THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 279, 26 April 1898, Page 3

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

On Tuesday and Wednesday night* of last week, at Cambridge, Pastor Steed in the course of his lectures upon " The Nineteenth Cen'ury—How it will clo-e and the part Socialism and Priestcraft will play in this great drama," said, that the God of Heaven had in His Word foretold the character and the number of the great systems of government, which would rule the civilised earth. The Lord ha* done this in order that none might be deceived. Commenc'ng with Babylon, there has been a determined effort, on the part of these great systems ot government, to control the consciences of its subjects. Each power had coustituted itself the custodian of the Gods and the master of religious ceremonies. A refusal to embrace the state religion caused the three Hebrew children to endure the furnace of fire ; Daniel to enter the lion's deu ; Mordecai and the Jews, the suspense of living under the sentence of death ; the death of thousands under Antiochus Eppicuieau, Pilate, Herod and others. Gradually a large section of the early church became ambitious for power. The Pagans around tbstn pointed to the fact that their religion had no grand temples and no impressive ceremonials. Eager to obtain iufluence o»cr the masres, this section of the church sanctified to the use of Christianity many of tli3 services of the Sun-Temple, so that there i 3 a wonderful likeness between the interior of a Catholic Church and that of an ancient Sun-Temple. Tjnfortunate'y for Christianity, with this change there also came in the desire to rule the nations, and for centuries the cluirch had power to refuse or grant, even to kings, their crowns. Then came the dawn of the reformation which gave such promise of a brighter day. Eager for power and influence, the reformed churches unite with imperalism, the iron of the ten toes of Daniel's image, but they cannot unite the iion with the clay (Democracy or Socialism). To the working-man there seems little else than confusion in Christianity. Claiming to believe the Bible only, Protestants retain much of the spirit of Rome, and endeavour, wherever she has power, to enforce her dogmas, by law. Piofessing to trust in the Lord, she turns to the Government for help, and is more anxious than ever to obtain help from the power of earth, because Bhe his lost the power of Heaven. The iron hand of persecution has been shown by the church as soon as she has been entrusted with power. The man who has no religion is content to accord to his neighbour full liberty to do as he chooses, and it is left to the christian to exhibit bitterness and intolerance towards the man, who shall dare to thiuk for himself, independent of a church creed. 'lhe church has no hold upon the masses; the large salaries of many of its ministers and the attention paid by them to the moneyed classes, independent of character, has separated the working man from the church. The Protestant Ministers, as a body, are not in touch with the people. The only chinch that has a real grip of the masses is the Catholic. Driven to desperation by the introduction of machiuery, by the amalgamation of moneyed men, by the failure of the church to supply the common people with a spiritual education, society has become a seething chaldron. As there are good meu in every church, so 'here are many good men in socialism to-day. With a noble desire to elevate the masses, they seek to do that which will not be practicable. That the work-ing-man when in possession of power is as intolerant and despotic as any monarch on be, has been evidenced by his exercise of his power during recent strikes. He will be as selfish as any chat have preceeded him, and it will be seen by all, that no man is fit to rule this earth but Jesus Christ and only under His personal rule, can these noble and Christlike principles of true socialism be carried to success. The tension is so great that the strain caDnot be endured by the masses much louger, for step by step they are being driven into a corner, in which even the docile will turn upon the oppressor, and there will be let loose all the elements of anarchy. The powers, finding themselves unable to control this world-wide-revolution, will turn for help to the Catholic Church and re-instate her in her old position, umong the nations. At her command the children of the church, however, socialistic they may have become, will yield obedience to the state, and then with her iron hand, she will hush into silence the disturbing elements, for there are no nihilists or socialists, u here she has full power. Once more, Rome will sit as a queen and declare that she will see no sorrow, but then shall her plagues come ; for the very people that elevated her to power again, will find her as arrogant and as cruel as of old, and will turn upon her, to tear from her, every vestige of the power she has so abused. Man will then have learned, how incapable he is to rule either himself or othtrs and welcome the rule of the only purely unselfish man that has ever trodden our earth—Jesus Christ.

Id the course of these addresses, which were largely attended, Mr Steed quoted from a number of Scriptures, for the positions taken.