The Washington times., 1894-05-06
Lay Sermons for
Sunday Reading

richest and most available gold mine, they
will find many eager, discriminating miners
among that class of men their present claim
forces into the ranks of agnosticism. The
clay that is the matrix of the diamond, and
adheres to its surface until washed away
is of no more value than any other clay. Sc
the ignorance of geography, astronomy, and
physics, the personal and national prejudice
that surround and imbed the eternal truths
in our Bible must be recognized before the
gems will be fully known and appreciated.
Thought recoils instinctively from any state
ment of fact that tends to its qualification.
The history of religious theories looses its
claim upon our attention as we study the
duties and opportunities ofto-day. Religion
has TO do with the present consciousness o1
man in its relations to the eternal center OF
consciousness. The next all-important
thought is the improvement of that conscious
me.
In the consideration of that environment
the first, and most important object
is the other beings similar to myself,
the same kind of beings the same needs, the
same passions. the same joys and sorrows,
differing only in degree. The next and
always secondary subject is nature, out OF
which, in some fashion, is to come sustenance
and comfort for myself. for all other selves
the great commonwealth from which is to be
wrought the greatest common veal" Per-
haps no thinking man will question this prop
osition. II this. then. is the higher common
sense view of man and his conditioned ex-
istence it follows that all laws that make such
an application of truth impossible are the
outgrowth of ignorance, days necessary in
the slow processes of evolution-skeletons of
the intellectual ideas of incident to the de-
veioping strata of human consciousness,
dressed in the robes of modern responsibility
and worshiped as venerable, and, therefore,
wise.
The Jews were positive race. The God
they worshiped was very positive God, who
only dealt in ''thou shalt and ''thou shalt
nots." Justice was on a very material basis
.'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"
He was God of unlimited wealth-his throne
was of gold-the streets of His holy city were
ofpure gold-its walls of jewels, and its gates
OF pearl The harps of the singers were
golden. His visible temple must be made
gaudy with gold, the affairs overlain with
gold. The symbolical angelic figures were of
gold, and the wings also of this heaviest of
metals. So absolutely worshiped WAS this
yellow metal that the flight OF these celestial
inhabitants might be impeded by the weight
Of their wings seems not to have occurred to
them-any more than it does to-day.
1t is an admitted fact that the most ardent
dogmatist is the proselyte and not the inher-
itor OF belief; SO the typical Jew of to-day is
the so-called Christian who "devours widows
houses and for pretense make long pray
ers; ''who visit the fathleress and the widow
in their affliction" with high prices for coal
and oil and with fraudulent and adulterated
food, with eviction when sickness comes or
the work fails; who graduate from the school
of competitive commerce or manufacture into
the CANDY butterfly OF American ambition
the money changer.
If subject were wanted to illustrate the
human capacity for paradox, nothing could
be found equal to the theory and practice OF
the religion OF Jesus OF Nazareth. Many of
the banner men of the theory" call Mr..
Coxey's assumption of title for his latter
demalion army ''sacrilege." "The Common
veal of Christ" the common good, the COM
mon benefits of nature. OF justice, mercy, and
paternal care for the greatest number. 1t is
easy to bow down before the form, the
symbol of the human invention of torture
upon which His body suffered, but that wood
was only vegetable fiber, hewn, sawed, and
fashioned by the hand OF man. Il go away"
at is expedient for you" "Why callest
thou me good; there is none good save the
Father only" Il 20 to my Father and your
Father" But "inasmuch as We have done it
unto one of the least of these, We have done
it unto Me-" He called all men brother
There were the same grades of what is called
prosperity then as now, the same differences
in temperament in form. in mental endow-
ment, yet He. the perfected man, or the
divine man, as you please TO think. classed
Himself with the least. the last.
That which is immortal in Jesus of Naza-
reth was the consciousness in him that was
the "Christ," the Amounted" the ''Enlight-
ened." the ideas, the thoughts that have be-
come permanent and paramount, in :has en-
lightened consciousness are the real lights.
He had TO give and thus live eternally in SO
far as they are the eternal immutable truth
Now no man can justly call himself follower
of His only as he does to the utmost of his
ability follow those ideas, those thoughts. He
made them very plain-so plain that weak,
self-indulgent human nature is ever trying to
spin about them a thick mesh of notifications
but there they stand. The church says they
are His very words, "Love thy neighbor." Thy
neighbor is explained to be lone who fell
among thieves" Nothing said about the ma
tionality or the moral worth of this man who
wes so unfortunate Only that he had fallen
among thieves. was wounded, and in want.
Judge not, that ye be not judged" If
Mr.. CoXey is filled with great food of con-
sciousness OF the inequalities in the present
method of handling the comforts legitimately
belonging to this commonwealth OF nature,
that some of the "least of these" under
present conditions are deprived of the natural
benefits of labor, to which alone nature Yields
her fruits; if he is sacrificing his personal in
tercsts to this great idea then who dare saw
he has not the highest authority for display
ing the banner of the common veal" the
common good. for which alone Jesus of
Nazareth lived and taught and died because
lie taught it fearlessly.
But the weaknesses and vanities of human
ity are not always with those who have ac-
cumulateu. Men follow their strangest pas
sons. and live for the most part along the
line OF the least resistance In their own ma
ture. Man is not nearer to righteousness be-
cause OF his poverty and improyidence He
cannot blame the monopoljst so long as he is
conscious of that within him that would per-
NIT him to be a monopolist If he could. There
are as many natural spendthrifts as there are
accumulators. That man who will do a false
days work and take his pay for it would |
trade in bonds and eXorbitant interest If he |
had the opportunity.
But just and intelligent humane laws the |
lowest has the right to demand-the highest |
should know that such laws are the only real |
safeguard for his right to what he now calls |
his. No city, no town, no state has the right |
to declare any man a tramp until il can offer |
that man a visible, tangible alternative.
1t would seem to be the first duty of any
10 institute such improvements.
such a varied field of employment. as TO be
able to say: mo man or woman can saytruth-
fully, L can find no employment" This
would curtail the borders OF the contract
system, which keeps the poor OF any city in
their poverty by the importation of laborers
for the gain OF the contractor.
This same simpliler ofthe law OF righteous
ness that came up to Jerusalem the golden,
riding on an ass colt. said: II came not to
bring peace but a sword" came TO disturb
this order Of things. / came 10 destroy this
golden god. this golden heaven. ''rne King
Of ID Sc 81. I