The Age and the Church: Being a Study of the Age, and of the Adaptation of the Church to Its Needs

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Preface

This volume concentrates the attention on the age which forms lis and on which all our influence is exerted. In seeking the dominant factors of the times, we must look to the leading nations, namely, to those of Western Europe and to the United States. So in the study of the adaptation of the church to the age, it is not enough to take into account a particular locality or denomination, but we must consider the entire church of Christ and all the advanced nations. Principles and general characteristics are sought rather than details; hence the special application of the results attained can be made by the reader himself to his own locality, nation and church. Some tendencies are more marked in Europe than in America. In such cases the aim has been to give the leading traits of the movements, although these traits may be found in different countries in various forms and with different degrees of prominence. Thus the condition of the church differs greatly in the United States, in Great Britain, and on the Continent. On the whole, it seems least hopeful in vi PREFACE

continental Europe, and most promising in America. What is said of the status in general must not therefore at once be transferred with all its lights and shadows to any particular denomination or country. So with that monster of the nineteenth century — Socialism. It is more dominant in Europe than in the United States, and the characteristics of it given in this volume are taken chiefly from continental Europe. But it will be found that there is a constant tendency to make great movements international, so that what i& strongest in Socialism in one nation is likely soonto affect the movement in other nations also.

This breadth of view, this comprehensiveness both in respect to the age at large and the church,, was necessary in order to give an idea of our times and of what is demanded of religion.

The subject naturally divides itself into three parts. First the age itself must be studied in order that we may discern its spirit, the Zeitgeist ; then we must consider the present character and condition of the church ; and lastly, the adaptation of the church to the needs of the times. The purpose is to answer three questions : What is the Agef What is its Church? What ought the Church to be?

Berlin^ February^ ^^93-

The Study of the Age 339

CHAPTER I. Principles of Investigation

In all great problems a revelation of depth and intricacy is the reward of profound inquiry. As we dig, we make the discovery that the smooth surface buries gnarled roots that intertwine and intergrow. Problems lie in groups ; and only as we evolve the problems in our minds can we perceive how involved they are. The thinker sees thought in its relations, and therefore feels the weight of mystery, where to the unthinking all seems simple and clear. But the very investigation which entangles the thinker in mysteries also leads to their solution.

To the student, the age, which some imagine so evident as not to require special inquiry, since it lies open before them and they themselves form a part of it, presents at the first survey a scene of interminable confusion. Innumerable details appear, whose connection is not apparent, and the various tendencies are complicated and conflicting. The age seems to be " without form, and void." The broader the survey, the greater the distraction; and for sometime the continued contemplation of the chaos makes the prospect more bewildering. Long and profound study may be required to discover order and system. We cannot, however, question that underl3dng this diversity there must be unity, and that its discovery is in some degree within reach of the human mind. This \mity must of course be found in the age itself, not invented, not taken from some theory of the philosophy of history and dogmatically forced on the times.

Even a single life for a single day, with its thoughts and impulses, its words and acts, presents a confusing variety. How vastly is this increased when we take into account the whole of humanity and the entire age.' Not only do the extent and variety of the scene seem to transcend all possibility of comprehension, but every thing also appears to be ceaselessly changing. Is there now in this endless variety, where all is moving and every moment undergoing transformation, anything constant ? Are the ages nothing but change, or do certain elements remain the same amid the changes ? If any permanent factors can be found, they may give a valid and important basis for the study of the ages themselves.

First of all, let us inquire into the actor, the doer of the deeds and the subject of the events which constitute the age. This is evidently humanity. That is the one object to which all our inquiries pertain. But humanity is composed of individual men. Thus man himself, the individual, the person, is the permanent factor, which remains essentially the same throughout all generations. In all the processes of development from the lowest to the highest forms, we have but the unfolding of the same human substance under different circumstances and influences, and in various degrees of progress. In races, nations, and individuals numerous peculiarities prevail, which tend to different forms of development ; but to all alike pertain the qualities which are essential to man and make him human. Through whatever processes humanity may pass, it can never do more than develop what is in it and that for which it has capacity.

Not in his isolation does the individual constitute the permanent factor we seek. Separate points form no processes, and individuals as a mere aggregation do not constitute history. The object of our inquiry is the individual as he enters into social relations, unites with his fellows in organizations and institutions, creates states, and constitutes organisms, and the various forms of solidarity from the family to the totality of humanity. It is evident that as the individual enters into these various relations, he becomes subject to great changes ; yet no transformation can take him out of himself or beyond himself.

Besides man, there is another factor which remains the same, namely, the powers of nature, under whose influence and amid whose surroundings, man develops. In nature as well as in man there is evolution ; but in this evolution only the powers of nature can be evolved by nature. Unless some new power is communicated to them^ man and nature can become actually only what they are in idea or potentially.

It is because there are permanent factors, that there is a continuity in human affairs, that ages can judge of one another, and that history becomes possible. Unless we find in ourselves something like the men of ancient Greece and Rome, how can we form any idea of their character and explain their conduct ? The historian can transfer himself to the events he describes, and can make himself a partaker of the thoughts and motives of men of the distant past, because he has essentially the same mind and the same heart which controlled men in all ages. Hence, it is so important for the historian to be a thorough student of psychology and anthropology

We do not enter upon the discussion of the freedom of the will and of divine influence. They are factors which are not subject to scientific explanation. Here we can deal only with such permanent factors as lie within the limits of mental inquiry. The very fact of freedom implies that its course cannot be predetermined. All we can do is to investigate character and learn what conduct may justly be expected from certain characters.

It is therefore evident that the study of our age is concerned chiefly with the two permanent factors, man and nature. Within and between these lie all the phenomena which are within reach of rational interpretation. And since humanity is the object of our inquiry, it is especially man as our age presents him that concerns us.

What now is it that controls man? That ot course which interests him most. Unless he acts under restraint of some external force, we cannot see how anything which does not interest him can govern his conduct. A man's interests are not isolated, but vitally connected with all that he is and does. They are concentrated in his tastes ; and his tastes are an expression of his personality. The interests which a man cherishes are the light which beams from him, illuminating the sphere to which he is attracted and in which he moves. Thus our interests are not abstracted feelings ; but our culture, our intellectual attainments, our religion, our conscience, have a part in their creation ; indeed, it may be said that all these culminate in our interests and are absorbed by them. Thus the interests of a man need not be sensuous, selfish, or irreligious ; they may be devoutly religious, humanitarian, and intellectual. The struggle for existence is not the sole concern of life ; it has significance only because existence has values worthy of aspiration. This struggle is therefore but the means to attain the great end of existence, and not mere empty existence itself. The strong tendency in modem ethics to regard pleasure, as the end of human existence and the source of conduct, has much truth ; but it forgets that pleasure itself is but an expression of the character, and that consequently not pleasure but character is the ultimate aim in ethics. Pleasure may be holy or sinful ; and it is the personality of a man, what he is, that determines whether the divine or the diabolical shall afford him pleasure. We must therefore look at the pleasures and interests of men as an expression of what the men themselves are.

If now we want to understand the age, we must understand its interests. What are its chief concerns, what most of all enlists its energies ? Its interests are the centres around which are concentrated its thoughts, its feelings, its pursuits, and the totality of its life.

The interests which absorb the attention and determine the conduct of men spring chiefly from their wishes and desires. These are not, however^ absolute. The world, the peculiar surroundings in which the desires are to be realized, must be taken into account. No sane man will fight what he knows to be inevitable, nor will he work for the attainment of what he recognizes as an impossibility. There can be no inspiration where there is no hope. It is thus seen that the effort to realize one's desires is conditioned by his surroundings, by knowledge, by faith, and by hope. Our subjective impulses are limited by what the objective world is or is thought to be.

In man himself the physical element is first of all developed. Sensation and impression are the constant accompaniments of this physical development. It is in this first stage that the struggle for existence seems supreme ; yet the first stage is not necessarily the last. The higher forms of intellectuality, together with what is ethical and spiritual, come later. The primitive, sensuous state may, however, remain the controlling factor of life, and actually does so in most cases. What is called culture and refinement is often but sensuousness in a developed and veneered form. Since in this world the physical must always remain the basis of life, we find its influence strong even where not controlling, as in the case of intellectual and spiritual men. As all men have substantially the same physical basis, they are in this respect essentially alike. So in all that is immediately connected with this basis they are governed by the same motives. Thus in their lower elements there is a remarkable similarity among men. The differences are generally found to consist chiefly in what strength is tak^n from the lower elements into the intellectual and moral stages. What is sensuous in a man may even determine the character of his intellectual pursuits ; and how great a warfare the flesh may wage with the spirit can be learned from the seventh of Romans. The physical and the sensuous, with the mighty passions which bum with a consuming fire, must be regarded as the strongest motive power in far the larger part of humanity.

When now we turn from this subjective state to the world, we find that its most direct and most powerful appeals are made to our sensuous nature. As the appetites prevail in man, so the first influence of the world about us is exerted for their gratification. It is a physical world, and it is inevitable that it should appeal to our physical nature. We need but understand our appetites, and know how the world appeals and responds to them, in order to learn why mere gratification exerts so mighty a power in all ages and is so potent a factor in our age.

In individuals, in tribes, and in nations, the first intellectual efforts are usually devoted to securing the means of existence and the gratification of the appetite. But these very efforts ^Iso tend to develop intellectual tastes and to create intellectual interests. These tastes and interests may become so strong as to change a life of lower gratification into a life of intellectual pursuits. Thought develops, new departments of intellect are discovered, the mind is enlarged and its interests increase. Thus man's higher nature reveals itself and demands the proper exercise of its powers. Capacities are recognized which cannot be filled by the immediate surrotmdings, and interests of an exalted kind are discovered. The powers exercised most tend to concentrate into themselves the entire personality. When the intellect is developed into the ruling energy, it no longer studies the world merely as an object of carnal gratification, but also as a sphere for scientific inquiry and for intellectual enjoyment. So the thoughts also rise to inquiries which pertain to other beings and powers, and the mind learns to recognize religious needs and religious objects.

It is therefore evident that the lower elements in man, the appetites, the wild, turbulent, and blind impulses and passions, become in a measure subject to the guidance of the clear apprehensions of the intellect and of the visions of faith. In their sensuous nature men are essentially the same in all ages ; but in intellect and faith they differ. In order to imderstand our age, we must therefore see how its intellect and faith affect the permanent elements in man's lower nature, and how they direct, control, and modify his appetites and passions.

The social relations of men furnish means to gratify and develop the sensuous nature, but they also create higher interests. Instead of unhindered bestial gratification, society puts its members under restraint, and promotes other tastes than those which arise from personal selfishness. Society obliges the individual to enlarge his views beyond self into sjrmpathy with others.

Nor is it the individual intellect merely that is to be considered, but that intellect as it comes in contact with the intellect of others. As the intellect develops in the social relations, there is a growth of culture, that is, the whole personality of man, the totality of his being is unfolded, refined and exalted. The nature of the culture, however, necessarily depends on the character of the intellectual development. A purely secular intellect secularizes the entire personality and makes the culture secular ; but a predominantly moral and spiritual intellect makes the culture moral and spiritual. Mere intellectuality is no guaranty against sensuousness. The two may exist together in the individual and in society. When, however, the intellectual element in a man absorbs his energies, then of course the sensuous cannot rule.

The mightiest impulse to rise above sensuousness is given by pure religion. Faith in God and in eternal life is the most potent factor in lifting man above his appetites, and above the appeals and responses of nature to these appetites. This faith gives a man new ideals, puts him into new relations, presents the most exalted aim to life, quickens his conscience, and develops all the energies for the highest and best purposes. So deep and permeating is genuine religion that nothing else can so profoundly afiEect the human heart. Including ethics, and allied with intellect, we must regard religion as the most powerful agent in the processes of civilization.

Not only must the factors working in an age be considered, but also their relative predominance. Thus the radical difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism is not in the recognition of Scripture, but in the place given to Scripture. It is not so much the amount as the character of the intellectual activity which determines the tendencies of the day. The dominant factor in a movement deserves more attention than it usually receives ; it is the engine which moves the entire course of events, determining their nature as well as their direction. As the individual is molded by what is dominant in his intellect, so in the intellectual movements of the day the dominant or controlling factor is of chief importance.

When now, guided by the principles indicated, we come to the study of the age, we find that it has much that is common to all ages. Thus the study of other times will greatly aid us in imderstanding our own. This study reveals constant elements in history, as well as in man and in nature.

Now, as throughout the past, movements may be very prominent and seem to carry all before them, when in reality they are weak and short-lived. Perhaps violent and noisy movements are only one-sided reactions against an extreme of the preceding age. The law of reactions is of especial importance in the study of the ages. By exercise the human powers are developed. But while by the exclusive exercise of a power it is developed, yet it is not normal, because not unfolded in harmony with all the other powers and not in the right proportion. A power overstrained gives out and ceases to act. But a neglected power, unless destroyed by the neglect, will assert its rights ; and the one-sided neglect will be avenged by a one-sided energy. Thus one extreme begets another. An unduly exerted power spends its force, and an unduly neglected but not destroyed power may spring into vigorous exercise, become violent, and threaten to absorb the whole of human energy. But this very violence leads to exclusiveness and to another extreme, and this produces a reaction again. Movements may be intense in proportion to their narrowness. Their very narrowness excites antagonisms ; these antagonisms embody what is ignored and opposed by the narrowness in the movements. An extreme movement may continue for awhile ; but its one-sidedness must eventually excite reaction against itself. Two opposite movements, both of them extremes, may run parallel with each other, the extreme element in the one constantly intensifying the extreme in the other. Both are right and both are wrong, and neither has the conditions of healthy development. But if antagonistic movements can be so combined that the truth in each is adopted, while the errors and extremes are rejected, then there will be a permanent gain.

By ignoring the law that produces reactions some of the most common mistakes respecting the age are made. Mere reactions, the product of circumstances, are taken as normal forces and treated as permanent factors. Reactions are so powerful because men become partisans, and let their parties interpret the age for them, instead of so mastering for themselves the movements as to extract their truth and reject their errors. Conservatives see only the errors of the radicals, and this increases their conservatism. The radicals see only the errors of the conservatives, and this makes their radicalism more intense. The one conserves only the past, adds nothing new, and is not progressive ; the other rushes wildly forward, breaks its connection with the past, and is destructive, not constructive. Progress consists in a union of conservatism and radicalism, rigorously conserving all that is true and good in the past, mercilessly destroying all that is false, and joyfully putting in its place whatever is true and good in the new. No tendency can be permanent unless it puts all human powers in their proper relation, and exercises all in a healthy manner and in due proportion. Reactions are the confessions and judgments of history ; the true repentance which produces the fruits that need not be repented of : that is, it does not create a new extreme which must terminate in remorse and failure, but it leads to health and a full-orbed completeness in the exercise of the powers. No movement which violates man or nature, or which is in conflict with the truth, can endure. Only the eternal elements have the conditions of eternity. Owing to circumstances, movements which to-day are powerful may soon disappear without leaving a visible trace behind, as has been the case with so many tendencies in the past. Therefore the truth, the justice, the completeness of a movement, determine its permanence. Never can the human mind be content to rest in any thought or system which fails to meet all its needs. We must therefore conclude that the breadth, the noise, and the violence of a movement are no tests of its enduring qualities.

While history is so largely controlled by the forces that are mere reactions, we find that but few persons have sufficient independence and energy to escape the extremes which these reactions promote. Men are usually creatures of their age, formed by their surroundings, rather than originators of their own course. Not from the depth of reason and from the nature of things, but from their superficial environment most men draw their inspiration. Instead of being truly the measure of things, man makes the things about him the measure of himself. He becomes the sport of passing events, and the repository of prevailing opinions. The man who thinks for himself, and who has the hardihood to become an embodiment of the truth and the ethics he has wrought out for himself, is the only one who is the master of reactions.

Besides the law that works in reactions, another fact common to the ages is important for the study of our times. We are apt to treat the movements of an age as conscious, and the actors as fully aware of what they are about. But in every age, not excepting the most enlightened, blind forces are at work, of which the actors themselves are not conscious. In many respects the unconscious activity of the soul is more powerful than the conscious ; and this is also true of an aggregation of individuals. Thus in proportion as an age is excited and agitated, is it likely to be controlled by instinct, by impulse, by passion, and by prejudice. The whole life of an individual may be a process of growth in the consciousness of self, his aim, his motives, his dominant powers only very slowly emerging from the abyss of unconsciousness ; and great multitudes never become aware of themselves and of the powers which control them. And so with the blind forces that work in movements ; ages may be required before a movement becomes fully conscious of itself. Every age has tentative elements which work and feel their way toward full consciousness. Some tendencies are passing from the night of unconsciousness into twilight, and are moving toward the day, where all is visible ; but they are strong especially in the invisible powers of the night from which the movement is just emerging, and the most energetic forces in pushing the movement forward are the hidden, unconscious, blind impulses.

From the movements themselves we must learn what dark forces are at work in them. From their words, we learn the clearly perceived purposes of men ; but what they do, reveals also the unconscious and semi-conscious impulses of their hearts. Only what is distinctly apprehended can men formulate in words ; but what men are^ that they do. By studjring his blind impulses as they work in spite of himself a man may learn what he really is ; and the same is true of the age.

Not infrequently the movements which men inaugurate become master of their originators. The first act of a reformation or revolution may be but a handful of snow, the beginning of an avalanche whose course and force cannot be imagined by him who drops the snow from his hand. Only from their results can the powers of causes be known. Call the unconscious forces that work in history heavenly or fiendish, human or natural, their existence is evident from their fruits. These fruits are luxuriant in proportion to the energy of the age. It is especially in crises, in revolutions, in the uprising of the masses, and in all volcanic agitations, that the dark and secret powers burst forth into the light. Since in their culmination they reveal themselves by a fearful explosion, they are naturally looked upon as horrible furies.

"Nations are not governed by rational considerations ; their course is determined by great feelings." This dictnm of Ranke, a deduction from his study of the whole course of human history, gives a deep insight into the movements of the ages. But although feeling, which changes, rather than reason, which is unchanging, is the potent factor in the phenomena of nations, we must be careful not to let mere feeling be the interpreter of an age. Rational insight is required. Thus what is implied in a movement must be fathomed ; it is not enough to observe the apparent elements. The acorn does not reveal the oak it contains. The reason and the feeling, the logic and the facts in movements may not correspond perfectly. Reason continues after the feelings have changed, and the logic woAs after the force of certain facts has been spent. The logic of a movement forges link after link until the whole chain is completed. There are facts which are only bark that falls off ; but the logic is the seed, whose full energy can be learned only from the perfectly developed plant it produces, the first germ, the first leaves and buds, being but imperfect revelations of that energy. Through facts and feelings the logic of an event pushes resistlessly to the final conclusion. Thought is an organism which grows in an age and through the ages ; and only from the perfected organism can its nature be learned. Whoever gets the logic in a movement is the prophet who can foretell its a future. Although Luther did not know it at the time, the ninety-five theses he nailed on the door of the Castle church in Wittenberg contained the Reformation.

In the movements of an age, the movers are few and the moved are many. One master mind thinks and feels for multitudes. What is individual becomes social, and what is at first local becomes general. Individuals are the creators of organizations and institutions ; and when an association acts, it is usually some individual who originates the action and works through the association. The power of strong men and of eminent personalities is among the most important factors in the tendencies of the ages. Thus a man may rise above his age, taking its thoughts to master and sift them, developing them into new powers, and thus going beyond the age. Such a man is stronger than his times, and the future belongs to him. Perhaps he is so completely the embodiment of his times that its powers culminate in him. He has the ripe fruit, while others have only leaves, and buds, and flowers.

The intellectual, the moral, and the religious characteristics of an age are often misunderstood because viewed too much as the product of past development, while in reality they are in the main the result of present eflEorts. It is common even among thoughtful men to speak of the growth of thought, of morals, and of spirituality, as if one age transmitted them to another. What the ages transmit is materials and symbols, not intellect itself, not ethics and not religion. Every age must do its own thinking, no matter what the past may have done in the way of preparatory work. Hence there is not necessarily a regular growth in thought. One age may have more thought than its successors. Thus the times from Socrates to Aristotle, and from Kant to Hegel, were not equalled in philosophic thought by any others in the world's history. So the ages of Homer, Sophocles, Virgil, Shakespeare, and Goethe, have not been equalled by others in literature. The thought of an age depends on itself, not on what others have done, although an age may begin its career under peculiarly favorable circumstances on account of what the past has accumulated, and what the children learn from their fathers and teachers.

Still more is this true of morals and religion. All we can speak of as having come to an age from its predecessors is certain examples and conditions. True morality cannot be hereditary, but must be the product of each man's own eflEort. This is also the case with religion^ it cannot be communicated from parents to children, or from age to age. Whatever the existing material and conditions may be, however excellent the instructors and the instruction, each age must begin at the beginning with its ethics and spirituality. What a generation attains in these depends wholly on the use of the materials at its command and on the exercise of its moral and spiritual energy. It may fall behind its predecessors, either because it lacks moral and religious energy or because other interests absorb its attention. Therefore it is a mistake to view the ages as pushing each other higher and higher in point of intellect, of morals, and of religion. How far there is actual growth must be determined by an examination of the age, it cannot be settled by any theory of progress.