The Saviour not only gives without reducing the other enjoyments, but His gift increases the value of that which we have. The body without control will exhaust itself--actually wear itself out in the very riot of pleasure. It is only when the body is the servant of a spiritual master that it can develop its greatest strength and prolong its vigour.
Two ill.u.s.trations suggest themselves. The use of intoxicants has wrought disaster since man came upon the earth. Drink is not only ruinous when used continuously and in large quant.i.ties, but it is injurious even when used moderately. The life insurance tables show that a young man who, at the age of twenty-one, begins the regular use of intoxicating liquors, reduces his expectancy by more than ten per cent., or more than four years in forty. That is the average. In proportion as the body is left to its own control the appet.i.te becomes destructive of the body itself as well as of the body"s value to others. Just in proportion as the body is under spiritual control is it in position to enjoy itself and to extend the period of enjoyment.
Reference need hardly be made to the diseases that follow in the wake of immorality. The wages of sin is death--death to the body, death to the mind and death to the soul. Races have rotted and pa.s.sed into oblivion because the body was put in command of the life. Both drunkenness and unchast.i.ty curse the generations that follow as well as the generations that are guilty--the sins of the fathers and mothers being visited upon the children and children"s children.
And so, too, with the mind; it would run wild but for the sovereign soul of man. There are temptations that come through the intellect--temptations that are as destructive as those that come through the body. Only when the mind is guided and directed by a spiritual conception of life is it capable of its highest and n.o.blest work.
The soul is greater than the mind as it is greater than the body. Would you have proof? Recall the days of the martyrs. What is it in man that can take the body and hold it in the fire until the flames consume the quivering flesh? The soul of man that can coerce the body to its death is greater than the body itself. And the soul is likewise greater than the mind. It can take the imperial mind of man, purge it of vanity and egotism and infuse into it the spirit of humility and a pa.s.sion for service. The soul that can thus harness the mind and make it bear the burdens of the World is greater than the mind itself.
Remember, also, that the spiritual gifts which Jesus bestows are vastly richer than all that man possessed before. Who can measure the value of salvation--the peace that comes with sins forgiven and the joy of constant communion with the Heavenly Father whom Christ reveals? And, then, consider the moral code that is revolutionizing the world. I only have time to mention a few of the fundamental teachings of Christ.
Christ gave the world a new definition of love. Husbands had loved their wives and wives their husbands; parents had loved their children, and children their parents; and friend had loved friend, but Christ proclaimed a love as boundless as the sea.
Christ founded a religion and built a Church on love--on love, the greatest force in the world. Love furnishes an armour which no weapon can pierce. When physical warfare is forgotten, love will still call its hosts to battle; the effort then will be, not to kill one another but to excel in doing good.
Christ has been called "_visionary"_--that is a favourite word with those who pride themselves upon being practical. But as a matter of fact, one of the great virtues of Christ"s teachings is that they are _practical_. He deals with the every-day things of ordinary life and in His quiet way irons out difficulties and makes rough paths smooth. His philosophy is easily comprehended and readily applied. His words need no interpretation; they are the words of the people, the language of the ma.s.ses. If He were a teacher of rhetoric He would surpa.s.s all other teachers because the art of discourse reaches its maximum in His sentences. The learned sometimes speak over the heads of their hearers, using words that are unusual and long-drawn-out. Jesus talked to the mult.i.tude and they not only understood Him but "_the common people heard him gladly."_
Let me recall to your minds just a few ill.u.s.trations of the simplicity of His thought and language. Take, for instance, the supreme virtue, love, upon which He always places emphasis. Note how He weaves it into human experience.
"Therefore," He says (Matt. 5:23), "if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother."
Reconciliation is preferred to sacrifice. The gift upon the altar can wait; but enmity between brothers must have attention at once. What infinite woe and heartache will be prevented when this lesson is learned and applied throughout the world. What untold blessings will be realized when even among those who profess the name of Christ it is always employed. A word spoken in anger has often cost a life because neither party to the quarrel was big enough to obey the best promptings of the heart and beg pardon. Families have been rent asunder; communities have been divided; nations have gone to war, just because some one lacked the spirit of the Saviour and refused the plain and easy road to reconciliation. Well may religious rites be suspended for the moment while love removes offense and binds together hearts that were estranged. We know that "To err is human," and we believe that "To forgive is divine;" to _ask_ forgiveness requires as much grace as to forgive.
In his first epistle (chapter 4:2) John makes a striking application of Christ"s doctrine of love: "If a man say "I love G.o.d" and hateth his brother, he is a liar."
These are harsh words but the Apostle was dealing with a very serious subject, viz., the glaring inconsistency between love of G.o.d and hatred of a brother.
There are many ways in which one can manifest hatred of his brother, and it must be remembered that hatred is a sin that is proven by acts rather than admitted. First, there is indifference--a wide-spread sin--and it is to be found inside the church as well as outside. As love is a positive virtue, a failure to love is a violation of obligations. A partic.i.p.ation in the services of the church, even communion at the Lord"s Table--does not always awaken in Christians the interest they should feel in each other.
If I may be permitted to ill.u.s.trate my thought, allow me to call attention to the fact that church members are sometimes compelled to pay cut-throat rates for short-time loans when there are within the same congregation members who are loaning at lawful rates to non-church members. Does it not seem incredible that the money of Christians is available for the outside world and yet not within reach of needy brethren? It would be easy for each church to organize within its membership a loan society and use the money supplied by the well-to-do for the accommodation of those temporarily embarra.s.sed. Sometimes the chattel mortgage sharks collect one hundred per cent, or more and the banks, which are established for the purpose of making small short-time loans, usually collect twenty to thirty per cent. Why should a church member be driven to these extremities when the loanable money in the church is sufficient for all needs? Surely church membership ought to be better security for a small amount than either a chattel or a real estate mortgage.
Another ill.u.s.tration; the fraternities are splendid organizations and are founded on high principles, but the church might be expected to do for its members some of the work left to fraternities. They care for the sick and bury the dead! Is it not a reflection on the church that its members should ever be compelled to go outside for a.s.sistance in such emergencies?
There are many other forms of indifference, but indifference is the least harmful of the manifestations of the lack of brotherhood. We have cases of positive and deliberate injury practiced against those who stand in the relation of brothers. We have had a riot of exploitation in this country; profiteering has been carried on on an appalling scale: men have been thrusting their larcenous hands into the pockets of their church brethren, as well as into the pockets of the public.
We have also the unequal combat between the tax-eater and the taxpayer, and we have the perennial conflict between the different groups of taxpayers, each trying to shift the burden onto the other, not to speak of that very considerable company who, for profit, cultivate vice as the farmer cultivates his crops. All conscious and deliberate injustice is proof of hatred and to such as engage in such wrong-doing the language of John ought to come as a stinging rebuke. It would work a revolution in society as well as in the Church if all the members proved their love of G.o.d by fair dealing with their fellowmen.
Christ confines Himself usually to the laying down of broad, fundamental principles instead of supplying rules and formulae. He cleanses the heart and then gives to life the law of love which should pervade all human relationships, as the law of gravitation pervades the universe.
But the Master at times went from generalities into details, making the path of duty so plain that no one can excuse himself if he strays there form.
An ill.u.s.tration is found in Matthew"s Gospel, chapter 25:34-46.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
No one should waste time in waiting for some great opportunity for service; there are opportunities everywhere. It is impossible for man to render any service to Jehovah Himself. There is nothing that we can do for Him except to love Him with heart and mind and soul and strength. It is _to the neighbour_ that we pay the debt that we owe to the Heavenly Father; it is _through the neighbour_ that we publish to the world our real selves. This is, like music, an universal language that all can understand.
Nietzsche, the atheistic philosopher, gave to one of his books the t.i.tle "Joyful Wisdom"--an absurd misnomer. That which he mistook for joy was the delirium of an unbalanced mind. The philosophy of _Christ_ might with propriety be called Joyful Wisdom; it leads one into the path of happiness that is real and permanent.
Carl Hilty, a Swiss writer, has published a book ent.i.tled "Happiness,"
in which he points out that, as those have the poorest health who spend their time travelling from one health resort to another looking for it, so those are least happy who do nothing but hunt for pleasure. He insists that to be happy one must have employment for the hands, the head and the heart. The hands must be busy, the mind must be occupied, and the heart must be satisfied.
Christ leads His followers into happiness through this route. No one who partakes of His spirit can be an idler. The world is full of work awaiting labourers; the harvest is ripe. Those who try to imitate Christ will be planning for the extension of His Kingdom and for the comfort of G.o.d"s creatures. The heart of the Christian--the center of life and love--will find satisfaction in being in sympathetic touch with all that is good and n.o.ble.
I have dwelt upon this point because the worldly are in the habit of picturing the Christian life as gloomy and forbidding. It is a libel; a long-faced Christian is a poor Christian, if a Christian at all. "Be of good cheer," is a Christian salutation; Christ used it repeatedly. In Matthew 9:2 He said to the man sick of the palsy, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."
In Matthew 14:27 He quieted the fears of His disciples, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." In John 16:33 He inspired the Apostles, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
Here we have three of the greatest sources of happiness--Forgiveness of sins: the presence of the Saviour and triumph over the world.
In Acts we find Him using the same words in addressing Paul and later Paul uses them in encouraging his companions.
Religion--real, heartfelt religion--transforms its possessor. It moulds the disposition and disposition determines expression. No beauty doctor can make a face as winsome as the face of one whose heart overflows with loving kindness; just as no face specialist can impose from without such lines of strength and intelligence as can be written upon it by the thoughts that pa.s.s through the brain.
The Christian life is the simple life. Charles Wagner sounded a note that echoed around the world when, some two decades ago, he issued his eloquent protest against the burdensome complexities of modern life. He made a plea for the natural life in which each individual will be his own master instead of being the servant of his possessions. Wagner"s book, though first published in Paris, had a larger circulation in the United States than in any other nation--not because our people have wandered farther than others into artificial social forms, but because they are sensitive to high ideals and free to reject harmful customs.
Social intercourse should be an expression of friendship, and friendship is both embarra.s.sed and obscured by vulgar display. The home should be a place of rest, where congenial spirits can gather for communion. There is nothing edifying or satisfying in the mere comparing of apparel.
The aim of entertainment should be to refresh the guest and stimulate friendship; the end is defeated by a rivalry in extravagance that awakens concern as to one"s ability to return courtesies extended. The increasing costliness of social functions not only robs entertainment of the enjoyment that it is intended to bring, but it leads many young couples to ruin themselves financially in an effort to keep up appearances and pay their social debts. It is impossible to calculate the benefit which would be brought to the social world if Christ"s spirit could pervade it and infuse into it a wholesome sincerity and frankness. Christ put the accent on the things that are worthy and banished the shallow pretenses upon which so much time is wasted and so much money squandered.
Christ gave the world a balm for that worry that is more wearing than work. He condemned the petty vanities and irritating anxieties. He taught a perfect trust that leads one to do his best and then leave the result with the Heavenly Father who is ever near and always ready to give good gifts to His children.
In Matthew 6, we find this soothing rebuke:
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if G.o.d so clothe the gra.s.s of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?