of faith in, and devotion to, the unknowable, divorced from all human
relations. We must first recognize and practice the brotherhood of man
before we can be made to realize the Paternity of God, since “if we love
not our brothers whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not
seen?” Our religious teaching has been too much of punishment, and too
little of love; too much of faith, too little of works; too much of
sectarianism, too little of humanitarianism; too much of hell-fire
arbitration, too little of inevitable law; and too much of
self-righteousness, and too little of innate goodness.
And here I cannot forbear to depart from the strict line of my subject
to say a word regarding a doctrine, from the effects of which even this
country is but slowly recovering—that of eternal damnation! I say, that
a people who really believe in a God who could burn his own children in
a lake of literal fire and brimstone, “where the worm dieth not and the
fire is not quenched,” and from which there is no present escape nor
future hope, for a single unrepented misdeed, and still profess to
honor, love and worship a fiend so infernal as that would make Him,
cannot be honest and conscientious, since they must mistake fear for
love, and confound sycophancy with worship. It was such a belief that
kindled the fires by which the early martyrs perished, by which the
Quakers of Massachusetts were burned and the witches hanged, and which
invented the terrible Inquisition, with its horrid racks and tortures.
These are the legitimate results of such a belief; and if the people of
to-day really believed what they profess in their creeds, they would do
precisely the same things. And they would be justified, since it would
be merciful in them to subject a person to a few moments’ torture, to
induce him or her to escape the eternal tortures of Hell, the horrors of
which all the ingenuity men can command could not invent a torture
one-hundredth part as inhuman; and yet they say our Heavenly Father has
prepared this for nineteen-twentieths of humanity.
Thank Heaven, however, the day has come when such libels upon the name
of God are rapidly merging into the gray twilight, to soon sink in
blank, unfathomable oblivion. Thank Heaven, for its own approach
earthward, to strike off the chains of superstition from humanity, and
for the first faint glimmering of light shed upon us by its angels’
faces, proving to us that humanity, whether of earth or heaven, is:
“One life for those who live and those who die—
For those whom sight knows and whom memory.”
The Jews would not accept Christ since he came not with temporal power.
But Christ will come in the power of the spirit, and shall baptise all
humanity. Already His messengers begin to herald the “glad tidings of
great joy which shall be unto all people.” Already the music of the
approaching harmonies are heard from the hill-tops of spirituality
singing the approaching millennium. Already its divine notes have
pierced some of the dark places of earth, making glad the hearts of
their oppressed children, shedding light and truth and joy into their
souls. The prophecies of all ages converge upon this, and for their
fulfillment, Christ, with all his holy angels, will come to judge the
world, and to erect upon it that government already inaugurated in
Heaven and long promised Earth, for
“Decrees are sealed in Heaven’s own chancery,
Proclaiming universal liberty.
Rulers and kings who will not hear the call,
In one dread hour shall thunder-stricken fall.
“So moves the growing world with march sublime,
Setting new music to the beats of time.
Old things decay, and new things ceaseless spring,
And God’s own face is seen in everything.”
Therefore it is that there shall soon come a time in which the people
will ask for universal liberty, universal equality, and universal
justice. Heretofore all branches of reform have been separated each from
the other—have been diffusive, working in single and straight lines from
a principle outward, utterly regardless of all other movements. Reform
has never yet been constructive, but destructive to existing things.
Nevertheless, all reform originates primarily from a common cause—the
effort of humanity to attain to the full exercise of human right, only
attainable through the possession of freedom, equality and justice. Any
reform which does not embrace these three principles must necessarily be
diffusive, instructive or educational. Each different branch is the
squaring of a separate stone, all of which must be brought together and
adjusted before even the corner-stone of the perfect and permanent
structure can be laid. Republicanism even was not integral in its
propositions. It looked simply to personal freedom. Neither equality in
its high, or justice in its broad, sense was a portion of its creed.
Hence republicanism as represented by the party in power has done its
work, and those who prefer to stick to it rather than to come out and
rally around a platform perfect in humanitarian principles, will thus
show themselves to be more republican than humanitarian.
As a nation we are nearing our first centennial birthday. A hundred
years have come and gone since political freedom was evolved from the
womb of civilization. Great as its mission was, great as its results
have been, shall the car of progress stop there? Is there nothing more
for humanity to accomplish? I tell you there are still mightier and more
glorious things to come than human tongue hath spoken or heart
conceived. Little did our noble sires imagine what a century would do
with what they set in motion. From three to forty millions is a grand, I
may almost say a terrible, stride. But with this step we cannot stop. We
must open new channels for the expansion of the human soul.
Up to this time we have expanded almost wholly in a material and
intellectual sense. There is a grander expansion than either of these.
Wealth and knowledge have brought us power, but we lack wisdom. To
material prosperity and intellectual acquirements there must be added
moral purity, and then we shall get wisdom. Everybody appears to live as
though this life were all there is of life, and that to get from it the
most physical enjoyment were the grand thing to be attained. Wealth has
been made almost the sole aim of living, whereas it should only be
regarded as the means to a better end; as the means by which to
accumulate an immense capital with which to begin life in the next and
higher stage of existence; and he or she lives best on earth who does
the most for humanity.
In this view, what are professing Christians—the churches—doing for the
general good to-day? What good can come from preaching without practice,
since, though people may be able to say, “All of these have I kept from
my youth up,” Christ, when he shall come, will reply to them: “Go sell
all thou hath and give to the poor, and come and follow me.” What
clergyman in this city dare stand in his pulpit Sunday after Sunday and
insist upon such practice? or what one dare to insist that his church
should have all things in common? or what one dare to eat with publicans
and sinners, or say to the woman, “Neither do I condemn thee.” Or which
one of the people dare go to her poor, enslaved and suffering sisters
and take them to her heart and home? or be the good Samaritan? I tell
you, my friends, beware lest those whom you scorn to know be before you
with Christ, who knows the heart. It is not what you pretend that shall
make you Christian, but what you do, and if you do right, though the
world curse you, yet shall you lay up treasures in Heaven thereby.
Therefore, I say that the Christianity of to-day is a failure. It is not
the following of Christ, nor the practice of his precepts. True religion
will not shut itself up in any church away from humanity; it will not
stand idly by and see the people suffer from any misery whatever. It is
its sphere to cure all ills, whether moral, social or political. There
are no distinctions in humanity. Everything to be truly good and grand,
whether it be in politics, society or religion, must be truly moral, and
to be truly moral is to live the Golden Rule.
Therefore, it is foolish for the Christian to say, “I have nothing to do
with politics, as a Christian.” It is the bounden duty of every
Christian to support that political party which bases itself upon Human
Rights; and if there is no such party existing, then to go about to
construct one. It is too late in the century for a Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States to be a political thief and trickster
as a politician, while he issues a call asking that the people inject
God into the Constitution. Such consummate hypocrisy is an outrage upon
the intelligence of the nineteenth century; and it will meet its just
reward.
If they would take the precepts of Christ and build a new Constitution
upon them, nobody would object; but to be asked to recognize a God whom
these people have themselves fashioned and set up, who hath not even
human sense of justice, is quite a different thing, and one to which
this people will not submit. I could point out to you why this attempt
is made just at this time, but I rather prefer to point out how this and
all other attempts to put fetters upon the people must be avoided, and
how to break the fetters by which they are already galled.
Permit me to ask what practical good arises from the people’s coming
together and merely passing a set of resolutions. You may pass
resolutions with whereases and therefores a mile long, and what will be
the result unless they are made practical use of. What would you say to
a person who should come before you with a resolution setting forth that
whereas, thus and thus, are so and so, therefore some new invention
ought to be made to meet the conditions. Why you would at once say to
him, “Give us the invention; then we shall be able to judge whether your
therefore bears any relation to your whereas.” Now precisely in that way
should you judge of resolutions for political reform. We have had
resolutions long enough. We now need a working model which will secure
freedom, equality and justice to the smallest of our brothers and
sisters. Anything less than this is no longer worthy to be considered
political reform; and that is not only political reform, but it is also
the best application possible of the precepts of Jesus Christ, and
therefore the best Christianity, the best religion, since to its creed
every human being who is not supremely selfish can subscribe.
In conclusion, therefore, let me urge every soul who desires to be truly
Christian to no longer separate Christianity from politics, but to make
it the base upon which to build the future political structure. Instead
of an amendment to the Constitution, which these hypocrites desire,
recognizing a God who is simply the Father of themselves, and a Christ
of whom they are the self-appointed representatives, give us a new
Constitution, recognizing the human rights of the people to govern
themselves, of which they cannot be robbed under any pretext whatever,
and my word for it, humanity will not be slow to render due homage to
their God. Let that Constitution give a place to every branch of reform,
while it shall not so much as militate against the rights of a single
individual in the whole world—and we are large enough to begin to say
the whole world—and to think of and prepare the way for the time when
all nations, kindred and tongues shall be united in a universal
government, and the Constitution of the United States of the World be
the
SUPREME LAW.
Around this as a New Departure let all reformers rally, and, with a
grand impulse and a generous enthusiasm, join in a common effort for the
great political revolution, after the accomplishment of which the
nations shall have cause to learn war no more.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. P. 4, corrected “God loves from whole to part. But human soul must
from individual to the whole.” to “God loves from whole to parts:
but human soul Must rise from individual to the whole.” This is to
match the original quote by Alexander Pope.
2. P. 20, changed “ought that looks like justice” to “aught that looks
like justice”.
3. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
4. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.