Civilization—Love of Money.
By G. W. Lewis
[Bro. White. I send the following article as a specimen of what sometimes finds its way into the secular papers. It appeared in our local paper a few weeks ago, and was written by one well known in our community. Its outspoken truths pleased me so much, that I would like to give it a wider circulation.—M. W. H.—Malone, N. Y.] Messrs. Editors:—Thinking that many of the readers of the Palladium, would be pleased for a moment, to withdraw their attention from the field of strife and carnage, I would offer a few thoughts on one of the phases of modern civilization. In every nation or community, there have always been combined two elements—the element of power, and of weakness. Power always stands at one end of the social scale and abject weakness at the other. This element of power may consist in physical force and a certain hardihood or rashness. In this case, brute force is prized above all else. Once there was a permanent class of fighters—they included the honorable men—that vocation was the noblest of all. Thus there was established the aristocracy of soldiers. Young men of enterprise and talent took arms, for in this position alone, they were honorable; here, they had power and dominion over their many vassals. Or again, this element of power may consist in the accident of birth. In this case, there is established an aristocracy. Those who can claim lineal descent from the favored clan, are honorable and worthy, and by reason of events, are born to wealth and power. England affords an example. Again, this element may consist in an aristocracy of priests—a theocracy in the name of God. Here the church absorbs the State, the priest is God's vicegerent on earth. Papal Rome has been, and still remains, an example. Again, this element may consist in gold. There will then be formed an aristocracy of wealth. Those who possess it are great and honorable. They monopolize the State and rule the church. And at the present time, humanity has advanced in civilization, only to this aristocracy of wealth. The element of weakness may include, either those who are born with feeble powers, incapable of self support, or those who are weak by position—men that are permanently poor and ignorant. When the Saviour said that it was not the will of God that one of these little ones should perish, he included both of these classes—men little by nature, and men, little by position. One may be said to perish when he is ruined, or when he fails to attain the degree of development and manhood which he might attain under the average circumstances of the age in which he lives. In a society where the natural and physical laws are constantly violated, it unavoidably follows that many men are born little by nature, and they in turn transmit their feebleness to their descendants. The other class, little by position, are so often surrounded by difficulties, so neglected and abandoned that they cannot change their condition. They, too, bequeath their weakness to their children. In all forms of social life, these classes have ever appeared; and each age and society has had its own method of disposing of them. But it has been a serious question, What shall be done with them? Seldom has it been the question, What shall be done for them? In times of classic lore, the Spartan took children born with a weak or imperfect organism—children who would probably be a hindrance to the nation—and exposed them in a desolate place, to be devoured by voracious beasts. This was their mode of settling that question. The Chinese usually expose such children in the streets to the sympathy or humanity of the passers-by. And among many of the barbarous tribes, the greatest boon the mother can bestow upon her child, is to take its young and anxious life, ere it experiences the miseries that stand hovering around its future course. But such treatment is not human, it is barbarous, inhuman and brutal. This disposes of them, it does not provide for them; it sets forth the principle that the whole, need a physician, not the sick; that the strong need assistance, not the feeble; that the good are to be sought and saved, not sinners. But they were heathens and idolaters; we civilized and Christian. They were bound down by the chains and shackles of ignorance; we are borne aloft on the wings of science and religion. Let us then examine the ground and see what we, with the aid of knowledge, refinement, wealth and religion, are doing for these little ones—weak by nature, and weak by position. Ours, as has already been said, is an aristocracy of wealth. This rules the State and controls the church. This demolishes principles and sets up parties; elects presidents and buys up the clergy. There are, it is true, exceptional men, but this is a general rule. The clergy of southern chivalry are ready to prove from the inspiration of God that the strong have a right to exploit the weak; that slavery bears upon it the impress of Heaven's approving smile. Though the clergy of the North, are well satisfied that the principle of slavery is an evil, a flagrant wrong, yet they remain silent on that question, where they think the exposition of the wrong would incur the displeasure of Northern aristocrats and Southern sympathizers. But this is no new feature. In all history, the clergy, have been on the side of prevailing power. It is so in England at the present time. The gospel is for the State and therefore favors the nobility, is on the side of power. It neither favors nor represents man. The same is true in Germany, an idea must ever remain an idea, it cannot be organized into a deed. Now all this is done for money, not intentionally and willfully, but unconsciously and effectually. In the South, slavery has been fostered and cherished, with all its many evils; and that for the sake of money. In the North, have been political feuds, corruption, and chicanery to secure a place in office, and that, too, for the sake of money. But let us look at the cities, towns and villages of our land, and see what we are doing with and for the weak, the low and the abandoned. There they may be found despised and abandoned, with nothing to relieve their many pressing wants. They are idle and miserable, though their bodies crave activity. There is nothing about them to cherish self-respect, nothing to awaken and cultivate their sense of religion. They stroll about, beggars, amid the wealth, opulence and refinement of a city, idlers in the midst of work, savages in the midst of civilization. We talk loudly for the welfare of the benighted heathen—those whom we have never seen; but what are we doing for the despised and abandoned heathen in our midst—the savages among us, who are growing up in all our towns and villages, less tended than the tiger's whelp. We see them herding together, and prowling about in our streets, markets, and around our wharves—in the dirty lanes and by-places, where pride, luxury and refinement, elbow much of their misery and filth. Amid all the science, refinement, and religion of the nineteenth century, these children learn but little that is good. From their antecedents and surroundings, their nature and training, they necessarily become vicious, obscene, deceitful and violent; they will lie, steal and drink, and how can it be otherwise? We, the best of us, would have done the same, under like circumstances. They are born amid wretchedness and want, and struggle on, through a miserable existence, young in years but old in misery and crime. They know that they are despised, outcasts, and abandoned. It seems to me that there is a dreadful fault178somewhere. In our churches there may be an occasional collection, for the assistance of such—but we must remember that it is popular and honorable for men of rank to contribute in churches. But when we cast aside all disguises and dissimulation, looking at the matter really as it is, where do we find the man or woman of aristocracy, though a church member, who will go along the sewers of the streets, into the dirty lanes, and by-places of our towns and villages, and there take the little ragged, dirt-clad, urchins by the hand, whispering words of hope and consolation into their ears, and thereby endeavoring to give them a spirit of self-respect, striving to make them good and honorable. There are to be found in every community, a few noble men and women who do not consider it a disgrace, to strive to remove a human being from the gulf of infamy and crime, to the paths of honor, of duty and rectitude. But is this the spirit and tendency of the church? Most certainly it is not. I speak not of the spirit as manifested in words, but that manifested in words, embodied in deeds. Far too often words assume the traitor's garb and stand marshalled in a treacherous league. But the misfortunes of these wretched beings do not end here. To consummate their degradation, and brand their names with infamy, we have shut them out of our churches, not, perhaps, always intentionally, but most effectually. Go to the churches, through all our cities and large towns, and alas! the poor are not there—the gospel is preached, but it is to the abounding and the comfortable classes, not to the perishing. They are lounging away their day of rest like the ox or the ass. How many a glowing genius has perished in oblivion, for the want of a sympathizing word, or an encouraging look, we have no means of estimating. I know of but one church, in all this land of Christianity and civilization whose doors are, in fact, open to the poor and perishing, and that is the Catholic, papal and superstitious. But go there and you often see the extremes of social rank meeting under the same roof, to worship God. But go into our Protestant churches, and as a general rule, it is not so. True, they are not kept away by doors, barred and bolted, but they are no less effectually kept away. And I think that I am not saying too much, when I assume the fact that many of our worthy church members would feel disgraced to have one of those unfortunate beings come near or within their pews. And if the bars and bolts are withheld from the doors, they are sure to be placed upon the heart and sympathies. The look, the scowl, the demeanor, all would tell the urchins, miserable and wistful, that they were intruders—yes, intruding upon the presence of God, in his sanctuary. Would not many refuse to attend church and thus remain at home, rather than allow the perishing to come within the same walls, beneath the same roof, to receive of the same God his benediction which he declares shall be dispensed to all? We often hear ministers boast of great men and famous, who sit under their preaching, but never do we hear one boasting of having the poor, abandoned, and distressed, for an audience. Christ, in his day, sat with publicans and sinners, notwithstanding the reproof of others. He came to save the perishing and the lost. But I fear that many of us, at the present time, are losing sight of the spirit, and clinging to the form. It is popular to belong to a popular church. Such, indeed, are some of the effects of modern civilization—a civilization whose vitality consists in the love of money. The leading elements of our modern civilization are working out pernicious results, evils in church as well as in State. The aristocracy of wealth, the love of money, has really culminated in the war and disorder now raging in our land. Its tendency in the church is working out a like calamitous result. If, then, we can learn any lessons from the past, or take guidance and warning from the evils of the present, let us act with vigilance, and labor in earnest.