The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-02-18
ADVANCE IN ALL COTTON MARKETS. Snn
Sunday Sermon.
GODS WORLD vs.. MANS WORLD

Love worketh no i'll to his neighbor;
therefore love is the fulfilling OF the law.
Romans, xiii, 10.
sometimes wonder what kind Oh
world this would be if we all did our
duty.
SO far as my observation goes. ii Is
not at All the kind of world which spirit
ual laws. properly undel stood ana
gladly obeyed. would naturally produce.
The responsibility for the evils from
which we suffer. therefore. does not reSt
with the Almighty, but wholly with oar
selves.
As Gods world it must needs be al
solutcly perfect but since it is only
mans world it is the result OF lmpru-
dence reckleSsness and ignorance.
In many important respects it is pre-
ciSely what the Lord cannot approve.
We have turned the original plan up
side down, and can never be at peace or
reach the ideal. either as individuals or
as society. until we see that Gods Wis
dom is after all better than our conceit
and sqlfishneys. and then reconstruct Oh
that basis.
Tie only remedy that can be conceived
of is to be found i'll that brotherhood
which i the essence of all true religion.
hut which today has very little influence
over public or private affairs. 1t is
not found in our dealings with each 9th
err, nor in our courts of justice. nor in
that large domain of activity which We
call commercial.
\ world made by scIfshness for purely
selfish and greedy purposes does not i'll
any way resemble a world made by
brolherly love fer the good of all. We
live fer the time being in the former,
but the light is slowly dispensing the
darkness, and the time is not so very
far distant when we shall read the
New Testament once more. see the
Christ from an entirely new viewpoint,
and rebuild on the philosophy OF life
which He taught.
How much misery 1hEre is round
about us. Old hearts are breaking and
young hearts are aching There are
hungry mouths, frail bodies chilled by
the winter cold, and eyes that are weep
ing in utter despair. There are men
whom a word Of kindly encouragement
would save, and women who are forced
by dire necessity to barter their honor
for food and clothing There are TRACE
dies every day in the year the mere re-
with plying sympathy.
But what cares the world? Though
men have plenty, they toll for more, no
matter who starves. If our banquet board
is we'll spread, DO We trouble about those.
who have nothing to eat? We must
have our personal pleasure; we muSr
CRAFTY ourselves at any cost. and it is
easy to close our ears to the cries OF
distress.
Am | cruel and unjust in making these
charges? Would that l were. Am !
wrong in saving that the most awful
crime Of society Is the indifference OF
those who have much to those who have
nothing: Am l going too far when |
declare that God has made us of on.
family. but that for some reason we
repud.ate our poorer relations and sefllse
10 allow their SORROWS to distub our
elegant Iepose?
Is it, then, Gods world in which We
live: Is it beautiful dream which
He has made Us dream. or is it night
mare caused by our own folly:
There is money enough and NOR" thGh
enough to furnish an opportunity to
every soul that lives. There is sympathy
enough which gees to waste every year
to give good cheer and hope to every
>orrowful and every sinful man and wo-
man on the globe. There is honor
enough, though ii may be latent, 10
see that justice is done everywha!H, that
oppression and persecution are checked.
If the energy which fills the ,ldlJ rol;-
tine of our universal life with competitive
activity were directed to the general wei
fare, the mllennial sun would come froEI
behind The clouds and flood the earth
with glory.
Men are not naturally bad; on the con-
trary, they are naturally good, but their
love Of self by a kind OF coup d'etat has
usurped the throne. and that sense OF
justice, their sympathy and love ana
many of the nobler qualities are groIing
about in the dark, knowing neither what
to do nor how to do it. There isn't
man on earth who doesn't wish that hui
man affairs We're in a better condition.
that all wrongs might be righted, but he
is so pressed Ivy personal ambition thar
he negects the public for his own p~i-
waite good.
In a single word, the Christian re.i-
ei0n has not yet entered our minds with
its inspiration, its warnings. its de-
mands and lis recon4tructive force.
What we want is not less but more OF
Cnrist. the brother, the lover of the
poor, the philosopher, the divine leader
through brail.bes of sin and weakness
to the upland of d nobler and grander
manhood. Eighteen centuries have
hardly brought us to the threshold OF
Christianity. We have almost every
thing else i'll abundance but of the sim
rlicity of true religion we have very lit
tie. Its chief demand is that, first loving
God, we shall love all Gods children.
Reduce it to its last analysis and the
word love" will contain all there is OF
it,
Flood the world with brotherly ar-
lection and YOU will drown out nearly
every vice. The lowly will respect 1he
high and the high will cheer the lowly
The hearthstone Of poverty will blaze
with good cheer and the larder Will never
be wholly empty. They who struggle
will find Il helping hand when Christ
comes TO tell us how best to live. and
they who weep will hear the voice OF
a ready Sympathy.