Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-04-25

| efectlVely upon human society IN
bringing TO pass the kingdom of
The worlds great thinkers and
SeerS in all lands and times have
dreamed of, and yearned for, reu-
| oVated earth in which righteousness
and true holiness should prevail uni
versally, and all the woe and waste
of humanity should be cured But
| their visions have not been realized.
| The Utopias of men have been the
mirage by which the hopes Of the
| race have been raised and disap-
! pointed. Men have wished for a
+ kingdom of heaven, but without the
Risen Christ they have had no power
to make it, and their bes! laid plans
| have come to naught. mocking their
! trainers with utter defeats.
| When Jesus rose from the dead
! there was flOuriShing an imperial
government whose rulers boosted of
! their power to renew the world and
| make permanent the renewal by the
| Pax Romano which should not he
broken. Ancient civilization culmi-
mated with Caesar on the throne
reigning over the known world. But
how Wretched was that hard, Roman
world over which the Caesars eXer-
cised dominion! The rule of Rome
| was the ruin of men.
| And we have had modern Caesars
| who did no better than their ancient
pagan predecessors. They have
been enthroned amid the plaudits of
| the thoughtleSs multitudes to whom
| they promised every form of good;
but the end of their sway has been
| the wreck of human homes and hu
man happiness.
What has not imperial Germany
and the house of HohenZollern prom
| Used if only kultur could be imposed
on mankind? But the outcome Of
their aims and efforts has been the
most horrible of wars, by which mil
lions of human lives have been sac
rificed and the accumulated treasure
which Christendom had gathered
through the 'arduous toll of many
Short years. Now Bolshevism raises
it's hideous head to destroy modern
civilization. The experiment of mere
men has been conducted in Chris
| tendon under the most faVora BILE
conditions and with the most elab-
crate instrumentalities of education
and the most potent agencies OF
science, and, 10, this is the outcome!
God pity mankind if there is moth
| ing better in store for it than earth
| born, man-made civilization.
| For more than three months the
! foremost statesmen have been as
embed at Paris for the purpose of
| trying to raise a new world out OF
the wreck around them. Something
it is to be hoped they have accom-
|
what we have had, but strife and
contentious and controversy have
characterized their deliberations and
we shall be disappointed if we per-
nit ourselves to indulge the hope
that their work will bring mill
| lennium of peace and brotherliness to
the war-weary world. The making
of the new heavens and the new
earth is a task quite beyond their
| power, and quite beyond the power
1aF1i ifrJ1 CT n
lures and governmental devices of
men are not more than the repetition
of the disappointing efforts of the
builders of Babel who sought to erect
q mechanical contrivance which
should at once supply -rallying
ing ladder by which to climb into
the skies. The end of all efforts Of
men without Gods aid and guidance
is confusion of tongues
Besides the statesmen at Paris We
hear innumerable voices Of lesser
men, on every side, talking Of ere
constructing" the world. Their pre-
tentious talk amounts to nothing.
Such talk has been prevalent many
times before during the history OF
The task of demonstrating the
| world is beyond the power OF any
man or all men. Only the risen
Christ, who has power to impart
heavenly llfe to the eartn-DOund Spli-
it's of the human race, is equal to
the task of reconstructing into en-
during forms of peace and purity the
| ruined world.
The New Jerusalem, the final gov
eminent and ultimate civilization
for the race of Adam is to come down
out of heaven, and can not rise ur
out of the earth by the suffrages OF
men. or the craftsmanship of men
1t will come with the beauty of a
bride adorned for her husband, when
men shall be Gods people and he
the renovating power of the Risen
Savior, who from his throne OF
glory, when he shall have put down
all rule and authority and power and
subdued all the foes of unrighteous-
ness, will declare with life-giving
effect, Behold, I make all things
new (Revelation xxi: I'D. Then
from the face of a grief-strick
world with His own divine and ten.
der hand He will wipe away al
tears; land there shall be no more