The Young Man and the World Part 18

Not a man answered "Yes." Each man wanted to explain that the Deity might be a definite intelligence or might not; that the "latest thought" was much confused upon the matter, and so forth and so on.

"Second, Yes or no, do you believe that Christ was the son of the living G.o.d, sent by Him to save the world? I am not asking whether you believe that He was inspired in the sense that the great moral teachers are inspired--n.o.body has any difficulty about that. But do you believe that Christ was G.o.d's very Son, with a divinely appointed and definite mission, dying on the cross and raised from the dead--yes or no?"

Again not a single answer with an unequivocal, earnest "Yes." But again explanations were offered and in at least half the instances the sum of most of the answers was that Christ was the most perfect man that the world had seen and humanity's greatest moral teacher.

"Third, Do you believe that when you die you will live again as a conscious intelligence, knowing who you are and who other people are?"

Again, not one answer was unconditionally affirmative. "Of course they were not sure as a matter of knowledge." "Of course that could not be _known_ positively." "On the whole, they were inclined to think so, but there were very stubborn, objections," and so forth and so on.

The men to whom these questions were put were particularly high-grade ministers. One of them had already won a distinguished reputation in New York and the New England states for his eloquence and piety. Every one of them had had unusual successes with fashionable congregations.

But every one of them had noted an absence of real influence upon the _hearts_ of their hearers and all thought that this same condition is spreading throughout the modern pulpit.

Yet not one of them suspected that the profound cause of what they called "the decay of faith" was, not in the world of men and women, but in themselves. How could such priests of ice warm the souls of men? How could such apostles of interrogation convert a world?

These were not examples, however; they were exceptions. Most preachers believe that they actually know the truths they teach. By and large, the twentieth century Christian ministry is sound and sure. The missionary fire still burns in consecrated b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

And that is a lucky thing for the Christian world. We Westerners--we of America and Europe--would go all to pieces otherwise. You see we Occidentals have not eons of fatalistic paganism to fall back on as have the sons of the East. They endure without our religion. But we--what would happen to us if Christianity did not unite, purify, and exalt us.

From the view-point of the layman then, yes and even far more from your own view-point, be sure of your faith, preparer for the pulpit.

Faith is only another word for power.

We see it in the small things of life. Note the influence on his fellow citizens of a man who a.s.serts something positively and heartily believes what he a.s.serts, even though that thing be untrue and unwise.

We see it in the great things of history. Witness the inferior mentality but the burning ardor of a Peter the Hermit, moving all Europe to the most extraordinary war the world has seen. Consider Napoleon crossing the Alps--an achievement all men said was impossible. Impossible! That word is found only in the dictionary of superst.i.tion.

But your faith, young man, you who are about to go into the Pulpit, does not deal with little things. It is not interested even in the large affairs of statesmanship, as such. Yet it embraces all matters.

It involves concerns more important than all history.

Limitless eternity is its field. Everlasting life is its subject. The Ancient of Days is its awful familiar. It has to do with the righteous conduct of individual men and women here on earth and of their eternal felicity in the world to come. The Ineffable One whose crucifixion has made the cross a symbol of all good and the emblem of our highest hope is its divine and inspiring author.

How n.o.ble the att.i.tude of that intellect which is uplifted by a belief so glorious. No wonder that he who possesses this faith works miracles in human character more astounding than the dazzling wonders which science wrings from reluctant matter. No, not he who _possesses_ this faith, but him whom this _faith_ POSSESSES. The faith is the reality--you are but the instrument through which that faith works out the winning of the world. Look to your faith then, you who seek to save the souls of men.

For now as ever mankind awaits the magic voice of him whose faith in G.o.d the Father, in Christ His son and in the life eternal is strong as knowledge itself. Think of John Wesley, think of Ignatius Loyola, think of the inspired young man who this very year has lifted all Wales to spiritual heights as elevated as those to which Savonarola led beautiful and dissolute Florence, and the fire of whose revival promises to spread over the United Kingdom, purifying all it touches.

What said they of the Master? "For He spake as one having authority and the common people heard Him gladly." It was true of Him, too. And it has been true of each of those princes of faith who, during two thousand years, have followed the directions of their thorn-crowned Lord.

He declared to his disciples: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

If you have not an undoubting belief, you may carve out your sentences as curiously as you will; deliver them with the voice of music, and yet be nothing but an entertainer. Speaking as one of the "men of the street," as one of the millions, I think that the best thing for you to attend to is this question of faith.

I have no respect for a lawyer who does not know certain fundamental definitions by heart; and I have less respect for the preacher who cannot repeat the eleventh chapter of Hebrews offhand.

_Get your faith into your blood_; the brain is the place for your reasonings and argumentations.

You say that you are a soldier of heaven, battling with the world--meaning that you represent righteousness as opposed to evil.

That is your att.i.tude--your conception of your mission. Very well, the secret of your strength has never been so well stated as in the words of the Apostle, "_This_ is the victory that _overcometh the world_, even our _faith_."

Four of the most extraordinary doers of G.o.d's work in the world were Luther, Loyola, Wesley, and Savonarola. Each of this company of practical and militant Christianity has life instruction for you. But in the art of preaching, as such, Savonarola has more than either of the others, although Wesley is nearly his equal, and, as an organizer, vastly his superior. He perfectly ill.u.s.trates the miraculous power of conviction in mere oratory.

I would advise every young man who intends to enter the pulpit to read carefully the best life of this wonderful preacher, reformer, and statesman. And supplement your study of him and his methods by reading George Eliot's historical novel, "Romola."

The great Dominican was a Lombard, of harsh accent and strange face, come to live in the most cultured city in the world. Florence was then in the full flowering of literature and art; and in her overripe perfections the poison was distilling of greed and cruelty and lubricity and all loathsomeness.

Over this capital of learning, genius, and sin ruled "The Magnificent"

Medici, sitting with easy power on his splendid throne and wielding his scepter with the accurate skill of a perfect craft and the strong decision of a fearless heart.

But you know the story. It was not an inviting field for a preacher who burned to utter the Word and at the same time hoped to enjoy the smiles and favors of the great. It was not an encouraging prospect for any one who wanted to restore the reign of righteousness, even though he were willing to pay the price of martyrdom.

But Savonarola accomplished all this and more; for he crowned the renaissance of letters and art with the renaissance of Christian morals and religion whose pure and beautiful influence reaches even unto our day.

And he did it by faith more than by all other things put together--a faith so rapt that, to our less pa.s.sionate natures, it seems to have been the very insanity of fanaticism. But it did the work; and that is the thing after all.

His sermons do not seem to be more remarkable when you read them than those of many another pulpiteer, although they are full of thought. We are told, however, that his voice had in it a terrible earnestness, and his manner was so impa.s.sioned that he sometimes seemed to forget himself.

But all agree that the magic with which he wrought his wonders from the pulpit was the feeling that everybody had that Fra Girolamo _believed what he said_, _knew_ what he said, _meant_ what he said.

The immediate effect was astonishing--(the after effect still thrills the world). Mrs. Oliphant quotes Burlamacchi's description of Savonarola's influence over the people thus: "The people got up in the middle of the night to get places for the sermon. They came to the door of the cathedral waiting outside until it should be opened, making no account of the inconvenience, neither of the cold nor the wind nor the standing in winter with their feet on the marble."

I emphasize the point that this effect was not exclusively oratorical, nor merely magnetic. Chiefly it was what the world has always seen and always will see when it beholds a strong man in deadly earnest for a righteous cause.

We know that this is so because "The Magnificent" induced the most cultivated pulpiteer in all Italy to preach sermons in Florence so as to divert attention from Savonarola; and this master of the pulpit, whom Lorenzo won to his purpose, was better liked and more greatly admired by the people of Florence than any other orator.

His name was Fra Mariano, and it was admitted that he was a far better speaker than Savonarola. Yet he failed utterly, unaccountably. He had better elocution, a richer voice, more "magnetism," more attractive qualities every way than Savonarola, and as much learning; _but he did not have as much faith_.

I am dwelling upon this because I am quite sure that the people are more interested in acquiring faith than they are in all your oratoricals; and because, too, I am quite sure that it is the only certain method of your effectiveness.

Faith is infectious. James Whitcomb Riley, whose sweetness of character and upliftedness of soul equal his genius, gave me the best recipe for faith in G.o.d, Christ, and Immortality I have ever heard:

"Just believe," said he; "don't argue about it; don't question it; simply say, 'I believe.' Next day you will find yourself believing a little less feebly, and finally your faith will be absolute, certain, and established."

And why not--you of the schools who split hairs and dispute and come to nothing in the end, and whose knowledge, after all, as Savonarola so well said, comes to nothing--why not? For if you cannot _prove_ G.o.d and Christ and Immortality, it is very sure you cannot _disprove_ them; and it is safe--yes, and splendid--to believe in these three marvelous realities; or conceptions, if you like that word better.

The doctrine of _n.o.blesse oblige_ was one of the most beautiful of human conventions. It was based upon the proposition that a man being n.o.ble and the son of a n.o.bleman could not do a mean thing--it was not good form.

But if a man gets it into his consciousness that he is the child, not of a n.o.bleman, not of an earthly ruler, not of a great statesman, warrior, scientist, or financier, _but of the living G.o.d_ who presides over the universe, how large, how generous, how exalted, and how fine his att.i.tude toward life and all his conduct needs must be.

Savonarola was not alone in the vast crowds he drew by the simple method he followed. He was not original in that method either. Do we not read that when "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and _preached Christ_ unto them, the people ... _gave heed_ unto those things which Philip spake."

Of course they gave heed, just as they did to Savonarola. Recall the expression of the old journalist at the beginning of this paper. He would never have been bored by Philip or by the Lombard priest.

Paul got the attention even of the _blase_ Athenians, who would not listen to anybody or anything very long, "because he preached unto them of Jesus and the resurrection."

And you will remember the Master's experience at Capernaum: "And straightway many were gathered together, _insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door_: and he PREACHED THE WORD unto them."

That reads a good deal like the description of Savonarola's congregations, or of Wesley's, or of the young revivalist in Wales.

No difficulty about _their_ audiences--or congregations, if you insist on being technical.

Of course, everybody understands that preaching and faith and all that is not everything that the young minister must do for his fellow man.