If ever there was a glad father I was one. Standing there in the dark hall I thought:
"God bless the dear children, they have the evangel. That is the very essence of the Christian religion, 'Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these ye did it unto me.'"
Of course we all realize that there are certain proprieties which adults must observe, but what could be more beautiful than for a little brother and sister so to recognize God in each other as to be able to kiss Him? The idea here involved, if carried out in every relation of life, would be the Kingdom of God realized. Furthermore, there is no other way of making the Kingdom of God a reality, either on earth or in the life beyond. Doubtless God never will be seen outside the bodies which He provides for Himself and His children to use in common. However, we shall have more to say about that later.
A Christian woman has beautifully related an incident which brought to her Christ's idea and experience of religion. Said she:
"It was my custom to retire each day to my own room for devotion. On one occasion when my heart was deeply oppressed my prayers seemed all in vain. Nevertheless, I continued to plead, 'O Lord Jesus, reveal thyself to me.' After awhile there came a rap at my door. It was the maid seeking comfort. She had broken a choice piece of china. But I drove her away rather harshly, saying, 'You know you are not to bother me at this hour.' Then I continued, 'O Lord Jesus, reveal thyself.' After more fruitless prayer, my little girl came sobbing for comfort as she had broken her first doll. I even drove her away saying, 'My child, you must not disturb your mother now.' After resuming what seemed to be a useless petition, there came to me a suggestion as distinct and forceful as if spoken. 'Inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these ye did it not unto me.' I arose from my knees, unlocked the door, and went out. In the kitchen I found the maid sullen and angry, to whom I spoke comforting words. Seeing the light come to her face, I went on to find my little daughter. From under the grapevine where she had already cried herself to sleep, I picked her up; and after kissing her and wiping the tear stains from her cheeks, I told her that I would get her another dollie,—one ever so much nicer than the first. Having comforted others for His sake, and for their own sake, my soul was filled with inexpressible peace! And once more something spoke to my innermost being, 'Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these ye did it unto me.'"
Let no one draw the conclusion that her habit of devotion was worthless, for it is not very likely that all this peace and revelation would have come to her if she had been less inclined to pray. The intense desire of her prayer, coupled with the unpleasant incidents of the day, brought to her the fuller truth.
Though a minister may not neglect his sermons, yet there have been times when I have grown so desperate in my effort to prepare a vital message that I have thrown down my insipid and stupid manuscript to go out and find some needy, suffering person whom I could bless in His name. Whenever I have done this I have found God and my soul and a sermon.
5. Where does Jesus belong in the religious, social and thought worlds?
When the God Soul and the man soul unite, they so lift nature's forces up into personal life that the universe no longer lies in broken and confused fragments. Jesus is at the center of all things because all things center in pure personal life. In Him, the Father-spirit, the child-spirit, and nature's forces were so correlated as to be newly manifest; the child was completing himself in the Father, and the Father was fulfilling Himself in the child, while nature was serving as the common instrument of both. Separate the God Soul, the man soul, and nature's forces, and no one of them is revealed. Unite them as they were in Jesus and the meaning of all three appears. Christ's type of life brings all reality into accord because it combines everything into a composite, personal life.
If you wish to know God in the most perfect way, go to Jesus; if you care to know man as he should be, go to Jesus; if you would look upon God, man, and nature's forces in one radiant, wooing personality, go to Jesus. If it is the purpose of religionists, sociologists, and philosophers to trace reality to its highest form of expression, let them go to Jesus. Yes, let all men go to Jesus with their wealth of technical knowledge which they have gained in the wide fields of research; and in His presence, their treasures, like precious gems, will scintillate with a divine light. This conjunction in Jesus of all streams of reality makes Him the light of the world. In the same way, and for the same reason, every person would be the light of the world if the child-spirit rendered an obedience to the Father equally loving and intelligent. But this is the tragedy,—who has rendered such obedience! It is the belief of many of us that Jesus was never disobedient, even as a little child. Though it were admitted that this could not be proved, still it would remain a fact that as Jesus "Increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man," His filial obedience identified Him with the Father. The oneness of Deity and humanity was so certainly achieved in Jesus that no one can rob him of His glory nor of His place as the Messiah. He was the first to open wide the door to God; yea more, He was the door. In Jesus, we come face to face with the personal God and with our Elder Brother who lived in God. In Him, the perfect God was living in man, and the perfect man was living in God, while unitedly they were living among men as a visible member of society.