CHAPTER X. A DECISIVE BATTLE.
When the Scripture Club assembled on the following Sunday, it was in a manner somewhat more quiet and less cordial than usual. Mr. Jodderel volunteered the opening prayer, and then Deacon Bates began to read the fifth beatitude, when Mr. Radley said:
"Mr. Leader, a majority of the class would like to hear a further discussion of the last subject. As the original mover of the resolution restricting the class to one Sunday to a verse, which motion I made with the almost unanimous support of the class, it is fitting that I should take the initiative in securing a further hearing upon any subject of which the majority have not heard enough. I therefore move that the rule referred to be rescinded for one Sunday, and that we continue the discussion of the fourth beatitude."
"Second the motion," said Squire Woodhouse.
"Mr. Leader," exclaimed Mr. Jodderel, "I object. The time of this class should be spent upon the consideration of subjects according to their relative importance. If the nature and whereabouts of the Kingdom of Heaven is worth only a single hour of discussion, this minor question of righteousness certainly isn't entitled to any more. I must oppose the resolution."
"It was apparently very unwise to adopt such a rule," remarked Mr. Prymm, "if only to be rescinded or suspended whenever the curiosity of any of the members may desire it. We are adults instead of children, and cannot afford, for the sake of consistency, the abrogation of this rule, especially when every one present has unlimited informal and social opportunities for discussion, as, indeed, they have already been doing all week long."
Mr. Prymm looked appealingly toward President Lottson, but that gentleman seemed in the depths of a gloomy reverie, and unwilling to be disturbed. For Mr. Lottson's convert had relapsed; he had, before the evening on which the examining committee met, dropped a note to Mr. Lottson, saying that the longer he meditated upon the matter the more he felt that the proposed action would be hypocritical; that if the church would not detect the hypocrisy, the rest of the world would, and he preferred to retain the respect of his friends. This note of Broker Whilcher's had not only inflicted disappointment upon President Lottson, but it had brought him some tormenting anxieties. If Whilcher, who was a shrewd observer of men, really meant what he said, was it not possible and probable that he, President Lottson, who believed all that he had asked the broker to believe, and very little more, might also be looked upon as a hypocrite? He knew that his reputation in his own church was not all that he could have wished it to be; but, looked at in sober earnest, his church, to his eyes, consisted of such of its members as were city business men, like himself; there was still another element in the church, however, and it was numerically the largest, which judged a man by his professions, and Mr. Lottson trusted that among these he still retained his respect. But then came a more annoying thought. Business was business, and business men would take no man's word any the more implicitly because he was a church member. Could it be possible that among these he passed not only for a business man of ordinary morality, but as a hypocrite too? Was he not really honest in his beliefs? He certainly was; he could lay his hand on his heart and swear honestly that every religious belief he possessed he had acquired by the exercise of his best logical faculties. Why, then, should he be considered hypocritical? Could it be possible that the world saw something more in the Bible than church members like himself did? Certainly not. How could the world do anything of the sort? It had never studied the Bible as he had done, and as fathers of the faith, with whom he had never for a moment dared to compare himself, had done. And then to have a prolonged consideration of the late lesson go on in his hearing while he felt as he did! It was unendurable. He would have departed silently and without explanation, and betaken himself to Dr. Humbletop's class, had he not previously informed Builder Stott that he would remain and look after orthodox interests in the club.
But as he reached this point of his reflections, Mr. Prymm's remarks ended, and his eye caught Mr. Prymm's, and the exasperating character of the doctrine of non-paying works seemed more unendurable to him than ever, so he controlled himself, rose to his feet, and said:
"Mr. Leader, in the interest of Christianity, as defined by the Master, I also object to the further consideration of this subject, if it is urged with the spirit that has been manifested. Christ said, 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light,' but some of the members of this class remind me of the Pharisees of whom Christ said that 'they bound upon men's shoulders burdens grievous to be borne.' If religion was made for anything, it was made for belief and use in this present world; I object, therefore, to its being made to appear so unlovely and severe that those who most need it are frightened from it. Those of us who believe would never have done so had we supposed that men would be allowed to set aside Christ's merciful words, and establish the commandments—the notions—of men in their place. I believe as thoroughly in righteousness as any man, but I don't care to sit here and listen to its meaning being changed by men who care more for their own opinions than they do for the commandments of God. And so I shall vote against the resolution, and ask all others to do so, if they believe in the righteousness of God instead of that of man."
"I don't see why it's a Scriptural subject at all," said Mr. Hopper, relinquishing for a moment his hold upon the review containing the article on "The True Location of the Holy Sepulchre." "It was announced by Jesus, I know; but it was before he made that atonement which set aside mere human righteousness as a requisite to salvation. I move we drop the subject."
"The gentleman's motion is not in order, unless in the form of an amendment," said Deacon Bates.
"Mr. Hopper's suggestion that this beatitude was given before the atonement was made," said young Mr. Waggett, "is so original and so full of practical interest that I should like to hear a further discussion of the subject, if only to see whether this point cannot be substantiated—or, rather, whether it can be successfully opposed."
President Lottson leaned over the back of young Mr. Waggett's chair, and whispered:
"Don't make an ass of yourself. I can see where this thing is bound to lead us, if you can't; vote the other way when the question is put."
A moment or two of silence ensued, and then Deacon Bates put the question to vote. A strong response of "Ay!" was soon followed by an equally noisy "No!" and some one called for a rising vote. Up rose Judge Cottaway, Squire Woodhouse, Broker Whilcher, Mr. Radley, Principal Alleman, Mr. Buffle, Lawyer Scott, Dr. Fahrenglotz, and Captain Maile, nine in all, while for the negative there were but seven votes, Mr. Bungfloat and young Banty keeping their seats during both votes, the former with a helpless expression of countenance, and the latter with a contemptuous smile.
"The ayes have it," said the leader, and Builder Stott, who, until that moment, had listened at the key-hole, hurried off to Dr. Humbletop's class-room and stated that the club was determined on carrying free speech into the ground and the club with it.
"Mark my words," said the builder, "the Scripture Club is as good as dead."
The discussion was opened by Judge Cottaway, according to the special request of the founder of the club, and the old jurist spoke as follows:
"Estimated according to the rules of evidence, the requirement for righteousness never ends in the Holy Scriptures, and never can end while the Church hold the revealed will of God as an authoritative rule of guidance. The law was the topic of lawgivers, prophets, the Psalmist, the wise Solomon, and all of them regarded it as the only substitute for the personal presence and command of God. Christ never failed to hold it up for reverence and obedience, excepting when minor points of it were of less vital importance than that of those for whose direction it was given."
"That's it, exactly," interrupted Mr. Jodderel. "The law was made for man, not man for the law, and when man can't live according to the law, the law must give way, as it did by express command when Christ condemned the Jews for rebuking the disciples when they plucked corn on the Sabbath day."
"I imagine that it was more for the sake of rebuking hypocrisy than to defend the improvidence of his disciples that Christ spoke as he did on the occasion referred to," said the judge. "But he declared the binding force of the law more than once, and he not only urged it upon the people, but increased its scope and severity by explaining that obedience should not be only to the letter, but to the spirit of the heavenly commands. Mercy, love, and compassion are not at all inconsistent with the closest application of the law, though men have strangely come to imagine that they are. In this same matchless sermon we are studying you will find his definition of some methods of violating the seventh commandment. The spiritual rule from which Christ deduced these conclusions may be applied to all the other commandments with results equally startling. 'Thou shalt not steal,' is the simple letter of the eighth commandment, but according to the new method prescribed by Christ for the translation of the law according to Moses, to deprive a man of his peace, of his patience, of his faith in mankind, even if done in ways permissible in business circles, is as truly theft as is the depriving a man of his money by actual robbery. And as I am a member of the bar, as I have been a law-maker, and an adjudicator of legal questions, I feel that I am severe upon no one more than my own old self, when I say that to recover the amount of a debt by legal means which compel the debtor to part with property of value several times greater than that of the property upon which the debt is based, is theft of the most heinous description, for even under the most merciful construction of the most careless law, the only theft at all pardonable is that of small amounts in cases of dire necessity; whereas my experience in legal collections is that not once in a hundred times are they made excepting of men in the direst distress, and of utter inability to pay."
"But Christ mercifully forbore to give such interpretations to all the commandments," said Mr. Jodderel, "and I have always thought his refraining from doing so was one of the sure proofs of his divinity. Of course he saw the people around him—his own disciples, even—doing hundreds of things that were wrong; but he knew their natures were too feeble to live up to the holy ideas which were natural enough to Him, so he said little, except to exhort them to sin no more."
"Very true," said the judge, "but since then the Christian world has had the benefit of nearly twenty centuries of growth under the instructions of Christ. Men have grown less animal, more intellectual; less brutal, more spiritual. The passions and appetites that once seemed uncontrollable have come more and more under restraint under the influence of generations of right living. Men nowadays endure physical discipline from which the ascetics of Christ's time, or even of the middle ages, would have shrunk with fear. The world is lamentably full of wickedness and weakness, but it has now what it did not have when Moses gave his law—it has in every community one or more men who show by right living what a perfect control man may exert over his lower faculties, or, rather, over the lower developments of faculties which in the clearer light of to-day develop into noble virtues. But the stronger sins die hardest, so to-day we find, in communities where murder is unheard of, Sabbath-breaking unknown, profanity unspoken, and the greater crimes mentioned in the Decalogue seldom or never brought to light—in such localities we find the greed of gain made the excuse of unfair dealings between man and man; it stirs up strife more vicious than that which took place when the civilized world was one grand camp, and when to kill a man for his possessions was a deed praiseworthy rather than otherwise, especially when the victim might, with any excuse, be called an enemy."
"One might suppose, from the judge's remarks, that the world had but one sin—and only one virtue," said Mr. Jodderel.
"According to Scripture," exclaimed the judge, "there is but one virtue, for it includes all others. Its name is Love—will the gentleman remember that the assertion is Christ's, and not mine? There is more than one sin, truly; but not one of the dreadful number could exist were the one virtue practiced as it should be. And this brings me back to the leading idea of the lesson, from which I have unintentionally been diverted toward specialties. And yet, I know not how better to explain the nature of righteousness according to the law, than to continue in use the illustration that I have been using—the treatment, by each other, of men in their business affairs. For there are but few relations of men that cannot be classified under business heads. By implication, sins against self and nature belong in the same category, for the man who impairs in any way his own physical and mental capital, injures to a greater or less extent the whole community in which he resides. To save man and to bless him is the whole aim of the law, for it is only by man in his proper condition that God can be fully glorified. Thus regarded, the way of righteousness can never seem hard, tiresome, or narrow—it is rather the only highway which is always delightful. The promise given, therefore, in this beatitude is the most precious in the whole Bible, for there is no good it does not include, nor any evil which it does not help us to shun."
"That's the first satisfactory description I ever heard of the law," remarked Mr. Radley. "I wonder why other men—preachers, even—never talk about it in the same way."
"They'd lose all their wealthy pew-holders if they did," answered Captain Maile.
"Not all," said Mr. Buffle, "at least, not if I'm as well off in this world's goods as I think I am. And I don't propose to forget what I have heard."
"It is very evident, however," said President Lottson, "that Christ knew that this idea of the law—which I admit to be as sound as it is beautiful—could never be fulfilled by man, or he would never have considered it necessary to make an atonement for sin, and urge people to accept it, instead of trying to be saved by righteousness alone. The gentleman lays great stress upon the failings of business men. They exist about as he has painted them, but had he spent his own life in business instead of among the abstractions of a learned profession, he would see the other side of the case, which is that business is selfish, that it cannot be otherwise, and that man's only hope lies in Christ's promises."
"Only hope of what?" asked Squire Woodhouse.
"Of salvation, of course," replied the president.
"Then, what about the world?" asked Mr. Radley. "Is nothing to be done here for God—and man? Did we come into the world for no purpose but to get out of it in the best shape we can? Has God no purposes to fulfill here, or did he only make this wonderful combination of beauty and utility, that we call the world, to be a mere stage for blundering and wrong-doing?"
"No," answered young Mr. Waggett; "it is to fit us all for entrance to the glorious company of angels, prophets, and martyrs."
"We had better all die in infancy then," said Mr. Radley, "before we've been unfitted for such society, and been compelled to begin all over again. What a contemptible blunderer God must be, if the common religious idea of the use of the world is correct!"
"Gentlemen," said Mr. Alleman, "it seems to me that this class has by this time plainly indicated its religious measure. We have met together many times; we have expressed our own views, and listened to many others; we have individually indicated considerable ability and ingenuity; but I am unable to discover that even a respectable minority have changed their beliefs. Of the sincerity of belief of those who have spoken there can be no doubt; but something more than ability and sincerity is necessary to retain usefulness for a body of men, who are determined to approach intellectually no nearer to each other. As we cannot agree intellectually, why can we not do so morally, and establish for the class a higher motive than can be furnished by religious curiosity or tenacity of special theological opinions? Free speech has been the distinctive feature of the class, but all that freedom of expression can gain for us has already been gained. Why cannot we, therefore, form a new and solemn compact that we will, each one according to his own special religious belief and light, strictly order our lives according to the moral ideas which we all admit are found in the Bible and are above criticism?"
"What!" exclaimed Mr. Jodderel, "and turn a religious organization into a society for the encouragement of mere morality? None for me!"
"I should consider such a course as religiously suicidal, if not blasphemous," declared Mr. Prymm.
"The man who does it can bid good-bye to his property," said Mr. Hopper, "and I, for one, am determined to give a good account of my stewardship."
"He can bid good-bye to his chance of salvation, too," said young Mr. Waggett, "if he's not going to think more of it than he does of mere morality."
"Good-bye to his fun, too," suggested young Mr. Banty.
"If we cannot leave all to follow Him," remarked Deacon Bates, who had once felt himself called to mission work, but successfully resisted the call, "it would certainly be unseemly to do so for the sake of mere worldly righteousness."
"'Twould revolutionize society," said Lawyer Scott, "and no man should attempt such a thing without the most careful preparation."
"Doesn't Herbert Spencer say something about morality being at the top of everything?" asked Mr. Buffle of Broker Whilcher.
"Ye—es," said the broker; "but he considers that it's wrong to sacrifice one's business, as I'd have to do to live according to the plan suggested."
"If Christ had intended that morality should have been so much," said President Lottson, "he would have talked more about it, and less about other things. He knew what the world needed, what it could stand, and what it couldn't."
"As if he wasn't all the while insisting upon morality," exclaimed Mr. Alleman. "Captain Maile, you're certainly with us! You've always talked as if you were."
The captain made a wry face.
"I've talked against hypocrisy—that's what I've done," said he. "I've got no special religious belief myself, but I hate to see holes in those of other people."
"I," said Dr. Fahrenglotz, "would yield adherence to such a system, were it not that men disagree as to what morality is, and I do not wish to subject myself to any arbitrary rule or agreement. The soul of man should be free."
Judge Cottaway arose and gave his hand to Mr. Alleman, and several members affected to consider this action as a sign that the meeting had adjourned. The party dispersed more rapidly than it had ever done before, and left the judge, the principal, the Squire, Mr. Buffle, and Mr. Radley talking to each other.