The Wealth makers of the world. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1894-1896, June 21, 1894, Image 1
VOL. VI. Professor Herron' Words at Lincoln Which Waked the World- A HEW 'MORAL POLITICAL VKIOS. He Holdi up Christ as the Political Ruler and Savior of the State, Tbs Impending Danger of Individualism. 1 ,Udom "Which Will Avert Anarchy At the suggestion of the honored Chancellor of the University, I am to speak to you, today, of a new political vlijlon. I come to you conscious of the reironslbllity belonging to every word plken upon such a subject, on this ccfcaslon, and in these anxious days of clal strain and political change. Be- auae of my knowledge of how much eater are the hour and opportunity an the thoughts and powers of the oaker, what I shall say to you has en wrought out in deep trouble of )lrit. But the sense of my own inade- uacy h,as been lout In the foith that ere would be present with us the ft or the roll ninir Christ, whose jubject I am?ia whoee name I speak, and to whose political wisdom and au thority I am here to bear witness. For my political vision Is the Christian state. The people are looking for a political order that sha'l associate men In justice. The old ways of political thinking and doing have exhausted themselves. Our present systems of human relations will not endure the strain that is oomlng upon them, Political constitutions now saored will be consumed in the fervent beat of the social trial, and present forms of institutions will disappear. Not since Augustus achieved the culmi nation of the Roman empire in the unity of a world of splendid misery, has the race so felt the certainty and the dread, the sorrow and the hope, of uni versal change. The civilization of to day is the camp of a vast unorganized and undisclpliaed army, without lead- rs and without method, yet profoundly onscious of some conflict near at hand which shall issue in a new beginning of history. I do not tear to have our civilization full of trouble and complaint. I can yiintal trA tt t rvt Vt I mama t no n r" 1 1 1 4liu n -a have the present order of things ex 'VfJt without discontent. And the world- vision of todav is construction, how Itions may vet prove. Unorganized and THE GREAT ORATION ' inharmonious as the forces of change! j-Bow seem, they will be restrained by uneir nutn in tue proviaunco ana de liverance of the change, and unitod in the living sacrifice of their noblest sons upon the altar of their faith. Tbe peoples are not angry, but rather in sorrow and expectancy because of their iraost conviction that only out of their fravall and anguish can a better order ofsoclety bo boro. The world is full of discontent, but It 1 the discontent of God with the degradation of his song and daughters under the tyranny of material dominion, Society Is moving oulcklv toward revolution, but It U t revolution from anarchy to order; from f industrial slavery to social freedom; from iH)llt'cal atheism to tha klnir.him iVfCod, The revolution comes as the soctal cruawvu "i iu wurm. iuo race 1 "making Us social slf-dUcovery; It U coming to It social telf-coneulouanes. hrouah exntfrienoeaadautv.iri,,,. wl h nowledge too tfoep for lot to and too Istlil uhiloeoohv of soctetv. thd r.m 1U learning thai It U nut au aggregation of lodhldual. but one body, one hu manity, of which alt Individual are member; that It t( not natural, but violent, that thata inuiVu.r kliruil.t Ci--if wun eacn omer ror piece ana lire tithebodv. Men am ceailny la h. ?, and they can no look'er I per- V) !!, that eoio petition rather than f lL.l..l.lla li II,. I .. .. ,1 .... a''d progress. The elvllUuioB that now build upon the a.utnplou that ,un iro antagonist and not tucnilor Kit ouetodul body l fundamentally an Wchhal. The politic that remains V VJ b1'U to the wakings cUI cemclou- and movIbuc to make the holy Atehwofdsof tne ja.t tho trpocrliy M rmo of the rrvteot, the ihkIU- clans who speculate in human life upon the presumption that the people are as Ignorant and without character as themselves, will be but fuel for burning in the day of wrath that is coming to consume our trade politics and false so cial philosophies as stubble. Society must henceforth be the end of political science and effort. Not Individual liberty and the equilibrium of warring self-interests, but the association of men in a communion of justice 1 now the work of the politics that would command the patience and win the respect of the people. The vision of brotherhood will not pass away for it is heavenly. Poli tics must obey that vision,. or the people will try obedience without politics, and a world-tragedy will have to be the school in which the nations shall learn their law and mission. The state can have no ether meaning than tbe interpretation and execution of the raind of Ged toward the people. Tbe state is ordained to be the visible incarnation of the unseen government of the world; tbe medium through which the law and order of God are re ceived and wrought out in progress. If there is a purpose in history tbe state must be the organ for the accomplish ing of that purpose; the organ of tha common inspiration and collective effort of the people toward righteousness. The state must be the incarnate con science of the people; the manifestation of the highest right of which the people have knowledge In common; the organ of their common consciousness of God. There can be bo continuous develop ment of a nation's life except its institu tions progressively express the faith and organize the moral reason of the common people. , Tbe mission of the state Is not ful filled in the liberty of tbe individual, but in the association of men in a right eous unity. Liberty is but a means to the divine social end. If liberty Is not fulfilled In unity then liberty was' the consummation of the supreme design of evil powers. And If liberty means no more than to fight with each other for material gain, if tho state can do no more than foster a civilization founded In such a freedom, then the evolution of civilization from feudalism was the irreparable ruin of the world. The conception that freedom consists in the protection of men from one another rather than in their association with each other can never bring forth any order than that of tyranny and slavery. The worshio of Baal and Moloch was relatively no more degrading and de humanizing than the conception of the state as a commercial compact and secular institution, with only police functions to procure individual liberty and protect property. If the state has fundamentally and finally any business that is not comprehended in the study and organization of the highest right known to man, and the redemption of man from all known wrong, then the state is a fraud aud a tyranny, and has no right to exist and have authority over man. And thtre are nottwo klads of right, one for tho state and another for the individual. A first step toward social Justice and political virtue ruuxt be ti e emancipation of society from bondage to tha evil iauulwatloa that there are dltlortnt kinds of right. It there U a principle of right anywhere in the uni verse it Is right evtry where, or there Is no universe of God aud can bo no unity of man. Tuo wicked fancy that there are dllToreut standard of rlht for different spheres of life Is the c oiiin of aaaroby; It Is the dutructlon o( both t'thtcs and ord or. There U not one kind of rlgM for tiod and another for man; one for the church and mother for trtu market; one for the Individual aad another for tbe stair; one for men acting amgly aud ariuthr for m n actleg cotlcoilvoly at a cniuHmwea'th or a financial vorptraU:n. Thure U not a rellgli'iu i ialUy of rlghi dUtlnct from a political or cooule (lua'tty of right. if there It any right at all it tuul be both untvral In operation aaJ uolvf r iHy particular la afplloa'lon. Tho will e! O hI caul bo auy dllt'rsnt vu arlti from tie will of tia4 In the hvav cos. Whr.itver principle of right U authorial. fo tg a man's moral raoa, in the lamuet cootetoumiM of hi bring, U usojodirUd and no 1 eoionaudteg whim he enters tha market, the stock xjiiaifo, or the munlulpaUty a an economic or social retldeat. it I aw my brother's keeper a a rallgtou t&aa I LINCOLN, NEB., THURSDAY. JUNE 21, 1894. am equally my brother's keeper as an economic or political man, bound to make my place of buslnees the keeper of my brother and the nation of which lama member tho keeper of my brother. If there is a moral law of service in my conscience that compels me to seek work for my brother that he may ea n bread then that law is equally authoritative when men act collectively as a state, and the state as a moral being Is bound to procure work by whioh its citizens may find bread. Except the state become the organ of the moral law that is written la the common moral reason, it cannot see the political order that is the association of men la justice. And the state baa no other mission than the realization of the unity of human life. Now the mind, the spirit, that most enlightens and commands the moral reason of man is the mind of Chrltt. But, in order to be honest with you to whom I speak, I am obliged to say that I do not mean ty this expression what most of you would think me to mean, or would yourselves mean, If I did not ex plain myself. I am sure I do not mean what is commonly meant la tbe church es by this term. I am not speaking theologically, metaphysically, or even religiously, according to tho ecclesias tical or thtologlcal conception of re ligion. I do not stand before you as a religionist, or a dogmatist, or a church man. Nor do I speak as a political or social doctrinaire. I am here as a po litical apostle of Christ, but not for any arbitrary purpose of Inducing people to accept my religion. Because I seek a kingdom of social right and order among men, and because I believe that assoclatloa in righteousness csn come only through political organization and action, do I speajt In the name of Jesus as the only name given among men whereby the state can fulfill Itself in making society whole. I know of no other kind of justice that will give social peace, or truth that will give political freedom, than tbe justice and truth personalized and disclosed la Jesus. And when I speak of society, or tbe state, receiving the mind of Christ as tbe mind of political action and social unity, I mean the common faith and will of men to fuse their differences, Justify -their inequalities, universalize their interests, and communizs their efforts and alms, in making the quality of right that was in Christ's mind and actions the power and element, the mind and spirit, of their association and action. The mind of Jesus is the mind to serve; the mind to make all life a contribution to the common and uni versal life in which all are to share and become perfect. The righteousness of Christ was his perfect sacrifice for man, not for somo men but for all men; for the world. The sacrifice of Jesus was the perfect utterance of tbe eternal mind of God, add the disclosure of the whole moral nature of the universe. In finite as is tbe unknown in Gcd and his universe, the unknown cannot be differ ent in nature from the right that was in CbrUi:. Christ Is the heart and revt latlon of all tbe unknown and known. Ills sacrifice manifests the character if all power and authority: of all govern ment and law. Sacrifice la tho aoo a ting power; tbe unifying force; the one universal law. ItUtWougu sacrifice that the unlvcne Is one; by no other power thn that of sacrifice could tbere bo a unlurst. Sacrifice Is the sot tal law of gravity, In all the buaveaa, la t ie organisation ot life upon the earth. Society la the organized nacrltko of the people, Ttio mini of CnrUt u the one mind that has perfectly uud''rlood bod ohoyed this fundamental and unl vorial law of aodailoii. No other law can found the prfvt state aud or ganlzlho perfect ocU;ty. Th greaU'tt political work or social reform that ran l-nlay be undertaken U t'lal of making knon the mind of 1'urltt to the i opl. Notwithstanding l)efte habits of rvllgjou feeling and doctrine that have boo aKHlaud with tne thought of the mint ot Chrltt, making rHg'o.u LVUiUuhy almost the supreme htUele (a h way ot gel ling tho -Kvifiin,f of Jiut I via the world, tVre i vt;ry"tur adepcnti)g anj li n (Irg coavlotlon that hi mind la the mlnj that the tnlltallo t f the world toml have l tuder U pro cure social JuitlM. The kim slgnlf) raat fact of tdra life I tho political tailh to Jetu Chrltt that 1 rUIng roui the waking soclit cotuclousnc of the world with a divine instlnctiveness, as natural at tbe turning of the babe to Its mother,' this social consciousness Is turning to the person of Jesus as the social Ideal that can alone perfectly satisfy man's social nature. The multi tudes believe, though they cannot define their belief, that the real Jesus Is the one human life perfectly socialized. With apathetic aud almost inarticulate expectancy they are waiting to be guid ed by that life Into the J aster order of the eternal lite that men may have upon the earth. And to whom shall the multitudes go for social right and political truth but Jesus? .They are as sheep without politioal shepherds, devoured by raven ous political wolves. They are sick and outraged with the weak social maxim's and religious respectabilities of the churches. They know perfectly well that, sincerely as it Is Intended, much of what Is taught in pulpits as Christ! anlty could as certainly be affirmed to be the political economy of the moon as the teachings of Jesus regarding hi' man life and society. The church, related as it is to industrial unrighteous ness, is Afraid to reveal the true Jesus whom the unchurched and unsoclalized peoples are asking to see. Ecclesiasti cal Christianity has in its inmost con' sciousnlss the shame and anger of a conviction itcannot escape, that nothing would be so disastrous to Itself as a vision and understanding of tbe actual Chriiton the part of the multitudes who are crying for social jtutice. Both Within and without the church there is a deepening social feeling that Jesus is nowhere so wickedly misrepresented as in the commanding Institutions that bear kl niine. These Institutions stand for religion, but not for the prac tice of Cb Hit's kind of righteousness; they stand for respectability and prop erty, but not for sacrifice and associa tion; they stand for benevolence, but not for the justice of tbe kingdom of God. And It would be strange, yet no, not strange, but the perfect continuity of all the divine ways of the past, if the social revolution should first of all organize Itself int) a new crusade, so morally glorious and triumphant as scarcely to bear comparison with the old crusades, to rescue the living Lord Carist from his splendid tomb ot organ ized Christianity. It would be stranger still If the crusaders did not find that themselves rather than the Christ need ed deliverance, and that he had only been waiting within the temple for the gatherings of the people, that he might come forth and show them tbe opening heavens of purer truth, Into which they wire at last abls to look with a vision unclouded by political or social atheism. There is not a school of religion, phi losophy, or politics, that will not today agree tbat the mind of Jesus Is the right mind to have. Brahmin and Jew, a noatic and theologian, Christian and Mohammedan, will confess tbat the spirit of Christ Is the best and most unifying spirit tbe world knows. Many will scorn his right as impracticable. S rae will say tbat Gautama and others taught the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount before Jesus' time. By some the authenticity ot tbe records ot his life will bo denied. The theologian will sternly direct us to the way of salvation through metaphyiloi rather than right. Vet if we could get men to forget awhUi the things upon which they dU ajree, If we would put away our parti sanship and rid our tntod at tho pon derous Irrelevancles ol theology, wo would find universal agreement that the mind ot Christ, It actually received and praottMid at tho spirit of human actions aud institutions, would procure thai crfct J utlce which would secure per (ol peace. I believe that the common Coq louue of the world, yet slumber tag an l undeveloped, 1 the o Jntciiut' U)t of potential Chrl.tUntM, If we a u!d Ijrce the lute and strife, the vice and thame, the selfUhne and In stitutional power, tho self-duoeU and traudteleiit sincerity, the theology and H.jptU'lM ot tbe world mind of Uii Batmen vt would tin J tt to to a ChrUt nlaJ. The mind of ChrUt 1 the dlv uuxur ( the hldtSoa mind of humanity, aud hi person the revelation t t our yet uugrowa human r-. The waking social outeloune of the world 1 the v dulloa of the Christ tulnd; It U th iaoe eomlng to a coiuetouuo of It C&rUt nam,1 an! ChrUt detlny Ju U tU fuhUUmmt, the objwtlv revrlatloa, of the moral potcatlallty ol ' " i tbe world; his person interprets and satisfies the world's common moral sense. The one universal fact of human hUtory is tbat humanity is conscious of a quality of right potential within which finds its perfect development and incarnation in the moral nature and person ot Jesus. The state, then, must become Chris tian If it Is to be the organ ot the social unity whioh is the present search and determination of tbe peoples, and which it is tbe true mission of the state to accomplish. .The state must have la it the mind of Christ, in order to associate men In justice. Except the state be born again, except it be delivered from pagan doctrines of law and government, from commercial and police theories ef its functions, It cannot see that social order so just as to be defined as the king dom of God. Unless the state believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and become the organ of the Christ spirit In human relations, it cannot be saved from the wrath of tbe rising social passion. I see nothing strange or unreasonable about the proposal to make the wind of Christ the mind of our legislation. If such a mind as Christ's can Inspire and direct the whole action of one man, It is not Impossible or incomprehensible that such a mind should inspire men collectively and politically. It does not seem mystical to me to believe that the mind of Christ shall become the crea tive spirit of political actions and ex press itself In tbe statutes ot the state, I believe that the kingdom of God Is to be realized in the state rather than In tbe church, and that it will be polltl cally rather than ecclesiastically organ ized. I look for a movement that shall be a great political revival of tborlght- eouiness of Christ; a movement tbat shall have no other purpose than the translation of the mlad of Christ into the constitution and legislation of the nation, and tbe making of bis mind the national political sense. Such a move ment would not begin with a declara tion of Independence, and would raise no cry for rights. It would begin with a confession of the mutual dependence of all men; and hssue a sacred call for the fellowship of sacrifice. Association, not individual liberty, would be the movement's watchword and hope of glory. It might be among tbe despised things of the world la Its beginnings, but it would fulfill the apostle's vision of the mighty Michael and his hosts of warrior angels casting out the great dragon which symbolizes the worship of material forces. And with the in spired leaderbhlp of men who love not their lite unto death, it would conquer the nation, aud begin the Christian state which would be the political real ization upon tho earth of the divine government ot the world which Jesus disclosed. For Jesus Is the real king of America, though the religious Phari sees and tue political Sudducees say that they have no king but the majority. I. The Christian state will be the organized democracy of the people. Democracy is tbe political realization of Christianity, It Is the order through which faith in right manifests Itself in the freedom of man. The old Hebrew Idea ot God dwelling In the midst of tbe people a coa.tltuted in a free com rajQA'ta th cxpresies the facts and forces of democracy. The true democ racy U .ill better defined by the apo to.lo term, "tbe communion ot th Holy (Jtio.t," by which term 1 meant the concord of iLe people In rlghteou uuj; the government of the people by a spirit tt unity within rather than t y a dominion over them. UUtory is the progressive dlotoure of the self gov ernment of the people a the providen tial design. ChrUtlaulty la Its fulfill meat U th o!t government of the peo ple through communion with God; through the surrender of the emuon will to the rtghleou will expressed in ChrUt. The hlurlcl and providen tial Idea la that U hI shall led the pro pie by the spirit of right a his sea, governing thvra lnpltallonlly rather t ian leslltutionally. Iniiltu'.ton that are democratic in favl w 11110 the orjran of Intpltatiiut aud the avaat tt the people, u'her tbaa the organ of dml nation with the people lor tkclr ter vaau. The end ot democracy U the political rvdou'ipvloo and perfection ot ou'iianlty la a government a:U unity ot tbe aoet ot Uo4. Nothing can b more presumptuous thaa the literature which treat ot the triumph or Ul'.ure ol democracy. As f i NO. 2 yet democracy can scarcely be consid ered to have been aa experiment. It has not been tried. A government of the people Is a dream yet to be realized. There do not exist any truly democratic Institutions. Wherein democracy has been thought triumphant it has been . the triumph of expediencies substituted for democracy. Wherein it has failed, something less than democracy baa been the experiment. We Americans are not a democratic people. We do not select the repre sentatives we elect; we do not make our own laws; we do not govern ourselves. Our political parties are controlled by private, close political corporations that exist as parasites upon the body politic, and give us the most humiliat ing and degrading despotism In political history. Our legislation is determined by a vast system rf lobby. Tbe people know, though they cannot prove, that -our legislative methods have become tbe organization of indirect bribery and corruption, from one end of tbe land to the other. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the chief work of our state, and natioaai legislatures In recent years has been to obstruct, defeat, or cheat the will of the people. We are any thidg but democratically governed, but are under tbe government of polit ical and legislative bureaucracies that dominate, plunder and oppress by an Indication toat conceals both tbe reality and the nature of the dominion, cor ruption and oppression. Our American senate is seriously reminding us ef thai court of Tui8 XVI. The people America today do not know bow to utter their true political word, and are no longer able to express their true political faith through their institu tion. The politicians who control these Institutions are Ignorant ot what the people really think and believe. They are largely insensible to the rising tide of social feeling and purpose that will yet sweep away the foundations of political faith and order, unless recog nized and reoeived ai a national regen eration. We can no more stop tho progress ot democracy where It now is, barely In its beginnings, than we can take the race back to the Garden of Eden. From tbe Idea of the absolute monarch we have progaosaed to the Idea ot representative . Institutional government. But we have only reached tbe half way house of p- lltlcal progress. tVe shall have to move on to the goal, whlci Is the fulfillment of democracy in the direct self-government of the people, with only such Institutional organs as shall execute, and be responsi ble to their will. Ia a pure democracy the people will be their own legislators and make their own laws directly, with out any Intermediary legislative institu tions. Tbere will be Institutions to re ceive aad enforce the legislation of the people. But representative legislation and represantatlve government are as distinctly two forms of government as tbe absolute and tke limited monarchy. There cun be no true democracy with, representative legislation. And repre sentative legislation has accomplished the beginnings of Its own doom. There have been few important measures before our state or national legislature during tha last decade which could have been de cided with Intelligence and character. with tlioroughuev and prompta, wholly beyond the moral or intellejtual comprehension of the representative choen to legulate on tho people's behalf. The jobbers In politic who make the atUlr of the public well Mug their political stock exchange strive to create the impreloo that they represent the actual political hiora's ot (he people, and deceive the pw pie Into adUti iUt of litem. trlve and a cei)trlUtloii of power. Hit unbelief In (i-4 I no more f tUl to freedom and projfr, to jutlee and right, than unUlivt In the people, And not the eetilralUv.lon but the dif?uloo of power I the Us-hc ot hUtury and the stfety ot the present. Only thr'jft, l. coming the orgn of the cvtnmou faith and a'tratl.tn, the nmaioa life, thd My lit, tha url wH being, th com aion wbuUue if the whole rvr.ple can the ttate endure lha -nUl strata and ilitn, aid prove !'. right to be, tiui h tl can become ouly through the brgaul latloti ot th d in rat y that will tcilt W vally fulfill th i id-r of life !ua with the birth of tho ChrUt mm. If. ThuCbrU:..ti .tale will V the otj-anbed woaoioy of the people, 1n llil-ul fiuoua tae tfa'Ue lulf ouly I'.WuaifcKl oa ik iMk'tl