Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-01-16

| pray THIS prayer. buI IL is not 3D. lake
up any department of our national or
social life, and the spirit Of competitive
individualism will be found TO be tho
inspiration Of our national or social &C
tions. In one form or another the same
selfish, competitive, industrial system
under which we at present live, has
existed since the history Of men began.
We have never had any other system,
and whatever Of industrial wrong
exists, and whatever is socially wrong
must be charged to that same industrial
system which it was the nilsson Of
Jesus to overthrow. Since there is but
one kind of right, and lacking the prin-
cipal of moral right, or, in other words,
living in disobedience to the one great
law, our moral sense must pronounce
| against the civilization of the past and
present the verdict-wholly wrong. 1t
is part of the same system that des-
tIoyed the national life of the Jews;
that overthrow the Roman government;
that brought forth the terrors Of the
French revolution; that twice drenched
| our own land in blood, and that fur
nished the incentive for the crucifixion
Of the Son of God.
l have no sympathy with that class
of preachers who counsel submission to
the evils from which we to-day are suf-
fering, with our only hope Of reward in
the life eternal. Jesus exhorted his
disciples to say, "The kingdom of
heaven is at hand'-not far away
thing, to the view of which distance
lends enchantment, but close by, near at
hand. And he tells them, when you
fray, say, Our Father, thy will be done
in earth'-not elsewhere-'as it is done
in heaven.
1t is evident to rae that the only thing
that stands In the way of the coming in
Of that time is our own wills. He said
to the Jew, Repent. He says to US, Re-
pent; the kingdom Of heaven is at hand.
But why must our present industrial
and social system be abolished before
We can expect the will Of God to be
done in earth as in heaven?
For the reason that there is but one
kind of right. Before men will obey
the law-the will of God-they must re-
pent, must turn away from that which
is wholly selfish and which arrays
brother against brother. AS individ-
uals and as nation we are socially and
industrially wrong and therefore NOR
ally wrong. We stand on the verge Of
ruin. Being so sially and industrially
wrong we cannot be morally right; and
being morally wrong we are in no con-
dition to yield up our self love-the
love of Bgo-tO The unselflsh love or will
Of God Before the coming of the king
dom of heaven to earth, there must be
o great moral and social awakening.
There must be national revival Of re-
ligion, on lines that embrace the ma
terial welfare Ut the human race in this
world, as well as its spiritual welfare
in the next. There mist be born within
us desire to see the win of God done
in the earth as in heaven, that ex-
presses itself not only in the form of
words, but in social actions as well.
To little purpose do we pray, "Thy
will be done on earth as in heaven"
unless we also work for that end Our
part Of the work that must be done be-
fore that much desired time shall come,
is as important as Gods part. God
works through human instrumental
ties, and if the human part fails, His
part will not be done.
What part have we to perform in
ushering in the new heaven and the
new earth? Looking back along the
stream Of our own time, we can see the
agencies that have been at work in
solving the problem of national ruin.
We can discover those political poll
eies that have brought the curse Of
bankruptcy upon our nation and ex-
IRENE poverty and restitution upon
those who have always been its brain
and Drawn. We can trace the bearing
Of these policies upon our nations pro-
81 COO anu pAOopGA VIC GelAl OCtll III
out those policies that have dethroned
the rights of large class of our citi-
zens to life, liberty and the pursuit Of
happiness. And we can declare SOL
EMMY in the sight of God that we will
not longer support these policies. If
each of us who are here to-day would
begin to do the will of God here as 1t
is done in heaven, we would soon
see such a revival Of the religion Of
love as would transform our part Of
the earth into garden of Eden. And
the influences of the Spirit would not
stop with us, but would spread its be-
nign and life-giving power to other
communities until our state and ma
ton might be set on fire with a zeal
whose outcome would be new heaven
and a new earth.