{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_45272/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_45272","id":"gutenberg_45272","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45272","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life","Episcopal Church -- Sermons"],"text":"Transcriber's note:\n\nText enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\nSmall capital text has been replaced with all capitals.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: cover]\n\n\n\n\n  _Nine O'Clock Talks_\n\n  by the REV. FREDERIC B. KELLOGG\n  Chaplain to Episcopal Students in\n  Cambridge, Massachusetts\n\n  Christ Church\n  Cambridge, Massachusetts\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\n_These short sermons by the Chaplain to Episcopalian Students in\nCambridge are collected here for their interest to Christians of\nall ages and as a reminder of the important religious work being\ncarried on in colleges. It is a truism that the years of college\nare crucial for students; it is then that their interests become\nclear and the direction of their life's work takes shape. But for\nChristians, education involves more than the training of the mind\nand the acquisition of knowledge; it involves, like every other\nphase of life, enlistment of the will and dedication of the spirit.\nAwareness of this fact has given rise increasingly in recent years\nto questions concerning the proper place of religious teaching in\nthe secular modern college and university. Without entering on\nthat question here, one may be quite certain that a chief force\nin the religious life of students will always be associations\nfor devotion and discussion such as those conducted by Mr. Kellogg\nunder the auspices of the Bishop Rhinelander Memorial for Student\nWork. During his nearly ten years of service he has influenced by\nprecept and example literally thousands of students. These sermons\nthus carry a double meaning. In addition to their own high value as\nChristian interpretations, they are tokens of a necessary work to be\ndone._\n\n  JOHN H. FINLEY, JR.\n\n  Eliot House\n  Harvard University\n\n\n\n\n\"_In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth._\"\n\n\nSo the Bible opens, so the world began. The historian, Arnold\nToynbee, has shown us how many beginnings there have been since\nthat time, how kingdoms rise and fall, one civilization succeeding\nanother as new life and inspiration take the place of death and\ncomplacency. There never will be an end of beginnings or of ends so\nlong as the world endures.\n\nA study of this historical cycle shows that mankind has never lost\nits hope for a deus ex machina, a God who will save men at the last\nmoment from the effects of their own bad beginnings. It makes a good\nstory to tell how the Gods from Olympus intervened on the behalf of\ntheir favorites on the plains of Troy but it is disastrous when men\nmistake this day-dream for reality. Yet at the end of each age there\nis to be seen a frantic scrambling for divine favor, a scurrying\nto the churches when the Goths threatened the Roman Empire, for\nexample, or a bull market for indulgences as the Renaissance\nreplaced medieval society.\n\nMen are forever trying to substitute faith in a last resort God for\nfaith in the \"beginning God\".\n\nBut seldom if ever has the substitution been successful. Once\nan avalanche of events has been loosed by the criminality or\ncarelessness of men, God will not intervene until the tumult and the\nshouting have died down, and his still small voice can once more be\nheard.\n\nNo one can mistake the fact that we are at the beginning of a new\nera now, an era in which events will happen more quickly and more\ndrastically than in any period in history. And these events may be\neither for good or for evil depending upon whether we decide now to\nfollow the \"beginning God\" rather than to postpone our faith until\nfear impels a grasping for a God of last resort, a deus ex machina\nwhich does not exist.\n\nTo follow the true God, however, the God who is in the beginning,\nmeans a sharp change in policy; it means junking our old habits of\nprocrastination and reliance upon self while the going is good,\nfor then is the time that inexorable events pile up to avalanche\nproportions. It means starting right now to refer our decisions\nto him for advice with confidence in his universal judgment and\nnever-ceasing care.\n\nA great opportunity is open to us, for I do not doubt that the first\nreally successful age will take place when God is invited to enter\nthe human scene at the very outset and thereby to form the pattern\nfor the years that follow. It is a crucial opportunity, for the\nneighborliness and love that proceed from him are no longer optional\ncourses but are the very conditions of survival.\n\nWhy not therefore make up our minds now that we will do everything\nin our power this year, this month, today, to introduce the God of\nthe beginning to the problems of the now?\n\n\n\n\nCHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S\n\n\nIf you ever examine the early Chinese vases in the Fogg Museum or\nelsewhere, you will note that many of them have little cracks in\nthe glaze which run every whichway. You might conclude that these\nwere caused by antique methods of firing the pottery, or are just\nthe result of old age. Actually these cracks, which are known as\ncrackle in the glaze, were made on purpose. For it seems that these\nvases were often given as New Year's presents, and since New Year's\nis celebrated by the Chinese in the spring, the crackle was made\nto represent the breaking-up of the ice on the rivers and lakes,\nthe change from the hard and fastness of winter to the movement of\nspring.\n\nWe miss something important in our symbolic thinking by not\ncelebrating Christmas and New Year's at a time when nature herself\ntakes a new lease on life. It is more difficult for us to realize\nthe possibility of the breaking up of the old and the forming of the\nnew when the ice is thickening on the ponds and the snow is driving\ndeeper on the hills. It is hard enough as it is to become renewed in\nthe spirit of our minds.\n\nWe try instead to capture newness by thinking of a child, a symbolic\nchild that appears on the covers of the Saturday Evening Post and\nthe Ladies' Home Journal. Dressed in the scantiest of clothing, his\nchubby face covered with a broad grin, the spirit of the New Year\nushers us into a new calendar. And in the hurry and excitement of\nthe time it may have slipped our minds that only a week before we\nrecalled a real child, a child that once was born in fact and ever\nsince has been reborn in the souls of men.\n\nI wonder if we ever associate these two children and ponder the\nmeaning of each, for in a way they have a joint significance. The\nchild of New Year's means new opportunities, new openings for a\nworld of men sick and tired of the old. Those who would live by\nthis child alone, however, soon run into depressing frustration\nfor they have forgotten that new things do not come easily to old\nmen--men that are old in spirit of whatever age. They find that\nnew opportunities can only be met and made use of by people who\nhave a spring of newness within them; they realize that here is\nwhere newness counts most, down at the depths of the soul. And\nperhaps they discover--God grant that they do for it is the greatest\ndiscovery that a man can make--perhaps they discover that this is\nthe meaning of the child of a week before.\n\nThose old words about dying to sin and rising to newness of life,\nof being born again like Nicodemus, or at least the reality within\nthose words, may of a sudden catch hold of a man and shake him to\nthe core--shake out the old egocentric habits, break up the shoddy\nways of thinking, that he may be regenerate and born anew of the\nChrist within him.\n\nWe are reminded annually on Christmas Day that a new creature is\npossible, a new creature with fresh reactions and an unburdened\nsoul. We are reminded of this every time we come to the Holy\nCommunion and hear Christ's words, \"Come unto me all ye that travail\nand are heavy laden and I will refresh you.\"\n\nBut response may be withheld and the opportunity passes us by. W.H.\nAuden states the only too often repeated case in his _Christmas\nOratorio_:\n\n              \"Once again,\n    As in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed\n    To do more than entertain it as an agreeable\n    Possibility, once again we have sent Him away,\n    Begging though to remain His disobedient servant\n    The promising child who cannot keep His word for long.\"\n\nThat is one possibility, merely to regard the child of Christmas as\na symbol, like the child of New Year's--two fabulous children who\nhave no meaning once the holiday season is past. Or we can see in\none Child the very reality of newness, a newness that we can have\nand use for this New Year's and every New Year's to come--the spirit\nof God, eternally new.\n\n\n\n\n\"_For we have seen his star in the East and are come to worship\nhim._\"\n\n\nBut stars that lead travellers in a fixed direction and then come\nand stand over houses cannot be identified astronomically--so might\ncomment a pedestrian critic of the story of the Three Wise Men.\nFurthermore, the Magi if they ever did in fact exist were nothing\nbut Babylonian priests that were versed in astrology. Astrology! we\nall know that scientific astronomy has long since relegated that\nsuperstitious practice to the archives of the fantastic.\n\nYet I wonder if one of the deepest troubles of our time is that\nmen do not see stars that lead travellers in a fixed direction. Is\nnot the Day of the Lord long overdue when, as he said through the\nprophet Joel, \"It shall come to pass that I will pour out my spirit\nupon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,\nyour old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.\"\n\nVisions of peace and a world made new--what greater need today has\nthe strife-ridden world than this?\n\nIt may be just poetic fancy in the Epiphany season that points to\na striking resemblance between the Three Wise Men following a star\nto the birthplace of the Prince of Peace and the delegates to the\nassembly of the United Nations coming from distant lands to try\nand make their dream of peace come true. They have seen the star\nat last, they have followed it to the resting place--so far all is\nwell. But will they go through with the whole story?\n\nHave they come primarily to get or to give? Will the actions of\neach nation be governed purely by self-interest, to gain security,\nto insure colonial possessions, to learn new secrets of power for\nnational aggrandizement? or will they instead, open their treasures\nand present unto him who is none other than the spirit of world\nbrotherhood their gifts--one gold, another frankincense, another\nmyrrh? For they have much to offer, ancient culture, glorious\ntraditions, scientific knowledge, vast resources both material and\nspiritual, all things that can be used for the unlimited good of all\nif shared, but which if hoarded, and thus envied, can work their\nutter destruction.\n\nWill they come in a spirit of humility or will they come with pride\nin their own might and sovereignty? The Magi were wise enough to\nfall down and worship the Prince of Peace even though he was only\njust born. Are the nations equally wise to recognize the presence of\nembryonic peace and see in it greater import, greater worth, than in\nanything each one singly has to offer?\n\nHave they the courage of their convictions? It will be so today as\nit was before: \"When Herod the King had heard these things he was\ntroubled and all Jerusalem with him.\" The powers of isolationism,\nin all its forms of non-cooperation, suspicion, financial reaction,\nwill be sorely troubled by the Prince of Peace and will do all in\ntheir power to kill him while still a child. And they will use all\nthe deception that Herod employed: \"Go and search diligently for the\nyoung child and when you have found him bring me word again that I\nmay come and worship him also.\" Go and find out all you can about\nthe intents and operations of the other nations so that we can use\nthem to our advantage. Go and expose the futility of cooperation. Go\nmake mistakes so that we can repudiate our delegates and once more\nreturn to reliance upon self and national security.\n\nFinally, will they depart into their own country another way or\nwill they return to Herod? Nor will it be of any more use than it\nwas with the old League of Nations if when they return they do not\nlead the fight at home to mobilize the forces for peace in their own\ncountries rather than compromise with Herod. This of course they\ncannot do unless they have the determined support of every one of\nus. We must not only be ready to receive them with eagerness but we\nmust meanwhile be following the same star as best we can, seeing the\nsame visions, learning how to give and not just to get, practicing\nthe same humility, exerting the same courage of our convictions.\nWorld peace cannot be accomplished merely by delegates any more than\nthe Prince of Peace could reign with the help of three wise men\nalone.\n\n\n\n\n\"_Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be\ntempted of the devil._\"\n\n\nLet no one think for a moment that the devil is a fool. He used the\nsame ingenuity with our Lord that he has shown from the day that\nAdam fell to the present time. And one of his favorite methods of\nattack reveals itself here--he waits until a man is in a spiritual\nwilderness before he presents the greatest temptation, for he knows\nthat it is in loneliness that most people succumb.\n\nThe temptation may be the one which our Lord faced--to try to\nachieve spiritual ends by worldly means. Or it may be less\nsubtle--to give in to degrading thoughts or actions. In whichever\none of the infinite forms the enticement of the devil may appear, we\nare most vulnerable when cut off from companionship.\n\nIt is possible to be a romantic about temptation, to take\nthe attitude of Kipling's poem \"If\", to glory in your own\nself-sufficiency when all about you are losing their heads. Or one\ncan be a Stoic and grimly bear the vicissitudes of life by oneself,\nscorning the assistance of others as a sign of weakness.\n\nBut the Christian solution is otherwise. It points out that the\nfight with temptation is generally a negative affair, a rear guard\naction. What we want to discover is the most efficient method of\novercoming it in order to be set free for more positive and fruitful\nwork. And the plain fact is that temptation can best be overcome\nwith the help of others. To resist this assistance in time of need\nis not a virtue but a form of spiritual pride. When we pray \"Lead\nus not into temptation\" we mean at least in part, don't let the\ndevil get us off by ourselves, for he has an easy time picking off\nstragglers. But he is completely frustrated by men and women who\nhold together in the bond of fellowship and understanding.\n\nThe very same thing is true of suffering. Indeed there is a\nclose connection between the two. There is acute suffering in\nresisting temptation. And there is temptation in the endurance of\nsuffering--temptation to wallow in self-pity and despair. It may be\nthat misery loves company for its own sake, but it is equally the\ncase that suffering can best be dealt with in the companionship of\nothers. Why is it that such extraordinary acts of fortitude in plain\ncan take place in wartime? Why?--because men are fighting side by\nside and are upheld by the esprit de corps that is generated by a\ncommon struggle.\n\nWhat has all this got to do with us, you may wonder. We don't have\nany temptations that seem too great to handle by ourselves, nor do\nwe have to endure intense suffering. Perhaps so, but the chances are\nthat we won't always be so fortunate and we can never tell when\nit may happen. If we don't learn how to handle the present smaller\ntrials and temptations we may be overcome by the larger ones when\nthey come.\n\nSo I suggest that you use this Lent to learn some lessons. And\nthe first lesson is to realize your common humanity--to perceive\nhow valuable people are to you and you to them. In the time of\ntemptation and suffering you will not hesitate to turn to others if\nyou have made a practice of being close to others when the going is\ngood.\n\nRemember too that by overcoming trouble in your own life you gain\nnew and great powers to help others through their dark periods. You\nthen have sympathy and understanding of a kind which alone comes\nfrom suffering and you have the fibre of victory that comes only\nfrom the transcending of temptation.\n\nFinally, realize the constant presence of God. He will be your\ncompanion even when all else fails:\n\n    \"If I climb up into heaven thou art there\n      If I go down to hell thou are there also.\n    If I take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost\n          parts of the sea\n    Even there also shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall\n          hold me.\"\n\nTemptation and suffering cannot be avoided but they can be beaten by\nyou and through you in the company of your fellow men and with the\nupholding presence of God.\n\n\n\n\nPALM SUNDAY\n\n\nWhen Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday he must have\nbeen in great suspense. Would he be recognized in his true colors?\nJesus came as king, but not the kind of king the people expected.\nWould the real meaning of his entrance into the city be recognized\nor would he again be misunderstood as he had been so often before,\neven by his closest friends?\n\nThe crucial question was one of recognition. Would the real meaning\nbe seen, would the signs be read aright.\n\nThat is why Jesus spoke with such concern about signs and the way\nthey should be read. \"Now learn a parable of the fig tree,\" he said,\n\"when his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves you know\nthat summer is nigh.\" Signs like that in nature are unmistakable.\nBut when it comes to sizing up a man and his meaning they are far\nmore complex. Then real perception must be used, \"for there shall\narise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs\nand wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive\nthe very elect.\" How many of us spoke enthusiastically of Mussolini\nbecause Italian trains began running on time and beggars disappeared\nfrom the steps of cathedrals? How many good people were duped by\nFranco merely because he proclaimed allegiance to the church and\nChristianity? How many well meaning people are fooled by the devil\nin all his guises?\n\nAnd the reverse side of the picture has its equally discouraging\naspects. Great men live and die, unrecognized and misunderstood.\nMen of good will are persecuted and put to death. The greatest and\nbest of all men rode into Jerusalem and in less than a week he\nwas hanging from a cross. The perversity of the human race seems\nequalled only by its foolishness.\n\nThe inhabitants of Jerusalem could at least plead ignorance. The\nsigns of the meaning of Jesus were not obvious. True, the prophet\nhad written before in the Book of Zechariah to be on the watch\nfor such an event. \"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout O\ndaughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just\nand having salvation; lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt\nthe foal of an ass.\"\n\nJesus acquiesced in this prophetic symbolism and some did recognize\nhim for what he was--the spiritual King, the Messiah of God. A few\nbut only a few saw the meaning of the signs.\n\nBut since that time how can man plead ignorance? The gospel has\nbeen preached in every nation of the world and has been written in\na thousand languages. Basilicas, cathedrals, and monasteries have\nglorified him in wood and stone. The greatest artists have painted\nhim, the greatest authors have written about him. And yet if Christ\ncame again to one of the modern Jerusalems would the effects be much\ndifferent even though we have had two thousand years to learn of\nhim and know his ways? We have proclaimed the magnificence of our\nreception but have we ever really received him? Could he not say\nthe same thing in truth as he beheld the city and wept over it: \"if\nthou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things\nwhich belong unto thy peace.\" He would stand about the same chance\nof recognition as King today as he did then, for we too are looking\nin the wrong direction. They looked for a mighty man at the head\nof an army or a political party. We look for a Christ in pomp and\ncircumstance in power and great glory. Perhaps then on this Palm\nSunday we should try looking in the place where he was found before,\nand will always be found. Quietly waiting outside the city of our\nhearts, waiting for our recognition and acceptance. \"Behold, thy\nking cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation; lowly and\nriding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.\"\n\n\n\n\nEASTER\n\n\nChrist the Lord is risen today. Alleluia! The purple veil is lifted\nfrom the Cross, the Altar, bare through Lent, is now adorned with\nflowers, for the agony of Good Friday has given way to the rejoicing\nof the Resurrection. Joyful people crowd the churches to proclaim\nthe yearly rediscovered fact that Christ has opened the way through\ndarkness into light and has turned man's sorrow into gladness.\nChrist the Lord is risen today. Alleluia.\n\nBut for the thoughtful, I wonder if there isn't another theme that\nruns in a minor key throughout the Easter music. I wonder if Easter\nisn't for many a day of joyous farewells. Christ has risen to sit at\nthe right hand of the throne of God and we glory in that fact; but\ndon't we feel like saying with Thomas, \"Lord, we know not whither\nthou goest and how can we know the way.\" There may be many mansions\nin the house of God but they seem so very remote. Even our Lord's\nassurance that he is the way, the truth and the life does not quite\nfill the place in our hearts left hollow by his departure.\n\nFor forty days and nights he has been among us sharing our humanity,\nits problems and its pains. He has been with us in anxiety, in\nsleeplessness, in sorrow. He has been so human, indeed, that we have\nforgotten his descent. We are not prepared to lose our old familiar\nfriend.\n\nIt may be that in normal times, by which we mean in thoughtless\ntimes, his absence is not greatly felt or is soon forgotten. But who\nis there among us now that does not feel the burden of human war and\npeace? Who is there that has not needed friendship to take the place\nof loss, that has not looked for counsel and strength beyond the\nlimits of his own life?\n\nAnd for these, the Lord has been a present help in time of trouble.\nHe has been a man among men, by our side, to lead us on our way.\n\nNow Easter comes, our Lord has risen. Christ has become King, a God\nof Gods. Yet here we remain, we haven't changed, our problems are\nthe same, our needs the same.\n\n\"Love's redeeming work is done, fought the fight the battle won,\"\nwe sing. But there is still the overtone of sadness in the Easter\nmusic which might even become a note of irony. Love's work is done?\nThe battle won? Not in our world it isn't, far from it. We'd better\npostpone Easter till better times are come. Lent has meaning now,\none long unswerving Lent, with discipline and hard work.\n\nBut wait a moment. We see the veil is lifted from the Cross this\nEaster day, and now the cross stands clear and shadowless upon the\nAltar. Does that signify the end of suffering, or is there here an\nEaster meaning for these times more potent and impelling than ever\nLent has brought? It is said that Constantine the Great, returning\nfrom his victory over Maxentius, saw in the sky these words, \"In hoc\nsigno vinces,\" and thereafter he placed the Cross upon his standard.\nThe cross is brighter still on Easter for it is an earnest that yet\nagain through its sign we shall conquer.\n\nThe cross reminds us too that though he is risen, he is in no way\nfurther from us than before. He still bears upon himself the marks\nof the cross--the marks of Lent made meaningful by Easter.\n\nThe cross has by no means disappeared, rather it has been\nvindicated, death has not vanished but it has been overcome,\nsuffering will continue but it can be transformed. Let us then\nrejoice and be exceeding glad this Easter of all Easters for the way\nof the cross has proved to be the way of Life and Victory.\n\n\n\n\n\"_But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will\nsend in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things\nto your remembrance._\"\n\n\nCanon Quick of Durham wrote a most thought-provoking paragraph\nin his book _Doctrines of the Creed_. \"One essential paradox of\nChristianity,\" he wrote, \"consists in the fact that, although when\nviewed from outside it is one of the religions of the world, when\nit is known from within it is not a religion at all, nor even the\ntrue religion only, but something inherently more than religion; it\nis a whole social life of Communion in God among men, a communion\nwhich embraces both sacred and secular activities and is altogether\ntransfigured by the pervading presence of God's love.\"\n\nAnd what gives Christianity this extraordinary combination of\nbreadth and depth is the event of Whitsunday--the coming of the\nHoly Spirit. As St. John says, \"the Holy Spirit will teach you all\nthings\"--that is the breadth--and will \"bring all things to your\nremembrance\" about the earthly life and teaching of Christ--that is\nthe depth.\n\nAll through Christian history, but particularly today, two opposing\ntendencies can be seen at work. One is the desire to liberalize\nChristianity and make it more inclusive. Some, noting the good in\nout of the way places--there is honesty among thieves and there\nis sincerity among atheists, would push Christianity to a point\nwhere it would include all good wherever found and in whatever\ncombination. The logical conclusion would be to turn it into a kind\nof pantheism--a catch-all for all truth, goodness, and beauty. A\ngood Buddhist is really a good Christian whether he knows it or not,\nthey would say, in spite of the fact that he would be considerably\nannoyed to be told so.\n\nIn this drive to be comprehensive, the specific doctrines of the\nchurch would have to be scrapped or soft-pedalled and the emphasis\nbe put upon right living, whatever that is.\n\nIf you feel at this point like smiling in superior fashion at these\nliberalizers, examine your own mind for a moment and see if at least\npart of you doesn't agree with this. For example, have you ever felt\nor said about so-and-so who is an agnostic and never darkens the\ndoor of a church, that he is a better Christian than you, since he\nis more generous, more courageous, more generally virtuous? And this\nyou say, not out of humility, but from a suspicion that he is in\nbetter touch with the source of goodness than you are.\n\nAnd I could go on to point out other reasons why we would like to\nextend the label of Christianity as far as possible.\n\nBut the opposite tendency is also strong within us. Make\nChristianity precise, define carefully its limits and make\nmembership within it rigorous and single-minded. I heard of a\nclergyman, who when asked how his congregation was doing, replied,\n\"Fine-thinning 'em out, thinning 'em out.\"\n\nWe are aware of the strength that lies in narrowness and secretly\ncovet the simplification and order of an authoritarian church.\n\nHowever forceful these opposing tendencies may be we know at least\nthat neither one can be allowed to run wild without disaster to\nChristianity. There must be an integrating force that holds these\ntogether and leads to the productiveness that flows out of the\ntension between them.\n\nThat force is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit proceeds from\nthe Father, through the Son. He always refers back to Christ as\nthe incarnate center of Christian life, and thence to God who\nis the source of the love that binds men into one communion and\nfellowship. Confusion exists because there are many spirits in the\nworld--spirits of a nation, of humanity, of progress. But these are\nnever to be identified with the Holy Spirit, who always brings to\nremembrance Christ himself, who must become the corner stone of all\nlife everywhere. To be apart from him is to be apart from God. To\nforget this is the danger of liberalism.\n\nBut on the other hand, the Holy Spirit will teach you all things,\nand as Canon Quick says, \"is the moving spirit in the Communion in\nGod among men, a Communion which embraces all things both sacred\nand secular and cannot be confined to man-made limitations.\" In\nforgetting this lies the danger of sectarianism.\n\nThe work of the Holy Spirit begins with Christ and continues to the\nend of the earth. That is the spirit we pray for and can expect to\nreceive on Whitsunday. Don't be content with anything less.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLIND CAN LEAD THE BLIND\n\n\nThe story is told of a blind man who wanted to free himself from the\nrestrictions of his handicap by going about without his usual guide.\nWith the use of a stick, he found he could leave his house and\nwalk down the street well enough, but when he came to the crossing\nwhere the cars drove by in unending stream he could not get himself\nto start across, although he knew that the drivers would almost\ncertainly stop when they saw him leave the curb. He didn't quite\nhave the confidence and was turning back discouraged with himself,\nwhen he felt a hand on his arm, and a voice said, \"May I go across\nwith you?\" Reassured, he and his companion stepped out into the\nstreet, the cars came to a halt, and they proceeded across safely.\nWhen they got to the far side he was about to thank his friend, but\nbefore he could do so the other said, \"I'm much obliged to you for\nyour assistance in crossing the street, for, you see, I'm blind.\"\n\nA passage from the Bible comes immediately to mind, does it not?\n\"And he spoke a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind,\nshall they not both fall into the ditch?\" The answer is no, not\nnecessarily.\n\nBlind men may be excellent guides; it all depends on where the\nblindness lies.\n\nOur Lord was warning us of men who are blind in the eyes of the mind\nand spirit. As Marianne Moore wrote in her poem \"In Distrust of\nMerits\":\n\n    \"Job disheartened by false comfort,\n     knew\n     that nothing can be so defeating\n          as a blind man who\n     can see. O alive who are dead, who\n     are proud not to see. O small dust\n     of the earth\n          that walks so arrogantly.\"\n\nThese are the people to guard against, the blind who can see.\n\nOn the other hand, many men are coming back from the war who have\nlost the sight of their eyes, but it would be fatal for the world\nto imagine them all blind. They have seen and known what most of\nus have escaped, the horrors of war, and it is their compelling\nexperience that we need to help fight against the seeds of another\nwar.\n\nBlind men may be excellent guides, (and in the last analysis aren't\nwe all blind?) but they also need faith--they must have faith in\nthe insights of each other, they must have confidence that together\nthey can reach their destination. The men in the story could not\naccomplish what they wanted by themselves but when they joined\nforces they got the necessary confidence to go ahead. But that's\nwhat faith entails. Joining forces with men who rely primarily on\nthe eye of the mind and spirit. And that's the faith we all need so\ndesperately in the days to come.\n\nHow far do you think you can get without the insights and\nunderstanding of others? Look at the past. How much wisdom have you\nacquired all by yourself apart from the experiences of humanity that\nyou have met in books or face to face? We are embarked on a highly\ncooperative adventure in this life. Let no man pride himself on\nhis own ability to reach his destination alone; nor let him feel a\ncoward for needing the assistance of others.\n\nMost of us know this well enough at least in large sections of our\nliving--our culture, our business, our enjoyments are clearly mutual\nenterprises. Neither conceit nor ignominy are apt to enter these,\nfor it is only too obvious how much we depend upon our fellow humans.\n\nBut oddly enough, when it comes to our religion, where mutual\nfaith becomes the clearest necessity, that is the point at\nwhich we frequently leave our fellow blind men and plunge off by\nourselves. Why people suppose that they can find God, their ultimate\ndestination, by themselves, is a unique mystery. Why, to put it\nmore concretely, a man can claim to have his own religion and not\nneed the corporate advice and encouragement of the church can only\nbe understood if he is content with a fragmentary faith, content to\nleave his house, walk down the sidewalk, but never cross the street\nto the other side. That kind of blind man would indeed fall into the\nditch and all who followed him blindly would end there too. It all\ndepends upon mutual faith, mutual confidence in each other.\n\nOne of the great pictures by Pieter Breughel the Elder shows a\nprocession of blind men entering a river. The casual observer would\nsuppose that they were all about to be drowned; that is if he\nobserved in a superficial way. But the subtlety and greatness of\nthe picture lies in the fact that that is not the only possible\nconclusion. They may be making their way across. It all depends\nupon what is in their minds. They may be blind, but they may not be\nfollowing blindly. They may have the same faith of the two men in\nthe story that will bring them safely across.\n\n\"And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying,\nand saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was\ncome into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto\nthem, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea,\nLord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be\nit unto you. And their eyes were opened.\"\n\nIs it just a coincidence that there were two blind men in this story\nand not just one? Two men who had faith in God and in each other,\nand faith that together they could reach their final destination.\n\n\n\n\n\"_If Satan also be divided against himself how shall his kingdom\nstand?_\"\n\n\nThe answer, of course, is that it won't stand any more than any\nother house. But unfortunately the forces of evil seem to recognize\nthis fact more clearly than do the forces of good. Satan and his\nfollowers cling together so tenaciously because they know what\nthey want and they realize that they must be unified in order to\nget it. Just compare Germany and France at the beginning of the\nwar. The Nazis had one all-consuming aim behind their actions--to\nconquer the world--and because of this unity of purpose they came\nwithin a hair's breadth of succeeding. Indeed they would have done\nso had it not been for a unity of desperation forged at the last\nmoment between vastly stronger nations. On the other hand, France\ndidn't begin to know her own mind until it was too late. Conflicting\ninterests and internal antagonisms made her a pathetically easy\nprey for the invader.\n\nThe fact is that the natural tendency among humans is to differ\nrather than to agree. Centrifugal force seems to be stronger in\nsociety than centripetal, and this is why so many houses are brought\nto desolation.\n\nBut just because divisiveness is natural, it does not follow that\nnothing can be done to keep men together. It merely means that unity\nhas constantly to be made or it will not come about. The drift\nis not in that direction. Here is a place where man must use his\nfreedom of choice and will, to transcend his inclinations. Fatalism\nand unity do not mix.\n\nThis being the case, where are man's unifying efforts particularly\nneeded today?\n\nThe area where politics rises above itself is one of the most\ncrucial for future world welfare. There are many elements in\npolitics which are of necessity partisan and controversial. In\nfact, His Majesty's loyal opposition or the equivalent is essential\nto progressive government. But the fundamentals which all should\nhave in common must not therefore be neglected. No politician in\nthis country ever rose to such heights of community understanding\nas did Abraham Lincoln, and the great words he used, \"government of\nthe people, by the people, and for the people,\" states clearly that\nunderlying unity without which democracy becomes anarchy. But it is\nnot merely coincidental that this famous phrase appeared first in\nthe preface that John Wyclif wrote to his translation of the Bible.\nUnity comes from God in the sense that He wills men to achieve it.\n\nOn a national scale partisanship must not allow another post-war\nfiasco, and it is appalling to hear that certain people are still\nfirmly opposed to a world organization. On the local scene,\nreligious, racial and social antagonisms have brought about a\nshameful state in the educational systems of our cities. Can't the\nwelfare of our children be a matter of united action? It must become\nso.\n\nOur heritage from the reformation is another value which we are in\nthe process of losing because of disunity. At a public hearing in\nNew York City recently the question came up why certain individuals\nhad received no attention. A social worker remarked, \"Oh, they\nare only P.P.P.s\" When asked what this meant he replied, \"Poor,\npowerless protestants.\"\n\nProtestant unity is the first step toward Christian unity and\nworld-wide religious cooperation. And it takes only a moment of\nsober, realistic thought to see that all Christians have vastly more\nin common than they have in particular. Why not spend more time and\nthought rejoicing in and applying the unity that already exists\ninstead of magnifying our differences?\n\nWhat it all comes down to is an attitude of mind. Do we try and\ncultivate our ability to agree when we can, to see the scope of our\ncommon aims, or are we consistently developing our divergences? Take\nthe time to analyze yourself in this regard. If we take pride in our\ncontrariness we are playing straight into the hands of the devil,\nfor he is not making the mistake of a divided house himself--rather\nhe is waiting for us to fall into that desolation. But if we hold\nsteadfastly to the implications of the Christian doctrine of one God\nand all men as his equally valuable children, we are headed for a\nfinal victory in world brotherhood, the place where victory counts\nmost.\n\n\n\n\n\"_Put on the whole armour of God._\"\n\n\nVery few passages in the Bible are as well known or as highly\nesteemed as this exhortation to stand against the wiles of the\ndevil. And certainly it has an immediate bearing today when the\noutcome of the battle between good and evil is crucial for the very\nexistence of civilization.\n\nBut this passage has a potentially misleading character about it\nwhich may have a disastrous effect upon the waging of the battle.\nMuch of it sounds purely defensive. \"To withstand in the evil day\",\n\"to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked\"--the word \"armour\"\neven has the connotation of protection. All this can easily play\ninto the hands of those who have the notion that the main duty of\na Christian is to keep himself unspotted from the world. Like the\nthree famous monkeys of the East, who see no evil, hear no evil,\nand speak no evil, it is thought that evil itself will somehow cease\nto exist if it is merely avoided. Of course there is some truth in\nthis point of view in as much as the Christian must have adequate\ndefensive equipment, but it must be forever emphasized that the\nvital element in the armour of God is the last one that St. Paul\nmentions, namely, the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.\nFor we can be sure that all the breastplates, helmets, and shields\never made will be of little effect by themselves in defeating the\nprincipalities, the powers and the rulers of the darkness of this\nworld. That is like building a tank of the most shell-proof armour\nbut not putting in a powerful engine and a hard hitting gun. It just\nwon't win battles.\n\nIndeed, the most alarming sign of these times is the tendency to go\nonto the defensive, to try to side-step problems which appear to be\ntoo great to solve. It is a sign that the end of our era may be\nat hand. When the French Army came to the Marne in its retreat on\nParis in the first world war, defeat seemed imminent. At that moment\nGeneral Foch made his memorable decision. \"My center is giving way,\nmy right is pushed back--excellent! I'll attack.\"\n\nAs we know, that attack saved France. And as we also know, the lack\nof attack in this last war brought France's downfall. Without the\nsword of the Spirit, which is the spirit of the offensive, the most\nthat can be hoped for is that defeat may be delayed. But it will\nsurely come.\n\nAnd defeat will surely come to this nation unless we take the\noffensive in solving the titanic problem of power that we have\nsuddenly found in our hands. It cannot be hid under a bushel,\nit cannot be evaded, it cannot be kept to ourselves. It must be\nshared, for that is what the offensive means in this case--the\nexploration and achievement of new methods of cooperation which\nhave never yet been tried. Small-minded and fearful men think only\nof retreat--retreat into self-protection. But the alternative to\none world now is one Hell, or even more accurately one complete\nannihilation.\n\nIt may seem like an anti-climax to say that your own personal defeat\nwill come in the same way if you put your faith in defensive armour\nand fail to acquire and use the sword of the spirit. It may have\nbeen possible in years gone by to live blandly in the Puritan house\non the hill where all questionable literature was carefully banned,\nwhere temptation was kept at a minimum; where the turmoil, poverty\nand disease of the factory-filled valley could not be seen. But\nthat is no longer possible because the ways of the valley and the\nhill have met. It never was Christian, it was merely rationalized\negotism, to escape the problems of evil and call it purity. The\nChristian paradox must never be forgotten that dirty water washes\nclean when used in the service of God.\n\nThe time has come both personally and nationally to put on the whole\narmour of God in order to take the offensive against the powers of\ndarkness of this world.\n\n\n\n\n\"_How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till\nseven times?_\"\n\n\nWhen Peter asked this leading question he may have been trying\nto seem magnanimous. For Jewish law required only a threefold\nforgiveness, after which, apparently, you were free to take revenge.\nOur Lord rejected this whole legalistic approach by his reply and\npenetrated, as he always did, to the inner spirit of the matter.\nUntil seventy times seven was a traditional way of saying \"without\nlimit.\" He was trying to make Peter realize that to attach numbers\nto an action of this kind prevents your heart from being in it. Even\nif there were no chance of your brother sinning against you more\nthan seven times, you were not really forgiving him the first time\nas long as you had a limit set to the extent of your forgiveness.\n\nThe forgiving love of God, which is the pattern for the same spirit\nin man, has no boundaries, no qualifications.\n\nBut hasn't it? you may well ask. Doesn't the Lord's prayer set a\ncondition to his forgiveness of trespasses that we forgive those who\ntrespass against us? Doesn't the parable of the unmerciful servant\nwhich follows Peter's question end with the stern \"So likewise shall\nmy heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive\nnot everyone his brother their trespasses.\"\n\nNo, to regard this as a condition to God's forgiveness is to\nmisunderstand radically the way God works, to mistake his very\nnature. To regard him as a bargainer, an exchanger of favors, is to\ndescend to the really false kind of anthropomorphism which is to\nimpute to him our weaknesses rather than to find in us his strength.\n\nGod's forgiveness flows from him continuously. When we do not\nexperience it, it is because we fail to allow it to operate. To put\nthe situation in its real terms, unless we learn to apply the spirit\nof forgiveness toward others we can never expect to discover the\nmeaning of God's forgiveness in our own lives--we can never forgive\nourselves; for that is one step more difficult than forgiving\nothers. This may sound like nonsense at first. Difficult to forgive\nourselves? Why that's easy, we reply. We are always coating over our\nmistakes, rationalizing our errors. But don't you see? In the very\nuse of the words coating over and rationalizing, we admit that there\nis a core of guilt there somewhere that has not been forgiven but\njust covered up temporarily--and if the truth were known, allowed to\nfester and grow till its effect becomes deadly indeed. If you don't\nbelieve this, explore the inner recesses of your mind and look for\na minute at the gallery of thoughts and actions you are trying to\nforget because they hurt. They hurt you still because they have\nnever been touched by God's forgiveness. You have not learned the\nspirit of forgiveness toward others sufficiently to apply it to\nyourself.\n\nBut suppose you have tried to be forgiving and found it difficult\nor well-nigh impossible. It actually is not an easy thing to learn.\nAnd it cannot be accomplished merely by saying to oneself in a stern\nvoice, \"Forgive others and forgive yourself.\" Much could be said\non how to learn, but one point stands out above the rest as wise\ncounsel. Look at others and yourself with a sense of perspective.\nOur brother sins against us, the magnifying glass is brought out and\nfocussed upon that sin, and our brother appears entirely sinful. We\nourselves commit a sin, the microscope is turned upon that spot in\nus, and all our good seems evil in its darkness. Learn to take away\nthe magnification as soon as the trouble is sufficiently examined.\nSee again the good which greatly outweighs the evil, for that good\nis the light in which forgiveness thrives.\n\n\"How oft shall I or my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?\" I\nhope you know by now.\n\n\n\n\n\"_For our citizenship is in Heaven._\"\n\n\nOne of the greatest works on the philosophy of history is St.\nAugustine's _City of God_. Though written in the dark days after the\nsack of Rome by the Goths, it has perhaps an even more immediate\nbearing upon these brighter times because it is now that we are in\nthe greatest danger of taking a nationally self-sufficient view of\nhistory.\n\nSt. Augustine saw that a Christian is a citizen of two worlds--the\nEarthly City and the City of God. These two cities have been formed\nby two loves: the earthly, by love of self even to the contempt of\nGod; the Heavenly, by the love of God even to the contempt of self.\nThe earthly city is the state, and although it is a relative good,\nit must exist to maintain civil order in a sinful world. The city of\nGod is the ultimate good where man's highest loyalty must reside,\nfor as St. Paul pointed out, our true citizenship is in Heaven.\n\nOur Lord himself recognized this double responsibility of man when\nhe told the Pharisees \"to render unto Caesar the things which are\nCaesar's and unto God the things which are God's.\" This shouldn't\nbe too hard to comprehend, and yet history reveals the repeated\nerror and tragedy of man's desire to be a citizen of one world\nor the other, but not both. Perhaps the difficulty lies in the\nfact that citizenship itself is a two-fold affair. It involves\none's allegiance to a state and it also entitles the citizen to\nthe protection of that state. It may be, therefore, that a double\nallegiance is too much for most men to bear, or it may be that the\nprotection of the earthly state seems so much more tangible. In\nany event, the \"either-or-ness\" has been most unfortunate in its\nconsequences.\n\nTo be a citizen of Heaven alone is more difficult for the average\nAmerican to understand. Few men these days are tempted to go\noff into the desert and live an other-worldly life in prayer and\ncontemplation with the sole desire of saving their own souls. And\nyet a more subtle form of this escapism is the chief object of\nthe attack made by politically liberal and radical groups upon\nChristianity. Socialists and Communists have with good reason\ncharged that much of every man's Christianity is a Sunday escapism\nwith little or no effect upon his daily living, unrelated to his\ncivic responsibilities and to existing evils.\n\nBad as this may be, the opposite form of single statism would seem\nto be more devastating in our present situation. When Stephen\nDecatur made his famous toast to \"Our Country, in her intercourse\nwith foreign nations may she always be in the right, but our\ncountry, right or wrong,\" he revealed the stupid tragedy of all the\nmany forms of the American First principle. But he incidentally\nadmitted the existence and necessity of a superior standard of\njudgment by which the nation is seen to be either right or wrong.\nUnless our citizenship is in Heaven we cannot be effective and\nreliable citizens of this country or any country on earth. All\nwe are fitted for without it is to be slaves to a Fascist state,\nsaluting and goose-stepping moronically at the command of a\nself-appointed leader. We must have a basis for judging even our own\ncountry and our most honored institutions.\n\nThis nation is in the midst of the most important decisions any\npeople on earth have ever faced. If we make them as members of the\nEarthly City alone, which as St. Augustine said is formed by love of\nself even to the contempt of God, we or our descendants will witness\nthe final form of uncritical patriotism: the end of our state in\nthe end of all civilization. But if those in authority, pressed on\nby us, will recognize their ultimate allegiance to the City of God\nwhich transcends all national sovereignty and boundaries there is\ngood hope that the decision will be made for the good of all mankind\nand not simply for our destruction.\n\nIf they or we are fearful in this fatal moment, we might remember\nthe other side of citizenship--as members of the City of God we are\nalso entitled to its protection and its power.\n\nRemember the experience of Elisha and his servant. And Elisha prayed\nand said, \"Lord, I pray thee open his eyes that he may see. And then\nthe Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, And behold\nthe mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about\nElisha.\"\n\n\n\n\n\"_Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto\nthose things which are before._\"\n\n\nOne might well assume that these words of St. Paul are an accepted\npart of all theories of progress; looking forward instead of\nbackward. But Lewis Mumford in his book _The Condition of Man_\npoints out that this has unfortunately not always been the case,\nto the confusion and sidetracking of mankind's efforts. Progress,\nhe says, may be considered in either of two ways--getting closer\nto a goal, or getting farther away from a starting point. And it\nwas in the latter sense that the exponents of progress in the\nera of Romanticism; Hume, Voltaire, and the others, preached\nit--the casting loose from a past crippled by evils: brutality,\nsuperstition, ignorance, misery.\n\nBut have these curses disappeared from the earth? Have they not in\nmany respects grown worse? I am afraid so, and I think it is due in\nlarge part to this negative theory of progress which has possessed\nman since the Renaissance. The intended cures of evils have been too\noften sought purely as an escape from the evil itself and not with a\nview to ultimate good.\n\nSerfdom and slavery were evil, so men broke away and became free;\nbut free for what? That was of little consequence as long as they\nwere free. The Germans felt the pressure of other nations around\nthem so they needs must make more Lebensraum--room in which to be\nfree. And what nation has ever become so enslaved in the process?\nWe didn't want war, and so with the mounting fear of war before our\neyes, we temporized until the greatest war in history came upon us.\nAn individual realizes how great is his own selfishness and so to\novercome it, he concentrates upon self-centered cure and becomes\neven more entangled.\n\nNo, this kind of progress is no progress at all, but rather a circle\nback into greater evil. Man was not made to run with his eyes turned\nbackward. He will inevitably fall into the same or deeper pit.\n\nThe only true and effective kind of progress is progress toward a\ngoal with that goal clearly and constantly before our eyes.\n\nWe want peace. What then is peace? It certainly is not the mere\navoidance of war. It is rather the achievement of those conditions\nwhich allow for men's dependance upon each other with greater mutual\nrespect and affection.\n\nWe want internal national harmony. Does that come from the\nsuppression of the demands of labor or the abolition of the guidance\nof management? Certainly not. It comes from a joint appreciation\nof the values of living without which there is no possible common\nground.\n\nDo you as an individual want to grow in wisdom and stature? Yes,\ncertainly. But that will not come from mere reaction to your\npast; although that is a delusion under which many men labor. This\nfrequently reveals itself in their attitude toward religion. Almost\neveryone goes through a period of reaction against religion and\nall that it stands for. It usually happens about Sophomore year in\ncollege. Actually it is a reaction against the authority of our\nparents, our school teachers and our unthinking past in general.\nIt is necessary for each one to think out his purposes and goals,\nhis religion for himself, or else it will never have his whole\nhearted support. But because of this confusion between authority\nand religion many people reject both together and forever after are\nmotivated by reactions and not by any real positive ideal. They are\nthe followers of the illusory theory of progress and are forever in\nfrustration.\n\nNo, if you would make real progress you must start as soon as\npossible disentangling your ultimate ends from your reaction to\nyour beginnings; keeping what is true for you and discarding what\nis false. Once this process is begun, it must be continued and\ndeveloped until you have a religion that really pulls you on, until\nyou are reaching forth unto those things which are before, until you\nhave found the God who is your God and in whom you live and move and\nhave your being.\n\n\n\n\nTwelve hundred copies printed by Harvard University Printing Office.\nDesigned by Philip Hofer, Department of Printing and Graphic Arts of\nthe Harvard Library, with Charles Grassinger of the Harvard Printing\nOffice.\n\n\n\n\nAdditional copies of \"Nine O'Clock Talks\" may be obtained for $.75\neach from the Bishop Rhinelander Memorial, Christ Church, Cambridge,\nMass.\n\nProceeds from the sale of these books will go to the Chaplain's fund\nfor work with students in Cambridge.","title":"Nine O'Clock Talks","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":9696}