The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-10-12
"Thy Kingdom Come
By REV. MARION D. SHUTTER, ID.

Cr6ed5. we push W 'ho
dogma or doctrine, but conduct. we
insist no longer, with such prodigious
emphasis, upon theology, opinion
speculation, but upon life. All this
is hopeful; for just in proportion as
churches cease to insist upon uni
formity of ceremony or belief, and IN
sist upon practical goodness Will IL
be possible for them to cooperate IN
every real work for humanity Inc
general conception of COP is also
changing. He is no longer an aDso,
lute and arbitrary being whose will
determines all things. For that ldea'
,obler one is being substituted
that he is the euer- present friend ana
helper of men. When the old woman
who had suffered very many ills, was
assured bv her friends that God had
done it all, she replied, "Ah, l know'd
as God has allus been agin me, but
there's them above as'll be down on
he vet" Some one has added You
can hear. if you will, a low but clearly
articulate murmur amongth the crushed
of humanity, saying, "The Goa Oh
your conventional religion has always
been against us; but above him is
the God of right and justice whom
we now invoke and serve!
And this brings me to my tneme'
which I state in the words OF froi'
Ely: CHRISTIANITY is PRIMARILY CON
cERNEp WITH THIS WORLD AND IT Is THE
MISSION OF CHRISTIANITY TO BRING To
n,ss uvDr KINGDOM OF RIGHTEOUS
NESS. AND TO RESCUE FROM THE EVIL ONE
AMI ppnrEN ALL OUR SOCIAL RELA-
T1oNs."
lido not forget, now and always,
the vision of another life which blazes
in the New Testament heavens, send
inc it's rays into the dark corners OF
the earth, bringing hope to the des-
nondent and courage to the OPP
pressed; NEITHER DO L FORGET The
coNuaNps GIVEN IN THAT SAME BOOK, TO
,,rS p1nn1NG THEM LET THE LIGHT OF
Gcn.r1KE HUMAN LIVES SHINE ALSO
INTO THOSE DARKENED PLACES
/ That life goes endlessly on, DO
not doubt; that it is better farther
on. that the Towering and frultage OF
these human plants awaits klndller
soil and SUMMER cline, l do not
doubt. The hope of it all is surely
an inspiration; but an inspiration to
wbats To our acork IN this aCortd'
This is the field. Here, upon this
hank and shoal of time is the call
Of dutv sounded. 1t is not the bust
ness Of the church to be forever talk
inc about heaven,-that is about some
distant world. That heaven can
wait earth cannot. Those who have
nassed to the other life, are safe
folded in the infinite love, beyond
the reach of harm or need of help. 1t
ia for us to be the messengers OF that
love to those who are suffering ana
perishing, amid the frost ana storms
that embitter life below.
"Thu acill be done ON EARTH as atas
in HEAVEN" Thy will be done among
men in their social relations, among
men in their political and industrial
life, as it is among the spirits OF just
men made perfect, the spirits that
have risen, crowned and throned, to
Immortality and glory. "4hy kam9-
dom come thy kingdom which is
Righteousness, joy, aud peace; thy
kingdom which is love and justice;
thy kingdom which is the unfettered
brain, the sympathetic heart, the I'M
shackled body; thy kingdom come in
the home, the counting room, the
workshop; thy kingdom come in the
political caucus and at the polls and
in the halls of legislation; among the
railways and mills and factories and
mines; into the slums and alleys and
tenements; thy kingdom come, with
it's transforming power, with its proc
lamation of freedom and peace.
2. This is the meaning OF that
wonderful prayer, breathed from the
lips of the Great Master to his Faith
er and our Father,-this is the inter
pretation that the centuries have
given it. This is the great model
after which his disciples were to pat
tern their own petitions. If it is right
and duty to pray, Thy kingdom
come, and thy will be done upon
earth" at is doubly a duty to acork
for the coming of that kingdom and
the execution of that aciHl If our
being in this world, as Christian men
and women, has any meaning at all,
it is to answer this prayer from the
human side. You and | are more con-
cerned with the sanitary condition of
Minneapolis than we are with the