n. His followers in later times did
lay a new yoke on the spirits of men and denied them the right to think
their own thoughts and be themselves. But the spirit of Jesus is an
awakening force. Even the down-and-out brace up when they come in contact
with him, and feel that they are still good for something.

"Jesus Christ was the first to bring the value of every human soul to
light, and what he did no one can any more undo" (Harnack). But it remains
for every individual to accept and reaffirm that religious faith as his
own guiding principle according to which he proposes to live. We shall be
at one with the spirit of Christianity and of modern civilization if we
approach all men with the expectation of finding beneath commonplace,
sordid, or even repulsive externals some qualities of love, loyalty,
heroism, aspiration, or repentance, which prove the divine in man. Kant
expressed that reverence for personality in his doctrine that we must
never treat a man as a means only, but always as an end in himself. So far
as our civilization treats men merely as labor force, fit to produce
wealth for the few, it is not yet Christian. Any man who treats his
fellows in that way, blunts his higher nature; as Fichte says, whoever
treats another as a slave, becomes a slave. We might add, whoever treats
him as a child of God, becomes a child of God and learns to know God.

"The principle of reverence for personality is the ruling principle in
ethics, and in religion; it constitutes, therefore, the truest and highest
test of either an individual or a civilization; it has been, even
unconsciously, the guiding and determining principle in all human
progress; and in its religious interpretation, it is, indeed, the one
faith that keeps meaning and value for life" (President Henry C. King).

Suggestions for Thought and Discussion

I. _The Ordinary Estimate of Men_

1. How much do we care for a man if he is of no practical use to us?

2. On what basis do we ordinarily value men?

II. _Jesus' Estimate of Men_

1. Which source passages in the daily readings seemed to put the feeling
of Jesus in the clearest light?

2. How did the religious insight of Jesus reenforce his social feeling?

3. To what extent is it possible to duplicate his sense of humanity
without his consciousness of God?

III. _The Valuation of the Individual in Modern Life_

1. List the evidences that modern society values men as such apart from
economic uti