* ^^ > \ It' ft- m t* '

»''^*

p a? ii 1^. *■ ...

f' J-

«v. f

^>.^i.*'.>

^... >.: JB. !;•■ i;

v^S

»^fc' Jfc' l» Ir*- * :

». ♦

r I

}■ »

4. 1

»^. t

^^><'«v. .

*- *.

k.x- t

3 3433 06819676 9

illiiil

liiiiii ill

i! iiiiil^

liilll

tUitii'liUinsitiiii:

m

i 1111,.,.., iii

			!
i		i i	Ii	!:	*i 1 .1 ;
:	' 1
[	; ,
1	nPiPPPilBP	I--	f	h	f 1

III

^IrPUblishers W^eki 24.Cet.o2

(^ uCocL.ru)

SOCIAL REGENERATION

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

HY THE

Rev. W. N. SLOAN, PH.D.

PHILADELPHIA THE WESTMINSTER PRESS

1902

THE NEW YCnid

LE.\OX AND OUNDATIONS. 1 19C2 I

ASTOT., LE.\OX AND TILOEN FOUNDATIONS.

Copyright, 1902, by the Trustees of The Presbyterian Board of PubHcation and Sabbath- School Work

P R E F A C E

From my study window I have a distant \icw of " The Gate of the Mountain," through which the Missouri River pours its perennial flood in its mad rush to reach the sea. Mere it passes through a spur of the Rockies, which reach out an arm as if the purpose had been to stop its flow or turn its channel in its destined course. The mountains on either side crowd its waters into a narrow channel which, in the hidden his- tory of past ages, forced open a gate for passage through what would have seemed to human judg- ment an impassable barrier. But the gate has been opened, the great mountain arm with its sinews of rock has been cut in two, while the waters from the mountain streams and melting snows of our great National Park (the wonder- land of the world) flow through, laughing at the volcanic forces which thought to stop their flow.

What seem to human judgment impassable barriers have been flung across the passageway of social progress, in its effort to reach the haven of rest and quiet from the disturbances which

PREFACE

ferment social conditions, and seem to say, " Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther."

How long it will take to overcome the diffi- culties which stand in the way of social destiny is a secret of the Almighty, but the forces which wear away the rocks of opposition to universal good have their source in the mountain heights of Omnipotence, with whom *' a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." That which ought to be will be. All periods of time are transitional, though they may be fraught with uncertainty and anxiety; yet a reasonable faith believes all transitions but steps toward moral regeneration.

Some characterize the dawn of the twentieth century as a period of skepticism. If so, surely it is marked by an earnestness and seriousness that manifest honest endeavor after the truth. Inquiry and thought are more and more being centered in Jesus Christ. He is the Star wise men are still following. He is solving problems before which science and politics stand dumb. He is the Supreme Court of appeal. Theories which will not stand the testing of his truth cannot hope for extended recognition.

It is the purpose of this little volume to show how in Christ and his teaching we have a solu- tion of the vexed questions that trouble social

rKKI-ACE

science. In the earnest study of this subject I have devoted for several years the time that could be spared from my direct ministerial duties.

I give in the following pages a summar)- of my reading and reflection on this great social (jues- tion, which seems to grow in interest ever\' }'ear. My conclusions have been forced upon me by a study of the fruits of Christianity as seen in the personal experiences of all classes and condi- tions of society which, in my ministerial life, I have been called to share. The book has not been written with a view of instructing profes- sors and teachers in universities and colleges.

I have endeavored to be practical rather than philosophical ; to be comprehended by the ordi- nary reader, and to present Christianity as some- thing not ideal simply, but as practical and most helpful for this present life we now live, as well as to keep alive the blessed hope of a heaven beyond the grave.

Believing that Christianity is, first of all, a life, and, secondarily, a systtJii, emphasis has been placed on the fruits rather than the doc- trines as revealed in Christ and the New Testa- ment. It is my firm conviction that the hopes of human progress, especially in the sphere of social concjitjons, must depend on the increase

PREFACE

and extension of Christianity if such hopes are ever to be realized. If the words written in these pages shall be honored by my Master, so as to contribute something toward the redemp- tion of society and the direction of thought to the Saviour of mankind, I shall feel satisfied with the divine approval, whatever may be the verdict of the reader.

W. N. Sloan. Helena, Montana, March 5, 1902. vi

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

Introduction

Socialism an old subject — No satisfactory solution reached — Social problems have engaged the greatest minds — The avarice of man uncontrolled — Dr. Newman Hall's statement — Classification of methods : ( I ) External ; (2) Spiritual ; (3) External and spiritual combined — The last, the method of Christianity, with special empha- sis on the spiritual

CHAPTER n

Statement of the Social Problems

Social Edens and golden ages of the past — Plato's " Re- public " — Cicero's "Commonwealth" — Sir Thomas More's " Utopia ' ' — Present day social ideas — Modern so- cialism begins the latter part of the eighteenth century — Social unrest and democratic institutions — Modern so- cialism revolulionar)- — Friction centers in capital and labor — Production of the many the prufit of the few — The social problems under six divisions — Remedial agencies complex — Mostly materialistic — Henry George and his remedy — Philanthropy too materialistic — Two motives: (i) To make environment better; vii

CONTENTS

PAGE

(2) To make man independent of environment — The hope of the Jews and their misapprehension — The king- dom of God within — Christianity has no ready-made scheme — Christ a social emancipator, but not a politician 7

CHAPTER III Inadequate Solutions

False theory of human nature and external relations — Re- ligion thought to be a hindrance — Some religious social- ists— Results of the sixteenth century Reformation on the social questions — Influence of the apostolic fathers — St. Ambrose — The Moravians and Shakers — St. Simon and his " New Christianity " — Tinctured with panthe- ism— Bazard and Enfantin — Fourier and his religious views — Louis Blanc — His political methods— His theory, chief purpose of human existence is happiness — Proudhon, more radical in his methods — His theory of private property — Products the medium of exchange — Some good results from agitation of social questions — Status of socialism in France — Schisms hinder united action — Republican Socialistic Alliance — The Social Revolutionary Party — Disciples of Marx — The social- istic group — Recent political tests — Socialism in Ger- many— Socialism most profoundly expounded and philo- sophically stated — Three great leaders : Rodbertus, Marx, and Lasalle — Their chief characteristics — Represent the real socialism of to-day — Some principles of German socialism: (l) Irreligious in its ruling temper; (2) False views of family relations and marital vows (Rae's definition) ; (3) Dependence on the State to do what personal exertion only can do — To be accomplished by revolution — Put labor on the throne — A reversal of the divine order of things — The chariot becomes the char- viii

CONTENTS

PACiC

ioteer — Success of Socialistic Democracy — Willicliu Liebknecht's statement — The present clay programme out- lined— Bismarck's coercive laws a failure — Many just demands — Swiss Republic an object lesson — Demand for absolute freedom may mean too much — Bakunim would ask no more 17

CHAPTER IV

Inadequate Solutions — Continued.

Socialism in England — Leaders disappointed in its recep- tion— Many practical efforts made under influence of Christian motive — Christian socialism an important factor — Robert Owen, his character, life-work, and results — The International Workingmen's Association — Failed to meet expectations — Christianity an unrecognized friend — Providence working out a higher destiny for all men — Weakness of all socialistic efforts is found in materialistic ideas — Bread and butter will not regenerate society — In the United States — Social problems the same, but methods of solution differ — Aristocracy of wealth instead of royalty — A field for experimental socialism — Mostly failures — Political socialism — Failure of Henry George and the nationalism of Bellamy — The Populist Party not a success — Our republicanism does not remedy social friction — Extreme communism and anarchism foreign importations — The laboring class have grievances — Large grants of land — National and municipal legisla- tion in behalf of monopolies — Metliods adopted — Trades unions and workingmen's associations — Their strength difficult to estimate— The Knights of Labor — Their pur- pose non-political — All trades organized — Strikes their principal method — Their object negative rather than affirmative — Protection rather than progression — Basis of operation selfish — Their needs — A wider field and ix

CONTENTS

PAGE

higher object — The strike system too costly for what has been gained — Monopohes have more political power, though few in number — Intelligence and moral force — The need of more efficient measures — Slavery of the intelli- gent an impossibility — Arbitration the most commendable remedy from the economic standpoint — Difficulties in its adoption— Cooperation quite successful in Europe — Limited in America — Profit sharing — Limited tests and partial success — Much good accomplished — Hardships of the laboring class lessened— Tendency of legislation toward a modified form of State socialism — ^Yhat has science done ? — Furnished no solution — Herbert Spencer and Professor Huxley — The prophecy of a better day — The radical sin of selfishness the source of trouble — The altruistic spirit dominant — The spirit of the Cross becoming more a controlling force - 23

CHAPTER V

Requirements of an Adequate Solution

Christianity defined — The Church not infallible — Has at times retarded progress — Many errors and mistakes — True Christianity not defined — Christ and the New Testament the basis of all right interpretation, not the Church — Can Christianity meet the following require- ments? (i) An adequate solution must be such a force as to bring about the improvement of the material, moral, intellectual, religious and social conditions of all classes ; (2) An adequate solution must in some way bring about the regeneration of unregenerated wealth; (3) The abolition of social rank and distinctions based on false presumptions and artificial value ; (4) The organization of society so as to prevent toil, excessively burdensome and long, on the part of some and idleness on the part of others; (5) an adequate solution should abolish the

X

CONTENTS

PAGE

pos<ribility of an unearned increment and guarantee the full reward of labor so far as natural provisions will allow and circumstances permit ; (6) The recognition of the right of all to emjiloyment should in some way make it possible for every able-bodied and willing worker to earn the necessities of life, and a share in some of the blessings at least of culture and refine- ment claimed to be the glory of Christian civilization — Christianity will meet these demands and furnish funda- mental principles on which such questions can be rightly settled 58

CHAPTER VI What Christianity Has Done

The revolution of thought concerning the equality of man — Aristotle's views — The pagan philosophers failed not for want of intellect, but moral conception — That need is supplied by the teaching of Christ: (i) Christianity has sounded the death knell of slavery — It killed slavery in the Roman Empire, in Europe, in America — The influence of Stoicism — Different estimates of its power — Christianity the great moral force that accomplished the overthrow of slavery; (2) What has Christianity done for the family ? — Its purity essential to individual and national virtue — Paul's teaching as to family life — Chris- tianity mitigated and finally abolished the despotism of the paternal power in the Roman Empire — The change Christianity has wrought ; (3) What has Christianity done for woman ? — Comparison of her condition in Chris- tian and heathen countries ; (4) What has Christianity done for childhood ? — Christ has taught the power and influence of childhood on mankind — From what Chris- tianity has done in the past, we should trust it for still

greater things in the future S9

xi

CONTENTS

CHAPTER VII Christianity the Adequate Solution

PAGE

Sin the source of all friction in social relations — The golden rule would solve all difficulties — Testimony of Johann von Muller — Review of other methods — The weakness of socialistic methods consists in dependence on externals to remedy internal ills — Means adopted by Cliristian socialists in England — Successful only in an indirect way — Public conscience aroused — The force of Christianity in molding character and controlling con- duct— Its power in the elevation of man — Its adaptation to all races and conditions — Society constructed on a few fundamental principles — Christianity furnishes them — Christian socialists of the United States criticised — The Church the channel of blessings to all nations — The divine instrument for propagation of the truth — We have no infallible church, but the Church has an infal- lible Christ — The hopes of humanity are centered in him — Essential to all reforms — The Star of hope for lost but not forsaken humanity IIO

CHAPTER VIII

Christianity's Conquest and Hope

St. John's Apocalyptic vision of war in heaven — The struggle and victory described — Progress in this world means conquest — The conflict may change, but refuses to come to an end — In spite of all opposing forces there is steady advance — Progress seen in the physical and intellectual amelioration of the race — Many inven- tions in the last half century — Alfred Russell Wallace's '•Wonderful Century" — Possible inventions yet to come — The good and bad grow together — Monopolies and xii

CONTKNTS

I'AGB

trusts — War has not ceased upon earth — The Interna- tional I'eace Conference in The Ilayue — Warwitli Spain — Revolution in China — Christianity's conijuest ^ocs on with increasing energy — Christian hope never dies out — The Ecumenical Missionary Conference — A rejKjrt- er's estimation of veteran missionaries — Dr. MacKenzie quoted — Christianity tlie expectant religion — Optimistic, idealistic, but practical — Bingen on the Rhine, an illus- tration— Disciples on Mount of Transfiguration — The hope which faith inspires — The second coming of our Lord — A secret of the Father — Still in the stage of preparation — Christ will be the acknowledged Lord of

all the earth 127

xiii

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

During a recent vacation I stood one morn- ing on tiic ocean beach near the Chff House, a suburban pleasure resort of San Francisco, and only a mile or so from the Golden Gate. There was a dense fog hanging over the water which obscured the vision, but the deep rumbling sound of the waves lashing against the seal rocks was distinctly heard.

It was a rather melancholy sound as it came forth from under the shadow of a dense fog. and suggested to my mind humanity's moan in this troubled world.

A few minutes later I stood on Sutro Heights, several hundred feet above the level of the beach. Then the outlook was very different. The sun was shining on the fog, and I was high enough to behold the beautiful effects of its golden rays glimmering on the dark background of the picture spread out on nature's canvas before my eyes. The poet's

" Silver clouds with golden linings "

I

SOCIAL REGENERATION

were before me as if on dress parade. The deep undertone of the tossing sea seemed then to me like a psahii of praise for the coming of the sun, before whose brightness the fogs disappear.

What the contrast was between conditions standing on the low level of the beach and on the sunlit heights above, so is the contrast in the social and moral conditions of this world in comparison with what they will be when the Sun of Righteousness shall penetrate the hearts of sinful men, when redeemed humanity shall stand upon the heights of a transformed, trans- figured, and regenerate life.

The social problems of to-day are command- ing the serious thought and consideration of statesmen, philanthropists, teachers, and preachers. While the subject is an old one, and has engaged the mind and heart of leading thinkers in past generations, it is emphatically the question of the hour, and cannot be ignored by those who would be in touch with the heart- throbs of humanity. Evidently these problems have not reached a satisfactory solution in any of the multiplied Utopian theories of commun- istic ideas, promulgated under a diversity of forms and advocates of social equality.

Both the intelligence of highest quality and of purest heart devotion have contributed their

2

THE WORK OF CHRISTIAMTV

combined energy toward the consummation and practical illustration of an carthl)- paradise. Yet " the new order of things " which insures the poor against the pressure of want ; which satisfactorily controls the productive forces of society, so as to contribute equal benefit to all classes, still remains an unfulfilled prophecy. There are still the avaricious rich, with a Lazarus at the door; hunger and plcnt\' meet each other on the streets, without the abundance of the one supplying the lack of the other. Capital and labor suffer from the wearing fric- tion of real or imaginary disparity. Great monopolies without a conscience, municipal corruption and political intrigue, intemperance and vice, still exist. Humanity travails and groans in pain, asking, " Is there no balm in Gilead?"

We do not have to seek long to find an illus- tration of the truth of the words of a renowned statesman when he says, " It is one of the most painful elements of our human nature that when avarice gets possession of a man, that moment humanity and compassion and a recognition of the rights of others are as completely worked out of him as if they were never put into him." Dr. Newman Hall says, " The universal brother- hood of man is a thcor\' rather than a fact, 3

SOCIAL REGENERATION

something which ought to be rather than some- thing which is."^

May we not conclude that " what ought to be" can be, yea, will be? When the "fullness of time " will come for the brotherhood of man to be a fact and not a theory, no man nor angel in heaven is able to tell, but we will watch and pray, as we are commanded to do, for the com- ing of the Lord. The means which have been employed for the consummation of the brother- hood of man and the realization of humanity's dream may be briefly classified under three divisions : —

First, methods which have depended on bet- tering external conditions, environment and heredity being the watchwords. Make good laws, and healthy conditions will produce a superior race through the inevitable laws of heredity.

Secondly, the methods which depend entirely on internal life and direct all energy to the soul's redemption, ignoring the necessities of the out- ward man, on the theory that if we have the kingdom of God within us all else will be added. The asceticism of the Essenes and like sects, such as monastic life and a few ecclesias-

^ Divine Brothe7-hood^ p. 2.

Tim WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

tical founders here and there in all denomina- tions, are examples.

Thirdly, the judicious combination of the above methods, which contemplates the redemp- tion of both soul and body; aimin;^ at the entire regeneration of man, body and soul, and preach- ing a gospel that contemplates social ameliora- tion as well as individual sahation.

This latter system we claim to be the purpose of true Christianity, and what has already been accomplished for the redemption of man has been through the potential influence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It shall be the object of the following chapters to prove the above statement, and show that if human hopes are ever to be realized they will be through the reception and application of this divine gospel.

'* God's plan of reformation alone will bind up that which is broken, will gather together the sundered sections of the great human family, and bring about the golden age, that promised millennium, when love and happiness shall reign throughout the world. The founder of this divine socialism, the framer and first link in this bond of universal brotherhood, is the Man, Christ Jesus." ^

An exhaustive and philosophical discussion of

^ See Brotherhood of Man^ Newman Hall.

5

SOCIAL REGENERATION

the social problems would involve not only one, but many volumes, and all that shall be attempted in these chapters will be an extended analysis of the social problems, the remedial agencies which have been tried and such as are now in the experimental state, with a summing up of the testimony to show that Christianity will be the potential factor in the final solution, as it cer- tainly has been in whatever progress society has made toward the ideal.

6

CHAPTER II

STATEMENT OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS

To find the source of social questions, which call for solution in the present age, we must go back to the beginning of the race. Moses de- scribes the first Eden ; the sages and poets since have continued to describe Edens of golden ages in the past, or heavens of social felicity and per- fection in the future. Plato, in his ideal republic, evidently meant more than to write an amusing fiction. His ideal he believed to be practical, and no doubt he anticipated the final constitution of society upon his philosophical basis of govern- ment, embellished by a still higher degree of civilization than Athens had yet attained. Cicero, in his " Commonwealth," tried to build a founda- tion for the castle his predecessor had built in the air. They were both men in search of an ideal state in which the dreams of a social para- dise might be realized.

The "Utopia" of Sir Thomas More is also an

attempt, like that of Plato's, to present in the

form of a societary fiction a constitution for ideal

commonwealths. Thoughtful minds are still

7

SOCIAL REGENERATION

hard at work trying to make practical that which poets have dreamed, philosophers have reasoned, and statesmen have discussed.

The social ideologies of the present day are the expression of a deep-felt want and aspiration, prompted by a feeling of sympathy for human woe, traced from the imaginary to the real, from the social idealists of antiquity to the working out of their conceptions in these more modern years. But, however profitable it might be to trace these conceptions in their origin and growth, we need not go back farther than the latter part of the eighteenth century in the study of what may be called modern socialism. In the present century there has been developed increased desire among the toiling masses for better conditions. Discontent and murmurings against the existing state of social relations seem to accompany the rise of democratic institutions.

" The philanthropic and experimental forms of socialism," which played a conspicuous part before 1848, perished then in the wreck of the Revolution and have never risen to life again. The communities of Owcnites, St. Simonians, Fourierists, Icarians, which multiplied for a time on both sides of the Atlantic, are extinct.

The socialists of the present diiy have dis- carded all belief in the possibility of expecting 8

THK WORK OF CH RISTI AMTV

any social regeneration except by means of I)olitical authority; and tlie first object of their en(Jea\ors is, tlierefore, " the conquest of the powers of the State. "^ It is called "Revolu- tionary Socialist Democracy," and si<^niifies a democrac}' of labor. It embraces questions of capital and labor, profit and wages, pauperism and criminal classes, and all imaginary and real wrongs of the working masses.

The existing friction in the social order of things centers in what the opposing classes call the tyranny of capital and oppression of labor. The conflict rages over what Karl Marx calls the spoliation of labor, and Proudhon's claim, that ownership of property is theft. The prin- ciple on w^hich this grievance is based is that the production of the many is the profit of the few, and that since labor is the only source of value, the laborer is worthy of his product.

The best and most concise statement of the present social problems I have ever seen is found in the Homilctic Review of January, 1895. The writer calls it the Social Problem, involving the following divisions : " The improvement of the material, intellectual, moral, religious, and social condition of the laboring classes ; the re- generation of unregenerated wealth ; the aboli-

^ Rae's Co7iteniporary Socialism. 9

SOCIAL REGENERATION

tion of such ranks as prove our boasted freedom nominal and legal, but not real ; the organization of society so as to prevent toil excessive, bur- densome and long on the part of some, and the idleness of others ; the destruction of an un- earned increment, and the appropriation to laborers of the full reward of their exertions ; the question of the right of employment for all, and the securing to the toilers not only their full share in the increase of the national wealth, but also such opportunities as will enable them to partake of that culture which is claimed as the glory of the nineteenth century and the in- heritance of all."

The remedial agencies advocated by the com- plainants have been so complex that it is diffi- cult to classify them, but along three directions at least there is some manifestation of unity, viz., nationalization of land, national control of the instruments of production, and abolition of the wage system. All these remedial agencies must be classified, therefore, as belonging to the materialistic as mentioned in the introduction, whose watchwords are environment and heredity.

Karl Marx viewed the material environment of man as the influential factor in the formation of character. La Salle insisted that man was dependent on social combinations. Robert

lO

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

Owen declared man to be a creature of circum- stance. Henry George and his disciples of the present day depend on material changes to usher in the "reign of justice and liberty," and the rebuilding of "the city of God on earth, with its walls of jasper and its gates of pearl." He may rightly be styled the leader of "agra- rian socialism " in America. Rae designates him as the man who " first tormented his brain with imaginary facts, and then restored it with erroneous theories." He associated poverty with progress, and increasing want with advanc- ing wealth, but found his panacea for every disease of which society was afflicted in his one god of "single tax." His own statement is as follows : " What I propose as the simple, yet sovereign remedy which will raise wages, in- crease the earnings of capital, extirpate pauper- ism, abolish poverty, give remunerative employ- ment to whoever wishes it, afford free scope to human powers, lessen crimes, elevate morals, taste, and intelligence, purify government, and carry civilization to }-et nobler heights, is to appropriate rent by taxation." Thus while he associates industrial progress with poverty, he declares the remedy to be found in a radical change of taxation or, in other words, national- ization of land.

II

SOCIAL REGENERATION

Again, many of the philanthropic efforts and charitable organizations which have increased and multiplied so rapidly in this country are permeated with the same materialistic philosophy in their attempts at relief of human wants. The mere distribution of alms to the poor, the en- forcement of sanitary laws, the building of poor- houses, and asylums for the lame and halt, in which are congregated the paupers of the land, may be commendable and praiseworthy, but it is only a provision for destitution, not the cure of it. We have not heard of any permanent good results from the giving of thousands of dollars worth of bread and clothes to the needy of our great cities during periods of business depression. Soup houses may relieve the pangs of hunger, but we have yet to learn of them as being reformatory agencies of appreciable value. Like the ten lepers healed by our Lord, nine have gone their way of sin, unmindful of their benefactor, and only one has returned to give thanks and receive the higher blessing. In our eagerness to present to the world an applied gospel, there is a manifest tendency to lose sight of the fact that a well of water springing up within a man is better than a cup of water placed in his hand, however gracious and re- freshmg that might be. It is commendable to

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

give a huni^ry man something to cat, but a better thing is to give him a trade. Christianity teaches that the least act of kindness is not to be de- spised, but the greatest good is that which repeats its benefits and perpetuates its power.

In our aims to benefit man we may be guided by either one of two principles : To make a man's environment better, or to make the man independent of his environment. The last is first in the divine plan, while the first is not ignored. The surest way to keep a beggar a beggar is to feed him freely with a generous hand. The silver quarter given to each tramp that shuffles up to the back door will increase the army of tramps. The boy's barley loaves were calculated to bring the hearts of men to that Bread of life which came down from heaven; but when the same men sought Jesus only that they might be fed, he sternly rebuked them and moved on.

" In the thoughts of the Jew," quoting the language of an unknown writer, '* the Messiah was to restore ancient fertility to abandoned fields ; to make waste places feel anew the thrill of life ; to fill the long empty coffers with gold of tributary kings ; to lead the oft-vanquished banners to a wider conquest than the army of David ever knew. In this new kingdom men 13

SOCIAL REGENERATION

were to rest content in bright skies, broad fields, opulent homes, beautiful temples, impregnable defenses, victorious legions, and a glorious name spread throughout the earth."

And now, standing in the midst of the nation's deepest humiliation and poverty, subjects as they were of a foreign power, overburdened by taxa- tion that supported the pagan court of a foreign state, the temple service subject to and led by an infidel priest, this rabbi of obscure birth, and himself poor, proclaimed that the kingdom of God long waited for, prayed for, wept for, was here. And when they asked, as if to bring his claims to open trial, when that kingdom should appear, he quietly responded, " The kingdom of God is within you."

He meant to teach his disciples that the seat of its authority and the spring of its joy would not be found in the dawn of brighter days, or in the unfolding of fairer flowers, but in the heart renewed and quickened with the Bread of heaven. They lost sight of the fact that Christ must first come in humiliation and suffer on the cross, and thus prepare the way for the redemption of man's fallen nature, before the outward and sensual could become a blessing and a joy.

The true spirit of the Christian religion was proclaimed when Jesus first stood in the syna- 14

THE WORK OF CHRISTIAMTV

i^oguc of Nazarctli and said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon nie, because he hath anointed nic to preach the gixsj^el to the poor ; he liath sent me ... to proclaim release to the cai)tives, and recovering of siglit to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

In the religion of Jesus Christ, we shall not find any ready-made scheme for a new and per- fect state of human society such as that of Plato or More ; we shall recognize Christ as a social emancipator, but not as a politician. Christian- ity presents no form of government, but seed- thoughts and inspiring motives by which men are to be governed in their relation to each other, upon the basis of which they are to frame social institutions best calculated to foster and develop brotherhood and fatherhood.

The society Christianity encourages is not ruled by fixed codes, but by an indwelling spirit. " That spirit and that alone, as I believe, will enable us to apply our knowledge and our wills to settle land questions, labor questions, church questions, to address ourselves steadily to the work of Christianizing socialism, or social- izing Christianism, of honoring and encouraging, of consecrating, of nationalizing the labor classes, while never unwisely pampering them, of dis- 15

SOCIAL REGENERATION

honoring and discouraging, and denationalizing the idle classes, and never ignorantly establish- ing and endowing them, teaching them that as the divine Workman of Nazareth was subject to law, as he bore suffering for the good of his brother man, so must they be prepared to suffer and serve for their comrades and fellows," ^

1 Christ and Social Democracy^ by the Rev, C. W. Stubbs. i6

CHAPTER III

INAI)K(^UATE SOLUTIONS

TiiK programme of socialism has proceeded thus far upon the creed that human nature is ca{)a- ble of bein£^ made perfect by external relations, and that kings and priests have hindered that glorious consummation for the attainment of their own selfish ends ; that religion is hostile to the development of fraternal feelings of equality, which are inherent in the human heart, and which if once liberated from the tyranny of plutocracy and religious superstition, would soon realize the golden age. Therefore revolutionary and irreligious methods have so far characterized the propagation of reforms that have their issue under the banner of socialism, communism, and anarchy.

Any system that proceeds, on the one hand, with an impatience and fiery zeal, ignoring the necessity of an enlightened conscience, demand- ing at once the unconditional surrender of exist- ing powers to the industrial classes, and on the other, ignoring the principles of religion, must be doomed at the outset as an inadequate solu- 2 17

SOCIAL REGENERATION

tion of existing wrongs. Many of the socialistic schemes have, however, been prompted by rehg- ious sentiment, and we are not justified by the facts in calHng all of them antichristian. The revolution of ideas brought about by the religious Reformation of the sixteenth century had much to do with the resuscitation of the doctrine that community of property was an integral part of Christianity, and among the long-enslaved class it spread with marked rapidity. They anticipated that the Reformation would bring about not only religious, but social, revolution. The disciples of the Reformers quoted the apostolic fathers of Christianity, especially St. Ambrose, that *' nature has given all things in common to all men." Nature has established a common right, and it is usurpation which has produced a private claim. The doctrine of the community of goods was revived by the Anabaptists at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Later the " Utopia " of Sir Thomas More, and the " New Atlantis " of Bacon, and Morelly's " Code of Nature " were all of a religious character, but were based on na- ture rather than on revelation. These social fic- tions were no doubt influential in the constitution of certain religious sects. Their religion was claimed to be the simplification of Christianity. The disciples are described as " an honest, simple- i8

THE WORK OF CH KISTIAMI V

hearted people; luiniblc, gotll\', laborious, well- trained, and lovers of discipline." They put little stress on education and were opposed to war. Thc\' were industrious and fru^^al. One writer says of them : *' If happiness la)' in bread and butter and such thini^s, these people have attained the sii})ii)iui}i bonuiii!' They still have an existence in a few scattered communities both in the old and new world, but are gradually be- coming extinct, without lea\ing behind them any permanent establishment of their friendly communities.

St. Simon is another exception among social- istic agitators, who recognized religion as an essential part of his system. In his " New Christianity " he advocated a new religious refor- mation, and declared that the fundamental prin- ciple of Christianity is the divine precept, " Love one another." His exposition of Christianity was, in many respects, tinctured with the pan- theism of Spinoza. Matter was to be made holy by its fusion with spirit; Church and State were to be united, under the control and guidance of a religious chief, whose office was that of a legislator, judge, and the divider of wealth ac- cording to a fixed formula of remuneration. Dissension, however, soon divided his disciples into two parties under the leadership of Bazard 19

SOCIAL REGENERATION

and Enfantin. These branches soon came into disrepute by the adoption of extremes of various kinds, and were placed under the ban of the government. Heroic attempts were afterwards made to realize the dreams of the " Messiah " of the new religion, but all have ignominiously failed in establishing the idea of the St. Simonian family, except in a few small communities, which, like all previous industrial organizations, have dwindled away with little accomplished in sup- plying the keen necessities that goad human thought toward higher ideals.

Fourier was also a religious man, but can scarcely be called Christian in his peculiar views. He believed in the immortality of the soul, but in the sense of transmigration. He was fanciful in his speculations and extremely mystical in his ideas. All his experiments were acknowledged failures.

St. Simon and Fourier were followed by Louis Blanc, who adopted political methods, and this marks an advanced step in the movements of French socialists. He was a man of greater in- tellectual power than his predecessors, and some consider his history of the Revolution as the best that has been published. His social phi- losophy was based on the theory that the chief purpose of human existence was happiness and 20

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

development. These ends were to be accom- plished by association, all working together as the different parts of the body. All })arts have not ecjual \'alue, but all ha\e not only the right to exist but responsibility in existing. As stated in his own words: " ICquality is only proportionate, and it exists in a true manner only when each one, in accordance with the law written in some shape in his organization by God himself, produces according to faculties and consumes according to his wants." I lis influence was of short duration and he died without leav- ing anything practical toward the realization of his ideas.

Proudhon was the next notable character who played an important part in the development of French socialism. He sought by still more radical measures a correction of social wrongs. His attack was chiefly against private property, and he did not hesitate to call private titles rob- bery and theft. He advocated anarchic equality, substituted individual possession for individual property, and declared the right of occupa- tion as being equal to all. He taught that products should be purchased by products, and vainly dreamed that a recognition of these ele- mentary principles would solve all the difficul- ties concerning pauperism, luxury, oppression,

21

SOCIAL REGENERATION

vice, and crime. But while his schemes for social reform have not issued in any practical demonstration of economical measures, both he and his French predecessors have contributed something toward the development of a more just judgment and a better understanding be- tween the extremes of social existence. We owe to their sincere love of humanity and their fearless agitation of the social questions the establishment of cooperative industrial in- stitutions, societies for promoting sanitary re- form and improving the condition of the poor. They forced the conviction upon the public mind of the duty and necessity of raising the humbler classes of society from their ignor- ance and material wretchedness, to which atten- tion was so loudly called. They gave additional i4npetus to that keen desire for the acquisition of knowledge which sprang up coevally with the socialistic agitation, and which was mani- fested then in the establishment of halls of science and, in this later day, in the opening of free public libraries. The socialistic movement in France down to the present day has been incoherent and local, unable to reach the peasant classes, and, therefore, largely confined to cities and manufacturing centers. Their principal lead- ers are working, so far as their influence goes, on

22

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

the programme of Marx and Lasallc. Their efforts have been disunited and characterized \)y schisms, resuhinL^ in divisions, some adxocatinj^ the ex- treme \ie\vs of anarchists, and others, cliiefl}- the peasant population, refusinij assent to the aboh- tion of a peasant proprietary. The Repubhcan Sociahstic AlHance seeks to brin<^ about social reforms not by revolution, but through the ex- isting- republic. The anarchistic party contents itself by organization of clubs and occasional use of dynamite and treasonable threats.

The Social Revolutionary Party is largely composed of disciples of Marx, looking event- ualK' to revolution, but taking an active part in politics as a means to the end. The socialist group has a minority representation in the French legislature, but, on account of their diversified views, both as to methods and prin- ciples, arc not likely to become a controlling power. The recent political tests, bringing about the assassination of one president and the resig- nation of another, show the vital strength of the republic and its ability to overcome oppos- ing and revolutionary plots.

To find the economic philosophy of the

socialists most profoundly expounded and forced

upon the minds and hearts of the laboring class,

we must look to Germany. There are three

23

SOCIAL REGENERATION

names inseparably connected with the rise and growth of social democracy, — Rodbertus, Marx, and Lasalle. These men have done more per- haps than any other three men in history in giv- ing a classical statement of political • economy from the laborer's standpoint, in systematizing a programme of action, in putting the grievances on a philosophical basis and in comprehensible mold. Rodbertus and Marx furnished the magazine and powder, while Lasalle applied the spark. The former were too profound, analytical, and philosophical, for the masses to reach, but Lasalle gave them a popular and practical inter- pretation, and by his fiery oratory roused the toiling classes of Germany from their long stupor and forced resignation under the tyranny of capital. Dr. Ely says, *' It is the only living socialism of world-wide importance; for, with few comparatively unimportant exceptions, all socialism of to-day, whether found in Paris or Berlin, in New York or Vienna, in Chicago or Frankfort-on-the-Main, is through and through German." It will be necessary, then, to ex- amine briefly the principles of German social- ism, and ask what it has done and may be ex- pected to do toward the solution of the social questions.

In the first place, it is irreligious, if not 24

THE WORK or CHRISTIANITY

atheistic in its ruling; temper and practical results; if not in direct teachinL^, inferential!)', at least, it disavows the sacredncss of the family relation and marital vows. Since human nature is both religious and domestic, the home and the altar bcin<j the earliest institutions of which we have any record, this fact itself might be suffi- cient argument to cast suspicion upon the sys- tem as an adequate one to fulfill the expectation of those who are cr\'ing under the oppressor's rod. But would their principles of political economy practically applied (if such a thing is possible) introduce a better condition in social relations than now exists ? Rae defines their present theory as ** a state in which power and property shall be based on labor ; where citizen- ship shall depend on a labor qualification instead of a qualification of birth or of property; where there shall be no citizen who employs without laboring and no citizen who labors without em- ploying ; where every one who is able to work shall have employment, and every one who has wrought shall retain the whole produce of his labor ; and where, accordingly, as the indis- pensable prerequisite of the whole scheme, the land of the country and all other instruments of production shall be made the joint property of the community, and the conduct of all industrial 25

SOCIAL REGENERATION

operations be placed under the direct adminis- tration of the State."

Dependence is put upon tlie State to accom- phsh for man what he ought to accompHsh by his own exertions. The idea of the State is a union of individuals that shall enlarge the power of each. It is to do more than give freedom ; it must develop those made free. Only by such aid can man obtain victory in the incessant struggle with nature. According to Marx this is to be accomplished, not by the slow process of growth, not by compromise, not by parlia- mentary legislation, not by trades unions, but by revolution and radical change — such a revolu- tion as would put labor on the throne, and make capital and land her possession. Let private competition forever cease. Let production be regulated as the needs of the people demand. Labor shall be the only representation of pur- chasing power.

Owen taught that man is a creature of circum- stance. If only he has right surroundings he will be right. His programme is contrary to the drift of things for centuries, which is that every man shall have a chance, unhindered by a man- created superior control, seeking for highest well-being through independence of and in spite of environments. The socialist sets up an ideal 26

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

state that shall save man by environments. This is the great iindcrlyinL,^ fallacy of the whole social programme. It proceeds upon the principle that bread and butter are the first essentials — seek these first and all things will be added. It is the chariot driving the charioteer. It is reversing the divine order, and trying to make man walk on his head instead of his feet. It is exhorting him to look to the earth instead of the skies for the illumination he needs in a world darkened by sin. Nevertheless these men who have awak- ened the laborer from his long stupor of slavish toil, by infusing his mind with new thoughts and disturbing his rest of contentment in so low a condition, and kindling aspirations for something better, have done somcthincr toward workinfj out the problem of a higher destin}' than is con- sistent with a heaven of bread and butter. In the providence of Him who rules the nations and shapes the destiny of the future, other leaders will be raised up in the fullness of time to direct this thought alrcad\' kindled, and point them to the divine Workman for the realization of their hopes already awakened. These fore- runners of a brighter day for humanity have done more than dream dreams, build air-castles, and write Utopias.

As one of the leading socialists of to-day says : « 27

SOCIAL REGENERATION

" We never lived and dreamed in cloud-land ; we always traded and worked on the solid earth." Results seem to prove the above statement par- tially true at least. When Lasalle died in a duel brought about by an unfortunate love affair, his disciples would scarcely amount to seven thous- and all told, but to-day there are nearly two million electors over twenty-five years of age, and this rapid growth has not been spasmodic, but steady, and regular. Wilhelm Liebknecht, one of the foremost leaders of social democracy in Germany, affirms, in an article published in The Forum, Feb. 1895, that ** Social Democracy is the axis around which the political world of Germany is revolving." In the same paper we have a statement of the present day programme of social democracy which is as follows : " We do not want to abolish private property, it is only private property in the instruments of pro- duction that we want to abolish, because it gives the possessor power over his fellow-men and renders them economically and politically de- pendent on him."

"The commonwealth is to be substituted for the private speculator, w^ho has his own private interests at heart." " What do we ask for ? Absolute liberty of press ; absolute liberty of meeting; absolute liberty in religion; universal 28

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITV

suffrage for all representative offices in the State and commune; national education; all schools open to all ; abolition of the standing armies and creation of national militia, so that every citizen is a soldier and every soldier a citizen ; an inter- national court of arbitration between the differ- ent states ; equal rights for men and women." In a kingdom whose emperor bases the author- it}' of his power in " the divine right of kings," these principles, so ably championed and with increasing force of numbers, must be a source of national alarm. And if no more successful efforts toward suppression be inaugurated than the " socialist coercive " laws of Bismarck, which expired on the 30th of September, 1890, because of their failure, it is not hard to predict that the " legal and constitutional transformation of society" may be possible some time not far distant in the German Empire. We who have been nurtured under a republican form of govern- ment cannot help but show sympathy for such a platform of principles as stated above, and feel that they contain much truth of the kind that " crushed to earth shall rise again."

" The eternal years are hers." Whatever may

be the internal purpose, the motives and demands

as thus expressed are humane, practical, and

just, and in many particulars already experi-

29

SOCIAL REGENERATION

mentally tested by practical application. For example, the little Swiss republic, with a popula- tion of three millions, existing on unproductive soil and surrounded by powers that could crush her in a day, yet in advance of them all in the achievements of civilization ; in her constitution declaring liberty and equality for all, without an aristocracy, without the burden of an immense standing army, yet " every citizen a soldier and every soldier a citizen." In this respect, at least, the social democratic platform has an object lesson to hold up before the great powers of Europe as an argument against their immense standing armies.

May we not reasonably believe that the accept- ance of that one principle would be a long stride toward heralding the day of universal peace, when there shall not be wars or rumors of wars, but questions of dispute will be settled between nations as the divine gospel teaches, by mutual concessions and not before the cannon's mouth ?

But granting the demands of the Socialistic Democratic programme in Germany, acceding their principles an improvement on the present, would they be an object lesson under such a regime as the Swiss republic has been and is ? We answer with an emphatic No. Not until their atheistic and materialistic spirit is renewed 30

THE WORK OF ClIKISTIAMTY

and baptized into the Christian spirit of the hv- in<^ God, whose kins^doin is the only everlasting kin<j^dom, no external relations or form of gov- ernment, no economic constituti(jn or transfer- ence from kin^^ship to democrac}-, can possibly meet their expectations of a renewed earth. They must first possess a new heart, before a new constitution of i^overnment and reconstruc- tion of societ}' can be made effectual in solviuL^ the problems of a happy and blessed existence for the toiling class.

The demand for absolute freedom may mean too much. A man located in the wilderness or desert, away from contact with human being^s, can enjoy absolute freedom ; but the moment some one comes near enough to be called a neighbor, that moment he ceases to have abso- lute hberty.

When still more settle near liim his Hberty is more circumscribed, and when a town or city is built, the best interests of all are conserved by all observing laws which will prevent infringe- ments on personal rights on the one hand, and on the other hand circumscribe the extension of personal rights which may inflict injury on others.

Therefore when men demand absolute liberty of meeting and absolute liberty of speech, the 31

SOCIAL REGENERATION

last analysis may mean absolute anarchy or every man a law unto himself. Bukumin's anar- chism would ask no more. Whatever may be the final outcome of the social question, we may safely predict that it will not be solved by pro- gression backward, by returning to a primeval state of aboriginal savagery and barbarism. The centuries of bloodshed and conflict have been upward, toward a higher civilization, toward a constitutional government on the basis of peace and good will, in which man shall live neither as a barbarian or a monk, but in which the strong shall bear the infirmities of the weak; selfishness eliminated by every one pleasing his neighbor for his good to edification. 32

CIIAPTER IV

INAr)E(^)UATl-: SOLUTIONS— Continued

SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND

The advocates of socialistic schemes have been greatly disappointed in their efforts to obtain the sympathy and support of English workingmen. Neither the socialistic philosophy of Marx nor the fiery zeal of Lasalle could arouse them to sympathetic support. While there has been more practical effort toward the solution of the social questions in England than any other of the European countries, it has not been through the influence of socialism as in Germany.

Christian socialism, which will be considered later on, was a significant factor in not only effecting many reforms through legislation, but in awakening a Christian consciousness of the low condition of the masses. Robert Owen may be called the founder of English socialism. A poor boy and without much education, }'et he grew to be a man of commanding influence because of his big heart. As foreman of the New Lanark Mills, where out of two thousand 3 33

SOCIAL REGENERATION

employees five hundred were little children, largely gathered from the poorhouses, the moral and material condition of the people touched his heart and appealed with unquenchable power to his sympathies. He at once began to devise plans by which they might be deviated and their condition ameliorated. His plans were along the line of educational philanthropy. By adopting sanitary laws, establishing schools for children, and improving the homes, the hard lot of the people should gradually be brought up, if not to an ideal, at least to a higher standard. He had already discarded existing forms of religion and determined to formulate one to his own satisfac- tion, based on the false philosophy that man's character is made for him and that circum- stances over which he has no control decide his fate. Therefore, he adopted as his panacea for the ills of human conditions the right kind of en- vironment and believed that the laws of heredity would do the rest. There was really nothing new in this system, but he entered upon the arduous labor of introducing it as if original and new. He wrote essays, influenced legislation, and attracted national attention by his zeal and sincerity. He succeeded in creating an atmos- phere of higher moral character and content- ment in New Lanark.

34

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

From a commercial standpoint his mills were a success. The nobility conniiended his efforts, and for a time, and for a small community, the realization of liis philanthropic conceptions seemed to be realized.

But the house was not built strong enough to stand the test of business depression. This he accounted for on the ground of too much machinery, which took the labor from the poor and bread from their tables. As his schemes enlarged and widened to meet rising emergen- cies he became more impracticable and vision- ary. His communistic plan of congregating one thousand or more together, giving them an allotment of land, and advocating a common table, were among the vagaries of his later days, and all collapsed as other philanthropic and well- intentioned endeavors have done for lack of the equilibrium which God's revealed truth can alone furnish.

THE INTERNATIONAL WORKINGMEN's ASSOCIATION

The International Workingmen's Association has been introduced in almost every part of the world which may be entitled to classification under western civilization. At one time its growth was so rapid that some predicted it would be the organized society under whose banner the 35

SOCIAL REGENERATION

down-trodden and oppressed of all nations would unite in a final and successful conquest of labor from the thraldom of capital. But it has igno- miniously failed to meet the expectations of its founder and now has only a name to live. Social- istic societies have been organized in Prussia, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Den- mark, Belgium, Switzerland, and in America, under the impulse of the International, but now, at the beginning of the twentieth century, it is a waning influence and power, so far as being an adequate solution of the social problems. The progress of civilization, however, has sifted the altruistic from the great mass of good and evil, the practical and impractical, the religious and irreligious, the materialistic and spiritual, and out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong comes forth sweetness.

The gospel of the Son of God, which so many of these theorists and philosophers and econo- mists ignore, has been their unknown friend, and in some cases the blasphemed guardian of the rights and equalities of men. All the good that has come to humanity through agitation, organi- zation, and propaganda, in every part of western civilization that tends to leveling of human ranks and caste, built one tier above another by the selfishness of greed, the pride of royalty, and 36

THE WORK. OF CHRISTIANITY

worship of mammon, may be tracctl to the rev- elation of the I'^itherliood of God and tlie brother- hood of man, t,iUL;ht and ilhistiatcd in the incar- nated Christ, " the Son of tlie hvin^L,^ God."

The ministrations of science, tlie unrest of humanit}', the rise and fdl of nations, revokitions and wars, are more clearly seen from century to century to have worked out a higher destiny for man, a truer civilization on earth, and will event- ually bring about the millennium wherein right- eousness shall be universal. The first need of society is the diffusion of Christian life. No theory of social improvement that does not recognize this as the first need, that does not place right relations of man to God as funda- mental, will ever work out the problems of social conditions. The weakness of all efforts which have thus far been under review in England, France, and Germany, is that their leaders have placed exaggerated importance upon economic conditions, and have devoted their intellect and heart upon the altar of material gods, as if the re- generation of society could be accomplished by fresh air and a good supply of bread and butter.

THE PROBLEM IX THE UNITED ST.ATES

When we come to discuss the measures adopted in the United States for the solution of

SOCIAL REGENERATION

social problems, we find them to be the same largely as in the old countries, but the methods urged for their solution are more varied. In this country we have an aristocracy of wealthy instead of a royal aristocracy as in the old coun- tries, and of the two evils the latter, perhaps, is preferable and less harmful. The aristocracy of wealth aggravates the discontent of the working class, and keeps the conflict waging in this country with increased violence. The methods adopted to solve these social problems, while in some respects similar, are peculiar to our own country. The new world has been an inviting field for the experimental socialism of the old. The Owenites, Fourierites, St. Simonians, and Icarians, all have attempted on our soil their experimental dreams of social Utopias, but with- out any permanent success. The communistic societies in the United States either have become disorganized or tend rapidly toward dissolution, without leaving behind them any demonstration of the feasibility of their plans.

Political socialism has been such a conspicuous failure also as scarcely to demand at this date serious attention. Societies and clubs have been organized under the incentives of the single tax theory of Henry George and the nationalism of Bellamy. The political weakness of the former 38

TIIF. WORK or CUKISTIANITV

was clearly demonstrated in an attempt to elect Henry Geor<;e ma\-or of New York city, and the latter is so visi(^nar\' that no serious attempts have been made to or^^anize a piuty for the political execution of his theory.

If socicd democracy is an adccjuate solution of the social problems, we might expect a partial demonstration, at least, of its efficiency in the United States. Under the sway of as pure re- publicanism as can be found anywhere in the world, wc might reasonably expect some signs of a blessed paradise, which socialistic democracy claims would be the state of things should its programme of social amelioration be adopted. Most of its demands are already granted under the Stars and Stripes. Universal suffrage, except for women ; free education to all classes ; free speech and free press ; the right of organization ; religious freedom ; equality before the law — all these blessings are granted and enjoyed, yet the social problems are not solved.

After a century and a quarter of experience and trial under the most favorable conditions, we arc to-day compelled to face the same social difficulties which are shaking the monarchial kingdoms of the old world. Money is concen- trating in this country and a few money kings

39

SOCIAL REGENERATION

control the markets, before whose throne com- merce bows and legislation is bondagcd.

So far as the extremes of anarchism and com- munism are successful in this country we may- call them foreign importations. The American workmen show little sympathy with such ex- tremes. But that our workmen have grievances that are the natural progeny of existing social conditions no one can logically contradict; for example, the woman who makes vests for three cents apiece, or trousers for six cents, sewing fif- teen hours per day for fifty cents. The story of the sweat shops of our large cities seems too cruel for acceptance, and reads more like a de- scription of barbarism than of civilization.

Again, when we read of a deck hand becoming a millionaire seventy times in fifty years, and a peddler of mouse traps possessing one hundred millions of securities in twenty-five years, under a republican form of government, we have reason to conclude that such enormous profits are not the rewards of honest industry or legitimate business ; and that such facts are not calculated to pacify the discontent of the industrious class under the wage system of such money lords. In the history of the past, tyranny at the top guarantees debasement at the bottom. The large land grants given away by the Government to 40

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

railroad corporations, as in the case of the Union Pacific ; cit\' franchises granted \\eallh\- monopo- lies of street-car Una^, <^3.s companies, electric hght companies, telephone companies, — all arc such sources cjf complaint against unjust dis- crimination and municipal partiality in favor of the money kings. To meet these unjust dis- criminations and social wrongs the laboring men do not resort to the extremes of the socialists of the old country, nor do they preach revolutionary methods, but seek through cooperation, arbitra- tion, trades unions, agitation, petition and com- plaint, and the use of the ballot, their reme- dial agencies. Trades unions and workingmen's associations have been multiplied until there is scarcely any particular class of workingmen but have their organized union.

Professor Ely has attempted to give some approximate estimate of the numbers represented in some of the more prominent unions, such as the Knights of Labor, the Socialistic Labor Party, the International Working People's Asso- ciation, and the American Railway Union, but the ebb and flow of these organizations have been so fluctuating that what will be an approximate estimate one year will be far from correct the next. For example, the Knights of Labor during the years of 1886 and 1887 had almost unpar- 41

SOCIAL REGENERATION

alleled prosperity. They received new members by the thousand, and many became alarmed at their growing power. Yet if they had become a controUing force there could hav^e been no very serious results from a party controlled by such a platform as they presented to the public. They professed to discourage violence or wasteful destruction of property. They refused to make alliances in politics. They refused membership to any who dealt in intoxicating liquors. They sought to obtain their demands, as nearly all the trades unions profess to do, by peaceful methods. Strikes were to be free from violence and destruc- tion of property. All this may be said in their favor. On the contrary, it has been demonstrated in most of the extensive strikes ordered by these unions that the passions of men have been excited beyond control ; property has been de- stroyed ; business interests blocked ; force and violence resorted to when peaceful methods failed. It is not hard to put out a fire when it is just kindled, but its flames are quenched with difficulty after they once get under headway. Strikers kindle the fire, not intending that it shall burn much (as in the Pittsburg strike of 1887, when the mob destroyed ten million dollars' worth of property), but when once kindled they cannot always control it if they would. 42

Till-: WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

The agricultural industry is about the only class of labor that has not attempted the further- ance of their trade b\' repeated strikes.

The principal objection against these forms of social organization is that their object is a ncga- ti\'e one : protection rather than progression being their purpose. Protection, too, for a class rather than for all classes. Thus, having a selfish basis of operation, they have failed to command the respect and influence necessary to give them stability and make them an adequate force in the body politic of society. They overlook the fact that economic reforms must be brought about by making those who will be the most benefited worthy of such benefits.

No power on earth can legislate men into skilled artisans ; no direction of public justice can protect men from willful idleness, voluntary ignorance, or bestow the elements of success. All that can be done through legislation is to control competition, that every man may have a fair chance to work out his own salvation. The trades unions, therefore, should have a wider sphere than simply protection if they would be progressively helpful. Their aim should be to secure for their membership a broader education and a more enlightened conscience.

The combination of trades unions has raised 43

SOCIAL REGENERATION

the dignity of labor, but it needs still more to be brought home to the labor unions that the labor question, after all, is a moral as well as an eco- nomic question, and the trades unions of the future should aim to be a moral force. They must aid in moral elevation as well as regulating wages and the duration of daily toil. "It is time to recognize the fact that the salvation of the workers will never be accomplished merely by the raisingof wages and the shortening of hours. The lives of men who have to earn their bread by the sweat of their brows are often blighted by other things than the rapacity of the capitalists." ^

They must also remember that they are just as much bound to consider the interests of the higher class as the higher class is to consider the welfare of the lower. The worst wrong, per- haps, that has been inflicted upon trades unions has been their bondage to walking delegates and bosses who pose as their leaders, who direct ill- timed strikes and refuse compromises, except when forced by the starvation of their followers. Burke said, *' Men have equal rights, but not to equal things." The latter come from talent and energy, which nature has made different in differ- ent men.

Nor would Americans be willing in the hope

'^Eclectic, February, 1895. 44

THE WORK. OF CHRISTIANITY

of ulterior results to become parts of a vast machine in which each one is but a link in a ch;iin or a cog in a wheel without self-assertion. By whatever name of libert\' it may cloak itself, it is the veriest despotism and is radically opposed to the American mind and heart.

STRIKES AND OTHER METHODS

Inasmuch, therefore, as strikes have been adopted by the working class in the United States as the principal method of solving the problem of capitalistic tyranny, inquiry as to their cause, gain, and loss, will be necessary to decide as to their efficiency or deficiency. Their causes may be briefly stated as arising from dissatisfaction as to wages ; non-fulfillment of contract, sometimes on the part of the em- ployer and sometimes on the part of the em- plo\'ed ; sometimes a protest against new de- mands from one party or the other ; sometimes on account of individual grievances which by sympathy become the grievances of all.

Since the history of strikes thus brought about makes it clear that they have occasioned much loss, in comparison with the little gained to both parties, and have accomplished nothing toward lessening the friction between capital and labor, both the opposing parties ought to accept the 45

SOCIAL REGENERATION

conclusion that the strike system, as conducted in the past, is an evil to all concerned. Contracts can scarcely be drawn with definiteness and minuteness sufficient to cover all contingencies that may arise, and unless there is both reason and moral principle on both sides these con- tingencies will inevitably provoke ill temper, which, when fomented by a brooding sense of injury, leads to open conflict. That workingmen have not only the right to organize, but are jus- tified in organization for mutual protection, must be admitted, if capitalists have the right to organize for the purpose of regulating prices of production. The former will, no doubt, be less harmful to the general interests of society.

Monopolists may be controlled by more wis- dom than impulse, but their power for self- aggrandizement at the disadvantage of the many should be looked upon as a greater menace to well-ordered government than organized labor. *' Money-worshipers, who are used to denying that the common gifts of God to the people belong to the people, are gradually edu- cated to a partial and unjust legislation, so that law itself may become unequal. Politicians, who have no scruples in damaging and obstructing one another's parties by all sorts of devices, are shocked when they hear and sometimes when 46

THE WORK OF CHKISTIAMTV

they only suspect, tliat laboring men arc doing the same thing. The game is bad for both of them. It takes time to convince unwilling minds, but time is on the side of the Almight)' and e\-erlasting Father of all that live."

At present the warfare waged b)- the labor- ing class, though sevent}- per cent greater in numbers, is unequal because of the superiority of intelligence and money power combined against them. It may be that the superiority of intelli- gence may some day be transferred to the other side, and in this respect the warfare is becoming more equal all the time ; and as this widespread intelligence is quickened, the more intensified will be the strife unless WTongs are righted. Intelligent slavery is an impossibility, but in- telligent labor will be one of the important factors in solving the problem of unequal oppor- tunities in the evolution of society.

When moral conditions reach a sufficiently high status to apply the rule of the gospel, " Love thy neighbor as thyself," when both classes are prompted by such motives as the golden rule suggests, then labor troubles will be a thing of the past. But such a time has not come, and provisions for existing conditions must be such as recognize society as it is, not what it ought to be or what we hope it will be. 47

SOCIAL REGENERATION

Among the many suggestions none seem so commendable and practical as arbitration. Yet this method is weak unless it can be made com- pulsory, and if made compulsory it seems con- trary to the principles of free government that the manufacturer should be compelled to obey the enforced decrees of an arbitration board, or that wage-earners should be compelled to work for what such a board might be pleased to name.

Though it might be as fair for one as the other, it can only be looked upon as a narcotic to ease the pain, and not a cure for the pain itself

Another method of solving the difficulties be- tween capital and labor is the cooperation plan, which, to some extent, has been adopted in the United States with but limited success, but to a much larger extent and with more satisfactory results in England. The plan is to make every laborer a capitalist. While the system cannot be pronounced altogether a failure, it certainly will be admitted without controversy that it has failed to meet the expectations of its advocates, and has come far short of benefiting the laboring classes to such an extent as they anticipated. The failure has not been for want of capital, for of this there is abundance.

The telegraph operators in a strike a few years ago lost in wages four hundred thousand dollars 48

TlllC WORK OF CHRISTIAMTV

If tlic\' could afford to lose in wages by idleness nearl\' half a million of dollars, why may they not afford to spend nearly half a million in build- in<4 tele«^raph lines of iheir own ?

The strikers on the Gould system of railroads a few years ago lost one hundred and five thou- sand dollars per week by their idleness.

The immense sums deposited in savings banks in small amounts to the credit of the laboring class also indicate that if these sums could be concentrated there would be sufficient capital for almost any business undertaking. But business brains are as essential as capital, and this is one of the elements of success too much overlooked on the part of cooperative stores and manufac- tories. One large firm in New York has re- cently engaged a man for ten thousand dollars per year simply to write advertisements. This, from the laborers* standpoint, is both unjust and unequal, and no cooperative company estab- lished by them would pay such enormous wages for brains.

Three elements of successful production are muscle, brains, and capital, and as long as muscle and capital are considered the chief factors, all business enterprises conducted on such a basis must be disappointing and unsatisfactory in results.

4 49

Kms6m^mm^\

H

SOCIAL REGENERATION

Among the many suggestions none seem so commendable and practical as arbitration. Yet this method is weak unless it can be made com- pulsory, and if made compulsory it seems con- trary to the principles of free government that the manufacturer should be compelled to obey the enforced decrees of an arbitration board, or that wage-earners should be compelled to work for what such a board might be pleased to name.

Thoucrh it mic^ht be as fair for one as the other, it can only be looked upon as a narcotic to ease the pain, and not a cure for the pain itself

Another method of solving the difficulties be- tween capital and labor is the cooperation plan, which, to some extent, has been adopted in the United States with but limited success, but to a much larger extent and with more satisfactory results in England. The plan is to make every laborer a capitalist. While the system cannot be pronounced altogether a failure, it certainly will be admitted without controversy that it has failed to meet the expectations of its advocates, and has come far short of benefiting the laboring classes to such an extent as they anticipated. The failure has not been for want of capital, for of this there is abundance.

The telegraph operators in a strike a few years ago lost in wages four hundred thousand dollars 48

■ s: *■

4:.. ^^ d-

THE WORK OF CIlKISriAMIV

If they could afford to lose in wages by idleness nearly half a million of dollars, why may they not afford to spend nearly half a million in build- ing telegraph lines of their own ?

The strikers on the Gould system of railroads a few )'ears ago lost one hundred and five thou- sand dollars per week by their idleness.

The immense sums deposited in savings banks in small amounts to the credit of the laboring class also indicate that if these sums could be concentrated there would be sufficient capital for almost any business undertaking. But business brains are as essential as capital, and this is one of the elements of success too much overlooked on the part of cooperative stores and manufac- tories. One large firm in New York has re- cently engaged a man for ten thousand dollars per year simply to write advertisements. This, from the laborers' standpoint, is both unjust and unequal, and no cooperative company estab- lished by them would pay such enormous wages for brains.

Three elements of successful production are muscle, brains, and capital, and as long as muscle and capital are considered the chief factors, all business enterprises conducted on such a basis must be disappointing and unsatisfactoiy in results.

4 49

SOCIAL REGENERATION

Another plan somewhat similar is profit- sharing. This plan, though less extensively- introduced, has been more successful. It settles the " iron law of wages " by the laborer accept- ing a fixed share of the profits. It is advocated with a great deal of enthusiasm by many who on a small scale have made successful experi- ments. Mr. Holyoake, who has demonstrated the feasibility of the plan, claims that it has already passed the experimental stage. In the United States it has been tried only on a small scale, in widely separated places, under various conditions, and without any marked success that would pronounce it more than a partial solution of the vexing problem.

The general unrest and social discontent which prevail after an experimental trial of the freest government in the world, extending through a century and a quarter, is indication enough of a deep-seated malady whose remedy has not been found in legislation, cooperation, industrial fed- eralism, trades unions, communistic societies, or political parties. Yet we will admit that while these many agencies for working out the social amelioration of society have proved inadequate measures in the solution of existing problems, they all have been of service, and will continue to be beneficial in working out the higher des- 50

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

tiny of mankind antl rcali/.inc^, some time in tlic future, a truer brotherhood of man.

Sufficient proi^ress has been made in ci\'ih'za- tion and general education to put the mark of Cain upon all men and methods that look upon violence as a messenger of peace. Gunpowder and dynamite, nihilism and anarch}', are advo- cated by a few fiery malconstituted specimens of humanity, and still occasionally resorted to at the instigation of extreme socialists, yet it is very generally felt that brute violence has no longer a justified place in the great social life of advancing civilization, and that such weapons are more injurious to him who employs them than to those against whom they are aimed.

The propaganda of all social reforms to-day, both in the old and new world, is based upon agitation, education of the public conscience, peaceful though earnest demands of the natural rights of all men, and a fair field for the working out of one's salvation under the most favorable circumstances that the best ordered state of society can afford. It is also quite clearly dem- onstrated that no state of society, no form of government, no large-hearted philanthropy, can do away with the fact that " man must earn his bread in the sweat of his brow."

The complaint has been made that so many of 51

SOCIAL REGENERATION

the wealthy class live not on the sweat of their own brows, but on the sweat of the laborers whom they employ, and that capital is the production of excessive sweat and unequal division of profits. But while in many cases this is a just complaint and a real source of grievance, it is nevertheless true, as a rule, that the capitalist has to sweat a good deal more than his servants. He works more hours in the twenty-four, his mental anxiety amidst the fierce competitions of trade, the mental exertion required by the com- plication of all large business interests, evidently are not rightly appreciated by those who have only physical work to do.

It ought also to become evident to the work- ing classes in the light of past experience that no external condition can remove the necessity of hard labor, even if profits are more equally distributed. An equal distribution to-day would give to each man, woman, and child, only one hundred and sixty dollars per year; and that, on an average of equal distribution, would give each family of three persons an annual income of only four hundred and eighty dollars.

The agitation of social questions has already shown practical results in modifying the hard- ships of the poor and oppressed. The tendency of legislation has been toward humanitarian 52

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

regulation in mills and factories. The unstinted expenditure of money in buildini; asylums, poor- houses, hospitals, enactment of sanitary laws, and regard for public health, all show that there has been a growing interest in the welfare of the unfortunate of the human race which has not characterized an}- previous age of the world's history.

A writer for The Century goes even further and views with alarm the tendency of public legislation. He says : " The almost unrebuked and unbroken trend of our legislation is toward centralization and state socialism. We are no longer on the verge of socialism, we are in it, far advanced in both the principles and practices of what was but a very few years ago an abhor- rent doctrine to all."^

If extended legislation on behalf of a better and a higher education ; if liberal payment of pensions to w^ounded and decrepit old soldiers ; if legislation in behalf of monopolies has come into disrepute, and that in behalf of the proletariat into respect ; if State and federal legislators will listen with respectful attention to the complaints from working men, and try to protect them in their industrial rights ; if legis- lation prohibiting the employment of children in

' "Socialism and Pensions,"' Ccn(u)y, \o\. 20, p. 179, 1891.

53

SOCIAL REGENERATION

factories is encouraged ; if the State is to be thus defined as the social body in organized action, and all this is called legislation toward State socialism, then welcome it as the harbinger of a better day and let us cease to call it " an abhorrent doctrine."

Science, too, has lifted her voice and contrib- uted something of her intellectual research toward the recognition of responsibility to humanity in its lower conditions. Yet science has done little except in the way of diagnosis.

"Judged by the utterance of her spokesmen, science, whose great triumph in the nineteenth century has been the tracing of steps in the elevation of life up to human society, stands dumb before the problems presented by society as it exists around us. As regards its further evolution she appears to have no clear message." ^

Herbert Spencer, in his " Synthetic Philoso- phy," can do little more than regard with alarm social tendencies. The scientific school is nega- tive on nearly all of the social problems of the day, and its most learned and renowned repre- sentative is so pessimistic in the tone of his agnostic mind that hope itself seems to be extin- guished. He says : " Even the best of modern

^ Evohttion of Society, by Professor Kidd. 54

THE WORK 01- CHRISTIANITY

civilization appears to me to exhibit a condition of mankind which embodies no worthy ideal ncjr even possesses the merit of stabiht}'. I do not hesitate to express the opinion that if there is no hope of a large improvement of the condition of the greater part of the human family ; if it is true that the increase of knowledge, the winning of a greater dominion over nature which is its consequence, and the wealth which follows upon that dominion, are to make no difference in the extent and intensity of want with its concom- itant physical and moral degradation amongst the masses of the people, I should hail the advent of some kindly comet which would sweep the whole affair away, as a desirable con- summation." ^

What a grand consummation this would be ! What grand results to be accomplished by agnostic revolution ! W'hat immense energy and unnumbered centuries of time, for the purpose of a great explosion at last ! What a profound solution of the final outcome of all things and the winding up of the human race ! It is pre- scribing death as the cure of disease, and explo- sion for a renewed earth.

The great prophets, who spoke more than human wisdom, have partially lifted the curtains ^ Professor Huxley. 55

SOCIAL REGENERATION

of the future and given us glimpses of a better day, which feed an undying hope and an in- creasing faith that the ultimate outcome of strife and struggle will be " the federation of the world " and " the brotherhood of man." The time has not yet come when " every man shall sit under his fig tree," when "none shall hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea ; but that it will come faith has no doubt, and when it comes, and not until it comes, will the social problems be adequately solved. The wise of this world place the prophecies of men who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, in a class with the poetic dreams of contemporary poets and sages, and consign them all, without distinction, to the fanciful and visionary dreams of the past. Others insist that the selfishness of man never can be eradicated so as to see fulfilled such a prophecy.

So much, however, must be admitted, that the only effectual remedy that has been sug- gested for this radical sin of human selfishness emanates from the same sources as the proph- ecies of a renewed earth wherein dwellcth righteousness.

The spirit that calls the loudest to-day for 56

THE WORK OF ClIKISTIANITV

recognition througli the most advanced and most powerful appeals, and which is doin<^ more for the leveling of the extreme conditions of society than all the external solutions combined, is the spirit of altruism ; and what is that but another name for the Cross ? This is the one ascending principle, demonstrating its efficiency above all others, as the one great essential [)rin- ciple in the grand and final culmination of social harmony.

57

CHAPTER V

REQUIREMENTS OF AN ADEQUATE SOLUTION

In applying Christianity to the solution of social problems, it should be understood at the outset that we do not mean Christianity as represented by any particular church, creed, or dogma, but as set forth by Christ and his apostles, whose teachings and doctrines are written in the New Testament.

A large amount of the prejudice and oppo- sition to the Christian religion at the opening of the twentieth century has its source in judgments formed from false interpretations of the truth. The history of every Church falsifies its claim (if it makes such a claim) to infallibility. A professedly infallible Church once adopted the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, and when Gali- leo denied its truth and set forth the doctrines of the Copernican system, this Church pro- nounced its judgment against him.

Each new discovery involved collision with church authority and was intimidated by its power. There have been a great many inter- 58

Till-: WORK OK CIIKISTIAM lY

pretations of Christianity, all of wliich contain truth, but none of them the whole truth, and most of them much error; and in the honest study of the truth, and in our search for the solution of problems that vex mankind, we should seek to find the truth itself and free our- selves from the traditions of men and false inter- pretations and definitions. Therefore we find it a difificult task to define Christianity because it has been so variously interpreted in different ages and under different circumstances, and in so many creeds, that a historical search for a definition is more likely to bewilder than satisfy the inquiring mind.

That great cruelties, burning passions, and ungovernable ambitions, have been committed and indulged by those who claimed to be repre- sentatives on earth of the divine Christ, are facts of history we will not attempt to deny. But if men are to form their judgments of Christianity by its false witnesses, why not judge the value of steam by its explosions ? the mechanical util- ity and light-giving power of electricity by its fiery path of destruction when untamed and un- harnessed ? The inner experience and recogni- tion of the truth can best be discovered by doing rather than by defining. Christ said: " If any man will do his will [the Father's will], he shall 59

SOCIAL REGENERATION

know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7 : 17).

In this way we come into right conceptions of those principles which shall be the ultimate solu- tion and righteous judge of all wrongs. There are certain requirements which must be met by any system, whether it be economic or religious, or both, before it can justly claim to be an ade- quate solution of social problems. The next step, therefore, will be an inquiry as to whether Christianity can meet these claims.

First : We may require of such a system the improvement of the material, intellectual, moral, religious, and social conditions of all classes. We say all classes, because the interests of all are so interwoven that all must share the benefits or ills of the social constitution of society. Paul discourses on the intimate relation of the different members of the body as being necessary to each other, by saying, *^And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it" (i Cor. 12 : 26).

The construction of society, based on these fundamental principles, would no doubt solve the present problems that are producing so much division and discontent, so far as they can be solved by any outward form of government. 60

THI-: WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

But somctliin^ more is needed before even a perfect constitution can effect a perfect state of societ}'. Societv' itself nuist be rei^enerated before outward means can be perfectly api)lied. The first aim of Christianity is to regenerate the whole man, and thus the society of whicli he forms a part. When the whole is prepared for the mold of a righteous formula, there will be no difficulty in adjusting the outward to the inner life. This would involve the improvement of the material, intellectual, moral, religious, and social conditions of all classes, and this is what we claim Christianity has done to a higher degree than any other agency, and will do still more perfectly as its principles become more generally applied in the control of government and indi- vidual life.

CHRISTIANITY IMPROVES MATERIAL CONDITION

That the material condition of a Christian people is improved by their faith must be mani- fest to the unprejudiced reader of history and the unbiased observer of the fruits of Christian faith. The declaration of Christ, " I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John lo : lo), may have its application to both physical and moral conditions as well as to spiritual forces ; physi- 6i

SOCIAL REGENERATION

cal life itself has been baptized into such a sacredness that it may be called its guardian.

Without rejjardincj the debasincr influence or effects of heathenism upon the moral condition of its subjects, its condemnation is sufficient in the fact that instead of being the guardian it is rather the destroyer of human life. Its common representation of their gods is that of delight in the sufferings of human beings as sacrificial offerings to propitiate favor. It is not only true of the lowest or uncivilized tribes and nations, but also of those having made advances in civil- ization, that life has but little value.

The history of the past fails to point out any nation, uninfluenced by Christian principles, wherein the blood of its people was not shed in order to appease the gods. The Grecian states were far advanced in the arts and sciences, and boasted of their philosophers, sculptors, orators, and poets, but it was their custom to sacrifice human lives to propitiate their gods before going to battle. The Romans were nearly as celebrated for their historians and scholars as for their war- riors and victories in the conflict of arms, but until Christianity appeared as a potential factor in the development of their civilization, their re- ligious ceremonies were almost as cruel in the sacrifice of life as their wars. To as late a 62

THE WORK or CHRISTIANITY

period as that of Trajan both men and women were sacrifieed on tlie ahars of their numerous gods. The cruelties of less civilized nations affix a yet bloodier character in the record of massacres connected with their reli<;ious rites. The Mexicans slaui^htered thousands in the performance of their relic^ious devotions. The Pcru\'ians on one occasion killed two hundred children for the health of their sovereii;n. If it has been charged against Christianity that it is a religion of blood like all the rest, let it be re- membered that it has never but once offered a human sacrifice, and through that one it claims to abolish death itself.

Christianity has done more toward saving physical life than all other agencies, by extend- ing its shield of protection in many ways that enhance the enjoyment of existence. The an- archists, who insist that the blessings of this religion are based on future promises, must be blind to the fact that godliness is profitable for the life that now is, as well as for the life that is to come. That care for the needy and the poor and that general comforts have been multiplied wherever Christianity has permeated society, is proof enough that this faith has a love for the better conditions of man's physical life as well as the destiny of his immortal soul. Its influence 63

SOCIAL REGENERATION

introduces humane laws which protect the weak and oppressed; it softens the cruelty of war, and has made victory possible without the slaughter or slavery of the vanquished, and, as in both the late Civil War and Spanish-American War, made defeat a blessing to the conquered. This sanctity which Christianity stamps upon life has furnished wealth to build asylums for the sick and aged, the poor and the wounded, the blind and the halt, and forced, through moral persuasion, states to bestow greater care upon the weaker mem- bers of the political body. If it be said that these philanthropic works are the fruits of science and philosophy, of advanced enlightenment, we reply that they are certainly the things which ac- company Christianity. They were never found to any considerable extent in pagan countries and semicivilization, severed from Christian influence. Philosophers have praised the virtue of such beneficence, but without a compassion that feeds the poor. Science has studied the bodies of men, the causes of disease, and the remedies for physical healing, but if all this can be said of intellectual research, we find it practically and beneficently applied in Christian lands. If we search for poverty and distress we may find them in close proximity to the stately mansions of the rich, for the extremes of human conditions are 64

THE WORK OF CHKISTIANITV

found in our large centers of population, where the rich and poor live side by side, yet not to- gether, but if you would find these lowest con- ditions of suffering humanity multiplied and increased, so that prosperity and happiness con- stitute the exception, where the \-ast majority and masses of human beings are engaged in a life and death struggle for the subsistence of bodily life, you must go where Christianity has not gone with its leaves of healing and beneficent work.

Christianity also increases knowledge and meets this demand of a system that has a right to claim a solution of social problems. ** The excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it" (Eccles. 7 : 12). It is, therefore, one of the elements of increasing life.

Christ came to give a more abundant life, which makes existence a joy and worth the liv- ing. Who can estimate the sublime power of divine truth in breaking down the degrading superstition which stood in the way of man's progress toward a higher life? The force pro- ducing civilization, which has lifted whole tribes and nations from the lowest depths of barbarism, has not been the enactments of human legisla- tion, but the enlightening influence of revealed truth, gi\ing special emphasis to the declaration 5 65

SOCIAL REGENERATION

of the Psalmist: "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Ps. 119 : 130).

We should not close our eyes to the fact that great intellects have been developed preceding the Christian era, that exceptional mental powers, uninfluenced perhaps by a written reve- lation, wrought so well under the presiding promptings of true genius, that all centuries since have in some respects been their pupils. The student of epic song will wait upon the muse of Homer as a master of his art; the tragedian will study ^schylus; the disciples of speculative philosophy will continue to sit at the feet of Socrates and Plato; the aspiring orator will try to imitate Demosthenes and Cicero, but these were lonely stars in the intel- lectual firmament of long ages preceding the dawn of a more diffusive light, which broke in upon the world when the child Jesus was born in Bethlehem. How much greater would have been these ancient examples of genius, born under the fostering light of the Sun of Right- eousness ! The intellects of the world that have blazed as stars of great magnitude, growing apparently separate from the influence of Chris- tian truth, would have been as much superior and of as much more value to the human race, 66

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

if baptized into the spirit of the e\er-hving and true God, as electricit}', liarnessed and made subservient to the use of our modern civihzation, is superior to the same natural force, when its secrets of utihty were undiscoxered by the genius of inventixe art. Dr. Storrs says : *' Take out from modern civihzation what has been done for it, in physical research, in historical explora- tion, in philosophical construction, speculative criticism, or aesthetic endeavors, by Christian scholars, inspired by Christian faith, and pursu- ini^ it with powers which that faith has trained, and it would be left almost as devoid of what is most enriching and memorable, as the glacier is of trees or Sahara of blossoming shrubs."^

But without the moral and religious influence of Christianity, man's desert life has been worse than Sahara, where flowers never bloom, or the glacier, where trees never grow. These are figures of lifeless things, but man has a living soul. He will sow to the flesh or to the Spirit, and whatever he sows, that will he also reap. When Isaiah foretold the character of the new kingdom and what it would do for society, he saw prophetically what we have seen in reality : the broken-hearted have been healed; liberty has been proclaimed to the captives ; the prison door

1 Dr. Storrs' Divine Oj-v^in of Christianity, p. 231. 67

SOCIAL REGENERATION

has been opened ; those that mourn have been given beauty for ashes, oil of joy for sorrow, garments of praise for heaviness of heart (Isa. ch. 41). The Sermon on the Mount is still being heard and received by the poor and needy, the hungry and persecuted, as testimony that Christ is a friend of humanity. His message kindles an undying hope and pictures in burning words the humanity of unselfishness.

His Spirit in the heart is as a well of water refreshing and perennial, fostering grace that glorifies humanity and saves by purifying the heart out of which are the issues of hfe. It is Christian truth settled and rooted in the heart that changes the darkest environment into the glow of shining beauty and transforms selfish society into a brotherhood of love. That which makes conditions hard is not so much the incom- petence or partiality of law, but an inward blind- ness causing us to stumble and lose our way. The religion of Christ sweetens the bitter waters with a healing branch, throws sunshine over adversities, and makes this world, with its hard conditions, bearable under incentives of present triumph and final victory. Therefore, we believe Christianity will meet this first requirement, and by the improvement of the material, intellectual, moral, religious, and social conditions of all 68

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

classes, will do more than all other schemes conceived or dreamed by man t(j\vard the cor- rection of irrc^^ularities and social wrongs.

The second requirement to an adequate solu- tion of social problems must in some way bring about the regeneration of unregenerated wealth. We shall hope in \ain for any system of laws, di\ision of property, or communion of goods, or naturalization of lands, to heal the schism be- tween capital and labor. Consecrated wealth becomes a blessing to the laboring classes under any system of laws, but wealth avariciously gained and selfishly used can never be made a blessing to anyone by the severest restrictions or wisest regulations of external organization. The assumption that the difficulties arising from the ownership of property and the accumulation of wealth can be adjusted by government control is the prime fallacy of state socialism. It is unreasonable to suppose that such measures will extirpate the selfish passions of men for money, and without doing this the difficult}' between the capitalist and the laborer cannot be solved.

When we come to study the attitude of Chris- tianity toward wealth, we shall not find indis- criminate denunciation against its possession as a sin in itself, but we shall not have to read very far until w^e discover the spirit of greed, which is 69

SOCIAL REGENERATION

the crying sin of modern society, condemned as the worst form of idolatry and utterly at variance to the spirit of Christ. The rich are not shut out of the kingdom of God, but they are represented as having a hard struggle to get in, because of the temptations with which riches try men's souls.

The maxims of the divine kingdom Christ came to establish insist that all means must be used, not for personal ends and self-aggrandize- ment ; that all business conducted on such a basis is false to the divine standard of man's duty to man ; that to be chief among men, he must be the servant of all ; that our relation to each other is not one of convenience, but of use- fulness. If we lived according to such princi- ples, having for our object in life such motives prompting activity, the chasm between the rich and the poor, between the employer and the employed, would soon be bridged over.

We do not believe that it is the fact of a man being rich that excites antagonism on the part of the laboring class, but rather the selfish extravagance and domineering demeanor, the heartless treatment and want of sympathy for the classes their riches support, and who are looked upon simply as means to obtain greater riches. The evil spirit of envy, jealousy, and 70

THE WORK OF CIIKISTIANI IV

bitterness, fostered by the unregeneratcd aris- tocracy of carnal wealth, — uns}'inpathetic, lordly, and resentful, — is the cause of social distinctions, producin<^- class feeling and class hatred, and keeps up a continuous clashing between individual interests and j)revcnts the highest good of all.

While we look upon the strike system as a poor solution and a radical measure which should never be encouraged except in extreme cases, yet these extreme cases have often oc- curred where the laborer owed it to his man- hood to offer resistance. It is not creditable to capitalists that a large proportion of the im- provements which are on the laborers' side, such as increase of wages and fewer hours of labor, ha\'e been gained largely through force. But when such concessions were involuntarily granted there has been the feeling of triumph on the one hand and of defeat on the other, without either party being brought into closer sympathy. The breach has been widened and resentments have been engendered, which are manifest in constrained but determined efforts of revenge. How different when disputes are settled upon the ideas of Christian love and divine brotherhood ! " Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and 71

SOCIAL REGENERATION

trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ ; not with eye service, as men pleasers ; but as the servants of Christ, . . . knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing [moderating] threatening: knowing that your [both their and your] Master also is in heaven ; neither is there respect of persons with him " (Eph. 6 : 5-9). When these principles become practiced by the wealthy and the poor, by the employer and the employed, then shall we have a state of industrial peace and social brotherhood which divine prophecy and the longing of the human heart encourages us to hope for.

What stands in the way of realizing this hope? Many things, no doubt, but one of the greatest of all hindrances is the commercial spirit of our modern times, whose propelling force is love of money, manifested in all the selfish devotion of mammon-worship. Patriotism, civil service reform, art, music, universities, and even religion, to some extent, are bowing their heads before the avarice of mercantile interests. The tide running toward money-making cannot be turned back until business is conducted on the basis of the golden rule. The unity of society can be es- 72

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

tablislicd only by the adoption of higher ideals, which shall govern our relation to each other and make us willing to sacrifice self for the good of many. The message of Christianity to men of wealth is written in the language of Paul, when he says : " We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself" (Rom. 15 :

1-3).

A third requirement demanded in the solution of social problems is the abolition of social rank and distinctions such as are based on false pre- sumptions and artificial value. We believe that physical and mental endowments are unequal and founded in the divine constitution of things and, therefore, unalterable. But all unnatural and involuntary inequalities, fostered by the out- ward adv^antages of wealth, by the accidents of birth, by the love of money, and the avarice of man, should be condemned by any system that claims to be a remedy for clashing and conflict- ing irregularities which are producing divisions and marring the brotherhood and unity of the human race.

In the most positive way docs Christianity oppose class distinctions in the ordinary sense. 73

SOCIAL REGENERATION

It has always been the advocate of social equal- ity, and when introduced into the Roman Em- pire, where slaves were treated as chattel prop- erty, it placed slave and master as equals in the sight of God. It honors every man of whatever race or class as belonging to one family, having one Creator, one Father, in whom all men live and have their being. As Dr. Storrs says : " By fact and precept, and lurid forewarning, by the cross and the throne, by lowly advent and aston- ishing work, and the most majestic sermon of time, the new religion wrought through the cir- cles of human life, wherever it touched them, to make the humblest an object of solicitude, to bind upon the haughtiest a new sense of obliga- tion ; and when men met around a table, not a tomb, where all alike were the guests of our Lord, Jew and Gentile, master and slave, bar- barian and Greek, the lines which had divided them wholly disappeared in their common priv- ilege, their common love, and their common ex- pectation." ^

By its unsearchable energy it has made a ruling aristocracy disgraceful as a form of gov- ernment and as a method of social organization. When Paul declared himself a " debtor to bond and free, to the wise and unwise," he sounded

'^Divine Origin of Christianity, p. 165. 74

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

the death knell of social caste. The caste sys- tems of India and Japan have not yet been destroyed, but the\' are bein<^ broken up just in proportion to the proi^ress of the gosj)el in those once pagan lands.

If class distinctions have been and still are recognized in the Romish hierarchy, it is because of the corruptions, which, like barnacles on a ship, have adhered to her on account of priestly pretensions and past alliances with statecraft and worldly dominion. The greatest impulse for democratic institutions may be traced to the in- fluence of Christianity, which has been through all these centuries of progress fostering all that is humane and beneficent and producing liberty and equal rights for all.

A fourth requirement is the organization of society so as to prevent toil excessively burden- some and long on the part of some and idleness on the part of others.

Just how far the State should exercise its con- trol, either in reducing the burdens of excessive toil or compelling the idle class to work, involves difficulties which have given rise to various opinions and many impractical theories. They advocate regulating by law what can be done rightly only by the voluntary action of the highest principles governing our responsibility to each 75

SOCIAL REGENERATION

Other. There have been almost as many dif- ferent theories of State control as there have been eminent political economists, but that the tendency of legislation in both England and the United States is toward more extended control is manifest from the spirit of the times, and is encouraged by the success and favorable testi- mony of laws already passed, having for their object protection of labor against excessive toil. The influence of Christian socialists upon legislation favorable to the laboring class in England has already been referred to in a pre- vious chapter. Certain abuses can be rectified by legislation, and such legislation has been urged and pressed upon the attention of repre- sentatives so persistently that relief has been found only in acquiescence. All the political parties of both England and the United States stand committed to reforms which, if carried out, would make both countries a paradise for labor, so far as they can be made such by legis- lation. Already the hours of labor have been reduced, child-labor put under severe restric- tions, if not altogether prohibited, the sweating system brought under condemnation, and many other measures which protect the interests of the employed against the greed of the employer have been matters of legislation. The Hon. 76

THE WORK OF CIIRISTIANITV

Robert P. Porter, wlio has been a keen observer in social politics, in a recent letter publislied in The Independent, says, "The ke)'note of the poHtical tendency of the times in luii^land is toward state and municipal socialism." Govern- ment control of enterprises formerly managed by private companies has proved more satisfactory than its advocates anticipated. Government control of telegraphs, municipal ownership of gas and water works and street railways, has given such marked results in most cases as to justify what has been done, and insure the pos- sibility of more direct relations of the State to its people.

The Christian sentiment and philanthropic efforts of Kingsley and Maurice are bearing fruit in a still more practical way than they con- ceived. Thus it can be clearly shown that the spirit of Christianity is not only in accord with all individual and legislative efforts, looking to more favorable conditions of labor, not only that it may be divorced from that which is exces- sively burdensome, but also that Christian con- viction has been the moral and altruistic force back of such efforts.

Christianity presents no formal constitution by which society is to be governed, but touch- ing all human relations, it leaves upon them the 11

SOCIAL REGENERATION

impress of its divine sanction, of principles which govern with justice and equity. There- fore Christ was not concerned with govern- mental forms, so much as about humanity, the good of society, and the removal of excessive burdens. His method was self-sacrifice, the highest activity of love, and when this permeates society its redemption will without doubt be accomplished.

If anyone thinks that labor is so much more excessive and burdensome than in lower degrees of civilization, such a one ought to read more carefully the conditions of labor without modern civilization, and probably his mind would be corrected in its misconception of the past history of the toiling classes. Atkinson, who has made a very thorough examination of this subject, says : " In the primitive days, under the prim- itive methods, labor was so arduous and the hours of work so continuous that only the strongest survived ; the conditions of life were more equal, but it was the equality of sordid, continuous, excessive manual labor." What Christian influence has done for lightening the burdens of the toiling masses ought to kindle some spark of gratitude, and inspire confidence because of the burdens of excessive toil it has removed, and for deliverance from that ** equality 78

THE WORK OF CIIKISTIAMTV

of sordid, continuous, excessive manual labor," which under less Christianized conditions was so severe as to grind the life out of all but a few of the strongest who survived.

On the other hand, the message of Christ to the idle may find its expression in his words to the men who stood outside the vineyard, " Why stand ye all the day idle?"

Paul's message to the church of Thessalonica was even more positive and general when he said, ** For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat."

His words also had the added force of ex- ample because he " wrought with labor and travail night and day," that he might be an example for others to follow. If there be an idle class among the rich, who think it unmanly and beneath a gentleman to labor, let it be said, to the praise of Christianity, that the number grows continuously less and more disreputable as society becomes Christianized and controlled by the matchless example of the Nazarene car- penter. Under Christ's influence and the inspira- tion of his life there can be found no justification for idleness, though the barns may be full and the treasury large enough to guarantee exemp- tion from future want. Whether our talents be 79

SOCIAL REGENERATION

in money or in brain-force, their non-use threat- ens their extirpation.

In this the law of nature and the law of the gospel agree. The master giv^es his servants an allotment of land, a measure of intellect, or a talent of gold, to be used, developed, and in- creased, and as an incentive for activity as well as a warning against idleness, announces that he will return and reward his servants according to their works.

A fifth requirement of an adequate solution should abolish the possibility of an unearned increment and guarantee the full reward of labor so far as nature's provisions will allow.

An unearned increment is defined technically to be " the increase of value of land arising from increase of population and other general causes, as distingruished from increased value from labor or outlay of the individual owner." ^

One of the bitter complaints against wealth arises from the fact that a large proportion of it is not the fruit of diligence or efficiency, but the gain of natural increase of property, made so by increase of population. That individuals should possess the wealth to which every member of society has contributed seems on the face of it unjust, but it is easier to point out the injustice

^ Standard Dictionary. 80

THE WORK OF CIIiasriAMlV

than to sugi^cst and apply a more satisfactory and equitable provision. The socialistic remedy is nationalization of land, but this stands for very different ideas and, we mi^ht say, conflicting opinions. One idea is to abolish all individual ownership as well as occupation of land, and recommends the cultivation of the soil by pro- ductive associations or communes.

Others would make both ownership and occupation of land compulsory, which is just the opposite of the above plan.

Another plan advocated comes in between these two extremes, which favors national owner- ship, but individual occupation of land. Thus, we see, the term "nationalization of land" has various meanings, none of which, as interpreted and applied by their advocates, would be any positive improvement on the present system.

The United States Homestead Laws were no doubt enacted to prevent the individual owner- ship of large tracts of land, and make as equal and just distribution of the public and unoccu- pied domains as possible. The law certainly favors the small capitalist and throws round him government protection until his patent is secured, but then leaves him at the mercy of the land monopolizer, who can tempt him on pay- ment of a fixed price to deed away his original 6 ' 8i

SOCIAL REGENERATION

erant. In some cases the Indians have been protected in their government land by a pro- vision making it impossible to transfer their property for a number of years. If this kind of government control should be extended to the protection of every homesteader, it would perhaps be called by some an arbitrary law in- consistent with the highest idea of freedom, but it certainly would be of great benefit to the large majority, and a great protection against the transference of land from the many to the pos- session of the few.

The agrarian laws of the Jewish theocracy might be studied with profit by political econo- mists of to-day. They certainly came nearer solving the problem of extreme poverty on the one hand and extreme wealth on the other than any other system ever put in force in the gov- ernment of nations. While they guaranteed to every family an interest in the soil, encouraging the virtues of industry and frugality, they pro- hibited individual monopoly of the land, and thus prevented the extremes of riches and pov- erty which characterize our modern civilization.

The dignity of labor was a marked feature of the Jewish nation in comparison with the odium attached to it in ancient nations. Large pro- prietorships were made impossible by the restora- 82

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

tion of landed property in the fiftieth \'car. The iiiequahty of conchtions half a century produced, disa[)peared when the Year of Jubilee returned. The political evils which have afflicted nations liave been lar<jely the result of inirighteous monopoly of the land on the part of a few, and the wisdom of the Mosaic orjjanization has stood out in commendable prominence in comparison with other systems. England, the richest nation on earth, has one pauper for every eleven of population, while France has only one pauper in fifty of her population. The difference may be traced to their respective systems of landed pr.operty, which in the former encourages large, and in the other small, proprietorships, the aver- age size of landed estates in England being eight hundred and eighty acres, while in France it is only twenty acres.^

Labor is more generally rewarded, the un- earned increment is almost if not entirely abol- ished, or at least shared by the many instead of the few, and a true dignity is conferred upon the common people, which encourages and develops industry and reduces pauperism to a minimum. Under the Christian dispensation Christ did not recommend any political system, nor did he teach political economy as such, but he did con-

1 See Lazvs of Ancient Hchreivs^ " Wines," p. 420. 83

SOCIAL REGENERATION

demn the selfish use of opulence, and encouraged individual industry both by precept and example. He taught that the laborer was worthy of his hire. He repudiated the trust sought to be con- ferred upon him as a divider of inheritances, and taught men to love one another, as the only true adjustment of all wrongs and unequal divisions among them, and that all toil should be re- warded according to its diligence and efficiency.

Well paid labor is univ^ersally recognized as one of the elements of democratic institutions and Christian civilization. The relations of extreme poverty everywhere are associated with ignorance, vice, and crime. Such conditions of life are unfavorable to self-respect, to social and moral purity, and always tend to demoralize the individual and the community of which he forms a part. There is no power on earth that has been so effectual an antidote as Christianity in remedying lower social conditions, in lifting humanity out of the slough of despondency, and creating a self-respect that elevates, ennobles, and glorifies.

A sixth requirement of an adequate solution is the recognition of the right of all to employ- ment, and should in some way make it possible for every able-bodied and willing worker to earn the necessities of life and share some of the 84

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

blessings, at least, of culture and refinement claimed to be the glory of Christian civilization.

Prince Bismarck, in 1884, declared three things the laborer had a right to claim, viz., care for the infirm, right to labor when able-bodied, and pro- vision for the aged.

Certainly, the principles of Christianity recog- nize these rights, and no general principle is more definitely and earnestly insisted upon than the fruits of Christian faith, which show a tender regard, and give reasonable assistance to the weak, infirm, and aged. The claim of such classes ought to be as peremptory as the claim for protection against violence, against conta- gious disease, or any other right enjoyed by citi- zens of the State. Yet such cases ought not to be provided for in such a way as to discourage individual effort, or that would be humiliating to manly self-respect. State socialism, however, goes too far in prescribing that such help shall be given in the line of specific trades, when the fact of unemployed tradesmen indicates an over- production in the particular kind of labor they demand.

In order to encourage self-support, and make

assistance the exception and not the rule, there

must be some difference in the existence of the

dependent and independent poor. If assisted

85

SOCIAL REGENERATION

labor is put upon the same basis of commensura- tion as independent toil, the incentives to per- sonal exertion and the dignity of independent labor will, to a large extent, be weakened.

The effect of the Gilbert Act in England, which gave to the able-bodied poor the right to labor on about the same scale of remuneration as independent support, was to multiply the number of dependents to such an extent as to lessen the wages of the self-supporting, and made it necessary to rescind the act in 1835. A remedy that aggravates the disease cannot likely be an adequate solution of existing trouble. The foregoing instance of failure is only one of many which might be cited, and which empha- size the only true basis of reward, which is according to diligence and efficiency. As an example of what might be done on a larger scale by the State, we would cite the action of the city of Pittsburg during the winter of 1893-94, when on account of the great depression in manufac- turing interests thousands of workmen were thrown out of employment, and more than half a million dollars was spent in street and park im- provements, which added greatly to the beauty and commercial advantages of the city and gave temporary aid, not as charity, but as a reward for honest endeavor, to all who applied for work. 86

TIIK WORK OF CIIKISTIAMTV

While the remuneration was small, it made j)ublic assistance respectful to human di^rnjty without encourac^in^' such dependence, except to bridge over temporary conditions. So could the State often supply the great necessity of better road\va}'s by giving to the unemplo)-ed means of subsistence in times of financial depression, which would not only preserve the dignity of self-support, but add much to the convenience of the public good and general comfort and prosperity of all its citizens. For idleness which is the result of personal impurity and in- temperance, there can be no outward remedy until the man is made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Pure lives, thrifty homes, temperance in all things, are among the prominent fruits of Chris- tian character, and the only adequate solution of the largest amount of misery which afflicts humanity.

The economic principles of the New Testa- ment are based in moral and virtuous living as the first essential toward better industrial condi- tions and productive results.

To the impulse of such a gospel, education, legislation, mutual concessions, and adjustments between contending factions, must all look for their supreme motive and divine sanction. All methods of reform must look to Christ as the ^7

SOCIAL REGENERATION

supreme power to regulate the conduct of men and harmonize relationships so that they become mutually helpful.

He who taught that the life is more than meat and the body more than raiment, must be the supreme Adjuster of human wrongs. Test Christianity by whatever requirements the dic- tates of reason and the highest conception of forces, which work toward emancipation of man from sin, may suggest, — by purest ethics, by soundest philosophy, by highest standard of citizenship, — it will not be found wanting as an adequate regulator and adjuster of all wrongs, individual or national.

Christianity's truths may sometimes be above human reason, but in no instance can they be against it, any more than there can be a conflict between natural law and its divine Author. 88

CIIAPTl-R VI

WHAT CIIRISIIANITV HAS DONE

What a revolution has taken place in human thought concerning the equality of man since the age of Aristotle ! Perhaps the change that has been wrought might be called ** evolution of human society," but, call it by what name you will, the change has come. Aristotle divided tools into two classes, animate and inanimate, and slaves were put in the former class. Among the philosophers of his age, no one conceived a state of society where slavery was not an essen- tial feature. According to the highest concep- tion of society the servitude of the masses was a necessity. Christ solved the perplexing question which the pagan philosophers could not solve, by saying, " Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his hfe a ransom for many."

This was the leaven that leavened the whole lump.

The principle here announced and afterwards taught and preached has been the death knell of slavery in every civilized land. Slavery was a 89

SOCIAL REGENERATION

long time dying. It was living in Europe thir- teen centuries after Christ was born and eighteen centuries in the United States, but it is now for- ever a thing of the past in any civilized nation. When Abraham Lincoln declared that our feder- ation of states could not exist half free and half slave, he was only uttering a fact which ought to have been recognized and which was anticipated by some of the framers of our Constitution. Some will, however, call it a presumptuous claim to give Christianity the credit of destroying human slavery. They prefer to credit it to the evolution of society in its intellectual march to- ward higher ideals ; they will assign it to the discoveries of science, improvements in the use of material forces, the printing press, and the wider dissemination of knowledge. But we might, with all fairness, ask, Should we have had any evolution of society toward higher ideals, should we have had any remarkable discoveries of science, any printing presses, any general dis- semination of knowledge, without the entrance of God's word, which " givcth light " ? without the incarnation of Him who declared that he was "the Light of the world"?

It was not for want of intellect that Aristotle classified the masses as animated tools. He and the philosophers of his day were wise men, but 90

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

none of them possessed the moral conception of the \alue Christianity stamped upon the human suul.

This fundamental principle of Christianity introduced a moral force that has ever since been contendiuL^ for human liberty. The doctrine of the intrinsic value of the soul of man has foucfht the battles of human freedom, broken the shackles from every slave, and put upon the heads of the toilin<^- classes the royal di^i;nity of manhood. The incarnate Christ has been the quickening impulse in all that is best in modern civilization, and the fostering mother of the graces that hallow the family relation, bless society, and sanctifs' the State. Literature, mor- als, and government, have all been lifted into a higher atmosphere of hopefulness through his promises of redeemed humanity and a renewed earth.

When Christ appeared in a remote province of the Roman Empire the cruel system of slavery had perhaps no parallel in any age of the world in the extent of its degrading in- fluence. As has been noted in a previous chap- ter, he issued no command against it, and, as far as authentic record shows, preached no sermon on the subject, and gave his disciples no instruc- tions regarding it, but, depending on a few fun- 91

SOCIAL REGENERATION

damental principles set forth in his teaching, he commanded his disciples to teach all nations, relying on the effectual application of these to establish the " kingdom of God " which he came to introduce and of which he was forever to be the recognized head.

Its progress may seem slow as we study the growth and influence of its power through the centuries that have come and gone since, but when we read the story of evolutionary science, and are told that it took a century of centuries to develop man from a beast (we are of the opinion it would take still longer time), the progress of Christ's kingdom has been rapid in comparison.

His message was to the individual rather than to the nation. He recognized that back of all oro-anized forms of evil, back of all g-overnments, was the individual soul, a unit of the whole, and if these units were made right, the body they made in combination would also be right. There were other evils involved in the condition of society as constituted at the time of Christ, which made it impossible, humanly speaking, to abolish slavery by a single edict of emancipa- tion. The caste s\'stem had first to be broken down, justice and the recognition of the brother- hood of man had to become accepted principles, 92

THE WORK OF CIIKISTIAMTV

before slavery could be abolished. The teach- ings of Christianity opposed those evils first and directly which made such a system of degraded slavery possible. It declared such distinctions as bond and free, master and slave, to be con- trary to the principles of Christian life. In the communion of Christian believers there should be no distinction in the sight of God. Hence, converted slaves and converted masters, contrary to the Roman custom, were to meet together at the communion table of their divine Saviour. And it was thus Christianity began to wage that warfare against human slaver)^ that lasted eighteen centuries.

There are those who claim for Stoical philoso- phy a share of the honor as an influential factor in the onward progress of human rights during the Roman period. Beginning earlier than Chris- tianity, there can be no doubt of its salutary in- fluence upon Roman jurisprudence. Maine, in his "Ancient Law," says : " The alliance of the lawgiver with the Stoic philosophers lasted through many centuries. The long diffusion of these doctrines among the members of a par- ticular profession was sure to affect the art they practiced and influenced, but at the same time it is a serious, though a very common error, to measure the influence of Stoicism on Roman 93

SOCIAL REGENERATION

law by counting up the number of legal rules which can be confidently affiliated on Stoical dogmas. It has often been observed that the strength of Stoicism resided not in its canons of conduct, which are often repulsive and ridicu- lous, but in the great though vague principle which is inculcated of resistance to passion." Charles L. Brace, in his " Gesta Christi," also speaks of the statements and principles of the Stoical jurists in regard to liberty and natural right as " having influenced all suc- ceeding ages." But that their canons of con- duct "were often repulsive and ridiculous" is verified in "heartless acts of humanity" in not only their sanction of slavery, but also in their treatment of slaves. The high- est principle of the Stoic philosophy was " to live in harmony with nature," and in the dif- fusion of this doctrine the Roman jurists were aided in solving many questions of rights of men in civil society, and afforded a moral basis of law, though vague, which may rightly be termed one of the advanced steps in the devel- opment of human rights.

As Dr. Morey says, " It was by means of this

higher conception of equity which resulted

from the identification of the jus gcntunn with

the jus natiwale, that the alliance between law

94

TIIIC WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

and philosopliy was made real and efficient." ' Therefore, allowini; due credit to this s\'stem of natural law, not fort^ettini,^ that the charter of lib- erty to so many people — " b\' natural ricj^ht all men arc born free" — came orif^inalh' from a Stoical jur- ist, the Stoical practice in regard to slaver\' was such as to justify rather than to condemn. Slaves continued to be held by them as property, murdered by them as beasts, and one of their leading lights (Pollio) amused himself by feed- incT his fish with frac!;mcnts of mutilated slaves. Seneca, the teacher of Nero, with brilliant talents and nobly born, pure and virtuous in comparison with his sovereigns, ruined his life and character by attempts at impossible com- promises with evil. His precepts on the wrongs of poverty were hypocritical, his praises of virtue insincere, in the light of his intimate associations with unblushing wickedness. His avarice and ambition were beyond the control of his high-sounding philosophy, and illustrated the weakness of Stoicism as a sufficient moral force to save men from the destroying power of evil passions. On the other hand, Christianity, by the fruits it bore in the lives of its Roman converts, demonstrated its efficiency. Its moral and regenerating power transformed brutalism

^ Outlines of Roman Law.

95

SOCIAL REGENERATION

into humanity ; it renewed the whole man and made him God-hkc in conduct, virtuous in hfe, and fearful only of sin.

It was Christianity that entered the long and many times defeated struggle in behalf of the thousands upon thousands of slaves who were the victims of " man's inhumanity to man."

It would now seem in the light of past history that the Church never committed a more serious blunder than forming an alliance with the State. This was the beginning of a long series of crimes committed in the name of Christianity, as foreign to its real spirit as darkness is to light, but in spite of these crimes and blunders, the little leaven of truth which the Church repre- sented in its most corrupt period had a powerful influence in modifying the hardships of bondage and molding legislation, which through cen- turies of conflict finally undermined the system of slavery. Each emperor, from Constantine, enacted some new law that became stepping- stones to final emancipation.

These reforms were especially marked during the Justinian period, when the moral force of Christianity began to show itself, when cruelty to slaves was pronounced a crime, when masters were permitted to free slaves without indictment, 96

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

and when slavery as a mode of punishment was discontinued.

The purity of slaves was also beinL,^ protected, so that it was possible to be a slave and yet be chaste. In the reign of Alexius Comnenus slaves were declared free whose masters had denied them the benediction of the Christian Church.

And thus, throu^i;h the influence of Christian- ity, legislation slowly but surely became more severe against bondage and more lenient toward the enslaved. Reformation in legislation is likely to be more tardy than reformation in public opinion, and all through this period we may recognize a new spirit of humanity pushing forward a new jurisprudence having a moral and humane basis. The same is true of serfdom in the Middle Ages, which was the consequence of disorder and an unsettled condition of society, and which may be called a modified form of slavery. The Christian's voice was everywhere lifted against this form of oppression, not only in England, but in France, in Germany, in Nor- way, and in Sweden. Christianity's Lord, who puts poor and rich equally under his own love, became the real Emancipator, working through the hearts of his devoted disciples.

Edward the Confessor publicly expressed 7 97

SOCIAL REGENERATION

himself against the serfdom of his day when he said, ''We have all one heavenly Father, and one spiritual mother, which is called ecclesia, that is, God's Church, and therefore we are brothers."

Beda relates in his history of the Church an incident in the life of Bishop Wilfred, who, hav- ing received an estate with two hundred and fifty slaves, emancipated them with these words, "All those whom baptism hath rescued from service of the devil, become by that worthy of the liberty which changeth them from servants to men."

Under William the Conqueror, through the influence of this Christian sentiment, which pre- ceded merciful laws and permeated society with higher ideas of justice, and so molded legis- lation, a prohibitory law was passed against both slavery and traffic in slaves. And thus it was that, as Charles Brace says, "The sense of justice worked silently and gradually through English as well as European society in the Middle Ages, and continually lightened serfdom by reforms, until at length it disappeared as snow melts before the spring sun, no one being able to say precisely when winter ceased or the new season began." ^

1 Gesta Christi, p. 250. 98

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

If men and nations arc to be licld responsible in proportion to their li<;ht and oj^portunity, then certainl)' the history of African slavery iiu'olvcs a condemnation as much severer as the modern civiHzation of Europe and America is superior to that of the first centuries of the Roman ICmpire. The oj)ening of the dark con- tinent, swarmin^^ with ic^niorant milHons of human beings, and the discovery of the new continent, inhabited by scattered tribes of wild men who could not be tamed, and at the same time revealing untold wealth to the avarice of the white man, presented the temptation which even the moral force of civilization did not resist. Both Protestants and Catholics are guilty of putting their sacred sanction to the crime of African slavery, and for four hundred years priests and preachers were partially supported by the profits of human bondage. The Spanish government, in the name of the Holy Trinity and with the sanction of the Church, made treaties which authorized the sale of thousands of human beings, and received money as pay- ment for their crime in the traffic of a weak and ignorant race of our fellow-men.

But while the African slav^e trade was sanc- tioned by organized Christianity, it was not only perverting, but inverting the fundamental prin- 99

SOCIAL REGENERATION

ciples of its Author. It was sin and crime against man and God ; it was high treason in the spiritual kingdom ; it was because the truth of God was changed into a He, that it became necessary afterwards for men to draw their swords and load their cannon at the cost of mil- lions of money and the sacrifice of thousands of noble lives. But true Christianity has never been without witnesses who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Both in the visible Church and outside, there have been found men struggling for the truth, and whose hearts have been touched and moved in heroic endeavor for lifting up God's standard of righteousness. The protest against the slavery of man, though feeble at times, never ceased to thunder its anathemas.

Against the oppression of humanity, truth lifted its voice with increasing vehemence until the great crime, transmitted to and overleaping modern civilization, received its death sentence and suffered the penalty of eternal and universal condemnation.

It would, perhaps, be too much to claim that Christianity has been the only instrumentality in bringing about this triumphant termination of a struggle lasting through centuries.

The wrath of man has been made by an over- ruling Providence to praise God. In all great

lOO

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

reforms there will be many a<^encies, but one spirit, and that one spirit, that has turned the moral eiiL^ines of destruction ai^ainst slavery and trained their forces for ultimate abolition of human ills, is the spirit of llim who commanded us to lov^e our neij^hbor as ourseK-es.

It was the same spirit that moved the <:jreat apostle to say to all Christians and to all nations, " There is neither Jew nor Greek, . . . there is neither male nor female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3 : 28).

What has Christianity done for the family? The ordinance of the family was instituted in the garden of Eden, and throughout the teachings of divine inspiration the purity and the sanctity of the family are universally insisted upon as essential to both national and individual virtue. If polygamy was practiced under the Jewish theocracy, it never received divine sanction. When we come down to the teachings of Christ and the apostles, they are still more emphatic and direct in regard to the necessity of purity in family life.

Paul gives us certain fundamental principles concerning the constitution of the family, which, if universally applied, would certainly make the home a foretaste of a better world. The rela- tion of husband and wife is clearly defined to be

lOI

SOCIAL REGENERATION

one of mutual affection, and if superiority is in any sense assigned to the husband, he is solemnly warned not to use it except as love would prompt. ** Wives, submit yourselves unto your own hus- bands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as [in what sense] Christ is the head of the church. . . . Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." But what about the obligations of husbands ? " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. ... So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself . . . For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh" (Eph. 5 : 22-31).

If authority is given to the husband, it is such authority as love exercises, such as Christ exer- cises over the Church he has purchased with his own blood. Children also are exhorted to obey their parents in the Lord, and parents are ex- horted not to provoke their children by unneces- sary restrictions, but to bring them up in the nurture and fear of the Lord.

These fundamental principles have worked out for the family immeasurable blessings ; they have hallowed the marriage relation and sanctified the 102

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

home; they have built and sustained its sacred altars, which have been the fosterin*^ mothers of all wholesome relations between the sexes.

It was the preaching of such principles that first mitigated and finally abolished the despot- ism of paternal power, which was the dominant idea of the family life of Greek and Roman civ- ilization. The polygamy of heathenism and all false rehgions have disappeared where the gospel has gone with its light-giving power.

Wherever the Nazarene teachers have gone, the imperial authority of the father over the family has been softened by a love that takes from power its terror. That the father not only had the power of life and death over his children during the first centuries of the Roman Empire, but that he also put it in force in the murdering of his own children, especially female infants, is not a historical fiction, but a truth stranger than fiction, cannot be denied. The change which Christianity has wrought through many cen- turies has placed the seat of parental authority in the affections, where it rightly belongs. The gradual development of Roman jurisprudence, restricting parental power and enlarging the privileges of, individual members of the family, male and female, is an interesting study, illus- trating step by step the influence of a divine faith 103

SOCIAL REGENERATION

which was quickening the pubHc feehng of the whole Roman Empire toward a higher concep- tion of the rights of women and children.

" These reforms," says Dr. Brace, *' in the Roman law may seem to the modern student of little importance. But they are an indication of the tendency everywhere of the Christian faith to introduce equality of rights among persons, to elevate the individual, to control arbitrary power, to substitute self-command, consideration, and the influence of the affections against tyranny and unchecked power in the family. They are appa- rently but small advances ; they had, it is true, been begun by Stoicism ; but they received their greatest stimulus from Christianity, and properly heralded the greater and more profound changes which the new faith was to introduce into modern society."^

What has Christianity done for woman ?

The answer is written in one verse of the Virgin's song : " From henceforth all genera- tions shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things."

The gospel of Jesus Christ not only an- nounces that there shall be neither " bond nor free," but " neither male nor female " in Christ. It does not mean that man is to be feminine or

1 Gesta Chnsti, p. 1 8. 104

THE WORK OF CIl KISTIANI'IT

that woman is to be masculine, hut it docs mean that both are etjually precious in the sight of heaven. It needs no argument to convince the fair-minded of what an inestimable value Chris- tianity has been to woman. That woman lias been degraded under every false system of re- ligion and pagan superstition known to history, is a fact too manifest for sober denial. That she has been kept in ignorance, made the burden- bearer, the tool of lust, but never man's com- panion, the sharer of his joys, is the history of woman in China, in India, in Africa, among the aboriginals of America, in art-loving Greece, and power-loving Rome.

The gospel has created the Christian home and placed woman in it as a queen and beside the man as his loving companion.

Christ forbade divorce except in case of adul- tery, and recognized the marriage institution of Eden as the one condition of permanent mono- gamic relation of the sexes.

Christ therefore solves the question of the family in the right way by hallowing the home^ and so constituting it on a basis of virtue and purity and stability that it becomes the safe- guard of both individual and national \irtue.

One of the great moral and economic weak- nesses of modern socialism is its assumption 105

SOCIAL REGENERATION

that the individual is the unit of society, and that the State creates the family rather than that the family creates the State. The prosperity and happiness of a State will be in proportion to the purity and sacredness of the family. National existence depends upon it. A communion of children is as much a contradiction of the laws of nature as a communion of wives is a contra- diction of the law of God. If the industrial class anticipate a better state, they ought to learn from the history of the past that it will never be born, let alone live, under any system of atheistic industrialism that does not recog- nize the Church and the family as the channels through which flow healing waters that pre- serve society from corruption and decay.

What has Christianity done for children ?

We might ask, What has it not done that has been done ? The tender regard and frequent mention of children recorded in the life of Christ has sweetened childhood through all history since, where the influence of his life has been felt. When Christ took the little ones into his arms, he did only that which thousands of men had done before him, but when he took the little child and placed it in the midst of the contentious disciples, and informed them that to enter the kingdom of God they must become 1 06

TIIK WORK or CHRISTIAMTV

like tliat child in their love, trust, and humble- ness, childhood assumed a new significance from that day.

Plad it not been for this, Wadsworth could never have written,

'* The child is fatlier to the man ; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each in natural piety."

The Bible is the only book, even down to a comparatively modern period, that takes account of the sweet and cver-refi-cshing influence of childhood in human society.

Some one has said, " There is but one mother and no children in the plays of the greatest tragedian and English poet." There is little sacredness placed upon childhood in heathen nations. In China the practice of infanticide is so common that it scarcely receives any show of prohibition. On one of the roads leading out from the city of Shanghai there stand two porcelain towers erected purposely for the slaughter of infants.

Both the Greeks and Romans put so little value upon children that infanticide was not only sanctioned by usage, but permitted by law. The Greeks, who professed so much adoration for the beautiful, considered it a duty to put out of the way a malformed child. What a pity they 107

SOCIAL REGENERATION

could not see deeper and understand that the most beautiful thing on earth is an unstained soul ! The Romans thought it a wasteful ex- travagance to bring up all the girls that might be born, and not until the influence of Christian truth became woven into the public law did children have rights worthy of respect.

What Christianity has done, therefore, for the child, for the wife, for the man, for do- mestic peace, for industry and comfort ; what it has done in the elevation of woman (under other systems sunk in deep degradation) ; what it has done for intelligence, industry, and liberty, ought to lead us to trust it in the future as the hope and rectifier of all human wrongs and social inequalities. The ideal commonwealth must have its foundations laid in Bible principles and truth. National progress and healthy de- velopment must be inspired by the eternal and vital forces of God's revealed truth, and mani- fested in the incarnation and teachings of Jesus Christ. What Christianity combines with in all that tends to the good and development of a healthy state of society is concisely presented and eloquently summed up by Albert Barnes in the following words, with which I close this chapter: —

" Christianity combines everywhere with pure 1 08

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITV

morality, with chaste living, with refined man- ners, with domestic peace, with temperance, with industry, with order, with law, with learn- ini^r^ with liberty. The press, colleges, schools, the courtesies of refined life, charity to the ])oor, to the needy, and to the outcast, find a natural ally in Christianity, and wherever it goes we know that these will follow in its train. What it has gained in this respect is a part of its capital, and is not to be transferred to any other system." ^

* Evidences of Christianity^ p, 393. 109

CHAPTER VII

CHRISTIANITY THE ADEQUATE SOLUTION

There is one little word that points to the source of all friction in social relations, and that word is Sin. We do not pretend to account for the permission of sin to enter this world. That, I look upon as one of the unsolved theological problems. But we know that sin is here and exists in every human heart, and so long as it lives there can be no perfect solution of the social problems. We believe that Christianity furnishes a perfect remedy, and that in the full- ness of time it will be perfectly applied.

A universal and perfect application of the golden rule would solve all difficulties. If we could at once put in force the two command- ments on which hang all the law and the prophets, we should realize the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God as a fact and not as a theory. But it is very much like saying of a sick man, all he needs is health to make him well. We are right in saying that the golden rule will solve all social difficulties ; we are right in saying that all a sick man needs to make him no

THE WORK OK CIIKISTIAMTY

well is health. But there must first come about a chant^e in the social condition of thinc^^s bef(jrc the principle of luve can be made an absolutely controllini^ force in men. It is somethinL^ that cannot be forced by laws, institutions, or com- mands.

Every agency, however, that enlarges the sympathies of men for each other, that increases mutual trust and affection, is preparing for a social order wherein love for one another will be the fulfilling of the law. " Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

Of all the agencies that have been employed we believe none have done so much in advanc- ing society toward this longed for, hoped for, prayed for, condition as Christianity. Yea, more, so far as other agencies have been blessed in the uplifting of society, in casting out the demon of a\arice, in breaking down the barriers of caste, in bringing society toward a stable and just equilibrium, they have been directly prompted by the spirit of Christianity and influenced by the divine Workman of Nazareth.

The great Swiss historian, Johann von Mijller,

gives the result of his life-long labors, extracted,

he says, from seventeen hundred and thirty-three

authors, in seventeen thousand folio pages, in

III

CHAPTER VII

CHRISTIANITY THE ADEQUATE SOLUTION

There is one little word that points to the source of all friction in social relations, and that word is Sin. We do not pretend to account for the permission of sin to enter this world. That, I look upon as one of the unsolved theological problems. But we know that sin is here and exists in every human heart, and so long as it lives there can be no perfect solution of the social problems. We believe that Christianity- furnishes a perfect remedy, and that in the full- ness of time it will be perfectly applied.

A universal and perfect application of the golden rule would solve all difficulties. If we could at once put in force the two command- ments on which hang all the law and the prophets, we should realize the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God as a fact and not as a theory. But it is very much like saying of a sick man, all he needs is health to make him well. We are right in saying that the golden rule will solve all social difficulties ; we are right in saying that all a sick man needs to make him

I lO

tf ^ %

i

THE WORK OF CIIKISTIAMTY

well is health. But there must first come about a change in the social condition of things before the principle of love can be made an absolutely controlling force in men. It is something that cannot be forced by laws, institutions, or com- mands.

Every agenc\', however, that enlarges the sympathies of men for each other, that increases mutual trust and affection, is preparing for a social order wherein love for one another will be the fulfilling of the law. " Lo\'e worketh nr) ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

Of all the agencies that have been employed we believe none have done so much in advanc- ing society toward this longed for, hoped for, pra\'ed for, condition as Christianity. Yea, more, so far as other agencies have been blessed in the uplifting of society, in casting out the demon of avarice, in breaking down the barriers of caste, in bringing society toward a stable and just equilibrium, they have been directly prompted by the spirit of Christianity and influenced by the divine Workman of Nazareth.

The great Swiss historian, Johann von Mijller,

gives the result of his life-long labors, extracted,

he says, from seventeen hundred and thirty-three

authors, in seventeen thousand folio pages, in

1 1 1

■:ft^*.»''^-«^tfll%^;

SOCIAL REGENERATION

this striking confession : " Christ is the key to the history of the world. Not only does all harmonize with the mission of Christ; all is subordinate to it. When I saw this," he adds, " it was to me as wonderful and surprising as the light which Paul saw on his way to Damascus, the fulfillment of all hopes, the completion of all philosophy, the key to all the apparent contra- dictions in the physical and moral world : here is life and immortality. I marvel not at miracles ; a far greater miracle has been reserved for our times, the spectacle of the connection of all human events in the establishment and preserva- tion of the doctrine of Christ." ^

The above quotation indicates the importance of Christianity as the essential, primary, and all- efficient factor in the solution of social questions, and that without the life-giving power and regen- erating force of the light, life, and love, of the Christian religion all other conceptions of men, all other organizations outside the Church of Jesus Christ, established on other foundations than the confession of Peter, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," must be con- sidered as only secondary and of little inherent force in themselves in the regeneration of society and redemption of a fallen but not forsaken race.

^ Quoted from Prof. Henry 1). Smitli, /■'a///i aud Philosophy. 112

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITV

Wc have endeavored thus far to show tliat the methods which have been under considera- tion are inadequate solutions of existin^^ social problems, because tlie basis on whicli they have proceeded is a dependence on external condi- tions. They have made of first imp(3rtance what man shall eat and wear, what kind of a house he shall live in. They have proceeded on the theory that better environment will usher in a paradise of social blessing and universal brotherhood.

There are other methods which are called Christian, because they have proceeded from Christian motives and been prompted by Chris- tian endeavor, but have been only partial in their application of Christianity, seeking a solution by emphasizing some particular virtue or several virtues combined, but failing to grasp a whole and complete gospel as presented by Christ and his apostles in the New Testament.

Before applying Christianity as a solution of the several social questions in particular, these methods should be considered.

The Epistle of Peter says : " In your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge temperance ; and in your temperance patience ; and in your patience god- liness ; and in your godliness love of the breth- ren ; and in your love of the brethren love. 8 113

SOCIAL REGENERATION

For if these things [not one or two of them] are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he that lacketh these things is bhnd, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins " (II Peter i : 5-9, R. V.).

Christian socialists, so called, have put special stress upon education of the working classes and cooperative industries, yet acknowledge the futility of external conditions as a sufficient remedy, if separated from a corresponding change of the inner life. They have sought to promulgate both by the application of some one or more of gospel principles, instead of a full symmetrical system, working on the broad apostolic plan of world-wide evangelization. They united with rational and materialistic socialism in condemnation of the existing in- dustrial system, but opposed the idea that purely materialistic civilization would solve the diffi- culties. Their purpose seemed to be an accept- ance of socialism, and therefore they set about to regenerate the system, and eliminate from it revolutionary and atheistic elements, and thus purified it would become their economic basis of successful effort. Christian socialism in England is an advance step of " socialism of the chair," 114

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

which in turn was an advance from niatcriahstic and poHtical socialism. Professor PLly pronounces professorial sociaHsm a triumph of Christianity, because its teachers, beginnini^ with man as their science, came to the con\iction that the Christian reh"gion must be assigned an important part.

The Christian sociaHsts of England, whose principal leaders were Charles Kingsley, Frederick Maurice, and Thomas Hughes, accepted the Christian religion not only as an important, but as tlic important, element in any successful attempt at social reformation.

The means adopted, through which this Chris- tian influence was to be applied, were education of the masses and distributive cooperation.

With this in view, they organized productive and cooperative associations. For the wider dissemination of their views they published a paper called the ** Christian Socialist." So sure were they of having discovered the panacea for all social evils, that Thomas Hughes said, speak- ing for himself and indirectly for the others : " I certainly thought (and for that matter have never altered my opinion to this day) that here we had found the solution of the great labor question; but I was also convinced that we had nothing to do but just announce it, and found an associa- "5

SOCIAL REGENERATION

tion or two, in order to convert all England and usher in the millennium at once, so plain did the whole thing seem to me. I will not undertake to answer for the rest of the counsel, but I doubt whether I was at all more sanguine than the majority."

The secretary (Mr. Neale) of the Cooperative Union, in a letter to Professor Ely, in 1882, said, " Had it not been for the growth of distributive cooperation in the north, the movement would have been at an end in England." Surely then the sanguine expectation of the organization could not have been realized, and perhaps is not any nearer realization now. The great good they have accomplished is a matter of universal acknowledgment, but it has not been through their chosen agencies of applied Christianity, but rather through agitation of the questions they sought to answer, by preaching the responsi- bility of wealth and advocating the claims of the poor. In this respect they have accomplished and are accomplishing untold good ; in this way they are working on the apostolic plan, and through the foolishness of preaching they have wrought favorable legislation in behalf of labor reforms and, above all, stirred the public conscience to a measurable sense of moral responsibility toward the down-trodden classes. Their philanthropic 116

Tin-: WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

endeavors and Christian devotion brid^rcd over part of the yawning chasm existing between the liigh and the low, between ro}'alty and peasant, between capital and labor.

Christian socialism in Germany, either Catholic or Protestant, scarcely figures as a potential fac- tor. Protestants, under the leadership of Todt, and Catholics, under that of Baron von Ketteler, have been somewhat influential in Germany, as Kingsley and his associates were in England, through preaching the principles of the Chris- tian religion in respect to its social bearing; and, by their warm-hearted zeal and sincerity in behalf of the poor and needy and burden- bearing classes of their fellow- men, have con- tributed something to the forces that lift up groaning humanity.

As an organization Christian socialism has not been more marked in its success than the material forms of socialism, but in its advocacy of Christ as the Saviour of the world, not only because he has redeemed souls, but also because he brought salvation for all human institutions and relations — civil, political, and social — it has played a conspicuous part in turning the atten- tion of all philanthropically disposed minds toward Christianity as the only solution of social problems. Many organizations prompted by 117

SOCIAL REGENERATION

man will have first to demonstrate their ineffi- ciency by conspicuous failure before even Christ's own servants will learn that the Church he in- stituted, upon one simple confession of his divinity, is to be his chosen instrument for work- ing out the salvation of mankind ; and that the Church — composed of all believers, Protestant and Catholic — means true believers under whatever denominational name they may serve ; the Church which he calls his bride, shall manifest himself as the only personality whereby men may be saved.

It certainly is time the Church was being aroused to this responsibility ; to the recog- nition of the fact that its mission is to all classes, races, and conditions, of men ; that Christianity means salvation of the body as well as of the soul ; that its ministry is two-fold, temporal and spiritual, and that a renewed earth as well as renewed man comes within the scope of its far- reaching prophecy.

If there is any truth in the statement that the masses of the people are becoming more and more aHenated (a subject which will receive further consideration later in this discussion), then all the more earnest and loud should be the call and more fervent the preaching of the watchmen on Zion's walls. ii8

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

" The proletarians have been detached from and will return to Christianity when they begin to understand that it brings to them freedom and ecjual rights, whereas atheistic materialism consecrates their slavery and sacrifices them to pretended natural laws.

" By a complete misapplication of its ideas the religion of Christ, transformed into a temporal and sacerdotal institution, has been called in as an ally of caste, despotism, and the ancient rtfgime to sanction all social inequalities. The gospel, on the contrary, is the good news to the poor, the announcement of the advent of the kingdom when the humble shall be lifted up and the disinherited shall possess the earth." ^

If history has demonstrated any one thing, it is that of all the many systems to which the ages have given birth, the Christian system has done more in molding character and conduct, and has done more toward satisfying the deepest needs of man's temporal and spiritual nature, than all others combined. We believe also that the highest possibilities of society are dependent upon its acceptance and practical application.

Another fact history demonstrates is that so far as Christianity has been a force above all others in the moral elevation of the race, it has

\ Pe I.e Taveleye. 119

SOCIAL REGENERATION

not been through any one instrumentahty ; it has not been through poh'tical, philanthropic, educational, industrial association, trades unions, workingmen's societies, or even ecclesiastical organization, in the historic sense.

The whole system of society can be said to be built upon a few fundamental conceptions of truth, and what Christianity has been doing for the world has been the supplying of these funda- mental conceptions.

*' Without condescending to take the least notice of anything that could be connected with the politics of its own early days — without breath- ing one word which can be construed as taking any side in the great secular contests of men, whether then or since, it did, nevertheless, bring in and establish a few fundamental conceptions and beliefs which have transformed the world. Although many of the evils under which heathendom was then suffering were undoubt- edly closely connected with bad systems and principles of government, Christianity was silent upon them all. Save, in so far as in its own higher sphere, it implanted some new truth pregnant with new consequences, it left them all to be judged by the more enlightened reason and the gradually awakened conscience of man- kind. It was thus that Christianity, without a 1 20

Till-: WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

single word of direct attack, killed off one of the t^reatest and most universal curses of the pai^an world — the ever-deepeniuL^ curse of slavery." ^

Some of our leadini;" Christian socialists of the United States would do well to ponder the statements of this Christian scientist.

When Christ was here upon earth he si)oke in words of severest rebuke of the lu'pocrisy and formalism of the leaders in the Jewish Church, because they had engrafted into their system of religious life the traditions of men. True religion had been distorted and corrupted by formalism, so that it scarcely bore in any particular the spirit of true worship or service.

There are those who seem to think they are imitating Christ in this age by severe rebuke of the present Church, in a spirit that is rasping and trying to the large body of Christians, who are so conscientiously and faithfully following Christ in holy well-doing.

That the Church has many weak and un- Christlike members no one will deny ; that there is a great deal of cold formalism in the Church of to-day, that in some of our churches the spirit of caste deserves rebuke, none of us will deny ; but that the Church is in a corresponding

1 " Christian Socialism," by the Duke uf Argyle, Eclectic Magazine, Jan., 1S95.

121

SOCIAL REGENERATION

condition with the Jewish Church of Christ's day we will deny. The Church to-day has its worst enemies within its fold ; as Dr. Drum- mond says, the miracle of its growth and wide- spread influence consists not in the fact that it has triumphed in spite of its enemies without, but rather in spite of its enemies within. From my experience as a pastor of four churches in twenty-two years, the greatest enemies the Church of Jesus Christ has within her own fold are not inconsistent, but self-righteous pro- fessors, who unconsciously have worked them- selves into that state of mind which is faultfind- ing and censorious, who seem to think they have a special commission to rebuke others for their shortcomings.

In reading Professor Ely's " Social Aspects of Christianity " and Dr. Strong's " New Era," this spirit is manifest in their pessimistic tone. While they all express hope that the Church will become better, they seem to magnify its faults and undervalue its virtues.

Professor Ely says : " A man who would talk as Christ did (when here upon earth) on the streets of Chicago or New York would be in danger of being clubbed by the police, if nothing worse." Yes, that may be ; the consecrated men of the Salvation Army have been clubbed on the

122

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

streets of both these cities, and many other of our smaller cities, for preachini,^ the simple gospel of Christ; but who ever heard of their bcini; clubbed in our churches? Man\' of them preach from our pulpits to-day and their messa^^e is a welcome one. When Christ preached he was most welcomed b\' the masses of humanit\- found in the streets and highway's, who were driven from the synagogues by the demon of caste and formal religionists. Times have changed all this. A man who preaches as Christ preached is the sought-for man in our churches of to-day; such a message is welcome and such preachers are in demand.

If Christ came to Chicago there is no place he would be so welcome as in her churches ; they would be the Martha and Mary home to him, while the streets would be the place of scoffing and rejection. Two thousand years have reversed the order of things. Then Christ was rejected in the synagogue and accepted on the street, now he is rejected on the street and accepted in the synagogue.

In the most degenerated day of the old Church, God sent his prophet Isaiah to speak warning words : '* Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their trans- gression, and the house of Jacob their sins." 123

SOCIAL REGENERATION

But he was also commanded, " Comfort ye, com- fort ye my people, . . . speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem." It would seem that the Church has been told its faults enough by the secular press, by infidels, by the worldly-minded, by philosoph- ical skepticism, by earnest preachers from the pulpit, and now we long for the prophet who will speak words of comfort to Jerusalem, words of inspiration and encouragement. What the Church needs to-day is more faith in the promises of God, more dependence on his Holy Spirit, and less reliance on political measures, economics, church machinery, so-called auxiliary societies, and the thousand and one modern appliances which are used to steady the Ark of the Lord.

Dr. Strong, in his "New Era," anticipates great things from the " Institutional Church," so suc- cessful in a few cases which he sets forth as ex- amples for all other churches. No doubt there is a place for such work and for such churches in our large centers of population, and we will not dis- credit the good they have done or may do, but no persuasion can make it the duty of the Church or of church organizations, as the true Church of Christ, to become a sewing school, lodging house, a manual-training institution, for the sake of commending the gospel to the masses who are turned away from it, because the god of this 124

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

world has taken them captive and not only blinded but blasted their lives.

A sentimental Christianit\- has coddled the drunkard so much and abused the churches so mueh because there are drunkards, that many of them have come to think that the onl\' sinner is the Church. And when we open our mai;a- zincs and read so many articles condemnin^^ the Church, and wise ones telling us how the Church of Jesus Christ must do better and live more rii^hteously and recognize its cross, and not a word about society doing better and li\ing more righteously, may we not conclude that the wicked arc thus helped in their dishonest subterfuges to escape individual responsibility? But la\-ing aside all these drawbacks and exceptions, the churches of Jesus Christ are holding on their way and are to-day a stronger force than ever before in the production of all that is best and noblest in modern civilization. Let us not deny the fact that what has been called the Church has more than once in history declared its sanc- tion of things squarely against the teachings of Christ, against freedom, against humanity, and against progress.

We have no infallible church, but the Church has an infallible Christ. The blessings of heaven are not all stored in the Church, but the Church

SOCIAL REGENERATION

of Christ is the central reservoir through which the stream flows to enrich the human race.

Christ is essential to all reforms, because his power is the only infallible regulator in a world out of order by willful sin. And when we ask what Christianity has done, through the channels of the Church, for all departments of social re- form, for abolition of slavery, for emancipation of childhood, for uplifting womanhood, for the blessings of human freedom, and the rights of man, we point to unprejudiced judgment and facts of history.

If it is proved that Christianity has done and has been all this in the past, may we not expect still greater things in the future ? May we not anticipate the fulfillment of Whittier's hopeful song —

" Through the harsh noises of our day, A low, sweet prelude finds its way ; Through clouds of doubt and creeds of fear A light is breaking, calm and clear ; That song of love, now low and far, Ere long shall swell from star to star, That light the breaking day that tips The golden-spired Apocalypse." 126

CHAPTER VIII

CIIRISTIAXITVS CONQUEST AND HOPE

St. Joiix, in his Apocalyptic vision, declares that there was war in heaven. " Michael and his angels fought against the dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not."

Then was heard the voice saying : " Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the ac- cuser of our brethren is cast down." The struggle and victory which John described as taking place in heaven may be considered as an emblem of the conquest going on upon earth, and a hopeful prophecy of a renewed earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. The real truth revealed to John was hidden behind the imagery of the upper world. The struggle which naturalists tell us is going on throughout all the kingdoms of the earth becomes more marked in the race of man. War is raging among its teeming millions. The saints who saw this battle in the clouds saw also the battle on earth. The battle is that of truth against error, of righteousness against sin, of love against hate. We have, then, in John's 127

SOCIAL REGENERATION

description a pictorial representation of the trou- ble that besets all righteousness, all reforms, all religion, and civilization.

Whenever and wherever some good appears, then the dragon comes forth to dispute its right and oppose its advance. Conditions in this world are such that progress means conquest, and con- quest is of two kinds : that which we may call peaceable and that which is carried on by war- fare against opposing forces. Scholarly attain- ments, learning, mastery of mathematics, lan- guages, science, and philosophy, are among the former. This conquest begins early and con- tinues through all our lives ; but when we con- sume the midnight oil in study we are not fight- ing an enemy, but trying to know better a friend.

There is, however, a warfare against evil going on in every nation that aspires toward high ideals, in every individual soul that presses toward the mark of a high calling. This is the conquest of Christianity in a world of evil. When Christ, with a few companions, embarked in an enterprise of religion and love, the move- ment meant a declaration of war. At the begin- ning of the twentieth century the same war is waged that marred the period of Christ and St. John. When they carried the message of the gos- pel to Antioch and other foreign cities the dragon 128

THK WORK. OF CIIKISTIAMTY

and his angels foui^ht a^^^ainst thcni. When they went to Ephesus, to Phihppi, to Galatia, and to Rome, every church or<^anized and every con- vert made awakened not only opposition, but involved persecution and shedding of blood. So it is to-day, when our missionaries preach the gospel and carry the message of salvation to pagan continents, they are not only opposed by the antagonism of the pagan heart to the truth they bring, but by our whiskey and re- volvers which the avarice of commerce sends across the sea on the same ships with the missionaries.

Through the centuries the conflict may change in form, but refuses to come to an end. When the true and good elements in society master some form of evil, some new form springs up, and although it may be less powerful than the one destroyed, it is still strong enough to make peace delay its coming. After we have plowed the field and enriched it for a fruitful harvest, enemies come in the night time to sow tares. And thus it comes to pass, even at this modern date of Christian civilization, that the war which St. John saw up in the clouds we see down on the ground where men live. Yet with all oppos- ing forces there has been steady advance toward better things. There is constantly coming after 9 129

SOCIAL REGENERATION

each of us one whose shoe latchet we are un- worthy to unloose. If we cannot see moral and spiritual progress with our worldly eyes, we cer- tainly can see advancement in the physical and intellectual amelioration of the race.

The number of inventions that have been made during the last fifty years is unprecedented in the history of the world. Inventions of bene- fit to the human race have been made in all ages since man was created ; but looking back for half a hundred years, how many more are crowded into the past fifty than into any other fifty since history was written ! The perfection of the locomotive and the now world-traversing steamships, the telegraph, the telephone, the audiphone, the sewing machine, the photograph, the chromo-lithographic printing press, the eleva- tors for hotels and many storied office-buildings, the cotton-gin and the spinning jenny, the reaper and the mower, the steam fire-engine, the im- proved process for making steel, the application of chloroform and ether to destroy sensibility in painful surgical cases, and so on through a cata- logue too long to enumerate here. Nor are we yet done in the field of invention and discovery. The application of coal gas and petroleum to heating and cooking operations is only trembling on the verge of successful experiment ; the introduction 130

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

of steam from a great central reservoir to general use for heating and cooking is foreshaclowed as among the coming events ; the artificial produc- tion of butter has alread)' created consternation among dairymen ; the navigation of tlie air by some de\ice akin to our present balloon would also seem to be prefigured, and the propulsion of machiner\' by clectricit)' has passed the age of experiment.

There are some problems wc have hitherto deemed impossible ; but are the mysteries of the most improbable of them more subtle to grasp than that of the ocean cable or that of the photograph or the telephone ? We talk by cable with the ocean rolling between ; wc speak to friends a hundred miles or more from where we articulate before the microphone. Under the blazing sun of July we produce ice by chemical means, rivaling the most solid and crystalline production of nature. Our surgeons graft the skin from one person's arm to the face of another, and it adheres and becomes an integral portion of his body. We make a strip of white printing paper more than a mile long and send it on a spool that a printing press unwinds and prints, folds and counts, many thousands per hour. Of a verity, this is the age of invention, nor has the world yet reached a stopping place, but while 131

SOCIAL REGENERATION

every benevolent mind must rejoice in this, we have cause to regret that they all have a double possibility : they may be used for good or evil. The electric telegraph is just as much at the service of evil as it is at the service of good.

The artistic skill of painter, sculptor, and musi- cian, may all become votaries of sensuality. The printing press becomes the medium of thoughts that debase the youth and nurture evil passion. Paris and London, New York and Chicago, have both heaven and hell in them. Each generation that brings some new benefit to mankind, also brings some new manufactory of sorrow and woe. Innocent games pass into the hands of gamblers, and the traveling-palace steamship, the pride of the ocean, carries in its saloon men who gamble away their inheritance by betting daily on the speed of the vessel.

The Sabbath, made for man, with its sweet song and communion of saints, brings with it drunkenness, saloon brawls, and murders. In this world of ours the good and the bad are like the tares in the field : both grow together. In this year of almost unparalleled prosperity, when the mills are running and labor is employed, when steamships and railroads are taxed beyond their capacity in carrying our grain and transporting the products of our manufactories, we hear of 132

THE WORK OF CHRISTIAMTV

trusts and monopolies multiplying and bitter complaints of their selfish and avaricious tyranny. But even the trusts, which have in some minds so evil a name, contain elements which if prop- erly directed may be exceedingly beneficial to mankind. It is too obvious that huge, over- grown corporations are a great evil when they exercise their power to crush rivals. The trust, with enormous capital and an army of employees, can use its superior advantages and easily crush minor competitors. The nearer a corporation attains to having a monopoly of trade, the greater is its power to exact high prices. When a vil- lage storekeeper wishes to get large profits, com- petition generally restrains him. Fortunately, real monopolies can rarely be established. The failure of wheat "corners" and the constant springing up of new rivals to such famous or- ganizations as the sugar and the oil trusts, show where the security lies. If these monster com- panies have great capital, they haven't all the capital that seeks employment. If they become too greedy, there is, in ordinary times, plenty of fresh money that will endeavor to find a way to share their profits. But it is an evil for which there is no mitigation that the trusts can enter the doors and the lobbies of legislatures to in- fluence and sometimes to contaminate them, and 133

SOCIAL REGENERATION

prevent the passage of measures which should be enacted for the good of all the people, and not for the benefit of a few.

There is another side. Whatever tends to cheapen production and bring goods within the means of the poor man is so far a good. Machinery does it. Organization does it. Many of the articles dealt in by trusts have been cheaper since the trusts were formed. By more commercial methods of production, by stimulat- ing invention, and in other ways, they can sell cheaper, and the dread of competition will, to a large degree, force them to do it. This is a dis- tinct offset to the evils that follow in their train. While laws are necessary to restrain the trusts from exercising the power of evil they possess, it is wise to consider if harm might not result from extirpating them before we really know on which side is the preponderance of good or of evil.

Wars have not ceased upon earth. The inter- national peace conference, assembled in The Hague only last year, is followed by wars and rumors of wars. The recent war between Spain and the United States has resulted in limitations of one power and the enlargement of the other to such an extent that the wisest of statesmen, the most profound students of history, could not 134

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

have predicted. The time has come when it is impossible for any nation to Uve in pai^anism or exercise t}Tannical power. They must either level up or be swallowed up.

China, hoary with a<je, is bein^ rent in pieces by the allied powers. The God of nations only knows what the revolutions now takin<^ place signify in their messaj^e to this twentieth cen- tur}'. But such rapid changes, such mar\'elous inventions, such rapid strides in knowledge, such subjection of the forces of nature, all indi- cate a nearing the goal, and the speedy ushering in of some new period in the history of the human race. The conclusion is that while we rejoice in all this intellectual and physical prog- ress, their double possibility prevents their becoming in themselves powers and elements in the world by regenerating it. The power which is to renew the world, like that which renews the individual sinner, must be born from above. Our acquisitions stir up a consciousness within us of our deficiencies. The crimes which are spread out for our reading in the daily papers seem worse than like crimes in former centuries, and, therefore, while Christianity's conquest goes on with greater energy, it is Christianity's hope and inspiring promise that at last the dragon and his angels will not prevail. Then will come

SOCIAL REGENERATION

salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of Christ, " for the accuser of the brethren is cast down." The Christian hope is a hvely expectation of a coming era when Michael, in the personality of Jesus Christ, shall overcome, and all the inhabitants of the earth shall sing, " How excellent is thy name in all the earth ! "

A reporter who had been in attendance at all the sessions of the late Ecumenical Missionary Convention, held in New York city, gave his voluntary testimony, after the counsel had adjourned, that he had been present at a great many large assemblies, representing a great variety of purposes, but he had never before wit- nessed so much triumphal joy, jubilant hope, and confidential expectation, as were manifested by these veteran soldiers and missionaries of the Cross. Dr. Mackenzie says, in his " Introduction to Social Philosophy," that **the idea of develop- ment has made it scientific to hope, by exhibit- ing life not as a mere process of perpetual change, but as a growth toward a definite goal." Also Smyth, in his " Christian Ethics," says that " Christianity is preeminently the expectant religion." It is optimistic not because it fails to see the evil of the present world or to fathom the sinfulness of sin, but because it is idealistic ; 136

THK WORK OF CMKLSTIANITY

and even in this world hi.stor\' of sin, since it is also a history of redemption, follows a course of Christian idealization which shall be continuous and progressive until the kingdom of hca\'en shall come. Never since the beginning of the Christian era has the world relapsed into its former sin and \ ice ; for in all the darkest ages, amid much vice and crime, there has always been an army of the faithful whose songs of hope rose above the din of battle. After these years of conquest for good it may seem perplex- ing to many a righteous soul why God Almighty does not conquer sooner. All hope, having no other source of inspiration than liuman vision, is tempted to give up its cause. Klisha's ser\ant looks into the eyes of his master and says, " We are undone ! " for he sees only the enemy's chariots and horsemen encompassing his little Dothan.

We are told by a traveler that opposite the little village of Bingen on the Rhine is a broad mountain breast, some twelve hundred feet high and a mile or more in extent, co\ered with vine- yards from the river brink to the summit. These vines are planted on the tops of terrace steps, formed by stone walls, built one abo\e another the whole stretch of the mountain side from base to summit. These walls hold the soil in 137

SOCIAL REGENERATION

place where it is cultivated. As you look at the mountain side from the low level of the river there is little visible but a succession of stone walls rising one above another. The walls hide the vines. But if you climb to the top of the mountain and look down upon it from above, you can see nothing but rich green vines covered with clusters of grapes. The vines hide the walls from sight. So our conclu- sions as to the affairs of this world will depend on where we stand. If on the low level of human sin and life and struggle, down in the valley of a weak faith and a blind reason, we shall see only the stone walls of hardened hearts and perverse human nature, barren and fruitless, but if we ascend the mountain of strong faith and come into the fellowship of angels and saints and union with God, we shall see fruit- bearing vines and the sure promise of a glorious harvest.

The disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration and Paul in his third heaven are pictures of what will be, not the momentary impulse of true disciples of God, but the perpetual ecstasy of sweet joy the saints shall one day inherit. Many smile in derision at the reform movements of to-day, saying, " You cannot purify literature, nor check intemperance, nor make the world 138

TUK WORK OF CM KISTIAMTV

better than it is." Labor and capital will con- tinue to fij^dit each other, avarice and lust will down the innocent, and hunianit)''s cry will ever be heard as the roar of the sea tVoni the tossini; of tempestuous winds. But out of the struggle has already come untold blessin^^s to the human race, and most of all to the indi\-i(luals who have endured the cross and despised the shame. The host of God is more than an army of observation, it is one of heroic action in the field.

" Subtlest thought shall fail and learning falter, Churches change, forms perish, systems go. But our human needs, they will not alter, Christ no after age shall e'er outgrow."

In spite, then, of wars and contentions and national revolutions, although the dragon is not yet overcome, I still read in them the story of better things and final victory. There is more happiness and peace, contentment and joy, than since the stars sang together on the morning of a finished creation. The mind is better because the thought is better. What a contrast between the times of Charlemagne and now ! Then people had their choice of being baptized or being beheaded ; and as the people had gener- ally long heads, they chose baptism. Denom- inational barriers are being broken down. Tiie 139

SOCIAL REGENERATION

technicalities of creeds are disappearing into deeds of mercy and larger sympathy. Char- acter stands for more and profession for less. Yes, I believe the kingdom of God is coming, and although the war John saw up in the clouds is still fToin£[- on, the dra^^on is bein"- overcome, and with this blessed hope before us let no harp remain unstrung. Jesus plainly declared that his kingdom of peace should spread until men would love their enemies and war would be unknown ; that righteousness and peace should cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Amid the darkness of the Middle Ages there were always some who held aloft the shining torch of peace, like pilgrims in the night. Sir Philip Sidney wrote of it in " Arcady." Sir Thomas More told of it in his " Utopia." Whittier, the Quaker poet, hailed the dawning day, and Tennyson, in his " Locksley Hall," when he

** Dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, .Saw the vision of the world and all the wonder that would be ; The war drum throbbed no longer and the battle flags were

furled, In the parliament of man, (he federation of the world."

It is not altogether the poet's dream. Each individual church and each individual Christian are lifting up their little lights of influence in 140

THE WORK OF CHRISTIANITY

this dark world of sin as the stars shine in the world above. They are the salt of the earth, lin- seed growin^T secretly, the leaven of ri^htness which is to leaven the whole lump.

When the battle of Waterloo was fou^^ht there were no telcfrraphs or telephones to carry the news. The quickest way of communication was by means of a system of semaphores, by which words were flashed in sunlight from one station to another.

When it became evident that the French were defeated, the English attempted to send the news to London in the following message, " Welling- ton defeated the French at Waterloo." While the message was on its way to London a cloud obscured the sun, and only the first two words of the message, " Wellington defeated," were received. For three days the clouds hung like a pall over the mourning city, because of what they believed was a disastrous defeat. Finally, when the clouds were lifted and the complete message was received, description fails to picture the rejoicing in all London.

So it will be some time in this dark world of sin, which now travails and groans in pain, when the complete message from the skies is received. The first message is that INIichael and his angels are in deadly conflict with the dragon and his 141

SOCIAL REGENERATION

angels. We often hear that the dragon is vic- torious, and many a time we mourn the defeat of truth and the triumph of error.

" History's pages but record One death grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the

world ; Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne — Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim

unknown Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his

own."

Earthly clouds now obscure the prophetic vision. The day is coming when the great movements of this world, guided by the hand of the Son of God and governed by his sov- ereignty, shall usher in the grand consummation ; the storms and shadows will disappear, and we shall read the completed message, " Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the ac- cuser of our brethren is cast down." 142

|iilllliii!lli«^^

Sk i™^^^

liiiiil

« *.

«_A '•

I « .11..C*

« -*-•«■*="«. ,«

'4.-'t

- ? If IT

*..«

XS

C<-*;«;»;*j';^i***;

•a •«

'lar.atiJfcJ

■X^^^^

Pi.^..M.^.i^. PZw: t- ft

WJ^.B

V r t «^ ■•*■'■ i- " jc ;J>. «■ *• t>. ![

iVIl^Hli

I i ^

3f^^ 'SJ-

3^, i' .'

f-^ ,.3f^' !'■ -f i

c

#■.. 1:

^■': 4.

M . *;■-. t

»»»»»-.

■i?: *••' i'-" 1* 4,'* i- » *• *• r

&■ &' * fe IL If- ■

1- .. *

«-.''«..-^f,..''«../-*.*^^'^..;'«

€ -i ■'t ^

^ ^r**

«v

■4. "iJi' * "'at ■« -* «

'y. « «

^ /4- :«

t '.*. -■^;

^ . a

M^:^%':'-^'M

-i .. 1

' « 'J. a

'i .tt •

. 0 w '

' '■at « s«

•* ■It- 'f . * * .'^ 'tt <!■ 41? V

-•i-- ' vw ^ -vr ^ *»

rM

*i" "Opf cp*