"That Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death, for to me to live is Christ." 4. LOVE AMID ITS ANTAGONISTS. After all, is here a fair, unbiased account, true to sober reason, of the formative and sustaining spirit of the Christian churches? The unsympathizing observer may be disposed to laugh this account to scorn. Looking at these churches from outside, and glancing back perhaps along the line of ecclesiastical history, it is no such celestial picture, he says, that meets the eye. It is no such high-tuned explanation of the nature and genesis of the numerous ecclesiasticisms around us, that can be reasonably accepted as in harmony with the facts. Not only self-love, but bigotry, worldliness, lust of power, lust of praise, rivalry, strife, ill-will, persecution, sectarianism, self-seeking in many ugly forms, have always been characteristic of the Church. And all this must be taken into the account in describing its formative principle and process. Thus runs the criticism. Nor is such an indictment to be, in turn, laughed to scorn; for it contains much unwelcome truth. It is certainly true that after churches have been established far and wide, and especially when tempted by the favor of society or of the State, they are likely to be corrupted. It is also true that under any circumstances, even the most favorable, they will show no lack of serious faults. In knowledge they are far from infallibility; in character they are manifestly not composed of "spirits of just men made perfect." In the case of Christian churches formed, for example, in pagan communities of the present day, or in apostolic times, evil tempers will flash out and grievous sins may be committed. Even such a case as that of the rising Christian community in the Holy City a few days after Pentecost will prove to be no exception. But while all this is true, it is not the truth. There is such a fact as organized Christianity. There are real churches of Jesus Christ. Notwithstanding their numerous and painful imperfections, any fair-minded observer would willingly call them by that name. So far, then, as they are true to their great name, what is their animating spirit, the secret of their power, the unseen life that attempts to put forth its proper organs of growth and achievement? That is the question; and the satisfactory answer can be found only in love to the Lord Jesus Christ. But if this be true, we should expect to find, as a confirmatory proof, that here also is the source of the renewal of life. And do we not find it to be so? The individual Christian knows full well that it is so with himself; and what is true of each separate soul is equally true of a society of souls. For each personally and for all as a body, to come back to Christ from any path of spiritual declension is to come back to the source of life and to begin again to ascend the heights of vision and power. Under the civil government the heart of true citizenship is not in a bare submission to law for the sake of avoiding its penalties or gaining some selfish advantage in politics or trade. It is patriotism, which is a form of moral love that oftentimes proves its existence quite unexpectedly. In time of national peace and prosperity, for example, it may seem that citizenship is little more than a means of self-protection and gain. Politics—what is it but a game which those who have a liking for it play for their own gratification? The people are they not given up to pleasure-seeking and money-making, and ready at any time to deceive and defraud the government? Patriotism-is it not a mere enthusiast's iridescent dream? But if so, let it be asked in reply: How came the idea of love of country into the mind of the earliest ages and of the whole world? what has made the word patriotism, in all elevated and earnest speech concerning one's native land, a word of inspiring truth and power? and what mean the emotions that gather about that yard or two of linen or other fabric which is unfurled as the national flag? Let some awful crisis impend. Let a war for the nation's life arise. All over the land a seemingly new and strange spirit of uncalculating sacrifice will assert itself. Careless youth will be suddenly transformed into self-devoted manhood. And no accusation of hypocrisy will be made when from the pitiless field of battle there comes back the testimony of surrendered lives: "I am willing to die for my country." But how much more believable is it that membership in that Institution whose inner motive is Christianity, whose Founder is confessed as the Saviour of men, whose martyrs and missionaries are in all the world, whose thousand ministrations to the needy in body and in spirit are so familiar as to pass unnoticed, whose divinely appointed end is the realization of the kingdom of God on earth-how much more believable is it that the very heart and crown of membership in the Church of God should be love to God in Jesus Christ and to men in Christ's name? II. SOCIAL DEPENDENCE: ADMISSION INTO MEM BERSHIP. EVERY man is no less truly a companion than a person. Without association with others he could no more attain to a clear human consciousness than without a sense of his own personality. Nobody is self-sufficing. "One is always somebody's child." Out of companionship and into it we all are born. In any path of life, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, it is impossible to walk alone. Let not the lover of sacred solitude imagine himself an exception. It was a wise person who said to young Wesley when a secluded student at Oxford: "You must find companions or make them; the Bible knows nothing of a solitary religion." No solitude is sacred enough to build walls about a soul. I. CHRISTIANITY A SOCIAL RELIGION. In the spiritual life this need of companionship is most completely fulfilled in the divine ordinance of the Church. Here, therefore, we find ourselves still in the presence of the truth, that fellowship with Christ will draw men together into a fellowship in him. Disciples of the one Teacher, servants of the one Master, imitators of the one Example, believers in the one sinless Saviour, they come through this supreme relationship into the spiritual kinship of brothers one of another. "Ye are one man in Christ Jesus." 'It was perhaps the most ardent and influential advocate of monasticism in the early Church that gave a young monk such counsel as this: "The first point to be considered is whether you are to live by yourself or in a monastery with others. For my part, I should like you to have the society of holy men, so as not to be thrown altogether on your own resources. For if you set out on a road that is new to you without a guide, you are sure to turn aside immediately. . . . In loneliness pride quickly creeps upon a man." (Jerome, To Rusticus, Ep. cxxv., c. 9.) Compare Martin Luther's experience: "I myself have found that I never fell into more sin than when I was alone."-"Table Talk," DCLXIII. Notably different is the case of a typical pagan cult. Here, notwithstanding religious festivals and a general like-mindedness which makes for fraternity, the dominant motive is the desire to propitiate offended deities. Hence a priesthood appears with its pretended but welcome mediation. Through the priest the individual worshiper makes his offering and hopes to win the favor of the gods. The sacerdotal transaction represents substantially the whole of religion. There is no special demand for an intercommunion of the devotees or a dependence on one another in their daily religious life. The idea of brotherhood is without any proper embodiment. In a pure form of Christianity, on the contrary, the law of brotherly love is regnant: no priest intervenes between the soul and the one common Saviour; religion, not ceremonial but vital, embraces the whole of life and calls for unceasing moral endeavor; every possible help, human as well as directly Divine, is needed; interchange of experiences, sympathy, mutual service, coöperation, are called for; meetings and associations are inevitable. "If they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up!"" "According as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves.' 992 What is the architectural design of the pagan temple-builder? A house for the occupancy of a god. What of the Christian. architect? A house of worship and of service for the occupancy of the people. "God and one man," it has been said, "will serve for any religion except Christianity." Even in that most perfect picture of individualism in religion, "The Pilgrim's Progress," Christian must have his strength renewed in the Palace Beautiful amid congenial spirits, and must fall in with Faithful and other companions by the way. While Christian is among his godly friends, Their golden mouths make him sufficient mends |