Christ as a social reformer

Nineteen centuries ago, a Galilean peasant, born of Jewish par­ents and brought up to the trade of carpentering, thought out and preached the purest system of social-metaphysical ethics that it is pos­sible for the mind of man (as yet) to conceive.

The effect of His teachings, life, and death, has indelibly impressed His personality on the imagination of the world unto this day. Yet how few there are who fully comprehend the complete import of His words, and the true lesson conveyed by His example. At thirty years of age, poor and unknown, bailing from the despised district of a de­spised nation, He stepped out from the ranks of the common people and began to advocate, in the teeth of despotic power and ecclesias­tical authority, the imperishable truth that men are born with equal rights—teaching association in fraternal bonds of equality as the first step towards the regeneration of mankind; that this would make pos­sible “the kingdom of God on earth,” which seers and prophets had so often foretold. As long as His followers were few and powerless, rulers ignored Him as a harmless fanatic; but a change came over the spirit of their dream when multitudes assembled to hear His voice, and under the spell of His eloquence eagerly proposed to put His theories into immediate practice. Then the ruling classes began to suspect danger to themselves and their unjust privileges. First, they warned Him to desist from rousing the people to the verge of revolt, and when He persisted, they threatened him with all the penalties of the law. Still He unflinchingly continued to spread His doctrine of equal rights and equal duties, which they officially condemned as inimical to the welfare of the State, and subversive of all law and or­der. Crowds congregated to “gladly hear Him,” and discontent with the existing order filled their thoughts. Neither the hierarchy nor the hired political philosophers could refute his arguments, and besides, to attempt to do so would render themselves unpopular.

Fear possessed the hearts of the powerful and the strong—the heads of the Church, the owners of land, the owners of slaves, and the owners of capital. They secretly conspired together, caused the law to be put in motion, and so “removed” the champion of the poor in due legal form. A provincial magistrate signed His death-warrant and in the valley of skulls this most eloquent and pure-minded exponent of human rights and equal justice swung on a Government gallows, with a Government spear in His side.

When alive He taught, both in word and deed, the divine law of human brotherhood—that everyone (including Himself) were the sons of the Great Author of All. Therefore, all men are blood-broth­ers, members of one vast family, and to do an injury to one was an injury to all. “Inasmuch as ye do wrong to one of the least of these, ye do it unto Me.” Riches made from the sweat of slaves (now-a-days made from the sweat of hirelings), were to Him abominable, and He never tired of denouncing the owners of such wealth. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom.” The parable of Dives and Lazarus is an everlast­ing reproach to the opulent of the world, who banquet in abundance and luxury while their brothers shiver and starve by the outer gate. His social teachings delighted and astonished the people, because it promised liberty to all; they had not been accustomed to hear such good news. To them He held out hopes of social emancipation and political fair-play, showing that “the good times coming” were pos­sibly within reach. “Blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the earth.” He was the consoler and the friend of the widow and the fatherless, the disinherited and the outcasts of society. He was the scorner of scribes, pharisees, hypocrites, and lawyers. He was the en­emy of tyrants, the condemner of long-robed ecclesiastics, and the bitter accuser of ecclesiasticism. “Woe unto you, O pretenders, for you tax even the very necessaries of life, and pass over justice and the love of God.”

He preached the essence of all that is noble, true, self-sacrificing, and to this very day all reformers the wide world over look upon Him as the incarnation of their highest ideal. His teachings, whether they are conscious of it or not, are their inspiration, and His life their ex­ample. A democrat of the democrats, He was the defender of all those who in the world’s unequal battle were weary or wounded or sore.

No better proof can be found of the deep practical meaning which His followers—mostly working men—placed upon His doctrines, than that they established, immediately after His death, a commu­nity in which all property was held in common—private ownership being altogether prohibited. This primitive band of Christian social­ists existed for four years, but owing to lack of scientific internal or­ganisation, it fell to pieces. It is a curious fact, though, that among the numerous secret societies which honeycomb Europe and Asia to-day, there are remarkable traces of the handiwork of those early regener­ators. The latest developments of human wisdom conclusively prove that it is perfectly possible to organise even empires upon the frater­nal principle laid down by Christ. The organisation of labour and the organisation of war are complete object lessons, which only require to be carried out to their logical conclusion. Even the history of the past contains many brave examples where isolated communities within a larger one have been more than partially successful. The principal lesson taught by contemporary thought and historical example is that thorough scientific organisation is as much a necessity as high moral intelligence among the human units comprising the fraternity. That condition did not exist in Judea under the Roman Empire, and with all our boasted progress and enlightenment, it does not exist to-day. But the possibilities of the future are many, and mayhap the developments of science will render the continuance of our present social system of organised selfishness an impossibility. Society as now constituted, in which so many are condemned to lead a life of hope­less servitude—in which fabulous wealth and foetid poverty jostle each other side by side—cannot be permanent. Especially is this true at present, when the most intelligent of our race are questioning its necessity, as well as its moral basis. The time must come when man­kind will have to re-enact its laws in consonance with the spirit of the Golden Rule, which in itself is but a codification of the immutable laws of Nature. The gathered experience of ages will surely be equal to the task of erecting on a firm foundation that kingdom of kind­ness and fraternity which Christ advocated, and for which He bled.

If it be said in denial of this view that He never organised a com­munity Himself in which all things were held in common, it must be remembered that altogether He was only about two years before the public. The whole of that time was occupied in breaking up the ground and sowing the seed. He could not have had time to think out the details of such a world-problem, even if He had been satisfied that the human materials around Him were suitable, and the time opportune. But what He might have attempted had He not been cru­elly murdered is quite another matter. He certainly established no church, nor did He found any society; but on highway and by-way He went about doing good, and teaching that the highest good of all could only be achieved by every individual loving his neighbour as himself, and doing unto others as He would desire to be done by—that to do good to others is life, that to do wrong to others is death. He spoke out fearlessly what He thought, and in the face of persecu­tion and death He turned not aside. He has set the world an example of what a determined spirit can do. He was no dreamer—he was ter­ribly in earnest. He meant every word that He said. He was simplicity and completeness itself. Yet to-day neither the organised churches nor the rulers of the nation’s make the slightest effort to embody His laws in the laws of the land. The teacher is deified, His teachings ignored. Why is this?

That He preached the very essence of democracy there is not the shadow of a doubt, if we are to believe anything relative to Him that is recorded in the four Gospels, and it was because He did so that He was executed. His aim was both religious liberty and social equality; so, in accordance with their traditions, the clergy were His accusers and the soldiers His executioners. Should He once again re-appear on earth, and in the guise of a common artisan head a great popular movement inspired by religious enthusiasm, there is no doubt what­ever that bitter persecution would be His lot, if He did not before long dangle in the noose of a hempen cord provided by the State.

He left no written records behind Him, but the memory of His personality served to keep His immediate followers together, and they, as opportunity offered, spread the “good news” further and further afield. The idea of social emancipation spread like wildfire from city to city and continued to ferment the public mind. This was only to be expected in a vast empire ruled by iron-force, in which the masses of the people were either slaves or recently freed. All previous popular movements had been mercilessly stamped out by the summa­ry “removal” of the leaders; but now the aristocracy had to contend both with seething political discontent and religious enthusiasm combined in one channel. They were therefore much astonished to dis-cover that the death of the leader in this case did not mean the death of His idea. Then they tried organised coercion for the pur­pose of preventing the movement from spreading any further, but the immolation of victims by the thousand only served to further inoc­ulate the “lower classes” with those dangerous religio-social ideas of “equality before God and man.”

The armoury of the strongest Government the world has ever known was used against them, and they were hounded down with unparalleled ferocity. The aristocracy considered it a most meritori­ous action to destroy this pernicious sect. ln self-defence the Chris­tians formed secret societies, with signs, grips, and passwords, hold­ing their meetings in dark and obscure places, with sentinels post­ed all round. This served for a time to partially protect them, but soon again paid Government informers—imperial bloodhounds in human form—joined their societies and betrayed them. Untold numbers were slaughtered in cold blood. Some were crucified head downwards, some were stoned to death, and some were thrown as food to wild beasts, and some were smeared with combustibles, and used as torches to illuminate at even the garden fêtes of the great. But in all this there is one point which must be clearly understood. They did not suffer these terrible persecutions simply because they professed certain religious convictions. No, but because these religious convic­tions had also a practical, political side, and if imbibed extensively by the masses, a social revolution was sure to ensue. Thrones would rock and aristocracies crumble in a determined effort to establish the reign of Justice on earth, wherein right should be might, throned and sceptred, when