The Coming Social Revolution, Auckland, September 5.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 169, 11 September 1886, Page 1

The Coming Social Revolution, Auckland, September 5.

A powerful,and pregnant discourse,was delivered in St. Paul's Church last night by Rev. E. H. Gulliver; 1 M.A I., from 1 Kings,. XVlti chapter, "Behold, there ariseth a cloud out of the sea a8 email as a man's hand," (Revised version). The rev. gentleman, in the course of his sermon, Baid : —The phrase has become proverbial, and, is used as , a warning of changes threatened in our individual life t in a church, or in the State. Let us use, it with reference to a coming revolution, of which signs are not wanting. ' At the time of the French Revolution it was said by one of the revolutionary writers that there would be, one more .revolution, and that would be the last,, vjz , the social revolution. The question arises -What is the social revolution ?' It does not refer to the natural development consequent on the progress of civilisation, the, changes which naturally, arise. as greater knowledge and greater power over the forces of nature arise ;, but it refer* to that drastic change which iB threatened, by the outcasts of civilisation, imperilling in its action almost all the gains of that civilisation. There have been times of revolution before, such, for example, as that which destroyed the great Roman Empire, or which overthrew thedominant MediaevallChurch; butthere isa difference between such a revolution as that and the one which is threatened. When Rome, tell, the powers which brought about her fall came from without. The Goth and JHun and Vandal, who proved her ruin, were not of her owu raising. These came down upon her from distant countries, bringing with the un* sophisticated nature of boys, rough, brutal, vigorous, and beneath their action the corrupt and effete civilisation of Rome, passed away. But in the revolution which threatens us the powers through which it is being worked out come from within. They are the offspring of our very development—the men and women who are at once our curse and crime, whom our civilisation has brought into being, hopeless and joyless, knowing nothing of its gains, having no share in its joy*. These are the agents of the coming revolution. Now, hoy will it affect us? There are three things in regard to which civilisation manifests itself. They are man's relation towards the land, towards woman, and towards God. - On each of these relation! the coming revolution bears, and at th« same time all true progress is involved in our proper appreciation and treatment of them. Interference with them, or any of them, will bring anarchy and ruin, and the loss of all the gains ef our civilisation. In each of them there may be traced a slow but sure development. Take, for instance, man's relation to the lanJ. In the earliest ages the pastoral lifts was universal. There was no idea of absolute ownership. Men with their flocks roamed over wide areas of country, - seeking the needful support for their flocks and herds. Then by degree? the pastoral life became merged in the agricultural, and man settled down to subdue and till one little corner of the earth, which became "home." So the idea of ownership arose, and property in land, the idea which now seems to us 86 natural and is so widely spread. Or again, take man's relation to women. In early ages we find polygamy probably universal; then by degrees polygamy becomes lost in the idea of one wife, who is regarded as the centra and queen of home. In all ages this has bsen» at the very, bottom of a nation's prosperity and strength. It was this which gav.e force to the arms and vigour to the hearts of our Germanic ancestors, arousing the wonder of the corrupt and dissolute Roman society. It is on this that our very existence as a nation depends. Or lastly take man's relation to God; here there is the same development. In the early times men sought for some explana- ' tion of the. wonders which they saw on every side of them, in tho heavens above them and the earth under their feet, and they found it in the thought of many gods existing everywhere around them. Then, by degrees, this became purified and ennobled, and men learnt to believe in our God guarding, guiding, animating them. In all the experiences of life we- find this development, even in the Bible itself. In the early books, grand and majestic as they are, the, thought of God is comparatively simple and elementary. It is only when .we reach, the close of the Sacred Volume thac we find the idea developed in Its full, magnificence ' and purity k Now, on all these heads the coming social revolution will have an influence. It would be idleto attempt to exactly .define the extent of that influence, but;noj,one who'lends the writings of those who are the leaders in the social revolutionary movement can doubt'that the'inifluence will be of a drastic nature; Now comes the question, ■ what are we >\to ,do in the- faoe of this ' threatened Revolution ? What is to face or stem t the The answer of most will be > Religion. The answer probably ,ia a right one, but*.let there;, be no as to what kind of. Religion it must be. It must be in one respect 'kindred to the very movement which it hopes to quell; that is to say, just as this coming revolution, is- the' offsprinerof our modern times, so must the religion which isto meet , it,be in harmony with our time?, ilit is useless, going to the ..past,' and a quoting I from, that past's words* and' formulas, no matter how beautiful. >-"\W& 'miisfc •take religion,, .and-'. Christianity.;in« its modernn-' development,- 'mastering *the principles of Christ's * teaching, mastering as well as we may, the;facto- of • Hin < matchless life,, and seeking to carry, out in our oWn lives those principles anditbat life. >. Weeee .'developments on all rides of, us, ib science, .in social, life, Am a! word; every where. Lotus ..fearlessly tJFace that development, accepting withoujj ? hesitation t (whatever sis > true, ,and iSeek , to' animate our,, religion W»th a kindred ,life M >> So, 1 atfi co' alone* Jean \we^bjjpe jto t fincl in religion the'powerowhich shall, like "Christ of ,old, spread* oalm:oyer the surfa.ee of society in, ±the coming storm, and guide;the Vessel' of bur later civilisation , i^rqughr the ,wildx>wayes<<of' revolution* into the,haven where she wouldibe.-t <\ Auuu\