From Our Exchanges
[The Universalist Leader]
When Jesus came along and so frankly and firmly criticized and deliberately set aside some of the cherished notions of the older times, he shocked and disturbed all of those people who believed that the system under which they lived was necessary to the safety and permanence of society itself. Take the Sabbath. Two thousand years have almost passed away, and still there are many followers of Jesus who are greatly troubled when his attitude toward that problem is even mentioned. All of the morality and ethics of ancient society was inseparable from the ceremonial and ecclesiastical law as this had developed. The mighty moral precepts of Moses had become interwoven with the eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life practical social justice of the times. How, then, could one set aside the principle underlying the practise of justice without disturbing the very foundations of society? The conservatives of our own times get excited, frightened, and even angry over suggestions of modifications of our own contemporary administration of justice which are far less revolutionary than were the ideas of Jesus.
The purpose of these comments is not to defend the critics of Jesus,—they are indefensible so far as their personal attitude toward him is concerned; but they were no more guilty than are many of those who score them unmercifully. Therefore let us understand them. Let us appreciate their position, their point of view, and their honesty of conviction, They were really afraid, most of them, that this man would wreck society if he had his way. . . .
The point of the matter which is of most importance is that, aside from a few scheming leaders at most, the men and women who cried "Crucify him, crucify him," were honest men and women. Just as honest as any crowd who cry "Crucify him, crucify him," today, when the prophet of some great and holy cause does not meet with their approbation. There are few more foolish and mistaken notions in the popular cries of our times than that if one is honest he is all right. He may be all wrong. He may be one of the worst blunderers among men. He may be the most determined opponent of what is eternally right. Perhaps his voice is loudest in the mob which chooses Barabbas rather than Jesus for its favors. Something more than honesty is needed in one who is to see straight and see the whole when difficult questions of life and conduct are presented. In order to deal intelligently with such issues, one must be intelligent. When a prophet knocks at his door and asks for a night's lodging for his ideas, this cottager must have some knowledge of the philosophy of history in order to place this pilgrim where he belongs in the evolution of ideas and ideals. For lack of that perspective, many an honest man has closed the door of his soul to the very angels of the living God, the messengers of divine truth, who have paused a moment on his threshold, and have gone their way never to knock at his soul again, just as they did that day. There is something to be said for the experience and the culture, the disinterestedness and the open-mindedness which prepare one for those crises where a great truth of a great soul crosses our path. Looking backward most of us can say, and do say, with a self-pity which is sometimes a humiliating confession, that if we had only known, it would have been different.
[The Christian Register]
Multitudes who desire to be religious, who have at times spiritual aspirations and feel the stirrings of the higher life, are yet very much at sea as to what they believe and can affirm. This is not the day of great and positive affirmations, but the day of honest seeking, of hopes which, if not yet formulated, do exist vaguely in the souls of thousands who lead the worldly life, and yet would gladly be religious if it were possible. The way of the world is conservative. It binds like the tough roots of sword grass, and spreads its strong fibers under ground. It makes a solid, binding network of society. It does not like to look unpleasant facts in the face. It will smooth over some horrible things; ignore them as long as possible to protect the average sum of well-being. It distrusts enthusiasm and abhors fanaticism and all extremes. It too often protects the deceptive aspects of a fair surface while underneath is a mass of rottenness.
It is this that supports shameful misgovernment in a great city, political pillage, robbery, and crime. It is the way of the world to sleep well, digest well, enjoy prosperity and ease next door to slums, gambling-houses, and dens of infamy. It minds its own business scrupulously for fear of disturbing what is called the general prosperity, which is too often the prosperity of grafters and thieves. All heroic souls, at times, are obliged to go against the way of the world, and to seek to break up the selfish inertia that lies at the base of society.
[Hartford Seminary Record]
Ever since the coming in of the twentieth century there has been in the world of theology a sense of anticipation. There has been the subtle feeling that the fulness of time was here, when there should arise a new, "great" theologian, who would speak forth for this age in architectonic form the deep truths of the religious consciousness of the age. The eyes of some have been despairingly cast backward to the great theologians of the past, and the effort has been made to show their adequacy for the life of our day. Others have appealed to the modern scientific method, and have declared that the only thing necessary was to adhere rigidly to it, and by means of it the theology of the day would of logical necessity be constructed; the only trouble being that the method of science had not yet been applied with sufficient rigidity to the facts of the religious life to produce the result. Still others have concluded that the day of theological systems is over, and that for each man the religious life he lives will be his theology incarnate, and that each man will have his own. Still, we can hardly rest here.
[The Christian World]
And here come we to the central point, down to the real secret of life. The one and only self we can afford to express is that higher self found in the holy place of the temple buried in us; which is of us, and yet so much more than ourselves; the principle of unity between us and our fellow, between us and the universe outside; the self which shows in us as principle, as conscience, as ultimate moral authority; the self whose voice is ever the highest authority, recognized by us as the whisper of God. It is when we have recognized this "categorical imperative," this law which is in us but is also beyond and above us, this duality in unity which makes the true man; it is then we find our place in the world, our work in it, our liberty and joy. We learn the liberty that is in obedience, the only liberty worth the name. "We are all servants of the laws, that we may be free," says Cicero. Yes, when the laws rest on this deepest foundation. To get God's will done in us and by us; for this end to cultivate all our powers to finest use; to get it done by our action, by our influence, by our suffering, by all that belongs to our life,—this is the selfexpression of the Christian. It was the self-expression of Christ, an expression so clear in its revelation of an infinite within that men ever since have been reading in it the character of God.
