John Stuart Mill: A Criticism with Personal Recollections

138 CHRIST AS A HUMAN PERSON. 1849-1872.
that what they lack in direct strength as compared with those
of a firmer belief, is more than compensated by the greater
truth and rectitude of the morality they sanction."
It seems, at first glance, a bold proceeding to take to pieces
the Christ of Christianity, and to appropriate just so much of
him as suits a
"
rational criticism ". Something of this kind
has already been tried by the Unitarians, but with small success,
if that is to be measured by the extent of popular reception.
It would seem, in this as in other parts of religion, that what
the rationalist disapproves of most, the multitude like best.
We are, of course, at liberty to dissent from the prevailing
view, which makes Christ a divine person. But to reduce a
Deity to the human level, to rank him simply as a great man,
and to hold ideal intercourse with him in that capacity, is, to
say the least of it, an incongruity. Historians and moralists
have been accustomed to treat with condemnation those
monarchs that, after being dethroned, have accepted in full the
position of subjects. Either to die, or else to withdraw into
dignified isolation, has been accounted the only fitting termina
tion to the loss of royal power. So, a Deity dethroned should
retire altogether from playing a part in human affairs, and
remain simply as an historic name.
The point of congruity or propriety is not, as I conceive, the
worst objection to Mill s proposal. The doctrines, prescriptions,
or sayings of one believed to be a God, must all have a religious
bearing ; they are properly adapted to men in their religious
capacity. They may often refer to matters of mere worldly
conduct, but the religious side is still a vital part of them. If
religion were done away with, to the extent that Mill would have
it, those sayings of Christ must lose their suitability to human
life as so transformed.
"
Forgive that ye may be forgiven
"
(by God) is no longer applicable. The best guidance, under
such altered
circumstances, would be that furnished by the
wisest of purely secular teachers. The same applies to Christ
as an example. He is so to those that accept him in his own