The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-10-10

ity on the people and the times with
which they cal. The course OF raoi-
calism is as crooked as the record O.
a seismograph. its lines rising n
falling becoming faint or sharply de-
fined, but always advancing across
the tape. What one pioneer accom-
plishes another apparently unooeS:
and then time, with the diplomacy oi
exeTience. fuses the work or botn ihto
a coherent expression.
It established the precedent whicn
has ruled history, that the ideal de-
mocracv of the tribes of Israel. with
its communistic freedom, n It's IN
Of worldly authority,
should have run, in time. upcel the
path Of empire. Saul and DAVID, the
glory that was Solomon's. the tyran-
ny of the priestly hierarchy. were the
natural reactions from a new princl-
pie in government and a ne" lhoe-
pendence of spirit.
1t was inevitable that this AeW
force should ebb, only to flow again.
The example had been set. The leaV-
en- was working. Through the inter-
minable ages. the new ideal OF gov
eminent under religion degenerated
until religion was the mask for mis-
government. There were waves OF
tyranny under new names. But ever,
as the crisis arose, rose the radical to
shape it. The world had learned the
lesson of change.
The Radicalism of Christ.
Centuries after Moses, when all the
proud structure of his dogmatism
had crumbled, there came a new
sort Of radical-the radical of the
spirit-in the person Of the Christ.
There was a new and shining idea,
strange and beautiful, and revolution
airy. Where the long line Of war
rinvc and statesman had Djtcha6 their
appeal on the passions. had reused
and remade empires. He LAID
the foundations for a universal
change in the human heart.
We associate radicalism with strife;
its aim, so far as it's instructive en-
thusiasm may be said to hav an
aim, is peace. h wars that the
constructive radicalism engenders are
incidents to it's purpose, and not the
subject Of that purpose. Christ and
His teachings-the purest express
sion Of radicaIism-haVe the records
of wars innumerable and lives I'M
n as a means to the SLOW re-
generation they are working. But
behind and beyond all the warped
application Of the great principle he
.announced-nuch as the doctrine OF
peace has been turned to tha end of
d%issension; sadly rs the inspiration
of universal charity has been made
the CLOAK for prescription and per-
secution-it was the radicalism Of
human justice. which is human love,
that has resulted in the marvellous
brief era of the gentle Nazarene.
Religion, indeed, was for cen
turtles the field in which the genius
of the radical found its best express
sion. Mankind needed the mystical
as a means to thought, as a stimu-
liant to ambition and a balance wheel
to It was inevitable that to
should have been added the reaction
airy abuses with which So-called
conservatism" is always armed. Let
there be progress. let the r~ed-blooded
power of Independent thinking tear
off the mask and expose the sham of
privilege. and the expedient is al
ways an apparent acQuieScence COM
plicated with an attempt to twist the
reform to the maintenance Of the
condition it was launched to destroy.
1t is this constant battle against
freedom, this adroit subterfuge Of es-
p~erience, this undying belief in the
ignorance of the masses, that makes
the record Of progress trail its way
through history in sharply rising n
slowly falling lines. The BOON Of the
Christian religion, sanctihed with
faith to martyrdom, came by natural
process to the intOlerabIe state where
"a Luther was needed. AS happens
always in the strange Providence
that rules a harried world, the Luther
appeared
Luther aud the Reformation.
The waves Set in motion by the
Reformation have not yet ceased to
pulsate. A purely moral protest with
in the established church, Luther's
war OF epistles led finally to the doc
trine of the real communion of true
believers 1t taught and enforced the
freedom of a Christian man." 1t en-
comprised, finally, in it's political and
social analogy to a spiritual revolu-
ton. the belief. in a king-ridGen age.
in the sovereignty and authority of the
people. The popular communion led
directly TO the supremacy Of the popu-
lar sill
luther words at the Diet 81
Worms: Here ] stand; | cannot do
OF herwiSe. God helm me- Amen,,,