Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays Part 18

EQUAL MORAL STANDARDS

Why are girls brought up with more care as to their personal habits than boys? And why do women have fewer vices than men? It is an undeniable fact that what is looked upon with indifference in a man would be regarded with disgust, if not horror, in a woman. Boys do things that would not be tolerated in girls. Why are there two standards of behavior? Why is one s.e.x held to stricter moral account than the other? Why is a man allowed to do what is condemned in a woman?

The average daughter is better behaved, has better personal habits, than the average son. The average mother has fewer vices than the average father. The average woman is less vicious than the average man. Whose fault is it that this is so? It is somebody's. Whose is it? It is time to find out. Have men fixed the standard for women, and women for men? It is approximately true that either s.e.x is what the other demands of it. Women are too indulgent towards the other s.e.x. We believe it lies with them more than with men to elevate the moral standard of the world.

A father would not take his daughter to places where he takes his son, would not condone in her habits which he overlooks, if not encourages, in his boy. Picture a father going to a saloon with his daughter, and there treating her to a "Tom and Jerry," or a "beer," and then calling for cigars for two, and sitting there smoking together for half an hour or so!

A man will do this with his boy but not with his girl. Why not? If it is right and harmless for one, why not for the other? Is it true or not that what is right for men is wrong for women?

We ought to have only one moral standard. The s.e.xes should be held to like behavior. Men can have just as good habits as women. We do not believe in forgiving in one what we condemn in another, in allowing a young man to do with impunity what we will not tolerate in a young woman.

If we are to have one standard of morals, which shall it be? Shall it be the highest or lowest? Shall it be the standard for man or for woman?

Shall we permit women to do as men do, or shall we insist that men shall be equally pure in personal habits with women? The divided standard of conduct which now exists should be done away with. Let us demand equal behavior of the s.e.xes, and let that behavior be fas.h.i.+oned after the highest moral demand of society. We do not wish to educate boys to be girls, but we can educate boys to have as good habits as girls have, which would be a great gain to the world.

We must hold women largely responsible for the vices of men. There is not a vicious habit which a man would not lay at the feet of woman did she demand it. Not a man would tolerate in a woman what a woman tolerates in a man. Let us have one moral standard for men and women, for both s.e.xes, and mete out to each the same punishment for violation of its restrictions.

AUTHORITY

The man that does what his reason says is right is the man that should be honored by men. There can be no higher authority for doing a thing than that it is right. It is not whether a thing has ever been done before, but, _Is it right_? If there is no precedent, then it is a duty to establish one.

How many accept the opinions of others because they fear to question their authority! This regard for what other people think and say is well enough only when it does not destroy independence of thought and speech in ourselves. Another's opinion is not to be respected when it is a fetter to our freedom.

We need not rehea.r.s.e the evils which the world has borne on account of its fear to do right _alone_. Man must have someone to share the danger, to share the blame, but a dozen cowards are not worth so much as one brave man, and right is no _more_ right because ten say it instead of one. A thousand felt what Luther said; a thousand believed what Parker did. The best man in us is often the one that does not speak. The truest belief of the heart is the one never confessed. Man seldom comes to the surface. He rarely has a call to be himself, but to be somebody that will please the world. Man is obliged to make himself into a theological likeness; into a political representation. It will be centuries before men can a.s.sert themselves fearlessly without injury.

It is no easy matter for a man to set himself against popular opinion and maintain his position. Every power is brought to bear upon him that falsehood can invent and malice employ. A person who refuses to acknowledge the authority of the hour a.s.serts a higher. When a man slaps the world in the face he should have truth on his side and courage to meet the stake and the cross. The majority never forgives him who denies its judgment. The individual that challenges the majority must prove his right of defiance. When a man is greater or better than men he must pay the penalty. The world cannot yet forgive anyone for excelling it. Authority when it debases man should be disputed; when it denies man his rights should be rejected.

It is plain to be seen, without ill.u.s.tration or example, that man's authority is not found in his own mind. He has no history that reaches beyond custom. Man begins with man so far as facts prove. Society rests upon hearsay and religion upon tradition. A claim has only to be made upon ignorance to be granted. This good-natured world of ours would believe anything, or make-believe believe it, to save its soul. It takes either a very shrewd man or a moderately mean one to dodge every duty of life and remain respectable. It is dangerous to go outside the beaten path, not only on account of the persecution of the present but on account of the folly of the future. The world can easily twist an action into a law or a man into a G.o.d if profit hang on the end of its deed. The authority of half man's actions to-day depends upon some accident or fraud of the past.

Man wants a little of the fabulous yet in his meat and drink. He loves to think that Jesus is present when he drinks his wine and eats his bit of bread, although it is a mystery.

Popular opinion is the authority of most words and actions. We speak to men as to children-to please them. We tell them some parable or fairy story instead of telling them their faults honestly and trying to make them better. Most men begin by bowing to public opinion and end by carrying it on their backs.

The authority of the world may be disputed without any of the stars being thrown out of their course or any of the processes of life being disturbed. The notion that all has been discovered that is essential to the welfare of man is a mistaken one. The other notion that the preservation of whatever is elevating and refining depends upon the religious opinions of mankind, is equally delusive. The authority of the Bible, of Jesus, of the church, has been quoted until the world is prepared for a better. We might lose the Bible and not lose our place in the ranks of civilization. Jesus might be forgotten and man would still strive for a higher life. The church might perish in a night and not a single particle of goodness be lost. If we speak honest words, do honest work and live honest lives, we need not ask for G.o.d's help or the help of anybody. We do not give to immorality the hours we redeem from superst.i.tion. We give to manhood and womanhood every hour which we make natural and free. It is not necessary for a man to go to church in order to be righteous. The world found a.s.sistance before Jesus was born. There has always been saints outside of a convent. We need no book holy that good counsel shall be valuable. The highest authority is the highest human enlightenment. It needs no priest back of opinion to give it force.

Why does a man enter the Christian ministry?

The reason that revelation is always made to the simple is that the wise could not be imposed upon.

There is no sadder grief than that which lies at the bottom of a life that has been wrecked through deception.

An organization that requires the suppression of facts and the discouragement of knowledge in order to maintain its supremacy, is the relic of a tyranny which our free age and our free thought are in duty bound to remove from the earth.

A CLEAN SABBATH

In a discussion with a lady, recently, upon the Sunday question, after the various pros and cons had been set up and bowled down, she exclaimed: "For mercy's sake, don't say any more against the sabbath. Why, if it were not for Sunday, most people would never wash themselves nor change their clothes." Sunday, then, is to be established for the sake of cleanliness.

The command for keeping the sabbath should therefore read: Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, and on the seventh day wash thyself and change thy clothes. If people will not keep clean without a divine command, we are in favor of cleanliness. We do not know of any better use to put G.o.d's name to. Sunday is certainly the cleanest day of the week. If people will make themselves clean and neat only for G.o.d's sake, we are willing to endure a little superst.i.tion for the blessing of cleanliness.

But is there any ground for the a.s.sertion of the lady? As everyone knows, religion has produced the filthiest specimens of humanity that ever offended the senses of man. Dirt, and not cleanliness, was deemed next to G.o.dliness by the saints of old. The filthier a human being became, the holier he grew. It was regarded in the middle ages, that is, in the ages when everything was sacrificed to religion, as almost a sin to keep clean.

It was waste of time to care for the body. It was taught that it was holier to wors.h.i.+p than to wash. Nor did these dirty old saints of old go nasty entirely on their own authority. They were nasty for Christ's sake.

They went unclean because Jesus had encouraged nastiness. He believed more in clean hearts than in clean hands. He taught his disciples that "to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man." Dirty Christians are still plenty, but civilization prevails over superst.i.tion and the reign of dirt is doomed. The follower of Jesus quotes his master to defend his filthy condition in vain to-day. The gospel of decency has been preached, and what is manly and womanly is honored more than what is G.o.dly and pious.

Clean infidelity is preferable in good society to nasty piety. There may be honor in rags, but there is none in dirt. Soap and water cost less than religion, but are worth a thousand times as much to the world. If Romanism required its devotees to take a bath instead of going to ma.s.s, it would confer a greater boon upon the world.

No man gets estimated for exactly what he is, and it is lucky he doesn't.

A great many men and women are remembered for what somebody has said about them.

HUMAN INTEGRITY

It is hard for a man to be a man. It is easier to be almost anything else.

We do not find the reason for what we do in ourselves, but seek it in someone else, or somewhere else. Manhood is not our standard of action.

Human integrity is generally looked upon as an eccentricity. We almost despise a person who is more upright than the conventional man. Throughout society there runs a stream of circ.u.mstance upon which lives float like chips. The man who turns against this stream, and seeks to stem it, is looked upon as a madman or a fool. Everybody admits that the world is hardly going right, but everybody goes with it. The current of human life can be turned into a larger channel by a larger man. Mind follows mind.

We do not demand the truth; we do not insist upon the right; we are satisfied with less than integrity. It is not in a spirit of carping that we say this, but because it is true. Let us glance at the world as it lies before us. Theories pa.s.s for facts, faith for evidence. We a.s.sert without knowledge; we are positive without proof. Man is condemned for not believing, although living a pure and n.o.ble life; he is praised for believing, although living a selfish and cruel life. Men are not judged by human nature, but by opinions which are uppermost in public esteem. Men and women are bad according to the standard of one age; good according to that of another. Theologies, which may be wrong, condemn men who may be right. Justice is never man's precedent. The world quotes Moses, David, Paul, Jesus, to defend its conduct or prove its guilt.

Authority is another's opinion. Law is what has been done and sanctioned by mankind. The decision of one court binds another. One text is quoted to prove another. A man's act is made a rule of life. We say, to defend ourselves: "He did it." The world's power of attorney is in its own handwriting. Our appeal is to some one else. We get our politics from our fathers, our religion from our mothers. The church is preaching what others believed.

The mind still leans. Only a few could stand without a support. The props of the world keep it from falling. Men are not upright of their own strength. No man's action is the patent of manhood. The world does not ask, "What virtues are yours?" but, "What creed do you accept?" A dozen agree and call some one else a doubter, a Freethinker, an Infidel, an Atheist. To be able to stand alone is to be blamed by those who cannot do so.

Man must learn this, that he has no greater strength than his own; that he has no higher duty than to obey the behest of his own nature. When we forsake the world's follies and shams we shall find something better. We are never abandoned until we have been abandoned by ourselves.

When we refuse to do our duty we must still expect Nature to do hers. The sun and moon do not stand still at man's command. It is greater to keep one's integrity than it is to gain the whole world.