Workmen's advocate., 1890-06-28
SACERDOTALlSM AND PLUTO
 CRACY.

At the seventy ninth anniversary of the Society of Inquiry of the Andover Theological Seminary, held few days ago, MT. James k. Barbour, who had just graduated, delivered an oration which we are assured fairly represents the views of number of the students, We publish the following synopsis of 1t as an additional evidence of the progress of ideas among the young men upon whom devolyes the task of educating the next generation.
 Ruskm says:--"The mistake of the best men through generation after genera tion has been that great one of thinking to help the poor by alms-giving, and by preaching of patience or of hope, and by every other means, em0lient or consolatory, except the one thing which God orders for them, justice"
 A distinguished Roman Catholic arch bishop, giving utterance to the opinions of the supreme head of that church, has said that it is in accordance with the economy of divine providence that men should exist in unequal conditions in society for the exercise of benevolent virtues.
 Thus have these two men expressed the two opposite views which are now forcing themselves upon the considera- ton of all with irresistible pressure. On the one side, we find the great mass of the people, irrespective of party, creed or sect, demanding that justice, equal opportunity, be given them; on the other. we find, for the most part, the educated, the wealthy, those whom the world has treated kindly, stubborn in the defence of class privilege. This struggle is not simply one of distribu' tion. It is far wider It involves the right of equality and the final destruc' tion of sacerdotal authority.
 For many centuries the people have been prey to the fancies and fears of their own minds and thus easily became the dupes of few less superstitious beings. The strange mystery of his own existence, the uncertainty of the future, have long made man victim to a few ambitious and selfish individuals. The claim of special divine right and favors by kings and priests has so overawed mankind that implicit obe- dience and homage have been faithfully given, The people have even been looked upon by the strong and mighty as pro. per subjects to despoil, if only some | little return is made to them in the way | of aims. Seltishness, pride, ambition, are the besetting sins of privileged class. The hopeless poverty, the cru'hed | manhood that we find in our cities, point | to generations of sin and crime for the | future.
 Whatever we may think of the past, l sociologists and thoughtful men are now saying that the sacerdotal rights of thls | privileged class must be done away with if society is to advance naturally without violent revolutions. This opinion is enforced by the cry that comes from l the lahoring men with no uncertain sound. For more than five hundred l years the west Tn world has been vaguely conscious of the wrongs done to society by the maintaining of class aristocracy. The Reformation, among the | Teutonic people, swept away, in great measure, the sacerdolal claims of the priest. while the eighteenth century largely retrieved humanity from the power of kings and the nobility. By | our own revolution we had hoped to 1 have put down forever in this country sacerdotal claims. But sacerdotalism is monster that easily hides behind priestly or kingly robes It's powers and privileges have been largely transferred from tke professional to the mercantile pursuits.
 The sacerdotal claims Of this mercan- tile class must be well advanced, when the greater part of the race can be looked upon as so much merchandise with scarcely a protest from the Christian 1 Church. We hear much about the sacred rights of property, but little from | the Church about the divine right of d vast horde of working women in our cities who have been reduced by our I 1 Ht6tnbuS tb u IbuultlUll lltIlc better than slavery.
 A few of our most benevolent million aires may realize that it is disgrace for a man to die wealthy, One out of q thousand may expend his fortune in charities. But were all wealthy men exceptionally wise and generous there would yet remain vast amount of un. rest and discontent among thought, ful laboring men who would not be silenced.
 A self-respectng. able-hodied man cannot receive aims in any form under any circumstances without loss of man. hood. The people, above all things, are demanding justice. In practical ethics the world has grown faster than the