We
are not deceived; no one of us is mistaken in the vision that in
innocent and blessed moments visits us all. No man who utters that
sacred petition prays in vain. For the kingdom of God, the reign of
peace and good-will among men, shall surely come. Not in mystical
raptures, not in feverish trances, not in imagination, but in reality--
in actual outward peace and beauty, and in the abiding spirit of love,
filling humanity and sanctifying the earth to be the worthy temple of
so divine a presence.
And yet, who that beholds only the present condition of the Christian
church, to which these sacred ideas have been especially entrusted; who
that sees the body of Christ thus torn and discordant, would imagine
that a consummation of this imperishable hope was any longer possible?
Might we not despair, seeing these centuries of terror, of revolution,
of injustice and of perpetual hatred, and seeing that the very
disciples of the spirit of love have lost the memory of their Master--
might we not despair, and cry out with them, that the earth was given
over to evil, and that the kingdom of God would never come?
No, my friends, we may not so despair, we cannot if we would. That old
prophecy, however long delayed, still finds an involuntary echo in our
souls.
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