Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-08-15
OF EARTH ARE CALLS
OF HEAVEN TO BROTHERLINESs
By BISHOP w. a. CANDLHR.

In one of his strange fctions Nathaniel
Hawthorne pictures Adam and Eve re-
turning to the earth TO start new
race after worldwide disaster had
Overwhelmed all mankind, and left only
the homes and enterprises of men to
tell the story of what they had been
and had achieved. The perplexed pair look
upon the peopleless world in sadness and
amazement. Passing along the streets of
depopulated city they see side by side
homes of splendor and habitations of
squalor. In lands where the highest civili-
cation prevailed they observe evidences
of excessive wealth and remains OF
wretched want. On all hands are visi-
BILE the tokens of the most astounding
and painful inequalities in the condi-
tions OF man descended from the same
original parentage and subject to the
same passions, desires, and affections.
This picture OF the greatest of Ameri-
can writer's of prose suggests to us how
Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, looks
down upon things as we see them about
us. He sees a heartless opulence face
to face with a helpless indulgence through
out the world, and yet through his gospel
he proclaims the brotherhood of man.
Are these painful inequalities accidental
or providential? Does our heavenly
Father design that such inequalities
sort of celestial communist or superhu-
man SOCIALISM
Earth's inequalities seem to be divinely
appointed for the development of brother
Illness among men; for in nothing has
God made men equal. In physical strength
and health, in mental power and intellec-
tual attachments, in spiritual aspiration
and moral opportunity, he has made all
men unequal. No inspired prophet or
heaN en-sent apostle has ever uttered a
word In condemnation Of this condition
of inequality. The Master. himself gave
US to understand that poverty would
never be abolished: The poor We have
always with you.p
scheme of socialism has ever been sue
cessful. nor is any such plan capable
of successful operation. For a brief space
and to meet very exigent wants there
was In the primitive church at Jerusalem
sort Of modified communism; but it diff
fered totally In both motive and method
from all the forms of modern commun-
ism. It sprang from love, and each chris
tan said to his fellow saint: 1--WE will
have all things In common by my giving
to you that which is mine; but modern
| communism springs from selhshness,
and its advocates cry aloud to all men,
1--WE must have all things in common
by taking what is thine" And although
the christian communism of the early
church was of this nobler sort, 1t led to
strife. deceit. and incidence; and it was
soon abandoned.
1t is not the purpose of heaven that
earth's inequalities shall be effaced; but
these inequalities are heavens calls of
men to brotherliness. BY serving and
being served men are bound together
with the bonds of gratitude and love.
There are inequalities Of mind and
enlightenment. and they are Gods call
to the enlightened and gifted to guio-
and teach the ignorant and 1ull. This
brotherly Office of instruction Is not To
be fulfilled in spirit of PRIDE or lofty
condescension, but with all patience
and tenderness and gentleness Meek
ness in the teacher is as indispensable
as docility in the taught. When the
greatest of teachers invited the weary
and heavy-laden to learn of him he
assured them that he was meek anu
lowly in heart" e
There are inequalities of health and
strength, and the strong must bear the
infrmities of the weak To every man
of robust body some of the feeble and
aged, and little children have a right
to cling. In their support his manhood
should find Joy, and for their mainte-
nance the dependent should give back
loving gratitude which enriches the
grateful and blesses them who receive
IL.
The most visible inequalities among
men are in the matter of their material
possessions, and in this matter there is
a constant and loud call to service
which the opulent can not disregard
without mourning the gravest perils.