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Show Hilt 3 k J H!1r l ' I w" Sxe.nday Sermon for Hj !:f 1 1 e Stay-at-Homes. Kjj I jj J. "Am I My Brother's Keeper7" Bij j l r In the tragedy that occurred on the hill at Hfj 1 1 i m midnight, wherein our hearts were both shocked B If, i and grieved that two such faithful servants of jfj ' 1 1 ' JM the public should have lost their lives, we see the Vfj ' I I necessity for some adjustment of human affairs Hpd j h J 1 ! which shall preclude the possibility of their re- Bfi j, J I curronce. The question of the ages, "Am I my W' , If brother's keeper?" has been forced upon us. We i must stay our haste and give it heed. It is laid M upon the presont generation to accept and prac- ! tice a large individual responsibility regarding i , the brother, and upon our acceptance of the same M j i Ku li&s the solution of tho whole social problem. Bi , if We want and have been carving out at fearful B I j j ' ,, cost a larger liberty for ourselves, but have wo B ' ! j ' w ' been as willing to grant tho same independence B J j J for oir brother? And who is this brother whom B j j M ' we are considering? Is he not universal man, B: I "a : ! and if so, can we exclude the men confined in B 'I 3 , yonder prison house from sharing our changed B i " ' ! mental attitude? Is not their problem identical B It1 ill witix urs? Bk I ' s18 Our brother as we see him today is very H iSm ; largely what our thought of yesterday has made B ' , flffi ', him. We have made a place in God's beautiful B i if ' . universe for an element that He never made, and B ' - w which we call the criminal element. We have B ' I fl allowed it a capacity to rob and kill, and even B J I i enlarged our jails that we might have room 'mil ! enough to confine them as their deeds became B" p , apparent. We have expected them to increase B ! IM ' and they have Increased. If it be true that our K 1 fH own exPer'encea are largely the result of our ft i 1 " mm 1 lc'nd of tn'nlcn& a not equally true that our V'' i ' IHi ' brother is largely that we have thought of him? IK it ' tarn I If tne wor today stopped thinking criminals, 1m 1 allowed them no room in which to exist, hushed I I HI 1 ne first breath f criticism, instead of listening to H j i j JH I and augmenting it, would not the so-called neces- B I ' 'f sary evil lessen? Remember that a lack of trust I Ij '! H j li creates financial panics and bank failures. Re- H S i t .A store the confidence of the people and where are H ,( ff 1 tlie failures- If wo commenced today to account H il J what we call an evil man full of sinister motives, H Wt as something abnormal, and a good and honest H I $ i ; man as the only natural man, and kept right on IBB lH m knowing this as a fact, can you picture the result in a few years. It would be impossible to do this, however, without a reasonable basis for so doing. jjjai Wisi We must have an absolute Good to start from, TS IPl'i 1 I rather than n mere relative good, which under Hi H K 8 some adverse conditions might lapse into an op- Hi IwBi posite. Then we must hold man firmly and stead- HBf ily, "through good report and ill," as belonging to HfnlllS tliat Immutale Hight, and invariable Justice, and BKHflFra nat a11 ls nctlons milst correspond therewith. HflHiPil Tne dlsaster f tlie Chicago fire last week is BillP ' lmt a atrons fcuslne of the wild panic going on iHjJi,i daily in this death-struggle to live. Scientists Mli have very nicely reckoned it as a law of the "sur- Bl If ill vival oi the flttest-" Those who aro actively en- mjlilw gaged therein called it the "strenuous life." If ralPJ wo are torn free and e(Jual does Jt not follow as H being equally true, that we must have an equal HiMlii heritage to the right of living at our best. In flBly&H tl10 scraml)le f getting, and getting at any cost, iBEiliiH have you and I been careful enough to scatter HHHJyij broadcast tho kind smile and loving word even nlj&ii i we could not reach into the more helpful act Hrli fll In many caBes- Have we been patient instead of P1!! B impatient in our various business relations with lil'ill BE our brother; have we acknowledged that he had linnoi fll aB soocl a rlgllt to success as we have, and tried to HH H' eliminate greed long enough to practice "live and fllVi Wt lot live?" Have we put sufficient significance iBRff j n upon a word of cheer, and recognition of well- HHI I B doing, or has it been too much trouble to stop Kl : il H our brother as he has hurriedly passed us on the HrarUill IB street and give him a hand-shake and some word Kil m BHbttll M WBMmJm of commendation. Commendation is such a rare thing. It warms and stimulates long after we have passed on our way. There is nothing more helpful to a discouraged man, and he fulfills our belief and trust in him rather than lapse into despair de-spair because fate and chance seemed against him. There is no greater redeemer or reformer than the voicing of love this impersonal love that is all-inclusive. We may know also that oven the unvoiced love, which flows out in the desire for good to that great army of the unknown they are our brothers, too that pass us every day on the streets; many of them heroes in the bread-and-butter strife, taking greater courage to face each new day than it does to meet cannon and musket on a battlefield. We cannot afford to ignore ig-nore these harassed, care-worn, despairing faces. Our mental attitude to them may decide their action ac-tion for good or evil. It is not the meal which you give the man that feeds him, it is the amount of brotherly interest you convey to him, when you express not only the hope that he will soon get work such as he wants, but that ho has a right to be prosperous and happy and a useful citizen. This awakens self-respect and he takes on the -can thought, and he begins to believe that he has some rights on this earth after all. It is curious as well as pathetic to note the different remedies which an excited public bring forth at such a time. Christians were heard to say "hunt 'em down," "shoot 'em down like dogs," "the courts are too slow, let justice be done at tho end of a rope." That kind of justice alone might give the rope factories more than they could do, for where would we draw the line, when It is found that continued harshness, cruelty, indifference indiffer-ence and. hate are murderous thoughts and will in time accomplish the same result as a well-aimed well-aimed bullet. Lot us remember that the condi- tions which we aro considering are in the Christ-Ian Christ-Ian era. We proudly point to it as the greatest of all ages. Its Founder said we shoxild do even greater things than He had done, because he had brought us a new law. His mission was to define God aright, and He said, "God is Love. "Put up thy sword." He did not sympathize with evil of any sort he had compassion and healed it. "Go and sin no more." Also, this greatest of all Reformers, Re-formers, who brought to light the new commandment, command-ment, "that ye love one another," showed us that God could only bo known through that which ox-pressed ox-pressed Him. Theoretically, we have accepted all this practically we have not. At present wo can only use our highest sense of human justice and carry out the law of tho land. But in Heaven's name, let us not think wo have fulfilled tho law when wo have hung a man, nor lessened the criminal propensity. The various var-ious methods of reformation have been humiliating humiliat-ing failures. Now let tho conformation of man begin, and let us conform him to that which stands fast forever for-ever to the image of his Creator. MARY B. SAULT. |