St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-14

property in any other form-it is all eX-
pansion of your own self; it Is the en-
bodiment of the output of your own
energy, and hence, property is truly
defined, the expansion of ones own
being into outward action and outward
symbol. Now, property, whatever be
the special form, or the special name,
must be held as inviolable as the life of
Him who created it. Property will
always, in view of our conditions,
be unequally distributed. for
dignity we are all children of God, and
come into the world with equal rights to
live and to act, we are not all equally
endowed. Some have ii stronger arm
than others; some quicker eye, TO see;
some have more perseverance OF char
acter; some greater energy of thought.
If by some possibility we were all Made
this morning equal possessors Of prop
erty, men being physically, morally
and intelle ctually constituted as they
are, inequalities would exist before the
setting of the sun. 1t is God who :, has
made us endowed differently in quail
ties. power and energy, and 'coifse.
quently this inequality of property1is' a
logical necessity from our own creation
by Almighty God. Dreams of equality
in this matter are simply castles IN the
air. to which no SANE man should give
time. They are reputation as far as
they go of Gods own providential meth
DDS in dealing with men.
Now. the recognition of mans rights
to his life and to his property is justice.
We must give to each one his own. We
must not steal. And we may steal in
different manners-by laying violent
hands on property, or by calculating
and planning SO that men will be I'M
justly deprived of property. We may
steal by acts OF our own or by melting
others to wrOngd0ing, but whatever be
the form of the sin, when we act un-
justly we hear the thunder OF Jehovah's
voice saying. Thou shalt not steal"
Consequential all efforts. in all agita-
lions for social benefits. we must not
forget this duty of justice. am not
opposed 10 efforts which, within the
laws of justice and order, may
lead to as fair distribution of
wealth as our natural inequalities and
the structure of society Will allow, but
what | must insist on. if l speak
Christian truth, is that no laws OF JUS
tice be violated: that no rights be taken
from one or from the other. The cap
italist who would so ground down the
poor man, that the poor man, in the
midst of general plenty. has not a suf-
fisiency of bread for himself and his
children. takes from The poor man, be-
cause he does not allow him the just
return for his work. which circum-
stances suggest TO be his. We steal
from the poor man when we Cypress
him, and we steal from the rich man
when we say he has no right to have
any more property than am willing to
allow him. In agitatiGnS against prop
erty, to which sometimes the poor mau
is beguiled, in the end it IS the poor
man who suffers the most. The poor
man is the weaker, and he needs
social constitutions and laws that
will give him in peace and harmony the
few dollars he earns. that will guaran-
tee him his humble cottage. 1t is as
sacred to him as the millions to the
millionaire, and the same social agita-
ton which would ruin the rich man
will ruin the poor. Agitations against
property, anarchistic rioungs bring all
to a dead level. and put as all If the
condition of the Indian of the Wild
forest, where no one will plant corn in
the spring, because he knows when
harvest comes his neighbors 1Will
claim the same right to pluck
the ears as he himself, who planted it,
would have. Foolish agltations against
property destroy all energy. Would
you work hard at the sweat of your
brow unless you knew the rewards of
labor were to be absolutely years?
When we speak of labor, we do mot
mean mere physical, manual labor, we
mean the putting out OF human energy
in any form. Anarchy, OF destruction
of property rights results in universal
ruin, IN social savagery, and when
property rights are destroyed in. one
quarter, they are logically destroyed IN
all others, and society breaks down,
just as sure as the temple fell when
Samson took hold with his mighty
arm of the pillars upon which the
SuperStructure rested,
The third principle which the Chris
tian religion gives is that, whatever we
do. we must remember the necessary
conditions of human life imposed upon
Us by the Creator. And these con-
ditions are, first, life in the family; and,
secondly, life in the nation. We know
Gods laws by the needs we have for
them. We cannot exist without the
family. and therefore the family is of
divine appointments. We cannot reach
our destiny in this world without aggre-
cations of families in countries. without
a civil society, and consequently civil
society for men is Divine appointment;
and, hence, st. Paul in his epistle to
the Romans, says: "The powers that
are are from God, and he that resisteth
the power resisteth the ordinance of
God" Consequently all actions of ours,
whatever these actions be. that tend
directly or Indirectly to The destruction
of society, are actions which religion
condemns. which the Creator condemns.
We must, rieh and poor, be all SUBJ
seryient to the general laws OF society.
Within these laws there is an ample
field for action and calculation. am
not narrowing the field of activity am
simply marking out on the broad sea
certain lines within which the ship must
sail or suffer wreckage. Outside those
lines there is ample room for Individual
action within the broad lines of safe
civil government let us act. Laws made,
While they are Oh the statute book must
be observed, and any theory which
offers relief in the name of social
anarchy is false, untrue. opposed to So
ciety, opposed to religion and to Al
mighty God.
But this is not liberty which would
put the man outside of the conditions in
which he develops, no more than the
setting of the planets outside of their
orbits in the heavens would be liberty,
because such liberty would tend to their
destruction. Within these grand lines.
in which alone we develop aud can de-
velop. there is liberty; outside them
there is license and ruin.
Religion gives principles; next, it
gives motives and strength of soul. Man
is a, being of heart as well as intellect,
and it is useless to tell him what he
should do, unless you tell him why he
should do it. Religion alone gives
these motives. Forget for a, mo-
ment, if you can. Almighty Cod and
the future life. Draw an impene-
trabe cloud between heaven! and
earth. see ouly this earth. and tell
NE candidly. what is it that will be.,a
spring of duty for us. You may, indeed,
talk of self-interest, peace; these are
theories which do not apply to the
millions. Ii will be all very we'll for
the strong man to say to the weak man
You must be just; observe the rights
of otbers;;" but the weak man will say.
'.lf l have naught but earth. 1 will
L.