The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-22

tions, though it may be far from tht federation of the world, These al ranges of government from the autocra1 to the democrat meet about one table
 that they may consult how the terror>
 of war may be ameliorated and war 1t. self made unnecessary. It is fact ful
 of consolation and glory that the na- lions of the world are gathered by their representatives in the House in the Wood
 and are confessng together the faith that above all nations is humanity, and
 that above congress and president, par liament and queen, Reichstag and em- peror, above the czar There is an au- thority whose aim is to conserve the peace, prosperity and well-b being of the whole world. That convention may inn agine that it is creating tribunal of ar bitratlon, the supreme court of the world; it has for this sublime act only a permissive authority, for such a court is part of the administration of the king dom of God in the earth. That peace convention is the highest expression of national progress ever made in history. Its conclusions may be incompetent or ineonsequent, but it has already accom- plished much, for 1t has made the pray CT of internationalism-Thy Kingdom Come.
 But while national progress is prapa- ration for the kingdom of God it is only preparation, not completion. The soil is , prepared for the seed; it not the har- vest; the ship is prepared for sailing; it is not the voyage A student is pre- l pared for the ministry, but still he is | 1J, iuit ,f I power The nation, however far ad- vanced needs religion and the church, which is organized religion, to lead it | into the kingdom of God. The church is | the mediator between the nation and tfle i kingdom. Ths conclusion of the peace 1 convention is ineffective if the churches | do not so inform the people that they 1 shall insist that the tribunal shall be practical and that the nation shall ap- peal to it and abide by it's decision The press is too often political and diploma cy and war arr the appeals of politics. Politics are local and local interest will fight Religion is universal, and the na- tion must become religious in it's motive or peace tribunals Will be in vain, Poli- ties keep step to drum and fife, religion to the music that filled the valley by l Bethlehem when the Prince of Peace was born. It is the duty and power of the church to teach the nation the ob- ject of its existence. It is not to preach politics. but it is to preach to politics and give it's motive and power. Politics need preaching The church should make clear to all that the ends of the nation are three. The first is a strong
 
 power over all the elements of its corpo- rate life It must be strong for self-de- fence and the definition and regulation of the liberty of the people. The second end is to achieve it's own peculiar idea Every nation is individual. has it's own popular genius, it represents distinct quality of national thought. Nations are unlike and are bound to grow each in it's own way under the authority of it's own interior law. But there is a mo- tive superior to the motive of strong government, or that of perfecting it's own life; it is the ultimate motive for the good of the world, the perfscting of humanity, the elevation and civilization of all men, The nation that has pro- gressed must be conscious that it exists for souls beyond itself. The first motive for nation must be self-exstence, the second self-expression, the third self sacrifice. For this third motive the na- tion needs the church. It has neither the wisdom nor power, nor disposition to enter the kingdom of God alone,
 We owe allegiance to the state. but
 deeper, trusr, more To the sympathies that God hath set l
 within our spirits core;
 Our country claims our fealty; we grant |
 it SO but then
 Before man made us citizens great na-
 ture made us men"
 Lowell, vol 1, 223.
 The converse of the proposition of our | theme has a distinct value--the Kingdom | of God is a preparation for national pro- gress Define prosress-as an elevation | of comforts, improvement in travel resi- dences, aesthetical or political advance, an improved litera ture, commerce or | government The lovers of truth must remember that the permanent law and promise of history are, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you" Natlonalism and the whole system of luminous and
  not the cause and precedent, but the re- suit and consequence of Christianity, of a free personal gospel faith. Modern is a child of the Reforma- ton and our constitution and ideal are the fruits and achievement of the wise and saintly founders, who under the au- thority and commandment of the king dom of God became the architects and prophets of the national republic. Rel- zion will not produce nationaiism it did not in Japan nor China, nor India nor Persia, but the Christian religion does. The self-consciOus national spirit of a. people follows the coming of Christ and the just knowledge and free acceptance of His gospel. Max Mueller says, "the Indian never knew the feeling of nation ality" The movement in India to-day toward nationalism is the product of Christian teaching, and the present au- thority tof Christian law The Santals owe their political consciousness to Christian missions, and in Mama one of he Samoan group, there is a self-re- specting political consciousness. the re- sultant of their knowledge of the king iom of Christ Robert college has na- ionalized Bulgaria, and throughout the world the gospel is an initiative force for he sentiment of patriotism and tho de- ] of the state. Give a race the gGspel and it VII seek for q political life five it a Bible and it will maka dic- ionary and a literature, Give it a