From the fall of Rome a new era marks the history of man; a new soul was
born out of human experience. The idea which had been prophesied by the
philosophers of India, Egypt and Greece now appeared in life, and what had
been hoped for seemed about to be realized. Born in an age of slaughter
and inhumanity the thought of the brotherhood of man fell upon the world
like a star out of the night’s sky. Though the power of this idea was not
fully comprehended by the people upon whom it blazed forth, still the
promise it contained was able to kindle enthusiasm in the hearts of the
few, who bequeathed it to the world as the destiny of mankind. Human life
was inspired with a new purpose under the power of this grand and noble
sentiment. Although it was not understood and the subject of much
misapprehension, the thought of uniting man in one great endeavor grew and
endowed nations with a feeling that never before had moved their hearts.
Its advent gave the world a new ambition and the mind was enlisted in the
great cause of love and fellowship of man.
There was another sentiment not less true or beautiful but more
revolutionary, which about the same time began to assume likeness in human
affairs, which must be considered of larger importance in the new social
movement, which, during the first century of the so-called Christian era,
commenced to be felt. The declaration of the sovereignty of man was more
prophetic of change in government and society than the doctrine of the
brotherhood of man. No government taught that man ought to judge for
himself what is right, and no church preached that man should love his
neighbor as himself.
Political and religious organizations then as now were arrayed against
individual rights. The state and the church controlled the person. Man was
crucified between these two thieves. One robbed him of his body, the other
of his soul. Our history assigns the origin of these two great
principles—man’s right to judge for himself and his duty to help his
fellow-being—to Christianity. But one was born before the beginning of the
Christian era and the other long after the Christian church was
established. One represents man as opposed to authority; the other the
soul resisting tradition.
There is more or less talk about the freedom and brotherhood of man, but
they exist as ideas yet more than as facts. It is true that man enjoys a
certain measure of liberty in many directions, but the victory of freedom
has not yet been won. So too is there a kind of human sympathy in society,
but the broad and magnificent destiny which dwells in the bosom of human
brotherhood is more a dream than a reality.
There has been too much time wasted in disputing who was the human author
of these great and sublime conceptions, and too little expended in trying
to plant them in human hearts and cultivate them in human lives. It is
unimportant who first stood against the world of tyranny and demanded his
right of independence, or who first felt indignation for the wrongs
inflicted upon his race and pity for the victims of cruelty, and pleaded
for more humanity towards man. The secret can never be wrested from the
silent past, and we can gain nothing by fighting over graves.
The world seems nearer the full realization of human freedom and
brotherhood than ever before. What is needed now to hasten the fruition of
the glad promise of a better destiny for the world is to take authority
from the priest and selfishness from man.
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Prayer is a hook that never caught any fish. It is a gun that never
brought down any game.
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No man ever got an answer to prayer that he could show to another person.