The Washington herald., 1911-07-30
DE LANSING ON SOCIAL SERVICE

The Lords PRAYER Is distinctly a
social petition. 1t cannot be prayed self
ishly by the individual. All of its human
pronouns are plural, not singuar-'our'
instead of my us instead of me- we
instead of Ia prayer expressing the
brotherhood of man. Thy kingdom come
on earth as 1t is in heaven prays to have
that model become the order Of the earth.
The will of God is made known to be
done. not merely to be known. The
charge that the churches would hush men
in unrclieved misery by promising them
heaven after death instead of in this life
is absolutely contra adictory of the obliga-
tion of all those who pray the Lord s
Prayer sincerely. 1t is a prayer of uni
versaI philanthropy. 1t strikes vice which
wastes billions and makes virtue which
saves and gives"
DR.. Lansing declared that it would be
impossible to make one community an
example of applied Christianity without
bringing a general reform to the sur
rounding territory. just as ii is impos-
sible to make any community thor
oughly temperance city without elimi-
natingSthe sale of liquor in every con-
tiguous point.
Social service" continues DR.. Lansing,
bling applied mathematics in contrast to
pure mathematics The proof that we
love God may be seen by the way we
can demonstrate 1t by our love to our
fellow-man. The first commandment,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, is
followed by the second, Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself,' embracing two
entirely distinct hemispheres, the second
of which is almost entirely undiscovered
as yet.
The regenerated man is to create a
regenerate society. This is the purpose
of Christian social service. Its goal is a
better environment. In order to make So
ciety safe place for saved souls and
make 1t easy to do right and hard to do
wrong. The regenerated individual, to
develop his Christianity and prove It.,
must put himself to the task of regen-
Grating society. In this day, instead of
fighting typhoid fever only when it is in
side of men, We go outside and fight II
before it reaches them-in the water sup
ply, the milk, the meat market, cellar,
back yard, &c. We must fight for a bet
ter social condition, just as we fight for
better hygienic condition. The purpose
of the North American Social Service Sur
vey of the Men and Religion Forward
Movement is to tabulate the social facts
of each community in such way that
they will present a background upon
which not only existing evil can be en-
phasized but a correction of that evil
pointed out. When the facts of social
service or the lack in It are clearly be-
fore you that you may see your relations
to your neighbor and your fellow-man
they are bound to develop instinctively a
social consciousness which will have an
individual as well as community appli-
cation.
"Of the present welfare and so-called
social service workers of this country
about so per cent are active Christian
church members. This is in direct refuta-
ton of the charge recently made that
the bulk of modern social service was be-
ing conducted by individuals and agencies
outside the church. OF the remaining 20
per cent, 10 per cent are nominal church
members and not more than 10 per cent
have no relation to the church. Out OF
the present church membership there
| should be thousand social service work.
ers when there is at present but one.
THE Lords Prayer, so called, contains
the irreducible minimum of Christianity
and almost the ideal maximum Of social
reform A man can know II and say 1t,
but he cannot pray 1t unless he does it
actually carriet II into effect. No man
ever prays really and truly unless he Is
doing all he can to achieve what he prays
for The Lords Prayer is a social prayer,
and doubiy so. 1t Is not to be prayed
alone, never selfshly. God addressed as
Father implies filial relation Of all those
praying. It implies brotherhood.
THE petition forgive. Is for spirit
which creates between individuals.
classes. groups, states. nations, universal
arbitration. q consummation based on