The North-Eastern Weekly Gazette. — 1893-06-17 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

RELIGIOUS PROPOSALS.  But religion proposes to restore and establish the ancient conditions of happiness, contentment, and dominion—first, of course, if you will allow me, by reminding us gently of the rock .on which we split at first by the suggestive warning, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God ;" secondly, by the rest and peace it establishes within the mind of man, so that he cheerfully endures, instead of grinning and bearing it, and he is able to say, as Paul said, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content ;" and yet, paradoxical as it may seem, like him seek out and avail himself of every opportunity to escape from circumstances of oppre,sion and persecution, if even it be by means of a basket let down from a window; and thirdly, by the institution of a rest day for the body and mind—for no matter how patient and happy the spirit of man may be, under any circumstances, this will not prevent the exhaustion of strength by reason of six days' oontieuous physical or mental exercise (of bruin or muscle, head or hand), and this necessity has been aptly met by religion's condition, "Six days shalt thou labour, do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest." A fourth method religion has of relieving labour of the drudgery attendant upon it under the system of evil is by the principles or rules it has laid down for the regulation of our conduct in relation to each other. The application of those principles laid down by Jelill6 Christ for the government of society in all its relations would, I am persuaded, produce a complete revolution in our social, political, industrial, and commercial systems. Abuses would be removed and made impossible, misunderstandings rectified, and confidence in each other established; selfish individualism would be substituted by socialism and mutual co-operation; dishonest, cold, cruel competition would melt as snow before the sun of a warmer principle, and the fittest would still survive in a far truer and nobler sense than it appears to do now, for 'tis not the fittest that survives most frequently under current systems, but ovaries, trickery, injustice, dishonesty, cruelty, murder— for there are more murders committed than those upon which grand juries return true bills—but in response to the applied principles of the system of goodness taught by Jesus Chi it there would appear elements of true fitness giving the lustre of purity and true greatness to the character, and men, instead of looking exclusively on their own things, would vie with each other in looking on the things of others, or of each seeking the other's good. Take, for instance, the law re-1:44 to man's duty, "Thou shalt love the Lord *wkt all shy and with all thy mind. This is, the great and first commandment. And a second lake unto it ie this, Thou shalt love thy ne:ghbour as thyself" (Blatt. xxii.,37). And, again. take that remarkaMe and incomparable condition in Christ's maidfeato, or what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, "All things, therefore, whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them." We must not say that this is a standard too high and impracticable until we have tried it. It is a perfect standard, and that is what the world wants, and when applied the anomalies which we behold to-day will disappear; and though slow at the beginning as the mustard seed, and gradual as the leaven in its process, yet the sheltering tree will grow, and the whole of society will be leavened. The lesson .Teaua would teach us is, that in this mortal life labour may be wrought with as little worry, anxiety, or drudgery as the lily of the field grows withal and is beautified, but on his own approved methods.