Had these ideas been carried out, political progress in the world would
have been impossible. Upon the necks of the people still would have been
the feet of kings. I deny this wretched, this infamous doctrine.
Whether higher powers are ordained of God or not, if those higher powers
endeavor to destroy the rights of man, I for one shall resist. Whenever
and wherever the sword of rebellion is drawn in support of a human
right, I am a rebel. The despicable doctrine of submission to titled
wrong and robed injustice finds no lodgment in the brain of a man.
The real rulers are the people, and the rulers so-called are but the
servants of the people. They are not ordained of any God. All political
power comes from and belongs to man. Upon these texts of Scripture rest
the thrones of Europe. For fifteen hundred years these verses have been
repeated by brainless kings and heardess priests. For fifteen hundred
years each one of these texts has been a bastile in which has been
imprisoned the pioneers of progress. Each one of these texts has been
an obstruction on the highway of humanity. Each one has been a
fortification behind which have crouched the sainted hypocrites and the
titled robbers. According to these texts, a robber gets his right to rob
from God. And it is the duty of the robbed to submit. The thief gets his
right to steal from God. The king gets his right to trample upon human
liberty from God. I say, fight the king--fight the priest.