Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-28
DR.. LOCKE breaches
ON MANS EQUALITY
SAYS STRONG SHOULD BEAR
INFIRMITlES OF WEAK
Because of False Assumption That
Every Person Has Equal Ability,
Clergyman Declares Many
Are Left in Poverty

Dr. Charles Edward Locke at the
First Methodist Episcopal church
preached yesterday on the subject,
Are All Men Created Equal p He
selected for his text I'VE that are
strong ought to bear the inffrmities OF
the weak Romans ISL.
Dr. Locke said in part
IF we put our question Are all men
created equal? to this Bible we re-
ceive an unequivocal reply. Paul an
swers, God hath made of one blood all
nations of men, and in another place,
Bear We one anOthers burdens, and so
fulfill the law of Christ The prophet
Malachi replies to our question by ask
ing others: Have we not all one
Father? Hath not one God created
us? Why do we deal treacherously any
man against his brother?' Jesus Christ
begins his universal prayer with the
charmed words, our Father; and adds
a new commandment to the decalogue.
Love one another as I have loved you.
Christ announces himself as our elder
brother, and thus establishes the broth
erhood of the race and the solidarity of
human society.
'If we put our question to our fore
fathers, they answer us in the words
of the immortal Declaration of Inde-
pendence: we hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are created
equal. that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness
so far as our rights before God are
concerned we are created equal, and
politically and legally we are equal,
and each may expect all the rights and
privileges and protection which are
claimed by the other; yet when we
study society as it exists today we
find great disparity and inequality
among men. physically, mentally, finan-
cially; in opportunity, inheritance and
in environment. Every man by crea-
ton has an equal moral right with
every other to all the joys of life, but
some men have less ability to claim
these rights than other men, Hence
the injunction of the text We that
are strong ought to bear the infirmi
ties of the weak
Equality of Man
"On the false assumption that every
man has equal ability as well as equal
rights to achieve, ambitious men have
gone selfishly into the contest for sue
cess, and the result is that many of
the weaker ones have been left behind
and are now in poverty and vice and
woe
Life is not like the rivalries of the
race course: for in the race course COM
petitors of equal physical capacity are
pitted against each other Various
classes of contests are arranged, so
that the stronger will not be placed in
competition with the weaker. No, life
is not like athletic combats; it knows
nothing of concessions and handicaps;
life is like dangerous mountain climb
ing, where each traveller must be fast
ened by strong cords to all the others;
if one misses his footing all the others
preserve him from falling; each thus
adds his nerve and vigor and courage
to the other
God has created all men equal, but
man has introduced enormous inequal
tiles. There should be no castles or
classes in society more than in the in
dividual family. The grief of one per-
son should be the sorrow of all: the
shame of one person, the disgrace of
all; the honor of one person, the just
pride of all. II is the mission of Christ
to estabhcii these true conditions and
to correct the monstrous wrongs of So
ciety, and all of these evils will be
corrected as we that are strong ac-
cept the obligation that we ought to
bear the infrmities of the weak
IF there would be equality. there
must also be a limit to harmful con-
sumption. Any consumption which is.