DON'T ASK FOR WHAT YOU HAVE.
Christ many times used the relation of a child to its father to represent the relation of man to God. When a boy begs his father for a sleigh and pony, and, after much pleading, the father grants his request, the boy stops asking, accepts the gift with thanks and proceeds to take a ride. If he were to continue on his knees pleading for them after being told they were in the back yard subject to his orders, we should call him a simpleton. What is the use of his saying, "Oh, papa, please, dear papa, give me a pony and sleigh," when papa has already given it and is anxious to see it driven past the house. If the boy has any sense at all, upon first seeing his father drive his new pony toward home, he will stop praying, take off his hat, throw it up in the air, and hallo a "Hurrah for pop." He will jump into the sleigh, go for his best girl, and not show up again till two o'clock in the morning.
For centuries the human race has longed and prayed and hoped for a time when justice would be possible on earth, when the reign of brutality would be superceded by the triumph of justice and brotherly love. This desire, this deep yearning, has taken definite expression in the ceremonials and prayers of all religions, and in the grand prayer given us by Jesus Christ:
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."
The soul of the universe has found expression in the Divine Hand that guides the course of nations, and has answered the prayers of the churches and the heroes and the saints. And that justice, which for centuries has been an object of prayer, has become, for the first time in history, a tangible, definite thing, capable of realization. What we have asked for, God has made possible. Why now crawl longer in the dust like worms beneath the feet of tyrants, when God bids us rise and stand erect? Why continue to pray and plead for what God has already placed within our reach? Tell the preachers to stop praying for this gift, already ours, and accept it as God gave it. THIS SIMPLE ACT OF ACCEPTING GOD'S ANSWER TO THE PRAYERS OF THE GOOD AND THE TRUE OF ALL PAST CENTURIES, IS THE PROGRAM OF THE NEW DEMOCRACY.
I ask father for a horse and sleigh. Now that he brings it to me, I stop asking for it, and take a ride. We have prayed during centuries for an era of justice. The New Democracy is the fulfillment of God's prophecy. It is the greatest moral tidal wave that ever thrilled with new life this old world of ours. It embodies the practical program by means of which the Infinite Intelligence is leading humanity to its inheritance.