The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1893-12-27
THE PEOPLES y

LIE i EUT IE - "
rev. THOMAS. DIXON ON THE ERA -c:ss
COMMON HUMANITY.
The Co1nmbisn Exposition Brilliant H.
iustration OF the Progress of the Masses.
Eulalie and yeraSua Were There as Rel
scs .Ssassiety'. WasNot In It.
New YORK, Dec. 10.-Rev. Thomas
Dixon, Jr., continued in Association hall
TINS uorning the second series OF ser
mons ON the Prophecies of the Worlds
I Fair. The subject of today's discourse
was The Era Of the Common People
He declared that this great exposition
was the achievement of the common peo-
ole. Society, so called, was not there,
! The common people conceived it. They
planned It. They managed it. They
oatronzed it and made it a success.
Caass stinctions were lost in the vaster
idea Of humanity. This triumphant ex-
preston Of life by the common people is
the pophecy Of their early assumption
of the supreme control OF the whole So
cial order. The text chosen was from
John Xii, "a, ssWho is this Son of Man?"
It is most significant fact that Jesus
Christ called himself the Son of Man.
This was his favorite designation of him
self. It was his chosen definition of him
self. The greatest revelation Christ made
to the world was himself. And in this
title he declared himself to be the son of
humanity. He was not to be limited to
any ONE family, to any class, to any ma
ton, to any race-he was the Son of Man.
The Son of Man shall come in his glory,
he told rs. The promise in this title be
thus gives to humanity is full of richest
meaning. As this supreme representa-
tive Of the human race shall triumph and
to him every knee bow at last, so shall
humanity, for which he lived, of which
he was born, find its day of emancipa-
ton and triumph. The Son of Man was
crucife6, but he rose again. Humanity
has been cruci6ed through centuries on
the Calvary of pharisaism. sacred" aud
profane.
BUT 1T STALL RISE AGAIN.
Class and sect and faction shall die at
length. never to live again.
The desire to be out of the current of
the great humanity is the sure index of
the uncivilized animal Whether he wear
purple and fine linen and fare sumptu
ousiy every day, or whether he live from
hand to mouth and faunt the red flag of
an anarchist, it matters not. The princi-
ple is the same. Alclass ideas and class
foundations as such are fundamentally
wrong. They are not only immoral, but
they are brutal. The self assertion of
class, whether of proletariat or heredi-
tary title or millionaire, is the assertion
of the antisocia1 nature Of mantle es-
sentially inhuman part Of HMM short,
the brutal There is no other name for it.
It is a matter, then, for heartfelt con-
graduation that this great exposition
was in the highest and best sense of the
word by the people, of the people. for
the people.
It was the affair Of Man-Man spelled
with a big capital.
There were no personages there.
It was the triumph of the genius of
humanity.
There was no exhibit of .'sassiety."
The Four Hundred were not there to
see the exhibit. It was not their day.
True. the Duke Of veragua was. pres
ent as the guest of the United States
government. But he was present as a
relic. He was not exhibited as a mem
Der of society" He was shown strictly
as relic Of Columbus.
So the Spanish Enfanta was q curio of
a romantic past surviving today. Only
in this sense were they a part of the
show.
HuMANITYs TRICMPH.
For once class was lost in humanity.
The idea of the fair originated in the
brain and heart of the common people.
It was created by them.
It was planned and managed by them
and for them.
It was patronized and made a success
oy them.
It could have been created by no less a
power.
1t could have been sustained by no
less power.
No king or prince or emperor of any
nation or empire in this OF any other age
could have done such a work. It meant
an expenditure first and last of about
$eO0, ,OO0, 900. And more, it meant the
corporation in heart and purpose OF mill
lions of people of all races and nations
with one thought and one purpose.
The vast crowds of people who poured