Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-30

longs to an ancient and noble family meets
persuasion to do a cowardIy, or mean, or
disreputable act. We will try to remember
to-day, in all our speaking, and doing, and
even thinking-we will try to remember
who we are. We are citizens of heaven.
THE DUTY OF CITIZENSHIP.
But every good citizen is on the side Of
good government. He is not content TO
govern himself and hfs own home in the
right way. That is not enough. Neither
does he consider that he is doing the
remainder of his duty when he la
ments the misgovernment with which
he is surrounded, and keeps up,
constant and indignant complaining. That
Is not enough, either. The type of bad
citizen is that righteous patriarch, Lot, who
lived good many years in the worst gov
erned city on the face of the earth and COM
planned about it every day, "vexing his
righteous soul from day to day." st. Peter
tells US, 'seeing and hearing their unlawful
deeds;" and yet in all those years made no
converts to the cause OF good government
and decency. When the end came there
were not five righteous men in the town
where Lot lived, not even in his own fami-
ly. Something was the matter there. Some
of the fault, am afraid, was Lots.
The good citizen is 3 missionary OF good
citizenship. He sets at work to make
things better. That is what meant when
I said that besides the duty of loyalty, the
citizen has the duty of light-bearing. 1t
is the business of the citizen of heaven
to make earth as much like heaven as he
can. The conversation OF heaven will be a
great improvement dDon much of the con-
versatlon which is heard in our houses; the
manners of heaven will be as much an ad-
vance upon our manners as ours are upon
the etiquette of Central Africa; the customs
of heaven, the laws of heaven, the justice of
heaven, the culture of heaven, will prove
considerably better than the best which we
have now; and we want the best-we want
every improvement there is. 1t is the duty
OF citizens OF heaven, where they do all
these things-and everything else-so inf
nitely better than we do here, to bring the
ways OF heaven down upon this misgov-
erned earth, and let the light of heaven
shine into all the neglected places.
THE UPLIFTING OF THE WORLD.
That is what Christ was always saying.
That is the heart of what He meant by His
gospel of the kingdom" which He
preached. He meant the uplifting of the
world. He meant the setting of the right
that the citizens of heaven, though they
were but small company of people, dwell
ing as a weak colony in the midst of vast
empire whose allegiance was paid into the
treasury of the devil should little by little,
and year by year, and century by century,
make things better, "leaven the whole
lump" teach purer customs, wiser laws,
uplift mems ideals, and finally get the will
OF their own King done on earth as it is
done in their own kingdom in heaven.
We think sometimes that with all the
loyalty and all the light-bearing, the king
dom OF God is very slow in its con-
version of the Kingdoms of this
world. We read that the knowledge
and obedience of God will one day
cover the earth as the waters cover the
bottom of the sea. But that mighty and
blessed flood delays its coming, and what
water there is seems pretty shallow, the
sand-bars of selishness lie just beneath its
surface, and the rocks and reefs of unright-
eousness thrust up their ugly heads in a
thousand places.
But st. Paul was thinking, as he wrote,
of the world ID which he lived, the tears
came into his eyes as he thought about it.
For many walk, OF whom L have told you
often, and now tell you even weeping, that
they are the enemies of the cross of Christ"
men having gods whose affairs are the tables
of banquets, and whose service IS an affair
to be ashamed of, minding earthly things,
and going on to sure destruction.
That was hard time for citizen Of
heaven. But the citizens of heaven kept
their courage. They continued loyal and
kept their lights burning. They ceased not
day and night, trying to get the world gov
| erned by the laws of heaven. And we have
| but to compare the DAYS of the administra-
tion of the Emperor Nero with the days oi
the administration of President Harrison, to
measure the success of their endeavors.
We are the citizens of heaven. Steadily
and surely we are getting converts into our
colony, and bringing the world over to our
side. Everybody who is for the right is of
our number. One day we will have a
majority in this evil world. For our citi-
zenship is in heaven, and our King is the
King of heaven; who sis able even to
subdue all things unto himself"
GEORGE HODGES.