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fp:rsonality
PERSONALITY
indeed were it not continually replenished in spirit and in truth. Biat because personality is conscious of its eternal environment, it can ' endure as seeing him who is invisible,' and must assert itself in the name of its Creator and lledeemer. Steadily it has been rising to the height of its possibilities against the weight of an accumulating tradition and venerable institutions, in the belief tliat the word of God conies most directly to this world through its dedicated personalities. That ' word ' has always breathed Justice as the social, and Liberty as the personal ideal. And reformers have always found their inspiration for tlie former in the (3T, for the latter in the NT. Constitutional liistory could not be explained but for the con- tinual intlow of these principles ujjon the con- sciences of the peojjle from their s])rings in tlie Christian faith. We cannot fail to observe that the action of the Cliristian conscience through the leaders of tiie Ciiurch had much to do with the Magna Charta. The uprising from the condition of villenage in the 14th cent, was vitally con- nected with the Lollard movement and the dis- tribution of tlie Bible in the English tongue. The Peasants' Wars in Germany which followed, and the national movements in all the northern countries of Europe, found tiie secret of their power in tiie recovered gospel. It is the testimony of all who know, that the rights of the Christian man were the first objective of our own Puritan Revolution. Said Pym, its typical exponent : ' The greatest liberty of our country is religion.' The American Commonwealth was founded, as to its true nucleus, in tlie ])assion for 'freedom to worship God.' And although the French devolution trium])hed in an 'age of reason,' in defiance of Church and creed, its passionate hope was derived from the Christian conception of the rights of man Mhich had certainly drifted into the mind of Voltaire.
P'inally, in religion itself personality has j)layed its true part only under the aegis of Jesus Christ. In Mohammedanism the political and social bonds are drawn very closely, and its military associa- tions have tended to promote the type of the devoted soldier (Moslems) — 'Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die." Under such a form of religion personality has little chance. The Hindu philosophy which underlies Buddhism re- gards personality as the chief seat of evil in the universe, and works towards its obliteration. Socially, this philosophy results in the caste system, which is well calculated to this end. The religion, if so it may be called, of Confucius, throws the weight of every moral sanction on the dead past, and, by the worship of ancestors, depreciates to the utmost extent the homage due to the living soul. Christianity has no doubt many points of contact with these and other religions ; but in this respect it is utterly antagonistic, in that its unit is the indivitlual, whatever his race, colour, or class, on the sublime ground that God seeks him and needs him. Hence its life has always been fed by personalities, whose love to God has been with the heart, mind, soul, aiid strength. As Christ founded His Church on Peter, so on the man who adopts the motto of the Northern university — • Men say ; Quhat say they : lat them say ' — in the spirit of Peter (Ac 4i«), has the Church as a matter of history always been refounded. By the touch of Christ on the individual all bands and bars have snapped, and in the inspired personality the word of God has found free course and been glorified. It might almost be said that no other religion is anything but a framework. Only in the religion of Jesus Christ do we see the face of a renewed personality changed into the same image from glory to glory.
(2) But the new-found personality has not only
rejoiced in rights and liberties, political and social, mental and spiritual ; it has also made an ever fuller discovery of its dihts and duties. The Fatherhood of God means t^ie jiromise at least of personality in every hitman being, and that means the essential brotherhood of men. The Incarna- tion has drawn them into one by declaring them one ; so that each must bear the others' burdens, and so fullil the law of Jesus Christ. The Atone- ment on Calvary has focussed the conception of vicarious suffering, and summoned Christians to fulfil that which is lacking of the sufierings of Christ (Col 1^). In the train of Christian salva- tion mutual service bectomes the truest expression of the bond of union (Jn 13^'"'''). So we are bidden to respect one Jinother's personality, to ' honour all men,' to ' receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God' (Ro 15"). Being hope- lessly in debt to God, we are to pay off all we can on the altar of humarity's need. Our indebtedness to God involves our forgiveness of others (Mt jg32. 33^^ y,^j. ijelp of any one in every time of need (Mt lO**, Lk 10^''), and especially our hope and labour for their spiritual welfare (Mt 28i«, Lk 10-).
This consciousness of duty to humanity for Christ's sake soon showed itself in the breaking of yokes, although the yokes crumbled rather than snapped under His humane influence. It worked upon pagan notions of slavery and conquest, and after abolishing the gladiatorial shows, first eased and finally freed the human chattel. The rights of woman, too, as partner rather than subordinate, and the honour paid even to children, as against the Roman practice of infanticide, have gradually come into being through the changed standpoint from which personality is regarded through Christ. Continuing the story thus begun, the recognition of our debt and duty towards others on account of their personality has [a) secretly undermined the resistance of racial barriers. ISIore than this can hardly be said in view of events East and West. But at any rate the Christian Church, now a fellowship of many peoples, kindreds, and tongues, has to a large extent anticipated the fulfilment of the ideal which leaped to the imagination of St. Paul, when there shall be 'neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female ; for all are one in Christ Jesus' (Gal 3^*). (b) It has slowly produced an attitude of tolerance, i.e. a recognition of the rights of others in thought. That is a position far in advance of the claim to personal indepen- dence. Liberty of tliought for others, with a resulting equality of ojiportunity, is an ideal hard of attainment. But because humanity is logical, though men are not, it will at length be established as the corollary to the rights of per- sonality, (c) It has steadily permeated law with the larger justice of mercy. This is another com- paratively recent development of the Christian consciousne.ss. The criminal code and the service discipline were both administered on brutal lines, and the industrial system was beset by conditions hardly less degrading. But the claim of person- ality is steadily laying hold of the popular imagina- tion and conscience, and asserting itself in the acts of our statute-book, (d) It has turned older methods of education upside down. The claim of the personality is now respected even when in the bud. Tlie teacher now learns to sit first at the feet of the child, who is no longer trained to be a kind of imitation adult, but is desired to develop on the lines of its own personality. (e) It has inspired all crusades of compassion. Christianity has led the way, to the marvel of the world, in the provision of hospitals, asylums, orphanages, etc. And this consideration for the blind, the insane, the leper, and such afflicted ones, is the monument to Christ's care of the body as the home of the