The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-11-21

VS.. SOCIALISM
REV. {. r. PENpLEToN breaches
SUNDAY ON THE GOSPEL OF
WORK" AND INCIDENTALLY
EXAMINES SOCIALISM AS COM
PARED WITH THE CHRISTIAN
PLAN OF SOCIETY.

by Rev. E. r. Pendleton at the First
Baptist church Sunday morning:
Text: MY Father worketh even
until now, and L work" John SIT.
Greater works than these shall he
(the disciple) do" John 1912. (Com-
pare: John $50, Sc; "a; 14:10;
ITO.
God is a great Master Workman,
and the universe a wonderful work
shop, where, without sound of ham
in space, the mountains have been
formed and hung like glittering jewels
nj space, the mountains have been
made and set in their granite bases
the sea has been fashioned and given
its metes and bounds. All the tenn
ing races of men, the colossal spec
tacie of multitudfnous animals, verte-
brate and invertebrate, soaring upon
wings, or disporting themselves in the
waves of the ocean, or walking among
the forests and fields: and the infinite
variety of vegetable life furnishing the
shifting of phases and colors more
matchless than imagination of artist
or landscape painter could conceive,
have proceeded in endless procession
from the mind of the Divine Work
man.
There is no cessation of His activi-
ties, but having created all things per-
feet He governs them with infinite
power and energy, maintaining sea-
sons, seed time and harvest, and
giving each his proper food and en-
Vironment to support life and hap
piness.
The earth is great garden of de-
lights, and is kept by the tireless
Gardener for the good of His crea-
lures. The scheme all runs to the
same end, the happiness of men. The
lights and shades, the soft zephyrs of
Of too
and plant, the golden radiance of the
sun, the opalescent tints of the sea,
the glory of a summer sunset, all
come fresh every day from the hand
of the greatest of all workmen. These
things were not made and wound up
to go on like a clock, any more than
you or could wind up our business
some morning and leave it to run
itself.
Nature labors prodigiously to pro-
duce you one dinner, and the coat
you wear cost the tearing UP of her
bosom, the opening of her canopy
with rain, the beaming of many sun
beams. and the storing up of force
through many days to manufacture it.
Jesus came to represent God upon
earth, not as some grandee, or auto
crat, retired upon his competency, but
as a great workman. In being the ex-
press image of God He showed the di-
pressed upon till he had no time to
eat, and after a days work, falling
asleep upon the cushion of the boat,
continued in one round of good works
till He finished His task.
/ 1t would seem that He came not
only to take the part Of the laboring
man, and take His poverty and re-
preach upon Himself, but that He
came to be an example for all work.
ingmen, how that they were to work
patiently and meekly, even in the
midst Of an exasperating social order
such as the one which crucified Him.
Any attempt, however, to make
! Jesus class leader must fail. No
factionist could have won such a
place in the hearts of men.
The recent attempt of a Socialist in
a novel to make Jesus appear as a
working man come to emancipate la
borers from their wrongs, and making
eugene Debs sort of modern Man of
Gal1lee, sounds crude and provincial,
| in comparison with the catholic Cos
pei of the Nazarene. 1t is a theory of
government, and prejudiced with all
the human faults of the system of the
| writer.
When Jesus went away He commits
| sion His disciples to work. His last
words contemplated gigantic enter
| prises. Greater works shall We do
| The world campaign as fishers for
| men presupposed work of no ordinary
sort. The gospel counts the drone as
great evil. The church" which
Jesus had IN mind was to be the Invest.
most active workshop among men. 1t
| was to be veritable beehive of in
| dustry and His followers energized by
/ His spirit were to be ceaseless work.
ers. His disciples caught this spirit
and went everywhere preaching the
| gospel of the kingdom, and wherever
the gospel has gone it has reared
buildings, laid railroads, opened fac
tories, and created asy1ums, orphan
ages, and schools and libraries. It
| goes hand into hand in the new covn-
try with the trader and the builder.
According to the gospel, IF a man will
not work neither let him eat"
The Blessing of Work.
One of the planks of Socialism is
| that labor is a basis of all value.
| Whether this be true politically and
economically or not must be left to
the political economist, but that labor
is the greatest of all earthly blessings
is, IN my opinion, certainly true Ma
ture is Enthusiastically productive
and what is reproductive is usually
cut down and cast into the fire. A
race of beings unproductive might be
thinkable but it would not be a race
of men made in the image of God.
The glad tidings of work is next to