot live without faith because his relationship with the future +is an affair not alone of thought but also of action; _life is a +continuous adventure into the unknown_. Abraham and Moses pushing out +into experiences whose issue they could not foresee are typical of all +great lives that have adventured for God. "By faith" is the first word +necessary in every life like Luther's and Wesley's and Carey's. By +faith John Bright, when his reforms were hard bestead, said: "If we +can't win as fast as we wish, we know that our opponents can't in the +long run win at all." By faith Gladstone, when the Liberal cause was +defeated, rose undaunted in Parliament, and said, "I appeal to time!" +and by faith every one of us must undertake each plain day's work, if +we are to do it well. Robert Louis Stevenson said that life is "an +affair of cavalry," "a thing to be dashingly used and cheerfully +hazarded." But so to deal with life demands faith. The more one sees +what venturesome risks he takes every day, what labor and sacrifice he +invests in hope of a worthy outcome, with what great causes he falls +in love until at his best he is willing for their sakes to hazard +fortune and happiness and life itself, the more he sees that the soul +of robust and serviceable character is faith. + + _O God, who hast encompassed us with so much that is dark and + perplexing, and yet hast set within us light enough to walk by; + enable us to trust what Thou hast given as sufficient for us, and + steadfastly refuse to follow aught else; lest the light that is in us + become as darkness and we wander from the way. May we be loyal to all + the truth we know, and seek to discharge those duties which lay their + commission on our conscience; so that we may come at length to + perfect light in Thee, and find our wills in harmony with Thine._ + + _Since Thou hast planted our feet in a world so full of chance and + change that we know not what a day may bring forth, and hast + curtained every day with night and rounded our little lives with + sleep; grant that we may use with diligence our appointed span of + time, working while it is called today, since the night cometh when + no man can work; having our loins girt and our lamps alight, lest the + cry at midnight find us sleeping and the door fast shut._ + + _Since we are so feeble, faint, and foolish, leave us not to our own + devices, not even when we pray Thee to; nor suffer us for any care to + Thee or for any pain to us to walk our own unheeding way. Plant + thorns about our feet, touch our hearts with fear, give us no rest + apart from Thee, lest we lose our way and miss the happy gate. + Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +First Week, Third Day + +Man cannot live without faith because the prime requisite in life's +adventure is _courage_, and the sustenance of courage is faith. + + =And what shall I more say? for the time will fail me if I tell of + Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and Samuel and the + prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, + obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of + fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, + waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens. Women + received their dead by a resurrection: and others were tortured, not + accepting their deliverance; that they might obtain a better + resurrection: and others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, + moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn + asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went + about in sheep-skins, in goat-skins; being destitute, afflicted, + ill-treated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts + and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth. And these all, + having had witness borne to them through their faith, received not + the promise, God having provided some better thing concerning us, + that apart from us they should not be made perfect.--Heb. 11:32-40.= + +When in comparison with men and women of such admirable spirit, one +thinks of weak personalities, that ravel out at the first strain, he +sees that the difference lies in courage. _When a man loses heart he +loses everything._ Now to keep one's heart in the midst of life's +stress and to maintain an undiscourageable front in the face of its +difficulties is not an achievement which springs from anything that a +laboratory can demonstrate or that logic can confirm. It is an +achievement of faith, + + "The virtue to exist by faith + As soldiers live by courage." + +Consider this account of Havelock, the great English general: "As he +sat at dinner with his son on the evening of the 17th, his mind +appeared for the first and last time to be affected with gloomy +forebodings, as it dwelt on the probable annihilation of his brave men +in a fruitless attempt to accomplish what was beyond their strength. +After musing long in deep thought, his strong sense of duty and his +confidence in the justice of his cause restored the buoyancy of his +spirit; and he exclaimed, 'If the worst comes to the worst, we can but +die with our swords in our hands!'" No man altogether escapes the +need for such a spirit, and, as with Havelock and the Hebrew heroes, +confidence in someone, faith in something, is that spirit's source. + + _O God, who hast sent us to school in this strange life of ours, and + hast set us tasks which test all our courage, trust, and fidelity; + may we not spend our days complaining at circumstance or fretting at + discipline, but give ourselves to learn of life and to profit by + every experience. Make us strong to endure._ + + _We pray that when trials come upon us we may not shirk the issue or + lose our faith in Thy goodness, but committing our souls unto Thee + who knowest the way that we take, come forth as gold tried in the + fire._ + + _Grant by Thy grace that we may not be found wanting in the hour of + crisis. When the battle is set, may we know on which side we ought to + be, and when the day goes hard, cowards steal from the field, and + heroes fall around the standard, may our place be found where the + fight is fiercest. If we faint, may we not be faithless; if we fall, + may it be while facing the foe. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +First Week, Fourth Day + +Man cannot live without faith, because the adventure of life demands +not only courage to achieve but _patience to endure and wait_, +and all untroubled patience is founded on faith. When the writer to +the Hebrews speaks of those who "through faith and patience inherit +the promises" (Heb. 6:12), he joins two things that in experience no +man successfully can separate. By as much as we need patience, we need +faith. + + =But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were + enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of sufferings; partly, being + made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, + becoming partakers with them that were so used. For ye both had + compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling + of your possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves a better + possession and an abiding one. Cast not away therefore your boldness, + which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, + that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.--Heb. + 10:32-36.= + +The most difficult business in the world is _waiting_. There are +times in every life when action, however laborious and sacrificial, +would be an unspeakable relief; but to sit still because necessity +constrains us, endeavoring to live out the admonition of the psalmist, +"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him," is prodigiously +difficult. _No one can do it without some kind of faith._ "In +your patience," said Jesus, "ye shall win your souls" (Luke 21:19), +but such an achievement is no affair of logic or scientific +demonstration; it is a venture of triumphant faith. The great +believers have been the unwearied waiters; faith meant to them not +controversial opinion, but sustaining power. As another has phrased +it, "Our faculties of belief were not primarily given to us to make +orthodoxies and heresies withal; they were given us to _live_ by." + + _We beseech of Thee, O Lord our God, that Thou wilt grant to every + one of us in Thy presence, this morning, the special mercies which he + needs--strength where weakness prevails, and patience where courage + has failed. Grant, we pray Thee, that those who need long-suffering + may find themselves strangely upborne and sustained. Grant that those + who wander in doubt and darkness may feel distilling upon their soul + the sweet influence of faith. Grant that those who are heart-weary, + and sick from hope deferred, may find the God of all salvation. + Confirm goodness in those that are seeking it. Restore, we pray Thee, + those who have wandered from the path of rectitude. Give every one + honesty. May all transgressors of Thy law return to the Shepherd and + Bishop of their souls with confession of sin, and earnest and sincere + repentance. Amen._--Henry Ward Beecher. + + +First Week, Fifth Day + +Man cannot live without faith because he exists in a universe, the +complete explanation of which is forever beyond his grasp, so that +_whatever he thinks about the total meaning of creation is +fundamentally faith_. + + =By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word + of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which + appear.--Heb. 11:3.= + +Not only is this true, but if we think that there is _no_ God, +that also is faith; and if we hold that the basic reality is physical +atoms, that is faith; and whatever anybody believes about the origin +and destiny of life is faith. When Haeckel says that the creator is +"Cosmic Ether," and when John says that "God is love," they both are +making a leap of faith. This does not mean that faith can dispense +with reason. In these studies we shall set ourselves to marshal the +ample arguments that support man's faith in God. But when the utmost +that argument can do has been achieved, the finite mind, dealing with +the infinite reality, is forced to a sally of faith, a venture of +confidence in Goodness at the heart of the world, not opposed to +reason but surpassing reason. _Faith always sees more with her eye +than logic can reach with her hand._ And especially when men come +to the highest thought of life's meaning and believe in the Christian +God, they face the fact which the writer to the Hebrews presents: + + =And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for + he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a + rewarder of them that seek after him.--Heb. 11:6.= + +Indeed, in all stout conviction about the meaning of life there is a +certain defiant note, refusing to surrender to small objections. Cried +Stevenson, "I believe in an ultimate decency of things; ay, and if I +woke in hell, should still believe it!" + + _O Thou Infinite Spirit, who needest no words for man to hold his + converse with Thee, we would enter into Thy presence, we would + reverence Thy power, we would worship Thy wisdom, we would adore Thy + justice, we would be gladdened by Thy love, and blessed by our + communion with Thee. We know that Thou needest no sacrifice at our + hands, nor any offering at our lips; yet we live in Thy world, we + taste Thy bounty, we breathe Thine air, and Thy power sustains us, + Thy justice guides, Thy goodness preserves, and Thy love blesses us + forever and ever. O Lord, we cannot fail to praise Thee, though we + cannot praise Thee as we would. We bow our faces down before Thee + with humble hearts, and in Thy presence would warm our spirits for a + while, that the better we may be prepared for the duties of life, to + endure its trials, to bear its crosses, and to triumph in its lasting + joys...._ + + _In times of darkness, when men fail before Thee, in days when men of + high degree are a lie, and those of low degree are a vanity, teach + us, O Lord, to be true before Thee, not a vanity, but soberness and + manliness; and may we keep still our faith shining in the midst of + darkness, the beacon-light to guide us over stormy seas to a home and + haven at last. Father, give us strength for our daily duty, patience + for our constant or unaccustomed cross, and in every time of trial + give us the hope that sustains, the faith that wins the victory and + obtains satisfaction and fulness of joy. Amen._--Theodore Parker. + + +First Week, Sixth Day + +Man cannot live, lacking faith, because _without it life's richest +experiences go unappropriated_. Opportunities for friendship lie +all about us, but only by trustful self-giving can they be enjoyed; +chances to serve good causes continually beckon us, but one must have +faith to try; superior minds offer us their treasures, but to avail +oneself of instruction from another involves teachable humility. A man +without capacity to let himself go out to other men in friendly trust +or to welcome new illumination on his thought with grateful faith +would be shut out from the priceless treasures of humanity. A certain +trustful openheartedness, a willingness to venture in personal +relationship and in attempts at service is essential to a rich and +fruitful life. And what is true of man's relationship with man is true +of man's relationship with God. So Prof. William James, of Harvard, +states the case: "Just as a man who in a company of gentlemen made no +advances, asked a warrant for every concession, and believed no one's +word without proof, would cut himself off by such churlishness from +all the social rewards that a more trusting spirit would earn--so +here, one who should shut himself up in snarling logicality and try to +make the gods extort his recognition willy-nilly, or not get it at +all, might cut himself off forever from his only opportunity of making +the gods' acquaintance." _Wherever in life great spiritual values +await man's appropriation, only faith can appropriate them._ + + =Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering + into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. + For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also + they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not + united by faith with them that heard!--Heb. 4:1, 2.= + + _O Infinite Source of life and health and joy! the very thought of + Thee is so wonderful that in this thought we would rest and be still. + Thou art Beauty and Grace and Truth and Power. Thou art the light of + every heart that sees Thee, the life of every soul that loves Thee, + the strength of every mind that seeks Thee. From our narrow and + bounded world we would pass into Thy greater world. From our petty + and miserable selves we would escape to Thee, to find in Thee the + power and the freedom of a larger life.... We recognize Thee in all + the deeper experiences of the soul. When the conscience utters its + warning voice, when the heart is tender and we forgive those who have + wronged us in word or deed, when we feel ourselves upborne above time + and place, and know ourselves citizens of Thy everlasting Kingdom, we + realize, O Lord, that these things, while they are in us, are not of + us. They are Thine, the work of Thy Spirit brooding upon our souls._ + + _Spirit of Holiness and Peace! Search all our motives; try the secret + places of our souls; set in the light any evil that may lurk within, + and lead us in the way everlasting. Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +First Week, Seventh Day + +Man cannot live without faith, because in life's adventure the central +problem is _building character_. Now, character is not a product of +logic, but of faith in ideals and of sacrificial devotion to them. +What is becomes only the starting point of a campaign for what _ought +to be_, and in the prosecution of that campaign what ought to be must +be believed in with passionate intensity. Faith of some sort, +therefore, is necessarily the dynamic of character; only limp and +ragged living is possible without faith; and the greatest characters +are girded by the most ample faith in God and goodness. The writer to +the Hebrews saw this intimate relationship between quality of faith +and quality of life, and challenged his readers to judge the +Christian faith by its consequence in character. + + =Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you + the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate + their faith.--Heb. 13:7.= + +Such are the basic elements in human experience that make faith +necessary: we deal with a future, about which we must think, with +reference to which we must act, and adventuring into which we need +courage and patience; this venture of life takes place in a world the +meaning of which can be grasped only by a leap of faith; and in this +venture the best treasures of the spirit are obtainable only through +openheartedness, and character is possible only to men of resolute +conviction. Plainly the subject to whose study we are setting +ourselves is no affair of theoretical interest alone; it affects the +deepest issues of life. No words could better summarize this vital +idea of faith which the Epistle to the Hebrews presents than Hartley +Coleridge's: + + "Think not the faith by which the just shall live + Is a dead creed, a map correct of heaven, + Far less a feeling, fond and fugitive, + A thoughtless gift, withdrawn as soon as given. + It is an affirmation and an act + That bids eternal truth be present fact." + + _How great are the mercies, O Lord our God, which Thou hast prepared + for all that put their trust in Thee!... Thou hast comfort for those + that are in affliction; Thou hast strength for those that are weak; + ... Thou hast all blessings that are needed, and standest ready to be + all things to all, and in all. And yet, with bread enough and to + spare, with raiment abundant, and with all medicine, how many are + there that go hungry, and naked, and sick, and destitute of all + things! We desire, O Lord, that Thou wilt, to all Thine other + mercies, add that gift by which we shall trust in Thee--faith that + works by love; faith that abides with us; faith that transforms + material things, and gives them to us in their spiritual meanings; + faith that illumines the world by a light that never sets, that + shines brighter than the day, and that clears the night quite out of + our experience. This is the portion that Thou hast provided for thy + people. We beseech of Thee, grant us this faith, that shall give us + victory over the world and over ourselves; that shall make us valiant + in all temptation and bring us off conquerors and more than + conquerors through Him that loved us. Amen._--Henry Ward Beecher. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +When Donald Hankey, who died in the trenches in the Great War, said +that "True religion is betting one's life that there is a God," he not +only gave expression to his own virile Christianity, but he gave a +good description of all effective faith whatsoever. Faith is holding +reasonable convictions, in realms beyond the reach of final +demonstration, and, as well, it is thrusting out one's life upon those +convictions as though they were surely true. _Faith is vision plus +valor._ + +Our study may well begin by recognizing that, as it is exercised in +the religious life, such faith is the supreme use of an attitude which +we are employing in every other realm. No man can live without vision +to see as true what as yet he cannot prove, or without valor to act on +the basis of his insight. Our vocabulary in ordinary relationships, +quite as much as in religion, is full of words involving faith. I +believe, I feel sure, I am confident, I venture--such phrases express +our common attitudes in work and thought. Each day we act on +reasonable probabilities, hold convictions not yet verified, take +risks whose outcome we cannot know, and trust people whom we have +barely met. We may pride ourselves that our twentieth century's life +is being built on scientifically demonstrable knowledge, but a swift +review of any day's experience shows how indispensable is another +attitude, without which our verifiable knowledge would be an unused +instrument. In order to _live_ we must have insight and daring. +It is not alone the just who live by faith; lacking it, there is no +real life anywhere. + +To be sure, we may not leap from this general necessity of faith to +the conclusion that therefore our religious beliefs are justified. +Many men use faith in business and in social life who cannot find +their way to convictions about God. But our desire to understand +faith's meaning is quickened when we see how indispensable a place it +holds, how tremendous an influence it wields, whether it be +religiously applied or not. All sorts of human enterprise bear witness +to its unescapable necessity. Haeckel, the biologist, describing +science's method, says: "Scientific faith fills the gaps in our +knowledge of natural laws with temporary hypotheses." Lincoln, the +statesman, entreating the people, cries: "Let us have faith that right +makes might and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty." +Stevenson, the invalid, trying with fortitude to bear his trial, +writes: "Whether on the first of January or the thirty-first of +December, faith is a good word to end on." And the Master states the +substance of religion in a single phrase: "Have faith in God" (Mark +11:22). Scientific procedure, social welfare, personal quality, +religion--the applications of our subject are as wide as life. Vision +and valor are the dynamic forces in all achievement, intellectual as +well as moral, and as for man's spiritual values and satisfactions, +"It is faith in something," as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, "which +makes life worth living." + + +II + +One major reason for this necessary place of faith in our experience +is clear. _Life is an adventure and adventure always demands insight +and daring._ That "Chinese" Gordon, on his hazardous expedition into +the Soudan, should be thrown back on undiscourageable faith in +himself, in the justice of his cause, in the bravery of his men, and +in God; that he should even speak of praying his boats up the Nile, +seems to us natural; for some kind of faith is obviously necessary to +any great adventure. But men often forget that all ordinary living is +essentially adventurous and that by this fact the need of faith is +woven into the texture of every human life. It is an amazing adventure +to be born upon this wandering island in the sky and it is an +adventure to leave it when death calls. To go to school, to make +friends, to marry, to rear children, to face through life the swift +changes of circumstance that no man can certainly predict an hour +ahead, these are all adventures. Each new day is an hitherto unvisited +country, which we enter, like Abraham leaving Ur for a strange land, +"not knowing whither he went" (Heb. 11:8), and every New Year we begin +a tour of exploration into a twelvemonth where no man's foot has ever +walked before. If we all love tales of pioneers, it is because from +the time we are weaned to the time we die, life is pioneering. Of +course we cannot live by verifiable knowledge only. Imagine men, +equipped with nothing but powers of logical demonstration, starting on +such an enterprise as the title of Sebastian Cabot's joint stock +company suggests: "Merchants Adventurers of England for the discovery +of lands, territories, isles and seignories, unknown." + +Indeed no knowledge of the sort that our scientific inductions can +achieve ever will take from life this adventurous element. Scientific +knowledge in these latter decades has grown incalculably; yet for all +that, every child's life is a hazardous experiment, every boy choosing +a calling takes his chances, every friendship is a risky exploration +in the province of personality, and all devotion to moral causes is +just as much a venturesome staking of life on insight and hope as it +was when Garrison attacked slavery or Livingstone landed in Africa. To +one who had acquired not only all extant but all possible knowledge, +as truly as to any man who ever lived, life would be full of hazard +still. He could not certainly know in advance the outcome of a single +important decision of his life. He could not at any moment tell in +what new, strange, challenging, or terrific situation the next hour +might find him. With all his science, he must face each day, as Paul +faced his journey to Rome, "not knowing the things that shall befall +me there" (Acts 20:22). + +The reason for this is obvious. Our systematized knowledge is the +arrangement under laws of the experiences which we have already had. +It furnishes invaluable aid in guiding the experiments and +explorations which life continuously forces on us. In every +enterprise, however, we must use not only legs to stand on, but +tentacles as well with which to feel our way forward--intuitions, +insights, hopes, unverified convictions, faith. We project our life +forward as we build a cantilever bridge. Part of the structure is +solidly bolted and thoroughly articulated in a system; but ever beyond +this established portion we audaciously thrust out new beginnings in +eager expectation that from the other side something will come to meet +them. Without this no progress ever would be possible. + +Every province of life illustrates this necessity of adventure. In +_science_, the established body of facts and laws is only the +civilized community of knowledge from whose frontiers new guesses and +intuitions start. Says Sir Oliver Lodge about the great Newton: "He +had an extraordinary faculty for guessing correctly, sometimes with no +apparent data--as for instance, his intuition that the mean density of +the earth was probably between five and six times that of water, while +we now know it is really about five and one half." In _personal +character_, our habits are basic, but our ideals in which, despite +ourselves, we must believe, are pioneers that push out into new +territory and call our habits after them to conquer the promised land. +In _social advance_, some Edmund Burke, statesman of the first +magnitude, basing his judgment on the established experience of the +race, can call slavery an incurable evil and say that there is not the +slightest hope that trade in slaves can be stopped; and yet within +eighty-two years the race can feel its way forward to Lincoln's +Emancipation Proclamation. As for _daily business_, adventurous daring +is there the very nerve of enterprise. Says a modern newspaper man: +"There are plenty of people to do the possible; you can hire them at +forty dollars a month. The prizes are for those who perform the +impossible. If a thing can be done, experience and skill can do it; if +a thing cannot be done, only faith can do it." Great in human life is +this adventurous element, and, therefore, great in human life is the +necessity of faith. To chasten and discipline, to make reasonable and +stable the faiths by which we live is a problem unsurpassed in +importance for every man. + + +III + +One result of special interest follows from this truth. It is commonly +suspected that as mankind advances, the function of faith proportionately +shrinks. It is even supposed that the place of faith in human life has +sensibly diminished with our growing knowledge, and that Matthew +Arnold told the truth: + + "The sea of faith + Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore + Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd. + But now I only hear + Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, + Retreating, to the breath + Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear + And naked shingles of the world." + +Accordingly by custom we call the mediæval centuries the "Age of +Faith." But even a cursory comparison between the mediæval people and +ourselves reveals that among the many differences that distinguish us +from them, none is more marked than the diversity and range of our +faiths. One considers in surprise the things which they did not +believe. That the world would ever grow much better, that social +abuses like political tyranny and slavery could be radically changed, +that man could ever master nature by his inventions until her mighty +forces were his servants, that the whole race could be reached for +Christ, that war could be abolished and human brotherhood in some fair +degree established, that common men could be trusted with responsibility +for their own government or with freedom to worship God according to +the dictates of their own consciences--none of these things did the +mediæval folk believe. One of the most distinguishing characteristics +of the so-called "Age of Faith" was its lack of faith. It lived in a +static world; it was poor in possibilities except in heaven; it +pitiably lacked those most certain signs of vital faith, the open mind +eager for new truth and the ardent, vigorous life seeking new +conquests. In comparison with such an age our generation's faiths are +rich and manifold. To call our time an "Age of Doubt" because of its +free spirit of critical inquiry, is seriously to misunderstand its +major drift. Bunyan's Pilgrim found Doubting Castle kept by Giant +Despair and his wife Diffidence and in any Doubting Castle these two +always dwell. But who, considering our generation's life as a whole, +would call it diffident or desperate? It is rather robust and +confident; its social faiths, at least, are unprecedented in their +sweep and certainty. Even the Great War is the occasion of such +organized faith in a federated and fraternal world as mankind has +never entertained before. + +The truth is that with the progress of the race the adventure of life +is elevated and enlarged, and in consequence faith grows not less but +more necessary. _The faiths of a savage are meager compared with a +modern man's._ The Australian bushman never dreams of laboring for +social ideals even a few years ahead. What can he know of those superb +faiths in economic justice and international brotherhood, which even +in the face of overwhelming difficulty, master the best of modern men? +The primitive mind was not curious enough to wonder whether the sun +that rises in the morning was the same that set the night before. What +could such a mind understand of modern science's faith in the +universal regularity of law? Put a Moro head hunter beside Mr. Edison, +and see how incalculable the difference between them, not simply in +their knowledge, but in their faith as to what it is possible for +humanity to do with nature! Or put a fetish worshipper from Africa +beside Phillips Brooks and compare the faith of the one in his idol +with the faith of the other in God. Faith does not dwindle as wisdom +grows; vision and valor are not less important. _The difference +between the twentieth century man and the savage is quite as much in +the scope and quality of their faith as in the range and certainty of +their knowledge._ + +Faith, therefore is not a transient element in human life, to be +evicted by growing science. For whatever life may _know_, life +_is_ adventure; and as the adventure widens its horizons, the +demand for faith is correspondingly increased. If one tries to imagine +the world with all faith gone--knowledge supposedly having usurped its +place--he must conceive a world where no conscious life and effort +remain at all. Take trust in testimony away from courts of law, and +unsure experiments from the physician's practice; refuse the teacher +his confidence in growing minds and the business man his right to +ventures that involve uncertainty; abstract from civic reforms all +faith in a better future, from science all unproved postulates, from +society all mutual trust and from religion all belief in the Unseen, +and life would become an "inane sand heap." A man who tries to live +without faith will die of inertia. A society that makes the attempt +will be paralyzed within an hour. The question is not whether or no we +shall live by faith. The question is rather--By what faiths shall we +live? What range and depth and quality shall they have? How reasonable +and how assured shall they be? + + +IV + +Among all the faiths which mankind has cherished and by which it has +been helped in life's adventure, none have been more universally and +more passionately held than those associated with religion. In the +daring experiment of living, men naturally have sought by faith +interpretation not only of life's details but of life itself--its +origin, its meaning, and its destiny. Australian bushmen, unable to +count above four on their fingers, have been heard discussing in their +huts at night whence they came, whither they go, and who the gods are +anyway. And when one turns to modern manhood in its finest exhibitions +of intelligence and character, he sees that Professor Ladd, of Yale, +speaks truly: "The call of the world of men today, which is most +insistent and most intense, if not most loud and clamorous, is the +call for a rehabilitation of religious faith." + +For it does make a prodigious difference to the spirit of our +adventure in this world, whether we think that God is good or on the +other hand see the universe as Carlyle's terrific figure pictures +it--"one huge, dead, immeasurable Steam-engine, rolling on, in its +dead indifference, to grind me limb from limb." It does make a +difference of quite incalculable magnitude whether we think that our +minds and characters are an evanescent product of finely wrought +matter which alone is real and permanent, or on the contrary with John +believe that "Now are we children of God and it is not yet made +manifest what we shall be" (I John 3:2). + +How great a difference in life's adventure religious faith does make +is better set forth by concrete example than by abstract argument. On +the one side, how radiant the spirit of the venture as the New +Testament depicts it! The stern, appealing love of God behind life, +his good purpose through it, his victory ahead of it, and man a fellow +worker, called into an unfinished world to bear a hand with God in its +completion--here is a game that indeed is worth the candle. On the +other side is Bertrand Russell's candid disclosure of the consequences +of his own scepticism: "Brief and powerless is man's life; on him and +all his race the slow sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good +and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its +relentless way; for Man condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow +himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to +cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his +little day--proudly defiant of the irresistible forces that tolerate +for a moment his knowledge and his condemnation, to sustain alone, a +weary but unyielding Atlas, the world that his own ideals have +fashioned despite the trampling march of unconscious power." + +Man's life, interpreted and motived by religious faith, is glorious, +but shorn of faith's interpretations life loses its highest meaning +and its noblest hopes. Let us make this statement's truth convincing +in detail. + +_When faith in God goes, man the thinker loses his greatest +thought._ Man's mind has ranged the universe, has woven atoms and +stars into a texture of law; his conquering thoughts ride out into +every unknown province of which they hear. But among all the ideas on +which the mind of man has taken hold, incomparably the greatest is the +idea of God. In sheer weight and range no other thought of man +compares with that. Amid the crash of stars, the reign of law, the +vicissitudes of human history, and the griefs that drive their +ploughshares into human hearts, to gather up all existence into +spiritual unity and to believe in God, is the sublimest venture of the +human mind. + +_When faith in God goes, man the worker loses his greatest +motive._ Man masters nature until the forces that used to scare him +now obey; in society he labors tirelessly that his children may have a +better world. Wars come, destroying the achievements of ages; yet when +war is over, man rebuilds his cities, recreates his commerce, dreams +again his human brotherhoods, and toils on. Many motives, deep and +shallow, fine and coarse, have sustained him in this tireless work, +but when one seeks the fountain of profoundest hope in mankind's toil +he finds it in religious faith. To believe that we do not stand alone, +hopelessly pitted against the dead apathy of cosmic forces which in +the end will crush us in some solar wreck and bring our work to +naught; to believe that we are fellow-laborers with God, our human +purposes comprehended in a Purpose, God behind us, within us, ahead of +us--this incomparably has been the master-faith in man's greatest work. + +_When faith in God goes, man the sinner loses his strongest help._ For +man is a sinner. He tears his spiritual heritage to shreds in +licentiousness and drink. He wallows in vice, wins by cruelty, +violates love, is treacherous to trust. His sins clothe the world in +lamentation. Yet in him is a protest that he cannot stifle. He is the +only creature whom we know whose nature is divided against itself. He +hates his sin even while he commits it. He repents, tries again, +falls, rises, stumbles on--and in all his best hours cries out for +saviorhood. No message short of religion has ever met man's need in +this estate. That God himself is pledged to the victory of +righteousness in men and in the world, that he cares, forgives, enters +into man's struggle with transforming power, and crowns the long +endeavor with triumphant character--such faith alone has been great +enough to meet the needs of man the sinner. + +_When faith in God goes, man the sufferer loses his securest +refuge._ One who has walked with families through long illnesses +where desperate prayers rise like a fountain day and night, who has +seen strong men break down in health or lose the fortune of a +lifetime, who has stood at children's graves and heard mothers cry, +"How empty are my arms!" does not need long explication of life's +tragic suffering. The staggering blows shatter the hopes of good and +bad alike. Whether one's house be built on rock or sand, on both, as +Jesus said, the rains descend and the floods come and the winds blow. +In this experience of crushing trouble nothing but religious faith has +been able to save men from despair or from stoical endurance of their +fate. To face the loom of life and hopefully to lay oneself upon it, +as though the dark threads were as necessary in the pattern as the +light ones are, we must believe that there is a purpose running +through the stern, forbidding process. What men have needed most of +all in suffering, is not to know the explanation, but _to know that +there is an explanation_. And religious faith alone gives confidence +that human tragedy is not the meaningless sport of physical forces, +making our life what Voltaire called it, "a bad joke," but is rather a +school of discipline, the explanation of whose mysteries is in the +heart of God. No one who has lived deeply can ever call such faith a +"matter of words and names." To multitudes it is a matter of life and +death. + +_When faith in God goes, man the lover loses his fairest vision._ When +we say our worst about mankind, this redeeming truth remains, that +each of us has some one for whose sake he willingly would die. The +very love lyrics of the race are proof of this human quality, from +homely folk songs like "John Anderson, My Jo, John" to great poetry +like Mrs. Browning's sonnets. We call them secular, but they are +ineffably sacred. And when one seeks the faith that has made these +loves of men radiant with an illumination which man alone cannot +create, he finds it in religion. Love is not a transient fragrance +from matter finely organized--so men have dared believe; love is of +kin with the Eternal, has there its source and ground and destiny; +love is the very substance of reality. "God is love, and he that +abideth in love, abideth in God, and God abideth in him" (I John +4:16). Man the lover is bereft of his finest insight and love's inner +glory has departed, when that faith has gone. + +_When faith in God goes, man the mortal loses his only hope._ +Man's nature, like a lighthouse, combines two elements. At the +foundation of the beacon all is stone; as one lifts his eyes, all is +stone still; but at the top is something new and wonderful. It is the +thing for which the rock was piled. Its laws are not the laws of stone +nor are its ways the same. For while the stolid rock stands fast, this +miracle of light with speed incredible hurls itself out across the +sea. Two worlds are here, the one cold and stationary, the other full +of the marvel and mystery of fire. So man has in him a miracle which +he cannot explain; he "feels that he is greater than he knows"; and he +never has been able to believe that the mystery of spirit was given +him in vain, had no reality from which it came, and no future beyond +death. The finest thing ever said of Columbus is a remark of his own +countryman, "The instinct of an unknown continent burned in him." That +is the secret of Columbus' greatness. All the arguments by which he +attempted to convince the doubters were but afterthoughts of this; all +the labors by which he endeavored to make good his hopes were but its +consequence. And if we ask of man why so universally he has believed +in life to come, the answer leaps not superficially from the mind, but +out of the basic intuitions of man's life. We know that something is +now ours which ought not to die; the instinct of an unknown continent +burns in us. But all the hopes, the motives, the horizons that +immortality has given man must go, if faith in God departs. In a +godless world man dies forever. + +One, therefore, who is facing loss of faith may not regard it as a +light affair. To be sure, some denials of religion, even a Christian +must respect. Huxley, for example, at the death of his little boy, +wanting to believe in immortality as only a father can whose son lies +dead, yet, for all that, disbelieving, wrote to Charles Kingsley, "I +have searched over the grounds of my belief, and if wife and child and +name and fame were all to be lost to me one after another as the +penalty, still I will not lie." One respects _that_. When George John +Romanes turned his back for a while on the Christian faith, he wrote +out of his agnosticism, "When at times I think, as think at times I +must, of the appalling contrast between the hallowed glory of that +creed which once was mine, and the lonely mystery of existence as now +I find it--at such times I shall ever feel it impossible to avoid the +sharpest pang of which my nature is susceptible." One respects _that_. +But some discard religion from their life's adventure with no such +serious understanding of the import of their denial. They are pert +disbelievers. They toss faith facilely aside in a light mood. Such +frivolous sceptics indict their own intelligence. Whoever discards +religious faith should appoint a day of mourning for his soul, and put +on sackcloth and ashes. He must take from his life the greatest +thought that man the thinker ever had, the finest faith that man the +worker ever leaned upon, the surest help that man the sinner ever +found, the strongest reliance that man the sufferer ever trusted in, +the loftiest vision that man the lover ever saw, and the only hope +that man the mortal ever had. So he must deny his faith in God. Before +one thus leaves himself bereft of the faith that makes life's +adventure most worth while he well may do what Carlyle, under the +figure of Teufelsdröckh, says that he did in his time of doubt: "In +the silent night-watches, still darker in his heart than over sky and +earth, he has cast himself before the All-seeing, and with audible +prayers cried vehemently for Light." + + +V + +If minimizing the importance of religious faith is unintelligent, so +is avoiding some sort of decision about religious faith impossible. +Most of those into whose hands these studies fall will grant readily +faith's incalculable importance. Some, however, will be not helped but +plunged into deeper trouble by their consent. For they feel themselves +unable to decide about a matter which they acknowledge to be the most +important in the world. Asked whether they believe in God, they would +reply with one of Victor Hugo's characters, "Yes--No--Sometimes." They +grant that to be steadily assured of God would be an invaluable boon, +but for themselves, how can they balance the opposing arguments and +find their way to confidence? All our studies are intended for the +help of such, but at the beginning one urgent truth may well be +plainly put. However undecided they may appear, men cannot altogether +avoid decision on the main matters of religion. Life will not let +them. For while the mind may hold itself suspended between +alternatives, the adventure of life goes on, and men inevitably tend +to live either as though the Christian God were real or as though he +were not. + +Some questions allow a complete postponement of decision. As to which +of several theories about the Northern Lights may be true, a man can +hold his judgment in entire suspense. Life does not require from him +any action that depends on what he thinks of the Aurora Borealis; and +whether a man think one thing or another, no conceivable change would +be the consequence in anything he said or did. But there is another +kind of question, where, however much the mind may waver between +opinions and may resolve on indecision, life itself compels decision. +A man cannot really be agnostic and neutral on a question like the +moral law of sexual purity, for, by an irrevocable necessity, he has +to act one way or another. He may stop thinking, but he cannot stop +living. With tremendous urgency the adventure of life insistently goes +on, and it never pauses for any man to make up his mind on any +question. Therefore while a man may theoretically suspend his judgment +as to the requirements of the moral law, his life will be a loud, +convincing advertisement to all who know him that he has vitally +decided. _A man can avoid making up his mind, but he cannot avoid +making up his life._ + +Quite as truly, though, it may be, not quite as obviously, religious +questions belong to this second class. Not all questions that are +called religious belong there. With fatal pettiness religious men have +reduced the great faiths to technicalities and some beliefs called +religious a man may hold or not, with utter indifference to anything +he is or does. But on the basic attitudes of religion such as we have +just rehearsed, a man cannot be completely neutral, no matter how he +tries. Bernard Shaw's remark, "What a man believes may be ascertained +not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually +acts," should be taken to heart by any one trying to remain +religiously neutral. For one cannot by any possibility avoid +"assumptions on which he habitually acts." He tends to undertake +social service either as confident cooperation with God's purpose or +as an endeavor to make one corner of an unpurposed world as decent as +possible. He tends to follow his ideals, either as the voice of God +calling him upward, or as the work of natural selection, adjusting him +to a temporary environment. He tends to face suffering either +hopefully as a school of moral discipline, in a world presided over by +a Father, or grimly as a hardship in which there is no meaning. He +tends to face death either as the supreme adventure, full of boundless +hope, or as a final exit that leads nowhere. He may never consciously +formulate his ideas on any of these matters, he may maintain an +intellectual agnosticism, genuine and complete, but his living subtly +involves the confession of some faith. "A man's action," said Emerson, +"is only the picture-book of his creed." And the more thoughtful he +is, the more he will be aware of that unescapable tendency to confess +in his living an inward faith about life. + +One practical result of this urgent truth is too frequently seen to be +doubtful. _Those who in religion do not decide, thereby decide +against religion._ Religious faith is a positive achievement, and +he who does not deliberately choose it, loses it. A man who, rowing +down Niagara River, debates within himself whether or not he will stop +at Buffalo, and who cannot decide, thereby has decided. His +irresolution has not for a moment interfered with the steady flow of +the river, and if he but debate long enough concerning his stop at +Buffalo, he will awake to discover that he has finally decided not to +stop there. As much beyond the control of man's volition is the steady +flow of life. It pauses for no man's indecision, and if one is +irresolute about any positive, aspiring faith in any realm, his +indecisiveness is decision of a most final sort. + +This, then, is the summary of the matter. Life is a great adventure in +which faith is indispensable; in this adventure faith in God presents +the issues of transcendent import; and on these issues life itself +continuously compels decision. Our obligation is obvious--since +willy-nilly the decision must be made--to make it consciously, to +reach it by reason, not by chance, by thinking, not by drifting. If a +man is to be irreligious, let him at least know why, and not slip into +this estate, as most irreligious men do, by careless living and +frivolous thought. If a man is to be religious, let him have reason +for his choice; let his faith be founded not on credulity and chance, +but on real experience and reasonable thought. So his faith shall be +good not only for domestic consumption, but for export too--clear in +his own mind and convincing to his friends. The forms of thought shift +with the centuries and old situations cannot be repeated in detail, +but one crisis in its essential meaning is perennial: "Elijah came +near unto all the people, and said, How long go ye limping between the +two sides? if Jehovah be God follow him; but if Baal then follow him" +(I Kings 18:21). + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Faith a Road to Truth + + +DAILY READINGS + +Many minds are prevented from even a fair consideration of religious +faith by prejudices which spring, not from reasoned argument, but from +practical experience. They are biased before argument has begun; they +_feel_ that faith means credulity, and that religious faith in +particular is a surrender of reason. Before we positively present +faith as an indispensable means of dealing with reality in any realm, +let us, in the daily readings, consider some of the practical +experiences and attitudes that thus prejudice men against religion. + + +Second Week, First Day + +Many men are biased in advance by the _unwise treatment to which in +their childhood they were subjected_. Paul pictures the home life of +Timothy as ideal: + + =I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience, + how unceasing is my remembrance of thee in my supplications, night + and day longing to see thee, remembering thy tears, that I may be + filled with joy; having been reminded of the unfeigned faith that is + in thee; which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother + Eunice; and, I am persuaded, in thee also.--II Tim. 1:3-5.= + +"Unfeigned faith" is often thus a family heritage, handed down by +vital contagion. But in many homes religion is not thus beautifully +presented to the children; it is a hard and rigorous affair of dogma +and restraint. "Oh, why," said a young professional man, whom +Professor Coe quotes, "why did my parents try to equip me with a +doctrinal system in childhood? I supposed that the whole system must +be believed on pain of losing my religion altogether. And so, when I +began to doubt some points, I felt obliged to throw all overboard. I +have found my way back to positive religion, but by what a long and +bitter struggle!" If, however, one has been so unfortunate as to be +hardened in youth by unwise training, is it reasonable on that account +forever to shut himself out from the most glorious experience of man? +This complaint about mistreatment in youth is often an excuse, not a +reason for irreligion. Says Phillips Brooks: "I have grown familiar to +weariness with the self-excuse of men who say, 'Oh, if I had not had +the terrors of the law so preached to me when I was a boy, if I had +not been so confronted with the woes of hell and the awfulness of the +judgment day, I should have been religious long ago.' My friends, I +think I never hear a meaner or a falser speech than that. Men may +believe it when they say it--I suppose they do--but it is not true. It +is unmanly, I think. It is throwing on their teaching and their +teachers, or their fathers and their mothers, the fault which belongs +to their own neglect, because they have never taken up the earnest +fight with sin and sought through every obstacle for truth and God. It +has the essential vice of dogmatism about it, for it claims that a +different _view_ of God would have done for them that which no view of +God can do, that which must be done, _under any system, any teaching_, +by humility and penitence and struggle and self-sacrifice. Without +these no teaching saves the soul. With these, under any teaching, the +soul must find its Father." + + _O Thou, who didst lay the foundations of the earth amid the singing + of the morning stars and the joyful shouts of the sons of God, lift + up our little life into Thy gladness. Out of Thee, as out of an + overflowing fountain of Love, wells forth eternally a stream of + blessing upon every creature Thou hast made. If we have thought that + Thou didst call into being this universe in order to win praise and + honor for Thyself, rebuke the vain fancies of our foolish minds and + show us that Thy glory is the joy of giving. We can give Thee nothing + of our own. All that we have is Thine. Oh, then, help us to glorify + Thee by striving to be like Thee. Make us just and pure and good as + Thou art. May we be partakers of the Divine Nature, so that all that + is truly human in us may be deepened, purified, and strengthened. + And so may we be witnesses for Thee, lights of the world, reflecting + Thy light._ + + _Help us to make religion a thing so beautiful that all men may be + won to surrender to its power. Let us manifest in our lives its + sweetness and excellency, its free and ennobling spirit. Forbid that + we should go up and down the world with melancholy looks and dejected + visage, lest we should repel men from entering Thy Kingdom. Rather, + may we walk in the freedom and joy of faith, and with Thy new song in + our mouths, so that men looking on us may learn to trust and to love + Thee. Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Second Week, Second Day + +Many men are prejudiced against religion during their youthful +_period of revolt against authority_. Listen to an ancient father +talking with his sons: + + =Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father, + And attend to know understanding: + For I give you good doctrine; + Forsake ye not my law. + For I was a son unto my father, + Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. + And he taught me, and said unto me: + Let thy heart retain my words; + Keep my commandments, and live; + Get wisdom, get understanding; + Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth; + Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee; + Love her, and she will keep thee. + Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; + Yea, with all thy getting get understanding. + Exalt her, and she will promote thee; + She will bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her. + She will give to thy head a chaplet of grace; + A crown of beauty will she deliver to thee.= + + =--Prov. 4:1-9.= + +No father can read this urgent, anxious plea without understanding the +reason for its solicitude. Every boy comes to the time when he breaks +away from parental authority and begins to take his life into his own +hands. It is one of youth's great crises, and the spirit of it is +sometimes harsh and rebellious. So Carlyle describes his own +experience: "Such transitions are ever full of pain: thus the Eagle +when he moults is sickly; and, to attain his new beak, must harshly +dash-off the old one upon rocks." For religious faith this period of +life is always critical. Stevenson in his revolt, when he called +respectability "the deadliest gag and wet-blanket that can be laid on +man," also became, as he said, "a youthful atheist." How many have +traveled that road and stopped in the negation! Stevenson did not +stop, and years afterward wrote of his progress: "Because I have +reached Paris, I am not ashamed of having passed through Newhaven and +Dieppe." Surely if anyone has been "a youthful atheist," it was an +experience to be "passed through." + + _O God, we turn to Thee in the faith that Thou dost understand and + art very merciful. Some of us are not sure concerning Thee; not sure + what Thou art; not sure that Thou art at all. Yet there is something + at work behind our minds, in times of stillness we hear it, like a + distant song; there is something in the sky at evening-time; + something in the face of man. We feel that round our incompleteness + flows Thy greatness, round our restlessness Thy rest. Yet this is not + enough._ + + _We want a heart to speak to, a heart that understands; a friend to + whom we can turn, a breast on which we may lean. O that we could find + Thee! Yet could we ever think these things unless Thou hadst inspired + us, could we ever want these things unless Thou Thyself wert very + near?_ + + _Some of us know full well; but we are sore afraid. We dare not yield + ourselves to Thee, for we fear what that might mean. Our foolish + freedom, our feeble pleasures, our fatal self-indulgence suffice to + hold us back from Thee, though Thou art our very life, and we so sick + and needing Thee. Our freedom has proved false, our pleasures have + long since lost their zest, our sins, oh how we hate them!_ + + _Come and deliver us, for we have lost all hope in ourselves. + Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Second Week, Third Day + +Some men--often the precocious, clever ones--are biased against +religion because _in youth they accepted an immature philosophy of +life and have never changed it_. The crust forms too soon on some +minds, and if it forms during the period of youthful revolt, they are +definitely prejudiced against religious truth. The difference between +such folk and the great believers is not that the believers had no +doubts, but that they did not fix their final thought of life until +more mature experience had come. They fulfilled the admonition of a +wise father to keep up a tireless search for truth: + + =My son, if thou wilt receive my words, + And lay up my commandments with thee; + So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, + And apply thy heart to understanding; + Yea, if thou cry after discernment, + And lift up thy voice for understanding; + If thou seek her as silver, + And search for her as for hid treasures: + Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, + And find the knowledge of God.= + + =--Prov. 2:1-5.= + +Mrs. Charles Kingsley, for example, says of her husband that at twenty +"He was full of religious doubts; and his face, with its unsatisfied, +hungering, and at times defiant look, bore witness to the state of his +mind." At twenty-one Kingsley himself wrote: "You believe that you +have a sustaining Hand to guide you along that path, an Invisible +Protection and an unerring Guide. I, alas! have no stay for my weary +steps, but that same abused and stupefied reason which has stumbled +and wandered, and betrayed me a thousand times ere now, and is every +moment ready to faint and to give up the unequal struggle." If +Kingsley had framed his final philosophy then, what a loss to the +world of an inspiring life transfigured by Christian faith! He cried +after discernment, lifted up his voice for understanding, and he found +the knowledge of God. Many a man ought to revise in the light of +mature experience and thought a hasty irreligious guess at life's +meaning which he made in youth. + + _O Father, we turn to Thee because we are sore vexed with our own + thoughts. Our minds plague us with questionings we cannot answer; we + are driven to voyage on strange seas of thought alone. Dost Thou + disturb our minds with endless questioning, yet keep the answers + hidden in Thy heart, so that away from Thee we should always be + perplexed, and by thoughts derived from Thee be ever drawn to Thee? + Surely, our God, it must be so._ + + _But still more bitter and humbling, O Father, is our experience of + failure, so frequent, tragic, and unpardonable. We have struggled on + in vain, resolves are broken ere they pass our lips; we can see no + hope of better things, we can never forgive ourselves; and after all + our prayers our need remains and our sense of coming short but + deepens. Yet, at least we know that we have failed, and how, if + something higher than ourselves were not at work within?_ + + _Our desperate desires have driven us at last to Thee, conscious now, + after all vain effort, that it is Thyself alone can satisfy, and now + at peace to know that Thou it is who art desired, because Thou it is + who dost desire within us. Beyond our need reveal Thyself, its cause + and cure; in all desire teach us to discern Thy drawing near. + Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Second Week, Fourth Day + +Men are often prejudiced against religion because _the churches +which they happened to attend in youth urged on them an irrational +faith_. Some men never recover from the idea that all religion +everywhere must always be the same kind of religion against which in +youth their good sense rose in revolt; they are in perpetual rebellion +against religion as it was when they broke with it a generation ago. +But if one thing more than another grows, expands, becomes in the +intelligent and pure increasingly pure and intelligent, it is religion. + +Consider an early Hebrew idea of God: + + =And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that Jehovah + met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut + off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, + Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me. So he let him alone. + Then she said, A bridegroom of blood art thou, because of the + circumcision.--Exodus 4:24-26.= + +Over against so abhorrent a picture of a deity who would have +committed murder, had not a mother swiftly circumcised her son, +consider a later thought of God: + + =How think ye? if any man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be + gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go unto the + mountains, and seek that which goeth astray? And if so be that he + find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth over it more than over + the ninety and nine which have not gone astray. Even so it is not the + will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones + should perish.--Matt. 18:12-14.= + +So religion grows with man's capacity to receive higher, finer +revelations of the divine. And in no age of the world has so great a +change passed over the intellectual framework of faith as in the +generation just gone. To live in protest against forms of belief a +generation old is fighting men of straw; the vanguard of religious +thought and life has pushed ahead many a mile beyond the point of such +attack. Men who threw away the living water of the Gospel because they +disliked the water-buckets in which their boyhood churches presented +it, are living spiritually thirsty lives when there is no reasonable +need of their doing so. There is many an unbeliever with a "God-shaped +blank" in his heart, who could be a confident and joyful believer if +he only knew what religion means to men of faith today. + + _O God, who hast formed all hearts to love Thee, made all ways to + lead to Thy face, created all desire to be unsatisfied save in Thee; + with great compassion look upon us gathered here. Our presence is our + prayer, our need the only plea we dare to claim, Thy purposes the one + assurance we possess._ + + _Some of us are very confused; we do not know why we were ever born, + for what end we should live, which way we should take. But we are + willing to be guided. Take our trembling hands in Thine, and lead us + on._ + + _Some of us are sore within. We long for love and friendship, but we + care for no one and we feel that no one cares for us. We are + misunderstood, we are lonely, we have been disappointed, we have lost + our faith in man and our faith in life. Wilt Thou not let us love + Thee who first loved us?_ + + _Some of us are vexed with passions that affright us; to yield to + them would mean disaster, to restrain them is beyond our power, and + nothing earth contains exhausts their vehemence or satisfies their + fierce desire._ + + _And so because there is no answer, no end or satisfaction in + ourselves; and because we are what we are, and yet long to be so + different; we believe Thou art, and that Thou dost understand us. By + faith we feel after Thee, through love we find the way, in hope we + bring ourselves to Thee. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Second Week, Fifth Day + +Many minds are prejudiced against religion because, having gone so far +as to feel the credulity of religious belief, they have never gone +further and _seen the credulity of religious unbelief_. Irreligion +implies a creed just as surely as religion does; and many a man's +return to faith has begun when his faculties of doubt, which hitherto +had been used only against belief in God, became active against belief +in no-God. Mr. Gilbert Chesterton, with his characteristic vividness +and exaggeration, narrates such an experience: "I never read a line of +Christian apologetics. I read as little as I can of them now. It was +Huxley and Herbert Spencer and Bradlaugh who brought me back to +orthodox theology. They sowed in my mind my first wild doubts of +doubt. Our grandmothers were quite right when they said that Tom Paine +and the free-thinkers unsettled the mind. They do. They unsettled mine +horribly. The rationalist made me question whether reason was of any +use whatever; and when I had finished Herbert Spencer I had got as far +as doubting (for the first time) whether evolution had occurred at +all. As I laid down the last of Colonel Ingersoll's atheistic lectures +the dreadful thought broke across my mind, 'Almost thou persuadest me +to be a Christian.' I was in a desperate way." Lest Mr. Chesterton's +whimsicality may hide the seriousness of such an experience, we may +add that Robert Louis Stevenson's first break with his "youthful +atheism" came when, under the influence of Professor Fleeming Jenkin, +he too began to have his "first wild doubts of doubt." He began +thinking, as he says, that "certainly the church was not right, but +certainly not the anti-church either." Many a man has played unfairly +with his doubts; he has used them against religion, but not against +irreligion. When he is thorough with his doubts he may join the many +who understand what the apostle meant when he wrote to Timothy: + + =O Timothy, guard that which is committed unto thee, turning away + from the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is + falsely so called; which some professing have erred concerning the + faith.= + + =Grace be with you.--1 Tim. 6:20, 21.= + + _O God, too near to be found, too simple to be conceived, too good to + be believed; help us to trust, not in our knowledge of Thee, but in + Thy knowledge of us; to be certain of Thee, not because we feel our + thoughts of Thee are true, but because we know how far Thou dost + transcend them. May we not be anxious to discern Thy will, but + content only with desire to do it; may we not strain our minds to + understand Thy nature, but yield ourselves and live our lives only to + express Thee._ + + _Shew us how foolish it is to doubt Thee, since Thou Thyself dost set + the questions which disturb us; reveal our unbelief to be faith + fretting at its outworn form. Be gracious when we are tempted to + cease from moral strife: reveal what it is that struggles in us. + Before we tire of mental search enable us to see that it was not + ourselves but Thy call which stirred our souls._ + + _Turn us back from our voyages of thought to that which sent us + forth. Teach us to trust not to cleverness or learning, but to that + inward faith which can never be denied. Lead us out of confusion to + simplicity. Call us back from wandering without to find Thee at home + within. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Second Week, Sixth Day + +Many men are biased in favor of their habitual doubt because they do +not see that _positive faith is the only normal estate of man_. +We live not by the things of which we are uncertain, but by the things +which we verily believe. Columbus doubted many of the old views in +geography, but these negations did not make him great; his greatness +sprang from the positive beliefs which he confidently held and on +which he launched his splendid adventure. Goethe is right when he +makes Mephistopheles, his devil, say, "I am the spirit of negation," +for negation, save as it paves the way for positive conviction, always +bedevils life. The psalmist reveals the ideal experience for every +doubter. + +First, _uncertainty_: + + =But as for me, my feet were almost gone; + My steps had well nigh slipped. + For I was envious at the arrogant, + When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.= + + =--Psalm 73:2, 3.= + +Then _vision_: + + =When I thought how I might know this, + It was too painful for me; + Until I went into the sanctuary of God, + And considered their latter end.= + + =--Psalm 73:16, 17.= + +Then, _positive assurance_: + + =Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel, + And afterward receive me to glory. + Whom have I in heaven but thee? + And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. + My flesh and my heart faileth; + But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.= + + =--Psalm 73:24-26.= + +Doubt, therefore, does have real value in life; it clears away rubbish +and stimulates search for truth; but it has no value unless it is +finally swallowed up in positive assurance. So Tennyson pictures the +experience of his friend, Arthur Hallam: + + "One indeed I knew + In many a subtle question versed, + Who touch'd a jarring lyre at first, + But ever strove to make it true: + + Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds, + At last he beat his music out. + There lives more faith in honest doubt, + Believe me, than in half the creeds. + + He fought his doubts and gather'd strength, + He would not make his judgment blind, + He faced the spectres of the mind + And laid them: thus he came at length + + To find a stronger faith his own." + + _O Most Merciful, whose love to us is mighty, long-suffering, and + infinitely tender; lead us beyond all idols and imaginations of our + minds to contact with Thee the real and abiding; past all barriers of + fear and beyond all paralysis of failure to that furnace of flaming + purity where falsehood, sin, and cowardice are all consumed away. It + may be that we know not what we ask; yet we dare not ask for less._ + + _Our aspirations are hindered because we do not know ourselves. We + have tried to slake our burning thirst at broken cisterns, to comfort + the crying of our spirits with baubles and trinkets, to assuage the + pain of our deep unrest by drugging an accusing conscience, believing + a lie, and veiling the naked flame that burns within. But now we know + Thou makest us never to be content with aught save Thyself, in earth, + or heaven, or hell._ + + _Sometimes we have sought Thee in agony and tears, scanned the clouds + and watched the ways of men, considered the stars and studied the + moral law; and returned from all our search no surer and no nearer. + Yet now we know that the impulse to seek Thee came from Thyself + alone, and what we sought for was the image Thou hadst first planted + in our hearts._ + + _We may not yet hold Thee fast or feel Thee near, but we know Thou + holdest us. All is well. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Second Week, Seventh Day + +Men are often prejudiced against religion or any serious consideration +of it, because they _never have felt any vital need of God_. To study +wireless telegraphy in the safe seclusion of a college laboratory is +one thing; to hear the wireless apparatus on a floundering ship send +out its call for help across a stormy sea is quite a different matter. +Many folk have never thought of faith in God save with a mild, +intellectual curiosity; they do not know those deep experiences of +serious souls with sin and sorrow and anxiety, with burden for +great causes and desire for triumphant righteousness in men and +nations--experiences that throw men back on God as their only +sufficient refuge and hope. _Men never really find God until they need +him_; and some men never feel the need of him until life plunges them +into a shattering experience. Even in scientific research new +discoveries are made because men _want_ them, and Mayer, lighting on a +theory that proved to be of great value, says, "Engaged during a sea +voyage almost exclusively with the study of physiology, I discovered +the new theory, for the sufficient reason that I _vividly felt the +need of it_." How much more must the vital discovery of God depend on +life's conscious demand for him! And how certainly a shallow, +frivolous nature, unstirred by the deep concerns of life, is biased +against any serious interest in religious faith! Great believers have +first of all _thirsted_ for God. + + =Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that + hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk + without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that + which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? + hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let + your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto + me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting + covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.... Seek ye Jehovah + while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near: let the + wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let + him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our + God, for he will abundantly pardon.--Isa. 55:1-3, 6, 7.= + + _Grant unto us, we pray Thee, the lost hunger and thirst after + righteousness--the longing for God. Grant unto us that drawing power + by which everything that is in us shall call out for Thee. Become + necessary unto us. With the morning and evening light, at noon and at + midnight, may we feel the need of Thy companionship.... Though Thou + dost not speak as man speaks, yet Thou canst call out to us; and the + soul shall know Thy presence, and shall understand by its own self + what Thou meanest. Grant unto us this witness of the Spirit, this + communion of the soul with Thee--and not only once or twice: may we + abide in the light._ + + _Thou hast come unto Thine own; and even as of old, Thine own know + Thee not, and believe Thee not. How many are there that have learned + Thy name upon their mother's knee, but have forgotten it! How many + are there that grew up into the happiness of a childhood in which + piety presided, but have gone away, and have not come back again to + their first love and to their early faith! How many are there + marching on now in the Sahara of indifference and in the wilderness + of unbelief!... Lord, look upon them; have merciful thoughts toward + them, and issue those gracious influences of power by which what is + best in them shall lift itself up and bear witness against that which + is worst. Amen._--Henry Ward Beecher. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +We are to deal in this chapter with one of the most common experiences +of doubt and are to attempt the statement of a truth useful in meeting +it. Many minds are undone at the first symptoms of religious +uncertainty, because they suppose that their doubt is philosophical, +and they feel a paralyzing inability to deal with philosophy at all. +As men have been known to take to their beds at hearing the scientific +names of illnesses which hitherto they had patiently endured, so minds +are sometimes overwhelmed by an unsettlement of faith that takes the +name of philosophic doubt. It is well, then, early in our study, to +note the homely, familiar experience, which in most cases underlies +and helps to explain the problem of theological unrest. + +We all began, as children, with an unlimited ability to believe what +we were told. We were credulous long before we became critical. God +and Santa Claus, fairy stories and life after death--in what +beautiful, unquestioning confusion we received them all! Our thinking +was altogether imitative, as our talking was. From the existence of +Kamchatka to the opinion that it was wrong to lie, we had no +independent knowledge of our own. Reliance on authority was our only +road to truth. One prescription was adequate for every need of +information: ask our parents and be told. + +This situation was the occasion of our first unsettlement of faith: we +discovered the fallibility of our parents. They failed to tell us what +we asked, or we found to be untrue what they had said, or they +themselves confessed how much they did not know. To some this was a +shock, the memory of which has never been forgotten. Edmund Gosse, the +literary critic, tells us that up to his sixth year he thought that +his father knew everything. Then came the fateful crisis when his +father wrongly reported an incident which Edmund himself had +witnessed. "Nothing could possibly have been more trifling to my +parents," he writes, "but to me it meant an epoch. Here was the +appalling discovery never suspected before that my father was not as +God and did not know everything. The shock was not caused by any +suspicion that he was not telling the truth, as it appeared to him, +but by the awful proof that he was not, as I had supposed, +omniscient." By most of us, however, the transfer of our faith from +our parents' authority to some other basis of belief was easily +accomplished. We found ourselves resting back on the priest or the +church or the creed or the Bible. Still our convictions were not +independently our own; we had never fought for them or thought them +through; they were founded on the say-so of authority. What we wished +to know we asked another, and what was told us we implicitly believed. + +The time inevitably comes, however, to a normally developing mind, +when such an attitude of unquestioning credulity becomes impossible. +The curious "Why?" of the growing child, that began in early years to +besiege all statements of fact, now ranges out to call in question the +propositions of religious faith. For long-accepted truths, from the +rotundity of the earth to the existence of God, the enlarging +intellect wants reasons rather than dogmas. So normal is this period +of interrogation that it is regularly slated on the timetables of +psychological development. Starbuck fixes the average age of the doubt +period at about eighteen years for boys and about fifteen for girls. + +At whatever time and in whatever special form this period of doubt +arises, the characteristic quality of its outcome is easily described. +In the end the fully awakened mind is ill content to accept any +authoritative statements that he dare not question or deny. He resents +having a quotation from any source waved like a revolver in his face +with the demand that he throw up his intellectual hands. No more in +religion than in politics does he incline to stand before infallibility, +like the French peasants before Louis XI, saying, "Sire, what are our +opinions?" He claims his right to question everything, to make every +truth advance and give the countersign of reasonableness, to weigh all +propositions in the scales of his own thinking, and if he is to love +the Lord his God at all, to do it, not with all his credulity, but, as +Jesus said, with all his mind. + +Biography reveals how many of the great believers have passed through +this youthful period of rebellion against accepted tradition and have +suffered serious religious unsettlement in the process. Robert +Browning tells us that as a boy he was "passionately religious." When +his period of questioning and revolt arrived, however, it carried him +so far that he was publicly rebuked in church for intentional +misbehavior, and in his sixteenth year, under the influence of +Shelley's "Queen Mab," he declared himself an atheist. But in his +"Pauline," written when he was twenty-one, the direction in which his +quest was leading him was plain: + + "I have always had one lode-star; now + As I look back, I see that I have halted + Or hastened as I looked towards that star-- + A need, a trust, a yearning after God." + +And when he grew to his maturity, had left his early credulousness +with the revolt that followed it far behind and had used his +independent thinking to productive purpose, from what a height of +splendid faith did he look back upon that youthful period of storm and +stress which he called "the passionate, impatient struggles of a boy +toward truth and love"! + +Henry Ward Beecher's intellectual revolution was postponed until he +had entered the theological seminary. "I was then twenty years old," +he writes, "and there came a great revulsion in me from all this +inchoate, unregulated, undirected experience. My mind took one +tremendous spring over into scepticism, and I said: 'I have been a +fool long enough--I will not stir one step further than I can see my +way, and I will not stand a moment where I cannot see the truth. I +will have something that is sure and steadfast.' Having taken that +ground, I was in that state of mind for the larger part of two years." +A wholesome restraint upon the wild perversions, the anarchic denials, +the abysmal despairs of this period of life is the clear recognition +that in some form it is one of the commonest experiences of man. + + +II + +The treatment accorded to a youth who is passing through this +difficult adjustment often determines, in a fine or lamentable way, +his subsequent attitude towards religion. _Negative repression of real +questions is of all methods the most fatal, whether it be practiced on +the youth by others or by the youth upon himself._ "I have not been in +church for twenty years," said a college graduate. "Why?" was the +inquiry. "Because in college I learned from geology through how many +ages this earth was slowly being built. Troubled by the conflict +between this new knowledge and my early training, I went to my +minister. He said that the Bible told us the earth was made in six +days and that I must accept that on faith. That's why." Thousands of +men are religious wrecks today because, when the issue was raised in +their thinking between their desire for a reason and their traditional +beliefs, they were told that to ask a reason is sin. George Eliot's +experience unhappily is not unique. Just when in girlhood her mind was +waking to independent thought, a book now long unread, Hennell's +"Inquiry Concerning the Origin of Christianity," convinced her +immature judgment that her early credulity had been blind. No one was +at hand to state the faith in a reasonable way or to meet, not by +denying but by using her right to think, the attacks of Hennell, which +now are forgotten in their futility. She never came through her +youthful unsettlement. Years after, F. W. H. Myers wrote: "I remember +how at Cambridge I walked with her once in the Fellows' Garden of +Trinity, on an evening of rainy May, and she, stirred somewhat beyond +her wont, and taking as her text the three words which have been used +so often as the inspiring trumpet calls of men--the words God, +Immortality, Duty--pronounced with terrible earnestness, how +inconceivable was the first, how unbelievable was the second, and how +peremptory and absolute the third. Never, perhaps, had sterner accents +affirmed the sovereignty of impersonal and unrecompensing law. I +listened and night fell; her grave, majestic countenance turned toward +me like a Sibyl's in the gloom; it was as though she withdrew from my +grasp one by one the two scrolls of promise, and left me the third +scroll only, awful with inevitable fate." + +In this period of readjustment, whether one is the youth in the midst +of the struggle or the solicitous friend endeavoring to help, one most +needs a clear perception of the ideal outcome of such intellectual +unrest. Let us attempt a picture of that ideal. The youth who long has +taken on his parents' say-so the most important convictions that the +soul can hold, or who, with no care to think or question for himself, +has looked to Book or Church for all that he believed about God, now +feels within him that intellectual awakening that cannot be quieted by +mere authority. He long has taken his truth preserved by others' +hands; now he desires to pick it for himself, fresh from the living +tree of knowledge. His declaration of independence from subjection to +his parents or his Church is not at first irreverent desire to +disbelieve; it is rather desire to enter into the Samaritans' +experience when they said to the woman who first had told them about +Jesus: "Now we believe, not because of _thy_ speaking; for we have +_heard for ourselves_, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the +world" (John 4:41). The youth turns from second-hand rehearsal of the +truth to seek a first-hand, original acquaintance with it. As he began +in utter financial dependence on his father, then made a bit of +spending money of his own, and at last moved out to make his living, +ashamed to be a pensioner and parasite when he should be carrying +himself, so from his old, intellectual dependence the youth passes to +a fine responsibility for his own thinking and belief. He knows that +such transitions, whether financial or intellectual, generally mean +stress and perplexity, but if he is to be a man the youth must +venture. + +In this transition beliefs will certainly be modified. Not only do +forms of religious thinking shift and change with the passing +generations, but individuals differ in their powers to see and +understand. Religious faith, like water, takes shape from the +receptacles into whose unique nooks and crannies it is poured. If the +truth which the youth possesses is to be indeed his own, it will +surely differ from the truth which once he learned, by as much as his +mind and his experience differ from his father's. Even in the New +Testament one can easily distinguish James' thought from Paul's and +John's from Peter's. But change of form need not mean loss of value. +To pass by fine gradations from unquestioning credulity to thoughtful +faith is not impossible. Thus a boy learns to swim with his father's +hands beneath him and passes so gradually from reliance upon another +to independent power to swim alone that he cannot tell when first the +old support was quietly withdrawn. + +Thus ideally pictured, this transition is nothing to be feared; it is +one of life's steps to spiritual power. This period of questioning and +venture we have called the passage from credulity to independence, but +its significance is deeper than those words imply. _It is the passage +from hearsay to reality._ Of all inward intimate experiences, religion +reaches deepest and is least transferable. It is as incommunicable as +friendship. A father may commend a comrade to his son and lay bare his +own deep friendship with the man, but if the son himself does not see +the value there nor for himself in loyalty and love make self +surrender, the father can do nothing more. Friendship cannot be +carried on by proxy. One can as easily breathe for another as in +another's place be loyal to a friend or trust in God. + +When, therefore, the youth moves out from mere dependence on his +father, his Bible, or his Church to see and know God in his own right, +he is fulfilling the end of all religion. _For this his father +taught him, for this the Book was written and the Church was +founded._ As George Macdonald put it, "Each generation must do its +own seeking and finding. The father's having found is only the warrant +for the children's search." Said Goethe: "What you have inherited from +your fathers you must earn for yourself before you can call it yours." +This individual experience makes religion real, and the "awkward age" +of the spirit when the old security of credulous belief has gone and +the new assurance of personal conviction has not yet fully come, is a +small price to pay for the sense of reality that enters into religion +when a man for himself knows God. Such is the ideal transition from +credulity to independence, from hearsay to reality. + + +III + +One fallacy which disastrously affects many endeavors after this ideal +transition is the prejudice that, since faith has hitherto in the +youth's experience meant credulous acceptance of another's say-so, +faith always must mean that. Faith and credulity appear to him +identical. In "Alice through the Looking Glass" the Queen asserts that +she is a hundred and one years, five months, and one day old. "I can't +believe that," said Alice. "Can't you?" said the Queen. "Try again, +draw a long breath and shut your eyes." So blind, irrational, and +wilful does faith seem to many! So far from being an essential part +of all real knowledge, therefore, faith seems to stand in direct +contrast with knowledge, and this impression is deepened by our common +phraseology. Tennyson, for example, sings: + + "We have but faith: we cannot know; + For knowledge is of things we see." + +Before there can be any profitable discussion of religious belief, +therefore, we need to see that faith is one of the chief ways in which +continually we deal with reality; it is a road to truth, without which +some truth never can be reached at all. The reason for its +inevitableness in life is not our lack of knowledge, but rather that +faith is as indispensable as logical demonstration in any real knowing +of the world. Behind all other words to be said about our subject lies +this fundamental matter: _faith is not a substitute for truth, but a +pathway to truth; there are realities which without it never can be +known_. + +For one thing, no one can know _persons_ without faith. The world +of people, without whom if a man could live, he would be, as Aristotle +said, either a brute or a god, is closed in its inner meaning to a +faithless mind. Entrance into another life with insight and +understanding is always a venture of trust. We cry vainly like Cassim +before the magic cave, "Open, Barley," if we try to penetrate the +secrets of a human personality without sympathy, loyalty, faith. These +alone cry "Open, Sesame." + +Surely this knowledge of persons, impossible without faith, is as +important as any which we possess. While the physical universe +furnishes the general background of our existence, the immediate world +in which we really live is personal, made up of people whom we fear or +love, by whom we are cheered, admonished, hurt, and comforted. "The +world is so waste and empty," cried Goethe, "when we figure but towns +and hills and rivers in it, but to know that someone is living on it +with us, even in silence--this makes our earthly ball a peopled +garden." A solitary Robinson Crusoe would give up any other knowledge, +if in return he could know even a benighted savage like Friday. But +even a savage cannot be known by logical demonstration. Crusoe could +so have learned some things, but when he wanted to know Friday, he +came by way of adventures in confidence, personal trust and +self-commitment, growing reliance and appreciative insight, assured +loyalty and faith. He _knew_ whom he had _believed_. + +Moreover, such knowledge of persons is as solid as it is important. +That two plus two make four cannot be gainsaid, and doubtless no other +kinds of information can be quite so absolute as mathematical +theorems. But when one thinks of a comrade, long loved and trusted +until he is known through and through, for practical purposes one can +think of nothing more stable than his knowledge of his friend. The +plain fact is that we _do_ know people, know them well, and that +this knowledge never has been or can be a matter of logical +demonstration. By taking Arthur Hallam to pieces and analyzing him, +the inductive mind might work out all the laws that are involved in +Arthur Hallam's constitution; but that mind with all its knowledge +would not know Arthur Hallam. Tennyson's "In Memoriam," however, makes +clear that knowledge of a friend is not interdicted because scientific +demonstration cannot supply it. Tennyson knew Hallam well, and this +knowledge, far more solid and significant than most other information +he possessed, was not achieved by grinding laws out of facts; it came, +as all such knowledge comes, by faith. + +As one considers what this understanding of the personal world, seen +with the open eyes of trust and loyalty, means to us, how assured it +is, how it enriches and deepens life, he perceives that here at least +faith is something far more than a stop-gap for ignorance, a dream, a +fantasy. It is positively a pathway to truth. + +There is another realm where faith is our only way of dealing with +reality; by it alone can we know _the possibilities of individuals and +of society_. We are well assured now in the United States that the +nation can be economically prosperous without slavery. But sixty years +ago plenty of people were assured of the contrary, were convinced that +if the abolitionists succeeded we could not economically endure. How +did we come by this significant knowledge that the immoral system was +dispensable? Not by logical demonstration. The economists of most of +our universities logically demonstrated that slavery was essential. +_Faith was the pathway to the truth._ Faith that a new order minus +slavery was possible gained adherents, grew in certainty with access +of new believers, fed its followers on hopes unrealized but +passionately believed in, until _faith became experiment, and +experiment became experience, and experience brought forth +knowledge_. The nation trusted and tried. This is the only way to +truth in the realm of moral possibilities. If the world were finished, +its _i's_ all dotted and its _t's_ all crossed, we might exist on that +sort of descriptive science that finds the facts and plots their laws. +But the world is in the making; what is _actual_ is not quite so +important to us as what is _possible_; we live, as Wordsworth sings, +in + + "Hope that can never die, + Effort and expectation and desire, + And something evermore about to be." + +To endeavor to satisfy man, therefore, with descriptions of the actual +is preposterous. The innermost meaning of personal and social life +lies in the contrast between what we are and what we may become. +Beyond the achieved present and the demonstrable future, stands the +ideal, whose possibility we can never know as a truth without faith +enough to try. + +When, therefore, one hears disparagement of faith as a poor makeshift +for knowledge, he may be pardoned a sharp rejoinder. When has man ever +found solid knowledge in this most important realm of human +possibilities, without faith as the pioneer? We do not know first and +then supply by belief what knowledge lacks. _We believe first, as +Columbus did, and then find new continents because what faith first +suggested a great venture has confirmed._ When Stephenson proposed to +run a steam car forty miles an hour, a host of wise-acres proved the +feat impossible on the ground that no one could move through the air +so rapidly and still survive. If now we know that one easily survives +a speed of over a hundred miles an hour in an aeroplane, it is because +a faith that _saw_ and _dared_ introduced us to the information. We +know now that democracy is not a futile dream, nor the conquest of the +air by wireless and of the land by electricity a madman's frenzy; we +know truths of highest import and certainty from the usefulness of +radium to the wisdom of religious liberty, and all this knowledge +existed as belief in possibility before it became truth in fact. Faith +was "assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen" +(Hebrews 11:1). Faith is no makeshift. Its power is nowhere felt more +effectively than in the achievement of knowledge. + + +IV + +So far is faith, then, from being blind credulity, that it alone +deserves to be called the Great Discoverer. Everywhere faith goes +before as a pioneer and the more prosaic faculties of the mind come +after to civilize the newly opened territory. In the evolution of the +senses touch developed first. All the knowledge that any creature had, +concerned the tangible. But in time other senses came. Dimly and +uncertainly creatures discerned by hearing and seeing the existence of +distant objects. They became aware of presences which as yet they +could not touch; they were furnished with clues, in following which +they found as real what at first had been intangible. Such a relation +faith bears to knowledge. Faith, said Clement of Alexandria, is the +"ear of the soul." Said Ruskin, faith is "veracity of insight." By it +we hear what as yet we cannot touch and see what the arms of our logic +are not long enough to reach. + +All the elemental, primary facts of life are faith's discoveries; we +have no other means of finding them. By faith we discover our +_selves_. We do not hold back from living until we can prove that +we exist. We never can strictly prove that we exist. The very self +that we are trying to demonstrate would have to be used in the +demonstration. We have no other way of getting at ourselves except to +take ourselves for granted--accepting + + "This main miracle that you are you, + With power on your own act and on the world." + +As Mr. Chesterton remarked, "You cannot call up any wilder vision than +a city in which men ask themselves if they have any selves." By faith +all men go out to live as though their selves were real. + +By faith we accept the existence of the _outer world_. We do not +restrain ourselves from acting as though the physical world were +really there, until we can prove it. We never can strictly prove it; +perhaps it is not there at all. When through a microscope an Indian +was shown germs in the Ganges' water, to convince him of the peril of +its use, he broke the instrument with his cane, as though when the +microscope was gone, the facts had vanished too. In his philosophy all +that we see is illusion. Perhaps this is true--the world a phantasm +and our minds fooling us. But none of us believes it. And we do not +believe it because we live by faith--the elemental faith on which all +common sense and science rest and without which man's thought and work +would halt--that our senses and our minds tell us the truth. "It is +idle to talk always of the alternative of reason and faith. _Reason +itself is a matter of faith._ It is an act of faith to assert that +one's thoughts have any relation to reality at all." + +By faith we even discover the _universe_. We cannot think of the +world as a multiverse; we always think of it as having unity, and we +do so whether as scientists we talk about the uniformity of nature, or +as Christians we speak of one Creator. Not only, however, can no one +demonstrate that this is a universe; _it positively does not look as +though it were_. Opposing powers snarl at each other and clash in a +disorder that gives to the casual observer not the slightest +intimation that any unity is there. Thunder storms and little babies, +volcanoes and Easter lilies, immeasurable nebulæ in the heavens and +people getting married on the earth--what indescribable contrasts and +confusions! Still we insist on thinking unity into this seeming +anomaly, and out of it we wrest scientific doctrines about the +uniformity of law. As Professor James, of Harvard, put it, "The +principle of uniformity in nature has to be _sought_ under and in +spite of the most rebellious appearances; and our conviction of its +truth is far more like religious faith than like assent to a +demonstration." + +One might suppose that beliefs so assumed and so incapable of adequate +demonstration would make the knowledge based upon them insecure. _But +the fact is that all our surest knowledge is thus based on assumptions +that we cannot prove._ "As for the strong conviction," Huxley says, +"that the cosmic order is rational, and the faith that throughout all +duration, unbroken order has reigned in the universe, I not only +accept it, but I am disposed to think it the most important of all +truths." Faith then, in Huxley's thought, is not a makeshift when +knowledge fails. Rather by faith we continually are getting at the +most important realities with which we deal. As Prof. Ladd, of Yale, +impatiently exclaims: "The rankest agnostic is shot through and +through with all the same fundamental intellectual beliefs, all the +same unescapable rational faiths, about the reality of the self and +about the validity of its knowledge. You cannot save science and +destroy all faith. You cannot sit on the limb of the tree while you +tear it up by the roots." + + +V + +If faith is thus the pioneer that leads us to knowledge of persons and +of moral possibilities; if by faith we discover our selves, the outer +world's existence and its unity, why should we be surprised that faith +is our road to God? Superficial deniers of religion not infrequently +seek the discredit of a Christian's trust by saying that God is only a +matter of faith. To which the Christian confidently may answer: Of +course God is a matter of faith. Faith is always the Great Discoverer. + +A man finds God as he finds an earthly friend. He does not go apart in +academic solitude to consider the logical rationality of friendship, +until, intellectually convinced, he coolly arms himself with a Q. E. +D. and goes out to hunt a comrade. Friendship is never an adventure of +logic; it is an adventure of life. It is arrived at by what Emerson +called the "untaught sallies of the spirit." We fall in love, it may +be with precipitant emotion; our instincts and our wills are first +engaged; the whole personality rises up in hunger to claim the +affection that it needs and without which life seems unsupportable; +faith, hope, and love engage in a glorious venture, where logic plays +a minor part. But to make friendship rational, to give it poise, to +trace its origins and laws, to clarify, chasten, and direct--this is +the necessary work of thought. Faith discovers and reveals; reason +furnishes criticism, confirmation, and discipline. + +So men find God. They are hungry for him not in intellect alone, but +with all their powers. They feel with Tolstoi: "I remembered that I +only _lived_ at those times when I believed in God." They need him to +put sense and worth and hope into life. As with the reality of +persons, the validity of knowledge, the unity of the world, so in +religion the whole man rises up to claim the truth without which life +is barren, meaningless. His best convictions at the first are all of +them insights of the spirit, affirmations of the _man_. But behind, +around and through them all play clarifying thoughts, and reasons come +to discipline and to confirm. But the reasons by themselves could not +have found God. Faith is the Great Discoverer. + + "Oh! world, thou choosest not the better part, + It is not wisdom to be only wise, + And on the inward vision close the eyes; + But it is wisdom to believe the heart. + Columbus found a world and had no chart + Save one that Faith deciphered in the skies; + To trust the soul's invincible surmise + Was all his science and his only art. + Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine + That lights the pathway but one step ahead + Across the void of mystery and dread. + Bid then the tender light of Faith to shine + By which alone the mortal heart is led + Into the thinking of the thought Divine."[1] + +[1] Professor Santayana, of Harvard. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Faith in the Personal God + + +DAILY READINGS + +We are to consider this week the Christian faith that God is personal. +Before, however, we deal with the arguments which may confirm our +confidence in such a faith, or even with the explanations that may +clarify our conception of its meaning, let us, in the daily readings, +consider _some of the familiar attitudes in every normal human life, +that require God's personality for their fulfilment_. Men have +believed in a personal God because their own nature demanded it. + + +Third Week, First Day + +Men have believed in a personal God because of a _deep desire to think +of creation as friendly_. F. W. Myers, when asked what question he +would put to the Sphinx, if he were given only one chance, replied +that he would ask, "Is the universe friendly?" Some have tried to +think of creation as an enemy which we must fight, as though in +Greenland we strove to make verdure grow, although the soil and +climate were antagonistic. Some have tried to think creation neutral, +an impersonal system of laws and forces, which we must impose our will +upon as best we can, although in the end the system is sure to outlast +all our efforts and to bring our gains to naught. But at the heart of +man is an irresistible desire to think creation a friend, with whose +good purposes our wills can be aligned, and whose power can carry our +efforts to victorious ends. Says Gilbert Murray, of Oxford University, +"As I see philosophy after philosophy falling into this unproven +belief in the Friend behind phenomena, as I find that I myself cannot, +except for a moment and by an effort, refrain from making the same +assumption, it seems to me that perhaps here too we are under the +spell of a very old ineradicable instinct." _But friends are always +persons, and if creation is friendly then God is in some sense +personal._ This faith is the radiant center of the Gospel. + + =But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and + having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy + Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee. And in praying use + not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they + shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto + them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye + ask him. 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. For if ye forgive + men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive + you.--Matt. 6:6-14.= + + _O Lord, we would rest in Thee, for in Thee alone is true rest to be + found. We would forget our disappointed hopes, our fruitless efforts, + our trivial aims, and lean on Thee, our Comfort and our Strength. + When the order of this world bears cruelly upon us; when Nature seems + to us an awful machine, grinding out life and death, without a reason + or a purpose; when our hopes perish in the grave where we lay to rest + our loved dead: O what can we do but turn to Thee, whose law + underlieth all, and whose love, we trust, is the end of all? Thou + fillest all things with Thy presence, and dost press close to our + souls. Still every passion, rebuke every doubt, strengthen every + element of good within us, that nothing may hinder the outflow of Thy + life and power. In Thee, let the weak be full of might, and let the + strong renew their strength. In Thee, let the tempted find succor, + the sorrowing consolation, and the lonely and the neglected their + Supreme Friend, their faithful Companion._ + + _O Lord, we are weary of our old, barren selves. Separate us from our + spiritual past, and quicken within us the seeds of a new future. + Transform us by the breath of Thy regenerating power, that life may + seem supremely beautiful and duty our highest privilege, and the only + real evil a guilty conscience. Let us be no longer sad, or downcast, + or miserable, or despairing, vexed by remorse, or depressed by our + failures. Take from us the old self. Give us a new self, beautiful, + vigorous, and joyous. Let old things pass away and let all things + become new. Kindle within us a flame of heavenly devotion, so that to + us work for Thee shall become a happiness, and rest in Thee shall + become an energy, unchecked by fears within and foes without. Give us + love, and then we shall have more than all we need, for Thou art + Love, Thyself the Giver and the Gift. Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Third Week, Second Day + + =Bless Jehovah, O my soul; + And all that is within me, bless his holy name. + Bless Jehovah, O my soul, + And forget not all his benefits: + Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; + Who healeth all thy diseases; + Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; + Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; + Who satisfieth thy desire with good things, + So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle.= + + =--Psalm 103:1-5.= + +Such an attitude of thankfulness as this psalm represents is native to +man's heart. When he is glad he feels grateful: he has an irrepressible +impulse to thank somebody. As between a boastful Nebuchadnezzar--"This +great Babylon which I have built ... by the might of my power and for +the glory of my majesty" (Dan. 4:30)--and the Master, grateful for the +dawning success of his cause--"I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven +and earth" (Matt. 11:25)--we can have no doubt which is the nobler +attitude. Man at his best always looks upon his blessings as gifts, +his powers as entrustments, his service as a debt which he owes, and +his success as an occasion of gratitude rather than pride. _But we +cannot be really thankful to impersonal power._ Little children blame +chairs for their falls and thank apple trees for their apples, but +maturity outgrows the folly of accusing or blessing impersonal things. +Thankfulness, in any worthy interpretation of the term, can never be +felt except toward friendly persons who _intended the blessing_ for +which we are glad. A thoughtful man, therefore, cannot be grateful to +a godless world-machine, even though it has treated him well, for the +world-machine never purposed to treat him well and his happiness is a +lucky accident, with no good will to thank for it. Haeckel says that +there is no God--only "mobile, cosmic ether." Imagine a congregation +of people, under Haeckel's leadership, rising to pray, "O Mobile +Cosmic Ether, blessed be thy name!" It is absurd. _Unless God is +personal, the deepest meanings of gratitude in human hearts for life +and its benedictions have no proper place in the universe._ + + _O God above all, yet in all; holy beyond all imagination, yet friend + of sinners; who inhabitest the realms of unfading light, yet leadest + us through the shadows of mortal life; how solemn and uplifting it is + even to think upon Thee! Like sight of sea to wearied eyes, like a + walled-in garden to the troubled mind, like home to wanderer, like a + strong tower to a soul pursued; so to us is the sound of Thy name._ + + _But greater still to feel Thee in our heart; like a river glorious, + cleansing, healing, bringing life; like a song victorious, comforting + our sadness, banishing our care; like a voice calling us to battle, + urging us beyond ourselves._ + + _But greater far to know Thee as our Father, as dear as Thou art + near; and ourselves begotten of Thy love, made in Thy image, cared + for through all our days, never beyond Thy sight, never out of Thy + thought._ + + _To think of Thee is rest; to know Thee is eternal life; to see Thee + is the end of all desire; to serve Thee is perfect freedom and + everlasting joy. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Third Week, Third Day + + =Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: + According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my + transgressions. + Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, + And cleanse me from my sin. + For I know my transgressions; + And my sin is ever before me. + Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, + And done that which is evil in thy sight.= + + =--Psalm 51:1-4.= + +Penitence is one of the profoundest impulses in man's heart. And man +at his deepest always feels about his sin as the Psalmist did: he has +wronged not only this individual or that, but he has sinned against +the whole structure of life, against whatever Power and Purpose may be +behind life, and his penitence is not complete until he cries to the +Highest, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned." While men, +therefore, have always asked each other for forgiveness, they have as +well asked God for it. _But such an attitude is utterly irrational if +God is not personal._ Persons alone care what we do, have purposes +that our sins thwart, have love that our evil grieves, have compassion +to forgive the penitent; and to confess sin to a world-machine--careless, +purposeless, loveless, and without compassion--is folly. Yesterday we +saw how impossible it was really to feel grateful to a materialist's +god; today imagine congregations of people addressing to the Cosmic +Ether any such penitent confessions as Christians by multitudes +continually address to their Father: "We have erred and strayed from +Thy ways like lost sheep." _Plainly in a world where creative power is +impersonal the deepest meanings of penitence have no place._ Read over +the prayer that follows, considering the futility of addressing such a +penitent aspiration to anything impersonal; and then really pray it to +the God whom Christ revealed: + + _We beseech Thee, Lord, to behold us with favor, folk of many + families and nations gathered together in the peace of this roof, + weak men and women subsisting under the covert of thy patience. Be + patient still; suffer us yet awhile longer--with our broken purposes + of good, with our idle endeavors against evil, suffer us awhile + longer to endure and (if it may be) help us to do better. Bless to us + our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these must be taken, + brace us to play the man under affliction. Be with our friends, be + with ourselves. Go with each of us to rest; if any awake, temper to + them the dark hours of watching; and when the day returns, return to + us, our sun and comforter, and call us up with morning faces and with + morning hearts--eager to labor--eager to be happy, if happiness shall + be our portion--and if the day be marked for sorrow, strong to endure + it._ + + _We thank Thee and praise Thee; and in the words of him to whom this + day is sacred, close our oblation. Amen._--Robert Louis Stevenson.[2] + + +Third Week, Fourth Day + + =Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, + that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.--Rom. + 15:13.= + + =For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for + who hopeth for that which he seeth? But if we hope for that which we + see not, then do we with patience wait for it.--Rom. 8:24, 25.= + +Hope is no fringe on the garment of human life; it is part of the +solid texture of our experience; without it men may exist, but they +cannot live. Now some minds live by hope about tomorrow, or at the +most, the day after tomorrow, and do not take long looks ahead. But as +men grow mature in thoughtfulness, such small horizons no longer can +content their minds; they seek a basis for hope about the far issue of +man's struggle and aspiration. They cannot bear to think that creation +lacks a "far-off divine event"; they cannot tolerate a universe that +in the end turns out to be + + "An eddy of purposeless dust, + Effort unmeaning and vain." + +_But it is obvious that if God is not in control of creation, with +personal purpose of good will, directing its course, there is no solid +basis for hope._ If the universe is in the hands of physical +forces, then a long look ahead reveals a world collapsing about a cold +sun, and humanity annihilated in the wreck. Some such finale is the +inevitable end of a godless world. As another pictures it, mankind, +like a polar bear on an ice floe that is drifting into warmer zones, +will watch in growling impotence the steady dwindling of his home, +until he sinks in the abyss. All optimistic philosophies of life have +been founded on faith in a personal God, who purposes good to his +children, and without such faith no hope, with large horizons, is +reasonable. Paul is fair to the facts when he says, "Having no hope +and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). When one asks why men have +believed in a personal God, this clearly is part of the answer: only a +personal God can be "the God of hope." + + _O God of heaven above and earth beneath! Thou art the constant hope + of every age--the reliance of them that seek Thee with + thoughtfulness and love. We own Thee as the guardian of our + pilgrimage; and when our steps are weary we turn to Thee, the mystic + companion of our way, whose mercy will uphold us lest we fall. Thou + layest on us the burden of labor throughout our days; but in this + sacred hour Thou dost lift off our load, and make us partakers of Thy + rest. Thou ever faithful God, our guide by cloud and fire! without + this blest repose our life were but a desert path; here we abide by + the refreshing spring, and pitch our tents with joy around Thy holy + hill. Yet when we seek to draw nigh to Thee, Thou art still above us, + like the heavens. O Thou that remainest in the height, and coverest + Thyself with the cloud thereof! behold, we stand around the mountain + where Thou art; and if Thou wilt commune with us, the thunder from + Thy voice of love shall not make us afraid. Call up a spirit from our + midst to serve Thy will; and take away the veil from all our hearts, + that with the eye of purity we may look on the bright and holy + countenance of life. And when we go hence to resume our way, may it + be with nobler spirits, with more faithful courage, and more generous + will. For life and death we trust ourselves to Thee as disciples of + Jesus Christ. Amen._--James Martineau. + + +Third Week, Fifth Day + + =Jehovah is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: + Thou maintainest my lot. + The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; + Yea, I have a goodly heritage. + I will bless Jehovah, who hath given me counsel; + Yea, my heart instructeth me in the night seasons. + I have set Jehovah always before me: + Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. + Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: + My flesh also shall dwell in safety. + For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol; + Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. + Thou wilt show me the path of life: + In thy presence is fulness of joy; + In thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.= + + =--Psalm 16:5-11.= + +Many things in human life bring joy. From the sense of a healthy body +and the exhilaration of a sunshiny day to the deep satisfactions of +home and friends--there are numberless sources of happiness. But man +has always been athirst to find joy in thinking about the total +meaning of life. Lacking that, the details of life lose radiance, for, +in spite of himself, man + + "Hath among least things + An undersense of greatest; sees the parts + As parts, but with a feeling of the whole." + +If when he thinks about God, he can, like this psalmist, rejoice in +the love behind life, the good purpose through it, the glorious future +ahead of it, then all his other blessings are illumined. Not only are +there happy things _in life_, but _life itself_ is fundamentally +blessed. But if when he raises his thought to the Eternal, he has no +joyful thoughts about it, sees no love or purpose there, then a pall +falls on even his ordinary happiness. Alas for that man who does not +like to think about life's origin and destiny and meaning, because he +has no joyful faith about God! Some men have what Epictetus called +"paralysis of the soul" every time they think of creation, for to them +it is a huge physical machine crashing on without reason or good will. +But some men have such a joyful faith in the divine that their +gladness about the whole of life redeems their sorrow about its +details. So Samuel Rutherford in prison said, "Jesus Christ came into +my room last night and every stone flashed like a ruby." For the +thought of God in terms of friendly personality is the most joyful +idea of him that man has ever had. Man's thirst for joy is one of the +sources of his faith in a personal God. He has wanted what Paul called +"joy and peace in believing" (Rom. 15:13). + + _We rejoice, O Lord our God, not in ourselves nor in the firm earth + on which we tread, nor in the household, nor in the church, nor in + all the procession of things where mankind moves with power and + glory. We rejoice in the Lord. We rejoice in Thy strength. A strange + joy it is. Day by day we find ourselves breaking out into gladness + through the ministration of the senses, and by the play of inward + thought; but Thou art never beheld by us.... Thou never speakest to + us, nor do we feel Thy hand, nor do we discern Thy face of love and + glory and power. We break away from all other experiences, and look + up into the emptiness, as it seems to us, which yet is full of life; + into that which seems cold and void, but wherein moves eternal power; + into the voiceless and inscrutable realm where Thou dwellest, God + over all, blessed forever.... O Lord our God, how near Thou art to + us! and we do not know it. How near is the other life! and we do not + feel it. It clothes us as with a garment. It feeds us. It shines down + upon us. It rejoices over us.... Thither, out of narrow and + anguishful ways, out of sorrows, out of regrets, out of bereavements, + we look; and already we are rested before we reach it._ + + _Grant unto us, today, we beseech Thee, this beatific vision. + Amen._--Henry Ward Beecher. + + +Third Week, Sixth Day + + =For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are + ye not men? What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through + whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him. I planted, + Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he + that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth + the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: but + each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we + are God's fellow-workers: ye are God's husbandry, God's building.--I + Cor. 3:4-9.= + +One of the profoundest motives that can grip man's heart is the +conviction that he is a fellow-worker with the Divine. To feel that +there is a great Cause, on behalf of which God himself is concerned, +and in the furtherance of which we can be God's instruments and +confederates, is the most exhilarating outlook on life conceivable. +Even people who deny God try to get this motive for themselves. One +such man hopes for the success of his favorite causes in "the tendency +of the universe"; another talks about "the nature of things taking +sides." _But nothing save personality has moral tendencies, and only +persons take sides in moral issues._ If the guidance of the world is +personal, then, and then only, can we rejoice with confidence in a +great Ally, who has moral purposes and who has committed to us part of +his work. This was the Master's motive when he said, "My Father +worketh even until now, and I work" (John 5:17). But one clearly sees +that such an inspiring consciousness of cooperation with the Eternal +depended on the certainty with which the Master called the Eternal by +a personal name--Father. When men like Livingstone have gone out in +sacrificial adventure for the saving of men they have not banked on +the "tendency of the universe," nor trusted in any abstract "nature of +things taking sides"; they have been servants of a personal God, under +orders from him, and they have counted on personal guidance in the +service of a cause whose issue was safe in God's hands. + + _O God, we pray Thee for those who come after us, for our children, + and the children of our friends, and for all the young lives that are + marching up from the gates of birth, pure and eager, with the morning + sunshine on their faces. We remember with a pang that these will live + in the world we are making for them. We are wasting the resources of + the earth in our headlong greed, and they will suffer want. We are + building sunless houses and joyless cities for our profit, and they + must dwell therein. We are making the burden heavy and the pace of + work pitiless, and they will fall wan and sobbing by the wayside. We + are poisoning the air of our land by our lies and our uncleanness, + and they will breathe it._ + + _O God, Thou knowest how we have cried out in agony when the sins of + our fathers have been visited upon us, and how we have struggled + vainly against the inexorable fate that coursed in our blood or bound + us in a prison-house of life. Save us from maiming the innocent ones + who come after us by the added cruelty of our sins. Help us to break + the ancient force of evil by a holy and steadfast will and to endow + our children with purer blood and nobler thoughts. Grant us grace to + leave the earth fairer than we found it; to build upon it cities of + God in which the cry of needless pain shall cease; and to put the + yoke of Christ upon our business life that it may serve and not + destroy. Lift the veil of the future and show us the generation to + come as it will be if blighted by our guilt, that our lust may be + cooled and we may walk in the fear of the Eternal. Grant us a vision + of the far-off years as they may be if redeemed by the sons of God, + that we may take heart and do battle for Thy children and ours. + Amen._--Walter Rauschenbusch. + + +Third Week, Seventh Day + + =I will extol thee, my God, O King; + And I will bless thy name for ever and ever. + Every day will I bless thee; + And I will praise thy name for ever and ever. + Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised; + And his greatness is unsearchable. + One generation shall laud thy works to another, + And shall declare thy mighty acts. + Of the glorious majesty of thine honor, + And of thy wondrous works, will I meditate. + And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts; + And I will declare thy greatness. + They shall utter the memory of thy great goodness, + And shall sing of thy righteousness. + Jehovah is gracious, and merciful; + Slow to anger, and of great lovingkindness. + Jehovah is good to all; + And his tender mercies are over all his works. + All thy works shall give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah; + And thy saints shall bless thee.= + + =--Psalm 145:1-10.= + +Adoration springs from the deeps of man's spirit. We never can be +content with looking down on things beneath us, nor with looking out +on things that find our level. We always must look up to things above +us. As a mediæval saint said, "_The soul can never rest in things +that are beneath itself._" Worship, therefore, is an undeniable +impulse in man's heart. Poets worship Beauty; scientists worship +Truth; every man of honor worships Right. That is, the good, true, and +beautiful stand above us calling out our adoration, and all the best +in us springs from our worshipful response to their appeal. But this +impulse to adore is never fulfilled until we gather up all life into +spiritual unity and bow down in awe and joy before God. That is +adoration glorified, worship crowned and consummated. And the only God +whom man can adore with awe and joy is personal. No impersonal thing +is worshipful; however great a _thing_ may be it still lies beneath +our soul. No abstract Idea is worshipful; we still are greater than +any _idea_ that we can hold. Only God, thought of in personal terms +but known to be greater than any terms which human life can use, is +adorable. _Men have believed in Him because worship is man's holiest +impulse._ + +Such are the experiences of man, with which faith in a personal God is +inseparably interwoven. Our demand for a friendly creation, our +deepest impulses to thanksgiving, penitence, hope, joy, cooperation +with the Eternal, and adoration of the highest--all require +personality in God. As Professor William James said, "The universe is +no longer a mere _It_ to us, but a _Thou_ if we are religious." + + _O Lord our God, Thy greatness is unsearchable, and the glory of Thy + presence has overwhelmed us. Thou art hidden in excess of light; and + if we were to behold Thee in the great sphere in which Thou art + living, none of us would dare to draw near to Thee. Our + imperfections, our transgressions, our secret thoughts, our wild + impulses, that at times come surging in upon us, are such that we + should be ashamed to stand before the All-searching Eye. Our lives + are before Thee, open as a book, and Thou readest every word and + every letter thereof. Blessed be Thy name, Thou hast taught us to + come to Thee through the Lord Jesus Christ as through a friend, and + thou hast taught us to draw near to Thee in person through the + familiar way of Fatherhood; from our childhood we have said, Our + Father, and in this way we are not afraid; in this way we come + familiarly and boldly: not irreverently, but with the familiarity + which love gives. Thou hast poured the light of Thy love upon the + path which we tread, and Thou hast taught us to come rejoicing before + Thee.... Open Thy hand and Thy heart, and say to every one of us, + Peace be unto you! Amen._--Henry Ward Beecher. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +We have been using freely the most momentous word in human speech as +though we clearly understood its meaning. We have been speaking of God +as though the import of the term were plain. But most of us, asked to +state precisely what we mean by "God," would welcome such a refuge +from our confusion as Joubert sought. "It is not hard to know God," +said he, "provided one will not force oneself to define him." Many +people who stoutly claim to believe in God live in perpetual +vacillation as to what they mean by him. Writes one: "God to my mind +is an impersonal being, but whether for convenience or through sheer +impotence I pray to him as a personal being.... I know I talk on both +sides of the fence, but that is just where I am." + +At times, indeed, some question whether there is any need to think or +say what "God" may signify. They call him by vague names--the All, the +Infinite. In moods of exalted feeling, impatient of definition, they +wish to be left alone with their experience of the Eternal; they +resent the intrusion of theology, as a poet, lost in wonder at a +landscape, might resent the coming of surveyors with their clanking +chains. So Walt Whitman wanted to see the stars rather than hear the +astronomer, and after listening to the learned lecture, with its +charts and diagrams, he says, + + "I became tired and sick, + Till rising and gliding out I wandered off by myself, + In the mystical moist night air, and from time to time + Looked up in perfect silence at the stars." + +But, for all that, we well may be thankful for astronomers. At times +the "mystical, moist night air" is absent; we do not wish to "look up +in perfect silence at the stars"; and, even though we know in advance +that they are bound to be inadequate, we do want as clear and worthy +ideas as possible about the universe. Moreover, when such ideas are +ours, looking up in perfect silence at the stars is more impressive +than it ever was before. No more can men content themselves with a +vague consciousness of God. Spirits like Wordsworth have raptures of +which they sing, + + "In such access of mind, in such high hour + Of visitation from the living God, + Thought was not--in enjoyment it expired." + +In communion with nature, in love for family, in fellowship with God, +such hours may come, but nature, family, and God must also be the +objects of understanding thought. Days of vital need, if not of mental +doubt, inevitably come when it is impossible any longer to use a term +like "God" without knowing what we mean. + +The special urgency of this is felt by most of us because as children +we were taught to picture the Divine in terms of personality. The God +of the Bible is personal. Little that persons do, save sinning, is +omitted from the catalogue of God's activities as he is pictured for +us in the Scripture. He knows, loves, purposes, warns, rebukes, +allures, rewards, and punishes, as only persons can. And all our +relationships with him are clearly personal. When we pray we say "Our +Father"; when we seek our duty we ask, "What wilt thou have me to do?" +God is _He_ and _Thou_, not _It_, and friendship is the ideal relation +of all souls with him. + +Moreover, in our maturity we are not likely to be interested in a God +who is not personal. Whoever curiously asks why he believes in God, +will find not simply _reasons_ but _causes_ for his faith, +and will perceive that the causes of faith lie back of the reasons for +it. Vital need always precedes the arguments by which we justify its +satisfaction. A man eats one thing and shuns another on principles of +dietetics that can be defended before his intelligence; but behind all +such sophisticated reasons stands the vital cause of eating--hunger. +So back of intellectual arguments for belief in God lies the initial +cause of faith: _men are hungry_. Men believe in God because they +hunger for a world that is not chance and chaos, but that is guided by +a Purpose. They believe in God, because in their struggles after +righteousness they hunger for a Divine Ally in whom righteousness has +its origin, its ground and destiny. They believe in God because they +hunger for confidence that Someone cares about our race in its +conflicts and defeats and because in their individual experience they +want a friend. Without such faith man feels himself to be, in Goethe's +phrase, "a troubled wanderer upon a darkened earth." Plainly this +elemental human hunger for purpose, righteousness, and friendship +calls for something akin to personality in God. _Only persons have +purpose, character, and friendliness._ The vital motives which lead +men to seek God's comfort, forgiveness, guidance, and cooperation +plainly imply his personality. Things do not forgive us, love us, nor +purpose good concerning us, nor can any thing be imagined so subtle +and so powerful as to satisfy the needs on account of which men come +to God. If God is not personal, he can feel no concern for human life +and a God of no concern is of no consequence. + +The philosophers of India, with a well-reasoned pantheistic system and +centuries to make their philosophy effective, have failed to quell +this deathless thirst for a God who counts. Every wayside shrine of +Hinduism incarnates the old faith in gods conceived as friends, not +things; and Buddha, who taught impersonal deity, is now himself adored +as the Personal Lord of Love and Blessedness. Wherever one finds vital +religion one finds that God is no dry impersonal abstraction, but +man's friend. Boscamen, speaking of the Egyptian Book of the Dead and +of the Chaldean Tablets, says: "Six thousand years ago in Egypt and +Chaldea--it is not dread, but the grateful love of a child to his +father, of friend to friend, that meets us in the oldest books of the +world." And when one turns from the oldest to the newest books this +inner demand of man's religious life has not ceased; it has been +refined and confirmed. "The All would not be the All unless it +contained a Personality," said Victor Hugo. "That Personality is God." + +Biography is lavish in illustrations of this need in man's religious +life. The biographer of Theodore Parker, the freelance preacher of +Boston, remarks: "In his _theology_ God was neither personal nor +impersonal, but a reality transcending these distinctions. In his +_devotions_ God was as personal as his own father or mother, and he +prayed to him as such, daringly indifferent to the anthropomorphisms +of his unfettered speech." When one passes from speculation to +religion, he always comes into a realm where only a personal God will +do. On this point even confessed unbelievers furnish confirmation. One +who calls himself an agnostic writes: "At times in the silence of the +night and in rare lonely moments, I experience a sort of communion of +myself with Something Great that is not myself. Then the Universal +Scheme of things has on me the effect of a sympathetic Person, and my +communion therewith takes on a quality of fearless worship. These +moments happen, and they are to me the supreme fact in my religious +life." Always for the purposes of vital religion, God must have on us +the "effect of a sympathetic Person." + + +II + +When one, however, subjects this need of his religious life to +searching thought, what difficulty he encounters! Multitudes, if they +were candid, would confess what a college senior wrote: "When I am +just thinking about God in a speculative or philosophical way, I +generally think of him as impersonal, but for practical purposes I +think of him as personal." Many folks feel thus distraught; at the +heart of their religious life is the paralyzing doubt, that in a +universe like this to think of God as personal is absurd. If a train +moving a mile a minute should leave the earth, it must travel +40,000,000 years before it would reach the nearest star. The Creator +of such a world is not readily reduced to the similitude of human +life. Once men lived on a flat earth, small in compass and cosily +tucked beneath the sky's coverlet, but now the world's vastness +beggars imagination. As an astronomer remarked, coming from a session +with his telescope, "This does away with a six-foot god; you cannot +shake hands with the Creator of _this_." Men used to suppose that +Arcturus was a single star, but now new telescopes reveal Arcturus as +a galaxy of stars, thousands in number, with interstellar spaces so +immense that thought breaks down in spanning them and imagination even +cannot make the leap. Is the God of such a universe to be conceived in +terms of a magnified man? + +So to picture deity seems at first sight a survival of mere +childishness. Professor John Fiske, of Harvard, has told us that when +he was a boy God always conjured up in his imagination the figure of a +venerable bookkeeper, with white flowing beard, standing behind a high +desk and writing down the bad deeds of John Fiske. How many of us can +recall such early crude and childish thoughts of God! A mother asked +her young daughter what she was drawing. "A picture of God," was the +answer. "But no one knows what God looks like," the mother said. "They +will," came the rejoinder, "when I get through." We all began with +some such primitive idea of deity. Indeed, these early conceptions +long persist in many minds, as the following statements, written by +college students, indicate: "I think of God as real, actual skin and +blood and bones, something we shall see with our eyes some day, no +matter what lives we lead on earth." "It may be a remnant of youth, +but anyhow, every time I think of God there appears a vague image of a +man, with all members of the body, just enormously large." "I have +always pictured him according to a description in _Paradise Lost_ as +seated upon a throne, while around are angels playing on harps and +singing hymns." "I think of God as having bodily form and being much +larger than the average man. He has a radiant countenance beaming +with love and compassion. He is erect and upright, fearless and +brave."[3] + +No one of us may be contemptuous of such crude ideas; we all possessed +them once. Indeed the loss of them, with their picture of deity, clear +in feature and distinct in outline, has been to some a shock from +which faith has not recovered. When increasing knowledge discredited +our immature theology, and our world immeasurably widened, the very +human God of our first imaginations was lost among the stars. We +learned that this is a universe where the light that falls upon our +eyes tonight left the far heavens when Abraham was shepherding on +Syrian hills. The Christian Gospel of the personal Father which once +was good news became a serious problem. We still may cling to the old +meanings of our religious faith; still we may pray in hours of need as +though our childhood's God were really there; but at times we suspect +that we are clinging to the beauty of an early memory while +reluctantly we lose conviction of its truth. Many modern men and women +can understand the plight of the famous Dr. Jowett of Oxford, who, so +runs the tradition, inserted "used to" in a muffled voice, when he +recited the creed: "I _used to_ believe in God the Father Almighty." + +With such misgivings, whether as habitual disturbers of our faith or +as occasional moods of unbelief that come and go, most of us must be +familiar. What Charles Darwin is reported to have said about himself, +many if they spoke frankly would say too: "Sometimes I feel a warm +sense of a personal God, and then"--with a shake of his head--"it goes +away." + + +III + +Whatever may be our theology, the fact is plain that the denial of a +personal God solves no problem. For if we may not think of God in +terms of personality, the query still remains, which was there +before--_in what terms shall we conceive of the Eternal_? In a +discussion on the nature of the sky, one boy, denying the idea of a +solid canopy, exclaimed, "There ain't any sky." Said the other, seeing +how little this negation solved the problem, "Well, what _is_ it that +ain't?" Some such inquiry one must put to his doubts about God's +personality. Though we may deny a personal God, nevertheless in the +place where he once stood, creator and sustainer of all existence, is +Something that we do think of somehow. We may have but little of +Carlyle's sublime imagination; may not easily transport ourselves to +stand with him on the far northern cliff, "behind him all Europe and +Africa fast asleep, except the watchmen, and before him the silent +Immensity and Palace of the Eternal, whereof our sun is but the +porch-lamp." Yet who of us, regarding the illimitable universe, on the +far outskirts of which our little earth is whirling, so minute that +through the strongest telescope from the nearest star its conflagration +would be quite invisible, has escaped the sense of a Universal Power? +And the human mind cannot so keep itself at home in little tasks and +pleasures as to evade the question: How shall we think of the Power +that made the universe? In what terms? By what analogies? Hours of +revelation come in every serious life when no desire compares in +urgency with the desire to know the character of the Eternal. It does +make a prodigious difference what hands hold the leash of the +universe. + +This second fact is also clear, that if we are to think of the Eternal +at all, we must think in terms of something drawn from our experience. +When we sing of Paradise we speak of golden streets and gates of +pearl, and Thoreau remarks that, arriving in heaven, he expects to +find pine trees there. Such words we do not take literally, but such +words we cannot utterly avoid, for if we are to speak at all of the +unknown glory, we must use pictures from the known. So we think of God +in human symbols. We cannot catch him in an abstract definition as +though a boy with a butterfly net should capture the sun at noon. Our +minds are not fitted for such enterprise. Of necessity we take +something homely, familiar, close at hand, and lifting it up as far as +we can reach, say _God is most like that_. No one who thinks at +all of the Eternal escapes this necessity. + +By this method the _materialist_ reaches his philosophy. Haeckel +laughs to scorn the opening clause of the "Apostles' Creed." "I +believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth"--for +such faith no words are contemptuous enough. This denial does not mean +however that Haeckel has no faith; he deliberately offers a creedal +substitute which runs in part: I believe in a "chemical substance of a +viscous character, having albuminous matter and water as its chief +constituents." In such terms does Haeckel think of the Eternal. A +professor of medicine has remarked that such a theory reduces all +reality to "phosphorus and glue." When some Psalmist cries, "Bless the +Lord, O my soul," nothing substantial is speaking or is being spoken +to save phosphorus and glue! When an Italian patriot cries, "The time +for dying comes to all, but the time for dishonoring oneself ought +never to come," nothing is real and causal save phosphorus and glue! +And every gracious and redeeming deed in history from the love of +mothers to the cross of Christ has been a complicated working out of +phosphorus and glue! In whatever labored phrases he may state his +case, the materialist's method there is obvious; he has taken physical +energy, of whose presence in his own body he is first assured, and +whose reality he has then read out into the world, and this homely and +familiar experience he has lifted up as far as he can reach to say, +the Eternal is most like that. + +So far as method is concerned, the _theist_ of necessity travels +the same road; only he insists on a nobler symbol than physical energy +in terms of which to think of God. He takes _mind_. He says in +effect: There may be wide stretches of the universe where our +intellects meet no answer and find no meaning. But in much of the +universe we do see meaning; and how can intelligence find sense where +intelligence has not put sense? A few scratches on a cliff's face in +Assyria, after centuries of neglect, rendered up their meaning to the +mind of Rawlinson. They were themselves the work of intelligence, and +intelligence could read them. So, the theist continues, the universe +is in part at least intelligible. Our minds fit into it and are +answered by it. We can trace its laws and predict its movements. Man +first worked out the nature of the ellipse in theoretical geometry, +and then telescopes later showed the gigantic ellipses of planetary +orbits in the heavens. Can it be that this intelligible world, +readable by mind, is itself essentially mindless? As easily believe +that the notes of Wagner's operas were accidentally blown together by +a whirlwind and yet are playable by man! Therefore the theist believes +the universe to be rational; he takes mind as he has known it in +himself, and lifting it as high as he can reach, cries, God is most +like that. + +So far as the general method of approach is concerned, the Christian +travels the same road to his idea of God. Only he cannot believe that +the best he knows is too good or too great to be a symbol in terms of +which to think of the Eternal. Therefore he will not take a byproduct +of experience such as physical energy, nor a section of personality +such as mind; he takes the full orb of personality, _self-conscious +being that knows and purposes and loves_, and he affirms that God is +most like this. Such in its simplest form is the Christian assertion +of God's personality. + +In one of his noblest passages Martineau has put into classic form +this necessity, which we have been discussing, of thinking about God +in terms of human experience: "God, being infinite, can never be fully +comprehended by our minds; whatever thought of him be there, his real +nature must still transcend: there will yet be deep after deep beyond, +within that light ineffable; and what we see, compared with what we do +not see, will be as the raindrop to the firmament. Our conception of +him can never _correspond with the reality_, so as to be without +omission, disproportion, or aberration; but can only _represent the +reality_, and _stand for God_ within our souls, till nobler +thoughts arise and reveal themselves as his interpreters. And this is +precisely what we mean by a symbolical idea. The devotee who +prostrates himself before a black stone,--the Egyptian who in his +prayers was haunted by the ideal form of the graceful ibis or the +monstrous sphinx--the Theist who bends beneath the starry porch that +midnight opens to the temple of the universe--the Christian who sees +in heaven a spirit akin to that which divinely lived in Galilee, and +with glorious pity died on Calvary--all alike assume a representation +of him whose immeasurable nature they can neither compass nor escape. +And the only question is, whether the conception they portray upon the +wall of their ideal temple is an abominable idol, or a true and +sanctifying mediatorial thought." + + +IV + +In their endeavor thus to think of God in terms of personality, some +are perplexed because in their imagination a person is inseparable +from flesh. "I think of God as a personal being," writes a college +student. "A personal being would have a form that you could see or +touch." But this would be true only if the grossest materialism were +accepted, and the spiritual life declared to be the product of brain +as digestive fluids are of salivary glands. On any other basis, +personality is not indissolubly bound to body nor by it necessarily +delimited. A man cannot hear without his ear, but he is not his ear; +he cannot hear without the auditory nerve, but he is not the auditory +nerve; he cannot hear without the temporal lobe of the brain, but he +is not the brain nor any portion of it. These may be the instruments +which he uses; he is free when they are well, hampered when they are +broken, and at last he is separable from them all. John Quincy Adams +at the age of eighty met a friend upon a Boston street. "Good +morning," said the friend, "and how is John Quincy Adams today?" +"Thank you," was the ex-president's reply, "John Quincy Adams himself +is well, quite well, I thank you. But the house in which he lives at +present is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering upon its foundation. +Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty well +worn out. Its walls are much shattered and it trembles with every +wind. The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable and I think +John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon. But he himself is +quite well, quite well." Such a conception of man as _being_ a +permanent personality and _having_ a temporary body is essential to +any worthy meaning when we use personal terms about God. + +With such an elevated thought, however, of what personality does mean, +it soon is evident that no other reality with which we deal is so +worthy to be the symbol of an Eternal Spirit. Is one perplexed that +God, who is invisible, should be pictured in the similitude of human +persons? But _we_ are invisible. The outward husks and fleshly +garment of our friends we indeed have seen, but upon the friend +himself--consciousness, love, purpose, ideal, and character--no eye +has looked. No mirror ever has been strong enough to show us to +ourselves. In every homely conversation this ineffable miracle is +wrought: out of the unseen where I dwell, I signal by word and gesture +to you back in the unseen where you dwell. We are inhabitants now of +the intangible and unseen world; we are as invisible as God. + +Indeed, personality is essentially the most unlimited reality with +which we deal; in comparison a solar system is a little thing. +Consider _memory_, by which we can retrace our youthful days, build +our shanties once again at brooksides, replay our games, and +recapitulate the struggles and the joys of the first days at school. +Nothing in all the universe can remember except persons. Were we not +so familiar with this element in human greatness, we would more often +pause to exclaim, as did Augustine, fifteen centuries ago, "Great is +the power of memory. Amazement overcomes me when I think of it. And +yet men go abroad to gaze upon the mountains, the broad rivers, the +wide ocean, the courses of the stars, and pass themselves, the +crowning wonder, by!" Consider _imagination_, by which, sitting still +in body we can project ourselves around the world, can walk down +Princes Street in Edinburgh, or stand in mingled awe and condemnation +before the tomb of Napoleon in Paris, or rise uncovered before the +majesty of the Matterhorn. Nothing in all the universe can do that +except persons. Were full power to act wherever we can _think_ added +to our gifts, we should come so near to incipient omnipresence as to +be in dread of our responsibility. Consider _love_, by which we live +not so much where our bodies are as where our friends and family may +be. Love expands the individual until his real life is independent of +geography. Says one lover to another: + + "The widest land + Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine + With pulses that beat double." + +Many a mother in America has _lived_ in the trenches of France; +many a man has found that what might happen to him where his body was +could not be compared with what might happen to him where his +friendships were; and as we grow in love and loyalty we find ourselves +scattered all over creation. How far such an expansion of life may go +our Lord revealed when he said, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of +these, my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me." (Matt. +25:40.) Nothing in heaven above or on the earth beneath can so extend +itself in love save persons. + +Finally, consider _creative power_ by which human beings project +themselves into the future, and, with masterful ideals in mind, lay +hold on circumstance and bend it to their will. As if he shared +creative power with the Eternal, an engineer summons nature's forces +to his bidding and lays his will upon them, until where nothing was a +structure stands that mankind may use for centuries. Nothing in all +the universe can so create except persons. In that essentially +creative act where deathless ideas and harmonies are given being by +poets and musicians, so that something out of nothing is brought to +pass by personality, man faces a mystery as abysmal as God's making of +the world. "Paradise Lost" is wonderful; but not half as wonderful as +the creative personality itself who years before projected it. "An +inward prompting," Milton says, "which now grew daily upon me, that by +labor and intense study, joined with the strong propensity of nature, +I might perhaps leave something so written to after times as they +should not willingly let it die." Nothing can so create save +personality. + +Personality is not so limited that we should be ashamed to think of +God in terms of it. Rather, of all realities with which we deal, +personality alone, invisible, reaching back in memory, reaching out in +imagination, expanding itself in love, and laying hold upon the future +with creative power, is a worthy symbol of the Eternal Spirit. + +Even when the meaning of personality has been so enlarged and +elevated, we should not leave our statement of belief in God as though +our experience of personality were a mould into which our thought of +him is poured and so delimited. We are not presumptuous Lilliputians, +running out with verbal stakes and threads, to pin down the tall, +majestic Gulliver of the Eternal and dance in theological exultation +round our capture. We know better than that. We understand how +insufficient is every human name for God. We know that when we have +said our best--"How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past +tracing out!" (Rom. 11:33). + +Nothing more has marred the Christian message and discredited the +Christian faith than the unwise presumption that has forced its +definitions into the secrets of the Infinite. "It is enough to say," +exclaims Leslie Stephen, "that they defined the nature of God Almighty +with an accuracy from which modest naturalists would shrink in +describing the genesis of a black beetle." The antidote to such vain +pride of theology is found in the wholesome modesty of the Bible. +There man enquires, "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou +find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven; what +canst thou do? Deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?" (Job 11:7). +There God replies: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are +my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" +(Isa. 55:9). Scripture bears abundant testimony to the symbolic nature +of our human terms for God. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so +Jehovah pitieth them that fear him" (Psalm 103:13). "As one whom his +mother comforteth, so will I comfort you" (Isa. 66:13). "I will +betroth thee unto me" (Hos. 2:20). "Return, ... saith Jehovah, for I +am a husband unto you" (Jer. 3:14). "The Lord spake unto Moses ... as +a man speaketh unto his friend" (Ex. 33:11). Father, Mother, +Bridegroom, Husband, Friend--these are symbols of God. Men, +endeavoring to frame some worthy thought of the Eternal, lift up their +best in phrases such as these, and in them enshrine their noblest +concepts of the divine. They have no better, truer thing to say of +God, no wiser way in which to say it. But when they think of the +Eternal as he must be, and of their human words, infinitesimal in +comparison, they know that all their best names for God are like small +measures of water dipped from an immeasurable sea. For all that, so +much of God as they can grasp and understand is the most important +truth that mankind knows. Let even a tea-cup of water be taken to a +laboratory and it will tell the truth about the sea; _that one tea-cup +will reveal the quality of the whole ocean_. Yet it will not reveal +all the truth about the ocean. When one considers the reach of the sea +over the rim of the world; thinks of the depths that no eye can +pierce, the distances that no mind can imagine; remembers the currents +that sweep through the sea, the tides that rise there, and the storms +that beat it to its nether wells, he dare not try to put _these_ into +a tea-cup. So God sweeps out beyond the reach of human symbols. At +once so true and so inadequate are all our words for him. + +So we might speak to one who incredulously looks upon our faith, but +for one who whole-heartedly approaches God as Christianity suggests, +no negative and cautionary word is adequate. The Christian method of +conceiving God brings the most exhilarating thought of him that man +has ever had. It says in brief: Take your _best_ and think of God as +most truly symbolized in that. As to what our best is, not even the +agnostics doubt. The physical universe belittles us on one side only; +it makes a pigmy of the body. In our spirits we still tower above the +physical; we are greater than the world we know. Our supreme good, the +divinest reality with which we deal, is personality. Then lift that +up, says Christianity; it is your best, and you dare not think of God +in terms of less; you have Christ's example in arguing from the human +best to the divine: "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts +unto your children, _how much more_ ... your Father." (Matt. 7:11.) + +The Christian faith asserts that when a man thus thinks of God in +terms of the best he knows he is on the road toward truth. How many +billion spiritual miles he may have to travel to the end, no man can +tell. Only he will never need to stop, retrace his steps, and start +upon a lower path than personality, a road that lies beneath +righteousness and love. The road leads on and up beyond our +imagination, but it is the same road and not another. _God is +personality plus, or else he alone is completely personal and we are +but in embryo._ + +If God so is personal, then all the deep meanings of religious life +and faith that the saints, our spiritual sires, have known are open to +us modern men and women. Forms of thought indeed have changed, but if +God is thus our Father and our Friend, the essentials of Christian +experience are waiting for us all. Life then is not purposeless; all +creation is bound into spiritual unity by personal Will; and in +sacrificial labor we are serving one who is able to guard that which +we "have committed unto him against that day" (II Tim. 1:12). Old +hymns of confidence in time of trial, we too can sing: + + "Still will we trust, though earth seem dark and dreary, + And the heart faint beneath His chastening rod; + Though steep and hard our pathway, worn and weary, + Still will we trust in God." + +And we can pray, not indeed with clamorous beggary as though the grace +of God were a wayside stall where every greedy hand can pluck what +passing whim may wish, but we can commune with God as the real saints +have always prayed with humility and gratitude and confident desire +for good. Most of all, that priceless privilege is open to us which is +the center and sun of Christian thought and life. For if among all +realities in our experience, we have dared take the best, personality, +as a symbol in terms of which to think of God, how should we not, +among all personalities, take the best we know as the highroad of +approach to him. Therefore our real symbol of God shall be no man +among us, frail and sinful, but our Lord himself "fairest among ten +thousand"--"the one altogether beautiful." We shall think of God in +terms of him. We shall see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of +God in the face of Jesus Christ" (II Cor. 4:6.) + +[2] Copyright, 1914, Charles Scribner's Sons. Used by permission. + +[3] From a questionnaire, "Belief in God and Immortality," by Prof. +James H. Leuba. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Belief and Trust + + +DAILY READINGS + +We have tried to explain our faith in the personal God, and to see the +transfiguring influence of that faith on life. But is belief in God +always such a blessing as we have pictured? Rather faith, like every +other experience of man, has its caricatures and burlesques. Many men +are prevented from appreciation of faith in God, with its inestimable +blessings, because they have so continually seen faith's perversions. +The fact is that belief in God may be an utterly negligible matter in +a man's experience or may even become a positively pernicious +influence. Let us, in the daily readings, consider some of the +_familiar travesties on faith_. + + +Fourth Week, First Day + + =Praise ye Jehovah. + Praise Jehovah, O my soul. + While I live will I praise Jehovah: + I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being, + Put not your trust in princes, + Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. + His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; + In that very day his thoughts perish. + Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, + Whose hope is in Jehovah his God.= + + =--Psalm 146:1-5.= + +No one can mistake the note of reality in this psalmist's experience +of God. But every one of us knows people who, if asked whether they +believed in God, would readily assent, yet to whom faith makes no such +difference in life as this psalm expresses. Their faith is nothing but +an opinion about God, lightly held, a formal consent that what church +or family tradition says must be correct. They have what Luther used +to call "the charcoal burner's faith." A man of that occupation, when +asked what he believed, said, "What Holy Church believes"; but, +questioned further, he could not tell what it was that Holy Church did +believe. So formal, vitally unpossessed, and practically unreal is +much of our religious opinion that passes for faith. Dean Swift was a +churchman of high rank, and yet his biographer is compelled to say of +him: "He clung to the doctrines of his church, not because he could +give abstract reasons for his belief, but simply because the church +happened to be his." Vital religious faith is a very different thing +from such dry conventionality. A man may assent to the contents of a +college catalogue and yet never have experience of college life; he +may agree that a menu is dietetically correct and yet never grow +strong from the food; and he may believe in every creed in Christendom +and not know what faith in God really means. Opinions about God are a +roadway to God, but the end of the journey is a personal fellowship +that transfigures life; and to seize opinions as though they were the +object of faith is, to use Tagore's figure, "like a man who tries to +reach his destination by firmly clutching the dust of the road." + + _O Thou great Father of us all, we rejoice that at last we know Thee. + All our soul within us is glad because we need no longer cringe + before Thee as slaves of holy fear, seeking to appease Thine anger by + sacrifice and self-inflicted pain, but may come like little children, + trustful and happy, to the God of love. Thou art the only true + Father, and all the tender beauty of our human loves is the reflected + radiance of Thy loving kindness, like the moonlight from the + sunlight, and testifies to the eternal passion that kindled it._ + + _Grant us growth of spiritual vision, that with the passing years we + may enter into the fulness of this our faith. Since Thou art our + Father, may we not hide our sins from Thee, but overcome them by the + stern comfort of Thy presence. By this knowledge uphold us in our + sorrows and make us patient even amid the unsolved mysteries of the + years. Reveal to us the larger goodness and love that speak through + the unbending laws of Thy world. Through this faith make us the + willing equals of all Thy other children._ + + _As Thou art ever pouring out Thy life in sacrificial father-love, + may we accept the eternal law of the cross and give ourselves to + Thee and to all men. We praise Thee for Jesus Christ, whose life has + revealed to us this faith and law, and we rejoice that he has become + the first-born among many brethren. Grant that in us, too, the faith + in Thy fatherhood may shine through all our life with such persuasive + beauty that some who still creep in the dusk of fear may stand erect + as free sons of God, and that others who now through unbelief are + living as orphans in an empty world may stretch out their hands to + the great Father of their spirits and find Thee near. Amen._--Walter + Rauschenbusch. + + +Fourth Week, Second Day + +Faith is travestied in many lives not so much by the substitution of +opinion for experience, as by making religion consist in certain +devout practices, such as church-going. Ceremonialism, instead of +being an aid in making God real, takes the place of fellowship with +God. How scathing were the attacks of the prophets on this distortion +of religion! + + =Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law + of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 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. 1:10-17.= + +Many young people, watching conventional observances in religious +worship and perceiving no real life active there, come to the +conclusion that religious faith is a decent and negligible formality. +So William Scott Palmer, tracing his progress from agnosticism to +Christianity, describes the religion of his boyhood: "Religion as a +personal matter, religion as a life, did not exist for me or for my +family. The border-land of my native village went to church at eleven +o'clock on fine Sundays, and I went in and with it. There were unlucky +Sundays when the Litany was said, and the service prolonged by its +unmeaning length; the lucky Sundays were wet ones that cleared up +later.... I did not know that there was any vital meaning in +religion." And even Sir Wilfred Grenfell, whose work in Labrador is +one of this generation's outstanding triumphs of Christian faith, says +of his young manhood: "The ordinary exponents of the Christian faith +had never succeeded in interesting me in any way, or even in making me +believe that they were more than professionally concerned themselves. +Religion appeared to be a profession, exceedingly conventional, and +most unattractive in my estimation--the very last I should have +thought of selecting." No travesty on faith is more deadly in its +effects than this substitution of conventional observance for life. + + _O Jesus, we thy ministers bow before Thee to confess the common sins + of our calling. Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that we love + Thee and that our hearts' desire is to serve Thee in faithfulness; + and yet, like Peter, we have so often failed Thee in the hour of Thy + need. If ever we have loved our own leadership and power when we + sought to lead our people to Thee, we pray Thee to forgive. If we + have been engrossed in narrow duties and little questions, when the + vast needs of humanity called aloud for prophetic vision and + apostolic sympathy, we pray Thee to forgive. If in our loyalty to the + Church of the past we have distrusted Thy living voice and have + suffered Thee to pass from our door unheard, we pray Thee to forgive. + If ever we have been more concerned for the strong and the rich than + for the shepherdless throngs of the people for whom Thy soul grieved, + we pray Thee to forgive._ + + _O Master, amidst our failures we cast ourselves upon Thee in + humility and contrition. We need new light and a new message. We need + the ancient spirit of prophecy and the leaping fire and joy of a new + conviction, and Thou alone canst give it. Inspire the ministry of Thy + Church with dauntless courage to face the vast needs of the future. + Free us from all entanglements that have hushed our voice and bound + our action. Grant us grace to look upon the veiled sins of the rich + and the coarse vices of the poor through Thine eyes. Give us Thine + inflexible sternness against sin, and Thine inexhaustible compassion + for the frailty and tragedy of those who do the sin. Make us faithful + shepherds of Thy flock, true seers of God, and true followers of + Jesus. Amen._--Walter Rauschenbusch. + + +Fourth Week, Third Day + + =And he spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in + themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought: + Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the + other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, + God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, + unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the + week; I give tithes of all that I get. But the publican, standing + afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but + smote his breast, saying, God, be thou merciful to me a sinner. I say + unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the + other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he + that humbleth himself shall be exalted.--Luke 18:9-14.= + +The men against whom the Master directed this parable were bigots. +Self-opinionated, self-conceited, dogmatic, and contemptuous--they +wore all the attributes of bigotry. _And bigotry is a very familiar +perversion of faith._ Vital fellowship with God ought to make men +gracious, magnanimous, generous; it ought to make life with God seem +so incomparably important that when anyone has that, his opinions +about God will be tolerantly regarded, however mistaken they may +appear to be. Dr. Pritchett, when President of the Massachusetts +Institute of Technology, passed through a classroom where a young +instructor was conducting a chemical experiment. "The reaction +itself," says Dr. Pritchett, "was going on in a retort on the table, +while on a blackboard was written the conventional formula, which in +the science of chemistry is used to describe the reaction. It so +happened that the instructor had made a mistake in writing the +formula; instead of CO^2 he had written CO_3. But this made not the +slightest difference in the reaction which was going on in the flask." +So, a man may live his life with an admirably Christian spirit, +although he describes it with a mistaken formula. His error is +theoretical, not vital. But a bigot is so sure that he alone knows the +true formula, that a man without that formula is altogether wrong, and +that he must either set him right or condemn him utterly, that he +grows bitter, hard, unlovely. His opinions may be right, but his +spirit is wrong. The faith that should make his life radiant is +perverted to make it narrow, harsh, contemptuous. He renders hateful +the very faith he seeks to commend and ruins the reputation of the God +whom he is zealous to exalt. So the Pharisee of the parable missed all +the beauty of the Publican's life because he thought the Publican's +formula was wrong. No one can estimate the irreparable damage which +zealous bigots have done to true faith. + + _O Thou who art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, canst Thou + bear to look on us conscious of our great transgression? Yet hide not + Thy face from us, for in Thy light alone shall we see light._ + + _Forgive us for the sins which crowd into the mind as we realise Thy + presence; our ungovernable tempers, our shuffling insincerities, the + craven fear of our hearts, the pettiness of our spirits, the foul + lusts and fatal leanings of our souls. Not for pardon only, but for + cleansing, Lord, we pray._ + + _Forgive us, we beseech Thee, our unconscious sins; things which must + be awful to Thy sight, of which we yet know nothing. Forgive by + giving us in fuller measure the awakening of Thy presence, that we + may know ourselves, and lose all love of sin in the knowledge of what + Thou art._ + + _Forgive us for the things for which we can never forgive ourselves; + those sad turned pages of our life which some chance wind of memory + blows back again with shame; for the moment of cruel passion, the + hour beyond recall, the word that went forth to poison and defame, + the carelessness that lost our opportunity, the unheeded fading of + bright ideals._ + + _Forgive us for the things that others can never forgive; the idle + tale, the cruel wrong, the uncharitable condemnation, the unfair + judgment, the careless criticism, the irresponsible conduct._ + + _Forgive us for the sins of our holy things; that we have turned the + sacred page without a sigh, read the confessions of holy men and + women and never joined therein, lived in Thy light and never prayed + to be forgiven or rendered Thee thanksgiving; professed to believe in + Thee and love Thee, yet dared to injure and hate._ + + _Naught save being born again, nothing but a miracle of grace, can + ever be to us forgiveness. Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, and + take not Thy Holy Spirit from us. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Fourth Week, Fourth Day + +Of all perversions of faith none is more fatal than the substitution +of opinions about God for integrity of character and usefulness of +life. With what scathing vehemence does James, as Dr. Moffatt renders +him, attack this travesty on faith. + + ="My brothers, what is the use of anyone declaring he has faith, if + he has no deeds to show? Can his faith save him? Suppose some brother + or sister is ill-clad and short of daily food; if any of you says to + them, 'Depart in peace! Get warm, get food,' without supplying their + bodily needs, what use is that? So faith, unless it has deeds, is + dead in itself. Someone will object, 'And you claim to have faith!' + Yes, and I claim to have deeds as well; you show me your faith + without any deeds, and I will show you by my deeds what faith is! You + believe in one God? Well and good. So do the devils, and they + shudder. But will you understand, you senseless fellow, that faith + without deeds is dead? When our father Abraham offered his son Isaac + on the altar, was he not justified by what he did?"--James 2:14-21.= + +An American business man not long dead, who hated any word from the +pulpit about social righteousness, used to complain: "Preachers are +talking so everlastingly about this earth. I've done my best to get +them to stick to the Gospel, and not allow 'worldliness' to get into +the teachings of the Church; but the good old preachers have gone to +glory." Yet this pious zealot helped wreck the finances of a great +railroad system, and with part of the proceeds built a theological +seminary. _There was no vital, intelligent connection between his +faith in God and his ideals of character and service._ One verse +should be made to flame in Christian pulpits: "If any provideth not +for his own, and specially his own household, he hath denied the faith +and is worse than an unbeliever" (I Tim. 5:8). Domestic fidelity is +here only typical of all basic moral obligations. What this verse says +in principle is clear: theoretical unbelief is not the worst sin in +God's sight; any man who fails in the fundamental duties of rectitude +and service has thereby denied the faith and is worse than an atheist. + + _O thou holy One and just! if alone the pure in heart can see thee, + truly we must stand afar off, and not so much as lift up our eyes + unto heaven. Were it not that thou hast help and pity for the + contrite spirit, we could only cry, "Depart from us, we are sinful + men, O Lord!" For idle words, for proud thoughts and unloving deeds; + for wasted moments and reluctant duties, and too eager rest; for the + wandering desire, the vain fancy, the scornful doubt, the untrustful + care; for impatient murmurs, and unruly passions, and the hardness of + a worldly heart; thou, Lord, canst call us unto judgment, and we have + naught to answer thee. But, O thou Judge of men, thou art witness + that we do not love our guilty ways; make our conscience true and + tender that we may duly hate them, and refuse them any peace as + enemies to thee. Stir up within us a great and effectual repentance + that we may redeem the time which we have lost, and in the hours that + remain may do the work of many days. Thou knowest all our secret + snares; drive from us every root of bitterness: with thy severity + pluck out, O Lord, the thorns of sin from our entangled souls, and + bind them as a crown of contrition around our bleeding brows; and + having made our peace with thee may we henceforth watch and pray that + we enter not again into temptation, but bear our cross with patience + to the close. Amen._--James Martineau. + + +Fourth Week, Fifth Day + +Some of the most lamentable perversions of religious faith arise from +inadequate ideas of God. Consider, for example, the way Manasseh +thought that the Divine ought to be worshiped. + + =For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had + destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as + did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and + served them. And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, whereof + Jehovah said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars + for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah. + And he made his son to pass through the fire, and practised augury, + and used enchantments, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, + and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah, to + provoke him to anger.--II Kings 21:3-6.= + +Then compare the thought of the Master on the same subject. + + =But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall + worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek + to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him + must worship in spirit and truth.--John 4:23, 24.= + +There is no reason to suppose that Manasseh was insincere; he is one +of an innumerable company in whom the religious motive has been +harnessed to warped and ignorant ideas of God. Religious faith, like +any other tremendous power, is terrific in evil consequences when it +goes wrong. Men, under its subtle and prevailing influence, have waged +bloody wars, worshiped with licentious rituals, carried on pitiless +persecutions, and in bigotry, cruelty, and deceit have grown worse +than they would have been with no religion whatsoever. And men, in its +inspiring light, have launched missionary movements, founded great +philanthropies, built schools, hospitals, orphanages, and in +sacrifice, courageous service, and hope of human brotherhood have made +man's history glorious. Religion needs intelligence to save it from +becoming a ruinous curse; like all power of the first magnitude it is +a disaster if ignorantly used. Since religious faith will always be a +major human motive, under what obligations are we to save it from +perversion and to keep it clean and right! + + _Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we are most unworthy to be called + Thy children; for when light and darkness have been set before us, we + have often chosen darkness rather than light. Conscious that within + us are the elements of a nobler and a meaner life, we have yet given + way to the meaner appetites, and have not obeyed the inspiration Thou + hast kindled within us. We entreat Thee now of Thy grace to call us + back from the ways of temptation and sin into that higher life which + Thou dost breathe upon us, and which is manifested in Jesus Christ + our Lord. Give us the self-knowledge, the humility, the repentance, + the aspiration which draw us to the Cross of Christ, that worshiping + there in lowliness, we may see the weakness of falsehood and the + strength of truth, the exceeding sinfulness of selfishness, and the + beauty of love and sacrifice._ + + _O Thou whose secret is with them that fear Thee, inspire us with + that loyalty of soul, that willingness to do Thy will to which all + things are clear. Darkness, we know, cometh upon the proud and + disobedient; confusion is ever attendant upon self-will; while to the + humble, the earnest, and the pure-minded, the way of duty and + spiritual health is made clear. O Spirit of the Eternal, subdue + within us all pride, all vainglory, all self-seeking, and bring every + thought and every desire into obedience to the law of Christ our + Lord._ + + _Almighty Father, to Thee would we consecrate these earthly days from + infancy to age. Thee would we remember in childhood and youth. Thee + would we serve in all the relations and activities of middle age. + Thee would we teach our children to love and serve. Be Thou our stay + and hope when health and strength shall fail. And when we are + summoned hence, do Thou, O Life of our life, illumine the mystery of + the invisible world with Thy presence and love. We ask these + blessings in the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen._--John Hunter. + + +Fourth Week, Sixth Day + +The perversions of religious faith, working pitiable instead of +benevolent consequences, are often seen on mission fields. Consider +Paul's address in Athens: + + =And Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, and said,= + + =Ye men of Athens, in all things I perceive that ye are very + religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your + worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN + GOD. What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto + you. The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being + Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; + neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, + seeing he himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and + he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the + earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of + their habitation; that they should seek God, if haply they might feel + after him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us: for + in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your + own poets have said,= + + =For we are also his offspring.= + + =--Acts 17:22-28.= + +Paul did not need to plead for religion with the Athenians; they were +already "very religious." Only religion was not doing for them what it +ought; it was a power used "in ignorance"; and Paul, valuing all that +was good there, quoting their own poets with appreciation, +nevertheless longed to take their strong religious motives and so +clarify and direct them that faith might mean unqualified benediction. +Is not this always the right missionary method? The people of India +are intensely religious; no tribe in Africa lacks its gods; and +everywhere the faith-motive is immensely powerful. But often it makes +mothers drown their babies in sacred rivers, it consecrates caste +systems as holy things, it centers man's adoration around unworthy +objects, its powers, gone wrong, are a curse and not a blessing. If in +Jesus Christ religious faith has come to us, through no merit of our +own, as an unspeakable benediction, ought we not, humbly, without +dogmatism or intolerance, and yet with passionate earnestness, to +share our best with all the world? Religious faith may either depress +or lift a people's life; it is forever doing one or the other in every +nation under heaven; and _there is no hope for the world until this +master-motive is lifting everywhere_. + + _Almighty God, our Father in heaven, who hast so greatly loved the + world that Thou hast given Thine only-begotten Son, the Redeemer, + communicate Thy love to the hearts of all believers, and revive Thy + Church to preach the Gospel to every creature._ + + _O Thou who rulest by Thy providence over land and sea, defend and + guide and bless the messengers of Christ; in danger be their shield, + in darkness be their hope; enrich their word and work with wisdom, + joy, and power, and let them gather souls for Thee in far fields + white unto the harvest._ + + _O Thou who by Thy Holy Spirit workest wonders in secret, open the + eyes that dimly look for light to see the day-star in Christ; open + the minds that seek the unknown God to know their Heavenly Father in + Christ; open the hearts that hunger for righteousness to find eternal + peace in Christ. Deliver the poor prisoners of ignorance and captives + of idolatry, break down the bars of error, and dispel the shadows of + the ancient night; lift up the gates, and let the King of glory and + the Prince of Peace come in._ + + _Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom! Strengthen Thy + servants to pray and labor and wait for its appearing; forgive our + little faith and the weakness of our endeavor; hasten the day when + all nations shall be at peace in Thee, and every land and every heart + throughout the world shall bless the name of the Lord Jesus, to the + glory of God the Father. Amen._--Henry van Dyke. + + +Fourth Week, Seventh Day + +The sad perversions of religious faith are not a matter for foreign +missions only. At home, too, we find people who seem to be rather +worse than better because they are religious. Just as power in any +other form may be abused, so may religious faith. Some in the name of +religion become censorious and intolerant, some superstitious, some +slaves to morbid fears; and ignorance, self-conceit, pride, and +worldly ambition when driven and enforced by a religious motive are +infinitely worse than they would have been without it. Toward this +fact two attitudes are possible. One is to throw over religion on +account of its abuses; which is as reasonable as to deny all the +blessings of electricity because in ignorant hands it is a dangerous +power. The other is to take religious faith more seriously than ever, +to see how great a force for weal or woe it always is in human life, +and to strive in ourselves and in others for a high, intelligent, and +worthy understanding and use of it. For religion can mean what Amiel +said of it: "There is but one thing needful--to possess God. Religion +is not a method: it is a life--a higher and supernatural life, +mystical in its root and practical in its fruits; a communion with +God, a calm and deep enthusiasm, a love which radiates, a force which +acts, a happiness which overflows." From our study of the perversions +and travesties of faith, we turn therefore in the weekly comment to +consider faith's vital meanings. So Paul, writing to the Galatians, +rejoices in religion as a gloriously transforming power in life. + + =But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of + the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit + against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that + ye may not do the things that ye would. But if ye are led by the + Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are + manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, + idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, + divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; + of which I forewarn you even as I did forewarn you, that they who + practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the + fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, + goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is + no law. And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh + with the passions and the lusts thereof.--Gal. 5:16-23.= + + _Thou, O God, hast exalted us so that no longer we walk with prone + head among the animals that perish. Thou hast ordained us as Thine + own children, and hast planted within us that spiritual life which + ever seeks, as the flame, to rise upward and mingle with Thee. Every + exaltation, every pure sentiment, all urgency of true affection, and + all yearning after things higher and nobler, are testimonies of the + divinity that is in us. These are the threads by which Thou art + drawing us away from sense, away from the earth, away from things + coarse and unspiritual, and toward the ineffable. We rejoice that we + have in us the witness of the Spirit, the indwelling of God. For, + although we are temples defiled, though we are unworthy of such a + Guest, and though we perpetually grieve Thee, and drive Thee from us, + so that Thou canst not do the mighty work that Thou wouldst within + us, yet we rejoice to believe that Thou dost linger near us. Even + upon the outside, Thou standest knocking at the door until Thy locks + are wet with the night dews, and dost persuade us with the + everlasting importunity of love, and draw us upward, whether with or + without our own knowledge. Thou art evermore striving to imbue us + with Thyself, and to give us that divine nature which shall triumph + over time and sense and matter; and we pray that we may have an + enlightened understanding of this Thy work in us and upon us, and + work together with Thee. Amen._--Henry Ward Beecher. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +One might be tempted by the last chapter to suppose that, if he could +accept the proposition that God is personal, he would be well upon his +way toward Christianity. But in theory at least Plato accepted this +proposition four hundred years before Christ, when he said: "God is +never in any way unrighteous--He is perfect righteousness; and he of +us who is most righteous is most like Him." He, too, used personality +as a symbol of God. When, however, one compares Plato with Jesus, how +incalculably greater is the religious meaning of our Lord! There is +something more in the Master's experience and thought than the belief +that God is personal. Evidently our quest must be followed further +than the last chapter carried us. + +In Scripture two kinds of faith in the personal God are clearly +indicated. On the one side stand verses such as this: "Thou believest +that God is one; thou doest well; the demons also believe and shudder" +(James 2:19). On the other, one finds through both the Testaments +witness and appeal for a kind of faith that plainly differs from the +first: "O my God, in thee have I trusted" (Psalm 25:2). It is not +difficult to guess the terms in which many would describe this +difference. In the first, so the familiar explanation runs, we are +dealing with the _mind's_ faith in God; the man's intellect +assents to the belief that God is and that He is one. In the second we +are dealing with the _heart's_ faith in God; the whole man is +here involved in an adoring trust that finds in reliance upon God +life's stimulus and joy. + +This distinction between the faith of the intellect and of the heart +is valid, but it does not go to the pith of the truth. When a +professor in the class-room, discussing conflicting theories of life's +origin, concludes that theism is the reasonable interpretation of the +universe, the listener understands that the lecturer believes in God's +existence. But if the professor could be followed home and overheard +in a private prayer, like Fénelon's: "Lord, I know not what I ought to +ask of Thee; Thou only knowest what I need; Thou lovest me better than +I know how to love myself. O Father! give to Thy child that which he +himself knows not how to ask," something incalculably more than the +classroom talk disclosed would be revealed about the meaning of the +teacher's faith. And as the classroom lecture and the private prayer +stand so contrasted, the gist of the difference is plain. In the one, +faith was directed toward a _theory_; in the other faith laid hold +upon a _Person_. That the intellect was more involved in the first and +the emotions in the second is incidental to the main matter, that _two +differing objects were in view_. Toward these two objects we +continually are exercising faith--_ideas and people, propositions and +persons_. + +Now faith in a proposition we conveniently may call belief; and faith +in a person, trust. We believe that gravitation and the conservation +of energy universally apply, that democracy will prove better than +absolutism, and that prison systems can be radically reformed; these +and innumerable other propositions that cannot be demonstrated we +confidently believe. But in quite another way we daily are exercising +faith; _we have faith in our friends_. How profound a change +comes over the quality and value of faith when it thus finds its +objective in a person! Our beliefs in propositions are of basic import +and without them we could not well exist, but it is by trust in +persons that we live indeed. Belief in monogamy, for all its +importance, is a cold abstraction, and few could be found to die for +it. Men do not lay down their lives for abstract theories, any more +than they would suffer martyrdom, as Chesterton remarked, for the +Meridian of Greenwich. But when monogamy is translated from theory +into personal experience, when belief in the idea becomes trust in a +life-long comrade of whom one may sing: + + "What I do + And what I dream include thee, as the wine + Must taste of its own grapes," + +faith has taken a form for which men do live and die in glad +surrender. Although the same word, faith, be applied to both, trust in +persons reaches deeper than belief in propositions and supplies a +warmth and power that belief cannot attain. + +In religion these two aspects of faith continually are found and both +are indispensable. Trust in a person, for example, presupposes belief +in his existence and fidelity. "He that cometh to God must believe +that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him" +(Heb. 11:6). Trust cannot exist without belief, but when one seeks the +inner glory of the religious life that has overflowed in prayer and +hymn, supplied motive for service and power for character, he finds it +not in belief, but in the vital relationships involved in trusting a +Person. Men often have discussed their particular beliefs with cool +deliberation, have stated them in formal creeds, have changed them +with access of new knowledge and experience. But _trust_, the +inner reliance of the soul on God and glad self-surrender to his will, +has persisted through many changes, clothing itself with beliefs like +garments and casting them aside when old. Trust has made rituals and +churches and unmade them when they were ineffectual, it has been the +life behind the theory, the experience behind the explanation; and its +proper voice has been not creed and controversy, but psalm and song +and sacrifice. Men have felt in describing this inward friendship that +their best words were but the "vocal gestures of the dumb," able to +indicate but unable to express their thoughts. _For while belief is +theology, trust is religion._ + + +II + +This central position of trust in the Christian life is evident when +one considers that in its presence or absence lies the chief point of +difference between a religious and an irreligious man. The peculiarity +of religion is not that it has beliefs; everybody has them. As we have +seen, Huxley, who called himself an agnostic, said that he thoroughly +believed the universe to be rational, than which only a few greater +ventures of faith can be imagined. A man may not want to have beliefs. +He may say that knowledge is wool, warm to clothe oneself withal, that +belief is cotton, and that he will not mingle them. But for all that +he still does have beliefs and he cannot help it. + +When, therefore, a Christian and an atheist converse they can match +belief with belief. "I believe," says one, "in God the Father"; and "I +believe," says the other, "in the eternal physical universe, without +spiritual origin or moral purpose." Says the Christian, "I believe in +the immortality of persons," and the atheist replies, "I believe that +the spirit dies with the body as sound ceases when the bell's swinging +iron grows still." Says the Christian, "I believe in the ultimate +triumph of righteousness"; and the atheist replies, "I believe that +all man's aspiration after good is but the endless sailing of a ship +that never shall arrive." So the two may play battledore and +shuttlecock, but if, so having paired beliefs, they part with no more +said, they have missed the real point of their difference. The +irreligious man can match the Christian's belief with his own, but one +thing he cannot match--the Christian's trust. _He has nothing that +remotely corresponds with that._ + +The Christian always has this case to plead with an unbelieving man: +Do not suppose that the difference between us is exhausted in a +conflict of contrasting propositions. Great indeed is the divergence +there! But the issue of all such difference lies in another realm. +When you face life's abysmal mysteries that your eyes can no more +pierce than mine, you have no one to trust. When misfortunes fall that +send men to their graves, as Sydney Smith said, with souls scarred +like a soldier's body, you have no one to trust. When you face the +last mystery of all and whether going say farewell to those who stay, +or staying bid farewell to those who go, you have no one to trust. You +can match my belief with your belief, but for one thing you have no +counterpart. "Jehovah is my shepherd, I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1). +You cannot match that! "My heart hath trusted in him, and I am helped" +(Psalm 28:7). You cannot match that! "Shall not the Judge of all the +earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25); "We have our hope set on the living +God" (I Tim. 4:10); "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke +23:46). That trust you cannot match! + + +III + +In the light of this distinction between belief and trust some +mistaken types of faith can be easily described. There, for example, +is the _faith of formal creedalism_. We cannot have trust without +some belief, but we may unhappily have belief without any trust. Now a +man who believes the doctrines that underly the Christian life but who +does not vitally trust the Person whom those doctrines present, has +missed the heart out of faith's meaning. He is like one who cherishes +a letter of introduction to a great personality, but has never used +it; he has the formal credentials, but not the transforming +experience. It follows that we cannot estimate a man merely by knowing +his beliefs. I believe in all the Christian truths, says one; and the +curious question rises, how did these beliefs of his come into his +possession? They may have been handed to him by his forbears like a +set of family jewels, a static and external heritage, which now he +keeps in some ecclesiastical safe-deposit vault and on state days, at +Christmas or at Easter, goes to see. Still he may claim that they are +his beliefs; he may even quarrel about their genuineness, not because +he ever uses them but because they are his. He may repeat the creed +with the same unquestioning assent that he gives to the conventional +cut of his clothes. His beliefs are not the natural utterance and +explanation of his inner life with God and man, but are put on as they +were handed to him, like the fashions of his coats. So easy is it to +be formally orthodox! + +Over against such conventional believers one thinks of other folk whom +he has known. They have no such stereotyped, clear-cut beliefs. They +are very puzzled about life. It seems to them abysmally mysterious. +And when they speak they talk with a modesty the formal creedalist has +never felt: My beliefs are most uncertain. Confused by many voices +shouting conflicting opinions about truths which I once accepted +without thinking, I cannot easily define my thoughts. But I do trust +God. That assent of the mind which I cannot give to propositions, I +can give to him. Life is full of mystery, but I do not really think +that the mystery is darkness at its heart. My faith has yet its +standing ground in this, that the world's activities are not like the +convulsions of an epileptic, unconscious and purposeless. There is a +Mind behind the universe, and a good purpose in it. + + "Yet in the maddening maze of things, + And tossed by storm and flood, + To one fixed trust my spirit clings; + I know that God is good." + +Say as one may that such an attitude is far from adequate, yet as +compared with the merely formal acceptance of inherited opinions how +incomparably superior its religious value is! + +The people of placid, stiff beliefs are not the successors of the real +saints. When one reads George Matheson's books of devotion, for +example, or sings his hymn "O Love, that wilt not let me go," or +learns of his great work in his church in Edinburgh, one might suppose +that he never had a doubt. Yet listen to his own confession: "At one +time with a great thrill of horror, I found myself an absolute +atheist. After being ordained at Innellan, I believed nothing; neither +God nor immortality. I tendered my resignation to the Presbytery, but +to their honor they would not accept it, even though an Highland +Presbytery. They said I was a young man and would change. I have +changed." One need only read such books of his as "Can the Old Faith +Live with the New?" to see through what a searching discipline of +strenuous thought he passed in the regaining of his faith. But if one +would know what held his religious life secure while he was working +out his beliefs from confusion to clarity, one must turn to Matheson's +poem: + + "Couldst thou love _Me_ + When creeds are breaking-- + Old landmarks shaking + With wind and sea? + Couldst thou refrain the earth from quaking + And rest thy heart on _Me_?" + +Many a man has been held fast by his trust in God while in perplexity +he thought out his beliefs about God. + +Indeed, within the Scripture, whatever word is used to describe the +attitude of faith, this vital personal alliance with God is everywhere +intended. For convenience we have called faith in propositions belief, +but that does not mean that when the Scriptures use "believe" they are +urging the acceptance of propositions. Not often in the Bible are we +invited merely to agree with an opinion; we are everywhere called to +trust a Person. "Trust in the Lord" in the Old Testament, "Believe in +the Lord Jesus Christ" in the New, are neither of them the +proclamation of a theory, but the exaltation of a personality. +Wherever in Scripture doctrines are insisted on--the unity of God, +the deathlessness of the spirit, the divinity of Christ--they are +never doctrines for their own sakes; _they are either commendatory +truths about a Friend, that we may not fail to trust him, or they are +ideas about life that have come to men because they did trust him_. +_Trust in a Person is either the source or the goal of every Christian +doctrine._ The Gospel at its center is not a series of propositions, +but a concrete, personal relationship opened between the soul and the +Divine, out of which new powers, joys, possibilities flow gloriously +into human life. When out of this experience of divine fellowship +Paul, for example, speaks of faith he means by it the alliance that +binds him to his friend. He fairly sings of the peace that comes from +such believing (Rom. 15:13), of the love that is its motive power and +chief expression (Gal. 5:6), and of "the sacrifice and service" which +are its issue (Phil. 2:17). He enthusiastically commends to everyone +this divine alliance through which moral defeat is changed to victory +in the "righteousness which is of God by faith" (Phil. 3:9); and his +prose slips over into poetry when he describes his new transfigured +life as "access by faith into that grace wherein we stand" (Rom. 5:2). +Plainly he is not talking here about a set of propositions; he is +rejoicing in a transforming personal relationship. Some faith is +nothing but an inherited set of opinions and it gives a cold light +like an incandescent bulb; some faith, like sunshine, is brighter for +seeing than any incandescence can ever be, but warm too, so that under +its persuasive touch new worlds of life spring into being. The faith +of the New Testament and of the real saints is not the cold brilliance +of a creed in whose presence one can freeze even while he sees; it is +the warm, life-giving sunshine of a trust in God that makes all +gracious things grow, and puts peace and joy, hope and love into life. +Belief in propositions is there, but the crown and glory of it are +trust in a Person. + + +IV + +In the light of this distinction between belief and trust, the +inadequacy of another type of faith can easily be understood. Many +would protest that they have not accepted their beliefs as an external +heritage from the past, but rather have thought them through, and hold +them now as _reasonable theories to explain the facts of the spiritual +life_. They would say that as a geologist observes the rocks and +constructs an hypothesis to account for their origin and nature, so +the mind, observing man's contacts with invisible powers, constructs +religious beliefs as explanations of experience. They would insist +that their theology is not merely traditional, but in large degree is +independently appropriated and original. They hold it as an hypothesis +to make intelligible man's experiences of the spiritual world. + +There is significant truth in this view of faith. Man's ideals, his +loves, hopes, aspirations, his unescapable sense of moral obligation, +his consciousness of Someone other than himself, are facts, as solidly +present in experience as stars and mountains. To explain these facts +by theology is as rational as to explain the stars by astronomy. Every +believer in religious truth should welcome this confirming word from +Dr. Pritchett, written when he was President of the Massachusetts +Institute of Technology: "Science is grounded in faith just as is +religion, and scientific truth, like religious truth, consists of +hypotheses, never wholly verified, that fit the facts more or less +closely." + +But when one turns from such a statement to inquire what faith has +actually meant to religious men, he does not find that their +experience could easily be defined as belief in an hypothesis. The +prophets, standing their ground through national disaster, +undiscourageable in their conviction of God's good purpose for His +people, would have been surprised to hear their faith so described. +When the Sons of Thunder were swept out into a new life by the +influence of Jesus, or the seer of Patmos was ravished with visions of +eternal victory, or Paul was made conqueror in a fight for character +that had been his despair, they would hardly have spoken of their +experiences as belief in an hypothesis. Real religion has always meant +something more vital than holding a theory about life. When Robert +Louis Stevenson says of his transformation of character, "I came about +like a well-handled ship. There stood at the wheel that unknown +steersman whom we call God"; when Tolstoi cries: "To know God and to +live are one and the same thing"; when Professor William James, of +Harvard, writes of his consciousness of God, "It is most indefinite to +be sure and rather faint, and yet I know that if it should cease, +there would be a great hush, a great void in my life"; one sees what +conversion of character, what increase of life's value, what +spiritual reenforcement religion has meant even to such unconventional +believers. When they speak of it, they are evidently thinking of a +vital power and not a theory. + +The most obscure Christian to whom religion has become a necessity in +living, knows how far short the plummet of hypothetical belief comes +from reaching bottom. In sin, burdened by a sense of guilt that he +could not shake off and unable to forgive himself, he has cried to be +forgiven, and the Gospel that has been his hope was no injunction to +hold hard by his hypothesis! In sorrow, when the blows have fallen +that either hallow or embitter life, he has sought for necessary +fortitude, and the Gospel which established him certainly was not, +Cast thy care on thine hypothesis! And when, more than conqueror, he +faces death, his confidence and hope will rest on no such prayer as +this, O Hypothesis, guide me! The word of religion is of another sort, +"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear +no evil, for _Thou_ art with me." Not belief in propositions, but +trust in a Person has been the heart of the Gospel, and to make any +hypothesis, however true, do duty as religion is to give the soul a +stone when it asks for bread. + +The futility of seeking contentment in faith as an hypothesis alone is +especially manifest in our time. This is an age of swiftly changing +ideas in every realm. As in science, so in religion, today one theory +holds the field to be displaced tomorrow by another. A man in +theology, as much as in politics or psychology, goes to bed supposing +he has settled his opinions, and wakes up to find a new array of +evidence that disturbs his confidence. When, therefore, religious +faith has meant no more to its possessor than theory, there is no +security or rest. Each day the winds of opinion shift and veer, and +minds at the beginning obstinate in their beliefs, at last, dismayed +by the reiterated uncertainties of thought, give up their faith. + +Where, then, have the men of faith found the immovable center of their +confidence? Paul revealed the secret. On the side of his particular +opinions he frankly confessed his limited and uncertain knowledge. +"Now we know in fragments," he wrote, "now we see through a glass +darkly." "How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing +out!" But on the side of his trust he is adamant: "I know _him_ whom +I have believed." The certainty of his life was his relationship with +a person, and his beliefs were the best he yet had thought in the +explication and establishment of that trust. + +The great believers of the Church continually have exhibited this dual +aspect of their faith. Even St. Augustine, facing the profound +mysteries involved in his trinitarian belief, complains that human +speech is pitiably futile in trying to explain what "Three persons" +means, and that if he uses the familiar phrase, he does so not because +he likes it, but because he may not be silent and knows no better +thing to say. But when Augustine prays to the God whose nature is so +unfathomable that no man can see it fully or express it adequately, he +reveals no such uncertain thought: "Grant me, even me, my dearest +Lord, to know Thee and love Thee and rejoice in Thee.... Let the love +of Thee grow every day more and more here, that it may be perfect +hereafter; that my joy may be great in itself and full in Thee. I +know, O God, that thou art a God of truth; O make good Thy gracious +promises to me!" So children do not fully understand an earthly father +and often hold conceptions grotesquely insufficient to do justice to +his life and work. But they may have for him well-founded trust. Even +in the years of infancy an ennobling personal relationship begins, +despite the inadequacy of their beliefs, and that trust yearly deepens +while mental concepts shift and change with access of new knowledge. +_The abiding core of a child's life with his father is not belief +but trust._ + +Such has always been the secret of faith's stability in men who have +entered into personal fellowship with God. Even of the first disciples +it has been said--"They would have had difficulty sometimes to tell +you _what_ they believed, but they could always have told you in +_whom_ they believed." + + +V + +The truth of which we have been speaking has pertinent bearing on the +main object of our studies. We shall be considering the difficulties +which Christians have with their beliefs, and the arguments which may +clarify and establish our minds' confidence in God. But many problems +in the realm of intellectual belief cannot be solved by any arguments +which the mind devises. The trouble often lies not in our theories +about the religious life, but in our religious life itself. _The +deeper difficulty is not that our thinking is unreasonable, but that +our experience is unreal._ + +To a man who never had seen the stars or felt the wonder of their +distances, astronomy would be a lifeless topic and his endeavors to +think about it a blundering and futile operation. Our theories about +anything depend for their interest and worth upon the vividness with +which we experience the thing itself and care to understand its +meaning. This is true about matters like the stars; how much more true +about the intimate affairs of man's own life! Democracy vs. autocracy +is a crucial problem. But plenty of men are so careless about human +weal, think so little of their country and the world as objects of +solicitude and devotion, that to discuss in their presence democratic +and autocratic theories of state is a waste of time. The trouble is +not with their minds; they may be very clever and acute. The trouble +is with their lives. They need to experience patriotism as a vital +motive; they need to care immensely what happens to mankind. Only then +will the problems of government grow vivid, and the need of a solution +become so critical that thinking will be urgent and productive. We +never think well about anything for which we do not care. + +Plenty of people today discuss theology as an academic pastime. It is +a speculative game at which they play, as they do at golf, for its fun +and lure. They do not really care about God; they feel no crucial need +of him. Of little use is all their ingenuity in argument, clever and +astute though it may be. Blind men might so discuss the color scheme +of an Italian landscape and deaf men debate the harmonies of Handel's +oratorios. What is lacking is experience. For our theories are only +the explanations of experience, and an emptier game cannot be played +than debating explanations of experiences which we have not had. + +Everyone in difficulty with his faith should give due weight to this +important truth. Our intellectual troubles are not all caused by the +bankruptcy of our spiritual lives, but many of them are. Men live with +drained and unreplenished spirits, from which communion with God and +service of high causes have been crowded out. God grows unreal. The +self-evidencing experiences that maintain vital confidence in the +spiritual life grow dim and unimperative. Men pass years without +habitually thinking as though God really were, without making any +great decisions as though God's will were King, without engaging in +any sacrificial work that makes the thought of God a need and a +delight, without the companionship of great ideas or the sustenance of +prayer. Then, when experience is denuded of any sense of God's +reality, some intellectual doubt is suggested by books or friends, or +fearful trouble shatters happiness. What recourse is there in such a +case? The arguments of faith have no experience to get their grip +upon; they can appeal to no solid and sustained fact of living. +Religious confidence goes to pieces and men tell their friends that +modern philosophy has been too much for faith. But the underlying +difficulty was not philosophical; it was vital. The insolvency of +"belief" was due to the bankruptcy of "trust." Personal fellowship +with God failed first; the theory about him lapsed afterward. + +Throughout our endeavor to deal with intellectual perplexity, this +fundamental truth should not be forgotten. _The peril of religion is +that vital experience shall be resolved into a formula of explanation, +and that men, grasping the formula, shall suppose themselves thereby +to possess the experience._ If one inquires what air is, the answer +will probably be a formula stating that oxygen and nitrogen mixed in +proportions of twenty-one to seventy-nine make air. But air in +experience is not a formula. Air is the elixir we breathe and live +thereby. Air is the magician who takes the words that our lips frame +and bears them from friend to friend in daily converse. Air is the +messenger who carries music to our ears and fragrance to our nostrils; +it is the whisperer among the trees in June, and in March the wild +dancer who shakes the bare branches for his castanets. Air is the +giant who piles the surf against the rocky shore, and the nurse who +fans the faces of the sick. One cannot put that into a formula. No +more can God be put into a theology, however true. They who define him +best may understand him least. God is the Unseen Friend, the Spiritual +Presence, who calls us in ideals, warns us in remorse, renews us with +his pardon, and comforts us with power. God is the Spirit of +Righteousness in human life, whose victories we see in every moral +gain, and allied with whom we have solid hopes of moral victory. God +is the One who holds indeed the far stars in his hand, and yet in +fellowship with whom each humblest son of man may find strength to do +and to endure with constancy and fortitude and deathless hope. And +when one lives close to him, so that the inner doors swing easily on +quiet hinges to let him in, he is the One who illumines life with a +radiance that human wills alone cannot attain. That is God--"Blessed +is the man that taketh refuge in him" (Psalm 34:8). + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Faith's Intellectual Difficulties + + +DAILY READINGS + +Most people will readily grant that such a sense of personal +fellowship with God as the last week's study presented is obviously +desirable. Every one who has experienced such filial life with God +will bear witness to its incomparable blessing. Said Tennyson, "I +should be sorely afraid to live my life without God's presence, but to +feel he is by my side just now as much as you are, that is the very +joy of my heart." But many who would admit the desirability of the +experience are troubled about the reasonableness of the beliefs that +underly it. They want intellectual assurance about their faith. Let us +in the daily readings present certain considerations which a mind so +perplexed should take into account. + + +Fifth Week, First Day + +We should let no one deny our right to bring religious belief to the +test of reasonableness. Glanvill was right when in the seventeenth +century he said, "There is not anything I know which hath done more +mischief to Religion than the disparaging of Reason." In the New +Testament Paul says: + + =Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.--I Thess. 5:21.= + +Peter says: + + =Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in + your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge.--II Pet. 1:5.= + +This might be paraphrased to read, Faith should be _worked out_ into +character and _thought through_ into knowledge. As for Jesus: + + =One of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and + knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, What commandment + is the first of all? Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; + The Lord our God, the Lord is one: and thou shalt love the Lord thy + God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, + and with all thy strength.--Mark 12:28-30.= + +In many a life which has neglected these admonitions Lowell's words +have proved true: "Nothing that keeps thought out is safe from +thought." In our resolute endeavor to think through the mystery of +life, however, and to find a reasonable basis for faith, we need to +remember that _the very desire to know is an indication of the +reality which we seek_. The dim intuition that the world with all +its diverse powers was in some sense a unity, preceded by ages the +statement of nature's uniformity which modern science knows; and man's +tireless desire to reach a reasonable statement of the unity was an +intimation in advance that unity was there. So men do not believe in +God because they have proved him; they rather strive endlessly to +prove him because they cannot help being sure that he must be there. +This in itself is an intimation about reality which no thoughtful man +will lightly set aside. Tennyson rightly describes the reason for +man's quest after proof about God: + + "If e'er when faith had fall'n asleep, + I heard a voice 'believe no more' + And heard an ever-breaking shore + That tumbled in the Godless deep; + + A warmth within the breast would melt + The freezing reason's colder part, + And like a man in wrath the heart + Stood up and answer'd 'I have felt.'" + + _Eternal Father, Quest of ages, long sought, oft doubted or forsook; + can it be that Thou art known to us, the Law within our minds, the + Life of every breath we draw, the Love that yearneth in our hearts? + Art Thou the Spirit who oft hast striven with us, and whom we greatly + feared, lest yielding to His strong embrace we should become more + than we dared to be?_ + + _An impulse toward forgiveness has sometimes stirred within us, we + have felt moved to show mercy, the sacrificial life has touched our + aspiration; but we were unprepared to pay the price. Was this + Thyself, and have we turned from Thee? Something like this we must + have done, so barren, joyless and so dead has life become. Canst Thou + not visit us again?_ + + _We hush our thoughts to silence, we school our spirits in sincerity, + and here we wait. O may we not feel once more the light upon our + straining eyes, the tides of life rise again within our waiting + hearts?_ + + _We never looked to meet Thee in the stress of thought, the toil of + life, or in the call of duty; we only knew that somehow life had lost + for us all meaning, dignity, and beauty. How then shall we turn back + again and see with eyes that fear has filmed? How can we be born + again, now grown so old in fatal habit?_ + + _If we could see this life of ours lived out in Thee, its common days + exalted, its circumstances made a throne, its bitterness, + disappointment, and failure all redeemed, then our hearts might stir + again, and these trembling hands lay hold on life for evermore. + Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Fifth Week, Second Day + +Not only is man's tireless quest for assurance about God an intimation +that God must be here to be sought after; but _the spiritual nature of +man which insists on the quest is itself a revelation that God +actually is here_. Some men say that our spiritual life is the result +of evolution, and they suppose that by this magic word they have +explained it. But what comes out of a process of growth was somehow +latent in the Original Beginning from which the growth started. +Palm-trees do not grow from acorns; only oaks evolve from acorns and +for the sufficient reason that oaks are somehow _involved in acorns_ +to start with. So a universe with spiritual life in it naturally +presupposes an Original with spiritual life in It. Whatever evolves +must first of all have been involved. The very fact that the seeker +after God has a spiritual life, which is restless and unsatisfied +without faith in the Eternal Spirit, is one of the clearest +indications that, whatever else may be said about the source of life, +it must be spiritual. The Nile for ages was a mystery; it flowed +through Egypt--a blessed necessity to the land, enriching the soil, +and sustaining the people--but nobody knew its source. Long before +Victoria Nyanza was discovered, however, thinkers were sure that a +great lake must be the explanation of the stream; and when at last +they found the sources of the Nile, the lake was even greater than +anyone had dreamed. So is man's spirit a revelation of a spiritual +origin even before that origin is clearly known. As the Bible puts it: + + =Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us + the earnest of the Spirit.--II Cor. 5:5.= + + _O God! mysterious and Infinite, Thou art the first and Thou the + last: as our weeks pass away and our age rises or declines, we still + return to Thee who ever art the same. We seek Thee as the sole + abiding light amid the shadows of perishable things. O Thou most + ancient God! to whom the heavens are but of yesterday, and the life + of worlds but as the shooting star, there is no number of Thy days + and mercies; and what can we do, O Lord, but throw ourselves on Thee + who failest not, and from whom our pathway is not hid? With solemn + and open heart we would meet Thee here. Cover not Thyself with a + cloud, most High, but may our prayer pass through._ + + _O Thou our constant Witness and our awful Judge! When we remember + our thoughtless lives, our low desires, our impatient temper, our + ungoverned wills, we know that Thou hast left us without excuse. For + Thou hast not made us blind, O Lord, as the creatures that have no + sin; nor hast Thou spared the light of holy guidance. Thy still small + voice of warning whispers through our deepest conscience; and Thine + open Word hath dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, and called us + to the feet of Christ to choose the better part. We are not our own, + and are ashamed to have lived unto ourselves. Thou hast formed us for + Thy service, and we must hide our face that we have shrunk from the + glorious hardships of our task, and slumbered on our holy watch. Our + daily work has not been wrought as in Thy sight; and we have not made + the outgoings of the morning and the evening to praise Thee. The + trials of our patience we have received as earthly pains of nature, + not as the heavenly discipline of faith; and the fulness of Thy + bounties has come to us as dead comfort, not as the quickening touch + of Thy everlasting love. O our true and only God! we have lived in a + bondage of the world that bringeth no content; and the passions we + serve are as strange idols that cannot deliver. Awake, awake, O Arm + of the Lord! and burst our bonds in sunder; and help the spirit that + struggles within us to turn unto Thee with a pure heart, and serve + Thee in newness of spirit. Amen._--James Martineau. + + +Fifth Week, Third Day + +Many stumble at the very beginning of their quest for God, because +they are sure that finite mind can never know the Infinite. The Bible +itself asserts that God is in one sense unknowable. + + =Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out.--Job 37:23.= + + =Man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning + even to the end.--Eccl. 3:11.= + + =O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of + God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing + out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his + counsellor?--Rom. 11:33, 34.= + +But in the same sense in which God is unknowable, all the most +important realities with which we deal are also beyond our +comprehension. We do not know what electricity is, what matter is, +what life is. Ether is utterly beyond the reach of our definitions, +and an English scientist calls it "unknown, impalpable, the necessary +condition of scientific thought." As for the constituent elements of +the material world, we are told that atoms are so infinitesimally +minute as to be indivisible, and yet that an "electron ranges about in +the atom as a mouse might in a cathedral." The plain fact is that in +any realm, human knowledge soon runs off into an unknown region where +it deals with invisible realities, which it cannot define, but on +which life is based. While therefore we do not know what electricity, +ether, electrons, and life itself are, we do know them well _in +their relationship with our needs_. So we may know God. Deep beyond +deep in him will be past our fathoming, but what God means in his +relationships with our lives we may know gloriously. + + _O Thou who transcendest all thought of Thee as the heavens are + higher than the earth; we acknowledge that we cannot search Thee out + to perfection, but we thank Thee that Thou, the Invisible, comest to + us in the things that are seen; that Thy exceeding glory is shadowed + in the flower that blooms for a day, in the light that fades; that + Thine infinite love has been incarnate in lowly human life; and that + Thy presence surrounds all our ignorance, Thy holiness our sin, Thy + peace our unrest._ + + _Give us that lowly heart which is the only temple that can contain + the infinite. Save us from the presumption that prides itself on a + knowledge which is not ours, and from the hypocrisy and carelessness + which professes an ignorance which Thy manifestation has made for + ever impossible. Save us from calling ourselves by a name that Thou + alone canst wear, and from despising the image of Thyself Thou hast + formed us to bear, and grant that knowledge of Thee revealed in Jesus + Christ which is our eternal life. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Fifth Week, Fourth Day + +The assurance of God may come in part from looking outward at his +creation. This universe seems superficially to be material, but really +it is _saturated with the presence of mind_. So a city's streets, +buildings, bridges, subways, and railroads might appear to careless +thought grossly material; but the fact is that in their origin they +all are _mental_. They are not simply iron and steel and stone; they +are thought, plan, purpose materialized and made visible. The basic +fact about them is that mind shaped them and permeates every use to +which they are put. The most important and decisive force in their +origination was not anything that can be seen, but the invisible +thought that dreamed them and moulded them. So when one looks at +creation he finds something more than matter; he finds order, law, +uniformity; his mind is at home in tracing regularities, discovering +laws, and perceiving purposes. Creation is not grossly material; it is +saturated with the evidence of mind. Lord Kelvin, the chemist, walking +in the country with Liebig, his fellow-scientist, asked his companion +if he believed that the grass and flowers grew by mere chemical +forces; and Liebig answered, "No, no more than I could believe that +the books of botany describing them could grow by mere chemical +forces." + + =Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that + bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by + the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not + one is lacking.= + + =Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from + Jehovah, and the justice due to me is passed away from my God? Hast + thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, + the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; + there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the + faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the + youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly + fall: but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they + shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be + weary; they shall walk, and not faint.--Isa. 40:26-31.= + + _O Thou Infinite Perfection, who art the soul of all things that are + ... we thank Thee for the world of matter whereon we live, wherewith + our hands are occupied, and whereby our bodies are builded up and + filled with food and furnished with all things needful to enjoy. We + thank Thee for the calmness of Night, which folds Thy children in her + arms, and rockest them into peaceful sleep, and when we wake we thank + Thee that we are still with Thee. We bless Thee for the heavens over + our head, arched with loveliness, and starred with beauty, speaking + in the poetry of nature the psalm of life which the spheres chant + before Thee to every listening soul._ + + _We thank Thee for this greater and nobler world of spirit wherein we + live, whereof we are, whereby we are strengthened, upheld, and + blessed. We thank Thee for the wondrous powers which Thou hast given + to man, that Thou hast created him for so great an estate, that thou + hast enriched him with such noble faculties of mind and conscience + and heart and soul, capable of such continual increase of growth and + income of inspiration from Thyself. We thank Thee for the wise mind, + for the just conscience, for the loving heart, and the soul which + knows Thee as Thou art, and enters into communion with Thy spirit, + rejoicing in its blessing from day to day. Amen._--Theodore Parker. + + +Fifth Week, Fifth Day + +The vital assurance of faith always comes, not so much from observing +the outer world, as from appreciating the meaning of man's inner life. +Man knows that he is something more than a physical machine. Theorists +may say that our minds are only a series of molecular changes in the +brain; but man turns to ask: _Who is it that is watching these +molecular changes? The very fact that we can discuss them, is proof +that we are something more than they are and of another order._ +Leslie Stephen was an agnostic, but at the thought of man as merely a +physical machine he grew impatient. "I knock down a man and an image," +he said, "and both fall down because both are material. But when the +man gets up and knocks me down, the result is not explicable by any +merely mechanical action." Man denies his own inward consciousness of +self when he refuses to acknowledge the mental and spiritual part of +him as the thing he really is. Man may have a body, but he surely is a +soul. And when man lets this highest part of him speak its own +characteristic word, he always hears a message like this: I am spirit; +to grow into great character is the one worthy end of my existence; +but how came I to be spirit with spiritual purpose unless my Creator +is of like quality? and how can I believe that my existence and my +purpose are not a cruel joke unless I am begotten by a Spiritual Life +that will sustain my strength and crown my effort? To believe that +man's soul is a foundling, laid on the doorstep of a merely physical +universe, crying in vain for any father who begot him or any mother +who conceived him, is to make our highest life a liar. Therefore man +at his best has always believed in God. + + =For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of + God. For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but + ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The + Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children + of God.--Rom. 8:14-16.= + + _O Thou whom no name can tell, whom all our thoughts cannot fully + comprehend, we rejoice in all Thy goodness.... We thank Thee for our + body, this handful of dust so curiously and wonderfully framed + together. We bless Thee for this sparkle of Thy fire that we call our + soul, which enchants the dust into thoughtful human life, and blesses + us with so rich a gift. We thank Thee for the varied powers Thou hast + given us here on earth. We bless Thee for the far-reaching mind, + which puts all things underneath our feet, rides on the winds and the + waters, and tames the lightning into useful service.... We thank Thee + for this conscience, whereby face to face we commune with Thine + everlasting justice. We thank Thee for the strength of will which can + overpower the weakness of mortal flesh, face danger and endure + hardship, and in all things acquit us like men...._ + + _We thank Thee for this religious sense, whereby we know Thee, and, + amid a world of things that perish, lay fast hold on Thyself, who + alone art steadfast, without beginning of days or end of years, + forever and forever still the same. We thank Thee that amid all the + darkness of time, amid joys that deceive us and pleasures that cheat, + amid the transgressions we commit, we can still lift up our hands to + Thee, and draw near Thee with our heart, and Thou blessest us still + with more than a father's or a mother's never-ending love. + Amen._--Theodore Parker. + + +Fifth Week, Sixth Day + +One ground of assurance concerning faith is the way a sincere +fellowship with God affects life. In a delicious passage of his +autobiography, Benjamin Franklin says, "I was scarce fifteen, when, +after doubting by turns of several points, as I found them disputed in +the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself. +Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the +substance of sermons preached at Boyle's Lectures. It happened that +they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by +them; for the arguments of the Deists which were quoted to be refuted, +appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short I soon +became a thorough Deist. My arguments perverted some others, +particularly Collins and Ralph; but, each of them having afterwards +wrong'd me greatly without the least compunction, and recollecting +Keith's conduct towards me (who was another free thinker), and my own +towards Vernon and Miss Read, which at times gave me great trouble, I +began to suspect that this doctrine, tho' it might be true, was not +very useful." Many men, not yet able to see clearly the issue of +conflicting arguments, are practically convinced in favor of faith by +the relative effects on life of faith and unbelief. When one carries +this thought out until he imagines a world where no one any more +believes in God, he feels even more emphatically the negative results +of unbelief. As Sir James Stephen said, "We cannot judge of the +effects of Atheism from the conduct of persons who have been educated +as believers in God, and in the midst of a nation which believes in +God. If we should ever see a generation of men to whom the word God +has no meaning at all, we should get a light on the subject which +might be lurid enough." A practical working conviction is often gained +in religion, as in every other realm, not by argument, but by acting +on a principle until it verifies itself by its results, or, as in +Benjamin Franklin's case, by trying a negation until one is driven +from it by its consequences. + + =Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but + inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits ye shall know them. Do + men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good + tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth + evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a + corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not + forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by + their fruits ye shall know them.--Matt. 7:15-20.= + + _O God, who remainest the same though all else fades, who changest + not with our changing moods, who leavest us not when we leave Thee; + we thank Thee that when we lose faith in Thee, soon or late we come + to faith in something that leads us back again with firmer trust and + more sincerity. Even if we wander into the far country we take + ourselves with us; ourselves who are set towards Thee as rivers to + the sea. If we turn to foolishness, our hearts grow faint and weary, + our path is set with thorns, the night overtakes us, and we find we + have strayed from light and life._ + + _Grant to us clearer vision of the light which knows no shade of + turning, that we stray not in folly away; incline our hearts to love + the truth alone, so that we miss Thee not at last; give us to realise + of what spirit we are, so that we cleave ever to Thee, who alone can + give us rest and joy. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Fifth Week, Seventh Day + +When all is said and done in the matter of intellectual assurance, +many are confused by the seeming lack of finality in the result. After +all these ages of debate, they say, see all the innumerable opinions +of jarring sects about religious truth! Evidently there is no +satisfying conclusion obtainable at all! But look at the innumerable +schools of medicine--shall one on their account decide that health is +a fruitless study? Consider the infinite variety of taste in +food--shall we say that therefore hunger and its satisfaction is a +futile question to discuss? Rather, the very variety of the answers in +man's quest reveals the importance of the quest itself. Of course +proof of God lacks the finality of a scientific demonstration, and +this is true _because it moves in a realm so much more important than +anything that science touches_. Exactness and finality are possible +only in the least important realms. One can measure and analyze and +describe to a minute nicety a table which a carpenter has made, but +when one turns to the carpenter himself and endeavors to analyze his +motives, weigh his thoughts, estimate his quality, and prove his +purposes, one drops minute nicety at once. The carpenter is not to be +put into a column of figures and added with mathematical precision as +his table is. The farther up one moves in the scale the less precise +and undeniable do his conclusions become. So science is exact just +because it deals with measurable things; but religion, by as much as +its realm is more important, can less easily pack its conclusions into +neat parcels finally tied up and sealed. A man who will not believe +anything which is not precisely demonstrable must eliminate from his +life everything except what yardsticks can measure and scales can +weigh. Let no man ever give up the fight for faith because he does not +seem at once to be reaching an answer which he can neatly formulate. +Let him remember Tolstoi, writing on his birthday: "I am twenty-four, +and I have not done a thing yet. But I feel that not in vain have I +been struggling for nearly eight years against doubt and temptation. +For what am I destined? This only the future will disclose." + + =Hear, O Jehovah, when I cry with my voice: + Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. + When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, + Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek. + Hide not thy face from me; + Put not thy servant away in anger: + Thou hast been my help; + Cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. + When my father and my mother forsake me, + Then Jehovah will take me up. + Teach me thy way, O Jehovah; + And lead me in a plain path, + Because of mine enemies. + Deliver me not over unto the will of mine adversaries: + For false witnesses are risen up against me, + And such as breathe out cruelty. + I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah + In the land of the living. + Wait for Jehovah: + Be strong, and let thy heart take courage; + Yea, wait thou for Jehovah.= + + =--Psalm 27:7-14.= + + _Deliver us, our Father, from all those mists which do arise from the + low places where we dwell, which rise up and hide the sun, and the + stars even, and Thee. Deliver us from the narrowness and the poverty + of our conceptions. Deliver us from the despotism of our senses. And + grant unto us this morning, the effusion of Thy Spirit, which shall + bring us into the realm of spiritual things, so that we may, by the + use of all that which is divine in us, rise into the sphere of Thy + thought, into the realm where Thou dwellest, and whither have trooped + from the ages the spirits of just men now made perfect. Grant, we + pray Thee, that we may not look with time-eyes upon eternal things, + measuring and dwarfing with our imperfectness the fitness and beauty + of things heavenly. So teach us to come into Thy presence and to rise + by sympathy into Thy way of thinking and feeling, that so much as we + can discern of the invisible may come to us aright. Amen._--Henry + Ward Beecher. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +While it is true that in many cases the apparent unreasonableness of +Christian faith springs from the underlying unreality of Christian +life, this is not always a sufficient diagnosis of doubt. Horace G. +Hutchinson, the English golfer, who spent much of his life in +agnosticism and has now come over into Christian faith, thus +interprets the spirit of his long unbelief: "All the while I had the +keenest consciousness of the comfort that one would gain could he but +believe in the truth of the Christian promises. Surely that must +always be the agnostic's mood.... It is not that they wilfully reject +the appeal to the heart; their will is eager to respond to it. But man +has his gift of reason; it cannot be that he is not intended to use +it. Least of all can it be part of the great design that he should +suspend its use in regard to the most important subject to which his +thought can be directed." + +Such sincere intellectual difficulties with faith must be met with +intellectual arguments and not with moral accusations. Plenty of folk +of elevated character and admirable lives grant, sometimes +impatiently, that the Christian faith is beautiful--but is it +_so_? Is not its solacing power a deceptive sleight of hand, by +which our pleasing fancies and desires are made to look like truth? So +a mirage is beautiful to weary travelers, but their temporary comfort +rests on fallacy. McTaggart summed up one of the most wide-spread and +masterful desires of this generation when he said, "What people want +is a religion they can believe to be true." + +As one sets himself to meet faith's intellectual difficulties, the +attitude in which he is to approach the problem is all-important. +Samuel M. Crothers tells us that a young man once left with him a +manuscript for criticism, and remarked in passing, "It is only a +little bit of my work, and it will not take you long to look it over. +In fact it is only the first chapter in which I explain the Universe." +When one outgrows this cocksure presumption of youth and gains a +graver and more seasoned mind, he leaves behind the attempt to pierce +to creation's last secret. He sees that we can no more neatly and +finally demonstrate God than we can demonstrate any of life's +important faiths. + +Moreover proof of God, as a theorem in philosophy, is not a deep human +need. Men often have supposed that they had such demonstration, but +human experience was little affected by the fact. The exhaustless +source of mankind's desire for assurance about God is not theoretical +curiosity but vital need, and until a man feels the need, sees how +urgently man's highest life reaches out toward God, he never will make +much of any arguments. Browning's bishop asks his friend: + + "Like you this Christianity or not? + It may be false, but will you wish it true? + Has it your vote to be so if it can?" + +Until a man gives an affirmative answer to that inquiry, until he +possesses a life that itself suggests God and wants him, he is not +likely to arrive anywhere by argument alone. + +This is not the case with Christianity only. We cannot prove with +theoretical finality that monogamy is the form of family life to which +the universe is best adapted. But mankind, trying many experiments +with family life, has found in the monogamous family values unique and +indispensable. It is because men feel the value of such a love-bond, +that they begin to argue for it. And their argument, when one sees +deeply into it, is framed after this fashion: We know the _worth_ +of this family-life of faithful lovers. We want monogamy and we +propose to have it. We do not pretend that our faith in monogamy, as +the form of marriage best fitted to this universe, is capable of exact +demonstration; but we do see arguments of great weight in favor of it +and we do not see any convincing arguments against it. We are +persuaded that our faith has reasonable right of way; and we propose +to go on believing in monogamy and practicing it and combating its +enemies, until we prove our case in the only way such cases ever can +be finally proved, by the issue of the matter in the end. + +So men come into the sort of personal and social life that Jesus +represents. Apart from any theories, they value the life itself--its +ideals of character, friendship, service, trust. If honesty allows, +they propose to live that life. When a man has gone far enough in +Christian experience, so that he comes up to his intellectual +difficulties by such a road, he is likely to profit by a consideration +of the reasons in favor of faith. He is in the attitude of saying: I +have found great living in Christ. No argument for the Christian +experience can be quite so convincing as the Christian experience +itself. I am bound to have that life if I honestly can, and I will +search to see whether there is any insuperable intellectual difficulty +in the way of it. + + +II + +One of the initial perplexities of faith concerns the sort of +intellectual assurance which we have a right to expect. In a +laboratory of physics, the investigator gathers facts, makes +inductions as to their laws, and then verifies his findings. He uses a +simplicity of procedure and gains a finality of result that makes all +other knowledge seem relatively insecure. To be sure, the scientist +may seek long for his truth and make many ineffectual guesses that +prove false, but, in the end, he reaches a conclusion so demonstrable +that every man of wit enough to investigate the subject must agree +that it is so. How the Christian wishes for such certainty concerning +God! + +Before, however, any one surrenders confidence in God, because +confessedly the affirmations of religious faith cannot be established +by such methods as a physicist employs, there is ample reason for +delay. We are certain that heat expands and cold contracts, and we can +prove the fact and state its laws. But are we not also sure that it is +wrong to lie and right to tell the truth? This conviction about +truthfulness at least equals in theoretical certainty and in practical +right to determine conduct, our confidence in heat's expanding power. +This conviction about truthfulness does actually sway life more than +does any single scientific truth that one can name. Let us then set +ourselves to prove our moral confidence by such methods as the +physical laboratory can supply--with yard sticks, and Troy weight +scales, and test tubes, and meters! At once it is evident that if we +are to hold only such truth as is amenable to the demonstration of a +laboratory, we must bid farewell to every _moral conviction_ that +hitherto has influenced our lives. God, banished because the physicist +cannot prove him, will have good company in exile! + +Moreover, all our _esthetic convictions_ will have to share that +banishment. We know that some things are beautiful. The consensus of +the race's judgment has not so much agreed to accept the new astronomy +as it has agreed to think sunrise glorious and snow-capped mountains +wonderful. Take from our lives our judgments on beauty, so that we may +call no music marvelous, no poetry inspiring, no scenery sublime, and +some of the most intimate and assured convictions we possess will have +to go. A man who has seen the Matterhorn at dawn, when the first shaft +of light reaches its rocky pinnacle and streams down in glory over the +glaciers that cape its shoulders, will not disbelieve the splendor of +the scene, though all the world beside unanimously should cry that it +is not beautiful. But prove it by the methods of a laboratory? When +the geologist has analyzed all the mountain's rocks, the chemist all +its minerals; when the astronomer has traced the earth's orbit that +brings on the dawn, and the physicist has counted and tabulated the +rays of light that make the colors, our conviction of the scene's +beauty will be as little explained or proved as is our confidence in +God. It becomes clear that some convictions which we both do and must +hold are not amenable to the sort of proof which a scientific +laboratory furnishes. + +Moreover, if we will have no truth beyond the reach of a physicist's +demonstration, all our _convictions in the realm of personal +relationship_ will have to go. We _know_ that friendship-love is the +crown of every human fellowship. Father and son, mother and daughter, +brother and sister, wife and husband--these relationships are in +themselves bare branches wanting the foliage and fruit of friendship. +Of no truth is man at his best more sure than he is that "Life is just +our chance o' the price of learning love." But no laboratory ever can +deal with such a truth, much less establish it. For this is the +neglected insight, for the want of which our religious confidence is +needlessly unstable: _Every realm of reality has its own appropriate +kind of proof, and a method of proof available in one realm is seldom, +if ever, usable in another._ That truthfulness is right is in a way +provable, but methods proper to the moral realm must be allowed; that +the Matterhorn is sublime is in a sense provable, but by methods which +the esthetic realm permits; that love is the crown of life can be +soundly established, but one must employ a method appropriate to +personal relationships. If, obsessed by the procedure of a laboratory +as the solitary path to knowledge, one will have no convictions which +cannot meet its tests, then in good logic there must be a great +emigration from his soul. All his convictions about morals and +beauty, all his convictions about personal friendships and about God +must leave together. He will have a depopulated spirit. No man could +live on such terms for a single hour. The most essential and valuable +equipment of our souls is in convictions which the demonstrations of a +physicist can as little reach as an inch worm, clambering up the +Himalayas, can measure the distance to the sun. + + +III + +A man to whom the Christian life has come to be preeminently valuable, +and who is asking whether it is intellectually justifiable, is set +free, by such considerations as we just have noted, to seek assurance +where religious assurance may properly be found. For one thing, he may +find help by _trying out the creed of no-God_. Many a man is a +wavering believer, makes little excursions into doubt and returns +hesitant and unhappy, because he never has dared to see his doubts +through to their logical conclusion and to face the world with God +eliminated. + +One may sense the general atmosphere of the world, under the no-God +hypothesis, by saying, _In all this universe there is no mind +essentially greater than mine._ The import of such a statement +grows weightier the more one ponders it. All human minds are +infinitesimal in knowledge; endless realities must lie beyond our +reach; "our science is a drop, our ignorance a sea." Yet human +knowledge is all that anywhere exists, if the no-God hypothesis is +true. There is no knower who knows more, and the infinite reality +beyond our grasp is not known by any mind at all. No one ever thought +it or will think it through eternity. Then, let a man add, _In all +this universe there is no goodness essentially greater than mine._ +Human goodness is pitiably partial; it is but prophecy of what +goodness ought to mean; "Man is a dwarf of himself," as Emerson said. +But human goodness is all that anywhere exists, if the no-God +hypothesis is true. There never will be any better goodness anywhere, +and when the earth comes to its end in a solar catastrophe, there will +be no goodness left at all. Certainly the hypothesis of no-God raises +more questions than it easily can quell. + +Indeed the Christian, long accused by unbelieving friends of gross +credulity because he holds his creed, may well leave his defense and +"go over the top" in an offensive charge. If it is a question of +holding creeds, unbelief is a creed as certainly as belief is; it +says, I believe that there is no God or that God cannot be known. If +it is a question of credulity, the Christian suspects that of all the +different kinds of credulousness which the world has seen, nothing +ever has surpassed the capacity of modern sceptics to accept +impossible beliefs. He who says, I believe that there is no God, nor +anything which that name might reasonably connote, is saying, I +believe that the fundamental reality everywhere is physical. Long ages +ago atoms, electrons, "mobile cosmic ethers" began their mysterious +organization, whose present issue is planetary orbits, rocks, organic +life, and, highest point of all, the brain of man. Man's mind is but +the moving shadow cast by the activity of brain. Man's character is +the subtle fragrance of his nerves. Everywhere, if the no-God +hypothesis be true, spirit is a _result_, physical energy the _cause_. + +Some startling corollaries follow such a view. _No man can be blamed +for anything._ Molecular action in the brain is responsible alike +for saints and sinners, and we are as powerless to change our quality +of character or action as a planet is to change its course. Judas and +Jesus, Festus and Paul, the Belgian lads and the Prussian officers who +mutilated them, the raper and the raped--why blame the one or praise +the other when all characters alike are ground from a physical +machine, whose action is predetermined by the push of universal energy +behind? One man even says that to condemn an immoral deed is like +Xerxes whipping the Hellespont--punishment visited on physical +necessity which is not to blame. + +The second corollary is not less startling: _every man thinks as he +does because of molecular action in the brain_. A Christian believes +in God because his molecules maneuver so, and his opponent is an +atheist because his molecules maneuver otherwise, and all convictions +of truth, however well debated and reasoned out, are fundamentally the +work of atoms, not of mind. What we call intellect as little causes +anything as steam from a kettle causes the boiling out of which it +comes. Some brains boil Socialism, some do not; some brains boil +Episcopalianism and some Christian Science. A determinist and a +believer in freewill differ as do oaks and elm trees, for physical +reasons only, and folk are Catholic in southern Europe--so we are +informed--because their skulls are narrow, and in northern Europe +Protestants because their skulls are broad. Truth is a nickname for a +neurosis. The standing marvel is that on some matters like the +multiplication table our brains boil so unanimously. + +A third corollary still remains: _we have no creative power of mind +and will_. All that is and is to be was wound up in primeval +matter, and now in our thoughts and actions is ticking like a clock. +"All of our philosophy," says Huxley, "all our poetry, all our +science, and all our art--Plato, Shakespeare, Newton, and Raphael--are +potential in the fires of the sun." That is to say, Plato had nothing +to do with _creating_ his philosophy, nor Shakespeare with +writing plays--they were empty megaphones and the real voice is the +physical machine from which all things come. Professor Bowne of Boston +University, after the publication of his "Metaphysics," received from +a physicist a protest against his emphasis on the reality of mind. The +professor of physics insisted that the only fundamental reality was +physical and that mind is always a result of brain's activity and +never a cause of anything. To this Professor Bowne replied that +according to the writer's own theory, as he understood it, the letter +of protest was the result of certain physical forces issuing in +nervous excitations that made scratches on paper, and that the +writer's mind had nothing effectual to do with its composition. This, +said Professor Bowne, might be a plausible explanation of the letter, +but he was unwilling to apply it to the universe. What wonder that the +physicist acknowledged to a friend that the retort nettled him, for he +did not see just how to answer it? + + +IV + +One's discontent with this reduction of our lives to physical +causation is increased when he studies the _mental process by which +men reach it_. It is as if a man should perceive in the works of +Shakespeare insight and beauty, pathos and laughter, despair and hope, +and should set himself to explain all these as the function of the +type. How plausibly he could do it! If one takes Shakespeare's +sentences full of spiritual meaning he can readily resolve them into +twenty-six constituent letters of the alphabet, and these into certain +hooks and dashes, and these into arithmetical points diffused in +space. Starting with such abstract points, let one suppose that some +fortunate day they arranged themselves into hooks and dashes, and +these into letters of the alphabet, and these by fortuitous concourse +came together into sentences. Reading them we think we see deep +spiritual meaning, but they are all the work of type; the fundamental +reality is arithmetical points diffused in space. Such is the process +by which a man reduces the mental and moral life of man back to its +physical basis; then breaks up the physical basis into atoms; then, +starting with these abstractions, builds up again the whole world +which he just has analyzed, and thinks he has explained the infinitely +significant spiritual life of man. Not for a long time will we accept +such a method of explaining the works of Shakespeare! Nor can man +contentedly be made to follow so inconsequential a process of thought +as that by which the mind and character of Jesus are reduced to a +maneuver of molecules. + +The attractiveness of this explanation of the universe as a huge +physical machine is easily understood. It presents a simple picture, +readily grasped. It packs the whole explanation of the world into a +neat parcel, portable by any mind. In the days of monarchy the +government of the universe was pictured in terms of an absolute +sovereign; in feudal times the divine economy was pictured as a +gigantic feudalism; we always use a dominant factor in the life of man +to help us picture the eternal. So in the age whose builder and maker +is machinery we easily portray the universe as a huge machine. The +process is simple and natural, but to suppose that it is adequate is +preposterous. Lord Kelvin, the chemist, knew thoroughly the +mechanistic idea of the world. He felt the fascination of it, for he +said at Johns Hopkins University, "I never satisfy myself until I make +a mechanical model of a thing. If I can make a mechanical model I can +understand it. As long as I cannot make a mechanical model all the way +through, I cannot understand." But Lord Kelvin knew better than to +suppose that this figure comprehended all of reality. "The atheistic +idea," said he, "is so nonsensical, that I do not know how to put it +into words." + +The rejection of the no-God hypothesis does not necessarily imply that +a man becomes fully Christian in his thought of deity. There are +way-stations between no-God and Jesus' Father. _But it does mean that +to him reality must be fundamentally spiritual, not physical._ What +other hypothesis possibly can fit the facts? For consider the view of +a growing universe which we see from the outlook that modern science +furnishes. Out of a primeval chaos where physical forces snarled at +each other in unrelieved antagonism, where no man had yet arisen to +love truth and serve righteousness, something has brought us to a +time, when for all our evil, there are mothers and music and the +laughter of children at play, men who love honor and for service' sake +lay down their lives, and homes in every obscure street where +fortitude and sacrifice are splendidly exhibited. Out of a chaos, +where a contemporary observer, could there have been one, would have +seen no slightest promise of spirit, something has brought us to the +Ten Commandments, and the Sermon on the Mount, to great character and +growing achievements in social righteousness, to lofty thoughts of the +Divine and hopes of life eternal. _Something has been at work here +besides matter. No explanation of all this will do, without God._ + + +V + +Another source of confirmation for the man who, valuing Christian +experience, seeks assurance that it is intellectually justifiable, is +to be found in the effect of Christian faith on life itself. The +nautical tables can be proved by an astronomer in his observatory; but +if they are given to a sailor and he beats about the seas with them in +safety, finding that they make adventurous voyages practicable, that +also would be important witness to their truth. So the Christian ideas +of life have not been kept by studious recluses to ponder over and +weave philosophies about; they have been down in the market place, men +have been practically trying them for generations, and _they make +great living_. + +The ultimate ground of practical assurance about anything is that we +have tried it and that it works. A man may have experience that other +persons exist, may draw the inference that friendly relations with +them are not impossible, but only when he launches out and verifies +his thought in an adventure will he really be convinced of +friendship's glory. In no other way has final assurance about God come +home to man. They who have lived as though God _were_ have been +convinced that he _is_; they who have willed to do his will have +known. + +That religious faith does justify itself in life is a fact to which +mankind's experience amply testifies. Men have come to God, not as +chemists to bread curious to analyze it; they have come as hungry men, +needing to eat if they would live. And they have found life glorified +by faith in him. The difference between religion and irreligion here +is plain. _How seldom one finds enthusiastic unbelievers!_ When all +that is fine spirited and resolute in agnostic literature is duly +weighed and credited, the pessimistic undertone is always heard. +Leslie Stephen thus summarizes life--"There is a deep sadness in the +world. Turn and twist the thought as you may there is no escape. +Optimism would be soothing if it were possible; in fact, it is +impossible, and therefore a constant mockery." No gospel burns in the +unbeliever's mind, urgent for utterance; he has no inspiring outlooks +to offer, no glad tidings to declare. The more intelligent he is the +more plainly he sees this. With Clifford he laments that "the spring +sun shines out of an empty heaven to light up a soulless earth" and +feels "with utter loneliness that the Great Companion is dead"; with +Romanes he frankly states, "So far as the ruination of individual +happiness is concerned, no one can have a more lively conception than +myself of the possibly disastrous tendency of my work." An unbeliever +whose admirable life raised the question as to the philosophy by which +he guided it, gave this summary of his creed, "I am making the best of +a bad mess." Unbelievers do not spontaneously utter in song the glory +of a creed like this, and when they do write poetry, it is of a sort +that music will not fit-- + + "The world rolls round forever like a mill, + It grinds out death and life and good and ill, + It has no purpose, heart, or mind or will." + +When from poetry one turns to philosophy, he can see good reasons why +hymnals and unbelief should be uncongenial. There is little to make +life worth while in a creed which holds as Haeckel does that morality +in man, like the tail of a monkey or the shell of a tortoise, is +purely a physiological effect, and that man himself is "an affair of +chance; the froth and fume at the wave-top of a sterile ocean of +matter." Shall the practical unserviceableness of such an idea for the +purpose of life, awaken no suspicion as to its truth? + +Upon the other hand, suppose that by some strange chance the +principles of Jesus should over night take possession of mankind. Even +as it is, when one starts his thought with the Stone Age, the progress +of mankind has obviously been immense. From universal cannibalism +after a battle, to massacre without cannibalism marked one great +advance; from massacre of all prisoners taken in war to enslavement of +them marked another; and when slavery ceased being a philanthropic +improvement, as it was at first, and became a sin and shame, humanity +took another long step forward. With all our present barbarity, a far +look backwards shows a clear ascent. As for the influence of Jesus, +Lecky, the historian, tells us that "The simple record of three short +years of Christ's active life has done more to regenerate and soften +mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the +exhortations of moralists." What if this process were brought to its +fulfilment between sunset and dawn, and the new day came with every +one sure of God's fatherhood and life eternal, of the law of love and +the supremacy of character and with everyone living as though these +were true? Whatever intellectual perplexities of belief a man may +have, he knows that such a world would be divinely great. No war, no +evil lust, no covetous selfishness, no drunkenness! Mankind, relieved +of ancient burdens which have ruined character and crushed endeavor, +confident of faiths that give life infinite horizons and deathless +hopes, in cooperative international fraternity would be making the +earth a decent home for God to rear his children in. One finds it hard +to believe that ideas which, incarnate in life, would so redeem the +world are false. + +As to the effect of the Christian affirmations on individual +character, we do not need to picture an imagined future. A Character +has been here who has lived them out. A jury of philosophers might +analyze the wood-work and the metals of an organ, and guess from form +and material what it is, but we still should need for our assurance a +musician. When he sweeps the keys in harmony we _know_ that it is an +organ. So when the philosophers have debated the pros and cons of +argument concerning faith, Jesus _plays_ the Gospel. His life is the +Christian affirmations done into character. When religious faith, at +its best, is incarnate in a Man, this is the consequence. And +multitudes of folk, living out the implications of the faith, have +found the likeness of the Master growing in them. Weighty confirmation +of the Gospel's _truth_ arrives when its meaning is translated into +life; the world will not soon reject the New Testament in this +edition--bound in a Man. + +To one in perplexity about belief, this proper question therefore +rises: What do we think about the Christlike character? Is it not life +at its sublimest elevation? But to acknowledge that and yet to deny +the central faiths by which such life is lived is to say that those +ideas which, incarnate, make living great are false, and those ideas +which leave life meager of motive and bereft of hope are true. No one +lives on such a basis in any other realm. We always mistrust the +validity of any idea which works poorly or not at all. And so far from +being a practical makeshift, this "negative pragmatism" is a true +principle of knowledge. Says Professor Hocking, of Harvard, "If a +theory has no consequences, or bad ones; if it makes no difference to +men, or else undesirable differences; if it lowers the capacity of men +to meet the stress of existence, or diminishes the worth to them of +what existence they have; such a theory is somehow false, and we have +no peace until it is remedied." The last word against irreligion is +that it makes life unlivable; the last word for faith is that it makes +life glorious. + + +VI + +One who is facing intellectual difficulties in the way of faith may +well consider that the very Christian life for whose possession he is +seeking justification is itself an argument of the first importance. +This life grew up in the universe; it is one expression of the +universe; and it is hard to think that it does not reveal a nature +kindred to itself in the source from which it came. + +Mankind has always experienced a relationship with the Unseen which +has seemed like communion of soul with Soul. When a psychologist like +Professor James, of Harvard, reduces to its most general terms this +religious Fact which has been practically universal in the race, he +puts it thus: "Man becomes conscious that this higher part (his +spiritual life) is coterminous and continuous with a MORE of the same +quality, which is operative in the universe outside of him, and which +he can keep in working touch with, and in a fashion get on board of +and save himself when all his lower being has gone to pieces in the +wreck." No experience of man is more common in occurrence, more +tremendous in result than this. From the mystics whose vivid sense of +God canceled their consciousness that anything else was real, to plain +folk who in the strength of the divine alliance have lived ordinary +lives with extraordinary spirit, mankind as a whole has known that the +best in man is in contact with a MORE. + +One does not need to be of a mystical temperament, given to raptures, +to know what this means. Let him consider his own experience of love +and duty, how he is bound by them to his ideals and woven into a +community of personal life not only with his friends but with all +humanity, until this spiritual life of his becomes the most august and +commanding power he knows. When in our bodies we so discern a physical +nature, whose laws and necessities we did not create, and whose power +binds us into a community of need and labor with our fellows, our +conclusion is confident. This experience is the basis of our assurance +that a _physical universe is really here_. When, likewise in our +inner selves we find a spiritual life, which man did not create, in +obedience to which alone is safety, and peace, and power, what shall +we conclude? That there is a _spiritual universe_ as plainly +evidenced in man's soul as the physical universe is in the body! And +when we note the attributes of this Spiritual Order, how it demands +righteousness, rebukes sin, welcomes obedience and holds out ideals of +endless possibility, it is plain that we are talking about something +close of kin to God. As in summer we beat out through some familiar +bay, naming the headlands as we sail, until if we go far enough, we +cannot prevent our eyes from looking out across the unbounded sea, so +if a man moves out through his own familiar spiritual life far enough, +he comes to the Spiritual Order which is God. Man has not drifted into +his religion by accident or fallen on it merely as superstition; he +has moved out from his inner life to affirm a Spiritual Order as +inevitably as he has moved out from his bodily experiences to affirm a +physical universe. + +When from this general experience we turn to the specific experiences +of religion, which prayer and worship represent, the testimony of the +race is confident. Men have not all these ages been lifting up their +souls to an unreality from which no response has come. The artesian +well of transforming influence in human souls has not flowed from +Nowhere. Some, indeed, hearing confidence in God founded on the +individual experiences of man, derisively cry "Nonsense!" But if one +were to prove that the Sistine Madonna is beautiful, he would have to +offer his experience in evidence. "I went to Dresden," he might say, +"up into the room where the Madonna hangs ... and it _is_ beautiful. I +saw it." Met with derision by a doubter, as though his experience were +no proof at all, how shall he proceed? "I am not the only one," he +might continue, "who has perceived its beauty. All these centuries the +folk best qualified to judge have gone up into that room and have come +down again, sure that Raphael's work is beautiful." Is anyone in a +position to deride that? So through all ages men and women, from +lowest savages to the race's spiritual kings and queens, have gone up +to the Divine, and, at their best, from experiences of prayer, +worship, forgiven sins, transfigured lives, have come down sure that +Reality is there. _One may not call nonsense the most universal and +influential experience of the human race!_ + +The force of this fact is more clearly seen when one considers that +man has grown up in this universe, gradually developing his powers and +functions as responses to his environment. If he has eyes, so the +biologists assure us, it is because the light waves played upon the +skin and eyes came out in answer; if he has ears it is because the air +waves were there first and ears came out to hear. Man never yet, +according to the evolutionist, has developed any power save as a +reality called it into being. There would be no fins if there were no +water, no wings if there were no air, no legs if there were no land. +Always the developing organism has been trying to "catch up with its +environment." Yet some would tell us that man's noblest power of all +has developed in a vacuum. They would say that his capacity to deal +with a Spiritual World, to believe in God, and in prayer to experience +fellowship with him, has all grown up with no Reality to call it into +being. If so, it stands alone in man's experience, the only function +of his life that grew without an originating Fact to call it forth. It +does not seem reasonable to think that. The evidence of man's +experience is overwhelmingly in favor of a Reality to which his spirit +has been trying to answer. Said Max Müller, "To the philosopher the +existence of God may seem to rest on a syllogism; in the eyes of the +historian it rests on the whole evolution of human thought." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Faith's Greatest Obstacle + + +DAILY READINGS + +The speculative doubts leave many minds untouched, but one universal +human experience sooner or later faces every serious life with +questions about God's goodness. We all meet trouble, in ourselves or +others, and oftentimes the wonder why in God's world such calamities +should fall, such wretchedness should continually exist, plunges faith +into perplexity. Few folk of mature years can fail to understand Edwin +Booth when he wrote to a friend, "Life is a great big spelling book, +and on every page we turn the words grow harder to understand the +meaning of." Now, the basis of any intelligent explanation of faith's +problem must rest in a _right practical attitude toward trouble_. +To the consideration of that we turn in the daily readings. + + +Sixth Week, First Day + + =Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, + which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing + happened unto you: but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's + sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may + rejoice with exceeding joy. If ye are reproached for the name of + Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of + God resteth upon you. For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a + thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters: but + if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him + glorify God in this name.... Wherefore let them also that suffer + according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a + faithful Creator.--I Pet. 4:12-16, 19.= + +Such an attitude toward trouble as Peter here recommends is the most +wholesome and hopeful possible to man. And it is reasonable too, if +only on the ground that trouble _develops in men the essential +qualities of strong character_. Our highest admiration is always +reserved for men who master difficult crises. If the story of Joseph, +begun beside Bedouin camp fires centuries ago, can easily be +naturalized beside modern radiators; if Robinson Crusoe, translated +into every tongue is understood by all, the reason lies in the depth +of man's heart, where to make the most out of untoward situations is a +daily problem. Not every one can grasp the argument or perceive the +beauty of "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained," but one thing about +them every man appreciates--the blind Milton, sitting down to write +them: + + "I argue not + Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot + Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer + Right onward." + +The full understanding of Ole Bull's playing on the violin was +necessarily restricted to the musical, but no restriction bounds the +admiration of men, learned or simple, when in a Munich concert, his A +string snaps and he finishes the composition on three strings. That is +the human problem in epitome. Getting music out of life's remainders +after the break has come; winning the battle with what is left from a +defeat; going blind, like Milton, and writing sublimest poetry, or +deaf, like Beethoven, and composing superb sonatas; being reared in an +almshouse and buried from Westminster Abbey, like Henry M. Stanley; +or, like Kernahan, born without arms or legs and yet sitting at last +in the British Parliament--all such hardihood and undiscourageable +pluck reach back in a man's bosom beyond the strings that ease and +luxury can touch, and strike there an iron, reverberating chord. +Nothing in human life is so impressive as pluck, "fighting with the +scabbard after the sword is gone." And no one who deeply considers +life can fail to see that our best character comes when, as Peter +says, we "suffer as a Christian." + + _O Lord our God, let our devout approach to Thee be that of the + heart, not of the lips. Let it be in obedience to Thy spiritual law, + not to any outward ritual. Thou desirest not temples nor offerings, + but the sacrifice of a lowly and grateful heart Thou will not + despise. Merciful Father, to all Thy dispensations we would submit + ourselves, not grudgingly, not merely of necessity, but because we + believe in Thy wisdom, Thy universal rule, and Thy goodness. In + bereavement and in sorrow, in death as in life, in joys and in + happiness, we would see Thy Hand. Teach us to see it; increase our + faith where we cannot see; teach us also to love justice, and to do + mercy, and to walk humbly with Thee our God. Make us at peace with + all mankind, gentle to those who offend us, faithful in all duties, + and sincere in sorrow when we fail in duty. Make us loving to one + another, patient in distress, and ever thankful to Thy Divine power, + which keeps, and guides, and blesses us every day. Lord, accept our + humble prayer, accomplish in us Thy holy will. Let Thy peace reign in + our hearts, and enable us to walk with Thee in love; through Jesus + Christ our Lord. Amen._--Francis W. Newman, 1805. + + +Sixth Week, Second Day + + =Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are + naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and we + toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being + persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the + filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now.--I + Cor. 4:11-13.= + +If Paul could be questioned about the experience of trouble which +these verses vividly express, would he not say that there had been +qualities of character in him and resources in his relationship with +God which he never would have known about had it not been for the test +of adversity? Trouble not only develops but also _reveals_ character; +we do not know ourselves until we have been tried out in calamity. The +simplest demand of adversity on every man is that he be "game." Henry +Newbolt is not indulging in rhetoric when he tells of a Soudan battle +where a British square made up of Clifton graduates is hard beset by a +charge of fierce enemies, and, in that crisis, makes the cry of a +Clifton football captain, "Play up, boys, play the game!" rally the +men and save the day. At school or in the Soudan the problem is the +same; the sling with which David plays in his youth is his chief +reliance when Goliath comes; a "game" spirit is essential to character +from birth to death. We turn from the story of Nelson at Aboukir, +nailing six flags to his mast so that if even five were shot away no +one would dream that he had surrendered, to find that the spirit there +exemplified is applicable to our most common day. The quality which +made Nelson an Admiral of England, in spite of his lost arm, his lost +eye, his small stature, and his feeble health is one of our elemental +needs. And to a supreme degree this quality was in great Christians +like Paul. Read his letter to the Philippians and see! Adversity +brought his spirit to light, and made it an asset of the cause. In a +real sense, trouble, however forbidding, was one of Paul's best +friends, and there was a good reason why he should "rejoice in +tribulations." + + _O Father of spirits! Thou lovest whom Thou chastenest! Correct us in + our weakness as the children of men, that we may love Thee in our + strength as the sons of God. May the same mind be in us which was + also in Jesus Christ, that we may never shrink, when our hour comes, + from drinking of the cup that he drank of. Wake in us a soul to obey + Thee, not with the weariness of servile spirits, but with the + alacrity of the holy angels. Fill us with a contempt of evil + pleasures and unfaithful ease; sustain us in the strictness of a + devout life. Daily may we crucify every selfish affection, and + delight to bear one another's burdens, to uphold each other's faith + and charity, being tender-hearted and forgiving as we hope to be + forgiven. Hold us to the true humility of the soul that has not yet + attained; and may we be modest in our desire, diligent in our trust, + and content with the disposals of Thy Providence. O Lord of life and + death! Thy counsels are secret; Thy wisdom is infinite: we know not + what a day may bring forth. When our hour arrives, and the veil + between the worlds begins to be lifted before us, may we freely trust + ourselves to Thee, and say, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my + spirit." Amen._--James Martineau. + + +Sixth Week, Third Day + +If adversity, rightly used, so develops and reveals character, we may +expect to find trouble as a background to the most admirable men of +the race. We read the luminous histories of Francis Parkman and do not +perceive, behind the printed page, the original manuscript, covered +with a screen of parallel wires, along which the blind author ran his +pencil that he might write legibly. We think of James Watt as a genius +at invention, and perhaps recall that Wordsworth said of him, "I look +upon him, considering both the magnitude and the universality of his +genius, as perhaps the most extraordinary man that this country ever +produced." But Watt himself we forget--sickly of body, starving on +eight shillings a week, and saying, "Of all things in life there is +nothing more foolish than inventing." Kant's philosophy was a turning +point in human thought, but lauding Kant, how few recall his struggle +with a broken body! Said he, speaking of his incurable illness, "I +have become master of its influence in my thoughts and actions by +turning my attention away from this feeling altogether, just as if it +did not at all concern me." Wilberforce, the liberator of British +slaves, we know, and beside his grave in Westminster Abbey we recall +the superb title that he earned, "the attorney general of the +unprotected and of the friendless," but the Wilberforce who for twenty +years was compelled to use opium to keep himself alive, and had the +resolution never to increase the dose--who knows of him? One of the +chief rewards of reading biography is this introduction that it gives +to handicapped men; the knowledge it imparts of the world's great +saints and scripture makers, conquerors and reformers, who, in the +words of Thucydides, "dared beyond their strength, hazarded against +their judgment, and in extremities were of excellent hope." And when +one turns to the supreme Character, could the dark background be +eliminated and still leave Him? + + =But now we see not yet all things subjected to him. But we behold + him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, + because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that + by the grace of God he should taste of death for every man. For it + became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, + in bringing many sons unto glory to make the author of their + salvation perfect through sufferings.--Heb. 2:8-10.= + + _O God, who art unsearchable in Thy judgments, and in Thy ways past + finding out, we bow before the mystery of Thy Being, and confess that + we know nothing, and can say nothing worthy of Thee. We cannot + understand Thy dealings with us. We have faith, not sight; when we + cannot see, we may only believe. Sometimes Thou seemest to have no + mercy upon us. Thou dost pierce us through our most tender + affections, quenching the light of our eyes in dreadful darkness. + Death tears from us all that we love, and Thou art seemingly deaf to + all our cries. Our earthly circumstances are reversed and bitter + poverty is appointed us, yet Thou takest no heed, and bringest no + comfort to the sorrow and the barrenness of our life. Still would we + trust in Thee and cling to that deepest of our instincts which tells + us that we come from Thee and return to Thee. Be with us, Father of + Mercies, in love and pity and tenderness unspeakable. Lift our souls + into Thy perfect calm, where all our wills are in harmony with Thine. + Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Sixth Week, Fourth Day + +To one perplexed and disheartened by adversity, a theoretical +explanation is generally not half as valuable as concrete instances of +courage and fortitude, founded on faith. Whether we be theologians or +scientists or as ignorant of both as Caliban, there is an immediate, +personal call to arms in the brave fight of George Matheson, one of +Scotland's great preachers for all his blindness, or in Louis +Pasteur's indomitable will, making his discoveries despite the +paralytic stroke that in his forty-sixth year crippled his strength. +The qualities which we admire in them are a sort of apotheosis of the +qualities which we need in ourselves. For we all are handicapped, some +by ill-starred heredity, by unhappy environment, or by the +consequences of our own neglect and sin; some by poverty, some by +broken bodies, or by dissevered family ties--and all of us by +unfortunate dispositions. It does us good then to know that Phillips +Brooks failed as a teacher. His biographer tells us that so did his +first ambition to be an educator cling to him, that in the prime of +life, when he was the prince of preachers, he came from President +Eliot's office, pale and trembling, because he had refused a +professorship at Harvard. So Robertson, of Brighton, whose sermons +began a new epoch in British Christianity, was prevented from being a +soldier only by the feebleness of his body, and Sir Walter Scott, who +wanted to be a poet, turned to novel writing, anonymously and +tentatively trying a new role, because, as he frankly put it, "Because +Byron beat me." He is an excellent cook who knows how to make a good +dinner out of the left-overs, and hardly a more invigorating truth is +taught by history than that most of the finest banquets spread for the +delectation of the race have been prepared by men who made them out of +the leavings of disappointed hopes. + + =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.= + + _Our Father, we thank Thee that while we are sure of Thy protecting + care, Thy causal providence, which foresees all things, we can bear + the sorrows of this world, and do its duties, and endure its manifold + and heavy cross. We thank Thee that when distress comes upon us, and + our mortal schemes vanish into thin air, we know there is something + solid which we can lay hold of, and not be frustrate in our hopes. + Yea, we thank Thee that when death breaks asunder the slender thread + of life whereon our family jewels are strung, and the precious stones + of our affection fall from our arms or neck, we know Thou takest them + and elsewhere givest them a heavenly setting, wherein they shine + before the light of Thy presence as morning stars, brightening and + brightening to more perfect glory, as they are transfigured by Thine + own almighty power._ + + _We thank Thee for all the truth which the stream of time has brought + to us from many a land and every age. We thank Thee for the noble + examples of human nature which Thou hast raised up, that in times of + darkness there are wise men, in times of doubt there are firm men, + and in every peril there stand up heroes of the soul to teach us + feebler men our duty, and to lead all of Thy children to trust in + Thee. Father, we thank Thee that the seed of righteousness is never + lost, but through many a deluge is carried safe, to make the + wilderness to bloom and blossom with beauty ever fragrant and ever + new, and the desert bear corn for men and sustain the souls of the + feeble when they faint. Amen._--Theodore Parker. + + +Sixth Week, Fifth Day + +One distinguishing mark of the men who have won their victories with +the remnants of their defeat is that they refuse to describe their +unideal conditions in negative terms. If they cannot live in southern +California where they would choose to live, but must abide in New +England instead, they do not describe New England in terms of its +deficiencies--no orange groves, no acres of calla lilies, no palm +trees. There are compensations even in New England, if one will +carefully take account of stock and see what positively is there! Or +if a man would choose to live in Boston and must live in Labrador, the +case of Grenfell suggests that a positive attitude toward his +necessity will discover worth, and material for splendid triumphs even +on that inhospitable coast. The mark of the handicapped men who have +made the race's history glorious has always been their patriotism for +the country where they had to live. They do not stop long to pity +themselves, or to envy another's opportunity, or to blame circumstances +for their defeat, or to dream of what might have been, or to bewail +their disappointed hopes. If the soil of their condition will not grow +one crop, they discover what it will grow. They have insight, as did +Moses, to see holy ground where an ordinary man would have seen only +sand and sagebrush and sheep. + + =Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the + priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, + and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb. And the angel of Jehovah + appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and + he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was + not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this + great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when Jehovah saw that he + turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the + bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, + Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the + place whereon thou standest is holy ground.--Exodus 3:1-5.= + + _Father of life, and God of the living, Fountain of our being and + Light of all our day; we thank Thee for that knowledge of Thyself + which lights our life with eternal splendor, for that giving of + Thyself which has made us partakers of Thy divine nature. We bless + Thee for everything around us which ministers Thee to our minds; for + the greatness and glory of nature, for the history of our race, and + the lives of noble men; for the thoughts of Thee expressed in human + words, in the art of painters and musicians, in the work of builders + and craftsmen. We bless Thee for the constant memories of what we are + that rise within ourselves; for the pressure of duty, the hush of + solemn thoughts, for moments of insight when the veil on the face of + all things falls away, for hours of high resolve when life is + quickened within, for seasons of communion when, earth and sense + forgotten, heaven holds our silent spirits raptured and aflame._ + + _We have learned to praise Thee for the darker days when we had to + walk by faith, for weary hours that strengthened patience and + endeavor, for moments of gloom and times of depression which taught + us to trust, not to changing tides of feeling, but to Thee who + changest not. And now since Christ has won His throne by His cross of + shame, risen from His tomb to reign forever in the hearts of men, we + know that nothing can ever separate us from Thee; that in all + conflicts we may be more than conquerors; that all dark and hostile + things shall be transformed and work for good to those who know the + secret of Thy love._ + + _Glory be to Thee, O Lord. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Sixth Week, Sixth Day + +When folk have seen into human life deeply enough so that they +perceive how adversity can be used to high issues, faith in God +becomes not so much a speculative problem as a practical need. They +want to deal with trouble nobly. They see that faith in God gives the +outlook on life which makes the hopeful facing of adverse situations +reasonable and which supplies power to make it possible. The result is +that the _great sufferers have been the great believers_. The idea +that fortunate circumstances make vital faith in God probable is +utterly unsupported by history. Hardly an outstanding champion of +faith who has left an indelible impress on man's spiritual life can +anywhere be found, who has not won his faith and confirmed it in the +face of trouble. What is true of individuals is true of generations. +The days of Israel's triumphant faith did not come in Solomon's reign, +when wealth was plentiful and national ambitions ran high. The great +prophets and the great psalms stand out against the dark background of +the Exile and its consequences. + + =Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the + days of old, the generations of ancient times. Is it not thou that + didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the monster? Is it not + thou that driedst up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that + madest the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? And + the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto + Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall + obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.= + + =I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou art + afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man that shall be + made as grass; and hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, that stretched + forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fearest + continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he + maketh ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? The + captive exile shall speedily be loosed; and he shall not die and go + down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail. For I am Jehovah thy + God, who stirreth up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar: Jehovah + of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have + covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, + and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my + people.--Isa. 51:9-16.= + +That is a voice out of the Exile. Such great believers, whose faith +shone brightest when the night was darkest, have not pretended to know +the explanation of suffering in God's world. But they have had insight +to see a little and trust for the rest. Stevenson has expressed their +faith: "If I from my spy-hole, looking with purblind eyes upon a least +part of a fraction of the universe, yet perceive in my own destiny +some broken evidences of a plan, and some signals of an overruling +goodness; shall I then be so mad as to complain that all cannot be +deciphered? Shall I not rather wonder, with infinite and grateful +surprise, that in so vast a scheme I seem to have been able to read, +however little, and that little was encouraging to faith?" + + _We thank Thee, O God, that Thou dost ride upon the cloud, and govern + the storm. All that to us is dark is light to Thee. The night shineth + as the day. All that which seems to us irregular and ungoverned, is + held in Thine hand, even as the steed by the rein. From age to age + Thou dost control the long procession of events, discerning the end + from the beginning; and all the wild mixture, all the confusion, all + the sorrow and the suffering, is discerned of Thee. As is the palette + to the color, as is violence to development in strength, as is the + crushing of the grape to the wine, so in Thy sight all things are + beneficent that to us are most confusing and seemingly conflicting + and threatening. Sorrow and pain and disaster are woven in the loom + of God; and in the end we, too, shall be permitted to discern the + fair pattern, and understand how that which brought tears here shall + bring righteousness there._ + + _O, how good it is to trust Thee, and to believe that Thou art wise, + and that Thou art full of compassion, as Thou carriest on Thy great + work of love and benevolence, sympathizing with all that suffer on + the way, and gathering them at last with an exceeding great + salvation! We trust Thee, not because we understand Thee, but because + in many things Thou hast taught us where we should have been afraid + to trust. We have crossed many a gulf and many a roaring stream upon + the bridge of faith, and have exulted to find ourselves safe landed, + and have learned to trust Thee, as a child a parent, as a passenger + the master of a ship, not because we know, but because Thou knowest. + Amen._--Henry Ward Beecher. + + +Sixth Week, Seventh Day + + =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. 7:24-27.= + +An important fact is here asserted by the Master, which is commonly +obscured in the commentaries. He says that no matter whether a man's +life be built on sand or on rock, he yet will experience the blasts of +adversity; on both houses alike "the rain descended, and the floods +came, and the winds blew." The Master repeatedly affirmed that trouble +comes without necessary reference to character, that while we may +always argue that sin causes suffering, we never can confidently argue +that suffering comes from sin (Luke 13:4; John 9:1-3). Folks +needlessly and unscripturally harass their souls when they suppose +that some special trouble must have befallen them because of some +special sin. The book of Job was written to disprove that, and as for +the Master, he distinctly says that the man of faith with his house on +a rock faces the same storm that wrecks the faithless man. _The +difference is not in the adversity, but in the adversity's effect._ +No more important question faces any soul than this: seeing that +trouble is an unevadable portion of every life, good or bad, what am I +to do with it? Says Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Did you ever happen to see +that most soft-spoken and velvet-handed steam-engine at the Mint? The +smooth piston slides backward and forward as a lady might slip her +delicate finger in and out of a ring. The engine lays one of its +fingers calmly, but firmly, upon a bit of metal; it is a coin now, and +will remember that touch, and tell a new race about it, when the date +upon it is crusted over with twenty centuries. So it is that a great +silent-moving misery puts a new stamp on us in an hour or a moment--as +sharp an impression as if it had taken half a lifetime to engrave it." +The only flaw in that simile is that the coin cannot decide what +impression shall be made. But we can. Rebellion, despair, bitterness, +or triumphant faith--we can say which impression adversity shall leave +upon us. + + _O God of our life, whom we dimly apprehend and never can comprehend, + to whom nevertheless we justly ascribe all goodness as well as all + greatness; as a father teaches his children, so teach us, Lord, truer + thoughts of Thee. Teach us to aspire, so far as man may lawfully + aspire, to a knowledge of Thee. Thou art not only a God to be honored + in times of rest and ease, Thou art also the Refuge of the + distressed, the Comforter of the afflicted, the Healer of the + contrite, and the Support of the unstable. As we sympathize with + those who are sore smitten by calamity, wounded by sudden accident, + wrecked in the midst of security, so must we believe that Thy mighty + all-embracing heart sympathizes. Pitier of the orphan, God of the + widow, cause us to share Thy pity and become Thy messengers of + tenderness in our small measure. Be Thou the Stay of all in life and + death. Teach all to know and trust Thee, give us a portion here and + everywhere with Thy saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord. + Amen._--Francis W. Newman, 1805. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +Few who have sincerely tried to believe in God's goodness and who have +lived long enough to face the harrowing facts of human wretchedness +will doubt what obstacle most hampers faith. The major difficulty +which perplexes many Christians, when they try to reconcile God's love +with their experience, is not belief's irrationality but life's +injustice. According to the Psalmist, "The fool hath said in his +heart, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 14:1). But the fool is not the only +one who has said that. He said it, jeering; he announced it in +derision; he did not want God, and contemptuous denial was a joy. It +was the temper of his negation that made him a fool. But many hearts, +in tones far different from his, have said, "There is no God." Parents +cry it brokenheartedly beside the graves of children; the diseased cry +it, suffering from keener agony than they can bear; fathers cry it +when their battle against poverty has failed and their children plead +in vain for bread; and men who care about their kind say it as they +watch the anguish with which war, drunkenness, lust, disease, and +poverty afflict the race. No man of moral insight will call such folk +fools. The wretchedness and squalor, the misery and sin which rest +upon so much of humankind are a notorious difficulty in the way of +faith. + +In dealing with this problem two short cuts are often tried, and by +them some minds endeavor to evade the issue which faith ought to meet. +Some _minimize the suffering_ which creation cost and which man +and animals are now enduring. We must grant that when we read the +experience of animals in terms of man's own life, we always exaggerate +their pain. Animals never suffer as we do; their misery is not +compounded by our mental agonies of regret and fear; and even their +physical wretchedness is as much lower in intensity as their nerves +are less exquisitely tuned. Darwin, who surely did not underestimate +the struggle for existence, said in a letter, "According to my +judgment, happiness decidedly prevails. All sentient beings have been +formed so as to enjoy, as a general rule, happiness." We must grant +also that man's practical attitude toward life gives the lie to +pessimism. Only the suicides are the logical pessimists, and all the +rest of men, most with good heart and multitudes with jubilant +enthusiasm, do actually cling to life. Indeed, all normal men +discover, that, within limits, their very hardships are a condition of +their happiness and do not so much abate their love of life is they +add zest and tang. We must grant further that suffering should be +measured not by quantity, but by intensity. One sensitive man enduring +bereavement, poverty, or disease represents _all_ the suffering +that ever has been or ever can be felt. To speak of limitless +suffering, therefore, is false. There is no more wretchedness anywhere +nor in all the world together, than each one can know in his own +person. + +When all this, however, has been granted, the facts of the world's +misery are staggering. Modern science has given terrific sweep and +harrowing detail to Paul's assertion, "The whole creation groaneth and +travaileth in pain together until now" (Rom. 8:22). Let one whose +insight into misery's meanings is quickened by even a little +imagination, try to sum up the agony of drunkards' homes, of bereaved +families, of hospitals, insane asylums, jails, and prisons, of war +with its unmentionable horrors--its blinded, deafened, maddened, +raped--and no small palliatives can solve his problem. Rather he +understands the picture which James Russell Lowell said he saw years +ago in Belgium: an angel holding back the Creator and saying, "If +about to make such a world, stay thine hand." + +Another short cut by which some endeavor to simplify the problem and +content their thought is _to lift responsibility for life's +wretchedness from God's shoulders and to put it upon man's_. Were +man's sin no factor in the world, some say, life's miseries would +cease; all the anguish of our earthly lot stands not to God's +responsibility but to man's shame. But the sufferings of God's +creatures did not begin with man's arrival, and the pain of creation +before man sinned is a longer story than earth's misery since. Let +Romanes picture the scene: "Some hundred of millions of years ago, +some millions of millions of animals must be supposed to have become +sentient. Since that time till the present, there must have been +millions and millions of generations of millions and millions of +individuals. And throughout all this period of incalculable duration, +this inconceivable host of sentient organizations have been in a state +of unceasing battle, dread, ravin, pain. Looking to the outcome, we +find that more than one-half of the species which have survived the +ceaseless struggle are parasitic in their habits, lower and insentient +forms of life, feasting on higher and sentient forms, we find teeth +and talons whetted for slaughter, hooks and suckers molded for +torture--everywhere a reign of terror, hunger, sickness, with oozing +blood and quivering limbs, with gasping breath and eyes of innocence +that dimly close in deaths of cruel torture." Is man responsible for +that? For cold that freezes God's living creatures, for lightning that +kills them, for volcanoes that burn them, for typhoons that crush +them--is man responsible? By no such easy evasion may we escape the +problem which faith must meet. "In sober truth," as John Stuart Mill +exclaimed, "nearly all the things which men are hanged or imprisoned +for doing to one another, are Nature's everyday performances." Who can +avoid seeing the patent contrast between the Father of Jesus and the +Creator of such a world? "The power that launches earthquakes and arms +cuttlefish," said one perplexed believer, "has but a meager +relationship to the power that blesses infants and forgives enemies." + + +II + +Could we hold this problem at arm's length, discussing it in +speculative moods when we grow curious about the makeup of the +universe, our case would be more simple. But of all life's problems, +this most certainly--sometimes creeping, sometimes crashing--invades +our private lives. Every man has a date with adversity which he must +keep and which adversity does not forget. One notes the evidence of +this in every normally maturing life. As children we wanted happiness +and were impatient, lacking it. Our cups of pleasure easily brimmed +and overflowed. A Christmas tree or a birthday party--and our hearts +were like sun-parlors on cloudless days with all the windows open to +the light! But the time comes to all when happiness like this is not +our problem; we recognize that it is gone; our Edens are behind us +with flaming angels at the gate. We have had friends and lost them and +something has gone from our hearts that does not return; we have won +successes which we do not estimate as highly in possession as we did +in dreams, and it may be have lost what little we achieved; we have +sinned, and though forgiven, the scars are still upon us; we have been +weathered by the rains and floods and winds. Happiness in the old +fashion we no longer seek. We want peace, the power to possess our +souls in patience and to do our work. We want joy, which is a profound +and spiritually begotten grace as happiness is not. This maturity +which so has faced the tragic aspects of our human life is not less +desirable than childhood; it may be richer, fuller, steadier. We may +think of it as Wordsworth did about the English landscape--that not +for all the sunny skies of Italy would he give up the mists that +spiritualize the English hills. But when trouble comes, life faces a +new set of problems that childhood little knew. We have joined the +human procession that moves out into the inevitable need of comfort +and fortitude. + +The decisive crisis in many lives concerns the attitude which this +experience evokes. Some are led by it more deeply into the meanings of +religion. The Bible grows in their apprehension with the enlarging of +their life; new passages become radiant as, in a great landscape, +hills and valleys lately unillumined catch the rays of the rising sun. +At first the human friendliness of Jesus is most real, and the Bible's +stories of adventure for God's cause; then knightly calls to character +and service become luminous; but soon or late another kind of passage +grows meaningful: "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, our +Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through +grace, comfort your hearts and establish them" (II Thess. 2:16). +Others, so far from being led by adversity into the deeper meanings +of faith, renounce faith altogether, and fling themselves into open +rebellion against life and any God who may be responsible for its +tragedy. They may not dare to say what James Thomson did, but they +think it-- + + "Who is most wretched in this dolorous place? + I think myself; yet I would rather be + My miserable self than He, than He + Who formed such creatures to his own disgrace. + + The vilest thing must be less vile than Thou + From whom it had its being, God and Lord! + Creator of all woe and sin! abhorred, + Malignant and implacable! I vow + + That not for all Thy power furled and unfurled, + For all the temples to Thy glory built, + Would I assume the ignominious guilt + Of having made such men in such a world!" + +Many, however, are not by adversity made more sure of God, nor are +they driven into rebellion against him. They are perplexed. It had +been so much easier, in the sheltered and innocent idealism of their +youth, to believe in God than it is now. As children they looked on +life as they might have listened to Mozart's music, ravished with +unqualified delight; but now they know that Mozart died in abject +poverty, that the coffin which his wife could not buy was donated by +charity, that as the hearse went to the grave the driver loudly damned +the dead because no drink money had been given him, and that to this +day no one knows where Mozart's body lies. Maturity has to deal with +so much more tragic facts than youth can ever know. With all the +philosophy that man's wit can supply, the wisest find themselves +saying what Emerson did, two years after his son's death: "I have had +no experience, no progress to put me into better intelligence with my +calamity than when it was new." And in this inevitable wrestling with +adversity, the cry of men is not simply for more courage. They might +easily steady their hearts to endure and overcome, were only one +question's answer clear--is there any _sense_ in life's suffering? The +one unsupportable thought is that all life's pain and hardship is +meaningless and futile, that it has no worthy origin, serves no high +purpose, that in misery we are the sport of forces that have no +consciousness of what they do, no meaning in it and no care. Such folk +want to believe in God, but--can they? + + +III + +Two preliminary facts about Christianity's relationship with our +problem may help to clarify our thought. The doubt sometimes obtrudes +itself on minds perplexed about life's tragedies that the Christian's +faith in a God of love is an idealistic dream. Such faiths as the +Fatherhood of God have come to men, they think, in happy hours when +calamity was absent or forgotten; they are the fruition of man's +fortunate days. And born thus of a view of life from which the +miseries of men had been shut out, this happy, ideal faith comes back +to painful realities with a shock which it cannot sustain. But is +Christian faith thus the child of man's happy days? Rather the very +symbol of Christianity is the Cross. Our faith took its rise in one of +history's most appalling tragedies, and the Gospel of a loving God, so +far from being an ideal dream, conceived apart from life's forbidding +facts, has all these centuries been intertwined with the public +brutality of a crucifixion. Every emphasis of the Christian's faith +has the mark of the Cross upon it. Jesus had said in words that God +was love, but it was at Calvary that the words took fire: "God so +loved the world that he gave his only begotten son" (John 3:16). Jesus +had preached the divine forgiveness, but on Golgotha the message grew +imperative: "God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we +were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Jesus had put into +parables the individual care of the Father for every child, but it was +the Cross that drove the great faith home: Christ tasted "death for +every man" (Heb. 2:9). Nothing in Christian faith has escaped the +formative influence of the Tragedy. The last thing to be said about +the Gospel is that it is a beautiful child-like dream which has not +faced the facts of suffering. In the New Testament are all the +miseries on which those who deny God's love count for support. We are +at home there with suffering men: "they were stoned, they were sawn +asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went +about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, +ill-treated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts +and mountains and caves and the holes of the earth" (Heb. 11:37, 38). +The men with whom Christianity began were not strangers to such +trouble, so that some modern need remind their innocent and dreaming +faith that life is filled with mysterious adversity. _Christianity was +suckled on adversity; it was cradled in pain. At the heart of its Book +and its Gospel is a Good Man crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross, +with a spear wound in his side._ + +Nor have the great affirmations of faith in God's fatherhood ever been +associated with men of ease in fortunate circumstance. The voice that +cried "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" spoke in agonizing +pain. And through history one finds those words best spoken with a +cross for a background. Thomas á Becket said them, martyred in his own +cathedral; John Huss said them, going to the stake at Constance; +George Wishart said them, roasted at the foot of the sea-tower of St. +Andrews. Christian faith is not a dream that came in hours when human +trouble had been forgotten; it has furnished from the beginning an +interpretation of human trouble and an attitude in meeting it that has +made men "more than conquerors." + +The second preliminary fact is this: _Christianity has never pretended +to supply a theoretical explanation of why suffering had to be_. This +seeming lack has excellent reason, for such an explanation, if it be +complete, is essentially beyond the reach of any finite mind. The most +comprehensive question ever asked, some philosopher has said, was put +by a child. "Why was there ever anything at all?" No finite mind can +answer that. And next in comprehensiveness, and in penetration to the +very pith of creation's meaning, is this query, "Why, if something had +to be, was it made as it is?" One must be God himself fully to answer +that, or to comprehend the answer, could it be written down. To expect +therefore, from Christianity or from any other source a theoretical +explanation that will plumb the depths of the mystery of suffering is +to cry for the essentially impossible. So Carlyle says with typical +vividness: "To the minnow every cranny and pebble, and quality and +accident of its little native creek may have become familiar; but does +the minnow understand the Ocean Tides and periodic Currents, the +Trade-winds, and Monsoons, and Moon's Eclipses; by all which the +condition of its little Creek is regulated, and may, from time to time +(_un_-miraculously enough), be quite overset and reversed? Such a +minnow is Man; his Creek this Planet Earth; his Ocean the immeasurable +All; his Monsoons and periodic Currents the mysterious Course of +Providence through Aeons of Aeons." + +So little is this inability of ours to know all that we wish about the +world a cause for regret, that it ought to be an occasion of positive +rejoicing. If _we_ could understand the universe through and +through, how small and meager the universe would have to be! The fact +is that we cannot understand anything through and through. If one is +disheartened because he cannot pierce to the heart of Providence and +know all its secrets, let him try his hand upon a pebble and see how +much better he will fare. What is a pebble? If one define it roughly +as granite he must ask what granite is; if that be defined in terms of +chemical properties, he must ask what they are; if they be defined as +ultimate forms of matter, he must inquire what matter is; and then he +will be told that matter is a "mode of motion," or will be assured by +a more candid scientist, like Professor Tait, that "we do not know and +are probably incapable of discovering what matter _is_." No one +ever solves the innermost problems of a stone, but what can be done +with stones our engineering feats are evidence. + +If, therefore, we recognize at the beginning that the question why +suffering had to be is an ultimate problem, essentially insoluble by +finite minds, we need not be dismayed. Two opposing mysteries are in the +world--goodness and evil. If we _deny_ God, then _goodness_ is a +mystery, for no one has ever yet suggested how spiritual life could +rise out of an unspiritual source, how souls could come from dust. If +we _affirm_ God, then _evil_ is a mystery, for why, we ask, should +love create a world with so much pain and sin? Our task is not to +solve insoluble problems; it is to balance these alternatives--no God +and the mystery of man's spiritual life, against God and the mystery +of evil. Such a comparison is not altogether beyond our powers, nor +are weighty considerations lacking to affect our choice. + + +IV + +For one thing, we may well inquire, when we complain of this world's +misery, what sort of world we are seeking in its place. Are we asking +for a perfectly happy world? But happiness, at its deepest and its +best, is not the portion of a cushioned life which never struggled, +overpassed obstacles, bore hardship, or adventured in sacrifice for +costly aims. A heart of joy is never found in luxuriously coddled +lives, but in men and women who achieve and dare, who have tried their +powers against antagonisms, who have met even sickness and bereavement +and have tempered their souls in fire. Joy is begotten not chiefly +from the impression of happy circumstance, but from the expression of +overcoming power. Were we set upon making a happy world, therefore, we +could not leave struggle out nor make adversity impossible. The +unhappiest world conceivable by man would be a world with nothing hard +to do, no conflicts to wage for ends worth while; a world where +courage was not needed and sacrifice was a superfluity. Beside such an +inane lotos-land of tranquil ease this present world with all its +suffering is a paradise. Men in fact find joy where in philosophy we +might not look for it. Said MacMillan, after a terrific twelve-month +with Peary on the Arctic continent: "This has been the greatest year +of my life." + +The impossibility of imagining a worth-while world from which +adversity had all been banished is even more evident when one grows +ill-content to think of happiness as the goal of life. That we should +be merely happy is not an adequate end of the creative purpose for us, +or of our purpose for ourselves. In our best hours we acknowledge this +in the way we handle trouble. _However much in doubt a man may be +about the theory of suffering, he knows infallibly how suffering +practically should be met._ To be rebellious, cursing fate and +hating life; to pity oneself, nursing one's hurts in morbid +self-commiseration--the ignobility of such dealing with calamity we +indubitably know. Even where we fall feebly short of the ideal, we +have no question what the ideal is. When in biography or among our +friends we see folk face crushing trouble, not embittered by it, made +cynical, or thrust into despair, but hallowed, sweetened, illumined, +and empowered, we are aware that noble characters do not alone _bear_ +trouble; they _use_ it. As men at first faced electricity in dread, +conceiving toward it no attitude beyond building lightning-rods to +ward away its stroke, but now with greater understanding harness it to +do their will, so men, as they grow wise and strong, deal with their +suffering. They make it the minister of character; they set it to +build in them what nothing save adversity can ever build--patience, +courage, sympathy, and power. They even choose it in vicarious +sacrifice for the good of others, and by it save the world from evils +that nothing save some one's suffering could cure. They act as though +_character_, not happiness, were the end of life. And when they are at +their best they do this not with stoic intrepidity, as though +trouble's usefulness were but their fancy, but joyfully, as though a +good purpose in the world included trouble, even though not intending +it. So Robert Louis Stevenson, facing death, writes to a friend about +an old woman whose ventriloquism had frightened the natives of +Vailima, "All the old women in the world might talk with their mouths +shut and not frighten you or me, but there are plenty of other things +that frighten us badly. And if we only knew about them, perhaps we +should find them no more worthy to be feared than an old woman talking +with her mouth shut. And the names of some of these things are Death +and Pain and Sorrow." + +Whatever, then, may be our theoretical difficulty about suffering, +this truth is clear: when we are at our best we practically deal with +suffering as though moral quality were the goal of life. We _use_ +adversity, as though discipline were its purpose and good its end. It +is worth noting that the only theory which fully fits this noblest +attitude toward trouble is Christianity. Men may think God a devil, as +James Thomson sang, and yet may be practically brave and cheerful, but +their theory does not fit their life. Men may believe in no God and no +purpose in the world, and yet may face adversity with courage and +hope, but their spirit belies their philosophy. When men are at their +best in hardship _they act as though the Christian faith in God were +true, as though moral quality were the purpose of creation_. + +If now, we really want a world in which character is the end and +aim--and no other world is worth God's making--we obviously may not +demand the abolition of adversity. If one imagines a life from its +beginning lapped in ease and utterly ignorant what words like +hardship, sorrow, and calamity imply, he must imagine a life lacking +every virtue that makes human nature admirable. Character grows on +struggle; without the overcoming of obstacles great quality in +character is unthinkable. Whoever has handled well any calamitous +event possesses resources, insights, wise attitudes, qualities of +sympathy and power that by no other road could have come to him. For +all our complaints against life's misery, therefore, and for all our +inability to understand it in detail, who would not hesitate, +foreseeing the consequence, to take adversity away from men? He who +banishes hardship banishes hardihood; and out of the same door with +Calamity walk Courage, Fortitude, Triumphant Faith, and Sacrificial +Love. If we abolish the cross in the world, we make impossible the +Christ in man. It becomes more clear the more one ponders it, that +while this is often a hard world in which to be happy, to men of +insight and faith it may be a great world in which to build character. + + +V + +Before too confidently, however, we accept this conclusion, there is +one objection to be heard. So far is the world from being absolved +from cruelty, on the plea of moral purpose, one may say, that _its +injustice is the very crux of its offense_. See how negligent of +justice the process of creation is! Its volcanoes and typhoons slay +good and bad alike, its plagues are utterly indifferent to character; +and in the human world which it embosoms some drunken Caesar sits upon +the throne while Christ hangs on the cross. Who for a single day can +watch the gross inequities of life, where good men so often suffer and +bad men go free, and still think that the world has moral purpose in +it? The Bible itself is burdened with complaint against the seeming +senselessness and injustice of God. Moses cries: "Lord, wherefore hast +thou dealt ill with this people? Neither hast thou delivered thy +people at all" (Exodus 5:22, 23); Elijah laments, "O Jehovah, my God, +hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow, with whom I sojourn, by +slaying her son?" (I Kings 17:20); Habakkuk complains, "Wherefore +lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace, +when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he?" +(Hab. 1:13); and Job protests, "Although thou knowest that I am not +wicked, ... yet thou dost destroy me" (Job 10:7, 8). Man's loss of +faith springs often from this utter disparity between desert and +fortune. The time comes to almost every man when he looks on, +indignant, desperate, at some gross horror uninterrupted, some +innocent victim entreated cruelly. He understands Carlyle's impatient +cry, "God sits in heaven and does nothing!" + +Natural as is this attitude, and unjust as many of life's tragic +troubles are, we should at least see this: _man must not demand that +goodness straightway receive its pay and wrong its punishment_. He +may not ask that every virtuous deed be at once rewarded by +proportionate happiness and every sin be immediately punished by +proportionate pain. That, some might suppose, would put justice into +life. But whatever it might put into life, such an arrangement +obviously would take out _character_. The men whose moral quality +we most highly honor were not paid for their goodness on Saturday +night and did not expect to be. They chose their course _for +righteousness' sake alone_, although they knew what crowns of +thorns, what scornful crowds about their cross might end the journey. +They did not drive close bargains with their fate, demanding insurance +against trouble as the price of goodness. They chose the honorable +deed for honor's sake; they chose it the more scrupulously, the more +pleasure was offered for dishonor; their tone in the face of +threatened suffering was like Milne's, Scotland's last martyr: "I will +not recant the truth, for I am corn and no chaff; and I will not be +blown away with the wind nor burst with the flail, but I will abide +both." + +Every man is instinctively aware and by his admiration makes it known, +that the kind of character which chooses right, willing to suffer for +it, is man's noblest quality. The words in which such character has +found utterance are man's spiritual battle cries. Esther, going before +the King, saying, "If I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16); the three +Hebrews, facing the fiery furnace saying, "Our God whom we serve is +able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver +us out of thy hand, O king. But if _not_, be it known unto thee, O +king, that we will not serve thy gods" (Dan. 3:17, 18); Peter and the +apostles, facing the angry Council, saying, "We must obey God rather +than men" (Acts 5:29); Anaxarchus, the martyr, crying, "Beat on at the +case of Anaxarchus; Anaxarchus himself you cannot touch"; Luther, +defying the Emperor, "Here stand I; I can do no other"--most words of +men are easily dispensable, but no words like these can man afford to +spare. They are his best. _And this sort of goodness has been +possible, because God had not made the world as our complaints +sometimes would have it._ For such character, a system where goodness +costs is absolutely necessary. A world where goodness was paid cash in +pleasant circumstance would have no such character to show. Right and +wrong for their own sakes would be impossible; only prudence and +imprudence for happiness' sake could there exist. Out of the same door +with the seeming injustice of life goes the possibility of man's +noblest quality--his goodness "in scorn of consequence." Many special +calamities no one on earth can hope to understand. But when one has +granted that fitness to grow character is the only worthy test of +creation, it evidently is not so simple as at first it seemed to +improve the fundamental structure of the world. + + +VI + +Indeed, when one in imagination assumes the task of omnipotence and +endeavors to construct a universe that shall be fitted for the growth +of character, he cannot long hesitate concerning certain elements +which must be there. _A system of regular law_ would have to be the +basis of that world, for only in a law-abiding universe could +obedience be taught. If the stars and planets behaved "like swarms of +flies" and nothing could be relied upon to act twice in the same way, +character and intelligence alike would be impossible. In this new +world, remolded, "nearer to our heart's desire," _progress_ also would +be a necessity. A stagnant world cannot grow character. There must be +real work to do, aims to achieve; there must be imperfections to +overpass and wrongs to right. Only in a system where the present +situation is a point of departure and a better situation is a +possibility, where ideal and hope, courage and sacrifice are +indispensable can character grow. In this improved world of our +dreams, _free-will_ in some measure must be granted man. If character +is to be real, man must not in his choice between right and wrong be +as Spinoza pictured him, a stone hurled through the air, which thinks +that it is flying; he must have some control of conduct, some genuine, +though limited, power of choice. And in this universe which we are +planning for character's sake, individuals could not stand separate +and unrelated; _they must be woven into a community_. Love which is +the crown of character, lacking this, would be impossible. What +happens to one must happen to all; good and ill alike must be +contagious in a society where we are "members one of another." + +No one of these four elements could be omitted from a world whose test +was its adaptability for character. Men with genuine power of choice, +fused into a fellowship of social life, living in a law-abiding and +progressive world--on no other terms imaginable to man could character +be possible. _Yet these four things contain all the sources of our +misery._ Physical law--what tragic issues its stern, unbending +course brings with terrific incidence on man! Progress--how obviously +it implies conditions imperfect, wrong, through which we have to +struggle toward the best! Free-will--what a nightmare of horror man's +misuse of it has caused since sin began! Social fellowship--how surely +the innocent must suffer with the guilty, how impossible for any man +to bear the consequence of his own sin alone! We may not see why these +general conditions should involve the particular calamities which we +bewail, but even our finite minds can see thus far into the mystery of +suffering: _all our trouble springs from four basic factors in the +universe, without any one of which, great character would be +impossible_. + +While, therefore, if one _deny_ God, the mystery of goodness lacks +both sense and solution; one may _affirm_ God and find the mystery of +evil, mysterious still but suffused with light. God is working out a +spiritual purpose here by means without which no spiritual purpose is +conceivable. Fundamentally creation is good. We misuse it, we fail to +understand its meaning and to appropriate its discipline, and +impatient because the eternal purpose is not timed by our small +clocks, we have to confess with Theodore Parker, "The trouble seems to +be that God is not in a hurry and I am." In hours of insight, however, +we perceive how little our complaints will stand the test of +dispassionate thought. Our miseries are not God's inflictions on us as +individuals, so that we may judge his character and his thought of us +by this special favor or by that particular calamity. The most +careless thinker feels the poor philosophy of Lord Londonderry's +petulant entry in his journal: "Here I learned that Almighty God, for +reasons best known to himself, had been pleased to burn down my house +in the county of Durham." One must escape such narrow egoism if he is +to understand the purposes of God; one must rise to look on a +creation, with character at all costs for its aim, and countless æons +for its settling. In the making of this world God has _limited +himself_; he cannot lightly do what he will. He has limited himself in +creating a law-abiding system where his children must learn obedience +without special exemptions; in ordaining a progressive system where +what _is_ is the frontier from which men seek what _ought to be_; in +giving men the power to choose right, with its inevitable corollary, +the power to choose wrong; in weaving men into a communal fellowship +where none can escape the contagious life of all. What Martineau said +of the first of these is true in spirit of them all: "The universality +of law is God's eternal act of self limitation or abstinence from the +movements of free affection, for the sake of a constancy that shall +never falter or deceive." + +When once a man has risen to the vision of so splendid a purpose in so +great a world, he rejoices in the outlook. Granted that now he sees in +a mirror darkly, that many a cruel event in human life perplexes +still--he has seen enough to give solid standing to his faith. What if +an insect, someone has suggested, were born just after a thunderstorm +began and died just before it stopped--how dark would be its picture +of creation! But we who span a longer period of time, are not so +obsessed by thunderstorms, although we may not like them. They have +their place and serve their purpose; we see them in a broader +perspective than an insect knows and on sultry days we even crave +their coming. A broken doll is to a child a cruel tragedy, but to the +father watching the child's struggle to accept the accident, to make +the best of it and to come off conqueror, the event is not utterly +undesirable. He is not glad at the child's suffering, but with his +horizons he sees in it factors which she does not see. So God's +horizons infinitely overpass our narrow outlooks. There is something +more than whimsy in the theologian's saying, which President King +reports, that an insect crawling up a column of the Parthenon, with +difficulty and pain negotiating passage about a pore in the stone, is +as well qualified to judge of the architecture of the Parthenon, as we +of the infinitude of God's plans. Seeing as much as we have seen of +sense and purpose in the structure of creation, we have seen all that +our finite minds with small horizons could have hoped. We have gained +ample justification for the attitude toward suffering which Dolly +Winthrop in Silas Marner has immortalized: "Eh, there's trouble i' +this world, and there's things as we can niver make out the rights on. +And all as we've got to do is to trusten, Master Marner--to do the +right thing as far as we know and to trusten. For if us, as knows so +little, can see a bit o' good and rights, we may be sure as there's a +good and a rights bigger nor what we can know--I feel it i' my own +inside as it must be so." + + +VII + +We may not truthfully leave our subject in such a case that faith's +concern with human misery will seem to lie merely in giving adversity +an explanation. Faith is concerned not alone to _explain_ misery +but to _heal_ it. For while it is impossible without hardship to +develop character, there are woeful calamities on earth that do not +help man's moral quality; they crush and mutilate it; they are +barbarous intruders on the plan of God and they have no business in +his world. Some ills are such that no theory can reconcile them with +the love of God and no man ought to desire such reconciliation; in the +love of God they ought to be abolished. Slavery must be a possibility +in a world where man is free; but God's goodness was not chiefly +vindicated by such a theory of explanation. It was chiefly vindicated +by slavery's abolishment. The liquor traffic and war, needless poverty +in a world so rich, avoidable diseases that science can overcome--how +long a list of woes there is that faith should not so much explain as +banish! When some ills like drunkenness and war and economic injustice +are thrust against our faith, and men ask that the goodness of God be +reconciled with these, faith's first answer should be not speculation +but action. Such woes, so far from being capable of reconciliation +with God's goodness, are irreconcilable with a decent world. God does +not want to be reconciled with them; he hates them "with a perfect +hatred." We may not make ourselves patient with them by any theory of +their necessity. They are not necessary; they are perversions of man's +life; and _the best defense of faith is their annihilation_. + +Indeed, a man who, rebellious in complaint, has clamorously asked an +explanation of life's ills as the price of faith in God, may well in +shame consider God's real saints. When things were at their worst, +when wrong was conqueror and evils that seemed blatantly to deny the +love of God were in the saddle, these spiritual soldiers went out to +fight. The winds of ill that blow out our flickering faith made their +religion blaze--a pillar of fire in the night. The more evil they +faced, the more religion they produced to answer it. They were the +real believers, who "through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought +righteousness, obtained promises." In comparison with such, it is +obviously paltry business to drive a bargain with God that if all goes +well we will believe in him, but if things look dark, then faith must +go. + +Many a man, therefore, who is no philosopher can be a great defender +of the faith. He may not weave arguments to prove that such a world as +this in its fundamental structure is fitted to a moral purpose. But he +can join the battle to banish from the world those ills that have no +business here and that God hates. He can help produce that final +defense of the Christian faith--a world where it is easier to believe +in God. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Faith and Science + + +DAILY READINGS + +The intellectual difficulties which trouble many folk involve the +relations of faith with science, but often they do not so much concern +the abstract theories of science as they do the particular attitudes +of scientists. We are continually faced with quotations from +scientific specialists, in which religion is denied or doubted or +treated contemptuously, and even while the merits of the case may be +beyond the ordinary man's power of argument, he nevertheless is shaken +by the general opinion that what ministers say in the pulpit on Sunday +is denied by what scientists say all the rest of the week. In the +daily readings, therefore, we shall deal with the scientists +themselves, as a problem which faith must meet. + + +Seventh Week, First Day + +No one can hope to deal fairly with the scientists, in their +relationship with faith, unless he begins with a warm appreciation of +the splendid integrity and self-denial which the scientific search for +truth has revealed. + + =Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades, + Or loose the bands of Orion? + Canst thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season? + Or canst thou guide the Bear with her train? + Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? + Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth? + Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, + That abundance of waters may cover thee? + Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go, + And say unto thee, Here we are? + Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? + Or who hath given understanding to the mind? + Who can number the clouds by wisdom? + Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven, + When the dust runneth into a mass, + And the clods cleave fast together?= + + =--Job 38:31-38.= + +Such is man's ancient wonder before the physical universe; and in the +endeavor to discover the truth about it science has developed saints +and martyrs whose selfless and sacrificial spirit is unsurpassed even +in the annals of the Church. Men have spent lives of obscure and +unrewarded toil to get at a few new facts; they have suffered +persecution, and, even after torture, have reaffirmed the truth of +their discoveries, as did Galileo, when he insisted, "The earth does +move." They have surrendered place and wealth, friends and life itself +in their passion for the sheer truth, and when human service was at +stake have inoculated themselves with deadly diseases that they might +be the means of discovering the cure, or have sacrificed everything +that men hold most dear to destroy an ancient, popular, and hurtful +fallacy. The phrase "pride of science" is often used in depreciation +of the scientists. There is some excuse for the phrase, but in +general, when one finds pride, dogmatism, intolerance, they are the +work of ignorance and not of science. The scientific spirit has been +characteristically humble. Says Huxley: "Science seems to me to teach +in the highest and strongest manner the great truth which is embodied +in the Christian conception of entire surrender to the will of God. +Sit down before the fact as a little child, be prepared to give up +every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever end +nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.... I have only begun to +learn content and peace of mind since I have resolved at all risks to +do this." The Christian, above all others, is bound to approach the +study of the controversy between science and theology with a high +estimate of the integrity and disinterested unselfishness of the +scientists. + + _O God, we thank Thee for the world in which Thou hast placed us, for + the universe whose vastness is revealed in the blue depths of the + sky, whose immensities are lit by shining stars beyond the strength + of mind to follow. We thank Thee for every sacrament of beauty; for + the sweetness of flowers, the solemnity of the stars, the sound of + streams and swelling seas; for far-stretching lands and mighty + mountains which rest and satisfy the soul, the purity of dawn which + calls to holy dedication, the peace of evening which speaks of + everlasting rest. May we not fear to make this world for a little + while our home, since it is Thy creation and we ourselves are part of + it. Help us humbly to learn its laws and trust its mighty powers._ + + _We thank Thee for the world within, deeper than we dare to look, + higher than we care to climb; for the great kingdom of the mind and + the silent spaces of the soul. Help us not to be afraid of ourselves, + since we were made in Thy image, loved by Thee before the worlds + began, and fashioned for Thy eternal habitation. May we be brave + enough to bear the truth, strong enough to live in the light, glad to + yield ourselves to Thee._ + + _We thank Thee for that world brighter and better than all, opened + for us in the broken heart of the Saviour; for the universe of love + and purity in Him, for the golden sunshine of His smile, the tender + grace of His forgiveness, the red renewing rain and crimson flood of + His great sacrifice. May we not shrink from its searching and + surpassing glory, nor, when this world fades away, fear to commit + ourselves to that world which shall be our everlasting home. + Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Seventh Week, Second Day + +The Christian's appreciation of scientists should not stop short of +profound gratitude for their service to religion. If one reads Burns's +"Tam o' Shanter," with its "ghaists," "warlocks and witches," and +"auld Nick," and remembers that these demonic powers were veritable +facts of terror once, he will see in what a world of superstitious +fear mankind has lived. Bells were first put into church steeples, not +to call folk to worship, but to scare the devils out of thunder-clouds, +and the old cathedral bells of Europe are inscribed with declarations +of that purpose. The ancients hardly believed in God so vividly as +they believed in malicious demons everywhere. Now the Gospel removed +the _fear_ of these from the first Christians; it made men aware of a +conquering alliance with God, so that believers no longer shared the +popular dread of unknown demons. But so long as thunderstorms, +pestilences, droughts, and every sort of evil were supposed to be the +work of devils, even the Gospel could not dispel the general dread. +Only new knowledge could do that. While Christianity therefore at its +best has removed the _fear_ of evil spirits, science has removed the +_fact_ of them as an oppressive weight on life. Today we not only do +not dread them, but we do not think of them at all, and we have +science to thank for our freedom. By its clear facing of facts and +tracing of laws, science has lifted from man's soul an intolerable +burden of misbeliefs and has cleansed religion of an oppressive mass +of credulity. _True religion never had a deadlier foe than +superstition and superstition has no deadlier foe than science._ +Little children, brought up in our homes to trust the love of the +Father, with no dark background of malignant devils to harass and +frighten them, owe their liberty to the Gospel of Jesus indeed, but as +well to the illumination of science that has banished the ancient +dreads. + + =These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you. But + the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my + name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance + all that I said unto you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give + unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your + heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.--John 14:25-27.= + + _To God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, we pour forth most + humble and hearty supplications, that He, remembering the calamities + of mankind, and the pilgrimage of this our life in which we spend our + days, would please to open to us new consolations out of the fountain + of His goodness for the alleviating of our miseries. We humbly and + earnestly ask that human things may not prejudice such as are Divine, + so that from the opening of the gates of sense, and the kindling of a + greater natural light, nothing of incredulity ... may arise in our + minds towards Divine mysteries; but rather, O Lord, that our minds + being thoroughly cleansed and purged from fancy, and yet subject to + the Divine will, there may be given unto faith the things that are + faith's, that so we may continually attain to a deeper knowledge and + love of Thee, Who art the Fountain of Light, and dwellest in the + Light which no man can approach unto; through Jesus Christ our Lord. + Amen._--Francis Bacon, 1561. + + +Seventh Week, Third Day + +If one approach the scientists, as we have suggested, with +appreciation of their devoted spirit and of their beneficent service, +he is likely to be fair and Christian in his judgment. For one thing, +he will readily understand why some of them are not religious men. The +laws of psychology are not suspended when religion is concerned; there +as elsewhere persistent attention is the price of a vivid sense of +reality. When, therefore, a man habitually thinks intensely of nothing +but biological tissue, or chemical reactions, or the diseases of a +special organ, the results are not difficult to forecast. Darwin's +famous confession that in his exacting concentration on biology he +utterly lost his power to appreciate music or poetry is a case in +point. Said Darwin, "My mind seems to have become a kind of machine +for grinding general laws out of a large collection of facts." It is +needless to say that such a mind is not likely to be more vividly +aware of God than it is to feel music's beauty or poetry's truth. The +plain fact is that if any man should persistently restrict himself to +a physical science, should never hear a symphony or an oratorio, +should shut out from his experience any dealing with music or +enjoyment of it, he would in the end lose all musical capacity, and +would become a man whose appreciation of music was nil and whose +opinion on music was worthless. _Just such an atrophy of life is +characteristic of intense specialists._ When one understands this +he becomes capable of intelligent sympathy with scientists, even when +he does not at all agree with their religious opinions. Jude gives us +a remarkable injunction, plainly applicable here. "On some have mercy +who are in doubt." + + =But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, + praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, + looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And + on some have mercy, who are in doubt; and some save, snatching them + out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear; hating even the + garment spotted by the flesh.= + + =Now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set + you before the presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding + joy, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be + glory, majesty, dominion and power, before all time, and now, and for + evermore. Amen.--Jude 20-25.= + + _O God, who so fillest all things that they only thinly veil Thy + presence; we adore Thee in the beauty of the world, in the goodness + of human hearts and in Thy thought within the mind. We praise Thee + for the channels through which Thy grace can come to us; sickness and + health, joy and pain, freedom and necessity, sunshine and rain, life + and death._ + + _We thank Thee for all the gentle and healing ministries of life; the + gladness of the morning, the freedom of the wind, the music of the + rain, the joy of the sunshine, and the deep calm of the night; for + trees, and flowers, the clouds, and skies; for the tender ministries + of human love, the unselfishness of parents, the love that binds man + and woman, the confidence of little children; for the patience of + teachers and the encouragement of friends._ + + _We bless Thee for the stirring ministry of the past, for the story + of noble deeds, the memory of holy men, the printed book, the + painter's art, the poet's craft; most of all for the ministry of the + Son of Man, who taught us the eternal beauty of earthly things, who + by His life set us free from fear, and by His death won us from our + sins to Thee; for His cradle, His cross, and His crown._ + + _May His Spirit live within us, conquer all the selfishness of man, + and take away the sin of the world. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Seventh Week, Fourth Day + +The tendency of scientific specialization to shut out the appreciation +of life's other values has one notable result: the opinions of +scientific specialists in the physical realm on matters of religion +are generally not of major importance. There is a popular fallacy that +an expert in one realm must be listened to with reverence on all +subjects. But the fact is that a great physicist is not by his +scientific eminence thereby qualified to talk wisely on politics or +literature or religion; rather, so far as _a priori_ considerations +are concerned, he is thereby disqualified. Mr. Edison cannot say +anything on electricity that is insignificant; but when he gave an +interview on immortality he revealed to everyone who knew the history +of thought on that subject and the issues involved in it, that on +matters outside his specialty he could say things very insignificant. +The more one personally knows great specialists, the more he sees how +human they are, how interest in one thing shuts out interest in +others, how the subject on which the mind centers grows real and all +else unreal, how very valuable their judgment is on their specialties, +and how much less valuable even than ordinary men's is their judgment +on anything beside. This truth does not concern religion only; it +concerns any subject which calls into play appreciative faculties that +their science does not use. For a man, therefore, to surrender +religious faith because a specialist in another realm disowns it is +absurd. If one wishes, outside of those whose vital interest in +religion makes them specialists there, to get confirmation from +another class of men, let him look not to physicists but to judges. +They are accustomed to weigh evidence covering the general field of +human life; and among the great judicial minds of this generation, as +of all others, one finds an overwhelming preponderance of religious +men. + + =But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit + searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For who among men + knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in + him? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. + But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is + from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us + of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom + teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things + with spiritual words. Now the natural man receiveth not the things of + the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot + know them, because they are spiritually judged.--I Cor. 2:10-14.= + + _O Eternal and glorious Lord God, since Thy glory and honor is the + great end of all Thy works, we desire that it may be the beginning + and end of all our prayers and services. Let Thy great Name be + glorious, and glorified, and sanctified throughout the world. Let the + knowledge of Thee fill all the earth as the waters cover the sea. Let + that be done in the world that may most advance Thy glory. Let all + Thy works praise Thee. Let Thy wisdom, power, justice, goodness, + mercy, and truth be evident unto all mankind, that they may observe, + acknowledge, and admire it, and magnify the Name of Thee, the Eternal + God. In all the dispensation of Thy Providence, enable us to see + Thee, and to sanctify Thy Name in our hearts with thankfulness, in + our lips with thanksgiving, in our lives with dutifulness and + obedience. Enable us to live to the honor of that great Name of Thine + by which we are called, and that, as we profess ourselves to be Thy + children, so we may study and sincerely endeavor to be like Thee in + all goodness and righteousness, that we may thereby bring glory to + Thee our Father which art in heaven; that we and all mankind may have + high and honorable thoughts concerning Thee, in some measure suitable + to Thy glory, majesty, goodness, wisdom, bounty, and purity, and may + in all our words and actions manifest these inward thoughts touching + Thee with suitable and becoming words and actions; through Jesus + Christ our Lord. Amen._--Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale, 1609. + + +Seventh Week, Fifth Day + +So far in our thought we have tacitly consented to the popular +supposition, that the scientists are at odds with religion. Many of +them unquestionably are. But in view of the obsessing nature of +scientific specialties, the wonder is not that some scientists are +non-religious; the wonder is that so many are profoundly men of faith +in God. The idea that scientists as a whole are irreligious is untrue. +Lists of testimonials from eminent specialists in favor of religion +are not particularly useful, for, as we have said, the judgment of +specialists outside their chosen realm is, at the most, no more +valuable than that of ordinary men. But if anyone tries to rest his +case against religion on the adverse opinions of great scientists, he +easily can be driven from his position. Sir William Crookes, one of +the world's greatest chemists, writes: "I cannot imagine the +possibility of anyone with ordinary intelligence entertaining the +least doubt as to the existence of a God--a Law-Giver and a +Life-Giver." Lord Kelvin, called the "Napoleon of Science," said that +he could think of nothing so absurd as atheism; Sir Oliver Lodge, +perhaps the greatest living physicist and certainly an earnest +believer, writes, "The tendency of science, whatever it is, is not in +an irreligious direction at the present time"; Sir George Stokes, the +great physicist (died 1903), affirmed his belief that disbelievers +among men of science "form a very small minority"; and Sir James +Geikie, Dean of the Faculty of Science at Edinburgh University, +impatiently writes, "It is simply an impertinence to say that 'the +leading scientists are irreligious or anti-Christian.' Such a +statement could only be made by some scatter-brained chatterbox or +zealous fanatic." The fact is that, in spite of the tendency of high +specialization to crowd out religious interest and insight, our great +scientists have never thrown the mass of their influence against +religion, and today, in the opinion of one of their chief leaders, are +growing to be increasingly men of religious spirit. Whatever argument +is to be based on the testimony of the scientists is rather for +religion than against it. + + =For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus + which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints, + cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my + prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, + may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge + of him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know + what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his + inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his + power to us-ward who believe.--Eph. 1:15-19.= + + _O Lord, who by Thy holy Apostle hast taught us to do all things in + the Name of the Lord Jesus and to Thy glory; give Thy blessing, we + pray Thee, to this our work, that we may do it in faith, and + heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. All our powers of body + and mind are Thine, and we would fain devote them to Thy service. + Sanctify them and the work in which we are engaged; let us not be + slothful, but fervent in spirit, and do Thou, O Lord, so bless our + efforts that they may bring forth in us the fruit of true wisdom. + Strengthen the faculties of our minds, and dispose us to exert them + for Thy glory and for the furtherance of Thy Kingdom. Save us from + all pride and vanity and reliance upon our own power or wisdom. Teach + us to seek after truth, and enable us to gain it; while we know + earthly things, may we know Thee, and be known by Thee through and + in Thy Son Jesus Christ, that we may be Thine in body and spirit, in + all our work and undertakings; through Jesus Christ. Amen._--Thomas + Arnold, 1795. + + +Seventh Week, Sixth Day + +Far more important than the opinions of individual scientists for +religion or against it, is the fact that scientists are coming +increasingly to recognize the limitations of their field. The field of +science _is_ limited; its domain is the system of facts and their +laws, which make the immediate environment of man's life; but with the +Origin of all life, with the character of the Power that sustains us +and with the Destiny that lies ahead of us science does not, cannot +deal. The most superficial observance shows how little any great soul +lives within the confines of science's discoveries. Carlyle, after his +great bereavement, writes to his friend Erskine: + +"'Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy will be +done'--what else can we say? The other night in my sleepless tossings +about, which were growing more and more miserable, these words, that +brief and grand Prayer, came strangely to my mind, with an altogether +new emphasis; as if written and shining for me in mild pure splendor, +on the black bosom of the Night there; when I, as it were, read them +word by word--with a sudden check to my imperfect wanderings, with a +sudden softness of composure which was much unexpected. Not for +perhaps thirty or forty years had I once formally repeated that +prayer--nay, I never felt before how intensely the voice of man's soul +it is; the inmost aspiration of all that is high and pious in poor +human nature." But supposing that the facts of science were all of +reality and the laws of science all of truth, what sort of prayer +could Carlyle have offered? Another has suggested the form which the +Lord's Prayer would take in a world that lacked religious faith: "Our +brethren who are upon the earth, hallowed be our name; our Kingdom +come; our will be done on earth; for there is no heaven. We must get +us this day our daily bread; we know we cannot be forgiven, for Law +knows no forgiveness; we fear not temptation, for we deliver ourselves +from evil; for ours is the Kingdom and ours is the power, and there is +no glory and no forever. Amen." In such a barren prayer _the whole of +man's life is not represented_. + + =Let no man deceive himself. If any man thinketh that he is wise + among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become + wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is + written, He that taketh the wise in their craftiness: and again, The + Lord knoweth the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain. + Wherefore let no one glory in men. For all things are yours; whether + Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or + things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are + Christ's; and Christ is God's.--I Cor. 3:18-23.= + + _O Thou Infinite Spirit, who occupiest all space, who guidest all + motion, thyself unchanged, and art the life of all that lives, we + flee unto thee, in whom we also live and move and have our being, and + would reverence Thee with what is highest and holiest in our soul. We + know that Thou art not to be worshiped as though Thou needest aught, + or askedst the psalm of praise from our lips, or our heart's poor + prayer. O Lord, the ground under our feet, and the seas which whelm + it round, the air which holds them both, and the heavens sparkling + with many a fire--these are a whisper of the psalm of praise which + creation sends forth to Thee, and we know that Thou askest no homage + of bended knee, nor heart bowed down, nor heart uplifted unto Thee. + But in our feebleness and our darkness, dependent on Thee for all + things, we lift up our eyes unto Thee; as a little child to the + father and mother who guide him by their hands, so do our eyes look + up to Thy countenance, O Thou who art our Father and our Mother too, + and bless Thee for all Thy gifts. We look to the infinity of Thy + perfection with awe-touched heart, and we adore the sublimity which + we cannot comprehend. We bow down before Thee, and would renew our + sense of gratitude and quicken still more our certainty of trust, + till we feel Thee a presence close to our heart, and are so strong in + the heavenly confidence that nothing earthly can disturb us or make + us fear. Amen._--Theodore Parker. + + +Seventh Week, Seventh Day + +The difficulty which many Christians feel concerning science centers +around their loyalty to the Bible. They still are under the +domination of the thought that the Christian idea of the Bible is the +same as the Mohammedan idea of the Koran or the Mormon idea of Joseph +Smith's sacred plates. The Koran was all written in heaven, word for +word, say orthodox Mohammedans, before ever it came to earth. As for +the Mormon Bible, God buried the plates on which he wrote, said Smith, +and then disclosed their hiding place, and his prophet translated them +verbatim, so that the Mormon book is literally inerrant. But this is +not the Christian idea of the Bible. Inspiration is never represented +in Scripture as verbal dictation where human powers and limitations +are suspended, so that like a phonographic plate the result is a +mechanical reproduction of the words of God. Rather God spoke to men +through their experience as they were able to understand him, and as a +result the great Christian Book, like a true Christian man, represents +alike the inbreathing of the Divine and the limitation of the human. +So the Epistle to the Hebrews clearly states that God did what he +could in revealing partially to partial men what they could +understand: + + =God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by + divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days + spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, + through whom also he made the worlds.--Heb. 1:1, 2.= + +Of all limitations that are entirely obvious in the ancient +Hebrew-Christian world, the current view of the physical universe is +the most unescapable. To suppose that God never can reveal to men +anything about the world, transcending what the ancient Hebrews could +understand, is to deny the principle which Jesus applied even to the +more important realm of spiritual truth: "I have yet many things to +say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now" (John 16:12). + + _O Thou who hast visited us with the Dayspring from on high, who hast + made light to shine in the darkness, we praise Thy holy name and + proclaim Thy wonderful goodness._ + + _We bless Thee for the dawning of the light in far-off ages as soon + as human eyes could bear its rays. We remember those who bore aloft + the torch of truth when all was false and full of shame; those + far-sighted souls who from the mountain tops of vision heralded the + coming day; those who labored in the darkened valleys to lift men's + eyes to the hills._ + + _We thank Thee that in the fulness of the times Thou didst gather Thy + light into life, so that even simple folk could see; for Jesus the + Star of the morning and the Light of the world._ + + _We commemorate His holy nativity, His lowly toil, His lonely way; + the gracious words of His lips, the deep compassion of His heart, His + friendship for the fallen, His love for the outcast; the crown of + thorns, the cruel cross, the open shame. And we rejoice to know as He + was here on earth, so Thou art eternally. Thou dost not abhor our + flesh, nor shrink from our earthly toil. Thou rememberest our + frailty, bearest with our sin, and tastest even our bitter cup of + death._ + + _And now we rejoice for the light that shines about our daily path + from the cradle to the grave, and for the light that illumines its + circuit beyond these spheres from our conception in Thy mind to the + day when we wake in Thy image; for the breathing of Thy spirit into + ours till we see Thee face to face: in God, from God; to God at last. + Hallelujah. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +The innermost questions which some minds raise about religion cannot +be answered without candid discussion of the obvious contrasts between +faith and science. The conflict between science and theology is one of +the saddest stories ever written. It is a record of mutual +misunderstanding, of bitterness, bigotry, and persecution, and to this +day one is likely to find the devotees of religion suspicious of +science and scientists impatient with the Church. + +If we are to understand the reason for this controversy between +science and theology, we must take a far look back into man's history. +Stephen Leacock remarks that whenever a professor discusses anything, +he has to retreat at least 2,000 years to get a running start. Our +retreat must be farther than that; it carries us to the earliest stage +in which we are able to describe the thoughts of men. _At the +beginning men attributed to superhuman spirits all activities in the +world which they themselves did not perform._ If the wind blew, a +spirit did it; if the sun rose, a spirit moved it; if a storm came, a +spirit drove it. Natural law was non-existent to the primitive man; +every movement in nature was the direct result of somebody's active +will. From the mysterious whispering of a wind-swept field to the +crashing thunder, what man did not cause the gods did. + +If, therefore, a primitive man were asked the cause of rain, he had +but one answer: a god made it rain. That was his _scientific_ +answer, for no other explanation of rain could he conceive. That was +his _religious_ answer, for he worshiped the spirit on whom he +must depend for showers. This significant fact, therefore, stands +clear: _To primitive man a religious answer and a scientific answer +were identical._ Sunrise was explained, not by planetary movements +which were unknown, but by the direct activity of a god, and the Dawn +then was worshipped in the same terms in which it was explained. The +historic reason for the confusion between science and religion at once +grows evident. _At the beginning they were fused and braided into +one; the story of their relationship is the record of their gradual +and difficult disentangling._ + +Wherever peace has come between science and religion, one finds a +realm where the boundaries between the two are acknowledged and +respected. Ask _now_ the question, What makes it rain? There is a +scientific answer in terms of natural laws concerning atmospheric +pressure and condensation. There is also a religious answer, since +behind all laws and through them runs the will of God. These two +replies are distinct, they move in different realms, and are held +together without inconsistency. As Sabatier put it, "Since God is the +final cause of all things, he is not the scientific explanation of any +one thing." In how many realms where once confusion reigned between +the believers in the gods and the seekers after natural laws, is peace +now established! Rain and sunrise, the tides and the eclipses, the +coming of the seasons and the growing of the crops--for all such +events we have our scientific explanations, and at the same time +through them all the man of religion feels the creative power of God. +Peace reigns in these realms because here _no longer do we force +religious answers on scientific questions or scientific answers on +religious questions_. Evidently the old Deuteronomic law is the +solution of the conflict between science and religion: "Cursed be he +that removeth his neighbor's landmark" (Deut. 27:17). + + +II + +Left thus in the negative, however, this might seem to mean that we +are to divide our minds into air-tight compartments, and allow no +influences from one to penetrate another. But science and religion do +tremendously affect each other, and no honest dealing ever can +endeavor to prevent their mutual reaction. Our position is not thus +negative; it affirms a positive and most important truth. Life has +many aspects; science, art, religion, approach it from different +angles, with different interests and purposes; and while they do +_influence_ each other, they are not _identical_ and each has solid +standing in its own right. When science has grown domineering, as +though her approach to reality were the only one and her conclusions +all of truth, the poets have had as much distaste for her as have the +theologians. Shelley, who called himself an atheist, had no interest +in religion's conflict with the extreme claims of science; yet listen +to his aroused and flaming language as he pleads the case for poetry +against her: "Poetry is something divine.... It is the perfect and +consummate surface and bloom of all things; it is as the odor and +color of the rose to the texture of the elements which compose it, and +the form and splendor of unfaded beauty to the secrets of anatomy and +corruption. What were virtue, love, patriotism, friendship--what were +the scenery of this beautiful universe which we inhabit; what were our +consolations on this side of the grave--and what were our aspirations +beyond it, if poetry did not ascend to bring light and fire from those +eternal regions where the owl-winged faculty of calculation dare not +even soar?" This involves no denial of science's absolute right to her +own field--the "texture of the elements which compose" the rose, and +the "secrets of anatomy." But it is a justified assertion that this +field of science is not all of reality, and that what the "owl-winged +faculty of calculation" can reach is not all of truth. + +What is a sunset? Science sets forth the answer in tables where the +light waves that compose the colors are counted and the planetary +movements that bring on the dusk are all explained. Poetry answers in +a way how different! + + "I've dreamed of sunsets when the sun, supine, + Lay rocking on the ocean like a god, + And threw his weary arms far up the sky, + And with vermilion-tinted fingers, + Toyed with the long tresses of the evening star."[4] + +Is one of these answers more true than the other? Rather it is absurd +to compare their truth; they are not contradictory; they approach the +same fact with diverse interests, and seek in it different aspects of +reality. Each has its rights in its own field. And so far is it from +being true that science has a clear case in favor of its own superior +importance, that Höffding, the philosopher, remarks, "It well may be +that poetry gives more perfect expression to the highest Reality than +any scientific concept can ever do." + +Any great fact is too manifold in its meanings to be exhausted by a +single method of approach. If one would know the Bible thoroughly, he +must understand the rules of grammar. Were one to make grammar his +exclusive specialty, the Bible to him, so far as he held strictly to +his science, would be nouns and verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and +prepositions, and the law-abiding relationships between them. This +mere grammarian would know by such a method one aspect of the Bible, +but how little of the Book would that aspect be! No rules of grammar +can interpret the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians or explain +the story of the Cross. The facts and laws of the Book's language a +grammarian could know, but the beauty and the soul of it, the +innermost transforming truth of it, would be unperceived. + +So life is too rich and various to be exhausted by any one approach. +Science seeks facts and arranges them in systems of cause and effect. +Poetry sees these bare facts adorned with beauty, she suffuses them +with her preferences and her appreciations. Religion sees the whole +gathered up into spiritual unity, filled with moral purpose and good +will, and in this faith finds peace and power. There need be no +conflict between these various approaches; they are complementary, not +antagonistic; and no man sees all the truth by any one of them alone. +So a chemist might come to a spring to analyze it; a painter to +rejoice in its beauties and reproduce them on his canvas; and a man +athirst might come to drink and live. Shall they quarrel because they +do not all come alike? Let them rather see how partial is the +experience of each without the others! + + +III + +In the mutual trespassing which has caused our problem, religion has +had her guilty share, and the reason is not difficult to find. God did +not have to give a modern scientific education to his ancient Hebrew +saints before he could begin to reveal to them something of his will +and character. And they, writing their experience and thought of him, +could not avoid--as no generation's writers can avoid--indicating the +view of the physical world which they and their contemporaries held. +It is easy, therefore, from scores of Scripture passages to +reconstruct the early Hebrew world. Their earth was flat and was +founded on an underlying sea. (Psalm 136:6; Psalm 24:1, 2; Gen. 7:11); +it was stationary (Psalm 93:1; Psalm 104:5); the heavens, like an +upturned bowl, "strong as a molten mirror" (Job 37:18; Gen. 1:6-8; +Isa. 40:22; Psalm 104:2), rested on the earth beneath (Amos 9:6; Job +26:11); the sun, moon, and stars moved within this firmament, of +special purpose to illumine man (Gen. 1:14-19); there was a sea above +the sky, "the waters which were above the firmament" (Gen. 1:7; Psalm +148:4), and through the "windows of heaven" the rain came down (Gen. +7:11; Psalm 78:23); beneath the earth was mysterious Sheol where dwelt +the shadowy dead (Isa. 14:9-11); and all this had been made in six +days, a short and measurable time before (Gen. 1). This was the world +of the Hebrews. + +Because when the Hebrews wrote the Bible their thoughts of God, their +deep experience of him, were interwoven with their early science, +Christians, through the centuries, have thought that faith in God +stood or fell with early Hebrew science and that the Hebrew view of +the physical universe must last forever. In the seventeenth century, +Dr. John Lightfoot, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, +said: "Heaven and earth, center and circumference, were created all +together, in the same instant, and clouds full of water.... This work +took place and man was created by the Trinity on October 23, 4004 B. C., +at nine o'clock in the morning." Of what tragedy has this identification +of science with religion been the cause! + +When _astronomy_ began to revolutionize man's idea of the solar +universe, when for the first time in man's imagination the flat earth +grew round and the stable earth began moving through space +seventy-five times faster than a cannon-ball, Pope Paul V solemnly +rendered a decree, that "the doctrine of the double motion of the +earth about its axis and about the sun is false and entirely contrary +to Holy Scripture." When _geology_ began to show from the rocks' +unimpeachable testimony the long leisureliness of God, laying the +foundations of the world, a Christian leader declared geology "not a +subject of lawful inquiry," "a dark art," "dangerous and disreputable," +"a forbidden province," "an awful evasion of the testimony of +revelation." This tragic record of theology's vain conflict with +science is the most pitiable part of the Church's story. How needless +it was! For now when we face our universe of magnificent distances and +regal laws has religion really suffered? Has a flat and stationary +earth proved essential to Christianity, as Protestants and Catholics +alike declared? Rather the Psalmist could not guess the sweep of our +meaning when now we say, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the +firmament showeth his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). + +In the last generation the idea of _evolution_ was the occasion of a +struggle like that which attended the introduction of the new +astronomy. How was the world made? asked the ancient Hebrew, and he +answered, By the word of God at a stroke. That was his scientific +answer, and his religious answer too. When, therefore, the evolving +universe was disclosed by modern science, when men read in fossil and +in living biological structure the undeniable evidence of a long +history of gradually changing forms of life, until the world was seen +_not made like a box but growing like a tree_, many men of religion +thought the faith destroyed. They identified the Christian Gospel with +early Hebrew science! Today, however, when the general idea of +evolution is taken for granted as gravitation is, how false this +identification obviously appears! Says Professor Bowne, "An Eastern +king was seated in a garden, and one of his counselors was speaking +of the wonderful works of God. 'Show me a sign,' said the king, 'and I +will believe.' 'Here are four acorns,' said the counselor; 'will your +Majesty plant them in the ground, and then stoop down and look into +this clear pool of water?' The king did so. 'Now,' said the other, +'Look up.' The king looked up and saw four oak trees where he had +planted the acorns. 'Wonderful!' he exclaimed; 'this is indeed the +work of God.' 'How long were you looking into the water?' asked the +counselor. 'Only a second,' said the king. 'Eighty years have passed +as a second,' said the other. The king looked at his garments; they +were threadbare. He looked at his reflection in the water; he had +become an old man. 'There is no miracle here, then,' he said angrily. +'Yes,' said the other; 'it is God's work whether he do it in one +second or in eighty years.'" + +Such an attitude as this is now a commonplace with Christian folk. A +vast and growing universe through which sweep the purposes of God is +by far the most magnificent outlook for faith that man has ever had. +The Gospel and Hebrew science are _not_ identical; the Gospel is +not indissolubly bound to any science ancient or modern; for science +and religion have separable domains. + + "A fire-mist and a planet, + A crystal and a cell, + A jelly-fish and a saurian, + And caves where cave men dwell. + Then a sense of Love and Duty + And a face turned from the clod, + Some call it Evolution + And others--call it God." + +The same story of needless antagonism is now being written about +religion and _natural law_. When science began plotting nature's laws, +the control of the world seemed to be snatched from the hands of deity +and given over to a system of impersonal rules. God, whose action had +been defined in terms of miracle, was forced from one realm after +another by the discovery of laws, until at last even comets were found +to be not whimsical but as regular in their law-abiding courses as the +planets, and God seemed to be escorted to the edge of the universe and +bowed out. When Newton first formulated the law of gravitation, the +artillery of many an earnest pulpit was let loose against him. One +said that Newton took "from God that direct action on his works so +constantly ascribed to him in Scripture and transferred it to material +mechanism" and that he "substituted gravitation for Providence." But +now, when science has so plainly won her case, in her own proper +field; when we know to our glory and profit so many laws by which the +world is governed, and use our knowledge as the most splendid engine +of personal purpose and freedom which man ever had, we see how great +our gain has been. _Nor is it more a practical than a religious gain._ +God once was thought of chiefly in terms of miraculous action; he came +into his world now and again, like the _deus-ex-machina_ of a Greek +tragedy, to solve a critical dilemma in the plot. Now all the laws we +know and many more are his regular ways of action, and through them +all continuously his purpose is being wrought. As Henry Drummond +exclaimed, "If God appears periodically, he disappears periodically. +If he comes upon the scene at special crises, he is absent from the +scene in the intervals. Whether is all-God or occasional God the +nobler theory?" + +Nothing, therefore, can be more pathetic than the self-styled +"defenders of the faith" who withstand the purpose of reverent +students to give scientific answers to scientific questions. Such men +are not really defending the faith. They are doing exactly what Father +Inchofer did when he said, "The opinion that the earth moves is of all +heresies the most abominable"; what Mr. Gosse did when he maintained, +in explanation of geology's discoveries, that God by the use of +stratified rock and fossils deliberately gave the earth the +_appearance_ of development through long ages, while really he made it +in six days; what Mr. Southall did when, in the face of established +anthropology, he claimed that the "Egyptians had no Stone age and were +born civilized"; what the Dean of Chichester did when he preached that +"those who refuse to accept the history of the creation of our first +parents according to its obvious literal intention, and are for +substituting the modern dream of evolution in its place, cause the +entire scheme of man's salvation to collapse." These were not +defending the faith; they were making it ridiculous in the eyes of +intelligent men and were embroiling religion in controversies where +she did not belong and where, out of her proper realm, she was +foredoomed to defeat. _For scientific problems are not a matter for +faith; they are a matter for investigation._ No one can settle by +faith the movements of the planets, the method of the earth's +formation, the age of mankind, the explanation of comets. These lie in +science's realm, not in religion's, and religious faith demeans +herself when she tries to settle them. Let science be the grammarian +of the world to observe its parts of speech and their relations! +Religion deals with the soul of the world, its deepest source, its +spiritual meaning, its divine purpose. + + +IV + +Science, however, has not always been content with the grammarian's +task. When we have frankly confessed religion's sins in trespassing on +scientific territory, we must note that _science has her guilty +share in the needless conflict_. Today one suspects that the +Church's vain endeavor by ecclesiastical authority to force religious +solutions on scientific problems is almost over. But the attempt of +many scientists to claim the whole field of reality as theirs and to +force their solutions on every sort of problem is not yet finished. +This, too, is a vain endeavor. To suppose that the process of +scientific observation and inference can exhaust the truth of life is +like supposing that there is no more meaning in Westminster Abbey than +is expressed in Baedeker. + +Scientists, for example, sometimes claim domains which are not theirs +by _spelling abstract nouns with capitals, by positing Law or +Evolution as the makers and builders of the world_. But law never +did anything; law is only man's statement of the way, according to his +observation, in which things are done. To explain the universe as the +creation of Law is on a par with explaining homes as the creation of +Matrimony. Abstract nouns do not create anything and the capitalizing +of a process never can explain it. So, too, Evolution does nothing to +the world; it is the way in which whoever makes the world is making +it. As well explain the difference between an acorn and an oak by +saying that Growth did it, as to explain the progress of creation from +stardust to civilization by changing e to E. Science may describe the +process as evolutionary, but its source, its moving power, and its +destiny are utterly beyond her ken. + +For another thing, scientists often invade realms which are not +theirs, _by stretching the working theories of some special science to +the proportions of a complete philosophy of life_. A generation ago, +when geology and biology were in their "green and salad days," the +enthusiasm inspired by the splendid results of their hypotheses went +to strange lengths. One professor of geology seriously explained the +pyramids of Egypt to be the remains of volcanic eruption which had +forced its way upwards by slow and stately motion. The hieroglyphs +were crystalline formations and the shaft of the great pyramid was the +airhole of a volcano. Scientists are human like all men; their +specialties loom large; the ideas that work in their limited areas +seem omnipotent. So a student of the influence of sunlight on life +thinks reactions to the sun explain everything. "Heliotropism," he +says, "doubtless wrote Hamlet." A specialist on the influence of +geography on human nature interprets everything as the reaction of man +to seas, mountains, plains, and deserts, and Lombroso even thinks the +revolutionary temperament especially native to men who live on +limestone formations! Specialists in economic history are sure that +man is little more than an animated nucleus of hunger and that all +life is explicable as a search for food. And psychologists, charmed by +the neatness of description which causal connections introduce into +our inner life, leap to the conclusion, which lies outside their +realm, that personality is an illusion, freedom a myth and our mental +life the rattling of a causal chain forged and set in motion when the +universe began. _All this is not science; it is making hypotheses from +a limited field of facts masquerade as a total philosophy of life._ + +The underlying reason why science, when she regards her province as +covering everything, inevitably clashes with the interests of +religion, is that _she starts her view of the world from the +sub-human side_. The typical sciences are physics, chemistry, +astronomy, geology, biology, and the view of the universe which they +present is the basis on which all other sciences proceed. But this +foundation is sub-human; the master ideas involved in it are all +obtained with the life of man left out of account. Such an approach +presents a world-machine, immense and regular, and when, later, +psychology and sociology arise, how easy it is to call the human life +which they study a by-product of the sub-human world, an exudation +arising from the activities of matter. + +Religion, on the contrary, _starts with human life_. Fall down in +awe, Science cries, before this vast sub-human world! And the +religious man answers: What world is this I am to bow before? Is it +not the universe which my mind knows and whose laws my intellect has +grasped? This universe, so far as it exists at all for me, is +apprehended by my vision, penetrated by my thought, encompassed by my +interpretations. _What is really great and wonderful here, is not +the world which I understand, but the mind that understands it--not +the sub-human but the human._ Man himself is the supreme Fact, and +all the world that man could bow before, man's mind must first of all +contain. The master truth is not that my mind exists within a physical +universe, but that the physical universe is encompassed by my mind. +Therefore, when I interpret life, I will start with man, and not with +what lies below him. + +Romanes, the English scientist, illustrates in his experience the +difference which these two approaches make. When, returning from +agnosticism to Christianity, he explained his lapse, he said, "I did +not sufficiently appreciate the immense importance of _human_ +nature, as distinguished from physical nature, in any inquiry touching +theism.... Human nature is the most important part of nature as a +whole whereby to investigate the theory of theism. This I ought to +have anticipated on merely _a priori_ grounds, had I not been too +much immersed in merely physical research." Of how many now does this +same explanation hold! They segregate man from the rest of the +universe, and endeavor an interpretation of the unhuman remainder. +They forget that man is part and parcel of the universe, bone of its +bone, as imperative an expression of its substantial nature as are +rocks and stars, and that _any philosophy which interprets the world +minus man has not interpreted the world_. + +Here is the difference between a Haeckel and a Phillips Brooks. All +the dominant ideas of the one are drawn from existence minus man; all +the controlling convictions of the other are drawn from the heights +and depths of man's own life. The first approach inevitably leads to +irreligion, for Spirit cannot reveal itself except in spirit and until +one has found God in man he will not find him in nature. The second as +certainly leads to religion, for, as Augustine said, "If you dig deep +enough in every man you find divinity." Over against the testimony of +the sub-human that there is a mechanistic aspect to the world, stands +the unalterable testimony of the human that there is as well an ideal, +purposive, and spiritual aspect to the world. Surely the latter brings +us nearer to the heart of truth. _We never understand anything except +in terms of its highest expression and man is the summit of nature._ + +Could religion find a voice, therefore, she would wish to speak not in +terms of apology but of challenge, when science, assuming all of +reality for its field, grows arrogant. Describe the aspect of the +world that belongs to you, she would say. I have learned my lesson; +your field is yours, and no interference at my hands shall trouble you +again. But remember the limitations of your domain--to observe and +describe phenomena and to plot their laws. That is an immense task and +inexpressibly useful. But when you have completed it, the total result +will be as unlike the real world as a medical manikin with his wire +nerves and painted muscles is unlike a real man. The manikin is +sufficiently correct; everything is truly pictured there--_except +life_. So things are as science sees them, but things are more than +science sees. Plot then the mechanistic aspect of the world, but do +not suppose that you have caught all of truth in that wide-meshed net! +When you have said your last word on facts observed and laws induced, +man rises up to ask imperious questions with which you cannot deal, to +present urgent problems for which no solution ever has been found save +Augustine's, "I seek for God in order that my soul may _live_." + + +V + +Our thought so ended, however, would leave science and religion +jealously guarding their boundaries, not cooperating as allies. _Such +suspicious recognition of each other's realms does not exhaust the +possibilities._ When once the separate functions each by the other +have been granted, we are free to turn our thought to the inestimable +service which each is rendering. Consider the usefulness of science to +the ideal causes of which religion is the chief! Science has given us +the _new universe_, not more marvelous in its vastness than in its +unity. For the spectroscope has shown that everywhere through +immeasurable space the same chemical properties and laws obtain; the +telescope has revealed with what mathematical precision the orbits in +the heavens are traced and how unwaveringly here or among the stars +gravitation maintains its hold. Man never had so immense and various +and yet so single and unified a world before. Polytheism once was +possible, but science has banished it forever. Whatever may be the +source of the universe, it is _one_ Source, and whoever the creator, +he is more glorious in man's imagination than he could ever have been +before. Science also has put at the disposal of the ideal causes _such +instruments as by themselves they would never have possessed_. We are +hoping for a new world-brotherhood, and we pray for it in Christian +churches as the Father's will. But the instruments by which the +inter-racial fellowship must be maintained and without which it would +be unthinkable are science's gift. Railroads, steamships, telegraphs, +telephones, wireless--these are the shuttles by which the ideal faiths +in man's fraternity may be woven into fact. When Christian physicians +heal the sick or stamp out plagues that for ages have been man's curse +and his despair, when social maladjustments are corrected by Christian +philanthropy, and saner, happier ways of living are made possible; +when comforts that once were luxuries are brought within the reach of +all, and man's life is relieved of crushing handicaps; when old +superstitions that had filled man's life with dread for ages are +driven like fogs before science's illumination, and religious faith is +freed of their incumbrance; when great causes of relief have at their +disposal the unimaginable wealth which our modern economic system has +created--can anyone do sufficient justice to man's debt to science? +And once more science has done religion an inestimable service in +establishing as a point of honor the ambition _to see straight and to +report exactly_. The tireless patience, the inexorable honesty, the +sacrificial heroism of scientists, pursuing truth, is a gift of +incalculable magnitude. Huxley is typical of science at its best when +he writes in his journal his ideal--"To smite all humbugs however big; +to give a nobler tone to science; to set an example of abstinence from +petty personal controversies and of toleration for everything but +lying; to be indifferent as to whether the work is recognized as mine +or not, so long as it is done." Countless obscurantisms and bigotries, +shams and sophistries have been driven from the churches by this +scientific spirit and more are yet to go. Science has shown +intellectual dishonesty to be a sin of the first rank. Christianity +never can be thankful enough for science; on our knees we should be +grateful for her as one of God's most indispensable gifts. Nor should +the fact that many a scientist whose contributions we rejoice in was +not certain about God defer our gratitude. Cyrus, the Persian, is not +the only one to whom the Eternal has said, "I will gird thee, though +thou hast not known me" (Isa. 45:5). + +When, however, science has done her necessary work, she needs her +great ally, religion. Without the insight and hope which faith alone +can bring, we learn a little about the world, our minds enclosed in +boundaries beyond which is dark, unfathomable mystery. We rejoice in +nature's beauty and in friendship, suffer much with broken bodies and +more with broken family ties, until we die as we were born--the spawn +of mindless, soulless powers that never purposed us and never cared. +And the whole universe is purposeless, engaged with blind hands, that +have no mind behind them, on tasks that mean nothing and are never +done. Science and religion should not be antagonists; they are +mutually indispensable allies in the understanding and mastery of life. + +[4] J. G. Holland. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Faith and Moods + + +DAILY READINGS + +The relationship of faith to feeling, rather than faith's relationship +to mind, is with many people the more vital interest. The emotional +results of faith are rightfully of intense concern to everyone, for +our feelings put the sense of value into life. To see a sunset without +being stirred by its beauty is to miss seeing the sunset; to have +friends without feeling love for them is not to have friends; and to +possess life without feeling it to be gloriously worth while is to +miss living. Now, in this regard, the attitude of faith stands sharply +opposed to its direct contrary--the attitude of fear. Faith and fear +are the two emotional climates, in one or the other of which everyone +tends habitually to live. To the comparison of these we set ourselves +in the daily readings. + + +Eighth Week, First Day + + =Give ear to my prayer, O God; + And hide not thyself from my supplication. + Attend unto me, and answer me: + I am restless in my complaint, and moan, + Because of the voice of the enemy, + Because of the oppression of the wicked; + For they cast iniquity upon me, + And in anger they persecute me. + My heart is sore pained within me: + And the terrors of death are fallen upon me. + Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, + And horror hath overwhelmed me. + And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! + Then would I fly away, and be at rest. + Lo, then would I wander far off, + I would lodge in the wilderness.= + + =--Psalm 55:1-7.= + +How many people are slaves to the mood from which this psalmist +suffered! "Fearfulness and trembling" are their habitual attitude +toward life. They fear to die and just as much they fear to live; +before every vexatious problem, before every opposing obstacle, even +before the common tasks and responsibilities of daily living, they +stand in dread; and every piece of work is done by them at least three +times--in previous worry, in anxious performance, and in regretful +retrospect. Such fear _imprisons_ the soul. No two men really +live in the same world; for while the outward geography may be +identical, the real environment of each soul is created by our moods, +tempers, and habits of thought. Fear builds a prison about the man, +and bars him in with dreads, anxieties, and timid doubts. And the man +will live forever in that prison unless faith sets him free. _Faith +is the great liberator._ The psalmist who found himself a prisoner +of "fearfulness and trembling" obtained his liberty and became a "soul +in peace" (v. 18); and the secret of his freedom he revealed in the +closing words of his psalm--"But I will trust in Thee." Faith of some +sort is the only power that ever sets men free from the bondage of +their timidities and dreads. If a man is the slave of fearfulness, +there is no substance in his claim to be a man of faith; a man who has +vital faith is not habitually fearful. And as Emerson said, "He has +not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear." + + _O God, we remember with sadness our want of faith in Thee. What + might have been a garden we have turned into a desert by our sin and + wilfulness. This beautiful life which Thou hast given us we have + wasted in futile worries and vain regrets and empty fears. Instead of + opening our eyes to the joy of life, the joy that shines in the leaf, + the flower, the face of an innocent child, and rejoicing in it as in + a sacrament, we have sunk back into the complainings of our narrow + and blinded souls. O deliver us from the bondage of unchastened + desires and unwholesome thoughts. Help us to conquer hopeless + brooding and faithless reflection, and the impatience of irritable + weakness. To this end, increase our faith, O Lord. Fill us with a + completer trust in Thee, and the desire for a more whole-hearted + surrender to Thy will. Then every sorrow will become a joy. Then + shall we say to the mountains that lie heavy on our souls, "Remove + and be cast hence" and they shall remove, and nothing shall be + impossible unto us. Then shall we renew our strength, and mount up + with wings as eagles; we shall run and not be weary; we shall walk + and not faint. We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ our + Lord. Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Eighth Week, Second Day + +Not only is it true that fear imprisons while faith liberates; fear +_paralyzes_ and faith _empowers_. The only attitude in which +a man has command of his faculties and is at his best, is the attitude +of faith; while fear bewilders the mind and paralyzes the will. The +physical effects of fear are deadly; it positively inhibits any useful +thinking; and in the spiritual life its results are utterly +demoralizing. Fear is the panic of a soul. Consider such an estate as +the author of Deuteronomy presents: + + =And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, and there shall be + no rest for the sole of thy foot: but Jehovah will give thee there a + trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul; and thy + life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear night and + day, and shalt have no assurance of thy life. In the morning thou + shalt say, Would it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would it + were morning! for the fear of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and + for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.--Deut. 28:65-67.= + +Such a situation oppresses every vital power, and the conquest of such +a situation must always be inward before it can be outward; _the man +must pass from fear to faith_. Let even a little faith arise in +him, and power begins to return. Men fear that they cannot overcome +evil habits, that they cannot successfully meet difficult situations, +that they cannot hold out in the Christian life, and that great causes +cannot be fought through to victory--and the weakness which appalls +them is the creation of their own misgiving. + + "Our doubts are traitors, + And make us lose the good we oft might win, + By fearing to attempt." + +But faith is tonic; the results which follow a change of heart from +fear to faith are miraculous; spiritual dwarfs grow to giants and +achieve successes that before would have been unbelievable. No verse +in Scripture has behind it a greater mass of verifiable experience +than: "This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our +faith" (I John 5:4). + + _Gracious Father, Thou hast invited us, unworthy as we are, to pray + for all sorts and conditions of men.... We pray for all who are in + bondage to fear, unable to face the tasks of life or bear the thought + of death with peace and dignity. Free them from the tyranny of these + dark dreads. Let the inspiration of a great faith or hope seize their + souls, and lift them above their fruitless worry and idle torments, + into a region of joy and peace and blessedness. We pray for the + victims of evil habits, the slaves of alcohol or morphine, or any + other pretended redeemer of the soul from weariness and pain. Great + is the power of these degrading temptations; but greater still is the + saving energy of Thy Spirit. So let Thy Spirit enter the hearts of + these unhappy children of Thine, that their will may be made strong + to resist, and that the burning heat of high thoughts may consume the + grosser desires of the flesh. We pray for souls bound beneath + self-imposed burdens, vexed by miseries of their own making; for the + children of melancholy, who have lost their way and grope without a + light; for those who do their work with no enthusiasm, and, when + night falls, can find no sleep though they search for it as for + hidden treasure. Let Thy light pierce through their gloom and shine + upon their path...._ + + _Unite us to Jesus Christ, Thy perfect Son, in the bonds of a living + trust, so that sustained by His example, and sanctified by His + Spirit, we may grow more and more into the image of His likeness. + These, and all other blessings, we ask in His name and for His sake. + Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Eighth Week, Third Day + +There are many situations in life which naturally throw the pall of +dread over man's soul. Life is seldom easy, it is often overwhelmingly +difficult, and if a man has worry in his temperament, circumstances +supply plenty of occasions on which to exercise it. The difference +between men lies here: those in whom the fear-attitude is master hold +the oppressive trouble so close to the eye that it hides everything +else; those whom the faith-attitude dominates hold trouble off and see +it in wide perspectives. A copper cent can hide the sun if we hold it +close enough to the eye, and a transient difficulty can shut out from +a fearful soul all life's large blessings and all the horizons of +divine good will. Fear _disheartens_ men by concentrating their +attention on the unhappy aspects of life; _but faith is the great +encourager_. Whittier lived in a generation full of turmoil and +trouble, and his own life is a story of prolonged struggle against +illness, disappointments, and poverty. But, listen: + + "Yet sometimes glimpses on my sight + Through present wrong, the eternal right; + And, step by step, since time began + I see the steady gain of man." + +That is the attitude of faith; it does not deny the evil, but it sees +around it, refuses to be obsessed or scared by it, and takes heart +from a large view when a small view would be appalling. And history +always confirms the large view. Fear may be right for the moment, but +in the long run it is a liar; only faith tells the truth. + + =Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up: + All the day long he fighting oppresseth me. + Mine enemies would swallow me up all the day long; + For they are many that fight proudly against me. + What time I am afraid, + I will put my trust in thee.= + + =--Psalm 56:1-3.= + + _Almighty and ever-living God, we draw near unto Thee, believing that + Thou art, and that Thou wilt reward all those who diligently seek + Thee. We are weak, mortal men, immersed in this world's affairs, + buffeted by its sorrows, flung to and fro by its conflicts of right + and wrong. We cry for some abiding stay, for some sure and steadfast + anchorage. Reveal Thyself to us as the eternal God, as the + unfathomable Love that encompasses every spirit Thou hast made, and + bears it on, through the light and the darkness alike, to the goal of + Thine own perfection. And yet, when Thou speakest to us, we are + covered with confusion, for now we remember all the sadness and evil + disorder of our lives. Thou hast visited our hearts with ideals fair + and beautiful, but alas! we have grown weary in aspiration, and have + declined into the sordid aims of our baser selves. Thou hast given us + the love of parent and of friend, that we might thereby learn + something of Thine own love; yet too often have we despised Thy gift + and shut our hearts to all the wonder and the glory. We make + confession before Thee of our sin and folly and ignorance. Again and + again we have vowed ourselves to Thy service; again and again our + languid wills have failed to do Thy Will. We have been seduced by the + sweet poison of sin, and even against light and knowledge we have + done that which Thou dost abhor, and which in our secret hearts we + loathe. And now we almost fear to repent, lest Thou shouldst call us + into judgment for a repentance that must needs be repented of. O + mighty Saviour of men! be patient with us a little longer. Take us + back to Thyself. Without Thee, we are undone; with Thee, we will take + fresh heart of hope, and bind ourselves with a more effectual vow, + and laying aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset + us, we will follow Thee whithersoever Thou leadest. Amen._--Samuel + McComb. + + +Eighth Week, Fourth Day + +Fear depresses vitality and is a fruitful cause of nervous disorders, +with all their disastrous reactions on man's health. Modern +investigation has shown beyond any reasonable doubt that while illness +comes often by way of the body, it comes also by way of the mind; our +moods and tempers have a physical echo, and of all fatal mental states +none is so ruinous as fear. It is not strange, therefore, that some +people never are well. As Dr. McComb puts it, "Many play at +living--they do not really live. They fear the responsibilities, the +struggles, the adventures, not without risk, which life offers them. +They fear illness. They fear poverty. They fear unhappiness. They fear +danger. They fear the passion of sacrifice. They fear even the +exaltation of a pure and noble love, until the settlements in money +and social prestige have been duly certified. They fear to take a +plunge into life's depths. They fear this world, and they fear still +more the world beyond the grave." In such a mood no man can possibly +be well. Faith, therefore, which drives out fear, has always been a +minister of health. The Master's healings, which to the rationalism of +a previous generation seemed incredible, in the light of the present +knowledge seem inevitable. He had faith and he demanded faith, and +wherever the faith-attitude can be set in motion against the +fear-attitude and all its morbid brood, the consequences will be +physical as well as moral. An outgrown custom of the early Church does +not now seem so strange as it did a generation ago: + + =Is any among you suffering? let him pray. Is any cheerful? let him + sing praise. Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of + the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the + name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save him that is + sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, + it shall be forgiven him. Confess therefore your sins one to another, + and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of + a righteous man availeth much in its working.--James 5:13-16.= + + _Eternal God, who art above all change and darkness, whose will begat + us, and whose all present love doth enfold and continually redeem us, + Holy Guest who indwellest, and dost comfort us; we have gathered to + worship Thee, and in communion with Thee to find ourselves raised to + the light of our life, and the Heaven of our desires._ + + _Pour upon our consciousness the sense of Thy wonderful nearness to + us. Reveal to our weakness and distress the power and the grace that + are more than sufficient for us. May we see what we are, Thy + Spirit-born children linked by nature, love, and choice to Thy mighty + being; and may the vision make all fears to fade, and a Divine + strength to pulse within._ + + _Enable us to carry out from this place the peace and strength that + here we gain, to take into our homes a kinder spirit, a new + thoughtfulness; that we may brighten sadness, heal the sick, and make + happiness to abound. May we take into our daily tasks and life of + labor, a sense of righteousness that shall be as salt to every evil + and corrupting influence._ + + _Because we have walked here awhile with Thee, may we be able to walk + more patiently with man. Send us forth with love to the fallen, hope + for the despairing, strength to impart to the weak and wayward; and + carry on through us the work Thou didst commence in Thy Son our + Brother Man and Saviour God. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Eighth Week, Fifth Day + +Fear makes impossible any satisfying joy in life. A man of faith may +be deeply joyful even in disastrous circumstances, but a man of fear +would be unhappy in heaven. Stevenson sings in "the saddest and the +bravest song he ever wrote": + + "God, if this were faith?... + To go on for ever and fail and go on again, + And be mauled to the earth and arise, + And contend for the shade of a word and a thing not seen + with the eyes: + With half of a broken hope for a pillow at night + That somehow the right is the right, + And the smooth shall bloom from the rough: + Lord, if that were enough?" + +Sad this song may be, but at the heart of it is yet a fierce joy +because faith is there. But put a man of fear in luxury and remove +from him every visible cause of disquiet and he will still be +miserable. The more a man considers these two determinant moods in +life, the more he sees that somehow the faith-attitude must be his, if +life is to be worth living. Without it life dries up into a Sahara; +with it, he comes into a company of the world's glad spirits, who one +way or another have felt what the Psalmist sings: + + =Jehovah is my light and my salvation; + Whom shall I fear? + Jehovah is the strength of my life; + Of whom shall I be afraid? + When evil-doers came upon me to eat up my flesh, + Even mine adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell. + Though a host should encamp against me, + My heart shall not fear: + Though war should rise against me, + Even then will I be confident. + One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: + That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, + To behold the beauty of Jehovah, + And to inquire in his temple. + For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion: + In the covert of his tabernacle will he hide me; + He will lift me up upon a rock. + And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; + And I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; + I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto Jehovah.= + + =--Psalm 27:1-6.= + + _Gracious Father! We confess the painful riddle of our being, that, + while claiming kinship with Thee, we feel far from Thee. O, what + means this strange bewilderment, this never-ending war between our + worse and better thoughts? We are Thine by right, yet we have not + given ourselves wholly to Thy care. Our hearts know no rest, save in + Thee, yet they have sought it in this world's vainglory, which + passeth away. We seek to quench our thirst at the cisterns of this + earth, but they are broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Lead us + to Thy well of life that springeth up eternally. Give us to drink of + that spiritual water, of which, if any man drink, he shall never + thirst again. We lament our want and poverty before Thee. Open Thou + our eyes to behold the unsearchable riches of Thy grace, and increase + our faith that we may make them ours. Unite us to Thee in the bonds + of will and love and purpose. Out of Thy fulness, which is in Christ, + give to each one of us according to his need. Make us wise with His + Wisdom; pure with His purity; strong with His strength; that we may + rise into the power and glory of the life that is life indeed. Hear + our hearts' weak and wandering cries, and when Thou hearest, forgive + and bless, for His sake. Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Eighth Week, Sixth Day + + =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. 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.--Matt. 6:24-33.= + +The meaning of this passage hinges on the first "therefore." You +cannot serve God and selfish gain at the same time, says Jesus; you +should choose decisively to serve God; and _therefore_ you must not be +anxious about yourself. For _anxious fear so concentrates a man's +thought on himself that he can serve no one else_. That this is the +meaning of this familiar passage is clear also from its conclusion. +The real reason for conquering anxious fear is that a man may give +himself wholeheartedly to the service of the Kingdom. That fear does +spoil usefulness is obvious; a man cannot be fearful for himself and +considerate of his fellows. As Stevenson puts it in "Aes Triplex," +"The man who has least fear for his own carcass has most time to +consider others. That eminent chemist who took his walks abroad in tin +shoes and subsisted wholly upon tepid milk had all his work cut out +for him in considerate dealings with his own digestion. So soon as +prudence has begun to grow up in the brain, like a dismal fungus, it +finds its first expression in a paralysis of generous acts." The shame +of our fearful living is that it circles about self, is narrowed down +to mean solicitudes about our own comfort, and is utterly incapable of +serving God or seeking first his Kingdom. Only faith puts folk at +leisure from their small anxieties so that they can be servants of a +worthy cause. Jesus, therefore, in this passage is not giving us the +impossible injunction not to think about tomorrow; he is stating a +truth of experience, that anxious fear for oneself which so draws in +the thought that God's great causes are forgotten is a deadly peril in +man's life. By faith thrust out the mean and timid solicitudes, is his +injunction, that life may be free to put first things first. + + _We come to Thee, our Father, that we may more deeply enter into Thy + joy. Thou turnest darkness into day, and mourning into praise. Thou + art our Fortress in temptation, our Shield in remorse, our Covert in + calamity, our Star of Hope in every sorrow. O Lord, we would know Thy + peace, deep, abiding, inexhaustible. When we seek Thy peace, our + weariness is gone, the sense of our imperfection ceases to discourage + us, and our tired souls forget their pain. When, strengthened and + refreshed by Thy goodness, we return to the task of life, send us + forth as servants of Jesus Christ in the service and redemption of + the world. Send us to the hearts without love, to men and women + burdened with heavy cares, to the miserable, the sad, the + broken-hearted. Send us to the children whose heritage has been a + curse, to the poor who doubt Thy Providence, to the sick who crave + for healing and cannot find it, to the fallen for whom no man cares. + May we be ministers of Thy mercy, messengers of Thy helpful pity, to + all who need Thee. By our sympathy, our prayers, our kindness, our + gifts, may we make a way for the inflow of Thy love into needy and + loveless lives. And so may we have that love which alone is the + fulfilling of Thy law. Hasten the time when all men shall love Thee + and one another in Thee, when all the barriers that divide us shall + be broken down, and every heart shall be filled with joy and every + tongue with melody. These gracious gifts we ask, in Jesus' name. + Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Eighth Week, Seventh Day + +Fear does not reveal its disastrous consequences to the full until it +colors one's thoughts about the source and destiny of life. Folk work +joyfully at a picture-puzzle so long as they believe that the puzzle +can be put together, that it was meant, completed, to compose a +picture, and that their labor is an effort made in reasonable hope. +But if they begin to fear that they are being fooled, that the puzzle +is a hoax and never can be pieced together anywhere by anyone, how +swiftly that suspicion will benumb their work! So joyful living +depends on man's conviction that this life is not a hapless accident, +that a good purpose binds it all together, and that our labor for +righteousness is not expended on a futile task without a worthy +outcome. But fear blights all such hope; it whispers what one +pessimist said aloud: "Life is not a tragedy but a farcical melodrama, +which is the worst kind of play." That fear benumbs worthy living, +kills hope, makes cynical disgust with life a reasonable attitude, and +with its frost withers all man's finest aspirations. _Only faith in +God can save men from such fear._ Fear or faith--there is no dilemma +so full of consequence. Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear +paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear +sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable--and, +most of all, fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith +rejoices in its God. + + =Oh give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; + For his lovingkindness endureth for ever. + Let Israel now say, + That his lovingkindness endureth for ever. + Let the house of Aaron now say, + That his lovingkindness endureth for ever. + Let them now that fear Jehovah say, + That his lovingkindness endureth for ever. + Out of my distress I called upon Jehovah: + Jehovah answered me and set me in a large place. + Jehovah is on my side; I will not fear: + What can man do unto me?= + + =--Psalm 118:1-6.= + + _O God, we invoke Thy blessing upon all who need Thee, and who are + groping after Thee, if haply they may find Thee. Be gracious to those + who bear the sins of others, who are vexed by the wrongdoing and + selfishness of those near and dear to them, and reveal to them the + glory of their fellowship with the sufferings of Christ. Brood in + tenderness over the hearts of the anxious, the miserable, the victims + of phantasmal fear and morbid imaginings. Redeem from slavery the + men and women who have yielded to degrading habits. Put Thy Spirit + within them, that they may rise up in shame and sorrow and make + confession to Thee, "So brutish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast + before Thee." And then let them have the glad assurance that Thou art + with them, the secret of all good, the promise and potency of better + things. Console with Thy large consolation those who mourn for their + loved dead, who count the empty places and long for the sound of a + voice that is still. Inspire them with the firm conviction that the + dead are safe in Thy keeping, nay, that they are not dead, but live + unto Thee. Give to all sorrowing ones a garland for ashes, the oil of + joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of + heaviness. Remember for good all who are perplexed with the mysteries + of existence, and who grieve because the world is so sad and + unintelligible. Teach them that Thy hand is on the helm of affairs, + that Thou dost guide Thine own world, and canst change every dark + cloud into bright sunshine. In this faith let them rest, and by this + faith let them live. These blessings we ask in the name of our Lord + and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +Many people do not find their most perplexing difficulty either in the +realm of trust or of belief, but in a problem which includes both. +They are confused because neither their experience of God nor their +intellectual conviction of the reasonableness of faith is dependable +and steady. Faith comes and goes in them with fluctuating moods that +bring an appalling sense of insecurity. Their religious life is not +stable and consistent; it runs through variant degrees of confidence +and doubt, and its whimsical ups and downs continually baffle them. To +classify some folk as men of faith and some as men of doubt does not, +in the light of this experience, quite tally with the facts. There are +moods of faith and moods of doubt in all of us and rarely does either +kind secure unanimous consent. Were we to decide for irreligion, a +minority protest would be vigorously urged in the interests of faith, +and when most assuredly we choose religion, the prayer, "Lord, I +believe, help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24) is still appropriate. We +often seem to be exchanging, as Browning's bishop says: + + "A life of doubt diversified by faith, + For one of faith diversified by doubt." + +Some hope arises when we observe that this experience which so +perplexes us is fully acknowledged in the Bible. The popular +supposition is that when one opens the Scripture he finds himself in a +world of constant and triumphant faith. No low moods and doubts can +here obscure the trust of men; here God is always real, saints sing in +prison or dying see their Lord enthroned in heaven. When one, however, +really knows the Bible, it obviously is no serene record of untroubled +faith. It is turbulent with moods and doubt. + +Here, to be sure, is the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians, on +Immortality, but here too is another cry, burdened with all the doubt +man ever felt about eternal life, "That which befalleth the sons of +men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, +so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no +preeminence above the beasts" (Eccl. 3:19). The Scripture has many +exultant passages on divine faithfulness, but Jeremiah's bitter prayer +is not excluded: "Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, +which refuseth to be healed? Wilt thou indeed be unto me as a +deceitful brook, as waters that fail?" (Jer. 15:18). The confident +texts on prayer are often quoted, but there are cries of another sort: +Job's complaint, "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and +backward, but I cannot perceive him" (Job 23:8); Habakkuk's +bitterness, "O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? +I cry unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save" (Hab. 1:2). The +Bible is no book of tranquil faith. From the time when Gideon, in a +mood like that of multitudes today, cried, "Oh, my Lord, if Jehovah is +with us, why then is all this befallen us?" (Judges 6:13) to the +complaint of the slain saints in the Apocalypse, "How long, O Master, +the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood" (Rev. +6:10), the Bible is acquainted with doubt. It knows the searching, +perplexing, terrifying questions that in all ages vex men's souls. If +the Psalmist, in an exultant mood, sang, "Jehovah is my shepherd," he +also cried, "Jehovah, why casteth thou off my soul? Why hidest thou +thy face from me?" (Psalm 88:14). + +No aspect of the Scripture could bring it more warmly into touch with +man's experience than this confession of fluctuating moods. At least +in this the Bible is our book. Great heights are there, that we know +something of. Psalmists sing in adoration, prophets are sure of God +and of his coming victory; apostles pledge in sacrifice the certainty +of their belief, and the Master on Transfiguration Mountain prays +until his countenance is radiant. And depths are there, that modern +men know well. Saints cry out against unanswered prayer and cannot +understand how such an evil, wretched world is ruled by a good God; in +their bitter griefs they complain that God has cast them off, and +utterly forgotten and, dismayed, doubt even that a man's death differs +from a dog's. This is our book. For the faith of many of us, however +we insist that we are Christians, is not tranquil, steady, and serene. +It is moody, occasional, spasmodic, with hours of great assurance, and +other hours when confidence sags and trust is insecure. + + +II + +Faith so generally is discussed as though it were a creed, accepted +once for all and thereafter statically held, that the influence of our +moods on faith is not often reckoned with. But the moods of faith are +the very pith and marrow of our actual experience. When a Christian +congregation recite together their creedal affirmation, "I believe in +God," it _sounds_ as though they all maintained a solid, constant +faith. But when in imagination, one breaks up the congregation and +interprets from his knowledge of men's lives what the faith of the +individuals actually means, he sees that they believe in God not +evenly and constantly, but more or less, sometimes very much, +sometimes not confidently at all. Our faith in God is not a static +matter such as the recitation of a creed suggests. Some things we do +believe in steadily. That two plus two make four, that the summed +angles of a triangle make two right angles--of such things we are +unwaveringly sure. No moods can shake our confidence; no griefs +confuse us, no moral failures quench our certainty. Though the heavens +fall, two and two make four! But our faith in God belongs in another +realm. It is a vital experience. It involves the whole man, with his +chameleon moods, his glowing insights, his exalted hours, and his +dejected days when life flows sluggishly and no great thing seems +real. + +This experience of variable moods in faith does not belong especially +to feeble folk, whose ups and downs in their life with God would +illustrate their whole irresolute and flimsy living. The great +believers sometimes know best this tidal rise and fall of confidence. +Elijah one day, with absolute belief in God, defied the hosts of Baal +and the next, in desolate reaction, wanted to die. Luther put it with +his rugged candor, "Sometimes I believe and sometimes I doubt." John +Knox, at liberty to preach, "dings the pulpit into blads" in his +confident utterance; but the same Knox recalled that, in the galleys, +his soul knew "anger, wrath, and indignation which it conceived +against God, calling all his promises in doubt." The Master himself +was not a stranger to this experience. He believed in God with +unwavering assurance, as one believes in the shining of the sun. But +the fact that the sun perpetually shines did not imply that every day +was a sunshiny day for him. The clouds came pouring up out of his dark +horizons and hid the sun. "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I +say?" (John 12:27). And once the fog drove in, so dense and dark that +one would think there never had been any sun at all. "My God, my God, +why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). + +This experience of fluctuating moods is too familiar to be denied, too +influential to be neglected. There can be no use in hiding it from +candid thought behind the recitation of a creedal formula. There may +be great use in searching out its meaning. For there are ways in which +this common experience, at first vexatious and disquieting, may supply +solid ground for Christian confidence. + + +III + +In dealing with these variant moods of faith we are not left without +an instrument. We have _the sense of value_. We discern not only the +_existence_ of things, but their _worth_ as well. When, therefore, a +man has recognized his moods as facts, he has not said all that he can +say about them. Upon no objects of experience can the sense of value +be used with so much certainty as upon our moods. _We know our best +hours when they come._ The lapidary, with unerring skill, learns to +distinguish a real diamond from a false, but his knowledge is external +and contingent, compared with the inward and authoritative certainty +with which we know our best hours from our worst. Our great moods +carry with them the authentic marks of their superiority. + +Experience readily confirms this truth. We all have, for example, +_cynical and sordid moods_. At such times, only the appetites of +physical life seem much to matter; only the things that minister to +common comfort greatly count. When Sydney Smith, the English cleric, +writes, "I feel an ungovernable interest in my horses, my pigs, and my +plants. But I am forced and always was forced to task myself up to an +interest in any higher objects," most of us can understand his mood. +We grow obtuse at times to all that in our better moods had thrilled +us most. Nature suffers in our eyes; great books seem dull; causes +that once we served with zest lose interest, and personal relationships +grow pale and tame, From such mere dullness we easily drift down to +cynicism. Music once had stirred the depths, but now our spirits tally +with the scoffer's jest, "What are you crying about with your Wagner +and your Brahms? It is only horsehair scraping on catgut." Man's most +holy things may lose their grandeur and become a butt of ridicule. +When the mood of Aristophanes is on, we too may hoist serious Socrates +among the clouds, and set him talking moonshine while the cynical look +on and laugh. The spirit that "sits in the seat of the scornful" is an +ancient malady. + +But every man is thoroughly aware that these are not his best moods. +From such depleted attitudes we come to worthier hours; _real +life_ arrives again. Nature and art become imperatively beautiful; +moral causes seem worth sacrifice, and before man's highest life, +revealed in character, ideal, and faith, we stand in reverence. These +are our great hours, when spiritual values take the throne, when all +else dons livery to serve them, and we find it easy to believe in God. + +Again, we have _crushed and rebellious moods_. We may have been +Christians for many years; yet when disaster, long delayed, at last +descends, and our dreams are wrecked, we _do_ rebel. Complaint rises +hot within us. Joseph Parker, preacher at the City Temple, London, at +the age of sixty-eight could write that he had never had a doubt. +Neither the goodness of God nor the divinity of Christ, nor anything +essential to his Christian faith had he ever questioned. But within a +year an experience had fallen of which he wrote: "In that dark hour I +became almost an atheist. For God had set his foot upon my prayers and +treated my petitions with contempt. If I had seen a dog in such agony +as mine, I would have pitied and helped the dumb beast; yet God spat +upon me and cast me out as an offense--out into the waste wilderness +and the night black and starless." No new philosophy had so shaken the +faith of this long unquestioning believer. But his wife had died and +he was in a heartbroken mood that all his arguments, so often used on +others, could not penetrate. He believed in God as one believes in the +sun when he has lived six months in the polar night and has not seen +it. + +These heartbroken moods, however, are not our best. Out of rebellious +grief we lift our eyes in time to see how other men have borne their +sorrows off and built them into character. We see great lives shine +out from suffering, like Rembrandt's radiant faces from dark +backgrounds. We see that all the virtues which we most admire--constancy, +patience, fortitude--are impossible without stern settings, and that +in time of trouble they find their aptest opportunity, their noblest +chance. We rise into a new mood, grow resolute not to be crushed, but, +as though there were moral purpose in man's trials, to be hallowed, +deepened, purified. The meaning of Samuel Rutherford's old saying +dawns upon us, "When I am in the cellar of affliction, I reach out my +hand for the king's wine." And folk, seeing us, it may be, take heart +and are assured that God is real, since he can make a man bear off his +trial like that and grow the finer for it. These are our great hours +too, when the rains descend, and the winds blow, and the floods come, +and beat upon our house, and it is founded on a rock! + +Once more, we have hours of _discouragement about the world_. The more +we have cared for moral causes and invested life in their advancement, +the more we are desolate when they seem to fail. Some rising tide in +which we trusted turns to ebb again, injustice wins its victories, the +people listen to demagogues and not to statesmen, social causes +essential to human weal are balked, wars come and undo the hopes of +centuries. Who does not sometimes fall into the Slough of Despond? +Cavour, disheartened about Italy, went to his room to kill himself. +John Knox, dismayed about Scotland, in a pathetic prayer entitled, +"John Knox with deliberate mind to his God," wrote, "Now, Lord put an +end to my misery." We generally think of Luther in that intrepid hour +when he faced Charles V at Worms; but he had times as well when he was +sick with disappointment. "Old, decrepit, lazy, worn out, cold, and +now one-eyed," so runs a letter, "I write, my Jacob, I who hoped there +might at length be granted to me, already dead, a well-earned rest." +During the Great War, this mood of discouragement has grown familiar. +Many can understand what Robert Louis Stevenson meant when he wrote, +of the Franco-Prussian war, "In that year, cannon were roaring for +days together on French battlefields, and I would sit in my isle (I +call it mine after the use of lovers) and think upon the war, and the +pain of men's wounds, and the weariness of their marching.... It was +something so distressing, so instant, that I lay in the heather on the +top of the island, with my face hid, kicking my heels for agony." + +But these dismayed hours are not our best. As Bunyan put it, even +Giant Despair has fainting fits on sunshiny days. In moods of clearer +insight we perceive out of how many Egypts, through how many +round-about wilderness journeys, God has led his people to how many +Promised Lands. The Exodus was not a failure, although the Hebrews, +disheartened, thought it was and even Moses had his dubious hours; the +mission of Israel did not come to an ignoble end in the Exile, +although multitudes gave up their faith because of it and only +prophets dared believe the hopeful truth. The crucifixion did not mean +the Gospel's end, as the disciples thought, nor did Paul, imprisoned, +lose his ministry. _Nothing in history is more assured than this, +that only men of faith have known the truth._ And in hours of +vision when this fact shines clear we rise to be our better selves +again. What a clear ascent the race has made when wide horizons are +taken into view! What endless possibilities must lie ahead! What ample +reasons we possess to thrust despair aside, and to go out to play our +part in the forward movement of the plan of God! + + "Dreamer of dreams? we take the taunt with gladness, + Knowing that God beyond the years you see, + Has wrought the dreams that count with you for madness + Into the texture of the world to be." + +These are our better hours. + + +IV + +Such sordid, cynical, crushed, rebellious, and discouraged moods we +suffer, but we have hours of insight, too, when we are at our best. +And as we face this ebb and flow of confidence, which at the first +vexatiously perplexed our faith, an arresting truth is clear. The +creed of irreligion, to which men are tempted to resign their minds, +is simply the _intellectual formulation of what is implied in our +less noble hours_. Take what man's cynical, sordid, crushed, +rebellious, and discouraged moods imply, and set it in a formal +statement of life's meaning, and the result is the creed of +irreligion. But take man's best hours, when the highest seems the +realest, when even sorrows cannot crush his soul, and when the world +is still the battlefield of God for men, and formulate what these +hours imply, and the result is the central affirmations of religious +faith. Even Renan is sure that "man is most religious in his best +moments." Of this high interpretation our variant moods are +susceptible, that _we know our best hours when they come, and the +faith implied in them is essential Christianity_. As Browning sings +it: + + "Faith is my waking life: + One sleeps, indeed, and dreams at intervals, + We know, but waking's the main point with us." + +This fact which we so have come upon is a powerful consideration in +favor of religion's truth. _Are we to trust for our guidance the +testimony of our worse or better hours?_ We have low moods; so, too, +we have cellars in our houses. But we do not _live_ there; we live +upstairs! It is not unnatural to have irreligious moods. There may be +hours when the eternal Energy from which this universe has come seems +to be playing solitaire for fun. It shuffles the stars and planets to +see what may chance from their combinations, and careless of the +consequence, from everlasting to everlasting it shuffles and plays, +and shuffles and plays again. But these are not our best hours. We may +have moods when the universe seems to us, as Carlyle's figure pictures +it, "as if the heavens and the earth were but boundless jaws of a +devouring monster, wherein, I, palpitating, lay waiting to be +devoured," but we are inwardly ashamed of times like that. Man comes +to this brutal universe of irreligion by way of his ignoble moods. +When he lifts up his soul in his great hours of love, of insight, and +of devotion, life never looks to him as irreligion pictures it; it +never has so looked to him and it never will! + +In his best hours man always suspects that the Eternal must be akin to +what is best in us, that our ideals are born from above, have there +their source and destiny, that the Eternal Purpose reigns and yet +shall justify the struggle of the ages, and that in anyone who is the +best we know, we see most clearly what the Eternal is and means. That +goodness is deeper than evil, that spirit is more than flesh, that +life is lord of death, that love is the source of all--such +convictions come naturally to us when we are at our best. When one +examines such affirmations, he perceives that Christianity in its +essential faiths is the expression of our finest hours. This is the +source whence Christianity has come; it is man's best become +articulate. Some used to say that Christian faith had been foisted on +mankind by priests. Christian faith has no more artificially been +foisted upon human life than the full blown rose is foisted on the +bud. Christianity springs up out of man's best life; it is the +utterance of his transcendent moods; _it is man believing in the +validity of his own noblest days_. + +Christianity, therefore, at its heart can never fail. Its theologies +may come and go, its institutions rise and fall, its rituals have +their dawn, their zenith, and their decline, but one persistent force +goes on and will go on. _The Gospel is saying to man what man at his +best is saying to himself._ Christ has a tremendous ally in human +life--our noblest hours. They are all upon his side. What _he_ +says, _they_ rise to cry "Amen" to. When we are most truly +ourselves we are nearest to him. Antagonistic philosophies, therefore, +may spring up to assail the Gospel's influence, and seem to triumph, +and fall at last and be forgotten. Still Christ will go on speaking. +Nothing can tear him from his spiritual influence over men. _In +every generation he has man's noblest hours for his ally._ + + +V + +In the fact to which our study of man's variant moods has brought us +we have not only a confirming consideration in favor of religion's +truth, but an _explanation of some people's unbelief_. They live +habitually in their low moods; they inhabit spiritual cellars. We are +accustomed to say that some friend would be saved from his ignoble +attitudes by a vital religious faith; but it is also true that his +persistent clinging to ignoble attitudes may be the factor that makes +religious faith impossible. According to Dickens's "Tale of Two +Cities" a prisoner in the Bastille, who had lived in a cell and +cobbled shoes for many years, became so enamored of the narrow walls, +the darkness, the task's monotony, that, when liberated, he built a +cell at the center of his English home, and on days when the skies +were clear and birds were singing, the tap of his cobbler's hammer in +the dark could still be heard. So men, by an habitual residence in +imprisoning moods, render themselves incapable of loving the wide +horizons, the great faiths and hopes of religion. They do not merely +make excursions of transient emotion into morose hours and, like men +that find that the road is running into malarial swamps, turn swiftly +to the hills. They dwell in their moroseness; they _choose_ it, and +often obstinately resist deliverance. + +The common moods that thus incapacitate the soul for faith are easily +seen in any man's experience. There are _sullen_ tempers when we are +churlish and want so to be. There are _stupid_ tempers, when our soul +is too negligent to care, too dull to ask for what only aspiring minds +can crave or find. There are _bored_ moods when we feel about all life +what Malachi's people felt about worship, "Behold, what a weariness is +it!" (Mal. 1:13); _rebellious_ moods when, like Jonah, deprived of a +comfort he desired, we cry, "I do well to be angry, even unto death" +(Jonah 4:9); _suspicious_ moods, when we mistrust everyone, and even +of some righteous Job hear Satan's insinuating sneer, "Does Job fear +God for nought?" (Job 1:9). No man is altogether strange to +_frivolous_ hours, when those thoughts are lost which must be handled +seriously if at all, and _wilful_ hours, when some private desire +assumes the center of the stage and angrily resents another voice than +his. To say that one who habitually harbors such moods cannot know God +is only a portion of the truth; such a man cannot know anything worth +knowing. He can know neither fine friends nor great books; he cannot +appreciate beautiful music or sublime scenery; he is lost to the +deepest loves of family and to every noble enthusiasm for human help. +Athwart the knowledge of these most gracious and necessary things +stand our obtuse, ignoble moods. The sullen, stupid, bored, +rebellious, suspicious, frivolous, or wilful tempers, made into a +spiritual residence, are the most deadly prison of the soul. Of course +one who dwells there has no confidence in God. Lord Shaftesbury, the +English philanthropist, made too sweeping a statement about this, but +one can see the basis for his judgment: "Nothing beside ill-humor, +either natural or forced, can bring a man to think seriously that the +world is governed by any devilish or malicious power. I very much +question whether anything beside ill-humor can be the cause of +atheism." At least one may be sure that where ill-humor habitually +reigns, vital faith in God is made impossible. + +After full acknowledgment, therefore, of the momentous intellectual +problems of belief, we must add that there is a _moral qualification +for faith in God_. So great a matter is not achieved by any sort of +person, with any kind of habitual moods and tempers. There are views +which cellar windows do not afford; one must have balconies to see +them. When Jesus said that the pure in heart are blessed because they +see God, he was not thinking merely, perhaps not chiefly, of sexual +impurity as hindering vision. He was pleading for a heart cleansed of +all such perverse, morose, and wayward moods as shut the blinds on the +soul's windows. He knew that men could not easily escape the sense of +God's reality if they kept their vision clear. On elevated days we +naturally think of Spirit as real, and see ourselves as expressions of +spiritual purpose, our lives as servants of a spiritual cause. When +one habitually dwells in these finer moods, he cannot tolerate a world +where his Best is a transient accident. _He must have God, for faith +in God is the supreme assertion of the reality and eternity of man's +Best._ Any man who habitually lives in his finest moods will not +easily escape the penetrating sense of God's reality. + + +VI + +The certainty with which we tend to be most deeply religious in our +best hours is clear when we consider that a man does practically +believe in the things which he counts of highest worth. Lotze, the +philosopher, even says that "Faith _is_ the feeling that is +appreciative of value." It is conceivable that one might be so +constituted that without any sense of value he could study facts, as +a deaf man might observe a symphony. The sound-waves such a man could +mechanically measure; he could analyze the motions of the players and +note the reactions of the crowd, but he would hear no music. He would +not suffuse the whole performance with his musical appreciations; he +would neither like it nor condemn. Man might be so constituted as to +face facts without feeling, but he is not. Facts never stand in our +experience thus barren and unappreciated--mere neutral _things_ that +mean nothing and have no value. The botanist in us may analyze the +flowers, but the poet in us estimates them. The penologist in us may +take the Bertillon measurements of a boy, but the father in us best +can tell how much, in spite of all his sin, that boy is worth. This +power to estimate life's _values_ is the fountain from which spring +our music, painting, and literature, our ideals and loves and +purposes, our morals and religion. Without it no man can live in the +real world at all. + +If we would know, therefore, in what, at our highest altitudes, we +tend to believe, we should ask _what it is that we value most, when +we rise toward our best_. In our lowest hours what sordid, +mercenary, beastly things men may prize each heart knows well. But +ever as we approach our best the things that are worth most to us +become elevated and refined. Our better moods open our eyes to a world +where character is of more worth than all the rest beside, and through +which moral purpose runs, to be served with sacrifice. We become aware +of spiritual values in behalf of which at need physical existence must +be willingly laid down; and words like honor, love, fidelity, and +service in our hours of insight have halos over them that poorer moods +cannot discern. Man at his best, that is to say, _believes in_ an +invisible world of spiritual values, and he furnishes the final proof +of his faith's reality by sacrificing to it all lesser things. The +good, the true, the beautiful command him in his finer hours, and at +their beck and call he lays down wealth and ease and earthly hopes to +be their servant. Men really _do believe_ in the things for which +they sacrifice and die. + +In no more searching way can a man's faith be described than _in terms +of the objects which thus he values most_. Wherever men find some +consuming aim that is for them so supreme in worth that they sacrifice +all else to win it, we speak of their attitude as a religion. The +"religion of science" describes the absolute devotion of investigators +to scientific research as the highest good; the "religion of art" +describes the consuming passion with which some value beauty. When we +say of one that "money is his God" we mean that he estimates it as +life's highest treasure, and when with Paul we speak of others, "whose +god is the belly" (Phil. 3:19), we mean men whose sensual life is to +them the thing worth most. _What men believe in, therefore, is most +deeply seen not by any opinions which they profess, but by the things +they prize._ Faith, as Ruskin said, is "that by which men act while +they live; not that which they talk of when they die." Many a man uses +pious affirmations of Christian faith, but it is easy to observe from +his life that what he really believes in is money. Where a man's +treasure is, as Jesus said, his heart is, and there his faith is, too. + +Is there any doubt, then, what we most believe in when we are at our +best? While in our lower altitudes it may be easy to believe that the +physical is the ultimately real, in our upper altitudes we so value +the spiritual world, that we tend with undeniable conviction to feel +sure that it must be causal and eternal. Materialism is man's +"night-view" of his life; but the "day-view" is religion. Tyndall the +scientist was regarded by the Christians of his generation as the +enemy of almost everything that they held dear. Let him, then, be +witness for the truth which we have stated. "I have noticed," he said, +speaking of materialism, "during years of self-observation, that it is +not in hours of clearness and vigor that this doctrine commends itself +to my mind." + +The challenge, therefore, presented to every one of us by Christian +faith is ultimately this: _Shall I believe the testimony of my better +hours or of my worse?_ Many who deny the central affirmations of the +Gospel put the object of their denial far away from them as though it +were an external thing; they say that they deny the creed or the Bible +or the doctrine about God. Such a description of a man's rejection of +religious faith is utterly inadequate--the real object of his denial +is inward. One may, indeed, discredit forms of doctrine and either be +unsure about or altogether disbelieve many things that Christians +hold, but when one makes a clean sweep of religion and banishes the +central faiths of Christianity _he is denying the testimony of his own +finest days_. From such rejection of faith one need not appeal to +creed nor Bible, nor to anything that anybody ever said. Let the +challenge strike inward to the man's own heart. From his denial of +religious faith we may appeal to the hours that he has known and yet +will know again, when the road rose under his feet and from a height +he looked on wide horizons and knew that he was at his best. To those +hours of clear insight, of keen thought, of love and great devotion, +when he knew that the spiritual is the real and the eternal, we may +appeal. They were his best. He _knows_ that they were his best. And as +long as humanity lives upon the earth this conviction must underlie +great living--that _we will not deny the validity of our own best +hours_. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Faith in the Earnest God + + +DAILY READINGS + +Throughout our studies we have been thinking of the effect of faith on +the one who exercises it. As an introduction to this week's thought on +the earnestness of God, let us approach the effect of faith from +another angle. Faith has enormous influence on the one in whom it is +reposed; not only the believer but the one in whom he believes is +affected by his faith. + + +Ninth Week, First Day + + =I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church + that is at Cenchreæ: that ye receive her in the Lord, worthily of the + saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever matter she may have need + of you: for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine + own self.= + + =Salute Prisca and Aquila my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, who for + my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give thanks, + but also all the churches of the Gentiles: and salute the church that + is in their house. Salute Epænetus my beloved, who is the + first-fruits of Asia unto Christ. Salute Mary, who bestowed much + labor on you. Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen, and my + fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also have + been in Christ before me. Salute Ampliatus my beloved in the + Lord.--Rom. 16:1-8.= + +This series of personal commendations is only the beginning of the +last chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans. All the way through one +hears the individual names of Paul's friends and fellow-laborers, with +his discriminating and hearty praise of each. It is clear that he has +faith in these men and women; he believes in them and relies on them. +Consider the effect on them that Paul's confidence in their Christian +fidelity would naturally have. There is no motive much more stirring +than the consciousness that somebody believes in us, is trusting and +counting on us. Whatever is fine and noble in human life responds to +that appeal. Soldiers who feel that their country is relying upon +their fidelity, children who are conscious that their parents believe +in them, friends who are heartened by the assurance that some folk +completely trust them--how much of the best in all of us has come +because we have been the objects of somebody's faith! A Connecticut +volunteer in the American Revolution has written that George +Washington once paused for a moment in front of his company and said +simply, "I am counting on you men from Connecticut." And the recruit +clasped his musket in his arms and wept with the devotion which +Washington's confidence evoked. Would not the sixteenth chapter of +Romans have a similar effect on those who read it? + + _O Thou loving and tender Father in heaven, we confess before Thee, + in sorrow, how hard and unsympathetic are our hearts; how often we + have sinned against our neighbors by want of compassion and + tenderness; how often we have felt no true pity for their trials and + sorrows, and have neglected to comfort, help, and visit them. O + Father, forgive this our sin, and lay it not to our charge. Give us + grace ever to alleviate the crosses and difficulties of those around + us, and never to add to them; teach us to be consolers in sorrow, to + take thought for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan; let our + charity show itself not in words only, but in deed and truth. Teach + us to judge as Thou dost, with forbearance, with much pity and + indulgence; and help us to avoid all unloving judgment of others; for + the sake of Jesus Christ Thy Son, who loved us and gave Himself for + us. Amen._--Johann Arndt, 1555. + + +Ninth Week, Second Day + + =And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the + mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God. And + when it was day, he called his disciples; and he chose from them + twelve, whom also he named apostles: Simon, whom he also named + Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and + Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alphæus, + and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and + Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.--Luke 6:12-16.= + +The power that comes to men when someone believes in them must have +come to these disciples whom Jesus trusted with his work. We often +note the power that was theirs through their faith in Christ; consider +today the inspiration that came from Christ's faith in them. He picked +them out, commissioned them, relied on them, and believed in their +ability with God's help to carry his work to a successful issue. All +that is most distinctive and memorable in their character came from +their response to that divine trust. How they must have encouraged +themselves in times of failure and disheartenment by saying: He +believes in us; even though we are ignorant and sinful, he believes in +us; he has trusted his work to us, and for all our inability he has +faith that we can carry it to triumph! Their faith in themselves and +what they could do with God's help must have been almost altogether a +reflex of his faith in them. Our contention, therefore, that faith is +the dynamic of life has now a new confirmation: _the faith that +lifts and motives life is not simply our faith in the Divine, but the +faith of the Divine in us_. One of the most glorious results of +believing in God is that a man can press on to the further confidence +that God believes in us. If he did not, he would never have made us. +The very fact that we are here means that he does believe in us, in +our possibilities of growth, in our capacities of service, in what he +can do in and for and through us before he is done. Man's faith in God +and God's faith in man together make an unequalled motive for great +living. Yet there is always a sad appendix to every list of trusted +men, with somebody's blighted name: "Judas Iscariot, who became a +traitor." + + _Loving Father, our hearts are moved to gratitude and trust when we + look up to Thee. We rejoice that through our fleeting days there runs + Thy gracious purpose. We praise Thee that we are not the creatures of + chance, nor the victims of iron fate, but that out from Thee we have + come and into Thy bosom we shall return. We would not, even if we + could, escape Thee. Thou alone art good, and to escape from Thee is + to fall into infinite evil. Thy hand is upon us moving us on to some + far-off spiritual event, where the meaning and the mystery of life + shall be made plain and Thy glory shall be revealed. Look in pity + upon our ignorance and childishness. Forgive us our small + understanding of Thy purpose of good concerning us. Be not angry with + us, but draw us from the things of this world which cannot satisfy + our foolish hearts. Fill us with Thyself, that we may no longer be a + burden to ourselves. So glorify the face of goodness that evil shall + have no more dominion over us. Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Ninth Week, Third Day + +The fact that God has faith in us is not alone a source of comfort; it +presents a stirring challenge. It means that he is in earnest about +achieving his great purposes in human life and that he is counting +upon us to help. He has set his heart on aims, about which he cares, +and to whose achievement he is calling us; he is confident that with +him we can work out, if we will, loftier character and a better world. +Let us consider some of the purposes which God is counting on us, in +fellowship with him, to achieve. The prophet Micah, in a brief but +perfect drama, gives one clue. First the Lord summons his people to a +trial, with the eternal mountains for judges: + + =Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend thou before the + mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear, O ye mountains, + Jehovah's controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth; for + Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will contend with + Israel.--Micah 6:1, 2.= + +Then, the Lord presents his case: + + =O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied + thee? testify against me. For I brought thee up out of the land of + Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent + before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what + Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered + him; remember from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the + righteous acts of Jehovah.--Micah 6:3-5.= + +Then the people put in their hesitant, questioning plea. + + =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?--Micah + 6:6, 7.= + +Then the mountains pronounce judgment: + + =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 6:8.= + +God, then, is in earnest about _just_, _kind_, _and humble +character_. He believes in it as a possibility; he sees the making +of it now in human hearts; he is pledged to further and establish it +with all his power; and he is counting on us for loyal cooperation +with all our powers of choice. Vital faith means a transforming +partnership with a God who is in earnest about character. + + _O Thou who art the Father of that Son which hast awakened us and yet + urgeth us out of the sleep of our sins, and exhorteth us that we + become Thine, to Thee, Lord, we pray, who art the supreme Truth, for + all truth that is, is from Thee. Thee we implore, O Lord, who art the + highest Wisdom, through Thee are wise, all those that are so. Thou + art the supreme Joy, and from Thee all have become happy that are so. + Thou art the highest Good and from Thee all beauty springs. Thou art + the intellectual Light, and from Thee man derives his understanding. + To Thee, O God, we call and speak. Hear us, O Lord, for Thou art our + God and our Lord, our Father and our Creator, our Ruler and our Hope, + our Wealth and our Honor, our Home, our Country, our Salvation, and + our Life; hear, hear us, O Lord. Few of Thy servants comprehend Thee, + but at least we love Thee--yea, love Thee above all other things. We + seek Thee, we follow Thee, we are ready to serve Thee; under Thy + power we desire to abide, for Thou art the Sovereign of all. We pray + Thee to command us as Thou wilt; through Jesus Christ Thy Son our + Lord. Amen._--King Alfred, 849. + + +Ninth Week, Fourth Day + +God also is in earnest about _social righteousness_. + + =I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your + solemn assemblies. Yea, though ye offer me your burnt-offerings and + meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the + peace-offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise + of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let + justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty + stream.--Amos 5:21-24.= + +Anyone who cares about character must care about social conditions, +for every unfair economic situation, every social evil left to run its +course means ruin to character. And the God of the Bible, because he +cares supremely for personal life at its best, is zealously in earnest +about social justice; his prophets blazed with indignation at all +inequity, and his Son made the coming Kingdom, when God's will would +be done on earth, the center of his message. To fellowship with this +earnest purpose of God we all are summoned; God believes in the +glorious possibilities of life on earth; he is counting on us to put +away the sins that hold the Kingdom back and to fight the abuses that +crush character in men. To believe in God, therefore--the God who is +fighting his way with his children up through ignorance, brutality, +and selfishness to "new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth +righteousness"--is no weakly comfortable blessing. It means joining a +moral war; it means devotion, sacrifice; its spirit is the Cross and +its motive an undiscourageable faith. And our underlying assurance +that this war for a better world can be won is not simply our belief +that it can be done, but _our faith that God is, and that he +believes that it can be done_. When we pray we say, "Thy Kingdom +come," and we are full of hope about the long, sacrificial struggle, +for the purpose behind and through it all is first of all God's. Our +earnestness is but an echo of his. + + _O Thou Eternal One, we adore Thee who in all ages hast been the + great companion and teacher of mankind; for Thou hast lifted our race + from the depths, and hast made us to share in Thy conscious + intelligence and Thy will that makes for righteousness and love. + Thou alone art our Redeemer, for Thy lifting arms were about us and + Thy persistent voice was in our hearts as we slowly climbed up from + savage darkness and cruelty. Thou knowest how often we have resisted + Thee and loved the easy ways of sin rather than the toilsome gain of + self-control and the divine irritation of Thy truth...._ + + _We pray Thee for those who amid all the knowledge of our day are + still without knowledge; for those who hear not the sighs of the + children that toil, nor the sobs of such as are wounded because + others have made haste to be rich; for those who have never felt the + hot tears of the mothers of the poor that struggle vainly against + poverty and vice. Arouse them, we beseech Thee, from their selfish + comfort and grant them the grace of social repentance. Smite us all + with the conviction that for us ignorance is sin, and that we are + indeed our brother's keeper if our own hand has helped to lay him + low. Though increase of knowledge bring increase of sorrow, may we + turn without flinching to the light and offer ourselves as + instruments of Thy spirit in bringing order and beauty out of + disorder and darkness. Amen._--Walter Rauschenbusch. + + +Ninth Week, Fifth Day + +The thought which we have been pursuing leads us to a truth of major +importance: if God is thus in earnest, believing in man's possibilities +and laboring for them, then he cannot be known by anyone who does not +share his purpose and his labor. _Action is a road to knowledge and +some things never can be known without it._ If one would know the +business world, he must be an active business man; no amount of +abstract study and speculation can take the place of vital +participation in business struggle. The way to understand any movement +or enterprise is to go into it, share its enthusiasms and hopes, labor +sacrificially for its success, bear its defeats as though they were +our own, and rejoice in its achievements as though nothing so much +mattered to our happiness. Such knowledge is thorough and vital; when +one who so has learned what war is, or the missionary enterprise, or +the fight against the liquor traffic, stands up to speak, a merely +theoretical student of these movements sounds unreal and tame. If +therefore God is earnest Purpose, with aims in which he calls us to +share, no one can thoroughly know him merely by _thinking_; he must +know him by _acting_. + + =But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may + be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.--John 3:21.= + + =Jesus therefore answered them, and said, My teaching is not mine, + but his that sent me. If any man willeth to do his will, he shall + know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from + myself.--John 7:16, 17.= + +Many people endeavor to reach a satisfactory knowledge of God by +clarifying their thought and working out a rational philosophy. But, +by such intellectual means alone, they could not gain satisfactory +knowledge of so familiar a thing as home life. To know home life one +elemental act is essential: get into a home and share its problems, +its satisfactions, and its hopes. So the most adequate philosophy by +itself can bring no satisfactory knowledge of God; only by working +with God, sharing his purposes for the world, sacrificially laboring +for the aims he has at heart can men know him. + + _Eternal God, who hast formed us, and designed us for companionship + with Thee; who hast called us to walk with Thee and be not afraid; + forgive us, we pray Thee, if craven fear, unworthy thought, or hidden + sin has prompted us to hide from Thee. Remove the suspicion which + regards Thy service as an intrusion on our time and an interference + with our daily task. Shew to us the life that serves Thee in the + quiet discharge of each day's duty, that ennobles all our toil by + doing it as unto Thee. We ask for no far-off vision which shall set + us dreaming while opportunities around slip by; for no enchantment + which shall make our hands to slack and our spirits to sleep, but for + the vision of Thyself in common things for every day; that we may + find a Divine calling in the claims of life, and see a heavenly + reward in work well done. We ask Thee not to lift us out of life, but + to prove Thy power within it; not for tasks more suited to our + strength, but for strength more suited to our tasks. Give to us the + vision that moves, the strength that endures, the grace of Jesus + Christ, who wore our flesh like a monarch's robe and walked our + earthly life like a conqueror in triumph. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Ninth Week, Sixth Day + +Because action with God is essential to any satisfying knowledge of +him, action is one of the great resolvers of doubt. Many minds, +endeavoring to think through the mystifying problems of God's +providence, find themselves in a clueless labyrinth. The more they +think the more entangled and confused their minds become. Their +thoughts strike a fatal circle, like wanderers lost in the woods, and +return upon their course, baffled and disheartened. To such perplexed +minds the best advice often is: Cease your futile thinking and go to +work. Let action take the place of speculation. Break the fatal round +of circular thought that never will arrive, and go out to act on the +basis of what little you do believe. Your mind like a dammed stream is +growing stagnant; set it running to some useful purpose, if only to +turn mill-wheels, and trust that activity will bring it cleansing in +due time. Horace Bushnell, the great preacher, while a skeptical tutor +at Yale, was disturbed because so many students were unsettled by his +disbelief. In the midst of a revival he said that like a great snag he +caught and stopped the newly launched boats as fast as they came down. +Unable to think his way out of his intellectual perplexity, he faced +one night this arresting question: "What is the use of my trying to +get further knowledge, so long as I do not cheerfully yield to what I +already know?" And kneeling he prayed after this fashion: "O God, I +believe there is an eternal difference between right and wrong, and I +hereby give myself up to do the right and to refrain from the wrong. I +believe that Thou dost exist, and if Thou canst hear my cry and wilt +reveal Thyself to me, I pledge myself to do Thy will, and I make this +pledge fully, freely, and forever." What wonder that in time the light +broke and that Bushnell became a great prophet of the faith! + +Even Paul, finishing his laborious discussion of God's providence +toward Israel, acknowledges his baffled thought: + + =O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of + God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing + out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his + counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be + recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and unto + him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.--Rom. + 11:33-36=. + +And then, as if he turned from philosophy to action with gratitude, he +begins the twelfth chapter: + + =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.= + + _O God, we thank Thee for the sweet refreshment of sleep and for the + glory and vigor of the new day. As we set our faces once more toward + our daily work, we pray Thee for the strength sufficient for our + tasks. May Christ's spirit of duty and service ennoble all we do. + Uphold us by the consciousness that our work is useful work and a + blessing to all. If there has been anything in our work harmful to + others and dishonorable to ourselves, reveal it to our inner eye with + such clearness that we shall hate it and put it away, though it be at + a loss to ourselves. When we work with others, help us to regard + them, not as servants to our will, but as brothers equal to us in + human dignity, and equally worthy of their full reward. May there be + nothing in this day's work of which we shall be ashamed when the sun + has set, nor in the eventide of our life when our task is done and we + go to our long home to meet Thy face. Amen._--Walter Rauschenbusch. + + +Ninth Week, Seventh Day + + =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.--Matt. 25:34-40.= + +The earnestness of God is not about any diffuse generality; it is +about persons. His purposes concern them, and he believes in them and +in their capacities for fellowship with him, for growing character and +for glorious destiny. If, therefore, one wishes the sense of God's +reality which comes from active co-partnership, let him serve persons, +believe in them, and be in earnest about them. A woman, troubled by +invincible doubts, was given by a wise minister the Gospel of John and +a calling-list of needy families, and was told to use them both. She +came through into a luminous faith, and which helped her more, her +reading or her service, she could never tell. When the Master said +that the good we did to the least of his brethren, we did to him, he +indicated a road to vital knowledge of him; he said in effect that we +can always find him in the lives of people to whom we give love and +help. Many will never find him at all unless they find him there. The +great believers have been the great servants; and the reason for this +is not simply that faith produced service, but also that _service +produced faith_. The life of Sir Wilfred Grenfell, for example, +makes convincingly plain that his faith sent him to Labrador for +service, and that then he drew out of service a compound interest on +his original investment of faith. + + _O God, the Father of the forsaken, the Help of the weak, the + Supplier of the needy, who hast diffused and proportioned Thy gifts + to body and soul, in such sort that all may acknowledge and perform + the joyous duty of mutual service; Who teachest us that love towards + the race of men is the bond of perfectness, and the imitation of Thy + blessed Self; open our eyes and touch our hearts, that we may see and + do, both for this world and for that which is to come, the things + which belong to our peace. Strengthen us in the work we have + undertaken; give us counsel and wisdom, perseverance, faith, and + zeal, and in Thine own good time, and according to Thy pleasure, + prosper the issue. Pour into us a spirit of humility; let nothing be + done but in devout obedience to Thy will, thankfulness for Thine + unspeakable mercies, and love to Thine adorable Son Christ Jesus.... + Amen._--Earl of Shaftesbury, 1801. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +Throughout our studies we have been asserting that faith in God +involves confidence that creation has a purpose. But we shall not see +the breadth and depth of the affirmation, or its significant meaning +for our lives, unless more carefully we face a question, which, as +keenly as any other, pierces to the marrow of religion: _Is God in +earnest?_ + +That the God of the Bible is in earnest is plain. If we open the Book +at the Exodus, we hear him saying, "I have surely seen the affliction +of my people, ... and have heard their cry, ... and I am come down to +deliver them" (Exodus 3:7, 8). If we turn to the prophets, we find +Hosea, interpreting the beating of God's heart: "How am I to give thee +up, O Ephraim? How am I to let thee go, O Israel? How am I to give +thee up? My heart is turned upon me, my compassions begin to boil"[5] +(Hos. 11:8). Everywhere in the Old Testament, God is in earnest: about +personal character--"What doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do +justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah +6:8); about social righteousness--"Let justice roll down as waters, +and righteousness as a mighty stream" (Amos 5:24); about the salvation +of the world--"It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my +servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved +of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that +thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth" (Isa. 49:6). +When from the Old Testament one turns to the New, he faces an +assertion of God's earnestness that cannot be surpassed: "God so loved +the world that he gave his only begotten Son." God in the New +Testament is as much in earnest as that, and all the major +affirmations of the Book cluster about the magnetism of this central +faith. God is even like a shepherd with a hundred sheep, who having +lost one, leaves the ninety and nine and goes after that which is +lost, until he finds it (Luke 15:4). From the earliest Hebrew seer +dimly perceiving him, to the last apostle of the New Covenant, the God +of the Bible is tremendously in earnest. + +How profoundly the acceptance of this faith deepens the meaning and +value of life is evident. For a moment some might think that the major +question is not whether _God_ is in earnest but whether _we_ +are; but when a man considers the hidden fountains from which the +streams of his human earnestness must flow, he sees how necessary is +at least the hope that at the heart of it creation is in earnest too. +Von Hartmann, the pessimist, makes one of his characters say, "The +activities of the busy world are only the shudderings of a fever." How +shall a man be seriously in earnest about great causes in a world like +that? The men whose devoted lives have made history great have seen in +creation's busyness more than aimless shuddering. Moses was in +earnest, but behind his consecration was his vision of the Eternal, +saying to Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" The Master was in earnest, but +with a motive that took into its account the purposefulness of God, +"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). + +Indeed, no satisfying meaning, no real unity are conceivable in a +purposeless universe. The plain fact is that _within_ the universe +nobody explains anything without the statement of its purpose. A chair +is something to sit down on; a watch is something to tell time by; a +lamp is something to give illumination in the dark--and lacking this +purposive description, the story of the precedent history of none of +these things, from their original materials to their present shape, +would in the least tell what they really are. One who knows all else +about a telephone, practically knows nothing, unless he is aware of +what it is _for_. Nor is the necessity of such explanation lessened +when scientists endeavor descriptions in their special realms. Huxley, +narrating the growth of a salamander's egg, writes, "Let a moderate +supply of warmth reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter +undergoes changes so rapid, and yet so steady and so purposelike in +their succession, that one can only compare them to those operated by +a skilled modeler upon a formless lump of clay. As with an invisible +trowel, the mass is divided and subdivided into smaller and smaller +portions, until it is reduced to an aggregation of granules not too +large to build withal the finest fabrics of the nascent organism. +And, then, it is as if a delicate finger traced out the line to be +occupied by the spinal column and moulded the contour of the body; +pinching up the head at one end, the tail at the other, and fashioning +flank and limb into the due salamandrine proportions, in so artistic a +way, that, after watching the process hour by hour, one is almost +involuntarily possessed by the notion that some more subtle aid to +vision than an achromatic, would show the hidden artist, with his plan +before him, striving with skilful manipulation to perfect his work." +The obvious fact is that salamanders' eggs act as though they were +seriously intent on making salamanders; and lion's cells as though +they were tremendously in earnest about making lions. As Herbert +Spencer said of a begonia leaf, "We have therefore no alternative but +to say, that the living particles composing one of these fragments, +have an innate tendency to arrange themselves into the shape of the +organism to which they belong." _But if this is so, purpose is +essential in the description of every living thing._ All about us is a +world of life with something strikingly like purposeful action rampant +everywhere, so that in describing an elm tree it will not do to say +only that forces from behind pushed it into being; one must say, too, +that from our first observation of its cells they acted as though they +were intent on making nothing else but elm. They went about their +business as though they had a purpose. The tree's cause is not alone +the forces from behind; it is as well the aim that in the cells' +action lay ahead. + +Men can describe nothing in heaven above or on the earth beneath +without the use of purposive terminology. How shall they try otherwise +to describe the universe? _A world in which the minutest particles +and cells all act as though they were eagerly intent on achieving +aims, can only with difficulty be thought of as an aimless whole._ +Man's conviction is insistent and imperious that creation, so +surcharged with purposes, must have Purpose. The greatest scientists +themselves are often our best witnesses here. Charles Darwin and +Alfred Russel Wallace are the twin discoverers of evolution. Said the +former: "If we consider the whole universe the mind refuses to look at +it as the outcome of chance." Said the latter: the world is "a +manifestation of creative power, directive mind, and ultimate purpose." + +What such men have coldly said, the men of devout religion have set +on fire with passionate faith. They have been sure that this world is +not + + "A tale + Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, + Signifying nothing." + +In every cause that makes for man's salvation they have seen the +manifest unveiling of divine intent. _God is in earnest_--this +conviction has possessed them utterly, and to live and die for those +things on behalf of which the Eternal is tremendously concerned has +been the aim, the motive, and the glory of their lives. + + +II + +One need only watch with casual observance the multitudes who say that +they believe in God, to see how few of them believe in this God who is +in earnest. When they confess their faith in deity they have something +else in mind beside the God of the Bible, compassionately purposeful +about his world and calling men to be his fellow-workers. Let us +therefore consider some of the fallacies that enable men to believe in +a God who is _not_ in earnest. + +For one thing, some _put God far away_. Missionaries in Africa's +interior find tribes worshiping stocks, stones, demons, ghosts, but +this does not mean that no idea of a great original god is theirs. +Often they are not strangers to that thought, but, as an old +Africander woman said, "He never concerned himself with me; why should +I concern myself with him?" To such folk a great god exists, but he +does not care; he dwells apart, an indifferent deity, who has left +this world in the hands of lesser gods that really count. The task of +the missionary, therefore, is not to prove the existence of a +creator--"No rain, no mushrooms," said an African chief; "no God, no +world"--but it is to persuade men that the God who seems so far away +is near at hand, that he really cares, and over each soul and all his +world is sacrificially in earnest. + +Such missionary work is not yet needless among Christian people. Said +a Copenhagen preacher in a funeral discourse, "God cannot help us in +our great sorrow, because he is so infinitely far away; we must +therefore look to Jesus." One feels this Siberian exile of God from +all vital meaning for our humanity, when he is called the "Absolute," +the "Great First Cause," the "Energy from which all things proceed." +Like the man, examined by the Civil Service, who, asked the distance +from sun to earth, answered, "I do not know how far the sun is from +the earth; but it is far enough so that it will not interfere with the +proper performance of my duties at the Customs Office," so men with +phrases like "the Great First Cause" put God an immeasurable distance +off. No man has dealings with a "Great First Cause," no "Great First +Cause" ever had vital, personal, constraining meanings for a man. +Rather across infinite distance and time unthinkable, we vaguely +picture a dim Figure, who gave this toboggan of a universe its primal +shove and has not thought seriously of it since. So a wanderer down +the street might put a child upon her sled and giving her a start +down-hill, go on his way. She may have a pleasant slide, but he will +not know; she may fall off, but he will not care; there may be a +tragic accident, but that will not be his concern--he has gone away +off down the street. Multitudes of nominal believers have a god like +that. + +In comparison with such, one thinks of men like Livingstone. His God +was compassionately concerned for Africa, spoke about black folk as +Hosea heard him speak concerning Israel, "How can I give thee up? How +can I let thee go?" until the fire of the divine earnestness lit a +corresponding ardor in Livingstone's heart and he went out to be God's +man in the dark continent. Such men have smitten the listless world as +winds fill flapping sails, crying "Move!" And the God of such has been +tremendously in earnest. + + +III + +Some gain a God lacking serious purpose, not by putting him afar off, +but by endeavoring to bring him so near that they _diffuse him +everywhere_. Writers tell us that God is in every rustling leaf and in +every wave that breaks upon the beach; we are assured that God is in +every gorgeous flower and in every flaming sunset. And the poetry of +this is so alluring that we cannot bear to have God specially +anywhere, because we are so anxious to keep him everywhere. Preachers +delight to illustrate their thought of God with figures drawn from +nature's invisible energies-- + + "Who has seen the wind? + Neither I nor you: + But when the leaves hang trembling + The wind is passing through. + + Who has seen the wind? + Neither you nor I: + But when the trees bow down their heads + The wind is passing by." + +By such comparisons are we taught to see that God invisibly is +everywhere. + +For all the valuable truth that such speech contains, its practical +issue, in many minds today, is to strip God of the last shred of +personality, and with that loss to end the possibility of his being in +earnest about anything. He has become refined Vapor thinly diffused +through space. Folk say they love to meditate on him, and well they +may! For such a god asks nothing of anybody except meditation; he has +no purposes that call for earnestness in them. When little children +are ruined in a city's tenements, when the liquor traffic brutalizes +men, when economic inequity makes many poor that a few may be made +rich, when war clothes the world with unutterable sorrow, such a god +does not care. He is not in earnest about anything. For the only thing +in the universe that can be consciously in earnest is personality, and +when one depersonalizes God, the remainder is a deity who has no love, +no care, no purpose. Thousands do obeisance to such a gaseous idol. + +From this fallacy spring such familiar confessions of faith as this, +"God is not a person; he is spirit." If by this negation one intends +to say that God is not a limited individual, that is obviously true; +but _the contrast between personality and spirit is impossible_. One +may as well speak of dry water as of impersonal spirit. Rays of radium +are unimaginably minute and swift, but they are not spirit. Nothing in +the impersonal realm can be conceived so subtle and refined that it is +spirit. Spirit begins only where love and intelligence and purpose +are, and these all are activities of personality. No one can _really_ +believe what Jesus said, "God is a Spirit," without being ready to +pray as Jesus prayed, "Our Father." + +Between an impersonal, diffused, and gaseous god, and the God of the +Bible, how great the difference! God's pervading omnipresence is +indeed affirmed in Scripture. There, as much as in any modern thought, +the heavens declare his glory, the flowers of the field are +illustrations of his care, and the influences of his spirit are like +the breeze across the hills. To the ancient Hebrew, heaven and sheol +were the highest and the lowest, but of each the Psalmist says to God, +"Thou art there," and as for the uttermost parts of the sea, "even +there shall thy hand lead me" (Psalm 139:7-10). Cries Jeremiah from +the Old Testament, "Am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God +afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not +see him? saith Jehovah. Do not I fill heaven and earth?" (Jer. 23:23, +24). And Paul answers from the New Testament, "Not far from every one +of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:27, +28). But the God of the Bible who so pervades and sustains all +existence never degenerates into a Vapor. When Egyptian taskmasters +crack their whips over Hebrew slaves, he cares. When exiles try in +vain to sing the songs of Zion in a strange land, he cares. When evil +men build Jerusalem with blood, and rapacious men pant after the dust +on the head of the poor, he cares. He is prodigiously in earnest, and +those who best represent him, from the great prophets to the +sacrificial Son, are like him in this, that they are mastered by +consuming purpose. The God of the Bible is sadly needed by his people. +For lack of him religion grows often listless and churches become +social clubs. + + +IV + +By another road men travel to believe in a God who is not in earnest: +_they think of him as an historic being_. It was said of Carlyle, +shrewdly if unjustly, that his God lived until the death of Oliver +Cromwell. Whatever may be the truth about Carlyle, it is easy to find +folk whose God to all intents and purposes is dead. Long since he +closed his work, spoke his last word, and settled down to inactivity +and silence. He made the world, created man, thundered from Sinai, +established David's kingdom, brought back the exiles, inspired the +prophets and sent his Son. He _once_ was earnest; the record of his +ancient acts is long and glorious, and men find comfort in reading +what he used to do. They would not explicitly confess it, but in fact +they habitually think of God in the past tense. They cannot conceive +the universe as happening by chance, and they posit God as making it; +they cannot believe that the transcendent characters of olden times +were uninspired, so God becomes the explanation of their power. When +such believers wish to assure themselves of God they go to the stern +of humanity's ship and watch the wake far to the rear; but they never +stand on the ship's bridge, and feel it sway and turn at the touch of +a present Captain in control. They have not risen to the meaning of +the Bible's reiterated phrase, "_the living God_." + +Höffding tells us that in a Danish Protestant church, well on into the +nineteenth century, worshipers maintained the custom of bowing, when +they passed a certain spot upon the wall. The reason, which no one +knew, was discovered when removal of the whitewash revealed a Roman +Catholic Madonna. Folk had bowed for three centuries before the place +where the Madonna _used to be_. So some folk worship deity; he is +not a present reality but a tradition; their faith is directed not +toward the living God himself, but toward what some one else has +written about a God who used to be alive. They do not feel now God's +plans afoot, his purposes as certainly in progress now as ever in +man's history. They stand rather like unconverted Gideon, facing +backwards and lamenting, "Where are all his wondrous works which our +fathers told us of?" (Judges 6:13). + +Not by what we say, but by our practical attitudes we most reveal how +little we believe in an earnest, living God whose voice calls _us_, +whose plans need _us_, as much as ever Moses or David or Paul was +summoned and required. If we say that we do believe in this living God +we are belied by our discouragements, deserving as we often do the +rebuke which Luther's wife administered to the Reformer. "From what +you have said," she remarked, standing before him clothed in deep, +mourning black, "and from the way you feel and act I supposed that God +was dead." If we say that we believe in a living, earnest God, we are +belied by our reluctance to expect and welcome new revelations of +God's truth and enlarging visions of his plan. Willing to believe what +the astronomers say, that light from a new star reaches the earth +each year, we act as though God's spiritual universe were smaller than +his physical, and do not eagerly await the new light perpetually +breaking from his heavens. But most of all the little influence which +our faith in God has upon our practical service is a scathing +indictment of its vitality and power. No one who really believes in an +earnest, living God can have an undedicated life. He may not think of +the Divine in the past tense chiefly; the present and the future even +more belong to God; and through each generation runs the earnest +purpose of the Eternal, who has never said his last word on any +subject, nor put the final hammer blow on any task. A faith like this, +deeply received and apprehended, is a masterful experience. It changes +the inner quality of life; it makes the place whereon we stand holy +ground; it urgently impresses us into the service of those causes that +we plainly see have in them the purpose of God. No outlook upon life +compares with this in grandeur; no motive for life is at once so +weighty and so fine. + + +V + +One of the subtlest fallacies by which we miss believing in an earnest +God is not describable as an opinion. Men fall into it, who neither +reduce God to a Great First Cause, nor diffuse him into a vapor, nor +regard him as an historic being. _They rather allow their superstitious +sentiments to take the place of worthy faith._ Plenty of people who +warmly would insist on their religion, reveal in their practical +attitudes how utterly bereft of serious moral purpose their God is. +They think their fortune will be better if they do not sit thirteen at +a table or occupy room thirteen at a hotel; on occasion they throw +salt or look at the moon over their right shoulders and rap on wood to +assure their safety or their luck; and to be quite certain of divine +favor they hang fetishes, like rabbits' feet, about their necks. Their +attitude toward such surviving pagan superstitions is like +Fontenelli's toward ghosts. "I do not believe in them," he said, "but +I am afraid of them." That this is a law-abiding universe with moral +purpose in it, such folk obviously do not believe. Their God is not in +earnest. He spends his time watching for dinner parties of thirteen or +listening for folk who forget to rap on wood when they boast that +they have not been ill all winter. The utter poverty to which great +words may be reduced by meager minds is evident when such folk say +that they believe in God. + +Even when these grosser forms of superstition are not present, others +hardly more respectable may take their place. God is pictured as a +King, surrounded with court ritual, in the complete and proper +observance of which he takes delight, and any rupture in whose +regularity awakes his anger. To go to church, to say our prayers, to +read our Bibles, to be circumspect on Sunday, to help pay the +preacher's salary and to contribute to the missionary cause--such +things as these comprise the court ritual of God. These Christian acts +are not presented as gracious privileges, opportunities, like fresh +air and sunshine and friendship, to make life rich and serviceable; +they are presented as works of merit, by which we gain standing in +God's favor and assure ourselves of his benignity. For with those who +so conform to his ordinances and respect his taboos, he is represented +as well-pleased, and he blesses them with special favors. But any +infraction of these rituals is sure to bring terrific punishment. God +watches those who do not sing his praises or who fail in praying, and +he marks them for his vengeance! Dr. Jowett tells us that in the +Sunday school room of the English chapel where as a child he +worshiped, a picture hung that to his fascinated and frightened +imagination represented the character of God: a huge eye filled the +center of the heavens, and from it rays of vision fell on every sort +of minute happening and small misdeed on earth. As such a monstrous +Detective, jealous of his rights and perquisites, God is how often +pictured to the children! So H. G. Wells indignantly interprets his +experience: "I, who write, was so set against God, thus rendered. He +and his Hell were the nightmare of my childhood; I hated him while I +still believed in him, and who could help but hate? I thought of him +as a fantastic monster, perpetually spying, perpetually listening, +perpetually waiting to condemn and to strike me dead; his flames as +ready as a grill-room fire. He was over me and about my feebleness and +silliness and forgetfulness as the sky and sea would be about a child +drowning in mid-Atlantic. When I was still only a child of thirteen, +by the grace of the true God in me, I flung this lie out of my mind, +and for many years, until I came to see that God himself had done +this thing for me, the name of God meant nothing to me but the hideous +sear in my heart where a fearful demon had been." + +This "bogey God" is in earnest about nothing except the observance of +his little rituals; he is unworthy of a good man's worship, he has no +purpose that can capture the consent and inspire the loyalty of +serious folk. How many so-called unbelievers are in revolt against +this perversion of the idea of God, taught them in childhood! The +deity whom they refuse to credit is not the Father, with "the eternal +purpose which he purposed in Christ" (Eph. 3:11); often they have not +heard of him. Their denial is directed against another sort of God. "I +wish I could recall clearly," writes one, "the conception of God which +I gained as a boy in Sunday school. He was as old as grandfather, I +know, but not so kind. We were told to fear him." Surely the real God +must sympathize with those who hate his caricature. A vindictive +Bogey, querulous about the mint, anise, and cummin of his ritual, in +earnest about nothing save to reward obsequious servants and to have +his vengeance out on the careless and disobedient, is poles asunder +from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with his majestic +purpose for the world's salvation. + + +VI + +Of all the sentiments, however, by which a worthy faith is made +impossible, none is so common, in these recent years, _as the +ascription to God of a weak and flaccid affectionateness_. God's love +is interpreted by love's meaning in hours when we are gentle with our +children or tender with our friends. The soft and cosy aspects of +love, its comforts, its pities, its affections, are made central in +our thought of God. We are taught, as children, that he loves us as +our mothers do; and as from them we look for coddling when we cry for +it, so are our expectations about God. Our religion becomes a selfish +seeking for divine protection from life's ills, a recipe for ease, an +expectant trust, that as we believe in God he in return will nurse us, +unharmed and happy, through our lives. No one intimately acquainted +with the religious life of men and women can be unaware of this +widespread, ingrained belief in a soft, affectionate, grandmotherly +God. What wonder that life brings fearful disillusionment! What +wonder that in a world where all that is valuable has been + + "Battered with the shocks of doom + To shape and use," + +the God of coddling love seems utterly impossible! + +The lack in this fallacious faith is central; there is no place in it +for the movement of God's moral purpose. _To ascribe love to God +without making it a quality of his unalterable purpose, which must +sweep on through costs in suffering however great, is to misread the +Gospel._ Many kinds of love are known in our experience, from a +nursing mother with her babe to a military leader with his men. In +Donald Hankey's picture of "the Beloved Captain" we see affection and +tenderness, as beautiful as they are strong: "It was a wonderful +thing, that smile of his. It was something worth living for, and worth +working for.... It seemed to make one look at things from a different +point of view, a finer point of view, his point of view. There was +nothing feeble or weak about it.... It meant something. It meant that +we were his men and that he was proud of us.... When we failed him, +when he was disappointed in us, he did not smile. He did not rage or +curse. He just looked disappointed, and that made us feel far more +savage with ourselves than any amount of swearing would have done.... +The fact was that he had won his way into our affections. We loved +him. And there isn't anything stronger than love, when all's said and +done." + +Yet, this Captain, loving and beloved, will lead his men in desperate +charges, where death falls in showers, but where the purpose which +their hearts have chosen forces them to go. The love of God must be +like that; it surely is if Jesus' love is its embodiment. His +affection for his followers, his solicitude and tenderness have been +in Christian eyes, how beautiful! They shine in words like John's +seventeenth chapter where love finds transcendent utterance. Yet this +same Master said: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of +wolves" (Matt. 10:16); "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, +and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for +my sake" (Matt. 5:11); "Then shall they deliver you up unto +tribulation, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all the +nations for my name's sake" (Matt. 24:9); "They shall put you out of +the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall +think that he offereth service unto God" (John 16:2); "If any man +cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, +and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, +he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). The love of Jesus was no +coddling affection; it had for its center a moral purpose that balked +at no sacrifice. He took crucifixion for himself, and to his beloved +he cried, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and +take up his cross, and follow me" (Matt. 16:24). Such love is God's; +and _preachers who advertise his Fatherhood as a gentle nurse that +shelters us from suffering have sapped the Gospel of its moral power_. +God's love is austere as well as bountiful; he is, as Emerson said, +the "terrific benefactor." + +Indeed, faith in a God of coddling love may be one of the most +pernicious influences in human life. Our trust, so misinterpreted, +becomes a cushion on which to lie, a sedative by which to sleep. When +ills afflict the world that men could cure, such misbelievers merely +trust in God; when tasks await man's strength, they quietly retreat +upon their faith that God is good and will solve all, until religion +becomes a by-word and a hissing on the lips of earnest men. Such +misbelievers have not dimly seen the Scripture's meaning, where faith +is not a pillow but a shield, from behind which plays a sword (Eph. +6:16) and where men do not sleep by faith, but "fight the good fight +of faith" instead (I Tim. 6:12). Or if such misbelievers do rouse +themselves to lay hold on their Divinity, it is to demand God's love +for them and not to offer their lives to God. As Sydney Smith +exclaimed about some people's patriotism, "God save the King! in these +times too often means, God save my pension and my place, God give my +sisters an allowance out of the Privy Purse, let me live upon the +fruits of other men's industry and fatten upon the plunder of the +public." + +Faith in God never is elevated and ennobling until we overpass "_God +for our lives!_" to cry "_Our lives for God!_" Then at the luminous +center of our faith shines the divine purpose, costly but wonderful, +that binds the ages together in spiritual unity. To that we dedicate +our lives; in that we exceedingly rejoice. No longer do we test God's +goodness by our happiness or our ill-fortune; we are _his_ through +fair weather and through foul. No longer do we merely hold beliefs, we +are held by them, captured now and not simply consoled by faith. Only +so are we learning discipleship to Christ and are beginning really to +believe in the Christian God. + + +VII + +From all these common fallacies of thought and sentiment one turns to +the New Testament to find the God of the Gospel. The very crux of the +Good Tidings is that God is so much in earnest that he is the eternal +Sufferer. The ancient Greeks had a god of perfect bliss; he floated on +from age to age in undisturbed tranquillity; no cry of man ever +reached his empyrean calm; his life was an endless stream of liquid +happiness. How different this Greek deity is from ours may be +perceived if one tries to say of him those things which the Scripture +habitually says of God. "In all their affliction he was afflicted" +(Isa. 63:9); "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should +not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet +will not I forget thee" (Isa. 49:15); "God, being rich in mercy, for +his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead through +our trespasses" (Eph 2:4, 5); "God so loved the world that he gave his +only begotten Son" (John 3:16). None of these things that Christians +say about their God can be said of a deity who dwells in tranquil +bliss. + +Indeed let one stand over against a war-torn, unhappy world and try to +think that God does not suffer in man's agony, and he will see how +useless and incredible such a God would be. God looks on Belgium and +he does not care; he looks on Armenia desolate and Poland devastated, +and he does not care; he sits in heaven and sees his children wounded +and alone in No-man's land, watches the deaths, the heart-breaks, the +poverty of war, its ruined childhood and its shattered families, and +he does not care--how impossible it is to believe in such a God! A God +who does not care does not count. + +Christians, therefore, have the God who really meets the needs of men. +He cares indeed, and, with all the modesty that words of human +emotion must put on when they are applied to him, he suffers in the +suffering of men and is crucified in his children's agonies. God +limited himself in making such a world as this; in it he cannot +lightly do what he will; he has a struggle on his heart; he makes his +way upward against obstacles that man's imagination cannot measure. +There is a cross forever at the heart of God. He climbs his +everlasting Calvary toward the triumph that must come, and he is +tremendously in earnest. + +One important consequence follows such faith as this. Confidence in +such an earnest, sacrificial God makes inevitable the Christian faith +in immortality. Our solar system is no permanent theater for God's +eternal purposes; it is doomed to dissolution as certainly as any +human body is doomed to die. In the Lick observatory one reads this +notice under a picture of the sun: "The blue stars are considered to +be in early life, the yellow stars in middle life, the red stars in +old age.... From the quality of its spectrum the sun is classified as +a star in middle age." Those, therefore, who, denying their own +immortality, comfort themselves with prophesying endless progress for +the race upon the earth, have no basis for their hopes. "We must +therefore renounce those brilliant fancies," says Faye the scientist, +"by which we try to deceive ourselves in order to endow man with +unlimited posterity, and to regard the universe as the immense theater +on which is to be developed a spontaneous progress without end. On the +contrary, life must disappear, and the grandest material works of the +human race will have to be effaced by degrees under the action of a +few physical forces which will survive man for a time. Nothing will +remain--'Even the ruins will perish.'" + +If one believes, therefore, in the God who is in earnest, he cannot +content himself with such a universe--lacking any permanent element, +any abiding reality in which the moral gains of man's long struggle +are conserved. God's purpose cannot be so narrow in horizon that it is +satisfied with a few million years of painful experiment, costly +beyond imagination, yet with no issue to crown its sacrifice. In such +a universe as Faye pictures, lacking immortality, generation after +generation of men suffer, aspire, labor, and die, and this shall be +the history of all creation, until at last Shakespeare's prophecy +shall be fulfilled, + + "The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, + The solemn temples, the great globe itself, + Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve + And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, + Leave not a rack behind." + +If such is to be the story of creation, there is no purpose in it and +the Christian faith in an earnest God is vain. + +Only one truth is adequate to crown our confidence in a purposeful +universe and to make it reasonable: _personality must persist_. +We believe in immortality, not because we meanly want rewards ahead, +but because in no other way can life, viewed as a whole, find sense +and reason. If personality persists, this transient theater of action +and discipline may serve its purpose in God's time, and disappear. He +is in earnest, but not for rocks and suns and stars, he is in earnest +about persons--the sheep of his pasture are men. They are not mortal; +they carry over into the eternal world the spiritual gains of earth; +and all life's struggle--its vicarious sacrifice, its fearful +punishments, its labor for better circumstance and worthier life--is +justified in its everlasting influence on personality. When we say +that God cares, we mean no vague, diffusive attitude toward a system +that lasts for limited millenniums and then comes to an uneventful end +in a cold sun and a ruined earth. We mean that he cares for +personality which is his child, that he suffers in the travail of his +children's character, and that this divine solicitude has everlasting +issues when the heavens "wax old like a garment." Still Paul's +statement stands, one of the most worthy summaries of God's +earnestness that ever has been written: "The creation waits with eager +longing for the sons of God to be revealed" (Rom. 8:19).[6] + +[5] George Adam Smith's Translation. + +[6] Moffatt's Translation. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Faith in Christ the Savior: Forgiveness + + +DAILY READINGS + +During the next two weeks we are to consider some of the distinctive +meanings which faith in Christ has had for his disciples. They have +found in that faith unspeakable blessing and have uttered their +gratitude in radiant language. But, just because of this, many folk +find themselves in difficulty. Their expectations concerning the +Christian life have been lifted very high, and in their experience of +it they have been disappointed. Their problem is not theoretical +doubt, but practical disillusionment. Their difficulty lies in their +experience that the Christian life, while it may be theoretically +true, is not practically what it is advertised to be. At this common +problem let us look in the daily readings. + + +Tenth Week, First Day + +Many expect in the Christian experience an emotional life of joy and +quietude which they have not found. They are led to expect this by +many passages of Scripture about "peace in believing," by many hymns +of exultation where a mood of unqualified spiritual triumph finds +voice, and by testimonies of men who speak of living years without any +depressed hours or flagging spirits. Such a wonderful life of elevated +emotion many crave for themselves; they came into the Christian +fellowship expecting it; and they neither have it, nor are likely to +achieve it. Now the beauty of a clear, high emotional life no one can +doubt, _but we must not demand it as a condition of our keeping +faith_. We ought not to seek God simply for the sake of sensational +experiences, no matter how desirable they may be. In all the ages +before Christ, the outstanding example of deep personal religion, +expressing itself in over forty years of splendidly courageous +prophetic ministry, is Jeremiah, and his temperament was never marked +by quietude and joy. His emotional life was profoundly affected by his +faith: _courage was substituted for fear_. But if he had demanded the +mood of the 103rd psalm as a price for continued faith, he would have +lost his faith. He was not temperamentally constructed like the +psalmist--and he was a far greater personality. We must not be too +much concerned about our spiritual sensations. Consider the Master's +parable about the two sons: one had amiable feelings, but his will was +wrong, the other lacked satisfactory emotions, but he did the work. + + =But what think ye? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and + said, Son, go work to-day in the vineyard. And he answered and said, + I will not: but afterward he repented himself, and went. And he came + to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, + sir: and went not. Which of the two did the will of his father? They + say, The first.--Matt. 21:28-31.= + + _Ah, Lord, unto whom all hearts are open; Thou canst govern the + vessel of our souls far better than we can. Arise, O Lord, and + command the stormy wind and the troubled sea of our hearts to be + still, and at peace in Thee, that we may look up to Thee undisturbed, + and abide in union with Thee, our Lord. Let us not be carried hither + and thither by wandering thoughts, but, forgetting all else, let us + see and hear Thee. Renew our spirits; kindle in us Thy light, that it + may shine within us, and our hearts may burn in love and adoration + towards Thee. Let Thy Holy Spirit dwell in us continually, and make + us Thy temples and sanctuary, and fill us with Divine love and light + and life, with devout and heavenly thoughts, with comfort and + strength, with joy and peace. Amen._--Johann Arndt, 1555. + + +Tenth Week, Second Day + +Many came into the Christian life because they needed conquering power +in their struggle against sin. They were told that absolute victory +could be theirs through Christ, and they set their hearts on that in +ardent hope and expectation. But they are disappointed. That they have +been helped they would not deny, but they find that the battle with +besetting sin is a running fight; it has not been concluded by a final +and resounding victory. This seems to them a denial of what Christian +preachers and Christian hymns have promised, and perhaps it is. Hymns +and preachers are not infallible. Christian experience, however, is +plainly aligned against their disappointment. Some men under the power +of Christ are immediately transformed so that an old sin becomes +thenceforth utterly distasteful; even the desire for it is banished +altogether. But a great preacher, only recently deceased, no less +really under the power of Christ, had all his life to fight a taste +for drink which once had mastered him. His battle never ceased. His +victory consisted not in the elimination of his appetite, but in +abiding power to keep up the struggle, to refuse subjugation to it, +and at last gloriously to fall on sleep, admired and loved by his +people who had seen in him steadfast, unconquerable will, sustained by +faith. To have done with a sinful appetite in one conclusive victory +is glorious; but we must not demand it as a price of keeping faith. +Perhaps our victory must come through the kind of patient persistence +which James the Apostle evidently knew. + + =Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold + temptations; knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. + And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and + entire, lacking in nothing.= + + =But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to + all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let + him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the + surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man + think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; a double-minded + man, unstable in all his ways.--James 1:2-8.= + + _O Lord God Almighty, who givest power to the faint, and increasest + strength to them that have no might; without Thee we can do nothing, + but by Thy gracious assistance we are enabled for the performance of + every duty laid upon us. Lord of power and love, we come, trusting in + Thine almighty strength, and Thine infinite goodness, to ask from + Thee what is wanting in ourselves; even that grace which shall help + us such to be, and such to do, as Thou wouldst have us. O our God, + let Thy grace be sufficient for us, and ever present with us, that + we may do all things as we ought. We will trust in Thee, in whom is + everlasting strength. Be Thou our Helper, to carry us on beyond our + own strength, and to make all that we think, and speak, and do, + acceptable in Thy sight; through Jesus Christ. Amen._--Benjamin + Jenks, 1646. + + +Tenth Week, Third Day + + =Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want. + He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; + He leadeth me beside still waters. + He restoreth my soul: + He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. + Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, + I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; + Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.= + + =--Psalm 23:1-4.= + +What expectations are awakened by such a passage! Many have come into +the Christian life because in experience they have found that "it is +not in man that walketh to direct his steps." They wanted a Guide in +the mysterious pilgrimage of life, and in the words of hymns like, "He +leadeth me, O blessed thought!" they saw the promise of a God-conducted +experience. But they are disappointed. They have the same old puzzles +to face about what they ought to do; they have no divine illumination +that clears up in advance their uncertainty as to the wisdom of their +choices; they are not vividly aware of any guidance from above to save +them from the perplexities which their companions face about conduct +and career. Of course part of their difficulty is due to false +expectation. Not even Paul or John was given mechanical guidance, +infallible and unmistakable; they never had a syllabus of all possible +emergencies with clear directions as to what should be done in every +case; they were guided through their normal faculties made sensitive +to divine suggestion, and doubtless they never could clearly +distinguish between their thought and their inspirations. Divine +guidance, did not save them from puzzling perplexities and unsure +decisions. But it did give them certainty that they were in God's +hands; that he had hold of the reins behind their human grasp; that +when they did wisely and prayerfully the best they knew, he would use +it somehow to his service. And so far as the vivid consciousness of +being guided is concerned, that probably came _in retrospect_; when +they saw how the road came out, they agreed that God's hand must have +been in the journey. Such an experience it is reasonable to expect and +possible to have. + + _O God our Lord, the stay of all them that put their trust in Thee, + wherever Thou leadest we would go, for Thy ways are perfect wisdom + and love. Even when we walk through the dark valley, Thy light can + shine into our hearts and guide us safely through the night of + sorrow. Be Thou our Friend, and we need ask no more in heaven or + earth, for Thou art the Comfort of all who trust in Thee, the Help + and Defence of all who hope in Thee. O Lord, we would be Thine; let + us never fall away from Thee. We would accept all things without + murmuring from Thy hand, for whatever Thou dost is right. Blend our + wills with Thine, and then we need fear no evil nor death itself, for + all things must work together for our good. Lord, keep us in Thy love + and truth, comfort us with Thy light, and guide us by Thy Holy + Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen._--S. Weiss, 1738. + + +Tenth Week, Fourth Day + +Many folk grow up into the Christian life, and so interpret the love +of God that they expect from him affectionate mothering; they look to +him to keep them from trouble. In childhood, sheltered from life's +tragic incidents, this expectation was more or less realized; but now +in maturity they are disappointed. God has not saved them from +trouble; he has not dealt with them in maternal tenderness. Rather +Job's complaint to God is on their lips: + + =I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: + I stand up, and thou gazest at me. + Thou art turned to be cruel to me; + With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me....= + + =Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? + Was not my soul grieved for the needy? + When I looked for good, then evil came; + And when I waited for light, there came darkness. + My heart is troubled, and resteth not; + Days of affliction are come upon me.= + + =--Job 30:20, 21; 25-27.= + +One such disappointed spirit says that in youth, even if she hurt her +finger, she was told to pray to God and he would take away the bruise; +but now life does not seem to be directed by that kind of a God at +all. It isn't! A pregnant source of lost faith is to be found in this +unscriptural presentation of God's love. In Scripture God's love for +his people and their tragic suffering are put side by side, and the +Cross where the well-beloved Son is crucified is typical of the whole +Book's assertion that God does not keep his children from trouble. +Sometimes he leads them into it; and always he lets the operation of +his essential laws sweep on, so that disease and accident and death +are no respecters of character. When Ananias was sent with God's +message to the newly converted Paul, that greeting into the Christian +life concerned "how many things he must suffer" (Acts 9:16). Whatever +else our faith must take into account, this is an unescapable fact: we +are seeking the impossible when we ask that our lives be arranged on +the basis that we shall not face trouble. Faith means a conquering +confidence that good will, a purpose of eternal love, runs through the +whole process. It says, not apart from suffering, but in the face of +it: + + "I'm apt to think the man + That could surround the sum of things, and spy + The heart of God and secrets of his empire, + Would speak but love--with him the bright result + Would change the hue of intermediate scenes, + And make one thing of all Theology." + + _Almighty God to whom all things belong, whose is light and darkness, + whose is good and evil, Master of all things, Lord of all; who hast + so ordered it, that life from the beginning shall be a struggle + throughout the course, and even to the end; so guide and order that + struggle within us, that at last what is good in us may conquer, and + all evil be overcome, that all things may be brought into harmony, + and God may be all in all. So do Thou guide and govern us, that + every day whatsoever betide us, some gain to better things, some + more blessed joy in higher things may be ours, that so we, though but + weaklings, may yet, God-guided, go from strength to strength, until + at last, delivered from that burden of the flesh, through which comes + so much struggling, we may enter into the land of harmony and of + eternal peace. Hear us, of Thy mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. + Amen._--George Dawson, 1877. + + +Tenth Week, Fifth Day + + =Till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge + of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the + stature of the fulness of Christ: that we may be no longer children, + tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by + the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but + speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, who is + the head, even Christ.--Eph. 4:13-15.= + +Many came into the Christian life familiar with such an idea of +growth. They expected the new life to be an enlarging experience, with +new vistas, deepening satisfactions, increasing certitude. If at the +beginning the Christian way did not content them, they blamed their +immaturity for the unsatisfactory experience; they appealed to the +days ahead for fuller light. But they are disappointed. They have not +grown. The most they can claim is that they are stationary; the +haunting suspicion cannot altogether be avoided that their faith is +dwindling and their fervor burning down. This difficulty is not +strange--with many folk it is inevitable; for they have never grasped +the fact that the Christian life, like all life whatsoever, is +law-abiding, and that to expect effects without cause is vain. That a +Christian experience has begun with promise does not mean that it will +magically continue; that the spirit will naturally drift into an +enlarging life. An emotional conversion, like a flaming meteor, may +plunge into a man's heart, and soon cool off, leaving a dead, encysted +stone. But to have a real life in God, that begins like a small but +vital acorn and grows like an aspiring oak, one must obey the laws +that make such increasing experience possible. To keep fellowship with +God unimpeded by sin, uninterrupted by neglect; to think habitually as +though God were, instead of casually believing that he is; to +practice love continually until love grows real; and to arrange life's +program conscientiously as though the doing of God's will were life's +first business--such things alone make spiritual growth a possibility. + + _We desire to confess, O Lord, that we have not lived according to + our promises, nor according to the thoughts and intents of our + hearts. We have felt the gravitation of things that drew us downward + from things high and holy. We have followed right things how feebly! + Weak are we to resist the attraction of evils that lurk about the way + of goodness; and we are conscious that we walk in a vain show. We + behold and approve Thy law, but find it hard to obey; and our + obedience is of the outside, and not of the soul and of the spirit, + with heartiness and full of certainty. We rejoice that Thou art a + Teacher patient with Thy scholars, and that Thou art a Father patient + with Thy children. Thou art a God of long-suffering goodness, and of + tender mercies, and therefore we are not consumed._ + + _And now we beseech of Thee, O Thou unwearied One, that Thou wilt + inspire us with a heavenly virtue. Lift before us the picture of what + we should be and what we should do, and maintain it in the light, + that we may not rub it out in forgetfulness; that we may be able to + keep before ourselves our high calling in Christ Jesus. And may we + press forward, not as they that have attained or apprehended; may we + press toward the mark, for the prize of our high calling in Christ + Jesus, with new alacrity, with growing confidence, and with more and + more blessedness of joy and peace in the soul. Amen._--Henry Ward + Beecher. + + +Tenth Week, Sixth Day + +The Christian experience which disappoints its possessor by lack of +growth is common, because so many leave the idea of growth vague and +undefined. They expect in general to grow, but in what direction, to +what describable results, they never stop to think. If we ran our +other business as thoughtlessly, with as little determinate planning +and discipline, as we manage our Christian living, any progress would +be impossible. What wonder that as Christians we often resemble the +child who fell from bed at night, and explained the accident by +saying, "I must have gone to sleep too near the place where I got in"! + +Growth is always in definite directions, and folk will do well at +times, without morbid self-examination, to forecast their desired +courses. Becoming Christians from motives of fear, as many do, we +should press on to a fellowship with God in which fear vanishes in +divine friendship and cooperation. Choosing the Christian life for +self-centered reasons, because it can do great things for us, we +should press on to glory in it as a Cause on which the welfare of the +race depends and for which we willingly make sacrifice. Beginning with +narrow ideas of service to our friends and neighborhood, we should +press on to genuine interest in the world-field, in international +fraternity, and in Christ's victory over all mankind. Such definite +lines of progress we well may set before us. And a life that does +grow, so that each new stage of maturing experience finds deeper +levels and greater heights, is never disappointing; it is life become +endlessly interesting and worth while. + + =Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I + press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was + laid hold on by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself yet to + have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are + behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I + press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in + Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus + minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall + God reveal unto you: only, whereunto we have attained, by that same + rule let us walk.--Phil. 3:12-16.= + + _Our Father, we pray Thee that we may use the blessings Thou hast + given us, and never once abuse them. We would keep our bodies + enchanted still with handsome life, wisely would we cultivate the + intellect which Thou hast throned therein, and we would so live with + conscience active and will so strong that we shall fix our eye on the + right, and, amid all the distress and trouble, the good report and + the evil, of our mortal life, steer straightway there, and bate no + jot of human heart or hope. We pray Thee that we may cultivate still + more these kindly hearts of ours, and faithfully perform our duty to + friend and acquaintance, to lover and beloved, to wife and child, to + neighbor and nation, and to all mankind. May we feel our brotherhood + to the whole human race, remembering that nought human is strange to + our flesh but is kindred to our soul. Our Father, we pray that we may + grow continually in true piety, bringing down everything which would + unduly exalt itself, and lifting up what is lowly within us, till, + though our outward man perish, yet our inward man shall be renewed + day by day, and within us all shall be fair and beautiful to Thee, + and without us our daily lives useful, our whole consciousness + blameless in Thy sight. Amen._--Theodore Parker. + + +Tenth Week, Seventh Day + +While some, for reasons such as we have suggested, have made at least +a partial failure of the Christian life, and are tempted to feel that +their experience is an argument against it, we may turn with +confidence to the multitude who have found life with Christ an +ineffable blessing. + + =There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ + Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free + from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, in + that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the + likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: + that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not + after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the + flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the + Spirit the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death; + but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.--Rom. 8:1-6.= + +Innumerable disciples of Jesus can subscribe to this Pauline +testimony, and the center of their gratitude, as of his, is the +victory over sin which faith in Christ has given them. The farther +they go with him the more wonderful becomes the meaning of his Gospel. +What Thomas Fuller, in the seventeenth century, wrote about the Bible, +they feel about their whole relationship with Christ: "Lord, this +morning I read a chapter in the Bible, and therein observed a +memorable passage, whereof I never took notice before. Why now, and no +sooner, did I see it? Formerly my eyes were as open, and the letters +as legible. Is there not a thin veil laid over Thy Word, which is +more rarified by reading, and at last wholly worn away? I see the oil +of Thy Word will never leave increasing whilst any bring an empty +barrel." As for the consciousness of filial alliance with the God and +Father of Jesus, that has been a deepening benediction. How many can +take over the dual inscription on an ancient Egyptian temple, as an +expression of their own experience! A priest had written, in the name +of the Deity, "I am He who was and is and ever shall be, and my veil +hath no man lifted." But near at hand, some man of growing life and +deepening faith has added: "Veil after veil have we lifted, and ever +the Face is more wonderful." + + _Eternal and Gracious Father, whose presence comforteth like sunshine + after rain; we thank Thee for Thyself and for all Thy revelation to + us. Our hearts are burdened with thanksgiving at the thought of all + Thy mercies; for all the blessings of this mortal life, for health, + for reason, for learning, and for love; but far beyond all thought + and thankfulness, for Thy great redemption. It was no painless + travail that brought us to the birth, it has been no common patience + that has borne with us all this while; long-suffering love, and the + breaking of the eternal heart alone could reconcile us to the life to + which Thou hast ordained us. We have seen the Son of Man sharing our + sickness and shrinking not from our shame, we have beheld the Lamb of + God bearing the sins of the world, we have mourned at the mysterious + passion and stood astonished at the cross of Jesus Christ; and behind + all we have had the vision of an altar-throne and one thereon slain + from the foundation of the world; heard a voice calling us that was + full of tears; seen beyond the veil that was rent, the agony of God._ + + _O for a thousand tongues to sing the love that has redeemed us. O + for a thousand lives that we might yield them all to Thee. Amen._--W. + E. Orchard. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +Hitherto in our studies we have thought of God as the object of our +faith. From the beginning, to be sure, we have been using the Master +as the Way. The God who is in earnest about immortal personalities is +supremely revealed in Jesus Christ. But through Christ's mediation we +have been trying to pierce to the Eternal character and purpose; we +have been taking Jesus at his word, "He that believeth on me, +believeth not on me but on him that sent me" (John 12:44). + +The meaning of faith for the Christian, however, cannot be left as +though Christ were an instrument which God used for his revealing and +then thrust aside, a symbol in terms of whom we may poetically picture +God. Christ has been for his people more than a transparent pane, +itself almost forgettable, through which the divine light shone. His +personality has been central and dominant, and when his disciples have +most vividly expressed the meaning of their faith they have said that +they believed in him. The first Christians whose experience is +enshrined in the New Testament did not deal with faith in God alone. +They adored Jesus; they were illimitably thankful to him; they +rejoiced to call themselves his bondservants and to suffer for him; +they claimed him as a brother, but they acknowledged him their Lord as +well; and they bowed before him with inexpressible devotion. "They all +set him in the same incomparable place. They all acknowledged to him +the same immeasurable debt." + +One need not read far in the New Testament to see why these first +disciples so adored their Lord. He was their Savior. They called him +by many other names--Messiah, _Logos_, Son of Man, and Son of God--in +their endeavor to do justice to his work and character, but one name +shines among all the rest and swings them about it like planets round +a sun. He is the Savior. From the annunciation to Joseph, "Thou shalt +call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from +their sins" (Matt. 1:21), to the New Song of the Apocalypse (Rev. +5:5-13), the New Testament is written around the central theme of +saviorhood. These first disciples were vividly aware of an abysmal +need, which had been met in Christ, a great peril from which through +him they had escaped; and throughout the New Testament one never loses +the accent of astonished gratitude, from folk who were once slaves and +now are free, who from victims have been turned to victors. When +Wilberforce's long campaign for the freeing of British slaves was at +its climax, the population of Jamaica lined the shore for days +awaiting the ship that should bring news of Parliament's decision. And +when from a boat's prow the messenger cried "Freedom," the island +rang with the thanksgiving of the liberated. Such rejoicing one hears +in the New Testament. The disciples speak of the freedom wherewith +Christ has set them free (Gal. 5:1); they say that they were dead and +now are made alive (Rom. 6:11-13); once overwhelmed by sin, they now +cry, "More than conquerors" (Rom. 8:37). Nor have they any doubt who +is the agent or what is the agency of their salvation: Christ is the +Savior and faith the means. "This is the victory that hath overcome +the world," they cry, "even our faith" (I John 5:4). + +If we are to understand this attitude of the first disciples toward +Christ the Savior, _we must appreciate as they did the peril from +which he rescued them_. One cannot understand the meaning of any +character who, like Moses, delivered a people from their bondage, +unless he deeply feels the importance of the problem to whose solution +the man contributed. Moses shines out against the background of a +nation's trouble like a star against the midnight sky. When the +blackness of the night is gone, the star has vanished, too. The race's +deliverers never can retain their brightness in our gratitude unless +we keep alive in our remembrance the evil against which they fought. +If we would know Moses, we must know Pharaoh; if we would know +Wellington, we must know Napoleon. If we are to value truly the great +educators, we must estimate aright the blight that ignorance lays on +human life. John Howard will be nothing to us, if we do not know the +ancient prison system in comparison with which even our modern jails +are paradise; and Florence Nightingale will be an empty name, if we +cannot imagine the terrors of war without a nurse. Always we must see +the stars against the night. + +Nor is there any other way in which a Christian can keep alive a vital +understanding of his Lord. Many modern Christians seem to have lost +vision of the problem that Jesus came to solve, of the human peril to +whose conquest he made the supreme contribution. They think that the +Church has adored Jesus because of a metaphysical theory about him, +but all theories concerning Christ have arisen from a previous +devotion to him. Or they think that Jesus is adored because he was so +uniquely beautiful in character. But while without this his people +never would have called him Lord, not on this account chiefly have +they looked on him with inexpressible devotion. No one can understand +the Christian attitude toward Jesus except in terms of the bondage +from which he came to rescue us. There is a human cry that makes his +advent meaningful; it is like the night behind the star of Bethlehem. +Long ago a Psalmist heard that cry and every age and land and soul has +echoed it, "My sins are mightier than I" (Psalm 65:3).[7] + + +II + +The peril of sin as the innermost problem of human life is in these +days obscure to many minds. For one thing, sin has been so +continuously preached about, that it seems to some an ecclesiastical +question, fit for discussion, it may be, in a church on Sunday, but +otherwise not often emerging in ordinary thought. But sin is no +specialty of preaching. If a man, forgetting churches and sermons, +seriously ponders human life as he knows it actually to be, if he +gathers up in his imagination the deepest heartaches of the race, its +worst diseases, its most hopeless miseries, its ruined childhood, its +dissevered families, its fallen states, its devastated continents, he +soon will see that the major cause of all this can be spelled with +three letters--sin. To make vivid this peril as the very crux of +humanity's problem on the earth, one needs at times to leave behind +the customary thoughts and phrases of religion and to seek testimony +from sources that the Church frequently forgets. When governments try +to build social states where equity and happiness shall reign, their +prison systems, their criminal codes, their courts of law loudly +advertise that their problem lies in sin. When jurists plan leagues of +nations and sign covenants to make the world a more fraternal place, +only to find greed, hate, and cruelty demolishing their well-laid +schemes, their failure uncovers the crucial problem of man's sin. When +philanthropists try to lift from man's bent back the burdens that +oppress him, it becomes plain how infinitely their task would be +lightened, if it were not for sin. As for literature--where the seers, +regardless of religious prejudice, have tried to see into the human +heart and truly to report their insights--its witness is overwhelming +as to what man's problem is. No great book of creative literature was +ever written without sin at the center. Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, +Faust, Les Misérables, Romola, The Scarlet Letter--let the list be +extended in any direction and to any length! Always the insight of the +creative seers reports one inner peril of the race. Sin is no bogey +erected by the theologians, no ghost imagined by minds grown morbid +with the fear of God. Sin to every seeing eye is the one most real and +practical problem of mankind. + +For another reason this crucial problem is dimly seen by many minds: +we do not often use the word about ourselves. The hardest thing that +any man can ever say is "I have sinned." We make mistakes, we have +foibles of character and conduct, we even fall into error--but we do +not often sin. By such devices we avoid the painful consciousness of +our inward malady and even the name of our disease is banished from +decorous speech. But sin does not go into exile with its name. Sin has +many aliases and can swiftly shift its guise to gain a welcome into +any company. + +Sin in the slums is gross and terrible. It staggers down the streets, +blasphemes with oaths that can be heard, wallows in vice unmentionable +by modest lips. Then some day prosperity may visit it. It moves to a +finer residence, seeks the suburbs, or finds domicile on a college +campus. It changes all its clothes. No longer is it indecent and +obscene. Its speech is mild, its civility is irreproachable. It gathers +a company of friends who minister to pleasure and respectability, +and the cry of the world's need dies unheard at its peaceful door. It +presses its face continually through the pickets of social allowance, +like a bad boy who wishes to trespass on forbidden ground but fears +the consequence. Its goodness is superficial seeming; at heart it is +as bad as it dares to be. It has completely changed its garments, but +it is the same sin--indulgent, selfish, and unclean. Sin, as anyone +can easily observe, takes a very high polish. + +Neither by calling sin an ecclesiastical concern nor by covering its +presence in ourselves with pleasant euphemisms can we hide its deadly +bane in human life. The truth and import of this negative statement +become clear and convincing when its positive counterpart is faced. +The world needs _goodness_. The one thing in which mankind is poor and +for the lack of which great causes lag and noble hopes go unfulfilled +is character. With each access of that humanity leaps forward; with +the sag of that all else is failure. And the one name for every loss +and lack and ruin of character is sin. That is our enemy. Upon the +defeat of that all our dearest hopes depend, and in its victory every +dream of good that the race has cherished comes to an end. + + +III + +The urgency of this truth is manifest when we note the consequence of +sin in our own lives. No statement from antiquity has accumulated more +confirming evidence in the course of the centuries than the Psalmist's +cry, "My sins are mightier than I." Let us consider its truth in the +light of our experience. + +Our sins are stronger than we are _in their power to fasten on us a +sense of guilt that we cannot shake off_. Sinful pleasures lure us +only in _anticipation_, dancing before us like Salome before her +uncle, quite irresistible in fascination. Happiness seems altogether +to depend upon an evil deed. But on the day that deed, long held in +alluring expectation, is actually done--how swift and terrible the +alteration in its aspect! It passes from anticipation, through +committal, into memory, and it never will be beautiful again. We lock +it in remembrance, as in the bloody room of Bluebeard's palace, where +the dead things hung; at the thought of it we shrink and yet to it our +reminiscence continually is drawn. Something happens in us as +automatic as the dropping of a loosened apple from a tree; all the +laws of the moral universe conspire to further it and we have no power +to prevent: sin becomes guilt. When on a lonely ocean the floating +bell-buoys toll, no human hands cause them to ring; the waste of an +unpeopled ocean surrounds them everyway. The sea by its own +restlessness is ringing its own bells. So tolls remorse in a man's +heart and no man can stop it. + +Our sins are stronger than we are _in their power to become habitual_. +If one who steps from an upper window had only the single act to +consider, his problem would be simple. He could step or not as he +chose. But when one steps from an upper window he finds himself +dealing with a power over which his will has no control. Master of his +single act, he is not master of the _gravitation_ that succeeds it. +Many a youth blithely plays with sin, supposing that separate +deeds--which he may do or refrain from as he will--make up the +problem. Soon or late he finds that he is dealing with moral laws, +built into the structure of the universe as gravitation is--laws +which he did not create and whose operation he cannot control. By them +with terrific certainty thoughts grow to deeds, deeds to habits, +habits to character, character to destiny. + +At the beginning sin always comes disguised as liberty. Its lure is +the seductive freedom which it promises from the trammels of +conscience and the authority of law. But every man who ever yet +accepted sin's offer of a free, unfettered life, discovered the cheat. +Free to do the evil thing, to indulge the baser moods--so men begin, +but they end _not free to stop_, bound as slaves to the thing +that they were free to do. They have been at liberty to play with a +cuttle-fish, and now that the first long arm with its suckers grasps +them, and the second arm is waving near, they are not at liberty to +get away. + +Our sins are mightier than we are _in their power to make us tempt our +fellows_. When we picture our sinfulness, even to ourselves, we +naturally represent our lives assailed by the allurements of evil and +passively surrendering. We are the tempted; we pity ourselves because +the outward pressure was too strong for the inward braces. We forget +that in sin we are not simply the passive subjects of temptation; sin +always makes us active tempters of our fellows. No drug fiend ever is +content until he wins a comrade in his vice; a thief would have his +friends steal, too; a gossip is not satisfied until other lips are +tearing reputations into shreds; and vindictiveness is happiest when +other hearts as well are lighted with lurid tempers. Sin always is +contagious as disease is; the tempted becomes tempter on the instant +that he falls. Peter weak, lures Jesus to his weakness, and the Master +recognizes the active quality of his disciple's sin; "Get thee behind +me, Satan!" (Matt. 16:23). Sin satanizes men and sends them out to +seduce their fellows. When, therefore, a sensitive man repents of his +evil, he abhors himself--not mildly as a victim, but profoundly as a +victimizer. He repents of the way he has played Satan to others, +sometimes deliberately, sometimes by the unconscious influence of an +unworthy spirit. He remembers the times when his words have poisoned +the atmosphere which others breathed, when his tempers have conjured +up evil spirits in other hearts, when his attitude has made wrongdoing +easy for his friends and family, and well-doing hard. And his +desperate helplessness in the face of sin is made most evident when he +recalls the irrecoverable injury which lives have suffered and are +suffering, hurt, perhaps ruined, by his evil. + +_Our sins are mightier than we are in their power to bring their +natural consequences upon other lives._ The landlord, of whom +President Hyde has told, who without disinfection rented to a new +family an apartment where a perilous disease had been, is typical of +every evil-doer. When the only child of the incoming family fell sick +of the disease and died, and the landlord was faced with his guilt, he +pleaded his unwillingness to spend the money which the disinfection +would have cost. He denied his Lord for ten dollars. Let the law +punish him as it can, the crux of his moral problem lies in the fact +that however much he may be sorry now, he never can bear all the +consequences of his sin. Somewhere there is a childless home bearing +part of the result of his iniquity. One who had done a deed like that +might well crave death and oblivion. But everyone who ever sinned is +in that estate. No man ever succeeded in building around his evil a +wall high and thick enough to contain all evil's consequences. They +always flow over and seep through; they fall in cruel disaster on +those who love us best. One never estimates his sin aright until he +sees that no man ever bears all the results of his own evil. Always +our sins nail somebody else to a cross; they even "crucify ... the Son +of God afresh" (Heb. 6:6). + +Such is the meaning of the peril against whose background the New +Testament believers saw the luminous figure of the Savior. Sin brings +men into the debt of a great guilt which they cannot pay and into the +bondage of tyrannous habits which they cannot break; it makes men +tempting satans to their fellows, and it hurls its results like +vitriol across the faces of their family and friends. And when one +looks on the lamentable evils of the world at large, its sad +inequities, its furious wars, he sees no need to deal delicately with +sin or to speak of it in apologetic tones. Sin is, as the New +Testament saw it, the central problem of mankind. If anyone has ever +come with the supreme contribution to its conquest, the face of the +world may well be turned toward him today. In the Christian's faith, +such a Savior has come. For if the visitor from Mars who so often has +been imagined coming to earth, should come again, and amazed at the +churches built, the anthems sung, the service wrought in Jesus' name, +should curiously inquire what this character had done to awaken such +response, we should have to answer: Jesus of Nazareth made no direct +contribution to science or art or government or law--with none of +these important realms did he concern himself. Only one thing he did: +_he made the indispensable contribution to man's fight for great +character against sin_. And because that is man's crucial problem, all +science, art, government, and law are under an unpayable indebtedness +to him. Because that is man's innermost need, his birthday has become +the hinge of history, until one cannot write a letter to his friend +without dating his familiar act from the advent of him who came to +save us in our struggle for godliness against evil. + + +IV + +Faith in Christ has a double relationship with the problem of man's +sin; it concerns _the basis on which we are to be judged and the +strength by which we are to conquer_. Christ has brought to men a +gospel of forgiveness and power. With regard to the first--and with +the first alone this chapter is concerned--the opinion of many modern +men is swift and summary: folk are to be judged by what they do; the +output of a man, as of a machine, is the test of him. Until this +popular method of judgment is convicted of inadequacy, there is no +hope of understanding what Christians have meant by being "saved +through faith" (Eph. 2:8). We must see that men are worth more than +they _do_. + +A man's deeds alone are an insufficient basis for judgment, because +_motives for the same act may be low or high_. No one can be +unaware of the Master's meaning when he speaks of those who do their +alms before men to be seen of them (Matt. 6:1ff), or of Paul's when he +says, "If I bestow all my goods to feed the poor ... but have not +love" (I Cor. 13:3). Some men habitually shine to good advantage by +such means; they have the facile gift of putting their best foot +forward. Like a store at Christmas time, its finest goods in the +window and inferior stock for sale upon the counters, they are +infinitely skilful in gaining more credit than their worth deserves. +One who has dealt with such folk becomes aware that to estimate an +isolated deed is superficial; one must know the motive. A cup of cold +water or a widow's penny may awake the Master's spirited approval, and +millions rung into the temple treasury by showy Pharisees meet only +scorn. + +Deeds alone are an insufficient basis for judgment because, while we +are more than body, _our bodies are the instruments of all that +visibly we do_. Many a man in spirit is like a swift mill race, +eager for service, but the flesh, a battered mill wheel, ill sustains +the spirit's vehemence; it breaks before the shock. One must shut the +gates and patch up the wheel, before the spirit, impatient for +utterance, may have its way again; and some mill-wheels never can be +mended. Says one of Robert Louis Stevenson's biographers: "When a +temporary illness lays him on his back, he writes in bed one of his +most careful and thoughtful papers, the discourse on 'The Technical +Elements in Style.' When ophthalmia confines him to a darkened room, +he writes by the diminished light. When after hemorrhage, his right +hand has to be held in a sling, he writes some of his 'Child's Garden' +with his left hand. When the hemorrhage has been so bad that he dare +not speak, he dictates a novel in the deaf and dumb alphabet." When +one has lived with handicapped folk, discerning behind the small +amount of work the infinite willingness for more, and in the work done +a quality that makes quantity seem negligible, he perceives that deeds +are no sufficient measure of spiritual value. Only an eye that pierces +behind the unwrought work to the _man_, willing while the flesh +was weak, can ever estimate how much some spirits are worth. + +Deeds alone are an insufficient basis for judgment because _men face +unequal opportunities_. Some start with one talent, some with ten. +The cherished son of a Christian family ought to live a decent life; +how favorable his chance! But if a vagrant wharf-rat by some +mysterious vision of decency and determination of character makes a +man of himself, how much more his credit! The worth of goodness cannot +be estimated without knowledge of the struggle which it cost. When one +considers the smug, conventional respectability of some, possessing +every favorable help to goodness, and the rough but genuine integrity +of others who have fought a great fight against crippling handicaps to +character, he sees why, in any righteous judgment, the last will be +first, as Jesus said, and the first last. Only God, with power to +understand what heredity and circumstance some men have faced, what +enticements they have met, what a fight they have really waged even +when they may have seemed to fail, can tell how much they are worth. + + "What's done we partly may compute, + But know not what's resisted." + +Judgment based on deeds alone can never truly estimate a man, because +in every important decision of our lives an _"unpublished self" +finds no expression in our outward act_. Duty is not always clear; +at times it seems a labyrinth without a clue. Perplexed, we balance in +long deliberation the opposing reasons for this act or that, until, +forced to choose, we obtain only a majority vote for the decision. Yet +that uncertain majority alone is published in our deed; man's eyes +never see the unexpressed protestant minority behind. And when the +choice proves wrong, and friends are grieved and enemies condemn and +what we did is hateful to ourselves, only one who knows how much we +wanted to do right, and who accounts not only the published but the +unpublished self can truly estimate our worth. Peter, who denied his +Lord, it may be because he wanted the privilege of being near him at +the trial, is not the only one who has appealed from the outward +aspect of his deed to the inner intention of his heart: "Lord, thou +knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee" (John 21:17). + +Moreover, even when we choose aright, _no deed can ever gather into +utterance all that is best and deepest in us_. A mother's love is +as much greater than any word she speaks or act she does, as the +sunshine is greater than the focused point where in a burning glass we +gather a ray of it. We are infinitely more than words can utter or +deeds express. No adequate judgment, therefore, can rest on deeds +alone. A machine may be estimated by its output, but a man is too +subtle and profound, his motives and purposes too inexpressible, his +temptations and inward struggles too intimate and unrevealed, his +possibilities too great to be roughly estimated by his acts alone. + + "Not on the vulgar mass + Called 'work' must sentence pass, + Things done, that took the eye and had the price; + O'er which, from level stand, + The low world laid its hand, + Found straightway to its mind, could value in a trice: + + But all, the world's coarse thumb + And finger failed to plumb, + So passed in making up the main account; + All instincts immature, + All purposes unsure, + That weighed not as his work, yet swelled the man's amount: + + Thoughts hardly to be packed + Into a narrow act, + Fancies that broke through language and escaped; + All I could never be, + All, men ignored in me, + This, I was worth to God, whose wheel the pitcher shaped." + + +V + +If, however, we are to understand the Christian's meaning when he +speaks of being saved by faith (Rom. 3:28; 5:1; Gal. 3:24), we need to +see not only that men are worth more than they _do_, but as well that +they are worth more than they _are_. Some things always start large +and grow small; some things always start small and grow large; but a +man may do either, and his value is determined not so much by the +position he is in, as it is by the direction in which he is moving. +Even of stocks upon the market in their rise and fall this truth is +clear. The figure at which a stock is quoted is important, but the +meaning of that figure cannot be understood unless one knows whether +it was reached on the way up or the way down. How much more is any +static judgment of a man impossible! One starts at the summit, with +endowments and opportunities that elevate him far above his fellows, +and frittering away his chance, drifts down. Another, beginning at the +bottom, by dint of resolute endeavor climbs upward, achieving +character in the face of odds before which ordinary men succumb. +Somewhere these two men will pass, and, statically judged, will be of +equal worth. But one is drifting down; one climbing up. The innermost +secret of their spiritual value lies in that hidden fact. _When, +therefore, one would judge a man, he must pierce behind the deeds that +he can see, behind the present quality that he can estimate, back to +the thing the man has set his heart upon, to the direction of his +life, to the ideal which masters him--that is, to his faith._ There +lies the potential future of the man, his ultimate worth, the seed of +his coming fruit. If one has eyes to see what that faith is, he knows +the man and what the man is bound to be. + +When, therefore, men set their hearts on Christ, lay hold on him by +faith as life's Master and its goal, that faith opens the door to +God's forgiveness. In Augustine's luminous phrase, "The Christian +already has in Christ what he hopes for in himself." He is Christ's +brother in the filial life with God, young, immature, undeveloped--but +the issue of that life is the measure of the stature of Christ's +fulness. God does not demand the end when only the beginning is +possible, does not scorn the dawn because it is not noon. He welcomes +the first movement of man's spirit toward him, not for the fruit which +yet is unmatured, but for the seed which still is in the germ; he +takes the will for the deed, because the will is earnest; he sees the +journey's end in Christlike character, when at the road's beginning +the pilgrim takes the first step by faith. There is no fiction here; +God ought to forgive and welcome such a man. All good parents act so +toward their children. This divine grace corresponds with truth, for a +man is _worth_ the central, dominant faith, that determines +life's direction and decides its goal. And the Gospel that God so +deals with man, announced in the words of Jesus, illustrated in his +life, sealed in his death, has been a boon to the race that puts all +men under an immeasurable debt to Christ. + + +VI + +This method of judgment which all good men use with their friends and +families has been often disbelieved, in its Christian formulations, +because it has been misrepresented and misunderstood. But human life, +far outside religious boundaries, continually illustrates the wisdom +and righteousness of so judging men by faith. Roswell McIntyre +deserted during the Civil War; he was caught, court-martialled, and +condemned to death. He stood with no defense for his deed, no just +complaint against the penalty, and with nothing to plead save shame +for his act, and faith that, with another chance, he could play the +man. On that, the last recourse of the condemned, President Lincoln +pardoned him. + + "EXECUTIVE MANSION, + Oct. 4, 1864. + + Upon condition that Roswell McIntyre of Co. E, 6th Reg't of New York + Cavalry, returns to his Regiment and faithfully serves out his term, + making up for lost time, or until otherwise discharged, he is fully + pardoned for any supposed desertion heretofore committed, and this + paper is his pass to go to his regiment. + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN." + +Was such clemency an occasion for lax character? The answer is written +across the face of Mr. Lincoln's letter in the archives: "Taken from +the body of R. McIntyre at the Battle of Five Forks, Va., 1865." Five +Forks was the last cavalry action of the war; McIntyre went through to +the finish. + +Any one who knows the experience of being forgiven understands the +motives that so remake a pardoned deserter. The relief from the old +crushing condemnation, the joy of being trusted again beyond desert, +the gratitude that makes men rather die than be untrue a second time, +the unpayable indebtedness from which ambition springs, "whether at +home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto him" (II Cor. 5:9)--this is +the moral consequence of being pardoned. Goodness so begotten reaches +deep and high, has in it conscious joy and hope, feels vividly the +value of its moral victories, possesses great motives for sacrificial +service in the world. The Apocalypse is right. There is a song in +heaven that angels cannot sing. Only men like McIntyre will know how +to sing it. + +The vital and transforming faith that saves is always better presented +in a story than in an argument, and in the Scripture the best +description of it is Jesus' parable of the Prodigal. As the Master +drew that portrait of life in the far country, all the watching +Pharisees thought that such a boy was lost. The Prodigal himself must +have guessed that his case was hopeless. His friends, his character, +his reputation, his will were gone, and in the inner court-room of his +soul with maddening iteration he heard sentence passed, Guilty. Only +one hope remained. If he was unspoiled enough by the far country's +pitiless brutality to think that at home they might bear no grudge, +might find forgiveness possible, might offer him another chance as a +hired servant, if he could think that perhaps his father even _wanted_ +him to come home, then there was hope. With such slender faith the boy +turned back from the far country. He had the same lack of character, +the same weakened will, the same evil habits. Only one difference had +as yet been wrought. Before, he had been facing toward swine, now he +was facing toward home. The _direction_ of his life was changed by +faith. And when the father saw him, homeward bound, "_while he was yet +afar off,_" forgiveness welcomed him. No pardon could unload from the +lad's life all the fearful consequences of his sin. As long as he +lived, the scars on health, repute, and usefulness were there. But +forgiveness could take the sin away _as a barrier to personal +friendship with the father_; the old relationships of mutual +confidence, helpfulness, and love could be restored; the glorious +chance could be bestowed of fighting through the battle for character, +not hopelessly in the far country, but victoriously at home. + +One of the chief glories of the Gospel is that it has so reclaimed the +waste of humanity, made sons of Prodigals and patriots of McIntyres. +Its Pauls were persecutors, its Augustines the slaves of lust, and its +rank and file men and women to whom Christ's message has meant +forgiveness, reinstatement, a new chance, and boundless hope. +Scientific business conserves its waste and makes invaluable +by-products from what once was slag; but Christ has been the conserver +of mankind. The lost and sick have been returned to sanity and +wholesomeness and service; humanity has been enriched beyond +computation, with Bunyans and Goughs and Jerry McAuleys. Tolstoi's +simple confession in "My Religion" is typical of multitudes: "Five +years ago I came to believe in Christ's teaching, and my life suddenly +became changed: I ceased desiring what I had wished before, and began +to desire what I had not wished before. What formerly had seemed good +to me appeared bad, and what had seemed bad appeared good.... The +direction of my life, my desires became different: what was good and +bad changed places." Tolstoi had indulged, as he acknowledges, in +every form of unmentionable vice practiced in Russia; and yet +forgiven, reinstated, transformed, he was carried to his burial by +innumerable Russian peasants with banners flying. Where Christ's +influence has vitally come, the loss and wreck and flotsam of the +moral world have been so reclaimed to character and power. + +At the beginning of the Christian era, a few desolate sand lagoons lay +off the Paduan coast of Italy. There the wild fowl made their nests; +the lonely skiffs of fishermen threaded the reedy channels; the storms +washed the shifting and uncertain sands. And possibly to this day the +lagoons would have been thus barren and deserted, had not the Huns +swept down on Italy. The Huns made the building of Venice necessary. +They did not intend so fair a consequence of their terrific +onslaughts. Their thoughts were on death and pillage. But because they +came, the Italians fled to the lagoons, built there, behind the +barricade of restless waters, their gleaming city, developed there the +commerce that combed the world, built the Doge's palace as the abode +of justice, and raised St. Mark's in praise of God. Venice was the +city of Salvation; it rose resplendent because the Huns had come. So +Christ turns the ruin of sin to victory, and builds in human life +character, recovered and triumphant. If his Gospel can have its way, a +spiritual Venice will arise to make the onslaught of the moral Huns an +evil with a glorious issue. What wonder that inexpressible devotion +has been felt for him by all his people? + +[7] "Iniquities prevail against me." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Faith in Christ the Savior: Power + + +DAILY READINGS + +As we saw in the last week's study, Christian faith has always +centered around the person of Jesus himself. This week let us consider +some testimonies from the New Testament as to the meaning and effect +of this definitely Christian faith. + + +Eleventh Week, First Day + +It must be clear to any observing mind that the world does not suffer +from lack of faith. There is faith in plenty; everybody is exercising +it on some object. In the Bible we read of folk who "trust in vanity" +(Isa. 59:4), who "trust in lying words" (Jer. 7:4), or "in the +abundance of riches" (Psalm 52:7); and the Master exclaims over the +difficulty which those who "trust in riches" have when they try to +enter the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:24). Faith, then, is a necessary +faculty of the soul: the power by which we commit ourselves to any +object that wins our devotion and commands our allegiance. No man +avoids its use, and men differ only in the objects toward which their +faith is directed. Of all the tragedies caused by the misuse of human +powers, none is more frequent and disastrous than the ruin that +follows the misuse of faith. With this necessary and powerful faculty +in our possession, capable of use on things high or low, to what +determination can a man more reasonably set himself than this?--_since +I must and do use faith on something, I will choose the highest_. It +is with such a rational and worthy choice that the Christian turns to +Jesus. He is the best we know; we will direct our faith toward him. +This does not mean that in the end our faith does not rest on God; it +does, for Jesus is the Way, the Door, as he said, and faith in him +moves up through him to the One who sent him. As Paul put it, "Such +confidence have we through Christ to God-ward" (II Cor. 3:4). But +faith in Jesus is the most vivid, true, and compelling way we have of +committing ourselves to the highest and best we know. In the light of +this truth, we can understand why John calls such faith the supreme +"work" which God demands of us. + + =Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which + abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: + for him the Father, even God, hath sealed. They said therefore unto + him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus + answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe + on him whom he hath sent.--John 6:27-29.= + + _Gracious Father! Thou hast revealed Thyself gloriously in Jesus + Christ, the Son of Thy love. In Him we have found Thee, or rather, + are found of Thee. By His life, by His words and deeds, by His trials + and sufferings, we are cleansed from sin and rise into holiness. For + in Him Thou hast made disclosure of Thine inmost being and art + drawing us into fellowship with Thy life. As we stand beneath His + Cross, or pass with Him into the Garden of His Agony, it is Thy heart + that we see unveiled, it is the passion of Thy love yearning over the + sinful, the wandering, seeking that it may save them. No man hath + seen Thee at any time, but out from the unknown has come the Son of + Man to declare Thee. And now we know Thy name. When we call Thee + Father, the mysteries of existence are not so terrible, our burdens + weigh less heavily upon us, our sorrows are touched with joy. Thy Son + has brought the comfort that we need, the comfort of knowing that in + all our afflictions Thou art afflicted, that in Thy grief our lesser + griefs are all contained. Let the light which shines in His face, + shine into our hearts, to give us the knowledge of Thy glory, to + scatter the darkness of fear, of wrong, of remorse, of foreboding, + and to constrain our lives to finer issues of peace and power and + spiritual service. And this prayer we offer in Christ's name. + Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Eleventh Week, Second Day + +The New Testament clearly reveals the experience that _forgiveness_ +comes in answer to such self-committing faith in Christ as we spoke of +yesterday. + + =And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at + meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that even + forgiveth sins? And he said unto the woman, Thy faith hath saved + thee; go in peace.--Luke 7:48-50.= + +In popular thought forgiveness is often shallowly conceived. It is +thought to be an easy agreement to forget offense, a good-natured +waving aside of injuries committed as though the evil done were of no +consequence. But forgiveness is really a most profound and searching +experience; and it takes two persons, each sacrificially desirous of +achieving it, before it can be perfected. In the pardoner, the passion +for saviorhood must submerge all disgust at the sin in love for the +sinner; and in the pardoned, desire for a new life must create +sacrificial willingness to hate and forsake the evil and humbly accept +a new chance. It follows, therefore, that no one can forgive another, +no matter how willing he may be to do so, unless the recipient fulfils +the conditions that make pardon possible. Forgiveness is a mutual +operation; no forgetting or good will on the part of one person is +forgiveness at all; and the attitude in the forgiven man that makes +the reception of pardon possible is negatively penitence and +positively faith. Any experience of human forgiveness reveals that the +offender must detest his sin and turn from it in trust and +self-commitment to claim the mercy and choose the ideals of the one +whom he has wronged. That God in Christ is willing to forgive is the +Christian Gospel; and if we go unforgiven it is for lack of faith. +That is the hand which grasps the proffered pardon. + + _Almighty God, whose salvation is ever nigh to them that seek Thee, + we think of our little lives, of their wayward ways, and we remember + Thee and are troubled. Our days pass from us and we are heated with + strifes, and troubled and restless, with mean temptations and + fugitive desires. We spend our years in much carelessness, and too + seldom do we think of the greatness of our trust and the wonder and + mystery of our being. We are vexed with vain dreams and trivial + desires. We live our days immersed in petty passions. We strain after + poor uncertainties. We pursue the shadows of this passing life and + continually are we visited by our own self-contempt and bitterness. + We have known the better and have chosen the worse. We have felt the + glory and power of a higher life and yet have surrendered to ignoble + temptations and to satisfactions that end with the hour._ + + _Almighty Father, of Thy goodness do Thou save our lives, so smitten + with passion, from the failure and misery that else must come to us. + Be with us in our hours of self-communion, and inspire us with good + purpose and service to Thee. Be with us when heart and flesh faint, + and there seems no help or safety near us. Be with us when we are + carried into the dry and lonely places, seeking a rest that is not in + them. Sustain us, we beseech Thee, under the burden of our many + errors and failures. From the confused aims and purposes of our lives + may there be brought forth, by the aid of Thy Spirit, and the + teaching and discipline of life, lives constant and assured in + service and obedience to Thee. Amen._--John Hunter. + + +Eleventh Week, Third Day + +It is clear in the New Testament that all the _free movements of +divine help_ depend on the presence of man's faith. Words like these +are continually on the lips of Jesus: "Be of good cheer; thy faith +hath made thee whole" (Matt. 9:22); "According to your faith be it +done unto you" (Matt. 9:29); "Great is thy faith: be it done unto thee +even as thou wilt" (Matt. 15:28). Human life as a whole confirms the +truth which such words suggest: _Man's faith is always the limit of +his blessing; he never obtains more than he believes in._ Men live in +a world of unappropriated truth and unused power; and the blessings of +truth and power can be reached only by ventures of faith. Even +electricity withholds its service from a man who, like Abdul Hamid, +has not faith enough to try. In personal relationships this fact +becomes even more clear. Whatever gifts of good will may be waiting in +the heart of any man, we are shut out from them forever, unless we +have the grace of faith in the man and open-hearted self-commitment to +him. As the Christian Gospel sees man's case, the central tragedy lies +here: that God in Christ is willing to do so much more in and for and +through us than we have faith enough to let him do. Our unbelief is +not a matter of theoretical concern alone; it practically disables +God, it handicaps his operation in the world, it is an "evil heart of +unbelief, in falling away from the living God" (Heb. 3:12). The +divine will is forced to wait upon the lagging faith of man. How often +the Master exclaimed, "O ye of little faith!" (Matt. 6:30; 8:26). And +the reason for his lament was eminently practical. + + =And coming into his own country he taught them in their synagogue, + insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man + this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? + is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joseph, + and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? + Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in + him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save + in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty + works there because of their unbelief.--Matt. 13:54-58.= + + _Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we desire to come to Thee in all + humility and sincerity. We are sinful; pardon Thou us. We are + ignorant; enlighten Thou our darkness. We are weak; inspire us with + strength. In these times of doubt, uncertainty, and trial, may we + ever feel conscious of Thine everlasting light. Soul of our soul! + Inmost Light of truth! Manifest Thyself unto us amid all shadows. + Guide us in faith, hope, and love, until the perfect day shall dawn, + and we shall know as we are known._ + + _Almighty God, teach us, we pray Thee, by blessed experience, to + apprehend what was meant of old when Jesus Christ was called the + power of God unto salvation, for we stand in need of salvation from + sin, from doubt, from weakness, from craven fear; we cannot save + ourselves; we are creatures of a day, short-sighted, and too often + driven about by every wind of passion and opinion. We need to be + stayed upon a higher strength. We need to lay hold of Thee. Manifest + Thyself unto us, our Father, as the Saviour of our souls, and deliver + us from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the + children of God. Amen._--John Hunter. + + +Eleventh Week, Fourth Day + +Not only is man's power to appropriate the divine blessing dependent +on faith; in the experience of the New Testament man's power of +achievement has the same source. + + =Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we + cast it out? And he saith unto them, Because of your little faith: + for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard + seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; + and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.--Matt. + 17:19, 20.= + +Mountains are symbols of difficulty, and the Master's affirmation here +that faith alone can remove them is clearly confirmed in human +experience. It may seem at times as though faith, compared with the +obstacles, were like a minute mustard seed before the ranges of +Lebanon, but faith can overcome even that disproportion in size. Great +leaders always must have such confidence. Listen to Mazzini: "The +people lack faith ... the faith that arouses the multitudes, faith in +their own destiny, in their own mission, and in the mission of the +epoch; the faith that combats and prays; the faith that enlightens and +bids men advance fearlessly in the ways of God and humanity, with the +sword of the people in their hand, the religion of the people in their +heart, and the future of the people in their soul." In any great +movement for human good, the ultimate and deciding question always is: +How many people can be found who have faith enough to believe in the +cause and its triumph? When enough folk have faith, any campaign for +human welfare can be won. Without faith men "collapse into a yielding +mass of plaintiveness and fear"; with faith they move mountains. And +when men have faith in Christ as God's Revealor--faith, not formal and +abstract, but real and vital--they begin to feel about the word +"impossible" as Mirabeau did, "Never mention to me again that +blockhead of a word!" + + _O God, our Father, our souls are made sick by the sight of hunger + and want and nakedness; of little children bearing on their bent + backs the burden of the world's work; of motherhood drawn under the + grinding wheels of modern industry; and of overburdened manhood, with + empty hands, stumbling and falling._ + + _Help us to understand that it is not Thy purpose to do away with + life's struggle, but that Thou desirest us to make the conditions of + that struggle just and its results fair._ + + _Enable us to know that we may bring this to pass only through love + and sympathy and understanding; only as we realize that all are alike + Thy children--the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak, the + fortunate and the unfortunate. And so, our Father, give us an + ever-truer sense of human sisterhood; that with patience and + steadfastness we may do our part in ending the injustice that is in + the land, so that all may rejoice in the fruits of their toil and be + glad in Thy sunshine._ + + _Keep us in hope and courage even amid the vastness of the + undertaking and the slowness of the progress, and sustain us with the + knowledge that our times are in Thy hand. Amen._--Helen Ring Robinson. + + +Eleventh Week, Fifth Day + +Faith in Christ has always been consummated, in the experience to +which the New Testament introduces us, in an inward transformation of +life. + + =I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, + but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh + I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, + and gave himself up for me.--Gal. 2:20.= + +Such conversion of life is the normal result of a vital fellowship +whose bond is faith. For one thing, a man at once begins to care a +great deal more about his own quality when he believes in Christ and +in Christ's love. "What a King stoops to pick up from the mire cannot +be a brass farthing, but must be a pearl of great price." To be loved +by anyone is to enter into a new estimate of one's possible value; to +be loved by God in Christ is to come into an experience where our +possible value makes us alike ashamed of what we are and jubilant over +what we may become. We begin saying with Irenæus, "Jesus Christ became +what we are that he might make us what he is." And then, faith, +ripening into fellowship, opening the life sensitively to the +influence of the friend, issues in a character infused by the friend's +character. He lives in us. Such transformation of life does not happen +in a moment; it requires more than instantaneous exposure to take the +Lord's picture on a human heart; but time-exposure will do it, and +"Christ in us" be alike our hope of glory and our secret of influence. + + _O Father Eternal, we thank Thee for the new and living way into Thy + presence made for us in Christ; the way of trust, sincerity, and + sacrifice. Beneath His cross we would take our stand, in communion + with His Spirit would we pray, in fellowship with the whole Church of + Christ we would seek to know Thy mind and will._ + + _We desire to know all the fulness of Christ, to appropriate His + unsearchable riches, to feed on His humanity whereby Thou hast become + to us the bread of our inmost souls and the wine of life, to become + partakers of Thy nature, share Thy glory, and become one with Thee + through Him._ + + _Give unto us fellowship with His sufferings and insight into the + mystery of His cross, so that we may be indeed crucified with Him, be + raised to newness of life, and be hidden with Christ in Thee._ + + _We desire to make thankful offering of ourselves as members of the + body of Christ; in union with all the members may we obey our unseen + Head, so that the Body may be undivided, and Thy love, and healing + power, and very Self may be incarnate on the earth in one Holy + Universal Church. Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +Eleventh Week, Sixth Day + +With faith in Christ so seen as the secret of divine forgiveness and +assistance, of achieving power and inward transformation, there can be +little surprise at the solicitude which the New Testament shows +concerning the disciples' faith. We find this urgent interest in Paul: + + =Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be + left behind at Athens alone; and sent Timothy, our brother and God's + minister in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort + you concerning your faith; ... night and day praying exceedingly that + we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your + faith.--I Thess. 3:1, 2, 10.= + + =We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, even as + it is meet, for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of + each one of you all toward one another aboundeth.--II Thess. 1:3.= + +And one of the most appealing revelations of Jesus' habit in prayer +concerns his supplication for Peter's faith. + + =Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift + you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail + not; and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy + brethren.--Luke 22:31, 32.= + +In all such passages one feels at once that faith is used as Paul uses +it in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians--a comrade and ally +of hope and love. It is not a matter of dogma and does not move in the +realm of opinion, although ideas of the first magnitude may be +involved in it. It is primarily a bond of divine fellowship, which at +once keeps the life receptive to all that God would do for the man and +moves the man to do all that he should for God. If that fails, even +Peter would fall in ruins, and the expression is none too strong, when +in I Timothy the failure of such vital faith is described as a +"shipwreck" (I Tim. 1:19). But when by faith the consciousness of God +has grown clear, and alliance with him is so real that we stop arguing +about it and begin counting on it in daily living, the increment of +power and confidence and stability which a man may win is quite +incalculable. + + _O Thou plenteous Source of every good and perfect gift, shed abroad + the cheering light of Thy seven-fold grace over our hearts. Yea, + Spirit of love and gentleness, we most humbly implore Thy assistance. + Thou knowest our faults, our failings, our necessities, the dulness + of our understanding, the waywardness of our affections, the + perverseness of our will. When, therefore, we neglect to practice + what we know, visit us, we beseech Thee, with Thy grace, enlighten + our minds, rectify our desires, correct our wanderings, and pardon + our omissions, so that by Thy guidance we may be preserved from + making shipwreck of faith, and keep a good conscience, and may at + length be landed safe in the haven of eternal rest; through Jesus + Christ our Lord. Amen._--Anselm, 1033. + + +Eleventh Week, Seventh Day + +Some who gladly acknowledge the surprising results which faith can +work in life, do not see any great importance in the object to which +faith attaches itself. They say that faith is merely a psychological +attitude, and that faith in one thing does as well as faith in +another. Folk are healed, they point out, by all kinds of faith, +whether directed toward fetishes, or saints' relics, or metaphysical +theories, or God himself. It is the faith, they say, and not the +object, which does the work. There is a modicum of truth in this. +Faith, by its very power to organize man's faculties and give them +definite set and drive, is itself a master force, and if a man has no +interest beyond the achievement of some immediate end, like conquering +nervous qualms or getting strength for a special task, he may achieve +that end by believing in almost anything, provided he believes hard +enough. _But to believe in some things may debauch the intelligence +and lower the moral standards, even while it achieves a practical +end._ To win power for a business task by believing in a palm-reader's +predictions is entirely possible, but it is a poor bargain; a man +sells out his intelligence for cash. The object in which a man +believes does make an immense difference in the effect of his faith on +his _mind_ and _character_. An African savage may gain courage for an +ordeal by believing in his fetish--but how immeasurable is the abyss +between the meaning of that faith for the whole of life and the +meaning of a Christian's faith in God! We have no business, for the +sake of immediate gain, to allow our faith to rest in anything lower +than the highest. + + =Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who + according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the + resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance + incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in + heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith + unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye + greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have + been put to grief in manifold trials, that the proof of your faith, + being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by + fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation + of Jesus Christ: whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye + see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable + and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the + salvation of your souls.--I Peter 1:3-9.= + + _Gracious Father of our spirits, in the stillness of this worship may + we grow more sure of Thee, who art often closest to us when we feel + Thou hast forsaken us. The toil and thought of daily life leave us + little time to think of Thee; but may the silence of this holy place + make us aware that though we may forget Thee, Thou dost never forget + us. Perhaps we have grown careless in contact with common things, + duty has lost its high solemnities, the altar fires have gone + untended, Thy light within our minds has been distrusted or ignored. + As we withdraw awhile from all without, may we find Thee anew within, + until thought grows reverent again, all work is hallowed, and faith + reconsecrates all common things as sacraments of love._ + + _If pride of thought and careless speculation have made us doubtful + of Thee, recover for us the simplicity that understands Thou art + never surer than when we doubt Thee, that through all failures of + faith Thou becomest clearer, and so makest the light that once we + walked by seem but darkness. Help us then to rest our faith on the + knowledge of our imperfection, our consciousness of ignorance, our + sense of sin, and see in them shadows cast by the light of Thy + drawing near._ + + _If Thy purposes have crossed our own and Thy will has broken ours, + enable us to trust the wisdom of Thy perfect love and find Thy will + to be our peace._ + + _So lead us back to meet Thee where we may have missed Thee. + Amen._--W. E. Orchard. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +The forgiveness which the Gospel offers--reinstating a man in the +personal relationships against which he sinned, and giving him another +chance--opens opportunity, but by itself it does not furnish power. +The saviorhood of Christ, however, so far from failing at this crucial +point, makes here its chief claim to preeminence. However one may +explain it, the normal quality of a genuine Christian life is moral +energy. The Gospel not alone to Paul, but to all generations of +Christ's disciples, had been "God's saving power for everyone who has +faith" (Rom. 1:16).[8] + +Faith always supplies moral dynamic. Emerson's challenge, "They can +conquer who believe they can," is easily verified in daily life. In +practical business, in social reform, in personal character, no more +common or fatal barrier to success exists than disbelief in +possibilities. While some who think they can when they cannot, prove +the rule by its exception, we are sure in advance that one who +believes he cannot, has lost his battle before it has begun. Granted a +task worth doing, sufficient strength for its accomplishment, and +motives in plenty to make success desirable, and one insinuating enemy +can spoil the enterprise. Let the subtle fear that the task is +impossible obsess the thought, paralyze the nerve, and no hope is +left. Like chlorine gas, such fear defeats us before we have begun to +fight and fills our trenches with asphyxiated powers. + +Anyone who is to be a savior to mankind, therefore, must be able to +make men say, "I can." That Christ has had that influence on men is +the commonplace of Christian biography from the beginning until now. +"In him who strengthens me I am able for anything" (Phil. 4:13)[9] is +a word of Paul's which the best Christian experience confirms. It does +not mean that men can do what they will, overriding all obstacles to +chosen goals; it means that they are aware of resources in reserve, of +power around them and in them, so that they are not afraid of anything +which they may face. If a duty ought to be done, they are confident +that they can do it; if a trouble must be borne, they are assured that +they can bear it. + +This buoyant faith is more than a grace of temperament. In Paul's +case, for example, it was not due to rugged health, for that he +lacked; it was not the easy optimism of some happiness cult, for he +was a persecuted man, bearing in his body "the marks of the Lord +Jesus"; and such a note of assured resource as we just have quoted did +not come from the hopefulness of fortunate circumstance, but from a +prison where he wore a chain. Paul himself is certain that his sense +of power springs from discipleship to Jesus. And when one turns to the +gospels, he sees that whenever the Master had opportunity to exert to +the full his influence on men, some such result as here appears in +Paul is evident. A contagious personality always enlarges the sense of +possibilities and powers in other men. A man, leaving Trinity Church, +where he had heard Phillips Brooks, exclaimed, "He always makes me +feel so strong." It was said that one could not stand for a moment +with Edmund Burke under an archway, to let a shower pass by, without +emerging a greater man. Each one of us knows folk who so impress him. +We go into their presence, weak, self-pitiful; when we come out, the +horizons are broader, the possibilities have enlarged, there is more +in us than we had suspected, we are convinced that we _can_. + +To a degree that escapes our estimation Jesus exerted that influence +on men. Napoleon said that he made his generals out of mud. Out of +what, then, did the Master make his apostles? At the beginning, Peter, +for example, is protesting, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O +Lord," and Jesus is bending over him, saying: Come after me, and I +will make you a fisher of men; if you will, you can. After months of +influence, Peter, still shamed and weak, is pleading his love against +his deed, and Jesus is saying: Feed my sheep; feed my lambs; if you +will, you can. In Jesus' relationship with his disciple, a great +personality stands over a lesser one, by life and word insistently +saying, _You can_, until power is vitally transmitted, and in the +vacillating, vehement Simon there emerges rock-like, stable Peter. + +Throughout the Christian centuries nothing has been more typical than +this of the Master's influence on men. He has come to innumerable +sodden lives, held slaves to tyrannous sin, saying in the hopelessness +of bondage, "I cannot," and he has touched them with his contagious +confidence, until they rose into freedom, saying, "By the help of God, +I can!" He has come into social situations, where ancient evils, long +entrenched and seemingly invincible, withstood the assault of +reformation, and he has put inexhaustible resource into his people, +until they said with an old reformer, "Impossible? If that is all that +is the matter, let us go ahead!" He has come to his Church, reluctant +to undertake a world-wide mission, staggered by the task's magnitude, +and he has made men pray with _life_ and not alone with lip, "Thy +Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Wherever +the influence of Christ vitally has come, the horizons of possibility +have widened and the sense of power grown inexhaustible. + +_Such influence is of the very essence of saviorhood and the attitude +that appropriates it is saving faith._ When John B. Gough, desperately +enmeshed in habit, faces the Christian Gospel of release one easily +may trace his changing response. Dubious at first, he wants to +believe it but he does not dare. He wishes it were true, but the whole +logic of his situation, his long habit, his spoiled reputation, his +weakened will, argue against the possibility. As Augustine said about +his lust, "The worse that I knew so well had more power over me than +the better that I knew not." Still, a note of authority in the Gospel, +as though spoken by one whose power to perform is equal to the thing +he promises, arrests Gough's mind, captures his imagination, awakens +his spirit's deep desire, until at last the Master's call, "You can," +is answered by the human cry, "I will," and the man moves out into new +possibilities, new powers, and increasing liberty. That _is_ +salvation. It is no formal status decreed by legal enactment, as +though a judge technically acquitted a prisoner. It is new life, +inward liberation from old habits, apprehensions, anxieties, and +fears. It lifts horizons, consumes impossibilities, and at the center +of life sets the stirring conviction that what ought to be done can be +done. + +Christians who are accustomed lightly to assert that they are saved +need specially to take this truth to heart. Some speak as though +salvation were a technicality and they sing about it, + + "'Tis done, the great transaction's done." + +To many such, were candor courteous, one would wish to say: Saved? +Saved from what? You are habitually anxious. Your life is continually +vexed with little fears and apprehensions. When trouble comes, you are +sure that you cannot stand it; when tasks present themselves, you are +certain that you cannot perform them. You have pet self-indulgences, +from major sins to little meannesses; you know that they are wrong; +but when suggestion comes that you surrender them, you are sure that +you have not the strength. When causes, plainly Christian, on whose +successful issue man's weal depends, appeal to you for help, you +weaken every enterprise by your disheartenment. Saved from _what_? Not +from fear, timidity, selfishness, and stagnation! And if you say, +Saved from Hell--what is Hell but the final subjugation of the soul to +such sins as you now are cherishing? The words of Jesus are promises +of saviorhood from real and present evils: "Be not _anxious_" (Matt. +6:34); "Go, _sin_ no more" (John 8:11); "_Fear_ not, little flock" +(Luke 12:32). When one, by faith, turns his face homeward from such +destroyers of life, he begins to be saved; but only as he lives by +faith in fellowship with the Divine and so achieves progressive +victory, does he keep on being saved. _The heart of salvation is +victorious power._ + + +II + +Not all men feel the need of the power which comes from discipleship +to Christ. They live content without such increment of strength as +Christians find in faith. Their power is equal to their tasks because +their tasks are levelled to their power. One cannot understand, +therefore, what the Saviorhood of Christ has meant to men, unless he +sees how Christ has created the need of the very power he furnishes. +He has done this, in part, _by awakening the desire for an ascending +life_. Men do not naturally want to believe in possibilities too +great and taxing; it always is easier to leave undisturbed the +_status quo_. Even changing one's residence is difficult. Though +one may move to a better house, yet to decide to move, to break old +relationships, to tear up and refit the furnishings, and to adjust +oneself to new associations mean stress and strain. So men come to be +at home with habits; they are comfortably accustomed to timidity and +self-indulgence. Release into a new life does not lure as privilege; +it repels as hardship. Some sins, indeed, are followed by remorse, but +others, grown habitual, bring a sense of well-being and content. We +like ourselves; we do not want a better life; we are unwilling to pay +its cost. Our sins are no bed of nettles, but a lotus land of decent +ease. Were we candidly to speak to them, we should say, O Sin, you are +a comfortable friend! When most we want forbidden fruit you suggest +excuses. You side happily with our inclinations and save us from the +struggle that high duty costs and the sacrifice of striving for the +best. Among the blessings of our lives, we count you not the least, O +decent, comfortable, self-indulgent Sin! + +Idlers thus drift listlessly and refuse a voyage with a purpose and a +goal; youths living by low standards, look on Christlike character as +beyond their interest and possibility; undedicated men find excuse for +holding back devotion to great causes in the world--we shelter +ourselves from aspiration and enterprise behind our faithlessness. +Into such a situation Christ repeatedly has come, bringing a vision of +what life ought to be, too imperative to be neglected, too +challenging to be denied. Men have been shaken out of their content; +the true color of their lives has been revealed against his white +background, the meanness of their plans against the wide ranges of his +purpose. From seeing him they have gone back to be content in their +old habits, but in vain. Can one who has seen a home be happy in a +hovel? Ranke, the historian, says, "More guiltless and more powerful, +more exalted and more holy, has naught ever been on earth than his +conduct, his life, and his death. The human race knows nothing that +could be brought even afar off into comparison with it." So he has +been the disturber of man's ignoble self-content, and to say that we +believe in him means that, no longer able to endure the thing we are, +we go on pilgrimage toward the thing he is. Faith means that we decide +to _move_. This first essential work of saviorhood Christ has wrought, +and when men start to follow him, they feel the need of power. + +For another thing, Christ has created a thirst for the power he +furnishes by _revealing the quality of character in the possession +of which salvation ultimately consists_. At the beginning of the +ethical development whether of the individual or of the race, goodness +is defined in terms of prohibitions. There are many things which men +ought _not_ to do; they walk embarrassed in the presence of their +duty like courtiers before an exacting prince. How negative and +repelling such goodness is! As another exclaims: "They do not break +the Sabbath themselves, but no one who has to spend it with them likes +to see the dreadful day come round. They do not swear themselves, but +they make all who know them want to. They are just as good as trying +not to be bad can make them." + +Discerning spirits, therefore, turn to goodness positively conceived. +"Thou shalt not" becomes "Thou shalt"; duty consists of rules to be +kept, precepts to be observed, principles to be applied, and we go out +to do good deeds to men. But whoever seriously tries to do deeds +really good, faces a need of moral elevation, as much beyond the +outward act of good as that surpasses the observance of prohibitions. +_Good deeds are not a matter of will alone, but of spiritual quality._ +Let the wind blow to fan the faces of the sick, but if it discover +that it is laden with disease, what shall it do? To blow this way or +that may be within volition's power, but not to _cleanse_ oneself. The +task of character reaches inward, beyond the things we do or refrain +from doing to the man we are. Goodness is something more than girding +up the loins, blowing upon the hands, and setting to the work of being +dutiful. It springs from the spirit's depths; it is tinctured with the +spirit's quality; and deeds are never really better than the soul +whose utterances they are. From "Thou shalt not do" to "Thou shalt do" +and from "Thou shalt do" to "Thou shalt be," man's flying goal of +goodness moves. And this ideal in Christ has been incarnate, visible, +imperative. He _was_ right in the inner quality and flavor of his +life; and to be like him involves a pure and powerful personality. +Whoever sets that task ahead knows that he cannot strut proudly into +it. Like Alice entering Wonderland he must grow very small before he +can grow large. The Christ who has power to give has revealed the need +of it. + +Not only by the intensifying of the ideal, but by its extension, has +Christ created thirst for divine help. In youth the problem of +character concerns personal habits. Our untamed strength must be +broken to the harness, and the snaffle bit be used upon our wayward +powers. We justly fear our sins and in their triumph we see the wreck +of individual prospects and the ruin of our families' hopes. Our +concern centers about ourselves, and its crux is self-mastery. But +when in maturity, somewhat "at leisure from ourselves" in settled +habits, we no longer fear our own ruin nor think it probable, goodness +extends its meaning. To play our part in man's advancement, to live, +work, sacrifice, and if need be die for causes on which our children's +hopes depend, becomes our ideal. As boys in spring-time when the ice +is melting see from a hill-top the swirling flood that overflows the +plain, and know that somewhere underneath the unfamiliar and +tumultuous rapids the main channel runs, from which the floods have +broken, to which in time they must return, so in a generation when +man's life has broken its banks in fury we still believe that the main +course of the divine purpose is not forever lost. To believe that, and +in the strength of it to toil for the ends God seeks, becomes to +awakened spirits the essential soul of goodness. + +When such meanings enter into his ideal, a man runs straight upon the +need of God. For we may make our contribution to the cause of man's +good upon the earth and our children may make theirs, but if this +world is a spiritual Sahara, never meant for character and social +weal, and against the dead set of the desert's power we are building +oases here with our unaided fingers, then the issue of our work stands +in no doubt. The Sahara will pile its burning sands about us and hurl +its blistering winds across us, and we and our works together come to +naught. By as much, then, as a man really cares about democracy and +liberty and social equity, about human brotherhood and Christian +civilization, by so much he needs God, who gathers up the scattered +contributions of his children and builds them into victory. A man +alone may keep the decalogue, but alone he cannot save the world. Who +dreams of that wants power. And Christ has made men dream of that, +believe in that with passionate certainty, until "Thy Kingdom come" is +the daily prayer of multitudes. To no human strength can such prayer +be offered; we are not adequate to an eternal, universal task. Again +Christ has brought us to the need of power, and his people call him +Savior, because the need which he creates he also satisfies. + +In one of the tidal rivers near New York, the building of a bridge was +interrupted by a derelict sunk in the river's bottom. Divers put +chains about the obstacle and all day long the engineer directed the +maneuvering of tugs as they puffed and pulled in vain endeavor to +dislodge the hulk. Then a young student, fresh from the technical +school, asked for the privilege of trying, and from the vexed, +impatient chief obtained his wish. "What will _you_ do it with?" +the engineer enquired. "The flat-boats in which we brought the granite +from Vermont," the young man answered. So when the tide was out, the +flat boats were fastened to the derelict. The Atlantic began to come +in; its mighty shoulders underneath the boats lifted--lifted until the +derelict had to come. The youth had harnessed infinite energy to his +task. To the consciousness of such resource in the spiritual world +Christ has introduced his people. They have meant not formula but +fact, not technicality but experience, when they have called him +Savior. + + +III + +This consciousness of power has come in part from Christ's revelation +of God the Father. Whoever has sinned against his friend or unkindly +wronged a child knows what sin does to personal relationships. How +swift a change comes over a son's thought of his father when the son +has sinned! The wrong may have been done secretly so that his sire +does not know, and the boy alone on earth is conscious of it. But for +all that the filial relationship has lost its glory. Before the sin, +the son was happy with his father near; they were companions, +confidants, and to the boy fatherhood was very beautiful. Now, he is +most unhappy with his father near; the father's eyes like a +detective's pierce him through, the face like a judge's waits sternly +to condemn. He is looking at his father through the dark glasses of +his sin, and they distort his vision. When one considers the gods whom +men have worshiped, approaching them by bloody altar-stairs, offering +their first-born to assuage wrath or win from apathy to favor, he +sees, extended to a racial scale, our boyhood's tragedy. _Mankind has +been looking at the Father through its ignorance and sin and it has +seen him beclouded and awry._ Christ changed all that. By what he +taught, by what he was, by what he suffered he has said to man, so +that man increasingly has believed it--You are wrong about God. He +does not stand aloof--careless or vindictive; he is not as he looks to +you through the twisted lenses of your evil. He loves you. He _cares_ +beyond your power to understand, and all my compassion but reveals in +time what is eternally in him. He is pledged to the victory of +goodness in you and in the world, and you have not used all your power +until you have used his, for that, too, is yours. + +From that day the fight against sin has been a new thing, and men have +gone into it with battle-cries they never used before--"_God_ was +in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (II Cor. 5:19); +"_God_ commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were +yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8); "If _God_ is for us, +who is against us?" (Rom. 8:31). + +This access of power has come in part from Christ's revelation of +_man_. When a jewel is taken from darkness into sunlight, there is a +two-fold revealing. The sunlight is disclosed in new glory, for it +never seemed so beautiful before as it appears breaking in splendor +through the jewel's heart. And there is a revelation of the jewel. +Dull and unillumined in the dark, it is lustrous when the sun +enlightens it. So Christ brought us an unveiling of the Father; the +Divine never had seemed so wonderful as when it poured in glory +through his purity and love. And he brought as well a new revelation +of man. Our human nature, bedimmed by sin and lusterless, he in his +own person took up into the light, and lifting it where all mankind +could see he cried--This _is_ human nature--man as God intended him to +be--no slave of fate and dupe of sin, but a free man and a victor. And +from that day the war on sin has had new spirit in it, and battle +cries that presage triumph have grown familiar on the fighters' lips: +"Now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we +shall be" (I John 3:2); "Till we all attain unto the unity of the +faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, +unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13); +"His precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may +become partakers of the divine nature" (II Pet. 1:4). + + +IV + +Christ's double revelation of God and man, however, has had its vital +impact of power on life in what Christians have always called _the +experience of the Spirit_. When the New Testament speaks its +characteristic word about the Spirit, it means the conscious presence +of the living God in the hearts of men, and that is the very essence +of religion. The first Christians did not know God in one way only; +they knew him in three ways. So one man might know Beethoven the +composer and be an authority upon his works; another might know +Beethoven the performer and delight in his playing; and another might +know Beethoven the man and rejoice in his friendship--but no one could +know the whole of Beethoven until he knew him all three ways. The New +Testament Christians came thus to God. He was the Father, Creator of +all; he was the Character, revealed in Jesus; but as well he was the +Spiritual Presence in their lives, their sustenance and power. "The +grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion +of the Holy Spirit" (II Cor. 13:14)--such was their experience of the +Divine. It was not dogma; it was _life_. God was Creator, Character, +and Comforter. + +Christian experience is in continual danger of drifting from this +vital center. In our age especially, we are prone to find God at the +end of an argument and to leave him there. We have been compelled by +militant agnosticism to put our apologetic armies on the defensive. +Finding it impossible to hold the respect of men's intelligence +without reasonable arguments in the faith's behalf, we have had to +draw such inferences from the nature of the material universe, from +the necessities of human thought, the demands of human conscience, and +the progress of moral evolution in history, that materialism should be +made, what indeed it is, a discredited affair. But God so arrived at, +by way of reason, is an external matter. He is an hypothesis to +explain the universe. "He sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the +inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers before him." Granted the +incalculable value in such faith, putting unity into history and +purpose into life--it is not religion and it never can be. _Religion +begins when the God outwardly argued is inwardly experienced._ +Religion begins when we cease using the tricky and unstable aeroplane +of speculation to seek Him among the clouds, and retreat into the +fertile places of our own spirits where the living water rises, as +Jesus said. God outside of us is a theory; God inside of us becomes a +fact. God outside of us is an hypothesis; God inside of us is an +experience. God the Father is the possibility of salvation; God the +Spirit is actuality of life, joy, peace, and saving power. God the +transcendent may do for philosophy, but he is not enough for religion. + +Without this completion of the Gospel, Christ's saviorhood does not +reach inward to our need. For lacking it, we stand before the Master +with the same admiration that a man who is no painter feels when he +sees a Raphael. He knows the work is sublime, but he is not proposing +to reproduce it. He is conquered by its beauty, but he knows no +possibility of its imitation. If, however, there were a spirit of +Raphael that could lay hold upon a man's life and transform him to the +master's skill and power, then his admiration would become inwardly +effective. _It takes the spirit of Raphael to do Raphael's work._ If +this gospel of an indwelling dynamic is not coupled with our +admiration for Jesus, we are like a student practicing the fingering +of the Hallelujah Chorus on an organ from which the power has been +shut off. With what accuracy his fingers travel the keys, who can +tell? Once Handel's soul, on fire with the passion of harmony, burned +itself into that composition. He wrote it upon his knees. But with +whatever agility the student's fingers follow the notes, no Hallelujah +Chorus comes from his organ to praise God and move men. So the record +of this matchless character handed to us in the gospels, like notes of +music meant to be played again, is but our despair, if we must attempt +its reproduction on a powerless organ. Our admiration for it is +external and ineffectual. We fall thereby into a static religion of +creed; we have no dynamic religion of progress and hope. This then is +the glorious message, where the Christian Gospel reaches its climax, +and which alone puts fullest meaning into Jesus' perfect life: _the +Spirit of God in Jesus made his quality; that same Spirit is +underground in our lives, striving to well up in characters like his, +until we live, yet not we, but Christ lives in us_. + +Any spring day may serve to illustrate this faith. Where does the +restlessness in nature have its source? Every tree, in discontent, +hastens to make buds into leaves, and every blade of grass is +tremulous with impatient life. No tree, however, is a sufficient +explanation of its own haste and dissatisfaction; no flower has in +itself the secrets of its eager growth. The spirit of life is abroad, +and crowding itself everywhere on old, dead forms, is making them +bloom again. Explain then, the moral restlessness of our hearts in +other wise! We do ill, and are distraught with remorse until we repent +and make reparation. We attain money or talents, and are chased day +and night by the urgent call to their spiritual dedication. We conform +ourselves to decency and still hear a call for goodness beyond all +earthly need. We succeed as the world calls it, and we know that it is +failure; we fail as the world sees it, and our hearts sing for joy +because we know that we have succeeded. Everywhere we are confronted +with a pulsing life that longs to get itself expressed in us. We +cannot get away from God. He is not far, he is here. This Spirit, for +whom there is no better name than the Spirit of Jesus, is our +continual companion. We are locked in an enforced fellowship with him. +There is no friend with whom we deal more directly and continually +than with him. Every time we open an inspiring book and devoutly study +it, this Spirit is pleading for entrance. Every time we pray he stands +at the door and knocks. Every time some child in need, or some great +cause demanding sacrifice, lays claim on us, this Spirit is crying to +be let in. Men's hunger for food, their love for family and friends, +are not more direct, concrete, immediate experiences than our dealings +with this Spirit of the Lord. He is not only God the Father; he is +God the Spirit, striving to dwell in us and work through us. + +Into a vital use of this relationship with the Divine, Christ opened +the way and multitudes have followed. He has taught men to find that +same resourcefulness in the spiritual world which science finds in the +physical. Every successful invention of a man like Edison involves a +twofold faith: that there is inexhaustible power in the universe and +that, with persistent patience and cooperation, there is no telling +what marvels yet may come from the employment of it. Faith is +science's flying column. It runs out into engineering, agriculture, +medicine, and refuses to limit the possibilities. Science is a +tremendous believer; it lives by faith that almost anything may yet be +done. Such a relationship Paul sustained with the Spirit. He was +confident of resources there, "exceeding abundantly above all that we +ask or think" (Eph. 3:20). He was a spiritual Edison, a believer in +the divine reality and power and their availability by faith in human +life. + +Only such a Gospel is adequate to man's deepest need. Sin, whether its +forms be decent or obscene, cripples men's wills with the appalling +certainty that they are slaves. As a hypnotist draws imaginary circles +around his victims, across which they cannot step, so Sin, that +Svengali of the soul, whether in personal or social life, paralyzes +its dupes with disbelief in possibilities. To innumerable folk, +emprisoned by their fears and sins, Christ has been the Savior. He has +awakened that faith which, as he said, is the greatest mountain-mover +known to men. They have been "strengthened with power through his +Spirit in the inward man" (Eph. 3:16). + + +V + +When one considers, as we have in these two chapters, what Christ has +meant in the experience of his people, little wonder can remain that +they have called him by such high names as have aroused man's +incredulity. For this Gospel of power has never been separable from +him, as though he were its historic fountain and could easily be +forgotten by those who far down-stream enjoyed the water. His +personality itself has been the inspiration of his people. At Marston +Moor, when the Puritans and Cavaliers were aligned for battle and all +was in readiness for conflict to begin, Oliver Cromwell came riding +across the plain. And the chronicler says that at the sight of him the +Puritans sent up a great victorious shout, as though their battle +already had been won. Some such effect our Lord has had on his +disciples. To explain that effect one would have to speak not so much +of his teaching as of himself--his character and purpose; nor so much +of them as of the Cross where all he taught and was came to a point of +flame that has set the world on fire. Christ was the + + "nerve o'er which do creep + The else unfelt oppressions of the earth." + +He suffered with man and for man, he uniquely embodied in his own +experience the universal law that the consequences of sin fall in part +on the one who loves the sinner and tries to save him; and in that +sacrifice his work for man was consummated, and his influence over man +confirmed. When his people have bowed before him in unutterable +devotion they have been thinking not only of what he has done for +them, but of what it cost him to do it. + +Why, therefore, should we wonder that his disciples at their best have +called Jesus divine? His first followers began with no abstract ideas +of deity; they began with "the man, Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5). They +had no idea at the first that he was more. His bodily and mental life +had obeyed the laws of normal human development, advancing "in wisdom +and stature, and in favor with God and men" (Luke 2:52). He hungered +after his temptation, thirsted on the Cross, slept from weariness +while the boat tossed in a storm, and exhausted, sat beside the well. +Like other men he had elevated hours of great rejoicing; times when +compassion moved him to tears, as when he saw a multitude unshepherded +or, swinging round the brow of Olivet, beheld Jerusalem; and hours of +hot indignation, too, as when he found his Father's house a den of +thieves or spoke out his heart against the Pharisees. He asked +questions, and was astonished, now at the people's lack of faith, +again at the centurion's excess of it. His fellowship with God was +nourished by secret prayer, his power replenished by retreat to quiet +places for communion, and all his life was lived, his temptations +faced, his troubles borne, and his work done in a spirit of humble, +filial dependence on his Father. + +Thus real and human, a sharer in their limitations, their sorrows, and +their moral trials, the first disciples saw the Master. But ever as +they lived with him, whether in physical presence or in spiritual +fellowship, he wrought in them a Savior's work. He became to them +manhood indeed, but manhood plus. He grew in their apprehension, as +though a boy had thought an ocean's inlet were a lake enclosed, and +now discovers that it is the sea itself, and all its tides the pulse +of the great deep. How should they name this greatness in their Lord? +They were not utterly without a clue, for he himself had introduced +them to the life divine. They had learned through him to say about +themselves that they were temples in which God dwelt (II Cor. 6:16), +that God abode in them (I John 4:12), that he stood ever waiting to +come in (Rev. 3:20), and that the possession of the divine nature was +the Gospel's promise (II Pet. 1:4). By what other element in their +experience could they interpret the greatness of their Lord? It might +be inadequate, but it was the best they had. They rose to understand +the divine life in him from the experience of the divine life in +themselves. "God was in Christ," they said. They never dreamed of +claiming equality with him. Like pools beside the sea, they understood +the ocean's quality from their own. There are not two kinds of +sea-water; nor, with one God, can there be two kinds of divine life. +But so understanding the sea, shall the pool claim equality with it? +Rather, the sea has deeps, tides, currents, and relationships with the +world's life that no pool can ever know. So Christ was at once their +brother and their Lord. He was real, because they interpreted his life +divine from the foregleams of God's presence in themselves. He was +adorable, because he was an ocean to their landlocked pools, and they +waited for his tides. + +Only by some such road as these first disciples trod can men come to a +vital understanding of the Lord. Nothing but _experience_ can give us +a living estimate of anything; without that theory is vain. Let a man +live with the Master's manhood until it grows luminous and through it +he sees the character of God; let a man avail himself of the Master's +saviorhood until forgiven and empowered he finds the "life that is +life indeed"; let a man grow in the experience of God's presence until +he knows not only the God without but the God within; and then if he +rises to estimate his Lord, he will not hesitate to see in Jesus the +incarnate presence of the living God. After that, theology may help or +hinder him, according as it is wise and vital or cold and formal; but +with theology or not, he knows the heart of the New Testament's +attitude toward Jesus. He understands why the first Christians summed +up their faith as "believing in the Lord Jesus Christ." + +[8] Moffatt's translation. + +[9] Moffatt's translation. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Fellowship of Faith + + +DAILY READINGS + +Our thought turns, in our closing week of study, from believers taken +one by one, to believers gathered in fellowship. This community of +faith has wider boundaries than the organized churches; in a real +sense it includes all servants of man's ideal aims; yet in the Church +we naturally seek the chief meanings of fellowship for faith. Why men +do not go to church, is often asked. But why men do go, so that in +spite of countless failures in the churches, attendance on public +worship and loyalty to organized religion are among mankind's most +usual habits, is an inquiry far more important. To that inquiry let us +in the daily readings turn our thought. + + +Twelfth Week, First Day + + =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.= + + =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....= + + =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!--Matt. 23:13-15; 23, 24.= + +Jesus' indictment of the Jewish Church is terrific, and yet no one who +knows the story of the Christian churches can doubt that they often +have deserved the same condemnation. They have at times committed all +the sins that can be laid at any institution's door; they have been +selfish, formal, worldly, cruel. A wonder-story from the Arctic says +that once the candle-flames froze and the explorers broke them off and +wore them for watch charms; the flames of the great fire congealed and +were wound like golden ornaments around men's necks. So repeatedly the +burning words of Scripture, the blazing affirmations of old creeds, on +fire at first with the passion of souls possessed by God, have been +frozen in the churches' Arctic climate, and handed to men like +talismans and amulets, with no saving warmth or light. Creeds, +rituals, organizations--how often these frozen forms of life have +taken the place of inward spiritual power! Dr. Washington Gladden +would not be alone in saying: "While therefore I had as large an +experience of church-going in my boyhood as most boys can recall, I +cannot lay my hand on my heart and say that the church-going helped me +to solve my religious problems. In fact, it made those problems more +and more tangled and troublesome." And yet the Church goes on. +Voltaire prophesied its collapse in fifty years, and in fifty years +the house where he made the prophecy was a depot for the circulation +of the Scriptures. The Church's persistence, continual adaptation to +new conditions, and apparently endless power of revival must have some +deep reason. It may be because prayer like this which follows has +never utterly died out in the sanctuary. + + _O Thou that dwellest not in temples made with hands! We ever stand + within the courts of Thy glorious presence, only we open now the + gates of our poor praise. Thou hast enriched this day of rest, O + Lord, with Thy choicest gifts of peace; and lo! Thou unforgetting + God, its record is before Thee, for ages past, moistened with + penitential tears, and illumined with glad hopes, and hallowed by the + innumerable prayers of faithful and saintly men. In this our day may + the churches of Thy Holy One seek Thee still in spirit and truth; may + we also enter in and find our rest, being of one heart and mind, and + serving Thee with a wakeful and humble joy. Teach us now how we may + converse with Thee, for we cannot order our speech by reason of + darkness. We are naked and without disguise before Thee; oh! hide not + Thyself from us behind our ignorance and sin. May we at least in + this Thine hour shake off the sluggish clouds of sense and self that + cling around our souls; and strenuously open our whole nature to the + breath of Thy free spirit, and the healthful sunshine of Thy grace. + Let the divine image of the Son of God visit us with power; driving + out, with the chastisement of penitence, all obtruding passions that + profane the temple of our hearts, and turn into a place of traffic + that native house of prayer. O God of glory, God of grace! let not + the things which are spiritually discerned be foolishness unto us + through the blindness of our conscience: Thou knowest the thoughts of + our wisdom that they are vain; take them from us, and bid them vanish + away, lost in that wisdom from above which is revealed only to the + pure in heart. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thee be + every thought of praise! Amen._--James Martineau. + + +Twelfth Week, Second Day + +Some men doubtless go to church from traditional habit only, but such +a motive obviously is not adequate to explain why the recurrent tides +of humanity, even after an ebb in interest, sweep back to the Church +again. In the eighteenth century, for example, Butler reports the +common opinion that all that remained for Christianity was decent +obsequies. But in a few years the Wesleys began a movement that +changed the spiritual complexion of the English-speaking world, and +swept multitudes into Christian fellowship. One reason for this +repeated fact is clear. Mankind cannot and will not consent to live +without faith in God, and faith in God in its genesis and its +sustenance is largely a matter of contagion. We are not so much taught +it; we catch it. It is vitally imparted in the family circle, and +wherever kindred and believing spirits gather. No man is so +independent as to escape the vital fact that his noblest emotions, +attitudes, ideals, and faiths are socially engendered and socially +sustained; he never would have had them in a solitary life and a +solitary life would soon spoil those which he has now. A man may +believe in his country and love her; but let him join in a patriotic +movement or even attend a high-spirited patriotic meeting, and he will +believe in her and love her more ardently. Man's religious life is not +lawless; it is regulated by the same necessities of fellowship. The +Church has made many mistakes, but on her altar the fire has never +utterly gone out, and in her fellowship the faith of multitudes has +been kindled. + + =Let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for + he is faithful that promised: and let us consider one another to + provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling + together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so + much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.--Heb. 10:23-25.= + + _Great is Thy name, O God, and greatly to be praised. In Thee all our + discordant notes rise into perfect harmony. It is good for us to + think of the wonder of Thy being. Thou art silent, yet most strong; + unchangeable, yet ever changing; ever working, yet ever at rest, + supporting, nourishing, maturing all things. O Thou Eternal Spirit, + who hast set our noisy years in the heart of Thy eternity, lift us + above the power and evils of the passing time, that under the shadow + of Thy wings we may take courage and be glad. So great art Thou, + beyond our utmost imagining, that we could not speak to Thee didst + Thou not first draw near to us and say, "Seek ye my face." Unto Thee + our hearts would make reply, "Thy face, Lord, will we seek."... We + thank Thee for our birth into a Christian community, for the Church + and the Sacraments of Thy grace, for the healing day of rest, when we + enter with Thy people into Thy House and there make holy-day; for the + refreshment of soul, the joys of communion, the spiritual discipline, + the inspiration of prayer and hymn and sermon.... We praise Thee for + the myriad influences of good, conscious and unconscious, that have + been about us, deeply penetrating our inner life, shaping and fitting + us for Thy Kingdom. Thou hast indeed forgiven all our iniquities, and + healed all our diseases, and redeemed our life from destruction, and + crowned us with loving-kindness. Therefore would we call upon our + souls, and all that is within us, to bless Thy holy Name. + Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Twelfth Week, Third Day + + =For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom + for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to + another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: + Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour + one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.--Gal. + 5:13-15.= + +One fundamental reason for the endless revival of the Church is that +faith never is satisfied until it issues in work. It insists on our +being "servants one to another." We have spoken of God's merciful +acceptance of a man when out of sin he turns his life by faith toward +Christ; but to interpret this as meaning the adequacy of faith without +effective service is to misread Scripture and to demoralize life. +Faith that does not lead to service is no real faith at all. But +whenever men endeavor to express in work any faith which they may hold +they must come together. Service involves cooperation. A hermit may +have faith, but his faith does not concern any ideal hopes on earth; +it has no outlooks save upon his own soul's condition in the world to +come; it is a narrow, selfish, inoperative thing. As soon as men are +grasped by some moving faith about what ought to be done for God's +service and man's welfare here and now, a hermit's solitude or any +sort of unaffiliated life becomes impossible. They must combine in a +fellowship of faith and of labor to seek common ends. They begin to +say with Edward Rowland Sill, "For my part I long to 'fall in' with +somebody. This picket duty is monotonous. I hanker after a shoulder on +this side and the other." And to fall in with others to serve +Christian ends means some kind of church. Let us pray today for a +church more fit to express this passion to serve. + + _God, we pray for Thy Church, which is set today amid the + perplexities of a changing order, and face to face with a great new + task. We remember with love the nurture she gave to our spiritual + life in its infancy, the tasks she set for our growing strength, the + influence of the devoted hearts she gathers, the steadfast power for + good she has exerted. When we compare her with all other human + institutions, we rejoice, for there is none like her. But when we + judge her by the mind of her Master, we bow in pity and contrition. + Oh, baptize her afresh in the life-giving spirit of Jesus! Grant her + a new birth, though it be with the travail of repentance and + humiliation. Bestow upon her a more imperious responsiveness to duty, + a swifter compassion with suffering, and an utter loyalty to the + will of God. Put upon her lips the ancient Gospel of her Lord. Help + her to proclaim boldly the coming of the Kingdom of God and the doom + of all that resist it. Fill her with the prophet's scorn of tyranny, + and with a Christ-like tenderness for the heavy-laden and + down-trodden. Give her faith to espouse the cause of the people, and + in their hands that grope after freedom and light to recognize the + bleeding hands of the Christ. Bid her cease from seeking her own + life, lest she lose it. Make her valiant to give up her life to + humanity, that like her crucified Lord she may mount by the path of + the cross to a higher glory. Amen._--Walter Rauschenbusch. + + +Twelfth Week, Fourth Day + + =For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put + to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the + same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him: + for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. + How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and + how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall + they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they + be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them + that bring glad tidings of good things!--Rom. 10:11-15.= + +The necessity of affiliation for effective faith is clear when one +considers the missionary enterprise. One of the noblest qualities in +human life is our natural desire to share our blessings. Every normal +child is happier when some other child is joining in the play; every +lover of music is gladdened by sharing with a friend enjoyment of a +favorite symphony; save in singularly churlish folk the love of having +others partake our joys is spontaneous and hearty. To those whom +Christian faith, has blessed with hope and power, the undeniable +impulse comes to share these finest benedictions with all other men. +The missionary enterprise does not rest upon a text; it wells up from +one of the worthiest impulses in man's life. One may be fairly sure, +that save as some perverted theology inhibits a spirit of love, a +man's missionary interest will be proportionate to the reality and +value of his own experience. If he himself has something well worth +sharing, he will want to share it. But the missionary enterprise is +more than any individual can compass; it demands organization, +cooperation, and massed resources; it cannot be prosecuted without a +church. The further our thought proceeds the more clear it becomes +that the question is not, shall we have churches? but rather, since +churches are inevitable, of what sort shall they be? + + _O Thou who hast made all nations of men to seek Thee and to find + Thee; bless, we beseech Thee, Thy sons and daughters who have gone + forth, into distant lands, bearing in their hands Thy Word of Life. + We rejoice that, touched with the enthusiasm of Christ, so many have + consecrated their lives to proclaiming the message of Thy love to + those other sheep of Thine who are not of our fold, that they may be + united with us and that there may be one flock and one Shepherd. Help + Thy ministering servants to recognize the fragments of truth and + goodness that are ever found where men are sincere and to claim these + glimpses of Thyself as the prophecies of a fuller revelation. When + discouraged by the hardness of their task, and the meager fruit of + all their labor, give them faith to see the far-off whitening + harvest. Inspire them with Thy gracious promise that though the sower + may go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, he will come again with + joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Comfort them in their exile and + loneliness with a sense of Thy companionship and with the prayers and + sympathy of their brethren at home. Through them let Thy Word have + free course and be glorified. And so let Thy Kingdom come, and Thy + Will be done on earth as in Heaven, for Jesus Christ's sake. + Amen._--Samuel McComb. + + +Twelfth Week, Fifth Day + + =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. For if ye forgive + men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But + if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father + forgive your trespasses.--Matt. 6:9-15.= + +The central ideal of Christian effort is set for us in the first +petition of the Master's prayer. But a Kingdom on earth, with God's +will done here in heavenly fashion, is a social idea. It means not +only right personal quality; it means right family life, and economic, +political, and international relationships Christianized. No amount of +fine individual character, necessary as it is, will of itself rectify +the social maladjustments and inequities. Were everyone as good as +possible, we still should need organized action. All parts of an +engine may be correct, and yet they may be wrongly fitted together. As +it is, social relations obviously demand concerted action; we must +join together to combat immoral industrial conditions, to throttle the +liquor traffic, to make human fraternity a fact and not a dream. The +opposition to all such reforms is organized, and no haphazard attack +will succeed. Now, many organizations may arise to serve special ends +and may do excellent service to the cause, but what has proved true in +the conflict with the liquor traffic, is true also of enterprises for +industrial justice and international cooperation--_only when the +churches see the moral issue and put their power in, is there any hope +of victory_. A Christian whose faith involves the Kingdom sees +plainly that he cannot go on without the Church. + + _O Lord, we praise Thy holy name, for Thou hast made bare Thine arm + in the sight of all nations and done wonders. But still we cry to + Thee in the weary struggle of our people against the power of drink. + Remember, Lord, the strong men who were led astray and blighted in + the flower of their youth. Remember the aged who have brought their + gray hairs to a dishonored grave. Remember the homes that have been + made desolate of joy, the wifely love that has been outraged in its + sanctuary, the little children who have learned to despise where once + they loved. Remember, O Thou great avenger of sin, and make this + nation to remember._ + + _May those who now entrap the feet of the weak and make their living + by the degradation of men, thrust away their shameful gains and stand + clear. But if their conscience is silenced by profit, do Thou grant + Thy people the indomitable strength of faith to make an end of it. + May all the great churches of our land shake off those who seek the + shelter of religion for that which damns, and stand with level front + against their common foe. May all who still soothe their souls with + half-truths, saying "Peace, peace," where there can be no peace, + learn to see through Thy stem eyes and come to the help of Jehovah + against the mighty. Help us to cast down the men in high places who + use the people's powers to beat back the people's hands from the + wrong they fain would crush._ + + _O God, bring nigh the day when all our men shall face their daily + task with minds undrugged and with tempered passions; when the + unseemly mirth of drink shall seem a shame to all who hear and see; + when the trade that debauches men shall be loathed like the trade + that debauches women; and when all this black remnant of savagery + shall haunt the memory of a new generation but as an evil dream of + the night. For this accept our vows, O Lord, and grant Thine aid. + Amen._--Walter Rauschenbusch. + + +Twelfth Week, Sixth Day + + =Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on + me through their word; that they may all be one; even as thou, + Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that + the world may believe that thou didst send me. And the glory which + thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even + as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected + into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and + lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me.--John 17:20-23.= + +To the Christian the Church is a problem, just because she is a +necessity. He caught his faith from the contagion of her fellowship +and he sees that if he is to serve effectively the ideals of Christ +and the coming of the Kingdom he must work through some church. But +because the Church is necessary, he is not thereby made content with +her. She is at once helping and hindering the spread of the faith; she +is the source of immeasurable good and yet she is not "one, that the +world may believe." A traveler across the American plains in +springtime sees fences, tiresomely prominent, staring at him from the +landscape; but in summer when he returns the fences are invisible. The +wheat and corn are growing, the earth is bearing fruit, and while the +old divisions may be there, they all are hidden. One suspects that if +Christians everywhere set themselves with hearty zeal to bear the +fruit of service for the common weal, if they gave themselves to +achieve the aims of Christ for men with ardor and thoroughness, the +sectarian divisions would grow unimperative and disappear. We may not +be able to think the disagreements through, but we may be able to work +them out; even where we cannot recite a common creed, we can share a +common purpose. The War, where Jewish rabbis have held crucifixes +before the eyes of dying soldiers, and where Catholic priests have met +death, as one did at Gallipoli, following a Wesleyan chaplain--"my +Protestant comrade"--into danger, has revealed how deeply underneath +our sharp divisions our spiritual loyalties seek unity when crisis +comes. For all the unity that can come without compromise to +conscience, surely the Christian people are bound to pray and work. + + _O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the + Prince of Peace; give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great + dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and + prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly union and + concord; that as there is but one body and one Spirit, and one hope + of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father + of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in + one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with + one mind and one mouth glorify Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. + Amen._--"The Book of Common Prayer." + + +Twelfth Week, Seventh Day + + =For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is + come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I + have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of + righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me + at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved + his appearing.--II Tim. 4:6-8.= + +The fellowship of faith is not bounded by the earth. Paul's +expectation took into its account a communion that far overreached +the confines of temporal experience. The New Testament believers not +only held but vividly apprehended that the "whole family" to which +they belonged in Christian communion was "in heaven and on earth." +Their outlook Wordsworth has expressed in modern words: + + "There is + One great society alone on earth: + The noble Living and the noble Dead." + +To that society of the world's prophets and martyrs, seers and +servants, it may well be a man's ambition to belong. And that ideal is +not impossible to anyone, for the mark and seal of their fellowship is +that they have "kept the faith." When others despaired, lost heart, +and deserted causes on which man's welfare hung, they kept the faith. +When mysteries perplexed their minds and discouragement, to human +vision, was more rational than hope, they turned from sight to insight +and they kept the faith. When new knowledge, half-understood, +disturbed old forms of thought and multitudes were confused in +uncertainty and disbelief, they kept the faith. And they often came to +their end, like Paul, having "suffered the loss of all things"--yet +not all, for they had kept the faith. + + "For all the saints, who from their labors rest, + Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, + Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest, + Alleluia! + + O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, + Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old, + And win with them the victor's crown of gold, + Alleluia! + + O blest communion, fellowship Divine! + We feebly struggle; they in glory shine; + Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. + Alleluia!" + + _O God, Thou only Refuge of Thy children! who remainest true though + all else should fail, and livest though all things die; cover us now + when we fly to Thee. Thy shelter was around our fathers. Thy voice + called them away, and bids us seek Thee here till we depart to be + with them. In Thy memory are the lives of all men from of old. Before + Thy sight are the secret hearts of all the living. We stand in awe of + Thy justice which, since the ages began, hath never changed: and we + cling to Thy mercy that passeth not away._ + + _Almighty Father, Thou art a God afar off as well as nigh at hand. + Thou who in times past didst pity the prayers of our forerunners, and + especially of that suffering servant of Thine whom Thou hast made our + Leader unto Thee! be pleased to strengthen us now, O Lord, to bear + our lighter cross and surrender ourselves for duty and for trial unto + Thee. Show us something of the blessed peace with which they now look + back on their days of strong crying and tears, and teach us that it + is far better to die in Thy service than to live for our own. Rebuke + within us all immoderate desires, all unquiet temper, all + presumptuous expectations, all ignoble self-indulgence, and feeling + on us the embrace of Thy Fatherly hand, may we meekly and with + courage go into the darkest ways of our pilgrimage, anxious not to + change Thy perfect will, but only to do and bear it worthily. May we + spend all our days in Thy presence, and meet our death in the + strength of Thy grace, and pass thence into the nearer light of Thy + knowledge and love. Amen._--John Hunter. + + +COMMENT FOR THE WEEK + +I + +So far in our studies we have been dealing with the individual +believer in his search for a reasonable faith. But we must face at +last what from the beginning has been true, that there is no such +thing as an individual believer. _All faiths are social._ However +little we may be aware of each other's influence, however intangible +the social forces which shape the convictions by which we live, no man +builds or keeps his faiths alone. We may pride ourselves on our +independent thought, but the fact remains as Prof. William James has +stated it: "Our faith is faith in some one else's faith, and in the +greatest matters this is most the case." + +The realm of religious conviction is not the only place where we hold +with a strong sense of personal possession what has been given us by +others, and often forget to acknowledge our indebtedness. We believe +in democracy and popular education, not because by some gift of +individual genius we are wiser than our unbelieving sires, but +because, in the advance of the race, that faith has been wrought out +by many minds, and, with minute addition of our own thought, we share +the general conviction. As a man considers how rich and varied are the +faiths he holds, how few of them he ever has thought through or ever +can, and how helpless he would be, if he were set from the beginning +to create any one of them, he gains new insight into Paul's words, +"What hast thou that thou didst not receive? but if thou didst receive +it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?" (I Cor. +4:7). + +Indeed, this same truth holds in every relationship. Nothing is more +impossible than a "self-made man." In no realm can that common phrase +be intelligently applied to anyone. If in business one has risen from +poverty to wealth, he has used railroads that he did not invent and +telephones that he does not even understand; he has built his business +on a credit system for which he did not labor and whose moral basis +has been laid in the ethical struggles of unnumbered generations. For +the clothes he wears, the food he eats, the education he receives, he +is debtor to a social life that taps the ends of the earth and that +has cost blood not his and money which he never can repay. If granting +this, a man still say, "My power and the might of my hand hath gotten +me this wealth" (Deut. 8:17), he may well consider whence his power +has come. His distant ancestors stalked through primeval forests, +their brows sloped back, their hairy hides barren of clothes, and in +their hands stone hatchets, by the aid of which they sought their +food. What has this Twentieth Century boaster done to change the +habits of the Stone Age to the civilization on which his wealth is +based or to elevate man's intellect to the grasp and foresight of the +modern business world? All the power by which he wins his way is +clearly a social gift, and any contribution which he may add is +infinitesimal compared with his receipts. + +By this truth all declarations of individual independence need to be +chastened and controlled and all boasting cancelled utterly. Normal +minds have their times of self-assertion in religion, when they grow +impatient of believing anything simply because they have been told. As +a college Junior put it: "I must clear the universe of God, and then +start in at the beginning to see what I can find." But to assert a +reasonable independence ought not to mean that one cut himself off +from the support of history, the accumulated experience of the race, +the insight of the seers, and in unassisted isolation walk, like +Kipling's cat, "by his wild lone." No man can do that anywhere and +still succeed. Imagine a man, in politics, dubious of his old +affiliations and disturbed by the conflicting opinions of his day. If, +so perplexed, he should throw over all that ever had been thought or +done in civic life, and in an unaided individual adventure attempt out +of his own mind to constitute a state, in what utter confusion would +he land! No mind can begin work as though it were the first mind that +ever acted, or were the only mind in action now. All effective +thinking is social; contributions from innumerable heads pour in to +make a wise man's knowledge. And to suppose that any man can climb the +steep ascent of heaven all alone and lay his hands comprehensively on +the Eternal is preposterous. No one ever apprehended a science so, +much less God! Even Jesus fed his soul on the prophets of his race. + + +II + +Indeed, Jesus' attitude toward the fellowship of faith is most +revealing, seen against the background of his nation's history. In the +beginning, there was in Israel no such thing as individual religion. +In the earliest strata of the Bible's revelation, we find no +indication of a faith that brought God and each of his people into +intimate relationships. Jehovah was the God of the nation as a whole +and not of the people one by one. When he spoke, he spoke to the +community through a leader; "Speak thou with us and we will hear," the +people cried to Moses, "but let not God speak with us lest we die" +(Exodus 20:19). It was at the time of the Exile, when the nation fell +in ruins, and the hearts of faithful Jews were thrown back one by one +on God that individual trust, peace, joy, and confidence found +utterance. It was Jeremiah (Chap. 31) and Ezekiel (Chap. 18) who saw +men individually responsible to God, and who opened the way for loyal +Jews to be his people even when the nation was no more. And what they +began Jesus completed. He lifted up the individual and made each man +the object of the Father's care. "It is not the will of your Father +... that _one_ of these little ones should perish" (Matt 18:14). "What +man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost _one_ of them ..." +(Luke 15:4). "The very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matt. +10:30). As for religion's inner meaning, it became in Jesus' Gospel +not a national ritual but a private faith: "But thou, when thou +prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, +pray to thy Father who is in secret" (Matt. 6:6). + +While Jesus, however, so emphasized the inward, individual aspects of +religion, he did not leave it there, as though persons could ever be +like jugs in the rain, separate receptacles that share neither their +emptiness nor their abundance. He bound his disciples into a +fellowship. He joined their channels until, like interflowing streams, +one contributed to all and the spirit of all was expressed in each. He +braided them into friendship with himself and with each other, so +close that the community did what no isolated believer ever could have +done--it survived the shock of the crucifixion, the agony of sustained +persecution, the frailties of its members, and the discouragements of +its campaign. On that _group_ the Master counted for his work: "The +gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). And when +the New Testament Church emerged, the fellowship which Christ himself +had breathed into it was clear and strong. Men who became Christians, +in the New Testament, came into a new relationship with God indeed, +but into a new human fraternity as well. They were "builded together +for a habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:22), and even when +death came that fellowship was not destroyed. They were still "the +whole family in heaven and on earth" (Eph. 3:15). John Wesley was +right: "The Bible knows nothing of a solitary religion." In the Old +Testament religion was predominantly national; in the New Testament, +individuals rejoicing in the "Beloved Community" could not describe +their life without the reiteration of "one another." They were to +"pray one for another" and "confess sins one to another" (James 5:16); +they were to "love one another" (I Pet 1:22), "exhort one another" +(Heb. 3:13), "comfort one another" (I Thess. 4:18); they were to "bear +one another's burdens" (Gal. 6:2) and in communal worship "admonish +one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Col. 3:16). + +So when they thought of their faith, they never held it in solitary +confidence; they were "strong to apprehend _with all the saints_ +what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the +love of Christ which passeth knowledge" (Eph. 3:18). + + +III + +When a modern believer endeavors to interpret this spirit in the New +Testament in terms of his own wants, he sees at once that he needs +fellowship for the _enriching_ of his faith. Cooperation for +achievement is a modern commonplace, but when Paul prayed, as we have +quoted him, that the Ephesians might be "strong to _apprehend_ +with all the saints," he was stating the more uncommon proposition +that men must cooperate for knowledge. He saw the divine love in its +length, breadth, depth, and height on one side, and on the other a +solitary man endeavoring to understand it. Impossible! said Paul; the +divine love in its fulness cannot be known in solitude, it must be +apprehended in fellowship. + +At first nothing seems more strictly individual than knowledge. To +know is an intimate, personal affair; it cannot be carried on by +proxy. But even casual thought at once makes clear that in solitude we +cannot know even the physical universe. No man can go apart and +through the narrow aperture of his own mind see the full round of +truth. For astronomers study the stars, geologists the rocks, chemists +know their special field and physicists know theirs; each scientist +understands in part, and if one is to know the breadth and length and +height and depth of the physical world he must be strong to apprehend +with all the scientists. + +In religion this necessity of cooperation in knowing God may not at +first seem evident. In the secret session behind closed doors, as +Jesus said, one finds his clearest thought of God, and in the +individual heart the divine illumination comes. So some insist; and +the answer does not deny, but surpasses the truth in the insistence. +_Is yours the only heart where God is to be found? Does the sea of his +grace exhaust itself in what it can reveal in your bay?_ Rather, in +how many different ways men come to God, how various their +experiences of him, and how much each needs the rest for breadth and +catholicity of view! + +One man comes to God by way of intellectual perplexity and he knows +chiefly faith's illumination of life's puzzling problems; another +comes through the experience of sin and he responds to such a phrase +as "God our Saviour" (I Tim. 1:1); another comes to God through +trouble and has found in faith "eternal comfort and good hope through +grace" (II Thess. 2:16); and another by way of a happy life has found +in God the object of devoted gratitude. One, a mystic, finds God in +solitary prayer; another, a worker, knows him chiefly as the Divine +Ally. Some are very young and have a child's religion; some are at the +summit of their years and have a strong man's achieving faith; and +some are old and are familiar with the face of death and the thought +of the eternal. How multiform is man's experience of God! Some +compositions cannot be interpreted by a solo. Let the first violinist +play with what skill he can, he alone is not adequate to the endeavor. +There must be an orchestra; the oboes and viols, the drums and +trumpets, the violins and cellos must all be there. So faith in God is +too rich and manifold to be interpreted by individuals alone; a +fellowship is necessary. Even Paul, in one of his most gloriously +mixed-up and yet revealing sentences, prays for fellowship that his +faith may be enriched: "I long to see you, that I may impart unto you +some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I +with you may be comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, +both yours and mine" (Rom. 1:11, 12). + +Poverty of faith, therefore, is not due only to individual lapses of +character and perplexities of mind; _it is due to neglect of Christian +fellowship_. One who with difficulty has clung to his slender +experience of God, goes up to the church on Sunday. Even though it be +a humble place of prayer, if the worship is genuine, the hymns, the +prayers, the Scriptures gather up the testimony of centuries to the +reality of God. Here David speaks again and Isaiah answers; here Paul +reaffirms his faith and John is confident that God is love. Here the +saints before Christ cry, "Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my +deliverer" (Psalm 18:2), and the sixteenth century answers, "A mighty +fortress is our God"; and the nineteenth century replies, "How firm a +foundation, ye saints of the Lord!" We go up to the church finding it +hard to sing, "_My_ Jesus, _I_ love thee, _I_ know thou art _mine_"; +we go down with a _Te Deum_ in our hearts: + + "The glorious company of the apostles praise thee; + The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee; + The noble army of martyrs praise thee; + The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee." + +In the rich and varied faiths of the Church we find a far more +fruitful relationship with God than by ourselves we ever could have +gained. Without such an enriching experience men can only with +difficulty keep faith alive. Twigs that snap out of the camp-fire lose +their flame and fall, charred sticks; but put them back and they will +burn again, for fire springs from fellowship. Amiel, after an evening +of solitude with a favorite book on philosophy, wrote what is many a +Christian's prayer: "Still I miss something--common worship, a +positive religion, shared with other people. Ah! when will the church +to which I belong in heart rise into being? I cannot, like Scherer, +content myself with being in the right all alone. I must have a less +solitary Christianity." + + +IV + +Men need fellowship, not only for the enrichment of their faith, but +for its _stability_. No man can successfully believe anything all +alone. Let an opinion in any realm be denied, despised, neglected by +common consent of men, and not easily do we hold an unshaken +conviction of its truth. But let it be agreed with, supported and +endorsed by many, especially by men of insight, and with each +additional testimony to its truth our faith grows confident. A +fundamental experience of man is that his faiths are socially +confirmed. + +Authority of some sort, therefore, never is outgrown in any province +of knowledge, and strugglers after faith have solid right to the +sustenance which it can give. For one thing the authority of the +_expert_ is acknowledged everywhere. When a great astronomer speaks +about the stars, most of us put our hands upon our mouths and humble +ourselves to listen. If in science, expert knowledge has this +authority--not artificial, infallible, and externally enforced, but +vital, serviceable, and real--how much more in realms where insight +and spiritual quality are indispensable! Such authority comes in the +spirit of Paul: "Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are +helpers of your joy" (II Cor. 1:24). + +An amateur stands before a picture like Turner's "The Building of +Carthage" and either does not notice the details, or noticing sees no +special meaning there. But when Ruskin, Turner's seer, begins to +speak--how wonderful the children in the foreground sailing toy boats +in a pool, prophecy of Carthage's future greatness on the sea!--one by +one the details take fire and glow with meaning as our eyes are +opened. Such is the service of a real authority. It does not, as +Weigel says, put out a person's eye and then try to persuade him to +see with some one else's. It rather cures our blindness and enables us +to see what by ourselves we were incapable of seeing. Christ +supremely, when allowed to be himself, has helped men thus. He has not +oppressed the mind with burdensome authority, denying us our right to +think. He has come appealing to our little insight with his own clear +vision, "Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?" (Luke +12:57). Things which we see dimly he has clarified; things which we +did not see at all, he has made manifest. He has been what he called +himself, the Light, and his people have said of him what the man in +John's ninth chapter said, "He opened mine eyes" (John 9:30). A +struggler after faith may well count among his assets the insight of +the seers and of the Seer. As another states it: "Our weak faith may +at times be permitted to look through the eyes of some strong soul, +and may thereby gain a sense of the certainty of spiritual things +which before we had not." + +Beside the authority of the seers, there is _the authority of racial +experience_, to which indeed no mind ought slavishly to subject +itself, but from which all minds ought to gain insight and confidence. +Tradition has done us much disservice. Oppressions that might long +before have been outgrown have been counted holy because they were +hoary. There must be something to commend an opinion or a custom +beside its age, and all progress depends upon recognizing that + + "Time makes ancient good uncouth." + +But if out of the past have come evils to be overthrown, out of the +past also have come the best possessions of the race. "Traditional" +has grown to be an adjective of ill repute; it signifies in common +parlance the inheritance of oppressive ideals and institutions that +hold the "dead hand" over hopes of progress. But our best music also, +our poetry, and our art are traditional; the discoveries of our +scientists on the long road from alchemy to chemistry, from magic to +physics are traditional; all that each new generation begins with, +fitted out like the well-favored child of a provident father, is +traditional. No one can describe the utter barrenness of life, if we +could not build on the accumulations of our sires, using the result of +their toil as the basis of our work, their hardly won wisdom as our +guide. To discount anything because it is traditional is to discount +everything, except that comparatively minute addition which each new +generation makes to the slowly accumulating wisdom and wealth of the +race. As Mr. Chesterton has put it: "Tradition may be defined as the +extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most +obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the +dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy +of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object +to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects +to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells +us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom; +tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is +our father." + +Now racial experience is dubious at many points and at very few does +it approach finality. But on one matter it speaks with a unanimity +that is nothing short of absolute. _Man cannot live without +religion_--like the earth beneath the mountain peaks this universal +experience of the race underlies the special insights of the seers. +When during the mid-Victorian discomfiture of faith at the first +disclosures of the new science, Tennyson's "In Memoriam" appeared, +Prof. Sidgwick wrote of it, "What 'In Memoriam' did for us, for me at +least in this struggle, was to impress on us the ineffable and +irradicable conviction that _humanity_ will not and cannot acquiesce +in a godless world." That conviction is confirmed by the whole +experience of the race. To be sure religion, like love, exists in all +degrees. From degraded lust to the relationship of Robert Browning and +Elizabeth Barrett, love is infinite in variety; it takes its quality +from the character of those whom it affects; yet through all its +changes it is itself so built into the structure of mankind, that +though there be loveless individuals, life as a whole is unimaginable +without it. So religion runs the gamut of human quality. In a Hindu +idolater it performs disgusting rites to placate an angry god, and in +Rabindranath Tagore it cries: "If thou speakest not I will fill my +heart with thy silence and endure it. I will keep still and wait like +the night with starry vigil and its head bent low with patience. The +morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish, and thy voice pour +down in golden streams, breaking through the sky." In Torquemada it is +cruel; in Father Damien it becomes a passion for saviorhood. Religion +helped Sennacherib to his campaigns and Isaiah to his prophecies; it +preached the Sermon on the Mount and it dragged Jesus before Pilate. +Can the same spring send forth sweet water and bitter? But religion +does it, for religion is life motived by visions of God; it is +tremendous in strength, but with man's unequal power to understand the +Divine, it is ambiguous in quality. Like electricity, it is +magnificent in blessing or terrible in curse. Yet through all its +degrees man's relationship with the Invisible is so essentially a part +of his humanity that lacking it he has never yet been discovered, and +without it he cannot be conceived. It was this impressive witness of +racial experience that made John Fiske, of Harvard, say, "Of all the +implications of the doctrine of evolution with regard to man, I +believe the very deepest and strongest to be that which asserts the +Everlasting Reality of Religion." + +This testimony of the spiritual seers and this cumulative experience +of the race have a right to play a weighty part in any consideration +of religious faith. Even a rebellious youth might pause before he +scoffs at a mature and thoughtful mind, letting his Church, his +Scripture, and his Christ speak impressively to him about the reality +of God. What we all do in every other realm, when we are wise, this +mind is doing in religion. His individual grasp on truth he sets in +the perspective of history. He does not feel himself upon a lonely +quest when he seeks God; rather he feels behind him and around him the +race of which he is a part and which never yet has ceased to believe +in the Divine, and he sees his own insights illumined by those supreme +spirits who have talked with God "as a man talketh with his friend." +He knows as well as any youth that authority has been stereotyped in +theories of artificial infallibility, to which no mature mind for a +moment can weakly surrender its right to think, but he refuses to give +up a real authority because some have held a false one. The authority +of the dictionary is one thing--literal and external. But the +authority of a good mother moves on a different plane. It is not +artificial and oppressive. It is vital and inspiring. She has lived +longer, experienced more than her children; she is wiser, better, more +discerning than they. A man who has had experience of great motherhood +comes to feel that if his mother thinks something very strongly and +very persistently, he would better consider that thing well, for the +chances are overwhelming that there is truth in it. How much more +shall he feel so about the age-long experience of the saints with God! +In this respect at least there still is truth in Cyprian's words, "He +that hath God for his Father, hath the Church for his Mother." + + +V + +Faith needs fellowship not alone for enrichment and stability, but for +_expression_. For faith, as from the beginning we have maintained, is +not an effortless acceptance of ideas or personal relationships; it is +an active appropriation of convictions that drive life, and Christian +faith especially has always involved a campaign whose object is the +saving of the world. Such an expression of religious life involves +cooperation; men cannot effectively support the "work of faith" (I +Thess. 1:3) apart from fellowship. + +The necessity for this cooperative expression of religion is clear +when we consider the _one in whom we believe_. How anyone can expect +in solitude to believe in Christ is a mystery. For Christ, with +overflowing love to those who shared his filial fellowship with God, +said, "No longer do I call you servants ... I have called you friends" +(John 15:15); his care encompassed folk who never heard of him and +whom he never saw, "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: +them also I must bring ... and they shall become one flock, one +shepherd" (John 10:16); and beyond his generation's life his love +reached out to followers yet unborn, "Them also that believe on me +through their word" (John 17:20). Whatever other quality a movement +sprung from such a source may possess, it must be social. Moreover, +Jesus' faith was active; the meaning of it he himself disclosed, "All +things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23). In such a +spirit, both by himself and through his followers, he sought the lost, +healed the sick, preached the Gospel, and expectantly proclaimed an +earth transformed to heaven. Such a character cannot be known in +contemplation under the trees in June or through the pages of an +interesting book. If Garibaldi, leading his men to the liberation of +Italy, had found a devotee who said, I believe in you; I love to read +your deeds, and often in my solitary, meditative hours I am cheered by +the thought of you--one can easily imagine the swift and penetrating +answer! That you believe in me is false; no one believes in me who +does not share my purpose; the army is afoot, great business is ahead, +the cause is calling, he who believes follows. Such a spirit was +Christ's. The hermits, whether of old time in their cells, or of +modern time with their unaffiliated lives, are wrong. _The final test +of faith in Christ is fellowship in work._ + +The Church itself has been to blame for much undedicated faith. +Correctness of opinion has been substituted, as a test, for fidelity +of life. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," +has been interpreted to mean: accept a theory about Christ's person +and all is well. But one need only go back in imagination to the time +when first that formula was used to see how vital was its import. To +believe in Christ then meant to accept a despised religion, to break +ties that men value more than life, to face the certainty of contempt +and the risk of violence. To believe in Christ then meant coming out +from old relationships and going to a sect where one was pilloried +with derision, that one might work for the things which Christ +represents. No one did that as a theory; it required a tremendous +thrust of the will, a decision that reached to the roots of life. All +this was involved in believing on Christ, and our decent holding of a +theory about him, in a time when all lips praise him, is a poor +substitute for such vital faith. John tells us that once a multitude +of Jews professed belief in Jesus, but the Master, hearing their +affirmations, saw the superficial meaning there. "Many believed on his +name," says John--"but Jesus did not trust himself unto them" (John +2:23, 24). How many believe in Christ in such a way that he cannot +believe in them! They forget that while the test of a man is his +faith, the test of faith is faithfulness. An apostolic injunction +needs modern enforcement, "that they who have believed God may be +careful to maintain good works" (Titus 3:8). + +The necessity for a cooperative expression of religion is evident +again in the _truth which we believe_. Take in its simplest form +the Gospel which Christianity presents, that God is in earnest about +personality, and what urgency is there for associated work! For +personality is being ruined in this world. False ideas of life, +idolatry whether to fetishes in Africa or to money here, irreligion in +all its manifold and blighting forms, are destroying personality from +within, and from without sweatshops, tenements, war, the liquor +traffic, industrial inequity, are engaged in the same task of ruin. +The common contrast between individual and social Christianity is +superficial. The one thing for which the Christian cares is personal +life, and in its culture and salvation he sees the aim of God and +Godlike men. Whatever, therefore, affects _that_ is his concern, +and what is there that does not affect it? What men believe about +life's meaning and its destiny strikes to the core of personal life, +and the houses in which men live, the conditions under which they +work, the wages that they are paid, and the environments which +surround their plastic childhood--these, too, mould for good or ill +the fortunes of personality. + +The Christian, therefore, who intelligently holds the faith that he +professes cannot be negligent either of evangelism, education, and +missionary enterprise upon the one side, or of social reformation on +the other. These are two ends of the tunnel by which the Gospel seeks +to open out a way for personality to find its freedom. A man who says +that he believes in Jesus Christ, and yet is complacent about child +labor and commercialized vice, poor housing conditions and unjust +wages, the trade in liquor and the butchery of men in war, stands in +peril of hearing the twenty-third chapter of Matthew's gospel brought +up to date for his especial benefit by the same lips that spoke it +first. The indignation of the Master falls on priests and Levites who, +speeding to the temple service, "pass by on the other side" the +victims of social injury. + +Isolated Christians, however, cannot further this campaign for +personality redeemed from inward ills and outward handicaps. _Evil is +organized, and goodness must be, too._ As wisely would a single +patriot shoulder a rifle and set out for France as would an +unaffiliated Christian set his solitary strength against the massed +evil of the world. Men increase effectiveness by a large per cent +through fellowship, as ancient Hebrews saw: "Five of you shall chase a +hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand" (Lev. 26:8). + + +VI + +Many secondary fellowships offer to a Christian opportunity for +associated service; no cooperative endeavor to make this a better +world for God to rear his children in should lack Christian sympathy +and support. But the primary fellowship of Christians is the Church. +Some indeed would have no church; they would have man's spiritual life +a disembodied wraith, without "a local habitation and a name." But no +other one of all man's finer interests has survived without organized +expression. Justice is a great ideal; any endeavor to incarnate it in +human institutions sullies its purity. One who dwelt only on the lofty +nature of justice, who thought of it uncontaminated and ideal, might +protest against its embodiment in the tawdry ritual and demeaning +squabbles of a law court. Between the poetry of justice and the +recriminations of lawyers, the perjury of witnesses, the fumbling +uncertainty of evidence, the miscarriages of equity, how bitterly a +scornful mind could point the contrast! But a reverent mind, sorry as +it may be at the misrepresentation of the ideal in the human +institution, is ill content with scorn. He who with insight reads the +history of jurisprudence, perceives how the courts of law, with all +their faults, have conserved the gains in social equity, have +propagated the ideal for which they stand, have made progress +sometimes slowly, sometimes with a rush like soldiers storming a +redoubt, and in times of stress have been a bulwark against the +invasion of the people's rights. The poetry of justice would have been +an idle dream without equity's laborious embodiment in codes and +courts. + +Some minds dwell with joy upon the spiritual Church. Its names are +written on no earthly roster, but in the Book of Life; its worship is +offered in no earthly temple, but in the trysting places where soul +meets Over-soul in trustful fellowship; its baptism is not with water +but with spirit, its eucharist not with bread but with the shared +life of the Lord. Or, ranging out to think of the Church as an ideal +human brotherhood men dream as Manson did in "The Servant in the +House": + + "If you have eyes, you will presently see the church itself--a + looming mystery of many shapes and shadows, leaping sheer from floor + to dome. The work of no ordinary builder!... The pillars of it go up + like the brawny trunks of heroes: the sweet human flesh of men and + women is moulded about its bulwarks, strong, impregnable: the faces + of little children laugh out from every corner-stone: the terrible + spans and arches of it are the joined hands of comrades; and up in + the heights and spaces there are inscribed the numberless musings of + all the dreamers of the world. It is yet building--building and built + upon. Sometimes the work goes forward in deep darkness: sometimes in + blinding light: now beneath the burden of unutterable anguish: now to + the tune of a great laughter and heroic shoutings like the cry of + thunder. Sometimes, in the silence of the night-time, one may hear + the tiny hammerings of the comrades at work up in the dome--the + comrades that have climbed ahead." + +All such ideals, like pillars of fire and cloud, lead the march toward +a promised land. They are to the actual Church what the poetry of +justice is to the actual courts. But in one case as in the other, such +ideals are dreams if, with labor and struggle, through many mistakes, +against the disheartenment of man's frailty and sin, we do not work +out an institution that shall embody and express man's spiritual life. +Even now a discerning spirit whose own faith has been nourished at the +altar regards the Church with boundless gratitude. She has indeed been +to the Gospel what courts are to justice, indispensable and yet +burdensome, an institution that the ideal cannot live without and yet +often cannot easily live with. No one feels her faults so acutely as +one who devotedly values the Gospel and longs for its adequate +expression on the earth. Yet the Church conserves the race's spiritual +gains, fits out our youth with the treasure of man's accumulated +faith, is a power house of endless moral energy for good causes in the +world, exalts the ideal aims of life amid the crushing pressure of +material pursuits, holds out a gospel of hope to men whom all others +have forsaken, and to the ends of the earth proclaims the good pews of +God and the Kingdom. No other fellowship offers to men of faith so +great an opportunity to make distinctive contribution to the race's +spiritual life. In the presence of the Church's service and the +Church's need an unaffiliated believer in Jesus Christ is an anomaly. +For enrichment, stability, and expression, faith must have fellowship. + + _"Oh magnify Jehovah with me, and let us exalt His name + together"_ (Psalm 34:3). + + + + +SCRIPTURE PASSAGES USED IN THE DAILY READINGS + + + EXODUS 3:1-5 (VI-5); + 4:24-26 (II-4). + + DEUTERONOMY 28:65-67 (VIII-2). + + II KINGS 21:3-6 (IV-5). + + JOB 30:20, 21, 25-27 (X-4); + 37:23 (V-3); + 38:31-38 (VII-1). + + PSALMS 16:5-11 (III-5); + 23:1-4 (X-3); + 27:1-6 (VIII-5); + 27:7-14 (V-7); + 51:1-4 (III-3); + 55:1-7 (VIII-1); + 56:1-3 (VIII-3); + 73:2, 3, 16, 17, 24-26 (II-6); + 103:1-5 (III-2); + 118:1-6 (VIII-7); + 145:1-10 (III-7); + 146:1-5 (IV-1). + + PROVERBS 2:1-5 (II-3); + 4:1-9 (II-2). + + ECCLESIASTES 3:11 (V-3). + + ISAIAH 1:10-17 (IV-2); + 40:26-31 (V-4); + 51:9-16 (VI-6); + 55:1-3 (II-7). + + AMOS 5:21-24 (IX-4). + + MICAH 6:1-8 (IX-3). + + MATTHEW 6:6-14 (III-1); + 6:9-15 (XII-5); + 6:24-33 (VI-6); + 7:15-20 (V-6); + 7:24-27 (VI-7); + 13:54-58 (XI-3); + 17:19-20 (XI-4); + 18:12-14 (II-4); + 21:28-31 (X-1); + 23:13-15, 23, 24 (XII-1); + 25:34-40 (IX-7). + + MARK 12:28-30 (V-1). + + LUKE 6:12-16 (IX-2); + 7:48-50 (XI-2); + 18:9-14 (IV-3); + 22:31, 32 (XI-6). + + JOHN 3:21 (IX-5); + 4:23, 24 (IV-5); + 6:16, 17 (IX-5); + 6:27-29 (XI-1); + 7:16, 17 (IX-5); + 14:25-27 (VII-2); + 17:20-23 (XII-6). + + ACTS 17:22-28 (IV-6). + + ROMANS 8:1-6 (X-7); + 8:14-16 (V-5); + 8:24, 25 (III-4); + 10:11-15 (XII-4); + 11:33, 34 (V-3); + 11:33-12:2 (IX-6); + 15:13 (III-4); + 16:1-8 (IX-1). + + I CORINTHIANS 2:10-14 (VII-4); + 3:4-9 (III-6); + 3:18-23 (VII-6); + 4:11-13 (VI-2). + + II CORINTHIANS 5:5 (V-2). + + GALATIANS 2:20 (XI-5); + 5:13-15 (XII-3); + 5:16-23 (IV-7). + + EPHESIANS 1:15-19 (VII-5); + 4:13-15 (X-5). + + PHILIPPIANS 3:12-16 (X-6). + + I THESSALONIANS 3:1, 2, 10 (XI-6); + 5:21 (V-1). + + II THESSALONIANS 1:3 (XI-6). + + I TIMOTHY 6:20, 21 (II-5). + + II TIMOTHY 1:3-5 (II-1); + 4:6-8 (XII-7). + + HEBREWS 1:1, 2 (VII-7); + 2:8-10 (VI-3); + 4:1, 2, (I-6); + 10:23-25 (XII-2); + 10:32-36 (I-4); + 11:1 (I-1); + 11:3, 6 (I-5); + 11:8-10 (I-2); + 11:13-16 (I-1); + 11:24-27 (I-2); + 11:32-40 (I-3); + 12:1-3 (VI-4); + 13:7 (I-7). + + JAMES 1:2-8 (X-2); + 2:14-21 (IV-4); + 5:13-16 (VIII-4). + + I PETER 1:3-9 (XI-7); + 4:12-16, 19 (VI-1). + + II PETER 1:5 (V-1). + + JUDE 20-25 (VII-3). + + + + +SOURCES OF PRAYERS USED IN THE DAILY READINGS + + + ALFRED, KING--IX-3, "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by S. F. Fox. + + ANSELM, ST.--XI-6. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by S. F. Fox. + + ARNDT, JOHANN--IX-1; X-1. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by + S. F. Fox. + + ARNOLD, THOMAS--VII-5. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by + S. F. Fox. + + BACON, FRANCIS--VII-2. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by + S. F. Fox. + + BEECHER, HENRY WARD--I-4; I-7; II-7; III-5; III-7; IV-7; V-7; VI-6; + X-5. "A Book of Public Prayer." + + BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER--XII-6. + + DAWSON, GEORGE--X-4. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by + S. F. Fox. + + HALE, SIR MATTHEW--VII-4. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by + S. F. Fox. + + HUNTER, JOHN--I-1; IV-5; XI-2; XI-3; XII-7. "Devotional Services for + Public Worship." + + JENKS, BENJAMIN--X-2. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by + S. F. Fox. + + MCCOMB, SAMUEL--I-6; II-1; III-1; VI-3; VIII-1; VIII-2; VIII-3; + VIII-5; VIII-6; VIII-7; IX-2; XI-1; XII-2; XII-4. "A Book of + Prayers for Public and Personal Use." + + MARTINEAU, JAMES--III-4; IV-4; V-2; VI-2; XII-1. "Prayers in the + Congregation and in College." + + NEWMAN, FRANCIS W.--VI-1; VI-7. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," + by S. F. Fox. + + ORCHARD, W. E.--I-2; I-3; II-2; II-3; II-4; II-5; II-6; III-2; IV-3; + IV-6; V-1; V-3; V-6; VI-5; VII-1; VII-3; VII-7; VIII-4; IX-5; X-7; + XI-5; XI-7. "The Temple." + + PARKER, THEODORE--I-5; V-4; V-5; VI-4; VII-6; X-6. "Prayers." + + RAUSCHENBUSCH, WALTER--III-6; IV-1; IV-2; IX-4; IX-6; XII-3; XII-5. + "Prayers of the Social Awakening." + + ROBINSON, HELEN RING--XI-4. "Thy Kingdom Come," by Ralph E. + Diffendorfer. + + SHAFTESBURY, EARL OF--IX-7. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by + S. F. Fox. + + STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS--III-3. "Prayers Written at Vailima." + + VAN DYKE, HENRY--IV-6. "Thy Kingdom Come," by Ralph E. Diffendorfer. + + WEISS, S.--X-3. "A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages," by S. F. Fox. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Meaning of Faith, by Harry Emerson Fosdick + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40482 *** |