The Faith as Unfolded by Many Prophets/Of the Spirit of the Faith
OF THE SPIRIT OF THE FAITH.
The day was breaking, when the household of Havilah rose to see a troop of soldiers go forth from the city to war. Among this troop were fathers, or brothers, or friends of all who looked on, and there was much greeting between the soldiers (of whom each one stood beside his war-horse,) and the people who went to and fro in the dim light. The words which were spoken from friend to friend were uttered softly, for the parting was near, and there might be no future meeting; yet the whispers were not lost, though there was a trampling of many feet, and the fiery horses pawed the ground, and the voices of the leaders were upraised above those of the people. The musical instruments also sounded through the city and into the fields beyond, so that the flocks and they who guarded them were roused, and turned to listen, and the night-birds flew to their holes in the caverns. When the signal was given for prayer, there was a deep stillness in all the assembly, so that the cool breeze which brought the fragrance of spices, brought also the murmur of waters from without the city walls. When the music sounded again, and every soldier sprang upon his horse to go forth in the name of God and of the Prophet, the child of Havilah clapped his hands and uttered a cry of joy; while Aza folded his arms on his bosom, and looked on calmly, as on the day when his sons went forth to return no more.
Let us also follow, said the child, as he saw the people moving forward to the gate by which the troop was to leave the city. — Havilah took the child by the hand, and they went out of the city to a spot where they might see how the road wound far away among the hills. There they beheld how the soldiers, when they had advanced some way, looked back once more upon the multitude who thronged the gate, shouted once again the name of the Prophet, and spurring their horses, fled away as if the winds had borne them along. The mists of the valley were lifted up before them, so that the gazers could trace them on their way, till the whole troop appeared as the shadow of a cloud on the distant pathway.
The blessing of God, and the aid of the Prophet be with them! cried Havilah, when he could see them no more.
On the conquerors who shall live, and on the martyrs who shall fall! added Aza.
Father, said the child, when shall I go forth to conquer in the name of Mohammed, or to gain the reward of a martyr?
When thou shalt have given tokens of wisdom and valor, my child. Till then, the sword which our wise men call 'the key of heaven and hell' must not be put into thy young hands, lest thou shouldst through idleness suffer it to rust, or through cowardice fling it away.
Aza will promise for me, said the boy, that the sword shall be more precious to me than all the riches of my father's house, and that I shall ever hasten to the battle rather than to the feast.
Aza replied, If I yet live a few years, I indeed hope to send forth this boy as if he were the son of my sons, and to welcome him back as a conqueror, or to glory in him as a martyr.
Why, inquired Eber, is the sword called the key of heaven and hell? and why is the name of martyr given to those who perish in war?
Havilah answered, The Book says, 'Verily, if God pleased, he could take vengeance on the unbelievers; but he commandeth you to fight his battles, that he may prove the one of you by the other. And as to those who fight in defence of God's true religion, God will not suffer their works to perish: he will guide them, and will dispose their hearts aright; and he will lead them into Paradise, of which he hath told them.'[1] Again, 'Thou shalt in no wise reckon those dead who have been slain in the cause of God: nay, they are sustained alive with their Lord, rejoicing for what God of his favor hath granted them.'[2] By the Book itself, therefore, are they who are slain for the faith called martyrs; and because by the sword they win favor or disgrace from above, is the sword called the key of heaven and hell.
And does Havilah believe it to be so?
I know, said Havilah, that the various people to whom the truth of God has at any time been delivered, have fought for that faith, and that the slain have been accounted blessed. The Jews of old unsheathed the sword at the command of God himself, and in his name drove out all the idolatrous nations from the land of promise. Did they not say one to another, 'Cursed be he who keepeth back his sword from blood;' and again, 'Because he hath fought the battles of the Lord, he is blessed from the Lord?' The Christians also exhorted one another to bravery and to perseverance in the wars which they called sacred. Their leaders declared that the kingdom of heaven was open to the soldiers of the Cross; and I have been told that the most exalted priests of their church promised that such as died for the defence of their faith and the rescue of the sepulchre of Christ should obtain of God a celestial reward. — The reward of the Faithful shall surely be no less great, if their Prophet and his religion be holier.
Eber replied, There have indeed been multitudes of Christians who fought for the Gospel, not doubting that they should be rewarded for so doing. But such knew not the spirit of the Gospel, nor discerned that it forbids violence, and accounts it a crime to defend the truth of God by the angry passions of men. To me it has ever been strange, that the Christians who carried war to the mouth of the sepulchre for which they fought, should have known so little of Jesus and his followers, as to have testified to their belief in the manner they did. If the Scriptures had net then been a sealed book to them, they would have been wiser.
How does Eber read therein, said Havilah, that he speaks with such certainty of the mistakes of his brethren in the faith?
The Christians of whom I speak, answered Eber, are not those of the present time, when each one may read the Scriptures for himself. I speak of those in past ages, who received the Gospel only from the lips of their priests, and who were therefore subject to do whatever the ambition of such men might command, whether it was to build splended temples to God, or palaces for the priests, or to spend their riches for the glory of the church, or their blood for the defence of their superstitions. The truth of God can never be aided by deeds like these. It cannot be made more safe by the defence of armor, or more triumphant by the sword, or more glorious by the sacrifice of a million of lives. This is perceived by all who understand the Gospel for themselves, and therefore is there now no war for the Christian faith.
Tell me, said Havilah, wherein the Scriptures of the Christians are so unlike the Scriptures of Mohammed as to forbid bravery in defending the faith.
Eber smiled as he answered, Bravery is no where forbidden in our law; and to defend the truth with a courage which cannot be subdued is accounted a great virtue: but this courage is of a different and a higher kind than that which is shown in the field. There may be bravery without violence, and fortitude without pride. Such bravery and such fortitude were those of Christ and of his Apostles. The religion of Jesus was a religion of peace: but none could embrace this faith in its early days whose spirits were not calm to face danger, and strong to endure pain and death.
I know, replied Havilah, that the Jews were disappointed because Christ came not as a warlike prince. Mohammed marvelled that they did not therefore receive him, who was a warlike prince.
Mohammed was indeed, said Eber, as unlike Jesus as their Scriptures are unlike in letter and in spirit. But I will declare, as my friend desires, what I find in the Gospel respecting the spirit of peace and of war. When Jesus appeared, the Jews were impatient for war against the conquerors of their nation, whom they hated: and if Jesus had spoken the word, they would have made him a king, and have followed him, full of faith, to the field. When he went forth to preach to them on the mountain where armies had often been gathered together, they followed him, eager to make a camp about him, and send a defiance to their enemies: but Jesus spoke of peace with strangers as well as with countrymen, and of love to enemies as well as friends. He gave blessings to the meek and to the peace-makers, and taught to seek after holiness rather than glory. Thou hast read for thyself what followed. The pure who sought God, the gentle who loved, the sorrowful who mourned, the penitent who feared, clave to Jesus: the proud and the cruel, who thirsted for glory and for war, forsook him, and thenceforth persecuted him to death.
It is strange, said Aza, that his Gospel has endured to this day, if such despised persons alone were his followers.
Others soon joined them, said Eber, who saw his miracles, and devoted themselves to share his labors: yet these, though they lived with him, and saw how holy and how peaceful he was, still hoped that the time would come when he would take the sword, or put it into their hands. They watched in vain. When he sent forth seventy of his followers to preach his Gospel with miracles, he commanded them to go unarmed, to trust in God for their safety, to meet peril and pain wherever they should await them; but to offer no violence, and to return no injuries. Going forth thus peacefully, they returned with joy, safe, though unarmed. Not even yet were his followers convinced. When Jesus was about to be seized in the garden by those who carried him away to his death, Peter drew his sword, and wounded a servant of the High Priest: then Jesus reproved him, and bade him put aw T ay his sword, declaring that they who use the sword shall perish by the sword, and reminding him that it was not through want of power from on high that his enemies were not destroyed before his face. He also healed the wound, as a sign that he loved peace and forgave injuries.
Our Prophet also commanded to be merciful, said Havilah, and declared that there should be no violence in religion.
The mercy which Mohammed commanded, said Eber, was to do no injury to those who submitted or who could not defend themselves. This is well. But Jesus commanded that there should be no strife; so that none could triumph over another, or injure another. This is better. As for the saying of Mohammed that 'there should be no violence in religion[3],' it was spoken not of war, but of the desire of some of his followers to oblige their sons to take on them the profession of your faith. That the violence of war was allowed by him, there is witness in the battles which he fought, and in the commands which he gave to shed blood. When I read and hear of the slaughter which has been done in the name of your Prophet, and see that the spoils of war are divided among the conquerors, and remember how multitudes have been made slaves, or compelled to profess a religion which they abhorred, I have blessed the name of Jesus, and prayed that all might see in him the greatest of the prophets of God. By him was the blood of no man shed, and to none did he give permission to hurt a hair of the head. He gave pity and not vengeance to his enemies, and prayed for them when he might have destroyed them. He despoiled none of their possessions; but refused the wealth which his nation would have laid at his feet, if he had declared himself a prince. He frowned upon slavery, since he came to give that freedom of the spirit under which the body cannot long remain in bondage. Wherever men at this day believe with the heart as Jesus taught, that all men are equal in the sight of God, there is no slavery. And in the day when the Gospel shall be rightly believed in over all the world, men will ask one another how any had ever dared to take to himself the name of Master, and why any man should have submitted himself to be a slave. But these days are not yet.
Aza said, How was it that the religion of Jesus was received by any, if he was thus meek? Why did not men, as they are wont, despise his gentleness, and ridicule his poverty?
Instead of contempt, replied Eber, there was awe; and instead of ridicule, there was reverence. Men saw his mighty works, and trembled while they loved: — they beheld how he was clothed with holiness, and bowed before him: they saw how, being poor, he made many rich and blessed them. Thus was it also towards his followers; for though they were peaceful, they were mighty, and in their meekness they were strong. They had power from above to subdue many hearts, and were armed with faith and patience as with a seven-fold shield. None could esteem those weak, who made rulers tremble on the judgment-seat, and struck fear into the hearts of soldiers. None could doubt the courage of those who calmly met the perils of land and sea, persecution from the people, torture from the rulers, and death at the command of princes. These princes and rulers sat within their palaces, and ignorantly laughed at the weakness of those whom they had commanded to be destroyed; but they who beheld the destruction feared vengeance from Heaven, and saw how far the strength of the soul excels that of the limbs, and that patience is more noble than revenge.
Havilah said, I have sometimes questioned within myself when wars for the faith should cease. It cannot be that they shall continue for ever: yet if a time of universal peace and holiness should come, men will marvel that the Book tells of slaughter, and of spoils, and of slavery. How also shall men cease to hate one another and to seek vengeance and profit for themselves, if they read that Mohammed himself sought revenge, and gratified himself with many pleasures which others may not desire?
These questions are wise, replied Eber; and my reply is, that in the days of peace and purity which shall at length arrive, the religion of Christ shall be more esteemed than that of Mohammed. Men shall then be more wise than to be satisfied with the pleasures which Mohammed allowed, and in which he indulged. They will find all that is pure in his religion made more pure in the Gospel; and all that is true in the one, set forth more clearly in the other. Many may rejoice that through the Book they learned the name of Christ; but they will cast aside the Book when they have found in the Gospel a better record of the faith. They shall then discern that though Mohammed was wise, and though he was permitted by God to display the eternal truth to some who would otherwise have worshiped many gods, he was not among the appointed prophets; and that it is impious to call him greater than Jesus, the last and holiest of the messengers of God.
Yet behold, said Aza, how the faith he taught has spread from land to land. Wherever the sword has been carried in the name of the Prophet, that name has been received.
In the wisdom of God has it been so ordered, replied Eber, because the faith of Mohammed is better than that of idolaters; and while it overthrows idols, it prepares a way for the faith of Christ. This is, I doubt not, the purpose for which it has been ordained to spread so far: but the work of God is not finished till the name of Christ is exalted beyond every other earthly name.
The time once was, when from yonder gate idolatrous priests came forth from the city, with the name of a false god upon their lips and a blind cruelty in their hearts. Then the cries of mothers, whose children were about to be sacrificed, mingled with the music of the worship; and the little ones, who knew not what should befall then, wrung the hearts of those who bore them, with their smiles.
Then, cried Havilah, was there mourning among the angels who beheld; then they wept for the guilt and the sorrows of men.
Today, continued Eber, we have seen a troop go forth thence to war for the faith they held. They cried on the name of the true God: but they went forth to destroy the works of his hand; to shed the blood which he warmed with life; to seize upon wealth which is not theirs, and to spread anguish and fear among those who have done them no injury. A time shall come when the will of the Father of men shall be better understood.
What shall then be done?
Then, said Eber, shall that gate stand wide for men to go to and fro, as if they were indeed the guardian angels one of another. Instead of the warlike trumpet, there shall be the holier music of praise to God, and joy among men. The ways where the war-horses have this day left their track shall be trodden by the feet of those who go forth, not thirsting for the blood of men, but rather for the glory of God; not praying for vengeance, but rather for mercy on their enemies. Instead of fear, they shall cause hope to spring up around them wherever they turn: in stead of inflicting anguish, they shall offer peace; and shall give liberty to the soul, instead of bondage to the limbs. Where they are present, tears shall be dried up, groans shall be hushed, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Nay, said Aza, then would yonder gate be the entrance of Paradise ; for what greater good has Paradise than that which thou hast said?
Havilah answered, There remains over all in Paradise 'the superabundant recompense' of which Mohammed spoke, and for which Eber hopes as well as I.
For the joy which cannot be conceived, said Eber, I wait till it shall be revealed in the presence of God. But it is my belief, that all the peace which the spirit of man can now imagine or desire might be possessed on earth, if the religion of Christ everywhere prevailed in the heart and sanctified the life.