THE CHRISTIAN STATE a POLITICAL VISION: OF CHRIST peor D SEN mEenIe manANRD Mager ene RAN: 2 NN 0 we Dee a AT ANDES NOLE MERA ELE PANGS DONE SEEDED OSI DOR BoE TT OETE GEO. D-HORRON Univ. of Ill, Lib; | . ° as r . 51 ) ary 1345 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIP) ARY AT. URBANA-CHnwiPAIGN STACKS Return this book on or before the = _ Latest Date stamped below. University of Illinois Library L161—H41 Mme CORISTIAN STATE meee SICAL VISION OF CARIST. BOOKS BY PROF. GEORGE D. HERRON, D.D, Published by T. Y. Crowell & Co. A PLEA FOR THE GOSPEL. 16mo. Cloth. Gilt Top THE NEW REDEMPTION. 16mo. Cloth. Gilt Top Paper . etn t THE CHRISTIAN STATE. 16mo. Cloth. Gilt Top anette. gts alee. : Published by F. H. Revell Co. THE CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. rz2mo. Cloth. Gilt Top . Paper 5: aha eee THE LARGER CHRIST. 72mo. Gloth, Cilt Kop. % THE CALL OF THE CROSS. rzmo. Cloth. GiltTop . . From Tuer N. Y. Critic. “Mr. Herron is a man of power. What is most attrac- tive about his book is its moral rather than its intellectual seriousness, to adopt Matthew Arnold’s phrase. Mr. Her- ron aims at producing impressions, not by iteration as Matthew Arnold does, for he has none of the tricks of that literary magician, but by earnest and emphatic statements. He writes with immense enthusiasm and fine culture. Mr. Herron, like a prophet —a speaker of God, that he is— does not argue; he appeals to one’s moral nature; he pleads, he commands.” THE CHRISTIAN STATE meee 1ICAL VISION OF CHRIST. Pesonoe OF. SIX LECTURES DELIVERED IN CHURCHES IN VARIOUS AMER- ICAN CITIES. By GEORGE D. HERRON ‘For who is so irreligious, as not to be sorrowful? who so proud, as not to be humbled ? who so wrathful, as not to forgive? who so luxurious, as not to abstain? who so sensual, as not to restrain himself ? who so wicked, as not to repent during these days? And rightly so. For the Passion of the Lord is here, this very day, shaking the earth, rending the rocks, and opening the tombs. . - . Nothing better could be done in the world than that which was done by the Lord on these days.’’ — BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX. NEW YORK: 46 EAst 14TH STREET. PiaoMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. BOSTON : 100 PuRCHASE STREET. CopyRIGHT, 1895, By Tuomas Y. CrowELtt & Co. TYPE-SETTING AND ELECTROTYPING BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON. S. J. PARKHILL & CO., PRINTERS. TO . he. Hy Father anv Mother, ‘ON _WHOSE FAITH I BUILD, | Ape pee Pratt Tue DMEMEEIN OU ATE a> ace ola je) ek III. THE CHRISTIAN STATE THE SOcIAL REALIZA— emer FIEMOCRACY “4... 2c go 8 ee IV. THE CHRISTIAN STATE THE REDEMPTION OF LAW PRRONAUP OR Fo 0 6 cee Ss ak ie a os V. THE CHRISTIAN STATE THE SALVATION OF THE OR ee PL ae as Leek a ye VI. THE CHRISTIAN REVIVAL OF THE NATION . . 119 THE POLITICAL APPEARING OF CHRIST. ALTHOUGH we must not for one moment deceive ourselves into thinking that our greatness or our learning is in the small- est degree necessary to Almighty God, we may yet remember that he, of his infinite mercy, has willed that man may become a co-operator with him in his work. It cannot be denied that the world is passing through a crisis which will one day form an epoch in history. There is trouble on all sides; the horizon of the future is black with clouds; and to whom may we look for succor if not to thee, O God? Industry, commerce, science, have advanced with rapid strides; but their progress is vain if the men who are to redeem society by a noble and upright standard of conduct are lacking. Petroleum, dynamite, — these are the fruits of the teaching of the philosopher and the atheist. By the help of, and in the name of, Jesus Christ, I will endeavor to point out to you in these sermons the only remedy against the perils which surround us, and in his name I will show you the truth. First of all, the most essential of all things is the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In the knowledge of Jesus Christ is con- tained the sum and substance of all truth. That point reached, there is an end of all hypothesis. With one clear, distinct rule of conduct, there is no longer any occasion to go from sophism to sophism, from negation to negation, from system to system. . . . Christianity has power to rekindle in our hearts the flame of brotherly love, to unite us all in one bond of faith and hope and love; and by and by, when the present crisis of trouble and difficulty shall have yielded to its holy influence, the strong will help the weak, and war and tumult will cease from the face of the earth. — Father Agostino da Montefeltro, THE CHRISTIAN STATE A POLITICAL VISION OF CHRIST. ————— ee i: fo TICAL. APPEARING OF ea AR ey De In beginning this lecture course, I ask you who hear me, and whoever may hereafter read _these lectures in published form, to bear with me ina word of explanation and appeal. The six lectures of this course are the outgrowth and development of a widely discussed and criticised Commencement Oration, spoken to the University of Nebraska, on the 13th of June, 1894. The most of the criticisms com- ing to my notice have been wholly based upon either garbled and fragmentary reports or vio- lent interpretations of that address. While II 12 THE CHRISTIAN SiAdea the idea of being personally understood has no part in this larger development of my thought, —for these lectures had been in preparation some months before their condensation in the oration in question, —I yet hope that, for the sake of the cause for which I speak, the criti- cism which may now be called forth will be less hasty, and more attentive to what I really say. The fault of the oration was the attempt at ceiving form to too much in one address — which fault I now try to remove. Although I have earnestly sought to sympathetically consider even the severest and most unreasoning criti- cism, and am glad to omit a familiar quotation from Mr. Chauncey M. Depew which he pro- nounces unauthoritative, I find myself unable to modify the essential message spoken to the University. But I have tried to so amplify and clarify that message as to leave no ground for mistaking my meaning. For my actual mes- sage I wish to evade no responsibility, but rather to be held strictly accountable. I only ask that critics may not base their judgments upon detached expressions, or even upon sin- THE POLITICAL APPEARING OF CHRIST. 13 gle lectures, but try to adequately and sympa- thetically consider my thought and purpose as - a whole, and thereupon base all judgment and criticism. Nor can my message be justly considered except from the point of view at which I stand, and from which I shall speak — which is that of a political and social learner of Christ. No cause or truth can be helped by passing judg- ment upon me for failing to accomplish what I have not undertaken, and have no calling or purpose to undertake. It can but result in misunderstanding and impatience to persist in judging me from some other man’s point of view, —from the standpoint of the statistical analyist of social conditions, or that of the scientific economist, or that of the religious or political partisan, This lecture course will not be an attempt to contribute to political, social, or theological science. It will be an appeal to the moral reason and undeveloped religious faith of the people; an effort to show the political appearing of Christ I have seen, while looking for some way of faith by which I4 THE CHRISTIAN STATE. our nation might pass from the present social distress and perplexity, through gathering storm and coming change, into a more orderly and righteous development. The hope of a na- tional revival of the religion of Christ moves me to bear witness to his wisdom and author- ity in the apprehension and fulfilment of the functions of the state. Where there is no faith in Christ as immanent in the life of the world and guiding in the social movement, no faith in him as the living and reigning ruler of the nations, my words will be foolishness or an offence. There will also be sincere Christian minds, devoted and aspiring Chris- tian hearts, who will not believe my report because unaccustomed to think of Christ in the terms which I shall use, or to conceive of him in the relations in which I shall set him forth. Although my words may have no more than an inspirational value, while I shall often speak with sorrow and reluctance, only after long waiting and under the profound sense of a divine compulsion, it is yet with great joy and large hope that I thus confess my political THE POLITICAL APPEARING OF CHRIST. 15 faith in Christ, believing that I appeal to a like faith in many who are looking for the redemption of our nation and a juster civili- zation. A political order that shall associate men in justice is the present search of civilized peo- ples. The old ways of political thinking and doing have exhausted themselves. Our present systems of human relations are not able to endure the strain that is coming upon them. Political constitutions, now sacred, will be con- sumed in the fervent heat of the social trial, and present forms of institutions will disappear. While the peoples international are waiting with a marvellous social patience, with no deep or authoritative disposition to any revolution that is not moral, constitutional, and progres- sive, none expect the existing order to continue. Not since Augustus achieved the Roman unity of a world of splendid misery, has the race so felt the certainty and the dread, the sorrow and the hope, of universal change. The civiliza- tion of to-day is the camp of a vast unorgan- ized and undisciplined army, without visible 16 THE CHRISTIAN STATE. leadership or apparent method, yet consciously preparing for some nearing conflict which shall issue in a new beginning of history. That civilization is full of trouble and change is not a cause for mere fear and dread, but for faith, sacrifice, and work. Nothing could be more dreadful than to have the present order of things exist without discontent, complaint, and change. The social movement bears only a superficial likeness to any movement of the past, and our possible failure ‘to apprehend its meaning and act with its forces is the only ground it offers for fear. The world-passion of to-day is construction, however destructive some of its manifestations may yet prove. Unorganized and unharmonious as the forces of social change now seem, the peoples will be restrained by their faith in the providence and deliverance of the change, and united in the living sacrifice of their noblest sons upon the altar of their faith. The peoples are not angry, but rather in sorrow and expectancy, because of their inmost conviction that out of their travail and anguish will a better order of society be 7HE POLITICAL APPEARING OF CHRIST. 17 born. The world is full of discontent; but it is the discontent of God with the degradation of his sons and daughters under the tyranny of a material dominion. Society is moving quickly toward revolution; but it is revolution from anarchy to order, from industrial slavery to industrial freedom, from social violence to social peace, from political atheism to the kingdom of God. The revolution is the mani- festation of the social self-discovery which man is now making, and comes as the social creation “of the world. Since man first awoke to the consciousness of his being, social progress has been chiefly the development of the self-knowledge and in- dependent powers of the individual. The free- dom and equipment of the individual for a fair rivalry with his fellows has been the funda- mental thought of modern political philosophy and activity. But we are now seeing that there can be no true individual development except through association ; no individual freedom ex- cept through social unity. Through experience and suffering, with a knowledge too deep for 18 THE CHRISTIAN STATE. logic and too high for the understanding of a materialistic philosophy of society, the race is learning that it is not an aggregation of indi-- viduals, but one body, one humanity, of which all individuals are members ; that it is not nat- ural, but the misapprehension and antagonism of nature, that these members should. strive with each other for place and life in the body. We are in the beginnings of an evolution of human life that as truly transcends the self- consciousness of the individual, as the evolved and reasoning man transcends the animal king- dom. Men are no longer simply conscious that they can act as righteous or unrighteous indi- viduals. The self-consciousness of society is the evolution now in process. There is slowly waking in men what might be called the con- Sciousness of each other —the consciousness of a power to act together as one man, in the de- velopment of one common human life and des- tiny, to which all are to contribute, and of which all are to partake. The consciousness of one’s own mind and powers is being transcended by the race consciousness of one universal mind THE POLITICAL APPEARING OF CHRIST. 19 and spirit sovereign within all men, making them members one of another, and humanity a body of God. The education of the dawning social mind in the wisdom of the immanent social spirit is the work of the new age of crea- tion at hand. Society must henceforth be the end of polit- ical science and effort. Men are ceasing to believe, and can no longer be persuaded, that a condition of rivalry, in which they are supposed to act from an enlightened self-interest, is the real ground of social order and progress. The civilization that now builds upon-the assump- tion that men are antagonists, and not members of one social body, is fundamentally anarchical —against the divine course of things. The politics that remains insensible to the waking social consciousness, the politicians who ignore the social conscience and make the holy watch- _words of the past the hypocrisy and traffic of the present, will be but fuel for burning in the day of wrath that is coming to consume our trade politics and false social philosophies as stubble. Not individual liberty to compete, 20 THE CHRISTIAN STATE: and the equilibrium of warring self-interests, but the association of men in a communion of justice, is the work of the politics that would command the patience and win the respect of the people. The vision of brotherhood will not pass away, for it is heavenly. Politics must obey that vision, or the people will try obedi- ence without politics, and a world-tragedy will have to be the school in which the nations shall learn their law and mission. But revolution, in the historic sense of the word, cannot save civilization, even though revolution lie between us and our social sal- vation. We need some power sufficient to deliver us from the necessity, to save us the sorrow and waste of revolution. Notwithstand- ing Carlyle, revolutions go backward as well as forward. Though we sometimes foolishly im- agine ourselves separated from the past by great fixed gulfs, the continuity of our one human development cannot be broken. We can only break with the past by getting our- selves out of the universe. The past is, and is to be; and the work of the present is to carry femeeorrtICAL APPEARING OF CHRIST. 21 the past, enlarged and sanctified, into the future. There has never been a great revo- lution, seeming to break with the past and make the earth new for an instant, from which there has not been a terrible recoil. Sooner or later the revolutionized nation, or civilization, has had to return upon its course and connect itself with the good substance of the evil forms from which it revolted. The continuity has had to be taken up again, the broken links reunited. The religious revolution we call the Reformation was a universal loss as well as a gain. And we are already beginning to see that the future power and purity of the church are involved in our recovering much that Protestantism threw away; in reuniting our broken fragments, our discordant sects of Christendom, in a true and holy universal church. We begin to see that the Reforma- tion was a temporary, however needful, phase of the development of Christian history ; that the Catholic Church of the fifteenth century was spiritually splendid and historic, with in- stitutions which Protestantism needs; with 22 THE CHRISTIAN STATE. a wealth of sacrifice and spiritual glory which should be the inheritance of us all. The French Revolution is not ended yet; and France finds no rest, because the break of the nation with the past was so violent that the continuity of the national life has been lost for a time. Because France has tried to have no past, the nation. has as yet no certain future. I doubt not we shall one day see that problems of national life we thought settled with the American Revolution and the formation of our constitution, will yet have to be reconsidered. Revolutions that come through enforced sepa- ration and war, notwithstanding their historical gains, always carry with them elements that react and curse, degrade and corrupt. The nation, the cause, that triumphs by the sword, takes death into its moral life quite as much as perished armies have taken death into the bodies of their soldiers. Into the national mind there comes an oc- casional new and sobering thought of the cost of our Civil War, — the million slain; living thousands with injured bodies and souls and ferret /CAL APPEARING OF CHRIST. 23 lost opportunities; generations of sectional strife and race bitterness; a race turned into a freedom almost worse than slavery because of the shameful irresponsibility of the nation en- slaving it; speculation and greed laying founda- tions for monstrous politieal corruptions and industrial despotisms ; the patriotism, heroisms, and triumphs of the living and dead citizen- soldiers made the unholy traffic of political hypocrites, and sacred national memories tra- ditionalized and desecrated to serve blind leaders of blind political parties; a century required to even measurably recover from the moral shock and ruin of the war. There wasa better way to have preserved the Union, freed the slave, and purified the nation, if we had only known the day of our visitation in time. But we would not. So God walked in the path our nation made for his feet, because we would not walk in the path he made for ours. War is not God's best way of progress for man — God’s chosen channel for the increase of divine life in the nations —though the blind- ness and obstinacy of man make channels of 24. THE CHRISTIAN Si ee blood for the river of life to flow in and mingle. God has shown us a better way than revolution by force, — the eternal way of sacrifice, by which all progress sooner or later has to climb. The cross of his Son has revealed a mightier power than the power of arms, a more trium- phant force than force, — the power and force and triumph of love, which never faileth to tri- umph, though it sacrifice all and suffer long. The divine development of both the personal life and the race life, the way in which civiliza- tions are evolved from exhausted forms and customs, is through a new sacrifice and inflow of life. Not revolution, but divine evolution from the past, is the method of a better future, if we will follow the way of sacrifice and permit God to move his purposes therein. Revolution and separation mean ultimate anarchy and despotism, a last state worse than the first, unless the past is sacredly kept and speedily wrought into the future. The ruined man, the dying system, the decaying order of things, always has within the germ of the living and the new.