Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/386

 368 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING

intellects are lit only by the afterglow of a faith whose sun is set, but their lives are fruitful in ethical ideals and enterprise. This interesting phenomenon is mentioned not for the purpose of discussing it according to its importance, but only to point out the relation between the mental atti tude of such men and the conditions of our modern life.

Second, we consider those whose thought of God, while it has been influenced more or less by the scientific spirit, has been mainly determined by the practical, daily contact with a predominantly human environment. With them the tendency is to magnify humanity and to humanize God. By the latter expression we do not mean to imply that an an thropomorphic conception of God has not prevailed at every stage of human progress. But the primitive man s idea of God was deeply coloured by the mysterious and awful as pects of nature; while the tendency of modern life is to purge the God-idea of these elements. The religious book i which is perhaps the most widely read and most remarkable produced in this stormy epoch proclaims outright and with the enthusiasm of intense conviction a finite and human God. And there are many signs indicating that among the ortho dox the drift, while it has not by any means reached that extreme, is in the same general direction.

The sentiment of awe in religion has been weakened. Men do not prostrate themselves before the deity with such a profound sense of their own nothingness. They do not think of themselves any more as the mere pawns on the chessboard of the universe. The sense of human power, human worth, human dignity, is a significant feature of the modern man s religious consciousness. This change, wrought by modern conditions of life, is more easily felt than formulated ; but somehow humanity stands for more in Christian thought and feeling. The kindlier, human aspects of Christianity receive a greater relative emphasis. The humanity of Jesus is far more emphasized, and this even when his essential unity with God is not denied. Indeed,

1 Wells, &quot; God, The Invisible King.&quot;

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