T
7
r
Sept. 21, 1899.
THE DOCTRINE OF FORCE.
A Protest by Rev. William Brown Against
the Imperialistic Tendencies '
Of the Church.
In all the ages of the church
there has been one thing manifested
and that is when the ministry have
become demoralized, and have fol
lowed after wealth and power and
forsaken the fundamental princi
ples of Christianity. There has
risen within the church itself, men
of power, and force to call the peo
ple back to the foundation of prin
ciples. In this way arose Sarvano
la, Luther, Wesley. So in these la
ter times there seems to be men in
the ministry who cannot be beguil
ed with the glitter of wealths It is
, with pleasure that the Independent
presents its readers , with a ni&st
powerful discourse against the re
cent tendencies to forsake the doc
trines upon which civilization has
become what it is and go back to
the old Roman and pagan doctrine
of force. The following sermon is
commended to the readers of this
paper whether they be churchmen
or not for soundness of argument.
the ability and force .with which
the old truths are put, ami the pro
test that is made nginst forsaking
them for the new doctrine of im
perialism. The sermon is by Wm
T. Brown, pastor of Plymouth
r:hurch. Rochester. N. Y. Mr.
Brown took for his text: ;
John xix. 10: "Pilate there-
fore saith unto Jesus, speakest thou
not unto me? Knowest thou not
that I have nower to release thee
and have power to crucify thee?"
In Pilate's official palace aJagH
salem . nearly nineteen hundred
veras ago, was enacted a scene in
the drama of history which discloses
with marvelous clearness the tragedy
which is perpetually taking place
in this world of ours. In that judg
ment hall in far away Palestine are
outlined with perfect accuracy the
forces which are perpetually arrayed
against each other.
The issue drawn in that room be
tween he two men who stood there
face to face is the only moral issue
that this world ever knew or ever
can know. These two men are the
representatives and embodiment of
the perpetually hostile iorces o:
this world of mankind. One of these
men was Pontius Pilate, procurator
of Judea, official representative o:
.Tiberius Caesar. . The other was
Jesus of Nazereth, a prophet with
hardly a following, a preacher with
out a church, a man without a coun
try, the discredited and despised
anostle of the gospel of love. Pilate
and Jesus! These are the two entra!
figures in that historic piceure which
time nor change can ever erase from
human memory.
Who are these two men, and what
do they represent? What is the na
ture of the issue which was there so
clearly drawn? What do we know
about this historic scene?
We know that Pilate is an official
of the Roman government. We
know that no document exists to
day which substantiates or suggest
any charge against that Galilean
prophet which can make him a crim
inal. We know that this scene con
tains not even a hint of justice.
The prisoner at the bar is guilty of
no crime. The judge of that throne
does not in the remotest way sug
gest a suspicion of justice. Pilate
represents just one thing, and only
one. And that is bald, brute iorce
No mater what his personal quah
tics may have been. They do not
figure. He is an official, lie is
nothing but the projection of Cae
sar's personality and power. He
embodies the existing government.
He is the incarnation of a morally
colorless power. It is of no conse
ouenee that the Roman tribunals
sometimes administered justice.
History bears me out in saying that
they did so only when justice would
answer the purpose of Caesar better
than injustice. Pilate on the throne
of iudement is the embodiment of
Caesarism of blind, brute force.
That is exactly what the words of
Pilate, addressed to thHt silent
worn-out man before him, mean
"Speakest thou not to me? Know.
est thou not that I have power to
crucify thee?" That is the deliver
ance of absolute power. That
' the language of inexorable fate.
has not a suggestion of justice. Jus
tice has no place in the picture
Back of Tilate, back of his words
and his will, back of the man and
the office is a military force whic
holds the world in a vice-like gnp,
No other military power exists that
will venture to dispute that domin
ion. Tilate knows what he is talk
ing about. He is absolutely secure
in his position and he docsn t pro-
pose to waste any words. He is
not there to weigh arguments or
measure principles with that man.
That is not a court of justice. In
le mind of Pilate and of that ;
hich Pilate represents the prisoner
at the bar is nothing. It doesn t
matter to Pilate who he is or what
;ie is. This lone Nazarene is only
one man against a vast empire. That
empire can stamp out his life, as a
man crushes an insect under his
foot. Jesus of Nazareth has no
claim to consideration at the hands
of that huge engine of physical
might. ', He lives only by the suffer
ance of Rorae. Says Pilate: "I
have power to set you free, and 1
have power to kill you. You are ut
terly helpless in my hands. I can
o as I please with you. iou are
in the presence of omnipotence.
Your only hope of living on this
earth lies in your gaining the good
will of Caesar. In the hands ol
Cat-6ar hangs your destiny."
And what of the man on trial
there? Does he stand for any
thing worth thinking about? Does
le represent anything that is enti
tled to your consideration or mine?
care not what you think of any or
all the sayings ascribed to him' in
these four gospels. I care not what
your opinion be as to the supersti
tions which have so easily grown
up in the minds of men and women
concerning him. I challenge the
world to find any moral fault in that
nan. Every generation from that
lav to this has echoed the reputed
words of Pilate: "I find no fault
in him." That verdict stands. Per
haps he was not as scholarly as many
of his contemporaries, lielul was
far his superior in Jewish learning.
Socrates and Plato and Aristotle
were incomaprably greater philoso
hers. Philo of Alexandria, who
ive'd through the same period, far
excelled him in speculative wisdom.
No one would think of comparing
him in literary merit with the least
of the Greek and Koman writers
And Saul of Tarsus has certainly
far overshadowed him intellectual
y in the great institution that calls
itself after his title. But the man
who that day stood before Pilate
for trial occupies a moral pre-eminence
which no man has yet disput
ed. And we know what he stood
for. We know the contrast which
this picture presents. We know that
m that palace chamber brute iorce
in the person of Caesar's representa
tive stood that day face to face with
Love in the person of the Nazarene.
That is exactly the meaning of that
scene. Love was on trial before a
morally colorless Brute Force,' occu
pying the throne as judge. Brute
Force passing sentence on jjove,
Physical Might joining issues with
Justice! That is the essential and
eternal significance of Jesus before
Pilate. "I have power to let you
live, and I have power to slay you,'
was the message which Brute Force
that day delivered to Love. And
Love that day by the mouth of
Jesus and eternally by the lips of
undaunted Christs of God declar
ed and ever will declare, "You have
no power at all. You are the very
embodiment of impotence. You
cannot touch the hem of Love's gar
ment. You are a shadow. You
are nothing. I here is no power in
the universe but Love. Love is God
and beside him there is none to dis
pute his sway. Force is impotent
against Love. Might is helpless
against Justice. It can but elay
itself. Love holds the very constel
lations in its hand.'
A few hours after that scene in
Pilate's palace three crosses had
been raised outside the city walls,
and on the middle one hung the
mangled, bleeding body of the Naz
arene. And all the world in that
first century cried out: "Caesar
has triumphed. Jesus is vanquish
ed. Brute force is sovereign. Love
is dead. Hail to the victor and
king!" So said the contemporaries
of Pilate and Jesus, so said the
princes and mighty ones of all the
succeeding centuries, and so say
their idiotic posterity today, in
press and pulpit, in counting room
and legislative hall, in judicial court
and in executive mansion. Ah
hail to victorious and conquering
power! Cast your garlands at the
feet of the man who wins! Let
the homage of all men be paid to the
strongest navy! Hats off to the most
successful murderer! Nothing irj
the gift of the nation is good enough
for the man who has slam his thou
sands!" I wonder if we really think
that those men of that first century
of their kindred in any century
since were right? World-wide
power, impersonated by the Roman!
,.:.. :." YVa l.a.ro Unftorl fVlia
trill jilir, sa-m, " 13 uaic iiuiivu t,uo
man from the earth. We have eras
ed him from the Hate. Might is
King. There is no reality save pow
er. The empire is God. Its domin
ion is everlasting. Its law is inex
plicable. I here is no ap
peal. A mere insect in
little corner of the earth has been
trod upon. A fleck of foam on the
current of Roman supremacy has
disappeared. A flickering heresy
has been snuffed out, never to glow
again. Was that true? I apnea
to history. Was there one smallest
atom of truth in that verdict? What
are the facts? If you will permit j
your minds to follow the current
of history from that day in Pl
ates palace down through the
next three centurk'8 you will mid
iiat the verdict of Caesarism was
utterly false.' You will find that
;ie scene at Jerusalem was but the
first one in a tragedy upon which
he curtain never fell and never will
all until the villain is slain and the
hero is crowned. You wil: find
that every Roman emperor that as
cended the throne found himself
face to face with the same entity
hich Jesus stood for. You will
find that from the day Jesus was
crucified straight onward to the
day Constautine was crowned, al
most exactly 300 years later, that
great empire was engaged in one
ong massacre of men and women
who held the name of Jesus in su
preme reverence. You have in
that history nothing clearer than
the struggle of organized power
gainst the rise and spread of those
sentiments for which the crucified
Galilean was supposed to stand.
Caesarism still held the throne of
power but in every nook and corner
of that vast empire the followers of
the man who had been crucified
multiplied by hundreds, by thous
ands, by millions. The religious
idea which blossomed irom the life
and words of Jesus was the one
thing that did grow during those
three centuries. The power of the
Caesars waned. The power , of
Jesus waxed stronger with every
hour. It mattered not that Nero
and Domitian and Hadrian and
Trajan and Serverus and Maximus
and Valerian and Diocletian and
even the great Marcus Aurelius put
to death. the Christians in droves as
the enemies of mankind. That cru
sade of extermination was doomed to
failure. ' The whole army of the em
pire was not large enough to crush
out that growing multitude of men
and . women who m some measure
reoroduced the life and spirit of
Jesus. They did not resort to arms.
x
They did not even resist arrest. They
resisted nothing, ihey were the
very' incarnation of physical weak
ness, even when tney naa grown xo
i tt 11 j
be the largest sect m the empire,
They knew no weapon but love.
They had no defense but justice.
And the day came when brute force
had to give up the struggle, when
Caesar had to make terms with
Jesus, when physical could no long
er hold its throne, except by alii
ance with the eternal power of love.
Caesarism could not crush out
Christianity as represented in the
high moral ideals of those early
centuries.
And we know today how blind
and foolish was the creed of Caesar
ism. Find me one man who knows
the name of Tiberius Caesar, and
for that one and for every other
one I will find you a thousand men
who know far better the name of
Jesus. Find me one man who has
ever read the writings of Caesar, and
I will find you 10,000 who are far
more familiar wih the reputed words
of the Nazarene. Find me one man
who cares anything about any or
all of the Caesars, and I will find
you a million who profess to wor
ship the man whom Pilate crucified
We should not know even the name
of Pilate today but for the fact that
he was the executioner of J esus. The
empire of the Caesars came under
the dominion of the men who rever
ed Jesus as a god, and the monu
menta of her greatness have been
buildcd into the walls of the
churches where he is worshipped.
Think once more of that scene
in
Pilate's palace. What is the
charger What is the prisoner
plea? And what is the verdict of
the judge? The established order
is the plaintiff in that trial, and it
is also the judge. And the indict
ment which it brings against the
prisoner, is that the course he is pur
suing, the ideals he cherishes, the
teaching to which he has given ut
terance, are fatal to the existence of
that order. No matter whether they
are true or not. That is not admit
ted into the case. This man is ad
judged worthy of death because the
triumph of his teachings and the
adoption of his life mean the over
throw of the established order. He
has insisted that there is but one
law of life, the law of love. He
has declared that no other law
tolerable. He has abolished class
distinctions. He has insisted that
every man is a brother and every
woman a sister. He has told men
that they are to call no man master
on the earth, that no man may just
ly lord it over his fellow, as the na
tions do. He has dared to chal
lenge the justice of force. He has
dared to analyze the methods of ac
quiring property, ile has cried
out against the selfish rich and pow
erful. He has befriended and cast
in his lot with the poor. He has
sown the seeds of discontent among
the masses. He ras so stirred the
minds of his Galilean countrymen
that they have attempted to
make him their leader in a viohsnt
revolution. His teachings are the
most revolutionary the world ever
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT.
received. No matter what the ba
sis of those teachiugs is. No mat
ter how righteous or humane his
principles. They cannot be toler
ated by the existing order. They
are inconsistent with its very insti
tution. Slavery cannot breathe in
the atmosphere of those principles.
yranny is doomed and damned by
them. They, are the very antithe
sis of the powers of the empire.
l hat man must die.
To these charges there could be
but one plea on the part of the
prisoner, &ueh had been his teach
ing. ' lie had put himself squarely
and absolutely upon the platform
of love as universal law. Anything
else is lawlessness. Force is a syn
onym for evil. Only justice can
have any authority. Force can ac
complish nothing but its own undo
ing. Only love of men love be
tween man and man the recogni
tion of the familyhood of the world
can survive. Only that has any
authority over the conscience or
conduct of men. "Every valley shall
be exalted, and every hill shall be
brought low, he had said. No
human institution of whatever sort
that does not rest squarely on jus
tice, that is not the blbssom of love,
can live.
Caesarism could listen to no argu
ment. It never docs. It did not
nor does it ever consent to the arbi
trament of reason and conscience,
Its appeal is perpetually to the ar
bitrament of hard, cold, soulless
might. And it crushed the Christ
beneath its heel. ,
But what has it proved? Has it
proved that Caesar was right and
Jesus was wrongr lias it prov
ed that force is the God of the uni
verse, and love is sensely folly?
will tell you what it lias proved in
that contest and in every other to
any man with a yestigc of conscience
in him. It has proved that brute
force is everywhere and always em
bodied , lawlessness, incarnate mur
der, and the very . antithesis of
God. ;
This brief glance at the scene en
acted at Jerusalem nearly nineteen
hundred years ago and its conse
quences is of little, importance to
vou and me unless we discover that
in that scene we have a glimpse of
a conflict which is perpetually go
ing on. , We need to know that
every human struggle has been es
sentially this very same thing which
stands out so clear jn the picture
of Tilate and Jesus. Only as we see
the historical struggles of the world
to be the measuring of strength be
tween brute force and love can we
have anv adequate ,idea ; ol their
meaning. Only so ar6 we 'put in pos
session of a criterion with which to
the phenomena we see about us
Here are two distinct ways of look
ing at the world and life, two dis
tinct ideals, two distinct judgments
upon human action. ' They are the
ideal of Caesar and the ideal of
Jesus. Caesarism declares that
force' is the only God, power is a
synonym for justice. ... We have the
power to enact our will. We wil
therefore enact that will. J ustice
is a name for that which power does
or proposes to do. Caesarism in
the first centt.ry said;. ."The ideals
taught by this Galilean are mcon
sistent with the maintenance of the
existing government. If this man
is permitted to go on his way and
teach what he does teach, the empire
cannot stand. Caesarism and the
ideals of Jesus cannot exist 6ide by
side in the same world. They are
opposites." The ideals of Jesus are
a menace to the ideals . of Caesar,
Jesus must die. Christianity must
be exterminated.
Caesarism again found itself face
to face with Jesus in. the. time of
George the Third. .It is declared
that power iB the only God, that al
virtue is embodied in obedience to
the existing government. It brand
ed as rebels those men who presum
ed to dispute that dictum. It would
not parley with any one. No man
had a right to question its suprem
acy. To the handful of its subjects
on these distant shores in whose
souls flamed the light of a juster
ideal, it said, "There is nothing to
be discussed between us. You have
no rights which I am bound to re
spect. This is not a question for
argument. It cannot be submitted
to the arbitrament of reason. Might
makes right." And love whic
is only another name for ju-stice,
in the persons of our heroic fathers
declared that no such ideal is toler
able. It denied that false doctrine,
and declared that no authority is
tolerable save that which is founded
upon justice, that no government
anywhere on mis eann is iusi sav
that ' which eprings from the con
sent of the governed. And the
tragedy of Calvary was re-enacted
on these shores in 1776. Power
sought to crush justice. Brute force
asserted its title to sovereignty, and
the cross of Christ was raised on ev
ery bfltlcfield of the revolutionary
war. And the sole claim of the fa
thers of this nation to immorality
lies in the fact that they refused
under any circumstances to accept
that sovereignty. And in spite ox
ie fact that there were hundreds of
men in this country whd held to the
creed of force, that might makes
right, Caesarism again failed; for
icre were men here who were will
ing to die in defense of justice and
iberty and equality. '
But the night of years again dis
closed here in our very midst the
udeous monster we believed we
ad crushsd in the war for inde
pendence. We found ourselves
saving in deeds and institutions as
ell as in words, 'The black, man
- . .
is an inferior. He is made to serve.
t is right that the white mail
:iould be master, and the black man
servant. The white man belongs
to the superior race. He is the more
intelligent. He has the power; let
urn use it. lie did use it and sla-
ery grew up on our soil. All the
resources of government and all the
results of culture were on the side
of the white. But power which does
not rest. on justice and love is a
phantom. The demand for free
dom and equality had but to be as
serted to become resist less.
How is it today? Do you need to
tiave me indicate how we are enact
ing the mate Bcene au over this
earth?
Disguise it or deny it as you will,
this American nation, the nation of
Washington and Jefferson, and Lin-
coin, of the Declaration of Inde-
oendence and the Troclamation, ., of
Kmnne.ination. of BunW Hill and
Gettvsburg, of Fanuell hall and of
the immortal Liberty Bell this
nation by the will of the present ad
ministration declares the stupid and
devilish creed that, might,, makes
right. No one imagines for a mo
ment that we should be waging this
war of brutal conquest in the Philip-
pines, if we did not know we have
tho power to do so. Pilate's words
to Jesus are on our litis, " and Cae
sar s will is our only law. We nave
said to men who a year ago called
forth the plaudits of the world - in
heir brave fight for freedom, "We
have power to do with you as we
will. You have no choice ,in the
matter. And if you dare to assert
your inalienable right to life, liber-
ty, and the pursuit of happiness, if to do with them. They are the cre
you presume to appeal as did our ations of human beings, but they
fathers to the eternal principles up- ore as remorseless as an earthquake.
on which this nation was founded,
we, their sons, will slay the last.man j
of you who resists our will." .My
friends we are consummating these
days the most shameful and humil
iating deeds that can ever blot the
history of a professed democracy.
We do not rest our cause on justice,
but on force. There is no justice
in it. There is no honor in it.
We have disgraced our flag. It
ceases to represent anything that
commands a spark of patriotism or
enthusiasm, save the patriotism 01
partisans and the enthusiasm of
brutes, when it nies above our soi-
diers engaged in killing people who
are fighting for their inalienable
rights, for rights which we are' sol-
emnly pledged by all that is most
sacred in human history to main
tain. I do not wonder that this
administration and its supporters
have disowned the Declaration of
Independence, as has been done
over and over again in the meetings
of present day tones. And a daily
press that would not know a moral
1 . !i !L i-l 41.
principle u n saw u, laives mv
place of Pilate, and calls those men
traitors whose only sin is their love
of liberty and their desire to grant
to others what they claim lor them-
selves! . '
I want you. my friends, to realize
what all this means and thither it
is leading us. We are resting our
cause on force, and on nothing un
der heaven but force. Not the force
of reason or justice, not upon the
appeal which our action makes to
humanity but on brute force.
That is exactly the sum
and substance of the matter. We
do not argue and we do not appeal
to a sense of right. We shoot, we
kill, we crush. That is the only
meaning our soldiers, or officers, or
guns in the Philippines have. They
stand for nothing but Brute Force.
Spell it just as you like. Spell God
out of it, as does the president and
no end of clergymen and politicians
and commercial buzzards, spell it
with a capital O, and bow down be
fore it. It means nothing under
heaven but Brute , iorce.
And
Brute Force means everywhere and
always injustice, robbery, and mur-
der. It doesn't mean anything else
anywhere. If that is your creed I
cannot go with you. We belong to
different worlds. I must decline
to be counted in with any man who
worships Brute rorce. 1 acknowl
p(ap m God but love. I deny that
Brute Force ever yet decided any-
thing, except the mere question of
physical strength. 'And its exer
cise can nowhere be indulged in,
without lasting moral injury to the
man nr the nation which makes use
of it. We have perjured and pollut-
ed ourselves. And as surely as we
had to pay the price of our wicked
ness in blood in the slavery struggle
so surely will we have to make sim-
lar payment m this business.
Mr. KJppling was quite right
e said, "They shall judge
your
od and you." They have al
udged the God of this nation
read'
and fi
us to talk of sending mis-
siona
duce
es to those islands to mtro-
"hristianity is adding insult
to injury. We do not believe in
Christianity. We have forfeited
the right to be its apostle among the
nations of the world. . I venture the
prediction now that not until a new
Declaration of Rights has given a
birth here to a new nation shall
we know any peace. ,
"But this policy of ours m rela
tion to the Filipinos is only a piece
of our I policy. What this gov
ernment means to the Filipinos, it
means to our people, uur poucy
here as there is one of force. There
is no question of justice in our deal
ing with those who are anking lor
their rights in this country. There
is coming to be an almost universal
cry among working men for justice
I dare , to sav that it has not been
met on that basis. Caesarism is as
truly enthroned in commerce here
as it waa in government in the Ro
man empire. iot justice, out brute
force is relied on to keep things
as they are. Caesarism in the first
century knew that it could keep
its throne only by slaying men like
Jesus. History repeats itseit. tae
sarism now would keep its throne by
suppressing all who oppose it. It
would smother the voice of protest.
It would drown the voice of con-
science, which cries out against tne
wickedness of its deeds. It would
silence every patriot by calling him
a traitor. It would close the mailB
i- e a: i Ki:.. 4
wv, nvv vrvx v,-. . .. rr -
menace them with trial tor treason
which it dare not actually Submit to
a court. ;
Think for a moment of the mean
ing of the great commercial com
binations which are now arising so
rapidly. They stand for nothing
but force. They do not argue.
They strike. They do not rest
their cause on justice. They rest
it, on power. If I am not right, I
am open to correction. They make
no pretense of appealing to a sense
of right. Conscience has nothing
Through them one group of men are
saying to their fellows who happen
to be the weaker, "We don t 1 care
whether your cause is just or not.
That has nothing to do with the case
You are not dealing with a soul,
when you deal with us. You are
dealing with the inexorable and
the inevitable." And when some of
us who believe in something better,
who hold the faith of Jesus, the
faith of brotherhood, that the world
i8 one family and has no law but
love,. , that any substitute for that
jflw ig outlawry, no matter what
high sounding scientific title you
apply to it when we presume to
question the right of the system,
Uhen we say, "This is a matter for
all to solve together. These insti
tutions whatever they are effect
us all. They concern the interests
of all. Come now, and let us rea
son together. Let us open the
books. Let us get to the bottom of
things. Let us see what these insti
tutions rest upon. Let us tind
out whether they are right
....
and
Must. '
When we make that proposal,
what is the answer we receive? We
are told that it is no business of ours,
We are met with the answer of Pi
late: "Knowest thou not that I
have power to let you live and power
to crush you?" We are told that
there is nothing to investigate.
We are met at the response of blind,
brute force. We are made to under
stand that our one chance to live on
this earth depends upon our keeping
silent on these questions. They
are not to be discussed. The only
thing we are permitted to do is to
get on the right side of this great
machine. If we cannot do that we
are ruthlessly crushed. Says the man
who fears to have men know the
origin of methods of the accumula
tion of property: "If you speak of
these things in the pulpit, you must
take the conseauences. 1 will not
contribute to the support of any
II Ul 11 W11U lUOlDtO u nu ai'i'iTiiim
law and nile of love and brotherhood
to all real Ins of human life. I will
do what ii me lies to silence every
such voicq
1 will pay my money to
the man w
10 keeps well within the
lines of si
fety, who . preaches - the
simple, ol
fashioned gospel of a full
and free 4
lvation in the world to
come. . I
f ill let that man live on
this earth
who will confine himself
to theolog
thing that
who never savs any-
could possibly offend the
conscience
lof any selfish man. But
the man w
ho insists upon declaring
plainly anl clearly what he believes
to oe tne
pel led to
ruth of, God, who is ira -
do so by no other motive
than that
df love of justice and love
of men an who has anything
mything to
the hearts of
say that stjrs hone in
the hopelers and courage in the
souls of the despairing, that man
shall starve; he shall be crushed;
he shall be branded as an anarchist
or by any 'other name which will
when
bring upon him the hatred of socie- '
ty. lhat man snau not nve, u - . i
ran hpr it. There is not room C3 J S
this earth for the established oracr
if such men are permitted . t
live." ' ) f
. . . . . . - .
That is precisely what we are com-
ing to, ana we are coming to
It is well that we should see it plain-
ly, and decide where we propose to
stand. You and I. mv brothers,
gnS w sianu wn f
g)nS 10 wa Y: ti
wnerever we aeciae 10 sianu, e u
not lose sight of one thing. ,
The creed of brute force is a trans
parent lie. There does not exist a
single institution . on this eann
utiicli ciin fwane the closest scrut
iny of the eye of justice. Justice ii )
a solvent which nothing can resist. -
But it has dissolved empires, aivA. it ( -
will dissolve every government tLJ ,
is erected on the basis of forcft. -It.
has dissolved superstitions, and " n i
will dissolve others, whether they
are in the realm of religion or B
the realm of industry and eommews. ,
We cannot hide ourselves, tmr coa
duct, pur theories from the light of
justice. We need to know that 1ot
alone is eternal. We live in a snaa- .;
ow or a dream, lacking that knowl-
edge. The Caesars are gone ana
their empire has melted away. Tho
tyranny and despotism ol the otu
arts and Tudors and the Georgei
have vanished. The deeds of th
nations todayof England in
Kgypt and India and South Africa
of Russia in Finland and Chin
and Siberia of the United States (l
in Cuba and the Philippines are no.
i.i- 3? - J 3 mi..l lv
10 DC aismisseu W1UJ a woru. iiw r v
... xA Wftiffherl m the W- W .
" . , i iv.VZ: '
ane:
The ledger of retribution is
not by any means made up. But
they shall all pay to the laj' farth
ing. "The mills of God grindi
slow, but they grind Aceedingly
small: though with patience He
stands waiting with exactness grinds
He all. Spam, four hundred years
was the foremost nation of the
earth. Today she has fallen to the
rank of a tenth-rate power. . In the
days of her pride, she brooked no
protest. .The house ol Uapsbura
appealed not to reason or justice or
love or humanity but always to brute
force. She took - the sword sua
though she waited long, she has
well-nigh perished by the iworo.
We boast of the Anglo-Saxon race,
as if it were proof aginst the demor- .
alizing infection of dishonor ina
perfidy. - ff
Not only in the J'huippines
we appealed to tne sworn, j r
in the mines in Idaho, andUCor J
in Illinois, Pennsylvania and every-1
where where men are aemanainj j
living wage. We, in this country, I
are doing our utmost to teach the .
"silent, sullen people" of miss I
and iactory ana ranroaa mat, migs
makes right. Do you want to leara
that lesson? Do we want to apecl
to the arbitrament of the sword in
the industry as we have in conquest?
We may be sure that they will not be
slow to learn that" lesson. And w
ought to know that in teaching it
we are sowing the wind to reap the i
whirlwind. It was Jesus who said, "'
"With what measure ye mete it ';
shall be measured to you again."
The truth for which 1 am con- .
tending today and every day before :
the jury of this congregation and all ;",
to whom my words may go is tne j
same old truth for which JesnaJ
stood. It is the truth that brute
force never decides anything that no :)
question is ever settled until the so- J
lution which love dictates is reached. 5
Might can never make right Brute
force can never consummate justice "
by whomsoever exercised. Ami we ,
snail never have anything like peace
or prosperity save as we have jus-$
tice. The appeals to force front
. will met t,y tte apPeal to f
force from below. The anarchists
of the avenues will continue - to '
spawn the anarchists of the alleys.
And by the same token justice andi
love will call forth justice and love.J
It lies in the power of men and ;
women to say that the socail and -.
industrial development of these ,
coming years shall be peaceful and!
happy, or warlike and sorrowfuL;
VnM nnmianrl iha Pliriutiflna -with'
I w. flr. - Vnmt. BT,i t,ni1iu,nda I
of them were massacred in conse-'
quence. lie could easily make tnai j
charge plausible, ror he couia :
prove that the faith of the L'nns-,
tians was morally opposite to that '
of- tho. empire, and that its success
meant the empire's downfall. But
every student of history believes
that Nero was! the incendiary. i;
It is easy for our modern Nero to(
accuse the men of this time who k
hold to the faith of Jesus with,
the triumph of their struggle means.
the overthrow of the existing sys-;
th the Chriiitians of Rome.
em. nut they are no more iraixon,
th fhriitian rf 'Rotnft. It il,
Li; v.rA vrt ia th fritrr nd
inendiftrv. He is guilty of'
t hA r,Dudiftie9 the onh ';
prjncjpie tipon which just goYera
ent rcan be folInded, not he who
repudiates the administration wLL1
violates that principle.1 He to t"
incendiary who sternly Tetm.t
1
J. ,
5
X
jr.'
jContinued oa ?i C J
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