Editorial March 9, 1907 Issue

THE HIGHER MORALITY

John B. Willis

Awaken the man's dormant sense of moral obligation.—Mrs. Eddy.

As regarded by many, morality signifies purity, freedom from all grossness of life and thought, and Christian leaders and teachers have always stood for a noble ideal in this particular. Respecting the higher moralities of the spiritual life, however,—its veracity, consistency of thought, justness, non-resistance, unselfishness, altruism, etc.,—the Christian Church has not only come far short of the Christ ideal, but it has been made apparent that there is little real conviction of the practicability of this ideal.

Take the matter of war. All Christians will allow that whether between men or nations, the resort to physical force for the settlement of differences is entirely out of keeping with the spirit of Christ, and yet the military instinct and impulse is nourished, and its agencies are exploited not only in our public schools, but in the religious press and in religious institutions as well. Further, while Christian sentiment has condemned and abolished the wrong of chattel slavery, there still remains in Christian countries types of enslavement which are prounced by many no less cruel and degrading. Few would hesitate to concede the right of every willing toiler in the world to a fair chance,—opportunity to enjoy and possess his share of nature's rich abundance; and yet how many of us have been too indifferent even to raise our voice in protest against conditions which render it possible for the few to deprive the many of this right!

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