,the ,empire of ,love   ,by  ,w4 ,j4    
,,dawson      ,new ,york  ,chicago      
,toronto  ,fleming ,h4 ,revell ,company 
,london and ,edinburgh     ,copyright1  
#aijg1 by  ,,fleming ,h4 ,,revell       
,,company       ,new ,york3 #aeh ,fifth 
,avenue   ,chicago3 #hj ,wabash ,avenue 
,toronto3 #be ,richmond ,street1 ,w4    
,london3 #ba ,paternoster ,square       
,edinburgh3 #ajj ,princes ,street       
,to   ,m4 ,m4 ,d41    who1 during the   
last two years   of our residence in    
,london1   practiced the teachings of   
this book   before ,i taught them3      
proving daily   in her compassionate    
toil for others   the divine efficacy of
 simple love   to redeem the lives1     
that were most estranged from virtue1   
and most lost to hope4     ,love feels  
no burden1 regards not labours1 would   
willingly do more than it is able1      
pleads not impossibility1 because it    
feels that it can and may do all things4
  ,,thomas  ,,kempis4     ,,contents    
,i4  ,,the ,,genius ,,to ,,be ,,loved   

,,ii4  ,,what ,,is ,,christianity8      
,,iii4  ,,the ,,justice ,,of ,,jesus    
,,iv4  ,,love ,,is ,,justice     ,v4    
,,love ,,and ,,forgiveness    ,,vi4     
,,the ,,practice ,,of ,,love   ,,vii4   
,,love ,,and ,,judgment  ,,viii4  ,,the 
,,wisdom ,,of ,,the ,,simple    ,,ix4   
,,the ,,revelations ,,of ,,grief     ,x4
  ,a ,,confession    ,,xi4  ,a ,,lover  
,,of ,,men   ,,xii4  ,,the ,,law ,,of   
,,compassion  ,,xiii4  ,,the ,,empire   
,,of ,,love   ,,xiv4  ,,the ,,builders  
,,of ,,the ,,empire     ,,the ,,genius  
,,to ,,be ,,loved      ,,why ,,they     
,,loved ,,him    ,so kindly was ,his    
love to us1     7,we had not heard of   
love before71   ,that all our life grew 
glorious     ,when ,he had halted at our
 door4    ,so meekly did ,he love us    
men1     ,though blind we were with     
shameful sin1   ,he touched our eyes    
with tears1 and then     ,led ,god's    
tall angels flaming in4    ,he dwelt    
with us a little space1     ,as mothers 
do in childhood's years1   ,and still we

 can discern ,his face     ,wherever    
,joy or ,love appears4    ,he made our  
virtues all ,his own1     ,and lent them
 grace we could not give1   ,and now our
 world seems ,his alone1     ,and while 
we live ,he seems to live4    ,he took  
our sorrows and our pain1     ,and hid  
their torture in ,his breast1   ,till we
 received them back again     ,to find  
on each ,his grief impressed4    ,he    
clasped our children in ,his arms1      
,and showed us where their beauty shone1
   ,he took from us our gray alarms1    
,and put ,death's icy armour on4    ,so 
gentle were ,his ways with us1     ,that
 crippled souls had ceased to sigh1     
,on them ,he laid ,his hands1 and thus  
,they gloried at ,his passing by4       
,without reproof or word of blame1      
,as mothers do in childhood's years1    
,he kissed our lips in spite of shame1  
,and stayed the passage of our tears4   
,so tender was ,his love to us1     7,we
 had not learned to love before71       
,that we grew like to ,him1 and thus    

,men sought ,his grace in us once more4 
,,coningsby ,,william ,,dawson4    ,i   
,,the ,,genius ,,to ,,be ,,loved  ,in   
the history of the last two thousand    
years there is but one ,person who has  
been1 and is supremely loved4  ,many    
have been loved by individuals1 by      
groups of persons1 or by communities2   
some have received the pliant idolatries
 of nations1 such as heroes and national
 deliverers2 but in every instance the  
sense of love thus excited has been     
intimately associated with some triumph 
of intellect1 or some resounding        
achievement in the world of action4  ,in
 this there is nothing unusual1 for man 
is a natural worshipper of heroes4  ,but
 in ,jesus ,christ we discover something
 very different2 ,he possessed the      
genius to be loved in so transcendent a 
degree that it appears ,his sole genius4
  ,jesus is loved not for anything that 
,he taught1 nor yet wholly for anything 
that ,he did1 although ,his actions     
culminate in the divine fascination of  

the ,cross1 but rather for what ,he was 
in ,himself4  ,his very name provokes in
 countless millions a reverent          
tenderness of emotion usually associated
 only with the most sacred and intimate 
of human relationships4  ,he is loved   
with a certain purity and intensity of  
passion that transcends even the most   
intimate expressions of human emotion4  
,the curious thing is that ,he ,himself 
anticipated this kind of love as ,his   
eternal heritage with men4  ,he expected
 that men would love ,him more than     
father or mother1 wife or child1 and    
even made such a love a condition of    
what ,he called discipleship4  ,the     
greatest marvel of all human history is 
that this prognostication has been      
strictly verified in the event4  ,he is 
the ,supreme ,lover1 for whose love1    
unrealizable as it is by touch1 or      
glance1 or spoken word1 or momentary    
presence1 men and women are still       
willing to sacrifice themselves1 and    
surrender all things4  ,the pregnant    

words of ,napoleon1 uttered in his last 
lonely reveries in ,st4 ,helena1 still  
express the strangest thing in universal
 history3 ,caesar1 ,charlemagne1 ,i1    
have founded empires4 ,they were founded
 on force1 and have perished4  ,jesus   
,christ has founded an empire on love1  
and to this day there are millions ready
 to die for ,him4  ,napoleon felt the   
wonder of it all1 the baffling1         
inexplicable marvel4 ,were we able to   
detach ourselves enough from use and    
custom1 to survey the movement of human 
thought from some lonely height above   
the floods of ,time1 as ,napoleon in the
 high sea-silences of ,st4 ,helena1 we  
also might feel the wonder of this most 
wonderful thing the world has ever      
known4  ,that the majority of men1 and  
even ,christian men1 do not perceive    
that the whole meaning of the life of   
,christ is ,love is a thing too obvious 
to demand evidence or invite            
contradiction4  ,i say men1 and         
,christian men1 thus limiting my        

statement1 because women and ,christian 
women1 frequently do perceive it1 being 
themselves the creatures of affection1  
and finding in affection the one        
sufficing symbol of life and of the     
universe4  ,it is a ,st4 ,catherine who 
thinks of herself as the bride of       
,christ1 and dreams the lovely vision of
 the changed hearts--the heart of ,jesus
 placed by the hands that bled beneath  
her pure bosom1 and her heart hidden in 
the side of ,him who died for her4  ,it 
is a ,st4 ,theresa who melts into       
ecstasy at the brooding presence of the 
heavenly ,lover1 and can only think of  
the ,evil ,one himself with             
commiseration as one who cannot love4   
,it is true that ,francis of ,assisi    
also thought and spoke of ,christ with a
 lover's ecstasy1 but then ,francis in  
his exquisite tenderness of nature1 was 
more woman than man4  ,no such thought  
visited the stern heart of ,dominic1 nor
 any of those makers of theology who    
have built systems and disciplines upon 

the divine poetry of the divine ,life4  
,love1 as the perfect symbol of life and
 the universe1 does not content men1    
simply because for most men love is not 
the key to life1 nor an end worth living
 for in itself1 nor anything but a      
complex and often troublesome emotion1  
which must needs be subordinated to     
other faculties and qualities1 such as  
greed1 or pride1 or the desire of power1
 or the dominant demands of intellect4  
,among men the poets alone have really  
understood ,jesus3 and in the category  
of the poets must be included the       
saints1 whose religion has always been  
interpreted to them through the         
imagination4  ,the poets have           
understood2 the theologians rarely or   
never4  ,thus it happens that men1 being
 the general and accepted interpreters  
of ,christ1 have all but wholly         
misinterpreted ,him4  ,the lyric passion
 of that life1 and the lyric love which 
it excites1 has been to them a          
disregarded music4  ,they have rarely   

achieved more than to tell us what      
,christ taught2 they have wholly failed 
to make us feel what ,christ was4  ,but 
,mary ,magdalene knew this1 and it was  
what she said and felt in the ,garden   
that has put ,christ upon the throne of 
the world4  ,was not her vision after   
all the true one8  ,is not a ,catherine 
a better guide to ,jesus than a         
,dominic8  ,when all the strident       
theologies fall silent1 will not the    
world's whole worship still utter itself
 in the lyric cry1    ,jesu1 ,lover of  
my soul1   ,let me to ,thy bosom fly4   
,is it then not within the competence of
 man to interpret ,christ aright1 simply
 because the masculine temperament is   
what it is8  ,by no means1 for such a   
statement would disqualify the          
evangelists themselves1 who are the only
 biographers of ,jesus4  ,but in the    
degree that a temperament is only       
masculine1 it will fail to understand   
,jesus4 ,napoleon could not understand2 
he was the child of force1 the son of   

the sword1 the very type of that hard   
efficiency of will and intellect which  
turns the heart to flint1 and scorns the
 witness of the softer intuitions4      
,francis could understand because he was
 in part feminine--not weakly so1 but   
nobly1 as all poets and dreamers and    
visionaries are4  ,paul could understand
 for the same reason1 and so could ,john
 and ,peter2 each1 in varying degrees1  
belonging to the same type2 but ,pilate 
could not understand1 because he had    
been trained in the hard efficiency of  
,rome2 nor ,judas1 because the masculine
 vice of ambition had overgrown his     
affections1 and deflowered his heart4   
,what is it then in ,paul and ,john and 
,peter1 what element or quality1 which  
we do not find in ,pilate1 ,judas1 or   
,napoleon8  ,clearly there is no lack of
 force1 for the personality of these    
three first apostles lifted a world out 
of its groove and changed the course of 
history4  ,was it not just this1 that   
each had beneath his masculine strength 

a feminine tenderness1 a power of loving
 and of begetting love in others8  ,john
 lying on the bosom of ,jesus in sheer  
abandonment of love and sorrow at the   
last ,supper2 ,peter1 plunging naked    
into the ,galilean sea1 and struggling  
to the shore at the mere suspicion that 
the strange figure outlined there upon  
the morning mist is the ,lord2 ,paul    
praying not only to share the wounds of 
,jesus1 but if there be any pang left   
over1 any anguish unfulfilled1 that this
 anguish may be his--these are not alone
 immortal pictures1 but they are        
revelations of a temperament1 the       
temperament that understands ,jesus4    
,he who could not melt into an          
abandonment of grief and love over one  
on whom the shadow of the last hour     
rested2 he who would spring headlong    
into no estranging sea to reach one     
loved and lost and marvellously brought 
near again2 he who can share the festal 
wine of life1 but has no appetite for   
agony1 no thirsting of the soul to bear 

another's pain--these can never         
understand ,jesus4  ,they cannot        
understand ,him1 simply because they    
cannot understand love4     ,,what ,,is 
,,christianity8      ,,towards ,,galilee
    ,the great obdurate world ,i know no
 more1   ,the clanging of the brazen    
wheels of greed1   ,the taloned hands   
that build the miser's store1   ,the    
stony streets where feeble feet must    
bleed4   ,no more ,i walk beneath thy   
ashen skies1   ,with pallid martyrs     
cruelly crucified   ,upon thy           
predetermined ,calvaries3   ,i1 too1    
have suffered1 yea1 and ,i have died6   
,now1 at the last1 another road ,i take 
,thro' peaceful gardens1 by a lilted    
way1   ,to those low eaves beside the   
silver lake1   ,where ,christ waits for 
me at the close of day4   ,farewell1    
proud world6  ,in vain thou callest me4 
,i go to meet my ,lord in ,galilee4     
,,ii  ,,what ,,is ,,christianity8       
,christianity1 as it exists to-day1 is  
in the main a misrepresentation and a   

misinterpretation of ,christ2 not       
consciously indeed--if it were so the   
remedy would be easy2 but unconsciously1
 which makes the remedy difficult4  ,one
 need not stop to define ,christianity1 
for there is only one sincere meaning to
 the word2 it implies a kind of life    
whose spirit and method reproduce as    
accurately as possible the spirit and   
the method of the life of ,jesus4  ,it  
would seem that if this interpretation  
of the term be correct there could be no
 difficulty in adjusting even           
unconscious misinterpretation of ,christ
 to the true facts of the case3 but here
 we are met by that perversity of vision
 which springs not from ignorance1 but  
from thoughtlessness1 and is in its     
nature much more obdurate than the worst
 perversity of ignorance4 ,ignorance can
 be enlightened2 thoughtlessness1 being 
usually associated with vanity1         
recognizes no need of enlightenment4    
,the life of ,jesus1 freshly introduced 
to a mind wholly ignorant of its        

existence may be trusted to convey its  
own impression2 but the thoughtless mind
 will be either too proud1 or too       
shallow1 or too confident1 to be        
sensitive to right impressions4  ,thus  
the trouble with most people who call   
themselves ,christians is not to educate
 them into right conceptions of the life
 of ,christ1 but to destroy the growth  
of wrong impressions4  ,surely1 they    
will say1 we know all about the life of 
,christ4  ,we have read the biographies 
of ,jesus ever since the days of        
infancy4  ,we have heard the life of    
,jesus expounded through long years by  
multitudes of teachers4  ,we have a     
church which claims to have extracted   
from the life of ,jesus a whole code of 
laws for life and conduct2 is not this  
enough8  ,but what if the teachers      
themselves have never found the true    
secret of ,jesus8  ,what if they have   
but repeated the error of the ,pharisees
 in elaborating a code of laws in which 
the vital spirit of the truth they would

 impart is lost8  ,and does not the     
whole history of man's mind teach us    
that one simple truth known at          
first-hand is worth more to us1 and is  
of greater influence on our conduct1    
than all the second-hand instruction we 
may receive from the most competent of  
teachers8  ,it is just this first-hand  
thought which we most need4  ,we need to
 see for ourselves what ,jesus was1 and 
not through the eyes of another1        
whatever his authority4  ,suppose that  
we should read the ,gospels in this     
spirit1 with an entirely unbiassed and  
receptive mind1 capable of first-hand   
impressions1 what would be the probable 
character of these impressions8 ,the    
clearest and deepest of all1 ,i think1  
would be that the ,jesus therein        
depicted lived ,his life on principles  
so novel that we are able to discover no
 life entirely like ,his in the best    
lives round about us4 ,we should        
probably be struck first of all by      
certain outward dissimilarities4  ,thus 

,he was not only poor1 but ,he did not  
resent poverty--,he beatified it4  ,the 
things for which men naturally1 and1 as 
we think1 laudably strive1 such as a    
settled position in society and the     
consideration of others1 ,he did not    
think worth seeking at all4  ,he made no
 use of ,his abilities for private ends1
 which has been the common principle of 
social life since society began4  ,he   
asked nothing of the world1 being       
apparently convinced that nothing which 
the world could give ,him was worth     
having4  ,strangest thing of all in one 
who must have been conscious of ,his own
 genius1 and of the value of ,his       
teachings to mankind1 ,he made not the  
least effort to perpetuate these        
teachings4  ,he wrote no book1 provided 
no biographer1 did none of those things 
which the humblest man of genius does to
 ensure that distant generations shall  
comprehend and appreciate his character 
and message4 ,he was content to speak   
,his deepest truths to casual listeners4

  ,he spent all ,his wealth of intellect
 upon inferior persons1 fishermen and   
the like1 who did not comprehend one    
tithe of what ,he said4  ,he was the    
friend of all who chose to seek ,his    
friendship4  ,he discriminated so little
 that ,he even admitted a ,judas to ,his
 intimacy1 and allowed women tainted    
with dishonour and impurity to offer    
,him public tokens of affection4  ,in   
all these things ,he differed absolutely
 from any other man who ever lived      
beneath the public eye4  ,in all these  
things ,he still stands alone2 for who1 
among the saintliest men we know1 has   
not some innocent pride in his ability1 
or some preference in friendship1 or    
some instinctive compliance with social 
usage1 or some worldly hopes and        
honourable aims which he shares in      
common with the mass of men8  ,but these
 outward dissimilarities of conduct     
disclose a dissimilarity of soul4  ,men 
live for something2 for what did ,jesus 
live8  ,and the answer that leaps upon  

us like a great light from every page of
 the ,gospels is plain2 ,he lived for   
love4  ,if ,he did not care for praise  
or honour2 if ,he regarded even the     
preservation of ,his teachings with a   
divine carelessness1 it was because ,he 
had a nobler end in view1 the love of   
men4  ,he could not live without love1  
and ,his supreme aim was to make        
,himself loved4  ,and yet it was less a 
conscious aim1 than the natural working 
out of ,his own character4  ,fishermen  
by the sea saw ,him but once2 instantly 
they left their boats and followed ,him4
  ,a man sitting at the receipt of      
custom1 a hard man we should suppose1   
little likely to be swayed by sudden    
emotions1 also sees ,him once1 and finds
 his occupation gone4  ,a beautiful     
courtesan1 beholding ,him pass by1      
breaks from her lovers1 and follows ,him
 into an alien house1 where she bathes  
,his feet with tears and wipes them with
 the hairs of her head4 ,mature women   
without a word spoken or a plea made1   

minister to ,him of their substance1 and
 count their lives ,his4  ,when ,he     
sleeps wearied out upon a rude          
fishing-boat1 there is a pillow for ,his
 head1 placed there by some unknown     
adorer4  ,the men ,he makes apostles1   
all but one1 count ,his smile           
over-payment for the loss of home1 of   
wife1 of children4 ,countless throngs of
 ordinary men and women forget their    
hunger1 and are content to camp in      
desert places only to listen to the     
music of ,his voice4  ,wild and outlawed
 men1 criminals and lepers and madmen1  
become as little children at ,his word1 
and all the wrongs and bruises inflicted
 on them by a cruel world are healed    
beneath ,his kindly glance4  ,does it   
matter greatly what ,he taught8  ,this  
is how ,he lived4 ,he lived in such a   
way that men saw that love was the only 
thing worth living for1 that life had   
meaning only as it had love4  ,and this 
is the imperishable tradition of ,jesus3
    ,this is ,his divinity1   ,this ,his

 universal plea1   ,here is ,one that   
loveth thee4   ,what then is a true     
,christianity but the accurate          
reproduction of this spirit of love1 the
 creation of loving and lovable men and 
women1 who attract and uplift all around
 them by the subtle fascination of the  
love that animates them8  ,what is a    
,christian ,church but a confraternity  
of such men and women8  ,what is a      
,christian society1 but a society       
permeated by this spirit1 and bringing  
all the affairs of life to its test8    
,and what place have social             
superiorities and inferiorities2 pride1 
scorn1 or coldness2 harsh theologies1   
breeding harsh tempers and infinite     
disputes2 the egoism that wounds the    
humble1 the strength that disregards the
 weak1 the vanity that hurts the simple1
 in any company of men and women who    
dare to wear the name of such a         
,founder8  ,it was as a ,bridegroom     
,christ came1 anointed with all the     
perfumes of a dedicated love1 and until 

the last bitter hour of ,his rejection1 
,he moved with such lyric joyousness    
across the earth1 that life became      
festive in ,his presence4  ,it is as a  
,bride the church exists on earth1 and  
if no festive smiles are awakened by its
 presence1 and no gracious unsealing of 
the founts of love in human hearts1 then
 is it not ,christ's ,church1 for ,he   
has passed elsewhere with another       
company to the marriage-feast1 and ,his 
,church stands without1 before a barred 
and darkened door4     ,,the ,,justice  
,,of ,,jesus      ,,how ,,he ,,came     
,when the golden evening gathered on the
 shore of ,galilee1   ,when the fishing 
boats lay quiet by the sea1   ,long ago 
the people wondered1 tho' no sign was in
 the sky1   ,for the glory of the ,lord 
was passing by4    ,not in robes of     
purple splendour1 not in silken softness
 shod1   ,but in raiment worn with      
travel came their ,god1   ,and the      
people knew ,his presence by the heart  
that ceased to sigh   ,when the glory of

 the ,lord was passing by4    ,for ,he  
healed their sick at even1 and ,he cured
 the leper's sore1   ,and sinful men and
 women sinned no more1   ,and the world 
grew mirthful hearted1 and forgot its   
misery   ,when the glory of the ,lord   
was passing by4    ,not in robes of     
purple splendour1 but in lives that do  
,his will1   ,in patient acts of        
kindness ,he comes still2   ,and the    
people cry with wonder1 tho' no sign is 
in the sky1   ,that the glory of the    
,lord is passing by4    ,,iii  ,,the    
,,justice ,,of ,,jesus  ,one strong     
peculiarity of the teaching of          
,jesus--we might even call it its       
outstanding feature--is that it is      
frequently disclosed in a series of     
incidents4  ,unlike most teachers ,he   
philosophizes little about life4 ,a     
single chapter of the ,gospels1 or at   
most two1 would contain all the maxims  
about life which ,he thought necessary  
for wise and lofty conduct4  ,his method
 is rather to put ,himself in relation  

to the crucial occurrences of life1 and 
to reveal the true way of regarding them
 by ,his own attitude towards them4     
,when ,he would teach the beauty of     
humility it is by putting a little child
 in the midst of ,his arrogant and      
vainglorious disciples1 that the child  
may become the living and memorable     
parable of ,his sentiments4  ,when ,he  
would teach humanity1 ,he does so by    
,his own conduct to lepers4  ,when ,he  
would discredit and expose the barbarism
 of the ,mosaic ,sabbatarian laws as    
interpreted by scribes and ,pharisees1  
,he does so by healing the sick and     
blind upon the ,sabbath day4  ,he is all
 for the concrete1 teaching not by      
theory1 but by example4  ,the method is 
novel1 and its advantages are obvious4  
,the best conceived discourses on       
humility1 mercy1 or sympathy1 might be  
forgotten1 but no one can forget the    
child among the disciples1 nor the      
raptured gaze of the blind man when his 
purged eyes open to behold the face of  

his miraculous ,physician1 nor the      
picture of ,jesus touching without fear 
or disgust the leper whose unclean      
contagion made him an object of aversion
 even to the pitiful4  ,it is a         
wonderful method of instruction2 it     
makes every other method seem trite and 
wearisome4  ,its effect is to make the  
,gospels a series of tableaux1 which    
dwell in the memory as things actually  
seen4  ,the groups upon the stage       
perpetually shift and rearrange         
themselves2 each represents some phase  
of life1 some problem1 some combination 
of circumstance more or less common in  
the experience of men1 something that is
 typical1 for ,jesus chooses only the   
typical and essential things of life for
 these occasions4  ,the lesser things of
 life ,he passes over2 it is the great  
and crucial matters which attract ,him4 
,but what are the great things of life8 
,they all fall into one category1 they  
all present problems in human           
relationship4  ,no problems are so      

difficult4  ,they are not speculative1  
but practical4  ,a man who may be wise  
as the world counts wisdom1 and able to 
pierce with acute analysis to the depth 
of the abstrusest philosophic problem1  
may nevertheless find himself hopelessly
 baffled by some quite common fact of   
life1 such as how to treat a wayward    
son1 or a sinful woman4  ,i am not      
likely to lose a night's rest because ,i
 am unable to define the ,trinity but   
with what sore travail of heart do ,i   
toss through midnight hours when ,i have
 to settle some course of action towards
 the friend who has betrayed me1 the    
brother who has brought me shame1 the   
child who scoffs at my restraint1 and   
hears the call of the far country in    
every swift pulsation of his passionate 
heart6  ,and why cannot ,i settle my    
course of action8  ,because my mind is  
confused by something which ,i call     
justice1 to which custom has given      
authority and consecration4  ,justice   
prescribes one course of action1        

affection another4  ,the convention of  
the world insists that wrong-doing      
should be punished1 which is manifestly 
right2 but when it insists that ,i      
should be the punisher1 ,i suspect      
something wrong4  ,the more closely ,i  
study conventional justice the more ,i  
am conscious of something in myself that
 distrusts and revolts from it4  ,the   
more ,i incline to the voice of         
affection the more ,i fear it1 lest ,i  
should be guilty of weakness which would
 merit my own contempt4  ,the struggle  
is one between convention and instinct1 
and ,i know not which side to take4 ,but
 one thing ,i do know2 it is that ,i    
have no certain clue to guide me1 no    
clear determining principle that divides
 the darkness with a sword of light1 no 
voice within myself that is             
authoritative4  ,now the wonderful thing
 in ,jesus is that ,he is always sure of
 ,himself4 ,nothing takes ,him by       
surprise1 nothing produces the least    
hesitation in ,his judgment4  ,therefore

 ,he must have had an unfailing clue to 
which ,he trusted in the maze of life4  
,behind all consistency of judgment     
there must exist consistency of         
principle4  ,the principle that governed
 all the thoughts of ,jesus was that    
love was the only real justice4  ,he    
came not to condemn1 not to destroy     
men's lives1 but to save them4 ,there   
was no problem of human relationship    
that could not be solved by love2 there 
was no other principle needed for the   
regulation of society2 and no other     
could produce that general peace and    
good-will which ,he called the ,kingdom 
of ,god4  ,thus1 on one occasion ,jesus 
tells a story which is so lifelike in   
every touch that we may accept it1      
without doubt1 as less a parable than an
 incident4  ,a father has two sons1 one 
of whom is industrious and dutiful1 the 
other wayward and rebellious4  ,the     
wayward son finally casts off all       
pretense of filial obedience1 goes into 
a far country1 and wastes his substance 

in riotous living4  ,here we have one of
 the saddest of all problems in human   
relationship1 for presently the         
disgraced son comes home a beggar4  ,the
 elder brother who represents the       
average social view1 has no doubt       
whatever as to what should be done4  ,he
 is offended that the disgraced son     
should come home at all2 he would have  
thought better of him if he had hidden  
his shame in the country that had       
witnessed it4  ,probably his sense of   
pride and respectability is offended    
more than his love of virtue1 though he 
characteristically gives his jealous    
anger the illusion of morality4 ,this1  
,i say1 is the average social view4     
,there are few things more cruel than   
affronted respectability4  ,the elder   
brother is an eminently respectable     
person1 totally unacquainted with       
wayward passions1 and his only feeling  
for his brother is disdain4  ,jesus     
tells the story1 however1 in such a way 
as to discredit the average social view4

  ,he begins by making us feel that     
whatever follies the prodigal had       
committed1 he had already been punished 
for them in the miseries he had endured4
  ,it is not for man to punish with his 
whip of scorn one who has already been  
flaggellated with a whip of scorpions in
 the desert places of disgrace and      
shame4  ,jesus makes us feel also that  
whatever sins might be laid to the      
charge of the disgraced son1 there is   
nevertheless in his heart a warmth of   
feeling of which the elder brother gives
 no sign4  ,the boy loves his father1   
otherwise he would not have turned to   
him in his anguish of distress4  ,the   
elder brother's attitude to his father  
is arrogant and harsh2 the younger      
brother's is humble and tender4  ,lastly
 the father himself is revealed as the  
embodiment of love4  ,he asks no        
questions1 utters no reproaches1 imposes
 no conditions2 he simply takes his son 
back1 in the rush of his affection      
cutting short the boy's pitiful         

confession1 and calling for shoes and   
new robes and festal music1 as though   
his son had returned in dignity and     
triumph4  ,in the last scene of all1    
implied rather than described1 the      
restored prodigal sits at the feast1    
leaning on his father's bosom1 but the  
respectable son stands without in a     
darkness of his own creation--the       
darkness which a harsh spirit and an    
unlovely temper never fail to create in 
men of his unhappy temperament4  ,it is 
a very strange story1 if we come to     
think of it2 almost an immoral story1 as
 no doubt it was considered by the      
,pharisees1 and persons of their cold   
and mechanical type of virtue4  ,but    
,jesus anticipates their criticism with 
one of the most startling statements    
that ever fell from inspired lips1      
,there is more joy in heaven among the  
angels of ,god over one sinner that     
repenteth than over ninety and nine     
righteous persons who need no           
repentance4  ,heaven approves the story1

 if they do not4  ,thus ,god ,himself   
would act1 for ,god is love4 ,thus love 
must needs act1 if it be the kind of    
love that suffereth long and is kind1   
doth not behave itself unseemly1 seeketh
 not its own1 is not provoked1 taketh   
not account of evil1 beareth all things1
 believeth all things1 hopeth all       
things1 endureth all things4  ,and if we
 ask what becomes of justice1 ,jesus    
assures us that love is the only real   
justice4  ,for the main object of       
justice is not punishment but           
reclamation4  ,a truly enlightened      
justice is less concerned with the      
punishment of wrong than its reparation4
  ,the gravest question in the case of  
this unhappy boy is not what he has made
 of himself by sin and folly1 but what  
can yet be made of him by wise and      
tender treatment4  ,had the father      
coldly dismissed the prodigal with some 
bitter verdict on his past folly1 he    
himself would have been unjust to the   
boy's possibilities1 and thus would have

 sinned against his son with a sin much 
less capable of excuse than the son's   
sin against him4  ,the worst sinner in  
the story is not the son who went wrong1
 but the son who had never done anything
 but right1 yet had done it in such a   
way that it had begotten in him a vile1 
censorious1 loveless temper4  ,no one   
can be just who does not love2 and so1  
once more removing the story into that  
unseen world which ,christ called in to 
redress the balance of this visible     
world1 we sinful men and women build our
 hopes upon the great saying that ,god's
 forgiveness is ,god's justice3 if we   
confess our sins1 ,he is not only       
faithful1 but ,,just in forgiving us our
 sins4     ,,love ,,is ,,justice        
,,the ,,way ,,of ,,wounds    ,he touched
 the leper tenderly1   ,so in ,his hands
 there came to be     ,wide wounds that 
were not wrought with nails4   ,alas1 my
 hands are smooth and fair1   ,no wound 
is on them anywhere1     ,nor any       
scarlet scar of nails4    ,his lips lay 

on the mouth of death1   ,god's healing 
dwelt within their breath1              
,wherefore his lips grew pale with pain1
   ,and no man shall that pain divine2  
,alas1 my lips are red with wine1       
,and they have scorned ,his draught of  
pain4    ,his feet were torn of stone   
and thorn1   ,full slow ,he moved on    
roads forlorn1     ,but joyous hearts   
accompanied ,him2   ,alas1 my feet are  
softly shod1   ,and on the road that    
leads to ,god1     ,they have not sought
 to move with ,him4    ,and so all      
wounded by the way1   ,he came home at  
the close of day1     ,and angels met   
,him at the ,gate4   ,alas1 ,his way ,i 
have not known--   ,the road forlorn1   
the wounding stone--     ,and no one    
waits me at the ,gate4    ,,iv  ,,love  
,,is ,,justice  ,love is the only real  
justice--never was there a more         
revolutionary ethic6  ,if ,christianity 
is to be judged by its institutions1 it 
must be reluctantly confessed that      
twenty centuries of ,christian teaching 

have almost wholly failed to make this  
strange ethic acceptable to mankind4    
,the elder brother still makes broad his
 phylacteries in the home1 in the       
,church1 and on the seat of justice4    
,the elder brother's sense of offended  
respectability still masquerades as     
virtue4  ,who forgives as this father   
forgave1 with such completeness that he 
who has wrought the wrong is encouraged 
to forget that the wrong was ever       
wrought8  ,where is the loving and      
tolerant spirit of the father less      
visible than in the ,church1 which      
crucifies men for a word1 and makes a   
difference of opinion the ground for    
deadly enmity8  ,of what administration 
of law can we say that its chief object 
is not the punishment of the wrong-doer1
 but his reclamation8  ,no existing     
society is organized on these           
principles1 and the only defense the    
apologists of a bastard ,christianity   
make is that it is totally impossible to
 apply the principles of ,jesus to the  

administration of society4  ,that is1 at
 all events1 an intelligible defense1   
but is it a legitimate one8  ,was ,jesus
 merely a romantic dreamer1 with        
entirely romantic views of love and     
justice8  ,was ,he a moral anarchist1   
whose teachings1 if interpreted in laws1
 would destroy the basis of society8  ,a
 strange thing indeed in human history  
if ,one who has been loved as no other  
was ever loved by multitudes of men and 
women through the ages1 should prove    
after all to be an impracticable dreamer
 or a moral anarchist6  ,but if ,jesus  
was a dreamer1 ,he dreamed true1 and the
 very reason why ,he is loved with such 
wide and deep devotion is that men do   
dimly1 but instinctively1 perceive that 
,his life presents the only perfect     
pattern of life as it should be4  ,life1
 as it exists1 is clearly not ordered on
 a social system which any wise or good 
man can approve4  ,hence the wise and   
good man is perpetually urged to the    
enquiry whether ,jesus may not after all

 have been right8  ,jesus certainly acts
 as one who is right4  ,he acts always  
with the assured air of one for whom all
 debate is closed and henceforth        
impossible4  ,he knows ,his way1 and the
 great moral dilemmas of life yield     
instantly to ,his touch4  ,he penetrates
 to their roots and makes us feel that  
,he has touched the essential element in
 them4  ,the dreamer vindicates himself 
by making it manifest that he sees      
deeper into the problem than the        
moralist1 and that his is after all the 
better morality because it is of higher 
social value1 and makes more directly   
for social reconciliation4  ,let us     
take1 for example1 the judgment of      
,jesus upon the woman who was a sinner  
in the house of ,simon the ,pharisee4   
,the social dilemma of the fallen woman 
is much more difficult of solution than 
that of the prodigal son4  ,we expect a 
certain power of moral convalescence in 
youth which has been betrayed through   
folly4  ,sooner or later the manly      

nature kindles with resentment at its   
own weakness4  ,moreover1 social law    
allows a certain opportunity of         
recuperation to man which it denies to  
woman4  ,the sin of the woman seems less
 pardonable1 not because it is worse in 
itself1 but because it outrages a higher
 convention4  ,hence the strict moralist
 who might make some allowance for the  
hot blood of youth1 makes none for woman
 when she is betrayed through the       
affections4  ,but this is the very point
 on which ,jesus fixes as essential4    
,the woman loved much1 therefore let her
 many sins be forgiven1 ,he says4 ,and a
 true reading of the story would seem to
 show that in uttering this sublime     
verdict ,jesus is not thinking of the   
woman's sudden and pure love for ,him2  
,he is rather reviewing the entire      
nature of her life4  ,she had loved     
much--that is her history in a sentence4
  ,cruelty and unkindness1 malice and   
bitterness1 had no part in her misdoing4
 ,she had been undone through the very  

sweetness of her nature1 as multitudes  
of women are4  ,that which was her      
noblest attribute--her power of         
affection--had been the minister of her 
ruin through lack of wisdom and         
restraint4  ,by love she had fallen1 by 
love also she shall be redeemed4  ,her  
sins were indeed many1 but behind all   
her sins there was an essential though  
perverted magnanimity of nature1 and for
 the sake of an essential good in her1  
which lay like a shining pearl at the   
root of her debasement1 she shall be    
forgiven4  ,again a strange verdict1 and
 one that must have seemed to the       
,pharisees entirely immoral4  ,what     
becomes of justice8 is their whispered  
comment4  ,jesus asserts ,his sense of  
justice by an exposition of the         
character of ,simon4  ,simon is         
destitute of love1 of magnanimity1 even 
of courtesy4  ,in his hard and formal   
nature there has been no room for       
emotion2 passion of any kind and he are 
strangers4  ,which nature is radically  

the better1 his or this woman's8  ,which
 presents the more hopeful field to the 
moralist8  ,the soil of ,simon's heart  
is thin and meagre2 but in this woman's 
heart is a soil overgrown with weeds    
indeed1 but delicately tempered1 rich   
and deep1 in which the roots of the fair
 tree of life may find abundant room and
 nourishment4 ,therefore she shall be   
forgiven for her possibilities1 and such
 forgiveness is justice4  ,to ignore    
these possibilities1 to allow what she  
has been utterly to overshadow the      
lovely vision of what she may be1 when  
once the soil is clear of weeds1 and the
 real magnanimity of her temperament is 
directed into noble uses1 would be the  
most odious form of injustice4  ,such is
 the justice of ,jesus1 but1 alas1 after
 two thousand years we still stand      
astonished at it1 more than half        
doubtful of its validity1 and1 if truth 
be told1 secretly dismayed at its       
boldness4  ,it is romantic justice1 we  
say1 but is it practicable justice8  ,we

 might at least remember that what we   
call practicable justice has never yet  
attained the gracious results of        
,christ's romantic justice4  ,simon the 
,pharisee knows no more how to deal with
 this woman than the elder brother knew 
how to deal with the prodigal4  ,such   
sense of justice as they possessed would
 have infallibly driven the penitent boy
 back to the comradeship of harlots1 and
 have refused the penitent harlot the   
barest chance of reformation4  ,is not  
this enough to make the least discerning
 of us all suspect that ,pharisees and  
elder brothers1 for all their immaculate
 respectability of life1 are by no means
 qualified to pass judgment on these    
tragedies of life with which they have  
no acquaintance1 and cannot have an     
understanding sympathy8  ,does not the  
entire failure of legal justice with all
 its apparatus of punishment and        
repression1 to give the sinner a vital  
impulse to withdraw from his sin1 drive 
us to the conclusion1 or at least to the

 hope1 that there must be some better   
method of dealing with sinners than is  
sanctioned by conventional justice8     
,there is another method--it is         
,christ's method4  ,and the thing to be 
observed is that whereas conventional   
justice must certainly have failed in   
either of these crucial instances1 the  
romantic justice of ,jesus--if we must  
so call it--completely succeeded4  ,the 
woman who was a sinner sinned no more1  
and the penitent son henceforth lived a 
new life of purity and obedience4  ,in  
each case love is justified1 and proves 
itself the highest justice4     ,,love  
,,and ,,forgiveness      ,,love',s      
,,profit    ,what profits all the hate  
that we have known     ,the bitter      
words1 not all unmerited8   ,have hearts
 e'er thriven beneath our angry frown8  
,have roses grown from thistles we have 
sown8     ,or lucid dawns flowered out  
of sunsets red8         ,lo1 all in vain
   ,the violence that added pain to     
pain1   ,and drove the sinner back to   

sin again4    ,we had been wiser had we 
walked ,love's way     ,we had been     
happier had we tenderer been1   ,we had 
found sunlight in the cloudiest day     
,had we but loved the souls that went   
astray1     ,and sought from shame their
 many faults to screen         ,lo1 they
 and we   ,had thus escaped ,life's     
worst ,gethsemane1   ,and found the     
,garden where the angels be4    ,for    
,one there was who1 angry1 drew no      
sword1     ,derided1 wept for those who 
wrought ,him wrong1   ,and at the last  
attained this great reward1   ,that     
those who injured ,him acclaimed ,him   
,lord1     ,and wove ,his story into    
holiest song4         ,so sinners       
wrought   ,for ,him the ,kingdom ,he had
 vainly sought1   ,and to ,his feet the 
world's frankincense brought4    ,v     
,,love ,,and ,,forgiveness  ,in these   
instances it is the singular            
completeness of ,christ's forgiveness   
which is the most startling feature4    
,it would be a libel on human nature to 

say that men do not forgive each other1 
but human forgiveness usually has       
reservations1 reticences1 conditions4   
,jesus taught unlimited forgiveness1 and
 what ,he taught ,he practiced4  ,then  
came ,peter1 and said to ,him1 ',lord1  
how oft shall my brother sin against me 
and ,i forgive him8  ,until seven       
times8'  ,jesus said unto him1 ',i say  
not unto thee1 until seven times2 but   
until seventy times seven4'  ,it is a   
vehement reply1 in which a quiet note of
 scorn vibrates2 not scorn of ,peter1   
but scorn of any kind of love that is   
less than limitless4  ,but whose love is
 limitless8  ,do we not commonly speak  
of love as being outworn by offense or  
neglect8  ,in the compacts which we make
 with one another in the name of love1  
do we not specifically name certain     
offenses as unpardonable8  ,thus one man
 will say1 ,i can forgive anything but  
meanness1 and another says1 no          
friendship can survive perfidy2 and in  
the relations between men and women     

unfaithfulness is held to cancel all    
bonds1 however indissoluble they may    
seem4  ,now and again1 it is true1 some 
strange voice reaches us1 keyed to a    
different music4  ,shakespeare1 for     
example1 in his famous one hundred and  
sixteenth sonnet1 boldly states that    
,love is not love   ,which alters when  
it alteration finds1   ,or bends with   
the remover to remove4  ,but who        
listens1 who believes8  ,yet1 if it     
should happen to us to be placed in the 
position of the offender1 we need no one
 to convince us that a true love should 
be1 in its very nature1 unalterable4    
,how astonished and dismayed are we1    
when eyes that have so many times met   
ours in tenderness harden at our        
presence1 and lips which have uttered so
 many pledges of affection1 speak       
harshly6  ,we do not deny our fault1    
indeed2 but we think we can discern     
reasons why it should be regarded       
mercifully1 why the very memory and     
sacredness of old affection should make 

harsh judgment impossible2 nay1 more1   
why a deeply generous love should even  
rejoice in the opportunity to forgive1  
and so should sanctify our very shame   
with the healing touch of pity1 and pour
 our tears into the sacramental cup     
which ratifies a new fidelity4  ,it is  
so the sinner argues1 his vision of what
 love ought to be growing clearer by his
 offense against love4  ,it is he alone1
 the sinner1 who can really sympathize  
with ,christ's conception of love1 for  
he alone feels that this is the kind of 
love he needs4  ,the elder brother does 
not understand1 ,simon the ,pharisee    
does not understand1 because neither has
 sinned in such a way as to be flung    
helpless at the feet of love4  ,peter   
did not understand when he put his      
question to ,christ4  ,he spoke just as 
the average man would speak1 who has    
never sounded the tragic depths in life1
 has never known the misery of weakness1
 and therefore has no fellow feeling for
 the weak4  ,love as such men know it is

 less a passion than a compact4  ,it is 
a bond of mutual advantage1 guarded from
 abuse by swift penalty and forfeit4    
,it is the reward of qualities1 it gives
 no more than it gets1 it exists by an  
equal equipoise of service4  ,if this   
equipoise is disturbed its obligations  
are dissolved4  ,it is easily affronted1
 and under affront becomes resentful1   
bitter1 even vindictive4 ,how oft shall 
,i forgive my brother8  ,only as oft as 
a sense of duty shall demand1 only up to
 the point which is sanctioned by social
 custom1 so that ,i may save my         
reputation for magnanimity1 always      
excepting certain sins for which no     
pardon can be legitimately asked4  ,but 
the hour was not far off when ,peter    
himself was to commit the very sins for 
which customary love has no pardon4  ,he
 was to be guilty of those offenses     
which just and good men say they cannot 
forgive--meanness1 cowardice1 perfidy1  
denial4  ,that bitter hour revealed the 
true nature of love to ,peter4  ,he knew

 that in spite of his sin against       
,jesus1 he still loved ,him1 and since  
love was unalterable in him1 he expected
 an unalterable love in ,christ4  ,it   
was the seventy times seven forgiveness 
that he needed then2 and how sweet to   
recollect in that hour that ,jesus had  
taught a love that knew no limit4       
,lovest thou ,me8 was the one word his  
,master uttered when they met in the    
quiet morning light beside the sea4     
,thou knowest all things1 ,thou knowest 
that ,i love ,thee1 was the swift reply4
  ,storms disturb the sea but the       
central tides run on4  ,peter found with
 equal astonishment and gratitude that  
not even perfidy was able to separate   
him from the love of ,christ1 for that  
love was unalterable as the morning star
 which hung above the lake1 and         
cleansing as the soft waves that lapped 
its shore4  ,the self-righteous man will
 never understand these things4  ,men   
and women of meagre natures1 with whom  
love is a compact1 not a passion1 will  

vehemently disapprove them4  ,people of 
smooth lives1 ignorant of strong        
temptations1 will refuse even to discuss
 them4  ,jesus was well aware of their  
implacable indifference or cold         
hostility1 and boldly said that for such
 people ,he had no gospel4  ,his mission
 was not to the whole1 but to the sick4 
,the ,gospel of ,jesus is in truth not  
designed for people of comfortable      
lives4  ,he has little to say to the    
children of compromise1 whose           
emasculated lives attain the semblance  
of virtue by the cautious exercise of   
niggard passions4  ,they can take care  
of one another1 these righteous ones1   
whose very righteousness is a negation4 
,but ,christ's ,gospel is for a tragic  
world4  ,it is for the disinherited1 the
 weak1 and the strong who have become   
weak2 for those who have been wrecked by
 folly and passion1 and too much love of
 living2 for those whose capacities for 
good and evil1 being both rooted in     
passion1 are equally a peril and a      

potency--it is to these ,christ chiefly 
speaks4  ,to them the ,gospel of        
unlimited forgiveness and unalterable   
love is the only vital1 because the only
 efficacious ,gospel4  ,the man whose   
very virility of nature makes him the   
easy prey of murderous joy2 the man shut
 up in prison1 who hears from the lips  
that once spake love to him1 the        
sentence of inexpiable disgrace2 the    
outcast from honour1 gnawing the bitter 
husks of hated sin in far lands1 and    
tortured in his dreams by the sweetness 
of recollected happiness2 these1 and all
 like these1 will understand ,jesus1 for
 it is to them ,he speaks4  ,their very 
sin interprets ,him4  ,to their forlorn 
ears the love ,he teaches will sound not
 strange1 for it is the only kind of    
love that can redeem them2 nor foolish1 
for it is the only love that dare stoop 
low enough to lift them up4  ,these will
 not fail to understand what            
conventional righteousness finds so     
difficult2 these1 and also all good     

women who have had acquaintance with    
either deep love or real grief1 because 
it is a loving woman's sweet prerogative
 and divine disposition to forgive1 and 
to draw from her grace of forgiveness a 
more tender and maternal power of       
loving4     ,,the ,,practice ,,of ,,love
      ,,fellow ,,sufferers    ,when men 
of malice wrought the crown for ,thee   
,didst ,thou complain8   ,nay2 in each  
thorn ,god's finger ,thou didst see1    
,his love thro' pain4    ,his finger did
 but press the ripened ,vine1     ,thy  
fruit to prove1   ,that henceforth all  
the world might drink the wine     ,of  
,thy great love4    ,so when the        
darkness rose about ,thy feet     ,thy  
lips met ,his1   ,amid the upper light1 
in ,death's long sweet1     ,releasing  
kiss4    ,and shall ,i cry aloud in     
anger when     ,men make for me   ,a    
,cross less harsh8  ,nay1 ,i'll remember
 then     ,thy constancy4    ,and if the
 darkness hide me from ,thy sight       
,at ,god's command1   ,i'll talk with   

,thee all thro' the prayerful night1    
,and touch ,thy hand2    ,greatly       
content1 if ,i whose life has been      
,so long unwise1   ,may1 wounded1 on    
,thy wounded bosom lean     ,in         
,paradise4    ,,vi  ,,the ,,practice    
,,of ,,love  ,so convinced was ,jesus   
that love alone was the master law of   
life1 that ,he based ,his own life      
wholly on ,his conviction1 cheerfully   
accepting all the risks which were      
implied4  ,he was perfectly aware of the
 consequences to ,himself and ,his      
reputation when ,he made ,himself the   
friend of publicans and sinners4  ,these
 consequences ,he ignored1 making       
,himself of no reputation1 that ,he     
might uplift by ,his love those who     
needed ,his love the most4  ,under the  
constant contradiction of those who     
mistook ,his spirit1 and even libelled  
,his character1 ,he manifested neither  
bitterness nor resentment4  ,he suffered
 injuries without retaliation1 and went 
so far as to denounce all forms of      

retaliation as a wasteful expenditure of
 spirit1 wrong in themselves1 and       
attaining no end but the worse injury of
 those who employed them4  ,he might    
easily have used the miraculous power   
which ,he possessed for ,his own        
defense1 and for the confusion of ,his  
enemies4  ,had ,he been selfishly       
ambitious1 ,he might have organized a   
party so strong1 that it would have     
become an irresistible force1 which     
would have shattered the old order whose
 evils ,he denounced1 and have made ,him
 the dictator of a new order1 based on  
the ideals in which ,he believed4  ,he  
did none of these things1 not through   
lassitude of spirit or failure to       
perceive their possible issues1 but     
simply because these were not the things
 to do4  ,in ,his judgment the only     
abiding kingdom belonged to the meek4   
,he who suffered injustice with patience
 would prove the ultimate conqueror4    
,there was an irresistible might in love
 and meekness against which the people  

raged in vain4  ,love was a working and 
practicable law of life2 in the long    
issue of things it was the only law that
 justified itself4  ,was ,jesus right in
 these conclusions8  ,can human life    
proceed along the lines ,he indicated8  
,certainly it has never yet done so4    
,the woman who is a sinner finds no     
,jesus to absolve her utterly among the 
priests of ,his religion4  ,the         
resentment of injury is regarded even by
 good men as entirely justified when    
injury to the person involves the rights
 of social order4  ,force is regarded by
 persons of the highest amiability as   
necessary to the defense of society1 and
 the ,church applauds the punishments   
inflicted by the civil magistrate1 and  
even hastens to bless the banners and   
baptize the deadly weapons of the       
warrior4 ,meekness1 which endures injury
 without resentment1 is regarded as the 
sign of a servile and cowardly spirit1  
and is the subject of ridicule and      
contempt4  ,no ,christian society exists

 in which a ,peter would be freely      
pardoned his offense2 the best that     
could be hoped would be the infliction  
of humiliating penance1 and a reluctant 
reinstatement in the apostleship after a
 long period of bitter ostracism4  ,yet 
who would venture to challenge the      
conduct of ,jesus in these respects8    
,who would not find his opinion of      
,jesus tragically lowered1 and his      
adoration practically destroyed1 if some
 new and more authentic ,gospel were    
discovered by which we learned that     
,jesus smote with leprosy the ,pharisees
 who resisted ,him1 as ,elisha smote    
,gehazi3 that ,he sanctioned the stoning
 of the adultress taken in the act of   
sin2 or that ,he branded ,simon ,peter  
for his perfidy1 and drove him out      
forever from the apostleship he had     
disgraced1 denouncing him as a son of   
hell and a predestined citizen of the   
outer darkness8  ,could such acts be    
attributed to ,jesus1 though each act in
 itself would precisely represent the   

common temper of ,christian courts and  
so-called ,christian men under          
circumstances of similar and equal      
provocation1 the worship of ,jesus would
 at once cease throughout the world4    
,the dilemma is truly tragic4  ,a ,jesus
 who should be proved to have lived     
according to the conventions we respect1
 who did not rise above conventional    
ideals of either love or justice1 who   
approved force1 and resented injuries1  
who repudiated the friend who had       
betrayed ,him1 who shunned the contact  
of persons whose touch dishonoured      
,him--such a ,jesus would cease to be   
our ,jesus4  ,he would no longer attract
 us1 ,he would not touch our hearts1 ,he
 would barely command our respect4      
,astounding fact6  ,those very things in
 the life of ,jesus which we disapprove 
are the things for which we love ,him2  
and those tempers which we ourselves    
disallow are in ,him the sources of our 
adoration4  ,we are bound therefore to  
ask1 can that method of conduct be wrong

 which has won this triumphant issue8   
,it may be ironically true that we love 
,him most for those very acts of ,his   
which we are least likely to imitate2   
but is not this our tacit testimony to  
the essential rightness of these acts8  
,in our better1 or our softer moments2  
or in those moments when we are most    
conscious of the cruelty of life1 and   
most in need of love1 do we not feel1 as
 the life of ,jesus grows before us1    
that this is how life should be lived8  
,dare we question that a world governed 
wholly by the ideals of ,jesus would be 
a far happier world than this we know8  
,love1 as the one necessary law of life1
 clearly stands justified in ,jesus1    
since it has produced the most adorable 
character in history4  ,if we admit     
this1 it is foolish to speak of         
,christ's ideals as impracticable4      
,what we approve in another's life we   
cannot wholly repudiate in our own4     
,let it be added also1 that a life lived
 by another is always a life that others

 can live4  ,we may seek to cover our   
failure1 and the world's failure1 to    
reproduce the life of ,jesus1 by the    
plea of incompetence1 but against our   
plea ,jesus records ,his verdict1       
,behold ,i have left you an example4    
,from that verdict there is no appeal4  
,,love ,,and ,,judgment      ,,mother   
,,and ,,son    ,when1 for the last time1
 from ,his ,mother's home     ,the ,son 
went forth1 foreseeing perfectly   ,what
 doom would happen1 and what things     
would come1     ,was there upon ,his    
lips no stifled sigh   ,for happy hours 
that should return no more1     ,long   
days among the lilies1 pure delights    
,of wanderings by ,galilee's fair shore1
     ,and converse with ,his friends on 
starry nights8       ,yet brave ,he     
stepped into the setting sun       ,with
 this one word1 ,father1 ,thy will be   
done6    ,with a low voice the stooping 
olive-trees     ,whispered to ,him of   
,his ,gethsemane2   ,the cruel          
thorn-bush1 clinging to ,his knees1     

,proclaimed1 ,i shall be made a crown   
for ,thee6   ,and1 looking back1 ,his   
eyes made dim with loss1     ,he saw the
 lintel of the cottage grow   ,in shape 
against the sunset1 like a cross1       
,and knew ,he had not very far to go4   
,yet brave ,he stepped into the setting 
sun1       ,still saying this one word1 
,thy will be done6    ,so1 when the last
 time1 from ,his ,mother's home     ,the
 ,son passed out1 no choir of angels    
came1   ,as long before at ,bethlehem   
they had come1     ,to comfort ,him upon
 the road of shame4   ,alone ,he went1  
and stopped a little space1     ,as one 
overburdened1 stopped to look again     
,upon ,his ,mother's pleading form and  
face1     ,and wept for her1 that she   
should know this pain4       ,then1     
silently1 ,he faced the setting sun     
,and said1 ,oh1 ,father1 let ,thy will  
be done6    ,,vii  ,,love ,,and         
,,judgment  ,just as ,jesus called in   
the vision of the unseen world to       
redress the balance of the visible      

world1 when ,he said that there was more
 joy in heaven over the penitent sinner 
than over ninety and nine just men who  
needed no repentance1 so in ,his final  
addresses to ,his followers ,he again   
discloses the unseen world4  ,these     
final addresses deal with the tremendous
 problem of a future judgment4  ,over no
 problem does the human mind hover with 
such breathless interest1 such unfeigned
 alarm4 ,but with characteristic        
perversity the elements in ,christ's    
vision of the judgment on which men have
 seized most tenaciously1 are precisely 
those elements which are least          
intelligible1 and least capable of      
strict definition4  ,it is around the   
word eternal and the nature of the      
punishment suggested1 that the          
theological battles of centuries have   
centred4  ,yet the really central point 
of both the vision and the teaching1 is 
not here at all2 and it is only man's   
habitual love of enigma which can       
explain the passion with which men have 

opposed one another over the            
interpretation of words and phrases     
which must always remain enigmatic4     
,let us turn to ,christ's vision of the 
,judgment1 as recorded by ,st4 ,matthew1
 and what do we find8  ,first that the  
same ,son of ,man1 whose whole life was 
an exposition of the law of love1 is    
,himself the final judge of men and     
nations4  ,the ,son of ,man shall sit on
 the throne of ,his glory1 and before   
,him shall be gathered all the nations1 
and ,he shall separate them one from    
another1 as the shepherd separates the  
sheep from the goats4  ,no alien judge1 
observe1 unacquainted with the nature of
 man1 but one who knows human life so   
thoroughly that ,he is the              
representative man--the ,son of ,man2   
and although ,he is now the ,judge1 yet 
,he still calls ,himself by the tender  
name of the ,shepherd4 ,the tribunal is 
therefore the tribunal of love1 and the 
court is the court of love4  ,he who    
shall judge mankind is ,he who judges   

,peter and the woman who was a sinner1  
,he of whose tenderness and sympathy we 
have assurance in a hundred acts of     
mercy1 pity1 and magnanimity4  ,yet for 
centuries the ,church has sung its      
terrible ,dies ,irae1 has clothed the   
judgment seat with thunder1 has put into
 the hands of ,jesus bolts of flame1 and
 has applauded and enthroned in ,his    
sanctuaries such pictorial blasphemies  
as ,michael ,angelo's ,last ,judgment1  
which represents ,jesus as an angry     
,hercules1 and even gratifies the       
private spite of the artist by          
overwhelming in a sea of fire one who   
had offered him a personal affront4     
,blasphemy indeed1 and falsehood too2   
for the second thing we find is that the
 one principle which governs the entire 
vision of ,jesus is that ,love judges1  
and that it is by ,love that men are    
tested4  ,the men and women of loving   
disposition1 who have wrought many      
little acts of kindness which were to   
them so natural and simple that they do 

not so much as recollect them1 find     
themselves mysteriously selected for    
infinite rewards4  ,the men and women of
 opposite disposition1 in spite of all  
their outward rectitude of behaviour1   
find themselves numbered with the goats4
  ,a cup of cold water given to a child1
 a meal bestowed upon a beggar1 a       
garment shared with the naked--these    
things purchase heaven4  ,one who       
,himself had been thirsty1 hungry1 and  
naked1 judges their worth1 and ,he      
judges by ,his own remembered need4  ,it
 is love alone that is divine1 love     
alone that prepares the soul for divine 
felicity4  ,with a beautiful            
unconsciousness of any merit1 the people
 who have lived lovingly plead ignorance
 of their own lovely acts and tempers2  
but they have been witnessed by the     
hierarchies of heaven1 the morning stars
 have sung of them1 they have made glad 
the heart of ,god2 and the reward of    
these humble servitors of love now is   
that having added to the joy of ,god1   

henceforth they shall share that joy    
forever4  ,never was there vision at    
once so exquisite and so surprising4    
,it is like a child's dream of heaven   
and judgment1 so untouched is it by the 
conventions of the world1 so innocent1  
so daring1 so tenderly imagined1 and so 
impossibly probable4  ,alas1 that most  
of us are too wise to understand it1 and
 too worldly to receive it4  ,yet in    
nothing that ,jesus uttered is there    
clearer evidence of deliberation4  ,and 
it is of a piece with all ,he taught2 so
 much so indeed that without it1 ,his   
teaching would be incomplete4  ,truly1  
we may say1 the ,heaven of ,jesus is a  
strangely ordered ,kingdom2 for in it   
beggars are comforted for apparently no 
other reason than that they need        
comfort2 the doers of forgotten         
kindnesses are crowned with sudden      
splendours of divine approval while the 
lords of genius and the makers of empire
 are forgotten2 and the very anthems of 
the blessed are hushed into silent      

wondering and joy when solitary         
penitents turn homewards from the roads 
of sin6  ,but it is not stranger than   
that kingdom in which ,jesus lived      
habitually1 the kingdom ,he created     
round ,him in ,his earthly life4  ,in   
that kingdom also love was lord1 and she
 who anointed the tired feet of the     
,master against ,his burial was promised
 everlasting remembrance1 and she who   
out of her penury gave her mite to the  
poor was praised as having done more    
than all the rich1 who from their       
abundance distributed careless and      
unmissed benefactions4  ,in all that    
,jesus says and does the same sequence  
of thought runs clear1 the same master  
principle rules the various result4     
,life is a unity either here or         
hereafter1 and love is1 and must        
evermore remain1 the one temper that    
gives significance to life4     ,,the   
,,wisdom ,,of ,,the ,,simple      ,,the 
,,well    ,when ,galilee took morning's 
flame   ,thro' fields of flowers the    

,master came4   ,he stopped before a    
cottage door1   ,and took from humble   
hands the store   ,of crumbs that from  
the table fell1   ,and water from the   
living well4   ,he smiled1 and with a   
great content   ,upon the road of       
flowers went4    ,foredoomed upon the   
road of shame   ,with bleeding feet the 
,master came1   ,and found the cottage  
door again4   ,no wine have we to ease  
,thy pain1   ,but only water in a cup4  
,the ,master slowly drank it up4   ,thy 
kindness turns it into wine1   ,he said1
 and makes the gift divine4    ,upon a  
day the ,master trod   ,the road of     
stars that leads to ,god1   ,all tasks  
for men accomplished4   ,they gave ,me  
hate1 ,he softly said1   ,but ,love in  
larger measure gave1   ,and therefore   
was ,i strong to save4   ,i had not     
reached the ,cross that day   ,but for  
the ,well beside the way4    ,,viii     
,,the ,,wisdom ,,of ,,the ,,simple  ,if 
these things be true1 if the whole      
tradition of ,jesus is an exposition of 

love as the law of life1 the deduction  
is entirely simple1 and as logical as it
 is simple4  ,that deduction has been   
already stated4  ,it is that            
,christianity is a method of life by    
which men and women are taught and      
inspired to love as ,jesus loved1 and to
 live loving and lovable lives4  ,it has
 little to do with creeds1 and still    
less with formal codes of conduct4  ,for
 this reason such a definition of       
,christianity will satisfy neither the  
theologian nor the philosopher4  ,jesus 
never expected that it would4  ,he knew 
that the one would regard it as         
heretical1 and the other as so deficient
 in subtlety as to seem foolish4        
,therefore ,he made ,his appeal to      
simple and natural people1 saying that  
what was hidden from the wise and       
prudent1 was revealed to babes4  ,the   
simple and natural people understood    
,jesus2 they always do4  ,the           
sophisticated and artificial people did 
not understand ,him2 they never will4   

,with scarcely an exception the people  
of intelligence and culture regarded    
,him with disdain1 withdrew from ,him1  
or violently opposed ,him4  ,the reason 
for their conduct lay not so much in    
either their culture or their           
intelligence1 as in the kind of life    
that seemed to be necessary to them as  
the expression of their culture4  ,thus1
 they were full of prejudices1          
prepossessions1 and foregone            
conclusions1 all of which had the       
sanction of their culture4  ,it was     
enough for them to know that ,jesus came
 from ,nazareth and was unlettered2 this
 produced in them violent scorn and     
antipathy4  ,they were still further    
offended because ,he used none of the   
shibboleths with which they were        
familiar4  ,nor could they conceive of  
any life as satisfactory but the kind of
 life they lived1 and that was a life of
 social complexity1 ruled by            
conventional usages and maxims1 and     
essentially artificial in ideal and     

practice4  ,jesus1 therefore1 turned    
from them to the simple and natural     
people1 fishermen1 artisans1 and humble 
women1 in whom the natural instincts had
 fuller play4  ,his reward was          
immediate2 then1 and ever since1 the    
,common ,people heard ,him gladly4  ,the
 reason why simple and natural people   
readily understand ,jesus is that in the
 kind of life they live the primal      
emotions are supreme4 ,the very         
narrowness of their social outlook      
intensifies those emotions4 ,they have  
little to distract them2 they are not   
bewildered by endless disquisitions on  
conduct1 and religion itself is for them
 an emotion rather than a systematized  
creed4  ,for the poor man home1         
children1 fireside affection1 mean more 
than for the rich man1 because they are 
his only wealth4  ,this is the lesson   
which ,wordsworth has so nobly taught in
 his ,song at the ,feast of ,brougham   
,castle1--    ,how1 by heaven's grace   
this ,clifford's heart was framed1      

,how he1 long forced in humble walks to 
go1   ,was softened into feeling1       
soothed and tamed4    ,love had he found
 in huts where poor men lie2   ,his     
daily teachers had been woods and rills1
   ,the silence that is in the starry   
sky1   ,the sleep that is among the     
lonely hills4   ,people who live thus1  
in wise simplicity1 undistracted by the 
numerous illusions of an artificial     
life1 have no difficulty in accepting   
,christ's teaching that love is the     
supreme law of life1 because love means 
everything to them in the kind of life  
they lead4  ,in the wisdom of the heart 
they are more learned than the wisest   
,pharisee1 who is rarely softened into  
feeling1 whose whole social life indeed 
imposes a restraint on feeling4  ,what  
peasant father would not welcome a      
returning prodigal1 what peasant mother 
would not open her arms wide to gather  
to her bosom a penitent daughter1       
recovered from the cruel snare of       
cities8  ,certainly one is much more    

likely to find such acts of pure feeling
 among peasant folk than among the rich 
and cultured1 for the peasant cares less
 for opinion1 is less respectful of     
social etiquette1 and follows more      
closely in his actions the instincts of 
primal affection4  ,who has not         
discovered among poor and humble folk a 
strange and beautiful lenience1 the     
lenience of a great compassion1 towards 
those sins which in more artificial     
conditions of society are held to       
justify the most violent condemnation1  
and do indeed close the heart to pity8  
,in poor men's huts beside the ,sea of  
,galilee ,jesus ,himself had found love1
 love in all its divine daring1         
lenience1 and magnanimity1 and ,he knew 
that among people like these ,he would  
be understood4  ,he also knew that the  
only people fitted to interpret ,his    
doctrine of sovereign love to the world 
were these simple folk of the lake and  
field1 and therefore to them ,he        
committed ,his ,gospel1 and from them   

,he chose ,his disciples4  ,it needed a 
peasant ,christ to teach these things1  
for no other could have imagined them1  
no other could have had the daring and  
simplicity to utter them4  ,a peasant   
,christ ,he was1 living1 thinking1 and  
acting as a peasant even in ,his highest
 moments of inspiration4  ,it was       
because ,he always remained a peasant   
that ,he was able to see so clearly the 
defects of that more intricate social   
system to which ,his ministry introduced
 ,him4  ,he brought with ,him a new     
scale of values1 which ,he had learned  
in the school of a more primal life than
 could be found in cities4  ,nature     
always spoke in ,him1 convention never4 
,in ,his treatment of sin it is always  
the voice of ,nature that we hear       
triumphing over the verdicts of         
convention4  ,the sins which convention 
regards as inexpiable are sins of       
passion2 the sins which it excuses are  
sins of temper1 such as greed1 malice1  
craft1 unkindness1 cruelty4 ,jesus      

entirely reverses the scale4  ,his pity 
is reserved for outcasts1 ,his harshest 
words are addressed to those whom the   
world calls good4 ,folly ,he views with 
infinite compassion--the foolish man is 
as a lost sheep whose very helplessness 
invokes our pity4  ,but for the man of  
hard and self-sufficient nature1 whose  
very righteousness is a mixture of      
prudence and egoism1 ,he has only words 
of flame4  ,an offense against virtue   
counts for less with ,him than an       
offense against love4  ,no wonder the   
,pharisees called ,him a blasphemer6    
,were the true nature of ,christ's      
teaching understood to-day many who     
profess to revere ,him would join in the
 same accusation4  ,what more offensive 
and unpalatable truth could be presented
 to mankind than this on which ,jesus   
constantly insists1 that sins of temper 
are much more harmful than sins of      
passion1 that they spring from a more   
incurable malignancy of nature1 that    
they produce far wider and more         

disastrous suffering8  ,yet the truth is
 clear enough to all broadly truthful   
and simple natures1 which are not       
bewildered by conventional views of     
right and wrong4  ,who has occasioned   
more suffering1 the youth who has sinned
 against himself in wild folly and      
repented1 or the man who has planned his
 life with that cold craft and          
deliberate cruelty which sacrifices     
everything to self-advantage8  ,can any 
human mind measure the various and      
almost infinite wrongs committed by the 
man who piles up through years of sordid
 avarice an unjust fortune8  ,who can   
count the broken hearts in the pathway  
of that implacable ambition which wades 
through slaughter to a throne8  ,these  
things may not be apparent to the man   
whose nature is subdued to the hue of   
that artificial society in which he     
lives1 a society which permits such     
crimes to pass unquestioned4 ,they are  
certainly not perceived by the criminals
 themselves4  ,to-day1 as in the day of 

,christ1 they devour widows' houses1 and
 for a pretense make long prayers1 save1
 perhaps1 that more blind than the      
ancient ,pharisees1 their prayers seem  
real1 and they themselves are           
unconscious of pretense4  ,now also1 as 
then1 they give their tithes in         
conventional benevolence1 forgetting1   
and hoping to make others forget1 the   
sources of their wealth in their use of 
it4  ,how is it that such men are so    
unconscious of offense8  ,simply because
 they have never grasped ,christ's      
deliberate statement that sins of temper
 are much worse than sins of passion2   
that cruelty is a worse thing than      
folly2 that the wrong wrought by        
squandering the substance in a far      
country is more quickly repaired1 and   
more easily forgiven1 than the wrong of 
hoarding one's substance in the avarice 
which neglects the poor1 or adding to it
 by methods which trample the weak and  
humble in the dust1 as deserving neither
 pity nor attention4  ,yet it needs but 

a very brief examination of society to  
prove the truth of ,christ's contention2
 very little experience of life to      
discover that the utmost corruption of  
the human heart lies in lovelessness4   
,the spiteful and rancorous temper1     
always seeking occasions of offense2 the
 jealous spirit which cannot bear the   
spectacle of another's joy2 the bitter  
nagging tongue1 darting hither and      
thither like a serpent's fang full of   
poison1 and diabolically skilled in     
wounding2 the sour and grudging         
disposition1 which seems most contented 
with itself when it has produced the    
utmost misery in others2 the narrow mind
 and heart destitute of magnanimity2 the
 cold and egoistic temperament1 which   
demands subservience of others and      
receives their service without thanks1  
as though the acknowledgment of         
gratitude were weakness--these are      
common and typical forms of             
lovelessness1 and who can estimate the  
sum of suffering they inflict8  ,their  

fruit is everywhere the same2 love      
repressed1 children estranged1 the home 
made intolerable4  ,it does but add to  
the offense of these unlovely people    
that in what the world calls morality   
they are above reproach1 for they       
instill a hatred of morality itself by  
their appropriation of it4  ,before them
 love flies aghast1 and the tenderest   
emotions of the heart fall withered4    
,could the annals of human misery be    
fairly written1 it might appear that not
 all the lusts and crimes which are     
daily blazoned to the eye have wrought  
such wide-spread misery1 have inflicted 
such general unhappiness1 as these sins 
of temper1 so common in their operation 
that they pass almost unrebuked1 but so 
wide-spread in their effects that their 
havoc is discovered in every feature of 
our social life4     ,,the ,,revelations
 ,,of ,,grief      ,,the ,,house ,,of   
,,pride    ,i lived with ,pride2 the    
house was hung     ,with tapestries of  
rich design4   ,of many houses1 this    

among     ,them all was richest1 and    
'twas mine4   ,but in the chambers      
burned no fire1     ,tho' all the       
furniture was gold1   ,i sickened of    
fulfilled desire1     ,the ,house of    
,pride was very cold4    ,i lived with  
,knowledge2 very high     ,her house    
rose on a mountain's side4   ,i watched 
the stars roll through the sky1     ,i  
read the scroll of ,time flung wide4    
,but in that house1 austere and bare1   
,no children played1 no laughter clear  
,was heard1 no voice of mirth was there1
     ,the ,house was high but very      
drear4    ,i lived with ,love2 all she  
possest     ,was but a tent beside a    
stream4   ,she warmed my cold hands in  
her breast1     ,she wove around my     
sleep a dream4   ,and ,one there was    
with face divine     ,who softly came1  
when day was spent1   ,and turned our   
water into wine1     ,and made our life 
a sacrament4    ,,ix  ,,the             
,,revelations ,,of ,,grief              
,nevertheless there are occasions in    

life when these things become evident to
 even the least observant of us4  ,when 
we stand beside the newly dead the most 
intolerable reflection of countless     
mourners is that their tears fall on    
quiet lips to which they gave scant     
caresses1 in the days of health3 their  
passionate words of love are uttered to 
unhearing ears1 which in life waited    
eagerly for such assurances as these1   
and waited vainly4  ,all the purity and 
beauty of the vanished human soul is    
revealed to us now1 when it is no longer
 in our power to gladden or delight it  
with our kindness or our praise4  ,all  
the willing service rendered to us by   
those folded hands and resting feet1    
which we so thanklessly accepted1 is    
seen as a thing dear and precious to us 
now1 when the opportunity of thanks is  
past forever4  ,what would we give now  
if but for one brief hour we might      
recall our dead just to say the tender  
things we might have said and did not   
say1 through all those days and years   

when they were with us1--presences      
familiar and accustomed1 moving round us
 with so soft a tread that we scarce    
regarded them1 nor laid on them         
detaining hands1 nor lifted our         
preoccupied and careless eyes to theirs6
  ,for most of us1 alas1 it is not      
,grief and ,love alone who conduct us to
 the chambers of the dead2 the sad and  
silent ,angel of ,reproach also stands  
beside the bed1 and the shadow of his   
wings falls upon the features fixed in  
their immutable appeal1 their pathetic  
and unwilling accusation4  ,then it is  
that veil after veil is lifted from the 
past1 till in the pitiless light we read
 ourselves with a new understanding of  
our faults4  ,we see that through some  
element of hardness in ourselves which  
we allowed to grow unchecked2 through   
vain pride1 or obstinate perversity1 or 
mere thoughtless disregard1 we repulsed 
love from the dominion of our hearts1   
and made him the servitor of our        
desires1 but no longer the lord of our  

behaviour and the spirit of our lives4  
,and now as we gaze on these things     
across the gulf of the irreparable1 we  
see our sin and how it came to pass2 how
 we were unkind not in the things we did
 but in those we failed to do2 how1     
without being cruel1 our denied response
 to hearts that craved our tenderness   
became a more subtle cruelty than angry 
word or hasty blow2 how with every duty 
accurately measured and fulfilled1 yet  
love evaporated in the cold and         
cheerless atmosphere of repression and  
aloofness with which we clothed         
ourselves2 and then the significance of 
,christ's teaching comes home to us1 for
 we know too late1 that kindness is more
 than righteousness1 and tenderness more
 than duty1 and that to have loved with 
all our hearts is the only fulfilling of
 the law which heaven approves4  ,none1 
bowed beside the newly dead1 ever       
regretted that they had loved too well2 
millions have wept the bitterest tears  
known to mortals because they loved too 

little1 and wronged by their poverty of 
love the sacred human presences now     
withdrawn forever from their vision4    
,but there are other and more joyous    
ways of learning the truth of ,christ's 
teaching1 ways that are accessible to   
all of us4  ,the best and most joyous   
way of all is to make experiment of it4 
,here is a law of life which to the     
sophisticated mind seems impossible1    
impracticable1 and even absurd4  ,no    
amount of argument will convince us that
 we can find in love a sufficient rule  
of life1 or that to renounce joy for our
 fellow's sake is joy beyond joy4  ,how 
are we to be convinced8 ,only by making 
the experiment1 for we really believe   
only that which we practice4  ,i wish ,i
 had your creed1 then ,i would live your
 life1 said a seeker after truth to     
,pascal1 the great ,french thinker4     
,live my life1 and you will soon have my
 creed1 was the swift reply4  ,the      
solution of all difficulties of faith   
lies in ,pascal's answer1 which is after

 all but a variant of ,christ's greater 
saying1 ,he that willeth to do the will 
of ,god1 shall know the doctrine4  ,is  
not the whole reason why1 for so many of
 us1 the religion of ,christ which we   
profess has so little in it to content  
us1 simply this1 that we have never     
heartily and honestly tried to practice 
it8  ,we have accepted ,christ's        
religion indeed1 as one which upon the  
whole should be accepted by virtuous    
men1 or as one which has sufficient     
superiorities to certain other forms of 
religion to turn the scale of our       
intellectual hesitation1 and win from us
 reluctant acquiescence4  ,but have we  
accepted it as the only authoritative   
rule of practice8  ,have we ever tried  
to live one day of our life so that it  
should resemble one of the days of the  
,son of ,man8 ,knowing what ,he thought 
and did1 and how ,he felt1 have we ever 
tried to think and act and feel as ,he  
did--and if we have not1 what wonder    
that our religion1 being wholly         

theoretical1 appears to us tainted with 
unreality1 a thin-spun web of barren1   
fragile idealism which leaves us        
querulous and discontented8  ,such a    
sense of discontent should be for us1 as
 it really is1 the signal of some deep  
mistake in our conception of religion4  
,it should at least cause us alarm1 for 
what can be more alarming than that we  
should be haunted with a sense of       
unreality in religion1 yet still profess
 religion for reasons which leave the   
heart indifferent and barely serve to   
satisfy the intellect8  ,and what can   
produce a keener torture in a sincere   
mind than this eternal suspicion of     
unreality in a religion whose           
conventional authority is acknowledged  
and accepted8  ,i am convinced that     
these feelings are general among great  
multitudes of the more thoughtful and   
intelligent adherents of ,christianity4 
,religion rests with them upon a certain
 intellectual acquiescence1 or upon the 
equipoise of rational probabilities1 or 

on the compromise of intellectual       
hesitations4  ,their tastes are         
gratified by the normal forms of        
worship1 and their sentiments are softly
 stirred and stimulated4  ,but when the 
voice of the orator dies upon the       
porches of the ear1 and the music of the
 ,church is silent1 and the seduction of
 splendid ceremonial is forgotten1 there
 remains the uneasy sense that between  
all this and the actual                 
,carpenter-,redeemer there is a wide    
gulf fixed2 that ,jesus scarcely lived  
and died to produce only such results as
 these2 that there must be some other   
method of interpreting ,his life1 much  
simpler1 much truer1 and much more      
satisfying4  ,is it wonderful that among
 such men the current forms of          
,christianity excite no enthusiasm1 and 
that the bonds of their attachment to it
 are lax and easily dissolved8  ,and    
what is felt by these men within the    
,church is felt with much greater       
strength by multitudes of sincere men   

outside the ,church1 who do not hesitate
 to express their feeling and to        
pronounce current ,christianity a       
burlesque and tragic travesty upon the  
real religion of the ,nazarene4  ,but   
the moment we do begin to live1 however 
inefficiently1 as ,jesus lived1 the     
sublime reality of ,his religion is     
revealed to us4  ,we do actually find   
that in the postponement of our own     
desires for the sake of others2 in the  
abandonment of our own apparently       
legitimate ambitions for the service of 
the poor2 in the patient endurance of   
affront and injury2 in the forgiveness  
of those whose wrong seems inexpiable2  
in the daily exercise of love that      
seeketh not itself to please1 but hopeth
 all things1 and believeth all          
things1--there is a joy beyond joy1 and 
an exceeding great reward4  ,we do      
actually find that to forgive our       
brother freely is better both for him   
and us than to judge him harshly1 and   
the wisdom of ,jesus is thus justified  

in its moral and social efficacy4  ,we  
do actually find that in ceasing to live
 by worldly maxims and by living instead
 according to the maxims of ,jesus1 we  
have attained a form of happiness so    
incredibly sweet and pure that the world
 holds nothing that resembles it1 and   
nothing that we would exchange for it4  
,for this is now our great reward1 that 
peace attends our footsteps1 and that   
our hearts are no longer vexed with the 
perturbations of vanity and self-love1  
of envy and revenge4  ,we find human    
nature answering to our touch even as it
 answered to the touch of ,jesus1 and   
revealing to us all its best and purest 
treasure4  ,we find the very natures we 
thought intractable and destitute of all
 affinity with ours1 brought near our   
own2 the very men and women we thought  
wholly alien to us suddenly made        
lovable1 and full of qualities that     
claim our love4  ,and as we thus humbly 
follow in the steps of ,jesus1 trying to
 live each day as ,he lived1 we know    

that sublimest joy of all--we feel      
,jesus acting once more through our     
actions1 and we see in the eyes that    
meet our own the same look that ,jesus  
saw in the eyes of those whom ,he had   
cured of misery and redeemed from sin4  
,a ,,confession      ,,the ,,noblest    
,,grace    ',tis something1 when the day
 draws to its close1   ,to say1 ,tho' ,i
 have borne a burdened mind1   ,have    
tasted neither pleasure nor repose1     
,yet this remains--to all men1 friends  
or foes1         ,i have been kind4     
',tis something1 when ,i hear ,death's  
awful tread   ,upon the stair1 that his 
swift eye shall find   ,upon my heart   
old wounds that often bled   ,for       
others1 but no heart ,i injurd--        
,i have been kind4    ,praise will not  
comfort me when ,i am dead2   ,yet      
should one come1 by tenderness inclined1
   ,my heart would know if he stooped   
o'er my bed   ,and kissed my lips for   
memory1 and said         ,this man was  
kind4    ,o ,lord1 when from ,thy throne

 ,thou judgest me1   ,remember1 tho' ,i 
was perverse and blind1   ,my heart went
 out to men in misery1   ,i gave what   
little store ,i had to ,thee1           
,my life was kind4    ,x  ,a            
,,confession  ,in speaking thus ,i do   
but speak of those things which have    
been revealed to me in my own           
experience4  ,for many years ,i preached
 the truths of ,christianity with a real
 sincerity1 but with a fluctuating sense
 of their authority and value4          
,sometimes their authority seemed       
supreme1 and then ,i trod on bright     
clouds high above the world2 at other   
times they appeared to crumble at my    
touch1 and then ,i walked in darkness4  
,one thing ,i saw at intervals1 and at  
last with complete and agonized         
distinctness1 that however ,i preached  
these truths1 they had little visible   
effect upon the lives of others4  ,those
 to whom ,i preached lived after all    
much as other people lived4  ,i did not 
find them more magnanimous than the     

ordinary men and women of the world1 nor
 less liable to take offense1 to utter  
harsh words1 to indulge in resentments1 
and to retaliate on those who injured   
them4  ,i did not find that they loved  
humanity any better than their fellows2 
like all mankind they loved those who   
loved them1 and had domestic virtues and
 affections1 but little more4  ,it was  
impossible to say that ,christianity had
 produced in them any type of character 
wholly and radically different from that
 which might be found in multitudes of  
men and women who made no pretense of   
,christian sentiment4  ,christianity had
 no doubt imposed upon them many        
valuable restraints1 so that without it 
they might have been worse men and      
women1 but this was a merely negative   
result4  ,where was the spectacle of a  
character composed of new qualities1 a  
life wholly governed by novel impulses  
and principles8  ,i could not find such 
a life2 nor ought ,i to have been       
surprised2 for ,i could not find it in  

myself4  ,i also lived much as other    
people did1 except that ,i had a higher 
theory of conduct4  ,put to the test1 ,i
 also showed resentment and was moved   
with the spirit of retaliation towards  
those who wronged me4  ,nor1 save as a  
matter of theory and sentiment1 did ,i  
love my fellows any better than the     
average of mankind4  ,i sought those who
 were congenial to me1 and had no       
pleasure in the company of the common   
and the ignorant4  ,i liked clever      
people4  ,i gave them my best1 but ,i   
had nothing to bestow upon the dull and 
stupid4  ,how many times have ,i borne  
the society of inferior people with     
ungracious tolerance1 and hastened from 
them with undisguised relief8  ,how     
often when dealing with the poor and    
ignorant in the exercise of conventional
 philanthropy1 have ,i been careful to  
preserve the sense of a great gulf that 
yawned between me and them8  ,and what  
was my daily life after all but a life  
existing for its own purposes1 as most  

other men's lives were2 and what credit 
could ,i take for the fact that the     
nature of those purposes was a trifle   
more consonant with what the world calls
 high ideals than theirs8  ,so the years
 went on1 and the sense of unreality in 
my teaching grew steadily more intense  
and intolerable4  ,i saw myself         
continually expending all the forces of 
my mind on theories which left me and my
 hearers alike unchanged in the         
essential characteristics of our lives4 
,i felt myself1 like ,st4 ,augustine1   
but a seller of rhetoric4  ,i was       
inculcating a method of life which ,i   
myself did not obey1 or obeyed only in  
those respects that caused me neither   
sacrifice nor inconvenience4  ,in order 
to continue such labours at all various 
forms of excuse and self-deception were 
required4  ,thus ,i flattered myself    
that ,i was at least maintaining the    
authority of morals4  ,i did not        
perceive that morals are of no value to 
the world until vitalized by emotion4   

,at other times ,i preached with        
strenuous zeal the superiority of the   
,christian religion1 and dilated on its 
early triumphs4  ,this pleased my       
hearers1 for it always flatters men to  
find themselves upon the winning side4  
,what ,i wonder at now is that they did 
not perceive that my zeal to prove      
,christianity true was exactly          
proportioned to my fear that it was     
false4  ,men do not seek to prove that  
of which they are assured4  ,jesus never
 sought to prove the existence of a ,god
 because ,he was assured of it2 ,he     
simply asserted and commanded4  ,in my  
heart of hearts ,i knew that ,i was not 
sure4  ,but ,i did not easily discover  
the reason of my uncertainty4  ,i       
supposed the source to be the           
destructive criticism of the ,gospels   
which had reduced ,jesus ,himself to a  
probability4  ,in my private thoughts ,i
 argued that it was no longer possible  
to feel the intense reality of ,christ4 
,francis might feel it1 ,catherine might

 feel it1 because they lived in an      
atmosphere of poetry1 unchilled by      
criticism4  ,i could never feel as they 
felt because ,i could not transport     
myself into their atmosphere4  ,yet as  
often as ,i turned to these great lives1
 something thrilled within me1 some     
living responsive fibre1 so that ,i knew
 that ,i was not after all quite alien  
to them4  ,could it be that there was   
that in me that made me1 or could make  
me1 of their company8  ,but how could ,i
 attain to their faith8 ,what could give
 back to a modern man1 tortured by a    
thousand perplexities of knowledge of   
which they never dreamed1 the reality of
 ,christ which they possessed8  ,and    
then the answer came--not suddenly1 but 
as a still small voice slowly growing   
louder1 more positive1 more             
intense--,live the ,life4  ,try to do   
some at least of the things that ,jesus 
did4  ,seek through experience what can 
never come through ratiocination4  ,be a
 ,francis2 then it may be thou shalt    

think like him1 and know ,jesus as he   
knew ,him4  ,live the life--there is no 
other way4  ,simple and far from novel  
as the answer seems yet it came to me   
with the authority of a revelation4  ,it
 illumined the entire circumference of  
life4  ,i could no longer hesitate3     
,jesus had never spoken from the ,syrian
 heavens more surely to the heart of    
,saul of ,tarsus than ,he had to me4    
,and in the moment that ,he spoke1 ,i   
also1 like ,saul1 found all my feelings 
altered1 altered incredibly1            
miraculously1 so that ,i scarcely       
recognized myself4  ,i no longer stood  
aloof from men1 and found pleasure in   
intellectual superiority2 ,i was willing
 to become a fool for ,christ's sake if 
by any means ,i might save some4  ,i    
issued a card of invitation to the      
services of my ,church with this motto  
of ,st4 ,paul's upon it1 which ,i now   
felt was mine4  ,i had had for years    
feelings of resentment towards one who  
,i thought had wronged me2 those        

feelings were now dead4  ,in another    
case ,i had been harsh and unforgiving  
under great provocation2 but when ,i met
 after a long interval of time1 the one 
who had injured me1 my heart had only   
love and pity for him4  ,i sought out   
the drunkard and the harlot1 and1 when  
,i found them1 all repulsion perished in
 the flow of infinite compassion which  
,i felt4  ,i prayed with fallen women1  
sought them in their miserable abodes1  
fought with them for their own souls1   
and ,o exquisite moment6--,i saw the    
soul awake in them1 ,i saw in their     
tear-filled eyes the look that ,jesus   
saw in the eyes of ,magdalene4  ,on my  
last ,sabbath in ,london before leaving 
for ,america1 one of these rescued      
girls1 now as pure of look and manner as
 those most sweetly nurtured1 called at 
my house to give my daughter a little   
present bought with the first money she 
had earned by honest toil in many years4
  ,on the day we sailed another said a  
special mass for us1 and held the day   

sacred for prayer1 in the convent where 
her bruised life had been nursed back to
 moral beauty4  ,love had triumphed in  
them1 and ,i had brought them that love4
 ,i had lived the life1 ,i had tried to 
do something that ,jesus did1 and behold
 ,jesus had come back to me1 and ,i knew
 ,his presence with me even as ,francis 
knew it when he washed the leper's      
sores1 and ,catherine when she gathered 
to her bosom the murderer's guilty head1
 drew from him the confession of his    
sin1 and whispered to him softly of the 
,lamb of ,god4  ,there is no sense of   
unreality in religion now for me4       
,there are no weary uncertainties1 no   
melancholy sense of beating the air in  
what ,i teach4  ,he who will try to live
 the life of ,jesus for a single day1   
and in such few particulars as may lie  
within his scope1 will at once realize  
the presence of ,jesus with him4  ,in   
the practice of love comes the          
manifestation of the ,lover1 the drawing
 of the soul into the bosom of that     

,christ who was the very love of ,god1  
and the exchange of our poor proud      
carnal heart for the tender heart that  
yearned over ,magdalene1 was moved with 
compassion for the people1 and broke    
upon the ,cross4     ,a ,,lover ,,of    
,,men      ,,the ,,cradle ,,cross       
,what shall ,i ask for ,thee1 my child8 
,said ,mary ,mother1 stooping dawn      
,above the ,babe all undefiled4     ,o  
let ,him wear a kingly crown4    ,from  
wise men's gifts she wrought the crown1 
,the robe inwove with many a gem1       
,beside the ,babe she laid them down4   
,he wept1 and would have none of them4  
,what shall ,i get for ,thee1 my ,child8
     ,unto the door she slowly went1    
,and wove a crown of thorn-boughs wild1 
,he took it up1 and was content4        
,upon the floor she gathered wood1      
,and made a little ,cross for ,him2     
,the ,child smiled for ,he understood1  
,and ,mary watched with eyes grown dim4 
,since these ,he doth prefer to gold1   
,she sadly said1 ,let it be so2   ,he   

sees what ,i cannot behold1     ,he     
knows what ,i can never know4    ,that  
night the eyes of ,mary saw     ,a      
,cross of stars set in the sky1   ,which
 after it the heavens did draw1     ,and
 this to her was ,god's reply4    ,,xi  
,a ,,lover ,,of ,,men  ,when ,i         
recollect these experiences1 and the    
almost breathless sense of joy which    
accompanied them1 ,i can only marvel    
that ,i lived so many years without     
discovering the path that led to them4  
,the path was quite plain1 and nothing  
concealed it from me but my own pride4  
,i could even see with distinctness     
those who trod it1 not only the saints  
of far-off days1 but men like ,father   
,dolling1 and women whose pale intense  
faces met mine from beneath the quaint  
ugliness of ,salvation ,army bonnets4   
,these soldiers of the ,league of       
,service moved everywhere around me in  
the incessant processions of a tireless 
love4  ,i knew their works1 and there   
was no hour when my heart did not go out

 to them in sympathy4  ,why was it that 
,i was only sympathizer and spectator1  
never comrade8  ,partly through a kind  
of mischievous humility which was really
 pride4 ,they could do these things2 ,i 
could not1 nor were they required of me4
 ,it needed special gifts for such a    
work1 and ,i had not these gifts4       
,besides1 had ,i not my own work8  ,was 
it not as important to educate persons  
of some culture and social position in a
 knowledge of ,christian truth as to    
redeem lost people from the hell of     
their misdoing8 ,certainly it was easier
 and pleasanter4  ,i found in it that   
most subtle of all gratifications1 the  
sense of ability efficiently applied1   
and winning praise by its exertion4     
,there was no one who wished me to live 
in any other way than that in which ,i  
lived4  ,those to whom ,i ministered    
were satisfied with me1 and had ,i told 
them that ,i wished to do the sort of   
things that ,salvation ,army people did 
among the slums1 they would have been   

shocked1 and would certainly have       
dissuaded me4 ,and so to this           
mischievous humility which assured me   
that ,i had no fitness for the kind of  
life which ,i knew was the life of the  
saints in every age1 there was added the
 dull pressure of convention4  ,why     
should ,i do what no one expected me to 
do8  ,why could ,i not be content to    
fulfill the common standard approved by 
the average conception of ,christianity8
  ,i can see now how foolish and how    
wrong these thoughts were4  ,i saw it   
even then at intervals4  ,again and     
again1 like a torturing flash of fire1  
there ran through me illumining agonized
 dissatisfactions with myself1 my work1 
my whole position4  ,and again and again
 ,i let the flame die down1 knowing not 
that the ,son of ,man had walked amid   
the fire4  ,nay more1 ,i deliberately   
smothered the holy fire1 being in part  
fearful of it1 and of what its          
consequence might be1 if once it were   
allowed to triumph4  ,for ,i knew that  

if ,i followed these strange impulses my
 whole life must be changed1 and ,i did 
not want it changed4 ,i did not want to 
give up the ease of an assured position1
 the calm of studious hours1 the tasks  
which flattered my ability4  ,i did not 
want to face what ,i knew must happen1  
the estrangement of old friendships1 the
 rupture of accustomed forms of life4   
,besides1 ,i might be wholly wrong4  ,i 
might have no real fitness for the tasks
 ,i contemplated2 saints1 like poets1   
were born1 not made4  ,no one who knew  
me would have believed me better fitted 
for any kind of life than that ,i lived4
  ,i had no friend who did not think my 
present life adequate and satisfactory1 
and many envied me for the good fortune 
that had given me just the kind of      
sphere which seemed best suited to me4  
,but now ,i see1 as ,i look back1 that  
at the root of all my inconsistency     
there lay this one thing1 ,i was not a  
lover of my kind4  ,i did not love men  
as men1 humanity as humanity1 as ,jesus 

did4  ,of course ,i loved individuals1  
and even groups of men and classes of   
men1 who could understand my thoughts1  
recognize my qualities1 and repay my    
affection with affection4  ,but to feel 
love for men as men2 for those whose    
vulgarity distressed me1 whose ignorance
 offended me1 whose method of life      
repelled me2 love for the drudge1 the   
helot1 the social pariah2 love for      
people who had no beauty that men should
 desire them1 nor any grace of mind or  
person1 nor any quality that kindled    
interest2 love for the dull average1    
with their painful limitations of mind  
and ideal1 the gray armies of           
featureless grief1 whose very sorrows   
had nothing picturesque in them and no  
tragic fascination--no1 for these ,i had
 no real love4  ,i had a deep           
commiseration1 but it was that kind of  
romantic or aesthetic pity which begins 
and ends in its own expression4 ,i did  
not know them by actual contact2 ,i     
could not honestly say that ,i wished to

 know them4  ,and then the thought came 
to me1 and grew in me1 that ,jesus did  
love these people with an unconquerable 
passion4  ,the multitudes to whom ,he   
preached were composed1 as all          
multitudes are1 of quite ordinary       
immemorable people4  ,he also1 to the   
eyes of those who saw ,him in the       
peasant garb of ,galilee1 and judged    
only by outward appearance1 was a common
 man4  ,and so it would appear that if  
,i did not love men after the fashion in
 which ,jesus loved them1 it was very   
unlikely that ,i should love ,jesus     
,christ ,himself if ,he once more       
appeared in the habit in which men saw  
,him long ago in ,galilee4  ,a ,jesus1  
footsore1 weary1 travel-stained1 wearing
 the raiment of a village carpenter1    
speaking with the accent of an          
unconsidered province1 surrounded by a  
rabble of rude fishermen1 among whom    
mingled many persons of doubtful        
character--how should ,i regard ,him8   
,should ,i discern the ,light and ,life 

of men beneath ,his gray disguise of    
circumstance8  ,should ,i have left my  
books1 my studious calm1 my pleasant and
 sufficing tasks1 to listen to ,one who 
seemed so little likely to instruct me8 
,would not the same spirit of disdain   
which made me think lightly and even    
scornfully of persons whose lives had no
 resemblance to my own1 have made me    
disdainful of the ,man of ,nazareth8 ,i 
knew the answer and ,i quailed before   
it4  ,i saw that the temper of my mind  
was the temper of the ,pharisee1 and had
 ,i lived two thousand years ago in     
,jerusalem or ,galilee1 ,i should have  
rejected ,jesus even as the scribes and 
,pharisees rejected ,him4  ,and ,i      
should have rejected ,him for the same  
reason1 because ,i had no truly generous
 love of man as man4  ,i should have    
been no better able to perceive than    
they that it had pleased ,god to clothe 
,himself in the flesh of one who united 
in ,his own person all those            
disabilities which incur the scorn of   

those who account themselves superior   
and cultivated1 such as lowly and       
doubtful origin1 poverty and the lack of
 liberal education1 and methods of life 
which outraged social use and custom4   
,did not ,jesus demand for the          
understanding of ,himself precisely that
 temper which enabled ,him to understand
 others1 the temper which discerns the  
soul beneath all disguise of            
circumstance8 ,he discerned the splendid
 and divine beneath the sordid4  ,he saw
 beneath the drift of sin the buried    
magnificence of human nature as men     
discover the hidden temple beneath the  
sand-drift of the desert4  ,he was able 
to love all men because all men were to 
,him living souls4  ,and ,his own       
manifestation to the world was such that
 only those who had this temper could at
 all perceive ,his divine significance4 
,the ,pharisee could not see that       
significance simply because he was not  
accustomed to see men as men4  ,he had  
no real interest in man as man4 ,he was 

not a lover of his kind4  ,hence1 when  
the ,son of ,man came out of ,nazareth1 
the ,pharisee was too careless or too   
supercilious to regard ,him with        
interest4  ,the divine wonder passed him
 by2 all he saw was a wandering fanatic 
with no place to lay ,his head4  ,he    
could not pierce the disguise of        
circumstance1 and bow in love and awe   
before the soul of ,jesus because he was
 not accustomed to discern the soul in  
common people4  ,and so there came home 
to me the awful truth that ,i was not a 
lover of my kind4  ,i was even as the   
,pharisees1 and in denying my regard and
 love to the lowliest of men and women  
,i was rejecting ,jesus ,christ4  ,that 
which had seemed to me a strange        
exaggeration or an enigmatic sentence1  
now became a rational principle1 a      
saying that had its root in the deep    
truth and reality of things2 inasmuch as
 ,i showed not love to the least of     
these1 my fellows1 ,i denied my love to 
,jesus ,christ ,himself4     ,,the ,,law

 ,,of ,,compassion      ,,the ,,true    
,,music    ,not for the things we sing  
or say     ,he listens1 who beside us   
stoops2   ,too worn the feet1 too hard  
the way1     ,too sore the ,cross       
wherewith ,he droops1       ,and much   
too great the need that cries           
,from these bruised eyelids and dim     
eyes4    ,he waits the water from the   
spring     ,of kindness in the human    
heart1   ,the touch of hands1 whose     
touches bring     ,a coolness to the    
wounds that smart1       ,the warm tears
 falling on ,his feet       ,than       
precious ointment much more sweet4    ,o
 ,lord1 the way is hard and steep1      
,help me to walk that way with ,thee1   
,to watch with ,thee1 and not to sleep  
,heedless of ,thy ,gethsemane1          
,till love becomes my worshipping1      
,who have no other gift to bring4    ,it
 is no hour for angel-harp1     ,the sky
 is dark1 the ,cross is near1   ,the    
agony of ,death is sharp1     ,the scorn
 of men upbraids ,thine ear4       ,fain

 would ,i leave all empty creeds1       
,and make a music of my deeds4    ,,xii 
,,the ,,law ,,of ,,compassion  ,thus to 
love our fellow men is a difficult      
business1--there is none harder4  ,it is
 so difficult that only a few in any age
 succeed on so conspicuous a scale as to
 attract prolonged attention4  ,yet the 
secret of success is not obscure2 it    
lies in that temper of compassion which 
is the most beautiful of all features in
 the character of ,jesus4  ,when ,he    
looked upon the multitude ,he was moved 
with compassion--never was there more   
illuminative sentence4  ,it reveals an  
attitude of mind absolutely original4   
,for the general attitude towards the   
multitude in ,christ's day was harsh and
 scornful4  ,all the splendid           
intellectualism of ,greece existed for  
the favoured few2 beneath that          
glittering edifice of art and letters   
lay the dungeons of the slave4  ,it was 
the same with ,rome2 it was an empire of
 privilege1 in which the multitude had  

no part4  ,jewish society was built     
after the same pattern1 except that with
 the ,pharisee the sense of religious   
superiority bred a kind of arrogance    
much more bitter than that which is the 
fruit of intellectual or social         
exclusiveness4  ,with men of this temper
 the call to love all men as fellows    
could only provoke anger and derision4  
,what possible relation could exist     
between an ,athenian philosopher and a  
helot1 a ,roman noble and a slave1 a    
,pharisee proud of his meticulous       
knowledge of the law1 and the common    
people who were unlettered8  ,the gulf  
that yawned between such lives was as   
wide as that which separates the        
scholar1 the artist1 or the aristocrat  
of modern ,europe from the pale toiler  
of a ,new ,york sweating-room1 or the   
coal carriers of ,zanzibar or ,aden4    
,when ,jesus bade the young ruler sell  
all that he had and give it to the poor1
 ,he proposed an entirely unthinkable   
condition of discipleship4  ,he bade him

 discard all the privileges of his      
order4  ,he proposed instead real       
comradeship with the poor1 ,he ,himself 
being poor4 ,for two thousand years the 
pulpit has denounced the young ruler for
 not doing what no one even now would   
think of doing--not even those who are  
most eloquent in denunciation4  ,we may 
waive the question of whether the advice
 of ,jesus to the young ruler was meant 
to be of particular or universal        
application1 but we cannot ignore the   
new law of life which ,jesus formulated 
when ,he made compassion the supreme    
social virtue4  ,for it is only through 
compassion that we learn to understand  
those who differ from us in social      
station or temperament1 and can at all  
come to love them4  ,let me examine my  
own natural tendencies1 and ,i am soon  
made aware of how impossible it is to   
love all my fellow men4  ,i commence my 
life1 for instance1 under conditions    
which permit me to see only a small     
section of society1 which ,i imagine to 

be the world itself4  ,i know nothing1  
and am told nothing1 of those whose     
lives do not lie in the direct line of  
my limited vision4  ,the process of     
education removes me at each stage      
further from the likelihood of knowing  
them4  ,i acquire ideals1 habits1 and   
manners of which they are destitute4  ,i
 come to regard an acquaintance with    
various forms of knowledge as essential 
to life1 and ,i am naturally disdainful 
of those who do not possess this        
knowledge4 ,in the same way ,i regard a 
certain code of manners as binding1 and 
the lack of this code of manners in     
others as an outrage4  ,my very thoughts
 have their own dialect1 and ,i am      
totally unacquainted with the dialect of
 those whose thoughts differ from my    
own4  ,thus with the growth of my       
culture there is the equal growth of    
prejudice2 with the enjoyment of my     
privilege1 a tacit rejection and        
repudiation of the unprivileged4  ,how  
then am ,i ever to find myself in any   

relation of affection towards these     
human creatures from whom ,i am         
alienated by the nature of my education8
  ,if1 by any chance1 ,i come in contact
 with them1 it is certain that they will
 arouse in me repugnance and perhaps    
disgust4  ,i shall find them coarse1    
crude1 and ignorant2 their methods of   
speech will grate upon me1 their manners
 will repel me2 they will be as truly   
foreign to me as the natives of ,new    
,guinea1 and their total incapacity to  
share the thoughts which compose my own 
inner life will be scarcely less        
complete4  ,it is a truly humiliating   
thing to admit that differences of      
nationality separate men less           
effectually than disparity of manners4  
,if ,i am at all fastidious ,i am more  
likely to be repelled by coarse         
language1 gross habits1 or vulgar       
behaviour in my fellow mortal than by   
all his errors in creed or morals4  ,so 
little parts men1 and is permitted to   
part them1 that it is very likely that  

some mere awkwardness of behaviour in my
 fellow man may extirpate effectually   
the regard ,i might have had for him4   
,how little indeed is permitted to part 
friends--often nothing more than a tone 
of voice1 a word misinterpreted1 or     
something equally slight1 the product   
very possibly of shyness1 or inability  
for right expression on a sudden call4  
,and there is all that goes by the name 
of antipathy1 the nameless and quite    
irrational repulsions which we permit   
ourselves to cherish1 for which we have 
no better excuse than that they are     
instinctive4  ,with all these forces    
against us how can we love our neighbour
 as ourselves8  ,it is something if we  
do not detest him2 if we tolerate him it
 should be counted to us for a virtue4  
,yet the method by which we may love him
 is quite simple2 it is to approach him 
not with judgment but compassion1 to put
 ourselves in his place1 to see his life
 from his point of view instead of our  
own4  ,what is his ignorance after all  

but lack of opportunity8  ,what are his 
bad manners but the penalty of a narrow 
life8  ,what are these habits of his    
which so offend me but things inevitable
 in that condition of servitude which he
 occupies--a servitude1 let me          
recollect1 which ministers to my ease   
and comfort8  ,to-day1 not less than in 
earlier generations1 society resembles  
the palaces of the ,italian             
,renaissance1--the feast of life in the 
painted hall1 and the groaning of the   
prisoner in the depths below4  ,for     
every comfort that ,i have1 some one has
 sweated4  ,my fire is lit not only with
 coal from the mine1 but with the       
miner's flesh and blood2 my food has    
come through roaring seas in which men  
perished by hurricane and shipwreck2 the
 very books from which ,i draw my       
culture are the product not alone of the
 scholar and the thinker1 but of rude   
unlettered men in forest and at forge   
who helped to make them by their toil4  
,if ,i were as educated as ,i claim to  

be ,i should know myself debtor to the  
barbarian as truly as to the ,greek1 and
 as ,i read my book ,i should see the   
forest falling that it might be woven   
into paper1 and men labouring in the    
heat of factories that the moulded metal
 might become the organ of intelligence4
  ,nay1 ,i should see yet more2 for     
would it not appear that these nameless 
toilers are richer in essential life1   
and in the deep knowledge of what man's 
existence is1 than even the scholar and 
the writer1 whose main acquaintance with
 life is with words rather than acts8   
,they toil with tense muscles through   
the summer heat and winter cold2 they   
endure hardship and danger2 and week by 
week their scanty wage is shared by     
wives and children1 who excite in them  
tenderness and self-sacrifice1 and repay
 them with affection and devotion4  ,for
 it is so decreed that the sacred       
magnanimities of the human heart come to
 flower as fully in lives of crude      
labour as in lives of ease2 these       

roughened hands grow gentle when they   
touch the heads of little children1 on  
these strong breasts the wife rests her 
weariness1 and these lips that speak a  
language so different from mine have    
nevertheless known the sacramental wine 
of love4  ,were my life weighed with    
theirs might it not appear that theirs  
was the richer in essential fortitude1  
in patience and endurance1 in all the   
final qualities that compose the finest 
manhood8  ,the spirit of compassion     
interprets these lives to me2 it lends  
me vision4  ,it enables me to see them  
not in their artificial disparities1 but
 in their deep-lying kinship with mine  
and all other lives4  ,and the same     
thing happens when ,i survey lives      
stained with folly1 wrecked by weakness1
 or made detestable by sin and crime4   
,i also have known folly1 weakness1 sin2
 but for me there were compulsions to a 
virtuous life which these never knew4   
,why am ,i not as these8  ,perhaps      
because my nature rests on a securer    

equipoise1 or because there is in it a  
certain power of moral recuperation     
which these have lacked1 or because ,i  
have the prudence that stops short of   
consummated folly1 or because my        
environment imposes and creates         
restraint1 or because ,i have never     
known the peculiar violence of          
temptation before which they succumbed4 
,there may be a hundred reasons1 but    
scarce one which gives me cause for     
boasting4  ,with their life to live1 had
 ,i done better8  ,exposed to their     
temptations1 deprived of all the helpful
 friendships that have interposed       
between my life and ruin1 should ,i have
 done as well8  ,in those wakeful hours 
of night when all my past life runs     
before me like a frieze of flame1 how   
clearly do ,i see how frequently ,i     
grazed the snare1 hung over gulfs of    
wild disaster1 courted ruin1 and escaped
 ,i know not how8  ,remembering this1   
can ,i be hard towards those who fell8  
,can ,i pride myself on an escape in    

which my will had little part1 a        
deliverance which was a kind of miracle1
 wrought not by virtue or discretion1   
but by some outside force which thrust  
out a strong and willing hand to save   
me8  ,and1 as these thoughts pursue me1 
,i find myself all at once regarding    
these wrecked and miserable lives not   
from the outside but the inside4  ,i    
penetrate their inmost coil of being1   
and see with horror the crumbling of the
 house of life--with horror1 but also   
with a torturing pity4  ,and then       
because compassion lives in me1 ,i can  
at last separate between the sinner and 
his sin4  ,the sin remains abhorrent1   
but ,i cannot hate the sinner4  ,i see  
him as one who has fallen in a bad      
cause1 but his wounds cry so loud for   
pity that ,i forget the moral treason   
that has brought him to a battle-field  
so ignominious and so disastrous4  ,and 
out of the pity grows love1 for love is 
the natural end of pity2 and the        
magnanimity of love1 overleaping moral  

values1 fixes only on the fact of       
suffering that appeals for succour1     
misery that cries for help4  ,this was  
the vital fact that ,jesus saw when ,he 
had compassion on the multitude4  ,jesus
 had compassion on the multitude1 and   
,he gives the reason2 ,he saw them as   
sheep having no shepherd4  ,it was the  
element of misdirection in their lives  
on which ,jesus fixed ,his glance--it   
was for lack of guidance and a shepherd 
they had gone astray4  ,may not the same
 be said of all the lives that fail1    
whether through ignorance or want1 folly
 or crime8  ,rightly guided they might  
have attained knowledge and esteem1     
wisdom and virtue2 and if that be so1 no
 man of right spirit can refuse to feel 
the pathos of their situation4  ,it is  
to this point that ,jesus leads us4  ,he
 makes us conscious of the still sad    
music of humanity4 ,no further incentive
 is needed to make us love humanity than
 the pathos of the human lot4  ,a man   
may be a knave1 a fool1 a rogue2 yet    

could we unravel all the secrecies of   
his disaster we should find so much to  
move our pity1 so much in his life which
 resembles crises in our own1 that in   
the end the one vision that remains with
 us is of a wounded brother man4  ,when 
once we see that vision all our pride of
 virtue dies in us1 and quicker yet to  
die is the temper of contempt which we  
have nurtured towards those whose faults
 offend us4  ,a yet greater offense is  
ours if we can behold suffering1 however
 caused1 without pity4 ,worse than the  
worst crime which man can commit against
 society1 or the worst personal wrong he
 can inflict on us1 is the temper in    
ourselves which judges him without      
mercy1 and refuses him the one medicine 
that may reinvigorate him--the balm of  
pity and forgiveness4  ,and1 after all1 
of what wrong is it not true that the   
bitterest suffering it creates falls not
 upon the wronged but the wronger1 so   
that in the end the sinner is the real  
victim1 and like all victims should be  

the object of compassion rather than of 
vengeance8     ,,the ,,empire ,,of      
,,love      ,,the ,,woman ,,who ,,waited
    ,she wrought warm garments for the  
poor1     ,from morn to eve unwearied   
she   ,went with her gifts from door to 
door2     ,and when the night drew      
silently   ,along the streets1 and she  
came home1   ,she prayed1 ,o ,lord1 when
 wilt ,thou come8    ,she was but       
loving1 she could please     ,with no   
rare art of speech or song4   ,the art  
she knew was how to ease     ,the sick  
man's pain1 the weak man's wrong2   ,and
 every night as she came home   ,she    
said1 ,o ,lord1 when wilt ,thou come8   
,the truths men praised she deemed      
untrue1     ,the light they hailed to   
her was dim1   ,but that the ,christ was
 kind she knew1     ,she knew that she  
must be like ,him4   ,like ,mary1 in her
 darkened home1   ,she sighed1 ,o       
,christ1 that thou would'st come6       
,her hair grew white1 her house was     
bare1     ,yet still her step was firm  

and glad1   ,the feet of ,hunger climbed
 the stair1     ,for she had given all  
she had4   ,she died within her empty   
home   ,still seeking ,one who did not  
come4    ,she rose from out the wave of 
death1     ,a ,stranger stood beside the
 shore2   ,the robe she wrought with    
failing breath1     ,and staining tears1
 the ,stranger wore4   ,he drew her     
tired heart with ,his smile1   ,lo1 ,i  
was with thee all the while4    ,,xiii  
,,the ,,empire ,,of ,,love  ,but if this
 spirit of compassion were general1     
would virtue itself be secure8  ,would  
not a fatal lenience towards vice become
 the temper of society8  ,would not the 
immediate effect be the declaration of a
 general amnesty towards every kind of  
wrong-doer1 and from such an act what   
could be expected but a rapid           
dissolution of the laws and conventions 
that maintain the structure of society8 
,these are natural fears1 and they are  
not altogether the fears of weak and    
timid men4  ,they will certainly be     

shared by all tyrants1 all persons whose
 tempers incline to absolutism1 all     
believers in force as the true dynamic  
of stable social government4  ,to reason
 with such persons is impossible1       
because their opinions are the fruit of 
temper1 and are therefore irrational4   
,but even such persons are not destitute
 of powers of observation1 and in the   
long history of the world there is a    
field of observation which no person of 
intelligence can neglect4  ,do we find1 
as we survey this field1 that force has 
ever proved the true dynamic of stable  
social government8  ,we find the exact  
contrary to be true4  ,the great empires
 of the past were founded on force and  
perished1 even as ,napoleon discovered  
in his final reveries on human history4 
,whenever force has been applied to     
maintain what seemed a right social     
system it has uniformly failed4  ,the   
,church of ,rome applied force to       
produce a world consonant with her ideas
 of truth2 she was all but destroyed by 

the recoil of her prolonged             
persecutions4  ,the ,puritans were      
persecuted in the name of truth and     
virtue2 they triumphed4  ,the ,puritans 
in turn persecuted1 under the impulse of
 ideals that an impartial judgment must 
pronounce among the loftiest and noblest
 that ever animated human hearts1 and in
 turn they were overthrown4  ,again and 
again1 when crime has attained monstrous
 and threatening proportions1 laws of   
barbarous severity have been applied for
 its repression2 in not one solitary    
instance have they been successful4     
,the more barbarous and severe the law  
against crime1 the more has crime       
flourished4  ,when men were hanged for  
petty theft1 when they were whipped at  
the cart's tail for seditious language1 
when they were disembowelled for        
treasonable practices2 theft1 sedition1 
and treason flourished as they have     
never flourished since4  ,the very      
disproportion and hideousness of the    
penalty inflamed men's minds to the     

commission of wrong4  ,on the contrary1 
the birth of lenience and humanity was  
immediately rewarded by a decline of    
crime4  ,these are lessons which we do  
well to recollect to-day when statesmen 
advocate the death penalty for the      
anarchist1 irrespective of his exact    
crime2 when city councils propose the   
same penalty for those guilty of        
outrages on women2 when indignant mobs1 
in spite of law1 and without trial1 burn
 at the stake offending negroes4  ,if   
history teaches anything with an        
emphasis at once clear and unmistakable1
 it is that crime has never yet been    
abridged by brutal harshness1 but has   
thriven on it4  ,history also teaches   
with an emphasis equally clear and      
positive1 that the spirit of love1      
manifesting itself in lenience1         
compassion1 and magnanimity1 has        
constantly justified itself by the      
reduction of crime1 and the taming of   
the worst kind of criminal4  ,is not    
this in itself a justification of the   

spirit of ,jesus8  ,does it not appear1 
on the review of nearly two thousand    
years of history1 that society has      
attained its greatest happiness and has 
reached its highest condition of virtue1
 precisely in those periods when the    
gentle ideals of ,jesus have had most   
sway over human thought and action8     
,and if this be so1 is it possible to   
doubt that society will only continue to
 progress towards happiness and content 
in the degree that it obeys the counsels
 of ,jesus1 making not force but love   
the great social dynamic1 which shall   
control all its operations and guide all
 its judgments8  ,it may appear         
impossible and inexpedient for the human
 judge to say to the offender1 ,neither 
do ,i condemn thee2 go1 sin no more2 but
 it is very clear that the opposite     
course does by no means lead to a       
cessation of sin4  ,for what is the     
total result of all our punishments in  
the name of law but the manufacture of  
criminals8  ,according to our theory of 

punishment a jail should be a seminary  
of virtue and reformation4  ,men        
submitted to its discipline should come 
out new creatures1 cured of every       
tendency to crime4  ,on the contrary1 in
 nine cases out of ten1 they come out a 
thousandfold worse than they went in4   
,if this is not the case1 it is because 
some ,christian influence1 not included 
in our legal system1 has reached them4  
,but such influences reach very few4    
,the influences that operate in the     
great majority of cases are wholly      
demoralizing4  ,those who enter a jail  
with genuine intentions of reform       
speedily discover that they are not     
expected to reform4  ,they are branded  
indelibly4  ,they are exposed to the    
corruption of associates a hundredfold  
worse than themselves4  ,they leave the 
jail with every avenue of honest        
industry closed to them1 every man's    
hand against them1 and no career        
possible to them but a life of crime4   
,when we consider these things we have  

little cause to congratulate ourselves  
upon the results of our systems of      
justice4 ,even a general amnesty towards
 every form of crime could scarcely     
produce results more deplorable4        
,fantastic as it may appear1 yet it     
seems not improbable that the abolition 
of the jail and of all penal law1 might 
produce benefits for humanity such as   
centuries of punishment on crime have   
wholly failed to produce4  ,but no one  
asks this at present1 though the day may
 come sooner than we think1 when        
society1 tired of the long failure and  
absolute futility of all its attempts to
 cleanse the world of crime by penal    
enactments1 will make this demand4  ,it 
is enough now if we press the question  
whether there is not good ground in all 
this dreary history of futility and     
failure1 to make some attempt to govern 
society by the ideals of ,jesus8  ,why  
should not the ,church replace the jail8
  ,why should not the offender be handed
 over to a company of ,christian people1

 instead of a company of jailers1 paid  
to be harsh1 and by the very nature of  
their occupation trained to harsh       
tempers and cruel acts8  ,who are better
 fitted for the custody of the criminal 
than people whose lives are based on the
 merciful ideals of ,jesus8  ,how could 
such persons be better employed than in 
devoting themselves to the restoration  
of self-respect in the fallen1 than in  
the attempt to nurture into vigour his  
bruised or dormant instincts of right1  
than in the organized effort to restore 
him to some place in society which      
should give him honest bread in return  
for honest labour8  ,few men are        
criminals by choice4 ,crime is more     
often the fruit of weakness than        
intention4  ,almost every criminal would
 prefer an honourable life if he knew   
how to set about it4  ,can we doubt that
 if ,jesus presided in the councils of  
,his ,church to-day1 this would be one  
of the first directions in which ,he    
would apply ,his energy8  ,and who that 

surveys the modern ,church with         
undeflected judgment would not say that 
the ,church would be a thousand times   
dearer to the world1 a thousand times   
more sacred1 respected1 and             
authoritative1 if instead of spending   
its time in spiritual                   
self-gratification1 and its riches in   
the adornment of its worship1 it became 
the true ,hospice of the ,fallen and    
,unfortunate1 thus exemplifying in its  
action that love for men which was the  
essential spirit of its ,founder8  ,it  
will no doubt be replied that the       
,church already1 by a thousand          
institutions1 of a philanthropic        
character1 is attempting this very work4
  ,but this is an evasion of the point1 
for such institutions only begin their  
work of redemption when the existing    
social systems have accomplished their  
work of destruction4  ,moreover1 no     
institution1 however admirable1 can be a
 substitute for the general action of   
the ,church4  ,it is precisely this     

practice of substitution that accounts  
for so much of the weakness of the      
,church4  ,it is so much more easy and  
pleasant to devolve upon others duties  
which to us are disagreeable1 to buy    
ourselves out of the conscription of    
personal duty1 to persuade ourselves    
that we have done all that can be asked 
of us when we have given money for some 
worthy end1 that it is not surprising   
that multitudes of excellent and kindly 
people adopt such views and practices4  
,but1 in doing so1 they miss not only   
the joy of personal well-doing1 but also
 the sense of reality in the good that  
is done4 ,and the spectator and critic  
of the life of the ,church1 although he 
may not be ignorant of the kind of work 
done by these institutions1 nevertheless
 is keenly conscious of the lack of     
reality in the work of the ,church1 when
 he finds that its individual members   
are leading lives in no way             
distinguishable by any active love for  
their fellows4  ,for the main reason why

 thoughtful men manifest aversion to the
 ,church is not found in dislike for her
 worship1 or rejection of her creeds2 it
 is found rather in the sense of        
unreality in her life4  ,who1 such men  
will ask1 among all this multitude of   
well-dressed worshippers1 offering their
 adoration to the ,deity1 visits the    
fatherless and widow in their           
affliction1 lays restraining hands upon 
the tempted1 uplifts the fallen or      
instructs the depraved1 and so fulfills 
the true ideal of religion pure and     
undefiled8  ,what is the exact nature of
 their impact upon society8  ,are they  
more merciful1 more compassionate1 more 
sympathetic than average mankind8  ,do  
they not share the same social          
prejudices1 and guide their lives by the
 same social traditions as the bulk of  
men and women8  ,and if nothing more    
than this can be predicated of them1 how
 is it possible to avoid that impression
 of essential unreality which is        
inseparable from the subscription to    

social ideals infinitely loftier and    
purer than any others in human history1 
united with lives which in no way rise  
above the average8  ,here is the true   
reason why thoughtful men think lightly1
 and even scornfully of the ,church4    
,it is not the truths and ideals of     
,jesus that offend them1 but the        
travesty of those truths and ideals in  
the average life of ,christians4  ,but  
whenever any man attempts to live in the
 spirit of ,jesus1 the first to rally to
 him are the sincere recusants from the 
church4  ,he may be satirised1 and      
probably will be1 as a moral anarchist1 
a fanatic1 and a hare-brained           
enthusiast2 but nevertheless the best   
men will rally to him4  ,they rallied to
 a ,father ,dolling1 they rally to a    
,general ,booth4 ,the types represented 
by such men lie far apart4  ,one was so 
high a ritualist as to be almost        
,catholic1 the other is an ecclesiastic 
anarchist so extreme that he dispenses  
with the sacraments4  ,but these things 

count for little2 what the world sees in
 such men is the essential reality of   
their life4  ,one of the severest       
critics of ,dolling once went to hear   
him with the bitterest prejudice4  ,he  
found him with a couple of hundred      
thieves and prostitutes gathered round  
him1 to whom he was telling the love of 
,jesus in the simplest language4        
,dolling may be a ,roman ,catholic1 or  
anything else he pleases1 said his      
critic2 all ,i know is that ,i never    
heard any one speak of ,christ like     
that1 and from that hour he was his     
warmest friend4  ,no doubt similar      
conversions of sentiment have attended  
the ministries of all apostolic men and 
women1 of ,francis and ,catherine1 of   
,wesley and ,whitfield1 of ,moody and   
,general ,booth4  ,men know by instinct 
the lover of his kind4  ,men forgive a  
hundred defects for the sake of reality4
 ,perhaps the sublimest of all          
justifications of ,christ's law of love 
is that no man has truly practiced it in

 any age without himself rising into a  
life of memorable significance1 without 
immediate attestations of its virtue in 
the transformation of society1 without  
attracting to himself the reverence and 
affection of multitudes of fellow       
workers who have rendered him the same  
adoring discipleship that the friends of
 ,jesus gave to ,him4  ,no doubt it will
 also be said that were the ideals thus 
indicated to triumph1 there would be    
nothing left for the direction of       
society but a mischievous and           
sentimental spirit of amiability4  ,the 
general fibre of virtue would           
disintegrate4  ,pity for the sinner1    
pushed to such extremes1 would in the   
end mean tolerance for sin4  ,but to    
such an objection the character of      
,jesus furnishes its own reply4  ,the   
character of ,jesus displays love in its
 supreme type1 but it is wholly lacking 
in that weak-featured travesty of love  
which we call amiability4  ,his hatred  
of sin was at times a furious rage4     

,his lips breathed flame as well as     
tenderness2 ,out of ,his mouth proceeded
 a sharp two-edged sword4  ,we may      
search literature in vain to discover   
any words half as terrible and scathing 
as the words in which ,jesus described  
sin4  ,the psychological explanation is 
that great powers of love are twin with 
great powers of hatred4  ,the passionate
 love of virtue is1 in its obverse1 an  
equally passionate hatred of vice4  ,in 
the same way the passionate love of our 
kind has for its obverse an equally     
passionate hatred for the wrongs they   
endure4  ,for this reason justice and   
virtue are nowhere so secure as in the  
hands of men who love their kind        
intensely4  ,they are most insecure in  
the hands of the cynic1 who despises his
 kind1 and therefore misapprehends their
 conduct4  ,for love1 in its last       
analysis1 is understanding1 and where   
there is understanding of our fellows   
there can hardly fail to be wisdom in   
our method of treating them4  ,that was 

the great secret of ,jesus in these     
examples which we have reviewed4  ,he   
understood ,simon ,peter4  ,he          
understood the woman who was a sinner4  
,he therefore knew the only wise method 
of treating them4  ,one with less pity  
might have sent the harlot back to her  
shame1 one with less love might have    
driven ,peter into permanent apostasy4  
,but ,jesus1 in ,his understanding of   
the human heart1 knew the exact limit of
 reproof1 the exact point at which      
magnanimity became efficacious in       
redemption4  ,those who follow ,his     
spirit will attain the same rare wisdom4
  ,they will never sacrifice virtue to  
compassion1 nor will they put virtue in 
opposition to compassion4  ,one question
 may suffice4  ,would we be content to  
leave the administration of society in  
the hands of ,jesus8  ,would we         
confidently submit our own case to ,his 
jurisdiction8  ,if1 in every dispute    
between men and nations1 in every case  
of wrong and crime1 ,jesus were the one 

,arbiter1 would the world be better     
ruled1 would the probable course of     
events be such as to increase the sum of
 human happiness8  ,we can scarcely     
hesitate in the reply--we1 who daily    
pray that ,his kingdom may come4  ,and  
if to such questions we return our      
inevitable affirmative1 we cannot doubt 
that society has everything to gain in  
being governed by those who live most   
closely in the spirit of ,jesus2 that   
they1 and they only1 are the true       
leaders and judges of the nations4      
,,the ,,builders ,,of ,,the ,,empire    
,,the ,,prayer    ,lover of souls1      
indeed1     ,but ,lover of bodies too1  
,seeing in human flesh     ,the ,god    
shine through2   ,hallowed be ,thy name1
     ,and1 for the sake of ,thee1       
,hallowed be all men1     ,for ,thine   
they be4    ,doer of deeds divine1      
,thou1 the ,father's ,son1   ,in all    
,thy children may     ,thy will be done1
   ,till each works miracles     ,on    
poor and sick and blind1   ,learning    

from ,thee the art     ,of being kind4  
,for ,thine is the glory of love1       
,and ,thine the tender power1           
,touching the barren heart     ,to leaf 
and flower1   ,till not the lilies      
alone1     ,beneath ,thy gentle feet1   
,but human lives for ,thee     ,grow    
white and sweet4    ,and ,thine shall   
the ,kingdom be1     ,thou ,lord of     
,love and ,pain1   ,conqueror over death
     ,by being slain4   ,and we1 with   
the lives like ,thine     ,shall cry in 
the great day when   ,thou earnest to   
claim ,thine own1     ,all ,hail6       
,amen4    ,,xiv  ,,the ,,builders ,,of  
,,the ,,empire  ,it may be long before  
the world recognizes this leadership of 
the loving1 and accepts their judgment1 
but nevertheless the world is debtor to 
them for all that sweetens life1 and    
makes society tolerable4 ,such men and  
women move unrecognized1 doing their    
kindly work without praise1 and not so  
much as asking praise from men2 but     
theirs is a securer triumph than earth  

can give1 and on their brows rests a    
rarer crown than earthly monarchs wear4 
,i know many of these men and women1 and
 ,i never meet them without the sense   
that the seamless robe of ,christ has   
touched me4  ,i meet them in unlikely   
places2 ,i overtake them on the road of 
life1 oftenest in the places where the  
shadows lie most thickly2 but on each   
brow is the white stone which is the    
sign of peace1 and in each voice is that
 deep note of harmony that belongs alone
 to those who walk through tribulations 
which they overcome1 griefs of which    
they know the meaning1 sorrows which    
they have the skill to heal4  ,their    
very footsteps move more evenly than    
other men's1 as though guided by the    
rhythm of a music others do not hear2   
their very hands have a softness only   
known to hands that bind up wounds and  
wipe men's tears away2 and in all their 
movements and their aspect is a         
stillness and a sweet composure1 as of  
hearts at rest4  ,whence are these1 and 

why are they arrayed in white robes8    
,and we know the answer1 though no      
angel-voice may speak to us2 these are  
they on whose bowed heads the starlight 
of ,gethsemane has fallen1 in whose     
hands are the wounds of service1 in     
whose breasts is the heart that breaks  
with love for men4  ,one such man ,i met
 some months ago1 fresh from the forests
 of ,wisconsin4  ,through a long spring 
day he told me his story1 or rather let 
me draw it from him episode by episode1 
for he was much too modest to suppose   
anything that he had done remarkable4   
,after wild and careless years of wasted
 youth1 ,christ had found him1 and from 
the day of his regeneration he gave     
himself to the redemption of his fellow 
men4  ,he became a lumber-jack1 a       
preacher to the rough sons of the       
,wisconsin forests4  ,he told me how he 
first won their respect by sharing their
 toil--he1 a fragile slip of a man1 and 
they giants in thew and muscle3 how by  
tact and kindness he got a hearing for  

his ,master2 how he travelled scores of 
miles through the winter snows to nurse 
dying men1 wrecked by wild excesses2 how
 he had sat for hours together with the 
heads of drunken men1 on whom the terror
 had fallen1 resting on his knees1      
performing for them offices of help     
which no other would attempt2 how he had
 heard the confessions of thieves and   
murderers1 who had fled from justice to 
the refuge of the forest2 how he had    
stood pale1 and apprehensive of violence
 in an angry drunken mob1 and had       
quelled their rage by singing to them   
,anywhere with ,jesus2 how1 finally1 he 
had fallen ill1 and had hoped in his    
extreme weariness for the great release1
 but had come back from the gates of    
death with a new hope for the success of
 his work2 and as he spoke1 that light  
which fell upon the face of the dying   
,stephen rested also on his face2 for he
 also saw1 and made me see1 the heavens 
opened1 and ,jesus standing at the right
 hand of the throne of ,god4  ,he was   

only a lumber-jack1 but to these men he 
was a ,christ4  ,he was poor1 so poor1  
that ,i marvelled how he lived2 but he  
had adopted into his home the forsaken  
child of a drunken lumberman1 whose wife
 was dead4  ,his life was full of       
hardship1 but never have ,i met a       
happier man4  ,for he had found the one 
secret of all noble and tranquil living1
 the life of service2 and as ,i grasped 
his hand at parting and remembered how  
often it had rested in healing sympathy 
upon the evil and the weary1 ,i thought 
of the words of the blessed ,master1 ,he
 laid ,his hands upon her1 and the fever
 left her1 and she rose and ministered  
unto ,him4  ,another man of the same    
order ,i have talked with as these      
concluding lines were written4  ,he had 
begun life with brilliant prospects as a
 lawyer1 had been wrecked by drink1 and 
one night while drunk had fallen        
overboard into deep water1 and had with 
difficulty been brought back to life4   
,from that hour his life was changed4   

,he went to a ,western city and became a
 missionary to drunkards and harlots4   
,he told me of a youth of nineteen he   
had recently visited in prison4  ,the   
youth was a murderer1 and the woman he  
had loved had committed suicide4  ,he   
was utterly impervious to reproof1 did  
not want to live1 and said that if his  
mistress had gone to hell he wanted to  
go there too1 for she was the only human
 creature who had ever loved him4  ,god 
loves you1 said my friend2 yes1 and ,i  
love you too4  ,i know how you feel4    
,you want just to be loved4  ,come1 my  
poor boy1 let me love you4  ,and at that
 appeal this youth1 with triple murder  
on his conscience1 melted1 and flung his
 arms round the neck of his visitor1 and
 sobbed out all the story of his sin and
 shame4  ,o exquisite moment when the   
heart melts at the touch of love--could 
all the heaped-up gains of a life of    
pleasure or ambition yield such felicity
 as this8  ,for this man's face1 rough  
and plain as it was1 glowed as he spoke 

with the same light that beatified the  
features of my friend the               
lumber-jack--the ,lord ,god gave them   
light1 and the ,lamb upon the throne was
 the light of all their seeing4  ,a     
little while ago to this man came the   
offer of restoration to the social place
 which he has lost4  ,he might have gone
 back to his forfeited career1 with an  
ample income4  ,he put the case to his  
wife and to his boys2 with instant      
unanimity they said1 ,never2 this work  
is the best work in the world4  ,and so 
the once brilliant lawyer is happy on a 
pittance1 happier than he ever could be 
on a fortune1 because he is doing       
,christ's work of love among his fellow 
men4  ,and these instances are typical4 
,in every corner of the world are those 
who belong to the true ,society of      
,jesus--the ,order of ,love and         
,service1--and the happiest lives lived 
on earth are lived by these men and     
women4  ,for ,jesus will not suffer any 
man to be the loser by ,him2 ,he        

overpays those who truly follow ,him    
with a happiness that worlds could not  
buy2 and even in the present time1 so   
enriches with the love of others those  
who love1 that they are unconscious of  
any deprivation in their lot1 knowing in
 all things1 amid poverty1 insult1      
violence1 hardship and pain1 that their 
gain exceeds their loss by measureless  
infinitudes of joy4  ,we may be neither 
wise nor great1 but we may be loving1   
and he who loves is already born of     
,god1 and knoweth ,god1 for ,god is     
love4  ,we may have but a poor          
understanding of conflicting theologies 
and philosophies1 and may even find our 
minds hostile to accepted creeds2 but we
 can live lives of pitiful and          
serviceable love4  ,he who does these   
things is the true ,christian and no    
other is4  ,against the man who loves   
his fellows ,heaven cannot close its    
doors1 for ,he who reigns in ,heaven is 
the ,lover of men1 and the greatest     
,lover of them all4  ,we know now why   

,he is loved as no other has been loved4
  ,we know now what ,his religion truly 
is2 it is the religion of ,love4  ,to   
accept this religion requires in us but 
one quality1 the heart of the little    
child which retains the freshness and   
obeys the authority of the emotions2 but
 unless we become as little children we 
cannot enter this kingdom4 ,this is the 
condition of entrance1 and the method is
 equally simple4 ,it is to follow ,jesus
 in all our acts and thoughts1 to allow 
no temper that we do not find in ,him1  
to build our lives upon ,his ideals of  
love and justice1 remembering always    
that ,he is more than the ,truth1--,he  
is the ,way in which men may confidently
 tread1 and the ,life which they may    
share4  ,all things in the intellectual 
and social life of men move1 as by a    
fixed law1 towards simplification4  ,may
 we not hope that this same tendency may
 permeate the universal ,church of      
,christ1 dissolving the accretions of   
mistaken and conventional piety1        

combining the vital elements into a new 
synthesis1 at once simple and           
convincing1--the new which is the oldest
 and the earliest1--that the ,church is 
the organ of the ,divine ,love1 and that
 love alone is the ,christian equivalent
 of religion8  ,may we not even         
anticipate that the visible decay of    
many symbols that once were             
authoritative1 of many forms of creed   
that are now barely tolerated rather    
than respected1 may work towards this   
issue2 that gradually the test of       
service will supplant the test of       
intellectual belief1 and that a new     
,church will arise founded not on creed 
at all1 but on a real imitation of the  
life of ,jesus8  ,if this should happen 
we need not regret the dissolution of   
the forms of religious life which is so 
evident to-day1 for though the older    
kingdom be shaken1 we shall arrive in   
,god's time at the better kingdom which 
cannot be shaken4  ,when the ,church    
does manifestly become the organ of the 

,divine ,love1 visibly creating a type  
of loving and lovable men and women     
found nowhere else1 whose lives are as  
lamps borne before the feet of the weary
 and the lost1 then the world1 now      
hostile or indifferent to the ,church1  
will love the ,church even as by        
instinct it loves the ,christ4 ,such    
lives have been lived1 and they are1    
even to those who have the least        
instinct for religion1 the most sacred  
memories of history1 and the most       
inspiring4  ,such lives may still be    
lived by all who love the ,lord ,christ 
,jesus in sincerity4