It is true that Christ's teaching is not to blame, for it is
often spoiled in the transmission. But Christianity has
taken over control of the morals of Europe, and should have the
compelling force which would ensure that those morals would not
go to pieces upon the first strain. It is on this point that
Christianity must be judged, and the judgment can only be that it
has failed. It has not been an active controlling force upon the
minds of men. And why? It can only be because there is
something essential which is wanting. Men do not take it
seriously. Men do not believe in it. Lip service is the only
service in innumerable cases, and even lip service grows fainter.
Men, as distinct from women, have, both in the higher and lower
classes of life, ceased, in the greater number of cases, to show
a living interest in religion. The churches lose their grip upon
the people--and lose it rapidly. Small inner circles,
convocations, committees, assemblies, meet and debate and pass
resolutions of an ever narrower character. But the people go
their way and religion is dead, save in so far as intellectual
culture and good taste can take its place. But when religion is
dead, materialism becomes active, and what active
materialism may produce has been seen in Germany.
Is it not time, then, for the religious bodies to discourage
their own bigots and sectarians, and to seriously consider, if
only for self-preservation, how they can get into line once more
with that general level of human thought which is now so far in
front of them? I say that they can do more than get level--they
can lead.
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