Christian faith for men of today

BR 121 .C66 1913
Cook, Ezra Albert.
Christian faith for men of
today

CONSTRUCTIVE BIBLE STUDIES

EDITED BY

ERNEST D. BURTON

CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN
OF TODAY

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Agpnta
THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON AND EDINBURGH

THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA

TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO

KARL W. HIERSEMANN

LEIPZIG

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY

NEW YORK

CHRISTIAN FAITH
FOR MEN OF TODAY

Ezra Albert Cook, Ph.D.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Copyright 1913 By ).

The University of Chicago j

,1

All Rights Reserved

Published August 1913

Composed and Printed By

The University of Chicago Press

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

;

1

TO THE MEN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY |

WHO DESIRE TO LIVE THE IDEAL LIFE

IN THE REAL WORLD j

j

PREFACE

This book aims to present the essential truths
of historic Christianity in orderly form, in non-
technical language, in view of, and in harmony
with, those elements of the scientific and religious
thought of today which are generally accepted
by trained minds. It is intended primarily for
use in classes for religious study in college, Young
Men's Christian Association, Sunday school, and
kindred organizations. It is the result of my
experience and work with such classes and has been
in process of preparation for more than six years.

It is hoped that it will be found useful to three
classes of people. First are the young people who
are in process of forming their conceptions of
Christianity, and who, being in contact with the
intellectual life of the age, must necessarily relate
those conceptions to that which they are learning
in the realms of history, sociology, and science.
Second, among those whom I have in mind are
those older members of the Christian church who,
having accepted in their youth the current defini-
tions and doctrines of Christian theology, have
lately found occasion, perhaps by contact with
their children now in process of education, perhaps
by reading and reflection, to consider whether
some changes of their thought about religion, in

X PREFACE

form if not in substance, are not called for by the
progress of human thought in various fields of
knowledge. And third, it is intended for some
people who, intelligent and influential in other
departments of thought and life, have remained
outside the church, under the impression that the
Christian church is falling so far behind the progress
of thought in other spheres that one who thinks
honestly cannot really accept current Christianity
or ally oneself with the church.

Religion is not wholly an affair of the intellect;
it is even more a matter of will and life. But
Christianity has its intellectual side, and clear
and strong thinking ought to issue, and in the long
run and in the large, always does issue, not in
negations, but in positive convictions, and through
them in larger and richer life.

While I am indebted to very many books and
minds for the development of my own theological
thought and for assistance in the composition of
this book, I may mention three men to whom my
thanks are especially due. President W. Douglass
Mackenzie, of Hartford Theological Seminary, was
my teacher in theology and is my dear friend.
Professor William Adams Brown, of Union Semi-
nary, was exceedingly kind in reading through the
manuscript of this book, in earlier forms, twice,
and in offering many very helpful suggestions.
Mr. Frederick M. Harris, editor of publications of

PREFACE xi

the International Committee of the Young Men's
Christian Association, also read the manuscript
in an earlier form and in its final revision, and his
encouragement and advice on many points have
been of great value.

I shall greatly appreciate any sympathetic
criticism or suggestion for improvement of a future
edition which any careful student of this book
may send to me, and it goes forth with the earnest
hope that God may use it for the strengthening
of the church of Christ and the establishment of
his kingdom in the hearts of all men.

E. Albert Cook

Congregational College of Canada, Montreal
April, 1913

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Is Christianity the Best Reli-
gion? I

II. The Value of the Bible as a Writ-
ten Revelation 40

III. How to Use the Bible .... 56

IV. What Shall We Believe about
God? 75

V. Man, Sin, and Salvation ... 102

VI. What Shall We Believe about

Jesus? 130

VII. What Shall We Believe about
THE Last Things and the Future
Life? 160

VIII. How Shall We Cultivate and

Express the Best Faith? . . . 181

Appendix I. Books for Reference . . . 221

Appendix II. Notes, References and Ques-
tions 223

Index 255

CHAPTER I

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION ?

"Let no man lead you astray: he that doeth righteous-
ness is righteous."— I John 3 : 7.

I. Religion is man's consciousness of relation
to his larger environment, (a) his feeling of relation
to God (or nature or the universe) and to humanity ;
(b) his thought about these relations and their
consequences, and (c) the action resulting from
this feeling and belief. — This definition differs from
many familiar ones, especially in two ways. First,
it recognizes the participation of the whole nature
of man, emotions, intellect, and will, whereas
many have thought that religion belonged to one
of these three phases of human nature, to the par-
tial or complete exclusion of the others. Secondly,
this definition recognizes the essential place in
religion of man's relation to humanity at large, as
a part of his environment.

This definition includes all forms of religion,
even atheistic forms such as the original Buddhism,
which it was very difficult to include in a definition
which made religion the worship of a god or gods.
It also recognizes that all men are religious, even
those who have nothing to do with religious
organizations or ceremonies, For every man feels

2 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

some relation to the rest of reality, whether he
thinks of that as fate, or the All, or some good or
evil spirits, or the God and Father of Jesus Christ.
For instance, the man whose life is absorbed in
money-making has a feeling that he is taking the
best way to obtain the greatest power over the
earth and man and get the most out of life. His
real religious faith is made in view of that feeling
and his action is consistent with it. So too the
materialist who believes in no spiritual force behind
and in the universe, but nevertheless devotes
perhaps his whole wealth and energy to the im-
provement of the condition of his fellow-men, is
seen to be religious — indeed, we shall come to see
that he has a very good form of religion, although
far from the best.

We are justified in including the consciousness
of relation to humanity as an important element
in religion, philosophically by the fact that espe-
cially when nature is viewed mechanically as the
automatic expression of inviolable laws, the sig-
nificant part of the universe to which relationship
is felt is humanity; and this feeling with the thought
and action which go with it may take the place
which would otherwise be taken by feeling of
relation to superhuman powers. This definition
is also justified historically, as we find that the
relationship of each man to other men, at least
others who are associated with him in the same

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 3

form of religion, is an essential part of historical
religions, and that the highest forms lay the most
stress on the necessity of right relations with men.
The highest form of religion may therefore be
defined with Professor E. T. Harper as ''life
flowing from love to God and fellow-men."

As a matter of fact, no other religion has
attained to such a high idea of God and noble
conception of man, or been developed in such
harmonious and helpful relation to the three
phases of man's nature, feeling, thought, and
action, as Christianity. It is in Christianity
that the highest ideal of religion has been reached,
and most largely realized, and this will appear
as we consider that ideal and measure essential
Christianity by it, in the following pages.

A helpful conception of the nature of religion
is that it is the search for friends in the universe.
For every man instinctively desires to be in friendly
relations with the rest of reality, and friendship
can obtain, in its higher forms, only between per-
sonal beings. Hence the universal tendency to
think of the powers of nature, the great factors
that determine one's fortune and destiny as being,
or being controlled by, a great person or persons,
a god or gods. All religion in its earlier forms
believes that there are such friendly beings with
which man can come into contact. Pantheism
and atheism are in every case later developments

4 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR IMEN OF TODAY

to which some men have thought themselves
forced by their reason. The worship of unfriendly
or evil spirits or gods is rightly regarded as either
a degradation or a counterfeit of religion and not a
true or natural development.

2. The best religion, from the standpoint of the
individual, is that which is of the greatest assistance
in the development and enjoyment of all his powers,
or which leads to the most satisfying life. From
the standpoint of society, it is that which has the
strongest tendency to make men helpful to each
other or righteous. — The truth of the first part of
this thesis is self-evident. Some may question,
however, whether religion has to do with all phases
and powers of Ufe, and especially whether it may
not be necessary, in order to develop and enjoy
the higher and nobler powers, or to enjoy the life
of happiness after the earthly life is over, that one
should deny himself other enjoyments. Different
forms of religion have emphasized one interest of
human life, and neglected others or taught that
the others must be quite abandoned if the more
important were to be truly attained. It must be
evident, however, that if it were possible to enjoy
physical health, the various normal exercises and
pleasures of mortal life, and of the Hfe ajter the
death of the body, and at the same time to attain
the highest development of the spiritual Hfe — that
is, of character — a religion which enabled a man

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 5

to do this would be better than one which enabled
him to do only part of this. Christianity in its
highest form holds that these various forms of
individual satisfaction are all mutually consistent,
indeed, that they are all bound up together, so
that no one can enjoy one phase of life in the best
way without the development of the other phases;
and so far as our experience goes Christianity has
been more successful in thus promoting the larger
Hfe of the individual than any other form of religion.

The truth of the second part of this thesis — that
is, that from the standpoint of society that religion
is best which best helps men to become righteous —
will be seen when in section 6 we consider the
meaning of righteousness, and see that the righteous
life is just that life which is most helpful to others,
and therefore most useful to men.

3. Christianity has satisfied at the same time
the needs of the individual and of society as no
other religion has done, and thus harmonized and
united the elements which in other religions have
always remained more or less antagonistic. — A
complete demonstration of this thesis would of
course require the study of the whole history of
the world and all of the forms of religion which
have existed. But for practical purposes we may
make our study much narrower. Since there is
a powerful incentive for mankind to retain what
it finds to be most useful, and social change is in

6 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

general progressive, advancing, although with
many temporary and local failures, we shall be
safe in assuming that the best elements in the
religions of the past have been preserved to the
present, and we may therefore confine our atten-
tion to those forms of reHgion which afifect larger
masses of men at the present time.

The great forms of religion at the present tune
are Buddhism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism.
Confucianism is more a system of moral and poli-
tical teaching than a religion, and its influence in
China is now rapidly decaying. It is there united
with various forms of religion, none of which can be
considered as comparable with Christianity in
value except Buddhism. Hinduism is a name for
a multitude of different forms of religion, which
while having common elements are without true
unity. It cannot, therefore, come into comparison.

Buddhism exists in different forms and has
been corrupted in various ways. As taught by its
founder, Gautama, it was probably in its best
form and contained much that was good and true,
especially in its teachings with regard to the vir-
tuous life. Gautama taught that no help or
salvation could be expected from any god, and
that the salvation which man needed could be
reached only by the cessation of all desire. This
state must be reached by everyone for himself,
unaided by anyone else. Thus original and eso-

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION ? 7

teric Buddhism was practically atheistic. Later
forms have worshiped Gautama, the founder, as a
god, or have introduced the worship of other
deities, but have not changed the general ideal
of life and salvation.

The Buddhistic view of life is that it is evil,
to be gotten rid of as soon as possible, not by
suicide — that would only prolong it in other,
perhaps less desirable, incarnations — but by the
extinction of the desire to live. The highest state
which the Buddhist hopes to reach is that of the
Nirvana, a condition of dreamless sleep — impos-
sible definitely to distinguish from non-existence.
In the meanwhile a man should treat his fellows
kindly and rightly. But the path to the Nirvana
is only for the few who give up their interest in life
and its activities; and the many have for the
present only a partial interest in religion and do not
attain to the salvation which it offers. Aside
from this highest form, there are many corrup-
tions and superstitions in the doctrine and practice
of Buddhism, and the life of the people who adhere
to it is so manifestly inferior to that of Christians
that a fair comparison can lead to only one con-
clusion as to which is better.

Mohammedanism, when it arose, was a distinct
advance upon the forms of religion and morals
which it superseded, among the roving tribes of
Arabia, but its faith and life have been inseparably

8 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

connected with faith in the Koran as a divine
revelation of absolute authority in all respects.
Thus it has stood against progress ever3rwhere
and does so today. The place which it gives to
women in this life, whether in monogamous or
polygamous conditions, is far inferior to man's,
and they are believed to have no souls and to
cease to exist when the body dies. There is no
place in the religion for children, while they are
children. It has some good teaching both moral
and religious, but both are far inferior to that of
Christianity, particularly in its Protestant forms,
and a comparison of the life yielded by Moham-
medanism and Christianity leaves no question as to
which is superior. Mohammedanism propagates
itself more by the power of the sword than by the
appeal to reason and conscience, and justifies the
ruthless slaughter of those who do not accept it.
This glance at the only important world-rivals
of Christianity, which should be supplemented by
study of books referred to in the notes, shows that
neither of them can be looked to as containing
even the fundamental principles of the best religion
in a form definite enough to serve as foundations
for the development of the best religion, without
giving up their primary characteristics as historic
systems. On the other hand, as we shall see in
succeeding sections, Christianity has had in it,
from the beginning, the fimdamental principles of

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 9

that religion which must be the best and the final
one for humanity, and these principles must be
regarded as constituting its real essence, and there-
fore be used to distinguish it from errors and corrup-
tions which have been associated with many of its
historic forms.

4. Social and historical forms are essential to
the existence and development of religion, and the
best form of religion can be most surely found by
the study of historical religions, and therefore
especially by the study of the highest form,
Christianity. — No sensible man undertakes to
become expert in any line of study or labor in
which men have been engaged for centuries, with-
out acquainting himself with the highest results
which others have hitherto achieved. So no
sensible man will undertake, even if it were pos-
sible, to invent or discover the best form of religion
without first finding out the highest forms which
have been reached in the history of men. Every
building must be constructed from the ground up,
and every advance must commence at the point
which has been attained. We may well question
whether any particular form of Christianity now
adhered to by large masses of people is in all
respects true and ideal. If it were, we should
have a right to expect that the people would be
perfect in character, or at least far nearer perfec-
tion than any group with which we are acquainted.

lo CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

But the only way in which the ideal religion can
possibly be reached is by the patient and pro-
gressive perfecting of the best that we have, by
the emphasizing of that which proves itself most
useful and true, and the gradual elimination of
elements whose value has been but temporary,
and which have been outgrown. Such a process
of growth and development belongs to true religion,
and results from its own nature and vitality, and
is one of the most remarkable characteristics of
Christianity.

The question has been raised whether one form
of religion can be best for all men, or whether one
form may not be better for one race or nation or
class, and a considerably different form better for
another race, nation, or class. No doubt there
is a sense in which the latter is the case. But
just as there is but one true science of electricity
for all men, however differently electrical apparatus
may be used in different places and conditions,
and just as true food is nourishing to all hirnian
beings, even though from various causes the diet
and the appetite of one man will differ from those
of another, so the needs and elements of human
nature are everywhere fundamentally the same;
and the best rehgion for one man will probably
be the best religion for every other man, although
different elements in it will be of greater value
and importance in the one case than in the other,

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? ii

and the understanding of it will be much less
complete for one man than for another.

If, then, the best religion is one which shall
best meet the needs of all races and classes, we
may be most confident that we have foimd the
best religion, or that from which the best religion
must be developed, if we find that historical form
which has met the needs of masses of men of all
classes and conditions in the best way and this
we cannot doubt to be historical Christianity.

If we admit that Christianity has some error
connected with it in its historical forms, and that
other great religions contain some of the good
elements of Christianity, it may be thought that
after all they should be treated as equals, and that
we should simply urge the emphasis of the impor-
tant and rejection of the false in each case, but
not ask anyone to give up another form for Chris-
tianity. This is not the right attitude. It may
be that one form of religion has accepted ele-
ments of good which belong also to other religions,
but that its essential features may so obscure these
good elements as to prevent them from ever attain-
ing their true place and right emphasis in the
lives of its adherents. This brings us to the
question as to what the essence of a religion is.
Our answer relates to founded religions, particu-
larly, but as the great religions of the world.
Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity,

12 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

all belong to this class, it will apply to them all.
We hold, then, that the essence of a religion is
that character or those features, manifest in its
founding and preserved in its history, which by
their value and vitality give power to the religion
to reform and purify itself and adapt itself to
both the permanent and the changing elements
in human life. We have briefly considered the
two rivals of Christianity from this standpoint
of their essential form. We now have to consider
Christianity very briefly in the same way. Of
course the succeeding chapters in the book are
taken up with the explanation and confirmation
of the details of Christian faith as they have been
developed up to the present time.

5. Jesus in his own life and teaching presented
the life of largest development and satisfaction for
the individual.— This appears from the accounts
which we have in the Gospels, both positively
and negatively. He did not teach nor practice
asceticism, although he did teach the life of self-
sacrifice and self-denial. But almost all of his
recorded acts are those of promoting the health
or enjoyment of others. He did not avoid feasts
nor say much of fasting. He enjoyed and approved
of home life and of children and in no way suggested
that a life of seclusion in cell or monastery was
desired by God. The relations which he sustained
and taught his disciples to hold to all men were

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION ? 13

determined by the highest emotion, love. In the
Beatitudes he points out the way to the happy
Hfe. In his warning against anxiety, worry, and
covetousness, he was showing the way to peace
and contentment of mind, conducive to the
healthiest mental and physical life. He says
very little about the life after death, and is mainly
concerned not with that but with mortal life
itself. In the Fourth Gospel he is represented as
especially concerned with giving life to men, and
many expressions emphasize this idea: "I came
that they may have life, and that they may have
it abundantly"; ''I am the bread of life"; "Ye
will not come to me that ye may have life";
"I am the way and the truth and the life."

6. Jesus taught that righteousness is the most
important element in the life of the individual and
of society, that it is of fundamental value for God
and man. — A man acts righteously or rightly
when he does what he would want everyone else
to do under similar circumstances. This defini-
tion of righteousness was first clearly stated in
substantially this form by the great philosopher
Kant, although it was probably understood by
Socrates, two thousand years earlier. Jesus taught
it in the form we know as the Golden Rule, and
all of his teachings are consistent with it. Con-
fucius also stated it in a negative form, but did
not realize its truth in the positive form in which

14 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

Jesus taught it. The great value of this definition
is that everyone who understands it will agree
that it is correct, although from its nature it will
be applied differently in specific cases by different
people.

Apart from some of the teachings of Jesus
about the ''last things," the judgment, second
coming, etc., which we shall have to consider
later, his recorded sayings are mainly concerned
with two things: the explanation of and exhor-
tation to the righteous life, and the presentation
of a spiritual idea of the kingdom of heaven in
place of the prevailing materialistic idea of it.
He taught that the essence of righteousness is
love, and that God, who is perfectly righteous,
requires his children to be perfect as he is. He
saw beneath the outward actions to the inward
motive, and judged man by the latter. The great-
est commandment is to love God (this perfectly
righteous Being) with all of one's nature, and the
second, like to the first in importance and in
character, is to love one's neighbor as oneself —
that is, one cannot love God truly without loving
one's neighbor also truly. Such love to one's fellows,
as he taught and exemplified it, was the funda-
mental principle of the righteousness which he
demanded, and a moment's thought will make it
clear that he was right; for this principle of
action from loving motives would be immediately

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 15

derivable from the definition of righteousness which
we have agreed upon. How remarkable it was
that Jesus had this clear perception of the nature
of righteousness, when the current teaching of his
day and his people was so different, need not here
be dwelt upon.

Although, as we have seen, Jesus did not teach
asceticism, he did insist upon righteousness and
love to others, with all that that involved of self-
sacrifice, self-denial, and self-restraint, as the first
condition of God's approval and man's happiness
and welfare. Righteousness — love for others
shown by word and deed — and not any particular
form of ceremony or creed, was the test, in the
great judgment scene which he so dramatically
pictured as the time of decision of the fate of
men and nations.

The teaching of Jesus about the kingdom of
heaven shows that this kingdom was something
to be progressively realized on earth by men
governed by the spirit of love to God and one
another. It was not primarily an ideal for the
life after death, but something that was already
coming in the experiences of his disciples and was
to spread from them like the yeast in the three
measures of meal. Thus Jesus united in his
faith and teaching the ideal of individual satisfac-
tion, social harmony, and divine perfection, the
highest appeal to the intellect, feelings, and will.

1 6 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

Righteousness and love were the key words in
all three.

7. The authority to which Jesus appealed was
always that of the reason and the conscience, and
whenever tradition, even the most sacred, con-
flicted with these, he did not hesitate to forsake
tradition. — Tradition in religion opposes truth and
progress in two ways. First, it often conflicts
with the truth about right conduct. The religion
of a hundred years ago approved or at any
rate did not condemn certain kinds of action
which are now seen to have evil results, and there-
fore to be morally wrong. Then, these results
may not have been apparent, and the action
may have been so much of an improvement
over previous action as to be right at that time.
But now the man who receives the religion, and
with it the views of right and wrong of a hundred
years ago, must choose between this teaching of
religious tradition and the voice of his conscience.
The general approval of slavery in the United
States a century ago is an instance of religious
tradition which came to be in conflict with
conscience. We should understand that tradi-
tion indicates any teaching or custom which is
"handed down" from one generation to another,
whether true or false, and that it may be
very good, as in the case of the Bible. The
danger is that it may be held sacred and right

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 17

because it has come down from previous ages,
instead of because it is confirmed by reason and
conscience.

The second way in which tradition often opposes
truth is with respect to teaching concerned directly
with religious belief or ceremonial. For example,
a certain creed expressed, a hundred years ago,
the highest thought of man about God, and a
certain ceremonial form seemed most suitable to
the true worship of God. Now, the language
and ideas of people have changed in many impor-
tant respects and the creed of that day is not and
carmot be understood in the same way as it was
then. In certain ways, also, our ideas of God are
clearer and higher now than then, so that the
creed has not now the intrinsic authority of its
appeal to reason and conscience that it had. But
tradition insists on its acceptance on the implicit
ground of the authority which it formerly had, not
recognizing that the basis of that authority has
passed away.

Jesus' constant appeal to the reason and con-
science is reflected with special emphasis in the
Fourth Gospel, where the words " true " and '' truth"
recur so frequently. He appealed to the evidence
of his works, to the witness that God bore to him
(how else than by his Spirit in their minds and
hearts, making the truth plain to those who would
receive it?); and when he appealed to the Scrip-

i8 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

tures for confirmation of the truth of his words
it was either to point out the inconsistency of those
who found fault with him while they professed
the greatest reverence for the Scriptures, or to
quote some passage the truth of which was evident
quite apart from the authority of its source. He
said that he came to fulfil the Scriptures, but, inter-
preting those words by his life, we must find them
to mean that he was to show the deeper and truer
meaning of them by his life and teaching, rejecting
or revising that in them which was only temporary
in its value.

Jesus' rejection or revision, not only of the
teachings of the scribes and rabbis but also of the
Scriptures when they came into conflict with truth
and right, is illustrated in his teaching about
marriage and divorce, about "Korban," about
ceremonial defilement in eating with unwashed
hands or eating meats that were ceremonially
unclean. It is shown also in his reinterpretation
of old commandments in the Sermon on the
Mount where he goes from the outward act to
the inward motive. "Ye have heard that it
hath been said" — that was the authority of tra-
dition— ''but I say unto you" — that was not
merely an appeal to his own authority, but rather
his interpretation of the will of God enforced by
an appeal to their own perception of how God
actually works in the world.

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION ? 19

8. Since the characteristic features of the life
and teaching of Jesus have remained vital in
Christianity and are the principles of the best
religion, Christianity must be in essence the best
and the final religion. — We have seen in the last
sections that the principles of the life and teaching
of Jesus are those of the best religion, the one
giving largest satisfaction to the intellect, emotions,
and will of the individual and having the strongest
tendency to make men righteous. A study of
church history would show that these principles
were effective in the early organization of the
church and development of its systems of teaching;
that, although they have often been lost sight of
by the ecclesiastical authorities and perhaps the
larger body of adherents of the church, they have
yet survived in the minds and hearts of a ''rem-
nant" at all times and come into prominence in
the lives and teachings of the great prophets and
reformers of the church from time to time. They
were the underlying principles of the great refor-
mation which commenced in the sixteenth cen-
tury, and are again today being understood more
clearly than ever before.

It is of great importance to note that, however
these principles have been lost from view for a
time in the history of the church, there never was
a time when the life and words of Jesus were not
regarded, theoretically at least, as of fundamental

20 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

value to the church. And the fact that the Gospels
have from the first century preserved this picture
of Jesus and record of his words in which these
principles are so evident has made a reformation
and purification of Christian life and doctrine
possible and often inevitable. They have thus
been the vital principles of Christianity throughout
its history. And by this history the practical
value or "workableness" of these principles has
been shown.

A comparison of the moral, intellectual, and
social conditions in countries dominated by
Roman Catholicism (in which form of Christianity
these principles have been much less clearly
recognized and effective than in Protestantism,
and in which the authority of tradition and of the
hierarchy and papacy have often been opposed to
the authority of reason and conscience), with cor-
responding conditions in countries where Protes-
tant Christianity has more largely determined
conditions, and in which these principles have
been much more completely recognized, will be a
very strong argument for the value of these prin-
ciples and the view that Protestantism is much
truer to the spirit and essence of Christianity
than Romanism.

Granting that Christianity is the best religion
that the world knows, the question may still be
raised by some whether it may not some time be

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 21

superseded by another still better. It would be
very unwise in the face of history, even of Chris-
tian history, to predict permanence for any detailed
system of doctrine. Although in the following
pages we give in reasonable detail the elements
which seem to flow from the fundamental principles
of the best religion, as they have been developed
within Christianity up to the present tune, it is
not with the thought that no modification of any
of them will be found necessary in the future,
but rather that they fairly state the highest posi-
tions that have yet been reached, and, by the
criticism of careful thought and the testing of time,
will lead to still clearer views of truth in the future.

But we have found Christianity to be in essence
identical with the best religion, and that its essen-
tial principles have proved their value and appli-
cability to human nature as it is for nearly two
thousand years. We must therefore hold that
this essential Christianity is the highest and best
religion and destined to be permanent and final.

If it be granted that Christianity is the highest
form of religion to which the world has attained,
and that its essence is that of the best conceivable
religion, we may also say that the final religion
must be continuous with Christianity as we now
have it, in substance of doctrine and spirit if not
in form of organization. It must be our Chris-
tianity perfected according to its true nature, as

2 2 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

the child when it develops rightly matures into
the perfect man or woman. For, as has been
noted in section 4, the religion of the future must
always be built upon that of the present — there
can never be a gap in the development. This
is a reason for patience with the slow-changing
forms of Christianity which we know today and
the faithful effort to develop them rightly from
within rather than to break away from them and
organize new forms which would embody the
truth in a purer and more complete way. Such
breaks are sometimes necessary, but the scan-
dalous multiplicity of Christian sects and all the
evils of sectarian strife and misunderstanding
show that there is a very serious danger in such
impatience with the slower progress of established
organizations. The great movements of today
toward the reuniting of Christian organizations
are one of the proofs of the presence in them of
the spirit of truth and love.

Christianity possesses two concrete elements
whose value for its growth and permanence is of
immense and peculiar value. The first is the
person and teaching of Jesus as described in the
New Testament. The central place in Buddhism
of Gautama and in Mohammedanism of Mahomet
is in many respects similar to that of Jesus in
Christianity. But while in the case of the two
first-named forms, adherence to the principles

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 23

and ideals of the founder must ever prevent the
attainment of the best religion, in the case of
Christianity the life and teachings of its founder
are still far beyond what has been practically
realized and attained in the history of the religion
which he founded, and are of such a nature that we
cannot conceive of them being susperseded or
surpassed. Abstract principles are always in
danger of being lost in the forms in which they
are stated or in the minds of those who have not
learned to grasp or to value principles in abstract
form. But a definite, divine, heroic figure, with
a name and history easily grasped, whose life
illustrates such abstract principles in ways readily
understood by the simplest and most unlearned,
is of inestimable value in the maintenance of such
principles as living forces among men.

The second concrete element making for the
permanence of Christianity is the Bible. Again
we may compare it with Islam, i.e., Mohammedan-
ism, which in place of the Bible has the Koran.
The latter, while of great and positive value at
the time it was written, to the people whose
religious beliefs and practices had been decidedly
lower than those it inculcated, has nevertheless
been an absolute hindrance to growth and progress
among those who held it sacred. The Bible, on
the other hand, has had a most favorable influence
on progress in every line, and when rightly used
should continue to do so in the future as well as,

24 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

or even better than, in the past. The peculiar
value, nature, and proper use of the Bible are
considered in the next chapters.

In order that we may be able to distinguish
the permanent, valuable, and true elements in
Christian faith from temporary or erroneous forms
or elements which in the course of history have
become associated with it, we shall need to con-
sider further some principles for the testing of
religious teaching, and the basis for our confidence
that we may come to the real truth in our study.
This is done in the remaining sections of this
chapter.

9. Religious teachings with regard to facts or
principles, which cannot be verified through the
senses or the personal experience of the individ-
ual, belong to the realm of faith, and should be
distinguished from those which are thus verifiable
and so belong to the realm of knowledge in the
technical sense. — By knowledge in the technical
sense we mean those opinions as to facts and prin-
ciples which a man cannot doubt when the proper
evidence has been presented to him — in the
acceptance of the truth of which a man has no
choice. When we once understand them, we
cannot doubt the truth of mathematics and logic,
the so-called formal sciences. They, however,
give us no information about any particular
thuigs, but enable us to use such information

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 25

rightly only when we have obtained it in other
ways. Aside from these formal sciences, all
knowledge comes to us through our senses, or
from our immediate consciousness of our own
feelings or other experiences. I cannot doubt the
real existence of the impressions of sight and sound,
smell, touch, etc., and of feelings of comfort or pain,
and the thoughts that pass through my mind m
dreams or waking hours. Practically, I cannot
doubt the existence of the objects of my sense-
experiences, of the chair which I see, the type-
writer which I hear, and the tooth which aches.
There are many things which belong to the
realm of knowledge which I know only indirectly,
but they are things which I might know, or,
might have known directly if I had been in the
position of other human beings whose knowledge
of them was immediate, and from whom my
knowledge comes. For instance, I know that
there is a city Jerusalem, although I have not yet
seen it. But I have the best reason to believe
that I might see it if I took the time and trouble
and could meet the expense. My evidence of its
existence comes to me still through my senses,
although it is not direct. The books I read, and
the things I hear from people whom my eyes see,
give me evidence that there is such a city, and I
am practically compelled to believe it just as
certainly by this indirect evidence as if I saw the

26 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

city myself. And even if the evidence were not
absolutely convincing, the matter would still
belong to the realm of knowledge. Suppose I
had only the report of the author of some old
book on the subject. If I had good reason to
believe that the book was authentic and the author
truthful, I should still believe it as fully as if a
hundred men had witnessed to its existence. If
I had doubts about the book or its author I might
doubt the existence of the city for that reason;
but my opinion about it is still dependent on the
evidence which comes to my senses, and not on
my choice, and further evidence might settle the
matter for me one way or the other. In the same
way I know that a man named Jesus lived in
Palestine many years ago. I cannot absolutely
verify his existence by my senses now, but have,
nevertheless, evidence through them that if I had
been in Palestine at the right time I might have
seen him with my own eyes, and heard his voice
with my own ears.

We should understand that a matter may belong
to the realm of knowledge even though our own
opinion about it may be erroneous. One man may
believe that the city of Troy as described by
Homer and Virgil really existed, and another
that it never really existed. So far as the opinions
have any value at all, they are founded on evidence
presented to the senses of the men holding them,

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 27

and are in each case held involuntarily — not
because the men wish to hold them, but because
the evidence of their senses seems to warrant
their opinions. If the evidence could be made
complete and perfect, both men would be compelled
to come to the same opinion and that the right one.

We should understand that, as to knowledge of
our own thoughts and feelings, what we cannot
doubt is that we have them — we can doubt whether
or not they are true. For instance, I know that
I have had a certain dream. But I cannot know
that it represents any truth with regard to present
or future conditions in the outer world, just because
I have dreamt it. If I believe that it does, that
is a matter of faith and not knowledge. So I
may know that certain events have happened after
my prayer, and may believe that they happened
because God heard my prayer, but my belief with
regard to God is a matter of faith and not of
knowledge. A man who does not doubt my
account of my prayer and the events which followed
may nevertheless doubt the existence of God.

Faith, then, is the conviction which a man
arrives at as an interpretation of experience, but
which itself cannot be absolutely established by
the senses or any personal experience. When all
the evidences which my senses could receive had
been presented, I might still hold that some other
explanation of the existence of the universe was the

28 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

true one, than that it was to be explained by the
existence of a God such as the Christian believes
in. The view which I hold is not so involuntary
as in the case of sense-knowledge. It is dependent
on the significance which I attribute to certain ex-
periences above other experiences, and the value
which the one opinion has for me above the other.
All theories of science as well as religion which are
used to explain and to handle facts and experiences,
but cannot be fully confirmed by the senses or
personal experience of the individual, belong to
the realm of faith in this technical sense. All the
most important teachings of religion belong to the
realm of faith and not of knowledge.

Some people distinguish between religious
belief and faith, making the latter personal trust
or confidence and commitment to God. The
question is here one of the use of words. Every
author has the right to use his terms in the way
which seems to him best, provided he makes his
meaning plain. The use which is made of these
terms in this book is here defined and should be
clearly understood. It is quite true that a man
may hold certain opinions about God, correspond-
ing to those of Christianity, without having a
personal trust in God, and being a real Christian.
We should say, however, that such an attitude
is possible only when such opinions are held only
part of the time, and in a weak way; and that it

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 29

is impossible for a man constantly to believe the
Christian teaching about God, without the personal
commitment of self to him which some would
denote by the term faith.

When it is seen that a man cannot be certain
of the truth of religion (in the sense of being com-
pelled to believe its teachings and unable to
doubt them, or to accept alternative theories in
explanation of his experience), there is danger
that a man will say: Then I can never be sure of
having the true religion, and need not concern
myself about it; no one can require me to have
any particular religious faith, since he cannot prove
that it is true. But this would be a very foolish
position. We could do hardly anything of con-
sequence in this world without acting on faith,
that is, on theories the truth of which can never
be demonstrated to the senses. And the theories
of religion are the most important ones for life
which a man can hold, and while they never become
knowledge in the technical sense, their truth may
yet be made so clear as to make their acceptance
the only sensible thing for a man to do. The tests
and principles of religious faith are further made
clear in the following sections.

10. A religious faith should be reasonable, that
is, its elements should not contradict each other
or the testimony of the senses or the facts of
human experience. — Two statements which con-

30 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

tradict each other cannot both be true. There-
fore, as we are looking for a true faith, we must
strive to get rid of contradiction in its various
parts. This may seem so evident as not to be
worth mentioning, but as a matter of fact probably
the faith of most people involves more or less
contradiction which is not recognized. A man
believes one thing at one time, and another con-
tradictory thing at another; and because he does
not think of both at the same time and compare
them, he does not realize that one of them must be
false. Thus contradictions have even crept into
certain forms of Christian teaching, and sometimes
been maintained there in spite of evident incom-
patibiHty, the difficulty being overcome by calling
it a mystery beyond the reach of himian reason.
While there is a great deal of truth which is beyond
the reach of human reason, it does no one any good
to try to believe what evidently cannot be true.

It should also be clear that a good faith should
not contradict our experiences. We may believe
something about the future which is very different
from anything which we experience at present.
The fact that we have not experienced a thing in
no wise proves that we may not experience it in
the future, or that others may not have experienced
it in the past. But we should not deny in our
faith that which we know to be true in our
experience. For example, Christian Science denies

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 31

the existence of pain, sin, disease, and death. In
so far it is not a good faith, for we know that
these things exist, and to say that they do not,
involves at the best mental confusion, for every-
one knows that what we mean by these terms
does exist. Indeed, the chief appeal which Chris-
tian Science makes for acceptance is to the fact
that pain and disease are cured by its ministra-
tions, and thus it acknowledges in practice what
it denies in theory. We cannot doubt that
Christian Science has good and truth in it, for
our senses confirm its claims to have relieved pain
and disease in certain cases, and to have aided
people to come to peace and contentment from
conditions of worry and anxiety. We must say
that this good comes from elements of truth and
value in it, and not from its contradictions, and
that it would be a much better faith if it were so
corrected as to be truly reasonable. Truth is
one. There can be no real contradiction in it
anywhere, and to deny the truth that we receive
through the senses in our daily experience is to
brand our minds as altogether unreliable and to
assert that we can never be sure that any thought
which we have is true. In science and all other
departments of life we demand that thought be
reasonable. Religious faith must meet and accede
to the same demand if it would supply the needs
of modern life.

32 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

II. The instinct which makes us accept the
faith which gives the deepest personal satisfaction,
or hold our highest ideals to be real, is worthy
of confidence and leads to the best faith. — We
are constantly exercising our judgment in choice
between the various experiences possible to us, the
various things offered to us, and selecting those
which seem to us best. The food that tastes best,
the music that pleases most, the friend who is most
congenial — these we all prefer and take if we can
get. It is not otherwise with faith. When we
are in health of body and mind we put the best
interpretation upon life which we can, and the
better the interpretation, the more we enjoy the
life. But this interpretation of life in its widest
sweep is religious faith; and the acceptance of
that interpretation of life which yields the greatest
satisfaction to the mind, the feelings, and the
conscience is the holding of our highest ideals to
be real. But the very fact that this religious faith
or this theory of life gives us what we desire is
strongest evidence of its truth, just as the truth
of any theory is confirmed by the attainment,
through its application, of results sought for.

In individual cases circumstances will prevent
the recognition of that which is best in any depart-
ment of fife. Tastes are formed and habits
established, prejudices accepted, in early life,
which make the recognition of that which is really

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 33

better, difficult or impossible in later life. In
religion the conservative elements are perhaps
stronger than in any other region of thought and
interest, but here too life and growth will always
show themselves by choosing the better when it
can be made plain that it is better.

12. The social value of the best faith, that is,
its power to make men righteous, is a guaranty of
its truth. — "No man liveth to himself and no man
dieth to himself." My Hfe is immeasurably af-
fected by the lives of other men, and affects them
probably more than I imagine. As we have seen,
the inmost meaning of righteousness is that char-
acter which acts from love to others. It needs no
argument to show that it will be best for me to have
others righteous in character, i.e., loving toward
me, and best for others if I shall be righteous,
loving toward them. As the best interests of
each demand that all the rest shall be righteous,
so evidently the religion which has the strongest
tendency to make men righteous will have the
greatest social value. If there is any such unity
in the spiritual world as in the physical, then we
should hold that that theory which is the best for
all in general is also best for each in particular,
and that it is not only best for me that every-
one else should be righteous but also that I my-
self should be. The laws of physics, chemistry,
biology, and the other sciences are universal —

34 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

apply equally to all — and no man can gain by
ignoring for himself the rules that he recognizes
to be appHcable to others. We are justified, then,
in saying that the rule which works best for society
will work best for each individual, and the faith
which has the greatest social value will be finally
the same as that which has the greatest individual
value. The fact of such value, then, is the evidence
of its truth, just as in the case of every theory the
evidence of the truth of the theory is in giving
such an explanation of experience as to enable us
to gain for the future the desired results in expe-
rience. The final proof of faith lies in its value.
The key is true if it unlocks the door. The road
is right if it brings the man home. The lamp is
real if it dispels the darkness. The faith is firm-
founded if it transfigures the life.

The two tests of faith which are most practical
and easy to apply are those of reasonableness and
tendency to make men righteous. While we need
not neglect the other elements of personal satis-
faction, we shall be more independent of individual
error and variation if we consider mainly the
intellectual and social value of an article of faith,
assuming that that which is reasonable and helps
toward righteousness will also yield the greatest
satisfaction to each individual.

13. Everyone is bound to accept the best faith
he can find.— It is just as truly a man's duty to

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 35

believe in God, if that can be shown to be the best
faith, as for him to pay his just debts, or work
honestly for his living. All must admit that there
is such a thing as duty, and that the sum of all
duties is to do absolutely right. The duty to do
right carries with it the duty to use all proper
means within one's power to help one to do right.
The mightiest power to help a man to do right is
that of true religious faith. This is one implication
of the famous doctrine of Protestantism which
Luther received from Paul, ''justification by faith " ;
namely, that right faith directs and transforms Hfe.

n circumstances should arise so that it is
clearly my duty to get from Chicago to New York
as soon as possible, and I have physical power to
go on foot, and money to pay my fare on the fastest
train, it is clearly my duty to take the train. It
is no excuse to say that I am doing my duty if
I start out on foot and run as fast as I can. So
whatever I take to be my duty to my fellow-men,
to be the completely righteous life for me, I am
not doing my duty if I strive to live this righteous
life without religious faith, for with that faith I
might make much more rapid progress in the
righteous life.

Let it again be noted that by our definition
the best faith is one which can he accepted. It is
one which is reasonable and against which no proof
(I do not say no evidence, but no proof) can be

36 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

brought. No man can be required by his duty
to do that which is impossible, and one impossible
thing for an intelligent man is to hold that to be
true which his mind pronounces false. We realize
that the human mind is very liable to error, and
that it is both possible for an intelligent, even a
learned, man to hold that to be unreasonable which
is really reasonable, and to maintain the reasonable-
ness of that which really involves contradiction
and error. It remains true, however, that each
man must use his own reason and moral judgment
to direct his Hfe, and experience justifies us in
holding that this individual judgment, honestly
exercised, will not lead men into ever-greater
diversity of faith and life, but rather to ever more
harmonious and lofty faith and life.

The principles of religious faith set forth in
this book are presented to be carefully considered
by each individual and accepted in so far as they
are found to be reasonable and helpful. The
author believes them to be substantially the highest
views of Christian teaching as it has been revealed
through Christ and the experience of the church
from his day to the present, but that in the future
they will doubtless be still further improved in
some ways.

From whatever point of view our religious be-
liefs are considered, whether as an attainment of
man or a revelation of God, it must be recognized

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 37

that they have been acquired only gradually.
Geometry was not always known as it is today.
Before anything like our geometry was known to
the world, certain geometrical relations were per-
ceived more or less clearly by the artisans and
builders of early ages. Although their knowledge
was very imperfect, it would have been only
folly to have rejected it for that reason. In
so far as it enabled men to build successfully,
it was not only useful but true, although mixed
with imperfection or error. So today we must
accept the highest form of religious faith which
has been and can be attained, although acknowl-
edging that further development and growth is still
probable.

An objection to the method of determining the
substance of religious faith — of finding that which
is true and that which contains error in Christian
teaching — which has been explained in the pre-
ceding sections, will occur to many earnest Chris-
tians. They might say that it ignores God and
his revelation, without which we cannot come to
divine truth; that it is subjective, individualistic;
that the result will be a man-made God, instead of
a self-revealed God, for man to worship and obey.
These objections will be seen to be groundless as
we proceed with our study, but it will be well to
give a brief answer to them here in order, if possible,
to remove any prejudice to further study.

38 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

The religious interpretation of the method we
have outHned is a thoroughly biblical and Christian
one; it is the principle of the guidance of man by
the Spirit of God, or the immanence of God in
the minds and hearts of men. The Bible teaches
that the Spirit of God is the ''light that lighteth
every man coming into the world"; that the
breath of life breathed into man at his creation,
or the image of God in which he made man, is
his reason and conscience, those divine powers in
him, through which God reveals to him his truth
and wins him to himself. These powers of reason
and conscience or moral judgment which we have
made the tests for every man of religious truth are
the only conceivable means by which God could
reveal his truth to men; and every honest search
for those principles which ennoble life and develop
in character that marvelous fruit of *'love, joy,
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance" is evidence of the re-
vealing and inspiring activity of the Holy Spirit.
And the Christian should hold this to be true even
where the person in whom these forces are active
has at first no clear faith in God. It is not less
God's activity because it is not recognized as such.

At the same time our method is not open to
the objection that it begs the question at the start,
assuming the faith for which it proposes to present
the evidence. The validity of our method does

IS CHRISTIANITY THE BEST RELIGION? 39

not depend on this religious interpretation, but
should appeal to every honest, serious person who
desires the fullest life for himself and the best
character for the sake of others, whatever be the
state of his religious faith or lack of faith at the
start.

CHAPTER II

THE VALUE OF THE BIBLE AS A
WRITTEN REVELATION

"Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is
in righteousness." — II Tim. 3:16.

14. The Bible is the most valuable collection of
religious writings which the world possesses, and
meets the need which man feels of a real and defi-
nite knowledge of the character of God and his
relations with mankind. — ''Oh, that I knew where
I might find him" is the cry of man all over the
world, and especially of him who is in trouble and
believes that God might help him out if he could
be found and properly appealed to. In every
known form of religion it has been thought that
such knowledge of God or of the ultimate reality
back of the imiverse was at hand either in common
possession or among the priests or religious leaders.
In order that religious faith may be strong, those
who hold it must be confident that the truth which
they hold has been revealed to men in the past or
present in a clear and definite way. But knowing
that each form of religion makes such claims for
its system, and that as they differ greatly from
each other, they cannot all be true, we seek to
know whether any form of religion can justify

40

THE BIBLE AS A WRITTEN REVELATION 41

these claims in a way which will be superior to all
others, and will satisfy the need of the most intelli-
gent and educated, as well as the ignorant and
humble, at the present time. In this and the
remaining sections of this chapter, reasons are
given for holding that the Bible meets these needs
as no other revelation does.

We should notice that the Bible is a collection
of writings and not a single writing. The time of
composition of the biblical writings commences
probably about a thousand years before Christ,
and ends about the year 100 a.d. They were
written primarily for the age and the people of
their own time, by men (or women) moved by the
Holy Spirit. The Old Testament gives the choicest
surviving literature of the nation which up to the
time of Christ possessed the highest type of religion
known to men, and shows the progressive develop-
ment of thought and life within this nation. The
New Testament is all concerned with the life of
Jesus and his apostles and the growth and literature
of the church founded by the apostles in the first
century. The Old Testament was the sacred
literature known and revered by Jesus and all
the writers of the New Testament, and it thus
forms a background for, and explanation of, the
latter to a large extent. With these elements of
unity there is great variety in the language, con-
tent, and purpose of these writings.

42 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

When the Bible is compared with the Koran, the
writings of Confucius, the sacred writings of India,
or any other known collection of reHgious writings,
it will without question rank far above them all
for the unprejudiced thinker. Many of the truths
contained in the Bible are also taught in some of
these other writings. And some parts of the Bible,
such as chapters of names or ceremonial laws,
have little or no religious value to the world today.
It still remains true that the Bible, in view of its
nature, history, the regard in which it is held, and
the extent to which it is known, is by far the most
valuable reHgious literature which the world pos-
sesses. Attention is called to special elements of
value in succeeding sections.

15. The need is felt for a revelation of God
more authoritative than the opinions of ordinary
men. The Bible is an extraordinary revelation of
religious truth, tested by many generations of the
best men and found to show the working of God's
Spirit upon its authors. — The realization of the
fallibiHty of ordinary men, and of the fact that
reHgious truth cannot be directly discovered
through the senses, explains the desire which men
have had for a ''supernatural revelation." In the
past it has generally been in peculiar visions or
dreams or unusual experiences, often of a startling
or terrible nature, that men have thought to receive
revelations from God. We are coming to realize

THE BIBLE AS A WRITTEN REVELATION 43

now that, although God reveals himself in all
experiences of life, his greatest and most important
revelations are to be known, not by some unusual
manner in which they were first received, but by
the nature of the revelation itself, the evidence
of its truth which comes from its results in yielding
the fullest and noblest life.

We do not know the detailed history of the
formation of the "canon" (the standard list of
books regarded as especially inspired) of the Old
Testament or the New, but we know that these
books were sifted out from among a much larger
number, because they seemed to be of especial
religious value in one way or another. Some of
the books were selected because they gave the
history, actual or traditional, from the creation
down to the period a few centuries before Christ,
with the older accounts purified by the high moral
and religious spirit of later ages and of the writers,
and with the religious interpretation of the actual
history in the light of faith in Jehovah. Some of
the books were the recorded words of the prophets
which had stirred their generation and succeeding
ones most powerfully to the reformation of religion
and life. Some contained the songs used in temple
and synagogue and doubtless also in the home,
to express need for, and faith in, God. Some gave
the wise sayings of the sages of various times, as
they had been collected. Of the nature of the

44 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

New Testament books we have already spoken.
They were gradually formed mto a special col-
lection to be read in the churches, and finally,
after some centuries, given a place beside the Old
Testament as especially inspired and sacred.

All this process of sifting and selection, carried
on both by the mass and by the leaders of the
people, brought together a collection of books of
very extraordinary value, recognized as setting
forth the highest conceptions of God and man.
The evidence that the authors of the books of the
Bible were moved by the Spirit is the same as the
evidence that men today are moved by the Spirit,
namely, that their words, and, so far as we know
them, their lives showed the influence of the Spirit
of righteousness, purity, and love working through
them, and inspiring in them the highest faith in
God and zeal for the welfare of man.

It is helpful to remember that religious revela-
tion proceeds by the same method as revelation
of other forms of truth. In science for the most
part a theory is proposed by someone with a kind
of intuitive perception of probable truth, and then
tested by experiment and confirmed or dismissed.
So in religious revelation. Many have thought
God had revealed truth to them, and have declared
it in his name, but the test of appHcation to Hfe
has shown it to be partially or wholly false. It is
the wonderful tests of the milleimiums of practice

THE BIBLE AS A WRITTEN REVELATION 45

which guarantee to us the divine authority of the
Bible, and we must keep on testing in order to
discover what has present value for us.

i6. Belief in a good God implies belief that he
jvould reveal his nature and will to men, in a way
characteristic of his nature. The Bible bears the
marks of giving a revelation from God as well as of
God. — If God be loving, he would want to reveal
himself to men. If he be just, he could not require
men to obey him unless he had made plain to them
what his will was. As we recognize the word of
a friend by peculiarities in his voice, or the letter
from a friend by his handwriting and signature,
so we should expect that a revelation from God
would bear marks peculiar to his nature. In
former ages when the primary characteristic of
God was thought to be power, evidences of his
manifestation of himself were found in unusual
exhibitions of power. But as we have come to
believe that the peculiar characteristic of God is
loving character, and recognize that power is not
necessarily good, we come to find evidences of the
self-revelation of God in that which expresses and
inculcates loving character.

In view of the actual nature of man, and our
faith about God, we should expect him to be
revealing himself to men progressively, in ever-
increasing measure; that those whose faith was
approaching the truth would feel especially con-

46 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

fident that he was revealing himself to and through
them. Such experiences we find recorded in the
Bible. The men who had the loftiest faith in
God and the clearest perception of the need for
faith in and love for him and for one another
spoke with the consciousness of divine authority —
*'Thus saith the Lord" — and the conscience of man
responded to the message thus spoken in God's
name, thus indicating that God's Spirit was active
both in the prophet or apostle and in the hearer,
who recognized God's voice in the message of
righteousness or love. Every point of value in the
Bible, all those qualities which have made it pre-
eminent as a book of religious instruction and
inspiration, tend to show that it is the result not
only of the efforts of the best men to find God, but
of God's revelation of himself to man.

17. A divine revelation is needed through which
the plain and ignorant man can learn of God, with-
out the interference of priests or religious leaders
who might come between him and God. The
Bible meets this need in a remarkable way. — The
extreme of the caste system of India, with its
great evils, is due to the fact that the highest caste,
the Brahmans, are supposed to be the only people
who understand the truth about the gods and reli-
gion so that they can properly conduct sacrifice
or other religious ceremonies. The Roman Catho-
hc church has generally held that the common

THE BIBLE AS A WRITTEN REVELATION 47

people were incapable of understanding the Bible
rightly and that they should look to the priests for
all their knowledge of God and religion. Therefore,
except when in strong competition with Protes-
tantism, it has generally forbidden the use of the
Bible to the common people, and in every way
discouraged independent thought about religion.
The Protestant churches have generally appealed
directly to the Bible as the revelation of the truth
about God, and put it into the hands of everyone
to study for himself. As a result, education in
general, and mental and moral progress in com-
munities dominated by Protestant principles have
been greatly superior to what is to be found where
the Roman church has been in sole possession of
the ground. This may be seen by comparing
conditions in Spain, Italy, Mexico, Central and
South America, where Roman Catholicism has
held almost exclusive sway, with conditions in
the other parts of Christendom, where Protestant-
ism has been strong. Unfortunately, Protestant
churches have in the past been inconsistent in
the application of this principle of the guidance
of the individual by the Spirit of God, and have
attempted to enforce certain interpretations of
the Bible and views of the truth about God upon
their own members and others. The result has
been the arising of innumerable sects of Protestants,
competing and to some extent warring with each

48 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

other. The recognition of the right and duty of
every man to study the Bible for himself, and
believe and live according to the highest truth he
finds revealed there and in the other experiences of
his life, is making it possible now for large bodies
of Christians which have been separate to co-
operate and even to unite in fellowship and work
for God and man. The Bible is wonderfully suited
to be such a guidebook to the unlearned man, and
release him from bondage to ecclesiastical authority.
At the same time there is much truth in the
position that the unlearned man cannot alone
properly interpret the Bible. There is much
difference in this regard in different parts of the
Bible, and many cannot be properly imderstood
and used without the guidance of those who after
careful preparation can give the true meaning or
explain the right use. And in general we must
recognize that it is foolish for any man to disre-
gard the knowledge and wisdom which have been
acquired by the great labors of the greatest minds
and truest hearts of the past; and so that there
must be much authority in the interpretations and
statements of belief which the church has received
from past ages. Only these things must be pre-
sented to the individual for God's Spirit to use
in making plain to him the truth, instead of being
thrust upon him as something which he must
accept without question.

THE BIBLE AS A WRITTEN REVELATION 49

i8. Man requires religious truth, not in the form
of logical treatises, but in forms which stir the
noblest and strongest feelings. The Bible presents
religious truth in such forms.— Deep, clear, and
logical thinking is not easy nor common among
men, and although such thinking and writings
embodying it in suitable form for the student are
very necessary for the attainment of the truth
and preparation to teach it, they alone will not
reach and move a man. The same principles may,
however, be grasped and applied by him, if they
are presented in song and story, parable and pic-
ture. This is done incomparably in the Bible.
Its descriptions of the beginnings of order and life
in the world are simple and grand — not in scientific
language but in the forms of the traditions and
legends of remote ages modified and purified by
faith in the one righteous and loving God. The
primal needs and passions of Hfe, with the religious
and moral principles which underHe them, meet us
in the stories of the patriarchs and the early
legends and history of Israel. The Psalms give
us songs and prayers of devotion that appeal to
all ranks and classes of men, and the books of the
prophets in many cases deal with social and
religious problems in a direct and popular way
which makes them useful and applicable to the
present day as well as to the day m which they
were first given. So in the New Testament the

50 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

simple narratives of the life of Jesus and his
parables, the pictures of the glories of the future
life in the Book of Revelation and other parts of
the New Testament have stirred the highest
enthusiasm and brought faith, wisdom, and com-
fort to all the generations which have known
them.

19. That people of all classes and conditions
may be united in the worship of one God and co-
operation in doing his will, a revelation is needed
with great variety in its appeal to men of all classes
and conditions. The sweep and variety of the
appeals made to all classes, in the Bible, are un-
paralleled by any other collection of religious writ-
ings.— Almost all the religions of mankind have
been local in their character. They have been so
closely related to the places and people where they
grew up that, while they powerfully influenced
the men of that vicinity, they were of very much
less interest or value to people farther away.
Sacred cities and places, such as Mecca or Jeru-
salem, may be of positive value for people living
near enough to visit them, but may much lessen
the value of a religion for people farther distant.
The Koran appealed very strongly to the people
of Arabia and at the time of Mahomet, but distance
in time from its author and in place from the sacred
city of Mecca seriously decreases its interest and
power.

THE BIBLE AS A WRITTEN REVELATION 51

The great variety of physical and geographical
conditions existing in the little land of Palestine,
in which most of the Bible was written, including
lake and river, mountain and plain, desert and
fertile country, temperate and torrid climate, and
the long sea coast, with animals, vegetables, and
minerals belonging to these various conditions,
gives to its Kterature a wealth of allusion which
appeals to people of almost all human conditions.
The fact that the biblical Scriptures were written
at different times during a period of about eleven
hundred years, which witnessed great historic
events and changes and brought its people into
contact with the great empires of the earth, adds
greatly to the breadth of its appeal. References
in the New Testament to conditions, good and
bad, in various parts of the Roman Empire, which
have their parallels in all parts of the world, have
helped to make the Bible a book for all men.
People in both Orient and Occident have found
the character of Jesus appealing to their highest
ideals. Thus has the Bible been peculiarly and
providentially fitted to reveal God to men of all
nations.

20. A revelation is required by man, and found
in the Bible, which shows men how at the same
time, consistently with each other, to come into
harmony with God and to gain or preserve those
things which are necessary or valuable for the

52 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

interests of the various phases of the physical and
spiritual life of man.— In the simpler and more
primitive forms of religion, the religious ceremonies
and actions were mostly related to the physical
needs of the people for rain, good harvests, safety
from enemies, success in war, health, children, etc.
These needs are permanent ones and a God whose
power extends to all the affairs of life must have
something to do with supplying these needs.
Different forms of religion have recognized the
various needs of men in unequal degree. Moham-
medanism emphasizes the sensuous needs and
sensual desires of men. Buddhism aims to abolish
all desire whatever. Christian Science is mainly
concerned with physical health. Asceticism exalts
spiritual development at the expense of the body.
But the Bible recognizes the needs of both body
and soul as legitimate and not antagonistic. The
need and value of the common comforts for the
body, the institutions for social welfare, the family,
school, church, and state, that which appeals to
the sense of the beautiful in scenery, music, form,
and Uterature, and finally and fundamentally those
moral principles which make society happy and
healthful and character noble and heroic, are all
recognized m the Bible as in no other reHgious
Uterature. It thus serves as a healthy corrective
to extremes of all sorts which would tend to make
life narrow or one-sided, at the same time that it

THE BIBLE AS A WRITTEN REVELATION 53

is uncompromising in its condemnation of the
slightest evil in the spiritual life. Written in
periods when society was much farther from the
ideal state than it is now, it served to point the
way and establish the principles which have led,
and must lead, to a constant progress toward
social perfection.

21. If the greatest force in and behind the
universe be a God whom it would be right to
worship and obey and natural to love, then we shall
be able to recognize in any revelation of the best
religion a revelation of and from God. The pre-
eminence of the Bible as a revelation of God arises
from the fact that the reason and conscience of any
man may find in it the highest conceptions of God
and man and he may thus receive the revelation of
God for himself. — If God had not given to man the
power to recognize his truth and to receive his
revelation, then all claims made for the Bible as
a revelation of God would be idle and impossible
to substantiate, and there would be no such thing
as divine revelation. And if the real God be one
who is not perfectly righteous and loving, whose
worship and service would be something less than
the best religion, then man has no right to worship
and obey him. It is only on the supposition that
the highest teaching of Christianity is true, namely,
that God embodies in his character our highest
ideals of love, justice, purity, and power, that we

54 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

can be justified in loving and obeying him, and
can be sure of knowing his will. This principle
must imply that God reveals himself constantly
in all of our experience, and not through the Bible
alone, that every truth which brings us to a higher
idea of God and understanding of our duty to men
is a revelation of God. It also gives us the funda-
mental principle for the right use of the Bible, which
is the subject of the next chapter.

In science and all other activities of thought,
we assume that the universe is rational. If there
be a God at all whom our reason can in any degree
apprehend, it must be that his revelation of him-
self will be, like the knowledge of his universe, ac-
cording to reason, and not contrary to it.

There is no hope of the reuniting of the various
Christian sects or of agreement as to the nature
and will of God, so long as each holds as infal-
lible truth his own interpretation of writings
of the distant past through which God revealed
himself to men of ear Her generations. This has
been one of the very serious errors of Christian
people as well as of adherents of Mohammedanism
and other forms of religion. ''Conservatism"
stands for the preservation of that which has come
down from the past. Its general attitude is right.
It often errs, however, in failure to distinguish
between that which is of permanent value in that
which has been received, and that which was

THE BIBLE AS A WRITTEN REVELATION 55

temporary in form or value. True Christianity
insists on the necessity for the constant revelation
of truth to each man by the Holy Spirit, by which
he shall be able to recognize in the Bible and the
teaching of the church and that of science or any
other department of thought or experience, what
he needs in order to come to God himself, and do
his will in the world of the present.

CHAPTER III

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE

"If any man willeth to do his will he shall know of the
teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from
myself. ' ' — John 7:17.

22. To use the Bible as a source for non-
religious truth, one should understand the human
elements in its origin. — The principal non-religious
uses which men have made or desired to make of
the Bible may be classified as scientific and his-
torical. It has been thought that whatever the
Bible said about the order and process of creation,
and the laws of the physical universe, animate and
inanimate, must be absolutely accurate and true.
It has also been held that all narratives of events
must be held to be accurate and inerrant history.
Both of these views leave out of consideration the
conditions and circumstances of the composition
of the books.

The views of the origin and laws of the physical
universe which are found in the Bible are the
views which were current at the time those writings
were composed and we have no reason to think
that they were based on careful scientific investi-
gation. Nor have we any sufficient reason to
think that they were supernaturally revealed.
56

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE 57

There is no such claim made for them by their
authors. On the other hand, it is clear that these
writings were composed first of all for the people
of the time in which they lived, written in the
language and reflecting the highest ideas of the
time. For instance, when the early chapters of
Genesis were composed, it would have been impos-
sible for a writer to have explained the processes
of development of order, beauty, and life in the
universe as scientists do today. The principles
of such science were unknown, and if someone had
understood and tried to explain them, he would
not have had words in which to do so, and would
have been certain to have created false impressions
instead of true. Bible statements concerning
topics now within the realm of science, then, must
be considered as giving the views of their times,
and as containing just such truth as had been
reached by the processes of thought and observa-
tion which had been developed up to that time.

The narratives of the Bible represent what
their authors believed to be the facts of history
at the time of writing. A large part of the narra-
tives of the Old Testament was put into the form
which we have, many centuries after the events
which they describe. For some of them the origi-
nal documents from which they were gathered
are specifically referred to, and the writings are
evidently arrangements by ^'editors" of material

58 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

both oral and written which was available for
them. The original documents were doubtless
written in some cases by contemporary witnesses
of the events described, and in other cases were
just the writing-out of oral tradition which had
been handed down for generations. In all these
cases it would be inevitable that errors of memory
and unscientific views of events would color the
narratives and prevent them from being fully
accurate. It is further clear that the methods of
the editors in using the material which they had was
not scientific, but that they pieced together more
or less conflicting narratives of different persons,
and included comments or explanations of their
own or of others which would not be of full his-
torical value. The Bible was written in the Orient,
primarily for orientals, and we find in the Orient
little or no conception of history in our exact
western sense, and must not expect it in the
Bible. Marvelous tales very quickly grow up
about heroes of past ages, and are readily accepted
as true by unscientific minds and passed on by
them to later generations. No doubt these
processes took place in connection with biblical
narratives. The historical value of biblical narra-
tives is therefore unequal, and depends in each
case upon the evidence which may be found from
the consistency and verisimilitude of the narrative
itself, and its agreement with other biblical and

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE 59

^'profane" narratives, monuments, or other sources
of history.

It is well to note here that for most people of
today the question of the accuracy and truth of
the historical narratives and "scientific" teachings
of the Old Testament is of very little importance.
It is the religious and ethical teachings which are
of value, and their value is quite independent of
their truth as history or science. And this is the
principal significance of these writings as bibhcal
Scriptures. It is of no reHgious value for us to
know the order or method of creation. It is of
great value for us to believe that the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator
of the universe. It is of little importance whether
a Hebrew of the name Jacob ever lived and acted
according to the Genesis narrative. It is of great
importance for us to find barren places turning
into Bethels, and supplanters into princes of God,
both in history and in our own experience. We
have seen that our thoughts about God must be
faith and cannot be knowledge in the literal sense,
and the teachings of the Bible cannot change that
fact for us. So that if the story of Jacob's life is
all literal and accurate history, so far as it describes
events within the realm of sense and knowledge,
that does not prove that there ever was such a
God as Jehovah. Nor, if we should come to think
of Jacob as an entirely mythical character, would

6o CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

that affect the truths of faith which are taught us
in the narrative of his life.

The question of the historicity of the New
Testament narratives is of more vital importance
to Christian faith, although it does not depend
absolutely upon their accuracy in any way. But
whatever their value, they must be treated on the
same prmciple as those of the Old Testament,
and any other historical documents. To bring
strong evidence of their general historical value is
comparatively easy. To prove that they are
correct in every detail is absolutely impossible.
Even here the religious value is of far more impor-
tance than the historical, nor can it depend upon it.
God has revealed his love and righteousness and the
truths of his spiritual kingdom to us in the Gospels,
whether they are accurate history or not.

''Render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar's," unto science the things that are science's,
unto history the things that belong to history,
"and unto God the things that are God's."

23. To use the Bible as a guide to right conduct,
one must seek the light which it throws on the
results of different kinds of action and the relative
worth of different motives; that is, the assistance
which it renders to reason and conscience. — How-
ever literally a man thinks of the Bible as the rule
of conduct today, no one undertakes to obey all
of the commands which it contains, which were

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE 6i

given at one time or another as rules of conduct.
Different sects have picked out certain command-
ments which they feel required to obey as literally
as they can, such as that concerning baptism or
the keeping of the seventh day holy. But all
are agreed that we cannot be expected to obey
all the commandments in the Bible — that God
does not want us to do so today. And the only
consistent principle for the acceptance of some and
rejection of others is that which is stated in the
thesis of this section. No commandment is a
command of God to a given man, until it appeals
to the conscience of that man — until he has some
reason for thinking that it will be helpful to himself
or to other men and pleasing to God for him to do
the thing enjoined. It is not as a code of laws, but
as a source of light upon human life and its prob-
lems, that the Bible has its marvelous value as a
guide to the highest life. A good man does not
regard it as wrong to covet his neighbor's property
because the Bible prohibits it, but because when
he reads in the Bible, ''Thou shalt not covet,"
his conscience approves that command as a right
one. When he reads the rules for the test of the
purity and faith of a wife by the drinking of the
holy water containing the dust from the tabernacle
floor (Num. 5:11 ff.), he does not regard the rules
as suitable to the life of the present day. They
are not God's command to this generation.

62 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

In section 15 attention was called to the peculiar
value of the Bible due to the process of the selection
of the books of which it is composed. The testing
of the Bible as a guide to life by its use in the church
and among its members since the formation of the
canon of the Scriptures has increased this value.
Not the indiscriminate but the discriminating use
of the Bible as a light on the path of life by Chris-
tians for many centuries has showed by its results
that the light is very great — so great that it is
foolish and wrong for one to try to go right without
it when he might have its aid. In this sense of a
tested and proved light upon the problems of life,
the Bible is the highest written authority for
conduct which is known in the world. But it
must ever be remembered that it is because God
uses it to make the path of duty plain to the reason
and moral judgment, and not as a system of laws
which may be accepted without regard to the
reason or conscience, that it has this value.

24. To use the Bible as a guide to the true faith,
one must seek in it the highest interpretations of
experience, that is, those in harmony with and
promotive of the best life, individual and social. —
In chapter i it was shown that it was both natural
and obligatory for a man to adopt the best religion,
with the best faith which he could find, and it
was also pointed out how the best faith should be
tested and recognized. Before a man has any

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE 63

right to accept the Bible or any other book as
teaching the true faith, he must have evidence that
it teaches him the best faith which he has thus far
been able to find. This can be known for him
only by the examination of its teachings in the
light of the general principles which determine
the best faith — reasonableness, value for individual
life, and value for social life or tendency to make
men righteous.

As a man tests the Bible in this way he finds
many passages and parts which meet these tests,
as well as some which do not. That is, he finds
the truth revealed more clearly and perfectly in
the life and teachings of Jesus than in the stories
of the Book of Judges, for example. There should
not be the slightest hesitation which standards
to accept for his faith. Reason and conscience
instinctively select the highest which they find,
and this process should become a conscious and
definite one. Let the student get light from every
part of the Bible which offers him light, but let
him not try to believe any teaching about God or
his relations to men just because it is in the Bible,
nor try to harmonize all the teachings of the Bible
perfectly. Such exercise will be found to be vain
and confusing rather than enlightening. As a
matter of fact, there are different and to some
extent conflicting ideals of faith and conduct set
forth in the Bible — we may well say that the lower

64 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

ideals are the more undeveloped, and that they
contain truth which is made clearer in the later
and higher forms — but we shall do best to take it for
ourselves in the highest forms in which we can
understand it.

While the time-honored custom of reading the
Bible through in course a chapter a day, from
Genesis to Revelation, has its value, it does not
logically supply the daily need for faith and
courage. Under proper guidance it is well to
become thoroughly acquainted with all parts of
the Bible. But for the planting and cultivating
of faith and guidance of conduct, those books and
chapters should be used which are most useful
for these purposes. The New Testament should
come before the Old, and the gospels before the
epistles. Many of the psalms and chapters in
Isaiah are of the greatest value for devotion and
inspiration, and the proverbs, for practical wisdom.
The Bible is a library and should be used like other
libraries, those books being read first and most
frequently which are of most value for the needs
of the reader.

In the realm of faith the Bible is authoritative
in the same way in which it was found to be
authoritative as a guide to right conduct. The
church has found its highest faith taught in the
Bible, has found its life made strong and glorious
by accepting the biblical ideal of God, as revealed

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE 65

especially in Christ, as real, and by viewing the
daily experiences of life, joy and sorrow, pleasure
and pain, in the light of this interpretation of the
final explanation of all these things, the heavenly
Father. This long experience of the church forms
a powerful argument for the truth and value of the
highest faith illustrated and affirmed in the Bible,
and thus gives to it its peculiar authority as a
guide to faith.

The great creeds of the church have a corre-
sponding authority — not as finally determinative
of the forms of faith but as pointing out to the
reason and conscience the great interpretations
of life and history which through long ages have
been found to lead to righteousness and hope.
However our belief may differ from that expressed
in these creeds, it must express the great truths
which they contain, or fail of being the best faith.

25. To use the Bible as a progressive book, one
must apply to the conditions of today the permanent
principles which he finds to have determined the
highest forms and interpretations of life in the
changing and advancing intellectual and social
conditions described in the Bible. — The conditions
of human life have been rapidly and remarkably
changing during the last century, and they are
still changing rapidly. The growth of cities, the
division and speciaHzation of labor, and the large
and increasing use of machinery and ever-new

66 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

inventions for the convenience and welfare of men
are some of the features of these changes. PoHtical
and social forms have been changing with indus-
trial, and finally the literature and thought of
today is very different from that of a century ago,
and has come to no stable or permanent condition.
While language does not seem to change much,
the meaning which is received from its words,
the thoughts which they suggest are inevitably
changing with these changes in the forms of the life
to describe which it is used. All these changes are
so marked that many are inclined to think that the
religion which has been good in the past is out of
date, and like the simple machinery of a century
ago must be thrown to the rubbish heap. It is
probably true that religion has not changed its
forms to adapt them to the changing needs of hu-
manity, as readily and quickly as the other factors
in human life, and still it has been changing too,
here more and there less, but everywhere to some
extent.

A careful study of the Bible will show that the
life described there and the religious views which
were related to it also changed from time to time.
In the early history of Israel, its God, Jehovah,
was still regarded as one among many gods —
doubtless the greatest and best, and the only one
whom the Israelites ought to worship, but still
he was only the god of their tribe, and other nations

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE 67

had other gods. But as civilization progressed and
thought developed, the belief that there was but
one God for the whole world gradually took ever-
deeper root in the minds, first of the prophets, and
then of the priests and common people, and after
the exile, monotheism was firmly established as the
Jewish faith. But even in the time of Christ we
find that there were serious defects in the Jewish
religion, from which the disciples themselves were
not free, and which have left their marks on the
writings of the New Testament as well as the Old.
The main characteristics of human nature
remain the same, while its surroundings vary in a
thousand ways. The principal needs of men
remain the same, while the ways in which they are
supplied are constantly changing. And thus the
fundamental principles of religion are constant,
while their application may and should be ever
advancing. These principles we have considered
in the first two chapters, and they have been found
in Christianity from its beginning, and may be
traced still farther back into the earliest period of
Old Testament times. As we find these principles
applied first rudely and to the simple forms of
patriarchal life, and then ever more intelligently
to the increasingly complex forms of tribal and
national life, we may learn the need and possibility
of their reinterpretation and appHcation to all
the needs and problems of today, and thus have

68 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

our religion progressive and suited to the needs of
today, in its forms, without losing any of the value
which it has gained from its millenniums of develop-
ment, just as the most modern and complicated
machinery embodies the simple mechanical prin-
ciples of earlier ages and the improvements and
inventions which have been gradually added from
time to time.

Let us remember, too, that no actual form of
organized religion has ever yet met the needs
of humanity perfectly. We may say, if we will,
that Christianity has never yet been properly
tried. But if that is true it means an ideal
Christianity, for there have been forms of creed
and of organization under the name of Christianity
and doubtless with something of its spirit and
reality which have been tried by large numbers of
people. If the faith has never yet been fully
appUed to life, it may be that the fault was partly
in the way the faith was stated and taught,
and not entirely in the lack of earnestness and
sincerity in those who professed to hold it. If the
organization did not establish the kingdom of
God in any complete and satisfactory form, it
may be partly because it was never completely
adapted to the nature and needs of society, and
not merely because its efforts were opposed in
various ways. So we cannot say with confidence
that the highest form of religion prevailing among

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE 69

men at any time in the past was the best form
even for that generation and community, much
less that it is perfectly suited to our time. Our
effort should not be, therefore, to retain the form
of organization or of doctrine which belonged to
the church established by the apostles, but to find
the principles of truth and value in those earliest
forms and in the development of those forms
since then, and apply those principles to present
needs and conditions so as to get the best possible
religion for humanity today.

26. To use the Bible as a Christian book one
must seek (i) from the effects which the life and
words of Jesus had upon his disciples and the early
church, as indicated by the writings of the New
Testament, to understand as clearly as possible the
character of the cause, in the Spirit of God which
determined his life ; and then (2) to find in the Old
Testament writings the evidences of the work of
the same Spirit and the preparation for the revela-
tion in Jesus; and finally (3) to develop the faith,
conduct, and institutions of today in harmony with
the truth revealed in Jesus and thus establish the
kingdom of God in all the world. — Jesus is the
center of interest in the Bible. In the light of
this interest the Bible acquires a unity which does
not belong to it otherwise. The New Testament
is concerned with his life and its results in the
early church. The Old Testament forms the back-

70 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

ground of the New and shows how preparation
was made for the work of Jesus.

The facts of the life of Jesus have a great and
special religious significance for the Christian, to
which attention is called later (see sections 57-61).
Many people think that if we cannot be quite
certain of the accuracy of the gospel stories the
whole Christian faith is in danger. While there
is the best reason to believe that the Gospels give
us good history, and that their value as history
cannot be destroyed by any legitimate criticism,
it is of importance to look deeper into their
meaning, and see that even if this were not true.
Christian faith as a whole would not be endangered.
For Christian faith is concerned fundamentally
with God and his relations with men. These are
matters of faith and not of knowledge (see sec-
tion 9) and can neither depend upon historical
facts for their evidence, nor be disproved by the
invalidation of supposed history.

Christian faith has held that in Jesus it found
God manifest in the flesh. The evidence for this
was never solely the confirmation of miracles but
the recognition of the ideal character, the spirit
which most completely met the needs of men, in
the life of Jesus. The fundamental question, then,
with regard to the New Testament as a religious
and Christian book is : What are the main features
of this ideal character and what was the result of

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE 71

the acceptance of this ideal as the highest type of
man and the most perfect possible revelation of
God to man, upon the earliest Christians ?

The central and essential question in any form
of religion must be as to the nature and character
of God or the ultimate reality which governs man's
destiny. Our method, as already explained and
more fully developed in later chapters, is to find
what conception of God best corresponds to the
facts of our experience and to our needs, individual
and social. If God really is such a being as our
highest thought believes him to be, then he would
confer the greatest possible blessmg upon men by
revealing himself to them — giving to them in
some way the thought of the ideal character which
most fully represented him.

We have, then, the Gospels with their story of
the life of Jesus, and the other books of the New
Testament describing the effects of that life upon
the people of the first century. And we know
something of the effect which the faith set forth
in the New Testament has had upon society as
expressed in the church and the civilization which
it has influenced from that day to this. We con-
clude that all that is good in these effects came
from truth in the faith which lay behind them as
cause. We are concerned, then, as noted in the
last section, not with the exact forms of either the
faith or the organization of the apostolic church,

72 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

but with that in them which gave them their power.
The truth had to be put into the language and
thought-forms of that day. The same truth must
be put into somewhat different language and
thought-forms if we are to understand it today.
In our use of the Bible, then, we can never be
relieved of the necessity for seeking for the truth,
and proving it by the tests by which truth is known.

Many have thought the chief value of the Old
Testament in relation to the life of Christ was in
the foretellings of characteristics or details in his
life, by the fulfilling of which he is known to be
the Messiah whom God promised, and finally
sent. The Gospel of Matthew refers to passages
of the Old Testament with this purpose in view.
The Old Testament has two truer and much more
important relations to Christ. In the first place,
it was for him and his disciples and the people
among whom he lived what the Bible has been
to the church since it was completed. We can
understand his teachings, then, only in their
relation to this fact of the position of the Old
Testament in the knowledge and faith of himself
and the Jews of that time. And his use of the
Scriptures is very suggestive for us (see section 7).

But another and more important way in which
the Old Testament is a Christian book is that the
revelation most fully made in Jesus is foreshadowed
in it. As noted in the last section, there is to be

HOW TO USE THE BIBLE 73

found in the Old Testament a gradually advancing
conception of God, becoming ever more spiritual,
pure, loving, and righteous. In the Book of
Isaiah (who was therefore called the messianic
prophet), and in other books less clearly and
frequently, we find expressed many of the ideals,
hopes, and expectations fulfilled in the life of
Jesus. From the beginning there is the thought
of God as having the character and likeness of the
best man, and in the patriarchal stories of God
appearing to men, he is thought of as appearing
in human form. Gradually the cruder anthro-
pomorphism disappears, and God becomes a
spiritual being whom the heavens cannot contain,
but ever one with whom men may have com-
munion and fellowship; and the thought that
he is morally righteous takes the place of the idea
of ceremonial holiness, and the belief that he is
Creator of the universe and Father of all men is
reached by the most spiritual minds, although the
latter idea, so wonderfully exemplified in Jesus,
never obtained a strong hold in the mind of the
ordinary Jew before his coming. Thus Jesus
could appeal to the Scriptures as being fulfilled
in his life and words, as he taught and lived their
noblest precepts and truths.

It is becoming ever more clear that the life of
Jesus, and the Bible in which that life is described,
are of value to men in the degree in which they

74 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

help men to live similar lives, that is, lives governed
by the same motives and determined by the same
principles. The words at the head of this chapter
draw attention to the fundamental rule or method
of interpreting and using the Bible: ''If any man
willeth to do his will he shall know of the teaching,
whether it is of God or whether I speak of myself."
The determination to do the will of God, to live
the life completely dominated by love to God and
men, is the great condition of making the highest
use of the Bible and finding out the best faith.
For the man who is guided by these motives
looks for, and seizes upon, everything which will
strengthen them in him and aid him in their ex-
pression; and thus he is guided to the deeper truths
beneath the outward forms, and to the higher
standards of action rather than the lower. The
meaning and use of the Bible will become ever
clearer and at the same time more wonderful to
him whose life is devoted to the establishment of
the kingdom of God in the hearts of all men.

CHAPTER IV

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ?
"Have faith in God."— Mark 11:22.

27. We ought to believe that there is but one
God, that is, that there is one force in the universe
which is more powerful than any other or all others
together, so that it can control the universe

absolutely. — The name for this belief is mono-
theism. It stands opposed to polytheism which
denotes belief in many gods, but is commonly used
to denote belief in more than one god, however
few the number may be. It is in reality a form
of polytheism when Christians hold an exaggerated
or perverted form of trinitarianism, a belief in
three gods who are in some way both three and
one. This belief is also called tritheism. We
discuss later a form of belief in the ''Trinity"
which is monotheistic. Tritheism is the faith that
there are three individual, divine beings, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, differing in certain respects
from each other and so distinct that we may pray
to one without praying to all, or love one more
than another, however we may think of them as
being one or united. But all forms of polytheism
tend to have a bad effect upon character. This
may be seen by contrasting them with a true

75

76 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

monotheism. If I believe that there is one right-
eous being who controls the universe superior to
all other powers, then I must believe that if I
strive to do right I will have the approval and
help of this one God and that nothing can prevent
him from accomplishing his will.

Tritheism has sometimes taught that Christ
is God but at the same time different in character
from God the Father. Many people think that
Christ may be appealed to through the Virgin
Mary because she was his earthly mother; and
that God may be reached and persuaded to think
kindly and deal gently with men through Christ
because he is the Son of God, or because he won
the Father's favor or appeased his wrath by his
death on the cross. Both of these ideas picture
God as less loving or less indulgent than Christ or
the Virgin. But if he be less loving he is less great,
for a perfectly loving God is greater than one less
loving. And if God can in any way be moved to
deal kindly with men other than by his own char-
acter or by the actions of men striving to do his
will, then he is not perfectly righteous, and encour-
agement is given to believe that God's favor may
be won in some other way than by a trustful heart
and a righteous life. Thus the tritheistic belief
always involves a lower conception of God than
the true Christian belief, and it does not so strongly
favor a righteous life, but often tends to an un-

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD? 77

righteous one. The evils here illustrated belong to
all forms of polytheism.

In our chapter about Jesus we shall find good
reason to believe that God revealed himself through
him, but we must be very careful if we say that
Christ was God, not by that to mean that he was
a different God from the Father, for in such a doc-
trine lie the same evil germs that manifest them-
selves in the most degraded polytheism. In some
cases they may do little or no harm, but in others
they will develop and do great harm as they have
done.

Mormonism is the most base and degrading
form of polytheism which claims to be Christian
and found its teachings on the Bible. It furnishes
us, too, one of the strongest arguments which could
be desired of the great evils which may arise from
the unquestioning and literal use of the Bible as
an infallible authority; for if it be so accepted, a
large part of Mormon teaching can be justified as
biblical, whereas if Mormonism be tested and the
Bible be used according to the principles we have
explained, it is seen to be a very bad religion and
to be utterly condemned by the Bible.

28. We ought to believe that God is personal,
that is, that he thinks, feels, and wills in a way
somewhat similar to human thinking, feeling, and
willing, although without human limitations.—
There is in human life a physical or material part

78 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

of man's being which has very vital relations to the
spiritual parts denoted by the words thinking,
feeling, and willing. But the importance of the
physical part depends entirely on the spiritual part
— a body that could not think, feel, or will might
as well be dead. It is the spiritual part that is
righteous or wicked, the spiritual part that enters
into relation with other human beings as well as
with God. It is this capacity to think, feel, and
will that we mean by the word spirit. Now spirits
can only love or obey or worship other spirits. We
cannot in the fullest sense love or worship or obey
God unless he is a spirit — unless he can love us in
return, think about us, command us, and notice
and be pleased with our obedience. Thus to say
that God is a ''principle," that God is law or order
or mere force, is to say that God is not a being that
we can worship, love, or obey, who does not hear
or answer prayer, who cannot be called righteous,
and who cannot be in any true sense known by a
spiritual being. Of course we must not try to
define this personality of God too closely— we
shall only succeed in putting limitations upon our
idea of God, and confusing ourselves. We know
no spiritual beings except those dwelling in bodies.
When they cease to dwell in bodies we cease to
know them, and so we cannot imagine how spirits
may think and feel and will and act, without
bodies. But as we have good reason to believe

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 79

that spirits do live and act without such bodies
as we have, we must not let our ignorance keep us
from a most important faith.

29. It is contrary to the best faith to say that all
that exists is part of God, that everything taken
together makes up God. — This faith, that the
whole universe is God, is called pantheism. There
are many reasons why pantheism is not a good
faith. In the first place, it is hardly possible to
think of the whole universe as a spiritual being,
righteous and loving, and yet made up of all the
spiritual beings which exist, including all men, the
most ignorant and wicked as well as the good.
Then, such a belief tends to destroy the feeling of
moral responsibility, and the distinction between
right and wrong, for if God is all, then I am a part
of God, and what I do, God is doing — he is all-
powerful, so I cannot help doing what I do and am
not responsible for it. And as it would be absurd
to say that God does wrong, so what I do cannot
be wrong, for it is just God's doing. There is then
no such thing as sin, nothing to repent of, nothing to
be forgiven for, no real distinction between man
and God. To believe in such a God would also
destroy the possibility of prayer, for instead of
praying to a Father, we could only pray to the All,
including ourselves and the rest of mankind, good
and bad, wise and ignorant. It should be quite
clear that such a belief will not help a man to

8o CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

become righteous, at least not in any such way as
beHef in a personal, powerful, righteous God who
gives to men responsibility, requires them to be
righteous, punishes them for their sin, hears their
prayer, and is ready to help them at all times.
Christian Science is a form of pantheism, and much
of the so-called "New Thought" of our day is
strongly pantheistic in tendency.

30. We should believe that God is righteous
and loving in character, like the character of Christ
as pictured in the Gospels. — We are not here
concerned with the historicity of the Gospels, but
with the character of God. The rules of our faith
require that we should attribute the highest char-
acter to God, that is, think of him as a being whose
character and action promote the righteous life
among men in the most complete way possible.
Thus we must think of him as just, as desirmg and
requiring righteousness among men, and as being
ready to help men in every way possible to become
good. But most men who are familiar with the
story of the life of Jesus as told in the Gospels
agree that his character is the most ideal one which
we have; that his spirit of love to all, especially
the neediest, of forgiveness, and of demanding
purity of heart and the absolutely unselfish life,
consecrated to helping others, is the best spirit
we can think of to help people to become righteous.
Finding in the gospel picture the ideal character,

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD? 8i

we therefore say that if God is the best imaginable
being, his character must be like that attributed to
Jesus. Another way of putting it is to say that
we believe that if Jesus could be always accessible
to everyone, as he was to the people he met in the
few years of his ministry in Palestine, only in the
spiritual way, and without the limitations under
which he then worked, that is what we would want
God to be. To believe that God is thus with us
in the loving and righteous character pictured of
Jesus is the most helpful faith which we can think
of for us in our struggle for Christlike character
for ourselves.

31. Belief in the Christlike character of God is
the essential part of belief in "God the Son" or
"the second person in the Trinity." — The Christian
doctrine of the Son of God has always been con-
nected with the faith that the life of Jesus was a
peculiar revelation of the character of God the
Father, or of the absolute God. In the great his-
torical creeds, the theologians tried to maintain
the truth of what they more or less clearly
recognized to be a contradiction, but which they
called a mystery, i.e., that Jesus was at the same
time omnipotent and omniscient God, and man
with all the limitations which belong to real human-
ity. There were various reasons for the great
effort to maintain this contradiction, but the most
important of them may be summed up in two:

82 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

(i) It is of the greatest value for men to believe
that the God who created and still controls the
world is a righteous, loving, forgiving, helping
person who may be approached by anyone in need
and never in vain, just as the man Jesus, as
described in the Gospels, was righteous, loving,
forgiving, helping, and accessible to even the lowest
and most unworthy. (2) It is of very great value
to men to believe that God himself has shown men
the sort of life he would have them live, and which,
with his help, it is possible for them to live, and
that this life is the kind of life which, in the Gospels,
Jesus is said to have lived. The first of these
reasons shows why men have held to the ''deity
of Christ," and the second, why they have held to
the "humanity of Christ." In considering the
doctrine of the Trinity, we are mainly concerned
with the first of these reasons. (The other will be
considered in other connections.)

In our time students of history have raised
doubts as to the historical truth of the description
of the life of Jesus found in the Gospels, varying
from questions as to the accuracy of the account
of certain incidents, to the position that no person
corresponding to the Jesus of the Gospels ever
lived at all. While the latter position seems
thoroughly absurd, and we believe that it is quite
untenable, we must face the fact that it is honestly
held by good and intelligent people and ask what

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 83

effect such a position would necessarily have on
their faith. Here we need to remember that our
faith about God is not knowledge, but faith; and
that it cannot be demonstrated to be true, but is
to be arrived at and maintained by the processes
and tests which we have seen belong to ^'pure
faith.'' The question, then, as to whether God is
such a righteous and loving person as Jesus was
said to have been, cannot be answered by proving
or disproving the historicity of the gospel stories.
Therefore, in so far as we are asking what to believe
about God, we are not concerned directly with
the facts about Jesus. The only important part
of the faith in ''God the Son" is therefore beHef
in the Christlike character of God, and this cannot
be proved by the gospel history.

32. The meaning of the doctrine of the Holy
Spirit, or the "third person in the Trinity," is that
God is not only the creator of the world but that he
is present in all the world, and particularly in the
hearts of men, to guide and bless. — Although we
are not to confuse the Spirit of God with our own
spirits, yet we believe that his spirit is constantly
with ours, to prompt good and pure thoughts and
give us strength to do whatever we should do.
Different people receive greater or less measures of
help from the Holy Spirit at different times, accord-
ing to their special needs, and readiness to receive
his help, but he is never absent from the world, nor

84 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

from the heart of any man unless he becomes
absolutely and wholly bad. God's Spirit was in
the world and in men's hearts before Christ came,
as after, and in heathen lands as in Christian.
We should think of God as helping us in every
good thing that we think or do. The evidence of
the presence of God (for the Holy Spirit is not a
part of God, but God himself, present in his world)
is not to be found mainly in supernatural mani-
festations, ''speaking with tongues" or visions or
anything of that sort, but in the power that makes
men righteous and does whatever good is done
in the world. We cannot be sure what was meant
by the ''speaking with tongues" reported when
the power of the Holy Spirit was especially shown
on the day of Pentecost — it seems then to have
been some means by which men of different lan-
guages understood the gospel message, when one
man was speaking in one language. But the
"speaking with tongues" referred to in other parts
of the New Testament was the making of sounds
unintelligible until interpreted, and Paul speaks
of the gift of tongues as one of Httle practical use.
Whatever it was, it is not something to be sought
by us except as a means for becoming, or helping
others to become, righteous. We have abundant
evidence of the presence and power of the Holy
Spirit in the turning of men from sin to righteous-
ness, and in their inspiration to good works of all

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 85

sorts, and this is the kind of work we should expect
and desire God to do in the world, and therefore
the best evidence of his activity.

33. Various arguments have been given to
"prove" the existence of the Christian God, but
none of them is conclusive. — One such argument is
that we cannot help thinking of the greatest and
best possible being as existing. But that is not
true, for many people do not believe it. Another
argument is that the world is a great piece of work-
manship or effect, and that as every effect must
have an adequate cause, we must hold to the exist-
ence of a great and intelligent God as cause of the
universe. The evidence of the adaptation of one
thing to another, and of the working of many
things together to produce certain results, is held
to prove that there is a great designer or a mind
with great purposes behind the world, as it is
impossible to believe that all that we see and know
in the universe can be the result of the blind play
of mechanical and chemical forces. We notice
that the arguments mentioned, after the first one,
depend for their value on the truth of the law
^' every event must have an adequate cause,"
which we believe to be completely true within the
realm of knowledge; that is, with regard to things
which are perceptible to the senses. If, however,
we try to go, by means of this principle, outside
of the world of sense, the first step, it is thought.

S6 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

brings us to God, but the question immediately
occurs, *'What caused God?" and if the law of
cause and effect is to be relied on, we cannot stop
with God, but must go on forever from effect to
cause, and will never get to a stopping-place.
The arguments we have given help to make it
reasonable to believe in God — we might say more
reasonable than not to— but they still leave doubt,
particularly as to the existence of the Christian
God. That is, the argument is strong for the
presence in the universe, as creating and controlling
force, of a great mind or intelligence, but it is not
at all so clear that that mind must have the char-
acter foimd in Christ, and that is the most impor-
tant thing of all to believe.

34. The strongest reason for believing in the
Christlike God is the value which that faith has for
the development of righteous character and the
largest life. — ^We beheve that the history of nations
and individuals will show that the lives which have
come most completely under the influence of this
faith have been the most helpful to the world and
the most fully developed in character and expe-
rience. This can be seen on a large scale by com-
paring Christendom with non-Christian nations,
and Protestant Christendom (where this faith
has been more clear and central, more consistently
held, and less confused by priestcraft and by
unnecessary or even antagonistic elements) with

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 87

countries that are more exclusively Roman or
Greek Catholic. It can also be seen in the study
of the lives of great statesmen and great mission-
aries and in general in our everyday experience of
the best and most reliable and lovable people we
know.

It ought not to be difficult, however, for us to
form a very valuable estimate of this faith apart
from the effect which it has had in history. We
have considered in previous sections the value of
special elements in this faith and contrasted it with
others. We cannot see how a better belief with
regard to God can be proposed than that which
finds its main elements in the Christian faith which
we have sketched. If it can, we should accept
it. If it cannot, we should accept that which has
been outlined here. The two tests of the best
faith, reasonableness and most beneficial effect on
character, seem to be most fully satisfied in the
conception of the Christlike God, and these tests
are being constantly made in human experience.
When we say ''the Christian faith works well" or
enables a man to get along best in the world, we
are just saying that it meets these two tests. We
hold to the reality of the power or force called
gravity, because the calculations made and action
performed on the assumption that it is real and
that its laws are those discovered by Newton never
lead to error or failure, and that fact justifies

88 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

our assumption of the truth of Newton's theory.
Just so the universal success of the Hfe guided by
Christian faith is the strongest proof of its truth
which we can have. The lives of most so-called
Christians are determined only in a very limited
degree by the Christian faith, and hence are very
imperfect arguments for its truth; but most
people will agree that even these imperfect lives
are successful in the highest sense (not necessarily
in business or money-making, but in the attain-
ment of the most useful and best-developed life)
in the measure that they are determined by the
Christian faith.

35. By speaking of God as Creator, we mean
that he has always been the cause and has had
complete control of the development of the uni-
verse.— The position of modern science that
matter is indestructible seems also to imply that
it has never been created. We do not seem yet to
have come to final conclusions as to the nature of
matter, but it is certainly difficult for one educated
in modern science to believe that there was ever a
tune when the primary atoms of matter did not
exist. The reason why theologians have considered
it important to believe that God created the world
out of nothing (apart from the fact that that has
been understood as the biblical teaching) is that
if any different idea was held it seemed necessary
to think that matter was something which was

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 89

opposed to God, and which God had gradually
to conquer and bring under his control; that sin
and corruption were necessarily connected with
our material bodies because they were matter, and
thus that matter formed a permanent force opposed
to God's will. Some of the ancient philosophers
held such doctrines, and they have largely affected
the faith and practice of parts of the Christian
church. However, it is not necessary to hold
that God brought matter into existence, and that
there was a time when it did not exist, in order to
believe that it has always been completely imder
God's control. We may think of the chemical,
mechanical, electrical, and any other forces operat-
ing in matter as being forms of the will or the
power of God, and thus that God has eternally been
immanent in, or in complete mastery over, matter.
This view is consistent with the positions of modern
science and still avoids the danger which theologians
tried to avoid by the doctrine of creation out of
nothing. This is also decidedly superior to that
in another way, for the tendency in that theory
was to say that God had made the world perfect
at the time of creation, and started it going like
a watch wound up, and that after that it continued
to go by the laws he had established, but without
needing any care or having any interference from
him except on special occasions when he intervened
with a miracle. But our belief in the continuous

go CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

process of creation holds that God is never absent
from his world, but is in constant control and
manipulation or development of it, and that thus
the natural forces are working out his righteous
and loving will.

36. Evolution, in so far as it is scientific and not
a system of philosophy or faith, indicates something
of the order and method of God's creation of the
universe, but does not in any way dispense with
belief in God as Creator. — Practically all scientists
of today are agreed that the development of life
as we know it on the earth has occupied great
periods of time, probably many millions of years;
that there has been progress from simpler to more
complex forms of life through such long periods;
and that the law of "the survival of the fittest in
the struggle for existence" is one of the factors
in this development. However, no scientist can
prove that this development either could have
taken place or did take place without the constant
control of a great mind, that is, without the
constantly directing and supporting power of God.
When a scientist tells you that he can completely
explain the universe without the theory of the
activity of a mind in its development from the
first, he is merely displaying his ignorance and
foolishness — a great scientist would know better.
But if he says that it is more reasonable to believe
that the universe has attained to its present stage

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 91

of development without the activity of a creative
mind than with it, then we should note that that
is his faith or ''philosophy" and not his knowledge,
and that he cannot prove it, scientifically, and no
scientist will ever be able to do so from the very
nature of the case. Then we should further ask
ourselves if his theory really is more reasonable,
and if our thought is careful and deep we shall
probably conclude that it is not; for the very word
"evolution" means the "rolling out" or "unroll-
ing" and implies that something has been rolled
up. That is, it is just as absurd for the evolu-
tionist to try to account for mind by the develop-
ment of matter which has no mind in it as for
a person to believe that a "magician" can get
money out of a hat in which there is none. As a
matter of fact, evolution has as yet no theory to
account for the first appearance of animal or
vegetable life in matter, nor for the first appearance
of sensation or of self-consciousness such as we
know in the human mind. Probably it will always
be immensely easier to conceive of the development
of the universe as we know it, under the direction
and control of mind, than without such control.
But when we come to apply our final test to these
two contrary faiths (i) that no creative mind has
been active in the development of the universe,
and (2) that the universe is the work of a Christ-
like God, we find that the latter is required to

92 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

satisfy our demand for the best faith — that which
will have the best effect upon character. That has
already been shown.

37. We should believe in the Providence of
God, that is, that he has such complete control of
the universe that he is accomplishing his will in
it. — This faith is involved in that of God as
Creator as explained in section 35, but is worthy
of special emphasis. Older ideas of God as Creator
were separable from that of God as preserving and
guiding the development of the universe which he
had made. We think rather of creation as a per-
manent process, involving the continuous care
and control of God. If we consider the wonderful
progress which has been made in the development
of the imiverse from the chaotic forms of matter
to the various forms of life, culminating (so far as
we know) in human life where by far the most
remarkable characteristics are mental and moral
rather than physical, it is easy to believe that a
personal being of the greatest intelligence and most
perfect character has been in constant control of
these forces of the universe and determined how
they should develop. So we should believe that
God is in such control at the present time, that he
can bring to pass that which will be for the best
interest, the highest good of his human children.

This belief should take a reasonable form, and
not fail to consider that God himself is in some ways

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 93

limited. When we say that God is all-powerful,
we must not understand that to mean that he can
make black be white, nor make what has happened
in history not to have happened, or any other
absurd things. He is limited by his own nature
and will, so that he cannot contradict himself,
cannot do that which would be unrighteous or
unloving, nor go contrary to that which he sees
would be the best way to accomplish his purposes.
We shall also see later that he is limited by the
wills of human beings who are not in harmony with
him or who disobey him. We cannot say that
he is in perfect control of bad men, nor, indeed, of
anyone who is not perfectly good. But we may
believe that he, with all the resources of the uni-
verse and of his infinite mind, will find ways of
helping and caring for those who are trying to do
his will, that is, to become righteous; and that he
will finally accomplish his will completely in the
universe, although that may take a very long time.
38. We should believe that pain and all
physical evil are intended by God for the good of
humanity, especially for the discipline and develop-
ment of character, and will accomplish this result
in so far as men will permit them to do so. — The
problem of evil is a great one and we can here
consider only the fundamental prmciples of our
belief about physical evil; that is, pain and suffer-
ing of the body, and every kind of deprivation or

94 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

loss except that which is moral — sin and sinful
nature. The nature and cause of sin is considered
in the next chapter and we cannot hold that God
is at all responsible for it except that he made it
possible for man to sin when he made man free,
and that freedom is the one condition of the possi-
bility of the development of moral character.

We can easily see that pain and evil are of great
value in the education of the race and development
of character, where they are evidently the conse-
quence of sin, for they help to show sin in its true
horrible colors, and to turn people away from it.
The pain which I suffer on account of my own sin
does very much to turn me from my sin. The pain
which I suffer, or those whom I love suffer, on
account of the sins of others, helps me to strive
with all my might to make all men good, to get
sin out of the world, to promote righteous character
in society as a whole and in all its parts.

It is not so easy to see the value of suffering
where its connection with sin is not direct and
evident, but we should be able to recognize here
also great advantages that come to individuals and
to the race by its means. We all know how some
of the highest virtues, sympathy, patience, courage,
heroism, loyalty, and love, are often tested and
developed by suffering as they could be in no other
way which we can imagine. We can understand
that faith in God is comparatively easy while

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 95

everything goes well, but that its true test as well
as its greater value is shown when the pain comes
and things seem to go wrong. The faith which will
not stand the test of suffering even when no good
seems to be in view is a very weak faith, and that
which survives a severe test has acquired much
strength by the test— strength which may be of the
highest value in helping others to the same faith.

But there is also an education of society by
means of pain. It is suffering or its possibility
which has been one of the greatest spurs to dis-
covery and invention, to progress in civilization,
in every direction. Common perils and great
calamities have perhaps done more than anything
else to unite the people of one nation, and to bring
together different nations in a common sympathy
and works for the common good. The earthquake
in one city or the famine in one land, which brings
gifts and expressions of sympathy from all over
the world, does more than can be calculated to
promote the spirit of universal brotherhood which
is the highest religious and social ideal.

No explanation of the immeasurable values
which flow from the existence or the possibility
of pain will be able to satisfy all who are in the
deep experiences of sorrow; but all should realize
that their faith in God involves their faith that
''all things work together for good to them that
love God," and should cling to this faith until the

96 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

particular uses of the pain shall have become
clearer. And it is to be noted that that event
which perhaps causes more and deeper pain than
any other in human life — the death of a loved one
— must lose a very large part of the terror which
still clings to it, when our faith in a loving God
becomes strong enough to make us really believe
that the loved one is not dead, but only passed on
to a larger and more beautiful life than the one he
has left, where we shall later see and know him
again. Thus the best faith, by its interpretation
and use of pain and suffering, will actually make it
a blessing to man and society, whereas without
such a faith it would remain, as it seems to do for
some people, and may actually do for those who
refuse to turn to righteousness and the higher life,
unmitigated evil. But in this case God cannot
be blamed. He means it for good, and for him
who chooses the evil way, even the greatest pleas-
ures and greatest blessings which God can give
must be really evil.

39. We should believe that God can and will do
anything which is consistent with the character of
a righteous, loving Father of mankind and Creator
of the universe, and not think that the partial dis-
coveries which men, especially scientists, have
made, of some of his methods of working, preclude
our belief that he may work in many other ways, of
which we have as yet little or no knowledge. — The

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 97

question we have especially in mind here is that of
^'miracles." There are various wrong ideas of
miracles which we should not hold. We cannot
believe that God would or could do anything con-
trary to his own character. This we have indi-
cated in the last paragraph. It is a part of the
character of God that he should be consistent in
his action, just as the best men we know are con-
sistent. The better a man is, the surer we can be
of what he would do under any given circumstances.
So we should expect consistency and not arbi-
trariness or caprice in God's action. But men are
constantly using the forces and material of nature
to accomplish their will, and do what matter and
force without their added intelligence and will
would never accompHsh. So we should not think
of God as unable to use the forces of nature for
his own purposes, but rather as ever using them in
the fullest degree as a man would do if his power
and intelligence were infinite instead of finite.
A man in his works of invention and skill never
interrupts or interferes with the laws of nature.
He makes use of them to accomplish his purposes.
We have a right, then, to think of God as accom-
plishing his will through natural laws (as well as
spiritual laws) , and not as having to suspend them
in order to do what he chooses.

When we think of God as doing his will in
a consistent, regular, uniform way, that is by no

98 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

means to exclude real answer to prayer — that is,
the doing by God of things, in view of our prayer,
different from what he would have done if we did
not pray. Here again let us consider the action
of the best men. There are good reasons why they
should always (that is, regularly and uniformly) do
things for other people (when the requests are right
and lie within their power to accomplish) when
they are asked to do them, which they would not
do if they were not asked. The acceding to the
request brings the parties into closer and more
sympathetic relationship, and the thmgs desired
are appreciated much more if granted in answer tc
requests than if they were given without the
requests. There is no reason why we should not
think that God acts in the same way.

We may believe that God acts according to
law, without holding that we know already all
the laws according to which he acts. While the
discoveries in science in the last century or two
are marvelous, they are but as a drop in an ocean
when compared with the universe of reality which
remains unexplored. Because we do not yet
know how God could accomplish something which
is said to have been done in the past, or which we
wish might be done in the future, is no good reason
for saying that he has not done it or could not do
it. The first question to ask is, Would the result
desired probably be according to the wise and

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? 99

loving will of God ? If it would not, we should not
expect God to do it. If it would, we should pray
that he might do it, if the first principle of our
prayer is the desire that his will, that is, that which
is really best, should be done. Then we should
take the result as manifesting his will in the
circumstances.

40. The value of wonderful works or "mir-
acles," in so far as they are thought of as
coming from God, does not lie in the power that is
shown, but in the character that is revealed. — No
one can tell how much power may eventually come
under the control of man, nor how great powers
might belong to other spirits than God. Human
beings could never possibly perceive any works so
wonderful that they could rightly say, "No power
but God's could do this"; for a finite being cannot
perceive a work of infinite power and know it to
be such, and any wonderful event which we could
imagine would require only power enough to ac-
complish it, and no more. Men can do things to-
day which a hundred years ago would have been
considered miracles manifesting absolutely divine
power. The inventions of science — steam engine,
telephone, telegraph with and without wires, air-
ships, electrical apparatus of all sorts — show one
kind of modern miracles. The discoveries in the
realm of disease and healing are perhaps even more
wonderful. The prevention and the cure of former

lOO CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

great scourges of humanity, the healing of diseases
regarded for thousands of years as incurable, even
of leprosy, and the healing of certain forms of
disease by carefully studied and applied mental
treatment ("psychotherapy") are among the
wonders of the present age, which only a short
time ago would have been imagined only as mani-
festations of the power of God, absolutely beyond
the control of men. It has probably already been
accomplished in various cases that life has been
reinstated by means, e.g., of electricity, where
it had actually ceased, i.e., where the heart had
ceased its beating and the lungs their breathing;
and it is quite conceivable that this might be done
frequently in the future, when decay has not pro-
ceeded too far. And it is to be noted that the
accomplishment of these results does not depend
on the holding of any particular religious faith.
The nerve specialist, the hypnotist, the Christian
Scientist, and the faith-healer, with all shades of
belief and unbelief, accomplish the same kinds
of healing without medicine, when the disease is
of the form which yields to that sort of treat-
ment. The wonderful nature of an event, then,
or the amount of power which seems to be in-
volved in it, is no indication that it comes from
God, and it proves nothing with regard to the
character of the person through whom the event
is caused.

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD ? loi

The only way of telling whether anything is a
manifestation of God, as the Christian conceives
him, is to see whether it reveals the character of
God — love and righteousness. We should beHeve
that every event which shows the spirit of love
and goodness in it, that is, which is evidently
intended to manifest this spirit, and flows from
such motives, is from God. If it comes through
human beings, and shows such good motives in
them, it proves that to that extent they are in
harmony with God and his agents in the world.
It does not, however, prove that they are different
from other people in other ways — that they can
foretell the future, that they cannot sin, that they
can actually do supernatural works, or anything
else of that sort.

CHAPTER V

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION

"He arose and came to his father. But while he was
yet afar off his father saw him and was moved with com-
passion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him." —
Luke 15:20.

41. Man is a spirit dwelling in a body but not
entirely dependent upon it. — By a spirit we mean a
being having power to think, feel, and will. Each
of us knows directly that he has these powers and is
therefore a spirit. We have learned from psychol-
ogy that there is a parallelism between the thoughts
and feelings which make up the stream of con-
sciousness and the processes in our nervous systems.
And it is quite certain that in normal human life
our memories, thoughts, and feelings are dependent
for their presence in consciousness upon the proper
condition and working of the brain and nerves.
No one, however, can imagine the nature of the
connection between nervous processes and thoughts
or feelings; and however they may be related, it is
clear that they are not identical, for a thought or a
feeling has no properties in common with what we
mean by matter or energy. We know also that
although our consciousness is largely determined
by the situation and condition of our bodies, the
converse is also true. We may determine what
102

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 103

sensations we will attend to, and where our bodies
shall be. Our spirits are, then, not wholly depend-
ent upon our bodies, and we have some good
reasons for holding that they may continue to exist
without bodies like those we have at present. This
will be considered when we study the doctrine of
immortality.

So far as religion is concerned, it is not par-
ticularly important what theory we hold in regard
to how man came into being, providing we recog-
nize that God brought him into being. There is
good reason to believe that man on his physical side
has developed from the manlike ape. This is
certainly no more degrading a conception than the
one that he was made directly from lifeless earth.
The important question is not from what condition
or form man sprang but what he is, and although
man's body is in all essential respects like the bodies
of other animals, his spirit places him almost
infinitely above them all.

Tracing man's ascent through lower forms of
life in nowise accounts for him. There is really no
accounting for life without life, nor for thought
without thought; and no materiaHstic theory can
do any more than to describe some of the steps in
the process by which living and spiritual beings
have reached the stage to which humanity has
attained. We cannot know how man came into
being, but it is far more reasonable to believe that

I04 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

it was through the will and power of God than
through the play of non-spiritual energy upon
lifeless matter.

42. In the nature of each man there is a narrow
margin of freedom of choice and action, within
which life is not determined by his surroundings
nor by the character which he has inherited and
developed up to that point. — Psychology as a
science is '' deterministic." It assumes that if all
the circumstances affecting a man in any given case
could be known, and the character and habits
which he has developed up to the given moment
were known, it could be predicted absolutely what
he would think and choose and do the next moment,
so that his whole life moves on with absolute
machine-like precision, and under its circumstances
could not possibly be anything else than 'it is.
This conception of life, however, does not cor-
respond at all to what every man feels to be true of
himself and of others. We feel that we could
choose the better or the worse, and that we are
worthy of blame when we choose the worse, and
deserve praise or approval when we choose the
better. Of course this feeling is entirely deceptive
if as a matter of fact we could not choose other
than we do. In that case there can be no real
responsibiHty, sin or righteousness, praiseworthi-
ness or blameworthiness. But psychology cannot
deny the universal presence of this feeling of

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 105

freedom and of responsibility, and on the other
hand it can never fully account for any man's
thought and action in actual practice, and can
therefore never prove this feeling to be a mistaken
one.

We should therefore hold that man is free to
choose the better or worse, as this feeling best fits
our experience and is most encouraging to the effort
to become righteous. This belief in freedom is a
matter of faith. Its truth cannot be demon-
strated any more than the truth of determinism.
But it is a better faith and therefore we ought to
hold it.

The margin of freedom is a narrow one, but
therefore of all the more significance. A man
may turn quite around and start in the opposite
direction in a narrow passage, and this is what
occurs in ''conversion." But a large part of each
life is determined by its character and environ-
ment, so that an intimate friend can generally
tell what a man will do in a given case. Yet
in any given case if for that particular man
two choices are offered which both attract him,
he may choose the better, and thus grow stronger
and better in character; or the worse, and
take a step downward. The sum of these free
and unpredictable choices and their general
direction determine the moral destiny of the
man.

io6 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

43. Belief that God has given man freedom
means belief that God has limited his own power
and knowledge. — There are two reasons why men
have held that God knows everything which
happens or shall occur in the future, and that he
has determined beforehand exactly how everything
shall be. The first is that belief in the perfection
of God seems to require that he be absolutely
omniscient and omnipotent, and the second that
we need to believe in this foreknowledge and pre-
destination in order to believe that his kingdom
will come, and that he will be able to accomplish
his will and to help those who pray to him. But
the difficulties and loss which come from such
behef about God are greater than the gain. For
if God predestines all that occurs, then he and he
alone is responsible for all the sin and evil in the
world, and cannot then be held to be a really
righteous and loving God. And it does not really
help matters to say that God knows everything
before it occurs, and yet man is free to act, and
is responsible for sin; for it is impossible to con-
ceive of an event being known beforehand unless
it is determined beforehand, and if it is determined
then man is not free to choose at all.

Thus the highest Christian faith, and that
which corresponds best to our experience and has
the strongest tendency to make us feel our moral
responsibility and act righteously, is that God

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 107

has given to man a certain degree of freedom,
and thereby Hmited both his own power and
his knowledge. We should hold, however, that his
power still remains so great and his knowledge so
thorough that he will accomplish his will at last,
and will help every man who trusts in him, even
though he is hindered in the accomplishment of his
will by every man who sins against him — for sin is
certainly opposition to his will, since he is good.

44. A sin is any failure to choose the best that
one knows, to live absolutely righteously, or to will
to act from the best possible motives. The sin lies
entirely in the motive; no action considered by
itself is sinful. — In section 6 it was explained
that righteousness is doing what we would want
everyone else to do under the same circumstances.
To choose to do this is to choose the best that one
knows, for we would want everyone to do the best
thing for the welfare of others, when we were
among the others concerned by his action. So
finally we should want everyone to act from the
best possible motives, or, more concretely, from
love to others. Since this is righteousness, any
failure to attain this is sin.

Sin may also be defined as wilful disobedience to
God, and this is a more truly religious definition.
The reason for beginning with another definition is
that it shows more clearly and directly the nature of
sin, and would apply to a man who did not believe

io8 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

in God or who said that we cannot know what his
will is so as to obey him. It is evident that if
there be a perfectly righteous and lovmg God, he
would require nothing more or less of man than
perfectly righteous action, and such action we have
defined above. On the other hand, every man
who believes in duty or righteousness at all must
acknowledge his obligation to be righteous, whether
he believe in God or not.

It has been thought that God has given to men
commandments with regard to certain actions or
kinds of actions; that he should do some and refrain
from others ; and that sin is a failure to obey these
injunctions. But in our study of the nature of
the Bible and how to use it, we have seen that, in
order to be able to recognize a command as being
from God and for us, we must first be able to see
that it is a command which requires us to do right.
Even the Ten Commandments caimot be considered
as God's commands to any particular person imtil
he sees that action from the highest motives would
require him to obey them. In the case of most of
them, however, it is so evident that the highest
motives would require compliance that their au-
thority is immediately felt by almost everyone.

Many have difficulty at first in realizing that
no action considered by itself is sinful. Until they
have considered it carefully they might think that
even if I did some act out of the deepest love for

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 109

others it might be sinful. Take murder or theft,
they would say, arc they not always wrong ? But
that depends on what is meant by those terms.
They usually imply some evil motive, and action
from an evil motive is, as we have said, always
wrong. But it may be possible to kill a man from
the highest motives, for example, in a surgical
operation, in the effort to save his life, or when he
is a dangerous criminal, in the effort to save the
life of someone else whom he is trying to kill. So
also we could imagme circumstances where every-
one would consider it his duty to take someone's
else property in order to avert some disaster,
although to take the same thing under ordinary
circumstances would be ''stealing" — action from a
selfish motive and therefore sinful. So with every
kind of action, the motive determines its rightness
or sinfulness. It will be easier to understand this
if we ask what motive could make a man refrain
from doing what his love for others prompted him
to do. Suppose I thmk God requires me to go to
church at a certain hour. It will therefore be
sinful for me to do anything which would hinder
me from such church attendance. But my love to
others requires me in given circumstances to help
a man who has "fallen among thieves," just at the
hour for church. If I "pass by on the other side"
and leave the man for the church, it will be because
I desire the reward I think God will give me for

no CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

obeying him, more than the welfare of the man. In
other words, I obey God from selfish motives. But
a good God could not be pleased with such selfish
action, and, as Jesus said, the commandment to love
one's neighbor as oneself is like to that to love God
with all one's heart, and if one neglects the former
he cannot do the latter.

It is common to say that our consciences tell us
what is right and wrong, and accordingly to define
sin as disobedience to conscience. This is well if
conscience be rightly defined and understood.
Conscience is the moral judgment, the power which
values motives and decides which is the better.
To obey conscience is therefore to act from the
motive which one judges to be highest and best or
to do what we would want everyone else to do in
similar circumstances. But many people think of
conscience as being the feeling of discomfort or
of disapprobation with which they view certain
actions planned or accomplished in their own lives,
a feeling which in many cases has no relation to
their judgment of the motives which they would
have or did have in doing the act under considera-
tion. This feeling in such cases is due to the
taking-over of the views or feelings of others so
that their disapprobation is feared or is accepted
without criticism as one's own. If the judgment of
conscience is applied to the motives for the action
(which in any given case must be largely deter-

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION iii

mined by what the person thinks its results will be)
then conscience is the guide, and the only proper
guide, of conduct. The Bible, books of ethics,
civil laws, and other rules for conduct must be
used in order to form the best judgment as to the
results of different lines of action, and for the
strengthening of the higher motives — they are all
aids to the conscience but can never take its place,
any more than the sun or lamps of any sort can
take the place of a man's eyes.

45. The worst result of sinning is the formation
of a sinful character, or the gradual estrangement
of oneself from God and good people.— The pain
and loss which result from sin may under certain
circumstances be blessings, but the sin itself works
only evil in the sinner. Punishment for sin can be
intended only to prevent sin and reform the sinner,
and so must be considered as really good, but the
sin itself has no good results in the sinner. Every
sinful act makes it easier to do the act again and
tends to establish the habit. Every sinful choice
tends to make the choice of the lower motives
habitual. Thus continual sinning may so fix the
character in sinful ways that it will become ahnost
and perhaps quite impossible for the sinner to
change and become good. When in religious
language we speak of a man as being lost, we mean
that he has formed habits of yielding to the lower
motives and is becoming more and more degraded

112 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

in character so that if he keeps on in this direction
he will finally lose everything good there is in him.

We can have real friendship and fellowship with
people only when we can sympathize with them,
enjoy what they enjoy, sorrow in their sorrow,
value things somewhat as they value them. But
for God and good people the highest values are those
of character. The more I yield to lower motives
the less sympathy I have for those who prefer the
higher, and the farther I remove myself from them.
And not only is the same thing true about our rela-
tions to God, but every sin is disobedience to God,
and therefore puts me not only out of fellowship and
sympathy but in direct antagonism to him. Thus
he who continues in sin makes it more and more
difficult to do or even to understand the will of
God, and is in great danger of coming to beheve
finally that there is no God. And yet God is the
power which creates and controls the imiverse, and
in opposing it a man is on the way to inevitable
destruction. God is the all-loving Father, and in
turning from him, one is turning from all that is
good and loving toward all that is base and evil.

46. Salvation is the deliverance of a man^s
character from an actual or possible sinful condition
to a righteous condition, and from a condition of
opposition and disobedience to God to one of fellow-
ship and trust in God, and every means of bringing
this about is a means of salvation. — Common ideas

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 113

of salvation have been that it is deliverance from
the punishment of sin after death, and to a life of
eternal pleasure and delight. It has often been
thought and taught in various forms of Chris-
tianity, as well as other forms of reUgion, that
there were certain ways by which a sinful man
might, at any rate after mortal Hfe, escape the
penalty of his sins and live the life of happiness. In
Christianity it has generally bieen held that this
way of escape from punishment was made possible
by the death of Jesus. The deeper thinkers have
realized that such salvation must result in the
change of the sinful character, or it could not
deliver from the punishment. But very often it
was the punishment which was the great thing to
be saved from, and in many cases it has been
thought that professing a creed or partaking of
sacraments would insure the salvation of a man no
matter how he continued in sin.

As spiritual ideas of God and man have become
clearer, this position has changed in important
respects. First, the significance of character has
been more clearly recognized. It has been seen
that a man's character determined very largely
whether he were happy or not. A man who loves
God and those about him will be happy in circum-
stances in which a bad man would be quite mis-
erable, and a bad man in heaven would find the
presence of good people about him so unpleasant

114 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

that he would not want to remain — it could not
be a place of happiness for him. The making of
the character right, then, is the first necessity in
making a man happy, or bringing him to a real
heaven.

Then it has become clear that if God love men
as Jesus loved them, he would be ready to forgive
them and receive them into fellowship with him-
self on no other conditions but those of repentance
for sin and desire for such fellowship, just as Jesus
received men on these conditions; and thus that
these could be the only conditions of God's favor
and of salvation so far as he is concerned. Repent-
ance and the desire for forgiveness would be evi-
dence that the character was moving in the right
direction — away from sin and toward goodness.
And the faith that God had forgiven the man must
result in helping him to be better.

The great problem of salvation, then, is just the
problem of making good character. If a man's
character is becoming good he is being saved; if
not, he is being lost, no matter what he believes or
does not believe. And we must take this in a real
and Hteral way. There must be no religious
quibble by which a character that loves God and
man shall be called bad or depraved because the
man holds or fails to hold some particular belief;
and no legal fiction whereby a bad character shall
be called good under any circumstances. There is

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 115

a great truth in the doctrine of the "imputation"
of Christ's righteousness to those who accept him,
that is, who become his true followers and trust in
the Father whom he revealed. But that truth is
not that a bad man is looked upon as good, but
that a man is judged by God not according to what
he has attained but by what he is striving to
attain. And the man who desires most of all to
become Christlike, and strives with all his might to
become so, is regarded by God with loving approval,
even though the evil habits of the sinful life have
not yet entirely lost their hold upon him.

The process of salvation may be going on in a
man even before he has faith in God, although such
faith is one of the most powerful means to salva-
tion. But owing to intellectual experience or
environment a man may not have learned how he
may believe in God, and may think he cannot,
while at the same time his Hfe is growing better.
In such cases we must recognize God's action just
as clearly as when the man perceives that it is God
who is saving him, and not deny God's work
because the man in whom he is working does not
understand it.

47. Conversion is a change from a general
downward direction or evil development of char-
acter to a general upward direction or righteous
development of character. — Few, if any of us, know
anyone who has not some good in him, who does

ii6 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

not sometimes act from noble motives, take a step
upward in character; but we should recognize
clearly the distinction between the life of a man
whose controlling motives are lower, who is gradu-
ally becoming worse in character, and the man who
is struggling upward, desiring above all to become
Christlike, to do right. The latter may often
stumble in the way, he may even appear worse in
character than the former, especially if the one
who is growing worse has been brought up in good
surroundings so that certain forms of goodness have
become habitual in him. But the man who is
moving in the right direction will some time gain
the goal sought, although he start from a great
way off; and the man whose direction is wrong is
getting farther and farther from the home of the
soul, although at the beginning he had a great
advantage over the other man. Thus the impor-
tant thing is the direction of movement. The word
''conversion" means turning around or turning
back, and as used in religion it means the change in
the direction of a man's life from wrong to right.

If a man beHeve in a righteous God, then turn-
ing toward the right will mean for him turning
toward God and accepting the guidance of his
Spirit. If, on account of atheistic teaching, it is
for a time impossible for him to believe in God, he
may be none the less converted. He may take the
upward direction, and choose the higher motives,

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 117

and until he is able to believe in God, the highest
motives will be those of love to his fellow-men.
We may be sure that God would be pleased with
such a life, and that it is God's power which is
helping the man to the better life, even though for
a time it is not recognized as such.

In many cases it is impossible to know cer-
tainly whether another person is thoroughly con-
verted or not. Outward actions are not always
clear evidence of the movement of character, much
less professions of faith. Many a Hfe is vacillating
for a period so that it is difficult to tell whether
more is being gained or lost. We may be sure,
however, that the man whose highest desire is for
righteousness will become righteous, and receive
God's help in gaining this desire, although the
progress may seem slow for a time.

48. If the movement of character is in the right
direction, it is of no importance to know the time
of conversion or even that there has been any
conversion. — When a man has been Hving a very
sinful life for a considerable time, and then stops
the downward and commences the upward move-
ment, the change will be a very noticeable one —
he will have a "remarkable experience" of conver-
sion. There is, however, no good reason why a
child brought up in a really Christian home should
have any experience of a general movement in the
wrong direction. He may learn from those about

Ii8 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

him, by precept and example, what the right life is
and how much better it is than the wrong, and so
be always growing better, moving upward, in
general, although like converted persons he stumble
sometimes in the way. It is a great mistake to
expect of such that they shall have such experi-
ences of conversion as those do who have long
continued in sin.

It has sometimes been thought that the teaching
in John 3:3, etc., is contrary to the position taken
above. ''Except a man be bom again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God." A study of the context
shows the meaning to be that the Spirit of God
must give to a man the nature that loves righteous-
ness in order that he may *' enter the kingdom of
God"; that being a descendant of Abraham or
fulfilling the ceremonial law was not sufficient.
But the evidence of the work of the Spirit, like that
of the blowing of the wind, is to be found in the
results, and when we have before us the life which
shows the presence in it of the Spirit of God, there
is room for no further question. When we have a
live child before us, we need no birth register to
prove that it has been bom. The love-inspired life
is the conclusive evidence of the presence of God's
Spirit, and in many cases we shall not be able to
find any specific time when the work of the Spirit
in that life clearly began.

As will be seen in the next section, we cannot

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 119

deny the universal tendency to sin in every human
being. We know of no one except Jesus who has
grown into self-directing life without showing that
the nature he has inherited or the temptations
which surround him were such that he did not
remain without sin. These facts have been the
foundation of the doctrine of ''original sin." While
we cannot now hold the doctrine in its older form,
we must admit the facts, and the consequent need
which every man has for salvation, for ''grace" to
overcome his sinful tendencies. A man needs not
only forgiveness for the sins he has committed, and
help to overcome his besetting sins, but he needs to
develop such a character as shall be fully and
positively righteous. Many a man has not com-
mitted certain sins simply because the temptation
to commit them has not been strong enough, and
not because he is really good in character. He
may thus need salvation as truly as the one who
has yielded to temptation.

49. Salvation is a process requiring a consider-
able time for its completion, and all teaching that
it may be completed in a single moment is likely
to lead to error and deception. — In the past,
salvation has been distinguished from "sancti-
fication," which meant originally making holy, or
separating unto God, but is better understood now
as meaning the act or process of making righteous.
The highest meaning of holiness is righteousness,

120 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

although the word has been used with very differ-
ent meanings in the past. When salvation was
thought of as deliverance from the liability to
eternal punishment, then it was accomphshed by
God's act of pardon, as soon as the sinner had met
the conditions. And we may recognize, still, the
great value of the choice of will by which a man
abandons a sinful life, consecrates himself to God
and righteousness, and accepts the forgiveness of
God for his sin. But we see now that the impor-
tance of this experience lies in the fact that it is the
beginning of a great process, and not the complete
attainment of the thing desired.

For us, therefore, salvation and sanctification
mean essentially the same thing, and it is important
that we recognize that for any sinful human being a
process is involved, and not a sudden act or experi-
ence which is then complete. The great philoso-
pher Kant held that it would take an infinite time
for a will (i.e., character) to become perfectly good.
At any rate we may question whether characters
do become perfectly good within the brief bounds of
mortal life; and our experience is not to be doubted,
that many Christian people have not yet attained
to perfection at the close of human life. We find
in general that the better a man becomes, the
more conscious he is of moral imperfection, and
the higher his ideal of perfect character rises. We
know, further, from psychology, that it is impos-

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION I2i

sible for the mass of thoughts and habits which
have been developed through many years to be
totally changed in a moment, although the general
direction of the life may be thus instantly changed.

There are two serious dangers in the teaching
which some sects have maintained, that a man may
be perfectly sanctified in an instant. The first is
that a man who is seeking for God's fullest blessing,
and thinks God will thus instantly sanctify him,
will, if he be honest with himself, be disappointed,
and perhaps abandon his Christian faith altogether
for a time, as a friend of mine once did, under such
conditions, thinking that God would not give him
what he had given others.

The other danger, more serious still, is that of
self-deception or hypocrisy when a man claims to
have been thus ''sanctified" and yet frequently
does wrong. His actions prove his words, and
perhaps even his thought with regard to himself,
false. Such a man often says, in the phrase of his
sect, that it is not he who commits the sin, but the
''old man" in him, for which he is no longer
responsible, or else that what would in others be
sin is not in him, because he is sanctified, or because
he is "no more imder law but under grace" or
something of that sort. But this is merely to
introduce moral confusion into his life in the place
of mental. If sin be what we have judged it to be,
we should always call it by the same name and not

122 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

try to make ourselves or others believe that we are
what we know we are not. We must carefully
avoid all juggling with moral distinctions in the
name of ''religious truths," for it throws serious
discredit on religion.

50. The doctrine of "justification by faith' »
means that we attain to conscious fellowship with
God through trust in his forgiving love and not
through any number of good deeds.— We have laid
special stress on the "ethical" side of salvation,
that is, its character as deliverance from sin, be-
cause that is fundamental and can be appreciated
and applied by all, whatever their belief or lack of
belief about God. We need to give a little special
attention to the religious side, that is, that which
concerns our relations to God, both to understand
the doctrines of the past, and to get the value of
them for our life today. Paul experienced the fact
that ''by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight" (Rom. 3:20), and Luther
and many others who were striving to get rid of sin
and do good works so that their lives might be
pleasing to God, have had the experience of despair
of ever attaining to such a condition that they could
clarni God's approval for their lives. They found
at last that they must abandon such attempts to
become good enough to please God, and merely
trust to God's love and mercy to receive them while
they were still sinful and imperfect. They found

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 123

then, too, that the confidence that they received
when they thus simply trusted in God's love and
free, undeserved forgiveness gave them new hope
and power to become really righteous.

These experiences should be very instructive for
us. They should teach us that, on the side of
character, self-satisfaction is deadly; and that the
only safe and only absolutely essential thing is that
our controlling motive should be that of love to
God and man, and our constant effort to become
better. They should teach us that on the religious
side we cannot please God by anything less than
trust in his love and free forgiveness, and earnest
desire to do his will, and that ''good works" please
him only as the proof of this controlling motive of
love, and the presence of this desire to do his will.
Any good works except those which flow from such
love and obedience arise from lower motives and are
therefore really sinful. So we still are concerned
with character — the character of love and childlike
trust (as opposed to Pharisaic self -righteousness)
that pleases God, so that we are ''justified," that is,
approved, in his sight. It is our effort and not our
attainment that pleases him. We shall see in the
next chapter in what sense it is true that we are
justified through faith in Jesus Christ. But we
may say here that it is because through Jesus we
come to this trust in God that we are thus justified,
through the love of God manifested in Jesus, and

124 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

not through the acceptance of any creed, or
particular belief about the nature or work of Jesus
himself except as it brings us to this confidence in
the love and forgiveness of God.

51. We should believe that all human beings
are children of God until they have absolutely
renounced his fatherhood by the destruction of
everything good in them. — By being children of
God we mean having something of the spiritual
nature that God has, some capability of responding
to good motives, the influence of the Spirit of God,
and such relation to God that on his side nothing is
lacking to make our fellowship and commimion with
him of the highest nature. This position is the
higher Christian teaching from the time of Jesus to
the present, but it differs from other things that
have been taught in two ways. First, it has been
taught that, through the sin of our first parents or
in some other way, men have entirely lost the
character of God, totally defaced his image in them,
and thus become ''totally depraved" and "children
of the Devil." Generally it has been admitted
that very few human beings seemed thus entirely
bad to themselves or others, but it was explained
that whatever good appeared in them was the
action of God's Spirit, while the evil in them was
their own true nature. Of course this is not a fair
way to judge anyone. If we hold a man respon-
sible for the evil that is in him, we must give him

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 125

credit for the good too. We may well say that all
the good in man is due to the presence in him of
God's Spirit; but that is properly only another way
of saying that he has retained something of the
image of God in him, or is still a child of God,
although a fallen one. The term ^^regeneration,"
which means rebirth, is a figurative expression
denoting the action on God's part which cor-
responds to man's repentance and conversion.
Both expressions refer to the changing of the
direction of a man's life, and the meaning of both
is fulfilled when the life is developing in the right
way. But as a deaf man cannot hear, and a blind
man cannot see, so a *' totally depraved" man, one
in whom was nothing good, no higher motives, no
desire for righteousness, could not respond to the
influence of God's Spirit, and so conversion or
regeneration would be impossible.

The second teaching differing from our position
is that God could not love a man, on account of his
sin, until something had been done by Jesus to
make such love possible, and the man had accepted
this work of Jesus as done for him. But the true
teaching of Jesus and the New Testament is that it
is the very love of God which is revealed in Jesus,
and that God loves every man whom he has made
and desires the salvation of all. We know not
whether anyone ever becomes so bad as completely
to destroy his divine sonship, and bum out every-

126 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

thing good that is in him, but we should believe
that if anyone desires God's love and forgiveness it
is because he is God's child, and God will never
cast him out, and we should never abandon anyone
as hopeless. It is not sonship to God, that we are
to seek, but the ''spirit of sonship," the spirit of
trust and obedience that should be in the life of
every child of God, that is in every man whom
God has made.

52. All sin is punished, but the purpose of the
punishment is not to "give a man what he deserves"
but to prevent sin and reform the sinner. — We all
recognize that it is right for those who have con-
sciously and intentionally done wrong to suffer for
their wrongdoing, but we can imagine no just way
of apportioning to a man the punishment which he
deserves. For what a man deserves must depend
on the circumstances under which the wrong was
done, the motives of the deed and the strength of
the temptation. But no one can know the inner
working of another's mind, the strength of his
passions, the reasons for his ignorance or prejudice;
and thus no man can rightly decide what the
punishment ought to be in a given case. This
becomes still clearer when we remember that a
given penalty may be a heavy punishment for one
man and none at all for another. For one man
death is the most severe possible penalty. Another
may desire to die. So in the case of himian justice,

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 127

the only right way to do is to try to make the
punishment of such a form and degree as to
protect society in the best way and to reform the
criminal if possible, so that he will become a useful
member of society. Any penal system different
from this is a relic of barbarism.

We may believe that God knows just what
punishment a man deserves in any given case, and
we see that to a certain extent, at any rate, the
punishment for sin is automatically adjusted to the
sin. The worst result of sinning is the degradation
of character and the estrangement from God and
good people, and these results must depend
directly on the nature and strength of the evil
motive. But even in the case of God, or perhaps
we should say, especially in the case of God, it is
better to believe that the only purpose of punish-
ment is the prevention of sin and reformation of
the sinner. This is all that anyone can rightfully
require from either human or divine justice. We
want the penalty to counterbalance the motives to
the crime, so that a man will see that he cannot
gain by crime, but will always lose. So we should
believe that God punishes sin because of his love
for all men, the sinner as well as those sinned
against.

It is clear, then, that it will best deter from sin
if the punishment follows it inevitably, but best
encourage repentance and improvement if the

128 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR IMEN OF TODAY

forgiveness and cessation of pimisHment follow
immediately upon repentance. This we may and
should believe. The worst results of sinning, the
decay of character and the estrangement from God,
cease when we turn from sin and trust in God's
forgiveness.

53. The results of sin which continue after
repentance should be looked upon no longer as
punishment but as means of discipline and the
development of character, as blessings and not as
evil. — On account of God's love we should expect
forgiveness to follow immediately upon repentance,
and we cannot think of punishment as continuing
after one has been pardoned. But we see that the
results of sin in suffering and loss often continue
long after the sin has been repented of and has
ceased. We can see also that these results may be
of great value to the sinner as well as to others in
deterring from sin and showing its awful nature,
and that if taken in the right spirit they may prove
of great value in the strengthening and purifying of
character, developing patience, sympathy, and
other virtues. Thus we should regard the after-
results of sin, when it has been forgiven, as intended
only for good, and no longer as punishment. The
problem of evil other than sin has been more fully
considered in section 38.

From the foregoing sections it should be clear
that faith is necessary to salvation only in so far as

MAN, SIN, AND SALVATION 129

it keeps a man's character developmg rightly, or
helps him to righteousness. Without faith of some
sort, at least in the value of righteousness in some
of its expressions, no man can or will be or become
righteous. The value of Christian faith is not that
no man can be saved without it in all of its details,
but that it is the quickest way to righteousness and
to God. If a man truly and constantly holds it he
is certain to be becoming steadily better, and this
in a greater degree and shorter time than would be
possible without it.

In the next chapter we consider some of the
most important ways in which the life and work of
Jesus may help to this highest faith and fullest life.

CHAPTER VI

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ?

"But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave unto us the ministry of reconcilia-
tion; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto himself." — II Cor. 5:18, 19a.

54. No belief with regard to Jesus is of any
value except as it helps a man to a better character
or fuller life. — This must be true if God is righteous
and loving, and has the spirit which was shown
in Jesus. Many people have thought that God
has revealed to men certain truths about Jesus, or
about himself, through Jesus, and that he would
refuse to forgive and save any man, no matter how
much he loved God and men, unless he believed this
revelation ; and some have thought that if a man
should believe this revealed truth about Jesus, he
might be saved, as a reward for believing it, or from
a sort of a magical efficacy obtained through believ-
ing it, no matter how wicked he might be and re-
main. The true position is that God has revealed
great truths about himself and human Hfe through
Jesus, which, if a man believe, will be of the greatest
assistance to him in becoming righteous and in ob-
taining the highest faith in God; and the true faith
in Jesus is thus the greatest power for the salvation
or transformation of life and character.
130

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 131

We may be sure that a righteous, loving God
could require of no man any belief as a condition
of his favor, except such as would be possible for the
man under his pecuHar circumstances to accept,
and such as would be accepted by the man if he
were trying to find out the truth and choose the
right. God would not reward us with forgiveness
or salvation or heaven or anything else good
because we did what we could not help doing.
Such action deserves no reward. It is when we
choose to do the better of two or more things that
we have shown ourselves worthy of approval and
reward. There are various things about the life
of Jesus which a man would be compelled to believe
if the proper evidence were presented to him, and
which he could not possibly beHeve unless they were
at least told him in such a way as to make him
think they were true. In such cases, although the
facts accepted or rejected might be of value to the
man, we could not think of God as rewarding or
punishing the man, since he had no choice in the
matter. But where there is a choice, the only
thing which makes one belief better than another
is that the one will improve the life and character
of the man more than the other. This we have
seen in the discussion about faith and knowledge,
in the first chapter. Therefore it is clear that it is
only such belief as a man would choose because
of its value in making his life richer or his char-

132 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

acter better which could please God or be of any
value to men.

55. We should beUeve that Jesus was a real
man; that is, that he was limited in power and
knowledge in the same way that other men are.—
We shall consider in later sections the reasons why
it is of great importance to believe in the true
humanity of Jesus. Practically all great theo-
logians, from the earliest times to the present,
have recognized the importance of this belief.
We have here to consider what is meant by being
a man. We have already considered what human
nature is in section 41. It includes such relation
of the spirit to the body that the former is largely
dependent on and limited by the latter. All the
data for the knowledge and thought of the mind
come through the body and its senses. Even our
highest and most spiritual faith must be repre-
sented and pictured in terms gained first from
the world of sense. While it is true that there
are some phenomena as those of telepathy,
mind-reading, clairvoyance, etc., which in some
cases we cannot doubt to be genuine, and in
which there is apparently some communica-
tion of thought without the medium of the
senses, even in such instances there can be no
confirmation of the truth of the impressions thus
communicated, without the senses, and the sphere
of such communication is comparatively small,

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 133

and entirely out of the control of the ordinary
healthy person.

It is clear, then, that the knowledge of any
human bemg is and must be very limited indeed,
compared with all that might be known. And
it is further to be most carefully considered that
such limitation in knowledge is one of the essential
conditions of our moral experience and develop-
ment. If every man knew that every sin would
be punished, and could foresee the results, no one
would want to sin. It is because we cannot know
beyond a doubt, that righteousness will always
bring good, and sin always evil, that sin is so tempt-
ing and virtue so difficult, and that a man has a
duty to choose the best faith when he might choose
something else. We have no moral obligation
to do the things we cannot help doing. The moral
obligation, the duty, commences when there is a
choice between different possibilities. There is
much truth in the saying of Socrates that ''sin is
ignorance," for although we knowingly sin, we
never knowingly injure ourselves, and if we knew
that every sin injured us far more than it benefited
us, we should not sin. As most if not all human
beings, then, are so limited in knowledge that they
cannot know certainly what the results of their
actions will be, and cannot know beyond doubt the
existence of God and of a life beyond the grave, and
the truth of the other most important doctrines

134 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

of religion, so we must hold that Jesus, if he was
a real human being, was limited in the same way,
and that religious truth was faith for him as well
as for us. Having a human body would not make
him a man in any true sense if he did not have the
other limitations which human beings have. If
he was tempted in the same way that we are, and
developed character in the same way that we do;
if he by being human himself could enter into
complete sympathy with human bemgs, and could
become in any way a real example for our lives,
then he must have been limited as we are.

What has been said above has been concerned
primarily with limitation in knowledge. The
same general arguments apply also to limitations
in power. If Jesus could have done anything he
wished to do, then he was different from any other
human being who ever lived; or, in other words,
he was not truly human. We may see, on the
one hand, that limitation in knowledge would
necessarily imply limitation in power; and on the
other, that if he had had actual superhuman
powers, i.e., powers which no other human being
could control or use in any way, whether in answer
to prayer or otherwise, then he could not com-
pletely sympathize with men who were thus lim-
ited, nor be tempted as they were. It will readily
be seen that much of our temptation and sin is
directly related to our weakness and inabihty

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 135

to control events as we should like to do. For
instance, in modem times a large part of the
temptation and sin which belong to men is related
to the effort to make money, i.e., to obtain the
"good things" necessary or desirable for life, which
can be obtained only through gift, hard work,
or dishonest means. But if we had power to
obtain any of these things, or all of them, without
work, these temptations would disappear, and
if Jesus could have obtained all that he wished of
food, clothes, money, etc., he would have had no
such temptations as those which form a most
serious part of ours, and give rise in one way or
another to by far the larger part of the social
evils which we know.

We should note that the limitations imder which
Jesus lived, although of the same kinds, were not
therefore necessarily those of the average man,
nor even those of the best, wisest, or most skilful
man that we may know of. They were the
limitations which are implied in human nature, but
what the final bounds of human knowledge and
power are, when it shall have made the fullest
possible discoveries of the laws of matter and
mind, and when it shall have come into complete
harmony with God, we have not yet the faintest
knowledge. Jesus may have had powers which
no other human being has yet attained, because of
his perfect harmony with God and man, and still

136 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

have been subject to the human limitations of
knowledge and power.

56. We should believe that an ideal, sinless
human being would be the most perfect possible
revelation of God's nature and character which
man could receive. — We can understand the
nature and character of other beings only in so
far as we have similar natures and characters.
Several centuries before Christ, Xenophanes, the
Greek philosopher, asked: ''By what right do we
attribute human form to the gods? Everyone,"
he said, ''imagines them to be like himself.
Negroes think of the gods as black and flat-nosed;
Thracians, as blue-eyed and red-haired, and if the
horses and oxen could paint, doubtless they would
represent the gods as horses and oxen." With these
words Xenophanes thought to show the absurdity
of what is known as "anthropomorphism," that
is, thinking of the gods as being like men. But
although he was to a certain extent right, that
is, in holding that we should not think of God
as being like ourselves in all respects, in outward
appearance, in sensuous needs and passions — yet
he was wrong in thinking that we can truly
worship or even imagine a god who is totally
unlike ourselves, and indeed we must say that our
idea of God must be limited to the ideas which
come from our knowledge of ourselves and of the
world about us. We should not say that we can

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 137

thus form adequate and satisfactory conceptions
of God, and we fmd it necessary to hold that
our highest thought of God represents only a
small part of his real nature, character, and power.
Nevertheless, our ability to form any conception
of God at all, depends on our own experience, and
we must use the forms of our own experience to
construct an idea of God for ourselves. As a
man who has been blind from birth can form no
idea of what it means to see, and a man who has
never heard does not know what sound means,
so we cannot imagine any particular powers in
God, of which we have no experience, although we
may well imagine that he has many powers of
which we can form no definite conception because
we do not possess them.

If we are to have a faith in God which will
make us love him, and which will help us to love
one another, to become righteous, then the most
important element in our faith in God must be the
thought that he is of a loving, altogether admirable,
and attractive character, and that the closest
harmony and fellowship with him would make
us most nearly what we should be in relation to our
fellow-men. The thought of God's knowledge and
power as universal and complete is the thought
which will most readily be developed in men's
minds, and which the study of the great religions
of the world will show has developed most quickly

138 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

and easily. The experience which each man has
of some knowledge and power in himself, and his
feeling of dependence upon the forces at work in
the world about him, lead naturally to the thought
of a great and powerful mind which controls these
forces. But among men we find both power and
knowledge possessed by characters of different
sorts, tyrants, bullies, criminals, grafters, philan-
thropists, statesmen, etc., and so they are not
necessarily associated with any one kind of char-
acter. It is therefore more of a question what
sort of character man will think of as belonging to
God.

Every man has, unless he destroy them, the
powers of reason and conscience, enabling him
to judge the kind of motives and the kind of char-
acter which have the highest value. When men
have developed the idea that God is morally good —
an idea which is found wherever we have a real
civilization — then it is most natural for them to
attribute to God the best moral character of which
they conceive. But men know moral character
from their own experience of their own characters
and of those of other men, and the highest char-
acter which they come to know will naturally
determine in large measure their ideals of the best
possible character. If a man should appear whose
character was actually ideal, that is, whose life
was determined by the highest conceivable motives.

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 139

then such a man would show the character which
it would be most proper to attribute to God; and
unless men had already had as high an ideal of
the character of God as his life presented, it would
be likely to fix that ideal for the future. And
if God be the greatest and best conceivable being,
then such a man would be the most perfect revela-
tion of the nature or character of God which it
would be possible for men to have. We have seen
(cf. especially sections 30 and 31) that the best
faith requires us to believe that God has the best
possible moral character, or the character of the
best conceivable man, and as our highest ideal
of the character of God must be based on our high-
est experience of human character, we must con-
clude that the best human character which exists
would be the best actual presentation of the char-
acter of God in human form, and that if such an
actual human character were in reality a sinless
character, one completely determined by the
highest faith in God and deepest love for man, we
should be able to say that it was the most complete
revelation of God's nature or character which
could be made.

57. It is reasonable to believe that the sketch of
the life of Jesus given in the Gospels is, in its main
features, historically true. — Questions as to the
origin, authorship, date, and degree of historical
accuracy of the four gospels have required many

I40 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

volumes for their discussion and engaged the most
careful and thorough investigation of some of the
greatest scholars of the last century, and the
problems are by no means all solved or settled.
We cannot here present any of the details of the
problems or their attempted solutions, but give
what we believe to be the general results of the
best scholarship. Some scholars have gone so far
as to assert that there is practically no historical
element in our Gospels whatever. We believe,
however, that their arguments are very unsatis-
factory and have been sufficiently answ^ered by
clearer and more scientific thinkers than they are.
The evidence is good that the Gospels give us
accounts of the words and acts of a real man,
called Jesus, based on the memories of the dis-
ciples who were present with Jesus and heard his
words and saw his deeds. There can be no reason-
able doubt that some errors have crept into the
accounts of Jesus' life as we have it, and that we
should certainly expect under the circumstances.
There seems no likelihood that any written record
of Jesus' words and actions was made during his
earthly life, or for some few years after it, and we
all know how certain it is that words repeated and
events narrated from memory of what happened
some years before, will be inaccurate in details, and
will be colored by the thoughts and experiences of
the narrator quite unintentionally. We note also

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 141

that no claim is made in the Gospels to any unusual
accuracy in the narratives, and we find indisputable
evidence that for the first three gospels some com-
mon written or verbal source was largely used,
so that in general they do not represent three inde-
pendent accounts, but one primary account to
which additions were made and in which changes
were made in arrangement, etc., by three or more
diflierent authors or editors.

After these elements have been taken into con-
sideration, we find that we have in the Gospels by
no means a carefully arranged and fairly complete
biography, but at least a number of pictures or
sketches giving impressions which were made by
the life and words of Jesus upon those among
whom he lived. The accounts indicate that he
taught to others the faith which he himself had,
in a loving, righteous, heavenly Father of all men,
who was ready to forgive and receive even the most
sinful who repented of his sin and desired forgive-
ness and the righteous life. Jesus himself showed
the same loving spirit which he taught belonged to
God, and showed no evidence that he was conscious
of being sinful himself, while he was the sternest
judge of sin wherever he found it. He also did
many wonderful works, certainly of healing, and
perhaps of other kinds. He was conscious of hav-
ing a close relation to the God of whom he taught,
and of having a special work to do by the power

142 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

and Spirit of God for men. His love for God
and for men was so great that he did things which
he knew would bring him into serious conflict with
the Jewish authorities, and be the means of his
being put to death at their demands. In some way,
after his death he convinced his disciples that he
was still living. And, as we see in the Acts of
the Apostles and the rest of the New Testament,
with this assurance that his work had after all been
successful in the highest degree (instead of being,
as at his death it seemed, an utter failure) and that
through him they came into communion and fel-
lowship with God himself, the disciples preached
the new truths which had come to them, and
helped others to have the same new experiences
of communion with God which they had, and
gradually established the Christian church, al-
though they regarded it at first as only the highest
and true form of the Jewish religion and not as
something essentially new, different, or opposed
in any way to it. We believe that the best schol-
ars of the world, both "conservative" and "radi-
cal," would agree that we have good reasons to
believe that the events roughly described above
really occurred. We believe also that in this
brief description of the historical facts narrated
in the Gospels we have the essential elements which
we need for the best possible conception of the
value of the life and work of Jesus.

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 143

58. It is reasonable and helpful to believe that
Jesus was in character sinless — completely right-
eous— moved by the highest motives, and therefore
the most perfect possible revelation of God to men.
— The reasonableness of believing that Jesus was
sinless has already been pointed out. If the New
Testament records are trustworthy, then Jesus
not only made upon his disciples the impression
of living a life completely determined by righteous
principles, particularly the highest love for God
and men, but also, although having a most sensi-
tive moral nature and most accurate moral judg-
ment, was conscious of no sin in himself to be
repented of or removed. Some students have
found fault with some of his words and actions,
and thought that they indicated some moral
weakness or error. Without taking up the points
raised in detail, we must notice that we cannot
judge accurately of the motives behind particular
acts, and that the only valid question with regard
to the acts criticized is not. Were they such as we
could do with the highest motives, or such as did
in fact result in the best possible way ? but. Were
the motives of Jesus the highest, when he did the
acts in question? We must answer that no low
motives are assignable for these cases, and that
the general character of the work of Jesus and the
apparent fact that he was conscious of no sin are
very strong evidence that he was without sin.

144 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

If we have good reason to believe that Jesus
thus had a thoroughly righteous character, and
that this character was bound up with, and largely
explained by, his unfailing faith in God and unique
consciousness that his words and works were in a
special way God's, that he had a peculiar mission
to reveal God to men, then we have very good
reason to believe that Jesus was such a revelation
of the character of God — the most perfect possible
revelation to men, which we have seen (section 56)
a sinless human life would be. Such a faith would
have two special values: first, it would indicate
that God intentionally revealed himself to men, in
this most perfect conceivable way, and would thus
help us to believe in the personal nature of God
and his warm and direct interest in humanity and
desire that all men should come to know him ; and
secondly, it would be a special reason why we
should think that the outstanding moral features
of the life and teaching of Jesus must be a revela-
tion of the most significant elements in the
character of God himself, and thus give an added
weight to them, whatever they might be, as
divine attributes. We should be compelled to
say that God could not be less admirable in
character than Jesus, and that whatever we found
in the character of Jesus which was most helpful
and attractive should be attributed to God, his
Father and ours.

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 145

59. In the life and death of Jesus we have the
strongest possible evidence and most remarkable
manifestation of the character of God as hating sin,
but loving all men and desiring to forgive and
cleanse them from their sins, of his suffering on
account of the sinfulness of men and for the sake
of saving them from their sin, and being ready
to do anything, to make the greatest possible
sacrifice for their salvation. — If, as we have seen
there is good reason to believe, the Gospels give
us any adequate idea of the character and life of
Jesus, then we must maintain the truth of this
proposition even apart from the question of the
absolute sinlessness and unique consciousness of
Jesus, although if these things be admitted, the
argument may appear much stronger. As we have
shown, the best human character must be the
one most like the character of God, of which we can
know. Any noble man, then, shows the divine
character to the extent that he is noble. It is
hardly questioned that the character described in
the Gospels and commonly attributed to Jesus
is the highest which human history presents. We
need only to consider it, then, with a little care to
find that the striking elements in it are those which
we consider here.

The awfulness of sin is seen not only in the
preaching of Jesus, but also by contrast with his
own righteous and loving life. It stands out in

146 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

peculiar horror as we see that it was the sinfulness
of the people among whom he labored which
caused his suffering and death — the jealousy and
envy of the priests and rulers, and the anger and
hatred of those whose sins were condemned and
whose hypocrisy was exposed. It is clear, how-
ever inevitable his death may have been under the
circumstances, that he made no effort to avoid it,
but rather, in a sense, courted it by the bold con-
tinuance of his work when he knew the danger
that threatened him. He thus, so far as he was
concerned, voluntarily submitted to the hatred
and anger of the people, that they might see the
more clearly the awfulness of their sin and the
depth of his love. In his death, then, the horror
of sin and the power of love and righteousness
stand out in the strongest possible contrast. The
spirit of forgiveness which he showed all through
his ministry has a splended manifestation in the
familiar words: *' Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do," uttered as he was being
crucified. His preaching — ''Love your enemies " —
and his acts show the love that included every
human being in its scope.

This character, then, unsurpassed in history,
must be believed to belong to God, whom we cannot
think to be excelled in power or goodness by any
man whom he has made — least of all, then, by
one who is m constant communion and fellowship

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 147

with him, and finds in him the source of all his
life and power. When one begins to realize that
God himself has this character, the strongest
force has come into operation for the reconciling
of man unto God, the strongest motives are aroused
for turning from sin to God, and Hving in the power
of the Spirit of love, which is the Spirit of God
himself. This revelation of God in the life and
death of Jesus is thus the greatest element in the
atonement, or the bringing of man into harmony
with God.

60. In Jesus, the most perfect revelation of
God, we have the "incarnation of God" or "God
manifest in the flesh" — a concrete human figure in
which our faith in God may center. — In the early
forms of religion, when God was thought to dwell
literally in a temple, or to appear occasionally in
visible form in certain places, or to manifest his
power directly and supernaturally in certain vis-
ible or tangible ways, it was easy for faith in his
existence, providence, and activity to be strong
and vivid. As the thought of God becomes more
spiritual, there is a tendency for it to become more
elusive and unreal. When we realize that we
cannot see or hear or touch God in a literal way,
there is great danger that we shall think that we
can know little or nothing about him, or that he
seem so far away that he cannot be concerned about
us, and we need not be about him. The more

148 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

spiritual a religion becomes, the greater need there
is for special efforts and methods to make the
thought of God appeal strongly to the imagination
— to help men to have a pure and at the same time
real, definite, and vivid faith in him. But the
naming of attributes or qualities of character and
person is a very abstract, and for most people
unsatisfactory and insufficient, way of promoting
real acquaintance with a person. The Hebrews
had a vivid idea of Jehovah because of their
accounts of his messages and commands and revela-
tions to them through their prophets, and his
dealings with them, bringing them out of the
'^ house of bondage" into the ''land flowing with
milk and honey," and of the ways in which he
cared for them and trained them, rewarding their
virtue and punishing their sin. Their records of
God's words and especially his acts made his
character vivid and real to them. But as we
cannot accept all of these stories as literal history,
since we find the truth clothed in anthropomorphic
forms which belong to earlier stages of thought,
there is danger that we shall lose the truth and
vividness, the feeling of reality which they gave,
in our thought of God. We find, then, in our
accounts of the life and words of Jesus, the picture
of such a character as belongs to our highest con-
ception of God. If the picture is historical, then
we have in him, in a true sense, ''God manifest

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 149

in the flesh" or '^God incarnate"; for if properly
understood, those phrases express the idea which
has been already presented, of the fullest mani-
festation which could be made of God in human
form. And even if the picture should not be in all
respects historical, it nevertheless presents in a
concrete form, as a description of a human life,
the highest ideal we can have of the nature of
God. While we must hold that the important
thing is to have the vivid, powerful faith in the
'Xhristlike God," and that when one has that
faith he has the central and essential element in
the Christian reHgion, however he may have come
to that faith, yet we must say that it is the embodi-
ment of this faith in the concrete figure of the man,
Jesus, which has given to Christianity its distinc-
tive character and pecuHar power, just for the
reason presented, that it has made this conception
of God real, vivid, and personal. As we saw in the
last section that it is faith in God as righteous,
loving, and suffering for sin that is the strongest
force, drawing men from sin and to God, so we
see here that it was " God incarnate" or the revela-
tion of God in the man Jesus which has most
clearly revealed this character of God and made
this faith both possible and vivid, and that in
this great way Jesus made atonement for us —
made us ^'at-one" with God, became the mediator
of salvation, that is, the means by which the way

150 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

of salvation was shown to us most clearly, and
became the Savior of men. But there is also one
other great element in this ''at-one-ment" which
we must consider now.

6i. It is of great value to man to have a perfect
example, an ideal character as model and inspira-
tion for his own life, and it is also of great value to
believe that it is possible for a real man, in sinful
surroundings, to live the ideal, sinless life. Both
of these values we have given to us in Jesus. —
Where many volumes have been written on the
subject, it will of course be impossible to do justice
to the ideal elements in the character of Jesus, as
pictured in the Gospels, in a few words. It may
nevertheless be useful to call attention to some of
the strikmg features of his life. His life, then,
gives us the perfect faith in God naturally and
completely united with, and expressed in, the
fullest love for man. It is pre-eminently the life
of service to others, and thus gives to the world
the most-needed ideal, which, if it had been ade-
quately expressed in the lives of his disciples in the
Christian church from his day on, would have
made Christianity the religion of all mankind, and
established the kingdom of God on earth, by this
time, perhaps not completely, but in a form which
yet remains a far-off Utopia. This expression of
the spirit of loving service is thus the complete
realization of the ethical ideal, that is, the ideal of

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 151

duty or of the righteous life among men, and it
is at the same time the expression of one of the
two fimdamental elements in the highest religion,
which is the life flowing from love to God and men.
It is to be noted that this life is pure and self-
sacrificing, but not ascetic, nor one of retirement
from the world; that pleasure is enjoyed and not
avoided, but it is not sought as an end. The life
is not in any way weak or effeminate, even though
it is, to some extent at least, one of non-resistance
to physical force. It is thoroughly manly, exhib-
iting the highest courage, firmness, and strength.

The conclusion of the earthly life of Jesus has
a very peculiar value as an example for succeeding
generations, in that he was faithful unto death.
Whether or not he could have avoided death,
as we have noticed before, he did not do so, nor
make any effort to do so; and his death was the
natural result of the conflict of his righteous Hfe
with the sinful lives which surrounded it. It
could readily be imagined that he might have
found good reasons for avoiding such an early
and cruel closing of his ministry on earth, and might
have found ways of doing so, without violating
any of the ordinary rules for right conduct. But
a little thought will show us the immeasurable
value for mankind of the fact that he suffered the
bitterest possible result of the righteous life, even
the shameful, agonizing death, forsaken by friends,

152 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

rejected by adherents as well as by the religious
leaders of the people, with the outward appear-
ance of utter failure as a result of his whole life-
work. For again and again have his disciples been
called upon to give up their own lives as the price
of their loyalty to him and to the highest interests
of their fellow-men, and without such an example
from their leader and Lord, who can say how many
of them would have been faithful unto death ?
If Jesus had not paid the uttermost price for the
privilege of serving humanity, would it not be
very likely that his disciples would say, when the
final sacrifice was demanded: "The Master did
not give up his life for his faith or his work — it is
not hkely that he would expect us to do so. We
must yield a point here, or turn aside there, to
save our lives. What service can we perform after
we are dead?" And so there would have been a
measuring of the amount of faithfulness required
by God, and not a complete and unquestioning
faithfulness. But history shows that the example
of Jesus, followed by many thousands of martyrs
in all lands, and followed, in spirit, by many times
their number who were ready for the uttermost
sacrifice, although not called upon to make it, has
been one of the most powerful forces in promoting
the spread and purifying the spirit of Christianity.
The death of Jesus, then, was not only, as we have
already seen, the supreme manifestation of the

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 153

suffering love of God, but also the supreme mani-
festation of the faithfulness of the ideal human
life, and thus again of the love of God for men
(in giving them such an example through Jesus)
and of the love of Jesus, the ideal man, for men,
thus completing the perfect example for human
life — not, of course, to be followed in details, but
in spirit and fundamental principles.

The second value referred to in the thesis of
this section is one which is often not recognized,
but which should be constantly kept in view. It
is a very evil and false doctrhie, that every man
is constantly sinning, consciously or unconsciously,
and must expect so to continue until the end of
mortal life. The sinful life should not be looked
upon as the normal human life, but as the ab-
normal life, and the man with the right faith in
God must expect to be constantly and increasingly
triumphing over every evil motive which he finds
within himself. Although the common experience
of mankind may not favor the faith that many,
if any, of us shall be able, during our earthly lives,
completely to avoid yielding to the lower motives
for periods of months or years (although we may
find frequent cases where this seems to be at least
approximated) , yet we should expect this experience
to become more and more frequent in the future,
as the spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God, becomes
more dominant in its influence over both indi-

154 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

viduals and society; and we should expect the time
to come, when — not after, but during the earthly
life — ^most men, perhaps all men, shall be completely
ruled by the spirit of love to God and to men. If
we seriously take Jesus as our example, and really
believe, as we have good grounds for doing, that
he, a real human being, subject to the same sort
of limitations, weaknesses, and temptations which
belong to our condition, yet yielded to none of these
temptations — never failed in his love for God and
men — then certainly it will greatly strengthen our
faith in the possibility of the sinless life for us,
and we shall never again be satisfied as so many
people are, with lives that are outwardly respect-
able, or, at best, ruled only part of the time by the
spirit of love, and yielding much of the time to
selfish habits and evil thoughts. The danger of
some forms of ''holiness" doctrine has been pointed
out in section 49. There is perhaps greater danger
in the idea that sin is necessary to human life, and
that we cannot hope completely to overcome it,
and need not struggle to do so, until the body
dies.

62. Every way in which the life of Jesus reveals
God and helps us to turn from sin and become
righteous is a means of atonement or of reconciling
man unto God, and the atoning work of Jesus
consists in the sum of such influences. — One of the
greatest hindrances to progress in the perception of

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? I55

religious truth, and to the co-operation of religious
persons for the carrying-on of work for humanity,
has been the failure to admit relativity or incom-
pleteness in the views which have been gained.
Probably there has been no great teaching for which
honest and well-intentioned people have argued,
struggled, and sacrificed which has not had some
real and important truth embodied in it. The
difficulty and falsity, and the injury to the church
and to religion have come when people have held
their theory or doctrine to be the complete and
only expression of truth in regard to the matter
concerned. Various ''saving truths" are held by
various people, who think that no one can be saved
except by believing these truths in the same way
that they do. But when we consider that it is sin
that we are to be saved from, and goodness that we
are to be saved to, we are compelled to hold that
anything that saves from sin, in any degree, or
helps toward righteousness in any degree is a means
of salvation. And we see that as a matter of fact
many people profess and beHeve that they have
the same faith, but the effect of this common faith
upon their characters is very unequal and dis-
similar in different cases. So we must say that
any belief with regard to Jesus which helps a man
to become better is valuable to that extent, and
any way in which the life and words, death and
resurrection of Jesus help any man toward right-

156 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

eousness is a way by which Jesus saves men from
sin. But this salvation from sin must be held to
mean the same thing as reconciling to God or
making man at one with God, in the most im-
portant sense, if God is such a being as we believe
him to be. We have pointed out the two principal
ways in which the life of Jesus helps men to the
life of love to God and man. If any other ways
can be thought of which are not included in these
two fundamental ones (and their effect upon
society, and the prolongation and multiplication
of their influence through the lives of those who
have been influenced by them), they should be
included in the doctrine of the '' atonement," or
the way in which Jesus brings man into harmony
with God.

In section 54 we showed that we could not con-
sider any belief with regard to Jesus as of any
value apart from its effect upon character. We
need here only to call attention to the fact that
various theories of the atonement have been held
in which Jesus is represented as doing something
through which, or through belief in which, a man
is saved quite apart from the influence of the belief
upon the character, or even without any such influ-
ence. We have shown that such theories are with-
out value. We believe, for this reason, that they
are false, and in many cases we could point out
direct injury which results from such faith. Indeed,

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? 157

we may say that every theory that salvation comes
in any other way than by the reformation of char-
acter, or that God requires a man to beUeve any-
thing which will not affect his character favorably,
is an immoral theory, misrepresenting God and
misleading men.

Space will not permit us here to go adequately
into the various theories which have been and are
still held of the way in which Jesus reconciles us
to God, or even of the meaning of New Testament
passages bearing on the subject. But there is
no doubt that later theories have been mistakenly
read back into the New Testament. If the student
will carefully consider what has been said in pre-
ceding sections about the ways in which Jesus by
his life and death helps us to come to God for salva-
tion and forgiveness, he will be able to interpret
almost all, if not all, the New Testament passages
in the light of these facts, and much more correctly
than is done in many of the traditional interpreta-
tions. He will see that Jesus did suffer *' vicari-
ously" for our sins — that is, on account of his
suffering we are enabled to escape consequences
of our sins and sinfulness which we could not
otherwise escape. He does reconcile us to God
(not God to us — that is never suggested in the
Bible), and his life is in a very true sense a ransom
for ours. His blood cleanses us from sin. God
is pleased with his perfect sacrifice, and imputes

158 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

to those who come to him in faith that he loves
and forgives as Jesus did, and who earnestly
desire to become like Jesus, the righteousness of
Jesus. Careful thought will show how all of these
expressions are justified and find their highest
interpretation in those influences which we have
seen to come from the life and death of Christ, and
will bring great relief to those who have found at
the same time help and comfort, and difficulty and
perplexity in the traditional theories, which grew
up after the atmosphere and many of the ideas
which belonged to New Testament times were
gone, and no longer understood.

As has already been pointed out, we must not
say that Jesus is the only ''way of salvation" or
that no man can be saved except by some particu-
lar faith in, or relation to, him, if we use those
words as they would ordinarily be understood. By
holding such a doctrine we are in danger of making
Jesus a hindrance to salvation instead of the
mediator of salvation. He must not come between
God and us so as to separate us from him. It is
only when he brings us to God that he becomes in
any literal sense our Savior, and it is God who
finally saves us, by whatever means. If the words
''No man cometh to the Father but by me" are
rightly attributed to Jesus, we must interpret them,
as we do his other words, in the light of his general
teaching and his life, and hold that he meant that

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS ? I59

the principles which he taught and according to
which he Hved were the only ones by which a man
might come into harmony with God, and these
principles were summed up in the one of loving,
self-giving service to men. With this interpreta-
tion of his words we might hold that a man who
had never heard of Jesus might still come to the
Father '*by him" if he lived the life of love to men;
but we must recognize that this is a figurative and
not a literal use of the expression. These words
are, however, probably better understood as em-
bodying the doctrine of the author that Jesus is
the ''Logos," the ''Word," manifest in the flesh,
but the same "Word" which "lighteth every man
that cometh into the world." So understood,
these words would mean, "No man cometh unto
the Father except by accepting the revelation
which, given to every man in some degree, was
peculiarly manifested in Jesus," and their truth
would be evident.

CHAPTER VII

WHAT SHALL WE BELIEVE ABOUT THE LAST
THINGS AND THE FUTURE LIFE?

''He is not the God of the dead, but of the Hving." —
Mark 12:27a.

63. The teachings of the Bible with regard to
future events are valuable as the expression of
the gradually developing faith of the people among
whom and by whom its books were written, but not
as giving us accurate information or final doctrine
with regard to them. — This position should be dear
from the discussion of the Bible and its uses and
claims in chapters ii and iii, but it may be well to
consider the particular application of the principles
explained there to the subject now to be considered.
Bible scholars are practically unanimous in recog-
nizing progress in the attainment of religious faith,
expressed in the books of the Bible. It is agreed
that the early Hebrews had no such faith with
regard to the future life as was later developed,
that they thought of God's relations with men as
practically confined to the earthly life, and that
all men, good and bad, went at death to ''Sheol,"
a place of shadowy and undesirable existence, of
which little definite was known or thought. This
word ''Sheol" and the Greek word ''Hades" which
160

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE i6i

corresponds to it, have both been translated
''hell" in our ''authorized version" and been taken
to mean a place of eternal torment, prepared for
devils and wicked men. It is clear that this was
an incorrect rendering of these terms.

At the time of Jesus' life, a doctrine of resurrec-
tion and immortality was known among the Jews,
which forms the atmosphere of the thought on
these subjects in the New Testament. The resur-
rection for which the Pharisees hoped, however,
was one confined to good Jews, and it was to be
an earthly one, to occur at the time when the
Messiah would appear and establish his kingdom,
and for the purpose of enabling the faithful of
past ages to participate in the glory of the Messiah's
reign.

The Book of Revelation, which in its closing
chapters gives some beautiful pictures of the glories
of the future kingdom of God, does not profess
to give a description of a heaven above the earth
to which good people are to go at death or after
the judgment, as it has generally been understood,
but to describe the supernatural city of Jerusalem,
which is to come down from heaven, and take the
place of the earthly city of that name. In order
to understand this book and the thought presented
in it, much of which was familiar to the Jews at
the time of Jesus and to Jesus himself, we need to
know that this book and the Book of Daniel are

1 62 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

only two of a considerable number of apocalypses
known at this time, and similar in thought and style.
The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, the Secrets of Enoch,
the Assumption of Moses, the Ascension of Isaiah,
the Apocalypse of Ezra, and the Apocalypse of
Baruch are some of these other ''Revelations" full
of curious imagery and visions of the future. They
constituted the literary expression of the confidence
of that time that God's judgment on the wicked
and deliverance of his people from all their troubles
were certain.

In view of the nature of these books and of
their influence on the New Testament writers and
thinkers and the people of Jesus' time, in view of
the general attitude which we have seen must be
taken toward the Bible, and finally in view of the
fact that the humanity of Jesus limited his knowl-
edge of the future as that of other men, and the
beliefs of the people whom he was teaching were
necessarily assumed in the form of his teaching
except where he found it necessary to correct them,
we must say that we can expect no definite and
detailed information in the New Testament,
even in the words attributed to Jesus, of the events
and conditions of the future, and must put all
expressions bearing on this subject to the test
which we have found necessary as the test of all
rehgious faith. The teachings of Jesus about the
future must have an especial value for us as com-

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE 163

ing from the one who uniquely manifested God's
character on earth, who had the strongest faith
in God and the most vivid perception of the natural
results of sin, and the things to be expected from a
loving and righteous heavenly Father. That the
words of Jesus on this subject, and still more, the
record of those words, given us from memory, and
written probably several years at least after they
were spoken, should bear the form and color of the
ideas current at the time would be inevitable.
So far as the teaching of Jesus differed from the
faith common among the people where he was, we
must hold that it was derived from, and based on,
the firm conviction of the love and power of the
heavenly Father, and thus it will have great value
for us, whose faith must be derived and based in
the same way.

64. We should believe that the personal
existence of those who have been striving for
righteousness in the earthly life will be continued
after the death of the body and forever afterward. —
We know that the visible, tangible human body
disintegrates after death, and its dust is often
scattered to the winds or waters, or taken up into
the Hfe of vegetation. It is of no value to believe
that the particular atoms of matter which compose
the body at the moment when it dies shall be
gathered together, restored to their former shape,
and revitalized at some future time. But it is

1 64 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

of great value to believe that in some form we
shall continue to exist, to think and love, remember
and act, to be able to recognize friends, to enjoy
beautiful things. And we have no sufficient
reason for denying that this will be the case for
those who have come into harmony with the Power
that governs the universe — who have been yielding
themselves to the control of the Spirit of God.
So far as experience goes, the evidence is at best
negative. We have not yet sufficient evidence to
say that we know that human life continues
after the death of the body, although the psychic
phenomena which point to such a continued
existence are many and are being carefully investi-
gated by some of the great scientists. It is con-
ceivable that within a century or less we may have
conclusive evidence that the soul or spiritual
nature of man continues to exist after the body's
decay. At any rate, no one can bring evidence
to the contrary. The strongest reason for doubting
this, so far as science is concerned, is the very close
relation which we know to exist between our
mental nature, thoughts, feelings, etc., and our
physical constitution, brain, and nervous system.
But, as Professor James has suggested, it may well
be that the nervous system is more like a great
window of colored glass which lets only a part of
the outer light into the temple, than like the lamp
which is the source of the light which illumines it,

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE 165

and that when our minds shall be freed from the
limitations of the nervous system, they will be
far more active and powerful than they are now,
instead of being destroyed. In any case, there is
such an utter difference between thought and
brain, between emotion and nerve-currents, that
we cannot hold the destruction of the sensorium to
prove the annihilation of the personality.

Everyone will easily recognize the fact that it
would be a great encouragement to one who was
sacrificing opportunities of pleasure, putting forth
great effort, and perhaps wearing out or even
destroying (as in martyrdom) the body, for the
sake of the development of the highest character,
and the showing of the truest faith in God and
love for man, to believe that all that had been
attained in this struggle would be preserved; that,
instead of the human organism which decayed,
a still better vehicle for the impression and expres-
sion of the character would be supplied. It is
certain, then, that the faith in immortality for
those who were good, or becoming good, would
have a good effect upon character.

This faith, however, is indissolubly connected
with our faith in God. If, as we believe, mankind
has been created by a Being with the character
which Jesus showed, and with this fundamental
purpose in view, that beings might be developed
who should freely love God and each other, and

1 66 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

gain characters like that of God, then it is incon-
ceivable that God would permit those who have
been gaining such characters by the help of his
Spirit to die utterly. It is inconceivable that such
a God should have permitted Jesus to live and die
as he did, if his death was the end of his existence;
and also that if Jesus continues to live, those whom
he loves, and who love him on earth, shall fail of
opportunity to live on and become more like him,
after the brief course of earthly life is completed.
The fundamental argument of Jesus for the truth
of the resurrection was the power of God — ''God is
not the God of the dead, but of the living" — that
is, those whom he loves, and who love him cannot
die. Even Socrates, more than four hundred
years before Christ, said, "The gods cannot neglect
the affairs of the righteous man," and expected
immediately after his death to be with the happy
spirits. Kant showed that we require belief in
immortality in order to justify us in obeying our
consciences. The value of this belief, then, must
be admitted by all who find any value in life at all.
65. We should believe that if there be any
person who becomes utterly bad, or so hopelessly
bad that there is no possibility of his repenting and
becoming righteous, his life will cease at the death
of the body, or at some time afterward, when the
evil nature of his character is consummated. —
There are, in our experience, some reasons for

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE 167

thinking that some people refuse the good and
choose the evil so often that their characters
become in time quite insensitive to every higher
motive and divine influence, that they destroy
entirely their ability to distinguish between right
and wrong— the "sin against the Holy Spirit"
or ''unpardonable sin" against which Jesus so
solemnly warned those who attributed his works
of love to the spirit of evil. But we know so
little of the power of God, and of the conditions
of the future life, that we cannot say positively
that there is any human being whom God's love
will ultimately fail to reach and win. We may
hope that he will accompHsh this purpose of salva-
tion in the case of everyone, but we cannot be
sure. From the loving, righteous character of
God, however, we may be very confident that he
will take no pleasure in the suffering of anyone
whom he has created, nor allow anyone to suffer
except in so far as the suffering aids in the accom-
plishment of his purpose of salvation. We can-
not conceive that it would be of any value to other
men to have the absolutely bad tormented forever
and ever, or even continue to exist at all, nor
can we imagine that this would be of any value
to God. On the other hand, we must hold that
such eternal torment is absolutely contrary to
the nature of a God who is loving, as well as just
and righteous.

1 68 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

It is a still more cruel and degrading conception
of God to hold that he will torture people forever
and ever because they fail to believe certain
doctrines of which they may or may not have
heard, but which, in any case, were not presented
to them in such a way as to make their acceptance
either absolutely unavoidable, or else a final test
of character, so that none could reject them except
those who rejected everything good. In the past,
when the conception of God centered in the thought
of his majesty and might, and when there was no
question about his revelation of himself and his
will, and it was thought that the least sin, because
it was against an infinite God, constituted an
infinite insult to, or crime against, the majesty of
God, which deserved an infinite punishment, it
was possible for good people to believe in the
eternal torment of both wicked and ''unbelievers."
But for those who accept the teachings of Jesus
about God as the loving, heavenly Father of all
men, it becomes a very serious contradiction in
faith to believe such a doctrine, and all such would
abandon it if they did not think that the teaching
of the Bible required them to believe it. It seems
to us that the Bible teaching on the subject is
capable of a very different interpretation, and,
in any case, we must rather believe that God is
the greatest and the best possible Being, and
will act consistently with his character, than to

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE 169

accept any contrary interpretation of Scripture
about him.

66. We should beUeve that the life after death
is somewhat similar to our earthly life, and that it
commences at the point of development reached at
death and makes progress from that point on. —
The reasons which we have found for believing
in the continuance of life after death require that
this life should be somewhat similar to the earthly
life. If righteous character is of value, we must
suppose the character to continue. But this
means that the reason and memory must continue,
at least, and that there must be some experiences
in the future life for which the present experiences
form a preparation. The article of the Creed
which maintains faith in "the resurrection of the
body" signifies not so much the idea that the
future life shall find expression in bodies formed
of the same atoms as those which composed it at
the time of death, as that we are to have a life
just as real and full, at least, as the one which we
know now, and to which the body with all its
organs and senses is so necessary. So we should
believe that we shall have powers of perception not
less varied and valuable than the present senses
of the body, and we cannot imagine such except
in some real physical form, not altogether dis-
similar to our present bodies. Paul's teaching
about the future life was that it was to be in bodily

lyo CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

form, but in bodies different from, and superior
to, those we know here. Our faith in God would
require us to believe that the future life is in no
way inferior to our present life, but rather in
various ways superior. Of course we cannot
describe those ways, since we have no experience
of them.

As character, in our experience, is always
developed by gradual stages, we have no right or
reason to think that when the body decays we
shall suddenly become perfect in character, or
make any tremendous leap forward all at once.
We may well think that in the future life some of
the temptations of the present will be wanting,
and that there will be, perhaps, a segregation, at
least of those who are worst in character, so
that conditions for becoming good will be more
favorable in some respects. But it certainly is
not the best form of life of which we can think,
that there should be no further test of or
development of character in the ages which
we hope to live after this brief life is over.
And so we cannot think that we either cease
to grow, or attain completeness, at the hour of
death. There is no reason why we should not
expect to grow in knowledge and skill as well
as character in the future life, as we do here,
and to continue from the stage where we here
leave off.

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE 171

67. We should believe in both a heavenly state
and place for those who love God and man, follow-
ing this earthly life, but should not attempt to
determine either the conditions or the location of
this life definitely. — The earlier pictures of heaven
were of a place of delight to the senses, where
everything was beautiful, golden, crystal, and
where everything which could please the senses
abounded — splendor, music, fruits of all kinds, etc.
And in the days before the revolution of the earth
on its axis, and the form and conditions of the
stars and planets, were understood, it was thought
that this beautiful heaven was to be found some-
where in the sky above us, among or beyond the
stars. Knowledge of astronomy, leading to the
conclusion that the ''sky above us" is really the
space about the earth in every direction, compelled
the abandonment of the idea that we could tell
definitely just where ''heaven" is. It is never-
theless true that the only existence of which we
know or which we can imagine is existence in
space, and in some particular part of space. If,
then, we believe that good people continue to Hve
and to associate with one another, we must think
of this as taking place in some particular location
or locations, but whether this shall be on earth or in
the air, or on some planet or star, we have no rea-
son for guessing. It may be that we shall be free
to roam through the uttermost regions of the uni-

172 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

verse, but even then we should not want to be quite
homeless and with no place in which to expect to
find our friends. It is helpful, then, to continue to
use the word heaven to indicate the place in which
the good shall meet each other in the future life.

But it has also become apparent, from our
experience, that no outward surroundings can fully
determine our mental conditions, either of happi-
ness or of misery ; and so it is evident that the most
important meaning of the term heaven is that of a
happy condition of spirit, w^ith the opportunities for
enjoying friendship and expressing love continued
and improved. Our own characters, then, and
those of the people with whom we associate, will be
the most important conditions of future happiness,
and we may expect the outward surroundings to be
suitable to the inner, and both to be better than we
can imagine here. Browning's lines:

All we have ever hoped or dreamed of good, shall exist,
Not its semblance, but itself,

are the expression of the highest faith in God and
for man.

68. We should believe that God is constantly
judging us according to our character and motives,
but not that there will be any set time, as, for
example, the hour of death, for the judgment of the
individual, or a specific judgment day for the
judgment of all who live and have lived, or of the
nations. — If, as we believe, God knows all about us,

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE 173

our past lives, our thoughts, and our motives, then
he is constantly judging us, and giving us, not so
much what we deserve as what is best for us, in
view of his infinite love and knowledge of our
needs. As people die at all stages of the develop-
ment of character — when it is just beginning as
well as when it seems to have taken permanent
form, to have crystallized or hardened- we cannot
think that a righteous God would make the eternal
condition of happiness or misery dependent on the
stage which a person had reached at death. We
may well say that the whole future life is to some
extent determined by the state which we have
reached at any particular time, as it cannot be
uninfluenced by it, and must always go on from
what has been gained at any time; but as we have
seen that we must believe in development after
death as well as before, there seems to be no
sufficient reason for holding that the moment of
transition from the bodily Hfe to what may lie
beyond should be of such terrible significance.
Apart from the better ideas of God's ways of deal-
ing with men and determining their destinies,
it is contrary to our conception of justice to think
that the events of human life, or perhaps of only
the last few minutes of it, should determine for
any man either an eternity of unblemished bliss
or one of unmitigated suffering and horror. That
faith in God which says that such a judgment is

174 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

inconceivable is far truer than that which beHeves
that it will come because some metaphorical
writings which men have imagined to literally
reveal God's will without error seem to teach such
a thing.

As individuals are constantly being judged
and rewarded or punished according to their deeds,
so, in a true sense, are nations also. The nation
in which principles of selfishness, luxury, vice, and
cruelty prevail is already judged and being punished
by decay of health and character. The nation in
which the principles of altruism, righteousness,
and purity prevail is also judged and is being
rewarded by increase of power and prosperity.
Probably the principal meaning, and certainly the
whole value of the biblical pictures of judgment
scenes consist in this truth that individuals and
nations will all be judged according to their lives,
by the highest principles of action. And the real
meaning of the doctrine that Jesus will be the
judge of the whole earth is that the whole earth is
constantly being judged and approved or con-
demned by the moral principles which Jesus showed
in his life.

It should be noted that when we speak of
national sin, guilt, and punishment we are using
a very convenient figure of speech, which, how-
ever, must not be taken literally, or we shall come
into difficulty and confusion. Only individuals

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE 175

can sin or be guilty or be punished. ''National
sin" is sin which is common or prevailing in a
nation, among the individuals which compose it,
or wrong which is regarded as done by the nation
in its corporate capacity, as by the government
or army. The fact that each individual of a
nation, and especially many innocent individual
members of it, may suffer on account of such
^'national sins" has led to a too literal application
of the terms guilt, punishment, etc., to such com-
mon or prevailing sins. The deeper problems
involved are considered in the general problem
of evil and its meaning. (See section 38.) Here
we are only considering what meaning there is in
the idea of national judgment.

The only imaginable value of a literal fulfilment
of the visions of future judgment scenes would be
to impress the justice or power of God on some
onlooker, since God requires no such circumstances
to determine the guilt or innocence of anyone;
and to think of God as doing his judging and
sentencing in the same way that men do, only
on a larger scale, is to make his judgment an
unspiritual and artificial thing, and to think of
him as being under limitations like those of human
judges and kings. And as there would be no
indifferent onlookers in such a final judgment of
the earth as that imagined, there is no conceivable
value in thinking that such a spiritual vision will

176 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

be literally fulfilled; and on the other hand, it is
contrary both to the laws of space and time under
which we live, and to the ways in which we know
God to deal with men and nations.

69. We should believe that the lives of men,
both as individuals and as masses or society, will
constantly improve under the influence of God's
Spirit working upon and through the lives of men,
on earth, but not that there will be any sudden and
supernatural events which will change the influence
of God upon society from its spiritual form to that
of force. — A careful consideration of God's ways
of making men good and bringing them into
submission to his will, into the fellowship of his
love, will show that they are fundamentally spiritual
or ethical. It is true that God constantly rewards
virtue of certain sorts with physical comfort or
pleasure and punishes sins of certain sorts with
physical pain; but it is to be noted that a person
might abstain from the vices which bring physi-
cal disease and pain and live the life tending to
physical health and pleasure, from motives of pure
selfishness and without developing a good charac-
ter at all. It is the voluntary obedience to the
voice within, irrespective of outward consequences,
the choosing of the higher motives because they
are higher, and not from any other compulsion,
the yielding to the attraction of the righteous and
loving person, not because of some reward or

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE 177

punishment of a physical sort that is expected
or feared, which develops true character. Jesus
refused to convince his hearers of his divine
authority by wonderful deeds, because the only
real ground of his authority was the righteousness
and truth of what he taught and enjoined, and
that authority appealed directly to the reason
and conscience of those who listened to him.
The obedience which follows only upon physical
compulsion of some sort has no element of real
righteousness in it and develops no valuable
character.

These considerations lead us to the conclusion
that the ways in which God has hitherto taught
men and helped them to become good will never
be superseded, as they are the best, and indeed the
only imaginable ways in which the kind of life
which God desires could be developed. We must
therefore conclude that the apocalyptic pictures
of a millennium in which all evil will be forcibly
removed and subdued, and good will reign by
force and not by the free acceptance by men of the
principles of goodness, belong to an age when God's
ways were not clearly understood and, as literal
prophecies of the future, must be abandoned by
those who have received God's fuller revelation.
If, as some Christian people hold, particularly
because they think the Bible teaches it, the world
is growing continually worse, then it is evident

178 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

that the work of Jesus and the Spirit of God is
unsuccessful in the world; that the kingdom of
God is not coming and spreading as yeast in the
meal, or as seed growing in the ground, but is
being more and more defeated; and that the
methods which God has been using to bring the
world to himself are not adapted to the most of
mankind. But this is really to give up our faith
in a Christlike God. For the methods which
Christ used and set in motion for the salvation
of society were moral and spiritual, and if God is
like Jesus we must think that he would certainly
make use of the most effective methods of saving
the world, and would also use the methods which
Jesus used. To hold that the kingdom of God
could be established only by supernatural and non-
ethical, non-moral means is to deny the teaching
of Jesus and the value of his life and work.
To hold that the world is constantly growing
worse, in spite of the influence of the Holy Spirit
and the efforts of the disciples of Christ and the
children of God, is to take a most discouraging
view of the power of God and of Christianity, and
of the value of missionary and general efforts for
the improvement of society in all ways. It tends
to make people regard all efforts for the bettering
of social conditions, and improvement of the gen-
eral standards of morality as useless, and has
kept many people from co-operating in such work.

BELIEF ABOUT THE FUTURE LIFE 179

Besides, this view ignores the plain facts of history.
It is only the most prejudiced who can fail to see
that there has been great progress and improve-
ment in the conditions of mankind, not only
materially, but also morally and spiritually, since
the time of Christ; and although doubtless ''evil
men and seducers" are waxing worse and worse,
yet the masses of men are becoming better and
the possibility of living human life according to
Christian principles is yearly becoming greater
and clearer. There has probably been no decade
since the time of the apostles when Christians
have not seen the signs of the ''last days" in the
events about them, "wars and rumors of wars,"
calamities, and impostors of all sorts, and what was
taken for apostasy and the teaching of the "anti-
Christ." But the looked-for supernatural events
of the return of Jesus literally in the clouds and
glory, and the establishment of his reign on earth
in outward visible form, have not yet come. The
failure of the prophecies of those who thought it
of more importance to calculate from the obscure
language of Daniel and Revelation, as to just
when these supernatural events should come, and
to prepare their "ascension robes," rather than to
help make the Spirit of God, the spirit of loving
service, regnant in all the affairs of human life, has
shown how they have misunderstood the gospel
and its fundamental principles.

i8o CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

We need not concern ourselves with the final
end of human life upon the earth. Probably life
on the earth will at some time come to an end,
although that may well be millions of years hence,
but when it comes, it will doubtless come in the way
that God sees best, and probably in a "natural"
way, as God probably does everything in natural
ways, if we could only fully understand them.
But however it may be, it will at worst be but a
changing from the earthly life to the later form of
hfe in a sudden way, earlier for some people than
would perhaps naturally be expected; and it would
be nothing more to be feared than the famihar
forms of death which surround us. If God re-
vealed his very nature in Christ, then the one who
has the Christian faith has nothing to fear but
everything to hope for, in the future. The Chris-
tian faith is the purest and most concrete form of
optimism.

CHAPTER VIII

HOW SHALL WE CULTIVATE AND EXPRESS THE
BEST FAITH?

"How then shall they call on him in whom they have
not believed ? and how shall they believe in him whom they
have not heard? and how shall they hear without a
preacher ? and how shall they preach except they be sent ?'*
— Rom. 10:14, 15a.

70. As the primary test of the best faith is the
kind of character or life which it will produce, so the
absolutely essential expression of the best faith is
the life of loving service to men. — There are two
dangers with regard to religious faith. The first is
that a man may profess to believe something and
even fancy he does believe it, when it really is little
more than a form of words to him, and if you should
make a plain application of his professed faith to
his life, at some sensitive point, he would, if honest,
acknowledge that he did not believe what he had
thought he did. But the other danger, which is
probably the more common one, is that a man
should honestly believe some religious principle
but have it so seldom in his mind and think so
little about it that his life would show few or no
results from it, or, in other words, that he should
hold his faith only part of the time instead of all
the time.

i82 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

So far as our actions are voluntary, they are
determined by the thoughts and emotions that are
in our minds when we act. A man strikes his wife
because he is angry with her. He may at other
times love his wife — at such times he could not
strike her. At one time the only thought in his
mind is of something displeasing to him about his
wife's words or actions. Then he is angry and
strikes. If at that moment his mind had been
filled with thoughts of all the good things his wife
had done, it would have been quite impossible for
him to strike her. Thus one's action is determined
by the thought or the faith that he has at the time
of action.

As the idea has been so prevalent that when we
have the right religious faith we are in some way
safe, have some great advantage from it, we need to
keep continually reminding ourselves that our faith
is worth nothing except as it affects our life, and
thus to be continually testing our faith by its
fruits in life.

As we have seen, the only life that would
naturally spring or could possibly flow from the
best faith is that which has for its determining
motive love for God and men. But the love for
men is the easier to test, and is even more essential
than love for God as an evidence of a right devel-
opment of character. For a man may honestly
doubt whether there be a Christlike God, and

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 183

therefore be unable truly to say he loves God, but
no one who has learned to think rightly can doubt
his duty to love and serve his fellow-men. If God
be what Christians believe him to be, it would be
impossible for a man to love him without loving his
fellows, since love to men is the will and command
of God, and the nature which would love God truly
must be one which would love man truly. So
we may be sure that one who does not love his
fellows does not truly love God. But the con-
verse is not true. One may love his fellow-men
while, for a time, unable to beheve in God. How-
ever, in this case the man has the character
which would love God, and will, as soon as,
through intellectual enlightenment, behef in God
becomes possible. The life of love to men is
therefore the necessary and only positive evidence
of a saving faith.

71. As the central principle of the best faith is
belief in a Christlike God, its most direct expression
will be in the form of personal communion or
prayer.— In comparing this thesis with the last one,
we note that the central principle is a different
thing from the ''primary test," and that the most
direct expression is not the same as its ''absolutely
essential expression." If Jesus were with us today,
and we really loved him, the most natural and
direct expression of that love would be in our
entering into personal touch and fellowship with

i84 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

him, if that were possible. And if we realized our
need of health of soul or of body for ourselves or for
our friends, and believed that he could give what
was needed, it would be most natural that we should
go to him and ask him for what we wanted. If,
then, we really beHeve that God is in character like
Jesus, and that we can speak to him, and have a
real fellowship with him, even though he does not
answer us in just the way other personal beings —
those with bodies and mouths — do, and that he
can give us and our friends the things which we
need, it is most natural that we should seek for
such fellowship and bring to him our requests.
If we fail to do this, it must be because we doubt
either the possibility or the value of such fellowship
or favor.

The principal value of prayer is to be found in
the fellowship with God which it promotes, and
which can be promoted in no other way so well.
We shall consider in succeeding sections the subject
of requests made in prayer, and reasons for expect-
ing them to be granted. But since God loves us
and knows our needs and desires without our
expressing them to him in definite form, we shall
not find the bringing of requests to God for the
sake of getting favors, which we could not expect
otherwise, the most important element in prayer.
Many of the blessings thus asked for and granted
would come to us if we did not ask for them, but

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 185

in that case they would not promote in us the
feeling of personal relationship between God and us
which is of the highest value for the development of
our faith and religious life. This sense of fellow-
ship is to be promoted by the expression of adora-
tion, praise, thanksgiving, and the confession of sin,
as well as the asking for blessings which we need;
and particularly the greatest and most important
ones, which we are surest that it is in accordance
with God's will to grant — namely, those that con-
cern the spiritual life most directly. And the
answers to such prayers are to be found, not, for
the most part, in mystical experiences or unusual or
supernatural events, but in those familiar experi-
ences which we have learned to know as the only
sure tokens of God's deaHngs with us — namely, the
arising of good thoughts, the development of high
motives, the increasing of our love for all that is
good, and the strengthening of our faith in God.
These experiences seem to us so common and
so natural that we often fail to recognize them
as messages and blessings from God of the great-
est value. Their value for us would be much
greater if we did receive them as answers to our
prayers, and as that reciprocation on God's part
of our expressions of love to, and fellowship
with, him.

It should be carefully noted that nothing else
can take the place of prayer in thus promoting the

1 86 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

sense of personal relationship with God. It is very
true, from one point of view, that —

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,

Uttered or unexpressed,

since God knows our desires and will grant them if
they are for things which are really good for us,
whether we formulate them in definite prayer or
not. But if I fail to spend some time in definite,
expressed prayer, and consider the having of good
thoughts and desires sufficient, I shall certainly not
strengthen but rather weaken my faith in God as a
personal friend, whose fellowship I desire to cul-
tivate as the greatest joy and privilege; and thus
my reHgion is likely to decay and not to grow, for
life and growth depend upon exercise and expression
and will certainly cease without it.

72. Since prayer to God presupposes true faith
in God, including the belief that God wills every-
thing that is best for men, everyone who prays
should believe that his prayers are heard and
answered in the highest and best way possible. —
Strength of faith is often considered to be the chief
requisite to prevailing prayer, but it is likely that
truth of faith is at least as important. That is, in
order to pray effectually and helpfully, we must
realize the character of God to whom we pray, and
our prayers must be suited to such a Person as the
one to whom they are directed. Now, as we have
seen, we should believe that God's action in the

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 187

universe is fundamentally determined by his loving
character, and his action in relation to men must be
thought of as completely determined by his desire
for their highest good. Further, we must believe
that God knows just what is for the highest good
of men as no man can know it either for himself or
for others. Hence we must believe, constantly,
that all the events in the world for which God is
responsible are the best that could possibly happen
to men in view of all the conditions and circum-
stances. When we pray, therefore, we must always
pray "Thy will be done," and desire, above all and
including all, that God's will for men should be
accomplished. Our particular requests, therefore,
must always have this provision expressed or
understood: *'If it be best," or " If it be according
to Thy will." And then, since God is sure to do
what is best, in so far as that is possible, we must
regard the things which actually happen (in so
far as they are God's action) as the best that
could happen, and believe that our prayers are
answered and our requests in their real inten-
tion granted. Thus we, if we have the right faith
in God, should never speak of unanswered prayers.
All of our prayers are answered, and our requests
are granted if they are best and possible; and
if they are not best, we would not want them;
if they are not possible, we cannot expect them
to be granted.

i88 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

73. We should understand that God's power is
limited in certain ways and should not ask God to
do what we have good reason to believe he could

not do.— Although we speak of God as almighty,
that attribute is not to be taken to mean that he
can do everything which can be imagined. It
means rather that God can do whatever can be done
which is in accordance with his character and will.
We must therefore recognize some limitations
which belong even to God's action, and recognize,
too, that there may be others of which we do not
know.

God is limited by reality or fact — he cannot
make that which has happened not to have
happened. He may have many ways which we
cannot imagine of changing the expected course of
events, so that our prayers with regard to the future
might be granted, even though the forces which we
know to be in operation would (without the modify-
ing effect of some other force, which perhaps does
not come into operation until we pray) bring about
a contrary result. But we have no right to ask
him to do anything which would clearly involve
the contradiction or reversal of what has actually
occurred. He cannot change the fact that it has
occurred.

God is also limited by his nature and will. He
has instituted certain methods of creation and
support of the universe as the best if not the only

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 189

possible ones. His methods are always consistent
or uniform, not with the mechanical uniformity of
a machine— at least not in all the departments of
his activity — but with the consistency of the
highest knowledge, wisdom, and justice, in which
there can be no arbitrary action, but only that
which follows from his loving and righteous char-
acter. We have come, in the last century, to see
that God's ways in Nature are uniform; that he
does nothing by magic, but all by what we call
natural forces or means; that there is no such thing
as a suspension of or interference with the forces of
Nature, but that God always accomplishes his will
in the physical universe by means of, and not in
spite of, ''natural forces." If he moves a ship, it is
either by wind or tide or engine. If he makes or
keeps a man alive, it is always by means of the
beating of the heart, the circulation of the blood,
the breathing of the lungs, and never without
them.

In the realm of the spirit he also works in uni-
form ways. We have a much less complete under-
standing of the laws of the mind and spirit than of
the ways of matter, but we can trace their working
to some extent. God brings people to repentance
and makes them good through thoughts which
come to them from words that are spoken or read
or experiences which happen in the daily life.
Doubtless there are other and less explicable ways

I go CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

in which he works upon the spirit, but we skould
not think that they are more divine because we
cannot understand them. We should rather seek
to understand them as fully as possible in order
that we may come into the fullest harmony
with them.

One of the ways in which God is limited, which
concerns us most directly, is by the freedom which
he has given to man to choose good or evil. We
have considered the reasons for this freedom and its
value for man. We cannot expect that God will
violate this freedom in answer to our requests —
that he will make us or others what we and they do
not choose to be made. He may, in answer to
prayer, bring certain special influences to bear to
make a higher choice easier or more evidently
better, but not in such a way as to take away the
power to make or refuse it. Probably if we under-
stood the reason for all the limitations of God's
power, we should see that even these limitations
were for our best good, and thus in accordance
with the fundamental desire that the best — that is,
God's will — should be done. But we shall pray
better as we pray more intelligently, and it is well
for us to understand, so far as possible, the ways in
which God accomplishes his will, and to make our
requests in harmony with these ways. Thus will
our requests be more frequently and clearly granted
and our faith thereby strengthened.

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 191

74. We should believe that prayer to God has a
value for us and for the world which could not be
gained in any other way, and should not hesitate
to ask God to do anything which we believe may
be according to his will. — If, as we have seen, God
is ready to do everything that is for the highest
welfare of men, whether we pray to him or not, and
knows the needs of men without our telling him,
the question naturally occurs: Why should we
then ask anything of God ? What difference can
it make whether we ask or not? We offer two
answers to this question. In the first place, we
may believe, although we cannot, perhaps, be sure,
that a prayer which is the expression of an earnest
desire may be a real force which is in this way
placed at God's disposal, to accomplish the thing
asked for. As we know that there are many things
which God does only through men — through the
influence of human personality — we may say that,
since that is the best way, therefore it is the only
way in which God could accomplish certain things,
since he must do them in the way he knows to be
best. Of course if the result of our prayer is to
make us willing and ready to go and do the thing
we have prayed might be done, our prayer has
enabled God to answer it as he might not otherwise
have been able. But we are only beginning to find
out the laws of thought, and it is possible that an
earnest prayer, even when it makes no difference

192 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

in what we are able to do toward its fulfilment, may
yet be a force which will affect other minds far
away, in ways that we do not yet understand, and
perhaps may never understand — a force thus
placed at God's disposal and which he is able to use
to accomplish his will as he uses the forces of
Nature.

But another difference which prayer makes in
the situation, which we may all be sure about, is
that it may change those who pray, and thus make
it possible for God to give to them what, without
their prayer, would not be good for them, and to do
through them what, without the preparation of
spirit which results from earnest desire and faithful
communion with God, he could not do. It must
thus be clear to every thoughtful person that
earnest prayer for spiritual blessings must at least
result in blessing to the one who prays, and make
him more able to help others. The effect of
prayer, then, is not to change God, but to change
the one who prays so that God can do for him and
through him what otherwise would not be done.

We must say a word in answer to the question,
''Is it possible to think that a God whose power is
shown in and through Nature, and never in opposi-
tion to, or interference with, it, and whose action
always follows regular principles or laws, can
nevertheless in some way manipulate the forces of
Nature and of mind so as to accomplish results in

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 193

a personal rather than a mechanical way, and do
things in answer to requests, which are not merely
the psychological effect of the prayer upon the one
who prays, and which yet would not have occurred
without the prayer ?" Our answer will be twofold.
First, we certainly cannot give a positive No to
the question about God's real, personal use of
physical nature to accompHsh special purposes.
We may not be able to understand how he could do
so, and yet there are so many events in physical
nature which have actually occurred after special
prayer, and which seemed most improbable, when
the prayer was offered, that it would be difficult
and unscientific to maintain positively that they
were all mere coincidences. And further, the realm
of mind is so different from that of matter that it
seems still more probable that God's thought may
act directly on the minds of men, and thus prompt
them to do things which they otherwise would not
do. We should notice, on reflection, that a very
large proportion of our prayers for things which
were not primarily "spiritual benefits" might be
answered if our prayers should result in thoughts
being put into the minds of those who otherwise
would not have them.

Our second answer to this question is that prayer
would be eminently worth while, even were its
results no other than those which we are sure do,
and must, naturally follow it, for they are results

194 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

of the highest importance and could probably be
reached in no other way.

Finally, as a volume could not say all that
might well be said on this subject, we must con-
clude this discussion with the principle that the
natural expression of faith in a heavenly Father
is prayer, and we should not let our ignorance as
to how he might be able to grant requests hinder
us from making them, unless we are quite sure
that from their nature they are requests which
he cannot grant. The greatest blessings which we
can desire from God are those which strengthen
and purify the character, and these are the ones
which we are sure would be according to his will,
and for which we have the clearest evidence that
they are given in answer to prayer.

75. We should acquire and strengthen the
thoughts and feelings belonging to the best faith
by the constant use of the Bible and of such other
literature as is most helpful to this end. — We need
not here repeat what has been said about the value
and use of the Bible in chapters ii and iii. But we
need to call attention to the fact already noticed,
that, in order to make religious faith effective in life,
we must be constantly thinking of the different
elements of our faith and how they would apply to
the various problems of our life. For this purpose
experience shows us that no other book compares
with the Bible in value, for a large part of it is

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 19S

concerned with relating how the highest faith has
determined life under various circumstances and
thus it will suggest to the man with an open mind
and sensitive heart how he should apply his faith
to the ever-changing circumstances of his life.

We have no right, however, to confine our time
to the Bible when there are other books which meet
needs not completely met in the Bible. The most
direct message from God to the people of any time
is that which comes in the language of that time
and is appHed specifically to the conditions of that
time, and we must hear God's voice just as clearly
in the messages of the prophets of today as in those
of past centuries.

76. We should regularly unite in public worship
with some part of the organized church, thus
recognizing and expressing the social nature of our
faith and receiving the advantages made possible
by the common worship of those who have a
common faith. — True religion involves recognition
of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all
men. It is therefore very important that this
principle of brotherhood should be recognized most
clearly in our worship, in which we express our
highest thoughts and feelings about God and to
God. We must take every means of uniting the
law of love to God with that of love to men in order
to have a complete religion. The expression of our
faith in, and love for, God and men should thus be

196 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

made in company with others who have the same
faith and love, that each may be encouraged and
inspired by the sympathy and co-operation of the
rest, and that the unity of Christians which is
beheved in may thus be visibly set forth. Where
''two or three" are met together in the name of
Jesus, his spirit is present with them. It is just as
truly present where one alone worships God, but
the presence of another with the same purpose and
faith makes the feeling of his presence stronger.
Where it is a struggle to hold a faith or stand for a
principle, everyone who stands with me helps to
confirm my faith and make my struggle for
righteousness more effectual. We must therefore
regard the ''assembling of themselves together" of
those who have a common faith and purpose, for
common worship, of very great importance from
this standpoint alone, even if there were no other
advantage: that thus they show themselves in
sympathy with each other and are united in their
outward expression of the thoughts and feelings
which make them one in spirit. In the church,
then, it should be true that ''the rich and the poor
meet together"; that all classes unite themselves
in sympathetic voicing of their belief in, and
thanksgiving to, the God who is no respecter of
persons.

Besides the great value of the public recognition
of social fellowship with others, the actual forms

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 197

and instruments of public worship have great value
in promoting feelings of adoration and love to God
and sympathy with men. The sound of many
voices united in reading the words of Scripture
or offering prayer or singing praise, with what
assistance may be added by choir and organ, should
do much toward arousing our deepest and best
emotions, and affect us in ways in which we cannot
be affected by our private or family worship.
These latter are of the highest importance, but they
do not give us all we need. Those who have
charge of pubHc worship should do everything
possible to make it inspiring and uplifting, and
those who come to enjoy it should also take their
share in it, so that the value which should belong
to it shall really be gained. We should abandon
the idea of coming to church just for the sake
of something new or entertaining in either ser-
mon or music. The primary function of church
"services" is the common expression of worship,
and this should be at least one of the govern-
ing motives for our regular attendance on them.
It would be very easy for any intelligent man to
find sermons which he might read at home, which
will be better than the average to be heard at
church; and in many homes, as well as in other
places outside the church, music of a greater
artistic value may be heard and rendered than
will be found in most churches. But none of

igS CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

these things can take the place of sincere public
worship.

We have spoken of the ''organized" church.
This does not refer to any particular form of
organization. It should be apparent, however,
that, in order to have regular and helpful gather-
ings for public worship, some form of organization
must and will inevitably arise, and the practical
question is only how we may find the most helpful
form for such organization. All attempts to avoid
"sectarianism" and ''formalism" by withdrawing
from the organizations of believers already in
existence result in the arising of new sects and new
forms. We have no acquaintance with any life
without organs — some real form of organization, by
whatever name it may be called— and religious life
is no exception to this rule. Without some form of
organization, however loose, no men will do any-
thing together or work in harmony. The problem
is, as we have said, to find the form of organization
which will best suit the purpose in view, and then
to have such life within the forms of organization
as will make each organ do its part in the best way.

77. We should receive for ourselves and help to
give to everyone else the best possible instruction
in the principles of the best religious faith, through
the organized church. — It is possible that the time
may come again, as it has been in the past, when
there shall be such a general agreement as to the

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 199

principles of the best religious faith, the highest
form of religion, in given communities, that
instruction in the fundamental teachings of religion
may be given by competent teachers in the common
schools, where the so-called secular branches of
knowledge are taught. That time is probably to be
desired, but by no means to be forced, and when it
comes, the teachers of religious truth must not be
limited to the expression of any exactly formulated
views, but must be as free to teach what they
beHeve to be the truth as teachers in other depart-
ments are to teach what they believe to be true.
Doubtless textbooks and "authorities" will be
used, but as guides and assistants rather than
ultimate canons which are not to be questioned in
any way.

But until in any given community there shall be
practical unanimity of opinion in regard to the
general principles of religion and the wisdom of
such teaching of all pupils together, the organized
church must bear the responsibiHty for specifically
religious instruction. The foregoing pages, we
hope, have made clear the importance of having the
right ideas with regard to God and his relations to
man, and it should be evident that people will not
come to these ideas spontaneously and without
study and instruction. The highest rehgious
truths which we know have come to us as the
result of thousands of years of progressive revela-

200 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

tion by God, and study, meditation, discussion,
and experiment on man's part; and it is just as
important that the valuable results of past ages of
toil in the realm of religious thought should be
preserved and handed down to the future genera-
tions, as that the knowledge of any other sciences
should be thus preserved and transmitted.

It is of the first importance, then, that the
different organized churches should each take its
share in solving the tremendous problem of giving
to each child proper instruction in the highest
subjects, reHgion and morals, while the state
arranges for instruction in the less important
branches in which there is little difference of
opinion about what should be taught.

The sermon in the church should have con-
stantly something of the element of instruction in
it, although its principal function is inspiration, the
confirming of faith, and the assisting of worship.
The Sunday school is at present the best instrument
of instruction which the church has, although it is
yet exceedingly inadequate for its task and needs to
be improved and supplemented. But the reaKza-
tion of the responsibiUty and necessity of this work
must be more general and deep before it will be
properly done. Let all Christians unite to see that
this duty of instruction is fulfilled in the future as it
never has been in the past, as a work of the highest
social and religious importance.

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH ? 201

78. We should take our share in the work of the
church to promote the strongest love in all men for
one another and to encourage all true forms of
social service. — The doctrine of the brotherhood
of all men has spread from the Christian church
into various organizations and groups of society
not directly connected with the church. This is a
hopeful sign of the times and yet its value may be
overestimated. It should be recognized that the
idea of universal brotherhood has no great depth
or significance to it until it has become a funda-
mental principle of life, or in other words a matter
of religious faith. It must be related to the "world-
view" and applied so as to determine the aims,
activities, and relations of life. When the brother-
hood of man is given such a place in life it must
be one of the two fundamental principles of the best
faith, and with the other principle of belief in the
fatherhood of God must yield, when it is thoroughly
applied to all the conditions of life, an ideal state of
society, the ''kingdom of God."

Neither in history nor in theory can be found
a higher and better way of making the thought of
the brotherhood of man a real and determining
element in the organization of human life than
by giving it its place with faith in the heavenly
Father. The implanting of this twofold faith in
all men is the highest and fundamental work of
the church.

202 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

The cry is common today that we need
''practical religion" and that organizations for social
service, for caring for the sick, ignorant, poor, un-
fortunate, and delinquent, and improving in every
way the social and political conditions, are showing
this practical religion far more than the church is
doing. This cry is a healthy reaction from the
idea that religion has no concern for society or for
the affairs of the earthly life, but almost if not quite
exclusively for preparing the few who should accept
the true religion for the life beyond the grave.
Nevertheless this cry has gone to the other extreme
and brought about a dangerous situation in society.
It has forgotten that faith always goes before
practice and that the life which involves self-
sacrifice for the good of others will never be lived
long without a strong religious faith as its basis.
It has also failed to realize that although the
churches as organizations are not directly con-
ducting the larger part of these works of "practical
religion" they would not be possible at all with-
out the spirit, the money, and the labor of those
who belong to the church or at least have grown
up under its influence. These benevolent enter-
prises and works of social improvement cannot be
maintained without much self-sacrifice; and it
ought to be clear to everyone, in this age of selfish-
ness, money-loving, and pleasure-seeking, that the
spirit of self-sacrificing altruism will not spring up

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 203

spontaneously in every breast, but must be care-
fully propagated and instilled into the life-principles
of the children and youth if it is not to die out, and
civilization perish in its luxury and cruel selfishness.

It is, then, one of the first duties of every lover
of mankind to take his share in the work of some
religious organization to educate the coming gen-
erations and maintain so far as possible the pres-
ent generation in the religious faith which shall
keep alive and make universal the spirit of loving
service to humanity, without which that service
must soon die.

79. The primary work of the church as an
organization is to maintain public worship and
education in religion and morals, and it should
undertake to organize and control particular forms
of social improvement and service only when local
circumstances make this advisable. — It has been
well said that "sound administration is the only
sound philanthropy: other philanthropies are only
plasters on sores." It seems almost certain that
when a fair approach is made to the best forms of
social and political organization, carried out by,
and applied among, people properly educated both
intellectually and morally, there will be very little
need of the many philanthropic enterprises which
are now doing such a valuable and necessary work
for even the most progressive and enlightened
nations. When that time shall come, the influence

204 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

of the church will be not less but far greater than it
is today. Its primary functions of maintaining
reUgious worship and education will be just as
necessary as ever, and they will be performed very
much more thoroughly than now. But that time of
ideal social organization is a good distance off still,
although it seems to be approaching with very
hopeful rapidity; and in the meanwhile there are
many works for the promotion of social welfare
which must be maintained by voluntary effort
actuated by the Christian spirit. Many churches
have done a great deal to improve social conditions
in their parishes by so-called ''institutional"
methods. They have estabhshed gymnasiums,
baths, reading-rooms, employment agencies, and
other instrumentalities for meeting the special
needs of the community, which were not otherwise
met. Aside from the immediate value of these
things to the community, they have had this great
value, that they promoted in the church the feeling
of responsibility for, and interest in, the rest of the
community, and gave expression to the love for
men which belonged to the reUgion; and they also
proved to the community that the church was really
interested in its highest welfare, and that its religion
was thus genuine and valuable, and so attracted
outsiders into the church and promoted the spirit of
unselfishness in the community as a whole. There
are and doubtless will for many years be many

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 205

communities where such institutional methods
would be a great blessing to both church and
neighborhood, and it is of the first importance that
each church shall feel its responsibility to express
its spirit of love, and in every possible way promote
the best physical and moral conditions in the place
where its work is carried on. Still the institutional
church should not be regarded as the normal one.
If the political, commercial, industrial, educational,
and sanitary conditions are what the state or city
should make them, extreme needs, the provision
for which we have been describing, should not exist,
and of course there are many places where they do
not. And where they do exist, they may very
often be much better met by organizations work-
ing independently of any particular church, but
supported by the interest, labor, and money from
various churches rather than by the efforts of the
churches individually. The Young Men's Chris-
tian Association is an institution for social service
carried on by no particular denomination, and
generally no particular church in a given place, but
supported by the churches, and doing a work which
in many cases it would be foolish and wasteful for
the church to try to dupHcate. Movements for
temperance, political and social reform, etc., will
generally best be carried on by people in whom the
church has implanted the highest moral principles,
in organizations independent of the church, where,

2o6 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

if it were attempted to have such movements pro-
moted by the church itself, disagreement and strife
would arise among the church members, and hurt
its influence. The primary functions of the church
should therefore always be clearly kept in mind:
to furnish the power, but not necessarily the
machinery for social improvement. And the
policy of a given church organization should be
determined by the needs of the community, what
seems to be the best way of meeting those needs,
and the measure of unanimity with which the
church could take up a particular work for the social
improvement of the community.

80. The Holy Spirit is the only final authority
for the church, and the form of organization of the
church should be such as to promote the freest
response to the guidance of God's Spirit.— We
have already discussed the reasons why the Bible
cannot be regarded as the absolute authority of
the individual or the church. We shall hardly need
argument to show that other teachings of men,
whether of popes or councils, general assembhes,
"fathers," or saints, reformers, philosophers, or
theologians, cannot be regarded as of absolute
authority if the Bible cannot, whether their views
are formulated in creeds, catechisms, or confessions,
loci, institutes, or decrees. Neither can we regard
Christ as such an infallible authority, if that means
that we are to accept the human and fallible

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 207

records of his words and deeds which have come
down to us, as laws for our conduct and faith which
are not to be examined, tested, or questioned. It
should have become plain in our study that God is
continually revealing himself and his truth to men,
and that each generation and each man needs the
direct guidance of God for itself and himself in
order to have the best faith and live the highest
life in the ever- varying conditions.

For each particular local church organization
or congregation, there are two classes of problems
in both of which the church should be guided by the
Spirit of God. The first class includes questions as
to what should be believed and taught, and the
second as to what should be done, the forms of
worship, of organization, and of the expression of
the spirit of Christ in the congregation and com-
munity. With regard to both classes of problems
there are two principles which must be most
carefully guarded: the first, that of order, which
would preserve what is good and helpful in past
experience, and prevent arbitrary, ignorant, or
careless innovation or confusion; and the second,
that of free development and adaptation to ever-
varying and changing conditions and increasing
perception of truth. The former of these prin-
ciples might be called conservative and the latter
progressive. In the vast majority of churches,
particularly in the more general forms of denomina-

2o8 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

tional organization, the conservative principle is
often applied far too extremely, and almost to the
exclusion of the principle of progress. The more
centralized and powerful the denominational con-
trol is, the more difficult does progress become
within the organization, so far as that involves
change of any sort. The Roman Catholic church,
with its hierarchy headed by the bishop of Rome,
is a good illustration of this, but it will probably be
found true in all forms of church organization.
With regard to the appHcation of these two
principles of order and progress to the expression
and teaching of the faith of the church, we shall
speak more particularly in later sections, but will
say here that where the individual congregation is
a reasonably intelligent one, the utmost freedom
which is at all consistent with common fellowship
and co-operation should be allowed to it in both
the formulation and the use of its articles of faith.
It should have guidance from without but not
compulsion.

This same rule of guidance from without but not
compulsion might well be applied to the order and
forms of worship and the laws according to which
the other activities of the individual Christian
congregations are carried on. Neither by rules or
commands imposed upon it from without nor by
laws incorporated in the trust deed of the church
property or its constitution should the faith and

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 209

activity of the local church be so limited that after
careful consideration and general agreement they
could not be modified to suit changing needs and
fresher revelation of truth — to embody the direc-
tions of God's Spirit in its life.

81. The form of organization of the church
should be such as to promote the fullest fellow-
ship and most effective co-operation between the
different congregations and groups of Christian
people. — There are great advantages to be gained
by the local congregation from the wider view and
knowledge and greater experience of those outside
its immediate membership, and provision should be
made for the fullest use of such advantages. The
assisting of weaker congregations, establishing of
churches where they are needed, evangelizing of
non-Christian countries, and doing other works
which belong to the church but cannot be well
done by the individual congregations as such, must
be provided for by the most effective possible
relationship between the congregations.

No one can say just what the best way of
combining the proper degree of autonomy of the
local congregation with the most effective co-
operation between different congregations will be.
The Bible does not prescribe the polity of the
church, and if it did its prescription would not
necessarily be the word of God to this generation.
The historical forms are not necessarily the best.

210 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

A great many abuses have come to us through
history and have existed alongside of real effective-
ness in work and advancement of civilization and
religion. And indeed history shows us the greatest
variety in the methods of conducting Christian
worship and work, all of which were useful. We
must say that inasmuch as the forms of civil
government, the social atmosphere and ideals, the
conditions of society in respect to education,
industry, housing, and other interests of life exist
in the greatest variety and are constantly chan-
ging, the most effective work of the church for
humanity will require great elasticity and adapt-
ability; and only experiment can determine what
forms of worship and procedure are the best for
given situations. As a matter of fact, among
the Protestant churches in English-speaking coun-
tries there has been a marked movement on the
part of those denominations having stronger cen-
tral control toward greater freedom for the local
congregation, and on the part of those denomi-
nations where each local congregation was the-
oretically completely autonomous, toward closer
relations and more effective supervision by the
larger organization. Thus the congregational
churches (including Baptist, Disciples of Christ,
and other denominations having congregational
government) have been finding the local congre-
gations too independent and isolated for the truest

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 21 ]

fellowship and most effective co-operation, and the
episcopal and presbyterian churches have found
that more freedom must be given to the local
congregation to adapt itself to its environment and
follow the guidance of the Spirit, and these different
forms of church polity have been thus approaching
each other.

Finally, it should be said that the strong
movement toward the reuniting of different sects
or denominations of Christian churches, which is
apparent and rapidly growing at the present time,
is one of the most hopeful signs of the coming of the
kingdom of God. The differences between their
behefs and methods are fast disappearing or at
least diminishing under the influence of the higher
and truer ideals, religious, moral, intellectual, and
social. The loss to humanity arising from their
continued separation and competition is incal-
culable. The waste of effort and of money
involved, while great and shameful, is probably
of much less importance than the confusion of
thought and unsympathetic attitude of heart
which this lack of unity among those who wor-
ship the same God and seek the same end
causes. We believe that a careful and prayerful
consideration of this principle of the guidance of
the churches by the Spirit, and what it involves,
must lead most directly to the church unity which
is so desirable.

212 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

82. The qualifications for membership in the
church should be such as to make it possible for
everyone who holds its fundamental faith in a
Christlike God and in the life of love to all men,
and shows his faith by his life, to enjoy full
fellowship in its worship and work. — When we
consider the real meaning of the term '' member"
— a part of a living body, as an arm or a limb — we
realize that the members of a church must be those
who are moved by the Spirit which guides or should
guide the church, and that all who are under the
control of the Spirit which rules the church are thus
properly its members, and no others. But we have
seen that the various details of the best faith and
principles of activity which belong to it are all
derivable from these two fundamental attitudes of
faith in a Christlike God — in the God who revealed
himself in Jesus — and love for all men. Those who
have and show in their lives this faith and love are
united by bonds of sympathy and common purpose
of far greater strength and significance than any of
the customs or opinions which divide them, and
they should learn to throw all their energy into
the accomplishment of the great work which their
faith gives to them, and waste none of it in per-
petuating their differences by maintaining separate
names and organizations.

It is well for denominations and individual
congregations to formulate for themselves state-

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 213

ments of the different articles of their faith, from
time to time, when this can be done in the spirit of
love. Such confessions of faith or creeds, however,
should not be used as tests in connection with any
part of the life of the church, either of its member-
ship or its ministry. They should not be regarded
as final in form or absolute in value. The changes
in the details of belief which the history of doctrine
reveals should make every man humble in his view
of the degree to which he has attained to a perfect
understanding of final truth, and no one should do
anything to hinder the people of later times from
immediately applying such new phases of the truth
as they should discover. Some diversity of views
among thoughtful people is a thousand times more
likely to lead to a real perception of the truth than
a thorough conformity, and those whose lives are
governed by the purpose to become Christlike in
their faith in God and relations with men, are the
best material for the membership of any church, no
matter in how many minor ways they may differ.
83. The pastors or ministers of the church
should be such as have, in addition to the qualifi-
cations proper to membership, such ability and
preparation, intellectual and otherwise, as shall best
fit them for their special duties. — It will hardly be
necessary to say that the first quaHfications for the
ministry should be those of Christlike character.
While we cannot expect it in perfect development,

214 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

there must be present at least the germs of the
character of Jesus and something of the ^' fruit of
the spirit," and this must be far enough in its
growth to exclude the greater and coarser sins
that are universally condemned and the presence of
which in the life of a religious leader must be fatal
to his influence.

It is of very great importance to the life and
progress of the church that its leaders shall be those
with the peculiar talents and the special preparation
which shall best fit them for their tasks. A
preacher should have some gift of public utterance,
naturally, and this should be carefully trained so as
to enable him to inspire and instruct people in the
best way, and so that he shall attract them to his
church and they shall enjoy his sermons. For if
they do not enjoy them, they are unlikely to hear
them at all, even if present in the room. A teacher
must first be thoroughly instructed himself in the
truth which is to be taught, the difficulties which
are likely to arise in the minds of his hearers in the
reception of the truth, the special problems of the
day to which the truth must be applied, and he
must also have something of the gift as well as the
training in method, to impart his knowledge to
others, and help them to make it theirs. And a
pastor must have the personal graces which will
enable him to sympathize with people of all grades
and classes, and win their confidence and affection,

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 215

that he may help them in the best way. The most
thorough possible preparation for the work of the
ministry will not be superfluous even in the
smaller fields of labor, and the entering upon the
regular ministry of the church by those whose
preparation is very partial or one-sided, or lacking
altogether, although they may have a religious
fervor or a gift of ready and interesting speech and
even a deep consecration, should be discouraged.
In all other lines of work, the value and necessity of
thorough preparation is recognized. It should be
as fully recognized in the ministry.

84. Ministers and candidates for the ministry
should not be required to assent to definite,
detailed statements of doctrine.— It is still a very
common requirement, although a very dangerous
and hurtful one, that ministers or candidates for
ordination to the ministry should declare their
belief in, and promise to teach a body of, doctrmes,
generally formulated some generations or even
centuries in the past and stated in the language of
discarded systems of thought. Many of the larger
denommations of Christians are today in a very
humiliating position in this use of their doctrinal
standards. The best schools of theology no longer
do or can teach all the forms of doctrine embodied
in these confessions of the past, and the best-
educated candidates for the ministry cannot give
to them their hearty and unqualified assent.

2i6 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

Sometimes they openly express their dissent and
still, in spite of contrary rules, are ordained to the
ministry. More often, probably, they accept the
creed with ^'mental reservations" or with interpre-
tations of it which they know to be essentially
different from those intended by the framers of the
creed and understood by many of the members of
the church.

There should probably be an examination of
candidates for the ministry with regard to their
faith as well as character and other qualifications.
But this should be conducted by those who them-
selves are the best trained in the knowledge of
theology, and without requiring conformity to any
statement of doctrine which has been either
inherited from the past or arranged so as to con-
tinue the traditional statements of belief, not be-
cause they are true but because a departure from
them would excite strife or opposition on the part
of the conservative and uninformed elements in
the church. The church of today needs to have its
conscience quickened with regard to strict adher-
ence to truth— to have a great deal higher desire to
find and teach the truth, to accept what God is
ready to teach her, than to cherish the beliefs which
have been handed down by generations of pious
but fallible mortals, regardless of whether God
has shown to this generation something truer and
better or not. It is a great deal better to be right

HOW CULTIVATE THE BEST FAITH? 217

than "orthodox" and to have a teachable mind
than a fixed body of doctrine, however reverend
from age and sacred associations.

85. The church is the organization charged
with the establishment of the kingdom of God on
earth, and it must not rest until every human
being has come into that kingdom and voluntarily
accepted the rule of the spirit of Christ for his life. —
Every organization which exists for the funda-
mental purpose of promoting the life of love to one
personal, righteous, loving God and to all men is
properly a part of the church. Hence the church
is the only organization or collection of organiza-
tions which has this work to do for the world.
But this work is the greatest conceivable work for
humanity, and everything else that is good must be
related to it or molded according to its principles
before the highest conditions of human welfare can
be attained. It must furnish the spirit and energy
which shall make every work for the improvement
of society possible and actual, and this must be
primarily by propagating the best faith and
illustrating its effects by the most loving and help-
ful life. The mission of the church, then, is to all
mankind, and it must be satisfied with nothing less
than the salvation of every human being. This
may not mean the disappearance from the world of
all the religious customs and great names and
forms of faith which are now considered as outside

2i8 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

of, or opposed to, Christianity, but it will mean the
expulsion from all forms of religion of everything
false, base, and superstitious, the readjustment of
emphasis on the various forms of religion so that
the spiritual and essential shall be recognized as
such and the addition to any existing form of
rehgion of that which it lacks in order to meet the
deepest needs of men and which may be found in
other forms of religion. Whether this can be done
without putting Jesus into the center of all religion
as it is in Christianity, we cannot say for the
coming millenniums, but we can at present imagine
nothing else that would in any degree be a satis-
factory substitute. This must mean finally, per-
haps many centuries hence, perhaps sooner than
we have faith to hope, that men everywhere will
come to agree on the most important elements of
faith and principles of life, and, under whatever
name or form, to worship the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ and receive from his Spirit
and hold toward him that which shall truly be the
best faith showing itself in the Christlike life.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I
BOOKS FOR REFERENCE

BIBLES

For general purposes it is very desirable that the
student should have the Bible in the Revised Version.
The marginal references will often be found very useful in
finding other passages bearing on the same topics.

BIBLE DICTIONARIES

Every student of Christianity should have access to,
and if possible own, a good modern Bible dictionary.
Well-equipped public or college libraries should have
Hastings' Bible Dictionary in five volumes, published by
T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, and Scribner, New York. For
students, a good one-volume dictionary will supply the
most important needs. A Standard Bible Dictionary by
Jacobus, Funk & Wagnalls, and Hastings' one-volume
Bible Dictionary by the same editor and publishers as the
larger one, the articles, however, being much briefer and by
different authors from those writing for the larger one, are
both good.

CONCORDANCE

A good and complete concordance is a necessity in
proper study of the Bible. Two good English concordances
are Cruden's and Young's. The latter is more useful for the
scholar and should be in institutional libraries. Cruden's is
cheaper and may be sufficient for private libraries.

Nave's Topical Bible, printed by Eaton & Mains, is
better than any concordance in showing the Bible texts
bearing on a given topic, as, to a large extent, the passages
bearing on a given subject are printed in full.

222 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

SCIENCE

Sir Oliver Lodge's The Substance of Faith, Harper, New
York, gives a very helpful view of Christian Doctrine from
the standpoint of an eminent scientist.

THEOLOGY

Two very good books for a deeper knowledge of Chris-
tian doctrine in more technical form for Christians of today
are Clarke's An Outline of Christian Theology, and Brown's
Christian Theology in Outline, both published by Scribner.
The latter is especially complete as a presentation of
Christian teaching as it was developed and maintained in the
past and modified by historical forces down to the present,
showing the relation of present to past views of Christianity.
A teacher using this textbook in a group would do well to
make frequent use of one or both of these more technical
books to supplement his own knowledge and develop his
thought.

OTHER RELIGIONS

Some knowledge of other religions is necessary for
the intelligent defender of Christianity today. For this
purpose Menzie's History of Religion (Scribner) is a very
useful handbook. Another book of quite unique value,
which gives a view only of the principal present-day rivals
of Christianity, Mohammedanism, Buddhism, Hinduism,
and Confucianism, particularly in their present forms,
and with a description of their results in social life is
The Light of the World, by Robert E. Speer. It is written
with the missionary interest predominant and is readily
obtainable where missionary books are sold.

OTHER BOOKS

References to other books are given in the following
notes, and an extensive bibliography will be found in
Brown's book above referred to.

APPENDIX II

NOTES, REFERENCES, AND QUESTIONS

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING

It is Strongly recommended that where this book is used
as a class textbook the students be required to look up at
least the Bible references given in the following notes and
copy into notebooks enough of each passage so that its
significance and bearing on the subject will readily be
recalled. The student should also explain in his notes how
the Bible passage bears on the topic under discussion, and,
if there is any question as to its meaning, what interpretation
seems the most reasonable. He should be encouraged to
find other Bible passages bearing on the subject and report
them in his notebook, whether they seem to confirm the
positions taken in this textbook or to oppose them. For
this purpose a good concordance and topical Bible will be
found of great value.

The questions and topics for further consideration may
be used for essays, for reports assigned to different class
members, for expansion in the notebooks, and for class
discussion.

For convenience, the notes are divided into chapters
and sections corresponding to the foregoing text.

CHAPTER I

I. Compare with definition of religion here given,
definitions and discussions in dictionaries, encyclopedias, in
introductory chapter of Menzies, History of Religion, etc.

Bible references: Acts 17:22-31, especially vss. 26-28.
See also references for section 2, and Luke 10: 25-28.

223

2 24 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

For further consideration —

{a) What illustrations can you give, from Christian
churches, of overemphasis on one of the three phases of
religion — emotional, intellectual, and volitional or ethical —
to the neglect of the other two and injury of life? (6)
Describe cases of which you know, of serious-minded people
who have been called irreligious, and show (i) why they
were so-called, and (ii) how they were really religious, (c)
Is real irreligiousness anything more than a failure to take
life seriously at all, an absence of principle, purpose, thought-
fulness, a mere floating on the currents from day to day ?
{d) Name some of the most important values to individuals
and to society of the best forms of religion which you know.

2. The principles of the harmonious development of the
individual life, the nature of the summum bonum, or highest
good, the road to happiness, the relative value of various
forms of individual satisfaction and of the relation of the
individual to others, are considered in treatises on ethics
and cannot be discussed here at length, A careful study of
ethics should, however, form a part of the education of every
intelligent person.

Bible references: Pss. i; 15; 37:4, 9 ff., 91; Lev.
26:3 &.; Deut. 7:12 ff.; Prov. 3:7-10 and passim; Matt.
5:1-10; 19:27-29; Mark 10:28-30; Luke 6:20-26; I
Tim. 4:8; Rom. 14:17; I Cor. 10:23, 24; I John 3:7;
Isaiah 1:11-17; Ezek., chap. 18; Mic. 6:18; Matt.
5:48; 7:21; 22:37-40; 25:31-46; Rom. 2:2-16; I Cor.,
chap. 13; Jas. 1:27; 2:20; Rev. 21:8. These references
indicate (i) the value of religion for the satisfaction of the
individual in the various phases of his nature, physical and
spiritual, and (2) the primary place of righteousness in true
religion. Note that the Book of Job is concerned with the
question why the righteous man sometimes endures great
affliction.

APPENDIX II 225

For further consideration —

(a) Can we expect the best religion to enable every
individual who accepts it to enjoy complete satisfaction in life,
in its every aspect, even though it is lived among people
many of whom have not accepted that religion; or must we
judge religion from the standpoint of the individual, more
from its tendency to give satisfaction and its principles of life,
than from what it actually accomplishes in a given case?
(6) Is the best way to judge of the value of a form of religion
to consider its success in helping those who accept it toward
righteousness ? {c) What forms of religion do you know which
have little or no concern for the promotion of righteousness,
for the sake of society, but are concerned only with the gain-
ing of individual satisfaction in one or more forms ?

3. On Buddhism and Mohammedanism, compare works
of Menzies and Speer referred to in Appendix I. The social
conditions resulting from these religions, as described by
Speer, are peculiarly significant.
For further consideration —

(a) Read what you can from the Koran (in English
translation) and compare it, or descriptions of it in other
books, with the Bible. (6) Compare the most famous
teachings of Gautama (the Buddha) with those of Christ,
(c) What evils in social conditions have been approved by
the church (Christian), or considerable portions of it, in the
past, and what are still tolerated by it ? {d) What is there
in the form of worship, faith, or government of Christian
churches which tends to maintain some of these unrighteous
social conditions ?

5. In looking up the references to show the nature of the
teaching of Jesus, as well as in any study of the four gospels,
it will be well to have in mind the following points. Many
references to Matthew have duplicate or parallel passages
in the other gospels. In order readily to see the parallel

226 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

passages of the Gospels, it is very desirable to have a
"Harmony of the Gospels" such as that of Stevens and
Burton, published by the Association Press. The Gospels
give us the accounts of the words of Jesus as they were
remembered by those who had heard them or reports of
them, and recorded a number of years after Jesus was gone
from the earth. The words recorded are doubtless some of
those which were most impressive and regarded by those
who heard them as most significant and characteristic of his
teaching. They were not fully understood by his disciples,
still less, probably, by others to whom they were repeated;
and thus doubtless they have been imperfectly and incor-
rectly reported in some cases, in the Gospels as we have
them. The Fourth Gospel was written much later than the
others and probably represents the spirit of Jesus and the
effect which his life had upon the thought of his disciples and
the early church more vividly, while reproducing his actual
words less accurately than the other gospels.

Bible references: Matt. 5:1-12; 6:25-34; 11:2-6,
16-19, 28, 29; Luke 5-29-35; John 4:14; 5:26; 5:40;
6:35,48; 10:10. See also some of the references for sec-
tion 2. For works of bodily healing see the Gospels passim,

6. Bible references: Matt. 5:38-48; 7:1, 2, 12, 16-20;
Luke 6:38; John 13:35; Rom. 13:8-10; I Cor. 6:9, 10;
Gal. 5:19-23; Matt. 3:15; 4:17; chaps. 5 to 7, especially
7:15-23; 9:2; 10:34-38; 15:17-20; 18:7-9; 19:16-21;
20:25-28; 25:31-46, and passages about kingdom of
Heaven or kingdom of God in the Gospels, and passages
about "life" or "eternal life" in John, for which see con-
cordance.
For further consideration —

(a) Would a man be justified in obeying any God whose
commands were not perfectly righteous? (b) If I did
something in (supposed) response to a command of God

APPENDIX II 227

which I knew would injure my neighbor, could it be from
any motive other than a selfish one, i.e., to gain the approval
of God with its advantage for myself at the expense of my
neighbor? And if not, must I not hold it to be wrong,
whatever assurance I think I have that it is God's com-
mand ? (c) Is it a safe principle to assume that what is
plainly right to my conscience is God's command to me,
whatever others may think? (Cf. sections 23 and 44.)
(d) Was the kingdom of Heaven which Jesus preached
something to come after earthly life or in it ? (What shall
we think about the prayer Jesus taught — "Thy Kingdom
come, thy will be done on earth" etc. ?) {e) Did Jesus say
anything about hell except in connection with warnings
against evil life on earth? Did he suggest any way of
escape from hell except through the avoidance of the evil
life on earth ? (/) In John the mission of Jesus is repre-
sented as being mainly to give eternal life to men. Is it
something to begin after death or to enjoy while alive on
earth ? {g) Some have thought that Jesus' principal work
was to get men to believe that he was the Messiah or the
Son of God, and that the evidence for these "claims" of
Jesus was to be found in his miracles. Did Jesus generally
encourage or discourage the attributing to him of the title
Messiah, the attempt to make him king, or to consider him
what the people thought the Messiah would be? (See
Mark 9:33-37; 8:26, 30.) {h) Did Jesus seek oppor-
tunity to work miracles or avoid it? When asked for
miracles to prove his authority, what was his answer?
(See Matt. 12:38-40; Mark 8:11, 12.) {k) Were the
miracles mainly works of love and mercy and thus the signs
of divme character; or works of power, and signs of peculiar
authority and title? The author of the Fourth Gospel
speaks of them as signs. Of what were they signs ? Does
Jesus speak of them as signs ?

228 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

7. In studying the teaching of Jesus with reference to
tradition, the Scriptures, etc., as well as in other matters,
we must be careful not to take literally what he did not mean
literally. See notes on section 23.

Bible references: Matt. 5:21, 22, 27, 28, 31-34, 38, 39>
43, 44. Cf. with these passages Deut. 24: i, 3; Lev. 19:12,
18; Num. 30:2; Exod. 21:24. See further Matt. 12:1-14;
Mark 7:1-23; Matt. 15:1-20; 19:3-9; 21:23-32.
For further consideration —

{a) \Vhat evils are today sometimes defended on the
ground of Bible passages or religious tradition ? {h) Show
how Jesus' rejection of, or opposition to, religious custom
and tradition was one of the principal causes of his
crucifixion.

8. A book of great interest and value on the subject of
the conflict of tradition with truth in religion and especially
in Christianity is Religions of Authority and the Religion of
the Spirit, by Auguste Sabatier (London: Hodder &
Stoughton; New York: Doran).

For further consideration —

Compare the value of the character of Christ as a
religious ideal with that of other founders of religion or
leaders of sects making claim to special supernatural
authority, etc., as Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, Joseph
Smith, Mrs. Eddy, Dowie, Elijah Sanford.

9. Cf. also section 16 and chap, iii, and first part of
Tennyson's "In Memoriam."

Bible references: John 1:18; Rom. 8:24, 25; I Cor.
2:9; 12:4, 8, 9; II Cor. 5:7; Heb. 1:1; I Pet. 1:7, 8.
Note that where faith is enjoined or referred to in the Bible,
it is concerned with things which could not be known
through the senses.

In these sections a necessary technical distinction is
made between faith and knowledge. We must not expect

APPENDIX II 229

this distinction, which concerns primarily the technical use
of these words for the denoting of two different ways of
coming to opinions, to be generally recognized in religious
literature, for example, in the Bible.

10. Bible references: On the relation of religion to this
presentlife: Job 42:10-17; Ps. 34:9, 10; Ps. 121 and many
references under section 2; on truthfulness in describing
experience: Isa. 5 : 20; I Pet. 3:15.
For further consideration —

{a) What apparently mutually contradictory beliefs do
you know to be held by the same people ? (h) What beliefs
do you know to be taught in the name of religion which
seem to contradict common human experience ? (c) What
things do you know to have been taught as the will or
revelation of God which were quite inconsistent and irrecon-
cilable with qualities which you were taught belonged to
the character of God ? {d) How may Tennyson's words
be true that

There's more true faith in honest doubt.
Believe me, than in half the creeds!

(e) Is it really possible for a man to believe two statements
to be true which he sees are absolutely contradictory to
each other ?

II.
For further consideration —

{a) In what other departments of thought and life
besides religion is the tendency noticeable among mature
persons to preserve old views unchanged when better ones
are offered ? {h) Why should this conservative tendency be
stronger in distinctively religions thought than in other
departments of thought ? {c) What cases do you know of
people abandoning Christianity for some fad religion, and
how can you explain this action ? Is this any real argument
against true Christianity ?

230 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

12. Bible references: Matt. 7:15-20 and Heb., chap.
II. See also references under section 2 and note the require-
ment and use of faith in the healing works of Jesus and the
apostles.
For further consideration —

(a) Illustrate the possibility of different rational con-
clusions from the same facts, by cases of different conclusions
as to the character of a person arrived at by different
interpretations of the same actions, and in any other ways
you can. {h) Illustrate the different views of the world, or
of a part of experience, caused by differences in mood or in
health or in temporary circumstances of a given person.
(c) What factors would you suggest in explanation of the
recent statement of Judge Lewis L. Fawcett of Brooklyn,
N.Y.: ''Approximately 2,700 cases have been brought
before me in my five and a half years of service on the
bench. During all this time I have never had to try a man
who was, at the time of the alleged offense, or ever had
been, an active member of the church" ? {d) Point out the
different tendencies for the interpretation of the universe
and the determination of life of those who hold as the most
significant phenomena in experience each one of the follow-
ing and subordinate the rest: pleasure, beauty, thought,
matter, conscience and moral relations.

13. Bible references: Gen. 1:26, 27; 2:7; Ps. 139:1-5,
17,18; John 1:1-4, 9; 5:30; 7:17,26,27; Luke 12:54-57;
Gal. 5:22, 23. Note in regard to Matt. 21 : 23-32 that the
reason for Jesus' question with regard to the baptism of
John and refusal to answer the question as to his own
authority was that in both cases the appeal was to the
conscience. If they had recognized John's baptism as from
heaven because the Spirit of God within them, speaking
through their consciences, approved it, they would have
recognized Jesus' authority even more quickly.

APPENDIX II

231

CHAPTER II

14 and 15. In reference to the date and authorship of
the different books of the Bible and the history of the
formation of the "canon" of the Old and New Testaments,
see articles in modern Bible dictionaries on the separate
books, and on Old Testament Canon and New Testament
Canon. On the origin and growth of the Old Testament see
the very useful, popular book The Making of the Bible, by
A. E. Dunning (Boston: Pilgrim Press).

Bible references: I Kings 18:1-40; Job 23:3 ff.; Ps.
42:1-3; Isa. 55:8, 9; Judges 6:36-40; Gen. 15:12; 28:10-
17; Matt. 12:58; 16:1; John 2:11; I John 1:1-4.
For further consideration —

{a) What religious experiences do you know people to
have had, on the ground of which they have assumed that
every item of a system of religious doctrine was absolutely
true ? (6) What do we know about the causes of dreams
which would take from them the mysterious or supernatural
character which has often been attributed to them? (c)
Should we be more confident of a message from God in some
unusual or inexplicable experience in a dream or trance or
other abnormal psychological state, or in clear thoughts of
what was right and good which come when our bodies are
healthy and our minds clear ? {d) How many books of the
Bible claim or seem to claim to be descriptions of super-
natural revelations made through dreams, trances, etc. ?
{e) Should it lessen our admiration and love for the Bible
and confidence in its truth to find some of its thoughts
anticipated or expressed in other literature and in connection
with other forms of religion? (/) If God's Spirit is con-
stantly active in the world, and in the past inspired men to
utter great spiritual and religious truths during a period of
a thousand years, would it seem natural or unnatural, in a
world of ever-changing circumstances and ever-new prob-

232 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

lems, for such inspiration to be continued down to the
present and future? (g) What phenomena which had no
really Christian characteristics have been looked upon as
special evidence of the influence of the Holy Spirit in
recent times ?

1 6. Bible references: Jer. 7:13, 25; 11:7, etc.; Mic.
6:8; Heb. 1:1, 2; Gal. 5:22, 23; Exod. 3:1-12; Isa. 1:24;
chap. 6; Jer. 1:1, 2; Ezek. 1:3; 2:1 — 3:11; the Book of
Jonah; Amos 7:10-17; Luke 1:1-4; II Pet. 1:21 and
opening verses in Minor Prophets and New Testament
epistles, indicating consciousness that speakers or writers
are messengers of God.
For further consideration —

{a) Is there any more reason for expecting a priori (that
is, before examining the facts to see what is actually the
case) that God would give to men a written revelation of his
nature and will, perfect in every way, than that he would
preserve such revelation perfect in its text, and guarantee
the perfection of translations of it and interpretations of it
by religious teachers, or that he should give to every man
perfect eyes, perfect hearing, and a mind which should
understand perfectly every truth presented to it ? {h) Of
what value is the search for, and struggle to obtain, knowledge
of various sorts in the development of mind and character ?
Is there a similar value in the efort to attain to the highest
religious truth, which perhaps has not yet been completely
attained by any human being ? (c) What is the significance
of the "laboratory method" in present-day education?
Does it mean that those who know the truth leave the
ignorant to find it out for themselves without any assistance,
or that they "reveal" it to the students in the way best
calculated to develop their mental powers and impress the
truth upon them ? Does God use the "laboratory method "
in educating the race ?

APPENDIX II 233

17. Bible references: Isa. 35:8; Matt. 15:14; 23:13,
16 ff.; John 7:17.

19. Let the student, with the help of Bible dictionary
and concordance and articles on Palestine, geography,
climate, etc., make lists, giving references and at least a part
of the passage referred to of: (a) the various physio-
graphical features referred to, especially where the reference
is poetical or striking, as to mountain, sea, cave, etc.; {b)
the features of air and upper regions, as storm, lightning,
stars and constellations, etc.; (c) the different forms of
animal life, wild and tame, birds, insects, etc.; (d) the
dififerent forms of vegetable life, flowers, trees, grains, etc.;
(e) the different kinds of minerals, gold, silver, etc.; (/)
the different occupations of men and women, soldier,
shepherd, weaver, etc.; (g) the different nations, races,
countries, and cities of the world, in so far as they still exist
or are known in history outside of, as well as in, the Bible;
(A) the different forms of building, shelter, furniture, tools
and instruments for various purposes; (k) references to
babies and children and their special interests and
occupations.

20. Bible references: Gen. 28:20; 41:282.; Lev. 26:
3-13; I Kings 17:1; 18:1.

For further consideration —

(a) Which would be the greater God, one who was
interested in the petty details of the daily life and struggle
of each individual and pleased to hear and answer prayer
about such matters, or one who was not at all concerned
about such things, but only about the general trend of
civilization, or about the honor paid to him in religious
assemblies, etc. ? (b) Which man is likely to have the more
vivid, constant, and effective faith in God, the one who
prays only on Sundays when led by the minister, or the one
who maintains regular family and private prayer in which he

234 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

presents the personal petitions which embody his particular
needs? (c) Let the student make lists, as called for in
notes on last section, above, of references to (i) common
bodily needs and means of their satisfaction, varieties of
food, clothing, etc., such as bed, sleep, bread, shoes; (ii)
diseases, sicknesses, means, instances and promises of
restoration to health, etc.; (iii) desires, pleasures, passions,
etc., whose satisfaction is regarded as legitimate under
proper conditions, as sexual affection, friendship, feasting,
dancing, singing, enjoyment of beauty, etc.; (iv) institu-
tions for the promotion of justice, social welfare, etc.,
government, courts, synagogues, means of education or
provision for instruction, worship, protection, etc.; (v)
some of the most important injunctions for the maintenance
of law and order, justice, peace, etc., which are still recog-
nized as necessary moral laws.

21. Those who are familiar with the thought of past
generations about the Bible will recognize the fact that the
position taken in this book differs in some important
respects from the traditional one. The former position was
that the original texts of the sixty-six books which make up
our Bible were written by God himself, through the hands of
men indeed, but without the slightest admixture of human
error, limitation, or inaccuracy of any sort, thus making it
the "Word of God" in a sense that no other written docu-
ment ever was or could be. The argument in support of
this position may be briefly summed up in this way: Claims
are made by various writers in both Old and New Testa-
ments to speak for God or that which God has said to them.
Jesus and the New Testament writers assume the Old
Testament to be " God's Word " in this peculiar sense. The
writers of New Testament books, being apostles of Jesus,
had special divine authority and power to write the "Word
of God," which none less closely related to him could have,

APPENDIX II 235

and they claim God's authority for their writings. The
divine authority of some of the writers of both Old and New
Testaments was confirmed by their power to work miracles.
Finally, the Bible has had in history such power to transform
both individual and social life that it must be a revelation of
God, and therefore all claims made in it for any part of it,
of truth or authority, must be true, for if they are not true,
their authors were impostors, which is inconceivable in view
of the effect which the Bible has had in the world.

Space will permit only a very brief comment on these
arguments. In the first place, a careful study of the
positions taken in this book will show the needs and reasons
which have led men to think of the Bible in this peculiar
way, and how in fact the Bible does meet these needs.
Thus it is seen that there is a true sense in which the Bible
is the Word of God or a revelation from God. But the
study of the Bible in recent times which has been more
careful and thorough and in the light of more consistently
spiritual principles than ever before, has shown that the
human weaknesses, errors, and limitations of its human
authors are by no means excluded — that it is a divine
revelation of marvelous power in spite of these human
elements. A few words must therefore be said to show that
the "claims" for divine authority in the Bible are not
inconsistent with this position.

The Old Testament books were selected after a long
process of testing and choosing of those books which were
found most helpful in the religious life of the Jews, and they
were thus gradually separated from other literature, some
of which would be just as valuable for us as some of that
which was retained. They were not selected by scientific
methods, nor by miracle of any sort, but by their suitability
to various needs of the people, patriotic, liturgical, ethical,
and religious. By the time of Christ, on account of the

236 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

religious use and high value of these writings, they had
come to be regarded as such an "infaHible" perfect revela-
tion from God as later the whole Bible was thought to be.
This attitude is assumed by all the New Testament writers,
and, so far as we know, by Jesus in his public utterances.
Centuries later, the literature of the early church was thus
collected after a similar process of testing and sifting, and
in time was thought to have the same divine origin and
authority as that attributed to the Old Testament. An
impartial study of the New Testament writings will show
that no such claim is made in them, i.e., that they are
perfect, without human error, etc., as was afterward made
for them. The most careful research into the history of the
books leaves the authorship of many of them doubtful, and
without the authority which (without any biblical justifica-
tion) it is assumed would belong peculiarly to apostles of
Jesus. Their value for us then is intrinsic, and not due to
apostolic authorship primarily. If we have no guaranty
against human error in the writers of the New Testament,
then their view of the Old Testament cannot bind us. As
to the teachings of Jesus, let us remember: (i) They come
to us through the medium of writers who mistakenly believed
the Old Testament to have a perfection which it is now seen
it never had, and who would thus be likely to assume the
same belief on the part of Jesus. (2) Where Jesus is repre-
sented as using the Old Testament in his argument, the
truth of his teaching in no case depends on the perfection
and superhuman authority of the words of the passage
quoted, but is justified by the reason and conscience apart
from them. (3) While Jesus insisted that he was come
to fulfil the "law and the prophets" (that is, the Old
Testament Scriptures), his actual use of them was quite
inconsistent with the theory of such absolute perfection,
and was in complete harmony with the principles of the

APPENDIX II 237

use of the Bible presented in this book. (See section 7 and
notes upon it.)

Such phrases in the Old Testament as "Thus saith the
Lord" must be considered to be formulae used by the
prophets and writers to direct attention to the truth of their
words, which they were confident were from God, as true
ministers and preachers of today must be confident if they
would preach effectively. There is no hint in any Old
Testament book that the message from God was thought to
be without such limitations as would be natural to its
proclamation by a fallible man.

A proper understanding of the real authority of the
Bible, proved by its immense value in history, and approving
itself to every honest individual who will use it rightly, will
make it in the future a far more potent instrument in the
hands of God for the revelation of his will to men, than it
has been under the misunderstandings of the past. The
way to use the Bible rightly is briefly explained in chap. iii.

CHAPTER in

22. In regard to creation and flood stories, see parallels
in Babylonian myths, appendices of Kent, Beginnings of
Hebrew History (Scribner). For references to sources in
compilation of history, see I Chron. 29:29; II Chron. 9:29;
12:15; 13:22; 20:34; 32:32; etc. For evidence of use of
common sources in the composition of the first three
gospels, called the "Synoptists," see any "Harmony of the
Gospels," e.g., Stevens & Burton's, or Kerr's, the latter
published by the American Tract Society.

23. As illustrating the necessity of the use of reason and
moral judgment in the application of Bible teaching, we may
consider Matt. 5:27-42 and 6:19. Regarded as positive
rules for action, to be literally obeyed, they may lead, as
they have done, to the mutilation of one's body, to the

238 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

maintenance of marriage bonds between two people when
one of them was worthless or cruel and separation was
justified if not required by the law of God in the heart and
reason; to the keeping-apart of people who would have been
made happier and better and of more use in the world if
they had been married, to the unwise refusal to take oaths
in court or oaths of loyalty to the government, to yielding
without resistance to the violence of criminals and to
carelessness in the use of money, improvidence, laziness, and
shiftlessness. And yet all these teachings contain important
moral principles, just as valuable and necessary today as
ever. Interpreted by the reason and conscience, these
passages teach that one should avoid temptation, even at
the cost of painful sacrifice; should regard marriage as a
relation entered into for life and to be maintained in love
and purity with the utmost endeavor; should speak the
truth so faithfully and constantly that no oath could increase
the confidence of others in one's words; should have love in
his heart for everyone, the hostile and dangerous as well as
the friendly, and in the treatment of the hostile should never
be actuated by desire for revenge but only for the best good
of the enemy, perhaps the criminal; should not worry about
the future, but, having done all that circumstances made
possible to provide for it, should trust God's care, and give
greater attention to the more important side of life, that of
character, than to the matter of food and clothes.
For further consideration —

Take some chapter in Leviticus, e.g., chap. 25, and
see: (a) what commands, there, may be helpfully applied
to present-day conditions; (6) what moral principles
whose validity we recognize are involved in commands
not completely applicable to our conditions or justified
by our conscience; (c) what commands involve elements
of which we today must disapprove; {d) what injunc-

APPENDIX II 239

tions seem to involve no moral principle but only an
economic one.

24.
For further consideration —

Pick out, in the j5rst chapters of Genesis, {a) verses
giving teachings about God and his relations to the world
and men which seem to be valuable elements of the best faith
in their natural meaning; (6) those which have no evident
religious value in themselves but would have been interest-
ing and natural explanations of conditions of the world,
man, and society at a time when they were current and there
were no better; {c) those which, taken in their natural
meanings, involve conceptions of God or nature no longer
possible to us.

25. Is there any progress in the thought of God between
(i) Gen. 6:6, 7; 8:21; I Sam. 26:19; and (2) Ps. 139;
John 4:24; I John 4:8?

26. The thesis of this section, which may at first appear
somewhat complicated, might be stated thus: To use the
Bible as a Christian book, we must find how a Christlike
God is revealed in it. It is the one, eternal God whom man
needs to find. Really to find this God is to find salvation
and eternal life. (Cf. John 17:3, and on the subject of the
revelation of God in Jesus, chap, vi and section 31 in
chap, iv.)

CHAPTER IV

27. Mormonism is frankly tritheistic or polytheistic,
besides having degradingly sensual conceptions of the gods
and their relations to men, from which flow sensual con-
ceptions of human life. It is to be noted that the Mormon
theology still and necessarily makes polygamy a divine
principle of life and therefore something to be expected in
ideal human society (even though suspended for a time in

240 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

practice, out of respect for civil laws made by their oppo-
nents, whether the charge is true that it is still secretly
fostered by the Mormon church or not).

Bible references: Gen. i:i; 17:1; Deut. 6:4; Matt.
19:26; Luke 1:37; Acts 17:24; I Tim. 2:5.

28. The personality of God is assumed all through the
Bible. This personality and its nature are the fundamental
and most difficult problems of Christian belief, but there can
be no question about the value of belief in a personal God,
and no faith can properly be called Christian in which it is
not central.

29. Bible references: Gen., chap, i; Isa. 55:6-9; Ps.
102:25-27.

30 and 31. Compare, in connection with these sec-
tions, chap, vi and notes on section 26. In regard to
question as to whether Jesus ever actually lived, see
Case, The Historicity of Jesus (University of Chicago
Press, 191 2).

Bible references: Exod. 34:6, 7; Num. 14:18; Ezek.,
chap. 18; John 1:1-18; 3:16; 5:19-47; 6:38-40; 8:18,
19,29,42,49,50,54,55; 10:30,37,38; 12:44,45,49,50;
13:31, 32; 14:9-11, 23, 24; 15:15, 23, 24; Rom. 3:21-26;
I Cor. 1:24, 30; II Cor. 4:6; 5:18-20; Col. 1:15, 20;
Heb. 1:3; I John 4:8.

32. Bible references: What is the Holy Spirit? Gen.
1:2; 2:7; Job 33:4; Ps. 139:1-5, 17, 18; John 1:9. What
does God's Spirit do in and with men ? Exod. 31:3; Num.
27:18; Judges 14:6; 15:14; Isa. 11:2; 61:1; Ezek. 36:7;
Matt. 10:20; John 3:5-8; 14:26; 16:7, 8, 13, 14; Acts
2:37-39, 41, 42; I Cor. 12:7-11; Matt. 3:16. How shall
we know the presence and work of the Holy Spirit ? Matt.
12:24-28,33; II Tim. 1:7; Gal. 5:22, 23; I John 4:1, 7, 8.
Who may receive the Holy Spirit and how? Isa. 44:3;
Joel 2:28, 29; Luke 11:13; John 1:9; Acts 5:32.

APPENDIX II

241

S^ and 34. For arguments for the existence of God, see
Clarke, op. ciL, pp. 102 ff., and Brown, op. cit., chap, ix,
pp. 124 fif.

Bible references: Matt. 7:17-20; 12:33-35; Heb.,
chap. 11; Jas. 2:14-26.
For further consideration —

(a) Can you suggest any different or contrary principle
which would be more promotive of general human welfare in
all its phases than that of the brotherhood of Man — the
duty of love to all men ? {h) Can you imagine any attitude
toward the universe (i.e., any religion) that would be more
in harmony with, and promotive of, this principle of love to
men than the belief in a Christlike God who desired and
required Christlike character in all men ? (Cf . sections 70
and 76.) ic) Compare the countries of the world in which
Christianity prevails with those in which other forms of
religion prevail, as to civilization, education, culture,
commerce, etc. {d) Compare the countries in which
Roman Catholicism prevails with those in which Protestant-
ism is strong, in the same respects, {e) What part have
Christian missions and missionaries played in the develop-
ment and improvement of India, China, Japan, Africa,
Turkey ? (/) To what extent can we regard the existence
of evil social conditions in so-called Christian countries as a
failure of Christianity ? (g) What testimonies to the value
of Christian faith can you get from the lives, words, and
deeds of famous statesmen, rulers, generals, authors, artists,
musicians, sailors, business men, etc. ?

35. Bible references: Gen. 1:1 — 2:7; Job, chaps. 38,
39,40,41; Pss. 8; 19:1-6; 24:1,2; 29; 33:6; 74:12-17;
102:25; Isa. 40:22; 42:5; 45- 18; John 1:1, 2; Acts 17:24.

36. Concerning materialistic evolution and Christianity,
see discussion in Fairbairn, Philosophy oj the Christian
Religion (Hodder and Stoughton).

242 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

A theory of evolution differing much from the familiar
Darwinian theory is maintained by Bergson, one of the
prominent philosophers of France at the present time. His
Creative Evolution (Holt, 191 1) makes life instead of matter
the first principle of reality and the creative force of the
world. Although his philosophy is very different from the
faith of Christianity, there is much in it which throws light
on problems of creation and evolution which a Christian
might accept, and which may compel a general revision of
ideas about the process of development of the universe.
For Bergson, inert matter is not eternal, but is the inversion
or interruption of life.
For further consideration —

(a) Which is the more reasonable and helpful faith,
that God created the various forms of nature by some vocal
or mental fiat — "Let there be" — or that by his wisdom he
used vsLiious forces and means under his control to develop
nature as we know it ? (b) Is creation by fiat a possible
positive conception for an educated person today, or is it
merely of negative value to express our ignorance of means
or method ? (c) If the author of Genesis had understood
and accepted the theory of evolution, could he have
explained it to the people of his time? Is it conceivable
that the first chapter of Genesis was intended to teach
evolution ? (d) Does it in any way detract from the glory
of God to think that many millions of years were occupied
in the bringing of the present cosmos out of an early chaos,
instead of six days ? (e) Is the question as to God's method
of creation one of amount or degree of power or of the way
in which he used the power ? Does it belong to the realm of
faith or knowledge ?

37. For further discussion of the providence of God, his
limitations, etc., see succeeding sections and sections 71
to 74.

APPENDIX II

243

Bible references: Gen. 8:1, 21, 22; Pss. 1:3; 23; 37;
91; loi; 121; Matt. 6:25-34; Acts 17:25; Rom. 8:28.

38. For further discussion of the problem of evil, see the
very interesting sections on that subject in Fairbairn, op. cil.

Bible references: Gen. 3: 17-19 (can "for thy sake" be
understood as meaning "for thy good"?); Job 5:17-20;
23:10; 36:15, 16; Ps. 94:12; Prov. 3:11, 12; II Sam.
12:1-14; I Cor. 15:54-57; II Cor. 6:4-10; 11:16, 23-33;
12:7-10; Heb. 12:5-13; Jas. 1:2-4; IPet. 1:6, 7; 4:12-14.

39. For further discussion of prayer, see sections 71 to
74. Bergson, in the work above referred to, rejects the idea
of the uniformity of nature as a final principle of reality.
He finds life creating forms not only new in actual existence,
but unforeseeable, unpredictable, not even pre-existent in
thought or idea. His argument, which is very plausible,
may lead to an abandonment of the too strict principle of
uniformity and make it easier to conceive of God's free
action in the universe.

40. Cf, questions "for further consideration" on
sections 14 and 15.

CHAPTER V

41. Bergson (op. cit.) maintains that consciousness in
man cannot be regarded as conditioned by the brain and
neural processes in any such sense as action in the lower
animals is so conditioned. The brain is the "cutting
edge" of consciousness in man, inseparable from con-
sciousness just as the edge is inseparable from the knife,
but no more coextensive or parallel in the one case than in
the other. In man, as not in the animals, consciousness is
free and the nervous system is the serv^ant. Professor
William James has made a similar suggestion. (See section
64.) Cf. also Fairbairn {op. cit.) on evolution of man and
relation of man to the ape, etc.

244 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

42. On the subject of the freedom of human conscious-
ness see further Bergson, Creative Evolution, references in
index under **Man in Evolution," ''Unforeseeableness,"
"Freedom," and the general trend of the whole book.

Bible references: Josh. 24:15; I Kings 18:21; Ezek.,
chap. 18; Rom. 8:29, 30; 9:11-28. It may be questioned
whether Paul would have assented to any thoroughgoing
system of determinism, but it is true that in the passages in
Romans, here referred to, he holds to an election or pre-
determination of human fate and action which is not
consistent with the belief in human freedom. It is worthy
of note, however, that in Rom. 8 : 29, 30 his purpose is to
encourage men in the struggle for righteousness, by assuring
them of God's determination to justify and glorify those
whom he foreknew would accept of his salvation, rather
than to teach the doctrine of "predestination," and that in
the next chapter the fate of those who do not accept God's
grace is really for him a problem, to which he can only reply
by questions and exclamations referring to God's sovereignty
and power, and what seem to him the undeniable facts of
experience.

43. Bible references: Gen. 6:5-7; Gen. 18:20, 21, 26,
etc.; Exod. 32:7-14. Are these passages consistent with
the idea that God knows from eternity everything which is
going to happen ? Notice that in Rom., chap. 9, especially
vs. 19, Paul himself presents the argument against the idea
of complete foreknowledge and determinis-m and has no
logical answer to that argument.

44. Bible references: Gen. 2:16, 17; 3:6, 10, 17; Isa.
1:19, 20; Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5; Mark 12:28-34; Rom.
2:12-15; 14:13-23. especially vss. 14, 20, and 23; I Cor.
6:12; 8:4-13; 10:23 — ii:i; Luke 10:26; Rom. 13:1-10;
Gal. 3 : 24.

45. Bible references: Look up marginal references

APPENDIX II 245

(in Revised Version) to Matt. 5:22; and article on
"Gehenna" in a good Bible dictionary. (The idea of the
fire of Gehenna comes from that of the rubbish fires of the
Valley of Hinnom, and suggests the destruction of that
which has become worthless, not the torturing of that
which has life and possible goodness remaining.) See
also I Tim. 4:2; Rom. 1:24-32; 2:8, 9; II Pet., chaps.
13, 17; Rev. 22:11, 12, 15; Matt. 12:22-37. Note that
the "unpardonable sin" is the calling of works of good-
ness works of evil, attributing works of God's Spirit to the
Evil Spirit. Such absolute failure of moral judgment could
be the result only of long-practiced hypocrisy and sin, and
the reason that the sin is unpardonable is that it is not
realized, acknowledged, or repented of, since the whole
moral nature has become corrupt. Thus the possibility
of committing such a sin, or reaching such a state, is the
worst punishment conceivable.

46. On the subject of this section see also sections 2
and 6 and notes and references belonging to them, and also
the following:

Bible references: Isa. 53:5, 6, 10-12; Matt. 1:21;
20:25-28; Luke is; John 1:29; Acts 13:38, 391 Rom.
6:4-14; 8:9; ICor. ii:i; Gal. 4:19; Eph. 4:13-15; 5:12;
Phil. 3:8-14. These passages call attention to the work of
Christ to free people from sin, the necessity of following
Christ, having his spirit, developing his character, etc. In
addition the following are especially related to salvation as
involving the forgiveness of God, and fellowship with him:
Deut. 30:19, 20; Isa. 1:18; 55^6, 7; Matt. 11:28-30;
Mark 2:17; Acts 11:18; Eph. 2:1,4, 5; Col. 1:20-23.

47. Bible references: Ps. 51:13; Matt. 18:3; Luke
22:32; Acts 3:19; 2:37-42; 16:22-34; 26:9-20; Jas.
5:20; I John 3:7; Pss. 5:12; 11:7; 34:15; 37:17; Isa.
3:10; Ezek. 18; Matt. 9:13; Gen. 28:16. Note the

246 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

difference in location and in direction of movement of the
two sons in the story Luke 15:11-32.

48. Bible references: Matt, 18:1-6, 10, 14; Mark
10:14, 15.

49. Bible references: Acts 2:47 (margin of Revised
Version, "being saved"); Rom. 7:15-25; Phil. 3:11-14;
I John 3: 2, 3.

50. Bible references: Isa. 61:1-3; Rom. 1:16, 17;
3:21-28; 4:1—5:2; 11:6; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:1, 4, 5, 8, 9,
14; Titus 3: 5-7.

51. Bible references: Gen. 1:26, 27; 2:7; Num. 16:22;
27:16; Isa. 9:6; 63:16; 64:8; Ezek. 18:4; Matt. 5:16, 48;
6:1, 4, 6, 8, etc.; Luke 15:11-32; John 6:37; Rom. 9:26.
(Cf., as apparently contrary, Matt. 13:38; Eph. 2:3; I
John 3 : 10.)

52 and 53. See section 38 and notes and references for
the same, and the following:

Bible references: Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:16-21; II
Sam. 12:13, 14; Ps. 103:3; Isa. 1:18; 44:22; Matt.
6:14, 15; Acts 5:31; 13:38; 26:18; Eph. 1:7; 4:32; Col.
1:14; 2:13; 3:13; Jas. 5:15; I John 1:9; 2:12.

CHAPTER VI

55. It is worthy of note that the special purpose in the
Apostles' Creed and the Te Deum of calling attention to the
birth of Jesus "of the virgin Mary" was not to emphasize
the virgin birth but the human birth and thus the humanity
of Jesus. So also Paul (whether referring to the reported
virgin birth or not), in Gal. 4:4, 5, is calling attention to the
humanity of Jesus. The whole gospel picture of Jesus is
understandable only on the theory that Jesus was regarded
as a real man by all among whom he moved, whatever else
some of them came to believe about him. His death is
the final incident in his humanity. The man Jesus died.

APPENDIX II 247

Whatever value the death of Jesus had for humanity, it
must have had as the death of a man. If we think of Jesus
as being in some way God himself, we cannot think of him
as being God in the full meaning of the word, when he died;
for the thought of a dying God, although familiar in non-
Christian religions, is contradictory to the Christian con-
ception of God.

Bible references: Limitations of man: Job 40:4; Pss.
103: 14-16; 39:4-6; Isa. 2:22; Jer. 17:5; Human features or
indications of human nature in Jesus: Matt. 4:1-11; 8: 24;
11:19; Marki3:32; 15:34; Luke2:4o, 52; John4:6; 14:12;
19:28; Gal. 4:4, 5; I Tim. 2:5; Heb. 2:18; 4:15; Relation
of uncertainty of punishment to sin: Eccl. 8:11.

56. Bible references: Apart from the passages about
Jesus, which will be considered later, the following are
related to the matter of this section: Man in the image of
God and living by God's "breath" ("spirit"): Gen. 1:26,
27; 2:7; Anthropomorphisms, i.e., passages representing
God as being or acting like a man in ways which we
cannot now accept as literally true although they were
originally understood literally: Gen. 1:3, 31; 2:2, 8, 21,
22; 3:8, 21; 6:6, 7; 7:16; 8:21; 9:13-16; 11:7; Theoph-
anies (appearances of God) in which God is said to have
appeared in human form (note that in several of the passages
it is related that an "angel" or "the angel of Jehovah"
appeared, but that in the course of the story in each case,
in at least one place, the word "angel," i.e., messenger,
drops out and it is said that Jehovah spoke, or the person
looked upon Jehovah, etc. This suggests the probability
that in the earlier form of the stories, the word "angel"
did not appear, but that it was later inserted when it was
no longer believed possible for a mortal to see God) : Gen.
17:1-3, 22; 18:12, 20-22, ss; 32:24-29; Exod. 3:2 ff.;
32:10, 14, 16; 33-^^, 18-23; 34:5-7; Judges 6:11-24;

248 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

13:3-22; passages suggesting superiority of God to man:
Pss. 50:21; 104; Isa. 55:8, 9; John 1:18; Jas. 1:17; I John
i:5;4:8.

57. As to the general historical value of the Gospels, see
introductions to the Gospels, by best modern scholars,
articles in Bible dictionaries on the New Testament,
authenticity. Canon, etc., and on the "synoptic problem,"
and the separate gospels.

58. Bible references: John 8:46; Heb. 4:15; Acts
2:22; II Cor. 5:21; I Pet. 2:22; I John 3: 5.

59. On the subject of this section see also sections 6, 30,
and 31 and references for them in notes, and the following:

Bible references: Jesus' opposition to sin shown in its
condemnation and forgiveness, etc.: Matt. 1:21; Sermon on
the Mount, chaps. 5, 6, and 7; Matt. 9:1-7; 11:20-24;
21:12, 13; 23:13-39; Luke 7:36-50; chap. 15; 23:34;
John 1:29; 8:1-11; 8:31-36; I John 4:10; His love for
men: Matt. 9:35-38; 10:1,7,8; 11:4,5; 11:28-30; 23:37;
Luke 4:16-21; 6:27, and in general his works of healing
for all who came to him; His suffering and death, its cause,
voluntariness, purpose, results, etc.; Matt. 20:28; Luke
9:22-24; Matt. 26:26-29; John 10:15-18; Matt. 26:59;
27:18, 41, 42; Luke 23:13-25; John 11:47-53; 12:10, 19,
32, zy, 16:13, 14; Rom. 5:6-11; 5:19, 21; I Cor. 15:3;
II Cor. 5:15; I Thess. 5:9, 10; Rev. 1:5; 5:9, 10.

60. On this section see the New Testament references to
sections 30 and 31 and also the following:

Bible references: John 8:23, 26-29; 17:3; Gal. 3:25;
Eph. 1:17-23; 3:14-19; Phil. 2:5-11.

61. Bible references: See section 5 and references and
the following: Matt. 4:18, 19; 8:22; 10:38; 19:21; John
8:12; 10:27; 12:26; 13:14-16; 15:1-10; I Cor. ii:i;
Phil. 3:13, 14; I Thess. 1:6; Heb. 2:18; 4:15; I Pet. 2:21;
Rev. 2 : 10.

APPENDIX II 249

For further consideration —

(a) What are the principles according to which we
should make use of the example of Jesus as a guide to our
action ? Should we aim to heal by suggestion or faith, to
preach in the open air, to wander from place to place, to be
poor, to die a martyr's death, to remain unmarried, because
he did ? What difference should it make to us, in our lives,
whether he was a "total abstainer," a worker for political,
social, or industrial reform, a university-educated man, a
believer in the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, or not ?
{b) In what ways is it easier for a man to live a Christlike
life today than in the time of Christ ? What has Christian
faith had to do with the improvement, and what is its
significance for the future ?

CHAPTER VII

63. See note on section 45 on Gehenna.

64. On the subject of this section and some of the
succeeding ones, compare section 41 and notes, and the
following books: Meyer, Human Personality and Its
Survival after Death (Longmans Green & Co., 1907); James,
Ingersoll Lecture on Immortality (Houghton Mifflin Co.,
1900); Brown, The Christian Hope (Scribner, 1912).

Bible references: Mark 12:18-27; I Cor. 15:12-26;
II Cor. 5:1-8; Phil. 1:21-23; I Thess. 4:13-18; Heb.
6:17-20; 11:13-16; 13:14; Rev. 2:10.

65. With regard to Bible passages which have been
used as a basis for the doctrine that all who fail to attain
salvation by believing certain things about Christ are to be
eternally tormented, the following may be said. First, no
Old Testament passages bear on such a doctrine. The word
translated "hell" in the King James Version in the Old
Testament is the Hebrew word "Sheol," which means the
place of the dead or the grave, and it was thought of as a

250 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

place of undesirable and shadowy existence to which all,
good and bad, went at death. Secondly, in the New
Testament, passages referring to punishment of wicked men
after death use either the word Hades or Gehenna, for
"hell." Hades corresponds to the Hebrew Sheol, and
refers to the place of the dead, both good and bad. In the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus, both are in Hades, but
the rich man is in a place of sufifering, separated from the
place of happiness where Lazarus is, by a great gulf.
Nothing is said here about eternal suffering. In notes on
section 45 we have spoken of Gehenna and its meaning.
Expressions like those in Mark 9:48, "where their worm
dieth not, and their fire is not quenched," are far better
interpreted as referring to an unescapable process of destruc-
tion than to an unceasing torture of the indestructible.
It is the worm and the fire, and not the life of the sinner
that is spoken of as unending. Expressions like that in
Matt. 10:28, "Fear him who is able to destroy both soul
and body in hell," must be taken to mean what they say.
To "destroy" is not to preserve indestructible for the sake
of tormenting. A few passages, such as Matt. 25:41, 46;
Jude, vs. 7 ; Rev. 14:10, 11; 20 : 10, seem to hold the idea of
never-ending suffering for the wicked. We must hold them
to represent the thought of men in a time when the right-
eousness and love of God was not so clearly realized as to
make it inconceivable, as it should be for us at this time.

66. Bible references: In regard to the body after death,
see I Cor. 15:35-58; Phil. 3:20-21. In regard to the time
when this body is given, or the time of the resurrection, etc.,
see notes on section 68.

67. Bible references: John 14:2, 3; Rev. 2:7; 21:1 —
22:5.

68. On matters treated in this section see articles in
Bible dictionaries on Judgment, Parousia (second coming of

APPENDIX II 251

Christ), resurrection, eschatology. The expectation is
clearly shown in the New Testament, outside of the Book of
Revelation, that Jesus would soon return visibly to earth, to
judge it and establish his kingdom. This return was
looked for confidently, but in vain, by Paul and other
disciples, within their lifetime. We have good reason to
believe that the teaching of Jesus on this subject was not
rightly understood and taught by his disciples. We see
that God is still establishing his kingdom in the same
spiritual way which Jesus used when he was on the earth,
and constantly judging men and nations. We have no good
reason to believe that he will some time abandon this way for
the way of outward compulsion by supernatural, physical
force. See Sharman, The Teaching of Jesus about the Future
(University of Chicago Press, 1909); and the following:

Bible references: Dan. 7:9-14; Matt. 10:23; 16:27;
16:28; 24:3-51; 26:64; Mark 8: 38 ff.; 13:26; Luke 21: 27;
Acts 1 : 11; I Cor. 15:23; IThess. 1:10; 4:16; II Thess.
1:7,10; 2:1,8; Jas. 5:7f.; II Pet. 1:16; 3:4,12; I John
2:28; Rev. 1:7; 20:11-15; IICor.5:i-8; Phil. 1:21-23;
I Thess. 4:13-18; Matt. 10:15; 11:22; 12:36-41; John
12:31; Heb. 9:27; II Pet. 2:9; 3:7; I John 4:17; Rom.
2:16; 14:10; ICor. 6:2, 3; II Tim. 4:1; I Pet. 4:5.

69. See last section and notes and references, and
following passages referring to the second coming or
Parousia:

Bible References: Matt. 10:23; 16:28; 24:3-44; 26:
64; Mark 8:38 f.; 13:26; Luke 21:27; Acts i: 11; ICor.
15:23; IThess. 1:10; 4:16; II Thess. 1:7,10; 2:1,8;
Jas. 5:75.; II Pet. 1:16; 3:4,12; I John 2:28; Rev. 1:7;
John 21:22.
For further consideration —

If Jesus were to reign over all men and nations as an
earthly sovereign, with his capital at Jerusalem, according

252 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

to the thought of the millennium and the early disciples' idea
of the messianic kingdom, what problems as to form and
method of government would be involved for our thought,
and in what ways could we think of such a kingdom as being
an improvement over present methods of self-government
which the most advanced nations are learning and
developing ?

CHAPTER VIII

70. Bible references: Matt. 22:35-40; 25:31-46;
Luke 10:25-37; Jas. 2:1, 14-26; I John 2:3-6, 9-1 1;
3:7, 10, II, 14-18; 4:7, 8, 20, 21.

71. Bible references: Matt. 6:6-15; 26:41; Luke
18:1-14; John 16:23, 24; Rom. 12:12; Eph. 6:18; Col.
4:2; IThess. 5:17; I Tim. 2 : 1-3, 8.

72. Bible references: Matt. 7:7-11; 18:19,20; 21:22;
Mark 11:24, 25; Luke 11:5-13; I John 5:14-16.

For further consideration —

(o) Could a person who had true faith in God (i.e., who
had the right belief about the nature and will of God) take
Matt. 17:20 literally ^nd ask that a mountain be moved
from one place to another for the sake of the marvel and the
showing of the power of faith ? {h) In the light of I John
5:14-16 and other passages, how must we understand the
apparently unlimited promises like Matt. 18:19; 21:22 and
Mark 11:24, 25? {c) Should we consider events which
surprise us on account of their unusual character, improba-
bility, etc., if they happen after a prayer that some-
thing should be done which is fulfilled by these events,
as more truly or more evidently answers to prayer
than events whose occurrence seems natural, probable,
or explicable?

73. Bible references: Num. 23:19; Ps. 119:89-91;
Mai. 3:6; II Tim. 2:13; Heb. 6:18; Jao. 1:17; 4:3; I
John 3:22.

APPENDIX II 253

74. Bible references: John 14:13, 14; 15:16; Jas. 1:5-8;

5:13-18.

For further consideration —

(a) What is the right meaning of prayer "in the name
of Jesus" and what wrong ideas are often held about prayer
in Jesus' name ? {h) What are the chief spiritual blessings
which we may obtain through prayer ? {c) How would you
explain the coming of these spiritual benefits as a result of
prayer by the psychological influence of the prayer itself
upon him who prays? {d) What principles as to time,
manner, contents of prayer, etc., may be deduced from this
understanding of the psychological relation between prayer
and its results? {e) Is the psychological result of prayer
upon him who prays, to be considered as any the less the
action of God upon him, in answer to that prayer, because
we can partly understand why these results follow as
psychological effects ? (/) Is there any possibility of prov-
ing that the results of prayer in bringing spiritual blessings
to him who prays are entirely the natural reflex action of the
prayer, or may we reasonably suppose that there is also a
positive and added spiritual influence of God upon the
suppliant, which could therefore not be obtained by any
other psychological exercise ?

75. Bible references: Deut. 6:6-9; Josh. 1:8; Pss. 1:2;
19:7-11; 119:9, IS, etc.; Prov. 6:20-23; Isa. 20:21; 55:11;
John8:3i,32; Phil. 4:8; €01.3:16; II Tim. 3: 15, 16.

76. Bible references: Deut. 31:12, 13; II Kings 17:36;
Pss. 5:7; 22:22; 27:4; 35:18; 42:4; 45:11; 48:9; 55:14;
63:1,2; 84:1-10; 95:6; 96:8,9; 100:1-4; 107:32; 116:
17; 122:1; 149:1; Luke 4:8; Acts2:iff.; Luke 4:16;
Heb. 10:25; Rev. 14:7-

77. See references for section 75.

78. Bible references: John 10:32; Acts 10:38; I Tim.
2:10; 5:10; Matt. 25:34-40; Jas. 2:14-20; I Tim. 6:17,

254 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

i8; Titus 3:1, 8, 14; John 15:8; Matt. 5:16; I Pet. 2:12;
Jas. 1:25, 27; I Tim. 5:25; Matt. 10:42; 19:21; Heb.
10:24; I Cor., chap. 13; Luke 10:25-37; I John 3:16-23;
Heb. 13:1-3; Acts 2:44, 45.

79. Bible references: Acts 6:2; Rom. 14:17; Matt.

6:31-34.

80. Bible references: Acts, chap. 15, especially vs. 28;
I Cor. 12:4-31; 13:1-13; and see also sections 23, 25, and
32 and references in notes.

81 and 82. Bible references: John 10:16; 17:11, 21-23;
Rom. 12:4, 5; I Cor. 10:17; 12:5, 12, 13, 26, 27;
Eph. 4:4-6, 11-16.
For further consideration —

(a) What tests, if any, did Jesus require a man to meet
that he might become one of his disciples ? {h) What con-
ditions keep various denominations from uniting in one,
today, and how far can these hindrances be regarded as
resulting from readiness to be led by God's Spirit, and how
far as promoting the true interests of the kingdom of God ?
{c) What evils are there in sectarianism and denominational
rivalry? {d) On what principles should it be possible for
different denominations to agree and unite into one organi-
zation ?

83 and 84. Bible references: Matt. 20:25-28; Acts
1:8; II Cor. 6:3-6; I Tim. 3:1-14; II Tim. 2:21-25;
3:14-17; Titus 1:5-14; 2:7, 8. Note that the words
"bishop," "deacon," and "elder" are used in the New
Testament mainly in their original sense of overseer,
ministrant, and older person, not with the technical mean-
ings and functions which have been given to them since,
in the development of church organization.

85. Bible references: Matt. 4:17; 10:7; 28:19, 20;
John 12:32; II Cor. 5:18, 19; Rom. 10:14, ^S*

INDEX

INDEX

Note. — ^The figures in the following index refer to pages of the book, except
when preceded by the sign §, which indicates "section." The material in the
appendices is not indexed except in a few cases where explanations or questions
throw some direct light upon the subject referred to. For further use of the
notes, the reader should find the topic in the text and then look for the notes on
the section in which it is treated.

Advent. See Second Advent
Anthropomorphism, 136, 147,

148
Apocalypses, 161, 162, 179
Asceticism, 4, 12, 15, 52, 151
Atheism, i, 3, 7, n^, 183
Atonement, § 59, i49» ^S^y

§61, §62

Bergson, 242, 243, 244
Bible, 17, 18, 23
—Infallibility of, 234-37
—Use of, chap, iii, 77) § 63,

§ 75, 237, 238 ^^
—Value of, chap, n
Brotherhood of man, 195, 201.

See also Love to man
Browning, Robert, 172
Buddhism, i, 6, 7, 22, 52

Catholicism, Roman, 20, 46, 47

Character, §45, 1^3, §§46-49,
123, §54, §65, §66, 172.
See also Righteousness

Children, 12, 117

Christ. See Jesus

Christian Science, 30, 31, 52,
80, 100

Christianity, Defined, 3

— Progress in, 10, 21, 22, § 25,
§ 63. See also Religion,
Development in; and Prog-
ress in religion

— Supremacy of, 3, 5, § 3,
§4, §8, §8s

Church, Christian, 71, 142,
§§ 76-79, § 85, 230

— Institutional, § 78, § 79
— Membership, § 82
— Ministry of, 213, § 83, § 84
— Organization, 198, § 80, § 81
— Union, 211
Clairvoyance, 132
Confucianism, 6
Confucius, 13, 42
Conscience, § 7, 38, 46, 60,

61, no, III
Conservatism, 16, 17, S3y 54,

207, 208
Conversion, 105, § 47, § 48,

120
Creation, 56, 59, §§35-37,

103, 242
Creed, 15, 17, 65, 81, 113, 114,

§54, §62, 169, 212, 213,

§ 84, 246

Death, 96, §64, §65, §68
Depravity, § 51
Determinism. See Predestina-
tion
Devil, 4, 124
Doubt. See Atheism
Duty, § 13, 133, 183

Education in religion, § 77,

203. § 79, 214
Evil, Physical, § 38, § 53
Evolution, 57, §36, 92, 103,

242

Faith. §9, § lo, § 13, § 24, 70,
83, ^33, §34. 91, 94, 95,
105, 128, 129, §§ 70-72

257

258 CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

Fallibility, Human, 36, 42,
§22, 67, 68, 99, 140, 15s,
217, 236, 237

Forgiveness, 114, 123, 127,
128, § 59

Future life, 13, 96, chap, vn

Gautama Buddha, 6, 22

Genesis, 57, 59

God, Existence of, 27, §33,

§ 34
—Fatherhood of, 73> § 3°, § 3i,

§39, §51,144, 163,195,201
—Fellowship with, 73, 98,

§45, §46, §50, §71. See

also Prayer
—Foreknowledge of, § 43- See

also Will, Freedom of
— Immanence of, 89, 92
—Limitations of, 93, § 43, 1 75,

§ 73
—Nature of, 14, 45, 7i, 73,

chap, iv, §43, §56, 144,

§ 59, § 60
— Omnipotence, 89, 93, 106,

137, 188
— Omniscience, §43, 137
— Personality of, 73, § 28,

§ 56, 144, 193
-Will of, 61, 89, §37, 98,

99, 107, 108, 112, § 72, 188,

190, 194. See also Right-
eousness
Gospels, 70, 71, 72, 83, §57,

225, 226

Habit, § 45

Health, Physical. See Chris-
tian Science; Individual
satisfaction

Heaven, 113, 114, 161, § 67.
See also Future life

Hell, § 63, § 65, 245, 249, 250

Heresy. See Creed; Truth in
religion; Atheism

Hinduism, 6

History, § 22, 179

Holiness. See Perfection
Holy Spirit, 17, 18, 38, 44, 55,

§26, §32, 118, 124, 153,

167, § 80
— Blasphemy against, 245
Home, 12
Hypocrisy, 121, § 70

Immortality, §§ 63-67. See
also Death; Future life

Incarnation, 70, § 60. See also
Jesus, Person and work

Individual satisfaction, § 2, § 5,
15, §11, §20, 224, 225

Jesus, Authority of, in religion,

§ 7, 19, 20, 22, 162, 163, 177,

206, 218, 230
—Divinity of, § 56, § 58, § 59,

§60
— Example, 134, § 61, 249
— Historical existence, 82, 83,

§57
—Humanity of, § 55, § 57,

§ 58, § 61, 162, 246
— Life and teaching, § 5, § 6,

§7, 51, §26, 80, 83, §55,

§ 57, § 58, § 61, 237, 238
— Person and work, 22, 23, 70,

76, 81, §31, 113, 114, 115,

123-125, chap, vi
— Resurrection of, 142, 155
John, Book of. See Gospels
Judgment, 162, § 68
Justification, 35, § 50

Kant, Immanuel, 13, 120, 166
Kingdom of God or heaven, 14,

15, 178, 201, §85
Knowledge, §9, §33, §55.

See also Faith
Koran, 8, 23, 42, 50

Love, to God, 14, no, 123,

137, 154, 183
—to man 2, 7, 13, 14, 15, 107,

no, 137, 146, 154, § 70.

INDEX

259

See also Brotherhood of man;
Social service
Luther, Martin, 122

Man, Ideal, §56, §58, §59,

§61
— Nature of, i, 78, § 41, § 42,

§51, §55, §64
Materialism, 2, 103, § 36. See

also Evolution
Matter, 88, 89, 102
Mental healing. See Psycho-
therapy; Christian Science
Messiah, 72, 161
Millennium, § 69, 251, 252
Ministry, 213, § 83, § 84
Miracle, 70, 89, §39, §40.

See also Supernatural
Missions, § 85
Mohammedanism, 6, 7, 8, 22,

23, 52, 54
Money-making, 2, 135
Monotheism, 67, § 27
Mormonism, 77, 239
Motives, 18, 74, § 44, III, 116,

123, 126, 176. See also

Character
Music, 197
Mystery, 81

Nature, Uniformity of. See
Science, Physical; and
Supernatural

"New Thought," 80

Nirvana, 7

Obedience. See God, Will of;

Righteousness; Sin
Optimism, 172, 180

Pain. See Evil, Physical

Palestine, 51, 233

Pantheism, 3, § 29

Perfection, § 49, § 61, 170

Pessimism, 7, 177, 178

Philanthropy. See Brother-
hood of man; Social service;
Love to man

Polygamy, 8

Polytheism, 66, § 27

Prayer, 27, 79, 98, §§ 71-74

Predestination, § 43, 244. See
also Will, Freedom of; God,
Foreknowledge of

Progress in religion, 8, 10, 21,
22, 23, 41, §25, §63, 207,
208

Protestantism, 20, 47, 86

Providence, § 37

Psychology, 102, §42, 120,
121, 164, 243

Psychotherapy, 100

Punishment. See Sin, Punish-
ment of

Reasonableness. See Truth of
religion

Regeneration, 118, 125. See
also Conversion; Salvation

Religion, Atheistic. See Athe-
ism

— Definition, § i, § 2, 32

— Development in, 8, §4, 21,
36, 37, 64, §25, 73. See
also Progress in religion

— False, 4

— Final, 9, § 8

— Historical, § 3, § 4, § 8

—Ideal, 3, § 2, § 8, 32

— Local, 50

—Practicality of, § 20, 233,
234. See also Individual
satisfaction; Religion, Social

—Social, §2, §4, §12, §20,
95, § 76, § 78

Repentance, 114, 127, 128

Resurrection, 166, 169. See
also Future life; Immor-
tality

Revelation, 38, chap, ii, chap,
iii, § 56, 232

Revelation, Book of, 161

Righteousness, §2, §6, §12,
§13, §23, 76, §29, §30,
§ 34, 94, 107, § 64, 224, 225.

26o CHRISTIAN FAITH FOR MEN OF TODAY

See also Salvation;
God, VViU of

Sin;

54,

Salvation, 94, §§ 46-50,

§59, §61, §62
Sanctification, § 49
Science, Physical, 54, 56, 57,

59, 88, 89, §36, §39, 243.

See also Evolution
Second Advent, § 68, § 69,

250-252
Sects, 22, 47, 61, 198. See also

Church
Self-sacrifice, 12, 151, 202
Sermon, 197, 200, 214
Sin, 124, chap, v, 145,

153
— Cause of, 94, 106, 121
— Forgiveness of. See

giveness
— Nature of, § 44
— Original, 119, 124, 125
— Punishment of, 94,

§46, §52, §53, 133,

175
— Unpardonable, 245 .

146,

For-

§ 45,
174,

Social service, § 70, § 78, § 79.

See also Brotherhood of man
Socrates, 13, 133, 166
Spirit, 78, § 41, 189, 190. See

also Holy Spirit
Sunday school, § 77
Supernatural, 42, 56, 84, § 39,

§40, §69, 189, 192, 193.

See also Miracle

Teaching, Suggestions for, 223
Tradition, § 7, 20. See also

Conservatism
Trinity, §31, §32
Tri theism, § 27
Truth of religion, § 7, §§ 9-12,

40, 53, 54, 216

Virgin Mary, 76, 246

Will, Freedom of, 94, § 42,

§ 43, 190, 244
Worship, § 76, § 79

Xenophanes, 136

Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation, 205

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