Page:Holmes - World Significance of Mahatma Gandhi.djvu/6

 his task is nobler even than that of championing the political emancipation of a great people. Dear to his heart as is the deliverance of India from English rule, immediate as is his concern with this great cause at the present moment, it must still be reckoned as a mere incident in his career, a passing episode in a life devoted to higher and further issues. If the movement for independence had never appeared, Gandhi would still be the same transcendent figure that he is today; and if this movement ended tomorrow, in defeat or victory, Gandhi’s real work would still go on to its appointed end. That there must be something wrong with an idea which classifies this man with Wallace, Washington, and Garibaldi, all of whom were soldiers who drew blood on the field of battle, is shown conclusively by the fact that Gandhi is a non-resistant who refuses to take the sword, even to fight for liberty, but appeals to a “higher law” than that of violence, namely “strength of spirit.” What we have here in the case of Gandhi, as always in the case of the non-resistant, is a religious leader, a man not of local, or national, but of universal significance. It is in the realm of the spirit that Gandhi “lives and moves and has his being.” It is not primarily with the kings and premiers, but with God and the soul of man, that he does business. Above and beyond the political liberation of his own or any other people, he seeks the spiritual redemption of mankind. If we would classify him with any of the supreme figures of human history, it must be with such august religious prophets as Confucius and Lao-tse, Buddha, Zoroaster and Mohammed, and, most truly of all, the Nazarene! Out of Asia, at long intervals of time, have arisen these inspired witnesses of God. One by one they have appeared to teach men by precept and example the law of life, and therewith to save the race. Today, in this our time, there comes another of this sacred line, the Mahatma of India. In all reverence and with due regard for historic fact, I match this man with Jesus Christ! If the lives of these two were written side by side, as Plutarch wrote the lives of the great heroes of Greece and Rome, it would be amazing to see to what extent they are identical. With Gandhi, only one experience is lacking—that of the crucifixion; but in the light of what is taking place, it would seem as though we could trust the British Empire today, as the Roman Empire yesterday, to point the road to Calvary!

Now it is of this universal significance of Gandhi as a spiritual leader, that I want to speak to you this morning. I find this significance most clearly typified,