The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-04-23

when so often disgrace the nails OF Con-
gress, the sooner such schools are estab-
lished and a certificate from them made
one of the necessary qualifications for ad-
mission to the councils of the nation, the
better it will be for rs. If some of our
senators and representatives could spend
two or three years in such schools and
learn little political wisdom and states
manship, our military and naval acade-
! mics would not be half as necessary as
they now seem to be. But probably the
greatest advancement will be along the
line of higher education for the masses.
AS yet the number of those who have
been able to avail themselves of such adj
vantages has been exceedingly small COM
pared with the whole population. This
work thus far has been done almost ex-
clusively by the Church. And the bright
est page of American history is that which
records the splendid work which the
Church of Christ has done for higher
education. But these efforts are made
quate to meet the demands. The State,
which thus far has done almost nothing
in this line, must wake up to its impor-
lance, and there are many evidences that
She is doing SO, and that the coming age
is to witness most wonderful advance
ment. The time is coming when the State
Will consider it as important that ma
iority of its citizens shall have a liberal
education, as that their political, CONNER
cial and religious rights shall be protected.
3. Again the coming age will be one of
great social changes. OF this there can
be little doubt. Just what the nature of
these changes will be we cannot now tell
but that there are radical, if not revolu-
tiUnary. changes awaiting us in the near
future no careful student of the signs of
the times can doubt. Discomfort among
the masses is becoming more widespread
and general. As the average workingman
becomes more intelligent he sees the I'M
harness, the radical injustice OF an indus
trial system which makes it possible for
one hundred men to receive an average
yearly income of million and a half dol
lars each, while his income is not more
than five hundred dollars a system which
makes it possible for two hundred thou
sand persons, or thrce-tenths of one pei
cent. OF our population, to control seventy
per cent. of the nations wealth. In con-
trast to this we read of women who make
twelve shirts for seventy-fve cents and
furnish their own thread, of children who
work twelve hours day for one dollar a
week; and of rooms in the tenement house
district in New York in which as many as
1oI " live PERSONS dIe OUllSeU 10 Steep,
and this in a city in which there are over
eleven hundred men worth from one to
one hundred millions each. Such con-
ditions are causing great discomfort, deep
eli and more widespread than most of us
realize. And it is a significant fact that
such men as Prof. Ely of Johns Hopkins
University. Prof George D. Heron of
Iowa University, and B. Fay Mills, the
renowned evangelist, are giving their at
tention to these questions, and that men of
power and profound convictions all over
the country are giving expression to
thoughts of radical nature along these
lines. All of these things indicate great
and far reaching changes in the industrial
and social systems of the land. They are
like the agitations and ominous mutter-
ings which preceded the abolition of
slavery. They indicate that the masses
are beginning to feel the pulsations of
new life born of intelligence, that they
are beginning struggle to realize the
possibilities of such a life, and that ere
long the social and industrial slavery which
now exists will be banished from this
land. Twice before in modern times have
these same conditions appeared, once on
the eve of the great reformation, once
before the French revolution, and now
h'SI navy f'SetIH tippSdINU. IlG ulSL VI
these broke the chains of spiritual des-
potism, the second gave the death blow
to political despotism, and many believe
that the third viii put an end to economic
despotism.
H. What should be the attitude of TIL |
church towards these conditions? If she
is to exert the moulding influence upon
society that IT is her privilege and duty to
exert she must constantly adjust herself
to new conditions as they arise. There
are some members Of our Churches who
think that things must be done just as
they always have been done, that what |
was good enough for our fathers is good |
enough for US, that methods which were
successful fifty OF seventy-tive years ago
will be successful now. But the man who |
conducts his business on precisely the |
same principles that he did fifty years ago |
stands very poor chance of success in
the sharp competition of to- day, and if we
try to do our Church work on that princi-
pie we shall labor at a tremendous disad- |
vantage.
l. One thing which the Church needs
day and will need with increasing inn
peratveness i'll the years to come, is
disposition to go out after men more, and |
to do it in more systematic, business
like manner. Fifty years ago the great
wholesale business houses expected the |
retailers to come to them and purchase |
their goods. But the firm that should do
this now would soon be pushed to the
wall Every great wholesale commercial |
establishment has it's agents travelling
throughout the country, offering samples
of its goods at the very doors of the re-
tailers and pressing them upon their at
tention. If the Church of Christ is to
keep up with the times and become more
and more effective in her work, she must |
adopt this same method more universally |
than she has ever yet done. She must |
have her representatives offering her goods !
at the very doors of suffering, dscourag-
ed and sinful men. 1t is not enough for
us to make our church home and our
church services as pleasant and attractive
as possible. This is an important feature
of our work, but not the most important
Every member of the Church should be a
missionary, going out to repeat the
message which he hears on Sunday to
those who have no desire or inclination
to come to the house of worship. Let me
plead for more of this personal hand to
hand, and heart to heart work! How
much more we might accomplish if every
member of the Church would engage in