By J.H. Garrison
IN A FORMER chapter it was stated that Christ was the goal of the individual Christian and that his teaching concerning, the kingdom of God was the goal of the church. This last truth is one that has been grievously overlooked and neglected by the church in the past. There are hopeful indications, however, that the church is awakening at last to its obligations to apply the teaching of Christ to all the relationships of life--to the home, to the city, to state and national governments, to business, to capital and labor, and to all our social relations.
This opens up a new and magnificent field of activity for the church. It is not here in the world to engage in theological hair-splitting, in metaphysical discussions, or to indulge in elaborate rituals, or to scramble for ecclesiastical honors, but to incarnate and disseminate the principles of the kingdom of God.
The failure of the church to recognize its real mission in applying the principles of Christ to the everyday affairs of life has produced a chasm between itself and a large class of the common people--the very class which heard Jesus gladly. It has produced, also, a spurious type of socialism that would leave out Christ and Christianity, seeing that the followers of Christ have manifested so little concern in relation to the condition and needs of the poor and the laboring classes. But Jesus Christ is the way to a perfected human society, which he called the kingdom of God here on earth. If the church will only be true to its Master--true to his spirit and teaching--it will not be long until the great mass of our toiling and suffering humanity will learn this lesson and gather under his banner, as the only Leader whose ministry includes both the material and the spiritual needs of men. It cannot be denied, however optimistic we may be, that our Christian civilization of which we boast, is threatened by the same dangers which have overthrown previous civilizations. When one thinks of the greed and ruthless struggle for wealth, in which the weak go down before the strong, of the graft and political corruption which go on almost unrebuked in our cities and in state and national politics, and pauses to consider the awful ravages of the liquor traffic which, even after it has been outlawed, continues surreptitiously with the connivance and support of many supposedly respectable people, one cannot fail, if one sees the connection between wrongdoing and national destruction, to tremble for the future of his country, and of its civilization.
The only guarantee we have against this repetition of history is the promise of Christ's presence in his church, and the healing and regenerative power of his life and teaching in the world. But if the church is recreant to its sacred trust and fails to be the channel through which the saving truth and grace of Christ can reach the world, then what is to become of the church, and what of the nation and of the world? I am an optimist, but all my optimism comes from my faith in Christ and in the power of his gospel not only to save individuals, but to save society and civilization. I see no bright future for the church or for humanity, except in the triumph of the principles of Christ and his triumphant reign over men in all affairs and in all the relations of human life.
Jesus Christ is the only solution of our social problems. The church stands or falls according to its fidelity or infidelity to the program of Jesus for the establishment of his kingdom here on earth.
