Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-18

that great poet who said, People bore me
beyond endurance; detest folks" But to
the democrat nothing human is uncongeuial,
all people are interesting, all the needs, the
interests, the ways of men are of concern.
To him the lotos gods, whom that great poet
pictured, careless of man kind" are desti-
tute of all divinity. He puts his faith in a
God who cares, who loves, who is the father
OF US all.
Nothing can be palmer than this: That to
love those who love US, to please those who
please us, to invite those who will invite US
in return, and 20 stop there, is not Chris
tian. That is simple human nature. Jesus
Christ did not need to come into this world
and suffer on the cross in order to teach US
that, or persuade us to do that. The very
publicans and sinners, He declared, do as
much as that. But to love those who hate
US, to serve those who revile u.s. to do good
to those who would willingly harm u.s. to
seek the society OF the uncongenial, to give
to those who cannot give TO us. to ask to
our houses those who cannot ask US in re-
turn, to seek not so much to get pleasure
for ourselves as TO give pleasure to others,
to love our brethren even as Christ loved us
that is what m .sn by democracy. 1t is
synonymous with Christianity.
The Duty of Personal obedience.
Evidently the first Characteristic of .
loyal citizen is pc ersonal obedieu ce. And
the last Characteristic OF loyal citizen is
personal obedenc ce. Whoever would be-
long to the kingdom of heaven, which is
the kingdom oil Christ, must do the will oil
Christ. That is essential and imperative.
He is a Christian who follows Christ, who
measures all things by the standard OF the
appreciation of Christ, who would not will
ingly say a word which he would not like
to have Christ hear, nor do an act which he
would not like Christ to see. He is Chris
tian who tries to be like Christ, to speak as
Christ would speak, to deal with all hard
questions as Christ would deal with them,
to be the kind of neighbor Christ would be,
and the kind of citizen Christ would be, to
be Christ-llke man or woman. The best
Christian is he who most reminds the peo-
pie with whom he lives OF the Lord Jesus
Christ. He who never reminds anybody OF
the Lord Jesus Christ is not a Christian at
all.
And it is plain how democratic Christ
was Down He came among the people,
shared their poverty, sorrowed in their sor-
rows, helped them over their hard places,
called Himself the Son of Man. They
were all his brothers and his sisters; yes,
the most ignorant; yes, the meanest and the
lowest. Nobody ever accused Jesus of
Nazareth OF Delng an arlstocrat N oDody
ever turned to Him to find an example OF
social narrowness. Jesus loved the people
He devoted Himself to the people He
made Himself the servant of the people.
He came not to be ministered to, He said,
but to minister to others
Religion Is Not Narrow.
The trouble is that we commonly take
Christ as our pattern for only small part
of our lives. We do no not realize as we
ought that the kingdom OF Christ includes
under its rule the whole of human life.
Christ is to be followed just as closely in
the domain of business and OF society us
Heis in those matters which we narrowly
call religious" The subject of the king
dom is q subject and citizen no matter
where he goes. Every hour of social lite
must be brought 10 the test of the example
and the appreciation of the LORD Jesus
Christ.
1 do not know where the kingdom of
heaven should more naturally be looked
for than in the Church. Properly the
Church and the kingdom of heaven should
have the same boundaries The Church