Part 18 (1/2)

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 fas.h.i.+onable 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 statesmans.h.i.+p, 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.