Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-06-20

mere Of hereafter. whoever uses doc
trines. rites or Spiritual exercises SIM
ply to secure for himself some selfish
benefit which he calls salvation-he is
pseudo Christian; and from the days
of the scribes and Pharisees down to
the orthodoxies and ritualisms of our
own day. many have been they who try
to enter by this wide gate of spiritual
self-seeking: this broad way of a self
centered and therefore contradictory
and impossible salvation.
If this were a mere lecture I should
stop right here. l have described the
genuine Christian who enters by the
narrow gate of sharing the Fathers
good will for all whom his acts affect;
the secondhand Christian, who en-
ters by the wide gate of merely doing
what d Christian community expects.
without the love in his own heart
spontaneously prompting and holding
him to his tasks; the unchristian man
who enters by the broad way of get
ting his own pleasure and profit out
Of others pain and loss: the anti
Christian who fights caricature of
Christianity with a misdirected but
honest zeal; and the pseudo Christian
who, trying to save his own soul by
protesting doctrines, performing rites.
Dr practicing spiritual exercises. miss
es altogether that expansion of heart
and mind and soul which can only
come by forgetting self and it's sal
vation in generous sharing the Faith
er's good will, through unselfish SER
vice to ones fellows and the world.
We are not here, however, for a
mere lecture. We ourselves are in
)ne or another of these states de-
scribed. l suspect that some besides
myself fail to walk constantly in the
straitened way; but are continually
apsing into, if not permanently abid-
ing in. one of the four branches of the
broad way. We ought therefore to re-
mind ourselves of the paths that lead
out of these four lower ways. back to
the narrow gate of pure and genuine
Christianity.
First: What is the way out for the
pseudo Christian? Simply to make
;ure that his creed is built up around
his trust that good will is at the heart
If the world; to make sure that his
ties and ceremonies are helpful forms
of conservation to the service of the
good will; to make sure that his Bible
readings, his prayers, his church MEM
oership, are mere means to the great
end of keeping his Fathers good will
lear before his eyes. and devotion to
{ warm within his heart. Without
my other change, one may pass from
he self deception, and inSincerity of
he pseudo Christian, into the trans
parent sincerity of the true Christian.
If we are caught in the bitterness of
lnti- Christianity: if we have come to
'onfound irrational views. repulsive
traits, ascetic restrictions, with Chris
ianity. and then have reacted in pas
:ionate protest, against this abomina-
ion we have conjured up in our minds
md misnamed Christianity; the way
,ut is easy. We have simply to re-
mind ourselves that pure Christianity
IS simply the sharing of the Fathers
universal good will: and we shall find
Dur admiration and aspiration toward
hat as eager an intense. as was our
protest against the misconception.
If we are lapsing into positively
lnchristian attitude; if we are unkind
in speech, hard in trade, cruel in our
pleasures. unscrupulous in our ambi-
ions. censorious in criticism. shiftless
IN work: living like selfish brutes in a
world of sensitive and suffering men
and women, the way out is short and
steep. There is just one thing to do
to repent and renounce this hard
hearted selefishness, and humbly ask
forgiveness; and patiently begin to
learn the A. B. c, of that life of love,
in it's several forms Of honesty. char
ty, kindness. purity, faithfulness. sac
'ifice, which is Christianity.
Or is the secondhand Christianity
he state into which we are most prone
TO lapse? Are we dryly and dearly,
rom mere force of habit or under
spur of conscience. doing what Chris
ian standards require us to do: yet
without any deep and joyful sense of
sharing the Fathers good will?
This is hard state to get out of;
perhaps the hardest of all; because it
looks on the outside so much like real
that it begets a false self
,ompacency which it usually requires
some startling shock or fearful sin to
shake us out of. But just so sure as
we live for any length of time in this
false complacency which second hand
Christianity begets. so sure the shock
will come: the fall will overtake us.
Under some subtle temptation or sud-
den provocation, the meanness, or
envy. or jealousy, or malice. or sem
suality or selfishness that is latent in
us ALL will break through the thin.
hard crust of mere conformity to So
cial custom, to the horror of our asso-
ciates and our own humiliation. For
this secondhand Christianity is like
d vegetable without water, or an ami
NAL without food, or train running
on momentum after the power is shut
off. One can live on his tissues for
while without food. A train will run
a little way on momentum. A man
can do things that are outwardly right
for a little while without fresh sup
plies of inner motivation. But the
standstll of spiritual death, the disso-
luton of moral corruption. are never
far ahead of the man who tries to live
in this second hand fashion
The way out of this state is clear.
1t is the old-fashioned way of prayer,
devout reading and meditation. One
simply cannot live for long decent
moral and spiritual life without it, I'm
less the Fathers good will is kept hab-