From: The Dial, Vol. I, No. II (Oct. 1840)
Author:
Published: Weeks Jordan and Company 1840 Boston
THE author of this letter has been the pastor of a church in the vicinity of Boston, and is distinguished, as we understand from those to whom he is personally known, for the unpretending simplicity of his character, the purity of his intentions, and his fearless inquiries into the foundation of prevailing institutions and opinions. He is one of the increasing number in our free land, who do not regard the voice of the multitude as the test of truth, nor ask permission of society to express their convictions. We honor him, therefore, as a sincere thinker; and no difference of opinion shall prevent us from doing justice to the record of his ideas.
The tone of this letter is one of great calmness; it is attractive by the chaste simplicity of its style; and wins attention by the air of genuine experience with which it is pervaded. The leading purpose of the writer is to express his desire for a pure and noble manifestation of religion, which shall comprehend all the elements of human nature, elevate the soul to the highest perfection of which it conceives, and advance society in freedom, holiness, and love. “Though it is no small matter to be a true Christian,” says Mr. Palmer, “I now see that it is much more to be a whole, a simple, and a true man.” He would have man disencumber himself of creeds and forms, not live by recorded precedents, or upon the experience of others, but go forth freely and spontaneously, in accordance with the promptings of his own moral nature. He needs but to know himself, to cultivate and exercise the noble nature with which he is endowed, to bring into harmony and beautiful order all that pertains to his interest and happiness as an individual and a social being.
These statements, considered in reference to prevalent religious ideas, will be assented to by many, over whose minds those ideas have no influence. It is in vain to disguise the fact, that the present administration of religion calls forth secret misgivings, or open dissent, from no small portion of those for whom it is designed. Men are fast coming to the conviction, that the highest sentiments of their nature demand a more generous culture than they have received; that the soul can be content with naught but the most severe and stern reality; and that to be truly religious is a thing of more vital and solemn import, than the frivolous and worldly spirit of our age has ever imagined. A higher form of religion, than that which lulls the drowsy soul to death- like sleep, in the midst of appalling corruptions and sins, is now looked for with as much earnestness by thousands of hearts, which as yet have only breathed out their longings in the faintest whispers, as was the coming of the Messiah, in those dark days of Jewish degradation, which preceded the advent of the truest light that has ever shone upon the spiritual eye of man. These hopes are to be realized, as we believe, by a clearer insight into the essential spirit of Christianity, and its application to the heart of society, in its simplest and most universal form. This is the problem which our age is called upon to solve, and it is now addressing itself to the task, with a calm, but intense determination, which guarantees its triumphant completion.
With these convictions, we do not assent to the conclusion which Mr. Palmer thus announces. “I am convinced that Christianity is to be superseded, as that has superseded Judaism. The human soul is outgrowing it, as it has previously outgrown other systems and technicalities.” In this statement, we think, that Mr. Palmer has fallen into an error, by supposing that the Christianity of Jesus is the popular religion of society. He confounds the pure, simple, divine ideas of Christ, which place him at such a wide distance from other religious teachers, with the “systems and technicalities,” which from the days of Constantine to the present, have received the honors of Christian baptism. But there is an essential distinction between the ideas of Jesus, and the forms in which they have been represented; between the divine truth to which he came into the world to testify, and the construction which it has received from different ages; between the universal laws which he announced, and the enactments which have been added to them by the legislation of men. The former constitute the religion of Jesus; the latter, the dress which disguises it; the former are everlasting; the latter must pass away.
We do not believe, then, that society has outgrown Christianity; nor that it can ever outgrow it, any more than it can outgrow the divine laws of nature. The characteristic idea of Jesus was the supremacy of moral over physical power; he directed men to the manifestation of God within their souls; he assured them that all who received his word should enjoy the Spirit of Truth as their comforter and friend forever; and thus attain the dignity and freedom of “simple, true, and whole men.” This idea is to be applied as a test to our present modes of worship, to the institutions of society, to the character of its members. So far as the prevailing religion of society is not in accordance with this, it must be superseded. But the superseding of this will be the exaltation of Christianity. A religion which concentrates the sanctities of life in certain days, which makes more account of formal worship than of the beauty of holiness, which gives divine authority to a priestly interpreter between conscience and God, which erects tribunals to sit in judgment on the human soul, which fails to recognise the spiritual equality and brotherhood of men, which takes no effectual means for the removal of oppression, social wrongs, and national sins, which exalts the service of Mammon over the service of God, and permits men to lay up treasures on earth, while any within their reach are starving for the bread of life, which has no faith in an order of society, established on the divine principles of justice and love,—such a religion, by whatever name it may be called, is not the religion of Christ. It is in opposition to his teachings; still more in opposition to his life; and as men are aroused from the slumbers of sin, made to comprehend the startling import of the ideas which now soothe the sleek transgressor in his Sabbath repose, and quickened to a new sense of responsibility by the stings of a faithful conscience, which wounds to heal, this religion will pass away, and the religion of Jesus be reinstated in its place.
We differ, moreover, from Mr. Palmer, in regard to the remedy which he proposes for the spirit of selfishness, the morbid love of gain, the low standard of morality, and the glaring inequalities of condition and opportunity, which to so great an extent characterize modern society. In his opinion, the present property system is the principal source of the crime and wretchedness which prevails; it compels a violation of the natural laws; and the selfish and exclusive principles, upon which the intercourse and business of men are now conducted, must be exchanged for the benevolent and fraternal. In this way, he supposes a community of interest, if not a community of property, would be established; the clashing interests of the many would be brought into unity; and the practice of giving and requiring bonds, notes, and metal pledges, at every turn, would be superseded.
With regard to the evils alluded to by Mr. Palmer, there is, we suppose, but one opinion among those who have made the condition of society an object of study. They now engross the attention of many of the most vigorous minds of Europe; they are beginning to awaken a deep interest in this country; philosophy forsakes its speculative abstractions to investigate the causes of social suffering; religion has learned that the salvation of the soul involves the elevation of man; and the age, which has perceived the great problem, will not be content till it is solved.
But the cure of these evils must not be looked for in a change of systems. The heart must be set right; the true purposes of life comprehended; the divine relations of man with man understood and acted on, before the most perfect outward organization could be carried into effect, even if it were discovered. The social ideas remaining the same, no good could come from the adoption of a new system. You do not destroy the love of gain, by dispensing with the tokens of value; you may give an egg for an apple, instead of a coin; but the difficulty is in nowise removed. Society must be inspired with correct social ideas; the divine law of love must be proclaimed, until it commands the universal heart; and the true idea will not fail, in due time, to organize itself in a true institution.
The great social evils of our day grow out of the lust of accumulation for personal objects. The remedy for these evils is the effectual assertion of Christian principles. If the spirit, which Jesus insisted on as the characteristic of his disciples, pervaded every community which bears his name, there would be no suffering for the want of means to sustain life, for every individual to unfold his whole nature, to attain the culture, gentleness, and dignity of a true man. The strong would help the infirmities of the weak, and the very thought of selfish gratification, at the expense of another’s happiness or improvement, would be spurned. The early Christians, we are told, had all things in common; no man said that aught which he had was his own; but they did not advocate the abolition of private property, nor a community of goods. They were impelled by a common sympathy to bring of their treasures to a common stock; the wants of the destitute were thus supplied; no man was suffered to need anything; but their reliance was placed on the soul, not on a system; they were led by the impulses of Divine love, not by the rules of an organization, to indulge themselves in no needless expense, while one of their brethren was destitute and suffering.
The Christian idea is not yet carried out in any Christian society. This idea, as clearly set forth in the character of Jesus, is that of entire self-abnegation, in obedience to God, for the benefit of man. The disciple is to have no will, other than the Divine will; his own interests cannot be regarded as superior to the interests of others; he is as much bound to labor for the good of all whom he can help, as if it were his own; he is commanded to sell all that he has, to consecrate his whole being, for the sake of the cause, in which his Master died. Christ renounced everything, called nothing his own, became of no reputation, had no certain dwelling-place, and died on the cross, in order that, by his sacrifices, truth and good might be advanced in the world. The disciple is called to essentially the same duty. The form may be different, but the spirit is identical. Unless he loves man as Christ loved him, he is false to the title in which he glories. If he has wealth, he is bound to use not a portion of it, but the whole of it, as the steward of the Lord; if he devotes it to his own selfish purposes, regardless of the claims of others, he is among the rich men who cannot enter into the kingdom of God; the moment he ceases to be a steward for man, he ceases to be the servant of Christ, and becomes faithless to the cause, which he is pledged to support.
This idea of the uses of wealth is clearly in accordance with the example of Jesus and his disciples, with the practice of the first Christians, and the natural laws of our being. If this idea were acted on, few external changes in the arrangements of property would be required; and until it were acted on, no external changes would be of permanent avail. Still we rejoice in every calm and temperate discussion of this subject. Men are looking for light, and will not rest till they find it. They perceive that the present system of intense competition for personal benefits is fatal to the healthy growth of the soul, destructive of the highest charms of social intercourse, at war with the bland and graceful amenities of life, and the progress of the largest civilization. Its tendency is to transform men into money-getting machines; to reduce the free and joyous varieties of natural character to the dead level of plodding mediocrity; and to smother the gushing life of the spirit beneath a silver veil. It adjusts social rank according to the successful pursuit of wealth; measures men by what they possess, not by what they are; identifies life with “getting a living;” makes our nation a nation of traffickers, not of thinkers; and substitutes the laws of trade for the laws of God. It is written, however, “Take no thought for the body; seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be given to you.”
This is the Christian creed. The true Church must rest on this foundation. Wealth must be sought, not for our own personal advancement, but to promote the empire of justice and love; and then the fever of gain will be assuaged.
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