Jesus will ever
more completely draw men and inspire them because they will more
fully understand that He explains them to themselves.
The present degradation of human life is due to man's refusal to
accept Christ's estimate of its values and duties. It will endure
so long as the work and Person of Christ are refused their right
place in human thought and aspiration.
Jesus still lives, great and unexplained.
From these quotations it will be seen that Canon Barnes is not searching
the documents of Christianity for a new hypothesis, but rather for a new
understanding by which he may be able to present the historic power of
Christianity in terms of modern thought. Jesus remains for him the
central Figure of evolution. "Human thought," he declares, "as moulded
by developed aspirations and accumulated knowledge, will not sweep past
Jesus but will circle round Him as the centre where God revealed
Himself."
Perhaps we shall best understand the position of Canon Barnes if we see
him, neither on this side nor on that of the warring controversy, but
rather among the entire host of Christianity, warning all schools of
thought, all parties, all sects, that they must prepare themselves for
the final strife which is yet to come, that great strife, foreseen by
Newman, when the two contrary principles of human life, the Good and the
Evil, shall rush upon each other contending for the soul of the world.
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