CERTAINTY OF THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF NON-RESISTANCE TO EVIL BY VIOLENCE BY THE MEN OF OUR WORLD
Christianity is not a legislation but a new life-conception; hence it was not obligatory, nor has it been accepted by all men in its full meaning, but only by a few; the rest have accepted it in a corrupted form—Moreover, Christianity is a prophecy of the disappearance of the pagan life, and therefore of the necessity of accepting the Christian doctrine—Non-resistance of evil by violence is one of the principles of the Christian doctrine which must inevitably be accepted by men at the present day—Two methods of solving every struggle—The first method consists in believing the general definitions of evil to be binding upon all, and to resist this evil by violence—The second, the Christian method, consists in not resisting evil by violence—Although the failure of the first method was recognized in the first centuries of Christianity, it is still employed; but as humanity advanced it has become more evident that there is not, nor can there be, a general definition of evil—Now this has become evident to all, and if the violence which is destined to combat evil exists, it is not because it is considered necessary, but because men do not know how to dispense with it—The difficulty of dispensing with it is due to the skilfulness and complexity of political violence—This violence is supported by four methods: by threats, bribes, hypnotism, and the employment of military force—Deliverance from State violence cannot be accomplished by overthrowing the State—Through experience of the misery of pagan life men are compelled to acknowledge the doctrine of Christ, with its non-resistance to evil,—a doctrine which they have hitherto ignored—To this same necessity of acknowledging the Christian doctrine we are brought by the consciousness of its truth—This consciousness is in utter contradiction to our life, and is especially evident in regard to general military conscription; but, in consequence of habit and the four methods of State violence, men do not see this inconsistency of Christianity with the duties of a soldier—Men do not see it even when the authorities themselves show them plainly all the immorality of the duties of a soldier—The call of the general conscription is the extreme trial for every man,—the command to choose between the Christian doctrine of non-resistance or servile submission to the existing organization of the State—Men generally submit to the demands of the State organization, renouncing all that is sacred, as though there were no other issue—For men of the pagan life-conception, indeed, no other issue does exist; they are compelled to acknowledge it, regardless of all the dreadful calamities of war—Society composed of such men must inevitably perish, and no social changes can save it—The pagan life has reached its last limits; it works its own destruction.
It is frequently said that if Christianity be a truth, it would have been accepted by all men on its first appearance, and would straightway have changed and improved the lives of men. One might as well say that if the seed is alive it must instantly sprout and produce its flower or its fruit.
The Christian doctrine is not a law which, being introduced by violence, can forthwith change the life of mankind. Christianity is a life-conception more lofty and excellent than the ancient; and such a new conception of life cannot be enforced; it must be adopted voluntarily, and by two processes, the spiritual or interior process, and the experimental or external process.
Some men there are—but the smaller proportion—who instantly, and as though by prophetic intuition, divine the truth, surrender themselves to its influence, and live up to its precepts; others—and they are the majority—are brought to the knowledge of the truth, and the necessity for its adoption, by a long series of errors, by experience and suffering.
It is to this necessity of adopting the doctrine by the external process of experience that Christendom has at last arrived.
Now and then one wonders why the mistaken presentment of Christianity, which even at the present time prevents men from accepting it in its true significance, could have been necessary. And yet the very errors, having brought men to their present position, have been the medium through which it has become possible for the majority to accept Christianity in its true meaning.
If instead of that corrupted form of Christianity which was given to the people, it had been offered to them in its purity, the greater portion of mankind would have refused it, like the Asiatic peoples to whom it is yet unknown. But having once accepted it in its corrupted form, the nations embracing it were subjected to its slow but sure influence, and by a long succession of errors, and the suffering that ensued therefrom, have now been brought to the necessity of adopting it in its true meaning.
The erroneous presentation of Christianity, and its acceptance by the majority of mankind, with all its errors, was then a necessity, just as the seed, if it is to sprout, must for a time be buried in the soil.