From Our Exchanges
[The Christian Work]
Inspired words are always finding utterance, and he whose ears are trained well will hear them. They are not all uttered ex cathedra, nor from pulpits or chancels; they may be spoken within the walls of the humblest conventicle or by a Salvationist corporal on a street corner. We often find what strongly approves itself to us as the message of the Spirit in the columns of daily newspapers, or on the pages of magazines, or in stray leaflets or pamphlets, or in the more matured discourse of printed books. There it is that the heavenly influence diffuses itself through the channels of our human intercourse, mingling its light with our shadows, its truth with our traditions and guesses, and giving us as much as we are able to take of its great revelations.
We are thinking now, however, more of what the Spirit is saying to the world and to the church in the events that are taking place, in things that are being done. It is quite as true of the divine as of the human methods of communication that "actions speak louder than words." It is by what He does more than by what He says that the Spirit of all truth makes known His will to men. There are certain great movements now going forward which signalize the presence of God among men in impressive ways and convey intimations of His will. These movements have to do with the Christian churches, and indicate a conviction of some of them that the time has come for a pretty radical construction in their life. This conviction is, we think, largely the product of this fiendish war. The war has brought to some of them, and will, we hope, bring to more of them, a startling revelation of their own weakness.
[The Bishop of Albany in The Living Church]
There is widespread discontent today,—and I am not speaking here of those mutterings and threatenings which have come from the less privileged members of the social order. These must be considered, and no one can doubt that a stable democracy demands that government must be exercised for the best interests of all the people without special regard to classes of any sort.
The discontent which I have in mind is that which is awakening in the hearts of those who have enjoyed privileges and who are truly desirous of knowing where they ought to stand in the process by which a new world must solve the problem of social righteousness. I am not thinking of those who seek protection against that which may assail their personal interests, but rather of those who feel the responsibility of playing their due part in establishing a civilization which shall endure because it shall rest upon justice and regard for the rights of all.
[The Advance]
Religion to be effective and meet every emergency must cultivate a spirit which loves God and righteousness and obeys the truth for the sake of God and duty. Only as religion rises to this level can our righteousness exceed that of the scribes. It is better for a man to live decently for fear of hell than to live indecently and to have no fear. But no men ever got very far into the Christian life on the motive of fear. It is better for a man to do right for the hope of heaven than not to do right at all. But the hope of heaven may be a mere bribe. It can never reach the profounder depths of human life nor stir the springs of the noblest human endeavor. Only he who loves the right and does it with his whole heart can be in any highest sense a follower of Jesus.
[Dr. Lyman Abbott in The Outlook]
The church and its ministers for nineteen centuries have been praying: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." They should preach as they have prayed. Too long have we been trying to prepare men on earth for a kingdom in heaven. If we would follow our Master's example and manifest our Master's spirit, we must inspire men to build a kingdom of heaven upon the earth. He who urges the ministers to preach the gospel is quite right, but he who does not know that the gospel is the glad tidings that a deliverer has come, and who does not summon followers to unite with him in establishing upon the earth a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in holiness of spirit, needs to begin afresh the study of his New Testament. The object of the church is not to show men how when they die they can escape from a world given over to paganism; it is to inspire men with a resolve to transform a pagan world in which the princes exercise dominion over the people, into a kingdom of God in which the people exercise dominion over the princes.
[Zion's Herald]
The really great physician looks beyond immediate cases of illness to the ideal condition when disease and suffering in the world will be minimized by better methods of living. A doctor who always entered the sick room with a smile on his lips was asked how he could meet so many grievous conditions and not lose his equilibrium. He answered, "I always look upon disease from a curative standpoint." Hope is the nerve of ministry to the body as well as to the soul. This curative attitude expresses the mind of the Christ, whose purpose is to abolish the evil conditions out of which sickness and suffering come; for the cure intended is not simply of an individual here or there immediately, but of society at long range and finally. Neither sin primarily, nor ill health inferentially, are a priori necessary. So long as the world is as it is, both will plague humanity; but the world is not to remain as it is now—if only all Christians will with redoubled zeal exert themselves to bring in the sooner the coming "day of the Lord."
[New-Church Messenger]
Democracy must come through the recognition of the law of service inspired by a love of righteousness and common aims and achievements working in harmony for the good of all. This new and comprehensive democracy in men and their governments is not by any means ideal. It will come gradually, as judgment and justice inspire the hearts of men and they are prepared to accept and practise the truths of the second coming in the teachings of the Lord Christ Jesus. The world war cannot have any other result than to hasten this consummation.
[Prin. D. L. Ritchie in The Christian World]
Men grow and religions advance by the constant challenge of a moral ideal. It is the gleaming peak flushed with the glow of a rushing dawn that calls forth effort and keeps the soul in the sublime mood of faith.
Such an ideal works most powerfully when it is incarnate in a person. That is one of the many reasons why Christianity has the preeminence among the religions of the world. Its Founder was its ideal. He himself was what he taught; he did what he commanded. There is, therefore, a true sense in which the faith is comprehended in his simple and sublime "Follow me." Christ, what he was and what he wrought, is Christianity. He is at once the ideal and by his resurrection the moral motive power that energizes men to pursue it.
