Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-06
OUR SERMON-III
By CHARLES CLARK PIERCE
The supreme Privilege Of Strength

mans ISL.
Why? Why ought I, supposing that
1 possess greater strength than my
neighbor, to expend q portion of this
strength in not only assisting him to
overcome his weakness so that he shall
become as strong as 1, but even con-
descend to bear his burden for him?
Is not the Survival of the fittest," or
rather, as it is uslally interpreted, the
survival of the strongest, a great law
of nature, inwrought into our very be-
ing by the Creator; and why is there
any claim upon me to disregard and
trample upon this fundamental law Of
being? Does not the beast with the
strongest paw overcome his weaker ad-
Versary, and not only subSist upon him
but in time destroy him, so that there
shall not be any weak ones left? Does
not the bird with the sharpest talons,
and the swiftest wing, war upon and
make way with his weaker associate?
And when we rise to the higher life OF
man, does not this same great law, the
survival of the fittest, here plevatl;
and should we not be free to follow it
out to it's logical and natural conclu-
sion? Should not the man who starts
life with q million dOllarS-Which he
did not earn-have a right to use this
million dollars to get another or sew
eral more from those who started life
with nothing? Or If a man by any
means Is able to secure the enormous
fortune of a million dollars, or possess
himself of any other resource or power
which gives him tremendous advan-
tage over his fellow man, is 1t not a
great law of nature and Of life that he
who possesses this power should be
free to use 1t to his hearts content to
exploit and overcome those who have
less? Have you not a right to take
your giant physical strength and use 1t
where you will, no matter who may
suffer in consequence, to use your SUI
perior intelligence or training to outwit
your less gifted neighbor, associate or
rival; to bring your practical business
training, experience, your superior
equipment, resources and sagacity, into
life's activities and contests and secure
every possible advantage over those
who are not so well equipped?
To all these questions the brute world
of yesterday, the cold, hard business
world of today, has but one reply, and
that is in the affirmative. II have a,
right" says the strong nation, the
strong man, the strong combination OF
men, ito use what is my own in ac-
cordance with my own desires, and in
way to please and benefit myself
alone.
ITO be sure, if I chance to be pleased
to remit some of my strength, If j do
not care to use my superior strength
quite so much as I might, if l choose
to let the weak one benefit a little by
my better equipment, that is my right
also; 1 simply must be free to do as l
wish with my own. The great law or
life is the law of strength; there Is but
one right, and that is the right of
might"
If men do not say this, they act it.
This is the law of the great business
world in the great majority of cases.
This is the supreme code of the vast
majority of the activities of the pres
ent age, as it was of the ages gone.
And this means that to the strong
there Is no real law save that which
he Is not strong enough to set aside
and trample under foot.
But to all this there is another reply,
though slowly shaping itself in the
consciousness OF the race. It is an old
reply, voiced centuries ago, and better
lived by the Carpenter of Nazareth
than by any other. 1t is the reply
which grows out of the consciousness
that life is given, power is bestowed
not for the purpose Of overcoming the
weak. but for the purpose of serving
them. OF Christ 1t was said, HE was
rich, yet for your sakes he became
DOOT, That We through Ills PONCILg
might be rich" HE came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister" This
is the spirit which must dominate the
world, If life is ever to reach its de-
sired end This is the higher law of
life and of love which must prevail II
right is to triumph and life is to be
worth the living. Nothing finer on this
subject has ever been sadi in any Ian
guage or any age than by Drummond
In his delightful little book, 1.-THE AS
cent of Man." "The truth is" he says,
there are two struggles for life in
every living thing-the struggle for life,
and for the life of others. This strug-
gle for the life of others is the physto-
logical name for the greatest word OF
From Self-ism, to Other-ism, is the su-
preme translation Of history. Nothing
Is in finer evidence as we rise in the
scale of life than the gradual temper
ing of the struggle for life. It's slow
amelioration is the work of ages, may
he the work of ages still, but the ami
nal qualities in the social life of man
are surely being left behind: and
though the mark of the savage and the
brute still mar its handiwork, these
harsher qualities must pass away. In
that new social order which the gather
ing might OF the altruistic spirit is
creating now around US, in that reign
or love WHICH must OIl0 udy NC ICallAoNt
if the course of evolution holds on Its
way, it is more and more becoming
evident that the path of progress and
the path of altruism are one"
These considerations answer the
question "Why?" which was asked at
the outset, and which is being asked
ell the time. Why must the strong
bear the infirmities of the weak? Sim
ply because man is a man, and not a
BRUTE simply because might does not
produce right; simply because the sur
vival Of the strongest is not the sur
vival of the fittest; simply because the
true ends of human life are to be found
in the other course; simply because
the mature" which impels a man to
be robber is a lower nature, and must
be overcome by the higher and the d.
viner. NAnd when men shall have yield
ed to this higher nature, when there
shall be combinations of strength for
service instead of for slaughter, when
governments shall be built upon the
great thought of encouraging and de-
veloping the higher rather than the
lower side OF human nature, and when
those who have not yet evolved to the
point where they are able to see the
glory of all this shall be curtailed in
the career of their exploitation of their
fellows until they too shall have been
given an opportunity OF seeing the true
end of life, we shall as a race be in a
position to congratulate us that we are
actually making progress along a high
wav in which we shall not have to re-
trace our steps.
DOWN, MERCURY
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