The Newtown bee., 1901-03-29

en world to establish a new religion. How wonderful that they succeeded at all! But when we pause to consider that Christian witness-bearing; in the demonstration and power of the Holy Ghost, has been making this world over anew, and when we consider what has been done, we may we'll exclaim, "MarvelOuS!' What Paul calls the ''foolishness of preaching" is indeed moulding public opinion to such an ex- tent that the demand for righteous ness is becoming increasingly general. Good people everywhere, who are not themselves professors of religion, are affected by the uplifting power of Christianity; and all men-the good religious-enjoy the benefits of a Christian civilization. The enormity of the worlds debt to Christianity can never be fully estimated, and the only pretense that the world can make of paying this debt, is in the worlds be- coming thoroughly and genuinely Christfanized, and in this way, per haps, fulfilling her obligations to her Divine Benefactor. To help create in the public conscience and thought a sense of obligation and gratitude to Almighty God, to help Christianize public opinion so that it shall become easier to do right and more difficult to do wrong,-this is broad and impor- tant phase of Christian duty now at hand. We are to be witnesS-bearers for Christ in this broad and general sense, as we'll as in ways relating specifically to individual Christian ex- perience.
 There has been too much of ten dency in the past to divide life into two phases-the secular" and the sacred, the prOfane and the religious, and men have regarded these phases of life as being in large measure dis tinct and separate. This has been a great evil and has resulted in serious mischief. A kind of
 DOUBLE LIVING HAS OFTEN RESULTED one set of principles to govern man when engaged in matters religious, and another set of principles to govern him when engaged in matters worldly or secular. In this light, religious af. | fairs have been considered sacred while so-called secular affairs have been considered as being of necessity more or less evil. We must learn that there is nothing so secular but what il is intimately related. to the sacred Affairs secular and sacred cannot be divorced. All that is done should bt considered sacred, for life itself is { sacred burden. The pure spirit O. Christianity should enter into all the affairs of human life, making then profitable, pure, and in every sense righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ his Church, his individual disciples and the great principles of the law O God are directly concerned, then, witt all matters of human life. Th' church has the responsibility of bear ing witness for Christ at all times ant under all circumstances. She must b alive, then, to improve every oppOr deavor in every possible way to s' mould public opinion that it shall be come easier to do right and more diff ticult to do wrong. It is our duty t. try to purify, elevate, guide, ant ChristianiZe public opinion, for this i the power that rules the world to-day The power of public opinion has in : creased with the spread. of the Chris tian religion, with the advance of civ ilization, and with the multiplication of mechanical inventions. Christian ity has elevated men in the mora scale; Christian civilizat tion has givel men liberty or COnSClenCe ana 0 thought, and, at the same time, ha bound all men closer together with tie of love and common interest. Tn multiplication of mechanical inven tions-the coming of the steam engine the telegraph, the telephone, the swif Operating.printing presses, and mOderl instruments of warfare-theSe inven tions have bound men still closer tC gether. Men are now thinking eac1 others thoughts hOurlyand daily, whil miles and hundreds of miles apart. N people can act independently and il the dark. The continent cannot ac without England's immediate knowl edge thereof.
 EUROPE CANNOT ACT
 without the news thereof being cal ried into every American home il
 black and white, on the day of or O. the day after the act. Seclusion an
 barbarism are becoming impossible Nothing can be kept from the knowl edge of the masses, all people can com municate with each other readily, SC ciety is becoming more and more intel ligent and more thoroughly organized and all movements are becoming ma tional and international. Public Opin ion, the will of the people is becoming the great world power. Men realize too, that whatever affects one persol or one community for better or fo worse, affects in some degree all per