THE great truth we are considering is the fundamental principle running through all religions. We find it in every one. In regard to it all agree. It is, moreover, a great truth in regard to which all people can agree, whether they belong to the same or to different religions. People always quarrel about the trifles, about their personal views of minor insignificant points. They always come together in the presence of great fundamental truths, the threads of which run through all. The quarrels are in connection with the lower self, the agreements are in connection with the higher self.
A place may have its factions that quarrel and fight among themselves, but let a great calamity come upon the land, flood, famine, pestilence, and these little personal differences are entirely forgotten and all work shoulder to shoulder in the one great cause. The changing, the evolving self gives rise to quarrels; the permanent, the soul self unites all in the highest efforts of love and service.
Patriotism is a beautiful thing; it is well for me to love my country, but why should I love my own country more than I love all others? If I love my own and hate others I then show my limitations, and my patriotism will stand the test not even for my own. If I love my own country and in the same way love all other countries, then I show the largeness of my nature, and a patriotism of this kind is noble and always to be relied upon.
The view of God in regard to which we are agreed, that He is the Infinite Spirit of Life and Power that is at the back of all, that is working in and through all, that is the life of all, is a matter in regard to which all men, all religions can agree. With this view there can be no infidels or atheists. There are atheists and infidels in connection with many views that are held concerning God, and thank God there are! Even devout and earnest people among us attribute things to God that no respectable men would permit to be attributed to themselves. This view is satisfying to those who cannot see how God can be angry with His children, jealous, vindictive. A display of these qualities always lessens our for men, and still we attribute them to God.
The earnest, sincere heretic is one of the greatest friends true religion can have. Heretics are among God's greatest servants. They are among the true servants of mankind. Christ was one of the greatest heretics the world has ever known. He allowed Himself to be bound by no established or orthodox teachings or beliefs. Christ is pre-eminently a type of the universal. John the Baptist is a type of the personal. John dressed in a particular way, ate a particular kind of food, belonged to a particular order, lived and taught in a particular locality, and he himself recognized the fact that he must decrease while Christ must increase. Christ, on the other hand, gave Himself absolutely no limitations. He allowed Himself to be bound by nothing. He was absolutely universal and as a consequence taught not for His own particular day, but for all time.
This mighty truth which we have agreed upon as the great central fact of human life is the golden thread that runs through all religions. When we make it the paramount fact in our lives we shall find that minor differences, narrow prejudices, and all these laughable absurdities will so fall away by virtue of their very insignificance that a Jew can worship equally as well in a Catholic cathedral, a Catholic in a Jewish synagogue, a Buddhist in a Christian church, a Christian in a Buddhist temple. Or all can worship equally well about their own hearth-stones, or out on the hillside, or while pursuing the avocations of everyday life. For true worship, only God and the human soul are necessary. It does not depend upon times, or seasons, or occasions. Anywhere and at any time God and man in the bush may meet.
This is the great fundamental principle of the universal religion upon which all can agree. This is the great fact that is permanent. There are many things in regard to which all cannot agree. These are the things that are personal, non-essential, and so as time passes they gradually fall away. One who doesn't grasp this great truth, a Christian, for example, asks 'But was not Christ inspired?' Yes, but He was not the only one inspired. Another who is a Buddhist asks, 'Was not Buddha inspired?' Yes, but he was not the only one inspired. A Christian asks,
'But is not our Christian Bible inspired?' Yes, but there are other inspired scriptures. A Brahmin or a Buddhist asks, 'Are not the Vedas inspired?' Yes, but there are other inspired sacred books. Your error is not in believing that your particular scriptures are inspired, but your error is—and you show your absurdly laughable limitations by it—your inability to see that other scriptures are also inspired.
The sacred books, the inspired writings, all come from the same source -God, God speaking through the souls of those who open themselves that He may thus speak. Some may be more inspired than others. It depends entirely on the relative degree that this one or that one opens themselves to the Divine voice. Says one of the inspired writers in the Hebrew scriptures, Wisdom is the breath of the power of God, and in all ages entering into holy souls she maketh them friends of God and prophets.
Let us not be among the number so dwarfed, so limited, so bigoted as to think that the Infinite God has revealed Himself to one little handful of His children, in one little quarter of the globe, and at one particular period of time. This is not the pattern by which God works. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that revereth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him, says the Christian Bible.
When we fully realize this truth we shall then see that it makes but little difference what particular form of religion one holds to, but it does make a tremendous difference how true he is to the vital principles of this one. In the degree that we love self less and love truth more, in that degree will we care less about converting people to our particular way of thinking, but all the more will we care to aid them in coming into the full realization of truth through the channels best adapted to them. The doctrine of our master, says the Chinese, consisted solely in integrity of heart. We shall find as we search that this is the doctrine of everyone who is at all worthy the name of master.
The great fundamental principles of all religions are the same. They differ only in their minor details according to the various degrees of unfoldment of different people. I am sometimes asked To what religion do you belong?' What religion? Why, bless you, there is only one religion, the 'religion of the living God! There are, of course, the various creeds of the same religion arising from the various interpretations of different people, but they are all of minor importance. The more unfolded the soul the less important do these minor differences become. There are also, of course the various so-called religions. In reality, however, there is but one religion.
The moment we lose sight of this great fact we depart from the real, vital spirit of true religion and allow ourselves to be limited and bound by form. In the degree that we do this we build fences around ourselves which keep others away from us, and which also prevent our corning into the realization of universal truth; there is nothing worthy the name of truth that is not universal.
There is only one religion. 'Whatever road I take joins the highway that leads to Thee,' says the inspired writer in the Persian scriptures. 'Broad is the carpet God has spread, and beautiful the colors He has given it.' 'The pure man respects every form of faith,' says the Buddhist. 'My doctrine makes no difference between high and low, rich and poor, like the sky, it has room for all, and like the water, it washes all alike' The broad-minded see the truth in different religions; the narrow-minded see only the differences,' says the Chinese.
The Hindu has said, The narrow-minded ask, "Is this man a stranger, or is he of our tribe?" But to those in whom love dwells, the whole world is but one family.' 'Altar flowers are of many species, but all worship is one.' 'Heaven is a palace with many doors, and each may enter in his own way.' 'Are we not all children of one Father?' says the Christian. 'God has made of one blood all nations, to dwell on the face of the earth.' It was a latter-day seer who said, That which was profitable to the soul of man the Father revealed to the ancients; that which is profitable to the soul of man today revealeth He this day.'
It was Tennyson who said, 'I dreamed that stone by stone I reared a sacred fane, a temple, neither pagoda, mosque, nor church, but loftier, simpler, always open-doored to every breath from heaven, and Truth and Peace and Love and justice came and dwelt therein.'
Religion in its true sense is the most joyous thing the human soul can know, and when the real religion is realized we shall find that it will be an agent of peace, of joy, and of happiness, and never an agent of gloomy, long-faced sadness. It will then be attractive to all and repulsive to none. Let our Churches grasp these great truths, let them give their time and attention to bringing people into a knowledge of their true selves, into a knowledge of their relations, of their oneness, with the Infinite God, and such joy will be the result, and such crowds will flock to them, that their very walls will seem almost to burst, and such songs of joy will continually pour forth as will make all people in love with the religion that makes for everyday life, and hence the religion that is true and vital.
Adequacy for life, adequacy for everyday life here and now, must be the test of all true religion. If it does not bear this test, then it simply is not religion. We need an everyday, a this-world religion All time spent in connection with any other is worse than wasted. The eternal life that we are now living will be well loved if we take good care of each little period of time as it presents itself day after day. If we fail in doing this, we fail in everything.
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