The Greeley tribune., 1907-11-21
DEDICATION SERMON
Continued from page 81

seltishness, is nearing its end. Grea
trusts are beginning to controi I'll
life of tile world, selfish most Ger
tainly, but proving as 1t has pe'e
= beeu proved before that men even Il
accomplish their selfish purposes eau
not any longer stand alone. AM
on the other side great combination
of employed men are being tormeo
alas also too often tyrannical. bu
again proving that men cannot ac
complisn even their selfish purpose
in this strenuous century unless thel
stand shoulder to shoulder, "iti
o common aim, willing TO make com
mon sacrifices for the good OF all
Socialism halls the day of the all en-
. quilting trust and the all-engulfng
labor organization as prophetic Of
the time when society snail come to
see that tie absolute unitcation ol
all industry is Inevitable and shai
: determine to control aud direct all.
The Christian church, If it is wise,
will see in the movement OF capital
and labor alike the prophecy OF the
time when men working together
shall come to love one another and
the selfish struggle for supremacy
shall be merged in higher co opera
ton in the service Of all. The
Christian church, if it is wise, Will
shape itselft to its new environment,
and will see its opportunity TO speak
the word of Jesus Christ which has
been committed to it but which it
has failed thus far to emphasize, to
proclaim with unequivocal trumpet
note the new truth which is as old
as Christianity itself that be who
! loyeth God can prove the reality of
his love in only one way, by loving
his brother also.
Let me indicate to you little
more definitely when l mean. For
the last two or three hundred years
gospel for the individual. 1t has
proclaimed that men can come to
God only one by one, that no man
can be saved by his relationship to
any other man or to any organiza-
tion. There are no privileged chill
dren of Abraham in God S kingdom,
/ any man is saved it is because he
has individually turned his back on
his sins and has returned In peni
tence to his Fathers house. Because
have said that the church has been
for three hundred years preaching
this gospel would not have you
think that l believe this gospel Is
worn out and needs to be supplant I'D
by another This Is gospel which
| can never wear out, which will be as
new at the end Of the ages as 1t was
when Luther proclaimed 1t, when
Jesus himself gave it utterance. 1t
needs emphatic reitera,ion even to-
day, for men are teaching that all
that is necessary for the worlds re.
demption is that there should be a
proper distribution OF the worlds
wealth, that II the standard of com.
fort is sufficiently raised for all men,
sin will gradually disappear from the
earth, that thus society is to be saved
In the mass, by change Of environ
ment. But it must not be forgotten
that there are sins which flow from
comfort which are real and as deadly
as those which flow from poverty
And while we must do all that we
can to make it easy to live true
life, we must purity our slums, we
must Danish the saloon and the
brothel, we must clean up all the
moral, the pest centers of our modern
civilization, yet even when we have
done this we have not saved men.
AS one of the wisest of Englishmen
once SAID, Though We take from a
covetous man all his treasure, he has
yet one jewel left; ye cannot bereave
him of his covetousnesse. A
change in social conditions does no,
save men. They cannot be savec
and society cannot be saved from
without. The process must begin a,
| the center, at the heart-life, in the
| individual soul. The individua
must be saved from his sins, tn,
every day sins that are dragging hin
down. If a man is genuinely {
Christian he is being daily redeemed
4 from sins OF bad temper, of impur,
thought and desire, of impatienc,
and bitterness, Of hardness of heart
OF meauness and stingyness, of tn,
disposition to speak evil of others. O
cowardlce, of such love of gain thai
he is willing to cheat and despoi
his nefghbor to add to his own banl
| account. The fruits of the spiri
are daily appearing more clearly i,
him, love, joy, peace, long suffering
Kindness, gentleness, meekness, self