majority. So that at last such a depth of obscurity has been reached that men do not take in their direct sense even the

majority.  So that at last such a depth of obscurity has been

reached that men do not take in their direct sense even the

simplest precepts, expressed in the simplest words, in the Gospel.

Christ's teaching is not generally understood in its true, simple,

and direct sense even in these days, when the light of the Gospel

has penetrated even to the darkest recesses of human

consciousness; when, in the words of Christ, that which was spoken

in the ear is proclaimed from the housetops; and when the Gospel

is influencing every side of human life--domestic, economic,

civic, legislative, and international.  This lack of true

understanding of Christ's words at such a time would be

inexplicable, if there were not causes to account for it.

One of these causes is the fact that believers and unbelievers

alike are firmly persuaded that they have understood Christ's

teaching a long time, and that they understand it so fully,

indubitably, and conclusively that it can have no other

significance than the one they attribute to it.  And the reason of

this conviction is that the false interpretation and consequent

misapprehension of the Gospel is an error of such long standing.

Even the strongest current of water cannot add a drop to a cup

which is already full.

The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-

witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the

simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if

he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of

doubt, what is laid before him.

The Christian doctrine is presented to the men of our world to-day

as a doctrine which everyone has known so long and accepted so

unhesitatingly in all its minutest details that it cannot be

understood in any other way than it is understood now.

Christianity is understood now by all who profess the doctrines of

the Church as a supernatural miraculous revelation of everything

which is repeated in the Creed.  By unbelievers it is regarded as

an illustration of man's craving for a belief in the supernatural,

which mankind has now outgrown, as an historical phenomenon which

has received full expression in Catholicism, Greek Orthodoxy, and

Protestantism, and has no longer any living significance for us.

The significance of the Gospel is hidden from believers by the

Church, from unbelievers by Science.

I will speak first of the former.  Eighteen hundred years ago

there appeared in the midst of the heathen Roman world a strange

new doctrine, unlike any of the old religions, and attributed to a

man, Christ.

This new doctrine was in both form and content absolutely new to

the Jewish world in which it originated, and still more to the

Roman world in which it was preached and diffused.

In the midst of the elaborate religious observances of Judaism, in

which, in the words of Isaiah, law was laid upon law, and in the

midst of the Roman legal system worked out to the highest point of

perfection, a new doctrine appeared, which denied not only every

deity, and all fear and worship of them, but even all human

institutions and all necessity for them.  In place of all the

rules of the old religions, this doctrine sets up only a type of

inward perfection, truth, and love in the person of Christ, and--

as a result of this inward perfection being attained by men--also

the outward perfection foretold by the Prophets--the kingdom of

God, when all men will cease to learn to make war, when all shall

be taught of God and united in love, and the lion will lie down

with the lamb.  Instead of the threats of punishment which all the

old laws of religions and governments alike laid down for non-

fulfillment of their rules, instead of promises of rewards for

fulfillment of them, this doctrine called men to it only because

it was the truth.  John vii. 17: "If any man will do His will, he

shad know of the doctrine whether it be of God."  John viii. 46:

"If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?  But ye seek to

kill me, a man that hath told you the truth.  Ye shall know the

truth, and the truth shall make you free.  God is a spirit, and

they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Keep my sayings, and ye shall know of my sayings whether they be

true."   No proofs of this doctrine were offered except its truth,

the correspondence of the doctrine with the truth.  The whole

teaching consisted in the recognition of truth and following it,

in a greater and greater attainment of truth, and a closer and

closer following of it in the acts of life.  There are no acts in

this doctrine which could justify a man and make him saved.  There

is only the image of truth to guide-him, for inward perfection in

the person of Christ, and for outward perfection in the

establishment of the kingdom of God.  The fulfillment of this

teaching consists only in walking in the chosen way, in getting

nearer to inward perfection in the imitation of Christ, and

outward perfection in the establishment of the kingdom of God.

The greater or less blessedness of a man depends, according to

this doctrine, not on the degree of perfection to which he has

attained, but on the greater or less swiftness with which he

is pursuing it.

The progress toward perfection of the publican of the publican

Zaccheus, of the woman that was a sinner, of the robber on the

cross, is a greater state of blessedness, according to this

doctrine, than the stationary righteousness of the Pharisee.  The

lost sheep is dearer than ninety-nine that were not lost.  The

prodigal son, the piece of money that was lost and found again,

are dearer, more precious to God than those which have not been

lost.

Every condition, according to this doctrine, is only a particular

step in the attainment of inward and outward perfection, and

therefore has no significance of itself.  Blessedness consists in

progress toward perfection; to stand still in any condition

whatever means the cessation of this blessedness.

"Let not thy left hand know what they right hand doeth."  "No man

having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the

Kingdom of God."  "Rejoice not that the spirits are subject to

you, but seek rather that your names be written in heaven."  "Be

ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect."  "Seek ye

first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness."

The fulfillment of this precept is only to be found in

uninterrupted progress toward the attainment of ever higher truth,

toward establishing more and more firmly an ever greater love

within oneself, and establishing more and more widely the kingdom

of God outside oneself.

It is obvious that, appearing as it did in the midst of the Jewish

and heathen world, such teaching could not be accepted by the

majority of men, who were living a life absolutely different from

what was required by it.  It is obvious, too, that even for those

by whom it was accepted, it was so absolutely opposed to all their

old views that it could not be comprehensible in its full

significance.

It has been only by a succession of misunderstandings, errors,

partial explanations, and the corrections and additions of

generations that the meaning of the Christian doctrine has grown

continually more and more clear to men.  The Christian view of

life has exerted an influence on the Jewish and heathen, and the

heathen and Jewish view of life has, too, exerted an influence on

the Christian.  And Christianity, as the living force, has gained

more and more upon the extinct Judaism and heathenism, and has

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