CHRISTIAN
CHURCH,
On the other hand, the results of recent criticism are at present felt to be less destructive than the criticism of two generations ago. (6) The Christian ministry is a severer test of religious earnestness to-day than it was in the days of our fathers. The increase of luxury has set the scale of living higher. To maintain the position of a simple gentleman is more costly than it was. The remuneration of the Christian minister has not kept pace with the growing expenses of life, but the demands upon his time and resources have increased, (c) There is a widespread feeling that there are other ways open to Christian zeal besides those of the stated ministry, and the number of those who devote their lives in independent fashion to works of Christian benevolence has greatly increased of late years. On the whole, the argument that Christianity has lost, or is losing, influence ends probably in the conclusion that certain formal aspects of Christianity have less hold upon men than formerly, but the increase of the influence of the Christian spirit is great and growing. Whether the present tendencies will end in a fatal relaxation of Christian ordinances, or in a better-proportioned estimate of their value; whether the decline of attachment to certain formal aspects of Christianity will lead to a renunciation of some of its essential principles, or will bring about a federation or union of Christian churches, are questions of deep interest, but are outside the scope of the present inquiry. It is enough for us to indicate our belief that, however much there may be to deplore in modern life, there is no real ground for believing that the social and ethical influence of Christianity has declined or is declining in the world. (ii.) Christianity and Morals.—Chiefest among those signs of progress is the influence of Christian ideas upon the principles, whether of law or custom, which now govern the world. It will no doubt always be a matter of controversy how much of the humane principles now accepted among civilized nations is due to education, experience, and evolution, and how much to direct Christian influence. Results are complex, and we must seek their ancestry in more than one line, but no reasonable person who reads the story of modern civilization can doubt that the slow acceptance of the principles taught by Christ has powerfully affected its development. “ The great characteristic of Christianity,” says Mr Lecky, “and the proof of its divinity, is that it has been the main source of the moral development of Europe.” Only by degrees, indeed, have the principles of Christianity been accepted or, indeed, understood. For example, take the matter of slavery. The habit of enslaving prisoners of war received its first check when the sense of Christian brotherhood created a strong feeling among Christian peoples against the enslavement of their fellow-Christians when taken prisoners. The Crusades, when Christian nations fought side by side against a pagan foe, no doubt served to strengthen this feeling of repugnance against such enslavement. By degrees, however, the sense of brotherhood extended; the family of Christ were not only those who called themselves by His name, but all those who were sharers of His redemption. To enslave a brother meant to enslave any man, for every man was a brother for whom Christ died. Thus the antislavery movement arose out of a better appreciation of the spirit of Christ; and Christian men were all along the inspiration of the movement. This example may serve as a type of many other humane movements which have imposed a sort of unwritten law upon the conscience of civilized nations. What is called international law, for instance, has in one sense no real existence. Nations have not yet accepted
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any definite written code of laws by which they are content to abide; but the broad and popular maxims, which expressed the Christianized feeling of mankind, became the basis of various erudite and influential works which may, broadly speaking, be called treatises on international law. Grotius, for example, definitely proclaimed that his book De Jure, &c., was an endeavour to present in orderly and codified form the customs and maxims which had grown out of the appreciation of Christian principles. It has often been stated, and arguments have been founded on the statement, that Christianity laid down no rules respecting some of the great evils of the world— such as the status of women, slavery, and war. This is true, for Christianity is not a religion of rules, but a religion of principles; it is the introduction into human life of a new spirit, and that spirit is love. The improvements in the condition of the world, the spreading abroad of humaner principles of conduct, including humaner methods of war, are little more than the apprehension of the principles laid down by Christ and expressed by the apostolic declaration—“ Love worketh no ill to his neighbour.” The width of the application of the principle was made plain by Christ when He answered the question, “Who is my neighbour?” by the parable of the good Samaritan. The indications of the recognition of these principles mark stages in the history of civilization. Alcuin noted the influence of Christian principles in the treatment of slaves. Under the sceptre of Charlemagne an abhorrence of needless bloodshed gained hold upon the public mind, while in more modern times the Red Cross Society and the Geneva Convention have assuaged the horrors of the battlefield. The substitution of arbitration for war belongs to the future, but great progress has been made in the direction of peaceful solutions of international difficulties. The subject enlists Christian and humane sympathy in an increasing degree. The conference of bishops of the Anglican Church in 1897 directed attention to it, and issued a report which showed how largely both the idea and practice of arbitration had become familiar to the civilized world. The changed conditions of modern life present, no doubt, new problems and new difficulties. There are some who despair of the application of Christian principles to the political and social questions which confront our times ; but such persons overlook both the progress which has already been made, and also the fact that many of the problems which confront us to-day — e.g., the industrial problems—are problems of recent growth, which owe their existence to the rapid commercial and political changes of the 19th century. Meanwhile the remarkable widening of the direction of Christian energy, of which we shall speak later on, shows that Christian public opinion is not likely to rest satisfied with a half-hearted application of the teaching of Christ, and that, whether ultimately successful or not, there is not a department of public life, nor a phase of human need or suffering, which the Christian conscience will allow to remain outside the reach of the Christian spirit. The widened sweep of Christian energy is evidenced in the expanded conception of missionary effort. Missionary societies have almost universally enlarged the sphere of their work—the elevation of woman, ministry to the sick, the amelioration of social conditions enter into the aim of the missionary. Time and space forbid our discussing these at length, but two or three examples will make clear how closely allied the introduction of gentler or humaner customs are with the preaching of Christianity. The Christian missionary has been influential in bringing about the mitigation, if not the cessation, of cruel popular customs like suttee and infanticide. S. III. — 8
