Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 53:211 (Jul 1896)
Article: Individualism And Societism
Author: Z. Swift Holbrook

BSac 53:211 (July 1896) p. 540

Individualism And Societism1

Z. Swift Holbrook

It is undoubtedly true that the New Testament is not, and does not purport to be, a treatise on economics, sociology, civics, or political liberty. It does not refute the doctrines of Adam Smith nor make mention of laissez-faire; nor does it allude to the principle of cooperation or profit-sharing in the sphere of production, any more than it prophesies the invention of the telephone or of stem-winding watches; the discovery of the law of gravitation or of the Roentgen ray. For a treatise on the duties and functions of the state, one may go much more profitably to the reference library than to the Moody Institute; and the attempt to find in Christ’s sayings a warrant for every new social ism that may arise, so that authority may take the place of reason and save the necessity of some rugged intellectual work, marks a mind that may be submerged in sentimentalism, but it certainly is not in sense.

Christ and his immediate followers, however, did enunciate spiritual truths that involve some fundamental principles seemingly remote; and that, unfolding through the centuries, have blossomed into some very practical reforms. The attempt, therefore, to interpret his teachings, and adapt them to the existing emergencies of each age, is not prima facie evidence of religiosity nor of a mind afflicted with pietism. There is a rational diagnosis of social diseases; and

BSac 53:211 (July 1896) p. 541

if a critical study of proposed remedies fails to find any genuine cure, except in the good-will proposed by Christianity, intellectual honesty demands that the truth shall be spoken. If scientific socialism cannot be made to work unless society is first imbued with good-will; and if, when that social, regenerative force has taken possession of a community, there will be no need of scientific socialism, the truth must then be told, that what society needs is an increase in the momentum and appreciation of spiritual forces, and not enlarged conceptions of the duties and functions of the state. The vital mistake of many so-called social reformers is at this point.

The parable suggestive of Christ’s relations to the individual and to society, is that of the ninety and nine. It is not by direct assertion or definite teaching that the lesson of individualism is learned from this beautiful and simple word-picture, but it is there by assumption and inference. The shepherd left in the wilderness the ninety and nine to find the individual sheep that was lost, and then returned to give his thought and care to the one hundred. It is no flight of the imagination to say that, historically and scientifically, this has bee...