Have faith in Massachusetts; 2d ed. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 141 pages of information about Have faith in Massachusetts; 2d ed..

Have faith in Massachusetts; 2d ed. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 141 pages of information about Have faith in Massachusetts; 2d ed..
must render and receive the best possible service, except in the case of inequality, and there the strong must help the weak to help themselves; only on this condition is help given.  This is the true interpretation of the life of Christ.  On the first basis He would have remained in heaven and let the earth take care of itself.  On the second basis He would have come to earth with his hands full of gold and silver treasures satisfying every want that unfortunate humanity could have devised.  But on the third basis He comes to earth in the form of a servant who is at the same time a master commanding his disciples to take up their cross and follow Him; it is sovereignty through service as opposed to slavery through service.  He refuses to make the world wealthy, but He offers to help them make themselves wealthy with true riches which shall be a hundred-fold more, even in this life, than that which was offered them by any former system.”

This applies to political life no less than to industrial life.  We live under the fairest government on earth.  But it is not self-sustaining.  Nor is that all.  There are selfishness and injustice and evil in the world.  More than that, these forces are never at rest.  Some desire to use the processes of government for their own ends.  Some desire to destroy the authority of government altogether.  Our institutions are predicated on the rights and the corresponding duties, on the worth, of the individual.  It is to him that we must look for safety.  We may need new charters, new constitutions and new laws at times.  We must always have an alert and interested citizenship.  We have no dependence but the individual.  New charters cannot save us.  They may appear to help but the chances are that the beneficial results obtained result from an increased interest aroused by discussing changes.  Laws do not make reforms, reforms make laws.  We cannot look to government.  We must look to ourselves.  We must stand not in the expectation of a reward but with a desire to serve.  There will come out of government exactly what is put into it.  Society gets about what it deserves.  It is the part of educated men to know and recognize these principles and influences and knowing them to inform and warn their fellow countrymen.  Politics is the process of action in public affairs.  It is personal, it is individual, and nothing more.  Destiny is in you.

XIII

TREMONT TEMPLE

NOVEMBER 3, 1917

There is a time and place for everything.  There are times when some things are out of place.  Domestic science is an important subject.  So is the proper heating and ventilating of our habitations.  But when the house is on fire reasonable men do not stop to argue of culinary cuts nor listen to a disquisition on plumbing; they call out the fire department and join it in an attempt to save their dwelling.  They think only in terms of the conflagration.

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Have faith in Massachusetts; 2d ed. from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.