Christianity and Ethics Part 19

(_b_) But obedience has also an _active_ side. _Faithfulness_ is the complement of faith. The believer must exercise fidelity, and go forward with energy and purpose to the tasks committed to him. As stewards of Christ we are {217} to occupy till He come, employing every talent entrusted to us in His service. Work may be worship, and we can glorify G.o.d in our daily tasks. No finer tribute can a man give than simply himself.

(3) _Worship_.--The special duties of worship belong to the religious rather than the ethical side of life, and do not demand here more than a pa.s.sing reference. The essence of religion lies in the subordination of the finite self to the infinite; and worship is the conscious outgoing of the man in his weakness and imperfection to his Maker, and it attains its fullest exercise in (_a_) _reverence_, humility, and devotion. The feeling of dependence and sense of need, together with the consciousness of utter demerit and inability which man realises as he gazes upon the majesty and grace of G.o.d, awaken the (_b_) instinct of _prayer_. 'It is the sublime significance of prayer,' says Wuttke, 'that it brings into prominence man's great and high destiny, that it heightens his consciousness of his true moral nature in relation to G.o.d; and as morality depends on our relation to G.o.d, prayer is the very life-blood of morality.'[32] The steadfast aspiration of the soul to G.o.d, whose will is our law and whose blessing is granted to whatsoever is done in His name, is the habitual temper of the Christian life. But prayer must also be particular, definite, and expectant. By a law of our nature, and apart from all supernatural intervention, prayer exercises a reflex influence of a very beneficial character upon the mind of the worshippers. But he who offers his pet.i.tions expecting nothing more will not even attain this. 'If prayers,' says Mr. Lecky, 'were offered up solely with a view to this benefit, they would be absolutely sterile and would speedily cease.'[33] The purely subjective view of prayer as consisting solely in 'beneficent self-suggestion' empties the term of significance. Even Frederick Meyers, who lays so much stress upon the importance of self-suggestion in other aspects of experience, admits that prayer is something more than a subjective {218} phenomenon. 'It is not only a calling up of one's own private resources; it must derive its ultimate efficacy from the increased flow from the infinite life into the life of the suppliant.'[34]

(_c_) Prayer attains its highest expression in _Thanksgiving and Joy_.

Grat.i.tude is the responsive feeling which wells up in the heart of those who have experienced the goodness of G.o.d, and recognise Him as the great Benefactor. Christians are to abound in thankfulness. We live in a world where everything speaks to us of divine love. Praise is the complement of prayer. The grateful heart sees life transfigured. It discovers everywhere tokens of grace and hope,

'Making the springs of time and sense Sweet with eternal good.'

Peace, trust, joy, hope are the ultimate notes of the Christian life.

'Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks.'

Thanksgiving, says St. Bernard, 'is the return of the heart to G.o.d in perpetual benediction.'

In the kingdom of love duty is swallowed up in joy. Life is nothing but the growing realisation of G.o.d. With G.o.d man's life begins, and to Him turns back at last in the wrapt contemplation of His perfect being.

In fellowship with G.o.d man finds in the end both himself and his brother.

'What is left for us, save, in growth Of soul, to rise up, far past both, From the gift looking to the Giver, From the cistern to the river, And from the finite to the Infinity And from man's dust to G.o.d's divinity?'[35]

'G.o.d,' says Green, 'is a Being with whom we are in principle one, in the sense that He is all which the human spirit is capable of becoming.'[36] In the worship of G.o.d, {219} man dies to the temporal interests and narrow ends of the exclusive self, and lives in an ever-expanding life in the life of others, manifesting more and more that spiritual principle which is the life of G.o.d, who lives and loves in all things.[37]

[1] Paulsen, _Ethics_, bk. III. chap. i. Cf. also Wundt, _Ethik_, p.

148. But see also W. Wallace, _Lectures and Essays_, p. 325, on their confusion.

[2] Mackintosh, _Chr. ethics_, p. 114.

[3] Cf. Haering, _Ethics of Chr. Life_, p. 230.

[4] This seems to be the position of Herrmann; see _Ethik_.

[5] Cf. Eucken, _Life's Basis_, p. 185.

[6] Maccunn, _Ethics of Citizenship_, p. 40.

[7] _Duties of Man_, chap. i.

[8] See discussion by late W. Wallace in _Lectures and Essays_, pp. 213 ff.

[9] _Ethik_, p. 190.

[10] Maccunn, _op. cit._; p. 42.

[11] Cf. Eucken, _Main Currents of Modern Thought_, p. 348.

[12] Hegel, _Philosophy of Right_, p. 45.

[13] _Das Wesen des Christenthums_; cf. also _Ecce h.o.m.o_, p. 345.

[14] Adopted in Ma.s.sachusetts in 1773.--'All men have equal rights to life, liberty, and property.'

[15] Browning, _Prince Hohenstiel-Schw.a.n.gau_.

[16] Cf. Wheeler Robinson, _The Christian Doctrine of Man_, pp. 281 f.

[17] Matt. xi. 18; Luke vii. 33.

[18] Ottley, _Ideas and Ideals_.

[19] Rom. xiii. 7-10.

[20] Col. iii. 9, 10.

[21] See Lecky, _Map of Life_.

[22] _Vor dem Wissenden sich stellen, sicher ist's in allen Fallen_.

[23] 1 Cor. xii. 26.

[24] _Phil. of Right_, pp. 48 ff.; see also Wundt, _Ethik_, pp. 175 f.

[25] Cf. Ottley, _Idem_, p. 271.

[26] Green, _Proleg._, p. 173, quoted by Ottley.

[27] _Science of Ethics_ (trans.), p. 337.

[28] Miss Fowler, _Concerning Isabel Carnaby_.

[29] Drummond, _Via, Veritas, Vita_, p. 227.

[30] Matt. viii. 25 f., x. 26; Luke viii. 23 f.

[31] Matt. xxv. 1 f.; Mark xxiv. 42; Luke xii. 36 f.

[32] _Chr. Ethics_ (trans.), vol. ii. p. 221.

[33] _Hist. of Europ. Morals_, vol. i. p. 36.

[34] _Human Personality_, vol. ii. p. 313.

[35] Browning, _Christmas Eve_.

[36] _Proleg._, p. 198.

[37] Cf. Jones, _Browning as Philosophical and Religious Teacher_, p.

367.