DOES THE WORLD STILL NEED THE CHRISTIAN FAITH?

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1794, 5 July 1913, Page 9

DOES THE WORLD STILL NEED THE CHRISTIAN FAITH?

SERMONS BY DR. GIBB. Dr. Gibb, who is delivering a courso of sermons on Sunday evenings in St. John's Church,'Hellington, on the abovo theme, began by calling attention to the present condition of human society in civiliscd and so-called Christian countries. H< asked his hearers to consider tho cast of tho average man, often termed tin man in the street. This man is not tc be confused with tho out-of-elbows individual or the social pariah. As Richard Roberts- had said, tJio average man does not belong to any particular class in society, but is indigenous at alj social latitudes, Tho area of modern spiritual indifference is not delimited by certain social gradations. As a matter of fact, spiritual aridity, lack of vision and ideals, as far as this country is concerned, waa probably moro characteristic of tho rich than of the jioor. Tho condition of tho average man wa9 considered in the light of his relation to God, to thesoul, to the ethical imperative, and to his neighbour. He did not, as a rule, deny the existence of God. *Ho was not, theoretically at lcost, an athiest. In a vague way ho felt that probablv there was some groat power or reality of some sort lying back of tho phenomena of tho universe. But this pious opinion had no effect on his life. Tor him as a practical fact, God had ceased to exist, "The thought of God brings liini neither fear nor gladness, nor any other emotion, for it never occurs to h\m"; or.if it. does occur to him, it exerts 110 constraining influence -on Mb character. Ho does not, with the, fool in the psalm, say there is no God,' but he'lives as if tnere wore nouft.

111 much tho same way tho averago man's own soul has gono into eclipse. He does not deny that ho has a soul—it were truer to say IS a soul-but he does not know it'as a fact of tho highest moment of his existence. His life is practically lived. within tho limits of the senses. . He is devoid of outlook, uplift, aspiration. Ho is shorn of tho dignity which ought to crown him as made in tho imago of God, He cannot but be shorn of this, for ho docs not availingly believe in God; and as had been well said, "To discover and believe in God is in tho end the only way to discover and believe in oneself. Not that the average man is destitute of self-conceit. Ho has a very good opinion of himself. He knows nothing of that profound humiliation of the Christian spirit which cried from the depths, "Against Thee; Thei only, have I sinned," but'neither does lie know anything of the soul's true belonging to God and of that marvellous grac< which blends with the sense of weakness the sense of power; with tho eenso of shamo the sense of the splendid and inalienable majesty which crowns man as the child of the' Most High. How does it stand with his morality— what is his relation to the cthical, imperative? He has morality—ofa sort. ■ It-is policeman morality—tho refraining from certain (purses of action, tho pursuit of others because the one keeps him on the safe side of the laws of his country, while the other would land him in gaol; or because the one .would prove hurtful to his health or business interests, while the other ministers to the welfare of both. It is tho merest matter of observation that the- averago man does not perceive the awful gulf that lies between right and wrong. The everlasting yea and nay, of which Carlylo used to speak with tremendous insistence has for him little or no' meaning. His morality is frankly a thing of expediency. He rdcognises in a vaguo way that things aro right or wrong, but the Tightness of tho right and the ronguess of the wrong do not move him. How can they? He has no activo consciousness of God, and morality at tho best is mere utilitarianism It divoroou from tho sanctions of tho eternal and most holy Being in whose essential nature are rooted all the differences between truo and false, good- and evil, righteousness and iniquity.

What is his attitudo to his neighbourto the other man?. It is' an attitude of indiit'erencc. . This does not' mean that ho is incapable of kindness arising from passing impulses of pity and sympathy. But he has no sustained .inspiration to service. Ho has heard of the solidarity of the human race—that great truth of tho organic relation of all (ho members of the human family to one another, but it means less than nothing to him. To quote Mr. Roberts: "Ho is not selfish in the littlo things of life, but lie is criminally selfish in the big things. Ho is hardly interested in anything that does not bring somo immcdiato grist to his own mill. It does not striko him that just because ho is a member of human society ho is under obligation to do many things that will bring no grist whatever ' to his mill." What then does the average man substitute for these high things—God, the soul, righteousness, .altruism? Ho must substitute something. Man cannot live without ideals. His ideals may reach into eternity. They may bo of the earth earthy. Man is so inado that ho can only live by anticipation. Ho is not like the lower creatures who act merely under tho impulso of objects which are immediately presented to their senses. Man must have an'ambition—something to livo for and work for. If God and tho end of life as God has made it known lo us dies out of his consciousness, what does ho .replace, it by? First, thero is money-making—a large possession of material things. It would not bo too much to say that tho average man's God is mammon. Ho has not built a tcmplo or erected an altar to this shabby deity, but his worship though unexpressed in any kind of ritual, is nevertheless indisputable. No doubt many of us could easily do with more money than we possess and its possession so long as it is subordinated to spiritual ends is a thing desirable enough. But can it be denied that our civilisation is m'ammoncursed?. Socialism, from the theoretical standpoint, an infinitely higher thing than the. existing social order, is tainted with the same' baseness. Its passion as far as one can see, is for loaves and fishes with a little milk and honey thrown in. Yet one confesses ta a dispair of tho regeneration of human society under the existing 'capitalistic regime. He would be a bold man who would predict tho form which human society will take in distant apes, or even in the near future, but it does ' seem as if the Kingdom of God could not come in power until the making of money has ceased to bo tho chief regulating factor in our social organisation.

A second thing substituted for the ideals of tlio spirit is. pleasure. Life needs recreation, and pleasure is legitimate. But what shall be said of tlio moral and spiritual condition of men who work that they may play and to whom work is hateful and play {lie one tiling desirable? The chancier of our pleasures, too; challenge attention. Speed, rush, excitement, sensationalism—are not these the predominant characteristics? Tlio picture showmay bo regarded, as a symbol of our tastes. The stago owes less and ever less of its attractiveness to its appeal to the intellectual power, and move and over more to the appeal of melo-drama and coniio. opera.

The third substitute is publicity—the craving, the itch to be known to lie talked about—to get one's name at least into the newspapers. Lowell speaks of the new world's new fiend, Publicity, whose testing thumb leaves everywhere its smutch. He. hoped . to. see. this fiend eliminated from -tho life of his country, as it grew older and wiser. -Apparently' his hope was vain. 'The poet may term it a fiend. The satirist may deride tho shallowness of the craving for the lime-light and expose the absurdities into which it leads men and women. Put. the thin* grows. No wonder. If God is not been, if tho greatness of the soul, as made in llis image, dies out of the human consciousness, a substitute must bo found. Tho praise of man takes tho place of tho approval of God. CHINA AND CHRISTIANITY. An unusual scene was enacted recently in the vicinity of tho Old Mission Church, Calcutta, when both tho churcli and the roadway beyond were thronged by Chinamen who had heard that prayers of intercession for China would bo offered by the •incumbent. There are only two Cliineso Christians in Calcutta, but tho Cliineso present followed tho servico in an orderly manner, except that they did not romovb their hats on entering tho church ami that they interjected l from time to time in Chinese, "0 God hear us!"

Woods' Great Peppermint Oure, _Foi Cousin, and failsi k. Si,?