63/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE
The most unchristian motives and sentiments freely masquerade under the guise of Christianity and the sanction of professed Christians. Murder, theft, revenge, lust, assume forms quite generally countenanced by civilized people. Their spirit in disguise permeates respectable society, although operating so insidiously that men are often led, almost unawares, into attitudes which they would abhor, were the exact nature of the principle involved more clearly evident.
Society is far more seriously threatened by the spirit of anti-christ arrayed, like a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” in the garb of conventional piety, virtue or material humanitarianism, than by flagrant abuses and glaring vices that are easily detected, and therefore more likely to be estimated at their actual values.
Murder committed in cold-blooded, brutal fashion, is too repulsive to command respect, even among the most depraved classes; but in the exigencies of so called civilised warfare, it is frequently exalted to a high rank among the virtues. A considerable portion of modern society still endorses the anti-christian sentiment embodied in the ancient decree “whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”
The standard which demands “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” finds favor among men of all degrees of intelligence, not alone in the treatment of criminals, but in ordinary dealings of man with man. Unconscious hypocrisy is encouraged under the name of “righteous indignation.” The spirit of theft and gambling flourishes under less offensive names, in our exchanges, and even invades churches and societies organized ostensibly to advance the moral interests of humanity.
A majority of the failures of ethical and religious attempts to reform and elevate mankind, have been due to entertaining mixed motives. “Ye cannot serve two masters.” Every compromise is a surrender. One drop of ink will pollute a whole glass of water. Truth loses its efficacy when mingled with error.
The entire human race would have been brought long ago to accept the standard of Jesus but for compromises at critical periods. When confronted with the alternative of meager results in the present or complete triumph in the future, men have too often been willing to sacrifice the ultimate success of the cause they sought to further, for more apparent immediate benefits; the “mess of pottage” has proven more enticing than the “possession of a birthright.”
Jesus devoted the greater part of his ministry to establishing the spiritual view-point in a dozen lives.
The practical worth of the spiritual life will not be generally apparent until men are willing to accept the teaching of Jesus at its par value, and comply with its spirit.