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THE CARPENTER AND THE CARPENTER'S SON.

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by fraud." Strikes occur everywhere and the poor toilers are ruthlessly shot down. The object for which one hundred thousand regulars are armed and drilled, at a cost of millions, is to shoot strikers. Greed is king. It is announced, through the daily press, that Mr. Rockefeller is a billionaire. That one man may control and dispose of a billion dollars' worth of labor products as he sees fit, is not a "property right," it is a monopolistic wrong. There is no more a divine right of money kings than of governmental tyrants like Charles I. To what extent should society assume control of the individual? To the extent of preventing his holding the essentials of life beyond the reach of those who must consume them or perish of hunger or cold.

Men and women love to work, as children love to play, when left free to choose each his profession, as children are free in play. In the production and ownership of things that mark man as an exalted being (in works of art and literature, in philanthropic deeds done, and in unselfish devotion to the common weal), I would not limit wealth. I think that Robert Burns was one of the wealthiest men Scotland ever produced. Abraham Lincoln was a true "billionaire" American. No other wealth than that of a noble manhood and womanhood displayed in "going about doing good" is worth the mentioning. I would rather be a Salvation Army private, devoted to lifting up the lowly, without place whereon to lay my head, like the Master, than to be a selfish, grasping, grinding railroad or manufacturing or mining king or plutocratic money baron of Wall street worth millions.

YE 7TH LESSON.

The "Carpenter" and the "Carpenter's Son."

How wonderful is the progress of today-the buildings, machinery, steel-armored ships, etc., etc. Who constructed them? Toilers. The "Carpenter" built them. But what progress has the "Carpenter's Son" made in the meantime? Has he failed in his part of the work?

Has he not kept pace with the "Carpenter?" He has been sharpening his tools; and, too, he has not been idle. He will outstrip the "Carpenter" ere long. He is building the great city, the New Jerusalem. "Not afar off, not afar off." is answered. "This generation shall not pass away" (these words have been heard for lo! these nineteen hundred years)-"this generation shall not pass away before the promise of Sibyl and prophet be fulfilled"-a figure of speech surely; but the promised day will appear when the grandeur of the "kingdom that cometh without observation" we shall beholdthe kingdom of "righteousness and peace"-the kingdom of God "within you"-a condition of perfected manhood and womanhood when every one will realize that "God dwelleth in him" or herthat his, or her, own personality is literally "God's temple." How we admire a piece of rare old China of superior workmanship or a Venetian vase, or any extraordinary production in the realm of art. But a man-a woman-our own immortal self-what should we be? More grand, more admirable, more noble-a million, yea, a billion times more perfect than any production of human genius or skill.

Strange, is it not, that we demand perfection in all things dear to us but our own being? And why is it so? The answer is that the savage admires feathers, gaudy trappings, but is unconscious of his own moral and mental defects. But the hour is near when man, risen above his primeval condition of animalism or savagery, shall grasp the "chief good," as did Socrates--the perfect character, the

ripened mind, the "fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace," etc., of St. Paul.

In what respect or degree did the Roundhead differ, in theology, from the Cavalier? In little or none. It was his philosophy that distinguished him from all other men of his own and of modern days. He held to the essential. In this he was close to nature. There is, in nature, nothing that belongs to the non-essential. If beauty and pleasure are joined to nature, they have an essential office. Birds sing; they have, many of them, gaudy colored plumage; but song and plumage have a purpose. So an ideal Puritan, or a consistent follower of George Fox, (that is to say, an American, for all true Americans are imbued with like minds and principles with the real founders of our commonwealth) logically discards whatever has not a moral end. He creates no unnatural desires. He reads only to be instructed, not for pastime. He runs not to gain a victory, but to develop his muscle. If he attend a play, it is for rest and recreation, not just to be amused. He wastes nothing-not a penny of his income, not any of his physical or mental powers, not a moment of his time. He makes the most of life. His pleasures promote his wellbeing and his expenditures are for good. He would destroy every harmful drug. Not an acre of tobacco would be cultivated, not a gill of intoxicating drinks manufactured, nor any harmful thing found to exist if he had his will.

The American (the personification of both Puritanism and Quakerism) is right. Whatever is harmful is bound to be put an end to sooner or later. All continents and all islands will become only lodges of usefulness, beauty and harmony. The barren rocks in the Arctic seas are nesting places of birds. Life and health and happiness will dwell wherever there is a nesting place for them. As weeds in fields of grain and vegetables are dug up and destroyed, so will everything not essential and useful, healthful and promotive of good morals, be rooted out and cast into the fire. Yes, the time is not distant when our descendants shall walk along the streets of magnificent cities, greater than Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago and New York, where no liquor hells, opium joints, tobacconists' dens or evil resorts of any kind shall exist. Those evils shall have passed away with the passing of the savagery that today lingers still. Ideas are omnipotent-or, rather, "God is Truth" and Truth is God. And, too, "God is Love," which means that Altruism will triumph over Selfishness, Christianity over Paganism, and the Carpenter's Son reign "King and Lord of all"-and the second coming of the divine Master will be accomplished as foretold.

YE 8TH LESSON.

The Church and Man.

Was man made for the church or the church for man? Jesus said "the Sabbath was made for man; not man for the Sabbath." And the Sabbath certainly has as divine a claim to sacredness as has the church. A minister said, not long ago, that "the church derives its powers from God and the state from man." St. Paul says: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers; for there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God." I believe that whatever is good is of God, either in church or state. Is the spirit of ecclesiasticism good as evidenced in the following letter, the original of which is in possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society:

"To the Aged and Beloved John Higginson: There is now at sea a shipp (for our friend Elias Holcroft of London did advise me by

THE CHURCH AND MAN.

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the last packet that it would be some time in August) called the Welcome, which has aboard it a hundred or more of the hereticks and malignants called Quakers, with William Penn, the scamp, at the head of them. The general court has accordingly given secret orders to Master Malachi Haxett of the brig Porpoise to waylay said Welcome as near the end of Cod as may be and make captives of the Penn and his ungodly crew, so that the Lord may be glorified and not mocked on the soil of this new country with the heathen worshipps of these people. Much spoil may be made by selling the whole lot to Barbadoes, where slaves fetch good prices in rumme and sugar, and we shall not only do the Lord great service by punishing the wicked, but shall make great gaine (gain) for His ministers and people. Yours in the bonds of Christ, Cotton Mather.'

If the church was ever better than the people-than its membership and its clergy-I would like to know when it was so. The church fell from grace when it gave up love for creed. I believe that the church set up by the Apostles on the day of the Pentecost derived its powers from God; for it was good, and whatever of good we find today in church or state, is derived from God; for "God is the author of all good" (Clement of Alexandria.) Cotton Mather was a so-called "Godly minister," and church and state were at that day united in Massachusetts.

What are Christian reformers (social and religious) seeking to accomplish today? But one thing, viz: to re-establish the Christian church on its original foundations. "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things they possessed was his own, but they had all things common. ** * Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them at the Apostles' feet; and distribution was made to every man according as he had need." (Acts IV, 32-34.)

Now this church was the "New Jerusalem"-the "Kingdom of God." And Jesus Christ will come again. I believe the promise of his coming will be fulfilled with the re-establishment of his kingdomthe reinauguration of the Pentecostal church or commonwealth. And indeed he is with us now and he has ever been present with the good, for "he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit that he hath given us." (I John III, 24.)

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"Better by nature than by grace" is a true saying, applicable to religious bigots like Cotton Mather of our fathers' day-narrow sectarians that believe themselves "better than other men." No doubt the Reverend Mather was by nature kind hearted and hospitable as are all men by nature. The Indians, children of nature, welcomed Columbus to the Islands of the West Indies. By "grace" the Spaniards were bad. Said they to the Indians: "What do you think of Jesus Christ? Do you adore the Virgin Mary?" Said the Indians in reply: "We have no knowledge of either." "To hell with you, then,' said the Spaniards. In fifteen years fifteen millions of Indians on those islands, the devout Spaniards annihilated. How did the Christian English profit by the slave trade? and the Christian Americans lash their slaves? What a beautiful example is set before the heathen by the "Christian king" of Belgium, who, in Africa, is now chopping off hands and feet of the poor natives, burning their villages and murdering the people for not working hard enough to please his "Christian majesty," gathering rubber for his agents.

All mankind would do well to say, "To hell with this kind of Christianity!" Count Tolstoi's disgust with the Christianity of the' Orthodox Greek church is sublime. But the Greek church says "Tolstoi is not a Christian." And the great assembly of the "Evangelical

churches of America say "Edward Everett Hale is not a Christian.” But they do not say and will not say that Cotton Mather was not a Christian.

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The New and Better Era, the era of co-operation, dawns with the beginning of the twentieth century. Competition and war end simultaneously and forever. Man becomes master of himself. Altruism becomes his religion. This word defines man as hereafter

he will ever be an altruist. He has arrived at a station that may be named Beulah and is given an inheritance that he does not know the meaning of or its destined influence over his future actions. We are in the grasp of that new condition. What is it? It is that we are above want; it may be truly stated that each man's dividend from his share of "stocks" is sufficient for all his needs physically. It is an inheritance granted each by the inventors of machinery.

We have overproduction. What is that? It is more of the essentials of life than we can make use of. Who has it? Society. Who must consume it? Individuals. What is lacking? Distribution.

What is the problem that altruism must solve? It is equitable distribution of essential products. What is equitable? That each have his just share of the benefits of invention. The "benefits of invention" imply that the necessity of physical toil has been minimized and production so enhanced by machinery, that 'sufficient for the wants of each and all is provided as fell the manna from heaven in the wilderness of Sinai. Who shall have the manna? The hungry. Who says this? The altruist.

Where competition ends, altruism begins. The greed for aggrandizement that now lingers is but momentum. The propulsive force has no active existence. The moment realization ensues that want is abolished, greed perishes. Greed is fear-instinctive laying up for a wet day but the wet day known never to come will cease to incite greed. Who will put up hay with no winter ahead in a land of perpetual verdure and illimitable range for cattle? The Minnesota farmer landed in Hawaii will change his methods in the care of sheep. Greed of gain today is the survival of a useless instinct. Reason will prevail and the needless instinct will perish. It will not be many years hence when the "business man"-that is to say, the man whose only end of life is to accumulate and pile up-thinking only of grasping will be looked down upon by society with pity and contempt.

It is a nice thing for Mr. Carnegie to plant libraries in the cities; for Mr. Rockefeller to endow colleges and Miss Gould to make benefactions; but the people can best establish libraries and the state build colleges.

Wealth that men know not what to do with, piled up in coffers, were better in the keeping of the many. Such men are mere honey ants stuck upon the ceiling of the ant-caves. What is the use to them of the over-swollen store? None whatever. The store is not theirs because they cannot use it. Nothing is ours that others must consume. Why should our egotism prompt us to want to control what were better controlled by society-to want to distribute what were better distributed by those whose it is and was? Both Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Rockefeller have what rightfully belongs to the commonwealth.

Progress is altruistic. Commercialism is greediness. Altruism is a voice speaking in advance of every progressive movement.

What

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said that voice before the beginning of the Spanish war? "For the benefit of the downtrodden Cubans we begin this war"-proclaimed the chief magistrate of the United States. He had so to speak. Why? Because of public sentiment-not only of America, but of Europe. Public sentiment is the giant of progress. It will make of Cuba a free and happy state-the same of Porto Rico and the Philippine islands. Public opinion abolished the African slave trade, abolished chattel slavery, and will break up all tyranny and establish Christ's kingdom of love and good will on earth-will make mankind one family of loving brothers and sisters-put down everywhere the sale of alcoholic and malt liquor beverages, the sale and use of narcotic and nicotine drugs and destroy commercialism.

Commercialism goes along with progress as weeds go along with the plowing of the fields. But the farmer practically exterminates the weeds in his corn fields. So will the rank weeds of commercialism be rooted out, in India, China, and on all the islands of the seas that the flags of the Christian nations float over.

How was it in the past-saying nothing of Grecian and Roman domination of the ancient world? What may we say of Spanish Portuguese, English, Dutch, and French colonization in modern America, Asia, Africa, and the Atlantic and Pacific islands? Races exterminated! Will it not continue to be the same even today?

The priest accompanied the Spanish explorer and conqueror, Las Cassus protesting against the cruelty shown the native inhabitants of the islands and continent. Columbus had an altruistic motive and plea and so have all explorers, colonizers and conquerors for the last four hundred years had. What has resulted of benefit to the natives? Only evil. The best results we see in Mexico. No advance, however, since Cortes burnt his ships; and the Peruvians are not as far advanced in enlightenment as when Pizarro first entered Cuzco.

Has the American occupation of Luzon been gain to the Filipinos? See the saloon. See the demoralization. But the people of America at home protest against the greed of commercialism, that is doing so much harm. Will the good prevail? It surely will. Why do I think so? Because the altruistic principle is omnipotent. It is love and, too, God is love, the omnipotent God.

YE 10TH LESSON.

The New Reformation.

These brief essays are addressed mainly to those outside the church; for it is presumed that church members live comfortably with the ethical teachings of the New Testament and are free from the drink and tobacco habits, as from all other vices. It has not been always so; for within the memory of men still living, both the clergy and the laity took their share of grog and, as a rule, both men and women (members and non-members of the church) were tobacco consumers. No clergyman today drinks ardent spirits or upholds the tobacco evil in his practice as a rule and in his preaching only negatively by his silence. How far is it pertinent, may ye old schoolmaster ask, to quote scripture to those not church members? Не would reply by saying that there is no person living in this Christian land, if in any land, today who will say (if not too ignorant to have an opinion) that Jesus and his Apostles were not teachers of righteousness. The moral teachings of the New Testament are concededly the most sublime and exalting-most acceptable to all minds the world over found collated in any volume ancient or modern now extant. No one will deny this. And the church today occupies higher ground ethically than it did half a century ago. We do not hear Christian

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