The World As The Subject of Redemption

The World As The Subject of Redemption
THE WORLD AS THE SUBJECT OF REDEMPTION.
BY ARTHUR R. HOLTON.

Christianity has primarily to do with individuals, but it does not wholly overlook institutions of men for these insti­tutions are made up of individuals. It is a mistake for the Christian element of the world to overlook its wider applica­tion. For who can say just where in the world Christianity may have influence and just where it may not.

It is the purpose of this paper to show that the true ideal for Christianity is that it shall not only influence the individual but that its influence shall spread into wider and wider spheres until the whole life of mankind shall come to be influenced by it. By this view it is not the purpose of Christ to save individuals out of the world, but to save the world itself. The history of Christianity shows that at times there has been a tendency to asceticism but the ascetic has never been for long the ideal Christian. This tendency brought to completion is the extreme of individualism. Today we look with much regret upon the age of monks and cloisters.

And, too, when at times men have turned away from asceticism to broader conceptions of their duty they have not at all chosen the higher good. This is well illustrated by the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church of our time. There is no hope for a world redemption in this view, they only hold out the hope that the world outside the Church will finally fall away into decay and leave the Church in undisputed possession of the field. The Church is pictured as a frail woman being persecuted by the world, to be finally redeemed by God interposing in her behalf and destroying her wicked enemies. Many Protestants have the same con­ception. Is this the true ideal for Christianity? Is the Church a weakling being persecuted? It was not the attitude of the apostolic Church, though it was persecuted bitterly. Paul never for one moment doubted but that his Gospel was able to go on conquering during the centuries as it was conquer­ing in his day. In Paul's day it spread from the individual outward. We are to hold the hope of this growing influence as completing itself, the final completion to be when every individual in all his human relationship shall be fully influ­enced by the spirit of Christ. This may be an ideal. But an ideal is the most practical thing in the world. Jesus with an ideal has projected him­self across twenty centuries. And we are still looking at the ideal with ever increasing interest as the centuries go by. Can we afford to limit our work to the mere saving of the individual and forget the wider sphere of human relation­ships and leave them outside the sphere of our influence?

If we have ever held any lower ideal for the Church I think it has grown out of a mistaken conception of the Church. This conception is that the Church is identified with public worship, and outside of public worship and acts of benevolence the Church has no sphere of activity. It is easy to see how it is possible for individualism to go to extremes when the sphere of public worship is the only sphere for religious activity. The worshiper sings and prays and contemplates going to another world, but forgets the one in which he lives. When this occurs on a wide scale the great tide of humanity with its many unsolved problems goes by the Church and the Church wonders why its influence is not any stronger and why it is that the world is so worthless and cruel. The truth of the matter is that public worship is but one of the activities of God's Church. And since it is confined to one day in the week it is a very small part of man's activity. The other six days are spent in various human relationships. Shall these relationships be Christian? This question can be answered only in the affirmative. Spirit must interpenetrate and vivify material; God is not separate but is a spirit pervading the universe; the human soul is not separate from the body but is transforming the body; re­demption does not make men separate by removing the redeemed into a different sphere of existence, but draws them with all their surroundings into holy and loving rela­tions; the Church is not a separate body for public worship only but is seeking always, and destined, finally, to embrace the whole race of mankind. To be specific, what are some of these relationships out­side of public worship? The Family Life. Here it is evi­dent that the spirit of Christ has a great field in which to work. When we contemplate the divorce problem in the world we are appalled that this sphere of life is as much neglected as it is. But steps are being taken to sweeten and purify family life and from whatever source these steps come they are nevertheless Christian and are not to be de­cried but commended in our assemblies for public worship. Some have the idea that nothing good can come from any source but the source of public worship. Is it not better and more Christ-like for the pulpit to encourage every Chris­tianizing influence from whatever source it comes? Is it Christ-like to deride a move just because it does not orig­inate with us? My point is that our pulpits are to inspire just such moves and not to block their progress. To the everlasting shame of the pulpit it has stood in the way of many reforms.

Turning next to the sphere of Knowledge. Has Chris­tianity anything to fear from any legitimate field of human knowledge? If it has, its spirit has been misrepresented in New Testament Scriptures. There has been an unholy war between sciences and Christianity. Representatives of both are to blame for this situation. It is our business to see that in our day the departments of knowledge are co-ordinated. True science is as much an inspirer in its place as any other branch of knowledge. In fact, all the facts of nature and all knowledge should be at the disposal of Christianity. The pulpit then is not to denounce as unchristian all knowledge that is not specifically termed religious as over against sec­ular, for there is no such thing as secular Knowledge and religious Knowledge for all Knowledge is valuable for religion. Christianity is a circle, small, perhaps, but is to widen its circumference until it becomes equal to all the life of mankind. In reference to the Life of Art, what is needed is that it should be popular not that it should be debased to de­praved taste, but that it should raise the popular taste by the presentation of its ideals in an intelligible form. All forms of art are but the modes of the individual expressing an ideal. Let this ideal be imparted to others, in music, in drama, in eloquence, in all forms of Art, thus it is that the Artist in any line can truly be a benefit to his fellow-men. And this is Christian. The pulpit should encourage the purest and truest expression of life's purest joys, but no others.

Passing on to the Life of Society, the great danger we face here is its exclusiveness. We need a real Christian democracy. The clannishness and class hatred and social distinctions, less in America than elsewhere perhaps, are foreign to the spirit of Jesus. Society should more and more take on a missionary character, the best giving its best to those not so fortunate. This spirit is abroad since the War as never before and great strides have been taken in the right way to rid society of many of its evils. It is our privilege to see that many more evils are done away with and this, too, is Christian. The expansion of Trade in the present century has opened up a great new field for Christianity. The expansion of trade is always a great avenue for the dissemination of ideals. Many times did Greece and Rome influence the world through their enormous volume of business. This sphere of life comes close to all of us for we are all engaged in making a living. If we can succeed in inspiring trade with Christian ideals, the influence of Christ here will be felt around the world.

We are all members of the nation. What kind of nation shall we have? Let it be hoped that the nation will more and more take into consideration its duty of safeguarding the best interests of the people. In our day we have seen in our country human slavery abolished. The expulsion of the saloon and many other reforms have ennobled all life. Let the pulpit encourage all such moves.

What then is the place of public worship? Let it stand with outstretched arms to receive the needy of all the earth and within its folds be willing to protect and nurture the good of all the world. Let it stand as the one quiet spot where the toiling mass of humanity can be inspired to higher and nobler life. Let it stand for the Christ of Gallilee and for all that he ever taught. Let it stand as a friend and ally of any man or any set of men who are making genuine sacrifice for the good of their fellows. This ideal may be a long way in the future, but whether it be a thousand years or more, we cannot afford to have any lower ideal. The world is wicked, yes, very wicked. The way may seem dark indeed, Hut did you ever stop to think that in our day there is not a wrong but it is being loudly cried out against. It was not always so. In our day there is growing up a brotherhood of man. National life is broadening into international life. We have every hope to be confident that these relationships of broader life will be founded on the principles of Jesus. Let us pray that the scourge of war will never again darken our land, but that the combined forces of the races of mankind may move in peace toward that far off divine event when the Kingdom will be delivered back to Cod, and that in the meantime that all the joy and progress of undisturbed peace may be the heritage of all mankind.