THE RELIGIOUS VERTEBRATE.
By George H. Hubbard
BY THE REV. GEORGE H. HUBBARD. NATURAL scientists classify the animate creation in two grand divisions,—vertebrates and invertebrates. The vertebrate is the animal with a backbone and its accompanying skeleton, which gives to its possessor grace and definiteness of form, combined with strength and beauty. He is a higher order of being than his invertebrate brother, and much more perfectly developed. The backbone was introduced very early in the process of evolution; for it was impossible to make any satisfactory progress without it. A world of invertebrates would be a poor world indeed. It is the backbone that makes the difference between the lobster and the race horse. In the church of Christ a twofold classification appears not unlike that of the natural scientists. There are vertebrate Christians, and there are invertebrate Christians. There are Christians with no moral backbone, no clearly defined character, no spiritual grace and power. They may be men or women of culture, of large views, of more than usual capacities and talents; but they add little strength to the church; they exert little influence for good. On the other hand there is the religious vertebrate, the Christian with the backbone. He is instinctively recognized as belonging to a much higher order of spiritual being. He is a well formed and clearly defined character. He is a power in the church and community, a noble product of spiritual development. What makes the difference between these two classes of Christians, found in every church and every community?—The backbone. But what is the backbone?—In animals it is that strong bony column which, with its branches, gives firmness and shape to the body, holding in place the softer flesh and sinews and muscles. Animals that lack this internal skeleton are often provided with a clumsy substitute covering them externally in the form of a shell, as in the case of the oyster and crab. The vertebrates are creatures with an internal skeleton, as contrasted with those having an external skeleton, or no skeleton at all. So the vertebrate Christians are those Christians whose basis of character and conduct is within themselves; while the religious invertebrates either have no fixed rule of life, or are constantly seeking some rule outside themselves. Spiritual backbone is not merely strength of will; for we may find that very often in the religious vertebrate. It is, rather, definite moral principle, strong personal convictions of truth and duty, than which nothing is more essential to the development of the true Christian character. Without this there can be no moral strength and maturity, nor any beauty or completeness of life. The character that is not shaped and braced by definite principle will be as unsubstantial as the jellyfish, and as changeful as the clouds or the shifting sand. The spirituality that is not vitalized by the leaven of moral principle will have no power of growth or development, but must remain forever imperfect. For too many persons the sole law of action is external. They are the slaves of expediency, or public opinion, or what not. Instead of a backbone, they have a shell, and their spiritual life is but a clumsy and inefficient affair. Not a few young disciples long for some definite command, some "Thou shalt" or "Thou shalt not," to settle every difficult question that presents itself to them. They fancy that it would make life easier, and the path of duty much plainer; and they forget that such a course would be fatal to all extended spiritual growth. How many refer all debatable matters to the minister, or to some Christian friend of greater wisdom and experience than themselves, and order their conduct by the advice given? In special emergencies, when such advice cannot be obtained, or when it is unsatisfactory, they turn their Bibles into conjuring books, and by the chance opening to some significant word or verse they decide that which should have been determined by a clear principle within themselves. Such a use of the Bible degrades the word of God to the level of a heathen oracle. Worse than this, it condemns him who so uses it to a perpetual state of spiritual invertebracy. A worthy moral or Christian character can no more be developed by formal obedience to specific precepts than can great scientific knowledge and power be built upon mathematical rules. One will not become a Newton by merely committing to memory all the mathematical formulæ, neither will one become a Phillips Brooks by obeying certain specific rules of conduct. We must search beneath all rules and precepts for the great principle which they embody. This is the secret of spiritual strength, of noble and growing character. Principle is the moral "base-line" by which we measure and direct our conduct as accurately and as surely as the surveyor maps out the line of a railway. Principle is like the law of crystallization; it renders a man's character as much superior to that of the mere legalist as the crystal is unspeakably more beautiful than the amorphous rock. Says Dr. W. M. Taylor: "If we do that only which is formally prescribed, and if, where the law leaves a blank to be filled up by circumstances, we act as if there were no law at all, then we have yet to learn what true morality or righteousness is. Nay, more, we have yet to learn what kind of a book the New Testament is; for it is not a list of distinct precepts, each of which is applicable to only one case, but it is a book of living principles of universal application, and he who really understands them, and has a heart to feel their obligation, will be at no loss to find opportunity for their manifestation. To read it as if it were a set of rubrics, with minute directions for every detail of conduct, will make us Pharisees; to read it as a book of great principles, that are to have free course through all our actions, will make us disciples of Him who went about doing good." If, then, we would attain to the highest type of moral character, we must do it, not by a mere formal obedience to certain fixed laws even though they be divine, but by seeking to master and to incorporate into our lives the principles which underlie those laws. In other words, we must develop a strong moral backbone. Having this, we shall instinctively fulfill the outward and formal requirements of God's law, and our conduct will naturally fall into the true channel. Day by day there will be a constant moral growth, a steady and noble development of spiritual power, until we attain the full stature of the character of Christ Jesus.—S. S. Times.