And the emotions, too, have their right place in the development of
faith. Have we not been somewhat suspicious of the emotional element
in religion, due perhaps to a disproportionate and exaggerated use of
it by some religious bodies? Has there not been a tendency to suppress
the emotions because there are emotional religious cults almost
divorced from morality and the intellect? Perhaps, too, it has
something to do with temperament? British people used to be little
moved by feelings; lately they have changed somewhat. We need the
vision of Jesus Christ, Who is the revelation of God the Father, as One
to be supremely loved above all others--as Mary Magdalene, as St. Peter
and St. John, loved Him. It would help us in worship if we used fewer
subjective hymns and more hymns of the type of S. Bernard's, "Jesu the
very thought of Thee," or "O Love, how deep! how broad, how high!" if
we could have some simple litanies of devotion bringing to the mind of
the worshipper the purity, gentleness, tenderness, patience, sympathy
and meekness of Jesus Christ; our faith in him would become more
tender, warmer, more personal, and without this our faith cannot be
complete.
FAITH MUST ISSUE IN CHRIST'S SYSTEM OF MORALS.
A further feature in this venture after the knowledge of God is the
moral one. It is only to the pure in heart that the vision of God will
become a reality. To believe in Jesus is to accept His teaching in the
sphere of morals quite as much as to appropriate His promises of
present pardon and future rewards. In fact the promise of pardon is
interwoven with the condition of doing His will, and the heavenly life
is held out as a reward to those who follow His example. Jesus claims
the sovereignty over man's whole personality. Those who call Him
"Lord, Lord," must do the things He says. It is just at this point
that the world tests the Christian faith. The world is practical; it
demands not profession, but works. It knows that Jesus bequeathed a
system of morals to His followers, especially in the Sermon on the
Mount; and, while it is ignorant of the grace Jesus bestows to enable
human nature to rise above itself, yet in its rough and ready way it
holds faith of no value which is not shown in "fruits". When Society
talks about the "failure" of Christianity what it usually has in mind
is the failure of Christian people to conform to the Christian standard
of truthfulness and justice, of honesty and straight dealing, of
continence and self-respect; being like other people, lovers of money
and applause rather than examples of that love for their neighbour
commanded in the Gospels. The human will needs supernatural strength
to live Christ's system of morals. God demands that the entire
personality, intellect, emotion, will, should be committed to Him in an
all-embracing, loving faith.
A FINAL PERSONAL WORD.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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