No, my friends, we may not so despair, we cannot if we would. That old prophecy, however long delayed, still finds an involuntary echo in our souls. And now, in this hope of a true and brotherly society, its fulfilment seems at hand. Say it is enthusiasm, say it is a mistake, say it is irreligion, if you will, and still I reply that the time is not distant. It is in the combined order, where men are held together by inward laws only, and not by outward constraint and outward necessities, that the kingdom of G.o.d is to come down and possess the earth.
It is in a.s.sociation, then, that the promise of Christianity is to be fulfilled--fulfilled by making the incarnation of the great law of love an actual and universal fact. Hitherto Christianity has been in the world a spirit pining and dying for want of a body. She has wandered up and down on the earth, possessing here and there an individual, but never obtaining her birthright, which is the whole of humanity, never able to exercise her prerogative, which is to bathe the earth in the aroma of harmony and peace. The forms of selfish and egoistical society, the forms of society here in Boston, and throughout the civilized world, are not of Christianity, but of the primeval curse, which they perpetuate. Into them Christianity cannot fully enter, any more than light can dwell in the midst of darkness.
The relations which Christianity seeks to establish between man and man, are indicated in these words, "Love one another." But how is this possible in a compet.i.tive society, where the interests of all are hostile? How can vital and true love operate between me and my neighbor, when his misfortune is my advantage, and my loss is his gain?
What does it avail that on Sundays the better spirit is feebly awakened; what does it avail that then I aspire and long to love all men, if on the other six days in the week my hand is of necessity set against them all?
Do you tell me that if my love is deep and pure enough, it will modify my whole life, and of itself, without hindrance from circ.u.mstances, appear perfectly in all my actions and relations? This is the old heresy, this is the error of the individualism and egoism which has hindered us so long. Let us meet it fully and fairly.
In all results there are two elements, namely, that which acts and that which is acted upon. The character of the individual never does and never can form his circ.u.mstances, but can only modify them. No man is an artist or a poet by virtue of inward genius alone. No matter how great his gifts, unless he find a congenial atmosphere and favorable conditions, his high office is not fulfilled. Precisely so is it with that sacred energy which we call love. It can act entirely and sincerely only in circ.u.mstances that harmonize and correspond with itself. In order to carry Christianity into my daily life, the forms of my daily life, all my relations to others, my household and my business, must be in harmony with it.
If these forms are contrary to Christianity, the first thing for me, as a Christian, to do, is to change them, to put them off, to be free from them at whatever cost. If I am indeed filled and impelled by that divine injunction, "Love one another," I cannot rest, I shall give myself no peace, until it be possible for me to do so, not in my inward spirit only, but in all my outward actions also. But how is this to be done? How are the ultimate forms of my life to be brought into correspondence with its central impulse? Plainly not by any spontaneous and unconscious power, but by intellectual inquiry and voluntary action. _Inspiration can discharge its whole mission only by the aid of science._
Besides, the end of Christianity is not the salvation of individuals, but the transfiguration of humanity; it cannot be accomplished in you and me, but only in the whole race. It promises the kingdom of peace and love, not to a few solitary souls, but to man. He is indeed a servant of Christianity, who has learned its universal purpose and labors therefor; who does not so much seek to be saved himself, as to bring salvation to all the world, who sees that his own private life and development are forever involved in the universal progress. He is ignorant of the true idea of Christianity, who has not understood that it demands not so much that one should be careful about his own spiritual perfection, that he should watch himself, and by private remorse and tears seek a far-off heaven, as by a generous self-forgetfulness and self-devotion, seek to build up the kingdom of peace and love among men, and make heaven a reality here, and not the hope only of a distant future and a different sphere of existence.
It is time, my friends, that this long divorce between the natural and spiritual worlds should be broken off, and that we should know that even now we may breathe the celestial ether, and have our common life transformed and illumined by infinite spiritual glories.
We have said that the end of Christianity is not the salvation of individuals; but do not let it be thought that we overlook the worth of individual character. For heroism and holiness we have an unspeakable reverence. The saints and poets and sages of all time are the choicest gifts of G.o.d. The virtue, the beauty and the devotion that now shine in the lives of private men and women, still a.s.sure us that all is not and cannot be a failure. The ultimate result of the life of humanity will doubtless be found in symmetrical and harmonious individuals; and in a perfect Christianity we shall look to see an angelic love radiant from every face. But while there is disease and imperfection in any part of the human body, there cannot be perfect health in any other part; just so while there is disease and imperfection in humanity, of which the human body is an image, there cannot be perfect health in any individual. Perfect men and women are possible only in a perfect society.
Finally, the sum of our remarks on the relation of a.s.sociation to Christianity, is briefly this: a.s.sociation fulfils the promise of Christianity; it shows the means whereby peace on earth and goodwill among men are to be realized. It harmonizes the forms and relations of society with the spirit of Christianity; in a word, it makes them forms and relations of brotherly love, and not of selfishness and discord, and thereby renders possible the accomplishment of the final aim of Christianity, which is the salvation and spiritual life of universal humanity.
THE TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS, FROM THE HARBINGER, BY WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING.
A prophecy in the spirit of this age announces that a new era in humanity is opening, and sounds forth more fully than ever before the venerable yet new gospel, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Doubtless, in all generations, the seers and the seekers--who are usually one and the same--have felt that their times were the culminating points of history, the mountain of vision, the border overlooking the promised land. Doubtless, the great of all nations and ages have felt that they were a peculiar people, called to a peculiar work, inspired and led by divine guidance to sublime ends. No age, no people, have wholly wanted such signs of providential commission.
And doubtless, too, the works, bravely attempted from such high promptings, have always in actual results seemed fruitless. Yes!
compared with his vision, the gains of the martyr"s labors seem tantalizing--a dropping shower upon the droughty earth. Always the ideal entering the soul of man, like a G.o.d descending to the embrace of a mortal, seems to engender a son but half divine. Yet this disappointment is a delusion of the moment.
Quite opposite are the facts. No man yet upon earth ever boldly aspired, and faithfully obeyed his clear convictions of good without transmitting through his race an all but omnipotent energy. Winds waft, streams scatter, birds of the air carry in their beaks, each seed that drops in ripeness from the tree of life. The failures of man have been from infidelity to his faith. Infinitely grander consequences than the doer could estimate, have followed every executed purpose of heroism and humanity and holy hope. Each age has been right in feeling that its mission was all-important. Each prophet has chanted, as if for very life, his warning and cheering, for G.o.d spoke through him in the language of his land and era.
The Infinite Being, who through generation upon generation, progressively incarnates himself in the human race, and so manifests his glory upon earth, calls this age to its heavenly mission, and speaks through it with an eloquent longing, that cannot be uttered, his welcome and promise. The word whispers through the nations: "Man made One; a World at Peace; Humanity, the Earth round." At the nativity of this great hope, of this present Immanuel, the angels of our highest aspirations bend from their cloudy thrones,--
"Harping in loud and solemn choir, With unexpressive notes, to Heaven"s newborn heir."
And the burden of the song that interprets their symphony is this:--
"Justice and Truth again Shall down return to men.
Orb"d in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing, Mercy will sit between, Throned in celestial sheen, With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering, And Heaven, as at some festival, Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall."
The hope of universal unity has been born, cradled in the rude manger of labor; nurtured by charity, ever virgin; worshipped by shepherds, guarding humble, humane thoughts, like flocks in the fold of their hearts; it has sat with the doctors in the temple, unsullied by timidity and prudence, and has astonished them at its profound doctrine of unbounded love; it has grown in favor with G.o.d and man, and answered to its half doubting, half hoping parents of the church and state, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father"s business?" and now is it driven away into the wilderness of poverty and hard toil, of loneliness and mortification, to be tempted of the devil.
Let us first consider awhile these temptations; then review the forty days" meditation upon the divine mission of this principle of perfect love; and so be ready to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
To the scattered band who, few and weak, are here and there withdrawn from the thoroughfares of life, to commune together and to cooperate in the grand movement of the age, the world comes in with scarce dissembled sneer, and ironically says, "_If_ a.s.sociation is really this Messiah to the ages, this pledge of universal prosperity, of overflowing wealth, then let it make these barren fields into gardens, these thick growing woods into palaces, these stones into bread."
And all the while the shrewd, the rosy, sleek and full-fed world, with t.i.tle deeds in pocket and scrip and stock in hand, thinks of its factories on rapid streams; its warehouses of three thousand dollars"
rent; its dividends at seven per cent half yearly; its iron-limbed and tireless steeds, hurrying with the spoils of myriads of acres; its carpeted, curtained, glowing, shining, pictured, sculptured, perfumed homes. The victorious world, so confident and easy and jocular, so beautiful in its own right, so wrapped about in kingly purple--how strangely is it metamorphosed to the eyes of the child of G.o.d! Its factories change into brothels; its rents to distress warrants; its railroads to mighty fetters, binding industry in an inextricable net of feudalism; from under the showy robes of its success, flutter the unseemly rags of an ever-growing beggary; from garret and cellar of its luxurious habitations, stare out the gaunt forms of haggard want; the lash of the jailer, the gleam of swords, the glitter of bayonets, are its garters and stars of n.o.bility.
If a.s.sociation has been elated by the thought of its miraculous power, or meditated to use it for selfish ends, it deserves the taunt of the yet more selfish world. And it is reason for great rejoicing, that the difficulties of transition from the isolated to the harmonic mode of life are so great. G.o.d thus _sifts_ his people. None are worthy to enter upon this work who are not _dusted_. We need to hunger. We need to feel dependence, in order that we may judge compet.i.tion in contrast.
We need to know actually how pinching is necessity; how deep it ploughs its furrows into brow and brain; how tight it knots up the muscles and cramps back and limbs, by exhausting toil.
a.s.sociation must be in its very essence disinterested; holding power as something given from above, to be used not for self alone, or chiefly, but for universal good; consecrating itself as a servant. And its answer to the boasting world is, "Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of G.o.d." We are learning, in these trial times, the beauty of reciprocation, the wealth of sharing all; we are studying experimentally the law of cooperation; we are estimating the value of justice by its practical application; above all, are we opening our hearts to the glad conviction that it is possible, ay, easy, for men to grow more kindly by adversity, and to love each other better for each other"s wants.
The word which is proceeding out of the mouth of G.o.d to a.s.sociationists now, to all the true-hearted and brave and devoted and hopeful of them is, "Union with fellow beings by usefulness is the very life of life."
Let patience have its perfect work. Let no man be so mean as to emphasize the "If thou be," etc. Let no doubt enter from present humiliation. a.s.sociation is the divine form of humanity. So ends in piety the first temptation.
Then the Satan of selfishness takes counsel of his cunning, and subtly states a new suggestion. If a.s.sociation is this glorious truth to renovate the nations, then glorious should be its announcement; loud, wide, startling, should be its call; sudden, as from the skies, its appearing. Here on the pinnacle of the temple of peace (or of Salem), shalt thou stand, and cast thyself down among the mult.i.tudes like an angel. Some splendid boldness should introduce thy reign. Take no heed of care and caution; count not the cost; risk all in a providential career. Surely thou shalt be guided safe. G.o.d"s angels will bear thee up, that thou dash not thy foot against a stone.
O bragging, advertising, placarding, circular-scattering, auctioneering, humbuging world! And you would thus prove a.s.sociation to be also a windbag and a lie! Just in so far as a.s.sociation has been rash and precipitate, and swollen with promises and dizzy in its towering pretensions, it has been truly carried to the pinnacle.
The child of G.o.d waits for opportunities. There will be occasions soon enough for manifestation. According to the hour is the duty; and the duty now is performance. Calm, wise, large and balanced plans, discriminate selection of persons, discreet preparations of industry, a sober estimate of the greatness of the undertaking, and a summoning of all energies to its fulfilment, is the vocation just now of a.s.sociation. Enough for the day it is, honestly, honorably, humanely, to lay the foundation in the earth unseen for the glorious fabric which the future shall rear in light.
In so far as the inculcation of principles, the instruction of the national mind, the calling out of enthusiasm and courage, of hope and heroism, demand publicity, of course a.s.sociation must not be backward.
It must no more be behind than before the time. But the special call to-day is, in practical endeavor to prepare the way for a future gospel preaching. We need complete science, clear understanding, solid judgment. We need to solve innumerable problems, to comprehend principles exactly by their detailed development in practice. We need inward concentration, to gain singleness and unity of purpose.
"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy G.o.d," either by antic.i.p.ation or by tardiness. If a.s.sociation is the salvation of mankind, there will be time enough to let mankind know it. Meanwhile, let us give ourselves wholly up to G.o.d, to be filled with his love, inspired with his wisdom, strengthened with his might, and so made ready for the sublime work of manifesting man made one in a perfect society. We will humbly wait the opening of opportunities by Providence. And so ends the second temptation in patience.
Thus baffled twice, the Prince of this world gathers up his routed forces for the final charge:--
"Surely the power of united effect is irresistible. What has it not already accomplished?--tunnelling mountains, bridging oceans with boats, wringing from the gnomes of the mines their wealth long buried in sparry palaces of salt and diamond, of gold and silver,--preparing to sever the bond that unites twin continents, summoning storms and staying them, making the desert yield an hundred fold, using the lightning for post boy, giving iron weavers coal for bread and fire for drink, that they may spin garments for the nations,--prodigious power of combined effort, what may it not do!
"We will appeal to the rich and mighty. We will show them how they can multiply their means seventy times seven. We will unite the race in one grand effort of prolific production and unlimited voluptuousness. We will be kings upon earth. All these things that thou seest from this high mountain of exceeding enterprise, all these kingdoms and their glory shall be thine, if thou wilt but give thyself up, O a.s.sociation!
body, soul, spirit, to the worship of worldly power and splendor and enjoyment."
Ah, Satan! that was thy wiliest web. What! no poor, all n.o.bles, all fat, all glittering in court raiment, all surfeited with sweets, all bathing in Johannisberg and champagne, all tended by houries, all pillowed on orange-scented beds, and covered with gauze or eider down, according to the season? Charming Satan! Selfishness made universal will be selfishness no more. Thou art an angel of light!
Just in so far as a.s.sociation, using the tact of worldly training, has in its plannings and pleadings, lowered itself to exaltation of the outward, by merging the inward, it has permitted the magic of sin to dazzle its vision.
It is indeed a splendid prospect, this of a world reclaimed, of overflowing plenty. And it shall be realized. Perfect beauty shall one day enwreath this earth with its cl.u.s.tering vines. The long folded petals of this little planet flower on the tree of the sun, shall open and distil sweetness; its gorgeous fruit of consummate joy shall swell and ripen. Far more than all the voluptuaries of all ages have dreamed of shall exist, heightened by a purity they could not conceive of.
Yes! O devil, the kingdoms and the glory of them are there before us.
But know this--they do not belong unto thee to give. Thou poor devil, always mocked and always mocking. Have not six thousand years taught thee yet, that self-love is always a suicide? Thou wilt give the kingdoms of the world as thou always hast, first by stealing them for thy slaves, and then stealing them from thy slaves? No! thou forlorn devil, thy rule is ended, thy sceptre snapped into shivers; henceforth thou art so wholly accursed, that G.o.d and man will heartily forgive thee, whenever thou canst forgive thyself.
"_Duty of a.s.sociationists to the Cause," by Horace Greeley. From the Harbinger of Oct. 25, 1845._
Through the last four or five years, the doctrine of a.s.sociation has been widely disseminated through the country. The labors of its ardent advocates, few but faithful, have been ably seconded by some portion of the press, and both have been immensely aided by the course of events.
The great themes of political discussion in our day--the tariff and the currency--lead directly to a consideration of the conditions of labor, of the relations between producers and products, of mutual rights and respective interests of employers and employed. The existence of extreme dest.i.tution and consequent misery in the midst of general prosperity and plenty, of willing hands vainly seeking employment amid unsurpa.s.sed industrial activity and thrift, cannot have escaped attention. The disasters resulting from industrial anarchy, from "strikes" of operatives for higher wages or fewer hours of labor, the stoppage of work by combinations if not by outright violence, arrest general attention.
Truly the remedy for these errors and evils has yet been perceived and embraced by comparatively few, but the conviction that the present organization of industry cannot be advantageously maintained, and some radical change is at hand, must have already forced itself upon very many intelligent and candid minds. The readjustment of the relations of capital and labor on a basis of harmony and mutual advantage, is manifestly the great problem of the age. But that a change is at hand is evident: the practical question regards not its probability or certainty, but its character.
The more intelligent and wealthy cla.s.s have it in their power so to mould this change as to render it peaceful, gradual and universally beneficent; or they can turn a deaf ear to the calls of humanity, and let the demagogue, the envious, the selfishly discontented, pervert it into an engine of convulsion, destruction and desolation. As in the days of King John, the barons laid the foundations of English political liberty, so in our day the intellectual and philanthropic may guide the car of progress, and in establishing industrial harmony may secure to all but the stubbornly vicious or incurably afflicted, true independence and ample means of subsistence and development; or they can indolently leave all to the benighted and malignant, and see reproduced a war of cla.s.ses, different indeed in its weapons and its physical aspects, but not different in its essential character from the ravages of France by the _Jacquerie_ or the butcheries of the reign of terror.
In this crisis of events, with an industrial war plainly threatened and partially commenced, the doctrine of a.s.sociation appears as a mediator and reconciler. Its bow of promise shines broadly in the lurid sky; it irradiates the murky visage of the gathering, muttering tempest. It awakens a hope, and the only well grounded hope, of averting the miseries of an insane struggle between those who ought to be the closest allies, to see which can the more injure the other. Need I urge that in this crisis the friends of a.s.sociation ought to be most earnest and untiring in the promulgation and advocacy of their faith; that they ought to improve the opportunities which are daily presented of commending the truth to others whose minds are but newly prepared to receive it? What a.s.sociationist so dull that he cannot improve every "strike," every collision respecting the hours or the wages of labor, to the advancement of the good cause?
To do this with effect, we must be, in the true sense of an abused term, catholic. We must not suffer a.s.sociation to be merged in mere partisanship for any cla.s.s or calling, or blind hostility to any abuse or oppression. We are not the champions of the slave or the hired servant, the factory girl or the housemaid, the seamstress or the washerwoman. We are not the advocates merely of labor against capital, of the employers as opposed to the employed. Ours is the cause of all cla.s.ses and vocations, and our success is the triumph of all. We are in danger of becoming partial and one-sided; let us take special care to overcome it.
But it is not enough that we give our testimony in behalf of this benign truth; it behooves us to be doers of the work as well as hearers and commenders. Friends of a.s.sociation! scattered over the face of our wide country! do you realize this? Do you feel that your works ought to justify and fortify your words? We are surrounded by a world full of want, vice and misery, which a.s.sociation realized would greatly modify and ultimately cure. But those who know nothing of this truth will never cause it to be realized; it would be absurd to expect anything of the kind. The work must be accomplished by us, and by those whom our acts rather than words shall win over to a knowledge of the truth. Is not the work of sufficient importance to incite you to embark heartily in its furtherance?