The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1906-09-07

pressions obtain 1 shall not now dis
cuss. Many workingmen have the i'm
preston that the church teaches that
the whole duty of man is to get saved,
then he will go to heaven. This may
have been learned from the teachings
Of some churchmen, but how different
the teaching of Jesus when He says:
He that saveth his life shall lose it."
The import Of which is, He that seeks
salvation just to go to heaven will
never get there. The teaching of
Jesus is that we should seek to be
good, but not for ourselves alone, but
for others. That we should seek to
get to heaven, not for ourselves alone,
but to get others there, and that we
should also seek to get as much of
heaven as possible into men while
here on earth.
The chief mission of the church is to
teach men to live; the result of which
will be better homes, better society
and better government
We should go to church; we should
pray; we should attend to all the
means of grace. But after all, this is
only means to an end
1t is because men are Christian that
we have asylums, hospitals and homes
for the aged. These are the outflow
of the principles which our Lord
taught; but it is not enough that we
have these public institutions. There
must be individual hospitals and asy-
lums and homes for aged and needy
our hearts must be asy1ums and hos
pitals and homes for those who need
help.
Christ preached a strong and manly
gospel, but men have narrowed it down
until only part of it's meaning is
apparent. The church has attempted
again and again, and wisely it may be,
to answer the question, what shall
do to be saved?" but not so often,
we fear, has it attempted to answer
the question, How shall l help my
neighbor and make him happier and
wiser, and how shall 1 help my coun-
tt yand make it's institutions better?"
The trades unions tell us that the
rich control the church and that they
are hard-hearted and grind down the
lives OF employees. This is in a meas
ure true. 1t is greatly to be deplored
when true, but it is only in part true
Tn MI ho rio IN OIL
ways control the church, and, second,
they are not always hard-hearted. Sad
it is that such condition should OBJ
tain in any degree, but the whole must
not be judged by part. The state
ment is made that the church is main
ly supported by the rich and, there
fore, poor man or man of moderate
means cannot feel at home as part
Of the church. Again, this is only
partly true. The great bulk of sup
port to the church is from men of
ordinary means. Only small per
cent comes from men who are worth
a couple of hundred thousand or half
a million, or more. When a million
aire gives $4,000 the papers all pub
lish it, but when a $4,000 man gives
$1O0 the papers say nothing, and this
is the same proportion.
The welfare of man was the crown
ing object of Christ's life and mission.
It ought to be the crowning purpose of
our lives.
ic coli nf
to glorify God and enjoy Him forever"
1 accept it all, but l do insist that
one of the best ways to glorify God is
tc seek the highest good Of humanity,
without which we cannot enjoy Him
forever
Oh, how different the philosophy of
some men from that adduced by Him
who spoke as never man spoke! How
different their political economy from
that of our Lord.
A heartless people will say:
Blessed are ye who belong to huge
monopolies, for We shall become inn
immensely rich"-and the echo comes
back, Blessed are ye who hate the
rlcn, Tor IN SO doing ye nate all evil.
Such is not the spirit of the Christ.
This is an abnormal state of society,
and it is inexpressibly sad when such
a spirit manifests itself among pro-
Tossing Christians. l believe that 1t
is the business of the church to lead
off in applying the principles of our
Lord The plan of our Lord was to
change men rather than methods. He
did not deal with methods, only as
they would be applicable in all ages.
Many books are born and take high
places in the curriculum Of the schools
for time and then are laid away
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