The times., 1897-09-07
LYING SPIRITS ABROAD"
Prophets who See With the Eyes
of the King.


| topics suggested by members Of the CON
| gregation
| The topics Were Lying spirits, as re-
| ferrcd to IN the last chapter Of First
/ Kings, rs the patent system OF this
! country morally and economically defenst-
ble?'' and How can we bring the inde-
pendent, thinking people into better ac-
] quantance and concert OF action to lift
| humanity to better conditions?'
| The topic first discussed relates to the
passage in the Bible i'll which the prophet
Micaiah explains to .Iehoshaphatand Ahab,
Kings OF Judah and Israel, why his pre-
| dictions and co unset differed from those OF
| the 400 w no We're in favor with the Kings
! and who had advised them to go to war
with Syria pIor.ising them that the Lord
| would deliver It's stronghold into their
hands. DIR. Kent read the passage and then
made the following co mment:
"rhe frankness and honesty OF Micaiah
won for him the fate which usually be-
| falls those who speak truth To rulers.
! His cause brought down upon hiln the
wrath OF all the prophets who flattered
! the King, and one OF them in his anger
srnote him on the cheek and Knocked him.
This is the story OF the lying spirits on
which | am asked TO discourse. IL may
| have some value as indicating the thought
or the tine in which 1t was written, or at
| least the thought OF the writer as to the
! cause OF prophetic disagreement. But it
can have 10 value whatever as the basis
| of any doctrine regarding spirit existence or
| spirit agency.
"If the opinions OF those writer's are to
| be taken as truth, then we have 10 be-
| lieve that the Lord was a party to this
miserable device, that He hadn't wit enough
TO conceive the plan himself, but that
| He had ineanness and wickedness enough
| TO adopt 1t W hen suggested by another. We
beIieve neither. The nations of some OF
| these Bible historians are exceedingly
crude and barbarous, and no greater harm
can be done 70 the minds OF the rising genera
ton than to dignity these false and i'm
moral conceptions respecting the character
| and government of God by treating them as
| true. The lying spirits are not all dead,
and the prophets that see with the eyes of
the King seem numerous as ever"
10 discussing the patent system proposi-
ton, Dr. Kent said that morally and
economically it was not defensible. He
said:
But to a5san this and defend the COM
peti tive regime which works toward
is To strain out gnats and swallow ca mels.
1T is. universally felt that under a sys-
TEN which processes TO regard the indi-
Yidual as entitled to what he himself
creates, the inventor has an equitable claim
on special share III the benefits which
accrue TO the public through his invention
IT is also felt that the protection of the
inventor against those who would rob him
o. this special share, is u duty owed by the
community both 10 the inventor and to
itself. To the inventor as matter OF
Justice and to Itself as d matter of policy,
means OF ging invention and pro-
noting the general veal The patent
system is "a device for securing 70 the
individual this equitable consideration and
for protecting society against the injustice
and wrJrg that would flow from per
petual monopoles.
1T is II very imperfect device and affords
at the present time little or no protection
to the average inv ent0r. While it gives to
great corporations that buy out these in
ventions for u mere trifle the power 10
establish great monopolistic enterprises
hich far outrun the life of the patent.
And 81 in a multitude of cases-perhaps,i in
recent years, in a ma jority of cas- es, il
protects neither the inventor nor the
public. The system is of a piece with
the general Industrial and social cloas to
which it belongs. 1t rests, as does the
Competitive regime itself, upon utterly
false notions respecting individual a nd COM
munity rights. II assumes that the service
Of self is the supreme object OF all in
diyidual endowments and that the in
dividual VIII further the real ends OF his
being i'ist in the degree in which he de-
votes all his energies and gifts TO his
seryica.''
in discussing the third topic DR.. Kent
SAID:
This Is II most vital question for all.
There are enough people of advanced
thought people in sympathy with our adj
vanced aims. if rot in love with all our
ideaS-to make organization that could
revoluuonize the affairs of this city and
exert an influence that would reach to
every other citY in this country. And
these measures which they might cause To
be adopted here, If wise and beneficial in
their operation, would soon find friends
elsewhere, and So the good work would
spreaG and increase. How TO bring think
ing, hbera minded people together in
such concerted effort for the general veal
is the problem
DR.. Keut closed with suggestions as to
how this right be effected.