It is eminently proper, before approaching the future of any subject, to
make strictest inquiry and most diligent search in and around its
present—to look with retrospective glance upon the convergent paths of
the past that have led to its present, and to catch the indices pointing
onward; and, having found them, to judge whether such as Time’s
unfolding calendar has left here and there along the pathway of passing
events were reliable prophecies of what was to come—were truthful
indications of what was to follow. In the judgment determined and
warranted by the evidences obtained, a certain basis may be found upon
which to predicate the prophecies of the living present.
The existing present is the absolute result of the eternal past; the sum
total of all that has gone before; the product of God’s everlasting
workings, by and through unchangeable law upon the elemental material
universe; nor can there be extracted from this result, this sum total,
this product, one simple separate effect which is not the legitimate
offspring of the operation of immutable law, co-extensive with the
universe, and co-existent with God.
A proposition that there are powers within God’s realm which did not
spring from Him, or that the Original Cause has, in the economy of
Nature, found it necessary to amend and change the original law, in
order to accomplish His original purpose, or that contingencies have
arisen which have demanded special enactments on the part of the Divine
Ruler, presupposes that God did not know the end from the beginning, or,
knowing it, was incompetent to provide therefor. Such a proposition,
entertained by the human mind, destroys within it the God of the
universe, and leaves the world, to it, a mere toy in the hands of its
master, subject, at all times, to the caprices of his infinite rule, to
be led here and there by circumstances he knew not of previous to their
external development.
It may be said, that reasoning upon the character of God’s government,
or the mode through which he manifests himself to the world, is not
pertinent to the subject in view; to those who think thus the query
should be propounded—What of the _future_ without a reliable present?
and what of the effects that must follow, if the operating, existing
general laws of the universe be not the same in a thousand years as now?
It becomes, then, extremely important that some permanent, unchangeable
basis be found before proceeding to predicate the future; and unless God
is the same yesterday, to-day and forever, we can find no certain basis
upon which to stand and from which we can start.
We have but to question the earth whether or not, from its incipiency
onward through countless ages, it has obeyed the one great command,
Progress? and in answer received, determine if, in the past, God has
found it necessary to change the great fundamental laws of the universe.
Geology tells in unmistakable writings what the earth was; we have but
to look about us to see what it is. At no time since _it was_ can we
learn that the law of progressive unfoldment has been inverted, and the
world turned backward toward its commencing point. Since this has not
occurred in the past, we may safely assume that it will not occur in the
future; the law of progress may be accepted as one of God’s immutable
decrees. The universe to-day, in all its variety and beauty, is no more
in essence than it was millions of years ago, when it first assumed its
orbital movements; the same elements exist in the exact quantity—nothing
added—nothing taken away. Progress is simply a new arrangement of
elementary principles.
Simple elements are indestructible; when two or more are combined, and
produce an effect, the combination may be destroyed, and the elements
separated and returned to their natural condition. This process is not
one of destruction, but simply of change of the relations of the
elements that formed the combination. An acorn deposited in the earth
attracts to itself such elements as produce growth; after years of
labor, the mighty oak is the result. Although in its formation it has
taken from the earth and air certain properties, the same quantity of
such proportions still exists—nothing new has been created, a new form
only has been produced by Nature, testifying that she never rests. Now,
suppose a power were applied to the oak to dissolve it, the oak only
would be destroyed, not the properties that entered into its
composition.
It is supposed there are a certain number of elementary principles
contained in and that make up the material universe; were these
principles simple units, incapable of divisibility, we could, by
applying the rule of geometrical progression, soon arrive at the exact
number of different combinations, and consequently the exact number of
different forms they are capable of producing; but, being infinite in
quantity and divisibility, infinitude of form and effect is possible.
The power of arrangement being infinite, infinitude of association and
combination is the legitimate result.
Combination and association began in the simplest forms! When God, by
his omnipotent voice, spoke the earth into existence, as an individual
planet, it contained exactly the same elements of which it is now
composed; but they were simply in elemental form, without organization,
and, consequently, without variety of manifestation in form; motion
being an inherent quality, constant agitation brought the elements into
relations and combinations, simple at first; but by constant change they
arose from the simple to the complex, and from the complex toward the
infinite, and in the sum total of them we have the living present.
The argument does not require that minute examination of geological
science be made, following, one by one, the rise and fall, the
organization and destruction of each of its classified periods, nor of
the specific results by and through each; but only to recognize _the
law_ by which these results are arrived at. It is possible to so trace
and classify these results as to show a continuous chain of progression,
link by link, from the simplest form of combination, to the most complex
and perfect, wherein all the original elements were first
represented—man! Having arrived at perfection of form, wherein all the
properties of the material world find themselves forming a part, it
might reasonably be accepted that progression in formation would cease;
while it has ceased so far as producing higher types is concerned, it
has not in the quality of the types already produced; and in this
proposition lies the greatest problem of life; the one most difficult
for the human mind to grasp. Man, representing in form all that has gone
before, is the result of the grand chain of progressive material
formations; and, having combined within his physical form a portion of
every element contained in the world, he may be likened in his infancy
to the infancy of the earth. God, in spirit, pervades all material
nature, and the union—if union it may be called—forms a perfect whole,
and man being an epitome of all things contained in the material world,
receives into his organization the spirit of each of its representative
constituent parts, and consequently is endowed with all the spiritual
attributes of the universe, the attributes of God! and, as God is
eternal, man, created in His image, must likewise be eternal.
As the earth, in its first efforts at organization, combined but few of
its principles, and presented the crudest form, and as time rolled on
and its combinations continued to include more and more of the several
principles, so with man; in his infancy his spiritual manifestations
were crude in the extreme, but there has constantly been brought into
co-operative combination, more and more of the spiritual principles, and
higher and higher types of spiritual manifestations have been the
result.
If man, as a unit, were analyzed to-day, he would be found to be made up
spiritually of the elements corresponding to that age of the development
of the physical world of which he is now the representative; that is to
say, in his manifestations spiritually, he exhibits the same ratio of
spiritual elements that the earth did in her manifestations in material
elements at the time in her growth corresponding with the present
condition and growth of man.
If cool and deliberate reason, unbiased by mythological and theoretical
dogmas, be applied to the correspondence between the material and
spiritual elements, the conclusion can scarcely fail to be arrived at,
that each primary element of the material universe is the external
expression and representative of a spiritual attribute of God; and as
there are a definite number of elements in nature, forming the perfect
_material whole_, so there are an equal number of analagous spiritual
elements that constitute the _spiritual whole_.
As the elements and their corresponding interior principles are
susceptible of infinite combinations and associations, the varied
manifestations of nature and man are readily accounted for. Nor should
it be forgotten that each of the manifestations is the legitimate and
inevitable result of the combination out of which it springs; and, as
the combination is not self-creative, but the result of the action of
progressive law, so the effect of the combination is but the outward
expression of the purposes contained within the law, behind the
formation of the combination, and is thus the result of God’s operative
law of progress.
Having argued thus far to show that the _present age_, material, mental
and spiritual, is the legitimate result of the law of progressive
development, the following propositions are deduced therefrom, forming a
basis or platform from which to ask of the present—What of the future?
Whither doth it lead?
First—All power, wherever manifested, is a unit.
Second—God is the source of all power, and the elements the subject of
its application.
Third—Each attribute of God has its corresponding material element.
Fourth—All the material elements constitute the material world; all the
spiritual elements, God.
Fifth—There is nothing contained in creation outside of the power of
God, on the one hand, and the elementary principles on the other—the
first positive, the last negative.
Sixth—Nothing can be added to what was; nothing taken away from what is.
Seventh—All the diversities in nature are the legitimate effect of the
power of God, operating through and upon different elements, and
different proportions of different elements, contained in nature, the
diversity being infinite, because the material and producing power are
infinite.
Eighth—Man, collectively, being the representative of all the material
and spiritual elements, the individual diversities observed in him are
the legitimate result of the different relative proportions of these
elements contained in his organization.
Ninth—The present is the result of spiritual principles acting upon and
through the material elements during the eternal past.
Giving a comprehensive glance at the world it will be seen that
_government_ of some kind is everywhere established, which purports to
rule the people embraced within certain geographical boundaries. An
analysis of each form, from the crudest and most barbarous up through
all the modifications of civilized government, will discover that each
government was a true exponent of the character of the people by or over
whom it was established. Every country, as it advances in intellectual
and moral development, demands modifications in its government adapted
to the improved capacity of the people. Hence, as the character of the
governed progresses, so must that of the government keep pace with that
of the governed, else the power behind it will rise to its _might_, and
_sweep it away_.
There is but little doubt that the government of this country is the
highest form now in existence on the earth; but to show how crude and
even barbarous it is, reference only has to be made to the terrible
conflict it has just survived, which became inevitable and necessary as
the only practical demonstration of the power of the principles upon
which it purports to have been founded—that all men are born free and
equal, and entitled to certain inalienable rights, among which are life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This proposition was made
fundamental by great and good men, the representative lights of the
country at that time, standing far in advance of the general mind.
Liberty and equity had burst upon their souls under the sway of tyranny
and oppression, which became so odious that anything was preferable to
them, to longer enduring its injustice. In this land, far removed from
that where freedom could not lift its head—with a mighty ocean rolling
between, they felt they had found a secure asylum from further
oppression, and a land where their new-born hopes could be realized.
But, unfortunately, all who came to the _New World_ had not these hopes
and anticipations; some there were who still desired the strong hand of
the tyrant to sway; and, thus invoked, it reached even across the mighty
deep, and sought anew to enslave these new-born sons of freedom.
Submission they never thought of—resistance was their only theme; and
most thoroughly did they resist; through the long conflict that ensued,
carried on by them under every conceivable disadvantage, their hopes
never completely died out; and at last—triumphant over the crown—freedom
reigned!
It cannot be wondered at that souls rising from such a conflict as the
Revolution, triumphant, should assert so broad a proposition in behalf
of equality as they did at the commencement of the struggle; nor is it
wonderful that the great majority of the people did not understand, or
did not have a full perception of the principle for which their
representatives periled their lives and fortunes and pledged their
sacred honor; but principles which were but partially discerned by the
Fathers of the Republic have now grown into rules of action enforced by
the sanctions of fundamental law; slavery of the body is no longer
possible; the verdict of the majority of the people proclaimed it
“behind the age.”
The South, recognizing this fact, knew that separation from the
progressive mind of the North was the only chance for the continuance of
a system which furnished so many excuses for physical, mental and moral
lethargy; and in their attempt to separate, they precipitated a conflict
in which history repeated itself, and freedom came out triumphant; thus
what sprung from the seeds of tyranny and oppression, left scattered
here and there by those who made that broad declaration, have been
finally uprooted, and never more can take root and flourish under the
scorching blaze of freedom’s noontide sun.
That physical, mental and spiritual lethargy was the condition of the
South under the system of slavery all statistics touching this point
indisputably attest; and the verdict of fifty years will pronounce the
abolition of their system the greatest blessing God has yet vouchsafed
them; it has opened the door of progress for all things, material and
spiritual, and has rescued from the barbaric chains of the past a
country more favored by God, in the bestowal of natural advantages, than
any other on the face of the globe.
The general love of freedom, because it is an inherent right, is one of
the first evidences the soul presents that it is growing from the
boundaries and control of the material, from which it sprang, into those
of the spiritual toward which it tends. When this love first takes root
the soul has attained that degree of development wherein the spiritual
has the superior control of the individual, resulting from the
predominance of the spiritual over the material.
The fact that the general sentiment of the country demanded that slavery
should no longer exist within its boundaries, is a very significant one,
when considered in connection with the tendencies and prophecies of the
present; it shows that the capacity and desire for freedom is being
rapidly developed in the human soul; it indicates that the mind begins
to appreciate what freedom really guarantees to its votaries in its
broadest signification; it begins to recognize the glorious truth that
every soul will, sooner or later, demand and receive all its rights.
The demands of public sentiment, which have already resulted in
modifications of the constitution of the country, will not stop at the
door of African slavery, which it has thrown wide open; there are many
other systems of slavery still left to be abolished; while they do not
all enslave the body, they so fetter the soul and the mind, that their
influence is even more pernicious and galling than the enslavement of
the body.
The African slave, toiling under the burning sun in the cotton, rice and
sugar plantations of the South, was virtually in possession of more
freedom of soul than are many of the white race, even in our own midst.
Look into these things, and see if, while you have “cast the mote out of
your brother’s eye,” you have not a “_beam_” in your own; these, however
numerous, will in turn and time demand of the people and of the
government, when in its province, such attention as may be required to
extend freedom in all directions where “life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness” legitimately lead.
The history of the past as well as the tendencies of the present
prophecy with distinctness and positiveness that the demand will soon go
out, not only for a government founded on equal rights to all, but whose
laws shall be administered with justice and equity, guaranteeing freedom
of body, mind and soul to every living intelligence.
From evidences rapidly accumulating, it is believed that this country is
ripening for such a form and administration of government; but in the
present condition of society and of servitude to its customs, the
imperfect and partial manner of arriving at representation, and of
making and administering law, such a reform cannot be inaugurated; that
is to say, although such a reform would be acceptable to and welcomed by
the country, and will soon be demanded by it, as yet it is impossible to
organize an effort, strictly within itself, that could effect it,
because there is not a sufficient concentration of understanding upon
the requirements to be met, nor of wisdom enough to draft for these
requirements adequate laws and forms of administration. Were such a code
prepared and submitted to the people, do you think it would be rejected?
In the earlier days of the republic legislation seems to have been
conducted upon constitutional principles; but in these latter days it
has so far departed from its seeming mainsprings of action that it is
safe to assert that legislation, founded strictly upon considerations of
principles of justice and right, is unknown in the land. If sometimes a
great principle is demonstrated through legislation, it will invariably
be found upon strict investigation, that the legislation was not
predicated upon the principle, but upon some personal or party benefit
expected to flow therefrom; the _principle_, therefore, stands under
obligation to the expected benefit, and to the party _needing_ it, and
will doubtless, in its impartial operations, _remember_ them. While this
condition is a perfectly legitimate one, flowing from adequate producing
causes, there are individual minds and souls, by thousands, who rise in
their capacities for government out of it, and demand reform and the
essential truth of Principle.
Government may be compared to an individual who, having committed some
infringement upon the law of justice, is impelled, by the position it
forces him into, to continue the practice to sustain himself from
falling; but as a system of injustice cannot be perpetual, fail he must,
sooner or later; and the longer it is delayed, the more complete will be
the wreck and ruin when it comes;—as with the individual, so it must be
with the State. Once started upon a system of law-making and executing
not founded upon principles of justice and right, the course must be
pursued and sustained by further enactments, either to _cover_ the
deformities of the previous proceeding or _hide_ its purposes, and
unless righteous judgment come to the rescue before the course has led
to wide-spread and apparent corruption throughout all its channels of
administration, it must eventually culminate in the downfall of the
government, if not in the destruction of the nation.
Policy, not principle, is the ruling power behind all present
legislation. Policy, inevitably and indiscriminately, leads to
corruption. Corruption, obeying the inherent laws of its own nature,
untouched by and beyond the control of the enactments that first gave it
life and afterward fostered its growth, must culminate in certain
destruction to all parts involved, whether it be within the body human,
the body corporate or the body politic.
Did the Republican party, as a party, desire the freedom of the negro
simply and solely because it was one of his natural rights? Would
freedom have been extended to him by that party had it been positively
known that all his influence would be used against it? Or would the
Democratic party, as a party, have opposed the enfranchisement of the
negro had it been known that he would become its political ally?
Judging from the indices of the past, it is fair to suspect, at least,
if not to conclude, that the Republican party is expecting another such
exigency as existed when it was found politic to extend freedom and
suffrage to the negro; and in the question of female suffrage, for which
the demand is now being earnestly made, there is but little doubt that
it sees another means of salvation in the future, and seeks to postpone
the question until the exigency shall become more imminent and
dangerous. It may be argued that the Republican party was organized upon
the principles of freedom. If this were wholly true, it would be also
true that it had no sooner become a party in power than it resolved
itself into a tribunal to define the limits for the application of the
very principles that had placed it in power; thereby endeavoring to
prostitute the principle to subserviency to the policy of its leaders,
instead of calmly and firmly following where it would legitimately lead;
like all parties and sects, of previous origin, it built upon a
principle, and then, instead of wisely following, recklessly attempted
to guide it.
With all the prestige of possession, and of being the acknowledged
representative of the principle which had carried it into power, the
result of the late elections began to be feared by the party, because
its leaders knew they had driven it from its birthright, and led it
after strange gods; and, had the opposing party been actuated by true
progressive principles of justice, no man, however popular in himself,
could have saved it from destruction.
Conscious of having departed from the principles that gave it power, the
Republican party is even now seeking every means within its grasp to
fortify itself behind measures looking solely to success in ’72; but it
is prophesied that ere that time there will have sprung into existence
another party that will not be the mere professed representative of
freedom and equal rights to all, but the actual, living, moving,
irresistible incarnation of those principles.
The lines of policy pursued by party leaders, and the channels of
corruption opened by the executive officers of the government, have
produced a result so wide-spread in its influence and ramifications
that, instead of their being under the control of the government, they
exert a vast if not controlling power over all its actions; it is not
necessary to go beyond its own records to establish this fact; every
newspaper in the country teems with evidence in point; the clergy have
deemed the situation dangerous enough to hurl the anathemas of the
Church against it; the dramatist and the artist, the poet and the
philosopher, have each dealt his blow, while the “toiling millions”
everywhere cry for reform.
So general and earnest has the demand for reform become that something
must be done; the gathering masses of corruption all over the body will
soon have ripened to bursting; and who can tell how much the body itself
has become involved. May it not be feared that it does not possess
sufficient recuperative purity and strength to stand the shock? Could
the enlightened mental, moral and spiritual elements of the country
which are possessed by those who stand in the front ranks of the
advancing column of progress be combined into organized action, they
might be able to arrest the abnormal growth of corruption, and, by
strengthening and stimulating the sound members of the body to
co-operative action, restore the whole system to its normal condition.
The machinery of the government has become so complex and unwieldy—so
full of departmental and petty offices—that it is utterly beyond the
power of one man, though he be “_a great and mighty_ President,” to
understand and control it.
The tendencies of the government being dangerous to the liberties of the
people, their demand for reform is earnest, and must be heeded. But
where will reformation begin? To whom must we look for relief? If we go
to Congress with the Constitution in our hands, and demand such
legislation as would give practical efficiency to the preamble and
charter of freedom, they may possibly pay sufficient attention to the
subject to pass a joint resolution setting forth that, while certain
inalienable rights seem to be guaranteed to all, still Congress must be
the dispensing power and judge of its application; and that it has
decided that the negro shall be the first on the list—next, perhaps, the
Indian may come in—next the Chinaman, and all the ends of the
earth—except woman. Yes, go to Congress for relief from onerous taxes,
wrung from the blood and bones of the laboring poor to fill the coffers
of government vampires, and they will answer you by passing some new
_Revenue Act_, in whose cunningly prepared articles will be found traps
set for the people’s money, which the trained bands of political party
secretly manage on joint account for themselves and their party leaders;
it will answer you by granting new subsidies to corporations already
grown rich from the fruits of the labor of the people; by granting to
powerful monopolies still further privileges increasing their power
through bribery and corruption to make subordinate the welfare of the
country to their own selfish purposes, and by favoring all schemes for
the _centralization of power_. Such being the answers to your demands,
there is still a tribunal to which you can appeal, which in all time
past has heard and answered the _demands of the age_.
In the system of _special_ and _class_ legislation causes of corruption
and the downfall of governments may always be found; it is the bane of
the nations, whence flows that subtle, entrancing poison that permeates
all the arteries and veins of a country—so quietly and alluringly to the
people, that, before its effects are suspected, the vital principle of
the government is destroyed, and the lifeless form finally falls to rise
no more forever; or, if the spiritless form be still upheld by the
usurper, it is only retained as “a cheat and a delusion” to shield the
person of the tyrant who has enslaved his victims in the name and under
the guise of liberty.