PLEDGE Rev. LOUIS B. KING 1975
NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCV OCTOBER, 1975 No. 10
When thou dost lend thy neighbor any manner of loan, thou shalt not go into his house, to fetch his
pledge. Thou shalt stand without, and the man to whom thou dost lend shalt bring forth the
pledge without unto thee. (Deuteronomy 24: 10-11)
Freedom of choice is the image of the Divine in man. Nothing is more sacred to him or distinctly his own than the ability and the will to respond to life's forces as of self. A free and reasoned response is the
pledge of human character, of the will and the understanding united, which man (by regeneration) brings out of the house of his human mind to return freely to the Lord.
When we share with our fellow man an idea based on some truth from revelation or nature, we are acting as a medium through whom the Lord upbuilds the character of another. All that the Lord gives to man He gives through man. But in so giving let us guard zealously the recipient's freedom to accept or reject. It is our right to present the truth forcefully, to reinforce it with every reasoned conviction of the rational faculty; but never are we to trespass upon the domain of his free election. His sacred right is to consider and reconsider Our offering. He must decide for himself, and such a decision involves not only reasoned reflection but conscientious willing. Love is the life of man. It resides in his will and we, no matter how convinced of the truth and goodness of our offering, must not intrude our convictions upon another's will or try in any way to control his choice.
The ancient law of the
pledge given by the Lord through Moses to the children of Israel illustrates the regard we should have for the freedom of others.
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The lender (the benefactor) was not to set foot in the house of the borrower to obtain a
pledge for his loan. The borrower was to be in complete freedom to accept or reject the terms of the loan and he was guaranteed the privacy of his home to so consider. If he decided to receive the loan, he would bring out to the lender a
pledge, a verbal or written contract, or perhaps a valued article as collateral.
So do we in our own age become spiritual lenders and borrowers to each other' "Here is the truth as I see it" we say to our fellows. "This, I would suggest, is the right action in your situation. Think about it! See if it is not the way of use and hence in keeping with the Lord's will." So should we lend our counsel to our friends? And if they consider and accept it, their will's consent becomes a
pledge, a
pledge of love, of life and, therefore, a
pledge to be made in utter freedom in the privacy of their own heart.
How wrong on our part is it to employ coercion, to use the subtle pressure of position, wealth, or family tie to transgress the boundary of free choice. God Himself, whose love would save all and whose wisdom would erase all disorder and avoid all mistaken choice, will not interfere with the free volition of His creatures.
The necessity of making a choice and the direction of that choice we may urgently, advocate to another. With skill, perception and the most unselfish motive we may implore the will of another and woo his reason. Yet we are not to enter the house of his will. We are to stand patiently, sympathetically outside and receive his
pledge at his hand.
With little children, who have not as yet come into their own right of adult reason and willing, parents must act as their conscience in many things. But the whole effort of right education is to open the mind by knowledges from without and, at the same time, promote and protect the implantation of remains from within, so that one day adult rationality will become a reality, and with it freedom of choice in selecting spiritual values.
The fervent hope is that our young people will
pledge their love and support for the things of the church. And the church in turn will minister to their individual needs, warning against sin, exhorting to repentance, inspiring use, and above all imparting a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine Humanity. If this vision becomes their vision, and if they
pledge a new life in accordance with it, the church will fulfill its purpose; yet while the decision is in the making the church also must stand without. It must not compel!
It is difficult for parents and teachers to recognize and respect the maturing judgment and freedom of young adults.
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Particularly where parental care has been faithful and fervent, where companionship has been intimate and sympathetic, where spiritual love has yearned, labored and sacrificed for the right decision-suddenly parents find themselves standing outside awaiting the opened door and the
pledge.
Though lingering parental love would prompt us to decide for them, though we would still shelter them from any hurt, deliver them from temptation, yea prevent them from wrong decisions, we must heed the command, "Thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his
pledge. Thou shalt stand without."
And if we find difficulty in releasing these reins of freedom let us reflect upon the relationship that our Heavenly Father maintains towards us. It is His law that man shall be a free agent in spiritual things, and He faithfully, with patience, honors that law. Think of the Divine love! Ponder its excellence and its patience. It creates the kingdom of nature a theater representative of Divine love and wisdom; then man out of the dust of the ground, in the image and likeness of God, a living receptacle of love, capable of sensating love as life, and returning-freely returning-it and its glorious blessings of delight to others.
Finite man-ponder him also the culminating end and purpose of prior creation! And if man's formation was the Lord's goal, how overwhelming must be the endeavor of that Divine love to possess the human heart. Yet what a testimony to the inviolability and sanctity of the heart's freedom that God will not possess it-the heart-except under these conditions, "Behold I stand at the door and knock! If any man will hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me."
What fabulous economy the Lord employed in setting the cosmic scene for finite man to receive the Divine life, feel it as if his own and thus return it freely and spontaneously. The kingdom of nature was fashioned first as a substantial origin and source of substance for his physical body. The mental faculties and capacities were next given and ordered that the Divine might enter into man, be recognized, loved and obeyed. Everything conceivably useful and beneficial to man's acceptance of the Lord and subsequent happiness, the Heavenly Father has provided from the beginning. Yet never once in all the history of the human race has the Lord ever interfered with man's freedom, or even hinted at the coercion of his thoughts. Man is free ever to disbelieve in his Maker, to doubt the existence of law and order, even to scorn the suggestion of any ultimate reality or absolute value outside of subjective whim or objective sensation.
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Man is totally free to reject the Lord, together with any or all affection for Him or appreciation of what the Lord has done or given for the sake of human happiness.
And the Lord, the Heavenly Father, stands patiently outside-infinitely desirous of a
pledge. And if it is not forthcoming, the Divine love will never cease its giving, nor its willing, nor its merciful forgiving. Life, liberty, rationality and indefinite opportunities to receive and use these Divine gifts wisely will continue to be man's inalienable endowment. The Lord will never cut them off. More generous than this, the blessing of free choice, to be one's self and develop one's own eternal character by bringing forth or refusing the
pledge of affirmation, will never be denied man by the Lord. Only man denies himself this privilege. Spiritual freedom must come with humility-humility born of apparent defeat in the regenerative combats of daily living. Surely we would shield our adult loved ones from the sad consequence of misjudgment and misconduct. And do we not seek to avoid these pitfalls ourselves?
Yet character is formed through permissions of evil. The mistakes made when insisting upon our own way, for ourselves and for others, often awaken in us a realization of our desperate need for the Lord's help. Adversity, humility, even despair, help to break the persuasive of self-love so that the prison doors of proprial life may be opened and we may step out into the sunlight of righteousness, to offer our
pledge to the Lord.
The Lord alone lives; the Lord gives others to live from Himself; the Lord reveals His truth, to guide that life; the Lord bows the heavens and comes down that man may be free. And the providence of that infinite love is seen in the specific choice of faith and conduct, which each man makes for himself, assisted but never coerced by the Lord. The private judgment and motivation of his inner heart, made in the silent seclusion of his own house, is the
pledge of love, which the Lord seeks from His children.
When infants are baptized, parents stand in the presence of the Lord and offer a
pledge in behalf of their charge. The promises made are awesome, profound and moving. At the time there is inspiration and hope that the Lord's kingdom in the heavens will come down into the hearts of these little ones so that they may ripen into fruitful New Churchmen. Parents may offer every assistance in preparation towards the day of this fulfillment, but when the issue is at hand they must stand without, waiting, hoping, praying for love's
pledge. And when the
pledge is given, it is given not to parents, though on the occasion they rejoice from inmost love and gratitude, but it is given to the Lord, who is the Life, the Truth and the Way; and who has stood faithfully by, knowing, observing (better than anyone else) the law of the
pledge. "When thou dost lend they neighbor any manner of loan, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his
pledge.
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Thou shalt stand without and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring forth the
pledge!" Amen.
LESSONS: Deuteronomy 24: 1-22; Luke 15: 11-32; New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 141143.
MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 474, 448, 482, 438.
PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 117, 118.