p. 152My Dear Mr. Blatchford,
I come now to your last letter. I am strongly exercised by the powerful appeal it contains. I thrill responsively to the idea of bringing human life into harmony with “the smiling fields and laughing water under the awful and unsullied sky.”
It is quite superfluous, if you knew, for you to ask me, if all the misery of the world is nothing to me. I tell you it is more than you may believe. I am terribly affected by it; the thought of it often makes me feel as if I could not eat my own dinner.
But when you ask me to “strike a blow to save the fallen and to help the weak,” the idea seems very foolish when I try to carry it out. What blow can I strike that will be good for anything? If I speak to the poor inhabiters of the slums they laugh at me, or perhaps curse me. If I breathe a doubtful word to the respectable people I meet on the street, they ask me what I mean, and talk of handing me over to the police. If I summon up courage and try a speech at the street corner about the shameful state of the poor and the downtrodden, I get an audience of impertinent boys, who make fun of me.
You say, “Join the Socialists, agitate against idle peers and fraudulent capitalists; vote for labour candidates, and try to change the present system.” Mr. Blatchford, I would even do this if I thought it would save the people. But I believe p. 153 instead of this, it would deprive us of the blessings we have. It seems to me you might as well ask me to join a Limited Liability Company to reclaim the Sahara, or drain the Atlantic basin. Under excited appeals, men sometimes try impossible things. They may work energetically for a time, but the hopelessness of the work glares in on them in time, and that not a long time. And then think of the bitterness of the rude awakening to the discovery that they have thrown away good time, strength and money on a theoretical fad. Attending Socialist meetings and agitating Socialist doctrines may be a pleasing occupation for some people. I am persuaded that so far as practical results are concerned, it is a mere sowing of the wind with the whirlwind waiting round the corner.
It is well to long for the end of the evil that is affecting mankind. It is noble to yearn for a reasonable order of society in which men will be a mutual blessing instead of a mutual curse, and in which they will all find scope for the full enjoyment of beautiful life in all its elements, and the full development of the God-like powers that are latent in every human breast. But I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that a man may earnestly desire all these things, and go the wrong way about it to get them. This I believe to be the case with Socialists. They are proposing to hew out cisterns that can hold no water while forsaking the one great cistern of living water.
You speak of “the pulsing of the universal heart—and the awful eyes of the universal soul gazing up, dim and blurred and weary, but full of wistful yearning for the unrevealed and unspeakable glory which men call God.” I have no place for this conception except as the broken rays of refracted light—the incorporeal shadow of a reality lying elsewhither. Where I think the substance lies I have indicated more than once. If there is in the universe an “unspeakable glory” to be yearned after, there is an unspeakable glory that can be revealed. You pronounce it “unrevealed.” If Christ was true, you are wrong in this. It is testified of Him that though “no man hath seen God at any time,” “the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father hath declared Him.” It is what He Himself said, “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou hast given me out of the world;” and again, “Thou hast hid these things p. 154 from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes (John i. 18: xvii. 6; Matt. xi. 25).
Now if “unspeakable glory” exist and has been revealed, it is not conceivable that the state of man upon earth should be outside the range of His counsels and purposes and revelations. It is not conceivable that the problem of evil should be a chance problem, or its solution left to the bungling wits of man. If I, John Smith, am to be guided by the Bible, I cannot but have very positive convictions on this point, and therefore very positive views on the nature and prospects of Socialism.
The Bible tells me that evil is from God (Isaiah xlv. 7; Amos. iii. 6), that its prevalence on earth is due to man’s insubordination (Is. i. 1-20). At the same time it tells me of a time when evil will be abolished; when there shall be “no more curse, no more pain, no more death” (Is. xxv. 8; Rev. xxi. 4; xxii. 3). For the change from the one state to the other, it tells me that “God hath appointed a day” (Acts xvii. 31) “according to the good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ” (Eph. i. 10); for the effectuation of which purpose He will “set up a kingdom which shall break in pieces all other kingdoms and itself stand for ever”; in which “all peoples, nations and languages shall serve” the appointed king from heaven (Dan. ii. 44; vii. 15).
Now, Mr. Blatchford, I must either believe this and reject Socialism, or believe in Socialism and reject this. I could show many reasons for holding that the rejection of the Bible is a logical impossibility. I feel compelled to receive the revelation from “the unspeakable glory which men call God.” But this would be out of place in these letters. I must, therefore, conclude with an attempt to show how entirely adapted to the needs of the world as diagnosed even by Socialism, is the coming change of system promised in the Bible.
Then, Mr. Blatchford, the well-being of man requires that the whole world should be under one government. If there was only one government, there would be no danger of one nation making war upon another; and there would be no need for those prodigious standing armies and formidable fleets that suck the blood and prosperity from the people, by p. 155 the stupendous cost of their maintenance, and no need for international customs duties, and war of tariffs putting shackles on human industry, and fetters on human life in all countries. Think what a difference this would make to the living facilities of mankind. The enormous sums that go yearly to pay fleets and armies would be available for the feeding, clothing, and housing of the poor. Not only so, but the enormous bodies of men set free for industry by the disbanding of the armies, would swell the ranks of the producers while reducing the number of the mere consumers. This change alone would make a vast difference to the state of the world.
Can Socialism hold out hopes of this kind? So far from this, Socialism itself proposes to teach the entire population the use of arms, so as to be able to repel foreign aggression!
The Bible tells us that when the day of Christ comes, there will be “One King in all the earth” (Zech. xiv. 9), and that “all peoples, nations, and languages shall serve and obey him” (Dan. vii. 15), “and study war no more” (Mic. iv. 3), “and his kingdom is to break in pieces all others.” It will have no rival, no contemporary, no competitor. “A mountain filling the whole earth” is its symbol (Dan. ii. 35, 44, 45).
First of all, as I indicated in my last letter, the present systems want breaking up and dismissing. You have shown this to us many times over. The ground wants clearing of all monopolies without compensation, that a right system may have a right start and a clear field for developments. The Socialists don’t preach this. Yet this is what is wanted. No regeneration of the world can be effected without it. Any attempt to compensate or buy out the monopolists must strangle the new system with the old cords tied on in a new way. The most long-headed of the Socialists see this, but they dare not avow it for fear of destroying the chances of the Socialist propaganda.
Now the Bible plan proclaims in advance the very thing which you, Mr. Blatchford, see to be necessary but dare not advocate. “Unspeakable glory,” says to Christ: “I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts p. 156 of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” “He shall save the children of the needy and break in pieces the oppressor.” It says He will “fill the hungry with good things and the rich he shall SEND EMPTY AWAY.” It reveals that the governments of the world will “make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them . . . and the kingdoms of this world shall become his, and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Psa. ii. 9; Luke i. 53; Rev. xviii. 14: xi. 15).
Next after the complete overthrow of the present order of things, the world requires a wise, strong and incorruptible government before the best system can succeed. If it is not wise, it will enact laws that are not for the good of the community. If it is not strong, its orders will in the end be disregarded, and the best laws defeated. If it is not incorruptible, the administration of the wisest laws will become weak and uncertain, and the people will fail to get the benefit of them.
Now Socialism cannot ensure any of these conditions. You have said that human nature is “a complex and an awful thing.” It therefore requires a complex and penetrating system of government for its proper management. But what could Socialism offer? The opinion of a body of short-sighted men enforced through an executive of the same character. Their measures would necessarily be limited to proximate ends. They might see how to increase the crops, but not how to impart right principles to the people. They might understand how to improve manufactures, but not how to make the people happy. Happiness and righteousness are the results of many conditions (some of them very subtle), which could not be made the subject of Republican legislation.
As for strength, how could a government be strong that was dependent upon the goodwill of the people? It might be strong enough in the sense of having the army and police behind it while in office, but it would be very weak in the conditions governing the possession of power. It would have to please the people. It would not be the wisdom of a policy, but the opinion of a working man majority that would determine its acts, which would often therefore be vacillating acts and foolish acts. It might have physical force enough at its disposal but not moral fortitude enough in the use of it.
p. 157 What is wanted is a strong hand on the helm, guided by wisdom, inspired by kindness, not dependent on popular favour and not afraid of incurring popular displeasure. The kingdom of God will supply this want. Socialism never could.
As to moral incorruptibility, no man would pretend that a Republican Government would be an incorruptible government. It might be fairly trustworthy in ordinary times, but there would necessarily arise opportunities of turning official influence to personal advantage, and temptations to wink at breaches of the law from fear or favour: and it would be something new in the history of mankind if such opportunities were not too much for human frailty. Malfeasance and peculation in high office would not be too hard on the same thing among minor officials, and thus the rot would spread and justice suffer to the detriment of the common weal.
Where Socialism would fail, the Kingdom of God would be a perfect provision. Infallible wisdom pervades the entire administration of a system in which the head would be a King who “shall not judge by the sight of his eyes nor reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of Wisdom and might, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.” “Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of the times.” Princes of like character surround his throne and enforce his authority chosen beforehand of a process of natural selection not recognised by modern science. Natural selection through the operation of spiritual principles in the current age of darkness and faith—“conformed to his image”—made like him, morally and physically, and reigning with him in exaltation after suffering with him in the day of his dishonour.
A government with such gifts of insight would be able to formulate laws that would work well for mankind in all the details of life. There would be no experiments and no miscarriages: no undue repression of individual liberty and no helpless toleration of individual abuses—land and labour rightly adjusted and no strangling entails of compensation surviving from this barbarous age. The wisdom would exist at headquarters p. 158 able to give the world the right system and the power also to carry it out without failure.
Such a government would be strong, as government has never been strong before. It would not depend upon popular suffrage. It would be an absolutism without being a tyranny. The people would have to obey, at the peril of life, laws that would work out for their highest good. “Every soul that would not hear that prophet should be cut off from among the people.” The King would “rule with a rod of iron” as regards the inflexible firmness of his reign: but would be as “the dew upon tender herb” as regards its influence of kindness, mercy, gentleness, and truth. He would be the friend of all men who were willing to do well—the foe only of the villain and the oppressor. The prophecy of him combines these features: “He shall come like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. He shall judge for the poor and needy, and shall save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor.”
The moral incorruptibility that cannot be depended upon in the operations of flesh and blood will belong inherently to a government immortal and divine. It is written of the head of it: “He loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God hath anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows;” and again, “Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins,” and again, “The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.” “Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.”
It is with a sense of almost natural expectation fulfilled that we read, “Men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed.”
And now, Mr. Blatchford, when men get a good thing, they like to keep it. But when the world gets a good king or a good statesman, it has to part with him very shortly; the day comes when he must die, and all his ripe experience and wisdom go with him to the grave. If you were to establish a successful Socialist state to-morrow, 50 years would sweep all its founders off the scene; and who could tell what sort of successors they might have—wise men or fools? As likely the latter as not; p. 159 and then the result? This is the weakness of all human systems. Death disintegrates them and ruins them in a few generations.
But the coming regime which will be so super-excellent on all other points will be perfect in this—that the King and his friends will be irremovable by death. “Death hath no more dominion over him,” as the New Testament informs us. “God has given him length of days for ever and ever” (Psa. xxi. 4), “His name shall endure for ever,” “his name shall be continued as long as the sun.” Christ declares the same thing of those with whom he will share his throne. “They shall not die any more” (Luke xx. 36; Rev. iii. 21). Here is an element of stability lacking to every possible arrangement in the power of man to make.
Finally, the Bible that tells us all these beautiful things, reveals to us also this, that this management of all mortal affairs by an order of immortal heads and rulers is with a view of at last admitting a sufficient number of the whole population to the immortal state of their rulers, so that death itself may be finally abolished from the planet, and the earth become an everlasting abode of efficient and joyful life (Isa. xxv. 8; 1 Cor. xv. 25, 26; Rev. xxi. 4, 5).
This magnificent prospect is no idle dream unless the Bible is a lie, which all attempts have hitherto failed to prove—including the ponderous efforts of our friends of the “Higher Criticism.” Further, it has to be remarked that such a prospect is in harmony with the reasonable presumption arising from the natural aspect of things. It is evident that this planet has a long history before it as well as behind it. It is evident that its future is an endless future, both by Bible declaration (Psa. cxlviii. 6) and scientific presumption.
How terrible is the problem of human prospects if we have nothing but Socialism and natural light to look to. Consider this: the population is steadily increasing with each generation, while the earth’s capacity for maintaining life is fixed and limited. Where shall we be in the progress of the ages when there are more human beings upon the earth than there will be room or food for? It is no imaginary problem.
p. 160 You may put it off as a problem not affecting the present time, but the problem is there, and throws its disturbing shadow over all men and human schemes of human management. The Bible prospect alone solves it perfectly.
To bring these scattered ideas to a focus, I here give you a peep at what will come if the Bible continues to be as true a prophecy of the future as it has proved in the past. The contemplation of it ought to comfort your distressed soul and calm your indignant feelings, because while surpassing the idealisms of Plato or Sir Thomas More, unlike their pleasing pictures, it is no mere reverie of human imagination, but the delineation of a purpose formed and revealed “by the glory which men call God.”
It shows that the wisdom that has contrived the earth has also a plan for its use and settlement, and that in this plan alone lies the solatium for the distress that fills the generous souls of such men as the author of MERRIE ENGLAND.
A Peep at the Future depicted in the Bible
A king reigns, who combines in himself all the sweetness and manliness of Arthur, all the grace and ability of Cyrus, all the energy and capacity of Alexander, all the talent and celerity of Napoleon, all the irresistible velocity of Charles XII., all the military invincibility and organising skill of Charlemagne, all the pertinacious genius and paternal disinterestedness of Frederick, all the impressive and dignified splendour of Louis XIV., all the wisdom of Solomon, all the kindliness and fervour of David, all the patience and faithfulness of Moses, and all the patience of Job.
But differing from all kings that ever were before him, he has a body of incorruptible substance; life immortal; and a presence radiant with a natural glory and majesty.
p. 161 And He excels them all in having power to control the natural elements, to still the storm, or cure disease. He can launch the thunderbolt, fertilise a country, or arrest the movements of man. His name is above every name even now.
His mother was the descendant of kings, His Father was the Creator of the Universe. He was killed 1,800 years ago for His denunciation of wickedness, and raised from the dead, and taken away from the earth. He has now returned to reign where He was crucified. He is located centrally at the junction of the three great continents of the eastern hemisphere—in the land where His ancestors on His mother’s side lived as strangers, under a promise that God would give them everlasting possession in a day then afar off (Gen. xiii. 15; Heb. xi. 13). The land, for long a desolation, has been turned into a paradise (Isa. ix. 15; Ezek. xxxvi. 35). He has built a stupendous temple on the original site of Jerusalem excelling in dimensions and glory all edifices ever erected in the earth before (Hag. ii. 9; Zech. vi. 13). This temple is “the place of his throne”—the centre of his government (Ezek xliii. 7). His empire embraces the entire globe (Dan. vii. 14). The whole earth waits for His law (Isa. xlii. 4), which He promulgates from Zion (Micah iv. 2).
He is assisted in the work of the government by an innumerable body of friends, who have been fitted for association with Him by previous submission to the principles that actuate Him: by faithfulness to His requirements in the days of His absence: by acknowledgment of His headship when men disowned and dishonoured Him, and now by a physical transformation which has assimilated their resurrected bodies to His incorruptible and immortal nature (Rev. i. 6: ii. 21: v. 10; 2 Tim. ii. 12; Phil. iii. 21; 1 Cor. xv. 53; Luke xii. 8; xix. 11-19).
There has been a prolonged and terrible war in which the old régime has perished in all countries. Kingdoms, empires, and republics have all disappeared before the terrible blast of His power, and His authority is now acknowledged everywhere, from Japan to the Emerald Isle; from the banks of the Neva on the north to the Cape of Good Hope on the south; and p. 162 everywhere throughout the turbulent countries of the Western Hemisphere.
This government, for the first time in the history of the human race, supplies every condition requisite for their well-being. It does not, like human systems, either provide for physical wants merely, or starve the community with an excess of churches and priests. All the needs of man are supplied. Its authority comes from above, not from below; it cannot be put aside. It cannot be called in question. It requires no renewal. There is an end to elections. The rulers hold their authority by a permanent patent of nobility from God. They have omnipotence behind them.
Mr. Blatchford, it is written: “The earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” I will say no more at this time, except that if the Eternal Power that has, by whatever process, constructed the fair fabric of nature, has also a plan in operation for the redemption of the fairest creature that roams over the green and smiling fields of earth “under the great and solemn sky,” we may well “Rest in the Lord and wait for Him,” as recommended, and desist from schemes that will only madden and destroy with endeavours too great for man.
With entire respect, I beg to remain,
Your practical, hard-headed, revering, melancholy, cautious, respectful, admiring, demurring, “fairly-honest,” “silly,” anxious, “slow,” hopeful, apparently-superstitious, credulous, behind-the-age, highly critical, truly sympathetic, despairing, yet not hopeless, dissenting, “shrewd,” candid, impartial, much-concerned, and not-mad though Bible-believing and fervent friend,
JOHN SMITH.