River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-08-06

Scripture, they will be succeeded BIZ
he Kingdom of Gods dear Son.
That strong Government, that The
)cracy to which every knee must bow
and every tongue confess, to the glory
Of God, is the Kingdom that the world
needs It's rule OF righteousness alone
will bring to mankind the JOY and
peace and blessing which all crave. but
which none of US are wise enough to
know how to bring about-not even
our Socialist friends! The part of
faith and of wisdom is to look unto
the Lord, from whom cometh our help.
Nor should we look to Him to approve
our methods, but rather to be inform
ed respecting His methods and to CO
operate to the extent of our abilities.
The Gospel of Discomfort.
The Pastor next considered the
views held by many who favor what
is known as Christian Socialism. He
read an extract from an old number
of the christian Socialist" in which
Rev. Dr. Eliot White is reported to
have said as follows:
LET us answer, Hasten the day
when Labor, united, shall shake off its
chains! Our part as Christians is to
help men out of every bondage! We
are not perturbed that Socialism, in its
eagerness to rid Labor of material
bonds, has not yet realized the weight
of bonds spiritual. That realization
will come in good time, and Christian
ity must be ready to show the work
ers Of the world how to be rid Of all
these letters Of the soul which mate
rial emancipation will but render
more apparent. But for Christianity,
as too often now, to profess desire to
free men from spiritual bondage,
while repudiating any call or need to
strike fearless blows at their material
prison bars, is to lay itself open to
justif1able charges Of hypocrisy. This
must yield to Drawer counsels, though
the striving be unto blood against the
sin of slavery which still defiles mod
ern industrialism.
with widest meaning then-inclu-
sive Of all that the most ardent and
uncompromising Socialist lover OF lib
erty has demanded, and embracing be-
sides all that the Christian means
when he proclaims the story of spirit
ual freedom, Christianity must now
take up the challenge and cry with
worldwide voice and a mighty thun-
der-'Amen! even so, unite, We work
ers; you have but your chains to lose,
and you have world to gainv"
It was then pointed out that the
writer of this extract and all who
sympathiZe with his views should be
willing to concede that If now is the
proper time to get Labor out of "the
slavery of modern industrialism," then
surely God is as much interested in
that release as they Or any others
could possibly be-yea, and more So
If, then, this Christian minister and
others have received some special com
mission authorizing the@a to nreAMh
new Gospel or new @&4aittoa TO tho
cid Gospel, they should produce the
proofs of this authorization. Until we
see the proofs we must doubt their ex-
istence
Next the Pastor showed that, on the
contrary, the Scriptures declare that
there is but one Hope set before us in
the Gospel, even as there lis but one
Lord, one Faith and one Baptism" No
one will ever succeed in making the
world happy by preaching the Gospel
of Discomfort. Labor today is hun
dredfold better fed, better clothed and
better housed than in the days of our
forefathers and, it is safe to say, a
hundredfold more disconnected. And
the author Of the above extract, with
doubtless the very best intentions, is
really doing harm by his gospel of So
cialtsm; for he has neglected to con
suit the Word of God on this impor-
tant subject.
Our Lord, 1t was pointed out, was
surrounded by conditions of sickness,
sorrow, poverty, ETC., so that He could
properly declare, 1.-The poor We have
with you always" The Apostles were
similarly situated. Yet have we any
evidence whatever that any of these
attempted to "break the chains Of the
slavery of Labor" Assuredly mott
The Masters Example.
Many instances were cited from the
life of Jesus, as recorded in the Cos
pels, to demonstrate that He did not
set an example for these well-meaning
but mistaken Christians While the
Master went about doing good and
healing many sick folk, He by no
means healed all the sick or comfort
ed all thet mourned. His favors were
specialized; for instance, take the case
Of the impotent man at the Pool of
Bethesda. The record is that ''there
were multitudes of impotent folk
there" But only one was miraculous
" healed by our Lord.
Again, many widows were bereft of
their sons; but only the widow of Main
had her son restored to her by the all
powerful word of our Redeemer. Our
Lord came into the world, not to heal
the sick. but to die for the race of