The advocate., 1892-02-17
CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM IN THE PULPIT.


Again our sphere Of action is In this
world, among men, on this planet called
the earth. Our lives are TO be lived here,
our character ls to be formed here, our
influence goes ou: among our earthly
friends, we are to start and carry on
branch heavens on earth, bring the
.Chrlstly spirit into our every day life
and living. ! fear that in the past too
many Christians have tried TO live an
Unnatural, celestial life on earth, in
stead Of bringing the celestial atmos-
phere, the celestial spirit down here TO
purify, elevate, ennOble, sanctify the ter
FeStial. It does seem to me that our Of
forts should be, not 30 much to strive to
get men 70 heaven as to get heaven into
men not 80 much to fit men for heaven
.ly living, as to lead them to make this
earth heaven; not alone to elevate,
save, redeem the individual, but the
race, our neighboFhood, city, county,
state, nation, the world. To do this we
must work through the individual, but
we also need to work upon society, the
state, the nation, and try to elevate, save,
redeem 1t. By neglectlng the greater,
the main source of evil aud demOrallzs-
zion, we make 1t more and more difficult
70 help the individual, until to-day our
children are carried off into the whlrl
pool Of indifference and vice, before
right religious influences can be brought
70 bear upon them. Until society, our
environments are made more heavenly,
CJhrlst.like we will find It. increasingly
hard to save our children. Then, breth-
rem, let US not forget or ignore the fact,
that our sphere Of action ''as imitatorS OF
God az dear children, is right here upon
earth, among our fellow men, to lead
them to also initiate him, and thus lift up
society and our nation and the world.
Il Il 4
Let us Initiate Jesus in the spirit ex-
pressed in these words. "The son of
man came not to be ministered unto but
to minister" AS one truly remarks,
"self interest enters too largely into the
development of personal piety. "The
Surest way to attain sturdy Christian
character Is to be "imitators Of Christ"
who came not to be minlstered unto, but
70 "minlster" to others. ChrIst's work
was altrujstlc as we'll as individual, For
any man to sing, pray and work In order
that he alone may be benefited Is certain
" not Chrlst-llke. Self interest as mo-
tive, so emphasized and encouraged by
the old political economy, which sees In
life only Q grand scramble, In which
those only are the fittest who are the
upper dogs In the flght--a scramble
which entirely eliminates God and moral
considerations such self interest has TO q
great extent tinged about every phrase Of
thought, not only as regards the things Of
this life, but also the life to come.
Our entire business methods are antag-
Uulstlc to the unsel6sh Christly spirit,
Business 10 conducted mainly inthe splrlr
Of war, fierce, bitter, relentless war;
war TO the end. Some one has said, "thAi
the Christian goes to the house Of God on
the Sabbath day to pray to God, and out to
basiness on Monday to prey on bis neigh.
bor." This, alas, is too true. When
person hires another to work for himit ID
not, how much can he do my work for and
support himself and family comfortably
hnt what la the least heWill take, 90 az e