Page:Philosophical Review Volume 22.djvu/589

No. 5.] us to be loyal to, and love, the community; by means of the unifying social influence due to grace, we reach the level of such a community and are saved. Sin is a great hindrance but, through atoning deeds, the unity of the spirit shall triumph. Thus the ideas of community and atonement form in their inseparable union, and in their relation to other Christian ideas, the Christian doctrine of life.

Many of the sayings of Jesus are interpreted as indicating the idea that the complete attainment of the moral ideal is contingent upon the coming within the near future of a supernatural world-order in which perfection or likeness to God is to be guaranteed by the rule of God in each heart. It is customary to offset this interpretation with sayings of a more worldly and social tone. Have we the right to select such utterances as seem to lend themselves to a social and worldly ethic on the ground that they give us the essence of the Christian ideal, and ignore the eschatological elements which are also present and must condition every interpretation of the world view? Or in applying Christian ethics to our modern problems must we not universalize and change it so that its original meaning and intent are largely lost? The problem of Christian Ethics is concerned not so much with the statement of a world view as with the interpretation of a life. If the paradox of the Christian ideal is to be explained at all, such an explanation must be sought in the life and personality of its author.

Is truth dependent upon an appeal to our fellow? Mr. Dewey and Mr. Royce are quoted in the affirmative and from the Absolutist, Fichte, we have, "No mind without a fellow." If the thinker must have another to whom he may appeal, and if his situation contains no Peter for his Paul, then we must regard the thinker as capable of being his own other. Although truth be an intercommunication between view points, yet every man, however complete his social isolation, is himself a society of points of view and no one will be lost for lack of the brother's guiding hand. In view of these reflections, is the importance attacked by the instrumentalist to the social categories altogether justified?

Is the belief that man is progressing to be accepted and defended or is it a delusion? The net result of this investigation is to indicate for the United States a rapid increase of population and probable increase in longevity, an