The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-10-11
and city In the United States OF Amer.
lea are SO absolutely disgraceful that

and city In the United States OF Amer.
lea are so absolutely disgraceful that
We ought 10 be ashamed. Our polit-
| ical dictators, with few, and they lus-
| trous, exceptions, do as they please
| with the sublimest self-confidence i'm
| aginable. And so long as We are
| grieved over the examples of govern
mental administration, ancient
| and modern, with which we are IA
miliar. and refuse to secure the puri-
/ fication of our own political affairs,
| and neglect TO procure the political
execution of our political thugs aud
thieves and highbinders, whom we
have allowed to reign over us, we are
hypocritical in our assumption OF gov
ernmental virtue. And no man may
deny the count.
America is h"pocritical Intellectual
ly. We rejoice in the heritage of in
tellectual freedom which is ours. We
! give God praise that man may think
his thoughts after God here without
regard TO any man. We regret that
| China has reverenced the past, that
the church in ages gone refused 10
allow the liberty OF private judgment.
| We pride ourselves upon the oppor-
|
guaranteed TO every man who
breathes our air. But, what do We do
with the man who dares TO exercise
| his prerogatives? What do we, the
| descendants of the men who mobbed
Garrison, who ridiculed the scientific
| geniuses OF scant generation ago?
We are as impervious TO a new
thought as any nation under heaven.
| We prate about progress and We
| maintain the status quo. We want
no new thought until IL has become
old. With our refnements of cruelty
we attempt to still forever the activ-
tiles of those who would follow the
! CLEAN o, the truth of God who would
lead us ahead and up. And just so
| long as we talk freedom OF thought,
and regret the lack OF II in other
lands, while we have a scant attention
for the prophets of the living God
whose minds are illumined by the
glory OF His truth, we are intellec>
tually hypocrites. And no man may
deny the count.
Then, too, we are moral hypocrites.
Row shocked We are at the Moham-
medan system of divorce, and the
curse of opium to the integrity of
Chinese civilization, and the vicious
customa Of English barroom. and the
free-love of a certain sort of Social
ism! But how shocked are we over
the consecutive" polygamy and
polyandry that exists under the
loose sanctions of our legal systems?
How shocked are we by the spectacle
of our boys and girls, our men and
women, deadened with drink; forced
to immortality by the social conditions
that We permit? How shocked we are
lest perhaps our children should be
told that which they will learn from
! questionable sources IL we do not
guarantee them timely and proper
information! And Just so long as
we deplore the moral sins of other
| peoples and neglect to attend prop
erly to the conservation of our own
morals, we are hypocritical. And no
man may deny the count.
/ America is hypocritieal in her con-
ceptions of things religious. We
look with wonder and astonishment
upon the inconsistency that is appar-
ent between the noblest books OF
Eastern religions and the manner of
life among the devotees of those re-
| ligions systems. We do not exalt
God by the sharpened scimitar. We
do not roll under Juggernaut. We
| do not provide money and food at the
side of the graves Of the departed.
We do not let our nails grow for a
lifetime in order to glorify Almighty
God. We have more sense than to
do these. But what do we do? Why,
We proclaim Jesus Prince of Peace
while we proclaim peace a fantasy
and exa!t the doctrine that the way
to ensure peace Is to go we'll armed.
We magnify the philosophy that says
turn to him thy other cheek" But
we keep our gloves on. We believe
that righteousness exalteth." But
| we acknowledge, as practical men,
that IL is impracticable to be strictly
| honest and prosper. We acclaim the
eternal necessity for an exact con-
currence of thought and speech, word
and deed, look and action. But we
send our Bibles to China packed be-
side hold of beer. We assimilate
the Indians by the efficient force Of
arms. We civiliZe the Philippines by
way OF Milwaukee. We sing, unto
Thee, o God, be riches, but we main
| tain large proportion of the
churches Of the living Christ in this
land by such devious and precarious
methods as would put a heather to
shame. And so long as we scoff at
the inconsistencies of foreign relig-
| ious systems and are satisfied, with a
| false optimism, 10 congratulate our
! own with all its incongruities, we are
hypocritical. And no man may deny
the count.
And all this is to say that we
| should, with no spirit of mere carp
| ing criticism, look over this land of
ours as patriotic Americans. For upon
our candor and our sincerity depend
our success. our power, our future.
The American nation illumined and
sanctifed by the truth as 1t is in Jesus
Christ will be invincible. We must
not deceive ourselves. We must be
honest. Let US be courageous. Let
us cease to be hypocritical. Let US
| turn on the light.