# Our New Departure (Brooks)/Chapter 19

It was said in the chapter on Our Ministry, that if, as a Church, we have any right to be, it is certain there is something for us to do. And when we consider the circumstances amidst which we find ourselves, how much there is for us to do! Error, unbelief, indifference, poverty, sin, how numerous are the calls they make upon us, and how various the paths of activity they open, and the forms of effort to which they invite! Our own culture in right character is our first duty, individually, as our fidelity to Christ and the Church is the first thing for us to think of, collectively, in this matter of Doing; and what is the ideal of character towards which we should aim, what are some of the means we should employ, and with what ardor of consecration we should give ourselves to that high personal Christian living, and that depth and earnestness of church-life, which is alone in keeping with the demands of our Universalist faith, most of the preceding chapters have tried somehow to show. But any Doing that thinks only of ourselves, or our own interests, or even of our own moral and spiritual improvement, is not only unpardonably exclusive and selfish, but fails to fulfil one of the essential conditions on which alone our highest interests and best improvement are to be served.
No life is complete lived in and for itself alone. We are whole only as parts of each other. The old saints, dwelling in caves and deserts, macerating their bodies, and thinking solely of their own victory over the flesh and the devil, were no saints at all—only so many pieces of utter religious selfishness. The finest character is impossible in solitude. One must live in society, throbbing with human sympathies, participating in human concerns, responding to human needs, to be largest,—human in the roundest and noblest sense. ​Christ thought of himself, and of his own victory over temptation, and of his own loyalty to God, and gave much time, and struggle, and prayer to keep himself, while in, above the world; but had this been all that he thought of, however blameless he might have been in his purity and self-control, there could have been no Christ. In the very nature of his appointment, the Christ is a servant,—that is, a doer: as he himself said, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister;"—"my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." In no single expression, perhaps, is so much summed up of all that most charms us in his life, as in the brief words, He "went about doing good;" and should we strike out all that his love of the sinful, his kindness to the poor, his innumerable tender ministries to human want and sorrow,—in one word, his Doing, contributed to make him, how much would remain of all that the name of Christ now symbolizes? Even God is most glorious because of what He is in the immeasurable empire of being as the One Ministering Spirit, doing good forever; and were it possible for us to conceive of Him as dwelling solitary in His Eternity, living solely in and for Himself, most of what now moves us to love and adoration would be gone.
These things being so, need it be said what is required before any man or woman can be a disciple of Christ, or (practically) a child of God,—before any Church can be a Church of Christ and a company of God's servants? Doing is not only the active side of Being; it is the indispensable condition of our best development, and the only method in which we can really glorify God, attest our love for Christ, or pay the world for the privilege of living in it. Accordingly, not, What wilt thou have me believe? nor even, How wilt thou have me feel? but, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" was the first outcry of the awakened and penitent Saul, as it is the first thought that comes to every truly awakened soul; and Christ's word to all who bear his name, whether individuals or churches, is, "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you," and, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father ​which is in heaven." Nor is it to be forgotten that the final test of acceptance or condemnation, in the parable which sets forth the principle on which our Lord, having 'come' to 'sit upon the throne of his glory,' is administering his kingdom, is, not faith, nor feeling, nor any punctiliousness in mere personal or church duties, but this same test of Doing: the words being, to those on the right hand, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me;" and to those on the left, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." From whatever point of view regarded, then, this subject of Doing is one that has weighty demands on our attention, alike as individuals and as a Church.
What we are to do as individuals, in addition to what is required for our personal growth in holy character, there is here no space to say in detail. It is all included in the general statement, that life is to be accepted as a time to live and to labor for others as well as for ourselves, and that we are actively to enlist in every effort for the relief, improvement, and welfare of our fellow-men, to the full extent of our ability and opportunity. We are to enclose ourselves within no selfish 'metes and bounds;' are to be no drones in the great hive of the world's interests and activities; neither shirks nor cowards in the unceasing battle of life. We are, each one of us, in the world to do what we can to make it better and happier. Service is alike the law of humanity and the law of Christ; and it is for each man and woman to ask, as in the presence of that eye from which nothing is concealed, What am I doing as a unit in the great sum of our race, and especially as a soldier in the army of Christ, to promote truth, to relieve distress, to instruct ignorance, to win back the wayward, to pull down wrong, to build up right?—and to feel condemned if the answer must be, Nothing; only meanly living for myself. We are grossly recreant to every obligation, if we do not, as we may, seek to render some service that shall count towards one or all of these ends outside ourselves. Here, as everywhere, even 'the widow's mite' finds acceptance, and does its part. "I see in this world," said Bishop Newton, "two heaps—one ​of human happiness and one of misery: now, if I can take but the smallest bit from the second heap, and add to the first, I carry a point. I should be glad to do great things; but I will not neglect little ones."
And this same spirit is to possess and impel us as a Church. Herein is the New Departure to which in this particular we are called. We have not been altogether idle. For a hundred years, we have been doing—not always what we might have done, but often bravely, manfully,—sometimes, heroically. Not without much cost of labor and sacrifice have we as a Church come to be what we are. But, like all new religious movements—the usual necessity being in our case intensified because of our peculiar position and circumstances, our effort hitherto has mainly been a 'struggle for life.' Socially and theologically, everything has been against us. Not an inch of ground has been gained that has not been fought for. We have had our parishes to found, our church-edifices to erect, our ministry to support; and these things being done, we have thought we had little time or means for anything else. Then, latterly, as we have grown stronger, the expansive instinct has asserted itself, and we have built schools and colleges, and set on foot a work of Church-extension—the logical moral sequence of our growth thus far, and a necessity, if we had any earnestness or honesty of conviction, that we might grow still further. Even in respect to these things, however, we have never yet been half enough in earnest, for the reason that we never yet, as a Church, have caught the full inspiration of our faith as an impulse to endeavor, nor begun to realize what a stress of indebtedness comes from the possession of such a Gospel, requiring us to be up and doing to give it to others. Greatly more in earnest there is need for us to be, therefore, in our Doing even within the line of these special Church interests and obligations.
But this is barely the beginning of our Doing, if we are to prove ourselves a Church of Christ. To think only, as a Church, of the extension of our particular doctrines, and the enlargement and strengthening of our special sect, is as unpardonably mean and selfish as it is for us, personally, to ​think only of our own improvement, or our own gains. We exist to touch the world's error and evil at all possible sides, and to make ourselves felt in behalf of every interest of humanity, as positive workers for the advancement of the kingdom of God. Our obligations admit of no private, or local, or sectarian interpretation. We are in the world, a representative of Christ, to war and to help in behalf of truth and righteousness, in all directions and in every field, as he would were he personally here. His life gives us the key to our duty, as his spirit supplies our constant inspiration.
Giving the 'Address to the People,' at the Dedication of the Church of the Paternity (Dr. Chapin's), in New York, in 1866, after speaking of their personal and denominational duties, I said,—
But you have, also, a membership in the great brotherhood of Christendom and the wider brotherhood of Humanity, and therefore have your general Christian responsibilities. See that you are no less true to these. You have named yourselves the Church of the Divine Paternity. Beautiful name, reminding us always of that sublime Fatherhood of God which, including all souls as its children, watches over their welfare and works steadily for their redemption. Fail not to catch the spirit thus indicated, and to labor, as you have opportunity, for the ends it seeks. Show that your religion is thoroughly practical; that your love for God incarnates itself in love and work for man, and that every effort for the succor of the distressed, for the help of the poor, for the conversion of the sinful, by whomsoever made, is here sure of response and co-operation. Christianity means help, healing, salvation for the poor and the perishing; and every Christian church should be, as far as possible, a never-failing fountain of help and healing. See that this Church becomes such a fountain. There is nothing that grieves me more, as I consider the position of our churches in this city and elsewhere, than the fact that we are so occupied with our own endeavors to live, that we fail of any active and independent participation in the various ministries of social help and amelioration, in which so many other churches are engaged, and for which there are such imperative calls. Where are our schools for the poor ​and the friendless? Where are our missions to the degraded and the destitute? Where our 'Homes' or Hospitals? Where our associations for generous outlook and kindly care of any sort? Except as our 'Sewing Societies' may answer some charitable purpose, and as we contribute to sustain the philanthropic activities of others, we are in no way making ourselves felt among the practical Christian forces of our city, or of the country. The explanation, as I have suggested, is found in our circumstances. But in your case, this explanation no longer holds. With your resources, and your actual and possible strength, ought you not, as a church, to be doing some of this practical Christian work? Our faith is the soul of all generous and philanthropic effort. Take the lead in the liberality and earnestness with which all our churches will by and by address themselves to this kind of effort, and make for yourselves a name, by making yourselves a power, among the beneficent agencies that, in Christ's name, are seeking to carry physical relief and the means of spiritual instruction and elevation to those who are now destitute and astray, or who are sitting in the shadow of intellectual darkness and moral death.
I make no apology for introducing here this extract from an Address to a particular church, for the sufficient reason that I could in no way better express what I believe is the call of God to all our churches, or more clearly indicate the New Departure with which this chapter is chiefly concerned. The time has come when, as a Church, we are summoned to broader aims and outlooks. We should no longer leave this whole field of philanthropic Christian toil to Christians of other names, nor be content with what individuals among us are doing. We have the faith which alone furnishes either the legitimate basis, or the best inspiration for this kind of labor. We have the means too--in men and women and money. It is for us to be true to our faith, by using these means in doing accordingly. The Church of the ​Divine Paternity has well led in founding its Chapin Home for the Aged and Infirm. In due time, it will doubtless follow with other enterprises in the same broad field. The example should not be lost. Our whole Church, surveying the field—alas! so sending to us its calls for succor and deliverance, should be profoundly agitated with the inquiry, What can we do? and our individual churches should turn their attention to what is thus demanded, that, as they have the means, they may use them, and everywhere give evidence, as churches, that they have the mind which was in him who came "to preach the Gospel to the poor; to heal the broken-hearted; to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised." There is nothing like Christian work to vindicate the right of an individual or a church to the Christian name. "That little Mrs. —— is a noble woman," said a zealous Presbyterian, greatly prejudiced against Universalism, referring to a Universalist lady much interested in philanthropic work. False, and even mischievous, as he thought Universalism to be, he could not deny its worthiness as represented in such a doer; and if, either personally or as a Church, we desire the Christian recognition to which we are entitled, this shows how we are to command it. We shall lack—and shall deserve to lack—the hearty respect of other churches, and the fullest confidence and hearing of the world, so long as we fail duly to put our faith into the philanthropic Doing by which only, as a part of our work, can it be fitly expressed. Meaning what Christ does, every church that assumes to bear his name should try to mean the same—and we above all others.
Nor is this all. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," was, in his final parting with them, Christ's solemn charge to those whom he had trained to be his messengers. It is no less his charge to every church to-day, and to us as much as to any others. Just now, we are occupied in the work of consolidation and Church-extension at home; but the time is near at hand, if it be not already here, when, in a New Departure, we must enlist also in effort to extend a knowledge of our truth abroad. Even now, as these lines are penned, an apostle ​from across the water is pleading among us for help to build a house of worship for his people in Scotland. Should his appeal be responded to, this, including what has before been done for him, will be our second step towards foreign missionary work, as, so far as I know, the mission of Rev. A. C. Thomas to England and Scotland, some years ago, was our first.
History is prophecy. In the future as in the past, Christianity can conquer new provinces from the domains of idolatry and spiritual death only as Christendom sends out its missionaries, the heralds of the cross and the pioneers of its civilization. Every desert has its spots of verdure, which, if multiplied and extended by the sending out of seed and soil, would in time conquer the dearth and barrenness, and transform the desolation into one broad stretch of fields and gardens. So the world's evangelization has proceeded. So it must proceed. Working from every christianized point, Christendom must plant its missionary stations, to serve as centres of Christian influence; and as these moral oases multiply, and gradually widen and extend, the desert of heathendom will be possessed, and, becoming transformed into a field of Christian culture, will bear fruit to the glory of God. The foreign missionary work is as much a part of the work of the Church of Christ as its work at home. There were foreign missionaries as well as home missionaries among the Apostles; and from that hour to this, there never have been lacking those who have trod a similar path, enriching it with their example of fidelity,—often sanctifying it with their blood. Next to Christ himself, there is nothing that Christianity could so little afford to lose as the record of what its self-sacrificing and heroic missionaries have done, make what abatements we may for mistaken motives, and even for (occasional) mercenary aims. Nor are foreign missionaries any less than home missionaries needed now. How little of the world is yet conquered to Christ! And, with such an interpretation of the Gospel as we could bear abroad for the enlightenment of the nations, are we to have no part in extending his conquests? Shame on us if we could think of such indolence and recreancy! We are called to this field of Christian Doing no less than others, ​nay, as soon as we are in a condition to respond, are called all the more imperatively than others by so much as we have a better Gospel to impart. How much significance for us there is in the words of the Japanese student, protesting against the attempt to convert his people to 'orthodoxy'! "The Christianity which will bless Japan," he says, "is that of love, not that of hell fire. Perhaps you may use hell fire; but I am sure it will not work very well in Japan, for hell fire has been preached by Buddhist priests for more than a thousand years." What a call comes to us from such a statement, and from corresponding conditions elsewhere, summoning us to enter this field of missionary labor! How much light and relief our message would carry, especially to those at all cultivated in their perceptions, and accustomed, though dimly and superstitiously, to deal with the religious problems of being! And are we always to slight such calls? Impossible. It is as certain that the time is coming when Universalists will send out their missionaries, to bear the story of a merciful Father, and an omnipotent cross, and a world's redemption, to souls now sitting in darkness and famishing in their idolatries and superstitions, as it is that Universalism is the living Gospel of Christ, or that the Universalist Church has any business in the world. God hasten the time.
And, impressed with all that this subject of Doing, in Christ's name and for the widening sway of his kingdom, means and includes, will we not all give ourselves to the New Departure it demands—so that, laboring with fresh zeal for our own spiritual culture, for the growth of our parishes, and for the enlargement of our Church, we may also work as never before for the relief, enlightenment and welfare of souls about us, and be ready to give and to do for the extension of our truth, for the succor of the distressed, for the rescue of the perishing, for the conversion of the darkened and sinful, wherever our message can be borne?