Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1896-01-15
THY KINGDOM COME.
SYNOPSIS OF A PRACTICAL SER
MON BY r. c. HARDIN.
Tho Divine Lawgiver Commands Re-
pentance and That We by Repentance
Change the Selfish system-An Good
Depends on Obedience.


when he began his public ministry is
positive proof of the evil Of the then
existing social and moral conditions,
and OF the necessity of reform He says
10 his hearers Repent Turn your
oaek upon the existing order that has
brought you to the very verge
OF political, social and moral ruin.
End accept the new order, for the king
dom Of heaven is at hand" We do not
need to go to the musty records of pro-
zane history to learn that the social and
moral conditions of the people at that
day were at war with the social ar.
moral welfare of society and had in
Cured the displeasure of God. The
words of the greatest of all reformers
will convince you of that.
Neither do we need to search the
mGSty records of the past to understand
the nature of the reformation intro
duced by Jesus and carried forward by
his apostles. Now he has told us in
language not to be misunderstood
The kingdom of heaven is at hand"
a new sociology, of divine origin and
Order-a sociology wherein the will of
the father might be done in earth as
III heaven.
Bat, the objector to our view of the
meaning Of Christ in his announcement
OF the near approach of the coming
kingdom will say: "Ah, this was
wholly a spiritual kingdom and would
DO set up in the hearts and would
affect only the spiritual and religious
life of the nation, and would have moth
ing whatever to do with the political
and social life Of the people.
/ answer: Certainly the kingdom of
heaven set up in the earth, would,
doubtless, greatly affect the religious or
spiritual life of the people, but can a
i;eople be morally right and at the same
time politically and socially wrong? To
my way of thinking there can be but
one kind of right, and people cannot
be right and wrong both at the same
time. You cannot be socially wrong, or
in wrong social relations with your
fellows. and at the same time be re-
ligiously right in your relations with
God. You must not only love God, but
you must love your neighbor as your
self. Neither can you be politically
wrong and be socially right There is
so close q relation existing between our
political duties that we dare not say we
may go on from day to day in life OF
political wrong doing, and yet have the
approval of our social conscience.
Hence, | agree that the coming king
dom of heaven whose near approach
Jesus has heralded forth, calling upon
the people to repent and turn away
from present customs and environment,
was to affect and completely change not
alone the religious life of that nation
but the social and political life as we'll
That, in it's effects, the kingdom OF
heaven in earth was to do away, for
ever, with the industrial, political, So
cial and moral conditions that had
robbed the nation of it's life and brought
ii to poverty and ruin, and was to build
up such political, industrial, social and
moral conditions as are named, "the
kingdom of heaven" in which the will
Of God should be done in earth as in
heaven.
But what are we to understand by the
will" of God? Why the mind or inten-
tion of God expressed in the form OF
law. We call the ten commandments
the law of God, but the real law existed
before the writing Of the command
ments, the writing being simply the ex-
preston of His will or intent. Really
God has but one law. AS there is only
one kind of right, so, also, there is but
enc law. All other statutes are but
precepts of the one great law, and that
is the law of love. Thou shalt love
God. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
Hence, His will done in earth means
nothing more nor less than that his love
should rule on earth as in heaven.
Not much has been revealed to us oil
conditions in heaven, but enough to
show us that all is harmony there; that
there is no sorrow nor tears, no break
ing up of families, no wounded hearts
no weary and aching heads; that its in
habitants live in perfect accord. And
their principal occupation might be
described in the sentence, "They are
constantly dong the will of God"
Now His will, done in earth as in
heaven, would be replacing our present
social and moral relations in which we
are prompted by spirit of individual
ism, with those social and moral rela-
tions prompted and emphasized by the
spirit or law of love. And this was what
was in the mind of Jesus to accomplish
when he began his public ministry.
The angelic announcement of his ad-
vent into our world was Peace OF
earth and good will. or Gods will-love
Ito man." hence when we pray, "Thy
will be done in earth as in heaven" we
pray for the accomplishment of Gods
purpose toward men in the establish
ment Of those social, political, indus
trial and moral conditions expressed in
Jesus words, THE kingdom of heaven
is at hand" 1t is praying for the abo.
lition of those self-seeking conditions
that have bred our present competitive
strife, strife that has brought us as g
nation to the verge of political, social
and moral ruin, and for the establish
ment of that divine civilization based
On Gods one and only law of love.
Are the conditions under which We
continue to exist as a nation in accord
with this great law of God. Are we
socially, morally or politically, actuatec
IN our conduct Inward each other by the
law Of love? II 80. we do not need tC