Second William Belden Noble Lecture

The Right Reverend William Boyd Carpenter, D.D., Bishop of Ripon, gave the second of the William Belden Noble lectures on "The Witness to the Influence of Christ" in the Fogg Lecture Room last night.

The progress of the world is largely due, Bishop Carpenter said, to great personalities, and Jesus Christ was one of these. Unless we remember that he was also a great religious personality, we cannot understand him or appreciate his works. Religion, moreover, is a power in human life so great that no investigation of religious subjects which does not take cognizance of it will ever be satisfactory to a modern audience. We cannot have a religion without a theology, and we cannot estimate the value of our own theology without comparing it with the theologies of others.

Wherein does the power of religion show itself? What is the tendency in a man which makes religion powerful? It is that tendency which makes a man seek to put himself into relationship with the powers of the unseen world. With man in an elementary stage of civilization, the reason for this is that he does not want these unseen powers to be hostile to him. But if the man is to enter successfully into this relationship he must do so on a moral basis. When he does this he makes a transcendent step in advance.

Wherever Christ found religion used against righteousness, his indignation was aroused, for religion must rest on a moral basis. Jesus Christ was in perfect harmony with the unseen powers. He is the type of what man can be when he enters into perfect harmony with God.

Bishop Carpenter's remaining lectures will be given on October 14, 17, 19 and 21.