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Show 186 unnecessary and futile. dictate Again the extraordinary content and tone 19n9thy quotation: The that the only thing that can permanently hurch eradlcate the eVlls under which humanity suffers is the Gospel of. the Son ?f God; and that however praiseworthy the efforts of phllanthroplsts and social and political reformers to ameliorate the hard conditions under which mankind suffers may be, they will not succeed to any very great extent. It is a world that has wren g; it w i l l re the wi sdom and requi power of God to set one lt rlght, and do away with the evils complained of. beliees . The editorial goes on: This may be a very unsatisfactory statement to make to those who are fired with a zeal to correct all evils, to make of earth a heaven, and who fondly believe that they have at last hit upon the combination of right principles and forces to accomplish this very desirable result. But reformers before now with equal zeal, with intentions as pure and unselfish as those of our present reform ers have dreamed that they, too, had found the combination of principles and forces that would cure all the ills that flesh is heir to; but they have awakened to find that they but dreamed; and the evils they so bravely fought still remained, and, in And so they died, leaving the problems unsolved, fact, increased. just as our present generation of reformers will die and leave social, political, and economic problems unsolved, and industrial evils uncured. But the time will come when the earth shall rest from its sorrows; when mankind shall be emancipated from the in justice and inequality that now obtains, and from which so large But the relief will come a part of earth's inhabitants now suffer. through the Gospel of Jesus Christ--the plan ordained of God to redeem the world, from all evils both temporal and spiritual. It is beginning that It has been restored for that purpose. work--the culmination of which we have already mentioned--by teach ing faith in God, and repentance. By which means righteousness shall be brought to pass and the elements made ready for the in troduction of that better order of things predicted by all the and which shall relieve mankind of the distresses and prophets, inequalities under which they President Joseph F. now groan.30 Smith in 1902, while not ing social reform, nevertheless further reflects identify with it. a directly condemn church reluctance to Smith felt that charitable and social causes on the 30llAttitude of the Church Towards Reform--Political Par t i es ," Improvement Era 2 (February 1899):311-12. |
