This is a very joyous evening, an evidence in itself of the possibility of
uniting the East and the West--an eastern man appearing before an
assemblage of reverent western people. The East and West, the Orient and
Occident, shall be united. If we search history, we shall not find the
record of such an occasion where one has traveled from the far East to the
far West to address a meeting of this universal character. This is a
miracle of the twentieth century which proves that the seemingly
impossible may become real and possible in the kingdom of man. Praise be
to God! The dark ages have disappeared, and the age of light has at last
arrived. The Sun of Reality has dawned with supreme effulgence, the
realities of things have become manifest and renewed, the mysteries of the
unknown have been revealed, and great inventions and discoveries mark this
period as a most wonderful age.
Through the ingenuity and inventions of man it is possible to cross the
wide oceans, fly through the air and travel in submarine depths. At any
moment the Orient and Occident can communicate with each other. Trains
speed across the continents. The human voice has been arrested and
reproduced, and now man can speak at long distances from any point. These
are some of the signs of this glorious century. The great progress
mentioned has taken place in the material world. Remarkable signs and
evidences have become manifest. Hidden realities and mysteries have been
disclosed. This is the time for man to strive and put forth his greatest
efforts in spiritual directions. Material civilization has reached an
advanced plane, but now there is need of spiritual civilization. Material
civilization alone will not satisfy; it cannot meet the conditions and
requirements of the present age; its benefits are limited to the world of
matter. There is no limitation to the spirit of man, for spirit in itself
is progressive, and if the divine civilization be established, the spirit
of man will advance. Every developed susceptibility will increase the
effectiveness of man. Discoveries of the real will become more and more
possible, and the influence of divine guidance will be increasingly
recognized. All this is conducive to the divine form of civilization. This
is what is meant in the Bible by the descent of the New Jerusalem. The
heavenly Jerusalem is none other than divine civilization, and it is now
ready. It is to be and shall be organized, and the oneness of humankind
will be a visible fact. Humanity will then be brought together as one. The
various religions will be united, and different races will be known as one
kind. The Orient and Occident will be conjoined, and the banner of
international peace will be unfurled. The world shall at last find peace,
and the equalities and rights of men shall be established. The capacity of
humankind will be tested, and a degree shall be attained where equality is
a reality.
All the peoples of the world will enjoy like interests, and the poor shall
possess a portion of the comforts of life. Just as the rich are surrounded
by their luxuries in palaces, the poor will have at least their
comfortable and pleasant places of abode; and just as the wealthy enjoy a
variety of food, the needy shall have their necessities and no longer live
in poverty. In short, a readjustment of the economic order will come
about, the divine Sonship will attract, the Sun of Reality will shine
forth, and all phenomenal being will attain a portion.
Consider: What is this material civilization of the day giving forth? Has
it not produced the instruments of warfare and destruction? In olden times
the weapon of war was the sword; today it is the smokeless gun. Warships a
century ago were sailing vessels; now we have dreadnoughts. Instruments
and means of human destruction have enormously multiplied in this era of
material civilization. But if material civilization shall become organized
in conjunction with divine civilization, if the man of moral integrity and
intellectual acumen shall unite for human betterment and uplift with the
man of spiritual capacity, the happiness and progress of the human race
will be assured. All the nations of the world will then be closely related
and companionable, and the religions will merge into one, for the divine
reality within them all is one reality. Abraham proclaimed this reality;
Jesus promulgated it; all the Prophets who have appeared in the world have
founded Their teachings upon it. Therefore, the people of the world have
this one true, unchangeable basis for peace and agreement, and war, which
has raged for thousands of years, will pass away.
For centuries and cycles humanity has been engaged in war and conflict. At
one time the pretext for war has been religion, at another time
patriotism, racial prejudice, national politics, territorial conquest or
commercial expansion; in brief, humanity has never been at peace during
the period of known history. What blood has been shed! How many fathers
have mourned the loss of sons; how many sons have wept for fathers, and
mothers for dear ones! Human beings have been the food and targets of the
battlefield, and everywhere warfare and strife have been the theme and
burden of history. Ferocity has characterized men even more than animals.
The lion, tiger, bear and wolf are ferocious because of their needs.
Unless they are fierce, cruel and unrelenting, they will die of
starvation. The lion cannot graze; its teeth are fitted only for food of
flesh. This is also true of other wild animals. Ferocity is natural to
them as their means of subsistence; but human ferocity proceeds from
selfishness, greed and oppression. It springs from no natural necessity.
Man needlessly kills a thousand fellow creatures, becomes a hero and is
glorified through centuries of posterity. A great city is destroyed in one
day by a commanding general. How ignorant, how inconsistent is humankind!
If a man slays another man, we brand him as a murderer and criminal and
sentence him to capital punishment, but if he kills one hundred thousand
men, he is a military genius, a great celebrity, a Napoleon idolized by
his nation. If a man steals one dollar, he is called a thief and put into
prison; if he rapes and pillages an innocent country by military invasion,
he is crowned a hero. How ignorant is humankind! Ferocity does not belong
to the kingdom of man. It is the province of man to confer life, not
death. It behooves him to be the cause of human welfare, but inasmuch as
he glories in the savagery of animalism, it is an evidence that divine
civilization has not been established in human society. Material
civilization has advanced unmistakably, but because it is not associated
with divine civilization, evil and wickedness abound. In ancient times if
two nations were at war twelve months, not over twenty thousand men would
be killed; now the instruments of death have become so multiplied and
perfected that one hundred thousand can be destroyed in a day. In three
months during the Russo-Japanese War one million perished. This was
undreamed of in former cycles. The cause is the absence of divine
civilization.
This revered American nation presents evidences of greatness and worth. It
is my hope that this just government will stand for peace so that warfare
may be abolished throughout the world and the standards of national unity
and reconciliation be upraised. This is the greatest attainment of the
world of humanity. This American nation is equipped and empowered to
accomplish that which will adorn the pages of history, to become the envy
of the world and be blest in the East and the West for the triumph of its
democracy. I pray that this may come to pass, and I ask the blessing of
God in behalf of you all.
6 May 1912
Talk at Sanatorium of Dr. C. M. Swingle
Cleveland, Ohio