Morning journal and courier., 1883-06-25

God-hke and all-conquering men is true of
 institutions and systems of morals and reli- gions.
 All these movements of opinion, whether partial or complete, show that thinking men are coming more and more distinctly to rec ognlze the truth that human life is essential ly struggle and contest. have referred to this theory because of the scientific and the so called sentimental view of life. I have also in mind the charge that the Christian theory is sentimental and not scientific, because forsooth charity and forgiveness and patience and humility are its prominent graees as contrasted with the com
 batlve and self asserting impulses which are supposed to be the only conditions of hu- man Well-being. The doctrine of free for glveness IS thought to be inconsistent with the principle that moral strength can only come from personal struggle. Its promise of help IS regarded premium upon indo- fence ana presumption, and it's reliance upon personM sympathy and comfort and grace IS said to be inconsistent with that self-depen- dence which is the condition of character and success. In other words it. is charged that the Christian life recognizes no contest at all and that the injunction to fight the good fight IS selfcontradictory in its very terms. do not argue the question here whether these charges are weIl-founded. I only re- fer to the fact that the plainest pre7epts and assertions of the New Testament are to the effect that the Christian life from it's begin ming to the end is a perpetual and active strife with evil. From the earliest words that meet us in tho sermon on the mount, ! Strive that ye may enter the straight gate, to the latest Behold, I come quickly and my reward is within," one doctrine is taught and one only; and that IS the Christian life ' in all it's phases and forms is a continuous l contest, in which every variety of energy is called for and every form of self-denial comes { in play.
 That the Christian life is a contest appears I still further from the forces or obstacles l with which the believer must contend.
 First of all there is every form of natural l or human evil. sickness, suffering, disap pointment and personal hostility in all their varieties and complications. To ali these 1 the believer is exposed and with them all he must contend in way peculiar to himself From not one of these is he exempt from the conditions of his Christian discipleship. To l some of these he is keenly sensitive by the 1 training which it furnishes. In common with his fellow men, he4must suffer in fear and endurance every variety of so called nat uraI calamity and resist and overcome each by his faith. There are other forms of evil which spring up from within and these are far more difficult to detect and oppose SeI- fshness as 8 spring of action must be con stantly abiured as the law of activity, and 1 love as constantly received and recognized as the impulse and motive of the inner life Selfshness assumes protean powers and can easily disguise itself as an angel of light Sensuality must be abhorred as an impulse and rejected as a contamination whether in l it's growth or its more insidious forms Am l bition must be distinctly yet intelligently re- nounced and overcome. Envy in it's hateful and more refined manifestations must be rec ognized as not only malignant, but mean. Avarice must ba deliberately disowned as spring and motive, notwithstanding the at 4wo0 age In which riches are so rapidly acquired and are the instruments of manifold useful l ness and blessing Personal or party success as 8 supreme end, even in the service of Christ, must be abjured as q commanding motive if it calls for the surrender of integ- rity or honor or justice or truth or charity. The springs and motives of the inner life the aims and principles and affections must be watched with constant supervision and re- sisted with unsparing vigor whenever they conflict with the spirit and precepts of the Master
 The Christian must not only contend with evil in himself, he must also contend with it l in his fellow-men, singly or combined. All l the impulses which we are called on to resist in ourselves we are equally bound to resist in others, whether they are invested with the charms of an attractive personality or en- forced by personal authority or social posi- l tion. Friendship, business interests social | l may put in their plea for exemption, but the duty still remains to dissent from the opinion and will of 8 fellow-man when not to dissent implies dissent and when dissent is plainly called for. 1 am not here concerned with ] the spirit with which dissent should be ex- pressed. But when all the qualifications are allowed which charity and skill and patience l require the duty of contending against our fellow-men when their influence makes for evil remains a constant and inexorable char acteristic of the Christian life.
 The duty of eontending against evil in our | felloWm men also implies and emphasizes the | duty of opposing evil when it takes 8 social or organized form. The attention of think | ing men was never so distinctly and positive ! ly directed to this class of duties as at the present moment. In the theories of not @ ] few there are no other evils than those that 1 are social and organized. The bold and once I despised theory of Robert Owen, that man ! individual and man social is but the product and the victim of counteracting circumstan- ces, has been rehabilitated with much preten- sion of biological and metaphysical science, 1 till the individual, as it would seem in the theories of many, has become nothing and society everything: Man himself in his so- called individual life is viewed by many the 1 orists as the product of the vast and com plex agencies that have been working from eternity his measures of truth and falsehood of moral good and evil. Even his standard of duty and of truth and the yerJ energy by which he is summoned to resist social and organized evil are but themselves the result and indirect products of those agencies. However extravagant and ne-sided these theories may be they illustrate and confirm the position that men were never more alive to the truth that it is their duty and their salvation to contend against the men who represent or direct these organized neglects or wrongs. Christianity is not whit be- hind the times in it's conceptions and calls to duty. It's language has ever been and ever must be, q came not to send peace on earth, but a sword I'' The Christianity which does not aim to purify and reform society is un-
 worthy the name. and the Christian disciple who has not the courage and spirit to con- tend against social agencies of evil is un. worthy of his Master. That Christianity does not underestimate tho power of the social and organized forces which have ever stood in it's way is evident from it's language eve wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual Wickedness in high places The weapons of our warfare are not carnaI, but they are mighty thro' God to the pulling down of strongholds Would VIC conceive how appalling must have been the sense of the organized and inveterate strength of some of these organized social evils we may put ourselves in the place of Paul when he landed at the Pirseus and walked through the
 Parthenon, while his spirit sunk within him
 as he saw on every hand the indications that
 the city was wholly given and bound to idol
 atry; so utterly that he could find only re-
 mote suggestion as text for the theism that
 he would preach in an obscure altar to
 God unknown. Or we may walk with him
 as he drew near to Rome, q prisoner in the
 grasp of that mighty empire whose letters
 and military strength and political orsaniza-
 tion. whose wisdom and fashion and luxury
 were all committed to the apotheosis of 8
 Tiberius or a Nero, the flames of whose
 wrath were ready to consume as finder every
 unhappy wretch who would not burn in-
 cense to the emperor.
 Now should we forget that Christianity it.
 self comes to man as society of itself, the
 invisible but manifestly social, the loosely or
 ganized but intensely vital Kingdom of God,
 which works like leaven to disintegrate and
 yet to reunite all other societies and to trans
 figure and transform whatever was corrupt
 and destructive in the old social organizations
 so as to make them the agents of new spirit
 and ministers of 8 renewed life. If anything
 further were required to illustrate or enforce the truth that the Christian life is contest
 it might be found in it's history Think first
 of the inner life of every individual believer.
 Through what struggles and conflicts is it perfected. Every man who has become
 stronger in faith, more self governed, more