The Progress., 1893-04-08


sold out by those we trusted" Yet in
their struggle with the forces of the ma.
terial world and in their struggle with
the unknown forces of the supernatural
world their cry should touch the heart
OF the strong in knowledge and truth.
They have rebelled against the priests.
and yet they move in q priest ridden
world, in which ghosts and hobgoblins
are their masters. They have deserted
the sanctuary and follow their own vain
conceptions of an impossible and mon.
strous spiritual world.
OPPRESSED ny SUPERSTITION.
The masses have ever been ridden with
superstition. Few understand how hope.
less has been their struggle with this fell
power. Take the hearty Scotch and
Irish people and write the history OF
their lives, of the forces that gave the
formation of character and the course of
their development in life. and it is o
mass of tangled superstition rather thar
the guidance of compass or the friend
ly rays of the lighthouse of knowledge
Recount some of the vile ideas that dom
mate the lives of these people. A black
cock is highly priced, as its presence pre-
, vents the ravages of bogies and war
locks. To hear a cuckoo cry before
breakfast is an i'll omen II is fortunate
for the housewife if brood Of chickens
all come off the nest cock birds; it is in
dicative of coming prosperity. The mag
pie is the particular horror of the Scotch
people:
One IL sorrow, two mirth,
Three wedding, four birth.
Five heaven, six hell,
Seven the de'i's ainser.
If you first see the new moon with yom
hands empty, you will be unfortunate for
a month. If you see a COW lick any of
her feet, you will at once hear of q
death. To see a snail on the bare ground
is bad omen. To see one on the grass il
a sign of n plentiful year. The sudden
loss of hair is the sign of the loss of chill.
dren, health or property. To dream of
ones teeth falling out is the sure sign Of
the death of friend. The shrinking OF
meat in the pot while cooking presages
downfall in life. If it should swell, you
will be prosperous IL is unlucky to be
recalled after having set out on jour
ney to be told of something you have
forgotten, but you can destroy the spell
by at once taking meat and drink. When
you first put on coat, if you will place
money in the right hand pocket, you will
not know want, but if you by mistake
place it in the left hand pocket you will
be in need as long as the coat is worn.
Such are the forces that dominate the
minds of thousands and hundreds of
thousands. They will not believe in the
divinity of Christ, and ye; y steer life
by the crotchet of superstition
BLUNDERs OF THE LABOR LEADERS.
Third-The ceaseless cry of the worlds
millions today is the cry of their needs.
Christ looked upon this crowd. He was
moved with infinite compassion at their
distress and their blind helplessness.
The same is true of the cry today. Il
should move every heart to pity. to love,
to the furthest exercise of all the forces
of love in active life to rescue. As they
were scattered then they are scattered
today. They do not know what they
want They do not know what they need.
They have no real leaders. They would
be better off often with no leader at all
than those they have. They do not know
their own friends. They did not know
them in the days of Jesus. They have not
learned to know them in the centuries
that have rolled over the earth since then.
The pharisees cursed and killed Jesus.
and the people stood by beholding-the
people for whom he had lived, to whom
he had ministered, upon whose needs
he had poured out his life in loving sac
rifice, in whose homes he had moved
with boundless sympathy, scattering the
light of eternal truth wherever he went
And yet the people cried. with evil lead
ers, Cruelty him."
Under the inspiration of great work
Mr.. Edward Bellamy has practically
| given his life to the cause of these suf
fering masses. He has lost thousands OF
dollars in his work. He has made the
greatest sacrifices to pursue that work
| And yet what do the masses carer Moth
ing. They scarcely know Bellamy. F'
received letter the other day from one
of the people who had read his book ant
who had read for few months his
paper, The New Nation. He wrote tC
stop the paper, saying that he had be
come thoroughly converted now to the
principles, and he was in no need of any
further expense in the way of paper.
have devoted weeks and months II
this pulpit to the expression in the mos
vigorous language possible Of the wrong'
of the laboring masses in America, fol
which I have been criticised most Sc
verely by the conservative world o
strength AMI capital. 1t Is amusing a
well as sad for me to receive from weel
to week copies Of labor papers In which
low and villainous paragraphs are pennet
by their ignorant editors against M
simply because am q minister. Th'
trouble is they do not know their owi
| -. n,lo,- da not Enoxv thoir Owr