The morning journal-courier., 1908-03-30

God has Set before her Is the bringing in of the kingdom of heaven, the per feet social order. But how is she to do this except by strict attention to her own peculiar task, the building of individual character. Until We have a vast company of men who love right eousness, and will sacrifice themselves for the common good, no order of so-
 ciety will work to perfection: and
 when we have men enough of that stamp any order will work Underly- ing the economic scheme there is all
 ways the moral issue. The church
 must not fail to cry as did Jesus. The
 kingdom of heaven is at hand" But she must understand that the words
 which give her the key to her own peculiar mission are those other words
 of the text, Repent ye." She must continue to call men 10 repentance. She must continue to raise the moral issue. She must not forget that the greatest of all forces In human his tory has been the individual man. What socialism is aiming at may be
 right, but those aims are to be sought along the lines of individual responsi-
 hility The socialist presents to us an
 elaborately defined scheme of society.
 The Christian who has grasped the
 principle of the religion of Jesus will say to the socialist, Very likely you are right The coming order may shape itself in this form or in some
 other. I do not know But this I 1 know, the call Is for every man to re- pent. The call is for every man to
 make the most righteous use possible
 of the order that now exists. The per | feet order is not coming in day. and
 while we are waiting for it we are to prepare for it's more speedy consum
 nation by making our own lives just and upright and honorable To set us
 men themselves are Christian would ! he to invite disaster upon civilization
 Itself. Bad as an unsocial Christianity
 may be, an un-Christlan socialism
 would be infinitely worse"
 | You see now why I have not entered 1 liilb tllt tNili'liil' dSftAA 'l S'Ni'iioi''s It Is because the religion of Jesus Is primarily an ethical impulse So far as socialism is a passion for humanity I welcome it. So far as It Is an economic scheme I am perplexed by various un-
 certainties Men may be good Chris
 tians and vote the republican ticket, or the democratic ticket, or the prohibition
 ticket, or the socialist ticket What
 concerns me as a Christian minister, ] and what should concern my church I
 believe, Is whether each man has had
 created within him that kingdom of heavenly character which is prepara-
 tory to the coming of the kingdom
 without It would be interesting, I have
 no doubt, to take up the economic l teachings of socialism, The place for
 that, however. is in the class room. The
 pulpit is anxious only that men should
 strive to live together as brethren. If
 one is convinced that the competitive
 system best enables him to realize the
 ideals of brotherhood well and good. II
 another believes that the realization of
 brotherhood requires some form of
 colectivism l shall not quarrel with
 him. Let each go his own way. but let
 him go as a man who has felt upon his
 soul the moving of Christs spirit. This,
 to my mind, is the important thing;
 and it seems the more important the
 more 1 hear men argue. One tells me
 that the state should control all nat
 ural means of production, should own
 all the implements of industry An
 other declares that such an order
 would mean intolerable slavery, and
 crush out individual liberty. One finds
 the root of all evil to be the private
 ownership of property Another at
 tempts to show that the history of in
 dividual property and the history of
 personal liberty coincide" This man
 declares that competition is not con
 sistent with the teaching in the sermon
 on the mount, and points out that the
 tendency to-day Is steadily away from
 the extreme economic individualism ot the first half of the last century. Ina . man admits the drift but declares tha it is towards social democracy ant not towards state socialism: he admit' that competition alone provides al adequate motive towards industry These social problems, he declares, arr merely temporary; they have grown III under the impulse arising from indi' vidual initiative, and society has no yet had time properly to adjust itseli to them. According to his argument tn, remedy is to be found in an increase of individualsm rather than in social ism. The socialist paints a lurid pictur, of the awful conditions under which tens of thousands are obliged to work for bare subsistence. The individuai ist agree with him in deploring these conditions springing out of competit on he admits that the problems staggel one who would look for a solution, bu he sees no easy way out of this deel jungle, and holds that socialism i' justy under suspicion simply because | is such a short cut. "Can we" he asks afford to risk destroying the present rapid progress under competition, jus to try an economic scheme that is s, visionary as to promise to do every thing?' And thus the argument zoe: on, and the longer I listen the more am convinced of certain things. Thes' things lie wholly back of the economi issue. Let me try, in one brief state ment, to tell you what I think they are And first, 1t would seem that ther' can be no doubt that God is leading u II
 out into some larger and juster indus trial and social Cider than that whicl l now exists. The man who can liv I within the trend of things to-day an,