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diff --git a/43896.txt b/43896.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 13c4e45..0000000 --- a/43896.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4641 +0,0 @@ - CHURCH AND NATION - - - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost -no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - - -Title: Church and Nation - The Bishop Paddock Lectures for 1914-15 -Author: William Temple -Release Date: October 05, 2013 [EBook #43896] -Language: English -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHURCH AND NATION *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines. - - - - - CHURCH AND - NATION - - THE BISHOP PADDOCK LECTURES FOR 1914-15 - - - DELIVERED AT THE GENERAL THEOLOGICAL - SEMINARY, NEW YORK - - - BY - - WILLIAM TEMPLE - - HON. CHAPLAIN TO H.M. THE KING - - _Rector of St. James's, Piccadilly, - Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury - Formerly Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, and - Headmaster of Repton_ - - - - MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED - ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON - 1915 - - - - - _COPYRIGHT_ - - - - - TO - MY MOTHER - WHO FELL ASLEEP AS GOOD FRIDAY DAWNED - APRIL 2, 1915 - - - - - *PREFACE* - - -When I received and accepted the invitation to deliver the Paddock -Lectures for the season 1914-1915, no one imagined that these years were -destined to have the historical significance which they must now possess -for all time. I was myself one of those who had allowed concern for -social reform, and internal problems generally, to occupy my mind almost -to the exclusion of foreign questions. I was prepared to stake a good -deal upon what seemed to me the improbability of any outbreak of -European war. For all who took this view the events of recent months -have involved perhaps a greater re-shaping of fundamental notions than -was required by people who had thought probable such a catastrophe as -that in which we are now involved. I found it impossible to concentrate -my mind upon any subject wholly unconnected with the war, while at the -same time it would have been in the last degree unsuitable that in my -lectures to American Theological Students I should deliver myself of -such views as I had formed concerning the rights and wrongs of the war -itself, or the questions at stake in it. - -These lectures, therefore, represent an attempt to think out afresh the -underlying problems which for a Christian are fundamental in regard not -only to this war but to war in general--the place of Nationality in the -scheme of Divine Providence and the duty of the Church in regard to the -growth of nations. - -But in a preface it may be permissible to say what would be -inappropriate in the Lectures themselves, and first I would take this -opportunity of reiterating certain convictions which have formed the -basis of a series of pamphlets issued under the auspices of a Committee -drawn from various Christian bodies and political parties, of which I -have had the honour to be Editor: - -1. That Great Britain was in August morally bound to declare war and is -no less bound to carry the war to a decisive issue; - -2. That the war is none the less an outcome and a revelation of the -un-Christian principles which have dominated the life of Western -Christendom and of which both the Church and the nations have need to -repent; - -3. That followers of Christ, as members of the Church, are linked to one -another in a fellowship which transcends all divisions of nationality or -race; - -4. That the Christian duties of love and forgiveness are as binding in -time of war as in time of peace; - -5. That Christians are bound to recognise the insufficiency of mere -compulsion for overcoming evil, and to place supreme reliance upon -spiritual forces and in particular upon the power and method of the -Cross; - -6. That only in proportion as Christian principles dictate the terms of -settlement will a real and lasting peace be secured; - -7. That it is the duty of the Church to make an altogether new effort to -realise and apply to all the relations of life its own positive ideal of -brotherhood and fellowship; - - 8. That with God all things are possible. - -These propositions were very carefully drafted by the Committee referred -to above and entirely represent my own beliefs; but there is something -more which I would add. The new Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria, and -Turkey is no accident; it is the combination of just those three Powers -which openly and avowedly believe in oppression--that is, in the -imposition by force of the standards accepted by one race upon people of -another race. All nations have at one time or another practised -oppression; certainly Great Britain is not free from the charge, and the -history of Russia has many dark pages in this respect. But we can all -claim that when we have been guilty of oppression it has been under the -influence of fear, whether of revolution, anarchism, or some other force -thought to be disruptive of the State. With our enemies this is not so. -We all know about Turkey; it is the essentially Mohammedan power, and -Mohammedanism is the religion of oppression; it believes in imposing its -faith by means of the sword. The Austrian Empire consists of three -divisions in each of which one race is imposing its manner of life upon -another. In Austria-proper the Germans oppress the Czechs; in Galicia -the Poles have, in some degree at least, oppressed the Ruthenes; in -Hungary the Magyars have systematically and avowedly oppressed the -Roumanians in the east, and the Croats in the south and west. Germany -has shown her political faith by her conduct in Alsace-Lorraine, and -still more in Poland. Nothing has yet appeared so illuminating with -regard to what is at stake in this war, as Prince Buelow's chapter on -Poland in his book, _Imperial Germany_; he describes what seems to us -the most grinding oppression with obvious self-contentment and without a -question of its righteousness; and there have been abundant signs that, -at least, many people in Germany are willing to impose German Kultur by -the sword as Mohammedans impose belief in their prophet. - -If this is true, and if the analysis in my lectures of the Christian -function of the State and of the principles of the Kingdom of God is -sound, then it becomes clear that this war is being fought to determine -whether in the next period the Christian or the directly anti-Christian -method shall have an increase of influence. The three most democratic -of the great Western Powers--Great Britain, France, and Italy--in -conjunction with Russia, which is after all profoundly democratic in its -local life though imperially it is a military autocracy, are linked -together in a natural union on behalf of freedom as they understand it, -against an idea embodied and embattled which is in exact opposition to -all they live for. It was therefore no surprise to find that all the -citizens of the United States with whom I came in contact were quite -definitely upon the side of the Allies in sympathy. To advocate war in -the name of Christ is to adopt a position which looks self-contradictory -and which certainly involves immense responsibility, and yet if our -people can maintain the attitude of mind in which they entered on the -war and can secure at the end a settlement harmonious with that frame of -mind, I believe they will have served the Kingdom of God through -fighting, better than it was possible to do at this moment in human -history by any other means. - -W.T. - - -Lecture II. in this series is almost identical with the pamphlet _Our -Need of a Catholic Church_--No. 19 of _Papers for War Time_. In -Lectures I. and III. I am under great obligation to Professor A. G. -Hogg, though my position is not at all identical with his. - - - - - *CONTENTS* - - - LECTURE I - -THE KINGDOM OF FREEDOM - - LECTURE II - -CHURCH AND STATE - - LECTURE III - -JUSTICE AND LIBERTY IN THE STATE - - LECTURE IV - -HOLINESS AND CATHOLICITY IN THE CHURCH - - LECTURE V - -THE CITIZENSHIP OF HEAVEN - - LECTURE VI - -GOD IN HISTORY - - APPENDIX I - -ON THE APOCALYPTIC CONSCIOUSNESS - - APPENDIX II - -ON MORAL AND SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY - - APPENDIX III - -ON JUSTICE AND EDUCATION - - APPENDIX IV - -ON ORDERS AND CATHOLICITY - - APPENDIX V - -ON PROVIDENCE IN HISTORY - - - - - *CHURCH AND NATION* - - - - *LECTURE I* - - THE KINGDOM OF FREEDOM - - -"And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was -led by the Spirit in the wilderness during forty days, being tempted of -the Devil."--S. Luke iv. 1. - - -Our Lord, in accepting for Himself the title of the Messiah, or the -Christ, claimed that it was His function to inaugurate upon earth the -Kingdom of God. Whatever else might at that time be believed about the -Messiah, this at least was universally held, that the Messiah, when He -came, would inaugurate upon earth the Kingdom of God. That is the task -of the Lord's ministry; that is the task to which we, as His followers, -are pledged; and at this time when the civilisation, which for nearly -two thousand years has been under the Christian influence, has -culminated in as great a catastrophe as has ever beset any civilisation, -Christian or Pagan, it is well for us to go back and ask, What are the -fundamental principles of the Kingdom which Christ founded, what the -method by which He founded it, and what are the principles and methods -which He rejected? - -There were various anticipations of the way in which the promised Christ -would do His work; but broadly speaking there were two main types of -expectation. There were those who supposed that the Messiah when He -came, would rule in the manner of an earthly ruler, establishing -righteousness by the ordinary methods of law and political authority, -and this expectation undoubtedly derived some colour from the way in -which Isaiah had envisaged the coming Christ:[#] - - -[#] Isaiah ix, 6, 7. - - - "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the - government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be - called Wonderful-Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, - Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace - there shall be no end _upon the throne of David_, and upon his - kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with judgment and - with righteousness from henceforth, even for ever." - - -It is a king ruling upon the throne of David that is suggested; and -while it is only the most foolish literalism which will say that the -Prophet himself was committed to such a view, it was natural enough for -those who read his writings to conceive of the Messiah as acting after -that fashion. - -The people went into captivity; and when they returned, it was not to -any realised Kingdom of God upon earth, but rather to difficulties -greater than had ever confronted them before, until at last Antiochus -Epiphanes initiated the great persecution whose aim was to stamp out -altogether the worship of Jehovah, setting up as he did in the very -Temple Court at Jerusalem the altar of Zeus, on which swine were -sacrificed--"the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not." -Out of the fiery furnace of that persecution comes the glowing prophecy -of Daniel. What is the answer which he conceives God as giving to the -blasphemer Antiochus? It is nothing less than the divine judgment and -the mission of the divine Deliverer:[#] - - -[#] Daniel vii, 9, 10, 13, 14. - - - "I beheld till thrones were placed and one that was ancient of - days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his - head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels - thereof burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from - before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten - thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was - set, and the books were opened.... I saw in the night visions, - and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto - a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they - brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, - and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and - languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting - dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which - shall not be destroyed." - - -This conception of the Messiah, coming in the clouds of Heaven, -establishing the Kingdom of God by so manifest an exhibition of the -divine authority with which He is endowed, that all doubt and hesitation -are quite impossible, is that which took the greatest hold upon the -religious imagination of Israel, and particularly of that great body of -people, the heirs of the tradition of the Maccabees, inheritors of the -heroism which had stood out against the persecution, whom we know as the -sect of the Pharisees--men who lived in the strength of a fellowship -that had behind it the greatest religious tradition in all the world, -but who, because they trusted more to their tradition than to the God -who inspired it, were unable to recognise the still further call of God -when it came to them. The literature of the period between the Old and -the New Testament shows how wide and deep was the influence of Daniel's -vision upon their Messianic hopes. - -At His baptism, the Lord is called to begin His Messianic work; the -voice which He heard from Heaven spoke words which were by all -interpreters of the time believed to refer to the Messiah:--"Thou art my -beloved son; in thee I am well pleased." The Messiah will be endowed -with Divine authority and power. How shall He use it? And immediately -the Lord goes into the wilderness to face the temptations that arose -from precisely the conviction that His Messianic work is even now to -begin. - -The temptation has two sides to it--an inward and an outward. As -regards Himself, what does the temptation mean? Let us remind ourselves -that there was apparently no one with Him in this crisis; the story, as -we have it, must come from Himself. It is His own account (of course in -parable form, like so much else in His teaching) of the struggle of -those early days. What is meant by the parable concerning the turning -of stones into bread? Surely for Himself it is the temptation to use -the power, with which us the Christ of Cod He is endowed, for the -satisfaction of His own needs, and that in such a way as will do no kind -of harm to anybody else. No one will be the worse for his satisfying -His hunger in that way. It is a self-concern from which nobody can -suffer; it is perfectly innocent and perfectly rational. But no! It is -not for any selfish purpose, however harmless, that the power of God is -given; selfishness in its most innocent form is set aside. - -How shall He set about His work? Shall He fulfil that expectation which -Isaiah's vision had fostered? He looks out on the kingdoms of the earth -and the glory of them, and He knows that they can be His, if He will -fall down and worship the Prince of the power of this world. Shall He -use worldly methods to convert the world to God? No; worldliness in its -most attractive form is set aside. - -Or shall He fulfil the expectation encouraged by the vision of the Son -of Man in Daniel, appearing with the clouds of Heaven, descending upon -Jerusalem up-borne by angels, giving that sign from Heaven which the -Pharisees, who particularly adopted this view of the Messiah, were -afterwards going to demand so frequently? From His answer we know that -this is a temptation not only to give them a sign, but to secure it for -Himself, for the answer is "Thou shalt not tempt,"--that is, Thou shalt -not put to the proof--"the Lord thy God." The promise of God is to be -trusted, not tested. The test comes as we obey the command and in that -sense every act of faith is an experiment, but there must be no test -cases to see whether God fulfils His promise. Infidelity in its most -insidious form is set aside. - -But there is an outward aspect also to the temptations. Shall He use -His power to satisfy the bodily needs of men? Shall He exert a power -parallel with that of political rulers, which will coerce their conduct -without first winning their free allegiance? Shall He give such proof -of divine authority that any doubt, intellectual or otherwise, becomes -impossible? No; not any of these. And as He leaves the temptation -vanquished, what He has set aside is precisely every method of -controlling men's action without winning their hearts and wills. He has -rejected coercion; He has decided to appeal to Freedom. - -What is left? At first, only the commission to proclaim the Kingdom; -and He comes proclaiming it. All through the early part of the ministry -He moves from place to place preaching or proclaiming the Kingdom of -God. He does not at present announce that He is King of that Kingdom; it -is the Kingdom itself on which all attention is concentrated. He has -indeed the power to do works of mercy, and when with that power He -stands in the face of human need, He must for very love exert the power -and satisfy the need; so people come crowding around Him, attracted by -His wonder-working. But that is not what He desires. The disciples are -excited about it; but He has gone out a long while before dawn, and is -alone in prayer; and when St. Peter finds Him, and says "All men are -seeking Thee," He does not say, "Then let us go to them," but, on the -contrary, "Let us go into the villages that I may preach--that I may -make my proclamation--there also."[#] As the deadness, the -indifference, and hostility of the people gradually shows itself to be -invincible, He gathers about Him those whose hearts have been touched, -and from among them chooses twelve, "that they may be with Him."[#] -They are to live in His company, catching His Spirit, learning to -understand Him. With them He goes on two long journeys--north-west to -Tyre and Sidon, and then north-east, to Caesarea Philippi; through all -those journeys they are alone with their Master, moving through country -outside the boundaries of the Jewish religion, and therefore free from -controversy. - - -[#] S. Mark i, 35-38. - -[#] S. MArk iii, 14. - - -At Caesarea Philippi He feels that the time is ripe, and asks them, "Who -do men say that I am?" They mention the various conjectures ... Elijah; -John the Baptist; one of the Prophets. "Who say ye that I am?" And St. -Peter with a leap of inspired insight answers: "Thou art the -Messiah."[#] - - -[#] S. Mark viii, 27-30. - - -The Lord recognises that this is the revelation of God to faith: -"Blessed art thou, Simon, Son of Jonah; flesh and blood hath not -revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."[#] -Immediately that He has been thus spontaneously recognised, He begins to -say what He had never said before: "The Son of Man must suffer." The -Son of Man is the title of the Messiah in glory, as He was conceived in -Daniel's vision and the Apocalyptic writings which drew their -inspiration from it. "The Son of Man must suffer;" that is the great -Messianic act; that is the way in which the Kingdom of God shall be -founded. But it was not what St. Peter meant. "Peter took Him, and -began to rebuke Him ... Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall not be -unto Thee." And our Lord recognises the voice of the tempter in the -wilderness, who bade Him take thought for self.... "Get thee behind me, -_Satan_, for thou thinkest not God's thoughts, but men's thoughts."[#] - - -[#] S. Matthew xvi, 17. - -[#] S. Matthew xvi, 22, 23. - - -Just as, when once He was spontaneously recognised, He began to set -forth the new conception of the Messiahship, "The Son of Man must -suffer;" so too He immediately starts on that last journey to Jerusalem -which culminates with the Cross. Arrived at Jerusalem, He arranges the -triumphal entry. He carefully fulfils Zechariah's prophecy--thus -claiming the Messiahship, and challenging the religious rulers. But the -prophecy which He thus selects for deliberate fulfilment is one which -represents the Messiah as a civil, not a military authority (for this is -the meaning of the ass as distinguished from the horse), and as one who -shall speak Peace to the nations.[#] It is the conception of the -Messiah which in all the Old Testament has least suggestion of coercion -and is therefore the nearest to His own. - - -[#] Zechariah ix, 9, 10. - - -But the primary purpose of the triumphal entry is no doubt to make His -claim and issue His challenge. On the journey and after the entry -itself He declares with increasing emphasis that the Kingdom of God is -at hand; those who stood there should see it come with power; and as He -stands before Caiaphas, He answers the question "Art Thou the Christ? -with the words, I am, and from this time[#] there shall be the Son of -Man seated on the right hand of power." Daniel's prophecy is here and -now fulfilled. In the moment that love completes its sacrifice in -death, the glory of God is fully made known and the power of His Kingdom -is come; this is the Lord's own Apocalypse.[#] - - -[#] Different words in St. Matthew and St. Luke, but agreeing in sense, -which sense the authorised version spoils. - -[#] See Appendix I.: _The Apocalyptic Consciousness_. - - -So He had spoken on that last journey. "Ye know that they which are -accounted to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great -ones exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you; but -whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister, and -whosoever shall be first among you shall be servant of all, for verily -the Son of Man came"--(again the title of the Messiah in Glory)--"not to -be ministered unto, but to minister; and to give His life a ransom for -many."[#] - - -[#] S. Mark x, 42-45. - - -So, too, St. John records His saying that in precisely this way he would -win His royalty--"I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men -unto me."[#] The Cross was foreseen by the Lord to be what, as we look -back, we know that it has been--the throne of His glory and His power; -and the capacity to realise it as such is for St. Paul the touchstone of -character, the test of election--"We preach a Messiah on a Cross--to -Jews a scandal and to Gentiles an absurdity, but to the very people who -are called, whether Jews or Greeks, a Messiah who is God's power and -God's wisdom."[#] - - -[#] S. John xii, 32. - -[#] 1 Cor. i, 23, 24. - - -Here then is the mode of God's power, and we know that it can be no -other; for if God is truly King, He must be King of our hearts and -wills, and not only of our conduct. There is only one way to win men's -hearts and wills, that is by showing love; and there is only one way to -show love, and that is by sacrifice, by doing or suffering what, apart -from our love, we should not choose to do or suffer. Sacrifice is the -Divine activity; Calvary is the mode of the Divine omnipotence. It is -the actual Divine method and the ideal human method. - - -As we come to consider how far it has become also the actual human -method, we are confronted at the outset by the sheer impossibility of -our applying this method, just because we have not in ourselves the -necessary love. - -Our perfection, we are told, is to consist in just that quality which -shows the Father's perfection, namely, that He is kind to the unthankful -and evil, and makes His sun to rise on the evil and good and sends His -rain on the just and on the unjust; and we are to be perfect in the way -that He is perfect.[#] - - -[#] S. Matthew v, 43-48. - - -But until we reach that perfection we cannot imitate His action; for a -man's act is not what He intends; nor is it the mere motion of his body; -but it is the whole train of circumstances that he initiates. Christ in -His perfect purity may stand before the woman taken in her sin and say, -"Neither do I condemn thee," because there is no possibility that she -will interpret His mercy as condonation of the sin; but if we said it, -people would so interpret it, and usually quite rightly so. - -Our problem then is so to guide our conduct that we come as near as we -are capable of coming to the divine ideal that is set forth in Christ, -and that we come perpetually closer and closer to it. - -The Lord in His temptation rejected all use of force and substituted for -it the appeal of love expressed in sacrifice, so far as the actual and -positive building of His Kingdom is concerned. For us there must always -be some use of the lower method, because we are incapable of applying -the highest. If any man, when he is confronted with evil which he can -prevent by the exercise of force, refrains from doing it, we must -immediately put to him the question, "But did you so suffer under that -act of evil that there is any hope of your suffering proving to be the -redemption of the evil-doer? If so, well and good; but, if not, then -you are idle and cowardly, not Christian." No one who is not a -Christian in spirit can perform the Christian act; and the Sermon on the -Mount is not a code of rules to be mechanically followed; it is the -description of the life which any man will spontaneously lead when once -the Spirit of Christ has taken complete possession of his heart. - -And yet there is a perfectly legitimate use of force also, and a use -which our Lord Himself makes of it. We may use force in various -circumstances in spite of the fact that for the positive work of the -building His Kingdom the Lord rejected it. It is legitimate, in the -first place, when it is applied to immature characters--characters which -are, as all our characters are in early childhood, a chaos of impulses -and instincts, as yet unregulated by any governing principle. Here it -may be necessary simply to restrain the activity of one set of impulses -without converting the heart or will of the person to whom that -restraint is applied, merely in order to give the other side of nature -its chance of development. So in education it is legitimate to employ -force in this restraining way for the sake of the development which is -made possible thereby in the other parts of nature. - -But our Lord's example also shows us that the use of force is -permissible in dealing with those who are so case-hardened that the -appeal of love can never reach them until their present state of mind is -broken up. It is sometimes said that the Lord never made use of physical -force; but whether or not that is true[#]--the question is unimportant, -because for all moral purposes there is no difference whatever between -physical and non-physical force. The appeal to force always means the -appeal to pain or inconvenience, for these are the only things that -force can inflict upon one. Physical force may break a man's bones; but -one may enforce a certain kind of conduct by the threat, for example, of -social ostracism, which might break his heart; and there is no -difference whatever between the two, except that the second is a more -refined form of cruelty. Now in our Lord's denunciation of the -Pharisees, in those words which are thrown, burning and smashing, into -the self-complacent contentment of those upholders of tradition, there -is every moral quality of force and violence. Their aim is to batter -down a state of mind, the state of mind which cannot receive the appeal -of love, as it shows when it stands beneath the very Cross and only -jeers. But this use of force is only negative and preparatory; it is -the effort of love to make ready for the rebuilding which only love's -own method can really accomplish. Only with characters quite immature -and liable to develop in many different directions, can force be used, -except in this wholly preparatory way; and even there its work is -preparatory, for at that stage everything that is done is still -preparatory. - - -[#] _e.g._, whether or not He employed the scourge of small cords to -drive men from the Temple Courts as He certainly did the animals; the -Greek words suggest that He did not. - - -It is sometimes said that society rests upon force. Of course it does -not, and it could not, because force is a dead thing which can only -operate as human wills direct it; and, however much force there may be -in the maintenance of society, that force itself must be controlled by -the consent of human wills. It is true, however, that society, as we -know it, rests simultaneously upon two contradictory principles, upon -the principle of antagonism and the principle of fellowship. So far as -it is represented by the police force, it rests upon antagonism. Men -are selfish; in their selfishness they are brought into conflict with -one another. In order that anyone may be able to enjoy, however -selfishly, any property or comfort in life, it is necessary to restrain -to some degree the selfishness of all the rest; and to secure that -restraint placed upon others, a man submits to a similar restraint upon -himself. And so we arrive at that contract of which Plato speaks: "the -contract neither to commit nor to suffer injury."[#] But, at the same -time, as Plato immediately afterwards points out, society would arise -quite equally if men were wholly altruistic, because men's natures are -different, and they need one another for support, for protection, and -for the very instinct of fellowship.[#] Now those principles are both -present in all actual societies; and progress has consisted of the -steady development of the principle of co-operation and fellowship, at -the expense of the principle of competition and antagonism. - - -[#] [Greek: mete adikein mete adikisthai.] _Republic_ ii. 359*a*. - -[#] The whole Ideal State. _Republic_ ii, 369*b* to vii end. - - -That has been what we have meant in the last resort by political -progress; but the conclusion inevitably follows that society makes -progress precisely in that degree in which it realises more and more a -relationship of love between its various members, and becomes the -Kingdom which Christ came on earth to found. Thus, at the very outset of -our enquiry we find that the principles of secular progress and of the -Divine revelation in Christ are identical. - -I shall venture in a subsequent lecture to trace out the way in which, -as I think, further progress in accordance with this principle will lead -us. - -But let me close this lecture by recalling our thoughts to that ideal -method for men, which is the actual method of God, setting this in the -words of a fable which I take from the masterpiece of the most Russian -of the Russian novelists--Dostoievsky--merely throwing it into my own -language. - -In the days of the Inquisition, this fable runs, our Lord returned to -earth, and visited a city where it was at work. As He moved about, men -forgot their cares and sorrows. He healed the sick folk as of old, and -meeting with a funeral procession where a mother was mourning the loss -of her only son, He stopped the procession, and restored the dead boy to -life. - -That was in the Cathedral Square, and at that moment there came out from -the Cathedral doors the Grand Inquisitor, an old man over ninety years -of age, clad now, not in the Cardinal's robe in which only the day -before he had condemned a score of heretics to the stake, but in a -simple cassock, with only two guards in attendance. Seeing what was -done he turned to the guards and said, "Arrest Him." They moved forward -to obey; and he sent the Prisoner to a cell in the dungeon. - -That night the Grand Inquisitor visited his Prisoner, and to all that he -said the Prisoner made no reply. "I know why Thou art come," said the -Inquisitor; "Thou art come to spoil our work, to repeat Thy great -mistake in the wilderness, and to give men again Thy fatal gift of -freedom. What did the great wise spirit offer Thee there? Just the -three things by which men may be controlled--bread and authority and -mystery. He bade Thee take bread as the instrument of Thy work; men -will follow one who gives them bread. But Thou wouldest not; men were -to follow Thee out of love and devotion or not at all. We have had to -correct Thy work, or there would be few to follow Thee. He bade Thee -assume authority; men will obey one who gives commands, and punishes the -disobedient. But Thou wouldest not; men were to obey out of love and -devotion or not at all. We have had to correct Thy work, or there would -be few to obey Thee. He bade Thee show some marvel that men might be -persuaded and believe. But Thou wouldest not; men were to believe from -perception of Thy grace and truth or not at all. We have had to correct -Thy work and hedge Thee about with mystery, or there would be few to -believe. And which of us has served mankind the better? Thy appeal was -to the few strong souls. We have cared for the weak. Many who would be -disorderly and miserable have been made orderly and happy. And now Thou -art come to spoil our work and repeat Thy great mistake in the -wilderness by giving to men again Thy fatal gift of freedom, through -trust in the power of love. But it shall not be; for to-morrow I shall -burn Thee." - -The Grand Inquisitor ceased; and still the Prisoner made no reply; but -He rose from where He sat, and crossed the cell, and kissed the old man -on his bloodless lips. Then the Inquisitor too, rose, and opened the -door; "Go," he said. The Prisoner passed out into the night and was not -seen again. - -And the old man? That kiss burns in his heart. But he has not altered -his opinion or his practice. - - - - - *LECTURE II* - - *CHURCH AND STATE* - - -"He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head -over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him -that, all in all, is being fulfilled."--Ephesians i, 22, 23. - - -If one of the great saints of the early Church had been told that in the -year 1915 the world would still be waiting for the final consummation, -and had tried to conceive the life of men and nations as it would be -after that long period of Christian influence, what would his conception -have been? Surely he would have expected that all nations would be -linked together in the Holy Communion, the Fellowship of Saints. Roman, -Spaniard, African, Syrian, those strange Germans, and the barbarous -Britons who lived in the remotest corner of the earth, might have -maintained their own varieties of culture, but each would find his joy -and pride in offering his contribution to the life of the whole family -of nations. Rooted in knowledge of the love of God, their life would -grow luxuriantly and bear fruit in love of one another and service of -the common cause. Inspiring each and knitting all together, the Holy -Catholic Church, fulfilling itself in service of the world, would gather -up all this exuberance of life and love into itself, and present it to -the God and Father of mankind in unceasing adoration. - -But the world in 1915 is not in the least like that. The old man of our -selfish nature, selfish himself and therefore supposing that others must -be selfish too, so that he relies upon the methods of cajolery and -coercion, has indeed received the kiss of Christ; and while that kiss -burns in his heart, so that sometimes he is roused to an aspiration -after an order of things altogether different, his opinions and his -conduct remain fundamentally unchanged. And the contrast between what -is and what might have been is due in part, at least, to the failure of -the Church to be true to its own commission. It is also because of this -that no practical man dreams of turning to the Church to find the way -out from the intolerable situation into which the nations have drifted. - -An eminent politician is reported to have defined the Church on a recent -occasion in the following terms: "The Church is, I suppose, a voluntary -organisation for the maintenance of public worship in the interest of -those who desire to join in it." And it is to be feared that many -people regard it in some such way as that. But of course the Church is -nothing of the kind; the Church is the Body of Christ. - -It is not a "voluntary organisation" any more than my body is a -voluntary organisation either of limbs or of cells. No one could -"voluntarily" join the Church, if by that were meant that the act -originated in his own will. "No man can say Jesus is Lord, but in the -Holy Spirit."[#] A man cannot make himself a Christian. The Apostles -were made Christian by Christ Himself--"Ye did not choose Me, but I -chose you"[#]; others were made Christian by the Apostles, or (as they -always said) by Christ working in and through them; and so successive -generations have been made Christian by the Spirit of Christ operative -in the fellowship of His disciples--that is to say, in the Church. This -is the aspect of truth expressed and preserved in the practice of infant -baptism. We are Christians, if at all, not through any act initiated by -our own will, but through our being received into the Christian -fellowship and subjected to its influence. Just as we are born members -of our family, so by our reception into the fellowship of the disciples -we are "made members of Christ." In the one case as in the other, we -may repudiate our membership or we may disgrace it; we can never abolish -it. Let me hasten in parenthesis to add, that this is only one aspect -of the truth, and the protest of those who object to infant baptism will -be a valuable force in the Church, until we are finally secure against -the temptation to regard a sacrament as a piece of magic. For of course -it is true that, while no man can make himself a Christian by his own -will, no man can be made a Christian against or without his will. It is -precisely his will that the Spirit must lay hold of and convert, and the -will can refuse conversion. - - -[#] 1 Cor. xii, 3 - -[#] S. John xv, 16. - - -The Church, then, is not a "voluntary organisation," but the creation of -God in Christ. In fact it is the one immediate result of our Lord's -earthly ministry. When His physical presence was withdrawn, there -remained in the world, as fruit of His sojourn here, no volume of -writings, no elaborated organisation with codified aims and methods, but -a group of people who were united to one another because His Spirit -lived and worked in each. And the great marvel lay in this: whereas all -men realise that fellowship is better than rivalry, and yet fail to pass -from one to the other because they are radically selfish both -individually and corporately, in Christ men found themselves to be a -real community in spite of their as yet unpurged selfishness. By the -invasion of the Divine Life in Christ, the ideal itself, the life of -fellowship, is given, and is made into the means of destroying just -those qualities which had hitherto prevented its own realisation. The -ecclesiastical organisations of to-day are not fellowships of this sort, -but if the members of the Church lose their hold on this central -principle of fellowship, as they have largely done, we are thrown back -upon the futile effort to build up fellowship on the foundation of -unredeemed selfishness. - -As it is not true to say that the Church is a "voluntary" organisation, -so also it is not true to say that it exists "for the maintenance of -public worship," at least in the sense that most Englishmen would give -to the words. Certainly the Church, consisting of men and women whom -God of His sheer goodness has delivered from the power of darkness and -translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, will find its first duty, -as also its first impulse, in an abandonment of adoration. But if the -God who is worshipped is not only some Jewish Jehovah or Mohammedan -Allah, but the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, this love and -adoration of God will immediately express itself in the love and service -of men, and especially in the passionate desire to share with others the -supreme treasure of the knowledge of God. The Church, like its Master, -will be chiefly concerned to seek and to save that which is lost, -calling men everywhere to repent because the Kingdom of God is at hand. -Worship is indeed the very breath of its life, but service of the world -is the business of its life. It is the Body of Christ, that is to say, -the instrument of His will, and His will is to save the world. - -The spiritual life of men is not limited to this planet, and the -fulfilment of the Church's task can never be here alone. The Church -must call men from temporal to eternal hopes. But in this way it will do -more than is possible in any other way to purify the temporal life -itself. For most temporal goods are such that the more one person has -the less there is for others, so that absorption in them leads -inevitably to strife and war. But the eternal goods--love, joy, peace, -loyalty, beauty, knowledge--are such that the fuller fruition of them by -one leads of itself to fuller fruition by others also, and absorption in -them leads without fail to brotherhood and fellowship. - -It is not of worship, the breath of the church's life, but of service, -the business of its life, that I wish to speak. But this can only be -misleading if the other has not first been given prominence. The Church -serves because it first worships. Only because it has in itself a -foretaste of eternal life, the realised Kingdom of God, can it prepare -the way of the Lord, so that His Kingdom may come on earth as it is in -heaven. - -One question which demands attention concerns the nature of the Church -which is to perform this function. Is it enough that there should be -vast numbers of Christian individuals gathering together in whatever way -is proved by experience to be the most effective for edification, -pursuing their profession as Christians, and so gradually leavening -life? Or is there need for a quite definite society, with a coherent -constitution and a known basis of membership? The former has much to -recommend it; it avoids the deadening influence of a rigid machinery; it -ensures freedom of spiritual and intellectual development; it may seem -to correspond with that loosely constituted group of disciples, which -was, as we have seen, the actual fruit of the earthly ministry of -Christ. Yet it is condemned by all analogies, and is inadequate to the -essential nature of religion. - -All relevant analogy suggests that a spirit must take definite and -concrete form before it can be effective in the world, even as God -Himself must become incarnate in order to establish His Kingdom upon -earth. No doubt the form has often fettered the spirit and sometimes -even perverted it; the history of the Franciscan movement is an instance -of this; but the influence of St. Francis would never have done for -Europe what it actually accomplished if the Order had not been founded. - -One of the clearest illustrations of the principle is before our eyes in -our experience to-day. When the spirit of national patriotism makes its -appeal, no one has to make any effort to understand its claim; our -nation is a definite and concrete society in which we easily realise our -membership to the full. We know that there is no escaping from it, and -that, when it appeals for our service or our lives, we must either -respond or refuse. But the Christian Church, as we know it, is -powerless to bring home its appeal in the same way. Largely because of -its divisions and endless controversy about the points, secondary though -important, which separate the various sections, it has become curiously -impotent in the face of any great occasion such as the present, and -curiously unsuccessful in persuading either its own members or the world -outside of the nature of its mission. We are not conscious, for -example, that we are permanently either responding to, or else refusing, -the appeal to "preach the Gospel to every creature." That appeal does -not hit us personally as does the appeal, "every fit man wanted." Our -membership in the Church does not in fact make us feel a personal -obligation to assist the cause of the Church. We are content to "belong -to it" without admitting that it has any power to dispose of its -"belongings"; we think that we "support" it by "going to church" and -contributing to "church expenses." But we feel no link with our -fellow-Christians in Germany at all comparable to that which binds us to -an agnostic but patriotic Englishman, or at all capable of bridging -spontaneously the gulf fixed by national antagonism. By a deliberate -effort we can realise that we and they are equally precious in the sight -of God, and that they are our fellow-members in Christ. But there is no -realised bond of corporate unity that binds us to each other, and we -rely upon the very feeble resources of our personal good-will and -personal faith for any sense of unity with them that we may attain. The -Church is less powerful than the nation as an influence in our lives, -partly at least because it is in fact less actual. The Church -universal, whether as an organisation or as spirit of life, is an ideal, -not a reality. - -Such an argument, however, simply invites refutation. It is pointed out -that when the whole of one section of Christendom was organised as a -single religious community under the Pope, men did, as a mere matter of -historical fact, fight and hate even more bitterly than now. A common -membership in one Catholic Church did not prevent Edward III. and Henry -V. from making war upon their neighbours across the English Channel. -And at this moment Roman Catholic Frenchmen appear to be fighting -against Roman Catholic Bavarians with no more signs of fellowship -between the opponents than appear in other parts of the field of war. So -far as the Church is organised as a unity, this does not, in fact, -create unity of spirit in its members sufficient to mitigate national -antagonisms. - -And this, it will be urged, is only to be expected. "The wind bloweth -where it listeth," and machinery cannot control the spirit. It is only -a personal faith in Christ that will lift men above natural divisions so -that they spontaneously recognise as brothers those who have similar -faith. To build up again a great ecclesiastical organisation which -shall include all Europe, or even all the world, will not of itself -create friendship between the members who compose it if otherwise they -are antagonistic. Individual conversion, not ecclesiastical -statesmanship, is the one thing needful; nothing can take its place. - -No; of course nothing can take its place. And of course an -all-comprehensive lukewarm Church will share the fate of its smaller -counterpart at Laodicea. When it is said that the Universal Church is -not a reality, it is not only the absence of a world-wide organisation -that is deplored; still worse is the total absence of any typical manner -of life by which members of the Church may be known from others. Men -die for Great Britain, not because Britain is a united kingdom, but -because there is a definite British character which is ours and which we -love. But there is no specifically Christian type of character actually -distinguishing members of the Church from others which may make men -ready to die for Christendom. Christians differ from others, as Spinoza -bitterly remarked, not in faith or charity or any of the fruits of the -Spirit, but only in opinion. Assuredly individual conversion is the -primary requisite. - -But half our troubles come from these absurd dilemmas. Do you believe -in faith or in organisation? Well; do I believe in my eyes or my ears? -Why not in both? Of course organisation cannot take the place of faith; -of course faith without order is better than order without faith. But -why cannot we have in the Church what we have got in the nation faith -operative through order as loyalty is operative through the State and in -service to it? - -The earlier objection, however, is equally serious. Catholicism has -failed in the past and is failing now. One main ground of its failure -is to be found, I believe, in its inadequate recognition of nationality, -which has avenged itself by almost ousting Catholicism, and with it -Christianity itself, where national interests are concerned.[#] - - -[#] I am speaking throughout of the Western Church: the Eastern Church -has perhaps been, if anything, too national. - - -This failure to give adequate recognition to nationality arises from too -exclusive emphasis on the principle which is, quite rightly, the root -idea of Catholicism--the idea of transcendence. Here in the last resort -is the fundamental distinction between naturalism and religion; -naturalism may take a form which stimulates the religious emotions and -supports a high ethical ideal; but it confines itself to the limits of -secular experience. For naturalism the history of man and of the -universe is the starting-point and the goal; this as fact is the datum, -this as understood is the solution. The Will of God, on this view, is to -be discovered from the empirical course and tendency of history. But -religion begins with God; it breaks in upon what we ordinarily call -"experience" from outside; in its monotheistic form it regards the world -as created by God for His own pleasure, and lasting only during that -pleasure; in its pantheistic form it regards the world as a phase or a -moment of His Being which is by no means limited to that phase or -moment. Its philosophy does not elaborately conceive what God must be -like in order to be the solution of our perplexities, but, starting with -the assurance of His Being and Nature, shows how this is in fact the -answer to all our needs. - -It is one peculiarity and glory of Christianity that it unites both of -those. Its faith is fixed upon One who "for us men and for our -salvation _came down from heaven_," and who is yet the eternal Word -through which all things were made, the indwelling principle of all -existence. Transcendence and immanence are here perfectly combined. -But because the former is the distinctively religious element, without -which the latter would have been in danger of relapsing into naturalism, -the deliberate emphasis was all laid on transcendence. We can see, as -we look back, that when once the Incarnation has actually taken place -upon the plane of history, it makes no jot of difference in logic, -provided only that the Life of the Incarnate is taken as the -starting-point and centre of thought, whether terms of transcendence or -of immanence are used. The life of Christ is at once the irruption of -the Divine into the world--(for the previous history of the world -certainly does not explain it)--and is also the manifestation of the -indwelling power which had all along sustained the world. In other -words, the God who redeems is the same God who creates and sustains. -But it is still true that the note of transcendence, of something given -to man by God as distinct from something emerging out of man in his -search of God, is the specifically religious note. - -And the Church, as the divine creation and instrument, shares and must -express this character. It must be so constituted as to keep alive this -faith. That is the meaning of hierarchies and sacraments. Whether any -given order is the most adequate that can be designed, is of course a -perfectly legitimate question. But every order that aspires to be -catholic aims, at least, at expressing the truth that religion is a gift -of God, and not a discovery of man. And certainly it is only the gift -of God that can be truly catholic or universal. Man's discoveries are -indefinitely various; the European finds one thing, the Arab another, -the Hindu yet another, and none finds satisfaction in the other's -discovery, though in all of them God is operative. Only in His own gift -of Himself is it reasonable to expect that all men will find what they -need; only in a Church which is the vehicle of this gift, and is known -to be this, and not a mutual benefit society organised by its own -members for their several and collective advantage--only in a Church -expressive of Divine transcendence can all nations find a home. - -Yet just because of a too one-sided emphasis on this truth, the Catholic -Church in the West has, as a rule, not tried to be a home for nations at -all. "Christianity separated religion from patriotism for every nation -which became, and which remained, Christian."[#] Patriotism is -particular; religion ought to be universal. The nation is a natural -growth; the Church is a divine creation. And so the primitive Church -was organised in complete independence of national life, except in so -far as its diocesan divisions followed national or provincial -boundaries. No doubt the conditions of its existence made this almost -necessary, for the organised secular life of the Roman Empire refused to -tolerate it. But it was its own principle, true indeed but not the -whole truth, which led to this line of development. The same principle -is apparent in the Middle Ages, when there was no external pressure. The -Church, as it was conceived in the sublime ideal of Hildebrand, was to -belong to no nation, because supreme over them all, binding them -together in the obedience and love of Christ, and imposing upon them His -holy will. - - -[#] "War and Religion" in _The Times Literary Supplement_, Dec. 31, -1914. - - -The inevitable result of this was that the instinct of nationality was -never christened at all. It remained a brute instinct, without either -the sanction or the restraint of religion. But it could not be crushed, -and so the Church let it alone; with the result that, though murder was -regarded as a sin, a war of dynastic or national ambition was not by -people generally considered sinful. No doubt theologians condemned such -war in general terms; St. Thomas Aquinas, for instance, seems to regard -as fully justified only such wars as are undertaken to protect others -from oppression, and some of the greatest Popes made heroic efforts to -govern national policy according to righteousness. But in the general -judgment of the Church, international action was not subjected to -Christian standards of judgment at all. This way of regarding the -Church sometimes leads people to speak of "alternative" loyalties so -that they ask, "Ought I to be loyal to my Church or to my nation?" And -while faith and reason will combine to answer "To my Church," an -imperious instinct will lead most men in actual fact to answer "To my -nation." The attempt to exalt the Church to an unconditional supremacy -has the actual result of making men ignore it when its guidance is most -needed. - -Whatever truth there may be in the statement that the Reformation was in -part due to the growing sentiment of nationality, is evidence of the -failure of the old Catholic Church in this matter. In England at any -rate one main source of the popular Protestantism was the objection to -anything like a foreign domination. No doubt the political ambitions of -the Papacy were largely responsible for the feeling that the Catholic -Church brought with it a foreign yoke. But the whole principle of the -Church as non-national necessarily meant that the Church was regarded as -"imposing" Christian standards rather than permeating national life with -them. The Church tended to ignore the spiritual function of the State -altogether, claiming all spiritual activity for itself alone; and thus -it tended to make the State in actual fact unspiritual, and involved -itself in the necessity of attempting what only the State can do. It -thus not only tended to weaken the moral power of the State, but also -forsook its own supernatural function to exercise those of the -magistrate or judge, so that faith in the power of God was never put to -a full test. The Reformation was not only a moral and spiritual reform -of the Church, but the uprising of the nations, now growing fully -conscious of their national life, against the cosmopolitan rule of Rome. -But the Reformation did not fully realise its task. It expressed itself -indeed in national Churches, but in actual doctrine tended to -individualism; whereas Catholicism laid emphasis on religion as the gift -of God, Protestantism, at least in its later development, laid stress on -the individual's apprehension of the gift. But not only the -individual--everything that is human, family, school, guild, trade -union, nation, needs to apprehend and appropriate the gift of God. The -nation, too, must be christened and submit to transforming grace. - -The uprising of the national spirit has had the deplorable result of -contributing to the break-up of Christendom, but it is not in itself -deplorable at all. All civilisation has in fact progressed by the -development of different nationalities, each with its own type. If we -believe in a Divine Providence, if we believe that the life of Christ is -not only the irruption of the Divine into human history but is also and -therein the manifestation of the governing principle of all history, we -shall confess that the nation as well as the Church is a divine -Creation. The Church is here to witness to the ideal and to guide the -world towards it, but the world is by divine appointment a world of -nations, and it is such a world that is to become the Kingdom of God. -Moreover, if it is by God's appointment that nations exist, their -existence must itself be an instrument of that divine purpose which the -Church also serves. - -The whole course of Biblical revelation supports this view. It is quite -true that if we were to read the New Testament for the first time, -knowing nothing whatever about the Old, we should come to the conclusion -that it almost entirely ignored nationality and everything which goes -with it. But then the Church has always maintained that the New -Testament grows by an organic life out of the Old, and presupposes it; -and when we go back to that, there can be no doubt whatever about its -view of nationality. The whole of the early books of the Old Testament -are concerned with this, and almost nothing else. The task of Moses in -the wilderness, of Joshua, of the Judges and the early Kings, is -precisely to fashion Israel into a nation. So much is all attention -concentrated upon this that we find a contentment with that contraction -of the moral outlook which presents to many modern readers the chief -stumbling block about the Old Testament. Almost everything that was -serviceable to Israel is approved. Rahab is guilty of sheer treason to -her own city of Jericho, but it is serviceable to Israel, and there is -no word of condemnation. Jael is guilty of a very treacherous murder, -but it was serviceable to Israel, so "Blessed shall she be above women -in the tent." - -Everything is concentrated upon this primary object of fashioning Israel -into a nation and persuading individual Israelites to put the welfare of -the whole before the interest and ambition of their own clique or -faction; and when the time came for an advance to a wider view, it came -precisely not by way of saying that national divisions do not matter and -that national life itself is unimportant, but by insisting that -nationality is equally precious in these other nations all around Israel -as it is within Israel itself. - -The turning point here as in so much else in the Old Testament is the -Book of Amos, the first of the written prophecies. It is worth while to -try to imagine the effect of those opening clauses. The prophet begins -by securing a willing hearing from those to whom he writes: in other -words he begins by abusing their neighbours. - - - "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus, yea - for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof...." - - "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea for - four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof.... - - "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Tyre, yea for - four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof.... - - "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom, yea for - four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof.... - - "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of the children - of Ammon, yea for four, I will not turn away the punishment - thereof.... - - "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Moab, yea for - four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof...." - - -And then, without a change of phrase, without even the compliment of a -heightened denunciation-- - - - "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah, yea for - four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof.... - - "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, yea - for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof...."[#] - - -[#] Amos i, 3-ii, 6. - - -It would be impossible more emphatically to insist that all nations, -Israel and the rest, stand on an equal footing before the Judgment Seat -of God, and are to be regarded as real entities, and real moral agents; -but that is not enough for the prophet. - - - "Are ye not as Children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of - Israel?--saith the Lord." - - -I have no more care for you than the Ethiopians--who then, as now, were -black folk. - - - "Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, _and_ - the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?"[#] - - -[#] Amos ix, 7. - - -It is the God who had guided the history of Israel who has equally -guided the history of the despised Philistine and the hated Syrian. And -this line of thought reaches its culmination where we should expect to -find it, in the works of the statesman-prophet Isaiah. His little -country of Judah was likely to be destroyed by the hostilities of -Assyria and Egypt, and in the middle of that peril, when these nations -were at each other's throats, he looks forward and says:-- - - - "In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria - and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian to - Assyria; and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians." - - -There shall be free intercourse between them, and worship of the one God -shall be the link between them. - - - "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with - Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, for that the Lord - of hosts hath blessed them, saying, 'Blessed be Egypt my people, - and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine - inheritance?'"[#] - - -[#] Isaiah xix, 23-25. - - -Just picture the pallid frenzy of the orthodox Jew at the words--"Egypt -my people." - -The teaching of the Bible is plain enough; and as we come to the New -Testament, with all this in our minds, knowing the emphasis that has -already been laid upon nationality, we find that there, too, is the note -of patriotism. - -No man has ever loved his nation more than the Lord loved Israel, and in -the bitterness of disappointment in the lament over Jerusalem we have -the measure of His patriotic love for the holy places of His people. - -St. Paul, the author of those great ejaculations--"That there can be -neither Jew nor Gentile, Greek nor Scythian, bond nor free, but one man -in Christ Jesus"[#]--is also the author of the most ardent expression of -patriotism in all literature. - - -[#] Gal. iii, 28; Col. iii, 11. - - - "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing - witness with me in the Holy Ghost, that I have great sorrow and - unceasing pain in my heart. For I could wish that myself were - accursed from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen - according to the flesh; who are Israelites, whose is the - adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of - the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the - patriarchs, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh."[#] - - -[#] Rom. ix, 1-5. - - -One can almost hear him panting as he dictates the words. - -The Bible, then, strongly insists upon the nation as existing by divine -appointment, and it looks forward, not to the abolition of national -distinctions, but to the inclusion of all nations in the family of -nations. So it was well that nationality should insist upon itself -within the sphere of religion in the movement that we call the -Reformation. But it left us with a broken Christendom, and with what -are called national Churches. The old Church endeavoured to tyrannise -over the State; under the influence of the Reformation the State tended -to tyrannise over the Church. Then comes a movement towards a free -Church in a free State; but we shall only find satisfaction when we have -a free State in a free Church. - -The nation is a natural growth with a spiritual significance. It -emerges as a product of various elementary needs of man; but having -emerged it is found to possess a value far beyond the satisfaction of -these needs. The Church is a spiritual creation working through a -natural medium. Its informing principle is the Holy Spirit of God in -Christ, but its members are men and women who are partly animal in -nature as well as children of God. The nation as organised for action -is the State; and the State, being "natural," appeals to men on that -side of their nature which is lower but is not in itself bad. Justice -is its highest aim and force its typical instrument, though force is -progressively less employed as the moral sense of the community -develops: mercy can find an entrance only on strict conditions. The -Church, on the other hand, is primarily spiritual; holiness is its -primary quality; mercy will be the chief characteristic of its -judgments, but it may fall back on justice and even, in the last resort, -on force.[#] Both State and Church are instruments of God for -establishing His Kingdom; both have the same goal; but they have -different functions in relation to that goal. - - -[#] See Appendix II.: _On Moral Authority_. - - -The State's action for the most part takes the form of restraint; the -Church's mainly that of appeal. The State is concerned to maintain the -highest standard of life that can be generally realised by its citizens; -the Church is concerned with upholding an ideal to which not even the -best will fully attain. When a man reaches a certain pitch of -development, he scarcely realises the pressure of the State, though he -is still unconsciously upheld by the moral judgment of society; but he -can never outgrow the demand of the Church. On the other hand, if a man -is below a certain standard, the appeal of the Church will not hold him -and he needs the support of the State's coercion. - -Neither State nor Church is itself the Kingdom of God, though the -specific life of the Church is the very spirit and power of that -Kingdom. Each plays its part in building the Kingdom, in which, when it -comes, force will have disappeared, while justice and mercy will -coalesce in the perfect love which will treat every individual according -to his need. - -The Church which, officially at least, ignored nationality has failed. -The Church which allowed itself to become little more than the organ of -national religion has failed. The hope of the future lies in a truly -international Church, which shall fully respect the rights of nations -and recognise the spiritual function of the State, thereby obtaining the -right to direct the national States along the path which leads to the -Kingdom of God. We are all clear by now that the Christian Church -cannot be made the servant of one nation; we must become equally clear -that it cannot be regarded as standing apart from them, so that in -becoming a Churchman a man is withdrawn in some degree from national -loyalty. We must get rid of the idea of "alternative" loyalties. The -Church is indeed the herald and the earnest of that Kingdom of God which -includes all mankind; but unless all history is a mere aberration, that -Kingdom will have nations for its provinces, and nations like -individuals will realise their destiny by becoming members of it. - -We shall, then, conceive the relation of the nation to the Church on the -analogy of that between the family and the nation. There is in principle -no conflict of interest or loyalty here. The family is a part of the -nation, owing allegiance to it; but the nation consists of families and -can reach its welfare only through theirs. So the nation (in proportion -as it is Christian) must learn to regard itself as a member of the -family of nations in the Catholic Church. No doubt in this imperfect -world there is often a conflict of supposed interests, and sometimes -even of real interests. Moreover, there is often room for doubt as to -where the true interest lies. But the family finds its own true welfare -in the service of the nation, and the nation finds its own welfare in -the service of the Kingdom of God. - -The Catholic Church, which is itself not yet a society of just men made -perfect, while upholding the ideal of brotherhood and the love which -kills hate by suffering at its hands, and while calling both men and -nations to penitence and renewed aspiration in so far as they fail to -reach that ideal, will none the less recognise the divinity of the -nation in spite of all its failures. It will not call upon men to come -out from their nation or separate themselves from its action, unless it -believes that then and there the nation itself is capable of something -better, or unless the nation requires of them a repudiation of the very -spirit of Christ, or an action intrinsically immoral. If it is doing -the best that at the moment it is capable of doing, the Church will bid -its citizens support it in that act, lest the nation be weakened in its -defence of the right or its control handed over to those who have no -care for the right. - -The Church then must recognise the nation having a certain function in -the divine providence with reference to man's spiritual life. It must -not try to usurp the State's functions, for if it does it will perform -them badly, and it will also--which is far more serious--be deserting -the work for which it alone is competent; and the State must, in its -turn, recognise the Church as the Society of Nations, of which it with -all others is a member. - -Nothing but such a spiritual society can secure fellowship among -nations. Schemes of arbitration, conciliation, international police and -the like, presuppose, if they are to be effective, an admitted community -of interest between the nations. But this must be not only admitted but -believed in sufficiently to prompt a nation which has no interest in a -particular dispute to make sacrifices for the general good, by spending -blood and treasure in upholding the authority of the international court -or council. What will secure this, except the realisation of common -membership in the Kingdom of God, and in the Christian Church, its -herald and earnest? - -And yet the Church we know is not only divided but at war within itself. -This, the Creation of God in Christ, is not more free from strife and -faction than the nations, which are natural growths. If grace fails, -how can nature succeed? Why should we expect the nations of the world -to be at peace, when the sections of the Church are at war? - -Because the Church is so far from what we hope it may become, we can -only sketch that future Church in outline. Its building will be the -work of years, perhaps of centuries. And probably enough our attempt -will fail as Hildebrand's failed; probably enough there will be scores -of failures; but each time we must begin again in order that for Christ -and His Spirit a Body may be prepared, through which His purpose may in -the end of the ages find its accomplishment, and the nations of the -earth bring their glory--each its own--into His Holy City. - -There is the goal; dimly enough seen; but the method is perfectly plain. -"Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; how know -we the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way." And when that way led -to the Cross, beside the innocent Sufferer there were two others. One -cried to Him, "Save Thyself and us"; the other recognised His royalty in -that utmost humiliation and prayed, "Jesus, remember me when Thou comest -in Thy Kingdom." He, and he alone in the four Gospels, is recorded to -have addressed the Lord by His personal name. Penitence creates -intimacy, whether it be offered to God or to man. - -We have been made very conscious of the burden of the world's pain and -sin, though perhaps that burden, as God bears it, is no heavier now than -in our selfish and worldly peace. Will the Church pray to Him, "Save -Thyself and us"? or will it willingly suffer with Him, united with Him -in the intimacy of penitence, seeing His royalty in His crown of thorns? -Will it, while bidding men bravely do their duty as they see it, still -say that the real treasures are not of this world though they may in -part be possessed here, suffering whatever may be the penalty for this -unpopular testimony? For the kingdoms of this world will become the -Kingdom of our God and of His Christ only when the citizens of those -kingdoms lay up their treasure in heaven and not upon the earth, only -when, being risen with Christ, they set their affection on things -above--love, joy, peace, loyalty, beauty, knowledge--only when they -realise their fellowship in His Body so that their fellowship also in -His Holy Spirit may purge their selfishness away. - -Here is field enough for heroism and the moral equivalent of war. The -Church is to be transformed and become a band of people united in their -indifference to personal success or national expansion, and caring only -that the individual is pure in heart and the nation honourable. In her -zeal for that purity and honour, and in her contempt for all else, she -may have to suffer crucifixion. It is a big risk that the Church must -run; for if she does not save the world she will have ruined it, besides -sacrificing herself. If there is no God nor Holy City of God, the -Church will have just spoilt life for all her faithful members, and in -some degree for every one else as well. But if her vision is true, then -everything is worth while--rather the greatness of the sacrifice is an -addition to the joy when the prize is so unimaginably great. Can we -bring this spirit into the Church? On our answer depends the course of -history in the next century, and a new stage in the Coming of the Lord. - - _The Spirit and the Bride say, Come._ - _And he that heareth, let him say, Come._ - _Yea: I come quickly._ - _Amen: come, Lord Jesus._ - - - - - *LECTURE III* - - *JUSTICE AND LIBERTY IN THE STATE* - - -"Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to -destroy but to fulfil."--S. Matthew v., 17. - - -I.--In the last lecture I said that justice would seem to be the typical -virtue of the State, as holiness of the Church. Let us, then, first -consider this virtue of justice in the light of our Lord's teaching -concerning one of the most familiar aspects of justice--its penal -aspect. - -Those sayings that have of late given rise to so many searchings of -heart among Christians--the sayings about turning the other cheek and -the rest--are given by our Lord as explanations of the saying that He -came "not to destroy the law but to fulfil it." The words "to fulfil" -of course mean not only to obey and carry out, but to complete. - -In what sense is this teaching of our Lord the completion of the law? -For the law of Moses, like every other law, was concerned with -regulating the relations of men to one another, as well as their duties -towards God; and it enforced what it enjoined by penalties. - -At first sight no doubt it looks as if He were directly contradicting -what had been said to them of old time-- - - - "Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth - for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not him that is - evil; but whosoever smites thee on thy right cheek, turn to him - the other also, and if any man will sue thee at the law, and - take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." - - -How is this the fulfilment or completion of the Mosaic or any other law? -At this distance of time, it is hard to remember what was the original -significance of the law of retaliation. We are inclined to think that -the words "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" are intended to -give a licence to that degree of vindictiveness; but on the contrary, in -the primitive stage in which that enactment was given, it was not a -licence given to man's instinct for vengeance, but a limitation set upon -that primitive and animal instinct, whose natural tendency, if -unchecked, is to take two eyes for an eye and a set of teeth for a -tooth. The _lex talionis_ said--Only an eye for an eye, and only a -tooth for a tooth. - -Our Lord carries the same principle further; not even that degree of -vindictiveness is allowed. The first necessity was to put bounds upon -man's natural and almost insatiable lust for vengeance. The next was to -tell him that the whole method of vengeance could never succeed in what -is its only really justifiable aim. For what is the true function of -the law, whether that of Moses or any other? It is always two-fold; it -must always aim not merely at checking the evil act, but at converting, -if possible, the evil will. - -There has never, I suppose, been any legal system which was not -justified by its upholders on this ground. No one is really content, to -think that the punishment which he inflicts, or may imagine himself as -inflicting through the agency of the State, or in any other way, is -purely deterrent; he always thinks it will also be reformative. But, -how are you as a matter of fact to attack the evil will? The mere -infliction of penalty will not of any necessity achieve this goal at -all. We know that it is very seriously debated whether our whole system -of punishment in the civilised States of to-day has any really moral -effect, at least upon those who fall under its most severe penalties. -Probably most convicts leave prison worse men than when they entered. -For if a man is below a certain level in moral attainment, pain, far -from purifying, only brutalises and coarsens. It is only those who are -already far in the path of spiritual growth who are purified by -suffering, even as the Captain of our Salvation was thus made perfect. -But it is still true that the aim of all penal law is twofold; to check -the evil act and, if possible, to convert the evil will. - -Now, as I suggested previously, mere restraint may have indirectly a -positive moral value; as for example in the case of a child, who is -potentially of very diverse characters. He has the capacity to grow in -many different directions, and it will depend very much upon his -surroundings, and the influences which play upon his character, whether -this set of instincts or that receives development; and here merely to -keep forcibly within bounds the development of certain impulses, which -tend to grow out of proportion to the proper harmony and economy of -nature, may indirectly have the effect of preserving that harmony and -thus develop genuine virtue in the soul. And again, with those whose -characters are relatively formed, the direct restraint, for example, of -State action may have positive moral value, inasmuch as it is the -expression of the moral judgment of Society. What most of us would -shrink from, if we were in danger of imprisonment, would not be the -physical inconvenience, which is not very great, but the fact that we -should have brought ourselves under the censure of Society, and acted in -such a way as to put ourselves below the level which Society generally -considers itself justified in enforcing. And so the purely restraining -influence of the State, even operating through force, may have a -positive moral value, because it represents, and is the only way at -present devised of representing, the judgment of Society, and to shrink -from the judgment of Society is, so far as it goes, a really moral fear. -It is not indeed the highest ground for the avoidance of evil, but it is -a moral ground, for it arises from our recognition of our -fellow-membership in Society with those whose censure we fear. - -But the State in all its actions is of necessity mechanical, and cannot -take account of the individual, and all that makes him what he is. The -State officer cannot know the prisoner in such a way as really to -determine the treatment allotted to him in the light of what is best for -his spiritual welfare; and therefore he has to fall back upon rough and -ready rules which will never be perhaps very far from the right -treatment, though they may fail to allot the ideal treatment in any -single case. And here, in parenthesis, let me just mention that this is -the chief reason why metaphors and comparisons drawn from the law-courts -are so sadly misleading when used to illustrate the relation between the -human soul and God; our only fear of the judge is concerned with what he -will do to us; but what we fear with our father, on earth or in Heaven, -is not so much what he will do to us, as the pain we have caused--"There -is mercy with Thee; therefore shalt Thou be feared." - -Our Lord's method is the only one that aims straight at the evil will; -it is the only method which has in it any real hope of converting the -individual. It may fail time and again; but it is the only one that has -a chance of real and absolute success. - -Let us look for a moment at the instances which He chooses to illustrate -the principle, and we shall see at once that they are carefully chosen. -All the acts chosen are such as are particularly vexatious to the -ordinary natural and selfish man--being struck in the face; having a -vexatious suit brought against one; being pestered by a beggar; being -compelled to do something for the public service when we are busy. -Those are just the things which the natural man resents and which the -real Christian will not mind at all. For, after all, there is no real -injury in being struck in the face, or having one's coat taken away. -What one minds is the insult to one's precious dignity; and the -Christian who, by definition, has forgotten all about himself will not -mind such injuries at all. Therefore if the acts commanded are -spontaneously done and not done with a laborious conscientiousness--that -is to say if they are done in the spirit of Christianity, and not in the -spirit of Pharisaism--they will express a complete conversion in the -will of him who does them; they will express absolute conquest of self, -and a concern solely for the welfare of him with whom we are dealing; -and there is no heart yet made that can resist the appeal of love which -is constant in spite of every betrayal, the appeal of trust which is -renewed in spite of endless disappointments. - -"He that loveth his brother"--says St. John--"walketh in the light." He -is the man who knows where he is going, because he is the man who -understands people and sees into their hearts. They will reveal to him -secrets of their nature, which they will hide from the contemptuous and -indifferent; and even if at first he is from time to time disappointed -and betrayed, in the end his method will succeed, because love and trust -create what they believe in. - -The justice then, which we find at work in the State, is always a -provisional thing pointing us to something more, something which the -State itself by its very constitution is unable to provide, but which -God provides in Christ, and will enable us in our measure to provide, if -we are faithful, at least in the circle of our immediate activities, so -far, that is, as the range of our sympathy will carry us. - -II.--The value of the justice which the State is able to secure actually -resides for the most part in the liberty which it makes possible. -Justice, as the State interprets it, is of itself, as far as I can see, -almost totally valueless. I can see no kind of advantage in merely -allotting so much pain to so much evil. There is moral evil in a man -and you put physical evil into him as well. I do not see how you have -made him or anyone else the better. Only in so far as the punishment is -either deterrent or reformative, has it any moral value at all; and only -in the latter case, where it reforms the character, can the value be -called in the strict sense moral. So far as it only deters men from evil -acts which they would desire to commit, it may add to the convenience of -the other members of Society, but it is not doing any direct moral good. - -Indirectly, however, it has moral results; for when we enquire in what -sense we can say that such justice as the State secures produces -liberty, the first answer is to be found in the obvious and elementary -fact that the liberty of every one of us depends upon our knowledge that -certain impulses and instincts in other people, should they arise, will -be checked and not allowed to receive full expression. Our liberty is -increased by that check put upon predatory or homicidal impulses in -other people, and their liberty depends upon the suppression of such -impulses in us. - -So far it would seem that there must be in the most obvious sense of the -words a certain curtailment of everybody's liberty in order that anybody -may have liberty at all. If we are all to be free to indulge our -passions of anger and hatred, should such arise within us, then it is -quite clear that there will be very little freedom of action in the -Society which rests on that principle. Everyone will go about in fear -of everyone else. - -But that is a very small part of the business. The chief contribution of -such justice to human liberty is that it supplies the necessary -conditions of discipline without which there can be no liberty. We -think of liberty as meaning freedom from external constraint. We think -that an act of ours is free when we can say, "I did it, and no one made -me do it"; but very little reflection is sufficient to convince us that -a man whose life is actually governed by one or several over-developed -passions which he will, as a matter of fact, always gratify when -opportunity offers, in spite of the damage that is done to his whole -life and to his permanent and deliberate purpose, is not really a free -man. To be tied and bound with the chain of our sins is just as much -slavery as to be in the ownership of another man; and we can acquire the -real liberty which is worth having, the liberty, that is, to shape our -lives, to live according to our own purpose, following out our own -ideal, only in so far as our natures have been welded by discipline into -unity, so that we are no longer a chaos of impulses and instincts, any -of which may be set in motion by the appropriate environment, but are -self-governing persons controlling our own lives. - -Liberty, in so far as it is of any value, always means self-control in -both the senses of that term: in the sense that we are only controlled -by ourselves, and also in the sense that by ourselves we are controlled, -and that every part of our nature is subservient to the purpose to which -our whole nature is given. Legislation is really an instrument of -self-discipline. The people who write books about political philosophy -are mainly members of the respectable classes. They naturally find it -rather difficult to envisage themselves as liable to commit murder and -the like; and they are therefore very liable to represent the criminal -law of the State as being enacted against a few undisciplined or -recalcitrant members. But when we look at the thing more closely, we -see that what a community does, especially a democratic community, when -it passes a law, is to invoke, every member upon his own head, the -penalties enacted by that law, if he should do the act which the law -forbids. - -Let us consider, for example, an international convention. What is the -use of nations agreeing with one another not to do something, for -instance not to poison wells, unless there is some chance that in a -moment of strong temptation they may desire to do it? They therefore -strengthen their deliberate purpose to avoid such acts by entering into -an agreement with one another always to avoid them. There would be no -object in doing this unless they needed help, or thought that they might -at some time need help, in living up to their own purposes. - -And we have to remember that in this way the law of the State is, as a -matter of fact, perpetually operating upon every one of us. We are -often liable to suppose that it is only active in relation to those -people against whom it is definitely set in motion; but it does operate -in the life of every one of the citizens of a community; because the -fact that certain actions would involve us in State-penalty most -undoubtedly does keep all of us from indulging in those actions at -certain times, even though at calm moments we recognise that it would be -wrong to do so. Trivial instances are nearly always the clearest. Most -of us, I suppose, are sufficiently honest to desire in general terms to -pay for what we buy; and we should perhaps usually pay for our places in -the train, even if there were no ticket-inspector; still, the existence -of the inspector just clinches the matter.[#] The possibility of the -penalty as a matter of fact helps to maintain our general, permanent, -and deliberate purpose of honesty against a momentary temptation to be -dishonest; and so far it is helping us to live up to our purpose, or, in -other words, is increasing our real freedom. In fact, one main test of -good legislation is precisely whether it does or does not in this way -develop real freedom by increasing people's power to live by their own -deliberate purpose. - - -[#] I owe the illustration to Mr. A. L. Smith, of Balliol. - - -Now so far we have been considering Society as consisting of relatively -free persons (though the freedom exists in varying degrees, both as -regards the external constraint and capacity for self-control), these -persons having various claims which have to be regulated by the justice -which the State upholds; in other words, in this stage, we are regarding -justice in the way in which I suppose it is most usually regarded, -namely, as rendering to a man what is due to him. That is the -definition with which Plato in _The Republic_ starts his enquiry, and he -naturally found very soon that it would not work.[#] It will not work -because the moral values of people are not determinable. You cannot, as -a matter of fact, ever say what is the relative weight of the various -claims that may be made on behalf of this or that man. Most -particularly there is the perpetual conflict between the actual and the -potential worth of any men. - - -[#] He appropriately puts it in the mouth of Polemarchus, the -well-brought up, but wholly inexperienced, young man. - - -Suppose that we decide that we will give to all men in Society that -which is their due. How are we going to determine what is due? Is it to -be determined by their economic value, for example by the amount they -are contributing to the economic or general welfare of Society? Well -then, there are a large number of people at both ends of what we call -the social scale who ought to receive nothing at all, because they are -contributing nothing economically, or, indeed, in any other way, to the -public welfare. And yet that is not their fault; they have been brought -up, it may be in squalor, it may be in luxury, but in either case in -circumstances which have made them almost incapable of anything like -good citizenship. Are we to kill such persons, or leave them to starve, -in the interest of the public welfare? All human instincts will protest -that this is unjust, and that they can claim more than they can possibly -be represented as contributing, simply because they have had, as we say, -bad luck, and it is not their fault.[#] - - -[#] See Appendix III, _On Justice and Education_. - - -Let us try what happens if after Plato's example we turn the matter -upside down, and instead of saying that justice will be found when there -is rendered to each man what is due to him, we say that justice is found -when each man contributes what is due from him. - -Now logically, of course, these two are the same, because duties and -rights are absolutely correlative. My rights constitute other people's -duties towards me, and their rights constitute my duties towards them. -The only difference is that it is far more easy in any given case to -determine what is due from somebody--what can be claimed from him--than -to determine what is due to him. - -In this imperfect stage of the world, where we are passing through the -transition from something like barbarism to Christian civilisation, as -we hope, it is possible that of two correlative processes, one will -actually carry us further than the other even though it is logically -inseparable from it. And in fact we find at once, that if we put it -this way, and say that the principle of justice is not that each man -should obtain what is due to him, but that each should contribute what -is due from him, we are coming to the central principle of God's -administration of His world, which is that we should render to every man -not according to his desert, but according to his need. Indeed for -practical purposes, if we are wishing to bring justice into our own -dealings, and into the dealings of any public body with which we may -have influence, this principle will carry us further than any -other--"Render to every man according to his need." - -Let us suppose that we meet on one day with two beggars. One of them is -a man who has borne a good character throughout his life, and has lost -his work through no fault of his own; the works on which he was employed -were closed, and he is now tramping in search of more work. All of us -of course will say--"He deserves help and we will help him." Yes; and -it is quite easy to help him. We have only to set him up again, and all -will be well. It is not his own fault and we can rely upon him to make -use of another opportunity. The other beggar is a man who has lost this -place, as he has lost many before, through indulgence in some vice, such -as drink. There are very many people who will say, "Well, it is his own -fault, and now he must suffer for it." If God had taken that line with -us, where would our redemption be?--"It is his own fault, now he must -suffer for it." To say that is to repudiate the Gospel in its entirety. -It is to call the Cross absurd and scandalous. "God commendeth His love -toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died." - -No; the Christian will say, "This man needs help more than the other." -It will not be the same kind of help. It is no use merely to give him -money. That may merely help him to go wrong quicker than he would -otherwise. He needs something that will cost us, probably, more than -money; he needs our time--time to make friends; time to remove his -suspicions; time to enter into real sympathy with him, and to detect -what elements of strength there are in his character, that we may build -them up again. But he needs help more than the other, and the Christian -will be bound to give it, and he will say--"It was his own fault; he -cannot help himself; it depends entirely on us; we will render to him -according to his need." - -And all of this would lead to another formula for describing the justice -which we shall desire to practise in the State, and in all our secular -life of which the State is the highest organisation--The recognition of -personality. - -I do not know at all what forms your labour unrest in takes in this -continent, but I claim to have considerable opportunities of knowing -what is the root of that unrest in England, at least among the better -type of working people; for I am concerned with an organisation which is -at work among working folk all over England, having an enormous -membership, and which aims at claiming for them, and supplying them -with, further facilities for education. Those with whom I thus come in -contact are picked men, no doubt, because those who join an educational -association are thereby marked off at once as intellectually at least -more alert than those who do not join; but as I go about them, I find no -room whatever for doubting that the root of the labour unrest in England -is a sense that the whole organisation of our life constitutes a -standing insult to the personality of the poor man. Why, for example, -he feels, should it be possible for a well-to-do man to secure for -himself, or for his wife, or for his child, the medical attendance that -may be needed, while he in very many parts of our country depends upon -institutions maintained by voluntary contributions? It is quite -compatible with gratitude to those whose generosity maintains these -institutions to feel that for such service he should not be dependent -upon anybody's charity at all--whether the solution is to be that the -State maintain such institutions or that every man who is doing his fair -share of the country's work receive for himself the wage that will -enable him to deal with such emergencies as they arise. - -Above all, men feel the denial of their personality in the organisation -of industry itself. Men have fought and died for political liberty, -which means the right to have a voice in making the laws by which you -are to be governed. But the laws of the State do not for the most part -invade a man's home, whereas the regulations of an industrial firm do. -They determine when he shall get up in the morning and when he shall go -to bed; they determine whether he shall have any leisure for the pursuit -of any interest of his own. In the making of those regulations he has, -as a rule, no voice whatever, and no opportunity of making his views -understood except by threat, the threat of a strike. The men feel that -they are what they are sometimes called, "hands" not persons. They are -the tools of other men. You must apply all this to your own country, if -and so far as it does apply. But one might easily imagine a village in -Lancashire, or any other industrial district where all the inhabitants -are dependent upon one industry; there are many such; and the control of -that industry may be in the hands of a Board of Directors, settled -perhaps in London; it may only meet a few times a year for the -transaction of business, and otherwise not exist at all. They never see -the people whose lives and destinies they thus control. The shareholders -who want their dividends make no enquiries as a rule about the -conditions in which the work is done. If that Board of Directors -mismanages its business the village in Lancashire goes hungry. If that -Board of Directors, when they have already got a full supply of work, -takes on another large contract, that village in Lancashire works -overtime; and the people have no say in the matter. Whatever else that -is, it is not liberty, and in the judgment of the people themselves it -is not justice. And indeed it is not either justice or liberty as we -have learned in other spheres to understand those terms. The economic -organisation of life comes far closer to the individual citizen than the -political organisation, and the development of justice remains -incomplete until it has secured liberty of an economic as well as a -political kind. - -If it is true that the method of Christ is to appeal to the free -personality of the man, so that he obeys out of love and devotion and -not from fear of penalty nor hope of reward, other than the reward of -realising the love of the Master, then surely it is in the true line of -development towards the perfected Christian civilisation if we demand -that these opportunities for the development of free personality shall -be afforded. No doubt it must be done with wisdom. Rough and ready -methods, however well-meant, might do far more harm than good, and leave -us in a situation even worse than that which we know. But the Church -has paid scarcely any attention to those things in England. It is very -difficult to persuade Church-people that, because they are followers of -Christ, and therefore might be assumed to recognise that they are -"members one of another" with all these others, they are therefore bound -(for example) in investing their money to find out the conditions under -which their dividends are going to be earned. In almost every -department of life we have left such things alone. Under the stress of -war, we have suddenly become acutely conscious of the drink evil. It -was there before; and we have been content that the great majority of -our fellow citizens should have no opportunity for gratifying those -instincts of social life and merriment, which are the birthright of all -God's children, except in places where the influence of alcohol was -supreme. We have been content with that. We have not thought it was our -duty to find a means of supplying them with other places of recreation -and amusement; we have saved our money. And then we have the -impertinent audacity to claim our own redemption by the blood of Christ. - -One can go on with one evil after another in the same way. This is what -makes the Church weak. It is no sort of use for us to say that Christ -is the Redeemer of the world, and the Revealer of the way of life, if -with regard to just those evils which press most heavily on men we have -to say that for them He has unfortunately not supplied a remedy. - -No doubt if these evils are to be dealt with on a large scale, the work -must be done by the State, for nothing else is adequate; and the Church -here has two main tasks. It is no part of the Church's task to advocate -general principles or particular maxims of economic science, though its -members, in their capacity of citizenship ought to be active in these -ways. The first task of the Church is to inspire the State, which after -all very largely consists of the same persons as itself, with the desire -to combat the evil; and the second is to counteract the one great -difficulty which the State experiences. When the State takes up such -work as this, there is one thing which we all fear: "Officialism." What -is "Officialism"? Simply lack of love; nothing else in the world. It -consists in treating people as "cases," according to rules and red tape, -instead of treating them as individuals; and the Church which must -inspire the State to want to deal with these things, must then supply -the agents through whom it may deal with them effectively, inspiring -them with the love of men which is the fruit and test of a true love of -God. - -But beyond all this, the Church must be making demands far greater than -it has ever made upon man's spiritual nature and spiritual capacity, and -must then point to the organisation of our social life and say--"That -organisation, because and in so far as it deprives men of the full -growth of their spiritual nature, because and in so far as it prevents -them from taking the share which belongs to God's children in His -worship and the enjoyment of his gifts of nature and Grace, is proved to -be of the devil." - -In our worship we find for the most part what we expect to find. There -may be gifts offered us, gifts from God, that we never receive because -we have not looked for them. It is in our intercourse with Christ that -we shall find the means of solving the horror of our social problem, if -we are expecting to find it; but we have not expected it. We have not -really believed that He is the Redeemer of the World; we have not looked -to Him for the redemption of Society. The State by itself, until the -Church comes to its help, can do something indeed, but something which -by itself is almost worthless.[#] It supplies the indispensable -foundation without which a spiritual structure cannot be built up; but, -if that building never comes, the foundation by itself is little more -than useless. To those whom the social order favours it offers real -liberty and life, but no inspiration; a perfect social order would offer -liberty to all, but still no inspiration. The State alone can never be -the house of many mansions wherein every soul is truly at home. - - -[#] It is to be observed that the State is by its very nature largely -limited to the regulation of those human relationships where men oppose -each other with rival claims; as soon as men rise to the reciprocity of -friendship the method of the State is inappropriate. People do not go -to law to determine whether either loves the other adequately. - - - - - *LECTURE IV* - - *HOLINESS AND CATHOLICITY IN THE CHURCH* - - -"This is the law of the house: upon the top of the mountain the whole -limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of -the house."--Ezekiel xliii, 12. - -"And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, -are the temple thereof."--Revelation xxi, 22. - - -The Bible gives us two elaborately conceived pictures of the perfected -life of man. The first is that which occupies the closing chapters of -Ezekiel's prophecy; its leading feature is the immense separation which -is insisted upon between the Temple and the secular City. The Hill of -Zion has become a very high mountain; upon the top of it the Temple is -set, and there is a wide space, at least two miles, between it and the -City of Jerusalem, which has been moved away by that distance to the -south. - -Indeed, if we take the description as intended to be complete, the City -seems to exist chiefly to provide a congregation for the Temple's -services, and the Prince only to offer representative worship on behalf -of His people. All attention is concentrated upon the place of the -worship of God, and the holiness which is to be characteristic of that -place. By thus keeping the Temple holy, through separating it from the -body of the City and its secular life, the Prophet attains no doubt the -end he has in view, but he also, of necessity, though probably -unintentionally, leaves the suggestion that the secular life itself -cannot be wholly consecrated. - -In sharp contrast with this is St. John's picture in the Book of -Revelation; here there is no specific place of worship at all, for the -whole City is the Temple of God; more than that, the whole City is the -very Holy of Holies, for it is described as being a perfect cube, and -the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple was a perfect cube. - - - "And the city lieth four square, and the length thereof is as - great as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, - twelve thousand furlongs; the length and the breadth and the - height thereof are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, and - it was one hundred and forty and four cubits."[#] - - -[#] Rev. xxi, 16, 17. - - -The City thus corresponds in symbolic form with the Holy of Holies. It -is become the dwelling place of God. No special shrine is needed, no -place to which men draw apart, because their whole life is an act of -worship, and God dwells among them in their daily activities. - -There is one feature about this Heavenly City, which is obscured through -the use of the old terms of measurement, for this cube is described as -being 1,500 _miles_ high, 1,500 _miles_ broad, and 1,500 _miles_ long; -but the wall which stands for defence against foes without and for the -containment and order of the life within, and indeed represents in -general the principle of organisation--the wall is only 216 _feet_ high; -so small a thing is order in comparison with the life which it -safeguards. - -It is between those two poles, which are set for us as the extreme terms -in a process, that the Church must live its life. There is truth in -both of them. - -We were considering in the last lecture justice and liberty, which are -the supreme achievements of the National State. Let us to-day consider -the Holiness and Catholicity, which are the supreme treasures of the -Church. - -Holiness must come first, Holiness which means absolute conformity to -the will of God. Whatever obstacles there may be to overcome, whatever -seductions to avoid, the Church is to remain absolutely devoted to the -Divine Will. Only so can it be catholic or universal. It might for a -moment achieve an all-embracing unity by giving up everything that is -offensive to men, and gathering all within it under the glow of a -comfortable sentiment; but then its life would be gone, and after a -little while the men who had all become members of it would be just as -though they had not. Only a Church which is perfectly loyal to the Will -of God, can possibly be the home for all mankind. - -But Holiness has always had two meanings--an outward and an inward, a -ceremonial and a moral. We shall agree, I suppose, in saying that the -outward and ceremonial is in itself of no consequence, and exists only -in order to preserve and make possible the inward and spiritual -conformity to God's Will; but for that purpose, as all human experience -has always shown, it is quite indispensable. We are made of bodies as -well as souls, and if our whole being is to be permeated, there must be -bodily expression of that which our souls enjoy or need. We must -worship with our bodies as well as with our souls. So St. Paul, after -all his emphasis upon the spirit as against dead works, begins his -practical exhortation with the words, "I beseech you, therefore, -brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living -sacrifice."[#] The physical and bodily expression is always necessary, -in this human life of ours, to the full efficacy and to the survival -through the ages of the spiritual, though this no doubt is alone of -ultimate consequence. - - -[#] Rom. xii, 1. - - -If the Church is to maintain its Holiness, it must of necessity be to -some extent separated from the world; it cannot mix as a Church in all -worldly activities. It cannot simply set itself out to permeate the -general life of men, maintaining nothing that is separate and apart for -itself. If it does that, it will simply be lost in the general life of -the world. - -In the last resort our characters depend almost entirely upon the -influences that play upon them in our environment; the one place where -we have effective choice is in determining the influences to which we -will submit ourselves. If there is no place in our society, or in the -world, where men may count upon finding the power of God in purity, then -men will inevitably fail to rise above that sort of character, which -their worldly environment happens to be forming in them. - -The Church then, precisely in order to do this work in the world, must -keep itself in some sense separate from the world; but the vast majority -of its members are people in the daily life of the world, pursuing their -avocations there; and it would plainly be wholly disastrous to require -that all Christian people, in virtue of their Christianity, should -withdraw themselves from the ordinary concerns of men. - -There is, therefore, no means by which this separateness of the Church -can be achieved unless there are certain persons set apart to be -representatives of the Church, and of the Church only; and who, because -they are official representatives of the Church are thereby deprived of -the right to take part in many worldly activities, though these in -themselves are right enough. - -It is not because they are more truly members of the Church than others, -nor because there is a different moral standard for clergy and laity, -but because in the whole life of the Church there are certain functions -which are incompatible with others, just as in the State a man cannot be -at the same time an advocate and a judge, or commander-in-chief and -ambassador. - -Thus, for example, as it seems to me, one who is called to be a priest -of the Church, inevitably forfeits the right to take part in the -hurly-burly of party politics; partly because, in a world which consists -of many parties, he is responsible for bringing before men the claim of -God to which all the parties ought to bow; partly also because a man's -activities inevitably affect the quality of his own mind, and if we are -to be as it were repositories of the Eternal truths, if we are to have -ready for dispensation all the treasures which God commits to His -Church, we need a type of mind which cannot, at least by most men, be -maintained, if we are engaged in heated controversy and frequent debate. - -Another example may be found in the question whether a priest should -serve as a combatant in his country's army. He is called to represent -the Church; and the Church is essentially, not accidentally, -international; it is not international merely as a scientific society -may be, in that it is not concerned with political frontiers and men of -all nations are welcome within it; but it is international in the sense -that it exists to bind the nations of the earth in one. The officer of -such a society may be as patriotic in his feeling as anyone else, but, -just because he is an official, for him to take positive action on one -side of the other weakens the Church's international position, and is, -therefore, a more serious act than it is in the case of the layman. Here -again there are not two standards, but there are diverse circumstances. -If the Church called on all its members to refuse to serve, the result -would be to interfere with the freedom of the State to act in its own -sphere; if it allows everyone to serve, it is deprived of its Catholic -witness just when that is most vitally needed. The only way of doing -justice to the legitimate claims of both nationalism and Catholicity, is -to differentiate between persons; and there is no practicable or even -sensible way of doing this except to make the Church's officers -responsible for the Catholic witness and its lay, or unofficial, members -for the national. - -But does this not involve the danger of a priestly caste? Yes, no doubt -it does; but there are two ways in which we may avoid falling into that -danger. The first is perpetually to remember that men are called by God -to the different kinds of work which He has for them to do; and we shall -avoid unctuousness, which is no doubt what men most dread about a -priestly caste, if we keep it perpetually in our mind that we are not -personally holy because our calling is. We are entrusted with this -great charge. We have to fulfil it. It is our work for Him. But there -are those whom He calls to serve Him as politicians and as soldiers; if -they do their work as in His sight, and to His glory, they are serving -Him every bit as much as we are. All the work of all the kinds of men -is needed in the world, and it is only if we suppose that we are made -more holy because our calling is concerned with the specifically holy -things that we shall fall before that danger. - -And the other safeguard, paradoxical as it may sound, is a very complete -specialised training. One of the reasons, I am quite sure, why lay -people often find us rather stilted and uncongenial is because we have -not secured a sufficient grasp upon what is our own special subject to -feel full liberty in conversation and to speak naturally. We are -perpetually wondering at what point we shall be suddenly compromising -that for which we are responsible. We tend to utter (and even to hold) -merely conventional opinions and to express ourselves only in the -stereotyped phrases, because we have not sufficient grasp of spiritual -and moral truth to trust ourselves in forming individual opinions, or in -finding our own language for expressing the opinions which we form. -Precisely in the degree in which we know our own work and have full -possession of what is entrusted to us, shall we obtain liberty and ease -of manner, and be in general behaviour just like other people, which is -what we ought most to desire. - -Still it is in the person of its priests that the Church must maintain -that outward holiness, that separation from the world, which alone makes -possible a concentration upon things divine; and without this -concentration it can never become a catholic or universal body. -"Universal," here does not, of course, mean all-inclusive. There are -those who definitely and deliberately reject the claim of Christ, and -those have never been submitted in any way to His influence. The -unbaptized heathen are not members of the Catholic Church; and if they -refuse the Gospel when it comes, they remain outside. Moreover, as we -have seen, there is possible a vicious as well as a holy catholicity. -There is nothing so seductive as the temptation to suppose that doctrine -which evokes a response is on that account true, or particularly to be -emphasised. Sometimes people dislike the truth. There are people who -are alienated by it; and the attractiveness of our gospel to people, -irrespective of their frame of mind, is no evidence of its divinity. -There is a picture in the Old Testament where Moses the Prophet is apart -upon the mountain top, communing with God, while at the foot of the -mountain, Aaron, the official priest, is ministering to the people the -kind of religion they like. He was encouraging them, as the Psalmist -satirically says, to worship: "the similitude of the calf that eateth -hay." There was nothing very dignified about it. But it was what the -people liked; and the response to his ministrations was immediate and -immense. Our task is to lay hold, so far as we may in our infinite -feebleness, of the truth that was given to the world in Christ in all -its sternness as well as its love--or rather in that sternness which is -an essential part of its love; and this is what we must present to men. - -Again, it is not in proportion to their virtue in the ordinary moral -sense that men are drawn to the Church; it is in proportion to their -conscious need of God. It is perhaps worth while just now especially to -emphasise the peril of a faithless virtue, and the depth of error -involved in any attempt to take for the basis of a Church "the religion -of all good men." What will happen to a man who sets his effort upon -the building up of his whole character according to an ethical ideal? -One of two things. Either he may in part succeed, perhaps as much as he -himself desires to succeed, and then he may become self-satisfied and a -Pharisee; or else he will find himself either failing altogether, or, -having succeeded in part, incapable of carrying the success to its full -completion, and not knowing where to find the power that will take him -further; and so he ends in despair. - -No, the appeal of the Church, as universal, is simply that it has within -it that which answers the real and deepest need of every human being. -There everyone will find his home, when once he has found his need of -God, if indeed the Church is holy. - -And this is also its distinction from the sects; for it endeavours to -uphold the entire body of the truth, every particle of it that may be of -service to anyone. I suppose there are very few of us to whom the whole -of the Creed is a living reality. We may believe it all, but what we -live by is usually a small part of it, and it is a different part with -different persons. The essence of sectarianism, as I understand it, is -the gathering together of those people who live by the same part of the -Creed, in order that, like mingling with like, they may develop a great -intensity and fervour of devotion. For a moment, indeed, they may be -far more effective than the great body of the Church, and yet they -cannot become universal. There is something lacking from what they -uphold, which someone needs.[#] The aim of the Church is to be -universal here also, and to uphold the entire body of the truth, -presenting it in its entirety, even though the priest who is called upon -to fulfil that office of presenting it to the people may himself be -actually living by the slenderest portion of it. No doubt we shall -present most forcibly that part of the whole truth which is most real to -ourselves; and for that reason, if no other, we ought to try our utmost -to gain a personal apprehension of the whole. But men's spiritual -diseases are of many kinds, and all the healing truths must be offered -by the Church in which all men are to find life. - - -[#] This is a description of Sectarianism, not of any particular -Denomination. We are all infected with the sectarian spirit. In many -respects Rome is far more sectarian than the great Presbyterian bodies -in Scotland. With all its faults I sincerely believe that the Anglican -Communion is, in spirit, more of a Church and less of a sect than any -other body. But then it contains several sects within itself, both -"High," "Broad," and "Low." - - -The truth which it thus presents, the Church believes to be the gift of -God. This above all is the idea which it tries to safeguard by the -outward signs of regular orders and sacraments. - -Our belief about the communion service is that there Christ comes to us -just as once the eternal Word, which was present with all His creation, -none the less came in full manifestation under the limitations of time -and space at a particular moment and in a particular country. So in the -communion the Divine presence which fills the whole world ("Heaven and -earth are full of His glory," as we say in the service itself) is -offered to us, and draws near to us; and that not because of any virtue -in us; it was while we were yet sinners that Christ came and died; it is -while we are yet sinners that Christ offers Himself to us; and it is as -guarding against any conception that we can determine how He shall come, -or when and where, and that we can, as it were, manufacture His presence -in our own way, that the Church maintains with the utmost emphasis the -order that is necessary for that service. - -It is to preserve the conception of spiritual life as a gift of God, and -of the Church as the society which recognises and receives it as such a -gift, in distinction from a mutual benefit society organised for the -edification of its own members, that the Church insists upon the due -order of its administration; and it is through concentration upon this -idea of holiness, and all that it ought to mean in our personal lives, -that we can make our greatest contribution towards bringing into -existence again a real Catholic Church, a Church which shall genuinely -include all the persons who believe in Christ in one order and -fellowship. The first and indispensable condition of re-union is fuller -dedication to the will of God in Christ. We shall be united to one -another when we are all truly united to Him. - -But, if that work is to be accomplished, we shall also need wisdom, in -order rightly to counteract the effects alike of folly and of sin in the -past history of the Church; and here every man must be willing to make -what suggestions he can, merely submitting them for acceptance or -rejection by the whole body of the Church; because unless people are -prepared to speak of the problem as they see it, leaving the final -judgment to be formed by the body of which they are members, there is no -hope of our making any progress at all. - -I will therefore, venture to suggest to you six principles, upon which, -as my vision is at present, I think we might come near to agreement -among ourselves; and if we should agree upon them, then we could offer -these or whatever modifications of these the Church thinks fit, to those -bodies which are at present in separation from us. - -I.--First, what do we mean by the Church? Ideally and in its eternal -reality it is the Body and Bride of Christ, the instrument of His will -and the object of His love, worthy as both. But in the process of time -and upon the stage of this world, what are we going to mean by it, and -who are we going to account its members? When people begin to think of -this question, they always start with various enthusiastic schemes. The -members of the Church are the people who have faith, or the people who -are conscious of the need of pardon, and the like; but all of this -breaks down because you can never tell who these people are. We must -have some perfectly plain outward sign if the Church is to be an -operative agency in this world; and you will find, I think, that there -is none which you can reach except that it is the fellowship of the -baptized. Baptism is the Lord's own appointed way by which men should -be received in the fellowship of His disciples. We must take that as our -basis. - -It is no business of ours to pronounce judgment upon the spiritual state -of other persons. We shall thank God for every sign of the Christian -virtues and graces shown in other persons who have not been brought to -baptism; we may believe that they are members of the Church in heaven; -but still, I would submit, we must say for all purposes of practical -working, that the Church on earth is the fellowship of the baptized. - -II.--That fellowship exists in fragments and sections. What is the -peculiar mark of our fragment? This is authoritatively defined for us -in the Lambeth Quadrilateral,[#] but our special character may be -expressed briefly by saying that we are trustees for the Catholic order, -who yet reject what seem to us the accretions which the Church of Rome -upholds. - - -[#] (_a_) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. as -"containing all things necessary to Salvation," and as being the rule -and ultimate standard of faith. - -(_b_) The Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene -Creed, as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith. - -(_c_) The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself--Baptism and the -Supper of the Lord--ministered with unfailing use of Christ's words of -institution, and of the elements ordained by Him. - -(_d_) The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its -administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of -God into the Unity of His Church. - - -Now some such order as that which we maintain, is necessary, as it seems -to me, to the fulfilment of the duty of charity. I hope I am not unfair -to those who are separated from us, and are influenced by the ideals of -Puritanism; but it has seemed to me that their discipline is not always -charitable. Indeed, a Church must either excommunicate freely or else -possess a recognised order if it is to avoid becoming indistinguishable -from "the world" about it; if it is to be both holy and a friend of -sinners it must have an order. The order which we maintain is simply -that which has come down to us as the actual order of historic -Christendom. - -III.--Thirdly, I would submit that the Body with its orders is a living -whole, and that it is illegitimate to discuss such a question as the -"validity" of Orders out of all relation to the historic life of the -Church. The question of Orders must be considered in relation to the -whole life of the Body of which they are an organic part.[#] - - -[#] See Appendix IV. _On Orders and Catholicity_. - - -Thus, if we take the famous Quadrilateral as our starting point, a body -which stands by the Canonical Scriptures, the Creeds and the two great -Sacraments, though not upholding the episcopal succession, is closer to -the ideal than one which is indifferent to any of these three as well as -to the succession; it has maintained many of the (ex hypothesi) -essential features of a true Church; it approximates to the complete -requirement. Moreover, within the field of the problem of Orders, there -are degrees of approximation; it is generally considered that an -agreement between the Anglican and Presbyterian communions could be far -more easily reached than between the Anglican and some other Protestant -bodies. We must, therefore, avoid two kindred errors. One is to set up -the abrupt dilemma--"Either a true Church or not," and the other is to -regard the possession of "valid" Orders as being the one and only -condition of the Catholicity of the body possessing them. - -The Church Visible cannot be identical with the Church Invisible; it is -its sacrament. And the question resolves itself into one concerning the -degree of adequacy with which it expresses, _and thereby maintains -through the ages_, the fulness of the truth. - -Our actual divisions in the West date from the Reformation. No one -disputes that the Church just before that time was corrupt to a horrible -degree. It is possible to hold that the corruption could have been -purged away without schism if the reformers had been wholly free from -pride and impatience; I see no means of reaching a sound judgment on -such a point; but at least it would seem that the guilt for the great -division was as much in Catholics as in Protestants. In so far as there -really was necessity of choosing between moral purity with schism on the -one hand, and organic unity with sales of indulgences and the like on -the other, there can be no doubt which the whole teaching of Christ -required His followers to choose. "I will have mercy and not -sacrifice"; "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath"; yet -the Sabbath and the sacrifice were of Divine appointment. - -If then a fragment of the Church, confronted as it believes, with such a -choice, breaks off and organises itself afresh, intending to maintain in -purity all the Church's life and means of grace, I cannot assert that it -is for all its generations deprived of Christ's sacramental presence. -But assuredly the loss of the continuous order which so impressively -symbolises the Divine origin of the Church and of its Sacraments tends -to undermine the intention to preserve the whole truth and to obscure -belief in it. For Orders, as we understand them, are the pledge of the -unity of the Church across all space and through all time, so that the -priest who celebrates, does so as the organ and instrument of the -universal Church, and the congregation at every Eucharist is not the few -persons gathered together in that building, but Angels and Archangels -and all the company of Heaven, with whom we join in prayer and worship. - -IV.--Consonantly with this I would come to my fourth principle--that the -whole question of Orders and Sacraments must be considered in reference -to the Church's life through the ages, and not with direct reference to -the gift received by any individual at any given service. - -How are we to secure (this is our problem) that from generation to -generation men shall continue to feel that in the service of the Holy -Communion Christ comes to them as by His own appointment, and they have -only to be ready to meet with Him; and that in meeting with Him they are -united with the whole Church in the Holy Communion, the Communion of -Saints? I believe that the continued recitation of the Creeds in our -own and other branches of the Church is the main safeguard, not only for -ourselves but also for those who do not say the Creeds, against that -combination of Pelagianism and Unitarianism to which men always tend to -drift; similarly I can conceive that, just because we uphold the full -conception of sacramental worship, others are enabled to receive -sacramental grace at their communions. It may be so; I know not. Of -course it cannot be received if it is not there; but even if it is -there, its full benefit will not be enjoyed except by those who believe -in its full power. Two men may stand opposite the same picture; both -see the same lines and colours, the accidents; but it may be that only -one sees the artistic reality or substance--the Beauty--while the other -is blind to it. But the man who finds it does not put it there; the -artist put it there; and if he had not done so no one could find it -there; so too the reality of the Sacrament is the work of God. But our -fruition of it depends on our faith, and even on the exact content of -our faith. Now I do not for a moment believe that that faith in the -full doctrine of sacramental grace can survive through the centuries, if -it is once separated from the whole order which expresses it. Therefore, -while I am not entitled to deny, as I am equally not concerned to -assert, that the members of other denominations at their communion -service receive the same gift that we do; still I say that as trustees -for the Catholic order, and considering the matter in the light of the -centuries, we have no right to sacrifice any of those means by which -this full doctrine has been given to us, and by which perhaps it has -been also preserved for them. - -V.--Fifthly, I would suggest that in any scheme for practical reunion no -man must be required to repudiate his own spiritual ancestry. - -After all, if the Church is the fellowship of the baptized, then our -brethren of the separation, as we sometimes call them, are members of -the Church; but they are not members of our branch of the Church; and -their faith is corporate and active in their membership of their own -bodies; consequently we are bound to hold that they and their bodies are -parts of the Catholic Church in this time of the division--the division -which is due to sin. - -If it is true that it was largely, and perhaps mainly, the fault of the -medieval Church that the split became a necessity; if it is true that it -was partly, and perhaps mainly, the fault of the Church of England that -the Wesleyan movement (for example) ever broke off, because we refused -to make room for what was in its early stages most undoubtedly a -movement of the Spirit of God in the world, then we have no right to -condemn those who by reason of our sin, at least as much as their own, -are outside our fellowship; and we must recognise that, just as in St. -Paul's argument about the true Israel, blindness in part happened to -Israel, and so God used the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy--so -blindness in part happened to Catholicism, and God is using the -Protestant bodies to provoke us to jealousy. - -We must, I believe, maintain that our order is for us the only possible -order for the reunited Church. But order is not everything. The wall -of the Holy City is minute. When the time for reunion comes, we must -insist upon our own part of the truth in such a way as to avoid all -condemnation of other bodies for having been separated during this -time--at least, all condemnation which we do not pronounce quite equally -upon ourselves. What has happened in the divisions of the Church is a -severance from one another of elements which are every one of them -necessary to the healthy life of the Body. If one set of people could -only get dry food and no drink, and another set could only get drink and -no food, neither would be healthy. They would have to combine their -stores before health was possible. Catholics have preserved perhaps a -fuller sense of worship and of the gifts of God; Protestants have -perhaps a truer zeal for righteousness and a more intimate access to God -in prayer. Let us not judge the past; God will judge. But let us -recognise our need of one another and accept from each other the -positive truth and life which God has given to either. - -VI.--Meanwhile, in the time of the division, different bodies have -developed different types of religious life. There is a wealth of -spiritual activity in the world now such as it is difficult to imagine -under a rigidly united Church; but we can easily preserve that if we are -ready that there should be within the United Catholic Church different -Orders--an Order of St. George Fox for example, testifying to the great -ideal which Christ brought into the world, not as I think, and as I have -already explained, the right ideal to be followed by all men in all -sorts of circumstances, but undoubtedly the one method by which in the -end the work of God can be finally accomplished, and for testimony to -which I believe some men, and indeed the whole Society of Friends, are -even now called by God. Also there may well be an Order of St. John -Wesley, insisting more especially upon the need of individual -conversion, which the Church, as a vast organisation concerned with -world movements, is perpetually tempted to leave too much on one side. -These Orders can quite well govern themselves to a very large extent, -and order their worship in very many ways, just as is the case in the -Orders familiar in the medieval Church, and in the Church of Rome at -this time. - - -These are the principles which I would venture to submit. Probably not -one of them will win universal assent even in our own communion. But -amid all our amiable sentiments it is time for somebody to say something -definite, or as definite as the complexity of the problem allows. In -criticising and rejecting individual utterances we may at last reach a -corporate mind. - -But let me add one particular warning about the way we go: for in my own -mind I am quite sure that the Communion is just the place where we need -to be divided until our unity is real. People say "How terrible to be -separated there." Yes, terrible indeed! It is the measure of the sin -of schism. But we must not try to escape the consequences of the sin -until we have got rid of the sin itself. I say nothing of the problem -of the mission field or of the possibility of exceptional occasions.[#] -But I am quite sure that in normal Church life, where all people have -access to their own services, intercommunion can only be disastrous, as -tending to obscure the need for real unity, and the difference between -the various excellences whose combination is to be desired. - - -[#] It must of course be recognised that the problem of intercommunion -in the mission field is of urgent practical importance. On the present -situation, the Archbishop of Canterbury's statement, _Kikuyu_. - - -But let us come back to what after all is the only true guarantee and -the only condition of reunion--the achievement of holiness; that -holiness needs, as we have seen, to be safeguarded, and the safeguarding -of it is peculiarly entrusted to us, the ministers of the Church. What -need then for personal dedication! For upon the degree in which we are -wholly given to our work depends in large measure the time when God will -reunite His Church. - -We keep separate even from many right activities, but only in order to -keep pure that spirit by which we are to permeate the whole life of the -world, bringing it to bear, so far as we are able in our detachment, -upon every sort of problem, private or public--industrial, commercial, -political, international--till at last the whole world is governed by -that spirit, and there is no need for separation any more nor for any -special place of worship nor special order of religious ministers; for -then the world and the Church will be indistinguishable in the Holy City -of God, wherein is no temple, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb -are the temple of it. - - - - - *LECTURE V* - - *THE CITIZENSHIP OF HEAVEN* - - -"Our citizenship is in heaven."--Philippians iii. 20. - -"He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."--S. John xiv. 9. - - -We have considered in outline the functions of the State and of the -Church, the two great instruments of God for the furthering of His -kingdom. Let us now turn to consider, still in mere outline, for -nothing more is possible, the nature of that Kingdom itself. - -There are very many ways in which the subject might be approached, but I -think that it will be most consonant with the general line of our -thought in these meditations that we should consider it as the home of -man's spirit, the fulfilment of his spiritual being. And to that end, -inasmuch as the Kingdom can only be known by living according to the -principles of its citizenship, and our present effort is by its very -nature intellectual only, we must try to reach it in thought as the goal -towards which the whole spiritual life of man is tending. - -No life can be set forth in scientific terms. The moment it is analysed, -the vitalising power is gone. And even the poet, who has far more -chance than the logician of making us realise what the life signifies -for those who live it, is still speaking of it from outside. It is only -by life itself that we can truly know the Kingdom of God. - -We find, all through the New Testament, a contrast drawn between earth -and heaven. And it is worth while to consider the logical principle of -that contrast, even though the result is somewhat dry and barren. The -place of careful analysis here is analogous to that which criticism -holds in relation to art. The critical analysis of a work of art will -never of itself enable us to appreciate it, if we are without the -cultivated artistic faculty; but it may enrich our appreciation. We may -thereby find more than we should otherwise have found of the elements -that are combined together to make up the total effect. And then in the -unity of the renewed experience we receive more enjoyment than we had -done before. So, too, the Kingdom of God, which for us is something -that we still hope to reach, and of which the foretaste that we have as -yet received is a very slight earnest of the glory that shall be -revealed, may be a goal more potent in its attraction to our wills, when -we have seen it as the fulfilment of the principles of our whole -spiritual life as these are discoverable in other departments and -activities. - -The goods of this world, as we have already noticed, are such that the -more one has the less there is for others. The goods of heaven are of -such a kind that the more one has the more there is on that account for -others. So it is with the true virtues of the spiritual life, with love -and joy and peace, the fruits of the spirit. So it is too with other -excellences which belong to man as a spiritual being, and which are out -of the reach of our animal nature: loyalty, beauty and knowledge. - -Now the principle of this whole spiritual life is precisely the -principle of unity, not as distinct from variety but as distinct either -from antagonism or transitoriness. The two things that distress the -soul of man are enmities, and the passing away of that which he loves. -It is by rising above these evils, which beset us in this earthly state, -that the satisfaction of the soul is found. - -There are four main departments of the spiritual life which aspire in -this way to rise above the evils which beset our mortal state. They are -Science and Art and Morality and Religion. As we know them in our -experience, they are all of them due on the human side to a -dissatisfaction with our experience as we find it. The scientific man -is disturbed by the apparent chaos in his experience, and he sets out to -give order to it, and he is satisfied in so far as he discovers that all -the while it was not chaotic, as it seemed, but orderly. The artist is -craving for a beauty which, in his ordinary experience, he does not -find. He selects, he concentrates attention on certain aspects, to reach -a satisfaction which the world otherwise seems not to give. The man of -moral aspiration is dissatisfied with the world as he sees it, and he -sets himself therefore to alter both himself and it, that it may be -modelled more in accordance with the heart's desire. And the religious -man finds all of these sources of dissatisfaction working together -within his soul; he seeks, and in faith finds, that which gives him both -peace and power. - -Let us then begin with what is in itself the least rich of these forms -of human activity, and consider how it is that Science reaches its -unity. Let us first recall that there are two forms of multiplicity or -division which we are seeking to overcome: that which arises from the -clash of various ideals or desires, the antagonism of man with man; and -that which arises from the changeableness of the world as we see it. -With regard to the latter, science does indeed reach real unities; but -they are unities which leave Time out of sight. Sometimes, no doubt, the -subject matter which is handled is itself non-temporal, but not in the -sense of being eternal. So, for example, geometry is entirely without -relation to time. There is no temporal sequence between the equality of -the sides and the equality of the angles in the isosceles triangle. But -where the subject studied is something that changes in Time, it remains -true that the aim of science is to reach an unchanging principle. So, -for example, the student of biology may be trying to discover the -unchanging principle which governs the successive variations of species. -But when he has found it he has not really mastered the transitoriness; -he has not in any way gathered up the past and dead into his present -experience; he has merely found the principle which applies to every -stage as that stage comes. He reaches some superiority to the -transitoriness of things, only by abstracting from Time altogether. - -And, similarly, the unity between men which is produced by a common -absorption in such pursuits does not strike very deep. For a man's -temperament has nothing in the world to do with his scientific -conclusions, or at least ought not to have. In the ideal pursuit of -knowledge, all of the things that set men at variance count for nothing -whatever. Consequently the differences, just because they are ignored, -are not overcome, with the result that, as at the beginning of this war, -we may find professors of the various nations, who had been linked -together, as one might think, closely enough in the pursuit of -knowledge, hurling manifestoes at one another across their national -frontiers. - -When we pass to the second of the great departments, a real progress may -be noted in just these points. For in the experience of the artist Time -is genuinely mastered. We get some illustration of this from the -absorption which marks the aesthetic contemplation of a picture or a -statue. For the time that we are really held by it, we forget about -time altogether. But the case is clearer with regard to those arts -which handle temporal processes--music and poetry. For it is the whole -point, let us say, of a drama, that it shall follow a certain -succession; it is vital to its significance that the scenes shall be in -that order and no other. If you have two plays, each in three acts, in -one of which the first act is cheerful in tone, and the second is -neutral, and the third depressing, while in the other the first act is -depressing, the second neutral, and the third cheerful, the total effect -of the two plays is not the average of the three acts in each case, -which would be neutral for both, but is in the one particularly -depressing, and in the other particularly cheering. For the play is -grasped as a whole. It makes a single impression, if it is a good play. -We know what it means--not indeed because we can state it in other -words, for it is the only expression of its own meaning; but it has a -definite significance for us. And the name of the play comes to stand -for that significance. This is especially noticeable in tragedy, where -the Greeks, with their sure instinct, chose a story whose plot is known -to the spectator in advance, so that we have throughout the play both -the impression of the entire story and the particular impression of each -scene as it comes and passes. It is significant that the Greeks did so -choose for tragedy stories whose plot was known, while their comedians -invented their own plots. And most will agree that we enjoy a great -play better when we have read it in advance, or when we have already -seen it on the stage before; because then we do reach something that may -serve perhaps as the nearest image that we can get for eternity--a grasp -of the whole stretch of time, realised in its successiveness and in the -meaning which that successiveness gives to it, and having the sense of -the whole throughout and seeing each moment, as it comes, in the light -not only of the past but of the future too. - -On this side, then, art is able, for the moment at least, and with -regard to a period definitely limited by our capacities of -comprehension, to master Time and give us a unity which includes its -successiveness within it; so that the past, and even the future, are -gathered up into the real experience of the present, and we are not only -conscious of what is before our eyes, but are conscious of it as a part -of the whole to which it belongs. - -In a similar way we notice that while different temperaments are needed -for the production of different types of art, yet in appreciation all -are united. For example, it would be quite impossible for the great -Russian novels to be produced in any other country than Russia; it would -have been quite impossible for the great German philosophy to have been -produced in any other nation than Germany; it would have been quite -impossible for the great English poetry to have been produced in any -other nation than England. These literatures belong to the soil out of -which they spring. But the people of all the other nations can -appreciate them, and all are glad because they are different. And so -far as the artistic side of our nature governs our whole being, it is -capable of linking us together in a real fellowship, which includes and -is based upon our differences and the appreciation of them, and is -therefore firmly rooted, because what might have been the source of -antagonism is become itself the bond of unity. - -But we must notice that each of these only reaches a very provisional -attainment. If science likes to mark off a certain department of -reality for its investigation, it can reach something like finality -concerning just that department. I suppose that mechanics is something -like a complete system of truth, so far as the mechanical aspect of -things can be isolated from all other aspects. But then, nothing in the -world is mechanical and only mechanical. Nothing in the world is -chemical and only chemical. There are always other qualities there, -from which abstraction has been made. Science therefore inevitably sets -before itself as its goal the understanding of the universe, and it -could not reach any absolute certainty concerning any real fact except -so far as it had obtained omniscience. In mathematics it reaches -certainty, because in mathematics the object is what it is defined to -be, and nothing else. But no given material thing is just a triangle. -It may even be disputed whether any given thing can be, according to the -definition, a triangle at all. - -Science then is marked by a restlessness until it reaches this -omniscience. It began when the first man said "Why?" The moment that -question is asked, Science is launched upon its course. But the answer -to that question merely prompts anyone of scientific instincts to say -"Why?" to the answer. Why is there a war? Historical science will -point to the diplomatic documents, and from them to the course of -history moulding national aspiration. Then if we say, "Why was the -cause of war such? And, why were there such national aspirations?" we -shall find ourselves soon investigating the literature of the countries -and then their climates; from this we are shortly involved in astronomy -and geology and all the other sciences. You can have nothing that is -final until you reach omniscience. And so Science moves, perpetually -saying "Why?" to every statement that is made. Far in the distance, in -the infinite distance, is its goal of a complete satisfaction gained -through understanding the universe in its entirety. - -Art can similarly only achieve a provisional attainment of its goal; but -the attainment while it lasts is more substantial. Its method, as -distinct from that of science, is mental rest. The aim of the artist is -to concentrate attention upon the object, holding it there by various -devices. That is why pictures are put into frames. Something abruptly -irrelevant, although not discordant, is put round the object to help us -fix our minds upon it. That is why poetry is written in metre. The -mind is abruptly brought back by the recurrence of the rhythm or the -recurrence of the sound in rhyme, and held within the total composition. -We notice that it is precisely where the subject matter of the poem is -slight that the rhythm needs to be strongly marked or the system of -rhyme complicated; where the subject matter itself has a strong appeal, -any rhyming seems to be out of place and tiresome. The aim is simply to -grip the attention and hold it upon the object and make us see it as it -is; not after the fashion of science, connecting it with other things, -but understanding it by getting to know it in and for itself as -thoroughly as may be.[#] Now in thus concentrating attention upon some -one object and claiming complete absorption in that object, art is -implicitly claiming to give a perfect mental satisfaction and an -absolute peace. But it can never succeed in that unless the object upon -which it is concentrating our attention is an adequate symbol for the -whole truth of things in which the whole of our nature will find such -satisfaction. - - -[#] This is why no great work of art over becomes out of date, whereas -the work of a great scientist is always liable to do so, because his -successors revise it in the light of ever widening knowledge. - - -Moreover, these activities of the mind or spirit fail to govern our -lives as a whole precisely because they are contemplative and not -active. We stand before the world gazing at it, setting our minds -indeed to work upon it in certain ways, yet not fundamentally changing -it. But we are active beings, with wills as well as contemplative -minds, and our volitional action lies very largely outside the range -which these activities and interests can control. And therefore it is -that so little real unity is reached by means of them. - -In Morality the practical instincts and impulses are for the first time -included. Morality is the science or the art, or both, of living in -society; of living, that is to say, as fellow members with other beings, -who also have aspirations and ideals as legitimate as our own, so that -our own claim to pursue our own ideals must be won by recognition of -their equal claim to pursue theirs. And the man who, with full mastery -of himself, if such a man exists, is following out a great purpose that -is adequate to satisfy his whole nature, is a man who has achieved the -conquest of Time in the completest way. It is essential to the pursuit -of a purpose that we move from stage to stage, as we adapt means to our -end, and yet all of it is one thing, thought and experienced as one. -Indeed a test that we always instinctively apply to a biography is -whether it enables us to see the different stages of a man's life as -constituting one spiritual whole. That is just what we desire the -biographer to set forth before us. - -At the same time Morality conquers antagonism because it is the life of -fellowship. It begins with the recognition that other men have as much -right to live as we have, and we buy our rights precisely by conceding -theirs. Its root principle is the recognition of this brotherhood or -fellow-membership. And yet it, too, never reaches its goal; it fails in -two ways; every man in this world, however perfectly he may achieve -mastery of his own nature--and it may be doubted if any man has ever -done even that by his own strength--is so conditioned by circumstances -that he is never able to make his life a perfect masterpiece of art; and -as regards the whole fellowship of which he is a member, and his own -relation to it, he can find no absolute rules except the command to -reach a state of mind which he cannot reach by his own will. There are -no moral laws that are absolute except the law to love one's neighbour -as oneself. All the rest have exceptions somewhere. "Thou shall not -kill," was the formula of the old law. But we have altered it into, -"Thou shalt do no murder." It is always wrong to murder, because murder -is such killing as is wrong. But it is not always wrong to kill. And so -we find no principle that can be made entirely binding and universal, -except the law to love our neighbour as ourselves. But how are we to do -it? Is there any man who seriously thinks that by taking thought he can -make himself love somebody else? - -All of these three then, and the last as emphatically as any, in spite -of its comprehending a greater section of human nature, fail to reach -their own achievement. - -In the fourth stage, in Religion, all would find their fulfilment. For -the purpose of God, if there be a God, is the principle of unity which -the scientist is seeking. The nature of God, if there be a God, is that -perfect beauty which would be the culmination of the life of Art. The -righteousness of God, if there be a God, is the satisfaction of the -moral aspiration. But we are not left so to conjecture what life would -be like if we could carry our own spiritual faculties to their own -highest development. We are given the express image of the person of -God. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." We shall not indeed -have perfect knowledge of the sphere of religion until we have seen how -the whole of history and every detail of our lives is, after all, the -result and work of creative Love; but while Science and Art and Morality -struggle towards their goal and only realise their need for it, God -gives Himself as the satisfaction of that need. It is His gift, not our -discovery; but we see that in this principle all Time is gathered up, -for if the life of Christ is the manifestation of the nature of God, -then it is the manifestation of the root-principle of all history.[#] - - -[#] I am aware that the argument here is _per saltum_, but space forbids -its full development. I hope soon to have completed a book which will -fill in the outline sketch offered in this Lecture. Meanwhile I would -refer to my essay on _The Divinity of Christ_ in _Foundations_, -specially pp. 213-223, 242-263. - - -Then we see, too, how all men may be united in perfect fellowship, -because all men loving God will find themselves loving those whom God so -loves. This hope or conviction remains in the region of faith, not of -knowledge; what of that? In the other departments also we have found no -knowledge. We have only found approximation towards it. We have, as it -were, converging lines which never meet; and we have also the point at -which we see they would meet if produced. Is that not enough? Here we -find is the principle that will give unity, as we work it out, to the -whole scheme of our spiritual life. Morality says, "Love all men." How -can I? Science says, "Realise the truth which explains the universe." -How can I? But I can gaze upon the manifestation of God in Jesus -Christ; I can meditate upon His Cross and Resurrection. I can see here -and there how it may be true that this is indeed the explanation of all -the sorrow, even of all the sin. For if it is true that the supreme -manifestation of the love of God was historically conditioned by the -supreme sin of humanity in the treason of Judas, then surely one begins -to see how even out of the grossest evil the glory of God wins triumph -for itself, which we too may share if we are first drawn to share the -sacrifice. - -As I become absorbed in that contemplation I find in the first place a -new power to love all men, as I remember that He died for them just as -He died for me. In the degree in which I really believe that this is -the manifestation of the power of God and the governing authority of the -universe, I find this thought over-ruling other thoughts and temptations -to hostility or enmity. As I remember that those whom I am inclined to -despise or hate are those for whom He thought it worth while to die, my -contempt and my hatred are rebuked and cancelled. - -And similarly, if I realise--or in the degree in which I realise--that -here is set forth the power that governs all things, that this is the -way in which God rules the world, and that Calvary is the mode of His -omnipotence, I begin to find myself indifferent, and that increasingly, -to those things which are called sorrow and pain. - -But we shall only find this as we expect to find it. All through our -spiritual life we may be perpetually in contact, as it were, with the -means of receiving what is good, and never receive it because we are not -expecting it. We have not expected peace of mind from our worship, we -have not expected a sense of security against evil; that is why we have -not found it; but it is our fault. And certainly most of us have not -expected to find fellowship from worship. We have known something of -the grace of Jesus Christ, perhaps even of the love of God; but of the -fellowship of the Holy Spirit, of the sense of being linked to one -another because all dominated by that one power, most of us have found -nothing, because we have not expected it. - -But if we are expecting this, all the testimony of the saints in every -generation goes to show that we shall find what we have expected. - -The power that can give us security against the transitoriness of the -world and against the instincts of antagonism is there in the faith that -we place in God. "I will put my trust in God," the Psalmist says, "I -will not fear what flesh can do unto me." This is not because flesh -will not do such hurt as it can to the man who puts his trust in -God--the Jews crucified Christ--but because to the man who puts his -trust in God, anything whatever that happens becomes part of God's -purpose for his life, and therefore he will not fear it. For "all -things," sorrow as well as joy, pain as well as pleasure, sin as well as -righteousness, "all things work together for good to them that love -God." - - - - - *LECTURE VI* - - *GOD IN HISTORY* - - -"I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, which is and which -was and which is to come, the Almighty."--Revelation i. 8. - - -We have considered the two great instruments of God by which He fashions -the spiritual life of man, and we have considered that spiritual life -itself in the outline at least of its four main departments; and now, as -we close our line of thought, we need still to consider how it is that, -in these fields and by these instruments, God carries forward His work. - -The conception of God as at work in human history, guiding it, -controlling it, and judging men by its course, is the great contribution -of Israel to the religion of the world. It is linked of course with -that belief in the union of perfect righteousness with the divine, power -which we usually speak of under the somewhat cumbrous title of Ethical -Monotheism. We remember what was really at stake in that great day upon -Mount Carmel when Elijah confronted the priests of Baal; it was whether -the conception of God as righteous and demanding righteousness should -prevail, or the conception of God as a capricious Being, needing only to -be propitiated, and in connection with whose very worship licentiousness -was tolerated and even encouraged. - -But, after all, the greatest souls, at least in every highly-developed -religion, have believed that God is righteous in Himself. What gives to -Israel its supreme significance in the spiritual history of mankind is -the conviction that this righteous God is daily and hourly at work in -the history of men; and that conviction gives to the faith of Israel a -primacy and supremacy over all the other partial faiths, even though -they may be superior in certain departments. - -If we think of some of the conceptions by means of which we try to bring -before our minds the meaning of the word "God," we may find that with -regard to several of them, other nations had advanced further than -Israel before the coming of the Lord. - -God is Spirit. The Hindu knew that, and knows it still, quite as much -as Israel. - -God is Law. The more thoughtful at least among the ancient Romans, and -particularly the great Roman Stoics, knew that with a vividness that was -scarcely ever attained in Israel. - -God is Beauty. Assuredly the ancient Greeks knew that as Israel never -realised it at all. - -But the conception of Israel that God is at work in history means that -the God of Israel gives to these other gods or conceptions of God, each -its own time and place of emergence and decay. The God who is revealed -to us in the Old Testament is Himself the Being who appoints that the -Indian or the Roman or the Greek should reach these particular -convictions; and in these partial apprehensions of the Divine, before -the full revelation came, the faith of Israel is determinative and -regulative for all the other faiths; and moreover, it is this faith that -God is at work in the actual daily history of men, which makes the faith -of Israel the natural and proper introduction to the Incarnation, where -God Himself took flesh and lived among men and died at a time and in a -place--in Palestine and under Pontius Pilate. - -This exaltation of the Holy God, actually at work within men and at -their side, while it leads to a sense of awe before the Holiness of the -Almighty, also leads to a sense of the dignity of this world, and of -man's life in it, which is lacking, as a rule, from other great -religions, and that too in proportion as those other religions are -spiritual. For the Hindu, for example, this world and all that is in it -is mere illusion. He is spiritual enough but he is not material enough; -and we find there that contempt for the things of the body which -invariably issues in a contempt for moral conduct; for our moral conduct -here, while we live upon this planet, is wrought out through our bodies. -But the religion of Israel, and especially its completion in the -Incarnation, wherein God Himself came in the flesh, gives at once a -dignity to this world of ours, to our bodies, and to all the material -side of life. - -When Christ stood before Pilate, the Kingdom of God was in appearance, -at least, undergoing judgment at the hands of the kingdom of this world; -but it is not merely a contrast of good with evil. It is a contrast of -the perfect with the very imperfect, but yet not merely evil, power. -Pilate is not Satan; and the Lord Himself, in the moment of His trial, -recognises that the authority by which He is condemned is an authority -that is derived from God--"Thou couldest have no power at all against -Me, except it were given thee from above." The kingdoms of this world, -which are to become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, are not -simply something evil. The contrast of Church and World is not the -contrast between good and evil; but it is the contrast between two -stages in the work which God is accomplishing in history, and those two -may often come into conflict. - -Let us then ask what is the central principle of God's guidance of His -people, so far as it may be deduced from the tiny fragment of history -that we really know. In that fragment at least, we may say, I think, -with little hesitation, that its method and its aim is spiritual growth, -or, if you like to put it an expansion and enrichment of personality. - -We are sometimes inclined to think our own personality is something that -is given to us from the outset, and entirely belongs to us; but that -idea will not stand examination for a moment. Individual personality is -a social product. It can only be developed under social influences. A -man may be born with many great talents, but if his environment does not -encourage their development, these talents will remain for the most part -undeveloped and unknown--either to himself or to anybody else. Indeed -the greater the talent with which a man is endowed, the more difference -is made to him by the kind of surroundings in which he is put. A man of -very few gifts and little natural capacity will be much the same, -whether he has abundant opportunity for mental and spiritual growth or -little opportunity; but the man of great capacities, needing for their -development the encouragement of surroundings, is an entirely different -being according as those surroundings are favourable or the reverse; and -so we reach the curious result that the greatest personality, while no -doubt he must have brought into the world something given to him by God -that was capable of development, is yet more entirely dependent upon the -society in which he is living than people with a less wide range of -gifts. - -Again, it is only within a society which has developed some character -for itself, which has indeed a personality of its own, that individual -personality can reach very much development. You cannot have genius in a -savage tribe. Genius is the focal expression of the personality of a -whole people. It is that people coming to life, and possessed of voice; -and you do not find it where there is little social development. It is -only as the tribe or the nation begins to have some definite character -of its own that it is itself sufficiently organised to develop from its -own individual member those gifts, and elicit those activities, which -are the signs of genius. - -We find then, that individual personality, or spiritual life, is -dependent upon the spiritual life of society; and we need to notice that -this society has every mark by which we distinguish personality in the -individual. It has aspirations: it has a predominant character; it has -claims, and it has duties. It has in fact, in the literal sense of the -word, corporate personality, and just as the many instincts and impulses -which are to be found in human nature, and may be very discordant with -one another, are welded together to make up the single life of a human -being, so the whole gifts and instincts and ambitions and aspirations of -all the individual citizens are welded together, to make up the -personality of the whole society. - -Moreover, every nation is in itself not only the combination of -individual citizens, but also of minor groups within itself, all of -which have these same marks, and all of which are in the real genuine -sense persons, spiritual individuals with a life of their own. - -Now, as we look over the history of the development which thus goes on -side by side in the individual and in society, we find that its -principle in the fragment of history that we really know has been that -isolated excellences should be brought to perfection first; and after -something like perfection has been reached in the separate departments -taken singly, the combination of them is brought about, in order that -the richer and fuller life may be perfected, in which all of them find a -place. - -European history derives its whole life from Palestine, Greece and Rome; -and in each of those three peoples, some one excellence was developed to -a peculiar degree. Rome perfected and has bequeathed to us the -instincts for social order, as embodied in law. The history of the Roman -people is of significance, precisely because one may there trace the -growth and working out of this instinct for social or political life. -There has never been anything to rival it in history. No modern nation -has shown the same extraordinary political sense and sanity. The Romans -were not great political philosophers. They did not think very much -about the principles on which they acted; but simply because of their -peculiar gift in this direction they welded together a social order -which lasted throughout their Empire in a wonderful way; and to this day -the law of Europe is to an enormous extent the law of ancient Rome. - -To ancient Greece, it is hard to say what we do not owe. Her peculiar -characteristic is intellectual passion; a passion for reaching -perfection in just what the intellect is particularly qualified to -grasp, truth and beauty. No doubt the ancient Greeks themselves thought -a great deal about their ordinary politics and their military -activities, and the wars between the various States; but these matter -very little. The Greek people are significant for evermore not because -of the Athenian trireme or the Macedonian phalanx, but because Aeschylus -stood in astonished awe before the operation of the Divine Justice; -because Sophocles reflected the whole of human life, even its ugliest -manifestations, in the mirror of a soul so calm and pure, that as we -look at that reflection all life seems bathed in peace and beauty; -because Euripides entered into the sorrows of simple folk; because -Thucydides, with a still unrivalled zeal for the genuine truth of -history, said the wise word about nearly every political condition that -has arisen since his time; because Plato dreamed "a Vision of all time -and all existence," proclaimed that it can never be just to do harm to -any man whatever harm he may have done to us; proclaimed also that "God -is in no way unrighteous, but in all ways absolutely righteous, nor is -anything more like to God than whosoever among men shall become -perfectly righteous;" foreseeing also that if a perfectly righteous man -should come on earth he would die, scourged and crucified.[#] There is -nowhere before the New Testament anything that comes nearer to its own -highest truths, not in the Old Testament itself, than what you will find -in Plato. - - -[#] _Republic_ i. 335*d*; _Theaetetus_ 176*c*; _Republic_ ii. 361*e*. - - -This influence,--the influence of this intellectual passion--has been -the driving force in nearly all the movements since that time. It has -been said there is nothing in the world which moves that is not Greek in -origin, and it is almost true; it is from the Greeks that we have learnt -"the use of reason to modify experience" and they derived it from the -intellectual passion for truth and beauty. - -To Palestine we owe the inspiring and governing faith of which I have -already spoken--the one faith that can give real significance to these -other two, faith in the Holy God at work in history. - -It is noticeable that each of these countries was conspicuously weak in -those other qualities which were not especially entrusted to it. -Ancient Rome was not at all specially religious and was conspicuously -unintellectual. The people of Greece again are not conspicuously -religious, though in their cults there is a haunting beauty; and they -were not at all politically successful; the history of Athens, the -flower of Greece, is the history of a State in which almost every -generation threw up a supreme genius who proceeded to change the -constitution in accordance with his magnificent ideas; the result was -political instability of an appalling character.[#] And Palestine has -contributed very little to us as regards social organisation, and is -markedly lacking in the scientific and artistic gifts. We have only to -consider the great images that are set before us, let us say in the Book -of Ezekiel, or again in the Book of Revelation, to see that there is no -attempt in these efforts of the imagination to achieve a beautiful or -harmonious whole. The symbolic elements are added one to another -because of the value of their meaning; but there is no effort to -visualise the whole; and if we try to make it, we quickly find that such -a thing was never intended. - - -[#] It is of course true that the Greek genius gave us what we now mean -by civilisation, namely, the combination of political unity and personal -freedom. On this see the admirable first chapter of Mr. Edwyn Bevan's -_The House of Seleucus_. But it remains true that the race from whose -intellectual genius this whole product sprang had not in any -considerable degree the capacity for controlling their own invention. - - -Each of these then reached a genuine supremacy in its own department; -and the history of Europe is to an enormous extent the history of the -inter-action of these three forces as they mingle and combine in the -polities of the barbarian invaders who wrecked the Roman Empire. We -watch the periods of domination of each successively. Christianity grew -up within the Roman Empire, and the fascination of that great Empire -cast a glamour about it in the minds even of those who destroyed it, so -that the life which emerges out of chaos in the Middle Ages is -predominantly very Latin. The Renaissance is precisely the invasion of -Greek influence, and the Reformation is very largely the rediscovery of -the Hebrew. - -For a while the three new forces worked together, carrying men's thought -and action forward; and then in the 18th century it would seem that -there was, in England at any rate, a torpor due to their exhaustion; -when revival came it was because Wesley and his friends revived the -Hebrew element in our life, because Newman and Pusey with their friends -revived the Latin element, and because F. D. Maurice and the Broad -Church movement revived the Hellenistic, and this, with its passion for -more adequate comprehension and expression, is the dominant force of our -time. We watch these three influences still at work; but as they -interact upon one another and within the persons of the new races, a new -product is gradually being produced, and in those corporate -personalities which we call nations, we see a character being born which -is something that history has not known before. - - -The first requirement of personality is always freedom--freedom as we -have already said in its two senses, that conduct is not dictated from -without but is governed by the whole person, and not by isolated -elements; and the corporate persons need freedom just as much as the -individual; hence the need, the vital and absolute need, for political -sovereignty in any State which is conscious of itself as a person, that -is as having a single spiritual life. - -But that life and freedom are exercised only in the citizens who are -members of the State. We cannot surely assert that the corporate person -is immortal, as the individual is; and therefore, to destroy a State is -to inflict a more irreparable loss than to kill a man, which is one -reason at least, perhaps the chief reason, why a man should die for the -political freedom of his country, and even, if need be, kill for it; -but, as freedom is the first requirement of personality, fellowship is -its first duty, for it is true of corporate personalities quite as much -as of individuals that they only find themselves and fulfil themselves -in their inter-action upon one another, and the nations of the world do -in fact need one another, and need one another's full life. - -In economics we found out long ago that in order to be wealthy, a -country needs rich neighbours who may afford good markets. It is so in -every other department. We need the gifts of the other peoples. We -need that they shall be free and vigorous. Indeed the chief lesson -which the world at this time needs to learn is just this--that all the -nations of the world need one another, each needing also that the others -should be free, in order that they may bring their contributions to the -common life in which all share. - -But we should, I think, be reading the signs of the times amiss if we -did not also take account of the fact that there has been growing up -lately a new type of corporate personality, not known to history before, -and exemplified by your own United States and by the British Empire; the -conception of sovereign States linked together in a single life, and -exercising therein a joint sovereignty in dealing with those who lie -outside the federation, is something of which history bears no record; -and we need to try to understand its principle, and see what it is -capable of contributing to the life of men in order that we may not fail -to use our opportunity, and bring our contribution.[#] - - -[#] See Appendix V. _On Providence in History_. - - - -There is our outline sketch of the way in which the history of our own -civilisation has grown, within which the Church and Nation are at work. -We are members of both. What duty falls upon us as the result of that -dual membership? The Christian citizen is called of necessity to fulfil -one of three functions--prophet, priest and king. - -The prophet is one who is called to testify to the ideal unflinchingly, -not considering consequences, not perhaps considering ways and means of -reaching the ideal, but simply insisting on its nature and calling men -and nations to penitence so far as they fail to reach it. It may -require more courage than the office of the king or statesman, and yet -in itself it is the easiest, because it is relatively simple. - -In all modern nations, and more so in the degree in which they are -democratic, every citizen partakes of the duty of kingship. He has some -share in determining how his nation shall act, either in the management -of its own internal affairs or in its dealings with other people, and -one who has this responsibility and is also a Christian, is involved in -the absolute duty of trying to think, and to think with genuine effort, -how he may be actually guiding his nation toward the ideal. He must not -be content with pious platitudes leading to no action, nor content to -consider only his own country's welfare; but as a member of the Church -of Christ which embraces all mankind, he is called to think out and, -having thought, to pursue in act the methods by which his nation may -genuinely be doing its part to build up the one great Temple of God--His -Holy City. - -The priest is prophet and statesman, both at once. He, as minister of -the Word of God, must perpetually insist upon the true ideal, and bid -men to guard against all self-contentment so far as they fail to reach -it; and yet he must be ready to take his stand by the side of every -individual or group of individuals, even of the nation itself, nerving -each to do the best of which it then and there in the circumstances of -the day is capable. And meanwhile he is a wretched human being like the -rest, terribly liable to pride if he upholds an ideal higher than is -usually recognised; terribly liable to worldliness, alike in his own -soul and in his teaching, if for a single moment he forsakes the Divine -Presence; and uniquely exposed to the deadliest of all temptations; for -while we preach what neither we nor anybody else can practise, we are -sorely tempted to be content with spiritual mediocrity ourselves. - -But above all, at this time the necessity, I think, is for a clear -testimony concerning the purpose of God for His people, and His kingdom -that shall surely come. We have made our precepts so tame; our efforts -for peace and fellowship have been so much less exhilarating than other -men's efforts for war; we have been very mild; and that is not the -spirit of Christ, or of His Kingdom. The spirit of Christ is the spirit -of all heroism in all ages. - -In 1848, a little republic was founded in Rome to stand for justice and -purity of government amid the corrupt States all round. It was attacked -by those States, and at last it yielded; on the day when the -capitulation was signed masses of people were gathered together in the -great Piazza outside St. Peter's, and there rode among them the man -whose faith and heroism had sustained that siege for more weeks than the -wiseacres thought it could last days. When the cheering had subsided, -he made no acknowledgment, but simply said: - - - "I am going out from Rome. I offer neither quarters, nor - provisions, nor wages. I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, - battles, death. Let him who loves his country with his heart - not with his lips only follow me." - - -And they streamed out after him into the hills. His name was Garibaldi; -and because of his heroism and theirs the kingdom of Italy is in the -world to-day. - -But the invitation of Christ is in exactly that spirit--"I offer neither -quarters, nor provisions, nor wages. I offer hunger, thirst, forced -marches, battles, death." "If any man would come after Me, let him deny -himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." - -The cross, when our Lord spoke those words, was quite a real thing. To -take up the cross did not mean bearing life's little inconveniences with -equanimity. It meant literally to put the rope round one's neck, and be -ready simply for anything that might come. That is the spirit in which -we are summoned to work for Christ. Can we rise to it? The Prince of -Peace was not a "mild man." This is the vision that His disciple had of -Him: - - - "His head and His hair were white, as white wool, white as snow; - and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto - burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and His - voice as the voice of many waters. And He had in His right hand - seven stars: and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged - sword; and His countenance was as the sun shineth in its - strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead." - - -Can we present the figure of Christ as endowed with anything like that -compelling power? If so, we are worthy ministers. It not, we are making -dull the one great adventure of the world. - -There is only one way in which we can succeed. It is that we cling to -faith in God, the Author of the drama, in which we play our part; God, -Himself the Guide along the path we are to follow; God, not only the -Guide, but the very Way in which we are to walk; God, not only the Guide -and Way, but the Strengthener within our souls, enabling us to follow; -and God the Guide, the Way, the Strengthener, Himself also the Goal to -which we would come. "For in Him we move and live and have our being." - - Yea thro' life, death, thro' sorrow and thro' sinning - He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed; - Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning, - Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ. - - -_I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, which is and which -was and which is to come, the Almighty._ - - - - - *APPENDIX I* - - *ON THE APOCALYPTIC CONSCIOUSNESS* - - -It is very difficult for the modern reader to recover the frame of mind -in which Apocalypse has its origin, but we may do this more easily if we -look for parallels outside the field of religious history. It has been -well said that the mediaeval man looked upwards and downwards--to Hell -and to Heaven; his view of the world is on a vertical plane; the modern -man has a horizontal view, looking to the past and future--the past as -it has existed, and the future as it shall exist, in the history of -human society upon this earth. We need if possible to combine these -two, but it is a very difficult achievement. With our point of view we -inevitably read Apocalypse as if it were a literal history of the future -written before the event; but this is not its primary significance. The -religious consciousness from which it springs was highly indifferent to -the lapse of time: very likely the seer expected the speedy realisation -of his vision so far as he thought about things in that way at all, but -this was not his primary concern. Let us take a parallel, as was -suggested a moment ago, from another field. The socialistic movement in -its early days seemed committed to an immediate expectation of the -millennium following upon a catastrophic change in the structure of -human society. The arrival of the millennium now seems postponed -indefinitely and evolution has taken the place of revolution as a -method, and yet a socialist who is really in the movement does not feel -any breach of continuity; he knows that he is one in spirit with the -earlier writers and that they were never mainly concerned either with -the date at which the millennium would come or the means by which they -imagined it brought about, but precisely with the contrast between the -ideal as they conceived it and the actual as they saw it. - -We may take another instance from a slightly different department of -thought. Dante imagined that the Mount of Purgatory was the immediate -antipodes of the Hill of Zion, but if some traveller had gone round the -world and assured him that the Mount of Purgatory was not there, it -would not in the smallest degree have affected his doctrine of -Purgatory. So it is with the apocalyptists; there is an immense amount -of machinery provided by which this world is to be abruptly changed into -the Kingdom of God, and because that Kingdom is so present to the -consciousness of the writer, he can speak of it as even now about to -appear upon the earth. But this is not what chiefly interests him: his -point of view is vertical, not horizontal; all time-spans are -foreshortened into a moment, because his whole interest is in the -contrast between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world; we -therefore do him wrong in supposing that the postponement of his hope is -any grievous disappointment, or any proof of real error. The date of -its fulfilment was never a matter of much concern to him. - -So we may, I think, reverently believe that our Lord Himself passes -through the experience of the apocalyptists at moments of great -exultation, as, for example, when the seventy return and say that the -devils are made subject to them, or when He realises the imminence of -the fall of Jerusalem, and therefore the removal of the chief barrier to -His Kingdom's progress. All time is foreshortened; Satan falls from -Heaven and the Son of Man appears in glory; but this is no forecast of -history as we understand history. One evangelist tells us of a parable -which He uttered precisely because of His perception that the disciples -erroneously supposed "that the Kingdom of God was immediately to -appear." All His insistence upon the coming Kingdom is focussed in the -Passion, as has been shown in the text. When the revelation of God's -inmost nature was completed in the completion of His own self-sacrifice, -this brought with it the power that could change the kingdoms of this -world into the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ. From then onwards -"He cometh with the clouds"; but the completion of His Kingdom when -"every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him," lies still in the -future. The contrast of tenses in this passage can hardly be accidental; -from the moment when He was lifted up from the earth in the Passion, -Resurrection and Ascension (which are the revelation in successive -phases of the one unchanging glory of God) His coming is a present fact; -but our perception of His coming is something still growing as His -Spirit guides us into all the truth, until at last we know even as we -are known. - - - - - *APPENDIX II* - - *ON MORAL AND SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY* - - -It may be objected that the Church should never in any circumstances -employ force--at any rate, physical force. But I believe the objection -is due, partly to a latent Manichaeism which holds that matter is always -evil, or at least "unspiritual," and partly to a very just fear that -force may be wrongly used if its use is permitted at all. Yet there are -some cases where the Church would plainly be not only at liberty, but -morally bound, to use force. - -Suppose a clergyman begins to give teaching that is absolutely at -variance with the doctrine of the Church, the Church may appeal to his -better feelings and ask him to resign; but if he will not, the Church -must assuredly have the right to turn him out, and that, if necessary, -by force. - -No doubt in a civilised country what the Church does as a rule is to ask -the State to act against the man, on the ground that he has broken -contract and holds his position on false pretences. This is what the -Mediaeval Church called "handing the offender over to the secular arm." - -But let us imagine the situation in a Mission Church where a convert -has, for penance, been excluded from attendance at public worship for a -period. Suppose he insists upon coming; then certainly the congregation -would be right forcibly to remove him. Again, supposing the use of -force as discipline may be of advantage to moral development (and up to -a certain stage I am sure it may), and supposing there is no civilised -State to employ it, the Church will be right to do what is best for the -character of those for whom it is concerned. But no doubt all this is -purely preparatory to the positive spiritual work of the Church, which -must always take the form of appeal and not of force. - -There is, however, so much confusion on the subject of moral and -spiritual authority in general, that it may not be out of place to add -here some remarks upon it. - -The word "authority" is derived from a Latin word which may perhaps be -best translated by "weight." - -When we speak of a man of weight, or an opinion that carries weight, we -have something very near the original meaning of the term authority. -Sometimes we are inclined to think of authority as best represented by -the political ruler, or the military commander. But these are not really -typical kinds of authority. They are very special cases where authority -is clothed with compelling force. But in the spheres of which we are -thinking there is not necessarily present any compelling force at all. -When we think of authority in religion, in its connection with morals -and such questions, there is no force, at any rate necessarily, present -at all, and the Church's authority in the true sense is not any the less -because it does not practise the methods of the Inquisition: nor was it -any greater in the days when to its own proper authority it added -coercive power, appealing to people in the name of what is in itself not -authority strictly speaking, at all. For if I believe just because the -Church is an assembly of the saints of God and its formularies are -summaries of their experience, then I am believing on the ground of the -Church's authority. But if I believe because an officer of the Church -threatens me with the rack in the case of disbelief, I am believing not -because the Church has authority, but because I dislike physical pain. - -So authority always in the end means weight--what carries weight with -our judgment. We can weigh one authority against another; we may weigh -the authority of one theologian with that of another by considering -which has shown the greater knowledge of the subject in question and the -sounder judgment in dealing with it. In moral questions we do as a -matter of fact perpetually come back to the man of moral weight. And -what constitutes his weight is to begin with a certain uprightness in -his own character, and then a certain sympathy and insight which enables -him to understand how he would apply to the circumstances of other -people the principles by which he lives in his own. So, for example, -Aristotle in the end determines all moral questions by reference to the -standard which the man of moral sense would use; everything in the last -resort is determined simply by his judgment. Virtue, he says, resides -in a mean between two vicious extremes, and the mean is to be determined -by a principle which the man of moral sense would use. Later on, after -an interlude of two or three books wisely interpolated, he comes to ask, -Who is the man of moral sense? and he turns out to be the man who has -the right principle enabling him to determine the mean between vicious -extremes; that is to say, that his standard of judgment in the end is -simply the good, sensible man, and for practical purposes that does well -enough, because for practical purposes we do know whose judgment we -value, we do know who it is whose approval we should care to win, whose -approval would of itself assure us that our conduct was right, and whose -disapproval would of itself go far at least to assure us that our -conduct was wrong, or at any rate that the matter needed careful -reconsideration. - -There is indeed another method than this of reliance upon the authority -of a wise man, and it is represented by the other great thinker of -Greece, by Plato. Plato's ideal method in moral questions was to try to -determine the purpose of the whole universe and then determine how in -any given circumstances a man may serve that purpose. The basis of his -morals, in other words, was what we should call theological; and so far -as we are able to apply this, it is the only finally satisfactory -method; so far as we can say that the principles of Christianity -imperatively demand some particular action or attitude of mind, we shall -not care how little other authority we can quote, but shall say that we -can see quite clearly that our allegiance to Christ and His religion -involves a certain point of view for us; and if no one else has taken -that point of view, provided we can find no flaw in our reasoning, we -shall say none the less, This is the point of view which we, as -Christians, are bound to take. - -That has been the method by which, as a matter of fact, most Christian -reforms have been carried out. That was the way by which, in an -instance to which I shall return in a moment, slavery was abolished. -Slavery had been tolerated by the Christian Church for centuries. The -authority of the Christian Church might therefore have been quoted as -substantially in favour of it. A very large number of Christians did, -in fact, favour retaining it, because, of course, the abolition of the -slave trade was an interference with property, and heartrending appeals -were made in the name of "the unfortunate widow with a few strong -blacks," as in our day appeals are made against legislation in the name -of the widow who has shares in breweries. But Wilberforce's point of -view was simply this, that whatever the Church may have said through all -these centuries, when you look at the Christian principle of the right -way to treat human beings it condemns slavery; and if all the Christians -in all the ages had denied that, it would not have altered the fact -that, as we see it--so Wilberforce and his friends would have urged--as -we see it, slavery is condemned; that is enough for us; we go forward in -the certainty that we are carrying out the will of God. Wilberforce -brought people round to his point of view; now you will hardly find a -Christian to defend slavery as an institution. Some day, perhaps, it -will be the same with war. - -But in most moral questions the authority to which we appeal is not that -of the good and wise individual, but that of the moral sense of our -civilisation. We can very seldom give an adequate reason for those -points on which we have the strongest moral convictions. For example, in -argument I suppose we should most of us find it very difficult to -produce a case for monogamy as against polygamy anything like so strong -as the feeling which we have in favour of the one against the other. -That feeling is implanted in us by the experience of our civilisation, a -civilisation which has, in fact, emerged from one into the other, and -these very strong instinctive feelings, which are common to great masses -of people and for which usually any one individual in all that mass can -only give a most inadequate reason, are something to which an enormous -volume of human experience has contributed. Generation after generation -has come to feel that certain relations of the sexes are, as a matter of -fact, the only ones that can be maintained with real wholesomeness, and -this belief becomes so strong in the community that it is received with -the air we breathe all through the formative years of our life, and the -result is an intense conviction for which, as I say, we can hardly give -any argument--an intense conviction that one sort of thing is right and -the other wrong; and what most of us mean by our conscience is just this -body of feeling concerning right and wrong which has been implanted in -us as the result of the accumulated experience of civilisation. From -the point of view of the individual it is usually more an emotion than a -reasoned judgment; and it is much more of the nature of prejudice than -of an argumentative conclusion. When people talk about conscientious -objections to obeying the law, it is always quite impossible to -distinguish between their prejudice and their conscience; there is no -standard by which to determine. But the fact that it is unreasoned in -the individual does not mean that it is irrational, or without reason in -itself. What has been built up by the steady pressure of whole -centuries of experience has enormous weight of pure reason behind it, -even though the individual cannot himself give the reason, and even -though there may be no individual alive who can give it; it has come out -of the logic of experience; it has been built up in the strictly -scientific way by a whole series of facts. There is an enormous -inductive background, an enormous scientific basis for the moral -convictions of the better, more self-controlled members of any civilised -society. The moral verdict of society, and the conscience of the -individual, which is his own echo, for the most part, of that moral -verdict, is a thing of quite enormous authority. - -But, it will be urged, the authorities clash. The verdict of European -civilisation is for monogamy; the verdict of certain other civilisations -is quite as emphatically against it. Does this mean that the whole -distinction of right and wrong is a mere matter of convention? No, it -does not. But even if it did, the thing would not be as bad as people -often imagine, because convention is not something artificial in the -sense of contrary to nature or fictitious; a convention is simply the -expression of human nature working on a large scale. Man is a being -whose nature it is to set up conventions, and a convention is a product -of human nature, a property and mark of human nature, just as much -gravitation is a property and mark of mechanical nature; and it only -becomes contrary to nature and a nuisance when it has survived the -purpose for which it originally grew up. But none the less there is -something more than any convention or social growth about the -distinction of right and wrong; the distinction in itself is absolute -and fundamental. It is the distinction between recognising oneself as -member of a community and not so recognising oneself. Morality is -always recognition of a claim on the part of other persons, the -recognition that their point of view and their interests have to be -taken into account in the determination of my conduct. As man is by -nature social, as by nature he is designed to live in communities, the -distinction of right and wrong, that is the recognition of the claim of -the community and of the members in it, is absolute and final. - -But what is the content of the two terms right and wrong, what actual -action shall be called right and what wrong on any given occasion, may -vary easily according to circumstances, according to the degree of -social development and the like. There is conduct which is right at one -stage of society and wrong at another, precisely because at one stage it -tends to the health of society, while at another it will be bad for the -health of society; just as there are ways in which it is good from time -to time to train children in which it would not be well to train -grown-up people; and there is conduct which is appropriate to earlier -stages of society, because beneficial to society, which becomes -inappropriate and harmful at any other stage. What is right and what is -wrong may depend very largely upon circumstances, stage of development, -spiritual receptiveness, and a host of other things; but the distinction -between right and wrong itself remains unaffected by all these, and -absolutely fundamental and invariable. - -Now, how is it that in society progress is actually made in morals? The -appeal to authority can always be made in two ways. It can be made in -the most obvious form in the interest of mere stagnation, by saying, -"What was good enough for our fathers is good enough for us," a thing -nobody ever does say; or by saying, "What is good enough for us is good -enough for our children," a thing which numbers of people say. While -the first form may be some safeguard against wild experiments--and wild -experiments in morals are more dangerous than wild experiments anywhere -else in life, for a reason I will mention in a moment--yet the tendency -of this appeal is to pure stagnation. But the right appeal is to ask, -not what the great men of the past actually did, but what were the -principles upon which they acted. What we want to be doing with the -prophets of the last generation is not saying again, like parrots, just -what they said, but finding out the principles and spirit of their life -and applying that same spirit to circumstances which are changed just -because those prophets lived and wrought. They would not have been -prophets, they would not have been great men, if they had not changed in -some degree the world they lived in. Then just because they have -changed the world their action may no longer be appropriate; it is not -the action which they themselves would now take if they were still alive -and retained their power of development. What we do then is to appeal, -not to their conduct but to the principle of their conduct. So when -Wilberforce started the campaign against slavery what he did was to -appeal from the conduct of the Church to the principle of that conduct -which it professed and admitted. In other spheres it admitted the -sanctity of human personality; but it had never applied this principle -to the particular problem of slavery. - -In this way the appeal to authority is both just, safe, and progressive. -It is only a fool who will throw away all that the experience of the -ages has built up. But the wisest man of all is surely he who, -rejoicing in that great inheritance, can still appeal not to its outward -form, but to its indwelling, living spirit, and carry forward the work -which the past has done. The ages in the past that we value are not -those in which people were mainly concerned to praise their -predecessors, but those in which men were agreed to press forward to -whatever new life God has in store. So it must be here: if we would be -true to the great men of the past, to the authority of those who have -built up our moral life, it will not be by standing still, but by moving -on in the direction to which they point. - -The appeal to authority, then, will not be an appeal to practice, but -always an appeal to principle; and so we shall be saved from that danger -of moral experiment, a danger that is so immensely great because the -individual who has made the experiment has thereby very often spoilt -himself. One cannot experiment in the moral life with the detachment -that we use in science. I may try mixing a couple of fluids together to -see what happens, and I can regard the result quite accurately; but I -cannot try the experiment of stealing, or of murder, in order to see -what the real moral value of the thing is, because in the process of -doing the act I shall vitiate my own soul; here the material in which we -experiment is itself the instrument by which we have to judge; and the -man who has once done an evil thing himself, very seldom has the same -clearness of vision concerning its good and evil as the man who has kept -true to some lofty purpose. The mere experiment, the mere trying what -it feels like to be a murderer--not that anyone would take so extreme an -instance as that--is always a method condemned in advance to futility, -because in the process of making the experiment we destroy our power of -judging the result. We want therefore to rely upon some authority; -being unable to experiment for ourselves, we must follow the general -rule that I have stated; the authority to which we appeal must be an -authority of principle and not of practice. - -But what of the authority of our Lord Himself? To us who have accepted -it, or who are trying to accept it, it is final; yet still, surely, in -the spirit rather than in the letter. Why did He teach by a series of -amazing paradoxes if it was not to prevent us setting up a code of rules -as His legislation, if it was not to force us back upon the spirit of -His teaching, behind the detailed regulations in which that spirit was -embodied? Even here it is still true that the appeal is to the authority -of His Spirit and not to that of detailed action or individual precept. - -And beyond all this, it is certain that He Himself wins His authority by -first submitting Himself to the moral judgment of His people. He -rejects, in the second and third of the Messianic temptations after His -baptism, the method of coercion. He rejects this, and stands before men -submitting Himself to their moral judgment, to their conscience, to -their capacity to understand pure goodness and love, as that capacity -has grown through the civilisation which God Himself had guided as the -preparation for His final revelation in His Son. So He submits Himself -first of all to our moral judgment; and thus our conscience, coming down -to us, as it does, out of the Divinely-guided history of the past, is -the supreme authority; if we choose Him to be the Guide of our life it -is because our conscience has first pronounced Him to be the highest and -the holiest, which we must needs love when we see it. - - - - - *APPENDIX III* - - *ON JUSTICE AND EDUCATION* - - -As long as there are great numbers of citizens whose faculties are -undeveloped it is impossible for society to be justly ordered. The -democracies of the world have been curiously blind to this truth, as -they have to the parallel truth that education is essential to true -liberty. - -As long as there is a vast difference between a man's actual worth to -society and his potential worth, there will be two just claims -concerning him, and no possibility of adjudicating between them. To -treat a man who is in fact useless as though he were useful, is to -injure the community by encouraging a parasite; to treat him as useless, -when only lack of opportunity has prevented his becoming useful, is to -injure him. A vast amount of the existing social order is an attempt to -compromise between these two injuries, by inflicting a little of both. -The only real solution is to be found in a complete educational system -which will raise the actual worth of every man to the level of his -potential work precisely by enabling him to realise his potentialities. - -But education which is to have this effect, without producing mere -selfishness and aggressiveness and thereby defeating its own object, -must be a moralising force; and that means, if the argument of Appendix -II is sound, that its processes must be largely sub-conscious. In fact, -one root of the great sin of Germany is to be found in the effort to -control life through the highly developed conscious intellect. The -specialised training of administrators and the attempt to guide human -action by scientific method is doomed to failure. If it were possible -to collect all the relevant facts, it might be right merely to form an -inductive conclusion and act upon it. But in regard of any human -problem it is never possible to collect all the facts; they are at once -too numerous and too subtly differentiated. Consequently the English -method, though grotesquely deficient just where the German is strong, is -yet morally preferable and politically more successful. It takes a boy -and throws him into a society of boys which largely governs itself; -appalling risks are taken and disasters are not unknown; boy standards -are allowed to prevail, with the result that form-work is regarded as a -tiresome though inevitable adjunct rather than the chief business of -school life. Perhaps it is as well to mention here that the exaltation -of games over work, however disastrous in its exaggeration, is yet -morally sound; for the boy feels that in his games he plays for his -house and school, while his work is done for himself. Wise seniors will -tell him from the pulpit that he should work hard at school so as to fit -himself for the service of the community in later years; and this is -true enough; but the boy will be a terrible prig if he is continually -conscious of its truth. - -The same principle determines our University ideal. The primary test -for a degree is "residence"--that is, an adequate share in a general -life. Colleges may require attendance at lectures, but the University -does not. It demands that a candidate for a degree should have some -knowledge--not very much, it is true--but it never asks where or how he -got it; it only asks if he has "kept his terms." - -At the end of the process there are some failures, of course; but those -who represent the system's success, and they are the great majority, -though they may not have any large amount of knowledge, have acquired -the instinct to act wisely in almost any emergency with which they may -be confronted. Very often they could not give any theoretical ground -for acting as they do, for their wisdom is largely sub-conscious or -instinctive; but the action is right all the same. - -In England we are at the present time witnessing the collision of two -educational types, of which I have outlined the older and more -traditional. But this collision is itself of such exceeding interest -that, at the risk of some repetition, I would venture to sketch out the -two opposing types and attempt to indicate the mode of their -interaction. - -The aim of education may be defined as the attempt to train men and -women to understand the world they live in, so that they may be able to -assist or resist the tendencies of their time in the light of ideals and -standards resting on the widest possible foundation of knowledge and -experience. - -Now, our educational history for the last hundred years has been the -result of the interaction between two predominant educational types, -which I may call, simply for the purposes of description, the -traditional and the modern. The traditional type comes down to us (with -modifications, no doubt) by a continuous history from the Middle Ages, -and its chief representatives in England at the present time are those -large private institutions which are called public schools, and the two -older universities. The first great mark of this type of education is -that in practice--whatever its theory may have been--in practice it is -corporate. It has believed in educating people rather through influence -than through instruction, and it has believed in educating them in -direct relation to their social context and setting. Now that, in a -country of aristocratic organisation, inevitably involved an exclusive -and aristocratic type of education. If you have got a society -stratified in layers one above the other, and you are then going to -educate people in direct relation to their social context, your -educational system is bound to be similarly stratified. That is -inevitable, and consequently, through the social conditions of the time, -the education which is most strongly corporate in tone and spirit has -also tended to be aristocratic. As I have said, this method deals with -people rather through influence than through instruction. Of course, it -does not ignore instruction, but it is true that not very long ago I -heard a very distinguished lady asked whether a certain school was what -we call a public school; "Oh, yes," she replied, "it is a real public -school. I mean they don't learn anything there." The instruments which -for the most part this education has used have been the great -literatures of all ages, and particularly the literatures of Greece and -Rome, and their civilisations. These literatures and civilisations have -a great advantage over all others as instruments of education, because, -while they are in many ways closely akin to our own, which are descended -from them, they are complete and can be studied in their entirety. The -aim of this type of education has been to bring the student's mind into -closest possible contact with the greatest minds of the human race in -all ages, with the minds that have done or attempted most (in history), -with the minds that have thought most accurately and deeply (in science -and philosophy), with the minds that have felt most tenderly and truly -(in poetry). It may, or may not, succeed in that aim. It may attempt -it in the case of individual students who are particularly ill-suited -for it; but that is its aim, and no one is going to say that it is an -ignoble aim. In doing this, it has supplied to those who have been most -able to profit by it standards of judgment, standards of criticism. -This enables a man to stand apart from the tendencies of the moment and -to pronounce judgment on them in the light of what has been best in -human experience. Those are the strongest points, as I consider, of the -old traditional type. But it has certain faults, one of which I have -already mentioned, which is a fault in our day if it was not a fault in -the day in which this type of education became predominant. I mean that -it is liable to be exclusive, to shut up people within the limits of -their own class so that they are unable to acquire any living -acquaintance with the great movements going on in the world around them. - -The other system has not these particular evils; this more modern type -of education, so far as you can draw lines across history at all, may be -said to begin with Rousseau; it is predominantly individual rather than -corporate, intellectual rather than spiritual, democratic rather than -aristocratic; it supplies people with knowledge of facts rather than -with standards of judgment. It is individual rather than corporate, for -it began to take possession of the world when the forces of progress -were almost all of them strongly individualistic; at that time the -demand of democracy was for the abolition of privileges, the breaking -down of class restrictions and the insistence that the individual must -be able to live his own life; with all of which we entirely agree, -though we think it needs a good deal of supplementing; and, -consequently, its tendency has been to suggest to people that the aim of -education is that they may get on in the world. The instrument which it -has used has been for the most part instruction, and its appeal has -been, not as in the traditional system to sympathy and imagination, but -to intelligence and memory. This, it seems to me, is precisely because -it believes in the career open to talent, and so far cuts across all -social divisions. - -Its ideal is the educational ladder. Now there would be no objection to -the educational ladder if people went down it as well as up, if, that is -to say, men of small ability and character always sank in the social -scale and men of great ability and character always rose. But so long as -you have social classes maintained in their position, not by ability and -character alone, but by the mere accident of possession, so long it will -be true that to lift a man by education from one social stratum to -another is to expose him to a terrible temptation--the temptation to -despise his own people. And when once a man's native sympathies have -been rooted up, it is hard for any more to grow. There is real danger -that the more modern type of education may serve to produce a race of -self-seekers. But this modern type has great advantages. It is alive -and in touch with the world at the moment; and the people who receive -education of this kind will probably be very vitally aware of most of -the living interests of their own time. But it fails to supply -standards of judgment. - -Now, of course, no existing institution belongs purely and entirely to -either of these types; but we can all think easily of institutions in -which one or the other is the predominant characteristic. And one of -our troubles is that most parents like the faults and dislike the -virtues of both types. They like the aristocratic and exclusive tone of -the traditional type; and they like the pushfulness and -"get-on-in-the-world" tone of the modern type. - -The great problem before the educational world in the next period is to -draw the two types and tendencies in education closer together, to leave -the whole strength of both unimpaired, but to unite them. It is not -easy to do. It is a very big problem, easily stated, but very hard to -solve in practice. I would suggest that one of the flaws of the modern -tendency is that it leaves people very strongly aware of what is going -on at the moment, but not always equally aware of what has been thought -by the greatest men in the history of the world. This is very liable to -lead people to suppose that whatever is modern is on that account good. -Now that is exactly as foolish as to suppose that whatever is ancient is -therefore good. The fact its antiquity or modernity has nothing to do -with its value at the present moment. Of course, it is true that any -institution which has lasted through many centuries is likely to be of -use again, though we may always have just reached the point at which it -begins to be an incubus. Of course, it is true that an idea which -arises out of the stress of life at the moment is very likely to be very -well adapted to the realities of that moment in which it arises, but, -also, it may be well adapted to assist a downward course. What we want -is that the people shall know the facts and also have the power to judge -them--to be able, as I said, to assist or resist the tendencies of their -time, in the light of the best ideals and standards. There is a very -strong inclination among many of us (I am personally very much aware of -it in myself) to think that the new thing must be good; and yet one -remembers the words of Clough:-- - - "'Old things need not be therefore true,' - Oh, brother men! nor yet the new." - - -Again, the old type which trains people through their social setting is -very largely co-operative in its methods. It merges the individual in -his school, or his college, so that he comes quite genuinely to care -more keenly for the welfare of his house and school and college than for -his own progress. Nobody who has had any intercourse at all with the -life of public schools or universities can doubt that. The modern -method, on the whole, I suppose, trusts mainly rather to competition. -It aims at assisting people to put out their best energy by pitting them -against one another. I want to raise a very serious question to which I -am not prepared to give an answer. I want all people interested in -education to consider it. Is it worth while to get the greatest effort -out of a person at the cost of teaching him that he is to make efforts -in his own interest? I am very doubtful. - -I heard a little while ago a distinguished schoolmaster describe the -visit of the father of one of the boys in his house; the boy was being -very idle, and this distinguished man said, "I wish you would speak to -him as seriously as ever you can"; the father said, "I will." He saw -the boy and when he came back he said, "I spoke to him very seriously, -in fact I spoke to him quite religiously. I said 'You must be getting -along, you know, or other people will be pushing past you.'" The -religion would appeal to be of a "Darwinian" type. - -Now I wish to express a purely personal conviction with regard to these -two types of teaching, and it is this: while we have got to incorporate -all, or at any rate, nearly all, that the more modern type of education -has given us, it has got to be used in such a way as to leave the great -marks of the traditional type predominant. Education, I hold, should -remain primarily corporate rather than individual, primarily spiritual -(that is, effective through influence, and through an appeal to sympathy -and imagination), rather than primarily intellectual (that is, effective -through an appeal to intelligence and memory), primarily concerned with -giving people the power to pronounce judgment on any facts with which -they may come in contact rather than supplying them simply with the -facts. It should be primarily co-operative and not primarily -competitive. - -It is mainly the new democratic movements in education which have -emphasised this view. Indeed, the Workers' Educational Association has -understood more definitely than any other body I am aware of, that what -it finds of supreme value in the great centres of education is the -spirit of the place rather than the instruction; and those of us who -have received the best, or at all events have been in a position to -receive the best, that Oxford can give, and those who have had just a -taste of her treasures at the Summer School, will agree that Oxford does -more for us than any lectures do. But while we say that, we need also -to insist on a greater energy and efficiency, a greater and more living -contact with the world of to-day in some, at least, of the centres of -the old traditional type. Yet it is the traditional type that must -control, because the traditional type on the whole stands for spirit -against machinery. I have no doubt it is true that the old schools and -universities are amateurish in method; and I have no doubt that we ought -to organise ourselves more efficiently. There is a good deal of waste -that may be saved; but I shall regret the day when we become efficient -at the cost of our spirit. - -I believe that in the University Tutorial Classes organised by the -Workers' Educational Association you will find upon the whole the -soundest educational principles which are at this moment operative -anywhere in England. The classes choose their own subjects, and, as a -general rule, they choose those subjects about which nobody knows the -truth. Those are always the best instruments of education; for if -anyone knows the truth, he has only to say what it is and his hearers -believe him. That may be instruction, but it is not education. Real -education is always best conducted as a joint search for truth; and in -these Tutorial Classes we have, not one teacher and thirty hearers, but -thirty-one fellow students, one of whom has commenced the study earlier -than the rest, and can therefore act as guide. - -These are wide-reaching problems; and, indeed, there is no limit to the -range of the influence of education. It is the supreme regenerative -force. What is the chief obstacle of all who work for progress in any -department of life? Always the apathy of those whom we especially wish -to help. And why are they apathetic? Simply because they have had no -opportunity of finding out what is the life from which they are -excluded. But open by the merest chink the door of that treasure-house -wherein are contained the garnered stores of literature and science, of -history and art, and they will be foremost in demanding that they shall -no longer be excluded from the birthright of the sons of civilisation. -These are the good things of which no one is deprived because another -possesses them; they are the true social goods of which possession by -one redounds to the enrichment of all. It is the taste of them that can -most stimulate the zeal for progress; and as it supplies the motive -power, so it supplies also the directive wisdom. The perfecting and -expansion of our education is just what is most vital for social -progress to-day, and for the establishment of real justice in our social -life, for it alone can bring within the reach of all that knowledge -which is at once the source of power and the guarantee that the power -shall be beneficent. - - - - - *APPENDIX IV* - - *ON ORDERS AND CATHOLICITY* - - -The position taken in the text of these lectures might be summarised as -follows: It is the living body which gives authority to its Orders; it -is not the possession of valid Orders which gives authority to the body. -In support of this view I have the kind permission of Dr. Headlam to -quote the following from his article--"Notes on Reunion: The Kikuyu -Conference," in the _Church Quarterly Review_ for January, 1914. - -"On December 20th, 1912, the Bishop of Madras delivered an informal -speech to the members of the National Conference of Missionaries, at -Calcutta. This created in India and elsewhere a considerable amount of -sensation. As in that speech he referred to something which the present -writer had written and to an article in the _Church Quarterly Review_ by -Dr. Frere,[#] and as his speech has been very widely misunderstood, I -think I may be allowed to refer briefly to the points he raised. The -views which he propounded were those which I had put forward in the -'Prayer Book Dictionary,' and I should like to be allowed to quote them -again: - - -[#] "The Reorganisation of Worship," by W. H. Frere, D.D., Superior of -the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield (_Church Quarterly Review_, -October, 1912). - - -"If we combine the Patristic theory of Orders with the rule of -ordination, we shall be able to put the idea of Apostolic Succession -into its right place. It is really a deduction from the right theory of -Orders, and the mistake has been to make Orders depend upon Apostolic -Succession and transmission. - -"The authority to consecrate and ordain, or to perform all spiritual -offices, resides in and comes from the Church to which God gives His -Holy Spirit. From the beginning this work of the Church has been -exercised by those who have received a commission for it, and the rule -of the Church has been that that commission should always be given by -those who have received authority from others with a similar commission. -The historical fact, therefore, of Apostolic Succession has resulted -from the rule of the Church being always regularly carried out. If this -be correct, the following further deductions may be made: - -"1. The idea of 'transmission' is an additional and late conception -which, instead of expressing the idea of Succession, has, by its -exaggeration of it led to a rigid and mechanical theory of the Ministry. - -"2. As the grace of Orders depends upon the authority of the Church and -not upon mechanical transmission, all objections from supposed -irregularities of ordination are beside the point, and the opinions of -churchmen and others who have maintained that in certain circumstances a -presbyter may ordain are explained. Ordination depends upon the -authority of the Church, and not the Church upon ordination. - -"3. The idea of Succession, which results from the Church's rule of -ordination, is an historical fact, and not a doctrine. It represents an -external connection with the first beginnings of Christianity of -infinite value for the Church; and nothing should be done to break such -a connection, as it acts like a link for binding together the Churches -as parts of a living whole. - -"4. One part of the work of Christian reunion should be to restore and -secure the links of Succession throughout the whole Christian world; but -no rigidity or mechanical theory of Orders need compel us to deny divine -grace to those separated from us.[#] - - -[#] _The Prayer Book Dictionary_ (Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., -1912), p. 42. - - -"The particular point that I wish to emphasise is that there are two -things to be separated--the one the rule of the Church, the other the -theory of that rule. I do not believe that it would be possible on any -Catholic principle to depart from the rule of the Church with regard to -Orders; I should go further and say that I believe that no real reunion -would ultimately be possible except on the basis of that rule. At the -present time, however, continuous emphasis is laid on the theory of -Orders, and that theory is often put as an extreme form of a mechanical -conception of the Apostolic Succession. Now it is quite true that from -the beginning Bishops have been looked upon as 'the successors' of the -Apostles, but I can find no authoritative interpretation of that phrase -other than that they perform at the present day those functions of the -Apostles which were not miraculous or extraordinary.[#] Neither the -formularies of the Church of England nor, so far as I am aware, those of -any other Church, lay down any theory of ministry, and to impose, -therefore, any such theory on the Church is to depart from Catholic -tradition. - - -[#] See, for example, Van Espen, i. 16, 1. Council of Trent, Sessio -xxiii., Cap. iv. - - -"An incidental result of this is that our attitude towards Sacraments of -Nonconformist bodies will not partake of that rigid character which is -so characteristic of some in the present day. We are glad to see that -Dr. Sanday takes exception to these. 'It seems to me to be a very -delicate matter, and, indeed, scarcely admissible for one Christian body -to take upon itself to pronounce upon the validity or otherwise of the -ministrations of another. I think that at least the question ought not -to be put in that bald and sweeping form.' It is interesting to note -that Dr. Pusey would have been equally averse to such language. He of -course accepts the doctrine of Apostolic Succession in very definite -form, but he writes as follows: - -"'But while maintaining that they only are commissioned to administer -the Sacraments who have received that commission from those appointed in -succession to bestow it, we have never denied that God may make His own -sacraments efficacious even when irregularly administered; we should -trust it might be so.' - -"It would be of great advantage if we were to speak of non-episcopal -orders and sacraments as 'irregular,' which we know they are, not as -'invalid,' about which we know nothing." - - -With these words of Dr. Headlam I am in profound agreement. But there -is another quite different matter to which I would allude. If the Church -is indeed to be the vehicle of the power of Christ in its plenitude, it -must be Catholic not only in principle and right, but in actual fact. -Deeper than all divisions of "Catholic" and "Protestant" is the division -of the great human family--European, Indian, Chinese, and so forth. -These great civilisations must each bring its own gift, consecrated by -the Spirit of Christ, to the life of the whole Body before that Body -reveals the measure of the fulness of the stature of Christ. A merely -European Church cannot be fully Catholic, nor can it ever do, even for -Europe, what the Catholic Church is called by God to do for the nations -which become its provinces. - - - - - *APPENDIX V* - - *ON PROVIDENCE IN HISTORY* - - -The most outstanding facts in the history known to us, which plainly -reveal the providential guidance of its course, are the careers of -Alexander the Great and Napoleon. There had developed in Greece the -whole spirit of civilisation in reference to the small problems of the -city-state; the whole principle of civilisation which had been thus -worked out was now established; Greek civilisation was so perfectly -developed that it had even a perfect theory of itself in Plato and -Aristotle. Just at this moment there appears upon the scene the -absolutely amazing figure--Alexander of Macedon, himself the pupil of -the man in whom the Greek spirit reached its final formulation. He -carries that spirit in his astounding triumphs through Asia Minor and -Syria to the Western Provinces of India. As a military achievement the -mere leading of his troops to the banks of the Indus is one of the -supreme wonders of the world. No doubt he was conscious of a mission to -spread the gifts which Greece held in trust for humanity; but also no -doubt he was very much concerned with the political fabric which his -conquests set up. The moment his work is finished, he himself dies. -Politically his Empire was not established and it immediately fell to -pieces. Spiritually it remained. It supplied the inspiration of -Chandra gupta, and the career of Asoka is unintelligible apart from -Alexander. The arrival of the Greeks in India is, I am assured, the -beginning of all that we now understand by Indian art. Far more -important to the history of the world was the bringing of Greek culture -into Palestine; this culture in itself was no doubt decadent, and the -Chasidim and Pharisees were right enough to resist it: yet the leaven of -this humanising influence is an essential part of the preparation for -the Incarnation in the soil of Judaism. It is to be noticed that -Galilee was a region particularly affected by the Greek influence and -the settlement of Decapolis was still mainly Greek in the Gospel period. -Asoka and St. Paul are not at all the kind of successors that Alexander -would have anticipated or desired, but his conscious desires were -utilised by Providence to serve an end of which he never dreamed. His -early death before his Empire could be consolidated in a political sense -is as markedly providential as his emergence at the precise moment of -history when he appears upon the scene. - -The case is similar with Napoleon. Alexander at his death was 32 years -old. Napoleon was 52. He also appears at a critical moment, is active -precisely as long as he can serve what we now see to have been the cause -of progress, and is then removed. The great feature of the period is -the growth of the sentiment of nationality. This is the sense of -membership in a people united by common characteristics and a common -purpose; it is therefore always democratic in spirit though it need not -at all necessarily be democratic in machinery. The old European -constitutions, which had been valuable enough in their time, were -becoming a barrier to its further development; the flood of progress -burst the dam in France, and soon after there appears the supreme -genius, not himself a Frenchman, who was to carry the spirit of which -France had just become consciously possessed through the entire length -and breadth of Europe. Napoleon, like Alexander, was conscious of his -mission; he thought of himself as being the organ of the Revolution; he -is reported to have said that moral principles did not apply to him; -they applied only to persons, and he was a force. But there can be no -doubt that he was as much concerned with establishing a vast French -Empire as he was with merely carrying the principles of the French -Revolution into the other nations. He is allowed success so long as the -work of destruction is still needed; his activities first as general and -then as ruler began the unification alike of Italy and Germany; but as -soon as the spiritual work which he was to do is fully accomplished, the -political construction, which was as a great scaffolding surrounding it, -falls to pieces, and he is driven into exile to end his days in solitude -and impotence. Perhaps some day people will look back upon the horror -that now lies upon the world and not only believe that God was active in -it, but see the blessings which He was conferring by its means. - - - - PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY - RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, - BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. - AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. - - - - * * * * * * * * - - - - - _*By the Rev. WILLIAM TEMPLE.*_ - - -THE FAITH AND MODERN THOUGHT. SIX LECTURES. With an Introduction by -Professor Michael Sadler. - -THE KINGDOM OF GOD. A COURSE OF FOUR LECTURES. - -THE NATURE OF PERSONALITY. A COURSE OF LECTURES. - -STUDIES IN THE SPIRIT AND TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. BEING UNIVERSITY AND -SCHOOL SERMONS. - -REPTON SCHOOL SERMONS. STUDIES IN THE RELIGION OF THE INCARNATION. - -FOUNDATIONS. A STATEMENT OF CHRISTIAN BELIEF IN TERMS OF MODERN THOUGHT. -By Seven Oxford Men: B. H. STREETER, R. BROOK, W. H. MOBERLY, R. G. -PARSONS, A. E. J. RAWLINSON, N. S. TALBOT, W. TEMPLE. - - - -LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHURCH AND NATION *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43896 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the -General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and -distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works to protect the -Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a -registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, -unless you receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything -for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. 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