WHERE EQUAL RIGHTS MAY BE EXPERIENCED.
By G.
The doctrine of equality of rights among men is one of the beautiful theories of which many love to talk. It is very popular as a theory, but in practise it never did obtain to any great extent. It is an enchanting sentiment, but for the most part it ends in sentimentality. It was the basis of the Declaration of Independence, but it never has been the practise in the government of the United States. Eighty years after the Declaration was adopted, Abraham Lincoln made this appeal:— Let us discard all this quibbling about this man or the other man, this race and that race, and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position, discarding the standard which has been left to us. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal. But as yet equality of rights is only a theory, a sentiment. The practise is becoming more and more conspicuous as an exception, and the exception is not merely as between race and race, but as between class and class, within the race circles. Why is it so?—Because of the innate selfishness of the natural man. Equality of rights is a Gospel principle, and “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” To-day our government is farther from the Declaration of Independence than ever it was. Men in high official position do not scruple to treat it with disdain, as a measure suitable for the occasion and the then present purpose, but impracticable as a permanent policy. In fact the Congress of to-day deems it expedient to impose more oppressive taxes upon the Filipinos—without representation—than were imposed upon the American colonies by Great Britain, and against which they revolted.9 Of course all the so-called “great powers” are encroaching more and more upon the weaker ones, and taxing their subjects beyond all reason to carry out their absorbent policies; but we have alluded especially to our own government, because here we have made such great pretense in the matter of equal rights. Here is the crowning evidence that the law of equality—“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”—never can obtain in a human government. Only in the kingdom of God is such equality recognized as a practical theory. “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye [the subjects of Christ’s kingdom] shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” It is only in such a kingdom that we ever will find the ideal conditions of equality and love, of which men are wont to talk so glibly. And the message of John the Baptist and of Jesus of Nazareth is still going to the world: “Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”