Part 25 (1/2)
No, my friends, we may not so despair, we cannot if we would. That old prophecy, however long delayed, still finds an involuntary echo in our souls. And now, in this hope of a true and brotherly society, its fulfilment seems at hand. Say it is enthusiasm, say it is a mistake, say it is irreligion, if you will, and still I reply that the time is not distant. It is in the combined order, where men are held together by inward laws only, and not by outward constraint and outward necessities, that the kingdom of G.o.d is to come down and possess the earth.
It is in a.s.sociation, then, that the promise of Christianity is to be fulfilled--fulfilled by making the incarnation of the great law of love an actual and universal fact. Hitherto Christianity has been in the world a spirit pining and dying for want of a body. She has wandered up and down on the earth, possessing here and there an individual, but never obtaining her birthright, which is the whole of humanity, never able to exercise her prerogative, which is to bathe the earth in the aroma of harmony and peace. The forms of selfish and egoistical society, the forms of society here in Boston, and throughout the civilized world, are not of Christianity, but of the primeval curse, which they perpetuate. Into them Christianity cannot fully enter, any more than light can dwell in the midst of darkness.
The relations which Christianity seeks to establish between man and man, are indicated in these words, ”Love one another.” But how is this possible in a compet.i.tive society, where the interests of all are hostile? How can vital and true love operate between me and my neighbor, when his misfortune is my advantage, and my loss is his gain?
What does it avail that on Sundays the better spirit is feebly awakened; what does it avail that then I aspire and long to love all men, if on the other six days in the week my hand is of necessity set against them all?
Do you tell me that if my love is deep and pure enough, it will modify my whole life, and of itself, without hindrance from circ.u.mstances, appear perfectly in all my actions and relations? This is the old heresy, this is the error of the individualism and egoism which has hindered us so long. Let us meet it fully and fairly.
In all results there are two elements, namely, that which acts and that which is acted upon. The character of the individual never does and never can form his circ.u.mstances, but can only modify them. No man is an artist or a poet by virtue of inward genius alone. No matter how great his gifts, unless he find a congenial atmosphere and favorable conditions, his high office is not fulfilled. Precisely so is it with that sacred energy which we call love. It can act entirely and sincerely only in circ.u.mstances that harmonize and correspond with itself. In order to carry Christianity into my daily life, the forms of my daily life, all my relations to others, my household and my business, must be in harmony with it.
If these forms are contrary to Christianity, the first thing for me, as a Christian, to do, is to change them, to put them off, to be free from them at whatever cost. If I am indeed filled and impelled by that divine injunction, ”Love one another,” I cannot rest, I shall give myself no peace, until it be possible for me to do so, not in my inward spirit only, but in all my outward actions also. But how is this to be done? How are the ultimate forms of my life to be brought into correspondence with its central impulse? Plainly not by any spontaneous and unconscious power, but by intellectual inquiry and voluntary action. _Inspiration can discharge its whole mission only by the aid of science._
Besides, the end of Christianity is not the salvation of individuals, but the transfiguration of humanity; it cannot be accomplished in you and me, but only in the whole race. It promises the kingdom of peace and love, not to a few solitary souls, but to man. He is indeed a servant of Christianity, who has learned its universal purpose and labors therefor; who does not so much seek to be saved himself, as to bring salvation to all the world, who sees that his own private life and development are forever involved in the universal progress. He is ignorant of the true idea of Christianity, who has not understood that it demands not so much that one should be careful about his own spiritual perfection, that he should watch himself, and by private remorse and tears seek a far-off heaven, as by a generous self-forgetfulness and self-devotion, seek to build up the kingdom of peace and love among men, and make heaven a reality here, and not the hope only of a distant future and a different sphere of existence.
It is time, my friends, that this long divorce between the natural and spiritual worlds should be broken off, and that we should know that even now we may breathe the celestial ether, and have our common life transformed and illumined by infinite spiritual glories.
We have said that the end of Christianity is not the salvation of individuals; but do not let it be thought that we overlook the worth of individual character. For heroism and holiness we have an unspeakable reverence. The saints and poets and sages of all time are the choicest gifts of G.o.d. The virtue, the beauty and the devotion that now s.h.i.+ne in the lives of private men and women, still a.s.sure us that all is not and cannot be a failure. The ultimate result of the life of humanity will doubtless be found in symmetrical and harmonious individuals; and in a perfect Christianity we shall look to see an angelic love radiant from every face. But while there is disease and imperfection in any part of the human body, there cannot be perfect health in any other part; just so while there is disease and imperfection in humanity, of which the human body is an image, there cannot be perfect health in any individual. Perfect men and women are possible only in a perfect society.
Finally, the sum of our remarks on the relation of a.s.sociation to Christianity, is briefly this: a.s.sociation fulfils the promise of Christianity; it shows the means whereby peace on earth and goodwill among men are to be realized. It harmonizes the forms and relations of society with the spirit of Christianity; in a word, it makes them forms and relations of brotherly love, and not of selfishness and discord, and thereby renders possible the accomplishment of the final aim of Christianity, which is the salvation and spiritual life of universal humanity.
THE TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS, FROM THE HARBINGER, BY WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING.
A prophecy in the spirit of this age announces that a new era in humanity is opening, and sounds forth more fully than ever before the venerable yet new gospel, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Doubtless, in all generations, the seers and the seekers--who are usually one and the same--have felt that their times were the culminating points of history, the mountain of vision, the border overlooking the promised land. Doubtless, the great of all nations and ages have felt that they were a peculiar people, called to a peculiar work, inspired and led by divine guidance to sublime ends. No age, no people, have wholly wanted such signs of providential commission.
And doubtless, too, the works, bravely attempted from such high promptings, have always in actual results seemed fruitless. Yes!
compared with his vision, the gains of the martyr's labors seem tantalizing--a dropping shower upon the droughty earth. Always the ideal entering the soul of man, like a G.o.d descending to the embrace of a mortal, seems to engender a son but half divine. Yet this disappointment is a delusion of the moment.
Quite opposite are the facts. No man yet upon earth ever boldly aspired, and faithfully obeyed his clear convictions of good without transmitting through his race an all but omnipotent energy. Winds waft, streams scatter, birds of the air carry in their beaks, each seed that drops in ripeness from the tree of life. The failures of man have been from infidelity to his faith. Infinitely grander consequences than the doer could estimate, have followed every executed purpose of heroism and humanity and holy hope. Each age has been right in feeling that its mission was all-important. Each prophet has chanted, as if for very life, his warning and cheering, for G.o.d spoke through him in the language of his land and era.
The Infinite Being, who through generation upon generation, progressively incarnates himself in the human race, and so manifests his glory upon earth, calls this age to its heavenly mission, and speaks through it with an eloquent longing, that cannot be uttered, his welcome and promise. The word whispers through the nations: ”Man made One; a World at Peace; Humanity, the Earth round.” At the nativity of this great hope, of this present Immanuel, the angels of our highest aspirations bend from their cloudy thrones,--
”Harping in loud and solemn choir, With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's newborn heir.”
And the burden of the song that interprets their symphony is this:--
”Justice and Truth again Shall down return to men.
Orb'd in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing, Mercy will sit between, Throned in celestial sheen, With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering, And Heaven, as at some festival, Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.”
The hope of universal unity has been born, cradled in the rude manger of labor; nurtured by charity, ever virgin; wors.h.i.+pped by shepherds, guarding humble, humane thoughts, like flocks in the fold of their hearts; it has sat with the doctors in the temple, unsullied by timidity and prudence, and has astonished them at its profound doctrine of unbounded love; it has grown in favor with G.o.d and man, and answered to its half doubting, half hoping parents of the church and state, ”Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” and now is it driven away into the wilderness of poverty and hard toil, of loneliness and mortification, to be tempted of the devil.
Let us first consider awhile these temptations; then review the forty days' meditation upon the divine mission of this principle of perfect love; and so be ready to preach, ”Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
To the scattered band who, few and weak, are here and there withdrawn from the thoroughfares of life, to commune together and to cooperate in the grand movement of the age, the world comes in with scarce dissembled sneer, and ironically says, ”_If_ a.s.sociation is really this Messiah to the ages, this pledge of universal prosperity, of overflowing wealth, then let it make these barren fields into gardens, these thick growing woods into palaces, these stones into bread.”
And all the while the shrewd, the rosy, sleek and full-fed world, with t.i.tle deeds in pocket and scrip and stock in hand, thinks of its factories on rapid streams; its warehouses of three thousand dollars'
rent; its dividends at seven per cent half yearly; its iron-limbed and tireless steeds, hurrying with the spoils of myriads of acres; its carpeted, curtained, glowing, s.h.i.+ning, pictured, sculptured, perfumed homes. The victorious world, so confident and easy and jocular, so beautiful in its own right, so wrapped about in kingly purple--how strangely is it metamorphosed to the eyes of the child of G.o.d! Its factories change into brothels; its rents to distress warrants; its railroads to mighty fetters, binding industry in an inextricable net of feudalism; from under the showy robes of its success, flutter the unseemly rags of an ever-growing beggary; from garret and cellar of its luxurious habitations, stare out the gaunt forms of haggard want; the lash of the jailer, the gleam of swords, the glitter of bayonets, are its garters and stars of n.o.bility.
If a.s.sociation has been elated by the thought of its miraculous power, or meditated to use it for selfish ends, it deserves the taunt of the yet more selfish world. And it is reason for great rejoicing, that the difficulties of transition from the isolated to the harmonic mode of life are so great. G.o.d thus _sifts_ his people. None are worthy to enter upon this work who are not _dusted_. We need to hunger. We need to feel dependence, in order that we may judge compet.i.tion in contrast.