The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-07-10
The ARMY OF THE UNEMPLOYED.
A SERMON PREACHED IN THE
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH,

thorne, D. D.
Iert: Act 4 20, "Why do ye tUrOng to dnOther7'
This is the protest which Moses ut
tered when he saw two Hebrews quar-
relling and shifting each other. In
these words he expressed the substance
of the law which was afterwards deliv-
cred to him on Sinai-''Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself'' and which
Christ so beautifully expounded in His
sermon on the Mount.
Christianity is not a perfected science
OF human conduct. 1t simply teaches
us the comprehensive duty of love to
all men. 1t forbids us to render evil
unto any man, and enjoins us to do
good as we have opportunity to all
men. But to avoid doing evil to our
fellows we must know what is hurtful
to them, and to be helpful to them we
must know what is for their good. This
knowledge we get largely by observa-
tion and experience. What men have
learned through the ages upon this
subject is found in the maxims of soci
| ology and the principles of interna-
tiOnal law. But there is nothing true
and good in the science of sociology
that is not based on the great law of
love revealed in the sacred Scriptures.
! Any social law or custom that is con-
trary to the golden rule of the Gospel
AS ye would that men should do
unto you, do ye even 80 unto them"-
is false, and fruitful only of evil to
mankind. Social science can never get
beyond and above the ideal life of that
Man of men-the Man Christ Jesus.
What he taught, and what he was, can
never be improved or outgroWn. There
can be no law better than his law of
love, and there is no conceivable exer-
else of human nature higher than the
| life he lived.
The highest duty of every man is to
study the social conditions of the
country and age in which he lives, to
see wherein men are being
wRONGED BY THEIR FELLOW MEN,
and to use all the means within his
reach to shield the oppressed, and to
bring the oppressor into subjection to
the law of Christ. 1 would lay this
duty especially upon the consciences
of young men who are about to leave
the halls of learning, and go forth to
take their places among the forces
which are to control the conduct and
shape the character of the social life of
their country. Intellectual culture can
have no higher and holier mission than
the vindication Of human rights, the
redress of human wrongs, and the up
lifting and strengthening of the great
principles of human brotherhood.
A distinguished writer has said, that
the Columbian Exposition emphasized
the great doctrine of human brother
hood. He calls attention to the fact,
that within the bounds of the Exposi-
tion and among all the workers and
visitors from the various nations Of the
globe, there was not a single slave. He
reminds us, too, that of all the fabrics
put on exhibition. excepting a few
relics of the dead past, there was not
one that had been wrought by the
hands of a slave. What a change!
That Exposition was named for man
who did not think it a crime to enslave
men, and to sell them as chattels in
the markets of the world. Having
planted the Cross on the shores Of this
Western world, he captured the natives
and sent them back to be sold in the
cities of his own country. Fifty years
ago there could have been no lnterna
tional Exposition unmarked by the
presence of human, bondage. In this
last decade of the nineteenth century
the world rings with the shout freedom.
But let us not forget that all this phil
anthropic exultation is over the aboll
tion of only one form of human bond
age. and that in the very shadow OF
the stately edifices in which men gath
cred to celebrate the triumphs of free
dom. there exists a bondage in com
narison with which African slavery IN
this country was an institution OF
mercy.
When Prince Albert instituted the
first Worlds Fair, forty three years
ago, he said that one of the great ends
to which it would contribute, was the
realization of the unity Of mankind.
His prophetic words have been aDund
antlv verified. The last Worlds Far
showed that great progress has been
made in bringing the sundered races
Of mankind into closer sympathy ana