登陆注册
4614800000034

第34章

It is probable that in very few cases is the retention of stipend or incumbency a conscious dishonesty. At the worst it is mitigated by thought for wife or child. It has only been during very exceptional phases of religious development and controversy that beliefs have been really sharp. A creed, like a coin, it may be argued, loses little in practical value because it is worn, or bears the image of a vanished king. The religious life is a reality that has clothed itself in many garments, and the concern of the priest or minister is with the religious life and not with the poor symbols that may indeed pretend to express, but do as a matter of fact no more than indicate, its direction. It is quite possible to maintain that the church and not the creed is the real and valuable instrument of religion, that the religious life is sustained not by its propositions but by its routines. Anyone who seeks the intimate discussion of spiritual things with professional divines, will find this is the substance of the case for the ecclesiastical sceptic.

His church, he will admit, mumbles its statement of truth, but where else is truth? What better formulae are to be found for ineffable things? And meanwhile--he does good.

That may be a valid defence before a man finds God. But we who profess the worship and fellowship of the living God deny that religion is a matter of ineffable things. The way of God is plain and simple and easy to understand.

Therewith the whole position of the conforming sceptic is changed.

If a professional religious has any justification at all for his professionalism it is surely that he proclaims the nearness and greatness of God. And these creeds and articles and orthodoxies are not proclamations but curtains, they are a darkening and confusion of what should be crystal clear. What compensatory good can a priest pretend to do when his primary business is the truth and his method a lie? The oaths and incidental conformities of men who wish to serve God in the state are on a different footing altogether from the falsehood and mischief of one who knows the true God and yet recites to a trustful congregation, foists upon a trustful congregation, a misleading and ill-phrased Levantine creed.

Such is the line of thought which will impose the renunciation of his temporalities and a complete cessation of services upon every ordained priest and minister as his first act of faith. Once that he has truly realised God, it becomes impossible for him ever to repeat his creed again. His course seems plain and clear. It becomes him to stand up before the flock he has led in error, and to proclaim the being and nature of the one true God. He must be explicit to the utmost of his powers. Then he may await his expulsion. It may be doubted whether it is sufficient for him to go away silently, making false excuses or none at all for his retreat.

He has to atone for the implicit acquiescences of his conforming years.

10. THE UNIVERSALISM OF GOD

Are any sorts of people shut off as if by inherent necessity from God?

This is, so to speak, one of the standing questions of theology; it reappears with slight changes of form at every period of religious interest, it is for example the chief issue between the Arminian and the Calvinist. From its very opening proposition modern religion sweeps past and far ahead of the old Arminian teachings of Wesleyans and Methodists, in its insistence upon the entirely finite nature of God. Arminians seem merely to have insisted that God has conditioned himself, and by his own free act left men free to accept or reject salvation. To the realist type of mind--here as always Iuse "realist" in its proper sense as the opposite of nominalist--to the old-fashioned, over-exact and over-accentuating type of mind, such ways of thinking seem vague and unsatisfying. Just as it distresses the more downright kind of intelligence with a feeling of disloyalty to admit that God is not Almighty, so it troubles the same sort of intelligence to hear that there is no clear line to be drawn between the saved and the lost. Realists like an exclusive flavour in their faith. Moreover, it is a natural weakness of humanity to be forced into extreme positions by argument. It is probable, as I have already suggested, that the absolute attributes of God were forced upon Christianity under the stresses of propaganda, and it is probable that the theory of a super-human obstinancy beyond salvation arose out of the irritations natural to theological debate. It is but a step from the realisation that there are people absolutely unable or absolutely unwilling to see God as we see him, to the conviction that they are therefore shut off from God by an invincible soul blindness.

It is very easy to believe that other people are essentially damned.

Beyond the little world of our sympathies and comprehension there are those who seem inaccessible to God by any means within our experience. They are people answering to the "hard-hearted," to the "stiff-necked generation" of the Hebrew prophets. They betray and even confess to standards that seem hopelessly base to us. They show themselves incapable of any disinterested enthusiasm for beauty or truth or goodness. They are altogether remote from intelligent sacrifice. To every test they betray vileness of texture; they are mean, cold, wicked. There are people who seem to cheat with a private self-approval, who are ever ready to do harsh and cruel things, whose use for social feeling is the malignant boycott, and for prosperity, monopolisation and humiliating display; who seize upon religion and turn it into persecution, and upon beauty to torment it on the altars of some joyless vice. We cannot do with such souls; we have no use for them, and it is very easy indeed to step from that persuasion to the belief that God has no use for them.

同类推荐
  • 散花庵词

    散花庵词

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 音辞

    音辞

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 谰言长语

    谰言长语

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 供养十二大威德天报恩品

    供养十二大威德天报恩品

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 修文

    修文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 恋爱禁止学校

    恋爱禁止学校

    不会这么倒霉吧?竟然被自己的爸爸秘密地送到了韩国,并且切断了一切经济来源。这就是大公子宇银锋恶梦的开始,不但身无分文,又被警察认为是神经病而抓了起来,更令人郁闷的是又莫名其妙地成为了韩国有名的“恋爱禁止学校”桂和高中的金牌卧底。这次任务的主要目的竟然是追求校长的千金,也是“恋爱禁止学校”的校花尹千慧。天啊,恋爱禁止学校,顾名思义不就是禁止恋爱吗?为了回国,必须成功!宇银锋,加油!
  • 木叶的抠脚大仙

    木叶的抠脚大仙

    卡卡西为何多了一个后妈?木叶三忍居然偷偷办了婚礼?凯皇竟成了忍界第一功夫巨星!作为这一切的幕后推手,超级导演八夜草第n次向他的“草粉”们重申——我真的是个偶像派!……好吧,这其实是火影世界的第一阴阳师,代表整个星球向大筒木一族讨债的故事。除不拆原著cp以外,本书与原著剧情有极大出入,慎读。书友群:879639609
  • 龙胖子历险记

    龙胖子历险记

    三流写手龙胖子穿越到了自己写的网文。本该一路发达成为主角,结果却是别人家的老爷爷?昔日三流写手笔下的原著主角龙傲天又将何去何从。写手PK逆天主角。将会是谁的胜利?看了你们就知道了。
  • 末世之神

    末世之神

    原始茂密的丛林中,四处充满了阴气,各种毒虫猛兽在这里出没,那不时传来的阵阵吼声,时刻提醒着这里充满了危机。“嗷呜……”一阵巨大的吼声传来!在这让人头骨发麻的荒草丛林里,王梓正背着一步一步的不断探索着。跟着他们后面的剑道子和老顽固也是一脸的凝重,紧紧的盯着周围的风吹草动。“老顽固,这就是你说的路?”剑道子低声对着老顽固问了句,哪怕他是人无境的强者,无惧各大妖族的统领,可是在这妖兽遍地的森林里,他也是有些心惊。剑道子精通瞬移,就算面对妖族的那些将军,他脸色都不带有一丝变化,可是此刻,他的脸色却异常难看……
  • 英雄联盟之重回巅峰

    英雄联盟之重回巅峰

    那一年,打野的厂长还不知道4396是什么意思……那一年,PDD和大哥还是上单霸主……那一年,小虎和兮夜还在青训营里拼命集训……还是那一年,miss和小苍的主播事业才慢慢开始……带着遗憾重生归来的秦朝,势必要让那盏最为璀璨的奖杯留在中国赛区!
  • 王者荣耀之剑挑月光

    王者荣耀之剑挑月光

    ”哈哈哈哈!“李白笑出了眼泪。他孤身一人站在长安城前放肆大笑右手提着剑一剑一剑斩向那万年未曾动摇的长安城斩的直叫人胆颤心惊
  • 人生代代凤不归

    人生代代凤不归

    云凤兮,上古灵石幻化而成,后因遇仙人伏暮柯收其为徒,赐名云凤兮。多年随师父驱除妖魔终晋神位,封神女侍。后因与师父萌生爱意,玉帝知晓大怒,随女娲用计将云凤兮化为妖魔,玉帝杀之。随后如来将云凤兮的三魂七魄聚集起来使她重生为人。伏暮柯及众位神友自愿下界皆为人身。如来给云凤兮安排了十世情缘,下界以后能遇到谁,不能遇到谁,能跟谁在一起,不能跟谁在一起,十世后,还能不能回到天界,全看她自己的造化……
  • 纳米研究

    纳米研究

    科学是人类进步的第一推动力,而科学知识的普及则是实现这一推动的必由之路。在新的时代,科技的发展、人们生活水平的不断提高,为我们青少年的科普教育提供了新的契机。抓住这个契机,大力普及科学知识,传播科学精神,提高青少年的科学素质,是我们全社会的重要课题。科学教育,是提高青少年素质的重要因素,是现代教育的核心,这不仅能使青少年获得生活和未来所需的知识与技能,更重要的是能使青少年获得科学思想、科学精神、科学态度及科学方法的熏陶和培养。科学教育,让广大青少年树立这样一个牢固的信念:科学总是在寻求、发现和了解世界的新现象,研究和掌握新规律,它是创造性的,它又是在不懈地追求真理,需要我们不断地努力奋斗。
  • 梦续高唐

    梦续高唐

    一个普通男生的普通穿越故事。回到历史现场,目击风云波动暗涌下大佬的操作。之后才发现。回到现实或许才是更好的选择。
  • 我的初恋很不幸

    我的初恋很不幸

    新书《大健事》发布,敬请关注支持! 友情,爱情,还有江湖上的热血。平凡如聂飞,还在校园时,就已经尝尽了个中滋味。这是一个少年成长记,在受到富家子弟的侮辱,江湖混混的挑衅,以及初恋一次次拒绝后,面对接二连三的打击,无可奈何之下,聂飞握紧拳头,选择了一条向命运抗争的路。