CHAPTER
I
THE
TWO NEEDFUL READJUSTMENTS
It has been our fate, among
all the innumerable generations
of mankind, to face the most frightful calamity that has
ever
befallen the world. There is a basic fact which
cannot be
denied, and should not be overlooked. For a most
important
deduction must immediately follow from it. That
deduction is
that we, who have borne the pains, shall also learn the
lesson
which they were intended to convey. If we do not
learn it and
proclaim it, then when can it ever be learned and
proclaimed,
since there can never again be such a spiritual ploughing
and
harrowing and preparation for the seed? If our
souls, wearied
and tortured during these dreadful five years of self-
sacrifice and suspense, can show no radical changes, then
what
souls will ever respond to a fresh influx of heavenly
inspiration? In that case the state of the human
race would
indeed be hopeless, and never in all the coming centuries
would
there be any prospect of improvement.
Why was this tremendous experience forced upon mankind?
Surely it is a superficial thinker who imagines that the
great
Designer of all things has set the whole planet in a
ferment, and
strained every nation to exhaustion, in order that this or
that
frontier be moved, or some fresh combination be formed in
the
kaleidoscope of nations. No, the causes of the
convulsion, and
its objects, are more profound than that. They are
essentially
religious, not political. They lie far deeper than
the national
squabbles of the day. A thousand years hence those
national
results may matter little, but the religious result will
rule the
world. That religious result is the reform of the
decadent
Christianity of to-day, its simplification, its
purification, and
its reinforcement by the facts of spirit communion and the
clear
knowledge of what lies beyond the exit-door of death.
The
shock of the war was meant to rouse us to mental and moral
earnestness, to give us the courage to tear away venerable
shams,
and to force the human race to realise and use the vast
new
revelation which has been so clearly stated and so
abundantly
proved, for all who will examine the statements and proofs
with
an open mind.
Consider the awful condition of the world before this
thunder-bolt struck it. Could anyone, tracing back
down the
centuries and examining the record of the wickedness of
man, find
anything which could compare with the story of the nations
during
the last twenty years! Think of the condition of
Russia during
that time, with her brutal aristocracy and her drunken
democracy,
her murders on either side, her Siberian horrors, her Jew baitings and her corruption. Think of the figure of
Leopold of
Belgium, an incarnate devil who from motives of greed
carried
murder and torture through a large section of Africa, and
yet was
received in every court, and was eventually buried after a
panegyric from a Cardinal of the Roman Church--a church
which
had never once raised her voice against his diabolical
career.
Consider the similar crimes in the Putumayo, where British
capitalists, if not guilty of outrage, can at least not be
acquitted of having condoned it by their lethargy and
trust in
local agents. Think of Turkey and the recurrent
massacres of her
subject races. Think of the heartless grind of the
factories
everywhere, where work assumed a very different and more
unnatural shape than the ancient labour of the fields.
Think of
the sensuality of many rich, the brutality of many poor,
the
shallowness of many fashionable, the coldness and deadness
of
religion, the absence anywhere of any deep, true spiritual
impulse. Think, above all, of the organised
materialism of
Germany, the arrogance, the heartlessness, the negation of
everything which one could possibly associate with the
living
spirit of Christ as evident in the utterances of Catholic
Bishops, like Hartmann of Cologne, as in those of Lutheran
Pastors. Put all this together and say if the human
race has
ever presented a more unlovely aspect. When we try
to find the
brighter spots they are chiefly where civilisation, as
apart
from religion, has built up necessities for the community,
such
as hospitals, universities, and organised charities, as
conspicuous in Buddhist Japan as in Christian Europe.
We cannot
deny that there has been much virtue, much gentleness,
much
spirituality in individuals. But the churches were
empty husks,
which contained no spiritual food for the human race, and
had in
the main ceased to influence its actions, save in the
direction
of soulless forms.
This is not an over-coloured picture. Can we not
see, then,
what was the inner reason for the war? Can we not
understand
that it was needful to shake mankind loose from gossip and
pink
teas, and sword-worship, and Saturday night drunks, and
self-
seeking politics and theological quibbles--to wake them up
and
make them realise that they stand upon a narrow knife-edge
between two awful eternities, and that, here and now, they
have
to finish with make-beliefs, and with real earnestness and
courage face those truths which have always been palpable
where
indolence, or cowardice, or vested interests have not
obscured
the vision. Let us try to appreciate what those
truths are
and the direction which reform must take. It is the
new
spiritual developments which predominate in my own
thoughts, but
there are two other great readjustments which are
necessary
before they can take their full effect. On the
spiritual side I
can speak with the force of knowledge from the beyond.
On the
other two points of reform, I make no such claim.
The first is that in the Bible, which is the foundation of
our present religious thought, we have bound together the
living
and the dead, and the dead has tainted the living. A
mummy and
an angel are in most unnatural partnership. There
can be no
clear thinking, and no logical teaching until the old
dispensation has been placed on the shelf of the scholar,
and
removed from the desk of the teacher. It is indeed a
wonderful
book, in parts the oldest which has come down to us, a
book
filled with rare knowledge, with history, with poetry,
with
occultism, with folklore. But it has no connection
with modern
conceptions of religion. In the main it is actually
antagonistic
to them. Two contradictory codes have been
circulated under
one cover, and the result is dire confusion. The one
is a scheme
depending upon a special tribal God, intensely
anthropomorphic
and filled with rage, jealousy and revenge. The
conception
pervades every book of the Old Testament. Even in
the psalms,
which are perhaps the most spiritual and beautiful
section, the
psalmist, amid much that is noble, sings of the fearsome
things
which his God will do to his enemies. "They shall go
down alive
into hell." There is the keynote of this ancient
document--a
document which advocates massacre, condones polygamy,
accepts
slavery, and orders the burning of so-called witches.
Its Mosaic
provisions have long been laid aside. We do not
consider
ourselves accursed if we fail to mutilate our bodies, if
we eat
forbidden dishes, fail to trim our beards, or wear clothes
of two
materials. But we cannot lay aside the provisions
and yet regard
the document as divine. No learned quibbles can ever
persuade an
honest earnest mind that that is right. One may say:
"Everyone
knows that that is the old dispensation, and is not to be
acted
upon." It is not true. It is continually acted
upon, and
always will be so long as it is made part of one sacred
book.
William the Second acted upon it. His German God
which wrought
such mischief in the world was the reflection of the
dreadful
being who ordered that captives be put under the harrow.
The
cities of Belgium were the reflection of the cities of
Moab.
Every hard-hearted brute in history, more especially in
the
religious wars, has found his inspiration in the Old
Testament.
"Smite and spare not!" "An eye for an eye!", how
readily the
texts spring to the grim lips of the murderous fanatic.
Francis
on St. Bartholomew's night, Alva in the Lowlands, Tilly at
Magdeburg, Cromwell at Drogheda, the Covenainters at
Philliphaugh, the Anabaptists of Munster, and the early
Mormons
of Utah, all found their murderous impulses fortified from
this
unholy source. Its red trail runs through history.
Even where
the New Testament prevails, its teaching must still be
dulled and
clouded by its sterner neighbour. Let us retain this
honoured
work of literature. Let us remove the taint which
poisons the
very spring of our religious thought.
This is, in my opinion, the first clearing which should be
made for the more beautiful building to come. The
second is less
important, as it is a shifting of the point of view,
rather than
an actual change. It is to be remembered that
Christ's life in
this world occupied, so far as we can estimate, 33 years,
whilst
from His arrest to His resurrection was less than a week.
Yet
the whole Christian system has come to revolve round His
death,
to the partial exclusion of the beautiful lesson of His
life.
Far too much weight has been placed upon the one, and far
too
little upon the other, for the death, beautiful, and
indeed
perfect, as it was, could be matched by that of many
scores of
thousands who have died for an idea, while the life, with
its
consistent record of charity, breadth of mind,
unselfishness,
courage, reason, and progressiveness, is absolutely unique
and
superhuman. Even in these abbreviated, translated,
and second-
hand records we receive an impression such as no other
life can
give--an impression which fills us with utter reverence.
Napoleon, no mean judge of human nature, said of it:
"It is
different with Christ. Everything about Him
astonishes me.
His spirit surprises me, and His will confounds me.
Between Him
and anything of this world there is no possible
comparison. He
is really a being apart. The nearer I approach Him
and the
closer I examine Him, the more everything seems above me."
It is this wonderful life, its example and inspiration,
which
was the real object of the descent of this high spirit on
to our
planet. If the human race had earnestly centred upon
that
instead of losing itself in vain dreams of vicarious
sacrifices
and imaginary falls, with all the mystical and contentious
philosophy which has centred round the subject, how very
different the level of human culture and happiness would
be to-
day! Such theories, with their absolute want of
reason or
morality, have been the main cause why the best minds have
been
so often alienated from the Christian system and
proclaimed
themselves materialists. In contemplating what
shocked their
instincts for truth they have lost that which was both
true and
beautiful. Christ's death was worthy of His life,
and rounded
off a perfect career, but it is the life which He has left
as
the foundation for the permanent religion of mankind.
All the
religious wars, the private feuds, and the countless
miseries of
sectarian contention, would have been at least minimised,
if not
avoided, had the bare example of Christ's life been
adopted as
the standard of conduct and of religion.
But there are certain other considerations which should
have
weight when we contemplate this life and its efficacy as
an
example. One of these is that the very essence of it
was that He
critically examined religion as He found it, and brought
His
robust common sense and courage to bear in exposing the
shams and
in pointing out the better path. THAT is the
hall-mark of
the true follower of Christ, and not the mute acceptance
of
doctrines which are, upon the face of them, false and
pernicious,
because they come to us with some show of authority.
What
authority have we now, save this very life, which could
compare
with those Jewish books which were so binding in their
force, and
so immutably sacred that even the misspellings or
pen-slips of
the scribe, were most carefully preserved? It is a
simple
obvious fact that if Christ had been orthodox, and had
possessed what is so often praised as a "child-like
faith," there
could have been no such thing as Christianity. Let
reformers who
love Him take heart as they consider that they are indeed
following in the footsteps of the Master, who has at no
time said
that the revelation which He brought, and which has been
so
imperfectly used, is the last which will come to mankind.
In our
own times an equally great one has been released from the
centre
of all truth, which will make as deep an impression upon
the
human race as Christianity, though no predominant figure
has yet
appeared to enforce its lessons. Such a figure has
appeared once
when the days were ripe, and I do not doubt that this may
occur
once more.
One other consideration must be urged. Christ has
not given
His message in the first person. If He had done so
our position
would be stronger. It has been repeated by the
hearsay and
report of earnest but ill-educated men. It speaks
much for
education in the Roman province of Judea that these
fishermen,
publicans and others could even read or write. Luke
and Paul
were, of course, of a higher class, but their information
came from their lowly predecessors. Their account is
splendidly
satisfying in the unity of the general impression which it
produces, and the clear drawing of the Master's teaching
and
character. At the same time it is full of
inconsistencies and
contradictions upon immaterial matters. For example,
the four
accounts of the resurrection differ in detail, and there
is no
orthodox learned lawyer who dutifully accepts all four
versions
who could not shatter the evidence if he dealt with it in
the
course of his profession. These details are
immaterial to the
spirit of the message. It is not common sense to
suppose that
every item is inspired, or that we have to make no
allowance for
imperfect reporting, individual convictions, oriental
phraseology, or faults of translation. These have,
indeed, been
admitted by revised versions. In His utterance about
the letter
and the spirit we could almost believe that Christ had
foreseen
the plague of texts from which we have suffered, even as
He
Himself suffered at the hands of the theologians of His
day, who
then, as now, have been a curse to the world. We
were meant
to use our reasons and brains in adapting His teaching to
the
conditions of our altered lives and times. Much
depended upon
the society and mode of expression which belonged to His
era. To
suppose in these days that one has literally to give all
to the
poor, or that a starved English prisoner should literally
love
his enemy the Kaiser, or that because Christ protested
against
the lax marriages of His day therefore two spouses who
loathe
each other should be for ever chained in a life servitude
and
martyrdom--all these assertions are to travesty His
teaching and
to take from it that robust quality of common sense which
was its
main characteristic. To ask what is impossible from
human nature
is to weaken your appeal when you ask for what is
reasonable.
It has already been stated that of the three headings
under
which reforms are grouped, the exclusion of the old
dispensation,
the greater attention to Christ's life as compared to His
death,
and the new spiritual influx which is giving us psychic
religion,
it is only on the latter that one can quote the authority
of the
beyond. Here, however, the case is really
understated. In
regard to the Old Testament I have never seen the matter
treated
in a spiritual communication. The nature of Christ,
however, and
His teaching, have been expounded a score of times with
some
variation of detail, but in the main as reproduced here.
Spirits
have their individuality of view, and some carry over
strong
earthly prepossessions which they do not easily shed; but
reading
many authentic spirit communications one finds that the
idea of
redemption is hardly ever spoken of, while that of example
and
influence is for ever insisted upon. In them Christ
is the
highest spirit known, the son of God, as we all are, but
nearer
to God, and therefore in a more particular sense His son.
He
does not, save in most rare and special cases, meet us
when we
die. Since souls pass over, night and day, at the
rate of about
100 a minute, this would seem self-evident. After a
time we may
be admitted to His presence, to find a most tender,
sympathetic
and helpful comrade and guide, whose spirit influences all
things
even when His bodily presence is not visible. This
is the
general teaching of the other world communications
concerning
Christ, the gentle, loving and powerful spirit which
broods ever
over that world which, in all its many spheres, is His
special
care.
Before passing to the new revelation, its certain proofs
and
its definite teaching, let us hark back for a moment upon
the two
points which have already been treated. They are not
absolutely
vital points. The fresh developments can go on and
conquer the
world without them. There can be no sudden change in
the ancient
routine of our religious habits, nor is it possible to
conceive
that a congress of theologians could take so heroic a step
as to
tear the Bible in twain, laying one half upon the shelf
and one
upon the table. Neither is it to be expected that
any formal
pronouncements could ever be made that the churches have
all laid
the wrong emphasis upon the story of Christ. Moral
courage will
not rise to such a height. But with the spiritual
quickening and
the greater earnestness which will have their roots in
this
bloody passion of mankind, many will perceive what is
reasonable
and true, so that even if the Old Testament should remain,
like
some obsolete appendix in the animal frame, to mark a
lower
stage through which development has passed, it will more
and more
be recognised as a document which has lost all validity
and which
should no longer be allowed to influence human conduct,
save by
way of pointing out much which we may avoid. So also
with the
teaching of Christ, the mystical portions may fade gently
away,
as the grosser views of eternal punishment have faded
within our
own lifetime, so that while mankind is hardly aware of the
change
the heresy of today will become the commonplace of
tomorrow.
These things will adjust themselves in God's own time.
What is,
however, both new and vital are those fresh developments
which
will now be discussed. In them may be found the
signs of how the
dry bones may be stirred, and how the mummy may be
quickened with
the breath of life. With the actual certainty of a
definite life
after death, and a sure sense of responsibility for our
own
spiritual development, a responsibility which cannot be
put upon
any other shoulders, however exalted, but must be borne by
each
individual for himself, there will come the greatest
reinforcement of morality which the human race has ever
known. We are on the verge of it now, but our
descendants will
look upon the past century as the culmination of the dark
ages
when man lost his trust in God, and was so engrossed in
his
temporary earth life that he lost all sense of spiritual
reality.
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