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side of humanity and liberty and love。 Love desires personality;
therefore love desires division。 It is the instinct of Christianity
to be glad that God has broken the universe into little pieces;
because they are living pieces。 It is her instinct to say 〃little
children love one another〃 rather than to tell one large person
to love himself。 This is the intellectual abyss between Buddhism
and Christianity; that for the Buddhist or Theosophist personality
is the fall of man; for the Christian it is the purpose of God;
the whole point of his cosmic idea。 The world…soul of the Theosophists
asks man to love it only in order that man may throw himself into it。
But the divine centre of Christianity actually threw man out of it
in order that he might love it。 The oriental deity is like a giant
who should have lost his leg or hand and be always seeking to find it;
but the Christian power is like some giant who in a strange
generosity should cut off his right hand; so that it might of its
own accord shake hands with him。 We come back to the same tireless
note touching the nature of Christianity; all modern philosophies
are chains which connect and fetter; Christianity is a sword which
separates and sets free。 No other philosophy makes God actually
rejoice in the separation of the universe into living souls。
But according to orthodox Christianity this separation between God
and man is sacred; because this is eternal。 That a man may love God
it is necessary that there should be not only a God to be loved;
but a man to love him。 All those vague theosophical minds for whom
the universe is an immense melting…pot are exactly the minds which
shrink instinctively from that earthquake saying of our Gospels;
which declare that the Son of God came not with peace but with a
sundering sword。 The saying rings entirely true even considered
as what it obviously is; the statement that any man who preaches real
love is bound to beget hate。 It is as true of democratic fraternity
as a divine love; sham love ends in compromise and common philosophy;
but real love has always ended in bloodshed。 Yet there is another
and yet more awful truth behind the obvious meaning of this utterance
of our Lord。 According to Himself the Son was a sword separating
brother and brother that they should for an aeon hate each other。
But the Father also was a sword; which in the black beginning
separated brother and brother; so that they should love each other
at last。
This is the meaning of that almost insane happiness in the
eyes of the mediaeval saint in the picture。 This is the meaning
of the sealed eyes of the superb Buddhist image。 The Christian
saint is happy because he has verily been cut off from the world;
he is separate from things and is staring at them in astonishment。
But why should the Buddhist saint be astonished at things?
since there is really only one thing; and that being impersonal can
hardly be astonished at itself。 There have been many pantheist poems
suggesting wonder; but no really successful ones。 The pantheist
cannot wonder; for he cannot praise God or praise anything as really
distinct from himself。 Our immediate business here; however; is with
the effect of this Christian admiration (which strikes outwards;
towards a deity distinct from the worshipper) upon the general
need for ethical activity and social reform。 And surely its
effect is sufficiently obvious。 There is no real possibility
of getting out of pantheism; any special impulse to moral action。
For pantheism implies in its nature that one thing is as good
as another; whereas action implies in its nature that one thing
is greatly preferable to another。 Swinburne in the high summer
of his scepticism tried in vain to wrestle with this difficulty。
In 〃Songs before Sunrise;〃 written under the inspiration of Garibaldi
and the revolt of Italy he proclaimed the newer religion and the
purer God which should wither up all the priests of the world:
〃What doest thou now Looking Godward to cry I am I;
thou art thou; I am low; thou art high; I am thou that thou
seekest to find him; find thou but thyself; thou art I。〃
Of which the immediate and evident deduction is that tyrants
are as much the sons of God as Garibaldis; and that King Bomba
of Naples having; with the utmost success; 〃found himself〃
is identical with the ultimate good in all things。 The truth is
that the western energy that dethrones tyrants has been directly
due to the western theology that says 〃I am I; thou art thou。〃
The same spiritual separation which looked up and saw a good king in
the universe looked up and saw a bad king in Naples。 The worshippers
of Bomba's god dethroned Bomba。 The worshippers of Swinburne's god
have covered Asia for centuries and have never dethroned a tyrant。
The Indian saint may reasonably shut his eyes because he is
looking at that which is I and Thou and We and They and It。
It is a rational occupation: but it is not true in theory and not
true in fact that it helps the Indian to keep an eye on Lord Curzon。
That external vigilance which has always been the mark of Christianity
(the command that we should WATCH and pray) has expressed itself
both in typical western orthodoxy and in typical western politics:
but both depend on the idea of a divinity transcendent; different
from ourselves; a deity that disappears。 Certainly the most sagacious
creeds may suggest that we should pursue God into deeper and deeper
rings of the labyrinth of our own ego。 But only we of Christendom
have said that we should hunt God like an eagle upon the mountains:
and we have killed all monsters in the chase。
Here again; therefore; we find that in so far as we value
democracy and the self…renewing energies of the west; we are much
more likely to find them in the old theology than the new。
If we want reform; we must adhere to orthodoxy: especially in this
matter (so much disputed in the counsels of Mr。 R。J。Campbell);
the matter of insisting on the immanent or the transcendent deity。
By insisting specially on the immanence of God we get introspection;
self…isolation; quietism; social indifferenceTibet。 By insisting
specially on the transcendence of God we get wonder; curiosity;
moral and political adventure; righteous indignationChristendom。
Insisting that God is inside man; man is always inside himself。
By insisting that God transcends man; man has transcended himself。
If we take any other doctrine that has been called old…fashioned