Page:McClure's Magazine v9 n3 to v10 no2.djvu/40

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PROFESSOR HENRY DRUMMOND.

tude toward new truth. He was a one-ideaed man in as far as he allowed the truth that was dominant at the moment to take possession of him, to the exclusion sometimes of complementary truths. But no one could have been readier to expect and prepare for new light. The series of booklets which he began to issue in 1889 reveals a wonderful growth in breadth of spiritual insight. In "Natural Law" he had laid an exaggerated emphasis upon the experience involved in sudden conversion; in his later teaching, the "catastrophic" interpretation of spiritual life falls into the background. But perhaps the most important change in Professor Drummond's teaching is the new emphasis he lays upon the social organism and social duty. In "Natural Law" and in the evangelism of that period the individual fills the sphere of his vision—the claim of God on the individual, the friendship of the individual with Christ, the growth of the individual in Christlikeness. But the religious individualism of the early period was enriched in his later years through a deeper understanding of the worth of the social organization for fostering the spiritual life of the individual and a heartier appreciation of the closeness of the connection between spiritual life and social service. If "Natural Law" represents exaggerated individualism, "The City without a Church" almost leans toward an exaggerated socialism. Anyhow, Professor Drummond has here broken away into a noble and inspiring conception of the social mission of Christianity. Some of the passages in this booklet are worthy of being put alongside the impassioned appeals of the great prophet of modern democracy—Joseph Mazzini; as, for example, the passage in which he pleads with Christians to ennoble their life as citizens with the spirit of civic patriotism: "To move among the people on the common street; to meet them in the market-place on equal terms; to live among them, not as saint or monk, but as brother man with brother man; to serve God, not with form or ritual, but in the free impulse of a soul; to bear the burdens of society and relieve its needs; to carry on the multitudinous activities of the city—social, commercial, political, philanthropic: this is the religion of the Son of Man and the only fitness for Heaven which has much reality in it. . . . Traveler to God's last city, be thankful that you are alive. Be thankful for the city at your doors and for the chance to build its walls a little higher before you go. Pray for yet a little while to redeem the wasted years. And week by week, as you go forth from worship, and day by day, as you awake to face this great and needy world, learn to 'seek a city' here, and in the service of its neediest citizen to find Heaven."

This growing appreciation of the social organism and of social duty throws light upon the motif of Professor Drummond's last and, whether we judge it by a literary or intellectual standard, his greatest book—"The Ascent of Man." His first book had been an apology from the side of science for two positions in his individualistic theory of religion—the distinctiveness of the Christian life and the reality of the sudden appearance of the spiritual life, or sudden conversion. His last book was an apology—again from the side of science—for the law of love, or "struggle for the life of others," as a law deeply embedded in the whole life of the universe. His first book was an apologetic for individualism, his last, an apologetic for socialism.

The delivery of the Lowell lectures on "The Ascent of Man" in 1893 was the last important event in Professor Drummond's public career. He put his strength into these lectures—urged thereto not only by his interest in the apologetic argument for the law of struggle for the life of others, but also by his regard for the audience before whom they were to be delivered. Professor Drummond was no stranger in America. In 1879 he had explored the Rocky Mountains on a geological expedition with Sir Archibald Geikie. Several years afterwards, he visited Northfield on Mr. Moody's invitation, and spent several months in the States, addressing meetings and delivering lectures. He had a genuine liking for America and Americans; he found himself in a congenial atmosphere in the lecture hall at Boston.

Before I refer to the last two years of Professor Drummond's life, it may interest the reader if I turn aside for a little and point out some features in his activity which throw light on his personality.


PERSONAL LIFE AND CHARACTER.

Though Drummond was one of the best known citizens of Glasgow and was keenly interested in the philanthropic and religious life of the city, he loved to live in the shade. Hostesses were eager to secure him for dinners and receptions, but he had a horror of being lionized. He had a power of brilliant talk, a perfection of social manner, and a wide knowledge of men and