It was said of old “Thou shalt not commit murder.” It is said to us, “Ye shall not wear down life in the young by premature hard labor; nor let the fear of poverty freeze the fountain of life; and ye shall put a stop to war.”
It was said of old, “Thou shalt not steal.” It is said to us, “Ye shall take no unearned gain from your fellows, but pay to society in productive labor what ye take from it in goods.”
IV
This matter of raising the moral standards of society is preeminently an affair of the young. They must do it or it will never be done. The Sermon on the Mount was spoken by a young man, and it moves with the impetuous virility of youth. The old are water-logged physically. They are mentally bound up with the institutions inside of which they have spent a lifetime, and they want to enjoy in peace the wealth and position they have attained. We shall be just the same forty years from now. But while we are young is the time to make a forward run with the flag of Christ, the banner of justice and love, and plant it on the heights yonder. We must not only be better men and women than we are now. We must leave a better world behind us when we are through with it. Whatever we affirm in our growing years will work out in some fashion in our years of maturity and power. If fifty thousand college men and women a year would range themselves alongside of Jesus Christ, look at our present world as open-eyed as he looked at his world, see where the social standards of conduct are in contradiction with his spirit and with modern need, and work to raise them, the world would feel the effect in ten years. And those who would strive in that way would live by faith in the higher commonwealth of God and have some of its nobility of spirit.
Suggestions for Thought and Discussion
I. Living Up to the Old Standards
1. What would happen if a college community began to live up to the standards of work and honor which all acknowledge?
2. Does human nature welcome a moral advance?
II. The Ethical Program of Jesus
1. What advance does Jesus' program make necessary? State the main principle in Matt. 5:17-48, and the six applications [pg 093] made by Jesus himself. How was this principle connected with his idea of the Kingdom?