69/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE

But such was not to be the final issue. That tragic event, which removed the last vestige of hope and courage from the minds of the disciples, marked the beginning of the most comprehensive, fareaching reconstruction of human interests in the world’s history. ” Except a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die, it cannot bring forth fruit.”

A few years later, the most significant step ever inaugurated toward an improved social order, was taken by the disciples at Jerusalem. It was, indeed, a spontaneous expression of the new life; and had it not been for the invasion of Judaea by the Roman hosts, and the sudden dispersion of the Jews, this vital movement would undoubtedly have spread and assumed a more than local character.

The regeneration of the individual must precede any permanently successful reconstruction of society. It is comparatively futile to attempt to suppress poverty, drunkenness, vice or crime, while their generic root (materialism) remains unchanged. The obnoxious Upas tree of social degradation cannot be exterminated by plucking off its leaves and flowers.

The axe must be “laid at the root of the tree.” Until that is destroyed, it will continue to send up fresh shoots as quickly as previous growths are removed. Penal and charitable institutions can, at best, only partially counteract the evils that result from the general acceptance of an essentially wrong attitude in life.

The respectable, pious materialist shudders at the sensuality and brutality of his less fortunate fellows, little dreaming that his life and theirs alike represent a common tendency. Specific forms of expression are largely dependent on the soil or environment in which they flourish. Refinement and degradation are only outer garbs that conceal the deeper trend of men’s lives from the casual observer.

“Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also.”
Zeal for outward reform frequently leads to indiscriminate efforts to suppress abnormal symptoms in the body politic.

The impulsive Peter, carried away by excess of enthusiasm, drew his sword and smote off the high priest’s servant’s ear, thinking thereby to aid his master’s cause. But evil cannot be effectually overcome by evil. Darkness is not extinguished by opposing it with more darkness, but by letting in the light.