Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/867

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 851

by the organization of the Hague Tribunal and by the increasing closeness of relations among the nations of the earth.

That permanent conditions of peace can be established only by putting man- kind into its true position as an organic whole is being more clearly perceived than hitherto. World-organization must grow out of a perception of the essential unity of mankind, a fundamental reality which was not created by men and cannot be destroyed by them. World-unity in the manifold interests and pursuits of men is a fact today, although unity of the world under a single governmental system is not a fact.

But even this it is not too much to believe the future holds in store. Signs pointing to such a universal polity are already visible in such international co-operation as the Postal Union and the Hague Court of Arbitration. World-wide legislation and adjudication will precede the constitution of a universal executive function. Just as the wisdom of the elimination of sovereignty as an attribute of principalities and commonwealth, and the sole possession of such sovereignty by the nation which emerges out of a previously existing federation, has been abundantly proved, notably in the history of the American Union, so in the evolu- tion of universal political organization petty national sovereignties must give place to the larger and less artificial sovereignty of a world-state. Thus not only the disarmament of nations and an era of stable peace will be inaugurated, but religious freedom and unfettered commercial activity will be insured. R. L. BRIDGMAN, in Atlantic Monthly, September, 1904. E. B. W.

The Hyperbolical Teachings of Jesus. Can any of the practical ques- tions of society be settled mechanically and infallibly, without the labor of observing facts or the responsibility of forming a judgment, by simply opening the Bible? The matter of divorce is a case in point, and Bishop Doane, in a recent number of Harper's Weekly, voices a widespread conviction in urging the danger of going beyond the letter of Scripture in the treatment of the divorce question. The bishop's appeal seems to imply an affirmative answer to the opening question, and to place the words of Jesus in this regard in the category of legislation.

Such a view of the teachings of Jesus is open to criticism. During his whole life, he fought against the tyranny of mere words, and for the lordship of the present living spiritual man. In his discourses he suggested great truths by parables, by questions, by paradoxes, by hyperboles, by every device that could elude the semblance of fixed judicial formulas. It is the irony of history that such language should be seized upon for statute law. Jesus did not intend to save us from the trouble or the responsibility of dealing with concrete situations, but he did intend to give us the heavenly point of view.

Throughout the gospels the rhetorical figure of hyperbole abounds in the dis- courses of Jesus. Most Christians treat large parts of these discourses as figurative, and it is clear that it is purely a matter of human judgment which, if any, shall be enforced as practical rules. Surely, those in which hatred of parents, mutilation of the body, entire bestowal of one's goods, abstinence from the use of an oath, neglect of hospitality to friends and relatives, the disuse of the word " father " in addressing men, and many other injunctions occur, cannot generally be regarded as literal.

Jesus is the poorest possible authority for a literalist. He says the most unqualified things regarding the authority of the Mosaic law, and then never seems bound by them. The explanation is found in the fact that to him a law was never a formula of words, but the ideal aim of the law giver.

To what point, then, has our investigation brought us? To the conclusion that the teachings of Jesus have no value? Far from it. They have an infinite value. But they lie in a plane above that of legislation. Laws must be fitted to their times. Ideals are like the stars. It does not appear that Scripture contains ready-made rules for our use, but in laying down maxims for individual conduct, and laws for church and state, we are bound only to the application of a Christian judgment to the interests involved. W. G. BALLANTINE, in North American Review, September, 1904. E. B. W.

The Real Dangers of the Trusts. Against the trust as a device for reducing to a minimum waste in production, and for securing the greatest