Article November 9, 1899 Issue

The Religion of Jesus

with contributions from John Hall, Beecher

Dayton (O.) Herald

There is probably no system of practical knowledge so plain as that offered by Christ, our Saviour. And there is no other system so befogged by learned quackery and educated prejudice. One can scarcely read a single page from any of the gospels, but he will see shining out from it the very life that all should live. Not a question that humanity is struggling over to-day, but is fully answered and illustrated. Not a single trouble bows down the hearts of men, but is shown to be without any reasonable foundation; not a single individual crime that it does not show to have been committed out of the lack of wisdom. Social evils, political oppression, and every conceivable sham is laid bare, and in their stead is made to shine forth in infinite beauty and loveliness the true way by the life and teachings of this Galilean philosopher, whom the learned in the religious quackery and the political chicanery of his day regarded as a pestilent fellow. But if that life were understood to-day in the true sense in which he lived it, and the consummate truth of his doctrines allowed to illumine the path we are treading from day to day, there should be little need of the jail, the penitentiary, and the gallows.

It is not so much religion that the world needs to-day as practical Christianity. In fact, what passes for religion is rapidly becoming the most dangerous element with which society is confronted, for there is no evil that is more subtle in its influence than listless indifference. Selfishness, self-satisfaction, self-hood; such can and does pass for religion in every sense of that Pharisee's who stood up and thanked God that he was not as other men. But such is not Christianity. Christ said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." He also said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," and yet what has happened that the sick, the lame, and the halt cannot be healed as in the days of Jesus? Who says the Christ life is not practical for this age? Who says that the Christ principle will no longer heal the sick? People may be ever ready to worship the personality of Jesus, and extol and praise him for his well-merited name, but if they had that belief in him which is understanding, they would be doing the works which proclaim their oneness with him instead of contenting themselves with idle worship and offering up songs of praise.

Under whatever name the reforms of the past have been inaugurated, and under whatever name future progress toward the millennium shall be made, Jesus Christ has always been, and always will be, the initial figure. No being can ever go beyond him in laying the foundation for a true life. But because that life seems so heavy, so forsaken, so far away, shall we displace it with a substitute so weak, and so cowardly that the world will offer no persecutions? No, we cannot. When we come to that degree of faith which is understanding, and see that the divine Principle—Life, Truth, Love—is absolutely all, we cannot refuse to follow where it leads.

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