Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-10-29
IN THE SOCIAL ECONOMY.
Perfect Peace Can Como Only with Per-
feet righteousness. .. D..

Perfect Peace Can Como only with For
feet righteousness. 80. H.
In days of change and uncertainty
such as society is now passing through,
one constantly hears the expression of
regret for the good old times" when
the social order was undisturbed, the
financial world placid and the temper of
mankind calm and reposeful. AS mat
ter of fact, there never were any such
tranquil times; society has always been
changing, men have always been tossed
to and fro like the waves of the sea.
There have been, it is true, brief periods
of reaction when political interest has
ebbed ard society has become sluggish
and lethargic; but these have been neg
ative and uninspiring periods, when life
was least worth living. The periods
when hope has been high, faith in hui
man possibilities great, and interest in
action and achievement intense, have
been the periods of movement and times
of change. These have been the pro-
ductivc epochs in exploration, thought.
invention, art and adventure; the
epochs when men have accepted life at
its full value. and have lived deeply and
passionately in motion, conviction and
action. There are periods of restless
less which are disturbing without being
progressive, which make men anxious
without making them great in achieve
ment. But even these periods are bet
ter than the periods Of sluggish comfort
and cowardly ease. It takes n great
deal of movement to keep men morally
and spiritually virile and vital; there
is tremendous sag downwards which
must be constantly overcome by the in
vigoration of the higher nature. Men
have never yet shown strength adequate
to the temptations of easeful condi
tons; they have always visibly de-
clined when the stimulus of danger and
necessity has been withdrawn. In the
Old Testament and in the history of all
peoples God appears, not as tran
quillizer, but as a disturber of existing
conditions; for the very good reason
that conditions have never yet been
what they ought to be. Those who long
to be let alone cherish vain hope; God
will never let the human race alone I'M
til He has reorganized it on 4 basis of
righteousness; until that time, so long
as men have consciences, there will be
stir. agitation, disturbance and change.
The fundamental gain of civilization
lies in the fact that change, instead of
being revolutionary and temporarily
destructive as in earlier ages, has be-
come evolutionary and constructive. In
spite of many setbacks, false hopes, de-
lusive schemes, and short-sighted ef-
forts to accomplish artificially and ar
bitrarily that which can be accom-
plished only through moral reorganiza-
ton, the world slowly moves forward
and upward. That it does move is evil
dence of Divine purpose behind its
confused life, but in its very movement
are involved the disorder, uneasiness
and peril of which so many complain as
if they were new appearances in the life
of men. In n progressive development
stability is not to be sought in station
airy conditions, but in the character of
the change that is taking place. The
presence of God is evidenced by the fact
that men are unable to rest SO long as
they are imperfect, and the social order
reflects their imperfection. Perfect
peace can come only with perfect right
eousness.-N. Y. Outlook.