38

Defects of Modern Civilization.

[LECT.

and culture, with a heart weak with the putrescence of moral decay, could not be saved from irretrievable ruin. On the other hand the civilized nations of modern times have their chief defects on the surface; many an undesirable thing is prominent, many a wrong still unrighted, many a lack still to fill, but at heart there is solid soundness and living force, so that repulses and defeats are followed by resurrections and grander growths. Division means only multiplication, as in the case of the United States separating from Britain. Great Britain is vastly greater than before, and the United States almost as big as her mother. And before long Canada and Australia will be nations greater than any old empire, while Britain herself, from which they all sprang, seems younger, fresher, than ever, not yet having reached her prime, and without a sign of decay, although already older than any empire of pre-Christian times.

(3) We saw also that there was a sort of national type or ideal in the olden civilizations, which though realized fully, was entirely inadequate to the powers of man or the needs of a national life. On the other hand the ideal of Christian civilization, whether in the individual or in the nation, is still very far from being realized; but as we strain every nerve and every power of complex humanity to reach it, it advances still, and every rise we make serves only as a vantage ground from which to behold the heritage of our children, the vaster possibilities of progress. It points us forward to a time foretold more than 2,500 years ago, when in poetic language of figure, Isaiah sang of a time when "the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain-for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea-" meaning that when our ideal man shall have become

I.]

A coming short of the Ideal.

39

realized as the actual unit of a pure world-civilization, armies will be disbanded, their occupation gone, and the accumulated energy of freer, perfecter man shall be held in moderation and turned to the production of the blessings of peace, and of goodwill among men. I know that this culmination seems still far away; but let me remind you that amid all the din of armaments of war, men are gradually growing ashamed of the business of murder. I can scarcely conceive of circumstances that would necessarily bring war between Britain and the United States. And just imagine to yourselves a general civilization, a moral development in all, or even most lands, equal only to that of these nations at present, with Canada and Australia, and you would see that the army would be nothing but a police force. And why should not the evolution go on until soldier and policemen both became interesting only to the historian and the antiquarian?

And now what is the potential cause of this reversal of all preceding civilizations, similar in fact to the introduction of life into the natural world, reversing many of the processes of former ages, and leading to marvellous advance? Just as in the change of the inorganic world into organic, nothing absolutely new was required but life, so in the change from the lower civilizations of those old times to the better one of to-day, there is no absolutely new element, only the introduction of a living spiritual power,-the Christian religion; and you may be still more surprised to learn that the most active assistant in the spread of Christian influence is the colossal advance of modern

40

Influence of Christianity, twofold.

[LECT.

science. Science has done much to remove incumbrances of old pagan traditions that had fastened themselves like parasites on Christianity, and I hope and expect she will work on the same line until every shred of superstition, and human tradition, and useless form shall be done away, and the golden Christianity of Christ alone remain. Another thing she has done, and that is to nourish and stimulate a state of mind that is not credulous, which advances only where the way is firm. And may she still go on strengthening the intellectual powers, for then the faith of the heart will be more strong. But let her be careful to avoid that most fatal of human mistakes; the going to extremeslet her not seek in removing the parasites to amputate the the limbs, nor in strengthening the mind to harden it against evidence and reason. The influence of Christianity has been exerted in two ways. (1) The politico-ecclesiatical corporation called a church, exerted as a political power a considerable influence in curbing the violence of the barbarian element, and introduced into European laws some vital principles unknown before, or at least not incorporated into the old civilizations. Such for instance as

1. The fact of a Supreme Lawgiver to whom all human law should be tributary.

2. The importance of the individual man in presence of the fact that each is immortal.

3. The obligation of man to man as being all equal in the eyes of the Supreme.

4. The sensitiveness to human life, proclaiming abortion to be murder, abolishing the gladiatorial combats, forbidding the exposure of children, etc.

5. Judging of the enormity of crime by the element of intention, and so on.

The other way in which Christianity worked, its more legitimate sphere, sometimes with the help of the church and

I.]

The Laws of Moses, ever true in Principle. 41 sometimes in opposition to the church, was in transforming individual man by the teachings of the Bible, so that he might become a properly developed unit among men, the basis for the highest civilization. To show how this was done, and is being done, is outside of my present task, and to explain which would lead me to the wide field of Christian doctrine; suffice it to say that Christianity has satisfied the human heart with the revelation of a God whom all can adore and love, and with an ideal man whose supreme excellence is acknowledged by all, and is still an inspiration for the noblest among men. The world was taught to believe in the enormity of sin, and the necessity of internal holiness as the fountain for purer action. Religion was made to be identical with practical life. The marriage bond was made sacred, the home was elevated, and vast and innumerable streams of charity were sent flowing to the lowest and the farthest of the human race, ameliorating man's present and pointing to a better future. These influences working together have been little by little transforming, elevating men, and through the individual man, nations and civilizations.

I shall now close with the statement of a momentous series of facts, and leave you to consider the problem the contain. The Christian religion is the religion of the Bible. The two cardinal points in the Bible are the laws of Moses, and the facts and words of Christ. A family of shepherds were taken to Egypt, where their descendents were enslaved in bitter bondage for centuries. They escape to the desert, wander for forty years before settling down in a little land called Palestine. During those forty years of wanderings, Moses, their leader, elaborated a system of laws. The time was more than three thousand years ago, and from that time until now, every advance of civilization and of philosophy and science, not one single element, fundamental principle of law, has been added to what Moses gave to those escaped slaves. Can you tell me

by

42 Christ's doctrine complete, flawless, mighty. [LECT.

why or how it came to pass that Moses, nearly one thousand years before Confucius was born, laid down every true principle that Confucius taught, and did not teach one of Confucius's blunders? And also how it comes that no civilized constitution or code of laws to-day, contains a single principle that was not known to Moses, and applied by him wisely to suit the time and the people that he had to deal with, and that in all his code there is not a single principle now found to be false? Another fact and problem. Palestine has become a miserable province of Rome, as immoral as any other. Out of a wretched mountain village comes a young man of 30 years, who calmly contradicts the spirit of his times, and at the age of 33 is ignominiously crucified. But he leaves behind him a system of doctrine in which every truth contained in every other religion is contained, in which none of their errors are found, and which proclaims vital truths unknown to any other; more wonderful still, from that day to this, through these nearly two thousand years, no new ethical or religious truth has been added, and though he taught only three years, yet he left behind him an influence which has revolutionized the very meaning of civilization, and set the world on the track of its grandest, fullest development, infusing also the propelling power.

Tell me, can you explain these facts with reasons purely human?