Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-12

more gave stirring address before i
joint conference of the ministers OF the
Monumental city and the Capital city In
this city Monday. He pleaded for the
union of Christianity and state: for
less rhetoric and more results In
minister's work; declared that modern
exhibitions of grating are AS nothing In
comparison with conditions in Rome.
and predicted a ''still better time. when
We shall measure men by purity, not
place: by morals. not money.
He said. in part:
That ChristS purpose was 10 establish
an ideal social order upon the earth. as
well as to save the individual soul is plain
upon every page Of the gospel. He refers
forty-tive times to the kingdom of God
in Matthew alone and over one hundred
TINES in the first three gospels. These ref
erences are given in such a wise as to
show beyond dispute that the kingdom of
God was to be established upon the earth
How, then, can this social salvation
through Christ be wrought out? Simply
by applying the laws which He gave US
Through belief in Him 'ye must be born
again That is the law of faith by which
the individual is saved. Through obedi-
ence to Him 'ye must love one another
fhat is the law of love by which society
will be saved.
There are good grounds for believing
that practical application of thrfst.s
law of love to life will cure every i'll from
which society suffers. The law governing
society in the past has been setishness
From this all our social woes have sprung
To get as much as possible and to give
out as little; to trample down others that
We might rise; to grasp and grind and
struggle that our own end might be served
this has been the policy of the race
Power not justice: might, not right. have
too often ruled the world In social and
political life the ambitious individual has
not spared his fellows, if only he might
grow great and powerful. In commercial
life one business concern has struggled to
destroy the other and to flourish by its
opponents decay and death. In interna-
tional life each nation has striven by
might and main, by injustice. by duplic
1ty, cruelty and craft. by lies OF dplo-
macy and stroke OF sword, to destroy its
competitors and then to flourish above
their ruins in self-indulgent and egotisti-
cal ease. And this eager selfishness has
caused all the struggles, strifes, heart
burni-lgs. bitterness, injustice. suffering
and woe by which the earth is cursed. s,To
reverse this policy and supplant the law
OF selhshness and hatred with the law of
love and service Will destroy the effects of
selfiShneSS and establish cooperation
harmony. peace. purity and happiness
among men.
.' + X
Apply Christ's law of love to our So
eial problems and see how it will solve
each and every one. Happily for US, this
is already beginning to be done The
present agitation about graft and dishon-
esty In business relations is not an indi-
cation Of our moral decay, but rather. of
a progress through an awakening public
conscience. Already many of our rich
men have begun. to apply the law of love
TO the use of their wealth: and by this
mere beginning OF the application of
Christianity to our social ills these ills
are bettered. Mr.. Carnegie has enurr
ciated a new gospel OF wealth-that the
rich man who dies rich dies disgraced,'
and his benefactions throughout the world
have done much TO promote better feel
ing between the poor man and the rich.
This leads us now TO consider the in !
teresting question of how rapidly this So
ciai regeneration can be expected. and by
what methods it can be FASTENED. Here
we are confronted with great variety of
opinions. theories and plans. Jesus faces
this same problem on the Mount OF Temp
tation. He foresaw the danger of any
shortcut plan to secure for His right
eousness all the Kingdoms of this earth.
Therefore He deliberately chose the slow
hut sure method of the redemption of the
individual as the plan for social and po-
ntical reform He saw that when the in
dividual units composing society are pu-
rified, society will be purified and not
until then. That is the method of Jesus,
and that is the plan to which. with all
earrestneSs and power, the ministry ought
to call the mind and heart OF humanity
today The leaven Of individual regen-
GRAFTON and righteousness must finally
leaven the entire lump. The main point
of emphasis. therefore, must continue TO
be regeneration, not reform: soteriology, |
not sociology. There is place indeed for
the institutional church and similar
agencies for temporal and social better !
ment, but these agencies, ii they are TO
be kept safe, must be regarded as
means to an end and not as ends in them !
selves The millennium will not he ushered
In by a cake of soap and free soup we
need something more than the mere bet
torment of external conditions and Inc
enactment of good laws. We may CON
struct society on the most ideally perlsct
lines. but we are Still confronted with the
sad fact that the human heart Is deceit
full above all things and desperately WICK
ed and that it must be changed before I
even ideally perfect social machinery WIN
work because out or the nedit are tne
issues Of social well as individual NE
There Is, therefore. as never De. ore IN !
the history of our world the call TO an en- |
l,ehtaned. aggressive and blood-earnest
evangelism. This deeper VISION OF Snris,
tianity's mission calls for new ldeai
within the Christian ministry. The OPP |
nortunities of this age are calling for
heroism within the ranks OF the ministry
Gods prophets must not sit at ease In
zion The soft raiment and dainty food
of those who dwell in kings houses are
not for them. Theirs is rather the Gamer
hair and the wild honey. We are not call
ed to the delights of literary research nor |
the charms of scientific speculation. Our
ministry Is not to consist OF round OF
mink teas and social coddlings. punctuated
on Sundays with dainty discussions of
poetry, sandwiched in between |
the dulcet strains Of operatio airs. Such |
ideals prostitute the pulpit. They consti- |
tute treason to our sacred trust.
4
Does not the ministry Of today need to |
come back to the earlier ideas of heroic |
self-sa crifice in service? We are TO go and I
NOT merely to proclaim. Our sermons
should be the outgrowth Of our service.
rather than the children Of our specula
tons. born amid the cushions of a morris
chair They will be better If we catch
them. as Christ did, in the open air as we
20 about doing good. Coming thus they
will have perhaps less finish. but more
force; less polish. but more power: less
rhetoric but more results. Above all, we
must put the emphasis back where the
early church put it with such signal sue
cess. namely, upon individual responsibility
and personal work. We are to realize the
vital Importance of the heart-to-heart and
contact with our fellows.
LET us not rest longer to see the church
of the living God shut up In state of
siege Let US sally forth toawage a new
fr.vz wxx{A - - l@vv. D.