Social aspects of Christianity

Preface

THE Sermons in the present volume were preached (with two exceptions) during my residence at Westminster in August and December, 1886. I have indeed endeavoured to enforce the main ideas which they contain at various times during the last thirty years ; but the opportunity seemed to require that I should endeavour to bring, as far as I could, into a clear and connected form what had been spoken only fragmentarily before. No one indeed can tell what is the effect which 'the Abbey' and the vast congregations which gather there, eager to listen, produce upon one who first experiences it at the close of life. Of all places in the world ' the Abbey,' I think, proclaims the social Gospel of Christ with the most touching eloquence.

So it was that when I was called to work at Westminster in 1884 I could not but feel with intense force the power of old thoughts, and in the first sermon of my first residence I indicated a line of teaching which I hoped to pursue if the time were given. Some passages from that Sermon will serve as an introduction to what follows.

When we are by the force of circumstanceH, or more truly by the loving providence of God, brought face to w. s. b vi - Preface.

face with a great fact, a great duty, a great idea, and stand as it were alone in its presence, we are, I fancy, startled to find how little we have ever really thought upon it, how^ slenderly we are prepared to give any account of its relation to ourselves. We grow familiar with traditional criticisms : we adopt conventional customs : we repeat popular phrases ; but all these lie for the most part outside our own actual experience : we have not made them our own by resolute reflection and self-questioning. The fact, the duty, the idea, is itself strange to us.

Is not this true of that which is for each one of us the greatest fact, the greatest duty, the greatest idea, life itself? How few of us pause even at such a time and in such a place as this to consider what life is, not in its circumstances but in its energy, in its capacities, in its issues. We all know, even if the knowledge has little practical effect, that no measure of time or sense gives a standard of its value. Life is more than the sum of personal enjoyments and pains through which it finds expression ; more than the length of days in which it is visible to human eyes ; more than the fulness of means which reveals to us its power. All these pass away, but in the process of their vanishing a spiritual result has been fulfilled. The soul of the man has been brought into fellowship— a fellowship welcomed or disregarded— with men and with the world and with God. It has consciously or unconsciously learnt much and done much. It has shaped a character for itself; it has helped to shape a character for others. It is at the end, most solemn thought, ' as it has been used.' Life then, we can see, consists not in abundance, in the overflowing richness of unemployed resources : it springs not spontaneously from the things which we possess, from our original endowments, as the necessary product of natural gifts. It is the opportiuiity of the individual to win for God by God's help that which lies within his reach : to accomplish on a scale little or

Preface. vii

great the destiny of humanity as it has been committed to him : to consecrate, it may be, splendid wealth to common service : to transfigure sordid cares by a divine vision : to rise to the truth of the Incarnation as the revelation of the purpose of the Father for the world which He made. Life, in a word, as has been most nobly said,

Life, with all it yields of joy and woe,

And hope and fear,

Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love,

How love might be, hath been indeed, and is.

Now it is here, I believe, in this view of life realised among us, of life as individual in its responsibility and social in its aims, that we shall find the sure hope of a solution of the terrible riddles of existence which meet us on all sides. The overwhelming sorrows by which we are surrounded and saddened, if we regard them steadily, make the Gospel of Christ — the Son. of God and the Son of man — intrinsically credible. Nothing less could meet our wants, and this does meet them. But, in order that we may gain the inspiration of the glad-tidings, we must strive at least to reach forward to its scope, strive to find how it passes on this side and that beyond the utmost range of human thought, how it covers the whole field of being in which it is revealed, how it encourages and sustains us in the endeavour to understand practically that we are all bound one to another in the turmoil of our present conflict, bound to the past of which we are the children, bound to the future of which we are the parents, in the fellowship of our manhood which Christ came to save. As long as we isolate ourselves, and strive to stand apart, peace is impossible. But joy comes — the joy of Christ which no one taketh away — when we are enabled to sympathise in deed and in truth with the purpose of His redeeming love, to apprehend, however feebly and imperfectly, that below the wastes and wearinesses and wickednesses, on which we look, enduring beyond all that is of time, suljsisting beyond

BR viii Preface.

all that is of space, He is the Life in whom we live. 1 came, He said, that they may have life and may have

abundance (John x. 10).

* * *

The essential relations of the Family introduce us at once to this vast, unseen, spiritual, eternal life to which every one of our lives is in its measure contributory and ni which all find their unity and consummation.

The poorest mother who clasps her newborn infant to her breast has found, if but for a moment, the secret of life. To live for others, to suffer for others, is the inevitable condition cf our being. To accept the condition gladly is to find it crowned with its own joy.

Other relations in the family emphasise in various ways this fundamental fact * * * helping us to feel that isolation is the measure of lasting pain, that we live truly exactly in i^roportion as we go out of ourselves and enter into the fulness of the experience of those whom we serve and by whom in turn we are served. Let anyone for instance, looking to his own home, put on one side the trivial commonplace occasions on which he has sacrificed others to himself, and on the other those in which he has sacrificed himself to others, and he will see that life is indeed the discipline of love, and that love is the soul

of life.

^ ^ ^ ^ Again, we have not only a domestic

ancestry, and a domestic heritage. We have also a national ancestry and a national heritage. A great part of our lives is made up of that which we have every one received in common as Englishmen. And this splendid patrimony is not for display, not for pride, but for most laborious and solemn employment. Patriotl^^m, like affection, may unhappily degenerate into selfishness ; but it may by God's grace be the devout expression of a duty to humanity. It may be a trembling thanksgiving on the

Preface. ix

part of those who feel that, as they have received much, much will be required of them. In any case the love of our country, the intense watchful interest in the growth or the waning of its influence, the passionate desire that it may be made a herald of righteousness and peace to the nations, does lie deep in the souls of all of us.

There is I most sadly know another side to the picture. There are bitter feuds of party, intrigues, seditions, wars, just as there are the jealousies, the quarrels, the estrangements of home. The greater body has its grievous sicknesses, its fevers and its frenzies, even as the less. But the ocean lies deep and still below the storms which trouble its surface. The life, the natural life, is more than its corruptions : more for each one of us, I trust, in actual enjoyment: more assuredly in its promises of hope. For is there one among us who has not known again and again in the last few years the throbbings of this larger life, as his own, when he has waited day after day for tidings of the little army which entered without power of return upon untravelled passes to relieve a beleaguered city, when he has heard of the silent night march of untried troops which made the end of a doubtful struggle possible, when he has found that statesmen could dare to consider the claims of justice in a moment of disaster, when he has entered into the fulness of a royal sorrow? Is there one of us who has not known that this life is fuller, deeper, intenser than his private pleasures and cares. Is there one of us who has not known that the tidings which meet us at such crises are more than the materials of passing excitement, that they call into vital energy the potency of the sympathy within us, through

which we grow conscious that as a people we are one.

* * *

Thus the life of the family, the life of the nation, bear us far beyond the visible from which they start. Through those larger forms of life we enter on the unseen. We

X Preface.

become prepared to understand at last that description of our position as Christians here on eartii in which we read that we are come— not that we shall come — unto mount Zion and unto the city of the living God^ the heavenly Jerusalem^ and to innumerable hosts of angels, to tlie general assembly and church of tlie firstborn, 7vho are enrolled in Jieaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of a new Covena?i^...(Hebr. xii. 22 fF.). We learn to acknowledge that these words, glorious as they are, reaching far beyond all that we can think or feel, are written for us ; that that fellowship with men and angels and God is for us ; for us, not at some indefinite future but now, now when we stand like the Hebrews of old, to whom the words were first addressed, in the midst of sore temptations, on

the verge of changes which we are unable to anticipate.

Such ideas of a boundless life reaching from the visible to the invisible, in which we all share, may seem to many to be strange, and visionary and difficult. I should not offer them now as the foundation of all I have to say here, if I did not believe them to be at present of momentous practical importance : if I did not find in them myself, as I said before, the solution of the enigmas of life which our age proposes to us. The pitiless sphinx — if I may recal the familiar story — sets before each generation the old riddle in a new shape ; and the answer is still always, man in some new form. This is the answer which we have to make good and if by the Spirit's guidance we can read its meaning : if we can win for ourselves — for it must be a work of labour and discipline — the conviction of the reality of that human life which is made known in Christ, in His suftbring and in His triumph : if we can reahsc that we all are members one of another, members of one body shaped in its unity through all time ; then hope rises before us as great as our heart.

Preface. xi

For the life, the whole life, belongs equally to every part. All that lives, lives with the one life. If we know that we share in this we can wait for the revelation of its action. Meanwhile every true human joy is ours ; every true human sorrow is ours ; every brother's weakness and sin is ours also. Sympathy in affliction is the pledge of sympathy in triumph. If toe suffer with Christ we shall also reign with Ilim^ sharing His sovereignty over a renovated earth.

There is much, very much, in the circumstances of life which requires readjustment; but as we believe in the one life in Christ we shall not attempt to deal directly with symptoms and achieve superficial reforms. We shall seek to overcome the disease by quickening the healthy energy of the vital forces. To this end we can all contribute. In this labour w^e are all called to be fellowworkers with God. What the issue may be we are not careful to prejudge. But we are sure that the spiritual life of a people will find an outward form corresponding to its power and to its beauty.

For of the soul the body form doth take : For soul is form and doth the body make.

For this life, shadow^ed forth in the life of the Family, the Nation, the Church, we w^ere made ; for this vast, unseen, spiritual, eternal life, a life growing with our growth and widening with our widening thoughts. The sense of such a life restores a real harmony to the facts of the world. It brings the power of the Incarnation and of the KesuiTection of Christ near to each one of us. It supplies a motive sufficient to kindle our enthusiasm and consume our selfishness. It is more real, more abiding, more potent, than the shadows which we seem to be and the shadows which we commonly pursue.

xii Preface.

A man's life is not in Ids abimdance, no, not in the idle overflow of hoarded treasure : a man's life is 7iot from that which he pursueth^ no, not from the natural gifts of fortune or rank or intellect ; but from the use of every gift which love makes for the service of God in Whom we

are and Who is in us.

Such appear to be some of the lessons which the Abbey brings home to us : such is the spirit in which I have endeavoured to interpret them. May others be enabled to enforce them with unmeasurably greater power and truer insight. Behold, the Judge standeth before the doors.

Those who are familiar with recent theories of Social Morality will recognise how much I owe to two writers who are not often joined together in an acknowledgment of deep gratitude, Comte and Maurice. In the summer of 18G7 I was able to analyse carefully the Politique Positive, and I found in it a powerful expression of many salient features of that which I had long held to be the true social embodiment of the Gospel, of a social ideal which the faith in Christ is alone, I believe, able to realise. Two years later I read Maurice's Social Morality. Few books can teach nobler lessons ; and I should find it hard to say how nuich I owe to it directly and by suggestion.

In the endeavour to realise the social condition of Europe at the time of the rise of the Franciscans

Preface. xiii

The remains of Francis himself are collected in a most convenient form in the edition of Yon der Burg (1849). The references are made to this edition.

In the general account of the Society of Friends I owe much to T. Clarkson's Portraiture of Quakerism (1806) ; and also to Canon Curteis' wise and sympathetic estimate of the work of the Quakers in his Bampton Lectures : Dissent in relation to the Church of England (1872).

The references to Fox's Journal are made to the seventh edition (London, 1852).

B. F. W.

Cambridge, April 22, 1887.

^ An examination of Dugdale will shew that Dr Brewer greatly underrates the importance of the later Franciscan buildings in England. Their buildings at Cambridge ' were not only an ornament and grace, but had great conveniences for holding the assemblies and doing all the business of the University ' (Ascham ap. Dugdale Monasticon, vi. 1509). At Oxford 'their buildings were... stately and magnificent... not to be equalled with other in Oxon, either college or convent, except St Frideswide's and Ousney...' (Ant. Wood, id. p. 1530).

I. Christian Aspects Of The Elements Of Social Life

I. The Foundation.

PAGE

The general subject ....... 3

The solution of social problems to be found only in the

Christian Faith ....... 5

The ideas of Christianity inseparably united witli the

facts of Christianity ...... 6

The power of the Living Christ ..... 7

1. The Incarnation a revelation of the brotherhood

of man in Christ . . . . . . 9

Supplies a motive of infinite power ... 11

2. The Death of Christ a revelation of the Fall and of

Kedemption ....... 12

3. The Resurrection of Christ a revelation of the

destiny of man ....... 14

Incorruption not simply immortality . . . id. These central facts of the Gospel form the foundation of

social morality . 15

XVI

Cov tents.

II. The Family.

The antithesis of dependence and responsibility harmonised by the true idea of freedom ....

The conditions of life a revelation of God's purpose for us .

Man essentially social

The family the unit of mankind

The estimate of the family a criterion of the morality of a state ......

The three essential relations in a family .

1. The idea of marriage Prelude to a larger union The sacrament of completed manhood

2. The idea of fatherhood .

Marriage of choice: fatherhood and brotherhood

of nature Authority and obedience Extends within and without

3. The idea of brotherhood A true equality Its influence .

4. The idea of property The teaching left to us still

PAGE

22 23 24 25

id. id.

III. The Nation.

The passage from the Family to the Nation . Three points to be noticed ....

1. The idea of the nation involved in the constitution

Its origin spiritual not material

Language, Law, Government give scope for com

mon action : witness to it : reveal it .

2. Our debt to the past, material and spiritual The old life is common to all This is felt in great crises These touch us, shew us ourselves .

35 36

Contents. xvii

PAGE

3. To fulfil our duty we must apply to the larger life the three principles of the family (a) Om' personal incompleteness : all serve all (6) A divine authority above us . . .

(c) A true brotherhood

Such thoughts are most truly practical

IV. The Race.

We pass from the Family to the Nation, from the Nation

The lessons of the larger life slowly learnt : pressed upon

us now 53

Our dangers from the spirit of domination, imitation,

indifference ........ 54

These tempers fail and then God shews us His way . 56

We look back and we look forward ..... 57

The threefold mission of England ..... 58

Partly recognised ........ 59

Our chief duty to confess our obligation .... 60

The issue with God ....... 61

The broad teaching of the Prayer-Book .... 62

Y. The Church.

We are made, not for the world only, but for God . . 67

The Church as the Divine Society : its embodiment . 68

1. The social mission of the Church .... 70 (a) The prophet of the unseen and the eternal in

the light of Creation ...... 71

{h) The interpreter of the world in the light of the

Incarnation ....... 72

(c) The quickener and sustainer of life in the light

of the Redemption ...... 74

2. The idea of a national Church . . , .75 Historical position of the Church of England . 76 In what sense it has failed ..... 77 Want of cooperation and sympathy ... 78 A present opportunity 80

XVlll

II. Christian Aspects Of The Organi- Sation Of Social Life

I. The Kingdom of God.

The proclamation of a Divine kingdom the characteristic message of the Gospel in the first age

The idea of a Divine kingdom the moral of Old Testament history ......

The kingdom of God twofold ....

The work of Christ to establish a kingdom

The notes of the kingdom ....

The Christian correlatives of Equality, Liberty, Fra ternity .......

1. "Eighteousness" (Equality) .

2. "Peace" {Liberty) ....

3. "Joy" (Fraternity) ....

But where can they be found ? . . . In spite of failure we cling to our hope . "In the Holy Ghost"

PAGE 85

86 88 89 90

II. Mediceval E forts: the Franciscans.

The circumstances of the xiiith century

Characteristics of Francis of Assisi

His call : his secret

The growth of his work .

The foundation of the Third order

The failure of the movement .

Disregard of the individual

and of the nation Imperfect view of the Lord's character. Mariolatry

Contents.

XIX

PAGE

Lessons : the power of humility, of sympathy, of sacrifice, of faith 112

Our present need of the lessons ..... 113

The call of laymen 115

III. Modern Efforts: the Quakers.

The failure of Mediaeval efforts . . . . .119 New thoughts of the Eeformation . . . . .121 Its positive lesson : individuality . . . , .id. This thought has influenced all later conceptions of the

kingdom of God ....... id.

The Jesuits and the Quakers give opposite expressions of

the idea 122

G. Fox and Francis ....... 123

The lessons taught by G. Fox ...... id.

1. The kingdom of God involves Divine converse , id. The age called for the assertion of this truth . . 124 The Gospel a present, living force .... 125 The Church lives by the outpoured Spirit . . id.

2. The privilege of Divine converse for all . . . 127 This truth in conflict with the current theology of

the xviith century ...... id.

Importance of the message at the time and for us . 128

3. Life answers to faith ...... id.

Christian life a revelation of Christ to the world . 129

A type of character formed by Fox . . . . .id.

The achievements of Quakerism 130

An encouragement to us for work on a larger scale . 131 For the Society failed from neglect of the idea of social

and national life ....... id.

But G. Fox established the fundamental fact of the

spiritual basis of the kingdom of God . . . 132 We need to master the truth of the supremacy of the

Spirit 133

XX

Contents.

IV. Present Problems.

Past failures

Our dangers from individualism Our needs

1. A sense of responsibility for endowments

2. A conviction of the power of spiritual forces

3. The confession of a great ideal

These can be gained through the establishment o

some Christian fellowship ....

Such a fellowship must be characteristically English . comprehensive social oj)en

rational . spiritual .

a fellowship of "brethren and sisters of the common hope" .

The end attainable and within sight

PAGE

110 111 113

Appendix

Types of Apostolic Service.

I.

Saintship .

II.

Authority .

m.

Suffering: St Paul