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TH

CHAPTER XLI

EXPANSION

CHAP.
XLI

Self

Every

HROUGHOUT the social organization of an enterprizing people there is a marked tendency to expansion. Officials. press for more authority. Administrative departments are eager Interest to undertake new services. Courts gather to themselves juris- Prompts diction. Each profession tries to enlarge its sphere of compe- Social tency. Every college dreams of teaching more things to more students. Every association strives ceaselessly to broaden its membership and support. The political party never disbands when the old issues are settled, but takes up new ones.

Structure

to Expand

as Far as It Can

Expansive

Force Is

the Pros

lyting

Spirit

The explanation of this tendency is simple enough. Certain individuals come to be identified with a bit of the social structure and their prospect of a gain in income, power, prestige, or influence is bound up with the growth of its resources and scope of operation. Behind such expansion therefore is much the same motive of self-aggrandizement which prompts the merchant to push for more business and the editor for more readers. But there is another force for expansion which may be called Another the proselyting spirit. When this spirit is strong each culture element reaches out to win more people; when it dies each remains content with its following. This willingness to take trouble to spread one's convictions and ideals, or to support those who do it for one, is praiseworthy because it is disinterested. Moreover, when it is untainted by fanaticism and intolerance, it may be a blessing to society. For the propagative impulse extends the It Acceleplanes of agreement which bind individual minds into a social Pace of mind. Furthermore, it helps the valuable new thing to displace the sooner that which is antiquated and effete. The eagerness of the man with a new ideal to evangelize his neighbors speeds up social transformation, so that a century's changes may be run thru in the course of a decade. There are drawbacks, to be sure. You cannot foster this proselyting spirit without being pestered by cranks and dreamers, who waste your time with their chim

rates the

Social

Progress

СНАР.
XLI

Despite
Certain
Grave
Incon-

veniences

The

Earlier

Religions
Generated

No Mis-
sionary
Impulse

The Mis-
sionary
Religions
Have a

Redemp

tion

eras. Just as you cannot have freedom of speech without opening the gates to much nonsense, so you cannot encourage the propagative impulse without letting loose fatuous propagandas. Still, there are worse things than enthusiasm and the visionary at least deserves respect for his disinterested zeal. Even if his judgment be poor, he is worthier of respect than the hard-head, whose ideas are sound but who is too selfish to take the trouble to set right his fellow men.

RELIGION

Local, tribal and ethnic religions have no inherent expansive tendency. Each people looks upon the god it worships as its own god but not the god of other peoples. Not until the conception of a national god yields to that of a universal god is there any point in carrying religion abroad. But even monotheism does not inspire a fervent missionary spirit unless there is a belief in the tragedy of earthly life and a vision of redemption. The religion of Israel did not gain expansive force as soon as the prophets preached one true God. It was the prediction of a coming Messiah who should enlighten and heal all the peoples which inspired that religion to embark on a proselyting career which ceased only when, centuries later, an omnipotent Christian Church obliged the Jews to keep their faith to themselves.

In the lives of the founders of the great missionary religions there is always the story of the call, the sudden conversion, the Vision of deep sense of the tragedy of human existence and the discovery of a way of redemption. Gautama under the lotus tree, Jesus in the wilderness and Mahomet in the cave feel themselves summoned to show mankind the path of deliverance. In them and their more earnest followers, this conviction of a glad tidings to be communicated becomes as a flame leaping out to kindle the souls of others.

to Communicate

Christian Missions

a WorldHistoric Force

Missionary enterprise is a cultural force of the first magnitude. Leaving aside the enormous changes in society brought about by the propagation of Buddhism in Thibet and Mongolia, of Christianity among the North European barbarians and of Islam in Africa, consider the world-historic significance of Christian missions to-day. Nothing is falser than the assumption by their critics that each of the backward peoples has a religion suited to it and with which it is happier than it would be with any other.

СНАР.

XLI

Religious

Up of

a Pro

One might as well argue that human sacrifice and widow-burning are not painful to their victims provided they are long-established customs. The fact is, the value difference between religions is enormous. Some religions chime with man's deepest needs, while others flout them. Some embody man's highest aspirations, while others embody his animal impulses. Some draw people upward, while others hold them back. The speedy substitution of the higher forms of religion for the lower forms is therefore essen- Levelling tial to the progress of humanity as a whole. Without it certain races will so outstrip others that the latter will infallibly fall under the dominion of the former and a needless imperialism will vex the future of mankind. Whether or not their theology possesses objective truth, the twenty thousand educated Christian missionaries sent out from Europe and the United States are accomplishing a social work of vast importance. Generally along Peoples with their religious doctrines they propagate the best industrial, moral, and political ideas of their time, to say nothing of its philosophical and scientific conceptions. Thus, incidentally, their labors tend to level up the civilization of the belated peoples to that of the advanced peoples, so that the progress of the human race is more symmetrical than otherwise it would be.

REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS

Mankind
May Avert
longed
tion of the
Peoples

Domina

Backward

by the

Advanced

tionary

dists

They Have

a Gospel

to Preach

The ideas of 1789, of 1848, of 1917 have made history be- Revolucause of the zeal with which they have been propagated outside Propagan the country in which they were born. This propaganda abroad Believe of French and Russian radical ideas was in part a counter-attack upon the governments which had resolved at all hazards to crush Jacobinism and Bolshevism. But the chief force behind their expansion was enthusiasm for ideas which promised to overthrow tyrannies and raise the oppressed. In self-devotion and in readiness to risk everything for their cause, the apostles of revolutionary ideas are not behind the apostles of religion. Both are inspired by the conviction that they bear a gospel which will redeem and raise those who accept it. They are worlds apart, however, in emotional attitude and in the means they employ in order to gain their ends.

CHAP.
XLI

The True
Scientist

Devotes

Himself

ering

Truth as the Mis

sionary Devotes

Himself to Propagating Religion

SCIENCE

Within its limited field science is a power not unworthy to be compared with religion. In not a few of its devotees it inspires to Discov- that fervor of self-sacrifice which is supposed to be the very acme of religious feeling. There are two reasons, however, why this passion expresses itself differently in the two spheres. The ruling aspiration of the followers of science is to advance the frontiers of knowledge, whereas the followers of religion, convinced that already they are in possession of absolute and final truth, give themselves up to disseminating it. The idea of a revelation of religious truth excludes the idea of search for religious truth. Their great concern, therefore, is to carry the "glad tidings" to those ignorant of it. The religious zealot pushes out the frontiers of his faith, evangelizing even the wildest tribes and translating the Scriptures into the strangest tongues. The scientific zealot, on the other hand, goes whithersoever his quest of natural truth may lead him to the laboratory or the tropical jungle, into a diving bell on the sea bottom, or to an observatory on the lip of a seething volcano.

Science Is for Man

kind While Religion

Is First of

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In general the scientist leaves it to the educator to disseminate his findings beyond the circle of investigators. When, however, new truth demands immediate and widespread application, All for the as for example the discovery of a remedy for disease, he interIndividual ests himself in its speedy propagation. Even here, however, his glad tidings is not to laymen but to those who can understand and utilize it physicians, hospitals and public authorities. In the case of discoveries in the field of forest pathology, industrial chemistry and the like, the number of persons to whom they need to be communicated in order that humanity may get the full benefit of their application will be small indeed. To the laymen even the language in which they are described is unintelligible. The missionary, on the other hand, addresses not the specialist but men everywhere. It is his conviction that no one can find salvation thru another or get religion by proxy. One gains it only by a personal decision. Hence, while the scientist may lead the life of a recluse, the missionary bears abroad what he deems a vital personal message, for the sake of which he is willing to be all things to all men.

In the missionary, no doubt, love of one's fellows may be adul

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