RIGHT AND JUSTICE
Rev. William T. Brown, pastor of the
Plymouth chureh of Rochester, N. T.,
preached the following sermon:
John xlz. 10: Pilate therefore tilth
unto Jesus, speakest thou not unto me?
Knowest thou not that I have power to
release thee and have power to crucify
thee?
In Pilate'a official palace at Jerusa
lem nearly nineteen hundred years
ago. was enacted a scene in the drama
of history which discloses with mar
velous clearness the tragedy which Is
perpetually taking place In this world
of ours. In that Judgment hall In far
away Palestine are outlined with per
fect accuracy the forces which are per
petually arrayed against each other.
The issue drawn In that room between
the 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 two perpetually
hostile forces in this world of mankind.
One of these men was Pontius Pilate,
procurator of Judea, official represent
ative of Tiberius Caesar. The other
was Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet with
hardly a following a preacher without
a church, a man without a country, the
discredited and despised apostle of the
gospel of love. Pilate and Jesus! These
are the two central figures In that his
toric picture 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?
BRUTE FORCE.
We know that' Pilate Is an official
of the Roman government. We know
that Jesus is a prisoner on trial before
the tribunal of that government. We
know that no document exists today
which substantiates or suggests any
charge against that Galilean prophet
which can make him a criminal. We
know that this scene contains not even
a hint of Justice. The prisoner at the
bar is guilty of no crime. The Judge
on that throne does not In the remotest
way suggest a suspicion of Justice. Pi
late represents Just one thing, and only
one. And that Is bald, brutal force. No
matter what his personal qualities may
have been. They do not figure. He is
an official. He la nothing but the pro
jection of Caesar's personality and
power. He embodies the existing gov
ernment. He Is the Incarnation of a
morally colorless power. It Is of no
consequence that the Roman tribunals
sometimes administered Justice. His
tory bears me out In saying that they
did so only when Justice would answer
the purpose of Caesar better than In
justice. Pilate on the throne of Judg
ment Is the embodiment of Caesarlsm
of blind, brutal force. That is exactly
what the words of Pilate, addressed to
that silent, worn-out man before hlni,
men. "Speakest thou not to me?
Knowest thou not that I have power
to release thee, and have power to
crucify thee?" That Is the deliverance
of absolute power. That Is the lan
guage of Inexorable fate. He has not
a suggestion of Justice. Justice has no
place in the picture.
Back of Pilate, back of his words and
his will, back of the man and the of
fice Is a military force which holds the
world In a vice-like grip. No other mili
tary power exists that will venture to
dispute that dominion. Pilate knows
what he Is talking about. He Is abso- i
lutely secure In his position and he
doesn't propose to waste any words. He
Is not there to weigh arguments or
measure principles with that man. That
is not a court of JuHtlce. In the mind
Of Pilate and of that which Pilate rep
resents the prisoner at the bar Is noth
ing. It doesn't matter to Pilate who
tie Is or what he 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 sufferance of Rome.
Bays Pilate: "I have power to set you
free, and I have power to kill you.
. Ton s' titfrlv helple In my hands.
I can do as I please with you. Tou are
In ine presence of omnipotence. Tour
only hope of living on this earth lies
In your gaining the goo will of Caesar.
In the hands of Caesar hangs your
destiny."
POWER OF LOVE.
And what of the man on trial there?
Does he stand for anything worth
thinking about? Does he represent
anything that Is entitled to your consid
eration or mine? I care not what you
think of any or all the sayings ascrib
ed to him In these four gospels. I care
not what your opinion be as to the
superstitions which have so easily
grown up in the minds of men and
women concernlg him. I challenge
the world to find any moral fault In
that man. Every generation from that
day to this has echoed the reputed
words of Pilate: "I find no fault In
him." That verdict stands. Perhaps
he was not as scholarly as many of his
contemporaries. Hlllll was far his su
perior In Jewish learning. Socrates and
Plato and Aristotle were Incomparably
greater philosophers. Phllo of Alex
andria, who lived through the same pe
rl ad, far excelled him in speculative
Wisdom. No one would think of com
paring him In literary merit with the
least of the Greek and Roman writers.
And gaul of Tarsus has certainly far
overshadowed him Intellectually In th
great Institution that calls Itself after
bis title. But the man who that day
stood before Pilate for trial occupies a
moral pre-eminence which no man has
yet disputed. And we know what he
stood for. We know the contrast which
this picture present. We know that In
that palace chamber brute force In the
person of Caesar's representative stood
hat day face to face with love In the
arson of the Nazarene. That Is ex
actly the meaning of that scene. Ivove
was on trial before a morally colorless
brute force, occupying the throne of
judge. Brut force passing sentence on
love, physical might Joining issues with
lustiest That Is the essential and eter
nal significance of Jesua before Pate.
"I have power to let you live, and I
have power l,y you"" was the rnes.
Mgo which brute force that day deliv
ered to love. And love that day by the
mouth of Jesus-and eternally by the
Up of undaunted Chrlsts of God de
Clared and will ever declare, "You have
no power at all. Tou are the very em
bodiment of impotence. You cannot
Union the hem of love'a garment. Tou
are a shadow. You are a phantom.
Tou are nothing. There Is no power
In the universe but love. Love Is God,
and beetde him there I none to dispute
hie sway. Force Is Impotent against
love. Might Is helpless against J"tl
It can but elay Itself. Love hold the
very constellations In Its hand.
TRUTH CRUSH HD TO EARTH WILL
RISE AGAIN.
A few hour after that scene In Pi
late's palace three crosses had been
raised outside the city walla, and on
tk middle one hung the mantled.
Meeting body of the Kaaarene. And
.f rf2Tii i .. Am Mlnnt cried
r- Ca aaTwl j-u. It
nssnsMC enw iwv
UtttoMM. Hall U th Ttotor sad
VS. BRUTE FORCE.
king!" Bo said the contemporaries of
Pilate and Jesus, so said the princes
and mighty ones of all the succeeding
centuries, and so say their idiotic pos
terity today, in press and pulpit, in
counting room and legislative hall. In
Judicial court and in executive man
sion. "All ball to victorious and con
quering 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 In the
gift of the nation is good enough for
the man who has slain his thousands!"
I wonder If we really think that those
men of that first century or their kin
dred In any century since were right?
World-wide power, impersonated by
the Roman empire, said. "We have
blotted this man from the earth. We
have erased him from the slate. Might
Is king. There Is no reality save power.
The empire Is God. Its dominion la
everlasting. Its law Is Inexorable.
From Its decision there Is no appeal. A
mere insect in a little corner of the
earth has been trod upon. A fleck of
foam o nthe current of Roman su
premacy has disappeared. A flickering
heresy has been snuffed out, never to
glow again." Was that true? 1 appeal
to history. Was there one smallest
atom of truth In that verdict? What
are the facts? '
If you will permit your minds to fol
low the current of history from that
day in Pilate's palace down through the
next three centuries you will' find that
the verdict of Caesarlsm was utterly
false. You will find that the scene at
Jerusalem was but the first one in a
tragedy upon which the curtain never
fell and never will fall until the vil
lain is slain and the hero Is crowned.
You will find that every Roman em
peror that ascended the throne found
himself face to face with the same en
tity which Jesus stood for. You will
find that from the day Jesus was cru
cified straight onward to the day Con
stantlne was crowned, almost exactly
300 years later, that great empire was
engaged In one long massacre of men
and women who held the name of Jesus
in supreme reverence.
You have In that history nothing
clearer than the struggle of organized
power against the rise and spread of
rose sontlments for which the cruci
fied Galilean was supposed to stand,
v. aesarism still held the throne of pow
er, but in every nook and corner of that
vast empire the followers of the man
who had bsen crucified multiplied by
hundreds, by thousands, by millions.
The religious idea which blossomed
from 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 Domltlan,
and Hadrian, and Trajan, and Serve
rus, and Maximus, and Valerian, and
rwocletlan, and even the great Marcus
Aurellus put to death the Christians In
droves as the enemies of mankind.
CRUSADE THAT FAILED.
The crusade of extermination was
doomed to failure. The whole army of
the empire was not large enough to
crush out that growing multitude of
men and women who Is some meas
ure reproduced the life and spirit of
Jesus. They did not resort to arms.
They did not even resist arrest. They
resisted nothing. They were the very
incarnation of physical weakness, even
when they had grown to be the largest
sect In 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 strug
gle, when Caesar had to make terms
with Jesus, when physical might could
no longer hold Its throne, except by al
liance with the eternal power of love.
Caesarlsm could not crush out Chris
tianity as represented In the high moral
Ideals of those early centuries.
And we know today how blind, ana
foolish, and false, was the creed of Cae
sarlsm. Find me one man who knows
the name of Tiberius Caesar, and ror
that one and for every other one I will
find you 1.000 men who know far bet
ter the name of Jesus. Find me one
man who has ever read the writings of
the first Caesar, and I will find you
10,000 who are far more familiar with
the reputed words of the Nazarene.
Kind me one man who cares anything
about any or all of the Caesars, and I
will find vou 1.000.000 who proiess 10
worship the man whom Pilate crucified.
We should not know even the name
of Pilate today but for the fact that he
was the xecutloner of Jesus, ine em
pire of the Caesars came under the do
minion of the men wno reverea jenu
as a god, and the monuments of her
greatness have been bullded Into the
walls of churches wnere ne is wui-
shlped.
RADICAL REFORMER.
Think once more of that scene In Pi
late's palace. What is the charge :
What Is the prisoner's plea? And what
Is the verdlet of the Judge? The estab
lished order Is the plaintiff In that
atrial, and It Is also th Judge. And the
Indictment which it brings aganlst the
prisoner, is that the course ne is pur
suing, the Ideals he cherishes, the
teaching to whicn ne nas given ut
terance are fatal to the existence of
that order. No matter whether they are
true or not. That Is not admitted Into
ihA rase. The man Is adjudged worthy
of death because the triumph of hia
teachings and the adoption or nis ure
mean the overthrow of the established
order. He hae Insisted that there Is but
one law of life, the law of love. He
has declared hat no other law la tol
erable. He hae abolished class dlstlnc
lions. He has Insisted that eveey man
la a brother and every woman a sis
ter. He has told men that they are
to call no man master on the earth,
that no man may Justly lord It over
hia Minw mm the nations do. He haa
dared to challenge the Justice of force.
He hae dared to analyze me rono
of acquiring property. He has cnea
out against the seinsn ncn anu w
ful He hae befriended and cast In
his lot with the poor. He has sown
the seeds of .discontent among the
masses. He hae so stirred the minds
of his Galilean countrymen, that they
have even attempted to make him their
leader In a violent revolution. His
. h moat revolutionary
the world ever received. No matter what
the basis of those teacnings is. -ter
how righteous or humane hia prln.
elples They cannot be tolerated by
the existing order. They are Inoonalat
ent with Ita every Institution. Slavery
cannot breathe In the atmosphere of
those principles. Tyranny Is doomed
and damned by them. They are the
very antithesis of the powers of the
empire. That man must die.
To these charges there could be but
one Plea on the part of the prison8"";
Such had been his teachings. He had
put hltneelf squarely and absolutely
upon the platform of love as unlver
sal law. Anything elee Is lawlessness,
rorce le a synonym for evIU Only Jus
tloa can have any authority. Force
can accomplish nothing but Its own tin
rniv imr of men lore between
man and man the recognition of the
famllyhood of the world can survive.
Only that haa an authority over tha
oensoieooe or oooduet of men. "ery
wtley shall b esalted, tad every hill
shall be brought low," he had said. Ne
human Institution of whatever sort that
does not rest squarely on justice, that
la not the blossom of love, can live.
WILL NOT LISTEN TO REASON.
Caesarlsm could listen to no argu
ment. It never does. It did not nor
doee It ever consent to the arbitra
ment of reason and conscience. Its ap
peal la perpetually to the arbitrament
of hard, cold, soulless might. And it
crushed the Christ beneath its heel.
But what has It proved? Haa It
proved that Caesar was right and
Jesua was wrong? Haa It proved that
force Is the God of the universe, and
love Is senseles folly? I will tell you
what It has proved in that contest and
In every other to any man with a
vestige of conscience In blm. It has
proved that brute force Is everywhere
and always embodied lawlessness. In
carnate murder, and the very anti
thesis of God.
This brief glance at the scene en
acted In Jerusalem nearly nineteen
hundred years ago and Its sequences
Is of little importance to you and me
unless we discover that in that scene
we have a glimpse of a conflict which
is perpetually going on. We need to
know that every human struggle haa
been essentially this very same thing
which stands out so clear In the pic
ture of Pilate and Jesus. Only as we
see the historical struggles of the
world to be the measuring of strength
between brute force and love can we
have any adequate Idea of their mean
ing. Only ao are we put in possession
of a criterion with which to measure
the moral significance of the phenom
ena we see about us. Here are two dis
tinct ways of looking at the world
and life, two distinct Ideals, two dis
tinct Judgments upon human action.
They are the Ideal of Caesar and the
ideal of Jesus. Caesarlsm declares
that force Is the only God, power is a
synonym for Justice. We have the
power to enact our will. We will
therefore enact that will. Justice la a
name for that which power does or
purposes to do. Caesarlsm In the first
century said: "The Ideals taught by
the Galilean are Inconsistent with the
maintenance of the existing govern
ment. If this man Is permitted to go
on his way and teach what he does
teach, the empire cannot stand. Cae
sarlsm and the Ideals of Jesus cannot
exist side by side in the same world.
They are opposltes. The Ideals of
Jesus are a menace to the ideals of
Caesar. Jesus must die. Christianity
must be exterminated."
CAE9ARISM FAILS AGAIN.
Caesarlsm again found Itself face to
face with Jesus In the time of George
the II. It Is declared that power is the
only god, that all virtue Is embodied
In obedience to the existing govern
ment. It branded as rebels and traitors
those men who presumed to dispute
that dictum. It would not parley with
any ene. No man had a right to ques
tion its supremacy. To the handful of
its subjects of these distant shores In
whose souIb flamed the light of a Just-
er ideal, It said, "There is nothing to
be discussed between us. You have no
rights which I am bound to respect.
This is not a question for argument. It
cannot be submitted to the arbitra
ment of reason. Might makes right."
And love, which is only another name
for Justice, In the persons of our heroic
fathers, declared that no such Idea Is
tolerable. It denied that false doctrine,
and declared that no authority Is tol
erable save that which is founded upon
Justice, that no government anywhere
on this earth Is just save that which
springs from the consent of the gov
erned. 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
every battlefield of the revolutionary
war. And the sole claim of the fathers
of this nation to Immortality lies In tht
fact that they refused under any cir
cumstances to accept that sovereignty.
And In spite of the fact that there
were hundreds of men In this country
who held to the creed of force, who be
lieved that might makes right Cae
sarlsm again failed; for there were men
here who were willing to die in aeiense
of justice and liberty and equality.
But the night of years again aisciosea
here In our very midst the hideous
monster we believed we had crushed In
the war for Independence. We found
ourselves saying in deeds and Insti
tutions as well as In words, "The black
man Is an Inferior. He Is made to
serve. It Is right that the white man
should be master, and the black man a
servant. The white man belongs to the
superior race. He Is the more Intelligent
He has the power, let him use It He
did use It. and slavery grew upon our
soil. Utter weakness was on the side of
the black. All the resources or govern
ment, and all the results of culture
were on the side of the white. But
nower which does not rest on Justice
and love Is a phantom. The demand for
freedom and equality had but to be as
serted to become resistless.
CAESARISM AND THE PHILIP
PINES.
How Is it today? Do you need to
have me Indicate how we are enacting
the Pilate scene all over this earth?
Dustrulse It or deny It as you will,
tYtim implnan nation, the nation of
Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln,
of the Declaration of Independence and
the proclamation or .-mancipation, m
Bunker Hill and Gettysburg, of Faneull
hall and of the immortal iioerxy oen
ihim .tisin hv th will nf the nreaent
administration declares the stupid and
devilish creed that might makes right.
No one imagines lor a mom em usi wc
ahnuM Ka WHAinP this WIT Of brUtal
conquest In the Philippines, If we did
not know we nave me power io mv.
Pilate'a worde to Jesus are on our Hps,
and Caesar's will is our only law. We
v..,.. mmiA tA man whn a vear aro called
forth the plaudits of the world In their
brave fight ror rreeaom, "we nave pow
er to do with you as we will. You have
.A ..hrtlA In thA mttpr. And If vou
dare to assert your Inalienable right to
life, liberty ana tne pursuit oi Happi
ness, II you presume 10 appeal mm uiu
fat nr in ih eternal Drlnelnler
upon which this nation was founded,
e, their sons, will slay me last man
of you who resists our will." My friends
most shameful and humiliating deeds
that can ever blot the history or a pro
fessed 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 commanaa
a spark of patriotism or entnusiasm.
save the patriotism of partisans and
the enthusiasm of brutes, when It files
above our soldiers engaged In killing
people who are ngnting tor meir in
alienable rights, for rights which we
.unlu nUHirMl hv all that Is
moat aaered In human history to main
tain. I do not wonaer mat mis aamin
Istratlon and Its supporters have dis
owned the Declaration of Independ
ence, as has been done over and over
again In the meetings of present day to
nes. And a dally press that would not
know a moral principle if It saw It,
takes the place of Pilate, and call,
those men traitors whose only sin la
their love of liberty and their desire to
grant to others what they claim for
themselves!
NOTHING BUT BKUTB FORCm
I want yeu, my friends, to realise
what all this means and whither it Is
leading us. We are resting our cause
on force, and on nothing: under heaven
but force. Net the force of reason or
Justice, not upon the appeal which our
action makes to humanity, but upon
bare, brute force. That Is exactly the
aum and subatace 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 Phil
ippines 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 G, and bow down
before it It means nothing under
heaven but brute force. And brute force
means everywhere and always injus
tice, robbery and murder. It doesn't
mean anything else anywhere. If that
Is your creed, I cannot go with you.
We belong to altogether different
worlds. I must decline to be counted
In with any man who worships brute
force. I acknowledge no God but love.
I deny that brute force ever yet decid
ed anything, except the mere question
of physical strength. And its exercise
can nowhere be Indulged In, without
lasting moral Injury to the man or the
nation which makes use of It We have
perjured and polluted ourselves. And
as surely as we had to pay the price of
our wickedness In blood In the slavery
struggle, so surely will we have to
make similar payment In this business.
Mr. Kipling was quite right when he
said: "They shall Judge your God and
you." They have already Judged the
God of this nation, and for us to talk
of sending missionaries to those Islands
to Introduce Christianity is adding In
sult to injury. We do not believe In
Christianity. We have forfeited the
right to be its apostle among the na
tions of the world. I venture the pre
diction now that not until a new dec
laration of rights has given birth here
to a new nation shall we know any
peace.
TRUSTS.
But this policy of ours In relation
to the Filipinos Is only a piece of our
policy here. What this government
means to the Filipinos It means to our
people. Our policy here, as there. Is one
of force. There is no question of Jus
tice In our dealing with those who are
asking for their rights in this country.
There Is coming to be an almost univer
sal cry among werkingmen for Jus
tice. I dare say that It has not been
met on that basis.Caesarlsm Is as truly
enthroned In commerce here as It was
in government In the Roman empire.
Not justice, but brute force, is relied
on to keep things as they are. Caesar
ism in the first century knew that It
could keep Its throne only by slaying
men like Jesus. History repeats itself.
Caesarlsm would now keep its throne
Ay suppressing all who oppose it. t
would smother the voice of protest. It
would drown the voice of conscience,
which cries out against the wickedness
of Its deeds. It would silence every pa
triot by calling him a traitor. It would
close the malls to free citizens of this
republic and menace them with trial
for treason, which it dare not actually
submit to a court.
Think for a moment of the meaning
of the great commercial combinations
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 pretence of appealing to a
sense of right. Conscience has nothing
to do with them. They are the crea
tions of human beings, but they are as
remorseless as an earthquake. Through
them one group of men are say
ing to their fellows who happen to be
the weaker, "We don't care whether
your cause la 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 in
exorable 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
Is one family and has no law but love,
that any substitute for that law is out
lawry, no matter what high-sounding
scientific title you apply to it when we
presume to question the right of the
system, when we say, "That Is a mat
ter for all to solve together. These In
stitutionswhatever they are affect us
all. They concern the Interests of all.
Cmoe, now, let us reason together. Let
us open the books. Let us get to the
bottom of things. Let us see what these
Institutions rest upon. Let us find out
whether they are right and Just."
NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.
When we make that proposal, what
Is the anawer we receive? We are told
that It Is no buslnes of ours. We
are met with the answer of Pilate:
"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 by the re
sponse of blind, brute force. We are
made to understand that our one
chance to live on this earth depends
upon our keeping silent on these ques
tions. 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 acumulatlon of prop
erty: "If you speak of these things In
the pulput, you must take the conse
quences. I will not contribute to the
support of any man who Insists upon
applying the law and rule of love and
brotherhood to all realms of human
life. I will do what In me lies to si
lence every such voice. I will Day my
money to the man who keeps wen with
in the lines of safety, who preaches the
simple, old-fashioned gospel of a full
and free salvation in the world to
come. I will let that man live on this
earth who wlil confine himself to the
olory. who never says anything that
could posslMy offend the conscience of
any selfish man. But the man who In
sists upon declaring plainly and clearly
what he believes to be the truth of
Ood, who Is Impelled to do so by no
other motive than that of love of Jus
tice and love of man and wo haa
anything to say that stirs hope In the
hearts of the hopeless 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 bring upon
him the hatred of society. That man
shall not live, If I can help It. There
Is not room on this earth for the estab
lished order, If such men are permitted
to live."
That is precisely what we are com
ing to, and we are coming to It fast.
It Is well that we should see It plainly
and decide where we propose to stand.
You and I, my brothers, are going to
stand with Jesus, or we are going to
stand with Caesar. But wherever we
decide to stand, let us not lose sight of
one thing.
TRANSPARENT LIB.
The creed of brute force Is a trans
parent He. There does not exist a
single Institution on this earth which
can escape the olosest scrutiny of the
eye of justloe. Justice 1 a solvent
which nothlna- can resist. But it n
dissolved empires, tad It will dissolve
every government that is erected oa
the basis ef force. It has dissolved
superstitions, and It wll dissolve
others, whether they are In the realm of
religion or in the realm of industry
and commerce. We cannot hide our
selves, our property, our conduct our
theories from the light of justice. We
need to know that love alone is eter
nal. We live in a shadow of a dream,
lacking that knowledge. The Caesars
are gone and their empire has melted
away. The tyranny and despotism of
the Stuarts and the Tudore and the
George have vanished. The deeds of
the nations today of England In
Egypt and India and South Africa
of Russia in Finland and China and
Siberia of the United States in Cuba
and the Philippines) are not to be dis
missed with a word. They are going
to be weighed In the balance. The
ledger of retribution is not by any
means made up. But they shall all pay
to the last farthing.
The mills of God grind alow, but they
grind exceedingly small ;
Though with patience he atanda wait
ing, with exactness grinds he all.
Spain, 400 years ago, 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 of
Hapsburg appealed not to reason or
justice or love or humanity, but always
to brute force. She took the sword, and
though she has waited long, she has
well nigh perished by the sword. We
boast of our Anglo-Saxon race, as If
it were proof against the demoralizing
Infection of dishonor and perfidy.
Not only In the Philippines have we
appealed to the sword, but also in the
mines of Idaho and Colorado, of Illinois
and Pennsylvania, and everywhere
where men are demanding a living
wage. We In this country, are doing
out utmost to teach the "silent, sul
len people" of mine and factory and
railroad that might makes right. Do
we want to learn that lesson? Do we
want to appeal to the arbitrament of
the sword in industry as we have In
conquest? We may be sure that they
will not be slow to learn that lessen.
And we ought to know that in teach
ing It we are sowing the wind to reap
the whirlwind. It was Jesus who said,
"With what measure ye mete It shall
be measured to you again."
The truth for which I am contending
today and every day before the Jury
of this congregation and all to whom
my words may go Is the same old truth
for which Jesus stood. It is the truth
that brute force never decides anything,
that no question Is ever settled until
the solution which love dictates is
reached. Might can never make right.
Brute force can never consummate Jus
tice, by whomsoever exercised. And we
shall never have anything like peace
or prosperity save as we have Justice.
The appeals to force from above will be
met by the appeal to force frem below.
The anarchists of the avenues will con
tinue to spawn the anarchists or the
alleys. And by the same token Justice
and love will call forth Justice and love.
MODERN NERO.
It is easy for our modern Nero to ac
cuse the men of this time who hold
to the faith of Jesus with treason and
incendiarism, because the triumph of
their struggle means the overthrow of
the existing system. But they are no
more traitors and Incendiaries than
were Jesls and the Christians of Rome.
It is still Nero who is the traitor and
the incendiary. He is guilty of treason
who repudiates the only principle upon
which Just government can be founded,
not he who repudiates the administra
tion which violates that principle. He
Is the Incendiary who sternly refuses
to submit his cause to the arbitrament
of reason and discussion, who plants
himself sauarely on the creed of might
and tramples on the rights of others,
not he who demands that all things
shall be submitted to the arbitrament
of Justice and love. The day has gone
by when any man could separate him
self from his fellow. Your interests
are my Interests, and my Interests are
yours. Yeu cannot lite your life into
the world of Industry, without taking
the destinies of other men Into your
keeping. You are answerable not Just
to vour own conscience, but to the
conscience of all your fellows. No man
can with safety wield power of any
sort, unless he Is under tne sway oi
love.
backward look across the ages and the
beacon-moments see,
That, like peaks of some sunken con
tinent. Jut through uouvion s sea;
Not an ear In court or market for the
low foreboding cry
Of those crises, God's stern winnowers,
from whose feet earth's chaff must
fly;
Never'shows the choice momentous till
the Judgment hath passed by.
Careless seems the Great Avenger; his
tory s pages dui record
One death-grapple In the darkness,
'twlxt old systems and the Word;
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong
forever on the throne
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and
behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the ahadow.keep-
Ing watch above his own.
We see dimly In the Present what Is
small and what Is great,
Slow of faith how weak an arm may
turn the Iron helm of fate.
But the soul Is still oracular; amid the
market's din.
List the ominous, stern whisper from
ninhl, rnvo within
They enslave their children's children,
who make compromise wiw sin.
Then to side with Truth Is noble when
we share her wretcnea crust.
Ere her cause bring fame and profit
and 'tis prosperous to be Just;
Then It is the brave man chooses, while
the coward stands aside,
Doubting In hia abject spirit, till hia
I. A..,.l AaA1
And the multitude make virtue of the
faith they naa aeniea.
Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes
they were souls mat stoa aione,
While tne men they agonized for hurl-
the contumellus stone.
Stood serene and down the future saw
amMAn twnm Incline
To the side of perfect Justice, mastered
by their raitn aivine,
By one man's plain truth to manhood
and to God's supreme design.
By the light of burning hereUca
rkifea MaaAlnv fet I track.
Tolling up new Calvaries ever with the
cross that turns noi dc,
And these mounts of anguish number
how each generation learned
One new word of that grand Credo
which In prophet-hearts hatb
burned
Since the first man stood God-conquered
with his face to heaven uptsrn d.
For hnmanlty sweeps onward; where
today the martyr stands,
On the morrow crouches Judas, witn
the silver in his hands;
Far In front the cross tands ready and
the crackling fagots burn,
While the hooting mob of yesterday In
silent awe return
To glean up th scattered ashes Into
History's golden urn.
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
(Omaha Trade Exhibit)
In the later days plantations have
been organized by professional organis
ers. B. F. Dillingham and L. A. Thurs
ton have stood as sponsors for several
of the largest new enterprises, with
behind their name and credit the pres
tige of some old agency, like Castle It
Cooke, Brewer & Co., Hackfleld 4 Co.,
Theo H. Davis & Co., The usual course
has been to secure a large tract of land,
first learning that the soil was satis
factory and that there was a certainty
of water supply for Irrigation. Then a
prospectus Is issued. This sets forth
In closest detail all the particulars of
the new undertaking. Figures are pre
sented covering a series of years and a
variety of probable circumstances or
possible happenings. It is announced
that on a certain date subscription
books for the assessable stock of the
corporation will be opened. The pay
ments are five per cent a month. A
portion of the paid up stock goes to
the promoter as his fee and other frac
tions of the paid up (about half the
stock being assessable) are carried by
leaders in the company. In most cases
land owners accept shares in lieu of
cash. The builders of the mills always
take considerable stock. The agency Is
a heavy holder. The artesian well bor
ers are pleased to be stockholders. The
principal employes put all their ready
money Into shares. Since the beginning
of this year more than $20,000,000 of
stock has been placed on the Honolulu
market. It has been literally snapped
up and in ever instances has been
oversubscribed from three to 30 times.
The only man who gets a salary as a
corporation officer is the auditor, and
his allowance is small. On the planta
tions managers receive from $3,000 to
$12,000 a year, and men who know sugar
are always in demand. The chemists,
sugar boilers, engineers, irrigation ex
perts and a few others are well paid.
The coolies receive from $16 to $26 a
month gold and have free fuel, water,
houses and medical attendance. Half
of them are under a contract that has a
penal clause. There will be no trouble
about having an ample supply of free
labor, as the sources are numerous, the
channels open and the Immigration
companies eager to do business.
Hawaii leads all countries of the earth
In the production of cane sugar to the
acre in cultivation. But it was only In
1898 that some of the oriental countries
were passed. The planters of the isl
ands are the world's most notable scien
tific farmers. In charge of their ex
periment station is Dr. Walter Max
well, an Englishman formerly connect
ed with the department of agriculture
at Washington. With his corps he an
alyzes soils, cane, sugar, fertilizers, wa
ter and at the station has In conduct
day In and day out hundreds of trials.
His results are conveyed to the plan
ters in printed bulletins. If Dr. Max
well is the scholarly and gifted genius,
Prof. Koebele Is the brilliant wizard.
He is the entomologist for the planters,
borrowed from the California state
board of agriculture. Prof. Koebele.
who did for the San Jose scale, wipes
out any scale, Insect or blight that
may threaten cane or any tree or plant
of the islands. Dr. Maxwell and Prof.
Koebele are perhaps the best paid men
in their respective callings.
A crop of cane in Hawaii matures in
eighteen months. The area of a plan
tation is from 3,000 to 50,00 acres. As
recently as 1884 it was calculated that
the islands would never produce more
than 150,000 tons of sugar in a year.
In the campaign of 1898-9 Just closing
there will be taken off not less than
250,000 tons at $80 per ton. The con
sumption of sugar Is Increasing. The
market and the conditions can now be
estimated pretty clearly ten years
ahead and the prospects are moBt en
couraging. At present the only lands
used are those abutting the coast lines.
The vast plains and forests back are
still virgin, but are being approached
and reach after. The best way to ac
quire Interest In this enormously prof
ltble business Is to go on the Honolulu
or San Francisco stock exchanges and
buy shares In corporations that are
paying dividends of from 25 to 80 per
cent All the new plantations promise
as well. These great profits do not ac
crue by accident are not gifts of God
to the good, or anything of that sort.
The manager of the big plantation
thinks nothing of buying $19,000 worth
of fertilizer In a single order, and the
fertilizer Is all made in Honolulu by
two companies owned by plantation
people. Some have bonemeal and
phosphates brought from the states,
but most of the raw material comes
from a guano Island of the group and
from German chemical houses.
Shipping in and out of the several
ports of the Islands, chiefly Honolulu,
Is of course a huge Item. In this busi
ness the capital in nearl yall Hawaiian
and American. The lnter-lsland fleet
of steamers and scooners are consid
erable ,and deep sea sailing vessels and
steamers arrive and depart dally. The
shipping business was greatly stimulat
ed and Increased by the war. Then Ha
waii has neither lumber nor coal and la
without mineral. There Is building
stone, but brick, lime and cement are all
Imported. In '48-9 and the early BO'S
flour and potatoes were shipped to Cali
fornia, but now all flour and some pota
toes are brought from the coast Prin
cipal exports aside from sugar art
rice, coffee and bananas.
ED TOW8B,
President Hawaiian Commlselon.Great-
er America Exposition, 1889.
The old proverb, "While there's life
there's hope," gains a good deal of
force from these brief sketches of men
who triumphantly survived almost
every form of accident:
A few months ago died Thomas
Rushton of Walkden, Lancashire, Eng
land. Moat of his life was Ipent In hos
pitals consequent on his many mishaps.
When five years old he fractured both
thighs, and before he had fairly recov
ered he fell down stairs and sustained
a double fracture. Thenceforward hia
life was one long series of misfortunes,
for besides breaking both legs twenty
four times, he sustained many other In
juries and underwent countleaa opera
tlona.
A short time ago the "Lancet" men
tioned the case of a man who had frac.
tured his limbs six times, and on each
occasion the accident occurred on th
same date namely, August M. Before
he was II he bad met with five such
mishaps, ao he resolved for th futur
always to remain at home on th fatal
26th. It chanced, however, that twa
ty-three years later, forgetting his reso
lution, be went to work en th unlucky
day, and on bis return slipped down
and brek hit tog.
