American Missionary, Vol. XXXIV., No. 5, May 1880Various
Religion
American Missionary, Vol. XXXIV., No. 5, May 1880
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
Can civilization reach the state of nature, that state which God meant
for it, until men know how to divide society equally, from top to
bottom? I do not mean by this that there will ever come a time when
two will not be more than one, when four will not be more than two,
and when eight will not be more than four; I do not mean that we shall
ever see the time when there will not be gradations in society from the
top to the bottom--gradations of power, gradations of intelligence,
gradations of wealth, gradations of refinement; but there is to be in
society just that which exists in households--namely, a disposition,
that runs from the top to the bottom, of love and sympathy; and when
you have so stratified society, and organized it, and made every member
of it, from the lowest to the highest, feel, “My brother above me is
pulling me up higher,” we shall begin to realize our true relation,
and fulfil our appointed duty one to another. When in society it is
as it is on the sides of mountains, where men, being helped by those
who are above them, turn round and help those who are below them, and
go on a few steps and again are helped by those that are above them,
and again help those that are below them, and so on until they reach
the top, then gradation will not be an evil. Gradation is now an evil
because there is a stratum of prosperity, and a
thick slice of selfishness; then another stratum of prosperity, and a
thicker slice of selfishness; and so on, selfishness growing thicker
and thicker as you go toward the bottom. It has got to be broken up.
The low places, the valleys, have got to be exalted, the mountains
have got to be brought down, and men have got to mix and coalesce.
In other words, the day has got to come when that simple sentence, a
million times repeated, and a million times not understood, shall be
fulfilled, and love to God and love to man shall be the law of the
universe, and of universal conditions. We have got to come to it first
or last.--_Christian Union._
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.
N. C., LASSITER’S MILLS.--“The church is greatly revived; six
converts this week, and many more seeking the Lord.”
N. C., RALEIGH.--“The revival still goes on. There have been
over 200 conversions since Mr. Brown left us, and many are still
anxious. There are revival meetings in every colored church in the city
every night without the least rivalry. We have twenty-two converts in
our church already.”
S. C., CHARLESTON.--“Miss Wells has organized a Band of Hope
with forty members, and there seems to be a good deal of enthusiasm.
The church has fixed on the 3d Sunday in April as the day for a renewal
of the covenant. The officers are now visiting every member, urging
them to come forward to renew their church pledge.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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