Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-24

N~tCO anu 1el1lOAO
to realize which is condemned more
unsparingly, than any other, in the
teachings of the Bible, it is the un-
righteousness, the sin of the people, the
nation, the city. The Christian church
has gone to an unreasonable and un-
scriptural extreme in the teaching Of
personal salvation. It would almost
seem sometimes to hear certain very
good and enthusiastic men talk, as
though our chief business in this world
ts to make some sort Of a bargain with
God which shall certainly insure our
having the best that heaven affords
when we get out Of this life. If we
can be sure of this, If we can feel sure
of heaven by and by, If we can man
age to escape, personally, the wreck
ana sin and misery in which the race
seems SO deeply involved, there is, at
!east according to the views Of some
little need for us to worry much about
the unr1ghteousness and destiny here
or hereafter of the vast rank and file of
humanity. According to some the world
Is gettlng worse and worse, anyway,
ana there Is next to nothing that we
can do to make 1t better. Jesus is
coming In little while, they maintain,
TO destroy the wicked, and either take
the good away with him to eternal
glory or establish a new race here upon
this earth.
Now, too much cannot be said to in
duce men to become personally all that
1T is possible for them to be. Jesus
placed the ideals Of personal life so
nigh that we have ever before us lofty
heights still unattained. Whatever the
condlt1on of the community in which
we live or the world Of which we are
a part, 1t is incumbent upon every man
10 realize In his own life, that daily
ana hourly conquest which is the true
salvation. In teaching the necessity
OF this we shall hardly be in danger Of
going too far, and shall never reach
beyond the teachings of the Bible.
But the one great lesson inculcated,
the one greatest duty imposed upon
mankind, is the realization of national
social communal righteousness. If we
suppose by some piece Of theological
or physiological jugglery we are to go
scot Tree from the sins and shOrtcom-
lngs, the iniquities and unrighteous-
ness Of all the people, we shall be har-
boring delusion, and if we attempt it,
we shall be undertaking something
which never has and never will be
successfully accomplished If by a
great and irrevocable law of nature and
of life, God visits the iniQuitieS of the
fathers upon the children in the gener-
ations to be, so by a great law Of So
cial and national life every man in a
community, in one form or another,
sooner or later, must share the bur-
dens Of the penalty of unrighteousness
Just as an imperfect sewer in the cell
lar will poison the entire house and
endanger all it's inmates, so will moral
poison, crime, vice of any sort 'or Un-
righteousness in any detail, affect the
ffA
city.
The American people are at least in
name a democratic people. The SUI
preme law Of the land is vested in the
people. We may delegate that preroga-
tive for time to individuals, or COM
panieS of men, but it is always with the
understanding and with the binding
force Of a solemn oath upon them that
the will Of the people shall be respected
and the laws of the land enforced.
There is but one course of safety for
those so commissioned; there is but
one path Of honor for the people who
so elect and commission men. Every
incentive inspires the public officer who
is elected to carry out the will Of the
people, and enforce the laws which they
have made. The well being of the great
rank and file of humanity, the mainte-
nance of conditions which shall protect
the weak and unsuspecting, the con-
sciousness of having administered the
public office as a public trust, the re
tiring from the arduous duties which
most public positions impose with the
feeling that the burden has been hon
orably and faithfully borne, all these
combine powerfully to impel the man
who has for time been invested with
the powers of public Office to do his
best and to act his part nobly and hon
estly under all circumstances, and IN
the face Of every temptation to do the
reverse.
And how such men as this bring hon
or to a nation, state or city! What
an inestimable service they perform for
the public welfare! How righteousness
in high places lifts up the moral tone of
the entire city and stimulates that
righteousness which the wise man says
exalts a nation!
And what shall we say of those who
do the opposite? In what category
shall we place those who sell the pow
ers Of public Office for private gain, in
whom the "love of money" which we
are told is the 'root of all evil" has
become so controlling that they will
debase their office to fill their own cof-
fers? Judge not, that we be not
judged" said the great Teacher centu-
ries ago. We judge them not. Long
ago, too, the same One said: IF the
light that is in thee be darkness, how
great is lIdI OdIhIlSSS. VIC OcAlI ALO
names. We make no charges. We Judge
no man; but this we do say: The
American people are becoming aroused.
They are in no mood to trifle with those
whose light in public office has become
the darkness of graft.
The conscience of the nation was nev-
er so aroused as it is this moment.
Honor in public office never brought
so high a price in the enthusiastic
commendation and support of the ma
jority Of the people.
Unfaithfulness and disregard Of the
public welfare, failure to keep faith
with the people, the selling of a public
trust for the meager and blemished re-
turns Of private gain, were never sol
little tolerated as now.
The righteousness that eXalteth a ma
ton is being looked upon not as the
variety which expresses itself in the
conference meeting or the naming Of
some particular brand of theology, but
as Of that noble and sterling man
hood which will be true to the trust
which has been imposed, no matter
how great the temptation to be any
thing less.
Two things need to be said in this
connection. There was never a time
when the public servant had so great
an opportunity for enviable greatness
as now.
Never was there such an opportunity !
to be of service to humanity as today.
Such men as Roosevelt, Folk, john
son and Hughes and many others have
performed an inestimable service to
humanity, which for sheer worth can
not be compared with any number of
dollars, no matter how they are gotten |
What shall it profit man if he shall
gain the whole world, and lose his own
life,'' or the opportunity of placing his
life where it will count for the great
In4 h 1xr