The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1910-02-19
Can Human !. Nature
Be Changed!

- URIOUSLY enough. in ev
| Mk.% cry generation since Chris
| &I& was born there have beer
W. large numbers Of men. oft
~ en- followers Of this very
Christ. who have held ~
Q sort of fundamental postulate OF
their philosophy that you cannot
change human nature. One who reads
the literature of the ages carefully
will see that often the great stumbling
block in the way Of human progress
and emancipation has been this obses'
sion Of good people. SO deep-rooted
has It been that 1t has passed into
proverbs: Whatever has been must
always be-" Whatever Is. is right.
"As Is a boy so Is the man." and.
quoting an older cynic, Can leopard
change his Spots" Temperament Is a
fixed quantity" Human nature r. the
same in every age" These proverbs
are generally coined by good people.
It has been In the church that this
philosophy has been prevalent as well
as among the scoffers.
And yet the fact of transformation
Of human nature Is the very center
and core of Christ's Gospel, and how
his disciples could ever doubt 1t, and
remain his disciples. is one of the
mysteries and paradoxes of history.
It is simply another of those strange
Misunderstanding of the Gospels that
one witnessed among those Christians
who could not see that slavery and
Christianity had no part together. But
this is not the strangest thing. Far
stranger is the fact that fully half
of the Christians of to-day are still
under the spell OF this delusion. Not
long ago great writer called the at
tention of the world to the fact that II
reformers would only take human ma
ture as It is, they would stop reform.
ing. To his mind reforms originate in
an idealizing Of human nature 1t can
not stand. Many Christians share that
view. On our way home from church
one Sunday good Christian mother,
worried by some tendencies of her
young boy, remarked that she sup
posed there was no hope Of changing
him because he was born So You
cannot change human nature, half of
our Christians believe. Now, the
Christians of the early ages, and even
of the middle ages, had only the prom
ise Of the Gospel to convict them of
error-and, to be sure, that ought to
have been enough-but the Christians
Of to-day have that and this fact, too,
that history and most literature is
nothing but the record of a gradual
Transformation of human nature. And
not only in individuals, but in whole
nations and communities. For civil
cation is nothing but the collective ex-
preston Of the human nature of the
time. The passing Of civilization from |
to the semi Christian civili- |
zation of the middle ages is the his |
tory of the transformation of human
nature. The passage from the cruelty
and feudalism and vice of the middle |
ages to our more Christian civilization |
OF to-day Is further story of the al |
chemistic change In the human heart |
by the deeper and larger application
and understanding of the Gospel. The
promise Of Christianity is the trans
Of human nature into d.
vine nature. the subduing of the ami
NAL In man by the rising, conquering,
spiritual. This needs no proof. II
Is the whole observation of the Cos
pei. II 1t fail, then Christianity Is a
failure. But perhaps It might be help
'ul to us. and deepen our faith In the
power Of Christianity to accomplish
what 1t purposes to do. II we find that
history, as we said. Is the record OF
he fulfilment of this promise. We
.hink we can show It is by looking at
.wo or three great spheres of human
conduct where the change has been
most manifested.
There Is a passage In Sienkiewicz's
Quo Vadis," where a wretch named
Chilo. who has been plotting against
he Christians-it is the time of the
irst Christians In Rome-falls into
he hands Of the Christians, and one
II them, the giant slave Ursus, Is
eady to crush him to death, when the
APOSTLE Peter hises from the table
md speaks these words: THE Saviour
aid this to us: II thy brother has
fnned against thee. chastise him:
'ut II he Is repentant, forgive him."
hen Glaucus, against whose life Chi
had been especially plotting. turns
o Chilo and says: May God forgive
by offenses. ~ I forgive them In the /.
anne Of Christ" The point II that .
'hilo cannot believe his own ears and .
yes. When At last he finds himself
roe and tells the Romans they will ,
OF believe II. In every century, even !
Iithin the church. men keep on say
as that forgiveness Of the enemy Il
npossible: revenge 10 the natural law ,
life. OF man ~ well q Of the AMI {,
lal; an eye for an eye, . tooth for . !
10Th. 10 al humanity 70 capable Of. :
ven to-day one meets Christians who (
lnuot believe IN this possibility Of :
'rsivsness - law Of life. And We :
. md that every age In history has :,
SEN full Of exquisite instances of Il.