PRESENTED m^ PLAIN TALK PSALM AND PARABLE ^- First Edition. Demy 8vo, pp. i88. April 1899. LONDON : BROTHERHOOD PUBLISHING COMPANY. PLAIN TALK IN PSALM ^ PARABLE BY ERNEST CROSBY BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD ^ COMPANY 1899 p. Author. (Pcrfon). tOF'02 ^ Dedication ia# TTA/L, Tolstoy^ bold, archaic shape. Rude pattern of the man to be, From ^neath whose rugged traits escape Hints of a manhood fair and free. I read a meaning in your face, A message wafted from above, Prophetic of an egtial race Fused into one by robust love. Like some quaint statue long concealed, Deep buried in Mycena's mart, Wherein we clearly see revealed The promise of Hellenic art. So stand you ; while aloof and proud. The world that scribbles, prates, and frets Seems but a simpering, futile crowd Of Dresden china s tat tie ties. Like John the Baptist, once more scan The signs that mark the dawn of day. Forerunner of the Perfect Man, Make straight His path, prepare the way. The desert too is your abode, Your garb and fare of little worth ; Thus ever has the Spirit showed The coming reign of heaven on earth. Dedication Not in kings' houses may we greet The prophets whom the world shall bless. To lay my verses at your feet I seek you in the wilderness. Contents Fiat Lux Friar and the Devil, The After the Procession All Ye that Labour America Libera At the Solicitor's . Ball-Match, The Be Still Beware Blossoms Bonds of Freedom, The Choir Practice Chorus for the European "Concert" of 1897, A Competition . Contrasts in Black and White Dead Sin, The Dear Old England Death . Debit and Credit Dedication Divus Augustus Do YOU Shrink Doubt . Education Egyptians, The Election of 1896, The Everlasting Habitations Experiment, The 114 147 172 145 92 104 105 125 167 143 78 176 14 40 169 158 44 5 69 95 84 19 30 79 136 134 II 116 Contents Garrison. William Lloyd Go On . Good and Evil Good Job for the Flag, I Great Joy, The Great Mystery, The Hereafter in Far Distant Years High Mass Higher Trigonometry, The His Message . ■ . Hypocrites and Hypocrites In the Breakers Initiation It's None of our Affair Kingdom of God, The Ladder of Truth, The Lex Talionis . Life's Tragedy Lighthouse, The Living Answer, The Love Love's Blindness Magnets Man Master, The . Medice, Cura Te Ipsum MORITURI SALUTAMUS Mother Nature Narrow Path, The Nation's Life, The New Commandment, The New Creation, The New Envoys, The New Freedom, The New York at 99° in the Shade 8 140 57 134 156 127 96 157 177 139 29 43 160 lOI 38 168 103 108 113 173 162 94 176 179 90 144 22 16 16S 80 17 III 133 49 58 151 Contents PAGE Not I . , , , . iq6 Not the Lord . . 33 Now I Understand . • • . 38 Old, Old Quest, The . 131 On the Rejection of THE General Arbitration Treaty of 1897 . . . 75 Orbits . . . 94 Our Charities • • 20 Politics . . . 56 Postscript . . . 188 Prison, The . . . . 65 Prophet, Priest, and King . ., 89 Prophets . 61 Psalm for the Poor, A • 34 Rabboni ut Videamus 164 Reformer, The . . 181 Regiment, The . . 109 Revolt . . . 64 Ring Out, Ye Bells . • 123 Sapphics . . 137 Search, The . . . 137 Seed, The . lOI Self-Denial . . 104 Shine like the Sun . , 120 Shipwreck, The . 46 Somewhere . . 15S Song of the New Freedom . . 154 State, The . , . 1S2 State-House, The • • . (>! Talium est enim Regnum Coelorum . 129 To the Russian People . . 74 Truth . . • . 13 Truth Again . • 9 • . 103 Contents Vision of the Pioneers, The Waiting Walk in the Woods, A Way and the End, The Wealth of St. Francis, The White Soul, The Whither and Whence Wise and Foolish Seeds, The Workers to the Landlords, The Ye Pharisees . PAGE i66 138 86 100 52 135 121 119 148 25 10 Fiat Lux ne^ WHO are we that we challenge society to its face? Is society irresistible? So are we in our place irresistible ; The infinite forces of nature work through us ; The narrow past flows on to the broad future through us ; If we but strive to keep abreast of God's will, God acts through us. Who then has a higher right than ours to mould the world that is to be? II But we would not lift a finger against your old-time contrivances ; We lift no finger and we persuade others as well to lay aside their weapons. We dedicate the sabre and musket to a shelf in the museum above the rack and thumbscrew, And we know that ere long the ballot-box and policeman's club will follow them. II Fiat Lux You could conquer us if we relied on armed bat- talions or mere majorities, But we know how to fight the owls and bats of social superstition ; We have no use for guns ; He that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword ; We only turn on the light of truth, and all the dismal hosts flee blindly before us ; We kindle the fire of love, and all are consumed. Ill Gone, soon will be gone, the sham honesty which lives on others' labour; Gone the sham authority which rests upon violence ; Gone the sham respectability which is propped up by privilege ; Gone the sham wealth which is drawn from others' poverty ; Gone the sham religion which covers the other shams with its threadbare cloak of hypocrisy. The night is far spent, the day is at hand ; Already the nocturnal birds and beasts are slinking into the darker corners. Soon the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in His wings : Thank God that even through us His rays may be dimly refracted ! 12 Truth Truth '^ OUR highest truths are but half-truths. Think not to settle down for ever in any truth. Make use of it as a tent in which to pass a summer night, but build no house of it, or it will be your tomb.^ When you find the old truth irksome and confining, When you first have an inkling of its insufficiency, and begin to descry a dim counter-truth looming up beyond, Then weep not, but give thanks. It is the Lord's voice, whispering, " Take up thy bed and walk." II The truth is one with the way and the life ; It is the climbing, zigzag road which we must travel ; It is the irrepressible growth which we must experi- ence. Hail the new truth as the old truth raised from the dead ; Hail it, but forget not that it too will prove to be a half-truth ; For sooner or later we shall have to dismiss it also at another and loftier stage of our journey. Contrasts in Black and White Contrasts in Black and White la^ THIS is a mad world. The great church is crowded The ancient torn battle-flags are hung high on the walls, where the dusty red and yellow rays from the stained windows strike them. The monuments of generals who died fighting look down at the multitude, among whom we see here and there uniformed soldiers from the garrison. And the priest drones : " But I say unto you, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you ; and whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Yet no one smiles — but the devil. II This IS a mad world. In the congregation are great land - owners and millionaires, statesmen and magistrates. They sit content, and the rest admire them and would be as they are. And now the organ peals forth, and the choir sings gloriously : 14 Contrasts in Black and White " He hath put down, He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and the rich, the rich, He hath sent empty away." And once more the priest reads : " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God " ; and again, " Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you." Yet no one smiles — but the devil. / This is a mad world. The great and learned judge is on the bench. The throng is silent as the clerk administers the solemn oath to the witnesses. The witness swears and kisses the Book ; And in the Book is written, " Swear not at all," and " Judge not that ye be not judged." Yet no one smiles — but the devil. ^' IV This is a mad world. The heroes have met together to proclaim liberty. They have just signed the great charter which declares that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with IS Morituri Salutamus the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Many of these men have slaves on their plantations at home, and the slave-trade is prospering. \^et no one smiles — but the devil. V This is a mad world. For many long years the foreign slave-trade will go on, while men shout " freedom." For many years longer men will buy and sell their fellows, and still shout " freedom." And after the word " slave " has been abolished, still for many long years will men oppress their fellows and rob them of an equal chance to live, and still shout " freedom." Yet no one smiles — but the devil. Morituri Salutamus^ lai^ I HAIL, Custom, we, about to die, salute thee ! Behold us, thy slaves and prisoners, Bound and swathed in ponderous frock-coats and satin linings, in new-creased trousers, in ^ The reader will note here and elsewhere the indebtedness of the author to Edward Carpenter's admirable Essays. i6 Morituri Salutamus starched cambric shirts and silken under- clothing ; Shackled in stiff collars and wristbands, in gold chains and finger-rings ; Helpless in patent leather boots, tight-fitting gloves, and hard-rimmed top-hats ; Decorated, like victims for the sacrifice, with flowers in button-hole, and rich scarves and jewelled scarf-pins ; Forced to talk and to walk, to get up and sit down thus and so; Made to eat and drink all the unwholesome confec- tions and concoctions of East and West ; Shut out from the corn-field and market-garden and workshop, where men really live; Doomed to lifelong impotence by a thousand irre- vocable laws ; All man's work done for us whether we will or no ; Forbidden to clean our own boots or put on our own overcoats ; Guarded by despotic butlers and valets and house- maids ; Looking out of our windows, hopelessly bored, at the genuine life going by in which we may not share ; Yawning listlessly in stifling rooms ; Weighed down with aimless bric-a-brac and rugs, with redundant easy-chairs, picture frames, 2 17 Morituri Salutamus and upholstery, with all sorts of dust-gather- ing rubbish ; Our women even more deeply sunk in the glittering slough than ourselves ; Nerves snapping, digestion spoiled, temper irretriev- ably lost, soul unheard from this many a long year ! II Hail, Custom, we, about to die, salute thee ! About to die ? Nay, we are dead already ; These splendid halls are our sepulchre. All here is death, and the life is make-believe ; These are but pictures of life traced on the walls for the eye-sockets of mummies to stare at in the eternal dark. We are bound hand and foot, and laid in a gilded sarcophagus ; We strain at ankle and knee, at wrist and elbow, but in vain ; We would move our lips, but our tongue cleaves to the roof of our mouth. Death, death, death ; there is a smell of frankincense and spices, but under it all we are rotting slowly away. Oh for a breath of mountain air, an hour of God- given out-door toil ! Oh for a voice of command from heaven, crying, " Lazarus, come forth ! " i8 Education Education ''^ii^ HERE are two educated men. The one has a smattering of Latin and Greek ; The other knows the speech and habits of horses and cattle, and gives them their food in due season. The one is acquainted with the roots of nouns and verbs ; The other can tell you how to plant and dig potatoes and carrots and turnips. The one drums by the hour on the piano, making it a terror to the neighbourhood ; The other is an expert at the reaper and binder, which fills the world with good cheer. The one knows or has forgotten the higher trigo- nometry and the differential calculus ; The other can calculate the bushels of rye standing in his field and the number of barrels to buy for the apples on the trees in his orchard. The one understands the chemical affinities of various poisonous acids and alkalies ; The other can make a savoury soup or a delectable pudding. The one sketches a landscape indifferently ; 19 Our Charities The other can shingle his roof and build a shed for himself in workman-like manner. The one has heard of Plato and Aristotle and Kant and Comte, but knows precious little about them ; The other has never been troubled by such know- ledge, but he will learn the first and last word of philosophy, " to love," far quicker, I warrant you, than his college-bred neighbour. For still is it true that God hath hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Such are the two educations : Which is the higher and which the lower? Our Charities ^^i^ YE purveyors of charities ! ye members of society's ambulance corps ! Are the wounded and disabled too many for you ? Is the battle of life taxing your resources beyond your strength ? Do you cry for more money, more asylums, more societies ? Stay for a moment, long enough to think, to break the truth to yourselves, and then to announce it to the world. 20 Our Charities Be frank, and admit that your task is rapidly out- stripping your ability. Turn to your rich supporters, and tell them that they are creating paupers too fast for their gifts to catch up with them ; That annual subscriptions and soup-tickets and Sunday church - going are of no use except to quiet consciences which ought to be goaded ; / That all their Societies for the Prevention of Charity — of real personal charity — are deferring the coming of the kingdom of God ; That the only way to stop poverty is to stop manufacturing it by privilege and covetous- ness; That the only way to relieve the ambulance corps is to order a halt in the battle. II Ye purveyors of alms ! Acknowledge once for all the bankruptcy of Organ- ised Charity. You know that you are insolvent ; that you cannot meet the demands made upon you ; That many an honest unemployed man asks you for work in vain, and that his just claim goes to protest. At least you can do one thing with him: 21 Medice, Cura Te Ipsum Make him a living epistle, read of all men ; Bring his existence home to your distant and deaf subscribers ; Do not bury him in annual reports and abstract statistics ; Give room in your hearts to the indignation that you ought to feel, And give vent to it boldly in the face of those vi^ho pay your stipends. You cannot do better than quote Isaiah to them : " Thus saith the Lord, Away with your new moons and sabbaths and call- ing of assemblies. The spoil of the poor is in your houses. What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of Hosts." Medice, Cura Te Ipsum la^ PITY our dilettante literary men and artists, Cut off from their base of supplies, the common people. Starving, as it were, in a foreign land ; Uttering trim futilities for each other's edification, Their prophetic function all forgotten. 22 Medice, Cura Te Ipsum Such were not the men of old — Sophocles and Euripides, when all Athens watched from sunrise to sunset the destiny of CEdipus or Orestes ; And Cimabue, when the populace of Florence bore his Madonna of the dawn in triumph from his studio to the altar. Such were not the great musical composers of our own time, for they too spake for the masses ; And to-day, where German workmen meet together, you may hear sung the noblest chorals, And the forlornest Italian village can appreciate Verdi and Mascagni. The artist must embrace his lowliest fellow-man ; in vain will he seek for inspiration elsewhere. The bard and the painter should be the head and right arm of the people ; What can we expect from Art when we lop these from the trunk ? II Pity our drawing-room reformers. Isolated as they too are from the nation's life — Physicians trying to cure the body politic of bribery and corruption. But not probing deep enough to know that the root of both is the haste to get rich ; 23 Medice, Cura Te Ipsum Tainted themselves unconsciously by the same contagion, Blind to their own symptoms — speculation, mono- poly, and caste ; Ignorant that the real foe is not Tammany but Mammony. There are the good women, too, who long to vitalise our common schools, And yet overlook the obvious first step — to send their own children to them. And all those innumerable " mote " societies, bent on making other people behave themselves, But failing to see that one honest association for the eradication of beams could outstrip them all in usefulness. Physician, heal thyself. Reformers, feel the vulgar blood of humanity flow in your veins ; it is there, if you but knew it. Make yourselves one with the people, and they will be whole. You can only draw health and strength from the heart of the nation ; What are we to expect of your reforms if you respond not to its pulse-beat ? 24 Ye Pharisees Ye Pharisees '^flk YE Pharisees that rule the land In politics and trade ; Ye money kings, whose least command The world has long obeyed ; Ye portly millionaires, who choose To live in pious style. Whose bald heads punctuate the pews Far up the middle aisle ; Ye that suck ground-rents from the soil, Ye usurers of the banks. Who love to live on others' toil, And to the Lord give thanks ; Ye corporation lords, who mock The forms the law allows. And know the way to water stock With sweat of others' brows ; Ye priests, that utter lies serene To lull the like of these, And make the words of Jesus mean What you and Mammon please, 25 Ye Pharisees Go to the Sacred Book, and see The words to you addressed ; To you He saith not, " Come to Me, And I will give you rest." But rather, " Woe to you, O rich ' Ye blind that lead the blind Until ye stumble in the ditch Where perish human kind. " Ye hypocrites, that cannot read The signals of the times ; Who know not that the age of greed Is doomed, with all its crimes. " Go, tithe your mint and rue again, And keep your Sabbath day ; But justice, love of fellow-men, And mercy, where are they? " The orphan's and the widow's share Ye hasten to devour. What if ye bow your heads in prayer And mumble by the hour. " Ye do your alms that all may look And note the action fine ; High on the year's subscription book Your names are sure to shine. 26 Ye Pharisees " And when men meet for this and that, Ye love the upper seat ; For you, to see them lift their hat And stare at you is sweet. " Ye lawyers of the senate hall, And ye of bench and bar, The burthens of your statutes fall Where'er the poorest are. " Not with one finger will ye aid To ease your neighbour's task ; If rent and interest be paid, This, this is all ye ask. " The key of knowledge, lo, ye hide, Nor let your fellows know That love alone can turn the tide Which buries them in woe. " Behold the monuments ye build To them your fathers stoned ! And so the seers ye would have killed Ere long will be enthroned. " Fit sons of those who used to trade In flesh of ebon hue. Ye think that white and black were made To moil and toil for you. 27 Ye Pharisees " And them that would their country rid Of every kind of slave, Ye treat them as your fathers did, And slander those who save. " Ye whited sepulchres, that loom So stately to the eye, Down in the bottom of the tomb All filth and foulness lie. " And think ye then that such as ye God's reign on earth may view? The tramp and prostitute will be More welcome there than you." So speaks your Testament. Take heed. Ye that have ears to hear ; Accept this lesson as you read — Repent. God's reign is near. And now, while still your choice is free, Against your god rebel — Your god, respectability, The dullest fiend in hell. 22> His Message His Message I HE came with good tidings, it is true, But they were good tidings only to the poor. For us, who are content to be rich while our brethren suffer want, There was not one word of cheer in all His message. II " Come unto Me, and I will give you rest," was His cry, But He addressed it only to them that " labour and are heavy laden." To us, who have never done for a single day our share of the work of the world, There comes no such invitation. Ill But He had words for us also ; We too must hear Him speak, but from another standpoint. Let us take our proper place in the group of scorn- ful, self-satisfied scribes and Pharisees who stand aloof over against Him. From that post let us listen to His burning eloquence, And find a new and truer life and power in His language. 29 The Egyptians We can claim no more than this ; Neither may we take to ourselves His expressions of sympathy and love, Nor recline with our head upon His bosom, Until with Him we make ourselves equal with the least, And accept gladly the common suffering, the priva- tion, and the toil. The Egyptians WHAT does Moses think of the Egyptian folk as he treads the streets of Memphis and walks out into the great necropolis ? " O most religious of people, anxious for nought but the preparation of your bodies for the resur- rection. Building tombs that will astound the ages, Pyramids that rival the everlasting hills. Content to paint your marvellous pictures on the sepulchres' inner walls for the pleasure of the dead, A whole class devoted to embalming of bodies, pouring in the costliest spices, binding up 30 The Egyptians with the choicest linen, laying them in magni- ficently decorated and inlaid sarcophagi, Burying with them gold and silver and gems, and the most beautiful glass and pottery, Preserving the body that you may preserve the soul. The whole people crying out as one man, * What must I do to be saved ? ' The energies which other races turn towards the present absorbed by you in the all-engrossing life to be." II " And this religion of yours, how does it touch your hearts ? The workmen on your monuments and temples die like flies in the summer sun, and who cares? You set taskmasters over them to afflict them with burdens, and make them serve with rigour; You make their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field, forcing them to make their bricks without straw. Your gaze is so fixed on heaven that you cannot see the earth ; You are so bent on future happiness that you have no eyes for the misery you create about you ; Your faith is a mockery and your heaven will be a hell." 31 The Egyptians III And when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Moses, that he gave the law to the people, How he revolted from the narrow Egyptian creed ! How he directed their minds away from selfish care for salvation in the world to come, and turned them towards their duties oi to-day. " Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy strength, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment ; love ye therefore the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. And thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" And though he was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, yet not one word does he utter in all his five long books regarding the world to come, Lest the children of Israel should be enslaved by it as were the people of the Nile. And it was from this seed of Moses that sprang the flower of Galilee in due time, To make earth a garden and begin the kingdom of heaven here. 32 y Not the Lord Not the Lord I PRAISE ye the Lord, For He hath given to His poor a world stored with all riches : Stone in the mountain, brick in the field, timber in the forest to build them their houses; Wool and cotton to make them clothing ; Corn and fruit and every manner of plant for their food. Who hath shut them out from the fullest enjoyment of all these things which they themselves produce ? It is not God. Praise ye the Lord. II Praise ye the Lord, For He hath given to His poor brains, and eyes and ears of the best. So that they might know the beauty of the land- scape. So that they might acknowledge the sway of the old masters of art, And feel the thrill of the noblest music, And take to their bosom the greatest poets, And love their books as themselves. 3 33 A Psalm for the Poor Who hath shut them out from all this fruition ? It is not God. Praise ye the Lord. Ill Praise ye the Lord, For He hath given to His poor hearts to love their fellows, So that they might have the key to the kingdom of heaven. Who is it that taketh away the key and shutteth up the kingdom against them ? That neither goeth in himself nor suffereth them that are entering to go in ? It is not God. Praise ye the Lord, v-' A Psalm for the Poor THEY speak of brotherhood ; They say that we are all brethren ; That we have one Father in heaven, who is no respecter of persons and before whom we are all equal ; But their life is a lie. O Lord, how long ? 34 A Psalm for the Poor II They discourse of love ; They tell us how their hearts go out to us ; They point to their great charities, and who can deny the proofs of brick and mortar and hard red gold ? But their love is hate. O Lord, how long? Ill Their talk is of prayer ; They rejoice in dim light and low music and the subtle beauties of the Prayer- Book ; Tears come to their eyes and gentle tremors thrill their nerves ; But their prayer is a dream. O Lord, how long ? IV They bow down to the Christ; He is their dearly loved Lord and Master ; They listen to His gospel and make it their task to see that it shall be preached to all nations ; But He knows them not. O Lord, how long ? 35 A Psalm for the Poor V It was for us, His gospel ; He named it, " Good tidings to the poor " ; He gave it to us, their brothers, who cannot enter their homes, or else must eat at another table and steal up back-stairs to the garret. He never spoke to us of the stations to which we are called ; Hecalled all men to one station — not to be ministered unto, but to minister ; But their eyes, as they read, are holden. O Lord, how long? VI When they despise us they despise themselves, for are we not one ? When they separate themselves from us and measure their height from our baseness, do they not degrade themselves in us, and are they not traitors to our common humanity ? A house divided against itself cannot stand. Their high rank is high treason. O Lord, how long ? VII But lo, the Son of Man cometh ! Their best self bends down to each of them ; 36 A Psalm for the Poor The age-spirit of love breathes within them ; The Hght of truth flashes forth once more as the Hghtning that cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west ; Will it be rejected too of this generation ? O Lord, how long? VIII O ye that begin to see and hear, Love now, live now. The hour is coming and now is When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Away with the barriers, then ; clasp your brethren to your bosoms ; Let there be no hesitation, no compromise, no reser- vations, no misgivings. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house, Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. Have ye not talked long enough ? Will ye never live? O Lord, how long? 37 Now I understand / Now I understand '^if I TAKE my place in the lower classes. I renounce the title of gentleman because it has become intolerable to me. Dear Master, I understand now why you too took your place in the lower classes, And why you refused to be a gentleman. It's none of our Affair ^ WE'VE loosed ourselves from Calvin's chain No bigots blind are we ; The freedom of our heart and brain Is beautiful to see. No more are infants doomed, we trust, To burn in hottest hell ; For such a fate would be unjust, As anyone might tell. Of course they are condemned on earth To pine in wretched slums. But then, they'll have no end of mirth When heaven's kingdom comes. 38 It's none of our Affair And If meanwhile they die like flies From lack of food and air, As you may readily surmise, It's none of our affair. The dogma of election, too, Is more absurd than this ; God for no arbitrary few Reserves eternal bliss. Of course, a few of us on earth Inherit all the plums. But we shall lose our rights of birth When heaven's kingdom comes. And if meanwhile it is our fate To feast on choicest fare, While men lie begging at our gate, It's none of our affair. Again, we hardly are content. That for the things we've done Our Judge should wreak His punishment Upon a guiltless one. Of course our toilers bear on earth Their cross, till each succumbs ; Tis time enough to crown their worth When heaven's kingdom comes. 39 The Dead Sin And if meanwhile luxurious ease, And vice and want of care, Make us exploit the lives of these, It's none of our affair. And so, you see, in heaven above, Where we have never been, We've stablished justice, peace, and love, And put an end to sin. And all religious bigotry We've swept from heart and mind. Of course from cant we're also free, Of economic kind. For if meanwhile a hell on earth Is spreading everywhere, And plenty roots itself in dearth, It's none of our affair. The Dead Sin I I SEE the Master eating with publicans and sinners, refusing to condemn the adulteress, opening paradise to the thief; 40 The Dead Sin Showing His love in His eyes as He speaks long- ingly to the young man, notwithstanding the youth's enslavement to riches, his refusal of freedom ; Himself numbered among the transgressors, whose friendship He sought ; And yet indignant, with words which still reverberate down the centuries, against hypocrites and against them only. Singling out one sin from all sins for utter reproba- tion. II Hypocrisy, thou art indeed a sin apart, a sin of death amid sins of life, a dead disease amid living diseases, A stiffening of joints, a hardening of tissues, ossify- ing man into a lifeless form, binding him to the dead forms of the past, shutting him out for ever from the life that is to be ; While ye, ye sins of passion and ambition, are at least alive ; Though your life be that of the disease-germ and tumour, it is still life ; Its teeming energy may be reclaimed ; it may be turned into new channels ; And who can foresee the fruitage it may yet bring forth ? 41 The Dead Sin Inertia, death, these alone are surely fatal to life. He who came that men might have life and have it more abundantly — What truce could there be between Him and death ? Ill Ye other sins, like covetousness, ye are idolatry, But have ye not at least your idols set up before you ? do ye not at least worship something ? Your face is turned to the future ; you climb the steps of some temple, though it be the wrong temple ; Ye have a motive, and really act and live; for you there is still hope. But hypocrisy is a mere simulacrum ; it has the name to live and is dead : It has no God, no idol, no ideal ; Its stony stare is riveted on the past ; It cannot grow and develop ; it is doomed to eternal arrest and stagnation ; It is the sin of death, and for it is the woe of despair. He who came that men might have life and have it more abundantly — What truce could there be between Him and death ? 42 Hypocrites and Hypocrites Hypocrites and Hypocrites ARE we not a little too free with this tempting word, " hypocrite " ? We Single Taxers, who denounce landlords, and yet pocket gladly the unearned ground-rent our- selves ; We socialist lecturers, who say, " Competition is of the devil, but so long as you permit it we shall continue to profit by it " ; We anarchists, who go on judging and condemning, and suing and being sued ; We, all of us, who wait for society to make the first step, and are not perhaps after all in such great haste that it should take us at our word ? How do we differ from the abolitionist slave-holder, or the drunken temperance preacher, or any other moral monster? Who are we, to throw stones at our brother hypocrites of respectability ? Nay, we cannot shoulder our sins upon society ; Rather should we take upon ourselves the sins of others. Make for them and for us the supreme effort to do right as well as to talk right ; » 43 Debit and Credit I And if we fail, at least fall fighting, struggling to undo the bonds that bind us all./ Folly, perhaps, but the folly that we must learn from all the prophets, heroes, saints, and martyrs of old ; And if we learn it not, who are we to cast stones at our brother hypocrites of respectability ? Debit and Credit HALF the world is labouring to-day for you : The Chinese coolie is hard at work pluck- ing tea - leaves or wading in the rice - fields for you ; The Southern negro, the fellah of the Nile are sow- ing cotton under a blazing sun for you ; Factory men and women, and young girls and little children, at home and abroad, are leading cheerless, steam-driven lives for you ; Farm labourers on the prairie are toiling with sweating brows from sunrise to sunset for you; You have slaves in every clime to-day, suffering every degree of weariness and degradation — and all for you. What are you doing for them ? 44 Debit and Credit II Believe me, you cannot discharge this great obliga- tion with money ; The recording angel, who keeps the book of life, knows no money except that which you have rightfully earned, and which is therefore your labour. With other money you can only shift your duties upon the shoulders of others ; And these others already have their own duties, which they must neglect if they assume yours. You must acquit yourself with your labour, and with your labour alone. How, then, do your books stand ? Is the balance hopelessly against you ? If so, acknowledge your bankruptcy; tell yourself no lies ; begin life again. Henceforth insist on giving more than you get, and on serving rather than being served ; Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister. 45 The Shipwreck The Shipwreck THE coast of a desert island in the Southern Sea; The cocoa-nut palms crowd down to the very beach, where the waves still break angrily after the tempest ; But overhead the sun is sinking in a clear sky, and the pure, still air is laden with spices. A company of shipwrecked men are busily engaged at the edge of the grove : Some are gathering cocoa-nuts ; some are cutting them in two to make cups and to get at the rich kernel ; Others are bringing wood and kindling a fire to dry their clothes and cook their supper; Still others are building rude shelters and wind- brakes of boughs, and heaping up beds of leaves. II It is a strange, unnatural sight to our civilised eyes, for not one is idle. First cabin and steerage have been forgotten for once. 46 The Shipwreck The man of wealth elbows the poor emigrant and the deck-hand, and his hands are as grimy as theirs. His purse is in his pocket, but he does not take it out and cry, " Here is gold ; labour for me." Such a thought never occurs to him, and if it did he knows that they would scoff at his yellow toys. The clergyman is hard at work. He does not say, " Cook my dinner and let me sit still ; I will preach to you on Sunday." The judge and the lawyer are sweating like day- labourers ; neither of them says, " We will decide your disputes when you fall to quarrel- ling, and will punish you when we are of opinion that you have committed crimes; meanwhile, build the best huts and make the best beds for us, even if you, who do the work, have to sleep on the bare ground and under the open heavens." They have been saying these things all their lives. How is it that they have suddenly ceased to say them ? Ah, the storm has cleared the air ! It has swept the dark clouds of economics and lies far below the horizon. For the first time our travellers are face to face with nature, and behold at last their natural duties ; 47 The Shipwreck They have unconsciously made the discovery that they are men, and neither more nor less than men ; Here they must be as simple and direct and true as the palm trees over their heads or the pebbles beneath their feet. Ill Alas, it may be for only a few weeks at most ! Even if they remain here, ere long the old serpent with his three heads — rent, interest, and profit — will tempt them again to eat the forbidden fruit oi others' labour. Would there not soon be another fall, another dis- graceful eviction from paradise, the angel sentinel again on guard at the entrance to their better natures ? IV My brothers, we too are cast up together for a time by the sea of eternity on this remote, mys- terious island-globe of ours. What privilege can any one of us claim ? Shall we not do our share of the rough-and-tumble work? Can we without shame lie dreaming or chatting or scribbling under the palms while the rest are toiling ? 48 The New Envoys And if we have seized for ourselves the monopoly of thinking, Should we not at least think straight and see straight ? Verily, we of all others should have thought out the truth of the old law of nature, " He that will not work, neither shall he eat." The New Envoys isb SEE the chasm between rich and poor ever widening, The newly invented millionaire and tramp marking the greatest stretch; More charities, but less fellow-feeling ; more patron- age, but less sympathy. If disdain hardly cares to hide itself on one side, can we wonder if we detect hate and envy on the other ? And yet even envy and hatred may be in part purified by a sense of injustice, of righteous indignation, of a common cause. What God hath joined, man is putting asunder. We are cutting an ugly gash in the flesh of humanity, and are slowly waking to the naked shame. 4 49 The New Envoys II But how bravely and tenderly nature seeks to heal the ghastliest wound, Tissue striving to knit itself to tissue, Muscle, sinew, flesh doing their best to bridge the abyss. Groping outward tentatively, longing to meet a like growth from the other side, and once more to help mould all together in the old union. And so with us, behold the first envoys of recon- ciliation. Young men and women leaving ease and comfort and idleness to live in the slums of our great cities ; Sacrificing self, because they cannot do otherwise ; Yet living gladly, finding new, undreamt-of joys in life. See in far Russia one nobleman after another donning the peasant's sheepskin, working in the fields, going to the people ; And so in Prussia, the rich land-owner marrying a peasant woman, sending his children to the village school, delighting in a new - found sense of brotherhood ; In Belgium, the young baron insisting on sitting in the patrician senate in a labourer's blouse, proud only of his manhood ; 50 The New Envoys In England, the university don throwing up his fellowship, choosing to share a workman's cottage, tilling a market - garden, preaching simplicity and fraternity, writing books that will live. Ill " Fools," says the world, " harbouring a false senti- ment, and then overdoing it ; Degenerates, mattoids, cranks, at least unbalanced ! " Nay, rather strong types and symbols of the fellow- ship to be ; ^^ Taking upon themselves the sins of their age ; Leaping into the chasm that it may close behind them. Overdoing perhaps, but what a glorious overdoing it is ! how necessary as a graphic protest against the wrongs that be, how well designed to arrest the mind of the drowsy world and shake it from its mediaeval dreams, v I love them all, with their sheepskins and blouses, and peasant wives and children — Love them as the heralds of the coming time, as the vigorous, homely, accentuated words of destiny. Such were the prophets of old. Preaching the word of the Lord in their deeds. Fitting the symbol to the lesson as they walked the streets. Living epistles, read of all men. 51 The Wealth of St. Francis Nay, such was the Master Himself, who for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich. The Wealth of St. Francis IT is noontide on the public square of Assisi ; The black shadows are at their shortest on the glaring white pavement. A crowd comes up the street. Bernardone, the rich father of Francis, seeks the Bishop, to complain of his son, who is wasting all his substance in almsgiving. Francis, a mere lad, follows with them, and the children are throwing stones at him, while their parents point him out with derision. The Bishop descends the steps of his palace with his attendants. The youth hastens to meet him, and suddenly strips off his fine raiment and casts it at his father's feet. The old man strives to strike him, but his friends hold him back. His son sees him not, however; he is looking all absorbed toward the sky. 52 The Wealth of St. Francis •^ " Henceforth," he cries, " I have only a Father in heaven ; I renounce all earthly possessions ; I confide my treasure to Him, and He will provide." y The kindly Bishop, with tears in his eyes, covers the naked youth with his mantle, and his followers receive him among themselves. Many in the crowd gaze scornfully at the young saint, as if he were a lunatic ; others show pity in their faces ; a few seem to be impressed by his faith, but not one is prophet enough to understand the effect of that strange scene upon the history of the world. II Years have passed. The friars of St. Francis have preached to the common people a new religion — the religion of conscious love to God and of fellowship to man, of self-respect and freedom for the individual, and of contempt for riches. They radiate a wonderful force, which they derive from their founder. He took all that lived and moved to his bosom, and thence drew his strength. The birds and flowers, the wolf and the ass, the sun and moon, were his brothers and sisters. 53 The Wealth of St. Francis He brought Christ down from heaven, and God with Him. Jesus walked the earth again ; His disciples again hung on His arm ; once more they watched His loving, mysterious face. Human love was no longer impious, but became a reflection of the Divine love. Francis taught his little brothers, and they taught the masses to feel, in part at least, as he himself did. He aroused a new enthusiasm for mankind, and a new sympathy for earth and sea and sky. This is the seed which he and his band scattered, and the harvest springs up in glorious Christian art. Ill A great church grows at Assisi over the beloved body of the saint, and from it shoots forth the new Gothic architecture of Italy. On its walls Giotto revels in the life of his hero, and his frescoes mark a new day in the history of man. The inspiration of Francis calls to life a natural and dramatic art beneath the artist's hands. Giotto becomes, too, the greatest architect of all time, and builds the Campanile at Florence out of his heavenly dreams. 54 The Wealth of St. Francis Moved by the same spirit, Niccolo Pisano and his successors revive the ancient art of sculpture and make the marble warm with life. The impulse is given which in due time will lead to Raphael, and Titian, and Michael Angelo, and the rest. Francis, too, begins to sing hymns in the language of the people. He is himself a poet, and among his disciples also are poets ; They produce the " Dies Irae," and the " Stabat Mater," and many a popular song in the vulgar tongue ; Until at last the stream of poetry widens into the boundless sea of Dante. And so of Francis of Assisi is born the poetry, the sculpture, the painting, the architecture of Christendom. He may indeed claim as his offspring the new-born marvel of Christian art. What miracle is this ? The man who flung all possessions from him endows mankind with its noblest wealth ; /He who threw away gold and silver in exchange for truth and love proves after all to be the wisest economist ; His folly outstrips all the wisdom of the world 1 - 55 Politics Politics iai# I THE great, living, growing, changing world of public opinion, — How it overshadows the little political world of manufactured law ! In the former we are all legislators by our birthright ; We owe to it the frankest, most honest expression of our views ; For its sake we must for ever insist on the fullest freedom of speech for ourselves and others. All the mighty men of all time have been leaders in this parliament ; We rejoice in maintaining its high traditions. II For a maker of public opinion, an hereditary man, what attraction can politics have? Its dream of influence is an illusion, For they leave their real selves behind who enter there ; Their new influence is that of their false selves. They no longer dare to say what they believe ; They must strive to think what they think that others think that they ought to think ; 56 Go on They must resign their seat in the parliament of the world ; To rule, they must deliver themselves up, bound hand and foot, to others ; To extend their sway they must become slaves. / The political world is a government by slaves in quest of slaves. If we enter it, we sell our birthright for a mess of pottage./ /Qo on 1^ Go on with your voting and organising, Your judging and condemning and punish- ing, Your recruiting and drilling and building of war- ships. You say it is your duty. I think that perhaps it is. All I know is that it is not mine, and that some day it will cease to be yours. The time will come when you will have grown beyond all that, When you will see the absurdity of it all, When you will lay aside childish things. Go on then ; play with your bats and balls and tops and pocket-knives ; 57 The New Freedom Bump your heads ; stub your toes ; cut your fingers and let them bleed ; learn from your only schoolmistress — Pain. You cannot share our experiences ; you must each have your own. When you have at last finished your term, and left the narrow school and playground, We will give you a rousing welcome in the real world outside. Where men live one degree nearer the cause of things, And where the air is clearer and the sunlight brighter. / The New Freedom AMERICANS, you once were free, — Free as the broad prairie and the forest profound, — And then, after your Revolution, you led the world. Your example fired France, and France set Europe aflame. Without battalions or men of war you were in the van of the nations. A mere handful, living in straggling hamlets along a thousand miles of narrow seaboard ; 58 The New Freedom Without arms, you were invincible ; Without a fortress, you were invulnerable. Your strength was your freedom. II Times change, and freedom changes with them, For freedom must from age to age be born again. The political liberty of Seventy-six, the equality before the law, of which you talk so much, is no longer the living ideal that it was ; It is now a fossil for antiquaries to toy with. Will you play with it in the rear while the nations go marching on ? Ill Think you to lead again by dint of armies and navies and coast defences? Not so is the world mastered. Spread your frontiers, take Cuba and Hawaii, beguile Canada if you can, push on over the great Southern Hemisphere ; Will these lands be yours ? There is only one possession in them worth the capturing, and that is the hearts of men ; And these hearts can never be won by a nation of slaves. Be free, and all mankind will flock to your standard. 59 The New Freedom IV While you talk of freedom, do you not feel the fetters that are fastening on your limbs ? While you hurrah, are you unconscious of the burden which you are bearing ? Are you never weary of the endless task ? Can you still be cheered by the devilish dream of becoming taskmasters in your turn ? Up, and to death with the tyrant ! Let there be no half measures ; he must be torn from his insolent throne. Show him no quarter ; plunge the dagger in deep and again and again ; let him welter in his blood. There, at last you are rising. Where is the oppressor, do you cry ? You will not find him in the streets. Look for him in your own souls, for the kingdom of hell is within you. There reigns the greed for gold ; There it is that you are either trampling on your fellow-men or longing to be numbered with the tramplers ; There it is that your rebellion, your revolution must begin. 60 Prophets Set yourselves free. Away with the usurper; enthrone in his stead the new ideal, the equal freedom in love of all mankind, liberty and union, one and inseparable. Ah yes ; seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all things shall be added unto you. J Prophets la^ HAPPY the land that knoweth its prophets before they die ! Happy the land that doth not revile and persecute them during their lives ! Was there ever such a land ? We are still engaged in the ancient pastime — Building the monuments of the prophets of old, And casting stones at the seers whom we meet in the streets. In the world's market one dead prophet is worth a dozen of the living. Happy the land that knoweth its prophets before they die ! II We, Pharisees of the Jerusalem of Herod, We do reverence indeed to the words of Isaiah and Amos. 6i Prophets Did they pitch into rulers and landlords rather roughly ? Why, in those distant times, landlords and rulers richly deserved it. If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. But what shall we do with this man, Jesus, who talks in much the same strain ? Oh, away with Him ! Crucify Him ! crucify Him ! Happy the land that knoweth its prophets before they die ! Ill And still we rehearse the same dismal comedy, even in America, and in this Nineteenth Century. How did we hail John Brown, and Thoreau, and Whitman ? Behold Garrison ! The astounding, intrepid youth advances single-handed with his sling against the ogre of slavery. One day he is mobbed and almost massacred on the streets of Boston, under the shadow of the statues of Franklin and Washington, because he preaches freedom. Now at last his monument too stands, honoured by all, at the heart of the Puritan city. How fare the living prophets in Boston to-day ? 62 Prophets Happy the land that knoweth its prophets before they die ! IV And there are prophets to-day, though the world passes them by unheeding. Their race is not extinct, and will not be until we settle down to death. To them is confided the life of the world. On the bold, startling lines they lay down, the living structure of the future will grow ; The nerve-like shapes which they trace in the amorphous and distorted mass of society will by and by be centres of visible life, and take on flesh and blood. Believe me, these partners in creation live ; I have seen them — the apostles of manhood, of justice, of simplicity. They can afford to wait. If they received now their deserved acclaim we might well doubt their right to rank with the prophets. Our children will build the monuments of Tolstoy, and George, and the rest ; But how will they treat their own prophets? Happy the land that knoweth its prophets before they die ! / 63 Revolt J Revolt I HAIL, spirit of revolt, thou spirit of life. Child of the ideal, daughter of the far-away truth ! Without thee the nations drag on in a living death ; Without thee is stagnation and arrested growth ; Without thee Europe and America would be sunk in China's lethargy, Smothered in the past, having no horizon but the actual. II Hail, spirit of revolt, thou spirit of life. Child of eternal love, — Love rebelling against lovelessness, life rebelling against death ! Rise at last to the full measure of thy birthright ; Spurn the puny weapons of hate and oppression ; Fix rather thy calm, burning, protesting eyes on all the myriad shams of man, and they will fade away in thinnest air ; Gaze upon thy gainsayers until they see and feel the truth and love that begat and bore thee. Thus and thus only give form and body to thy noblest aspirations, 64 The Prison And we shall see done on earth as it Is in heaven God's ever living, growing, ripening will. , The Prison ''«# AND I saw a gaol lifting its grimy walls to heaven. And they that passed by looked at it askance, for they said, " It is the abode of Sin." And to them the broad sky and all the earth was fair to look upon, for they saw the early buds opening and heard the birds that had come back from the South, and they felt the sun which was new warming the hearts of beast and plant. But within the prison, and behind its cold, thick buttresses, and its small, round, triple-barred windows, that looked like tunnels, they heard faint groanings and sighings and much lamen- tation, and they said, " It is most just, for it is the abode of Sin." And I heard a Voice saying, " Woe to the cause that hath not passed through a prison ! " And I looked again, and I saw in the gaol those deliverers who in each age have saved the world from itself and set it free, and gyves were on their wrists and ankles. 5 6s The Prison And I saw Israel in the house of bondage before it came forth to preserve Duty for mankind. Woe to the cause that hath not passed through a prison ! And I saw the Praetorian Hall and One that was bound therein, and the soldiers bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him and then led Him away to proclaim Love to the world. Woe to the cause that hath not passed through a prison ! And I saw within the gaol them that gave liberty to the slave, and them that unbound the mind of man, and them that strove to free his con- science, and them that led onward to Freedom and Justice and Love. Woe to the cause that hath not passed through a prison ! And I saw there also those who in our own time have counted themselves as nothing if they could but point out God's way unto their brethren; and there were many, too, of the prophets who are still to come, and these also were in bonds. Woe to the cause that hath not passed through a prison ! And lo, the sky became clouded, and night fell, and there were no birds nor blossoms, but a chill 66 The State-House came upon the earth, and they that passed by shivered and trembled ; and I beheld, and saw that they were not men, but that they were really wolves, and apes, and swine. And within the gaol was a great light, and a pleasant warmth came from the barred windows, and I heard a burst of triumphant song. And the gyves fell from the limbs of the prisoners, and there was great joy. And they that passed by would now come in but they could not ; and now within was freedom and without was captivity. And the hosts within held up their arms, and the marks of their shackles were upon them. But I hid my hands behind me, for there was no mark on my wrists. Woe to the cause that hath not passed through a prison ! The State-House i&g LT P to the State- House wend their way ^ Some scores of thieves elect; For one great recompense they pray : " May we grow rich from day to day, Although the State be wrecked." 67 The State-House Up to the State-House climbs with stealth Another pilgrim band, — The thieves who have acquired their wealth, And, careless of their country's health, Now bleed their native land. And soon the yearly sale is made Of privilege and law ; The poor thieves by the rich are paid Across the counter, and a trade More brisk you never saw. And we, whose rights are bought and sold, With reason curse and swear ; Such acts are frightful to behold. Nor has the truth been ever told Of half the evil there. At last the worthless set adjourn ; We sigh with deep relief. Then from the statute-book we learn The record of each theft in turn, The bills of every thief. Now at a shameful scene pray look ; For we who cursed and swore. Before this base-born statute-book, Whose poisoned source we ne'er mistook, Both worship and adore. 68 Divus Augustus " For law is law," we loud assert, And think ourselves astute ; Yet quite forgetful, to our hurt, That fraud is fraud and dirt is dirt, And like must be their fruit. We laugh at heathen who revere The gods they make of stone, And yet we never ask, I fear, As we bow down from year to year. How we have made our own. We all deny the right of kings To speak for their Creator; May we not wonder, then, whence springs The right divine to order things Of any legislator ? ^ Divus Augustus lai^ HEARKEN to the chorus of the overfed. Their eyes stand out with fatness ; they have more than heart could wish, and their raiment is purple and fine linen. Listen to them as they sing : — 69 Divus Augustus " All hail to thee, Authority ! Hail to thy ministers ; hail ye powers that be, kings and presidents, judges and makers of laws ! Hail to thee, Authority ! Thou standest in high places, and stablishest the earth. Thou bringest the wicked low, and appointest his reward to the upright. Thou preservest our goods unto us, and prosperest the work of our hands. But upon him who would oppose our righteous ways thou layest thy heavy hand ; Thou leadest him unto bondage, and he is brought in sorrow to the grave. Thou causest peace to reign upon the earth, for thou separatest the troublers from the congregation of the just. Thou makest the nations rich in glory and honour. All hail to thee, Authority ! " Now the chorus retires and another advances. This is the hungry chorus ; we can count their bones through their rags. Hearken to them as they sing : — " Woe to thee, O Authority, O Moloch ! Thou forbiddest murder, and art the prince of murderers, — Divus Augustus Teaching the sons of men how best to slay their brethren ; Building mighty engines to fill the world with blood and every kind of horror ; Shaping great ships, that they may send other ships with all on board to the bottom of the sea. Thou condemnest and takest life, though thy judges be baser than their prisoners. Thou settest up him with a beam in his eye to take out the mote from his brother's. Thou ordainest him that hath sinned to cast the first stone. " Thou forbiddest robbery, and art the prince of robbers, — Thou takest the earth, God's gift to men, from the many and givest it to the few, and thus thou makest the poor to pay for his own ; There is no spot where he can labour or lie down and rest, or where his wife can bring forth her first-born, or where he can bury his dead, without offering tribute of his hard-earned wage to thy creatures. Thou takest the fruit of his toil, and dividest it to the idle. Thou makest him to work many hours, that the rich may live without labour. 71 Divus Augustus The toiler hath no time to learn and to attain to the full measure of a man. He can but work, eat, and sleep, so that the privileged may be surfeited with knowledge and pleasure. And thus thou stealest his brains for them that already have his wealth in their houses. " Woe unto thy ministers, O Authority ! Woe unto you, ye powers that be, kings and presi- dents, judges and makers of laws ! Your ways are full of craftiness, of bribery, and intrigue, and betrayal of friends ; Of pride, haughtiness, craving, and disappointment, and hardness of heart ; Of contempt for all that is humble, useful, and worthy ; Of hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness ; Of cringing, envy, and compromise with evil ; Of ambition, selfishness, bitterness, and corruption. In the wild struggle for life, the violent seize the reins. Ye are made drunk with power, until ye think your- selves a race apart. Ye pretend to all the virtues and honours, and are the high priests of hypocrisy. " Woe to thee, Authority ! Thy crimes are not like the common felon's, which all abhor, and thence learn a lesson of righteous- ness. 72 Divus Augustus But thou crownest thy sins with glory ; Thou deckest them with silver and gold, and callest upon all to bow the knee. Freedom is often upon thy lips, but thy foot hath alway rested on the neck of the slave. Thou hast imprisoned and murdered the prophets of old, And now thou buildest their monuments and perse- cutest them of to-day ; Wherefore thou art a witness unto thyself that thou art the same Authority which killedst the prophets. Thou sayest Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Can there be peace, when from the least of thy minions even unto the greatest of them every- one is given to covetousness ? What hath peace to do where violence and spoil are become the pillars of the commonwealth ? Woe unto thee, Authority ! " The song has ended. Who shall decide the issue? 73 To the Russian People To the Russian People ia^ WE look behind your mask, O People of Russia ; We penetrate beyond the shameless, domi- neering, robbing, famine - breeding Govern- ment ; beyond the thin veneer of borrowed culture and vice. We gaze into your eyes until we behold your heart there. We see the long-suffering, patient endurance with which you carry your heavy load ; Your uncomplaining faith in your destiny as men, Your loving-kindness for your fellows, your natural affinity for the Christ-life. We see these, in spite of all your faults, and in those faults themselves we recognise the fruit of im- memorial oppression. II Our hearts go out to you, O Russian People; Your vast land is big with fate for the world. We look for no barbarian invasion from the old fountain of nations in the East ; We expect no continued stretching and stiffening of the bonds of your empire ; 74 On the Rejection of the Treaty of 1897 But we hail the new dawn there of the old familiar good tidings to the poor, rising again upon another and brighter day. We look to you confidently for a new proclamation of the message of peace, goodwill towards men. On the Rejection of the General Arbitration Treaty of 1897 "^a^ SHAME on a Senate which withstands The efforts of two mighty lands Frankly to grasp each other's hands ! Are they our servants ? Should they then Bring all our dreams to nought again Of peace on earth, goodwill toward men ? From every class — North, South, East, West — Goes up one earnest, loud request, " Give us our treaty, and be blest ! " The working man, with outstretched hand Asks but to work, makes one demand — That peace and plenty cheer the land. 75 On the Rejection of the Treaty of 1897 But no ; this deaf, degenerate crew Want plenty solely for the few. Let war then split our race in two. Turn back the years ; let growth stand still, And flourish every social ill, If so these triflers get their fill. Let bluster, envy, spite, conceit. Elate at this, their latest feat. Boast that their victory is complete. What monarch, drunk with martial lust, Treading his subjects in the dust, E'er proved more recreant to his trust ? Are these our patriots, these, the blind, Whose love of country is combined With petty hate for all mankind ? Nay, from their rule we pray release ; Soon may such love of country cease. They know not love that love not peace. 1^ The Nation's Life The Nation's Life tiSI* L OOK not in the senate halls for the life of the nation. Their talk is the talk of dreamers ; They reel as drunken men ; They grope like the blind in the dark. The form of life is there, but the spirit hath long since fled. II Look not chiefly in the church or the press ; There indeed are dim glimmerings, Faint hints of a possible revival, Half-stifled cries that tell of discontent and pain ; And where there is pain, there is life. But, alas, these signs are so few ! Ill Look rather among the discredited and outcast. Meet with them in dingy upper rooms. Find, under all their extravagance and error, the sound-ringing ore of hope. The stone which the builders reject will again be- come the head of the corner ; For this is the universal law of life. 77 A Chorus for the European Wherever two or three are gathered in love and self- forgetfulness, to make the world better ; Wherever men think and feel profoundly, and then go forth to act accordingly — Look there for the nation's life. A Chorus for the European ''Concert" of 1897 "^^ LET the Armenians be imprisoned and die. What care we for massacres ? What matters it if a few thousands perish, so taxes be levied and interest comes in on the very day fixed in the bond ? A man with a bond in his pocket is worth five hundred with bonds on their arms and legs. Long live the Turk, for he owes us money. There is no Armenian debt, — so much the worse for the Armenians, — or we might think it worth while to protect them. Who says that a national debt is not a national blessing ? Long live property and the golden bond which unites men and nations — the bond of debtor and creditor. 78 'Xoncert" of 1897 But we must Interfere to help the poor oppressed Turk in Crete, for his name is on our bonds. Down with the wretched Cretans ! They do not owe us anything; Why, then, should they cumber the ground ? Oh, all ye nations of the world, if ye wish to live in safety and happiness. Come to our pawnshops, and borrow and borrow, and bind yourselves soul and body to us. Long live property and national debts, and bonds, bonds, bonds ! May no Moses ever arise to lead the people out of this house of bondage. Did anyone say " Liberty " ? Nay, put him out ; drown the discord. Long live property, property, property ! The Election of 1896 "IS^ THE honest dollar! A good motto that to catch the unwary, But misapplied to any idol, gold or silver ; A watchword destined, perhaps, some day to adorn another standard. When men have at last delved down to the deeper issue. 79 The Narrow Path The honest dollar — The dollar earned by useful, glad, equivalent, honoured labour, Pitted against the shame-faced dollar — The dollar begged, borrowed, extorted, or stolen. / The Narrow Path iflu WE are still sitting by the wayside. We heard the old cry, " Come out of her, My people," and we determined to escape from the wickedness of the world. We forsook all, and turned into the steep, narrow path that seemed to lead out. We had not climbed long before we met another band returning, ragged, emaciated, and foot- sore. " Turn back," they whispered hoarsely. " We too heard the cry, and we have pushed on to the end of the path. " Oh, the bitter, hard, monotonous, weary journey ! " And there at the end we saw a gate, and an angel standing with a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of paradise. " And the angel said, ' Who are ye ? ' " And we answered, * We be men who would escape the sin of the world.' 80 The Narrow Path " And he said, * Where are all your brethren ? Are ye not their keepers ? ' " And we replied, ' We have left them behind us.' " But the angel frowned and shook his head. " * How can ye hope to come forth alone ? ' he cried. " ' Did not God give you a world stored with all good things, enough and to spare? " ' Have ye not so used them that want and hunger and vice stalk about among you ? " ' While in the market-place starving men stand all the day idle, others of you know not what to do with their surfeit. *' ' Every man worketh in the fear that to-morrow he may no longer find work to do. " ' Ye have brought things to such a pass that the evil-doer is your greatest benefactor. " ' He that wasteth his substance in riotous living, he that destroyeth the wealth ye have made, he that setteth fire to a city, is even a blessing to the land, for he giveth work to them that need it. " ' He that maketh away with his fellow, the wanton slayer of his brother, is a public benefactor; for he either removeth him that could find no work, and was hence a burden upon you, or else he maketh room among the workers for one of the idle. 6 Si The Narrow Path " ' And so your wise men pray for war as a god-send, and shut out the men and the wealth of other countries at your ports ; and in thus doing evil they bless your land. " * And he that doeth good among you is become your torment. " ' Everyone who turneth to useful work maketh others idle and taketh the bread from the mouths of their children. " ' Every artificer in brass and iron who inventeth an engine by which one man may easily do the toil of an hundred, and which should thus give rest and leisure and plenty to thousands, " ' Every such an one becometh a curse to thousands, for he taketh away their means of livelihood. " ' And while thus your men stand useless and helpless, " ' Ye lay your burdens on your women and little children ; " * And they fill your factories and workshops from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same. " ' And this is what ye have done with the talents which were given you. " * Your trade is builded upon oppression, and lying, and fraud, and adulteration ; " ' Ye have so limited the bounty of God that the fear of failure doggeth every man's steps, and he S2 « ( The Narrow Path seeketh safety in a rivalry that would shame the devils in hell. Your one motto is ever, " Outstrip your neigh- bour ; either he goes under, or you." " * And ye would escape alone from this world that ye have made? " * Ye who have needs done wrong every day and hour, " * Ye who have made good evil and evil good, " ' Ye who are part and parcel of your bankrupt race, " ' Would ye now hide your talent in a napkin ? " * Would ye flee from the rest, and leave them to go on sinning for you and in your stead ? " ' Nay, not so. Go back and suffer altogether. " ' Proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of you even unto the least of you. " ' In your humiliation not one of you must be left out. Ye can only escape from sin by taking their sin upon you and leading them all out of sin. " ' Go back and make your own paradise, for ye would sicken and die here in a separate heaven of your own.' " And the angel ceased. And we turned and fled, for we saw that there was no issue to this path. Come back with us ; come back." And the little band passed on down the steep, winding path, 83 Doubt While we sat down at the wayside and looked at each other, and wondered whether they had heard the angel aright. ^ Doubt THE work of the world is bound up with in- justice and oppression ; I cannot even hoe potatoes without cheapening them and throwing men out of employment. Must I then renounce my part in the daily task of the human race so that I may remain blameless? Ah, blamelessness is a poor, negative goal, even if it were possible to reach it. Must I hide my talent in a napkin lest it be soiled ? II The great captains of industry, with all their sins, still carry on the business of mankind ; May I not lend a hand, for fear of sharing in fraud and extortion? Does my conscience point that way? And what if my conscience grows stronger and more imperious, Until it leaves no foothold for me in this world of wrong ? 84 Doubt III Away, tempter ! I cannot throw conscience over- board. It is my compass, and shows me my course. Further than that I am ignorant. I have no chart of heaven and earth, and I cannot tell whither I am sailing ; But even in the darkness of the storm, when neither land nor constellation is in view, I can keep my eye on the needle and my hands on the helm, And steer straight. IV True, this course may lead to death. But what then ? In such deaths life has ever found fresh impulse. The proof that, as things are, man cannot live and be honest — Could anything rouse the world to better things more surely than such proof? Witnesses to this fact, though they die in testifying, martyrs though they become, these too have their share, their blameless share, in bearing the world onward on their shoulders. 8s A Walk in the Woods A Walk in the Woods I WALK alone in the June forest. The great leaves of the oak seedlings hide the ground between the tree-trunks. A startled chipmunk runs across my path. A black-poll warbler, perched on a hemlock bough close by me, cries " screep-screep " to his mate, and pays no attention to me. Here, four centuries ago, before ever the pale-face peered in among the hickory and chestnut trees, the Indian chief was wont to stride, proud in his paint and feathers. Come back, my red-skinned brother; give me your hand, and let us thread our way together through the familiar woods. You cannot understand me ; I can only guess at you ; but still I see that in some things you are my superior. I admire your simple life, your carelessness of hoarded wealth. The equality of your customs, producing neither paupers nor millionaires. I appreciate your stalwart frame, your piercing eye and sensitive ear, your exultant courage in battle, your unflinching submission to torture ; 86 A Walk in the Woods But above all I am fain to covet your unhesitating acceptance of your lot. You are on such friendly terms with the great Mystery ! You do not pester it, as I do, with unseemly questions ; You are not beset with a sickly inquisitiveness ; You take your proper place in the Mystery itself, as the swallow makes his nest in the barn, and you trouble it as little as it troubles you. II And yet I know that I am farther advanced than you are. This journey from you to me had to be travelled ; These questions had to be put ; the answers had to be wearily sought. When the cycle is completed, When man gets back to another and higher point of equipoise. Then at last he will know the why and wherefore of it all. Ill While we walk together, brother, let us call another comrade to join us. See, he is coming toward us — he, the ultimate man who will tread these paths at the end of the 87 A Walk in the Woods cycle, four hundred or four thousand years hence. He presses in between us, and we three move on together hand in hand. What love and strength there are in his look and in his gait ! We cannot take his measure, but he comprehends us both. He has all your vigorous out-door virtues, and mine of the thoughtful fireside. How he embraces us and sums us up and transcends us ! I think that I read gratitude too in his eyes as he gazes upon us. He knows that we made him what he is : That your childlike simplicity and instinctive ferocity, that my morbid scruples and hair- splitting philosophy were all steps up to him. If he could envy anyone, he might perhaps envy us our creative influence ever widening down the ages. Come, my brothers, let us mutually interchange and enjoy each others' functions and fruition. For one brief hour let us plough and sow and culti- vate and reap the harvest together. Let us all share in common the eternal, divine man- hood, in which we are really one. 88 Prophet, Priest, and King Nor will it be only for an hour, For I shall never walk these woods unaccompanied again. Prophet, Priest, and King M AN is one. All ages are bound together. The is grew out of the was and in turn becomes the will be. We all travel the same road, in the same caravan ; some before, some behind ; The prophet in the van linking us to the religion of the future. The priest in the rear linking us to the religion of the past. We trudge on between, looking forward or back- ward. But forgetful, most of us, of the real religion above ; Blind to the eternal now, in which priest and prophet are at one together, united in the present king. And where old types and symbols tally with the newest dreams. 89 Man Man " A ND God created man in His own image." JLjL What has become of that lost type ? If we could see it now reappearing, how would that first ideal compare with yours and mine ? In thousands of men and women — martyrs, heroes, sages, poets, artisans, ploughmen, seamen, soldiers, criminals, and outlaws — We may gather his scattered lineaments and re- construct him. He must have the innocence and humility of the saint, the power of self-conquest of the ascetic, the broad vision of the seer, the loving-kind- ness of the lover of men. The unquestioning devotion to quiet usefulness of the labourer, the submission and the contempt for danger of the sailor and trooper. He must show the nonchalance of the gamester, the geniality of the tippler, the easy manners of the dissipated man of the world. He must feel the absolute freedom, the revolt against all external unassimilated law, of the felon, the anarchist, and the atheist. He must be endowed with all the intelligence, strength, vigour, and energy of the un- 90 Man scrupulous captain of industry who relent- lessly moulds the social forces to his will. His must be the ambition, self-sufficiency, and command of the proud ruler of armied states. He must wield all the powers of selfishness and hate under the supreme sway of an infinite com- passion and love. He must control these sinister forces in himself as a Greek demi-god firmly planted on the back of an unruly stallion. There is no man or woman living who cannot con- tribute some trait to the ideal, comprehensive man. There is no human note, high or low, which has not its place in the wide scale of his being. We are busy to-day fashioning this divine creature ; For the sun has not yet gone down on the sixth creative day. The sabbath of rest is still to come, it it ever comes ; For the Father worketh even until now, and we work. We are His conscious partners in creating man in His own image. 91 The Ball-Match The Ball=Match WHY do respectability and refinement and education and station present such deaden- ing surfaces to me? Even here in church, where they talk of communion and unity, the fashionable congregation is a mere chance collection of separate units. If they are really in communication with heaven, each worshipper must have a special wire. As between themselves they are absolutely insulated ; for purple and fine linen are the surest spiritual non-conductors. Perhaps if there were patches on their trousers or holes at their elbows some virtue might ooze out of them or penetrate into them. II For my part, I find more real religion at a base-ball match than in a Fifth Avenue church. The good-natured crowd surges in when the gates are opened, and soon the wooden benches are black with people up to the highest tier. Vendors of score-cards and refreshments cry their wares. 92 The Ball-Match Pea-nuts are in great demand, and the empty shells are scattered right and left. The floor is not innocent of tobacco juice nor the air of profanity. The game is called : a witty onlooker shouts out some bantering remark to one of the players, and all within sound of his voice laugh up- roariously. The captain of the home team bats far afield and gains his base, while the whole crowd, fused into one by enthusiasm, rises to its feet with a tremendous cheer. When the visitors score a well-deserved run there is applause too, but it is more reserved and measured, and we are conscious of our magnanimity. There are constant cries of encouragement, of dis- appointment, of criticism of the umpire ; But the prevailing note is one of fellow-feeling, of common interest, of sympathy. These are indeed vulgar wayside flowers, but from them the soul may distil honey. When I think of the ball-match, St. Frigida's seems to me like an ice-house. 93 Orbits ^ Orbits I LOVE you, just where you are, But go no farther away and draw no closer. When we are all whirling in our proper orbits, How we exult in the forces that play between us, Rioting with the centrifugal, plunging with the centripetal, And yet calm and unshaken in such a divine equilibrium ! But oh, the derangement when we lose the just balance and deviate from the way ! Here collisions, there explosions, Death and havoc and hate ! Nay, even in the universe of love, there are respect- ful distances to be observed, If we are to have dignity and unity and harmony. ^ Love Do you complain that I do not love you as I ought ? That if you should drop by the wayside I would walk on and waste no time in useless lamentation ? 94 Do you Shrink It is true and it is false. In loving you I love more than you. When I embrace you my arms encircle something vague and vast behind you. When I gaze into the depths of your eyes I look beyond the farthest constellation. You are not a finality ; you are the way. Through you and in you I love the whole world. If you fall at my side, I know that you will still be walking by me. If I fall myself, I shall only be the closer to you. Why then should we be anxious, when we may live where there is neither separation nor death ? Love on a lower plane is but a brief illusion. • Do you Shrink Do you shrink at the idea of merging yourself in others? Are you afraid of the shock? Is it like a cold plunge? Do you suppose that you will be submerged and lost? Not so. You will not lose yourself in the universal, like the Buddhist, but it is there that you will find yourself. Now, solitary, separate, unrelated, you are nothing ; 95 The Great Mystery When you think to stand alone, you are really not standing at all ; Yet with all your conceit and ambition you have not in your wildest dreams imagined what you might be. Dash in boldly with your arms outstretched, and learn that you are a god. The Great Mystery laif I IT does not satisfy, your philosophy. What is this energy oozing up into our being? Does it grow, develop, evolve unguided, unpropelled. Struggling on blindly from dead, dark beginnings in old chaos towards some central radiant fulfilment in the far-away ages to be? Is my consciousness and yours its highest point to-day ? Does it nowhere else feel itself, question itself, know itself? Is God then still to be waited for? Nay, nay ; this cannot be. II Ah, we who thread our narrow way through the infinite real, 96 The Great Mystery Who must see in succession even the tiny portions that we do see, Who name our little journey " time," and put the past before the future, because we entered by the one door and are hastening on to the other, What do we know of eternity ? Ill That which is growing is also full-grown. That which is prophesied is. The dream of the seer is more solid than earth. The end was attained long, long ago, and the beginning is yet to come. Like shuttles, our little lives go on for ever weaving the web and woof of the real ; Yet for ever the ideal was, filling the all. Though no man hath seen the Father at any time, Still His infinite self-consciousness inhabiteth eternity, And eternally saith, " I am." IV Round the citadel ot the eternal selfhood we are bivouacked. Most of us asleep at our posts, unmindful of our great task to gain a foothold there. Only here and there a stray company look for a breach, 7 97 The Great Mystery And succeed only by reversing their outer natures, Abandoning all they have hitherto lived for, Losing their life to find it. The clinging, social, pliant Hindoo cuts himself off from his fellows, and lives as a hermit, Strengthening his will until it becomes superhuman, Mastering his thoughts and desires, treading his body in the dust; At last passing in for a time, feeling the divine warm air surging about him. Retaining only enough of self to feel the ineffable joy. The feeble thus taking the kingdom of heaven by force. His self-centred, self-reliant brother of the West meanwhile denies his outer nature too, More slowly but more surely seeking admittance, Forgetting himself, merging himself in his fellows, striving to love his neighbour. Moving thus indirectly on the stronghold. Destined perhaps to find the drawbridge down, the doors wide open. The power of love supreme where will could but win a doubtful, transitory victory. V And in the moment of success in East and West alike, the mystery of sex strangely suggests itself, 98 The Great Mystery The union of God and man in some way recalling the union of man and woman ; The same experience recorded in the earliest days, and typified in tabernacle and temple ; — Jehovah jealous of Israel, His spouse ; Osiris, the vine-grower, Isis, the giver of corn, leading the Egyptian mysteries hand in hand ; Bacchus and Ceres, wine and bread, wedded at Eleusis ; Christ and the Church, the bridegroom and the bride, again represented in the same elements at the great Christian feast. Sex too at the centre of the Brahmin worship ; Saint and adept detecting the same passion in their religion. Sex, in spite of all science, a great mystery. Felt to-day in the sense of shame in his own person by the philosopher himself, who would sweep all mysteries away and all religion with them. VI Howbeit, this is our goal, to be put in touch with the universal consciousness, to find the hidden living bond between all, beneath all ; To recall the primal oneness, to realise the unity that is and ever shall be ; To know that whatever grand fruition the ages hold in store, L.ofC. 99 The Way and the End The same was in the beginning with God. This is the reaHty behind our Httle socialisms and communisms, This the essence of religion and of life. The Way and the End ^«^ THE Way begins in the sense of sin, in self- abhorrence and renunciation, in acknowledged emptiness ; It winds through self-denial, through submission and meekness and humility, through patience and long-suffering; It leads us up higher, past the forgiveness of others and the acceptance of them upon their own terms ; Such is the Way, but it is not the End. II The End is the consciousness of the heaven-born selfhood ; The new self, found and loved in eternal fellowship ; The self-centred, self-sufficient pride of divine man- hood ; The glad fulness of exultant, unbounded, everlasting, almighty love. 100 The Seed The Seed THE seed is the magician of life. Dropped into the dead soil of the field or of our souls, It draws the inert matter into its mysterious moulds, Transforms it into a living thing of beauty, And sends up its flowering miracle to the light of day. Opening for us a channel even unto heaven. It subdues easiest the vilest rotting humus, — the publican and the sinner, — And is baffled only by the stony pride of scribe and Pharisee. It is a winged particle of the central life, Sent forth to spread that life, and, spreading it, to make all things new. Initiation ifii^ IT is a glorious thing to be really alive, — To feel one's self a co-operating agent in the mysterious business of the universe, — To be admitted as a member of the gigantic trust, — lOI Initiation To be initiated into the central labour union of all,— Once for all to be let into the secrets of the cosmic conspiracy. II Yon star winks down at me and gives me the pre- concerted sign ; The woodpecker drums the password on a resonant dead bough ; I return their signals and hail them both as brothers. For are we not all engaged in the self- same enterprise ? Do we not get our impulse from the same general headquarters ? Ill Nor is ours an exclusive combine. We do not measure our privileges from any outside penury. We wish to leave nothing outside. Our only message to you who insist on staying without is the persistently reiterated, per- sistently rejected invitation to come in on the ground-floor. I02 The Ladder of Truth The Ladder of Truth SIN, justice, fear, an angry Judge — with these we are on the lowest round of the ladder of truth. How long the world dwelt there, and how many still look back regretful to those days ! One step higher and we find forgiveness and a Father. For most men that is the last word, but we must press upward. Beyond fatherhood and brotherhood we grope toward organic oneness — we dimly feel that God is palpitating, all-embracing love. Truth Again SECRETE truth in your intellect, and you will find it a heavy burthen. There it will only cloy and glut and obstruct. Truth is not food for knowledge but for life. You must love the truth and feel the truth and assimilate the truth. What you need is not truth known but truth lived. Truth cannot be stored away without ceasing to be truth ; It cannot be idle without becoming a lie. 103 Self-Denial