In the “Passage to India,” Walt Whitman speaks of the longing of the soul
for the “Comrade Perfect,” and asks if somewhere such a comrade does not
wait for us. We all know perfectly well that life is not all that it ought
to be without the presence of the Personality which completes us.
There is such a comrade, and He does something better than wait for us. He
comes to us. The abstraction of the idea of God found concrete realization
in Him who was called Immanuel, or God with us. All this was made more
intimate still by the coming of the spirit divine, which brought God not
only to us but into us.
God does not rule the world from some distant throne but from the dusty
road. He does not occupy a height and frown upon His people in patronizing
condescension. He seeks a warm place in their hearts, where He may guide
their thoughts and actions. The divine plan looks only to the constant
narrowing of the chasm between man and God.
The philosophers and theologians dispute whether God is transcendent or
immanent, whether He rules from above us or beside us. As is true of many
arguments, both viewpoints are right. God transcends us in all power, all
knowledge, and all goodness. At the same time, He is immanent in the
ministry of Jesus, in the guidance of Providence, and in the presence of
the Holy Spirit. The life of Jesus makes that plain, for Jesus is a
picture of God going where men go, living where men live, and meeting the
struggles that men meet.
And so He is the Comrade Perfect. No one needs to be friendless in this
world. No one needs to be lonely. We are always within speaking distance
of an unfailing Friend. We need to search neither across the years nor
across the miles. We need only to look and listen, and He is there. We
need only to open the way, and He enters our hearts in response to our
silent welcome. We need only to make a place, and He walks beside us,
whatever our way may be. He is the great completing element in our
otherwise incomplete lives.
Four Addresses to Young People (1929)
(Ages 16 to 22)