The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-01-24


-trialanAsmoral condiriens expressedins
Jesus words, 'Tne Kingdom OF heaven
Is at hand.n It III praXitnessfos the Abo-
litionRof those self-seeking conditions
that haYe't bred our Observation-Disclosures
| strife, strife that has brought us. as a
nation to the verge OF po,,,tical,s ssociaT
and moral ruin, and for the establish
ment- Of that divine civilization based
On. Gods one and only law. Of love- +
Are the conditions Under which we
| continue to exist as a nationsin accord
With this great law Of God. Are we,
socially, morally or politically, actuated
in. our conduct toward each other by the
law. of love? If so. we do not need to
pray this prayer. But it is not so. Take
|sup any department Of u national or
social life, and the spirit Of competitive
i~ndividualism will be found to be, tbs
inspiration of our national OF, social ac-
ITEMS. In n form or another the same
selfish, competitive, industlA Zystem
which we. at presen u, has
se2isted since the history Of lpegan.
We have never had any ot9 Nsstem,
and. whatever of industrfA cssswrcng
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
II kind of right, and lacking the prin-
clpal OF moral right, or, in other words,
living in d%isobedience to the one great
law, our moral sense must pronounce
against the civilization O. the past and
present the verdict-wholly wrong. It
IS a part of the same system that des-
tloyed the national life Of the Jews;
that overthrow the Roman government;
that brought forth the terrors of the
French revolution; that twice drenched
I'll own land in blood, and that fur
nished the incentive for the c%rucifxiou
OF the Son of God.
l have no sympathy with that class
OF preachers who counsel submission to
thee 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 a far away
EoHNAo, W AS VIZ w it'll GAStdltSc
lends enchantment, but close by, near at
hand. And he tells them, when you
Fray, say, Our Father, thy will be done
n ;earth'-not elsewhere-'as it is done
IN heaven"
.Sit is evident to me that the only thing
"tifat. stands in the way of the coming in
81 that time is our own Wills. He said
'ro rthe>JeW, Repent. He says to us, Re-
pent; the kingdom of.heaven is at hand.
But why must our present industrial
social system be abolished before
we can expect the will of God to be
uone' 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-
psnt;smust turn away from that which
is. wholly selfish and which arrays
brother against brother. AS individ-
ua!ls AND as a nation we are socially and
eindustrially wrong and therefore NOR
ally wrong. We stand On the verge Of
::r.Hglllp.. Being. socially and industrially
Wrong AZ we cannot be morally right; and
being morally wrong we are in no con-
dlNons TO yield up our self love-the
Love Of Ego-to the unselhsh love or will
or God. Before the coming Of the king
dom OF heaven to earth, there must be
g great moral and social awakening.
There must be a national revival of re-
Iglon on lines that embrace the ma
terial welfare Of the human race in this
world, as well as it's spiritual welfare
IN tho navt Thoro = + ~ .. 81 u.
us; q desire to, see the viii 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 we'll.
2 10 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 he done be-
tore that much desired time shall zppa,
IS as important as Gods part. God
works through human instrumental
ties, and if the human part fails, His
part will not be done.
WhaI part have we to perfo1aS~in
ushering in the new heaven an he
new earth? Looking back al4 the
stream OF our own time, we 1.-The
agencies that have been at 80 in
solving the problem of nation in
We can discover those .politicM BIZ
cies that have brought the .dkkis of
bankruptcy upon our nation and$x-
IRENE poverty and restitution unbE
those who have always been it's brain
and Drawn. We can trace the bearing
OF these policies pon our nations pro-
gress and nrnsner;tv Wo oo, 49,,