The Labor enquirer., 1885-04-11
AsEw DrspEnsA1aorsoR oRIs1c1zEn
A sctentinc Paper Upon the Birth 81
Christ by . Christtan sOcialfst-A
L DeepIy Infcresting Subject.

christ by . Christian SOcialist-A
l Deeply Interesttng 8 Subject. ..sii:s.
Editor Labor Enquirer.
/ / have received from some friend Z
copy Of q very remarkable and able
pamphlet entitled God and Man 8
Unity and all Mankind Unity" a
basis for new dispensation social ane
religious, written BY some advocate O
ga scientific Socialism" " and most beau
tifulIy and ably written. Much of the
writer's sentiment / do most heartily
approve, and I feel that it would be easy
to love the author of utterances so l6fty
pure and true; but some things seemsto
me to have been insincerely written
framed with a design to. urge upon So.
cialists the very truth for which Jesus
lived and died while denying Him and
His glad tidings, "a. sae .asfsgyi
All the fine sentences in the work con.
corning Immortality on earth, while con.
ceding that death destroys the self-con-
scious identity ofthe individual who died
and concerning the unity of God and ol
nature and of,man, is only poetic state.
ment Of pantheism and the logic Of il
is the affirmation of an Imperial" God
thatis, a,merels rsndiloquent name for
a hopeless ignorance. If it could by
anv possibility be true, the fact would
be that it. matters nothing at all whether
there is God or not. A mans head, a
cabbage-head, and a God-head, are all
only equally divine" Immortal y
valuable;;"2 they are all alike manifest
ations of the Infinite Impersonal, and
are as such incapable of being otherwise
than as they are, incapable of morality
or of sin, incapable of anything good or
bad-mere fungi, mushrooms, not per-
sons at all-only things.
1t is pitiful to see 80 fine writer re-
vamping the dreams of pantheistic poets
for use in our day. ...
But read the following: No man nor
church can set bounds to progress, nor in
stitute usages suitable for all time. Every
generation must be left free to discuss
modify or change an existing status
For progress is perpetual, and humanity
and it's institutions must advance to-
gether. But the great effort of Chris
tianity in all ages, as personitied by its
priests and ecclesiastical powers, has
been to prevent progress in any direc-
tion. 1t has defended every species Of
slavery. 1t has mathematical science
and prosecuted its votaries. 1t has de-
noupced all religious investigation and
reform. 1t has spared no cruelties and
known nothing. of mercy or remorse
And to-day, shorn of its power to op,
press, it is dumb in respect to social JUS
tice or arrayed on the side of the op,
pfesspr."
This is simply untrue of "Christianity,' y
and surely the writer must have known
it to be 80. 1t is true of that ecclesias
ticism which Constantine founded upon
the subverted common church. Perhaps
the writer meant ecclesiasticism when
he wrote Christianity. .-.''
Read also this fine truth: Men
brought together in material union are
nearer to spiritual and religious union
The removal of one antagonism prepares
the way to destroy others. Universal
cooperation for the material welfare Of
all is only one step from the religious
cooperation and union of all. But class
divisions are fatal to true religious union
Where one man is dependent on another
for work and bread, he is in social serf'
dom, and bis serf status follows him even
into the church. His inferlority Is i'm
pressed upon him everywhere"
That is Christ's teachings except that
he wisely made fraternity in faith the
basis of universal fraternity. "All ye
are brethren" Among the Gentiles
lords exercise dominion over them, and
those that are great exercise authority
upon them. But among you it shall not
be So"
| The Christian communion was q pledge
over the body and blood of Christ, Of
the fraternity and equality of those who
took it together bond that was to be,
levers stronger than any human statute
1t is simply to reverse the divine order
to suppose that cooperation for the
material welfare of alp can go before
"the religious cooperation and union
of all; for men will not voluntarily
subordinate self to the common good
except under the power of faith.
Another error of fact, or rather two ol
them.
~Look backward at the state of the
world in any age. Were the Jews eyer
in conditions favorable to the develop
ment of high type of humanity, with
their constant wars, internal cont1i cts
conouests and captivities Never. Has
the Christian world ever been under
favorable conditions, with its hierarchi
cal, monarchical and aristocratic despot,
isms. it's social inequalities, its constant
wars and mutual butcherles? Never
Mankind have been too ignorant of the
underlying principles of their religion
and incapable of organizing social sys
tenn in correspondence with them