The record-union., 1896-03-16
NOT OWNED BY THE DEVIL.
The World is Gods and He is With His
People.
Rev. Mr.. Hoskinson Takes Hopeful
View of the Present and
Future.

Thy Kingdom Come" was the sub
ject of Rev. w. A. Hoskinson's sermon
at the Sixteenth street Church yester-
day morning. He said:
Sorrow and signing shall flee away.
Poverty shall be unknown; all shall be
rich. Men shall live in love and amity.
No one shall go to war again. The lion
shall lie down with the lamb. All shall
be helping brothers. Capital and labor
shall clasp hands; slums shall no
longer disgrace our streets, and the
saloon defile our youths and desolate
our homes. Peace and love shall dis
place every savage passion, and the
whole world shall be transformed.
Is this a false picture to hold up be-
fore you this evening? Do 1 hear you
say, "It can never be?" Well it is no
day dream, or night dream, either.
The gospel gives us the pict-
ure. The title to it is, 1.-The Com
ing Kingdom of God on the Earth"
Any other would not give the true
meaning. 1t is no fancy sketch; it is
no delusion. Gods promise goes with
it, and only men hinder us from real
izing it. Everything in the picture will
be true and sure at the full coming of
the kingdom of God.
The gospel rightly preached and
rightly lived works many changes,
brings revolutions. 1t brought in many
changes in time of the apostles, and it
will do so still. Then men yielded to
it quickly, and took sides readily. There
was no interference. Such should be
the effect of faithful preaching now.
Then the preacher sounded the warn
ing: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand" 1t was like the one word
put into the mouth of Jonah to cry
against the people of Ninevah. And
there was quick response. This
seemed to be the one commission given
to the apostles, and everywhere were
they to proclaim it. Where the message
was received, there they were to abide;
where it was not received, there were
they to shake the very dust from their
feet as testimony against them.
Such was the early preaching con-
cerning the kingdom. The new king
dom was to be one of power and glory
first to Gods ancient people. Then it
was to be one of love; it was to be
moral kingdom. No longer should there
be violence and heat and passion. The
lion was to lie down with the lamb; the
strong with the weak. All the hills and
valleys should have new beauty, for
the desert was to blossom as the rose.
No more should eyes drop tears; no
more should people be smitten with
poverty. No one should hate or mis-
trust a neighbor, for there should be
love and peace between man and man.
''They shall not hurt or destroy in all
my holy mountain. The young child
shall put his hand in the hole of the
asp" and not be stung. And there
should be no more need of the temple,
for the reason that every man should
know the Lord.
Four hundred years before Christ's
coming there was no prophet. The
hearts of the people waxed gross and
their ears were dull of hearing. They
expected kingdom to come, but they
thought it would come by one who
would smite down all their enemies.
They had no thought of a kingdom
of peace except such as came through
force. Just while thinking this way John
the Baptist burst upon them with the
preaching, Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand" Soon Jesus came
uttering the same.
And what did Christ mean? Why,
just what the others meant. He spoke
of that universal kingdom of which
He should be the head, with the founda-
ton of love. Men should not be saved
by taking them out of the world and
away to some safe and peaceful spot,
but by a transformation in this world,
whereby self-sacrifice would move men
to live at peace with one another. Evil
! was to be overcome with good, and