The Washington times., 1894-05-27

y
men, who have not lived, who havc not had
their forty days OF temptation in the tangled
wilderness of their own naturcs-when these
students of books and creeds can stand an ex-
animation in said books and hoary traditions,
they are set to teach religion; these men who
have not yet lived are sent out to teach the
people how to live. Time has rendered un-
popular the old-time custom OF emasculating
boys. thnt they might continue the singing Of
the church services In tenor voices; but we
still have prevalent the idea that men emascu-
lated by training and education from contact
with the experiences OF life are thereby fitted
to teach men and women to live wise and pure
lives in the midst of temptation.
1t will not do, my lords and gentlemen.
"Thou shalt make to thyself no craven image
nor likeness of anything" "And God made
man in His own image and likeness. Come.
let US reason together" "And God pro-
nounced it all good'' Among the many
translations and transcriptions from the
original Hebrew text. written in consonants
only on strips OF OK hide, find no material
divergence from the simplicity of these state
ments. find no authority for the selection
of ten" out Of the many commandments de-
livered unto Moses, and no emphasis put
upon one Mt the expense OF others. ''Thou
shalt not covet" stands in as bold relief as
.'thou shalt not kili'' or "shalt not commit
adultery"
II Moses, a prince and high priest, learned
in all the possible lines OF thought of the then
leading civilization of the earth, found 4.
necessary in order to impress the simplest
truths of sociology upon an enslaved and
degraded people, by a constant repetition of
thus saith the Lord" it was no more
III. III IL 4 1n,,
tell an ignorant man that the diurnal revolu-
tor of the earth was Gods truth; and If it
had come to his consciousness as truth by
any means or by any avenue, it was Gods
TRUTH for "God is truth" But it may be bias
phemy for men of to-day to teach this verbiage
as tlnality Of truth.
One Of these commandments, verse 25 of
the same chapter which contains the selected
''ten," reads thus: "And il thou wilt make me
an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it Of
hewn stone; for if thou lift up thy tool upon
it thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go
up by the steps unto mine altar, that thy
nakedness be not discovered thereon" Will
you not be content, gentlemen, to give us
back this Bible rs gold mine. the richest in
the earth, but yet Il mine in which each man
must dig for the gold, washing away the
tribal peculiarities. but not pure gold, gen.
tlemen. until it has been subjected to the
fiery heat OF the divine consciousness evolving
in man. If you set up this image OF pure
gold on the plane OF the advancing con-
sciousness of man. and bid all men who
would seek after God to fall down and wor-
ship this image ye have set up. then there
are many Daniels, many Shadrachs. Me-
shachs, and Abednegos who will refuse to
bow down and worship, but will trust to the
God they find living to-day to save them from
any fiery furnace OF accommodation you
you can invent
No man can add to or take from the truths
contained in that book, because truth is in
destructible, and man cannot create a new
truth. He may discover one hidden until
now but mans inventions are untruths; and
may it not be true that all attempts of man to
set meteS and bounds, times and eras, when
God met man face to face, is the Limitation
put upon the infinite by the mind of the finite.
and not by the SOUL that alone which has
the divine reason? Are you not. gentlemen.
trying to set up "grayen image" a craving
of past thought of ancient conceptions of
God? Ii men in ancient days could get clearer
and more distinctly the voice of God than to-
day, this day. this hour. it must be that they
were nearer to Him in their lives and
thoughts, Us uOu Is tue same Yesterday, To-
day. and forever. He changes not.
The mysterious stream OF life still pours
itself through humanity The same divine
consciousness continues to function through
the more or less developed brain of man. II
holy men are assembled for the study of
divine things, ought they not to be ere lting
holy scriptures. holy writings, OF what God
hath wrought" in them this year. and TO con-
suit as to the best methods of destroying the
idols of this day and generation rather than
the perpetuation of the study of those of
Baal? Was there ever time since the cross
ing of the Red sea" of animalism when the
''golden calf was more universally wor-
shiOed than now-to-day? Was that in deed
and in truth '.calfl." or was it the early ex-
hibit of that root OF all evil, the love of
money? And do any of :he ordained priests
of the Most High occasionally bow themselves
in secret, if not in public, before this ever
popular shrine?
The hearts of the sons of men are sore
within them: the conflict between God and
Mammon is at its height; the animal in man
IS reused to fiery heat by the condition OF
things: the dog who has the bone and the dog
who has il not are contending. and danger
ously threatening each other. They fail to
see that it is the same animal nature that
prompts assault and defense. If you have a
mission, gentlemen. it is to appeal to the
Image of God, SO fatally concealed beneath
the rags and the ''iine linen II is the un-
yelling of that image to the universal gaze OF
man that will make all alike bow down to the
one God and learn 10 obey the still. small
voice of conscience. the true and abiding in
spiration of God-the divine word.
VETERAN.
IT