_THE PLACE OF JESUS CHRIST_
In the ascent of the soul do light and power come to its assistance from
outside and from above? Is evolution alone a sufficient guarantee that
it will some time reach its goal? These are not so much questions of
theory as of fact, and as such will be treated in this chapter.
Light and power have come to the race in its struggles upward from one
source as from no other. In history one figure appears colossal and
unique. Whether we classify Jesus Christ with men, or regard Him as a
special divine manifestation is of little consequence in our inquiry. If
He is the consummate flower of the evolutionary process, then, because
of some unexplained influence, that process reached a degree of
perfection in Him that it has reached in no other. If it pleased God in
a single instance to hasten the process, the result is not less
inspiring and illuminating than it would have been if the divine purpose
had been directly and instantly accomplished. The teachers and leaders
have ever been helpers of their fellow-men. In evolution, as in the race
of life, some always move more swiftly than others; and those who are
far in advance may, if they choose, become the servants of those who
move more slowly. One Being has appeared in the midst of the ages who is
so far superior to all others that He may be regarded as the revelation
of the soul's true goal, but who is, at the same time, so unlike others
as to convince many, at least, that He is also the revelation in
humanity of a higher power which is cooperating with the soul in its
ascent.
In this chapter no attempt will be made to meet the various questions
that the formal theologians have raised. I cannot feel that such
subjects as "satisfaction," "expiation," "plan of salvation" are of any
practical importance, and I leave them to those who care for them. In
the meantime let us ask, What aid does the soul need in its passage
through its life on the earth? It needs light and power. We do not
meditate long on the soul's advance without realizing that it has been
constantly reinforced from outside itself. This phase of our subject
will be considered in the chapter on "The Inseparable Companion."
It may, I think, be said that what the soul needs more than anything
else is light, and that all necessary light has been furnished. Jesus
said, "I am the Light of the World." That statement is literally true.
There may be room for perplexity as to the credibility of parts of the
New Testament, and as to what is called the miraculous element in
history. There is also room for difference of opinion as to the nature
of the person of Jesus, and as to His supernatural mission; but few
would deny that, if they could feel sure that He was actually from
above, they would accept His message because it contains all the ethical
and spiritual knowledge that men need in their earthly lives.
A single assumption is made at the beginning of our study. It is as
follows: What satisfies our minds and hearts, in their hours of deepest
need and brightest illumination, should always be accepted as true until
it is proven to be false.
The profoundest subjects of thought and life are illuminated by the
ministry and the teaching of Jesus Christ. The last word concerning
these subjects has not yet been spoken. Even our Bible is but a
collection of scattered rays of the true light. What vaster revelations
may come to men in future ages no one can predict. As growth goes on,
the soul will be fitted to receive messages which it could not now
understand; but all that men need to know in their present stage of
development is clearly revealed in the teaching, and the example, of the
Man of Nazareth and Calvary. He is the brightest light on the deepest
and darkest problems.
Let us try to understand and define the place of Jesus Christ in the
ascent of the soul.
Jesus Christ has given the world a rational and satisfying doctrine of
God. Other teachers have tried to answer the inquiry, Does God exist?
Jesus treated that question as an astronomer treats the sun. No sane
scientist would fill his pages with speculations as to the reality of
the sun. It moves and shines in the heavens; beginning with that fact,
the astronomer asks concerning the function which the sun performs in
the solar system and in the universe.
Jesus discarded speculation and found the key to the doctrine of God in
the family, the simplest and most elemental of human institutions. There
may be wide differences concerning the nature of government, the
sanctions of law, etc., but there is no room for debate concerning the
meaning of the parental relation. It interprets itself. Tell a child
that a man is his father, and he can be told no more. The name
interprets the relation. In earlier times the vastness of the creation
was but dimly appreciated, and then the idea of God was equally
contracted. Jesus taught that the Deity, whether the conception of Him
was small or large, was to be interpreted in terms of fatherhood. What
an ideal father is to his family God is to the race and to the universe.
That meant one thing when the father was little more than the protector
of a tribe; it means something greater, but not essentially different
now. The conception of the universe is one of the most revolutionary
that ever entered the human mind. The conception of a tribe is larger
than that of a family; of a nation larger than that of a tribe; of the
race larger than that of the nation; but the conception of the universe,
with its myriads of worlds and possible multiplicity of races, is the
amazing contribution which science has made to the thought of to-day.
While the conception of the Deity has been enlarged the principle of
interpretation remains unchanged. Are we thinking of Jehovah the God of
Israel? He is the Father of the tribe. Has our idea expanded so as to
include all the nations? God is the Father not of a limited number but
of all that dwell upon the earth. Has the horizon been lifted to take in
heavenly heights? Are we now thinking of immensities, eternities, and
the cosmic process? The teaching of Jesus is not transcended; we still
continue to interpret in terms of fatherhood, and say all time, all
space, all men, all purposes and processes in the infinities and
eternities are in the hands of the Father. But when we have ascended to
such a height what does the word Father mean? Exactly the same in
essence that it meant in the humblest of Judean households among which
Jesus moved. The father there was the one who made the home, sustained
it, defended it, watched over it by day and by night; in exactly the
same way the followers of Jesus think of the Spirit who pervades all
things. He creates, He cares for, He defends, He provides, He loves, He
causes all processes to work for blessing to the intelligent beings who
are His children.
Jesus in a peculiar way identified himself with the Deity. That does
not mean that all the divine omnipotence and glory were in that Man of
Nazareth, but it does mean that all of the Deity that could be expressed
in terms of humanity were visible in Him, so that those who saw Jesus
saw God as far as He could be manifested in the flesh. Beyond that veil
were abysses and heights of being which could not be expressed in human
terms; but in all the spaces we may dare to believe that there is
nothing essentially different from what was revealed in that unique Man.
A bay makes a curve in the Atlantic seaboard; its shallow waters are all
from the deeps of the sea. Tides that move along all the seas, and
forces which reach to the stars, fill that basin among the hills. The
bay is the ocean, but not all of it; for if we were to sail around the
earth we should find the same body of water reaching out to vaster
spaces.
Even so the person of Jesus included all of God that humanity can
contain, but Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Gethsemane and Calvary were to the
Deity as some land-locked harbor to the immensities of the universe. In
Him love reached to enemies, to the outcast, to those who had been
called refuse and rubbish, to men of all classes in all the ages, to
lepers, beggars, criminals, lunatics, harlots, thieves, little children;
those who appreciated and those who hated alike were all included in the
infinite purpose of blessing.
Those who have seen the love of Jesus, and its ministries, have seen the
Father; but beyond the love of Galilee and Calvary reach depths of love
which even the cross is powerless to express. Divine sympathy and divine
affection bind all men in a universal family; this we know, and this is
all we know.
That teaching is so simple that a child can understand it; so profound
that no philosopher has ever transcended it; and so satisfying that
neither child nor philosopher would have it changed either as to its
simplicity or its fullness.
Jesus furnishes the light which the soul needs on the nature of man.
Wonderfully has Holman Hunt elaborated this truth in his picture "The
Light of the World." The ideal humanity never had more beautiful
expression than in that great sermon in color. The poise of the figure
of Jesus indicates strength and self-control; the thorns on the brow
tell their story of sorrow and pain; the hand at the door shows that one
man at least is mindful of the welfare of His brother; the radiance on
the face and the inspiration in the eyes are the outshining of the
goodness which dwells within; while the light from the whole person,
which reaches far into the gloom, shows that the more nearly perfect the
being the more beneficent and beautiful his influence must be. Is Jesus
Christ the brightness of the Father's glory? He reveals also the beauty
and helpfulness, the love and the service of the ideal man. He is the
pattern of our common humanity. Are we in the midst of a process of
evolution? And is the man that is to be still far in the distance? When
he shall walk this earth he will be the spiritual reproduction of Jesus,
changed only to meet the requirements of other times and new conditions.
The revelation of the ideal humanity was hardly less revolutionary than
that of the enlarged universe. Formerly men were regarded as things,
commodities to be bought and sold, creatures without souls, objects to
be used. But Jesus taught that all men are children of God; therefore
that they have the very life of God; therefore that they are created for
His eternity, and will forever approach His perfection. This vision of
the perfected race has been at work changing national boundaries,
destroying hoary institutions, undermining thrones, and making a new
world. A glance shows the revolutionary quality of His teaching. Slavery
was the curse of every land. With force on the one side and weakness on
the other oppression was inevitable. Jesus taught that even weakness may
be divine, and lo! from every civilized land slavery has already gone,
and from the world it is fast disappearing.
According to the orthodox economic doctrine, supply and demand was the
law that should govern the relation between employer and employee. The
largest profit and the smallest wages was the watchword. As the teaching
of Jesus has penetrated further into the dealings of man with man
employers are beginning to realize that labor has to do with human
beings; that manhood is enduring and that conditions are ephemeral; and
that whosoever oppresses his brother, even in the name of economic law,
at last will have to reckon with the Almighty. Thus a new and more
beneficent social order is slowly but surely emerging.
The doctrine of the survival of the fittest is, even now, applied to men
where the teaching of Jesus that Providence has made a way for the
survival of the unfit is unknown or ignored. In all lands the revelation
in Jesus of the ideal manhood, and of the destiny toward which all men
are moving is changing and glorifying human society. He is the one whom
"the low-browed beggar," and the criminal with a vicious heredity, are
some time to approach. Is it difficult to select the one phrase of all
human utterances which has exerted the largest influence in ameliorating
the human condition? Would it not be,--"Inasmuch as ye did it unto one
of the least of these, ye did it unto Me." The identification of
humanity with Deity, the revelation of the divine in the human, the
solemn truth that no one can injure or neglect his brother without, at
the same time, violating all that is sacred and holy in the universe is
the culminating point in the revelation of man to himself. In the light
which Jesus sheds on humanity all men appear in their enduring rather
than their transitory relations.
The life and teaching of Jesus make the awful and insoluble mystery of
suffering endurable. He satisfies no curiosity on this subject. Why
suffering is permitted He does not tell us. He never allowed himself to
be diverted from His one purpose, which was not to solve problems but to
improve conditions. If any one approaches the New Testament expecting to
find an answer to his speculative questions he will be disappointed; but
if he asks, How may I so use the conditions in which I am placed that
they will minister to my spiritual purification and power? he will
receive a definite and satisfying reply. Why need sorrow, suffering,
sin, and death invade the fair realm into which man has been born? Other
teachers seek to answer this question but Jesus is silent. How may
sorrow, suffering, and even moral evil be made ministers of an upward
movement? On this subject Jesus speaks with a tone of authority. Among
the world's teachers He was the first to declare that while austere
experiences are not good in themselves they may, uniformly, become means
of moral and spiritual progress. The sweet may always be found in the
bitter. Sorrow may always be made a blessing. Tears never need be
wasted. Struggle always adds to strength; and sympathy is multiplied
when one bears the grief and carries the burden of another.
Do not brood over what you are called to endure, but seek for the
secret of spiritual help which is hidden within, and you will find that
on every grief and every pain you may rise, as on stepping-stones, to
higher things.
Jesus was the supreme optimist. Those who study life and history in the
light which shines from Him see that no human being walks with aimless
feet. They do not think of men as unrelated units, but as bound by love
to one another, and as living under the eye and in the strength of God.
In that light sorrow and pain may be justified, even though in
themselves they are hateful. The poison which destroys life, if rightly
used, will save life.
Apart from God and His purpose of love, nothing is more to be dreaded
than pain; but in His hands pain becomes the servant and not the master
of men.
I can think of nothing more dreary than the study of human life and
history apart from the interpretations put upon them by Jesus. Then one
generation seems to follow another, and the long procession, even though
the character of those composing it steadily improves, always ends at
the same goal,--the grave. Millions live and die like the beasts that
perish. They aspire, struggle, and are determined to rise, but just when
they are fitted to endure, and to enter upon ampler spheres of service,
the curtain falls on the tragedy, the stage scenery is changed, a new
company of players takes their places, and the farce, for it is a farce
as well as a tragedy, goes on from century to century, and there is no
meaning in anything. If that were the true interpretation of life, on
earth's loftiest mountain there might well be raised a temple in honor
of death; and around it all the races of men be invited to join in the
chorus, "Happy is the next one who dies!"
But a better interpretation of human life's mystery has been given.
Jesus looked over its apparent desolation and confusion and poured upon
it divine light. He taught that it is not the Father's will that even
one should perish. Men are not being ground in an infinite mill, but
they are being refined and purified by the only processes which will
develop in them both strength and beauty. Out of confusion harmony will
come, and out of the battle of the elements peace will dawn at last.
To those who know that pain and sorrow are ministers of strength and
sympathy, that by them narrow horizons are widened and deserts made to
blossom, human life does not seem so confused and terrible as it has
sometimes been pictured. Jesus makes evident the upward movement of the
race, and shows, let me repeat, that it is "under the eye and in the
strength of God." He was made perfect through suffering. The thorns on
His brow tell their own pathetic story. The passion vine above His head,
and beneath His feet, indicate that even His sufferings are not without
a purpose of blessing, and therefore are fully justified.
And now we approach the saddest of all the dark experiences through
which the soul passes,--the mystery of sin. Of its enormity I have
already spoken; but what about its origin, its uses, and its
continuance? The question of its origin Jesus does not even mention. It
is not recognized as having any uses. It may be made an occasion of
good, but it is never ordained in order that good may come. Hardly any
other subject occupies so large a place in the teachings of Jesus. It
was said of Him, "His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins;" and of Him Paul wrote, "God commendeth His love
toward us in that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
The terrible blight of moral evil, whatever its genesis, cannot be
explained away. Jesus passed by all other questions and devoted the
largest part of His ministry, as a teacher, to showing how the soul may
escape from the power, and be delivered from the bondage, of sin. This
is the practical problem. As one surveys the race the imperative inquiry
concerns deliverance. What light does Jesus shed upon this mystery? He
shows that sin is an incident in the ascent of the soul, and not an end;
that it is hateful and unnatural; and that all the strength and goodness
of God are pledged to its removal. The soul will be allowed to be in
bondage only so long as is necessary for its complete emancipation.
Moral evil is tolerated at all not because it is a good in itself, but
in order that the soul may learn that its safety and strength are to be
found only in conformity to the will of God.
Jesus reveals the way of escape and thus confers upon the race the
greatest of possible blessings. This he does by the revelation of the
Fatherhood of God, which is not only compassionate but also holy.
Because God is the Father of all souls, when any one ceases to do evil
and begins to do well, or in other words repents, he finds a welcome and
help waiting for him. And Jesus clearly indicates, also, that in the
constitution of the soul, and in the inexorableness of moral law, there
is a deep remedial agency which is ever active, giving no individual
rest until it finds it in God. The tragedy of the cross was preeminently
a revelation. The cross is the manifestation, in terms of human life, of
the passion of the universe and of God. There must be suffering in all
who are good, until sin disappears.
The cross is the revelation of the Eternal God in sacrifice for the
redemption of souls in bondage to selfishness and animalism. Jesus
taught that sin is to be abolished. By means of the revelations of
holiness, the sacrifices of love, the remedial agency in the universe,
and by His own new life the forces of evil are to be broken, and the
soul allowed to enter into its freedom as a child of God. This is not a
subject for definition and dogmatism. The greatest things cannot be
defined, but they may be appropriated. The light, the air, gravitation
and all elemental forces transcend definition. The love of God revealed
on the cross is too holy and too transcendent for "scheme and plan." It
may be accepted in a spirit of worship, but it can be comprehended no
more than the process by which rain and soil are transmuted into
nourishment, and light into physical strength and beauty. The cross is
the pledge of the redemption of the soul through the love and power of
God; and beyond that we have no knowledge except that wherever that
cross has been lifted up men have been drawn unto truth and virtue, love
and brotherhood.
More than poetry and sentiment has found expression in a popular hymn
which thrills with a power which has been verified again and again in
human history:
"In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime."
Jesus has furnished no clew to the origin of moral evil, but He has
given to the hope that it is to be overcome in the individual, the race,
and the universe, the testimony of His teaching and the emphasis of His
death.
Which is the greater mystery, life or death? A satisfying answer is
impossible, since we cannot think of one without thinking of its
opposite. What is life? Whence is it? Why is it? Such are some of the
questions which arise and elicit no response when one meditates upon the
mystery of living. What is death? What purpose does it serve? Is it an
end or a beginning? Such are some of the inquiries which cannot be
escaped when one, for even a few moments, looks, as all some time must
look, on the still and peaceful face of one who has ceased to breathe.
Who shall answer our questions? Of all who have attempted to fathom
these depths One alone has brought a message which is satisfying both to
the minds and hearts of those who think. Does any light from Jesus
penetrate the mystery of death? What others have groped after he has
declared. He taught that the universe is like a house of many rooms, and
that dying is but passing from one room to another. In His own
experience He illustrated His teachings. He ministered to His
disciples; He communed with those whom He loved until their hearts
burned within them. Then He disappeared and has been seen no more. But
why did He appear at all after death? Was it not to confirm the message
of the Transfiguration that those who seem to die only change the mode
of their existence, and continue their companionships and ministries
even after they have laid aside their bodies?
In the passage in the Gospel of Matthew, which may be called the parable
of the judgment, Jesus taught that the moral order is not changed by the
transition from bodily to disembodied existence. The thoughts which men
think, and the actions which they perform, affect the substance of the
soul. Evil works misery and virtue leads to happiness beyond the grave
as well as here. Seed sown on the earth may grow to its harvest in the
ages that lie beyond.
This is all the light on this subject that we need now. Death removes
no one beyond the watch and care of the infinite love. In the home of
the Heavenly Father His children pass from place to place, as He calls.
Jesus appeared to those who loved Him, and was recognized by them, and
that indicates that, whatever the changes of the future, the spiritual
body will be recognized by all who love.
The moral order is universal, and no change will touch the everlasting
distinctions between right and wrong, or diminish the obligation to
choose the right and refuse the wrong.
These are some of the lessons which are impressed upon us as we meditate
upon the life and teachings of Jesus and their relation to the ascent of
the soul.
He is the light of all souls. Into the darkness His glory has been
extending and expanding from His own time until now. If we may judge
the future from the past, it is easy to believe that this radiance will
not fail from among men until all realize that life and death, time and
eternity, humanity and history, are beset behind and before by the
Divine Fatherhood; that the goal of the race is the fullness of Christ;
that the severest experiences sometimes achieve the best results; that
sin will not forever darken the history of humanity; that death is a
passage not an abyss; an opening not a closing; a beginning not an
ending; and that beyond stretch opportunities of limitless life and
immortal growth.