With God in the World Part 3

Chapter VII

_Friendship in G.o.d_

Friendship is not only _with_ G.o.d but also _in_ G.o.d. Fellowship with G.o.d has for its corollary fellowship with man in G.o.d. And the latter in the greatness of its dignity and privilege is second only to the former. The religion of Christ does not allow of one without the other. The Church, which is the divinely ordered means by which man is admitted into and sustained in his fellowship with G.o.d, is also the ideal society of men.

G.o.d never considers men apart from, but always as a part of, a great social order--a social order that is not a concourse of independent units, but a body instinct with life, a society which is not an organization but an organism. The description of our relationship to one another is couched in the same terms that tell of our relationship to Christ--"members one of another," "members of Christ."

It is G.o.d's will that the Church should be coterminous with society, and that the unity of life thus produced should make the "communion of saints" a reality on earth and not a mere theory. Past years have seen much earnest straining to gain a truer conception of G.o.d, that fellowship with and love for Him might be according to His will. All this theological effort will be lost, unless it is followed up by a no less strenuous effort to make the brotherhood of man a fact. The Master gave a new commandment of love, a commandment new not in essence but rather in intensity and comprehension. After the injunction to love G.o.d comes the equally unequivocal injunction to love man--"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." That is to say, personality whether in ourselves or in others is to receive the highest reverence and consideration, and that without any partiality. Humanity being full of diversity, this commandment requires a most thorough and intelligent study of society and its elements. Heresies concerning G.o.d have been and are destructive of unity; but heresies concerning man are productive of almost equal mischief. If the first part of the commandment of love calls us to a study of theology, the second demands a study of sociology--an old science under a new name. It is worth while noting that the Apostle who earned the name of "the Divine," or as we would say "the Theologian," by reason of his familiar acquaintance with the deep things of G.o.d, was the same who felt that the appeal most worth urging with the scant breath of extreme old age was, that men should love one another; and he repeats this simple phrase until the world wonders--"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth."

But it must never be forgotten that human fellowship and friendship must under the best of conditions be sectional and shallow, and under the worst, disastrous, unless it be "in Christ," that is, in G.o.d. The true ideal of human fellowship is realized only thus. And it is such a unity as would be the outcome of fellowship in Christ, for which the Master prayed at the last. Ecclesiastical unity does not necessarily produce unity of life, though the latter must include the former in some true sense. Christian unity has a twofold basis, the love of G.o.d and the love of man. This differentiation in the commandment of love, is of Christ's own making, and cannot be ignored by His followers.

In considering the ideal human fellowship it is vital to remember that the spiritual, here as elsewhere, is built upon the natural, the spiritual entering into, interpreting and developing the natural. And when the word "natural" is used, that which is purely accidental and artificial in life is not meant, but that which is fundamental and belongs to the very const.i.tution of humanity. For instance, trade relations and conventional inst.i.tutions of whatever kind are evanescent.

To use them for a foundation is to build on sand. An eternal fabric cannot gain coherence from a creation of man's whim or genius. Indeed the inst.i.tutions of commerce as well as all official intercourse, can be constructed with effectiveness, not to say justice, only when built upon the recognition of the dignity of humanity and the sacredness of personality, with equality of consideration for each. And herein lies the solution of the whole social problem in all its ramifications.

The fundamental relationship of life is such as springs out of that common humanity, which, in the last a.n.a.lysis, is a man's only absolute possession, be he prince or pauper, wise or ignorant. And this humanity of ours is a precious possession, not always perhaps for what it has actually become, but for what it is in process of becoming, or, it may be, only because of those latent possibilities which the Incarnation has declared to be contained in that which is born of woman. Once armed with this thought, Kant's valuable negative advice never to treat humanity as a thing[14] but always as a person, never as a means merely but always as an end, is in order.

It is one of the evils springing out of an intercourse that is so largely official, that on all sides men are valued and thought of, only or chiefly on the side of economic efficiency. That is to say, they are treated with only that amount of consideration which is due a machine. A simple ill.u.s.tration will suffice. The mistress of a household on coming down stairs one morning was greeted by her maid, who was dusting in the hall, with a "Good morning," and, "Do you know, Mrs. Z----, that I have been with you five years to-day?" "Have you?" was the response, "You have left some dust on that chair." The mistress boasted doubtless that she had "reminded her servant of her place." No further comment is needed. The maid thought herself to be a person, but was reminded that she was a thing.

Again, if the baker is thought of as a mere convenience for baking bread, all demands he may make beyond those which will enable him to produce good bread, will be fiercely contested. The conditions under which the bread is baked are a paltry incident, provided they do not in any way discommode the consumer, and the claim made by the journeyman baker for opportunity and means to realize the G.o.d-given ambitions of his manhood, ambitions which perchance have nothing to do with baking bread, is scouted in much the same way that a request to decorate a machine with gold tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs would be scouted. Of course it is as wrong to ignore the former's claim, as it would be right to ignore the demand for expensive and useless embellishments for a piece of machinery; for one is a person and the other is a thing.

It is because men have been thought of as things, that there are such plague-spots on the social body as sweatshops. All movements that compel the attention of the consumer to a recognition of his relation to the producer as a person, are worthy of the most careful study and the highest commendation. Preferential dealing, that is to say, dealing preferably with such merchants as we know to have humane regard for those who produce and handle the goods offered for sale, is merely a pa.s.sing phase of the attempt to recognize as persons those who, though far removed from us, yet touch our lives and minister to our necessities; and the movement deserves support and encouragement because of the principle which actuates it. When life was less complex than at present, and the _entrepreneur_ and middleman did not exist to obscure the relationship between consumer and producer, it was easier to realize the responsibility of the one toward the other than it is now. However, it is of elementary necessity that men should learn that the accident which hides one section of society from the easy observation of another, does not lessen one whit the mutual responsibility which each bears towards the other. Nor does the difficulty of gathering information afford an excuse. In these days of pertinacious investigation and organized experience, there is no set of conditions so complex as to baffle ultimately the determined investigator of social phenomena, or to escape satisfactory adjustment.

Once again, the cry of the workman for a living wage, is but an indication that the labourer is coming to a realization of the dignity and fullness of manhood, and is inviting others to share in this discovery of himself. Who can turn a deaf ear to his appeal, excepting those who deny a man's right to realize himself? The doctrine of the average wage, that is, the wage which is determined by a "brazen law" of one kind or another, whether that to which the name of Ricardo is attached or some other, equally unmanageable, is fast giving place to that of the living wage. The living wage is the evolution of the average wage; the former phrase declares that men are requiring official dealings to be more humane than of yore, as well as that the law of wages is not an almighty tyrant to which society must bow, but a law which is more or less obedient to the dictates of man's will. There are those among political economists who now maintain it to be more reasonable to claim, that prices must conform to wages, than wages to prices. It is worth while adding in this connection that the living wage is bound to be progressive, as the duty of treating men as persons and not as things, comes to be more firmly imbedded in the public conscience. Some persons are ready to admit the justice of the theory of Christian democracy, though unwilling to accept many of its logical conclusions. The promulgation of the principle of democracy in its mildest form, creates new desires or awakens dormant ones in the undermost men, and of course provision must be made for satisfying these, else the doctrine which gave the desires birth is hideously cruel. A living wage some years since, had the phrase obtained in the language, would have signified for the most part a wage sufficient to sustain animal life. That is, the wage-earning man would have been recognized as an animal but not a person. Or perhaps it would have meant a wage capable of creating economic efficiency, in which case it would have indicated that the wage-earner was viewed as a thing. Now the idea underlying a living wage is a wage sufficient for the sustenance of human life, of life in which there is room for freedom of choice, and where the whole man is taken into consideration.

It is to the credit of society, that so much earnestness is being expended to-day in the effort to humanize the various official relationships of life. But it is a cause for shame, on the other hand, that among Christian men there should have been so deplorable a falling away from elementary Christian principle, as to make this effort necessary. Let it suffice for the present to insist that until men more generally recognize their fellows, whatever be their position in life, to be persons and not things, wide fellowship at any rate is an utter impossibility. And it is from this point that all attempts to solve social problems must take their beginning. It might prove a useful experiment if occasionally, for a short period, we were to test our love for others by loving ourselves as we love them, treating ourselves as we treat them. If it so happened that we were living reasonably near to the Golden Rule, our conduct would not have to be materially, if at all, changed to do this; but if we happened, on the other hand, to be treating our neighbour as a thing when the experiment took place, there is no doubt that we should immediately become so unhappy and full of pain, as to be incapable of prolonging the experience.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] _That is called a thing to which no event can be imputed as an action. Hence every object devoid of freedom is regarded as a thing.--Kant, Metaphysic of Ethics._

Chapter VIII

_Friendship in G.o.d (continued)_

The official temper of mind is by no means the only bar to wide fellowship. Exclusiveness and temperamental dislike are responsible for a great many sins against brotherly love, and must be fought down by every true follower of our Lord. When men are left to themselves, they gravitate into mutually exclusive groups composed of congenial cla.s.ses or of congenial types. But Christianity steps in and breaks up these little sets, in order to blend them into one varied and splendid whole.

The vision which S. John had revealed to him, was humanity in all its variety--"out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues"--but at perfect unity with itself, a complete and harmonious family.

-- 1. Probably there is no temper of mind more difficult to master than that of exclusiveness. In the evolution of society cla.s.s differentiations have come into being, differentiations which, at the time of their appearance, may have been a necessary phase of progress, but which, in the development of Christian thought, should pa.s.s away. It would not be right or wise to contend for the immediate obliteration of all artificial distinctions in life, for conventionalities are often social safeguards and have their place in civilization. But surely the earnest disciple of Jesus must array all the forces at his command against the continuance of customs that have been separated from their usefulness, and are perpetuated only to be stumbling blocks to human fellowship.

The worth of conventionalism has for its supreme test the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. When He quieted the strife of the disciples, who were filled with the ign.o.ble l.u.s.t of domination, He inaugurated a new social order. "He that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve." The old order made kings the recipients of much service, the new calls them to give much service; the old order led men to strive for honour, the new inspires them to avoid honour unless bound up with an enlarged opportunity to serve; the old order prized whatever privileges set men above and apart from their fellows, the new seeks everything that will bring them nearer to their fellows. So merit and reward, privilege and responsibility, greatness and service must never be separated. Where they have been separated in the past, as well as where they are in the present, the result is exclusiveness. Men cling to prerogatives which in common justice they have no real claim upon, beyond the flimsy plea of hereditary right and the permission of society. Out of this have grown those groups of persons who, though possessing nothing but a very common humanity indeed, would, from a sense of superiority derived from a name, or from the false prestige given by wealth and social position, withhold their fellowship from all but a select few. If men could but realize the cramping influence on character of exclusiveness, how quickly would they hasten to divest themselves of every trace of the vice of sn.o.bbishness!

Dives lived in exclusive society after death because he did so before death. He was no farther from Lazarus in the other world than he was in this; the gulf created here was "fixed" there, that is all. And among the "losses of the saved" will be lack of capacity for wide fellowship.

The dignity of humanity is so great that nothing can add to its greatness, excepting what enn.o.bles human nature itself. Wealth, social position, mere intellectual attainment, no more deserve deference or homage, than do the tatters of a pauper or the ignorance of a dolt. No man insults human nature or demeans his personality so much as he who bows down to these accidents, excepting only the man who receives homage on the ground not of what he is but of what he has. We may neither pay homage to, nor receive it for, any of those things which belong merely to time and of which death will strip us bare; though piety, spiritual wisdom, and all forms of moral power, always and everywhere, demand homage and reverence.

The true basis on which Christian fellowship is begun and maintained, is our common humanity--that which is essential and not that which is accidental. Our Lord drew men to Himself and had human fellowship with them, by virtue of the completeness and attractiveness of His splendid manhood. He had none of the accidents of life to use, and He was not weak without them. He was the most refined among men, and yet He found companionship among the peasant folk. Social differentiations did not enter into our Lord's reckoning. He ignored them, reaching through them and past them. It is touching to remember that one of the earliest companionships in Paradise of the human soul of Jesus, was the resumption of almost His last intercourse on earth. As the soul of the penitent outlaw and robber, "pale from the pa.s.sion of death," went into the society of Paradise, it was received and welcomed by the Man, Christ Jesus.

It is a myth that the wise and cultured must confine their fellowship to the wise and cultured.[15] By means of literature men and women of high privilege, have joined hands with those whose lives were bare of everything but character--with Adam Bede and with Uncle Tom. If this is possible with the creations of fiction, it is capable of being widely true in actual life. The richest human nature is often found in the most obscure places, as the experience of every social worker from Edward Denison to the resident in the newest "settlement," will testify. True refinement is not the result of paltry conventionalism, the flimsy creation of an artificial society; true refinement is the inalienable possession of that character in which the Spirit of G.o.d rules, in which the material is made the handmaid of the spiritual. At first men went out into the highways of the city, armed with their privileges, thinking that they had everything to give. But they soon learned that this spirit could only end in condescension, which is fatal to fellowship, for fellowship means give and take, and that the poor and unprivileged had much to give. Unless representatives from the different cla.s.ses of society are contributing their special gifts to our lives, life is poor indeed. Wealth of fellowship consists not in numbers, but in variety.

When men reach out for wider fellowship, they must not forget that no man ever yet won his fellows through his own interests. He must, by the subtle power of sympathy, dive beneath the surface of other lives and court their interests. Even G.o.d failed to win men, until He made man's concerns wholly His own by becoming Man. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might become rich."

-- 2. Temperamental dislike is another obstacle to Christian fellowship to be conquered. It is something found wherever human nature is. And men commonly excuse quarrelsomeness, rudeness and other unchristian conduct on this score, though the excuse is by no means valid. Probably all of us are afflicted with a natural antipathy to certain kinds of temperament, but at least we need not humour it. It was part of G.o.d's design, that human society should be enriched by variety of disposition.

That is a poor garden which contains but one kind of flower, beautiful as its blossom may be. True beauty consists in variety; and monotony is the height of ugliness. It is a reason for thankfulness that human nature is so wonderfully diversified that no two human beings are exactly alike, and that there is a whole gamut of temperamental difference in the race.

Now it is a part of the work of Christianity, to reconcile dispositions that are naturally antipathetic and jarring. And the process by which this is brought to pa.s.s, is probably one of the most beneficial disciplines to which men are subjected. The Church is a great mixing bowl, in which all this vast variety is brought into close touch and blended together into a harmonious whole. "The very purpose of the one Church for all the men of faith in Jesus is that the necessity for belonging to one body--a necessity grounded on divine appointment--shall force together into a unity men of all sorts and different kinds; and the forces of the new life which they share in common are to overcome their natural repugnance and antipathies, and to make the forbearance and love and mutual helpfulness which corporate life requires, if not easy, at least possible for them."[16]

That society is at once the most beautiful and the most powerful which is composed of the largest variety of temperaments, exercising their various faculties in unity and mutual helpfulness. Some persons imagine that the most desirable parochial life is where all the parishioners are of one stripe, instead of that in which there is a finely disciplined diversity. A parish of dead uniformity would be comfortable but not educative, quiet but colourless and insipid.

Unquestionably certain natures are so const.i.tuted as to irritate us every time we come near them. And unless we are very carefully on our guard we will not treat such persons justly or courteously, much less will we be ready to render them delicate service. Quite unconsciously we exhibit our temper of mind. There may be the determination not to allow our feelings to rise to the surface, but nevertheless before we know it we have done the mischief; and somehow the bitterness we entertain has been let loose, not by a word or a look, perhaps, but by some subtle telepathic or psychic influence which opens the secret of our soul to our companion. There is nothing more infectious than a temper of mind. It seems to leap out of one soul and impart itself to another without heeding the ordinary laws of transmission. Anger, l.u.s.t, suspicion, dislike, jealousy smirch not only the souls in which they lie restrained though not conquered, but others that come within the radius of their wide-reaching influence.

Fortunately this power of infection is not confined to evil pa.s.sions, but belongs even in a larger degree to those which are good. And herein lies the remedy for temperamental dislike. If we stop short at choking it down, we can never make a friend of one whose disposition is naturally repugnant to us. Sooner or later our dislike will crop out and a gulf be made. If, on the other hand, the dislike is displaced by generous, full love--love that is a force and not a mere emotion--fellowship, and eventually friendship, will become possible.

There may be grounds often for our antipathies. Some people have the misfortune to be graceless, awkward and repellant; others are unattractive if not positively disagreeable to every one--bad-tempered, perhaps, or mischief-makers. To educate these in Christian fellowship is probably as large a public service as could be readily rendered. "It is no great matter," says Jeremy Taylor,[17] "to live lovingly with good-natured, with humble and meek persons; but he that can do so with the froward, with the wilful, and the ignorant, with the peevish and perverse, he only hath true charity."

-- 3. A third bar to Christian fellowship is what, for want of a better phrase, may be termed a weakness for interesting people. That is to say, the humanity that is within easy reach seems commonplace and uninteresting, so that men of our intimate acquaintance often appear to be hardly worth while labouring for. Hence it is a common habit to reserve our best thought, our best manners and our best service for strangers, making little positive effort to love and serve those with whom we are thrown into daily contact. Nowhere is human perversity more glaring than in the sad truth lurking behind the proverb: "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and house." The value of those who stand nearest to us is lowered by means of their very nearness. On the other hand the persons who are outside our immediate circle, however comprehensive it may be, seem to be more interesting than the very average folk who are our ordinary companions. We long for companionship with men of this finer type.

Of course this is all a delusion. Human nature is full of interest wherever we find it, that which is nearest as well as that which is farthest removed. The men we would like to know and serve, are no more worthy of attention than the men who stand shoulder to shoulder with us.

But those who have the largest claim upon our attention and service, are our immediate friends and neighbours. Indeed the only way to arm ourselves against disappointment, as the boundaries of our fellowship are enlarged, is so to attach ourselves to the people near at hand as to learn the true dignity of all human nature and the almost unfathomable depths of every personality. Otherwise an acquisition in acquaintanceship will, after the first glow of novelty has worn off, only reveal one more uninteresting person.

-- 4. There is one other duty that ought to be at least touched upon in this connection, though it has been referred to in a former chapter--the duty of praying for others. There is no more delicate service in the whole round of human action than that of intercessory prayer. It is so hidden as to have a special beauty on that account. While men are all unconscious that we are thinking of them, we fold our arms about them and bring them up before G.o.d for blessing and guidance. Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbour on our knees. The common objection, "What good can it do? Will not G.o.d bless men just as much without our prayers as with them?" seems to have a certain amount of weight. But a very little reflection shows that it does not amount to much. Even though intercessory prayer did nothing more than put us who pray in a desirable frame of mind toward those for whom we pray, it would be an exercise of great value. However, as a matter of fact, it accomplishes much more than this. Besides making our feeling of fellowship stronger, it really brings something to those for whom we offer our pet.i.tions. Human life is as closely bound up on the spiritual as on any other side of our being. It is quite certain that if we withhold the duties of service in other ways G.o.d does not supply our lack, so far as we can see, but human life suffers through our neglect.

If all else in our experience is governed by law, why should we believe that the spiritual part of life stands alone and is not affected by spiritual service? There is from a.n.a.logy every reason to suppose, that those who are not prayed for suffer spiritual loss on that account.

But the immediate point to be made is that the height of Christian friendship cannot be reached without intercession. It has been pointed out by a spiritual teacher[18] that it makes a great difference in our feelings towards others if their needs and their joys are on our lips in prayer; as also it makes a vast difference in their feelings towards us if they know that we are in the habit of praying for them. There is no chasm in society that cannot be firmly and permanently bridged by intercession; there is no feud or dislike that cannot be healed by the same exercise of love.

Here, then, as in all else, if we are to come anywhere near the ideal we must lift our eyes to G.o.d. Friendship in G.o.d is possible only for those who bring society before G.o.d in prayer.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] _Cf. Browning's verses in_ Prince Hohenstiel-Schw.a.n.gau, _where the result of false culture, or the abuse of culture, is referred to_:--

_Man is made in sympathy with man At outset of existence, so to speak; But in dissociation, more and more, Man from his fellow, as their lives advance In culture; still humanity, that's born A ma.s.s, keeps flying off, fining away Ever into a mult.i.tude of points, And ends in isolation, each from each._

[16] _Gore on Ephesians, p. 189._

[17] _Works: Vol. vii. 624._

[18] _Canon Gore._

Chapter IX

_The Church in Prayer_