VII THE BEAUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."-PHIL. iv: 8. A BRAHAM LINCOLN once said that he was going to join a church just as soon as he found one that believed in love to God and love to man. Once, during three wonderful years there was this ideal church upon our earth, all ready for some Lincoln to join. Then everybody knew precisely what it was to be a Christian. A Christian was one who followed Christ, who prayed to the heavenly Father, and who could sincerely say, "I believe in the Beatitudes, I believe in forgiving my enemies, I believe in giving a cup of cold water to the poor and the weak, I believe in being kind and gentle, and in helping the poor." At that time, Jesus was the only Christian in the world, but He made the Christian life so alluring that His disciples went toward it as naturally as the birds go toward a bower of roses. Men could no more misunderstand it than they could misunderstand a purple cluster or a sheaf of wheat. The very children beholding Jesus, felt they could conscience, to the dedication of mind and heart to the Master and Saviour of the World. Enter this school, and begin the highest form of culture. Plant your faculties like roots that shall grow unto goodly vines. Sow your thoughts and deeds like seeds, and reap therefrom white harvests. Build your character like a cathedral and decorate it with the faces of ideals and angels and seraphs. Root your life in occupation and industry, in the earth beneath, but remember that the flowers acquire their fragrance and beauty from the heavens above. VII THE BEAUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."-PHIL. iv: 8. A BRAHAM LINCOLN once said that he was going to join a church just as soon as he found one that believed in love to God and love to man. Once, during three wonderful years there was this ideal church upon our earth, all ready for some Lincoln to join. Then everybody knew precisely what it was to be a Christian. A Christian was one who followed Christ, who prayed to the heavenly Father, and who could sincerely say, "I believe in the Beatitudes, I believe in forgiving my enemies, I believe in giving a cup of cold water to the poor and the weak, I believe in being kind and gentle, and in helping the poor." At that time, Jesus was the only Christian in the world, but He made the Christian life so alluring that His disciples went toward it as naturally as the birds go toward a bower of roses. Men could no more misunderstand it than they could misunderstand a purple cluster or a sheaf of wheat. The very children beholding Jesus, felt they could be His disciples, just as the noblest saints came to feel that they could never overtake Christ's divine beauty. The whole emphasis of Jesus was upon goodness and character. He placed no emphasis upon books, for He never wrote one; nor upon a church, for He never organised one; nor upon a government, creed or catechism, for He passed by all of them. Jesus was not a hero of the sword, nor a hero of gold, nor a hero of the forum. He was the hero of a life, beautiful and alluring. Asked what it was to be a Christian, the disciples pointed to Jesus. Asked to define patriotism, the historian answers "Washington.' Washington." Asked to define statesmanship, the scholar answers "Daniel Webster." Asked to define intellect, the philosopher answers "Plato, and Aristotle." Asked to define the Christian, we answer "Jesus Christ." That name binds together all possible excellencies, just as the string binds together a thousand golden heads of wheat. For thoughtful men, the Christian life seems the only natural and normal life. Rousseau led a movement back to Nature. The Frenchman's influence was at once good and bad. The movement away from artificiality was wholesome and healthy, but it was a bad thing to move from ripe back to the raw, from the oak back to the acorn, from the house back to the cave in which a savage man dwelt, from the restraints of wise laws back to the unbridled passions of forest children. What France needed was a movement not back toward the beginnings of things, but forward toward full Nature. What is Nature? Is Nature the scrub oak? Is not Nature the acorn carried forward to an acre-covering oak? What is the strawberry? Is that tiny, sour berry, growing on the edge of an Arctic snowdrift, a strawberry? Or is Nature the strawberry carried up to its best estate in the largest and sweetest berry that grows in England? The babe begins at nothing and slowly goes toward full manhood. The child begins a mere handful of seeds, a bough of unblossomed buds, and gradually unfolds. Slowly the intellect grows toward the wisdom of a sage. Slowly, the scholar's memory unfolds into universal knowledge. No child of today starts with original arithmetic, nor original geography, nor original science, nor original tools, nor original character. Under the influence of God's Spirit goodness is achieved. But man learns by example. Once the pupil beholds the work of the artist-master, he understands. It is the parent who is the best pattern, counsellor and guide for the child. Not otherwise our race needed a typical man, as an exemplar, and Jesus entered the scene as the first natural and normal man. Was it not Charles Lamb who said that Jesus was "the world's first gentleman ”? Plainly the divine Carpenter standardised character and gave something by which to measure progress. His whole emphasis was upon ethics. No young inventor can understand himself until he studies Watt, Kelvin or Edison. No young poet can ever understand his possibilities until he studies Shakespeare, just as no artist can understand the beautiful and his own capacity to interpret loveliness |