CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIAL ISM.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 235, 6 October 1886, Page 3

CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIAL ISM.

Lecture by Bishop Barry.

A Lecture on the above subject was delivered on Sunday, sth instant, at St. James's Church, Sydney, by Bishop Barry, whoso text was Matthew xxii., 37-40: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is tho firet and great commandment. And the second is like unto it — Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and tho prophets." Bishop Barry said : In these words of tho Lord Josus Christ himself is embodied the Christian conception of the great regulating forces of humanity alike in "tho law which constrains and in the "prophecy" which freely guidos and inspires to the truo righteousness. I take them as my guido to-day. For my task, as I understand it, is not to trace tho historical growth of Socialism in its Protean variety of form—from tho old Utopias of Plato or Sir Thomas Moore down to its last two fullest developments in the State Socialism ofjLassele or tho demands of the International Society under the guidance of Karl Marx—nor to claim your attention for opinions of my own on the strength and weakness of its theories, tho wisdom or unwisdom of its actual workings. It is sufficient for my purposo to look at So_iali-„_ broadly, as a system, implying in various degrees tlio subjugation of individual freedom and tho absorption of property into tho hands of society itaolf, and the rolianco of those onds on tho power of law administered by tho representatives of society, and (aB it is hoped) acceptod for tho common good by tho sclf-sacrifico of all. It is my duty to ask you to consider how Christianity, as a system of life and conduct, stands related to this great movement. It has been,as doubtless you know, haileel as an ally, commonded as a harbinger, denounced as a foo by the Socialism of various periods. Whero can wo learn tho truth of its position, amidst thoso discordant representations, so well as from the answer of tho Divino Master Himself to tho question, " What is tho great commandment of tho law?" tho fundamental principle underlying tho whole system of law and teaching which has gradually become the mould of human civilisation. When wo aro told, and truly told, that in our I.ord'3 own teaching elsowhero "selfdenial "—that is, self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice—is the fundamental principle of Christianity, it must not be forgotten that this absolute self-surrender is only to tho Father's will. The Christian sacriiico ia offered on but ono altar, nnd this is not the altar of humanity but tho nltur of God. So oflored, it may become, liko tho eacrilices of old, at onco a means of tho moral education of the individual, and a bond of federal union for tho race But these secondary meanings can only bo grasped through a right unelorstanding of that which is first and groatcst. The lovo of God pervading tho whole soul will bring out norossarily in tl:o'r order and relation tho

"Lovo of Self and Lovo of Humanity.

Solf lovo is evidently tho survival in humanity, in a rationalieed and temporod form, of that energy of solf-presorvation and self-assertion which modern scionce has called "the struggle for existenco " in tho world of organic world. Let it bo noted that this strugglo is mado in tho natural order to subserve o.olution—that is, continual progress towards higher perfection in created life ; let it be noted also tbat it is by the free play of tho individual thought and energy, especially of tho natural leaders of mankind, that tho chiof steps in human progress have been won. Solf-lovo is tho pursuing, not coldly or hesitatingly but with somo w-armth and enthusiasm, tho highest good of the individual, The highest good is the perfection of his nature by growth in tho likeness of God ; all lower things are secondarily good, whether physical or spiritual, which eubeervo that growth. So far as these aro tho fruits of individual work he has a right, in measure, to claim thorn and to use theni for this purpose, though not for this alono, not for this chiefly. The lovo of self—not rightly called " selfishness," for this term is applied only to its unhoalthy exaggeration—is therefore no sign or sin or evon weakness in our humanity. It is in its right place an ordinance of God, assorting and guarding the principle of individualism in man ; therefore, an inoraelicable law of Naturo ; therefore an indispensable condition of the human progress which wo call civilisation. The lovo of our fellow-men, on tho othor hand, we ca'l " humanity." Wo can certainly see rudimontary indications of it in the lower animal cicaiOl. esp.c ally in the solf-eacrificc3 of parental affection, and of what may bo called the shadow in them of personal attachment, whother to their own fellows or to man, and in thoso scc'tal instincts from which somo have thought themselves ablo to trace the development of our whole social morality. But in us it is tho conscious and enthusiastic recognition of the unity which binds all men in ono by mutual ties, cemented by mutual needs and quickened by.mutu .1 aff.ctiona. It has somo shadowy extcn.-ions, evon to tho beauty and order of inanimato nature, and more clearly to the lower order of the animal creation. But it fixes itself properly on man as man, with the sense of brotherhood, where we recognise equality; of filial loyalty to the superior on whom we lean, of paternal protection to the inferior who leans on ue. Botween the individual and the race thore are lesser yet closer unities; there is the family—the one indestructible cell from which all Bociety has historically grown in a wonderful organisation ; there is what we call the "neighbourhood " of place or class, which is the scene of our every-day life; there is the nation, now the great unit of modern society, realising itself by obvious peculiarities of national destiny and charactor, only beyond these and formed by their aggregation and union extends the great brotherhood of all humanity perfectly acknowledged, imperfectly but truly realised, in the Church of the Lord Josus Christ. Tho theories of society, and the enthusiasms giving them practical vitality, which ignore and even Beck to destroy these lesser, closer fcrms of unity—sinking, for example, the familj in the nation and the nation in the race; denouncing, as forms of extended selfiahnes3, domestic love or national loyalty—as they vainly strive against the actual laws and forces of human nature, so undoubtedly can claim no sup port from the true teaching of Christianity,

Christianity and Human Unity.

But how does Christianity give its teaching and working forco for men, especially the simple and unlearned masses of men, for whom our Master so greatly cares ? The answer is—Not by any nicely graduated system of balances and subordinations, which like the paper constitutions of theorists, fails to work, but by the over-ruling and pervading influence of the euprome love of God. Its conception of human us.ity is of direct personal unity with God in Jeeus Christ, and through this indirectly, though most truly, of unity of mon with ono another. Just in proportion as this ia realised by faith and love, individualism and socialism, "self love and love of men, fall into their right places, and by so falling, preserve a true harmony. The one absolute self surronder is to His will: all individual power, mental or material, in itself and in its fruita, is a trust from Him to carry out His purpose of blessing to all families of the earth. But that purpose is unipiestionably individual perfection in time and in eternity, as well as the advance of tho true civilisation of knowledge, righteousness and love in the human society at large. The two purposes, if both aro recognised, will help and not hinder each other. It is tho office of the great Christian society, which we call the Church of Christ, to fulfil both ; its heaven is only in promise and earnest here, in perfection hereafter, and even what ia to be realised here is at once in the individual soul and in the collective life. As a matter of fact, Christianity has created both the highest type of the solitary spiritual life—alone, and yet not alone because God is with it— and the largest and deepest enthusiasm for humanity, content to spend and be spent, even to follow Christ in bearing the Cross, for the sake of the world for which Ho died. But these are but sides of tho full ideal. The Christianity which is self-contained in spiritual self-culture, using (as has been bitterly said) our fellow-men as rungs in the ladder by which we may rise to Heaven, is doubtlessmoreun-Christlikethan the Christ unity which is so busy in service, material und spiritual, to humanity, that ii iidsnotime or care for the cultivation of the inner life " hid with Christ in God." But neither is the fulness of true Christianity ; and if it be urged that harmony of the two is impossible, we simply point to the life of Jesus Christ, and remind ourselves that it is, and it only, is our pattern.