The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-05-13
THE CHRIST IN HUMAN HIS
TORY

Whenever any man rises up to de-
fend himself from oppression he first
finds it necessary to broaden his de-
mand so that it may embrace all 9TH
ers who are similarly afflicted. And
when these get together to promul-
gate creed of reform they are con-
strained to widen their platform
until it takes in the whole human
race. And thus the individual
claim for justice is merged and sWal-
lowed up in a universal creed of
brotherhood; and we find ourselves
standing, at last. by the feet of Him
who said:-"Love God with all thy
heart and thy neighbor as thy self"
Nothing is more striking, in the
history of the great struggle for JUS
tice in which we are engaged, than
the way in which the convulsed and
blackened clouds of controversy part
before us, and the image of the thorn
crowned Christ shines LUMINOSITY
through the broken rift, concentrate
ing all the appealing and pitiful weep
ing eyes of the sufferers Of the whole
world upon himself.
The great poet of the Pacific James
G.. Clarke, of California, in the April
Arena voices the instinct of the age
in magnificent verse as follows:
The son of man appears once more
The Christ who taught in Galilee
Proclaims his truth on every shore
" re hn nf
Unsullied by the faint of brides
He challenges the proud and great,
Rebuking Pharisees and scribes
Who guard the doors of church and state
He comes in signs, He comes in Clouds
Whose hidden lightnings bide their time;
He wanders homeless in the crowds,
That mammon drives to want and crime;
l see him stripped and bleeding lie
Beside the road to Jericho
Where lordly bishops pass him by,
AS in the ages long ago.
O! Christ, the tender, loving One
In whom all deathless graces Blend
The goal to which the cycles run
In spiral paths to one vast end;
AS torrents in their courses turn
To mingle with the Mother-Breast,
All tongues and tribes and nations yearn
For what is found in Thee expressed.
o. constant patient Heart Of Life,
Whose warm pulse beats for all the zones,
While men still waste their powers in strife
For gods OF gold and petty THRONE
hear Thy voice amidst the roar
OF trade and war OF land and sea.
Repeat this message DER and DER:
''Take up the cross, and follow Me-"
I see thee smitten by thy foes
In courts Of law and noisy marts.
While virtue from thy presence flows
In healing streams to wounded hearts;
| see a drowsy priesthood-met
In solemn form to watch and pray
Who slumber while in bloody sweat
n0i cfny. vxycif re fha RI ,fd dow
I see those sad, reproving eyes
Still search the cringing Peters through,
And One whom PLATE justiieS
Rejected by the church anew.
Again the rObber is released,
The saint to cruciiXion doomed,
Again the Caesar and the priest
Conspire to keep the Lord entombed.
Again the surplice hangs revealed
Behind the warriors cassocked head,
Again the sepulchre is sealed
Where Justice sleeps but is not dead;
But who can stay the awful birth
OF truth from out the age long night?
Though all the armies of the earth
Their legions hurl against the Light.
AS rock mailed shores submissive throw
Their armors down upon the strand,
And towering SUBMITS plumed with snow
Obey at last the tides cOmmnad,'
So Thou, 0 Christ! with love sublime
Shalt draw all races to Thy breast,
And all the warning things of Time
Shall turn to Thee at last for rest.