So we may apply the test to any realm of thought whatever, and the law holds
good: It is not in its apprehension, but in its expression, that a truth finally
becomes assimilated to our body of usable knowledge. And this means that in all
training of the body through its motor expression we are to remember that the
mind must be behind the act; that the intellect must guide the hand; that the
object is not to make skillful fingers alone, but to develop clear and intelligent
thought as well.
Moral Value of Expression.—Expression also has a distinct moral value. There
are many more people of good intentions than of moral character in the world.
The rugged proverb tells us that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
And how easy it is to form good resolutions. Who of us has not, after some
moral struggle, said, "I will break the bonds of this habit: I will enter upon that
heroic line of action!" and then, satisfied for the time with having made the
resolution, continued in the old path, until we were surprised later to find that we
had never got beyond the resolution.
It is not in the moment of the resolve but in the moment when the resolve is
carried out in action that the moral value inheres. To take a stand on a question
of right and wrong means more than to show one's allegiance to the right—it
clears one's own moral vision and gives him command of himself. Expression is,
finally, the only true test for our morality. Lacking moral expression, we may
stand in the class of those who are merely good, but we can never enter the class
of those who are good for something. One cannot but wonder what would
happen if all the people in the world who are morally right should give
expression to their moral sentiments, not in words alone, but in deeds. Surely the
millennium would speedily come, not only among the nations, but in the lives of
men.
Religious Value of Expression.—True religious experience demands
expression. The older conception of a religious life was to escape from the world
and live a life of communion and contemplation in some secluded spot, ignoring
the world thirsting without. Later religious teaching, however, recognized the
fact that religion cannot consist in drinking in blessings alone, no matter how
ecstatic the feeling which may accompany the process; that it is not the
receiving, but this along with the giving that enriches the life. To give the cup of
cold water, to visit the widow and the fatherless, to comfort and help the needy
and forlorn—this is not only scriptural but it is psychological. Only as religious
feeling goes out into religious expression, can we have a normal religious
experience.