Some Christian Convictions | Page 6

and
talking of "social evolution." This conception of society altered men's
theories of economics, of history, of government. Nor did these newer
theories remain in the classrooms of universities or the meetings of

scientists; they became the platforms of great political parties, like the
Socialists in Germany and France, and the Labor Party in Britain. Men
are thinking, and what is more feeling, today, in social terms; they are
revising legislation, producing plays and novels, and organizing
countless associations in the interest of social advance. We are still too
much in the thick of the movement to estimate its results, and we can
but tentatively appraise its contributions to our Christian thought.
(1) It has given men a new interest in religion. The intricacies of social
problems predispose men to value an invisible Ally, and such
prepossession is, as Herbert Spencer said, "nine-points of belief." The
social character of the Christian religion, with its Father-God and its
ideals of the Kingdom, gives it a peculiar charm to those whose hearts
have been touched with a passion for social righteousness. A recent
historian of the thought of the last century, after reviewing its scientific
and philosophic tendencies, makes the remark that "an increasing
number of thinkers of our age expect the next step in the solution of the
great problems of life to be taken by practical religion."
(2) It has made us realize that religion is essentially social. Men's souls
are born of the social religious consciousness; are nourished by contact
with the society of believers, in fellowship with whom they grow "a
larger soul," and find their destiny in a social religious purpose--the
Kingdom of God.
(3) It has taught us that religious susceptibility is intimately connected
with social status. Spiritual movements have always found some
relatively unimpressionable classes. In primitive Christian times "not
many well-educated, not many influential, not many nobly born were
called"; and in our own age the two least responsive strata in society
are the topmost and the bottom-most--those so well off that they often
feel no pressure of social obligation, and those without the sense of
social responsibility because they have nothing. It is the interest of
spiritual religion to do away with both these strata, placing social
burdens on the former and imposing social privileges on the latter, for
responsibility proves to be the chief sacrament of religion.
(4) It has brought the Church to a new place of prominence in Christian

thought. Men realize their indebtedness for their own spiritual life to
the collective religious experience of the past, represented in the
Church; their need of its fellowship for their growth in faith and
usefulness; and the necessity of organized religious effort, if society is
to be leavened with the Spirit of Christ. Church membership becomes a
duty for every socially minded Christian. And the social purpose
renders Church unity a pressing task for the existing Christian
communions. John Bunyan's pilgrim could make his progress from the
City of Destruction to the New Jerusalem with a few like-minded
companions; but a Christian whose aim is the transformation of the
City of Destruction into the City of God needs the coöperation of every
fellow believer. Denominational exclusiveness becomes intolerable to
the Christian who finds a whole world's redemption laid on his
conscience.
(5) It demands a social reinterpretation of many of the Church's
doctrines, a reinterpretation which gives them richer meaning. The
vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ, for example, becomes intelligible
and kindling to those who have a social conscience and know
something of bearing the guilt of others; and the New Testament
teaching of the Holy Spirit is much more real and clear to those who
have felt the social spirit of our day lifting them out of themselves into
the life of the community, quickening their consciences and sympathies,
and giving them a sense of brotherhood with men and women very
unlike themselves. Vinet wrote a generation ago, "_L'Esprit Saint c'est
Dieu social_."
We have by no means exhausted the list of quarries from which stones,
and stones already prepared for our purpose, can be and are taken for
the edifice of our Christian convictions. The life of men with Christ in
God preserves its continuity through the ages; it has to interpret itself to
every generation in new forms of thought. Under old monarchies it was
the custom on the accession of a sovereign to call in the coins of his
predecessor and remint them with the new king's effigy. The silver and
the gold remain, but the impress on them is different. The reminting of
our Christian convictions is a somewhat similar process: the precious
ore of the religious experience continues, but it bears the stamp of the

current ruling ideas in men's view of the world. But lifeless metal,
however valuable,