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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Conversion of a High Priest into a Christian
+Worker, by Meletios Golden
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Conversion of a High Priest into a Christian Worker
+
+
+Author: Meletios Golden
+
+
+
+Release Date: January 6, 2008  [eBook #24179]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONVERSION OF A HIGH PRIEST INTO A
+CHRISTIAN WORKER***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Tamise Totterdell, Curtis Weyant, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed between equal signs appeared in bold face
+      in the original (=bold=).
+
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSION OF A HIGH PRIEST INTO A CHRISTIAN WORKER
+
+Edited and Presented by
+
+REV. M. GOLDEN
+
+Second Edition
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: FARMHOUSE, WHERE REV. M. GOLDEN WROTE HIS CONVERSION]
+
+
+[Illustration: GREEK-AMERIKAN-CHRISTIAN-ASSOCIATION]
+
+New York
+1912
+
+Copyright Office of the United States of America
+Library of Congress--Washington, D. C.
+
+In conformity with section 55 of the Act to Amend and Consolidate the
+Acts respecting Copyright, approved March 4, 1909, said book has been
+duly registered to the name of Rev. M. Golden, of Rutland, Mass.
+
+Entry: Class A, XXc., No. 251121, Oct. 29, 1909.
+Copyright, 1910, by REV. MELETIOS GOLDEN.
+Entry: Class A, XXc, No. 275323, Nov. 10, 1910.
+
+The Trow Press
+New York
+
+
+
+
+TO
+
+My own loving father, who did sow the seed of a brave Christianity in my
+young heart, while only eight years of age, calling me by his death-bed,
+on my knees, with his right hand resting upon my head, in his last words
+to me, saying:
+
+"My boy, I leave you; God will be your Father, and Jesus His Son your
+Saviour; keep away from unholy associates, and heed not unlawful advice,
+but work for righteousness and help those that are in need; and we shall
+meet again." And his spirit went into eternity; to which destination I
+direct all my efforts in life.
+
+                    This Book is dedicated by a grateful son,
+                                            REV. MELETIOS GOLDEN.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    CHAPTER                                                 PAGE
+
+       I. FAREWELL                                            17
+
+      II. ARRIVAL                                             36
+
+     III. FIRST DAY IN NEW YORK                               49
+
+      IV. HIGH PRIEST                                         57
+
+       V. PHILOSOPHY VS. CHRISTIANITY                         66
+
+      VI. GOD'S PROVIDENCE                                    76
+
+     VII. NEW YORK TO CALIFORNIA                              92
+
+    VIII. HONORABLE SUBMISSION                               104
+
+      IX. PRACTICAL EFFECTS OF PRACTICAL TRUTH               114
+
+       X. GREEK-AMERIKAN-CHRISTIAN-ASSOCIATION               133
+
+      XI. CONCLUSION                                         151
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+    Farmhouse                                        _Frontispiece_
+
+    Rev. M. Golden in Street Attire as High Priest               36
+
+    The World's Wonder, Acropolis of Athens, Greece              52
+
+    H. R. H. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn,
+    K. G., etc.                                                  68
+
+    Rev. M. Golden, the High Priest in Church Ceremonial
+    Attire                                                       84
+
+    Rev. M. Golden, Captain of the Salvation Army               100
+
+    Rev. M. Golden, the founder of the
+    Greek-Amerikan-Christian-Association                        126
+
+    Greek Peasant Woman                                         132
+
+
+
+
+Conversion of a High Priest into a
+Practical Christian Worker
+
+SECOND EDITION
+
+    _Edited and Presented by_
+     Rev. MELETIOS GOLDEN
+
+    _Founder of the Greek-Amerikan-Christian-Association._
+
+    _HIGH PRIEST OF THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH._
+
+    _Grand Representative of the St. Stephen's Monastery,
+     Mt. Athos, Turkey._
+
+    _Archimandrides of the Virgin Mary's Monastery, Salamis and
+     Athens, Greece._
+
+    _Lieutenant, Officer, in the Royal Gendarmery of Greece._
+
+    _Grand Chaplain and Orator of the Supreme Council of the A. A.
+     Scottish Rite, Greece._
+
+    _Captain of the Salvation Army, U. S. A._
+
+    _Member of the Massachusetts Consistory S. P. R. S., Thirty-second
+     Degree, Boston, Mass._
+
+    _Evangelist to the Greeks in the United States, etc., etc._
+
+    _New York._
+     1912.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+In placing this second edition in the hands of my readers I most
+gratefully acknowledge the splendid assistance of my subscribers, and
+the kindness with which this book has been received by the General
+Public, who made it possible for me to accomplish my intended purpose,
+ever since I left home, that I should give, to the general public, an
+account of my conversion into a practical Christian worker, knowing that
+there are a great number of intelligent minds, among the priests, in the
+Greek-Russian and Roman Catholic churches, who would make good soldiers
+of Jesus Christ, and some of them might develop into heroes of Truth and
+Righteousness, if they could only deny themselves of the luxuries and
+lofty life attached to their priesthood. And this problem of selfishness
+is an absolute barrier not only to their own Salvation, but to many a
+soul, who might have been saved from sin, and be converted to God, and
+usefulness, but for the Priest.
+
+The solution of the problem was the clue which aided me to escape from
+the labyrinth of doubt; and now, standing upon the rock of unshaken
+faith, I offer the clue that guided me to others.
+
+A work of this kind is called for by the spirit of the age. Although the
+signs of the times are said to be propitious, yet there are constant
+developments of undisciplined and unsanctified minds both in Europe and
+America, which furnish matter of regret to the philanthropist and the
+Christian; and though there are great controversies--going on at
+present; in relation to the man's spiritual interests, central point of
+all this heated contest has been the "Cross of Christ:" yet the most
+obnoxious obstacle in the way of progress as to the realization of
+"God's Kingdom on earth" it is, and from all quarters the same
+exclamation uttered, the priest.
+
+Men and women entrusted with responsibilities of raising children in the
+Christ-like way, for the future development of this great country, will
+find valuable facts in this volume, which I have endeavored to write, in
+order to meet the exigencies among, not only certain people, but among
+many well-bred and well-cultured priests.
+
+In criticising this work, the intelligent reader is respectfully
+requested to take into account the peculiar circumstances under which
+this book is written.
+
+I was only six years old--in the English language--many miles away from
+any literary assistance, and fifty miles from the Boston Public Library,
+where I could derive many testimonies and opinions of undisputable
+authorities to strengthen my religious opinions and actions, which are
+tested in the most practical way by all conditions and under all
+circumstances, from the ostentatious pomp of a high priest to a loving,
+lowly worker in the slums of Chicago.
+
+The place, where this book is written, is a farm situated in the
+picturesque county of Worcester, and it might rightfully have attributed
+to the effect of the inspiring natural surroundings in this farm that I
+was enabled to master my views in framing them according to the
+linguistic requirements of the American reader, using the every day
+language for the historical part of my subject; and maintaining the more
+classical expression for the men with the tendencies to argue, just to
+make a show of their higher knowledge, thus trying to excuse themselves
+for not submitting all their powers to the Will of God.
+
+It has been said, all misery comes to the human race mainly from two
+causes; firstly, through misconduct: and secondly, through misfortune:
+therefore; since there is the self-evident truth, in the axiom, that,
+when the cause is diagnosed, the remedy is near at hand, let us work
+unitedly to remove the cause of all misery, be it in the Greek people,
+or Jewish, or Gentiles, and by the light of the Gospel's truth, let us
+put forth all our efforts, while here on earth, in establishing
+happiness and good will to all men.
+
+                                          REV. MELETIOS GOLDEN.
+
+                     NORTH RUTLAND, Mass., 1910.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+_Farewell_
+
+
+It was the year 1903, on a very beautiful day, one of those April days,
+that are well known and appreciated by those who have been fortunate
+enough to travel around the purple bathed Mediterranean coast, that his
+royal highness, the prince of Greece, Andreas, went abroad to meet his
+sweetheart, who afterwards became his wife and princess of Greece. It
+was a confidential royal talk, the betrothal of Prince Andreas, but for
+the newspaper man, who learns everything, and he can keep a confidential
+talk as much as Mrs. Green did when she promised to her husband to keep
+all to herself that confidential talk they had one night, and the first
+thing in the morning speaking to Mrs. Jones over the fence she
+confidentially delivered that confidential talk and in the same manner
+all over fences and telephones, wherever they were procurable, to save
+the time, the talk went round the town and came back to Mr. Green's
+ears, and he only blamed himself for being the fool to trust his wife.
+So, when Prince Andreas, came down to Piraeus, the seaport of Athens, to
+board on the fashionable French S. S. Messengerie-Maritime, he was
+surprised by the throngs of people that gathered at the pier to greet
+him "good luck" in his royal love affairs, because the Greeks pay more
+attention to the royal love affairs, than they do in paying their
+royalties to fatten more highness and highnesses than any other Kingdom
+on the face of the earth.
+
+The Kingdom of Greece, little more than two millions of people, pay to
+King George, for his annual allowances six times as much as the ninety
+millions of people to the President of the United States. And every
+creature of royal blood, in Greece, draws as high an allowance, as
+nearer to the throne his or her rights happen to be. Besides, many
+thousands of acres of the best land in Greece, is granted to the members
+of the royal family; thus causing the immense emigration of all these
+Greeks, whom you meet in every corner, in the United States, trying to
+make an honest living, by shining your shoes, or working in the
+construction of railroads in America and Mexico.
+
+The Greek, though born and raised among the most beautiful vineyards
+that made the historical and famous Nectar for the Gods, yet when he
+leaves his home to go abroad, he takes his last glass of intoxicant,
+till he settles himself, in a new adopted motherland, and makes a
+comfortable home for the queen of his heart, because home life is the
+ideal of every Greek and he is a model as head of the family, in his
+moderate means trying to raise children to his generation and give them
+the best he can afford. Hopeful, that some Socrates or Demosthenes might
+develop out of his offspring. The Greek has never been identified with
+any unlawful or criminal movement of the so-called Anarchistic or
+Socialistic. The Greek at all times and under all circumstances is an
+example as a law-abiding citizen.
+
+Greek history is the pride of all the civilized world, and in the
+opinion of a most distinguished sociologist, the United States is the
+Greece of this age, and he thinks that it is the irresistible law of
+gravitation and sympathy that the tide of emigration draws the Greeks
+from the ancient Greece into this new and glorious Greece. And the
+writer was very little surprised when told that Boston is the Hub of
+America, or in the language of the Archaeologist, the Athens of the
+United States, and there and then he made his resolution to make his
+home in Boston, should he ever find the way clear to come to America.
+The joyful dream of his life has become reality, and for the last six
+years from his personal observations traveling a little more, perhaps,
+than the average American traveler, from Atlantic Ocean to Pacific
+Coast, he is privileged to know that the spirit of the Ancient Greece is
+not only confined in the Hub, but, hospitality and the love of art and
+beauty prevails in the very heart of every true American man and woman,
+even in the remotest village and hamlet, and he has yet to know the time
+or the place where he did not feel perfectly at home. Therefore, there
+is no regret on his part for bidding farewell to the land of the Gods
+and the city which had been the birthplace of taste, of art and beauty
+and eloquence. The chosen sanctuary of the Muses. The prototype of all
+that is graceful and dignified and grand in sentiment and action.
+
+History and philosophy, oratory and the elements of mathematical science
+claim as their birthplace the city of Athens, where Paul, the greatest
+apostle of Jesus Christ, uttered his immortal oration to the Athenians,
+on the Areopagus (Mars Hill). And he, dignified, temperate, high-minded
+and learned in all wisdom, of his age, Paul, confessed that he was
+standing in the midst of the highest civilization, both of his own age
+and of the ages that had elapsed.
+
+Paul, with his face towards the north having immediately behind him the
+long walls which ran down to the sea, affording protection against a
+foreign enemy. Near the sea on the one side the harbor of Piraeus, on
+the other that designated Phalerum, with crowded arsenals, their busy
+workmen and their gallant ships. Not far off in the ocean the Island of
+Salamis, ennobled forever in history as the spot near which Athenian
+valour chastised Asiatic pride, and achieved the liberty of Greece. The
+Apostle turning towards his right hand to catch a view of a small but
+celebrated hill rising within the city near that on which he stood,
+called the Pnyx, where standing on a block of bare stone, Demosthenes
+and other distinguished orators had addressed the assembled people of
+Athens, swaying that arrogant and fickle democracy, and thereby making
+Philip of Macedon tremble, or working good or ill for the entire
+civilized world. Immediately before him looking upon the crowded city,
+studded in every part with memorials sacred to religion or patriotism,
+and exhibiting the highest achievements of art. On his left, somewhat
+beyond the walls, the Academy, with its groves of plane and olive-trees,
+its retired walks and cooling fountains, its altar to the Muses, its
+statues of the Graces, its Temple of Minerva, and its altars to
+Prometheus, to Love, and Hercules, near which Plato had his country
+seat, and in the midst of which he had taught as well his followers
+after him. But the most impressive spectacle laying on his right hand,
+that small and precipitous hill "The Acropolis" where clustered together
+monuments of the highest art, and memorials of the national religion,
+such as no other equal spot of ground has ever borne. The Apostle's
+eyes, in turning to the right, would fall on the north-west side of the
+eminence, which was here and all round, covered and protected by a wall,
+parts of which were so ancient as to be of Cyclopean origin. The western
+side, which alone gave access to what, from its original destination,
+may be termed the fort, was, during the administration of Pericles,
+adorned with a splendid flight of steps, and the beautiful Propylaea,
+with its five entrances and two flanking temples, constructed by
+Mnesicles of Pentelican marble at a cost of 2012 talents, which is the
+equivalent of about four millions of American dollars. In the time of
+the Roman emperors there stood before the Propylaea, equestrian statues
+of Augustus and Agrippa. On the southern wing of the Propylaea was a
+temple to the Wingless Victory; on the northern, a Pinacotheca, or
+picture gallery. On the highest part of the platform of the Acropolis,
+not more than 300 feet from the entrance-buildings just described, stood
+and yet stands, though shattered and mutilated, The Parthenon, justly
+celebrated throughout the world, erected of white Pentelican marble,
+under the direction of Callicrates, Ictinus and Carpion and adorned with
+the finest sculptures from the hand of Phidias.
+
+Northward from the Parthenon was the Erechtheum, a compound building
+which contained the temple of Minerva Polias; the proper Erechtheum,
+called also the Cecropium, and the Pandroseum. This sanctuary contained
+the holy olive tree sacred to Minerva, the holy salt-spring, the ancient
+wooden image of Pallas, etc., and was the scene of the oldest and most
+venerated ceremonies and recollections of the Athenians. Perhaps, for
+this reason, King George of Greece, in celebrating his 25th anniversary
+on the Throne, he gave upon this rock of Acropolis, that remarkable
+banquet to all crowned visitors, 175 in number from every royal family
+of Europe. At this memorable event, the writer held the office of "man
+at arms" on the Acropolis, although he was the youngest officer in the
+Royal Gendarmery of Greece, at the time.
+
+Between the Propylaea and the Erechtheum was placed the colossal bronze
+statue of Pallas-Promachos, the work of Phidias, which towered so high
+above the other buildings, that the plume of her helmet and the point of
+her spear were visible on the sea between Sunium and Athens. Moreover,
+the Acropolis was occupied by so great a crowd of statues and monuments,
+that the account, as found in Pausanias, excites the reader's wonder,
+and makes it difficult for him to understand how so much could have
+been crowded into a space which extended from the southeast only 1150
+feet, whilst its greatest breadth did not exceed 500 feet.
+
+On the hill itself where Paul stood, was the temple of Furies, and in
+the court house of Areopagus, there was the altar to Athene Areia.
+
+In all historical probability, Paul, stood exactly on this place when,
+"=to the unknown God=" as his text, he delivered the understanding of "The
+True and Living God," who made the world and all things therein, and he
+made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the
+earth.
+
+The writer, consequently, in bidding farewell to his beloved Athens, he
+knew that he was going as a brother among members of the same family of
+humanity in a land where man is free to worship God, not in hypocrisy
+and deceit, but in Spirit and in truth.
+
+On the same beautiful April day that Prince Andreas was going abroad,
+the writer went aboard on the same S. S. Messengerie-Maritime, unaware
+of H. R. H.'s presence there, notified only at the last moment by the
+agent of the company, Mr. Christopher of Piraeus, who was on board
+himself going to Italy on a business trip. Mr. Christopher, by being a
+member of the same fellowcraft in which the writer was the Grand
+Chaplain, he took pains to secure a very comfortable stateroom for his
+brother Chaplain.
+
+Now I was following Mr. Christopher and an officer of the S. S. to
+locate myself in the suite provided for me, and as we were obliged to
+pass through the reception hall there I found myself face to face with
+the King George, and the following dialogue occurs.
+
+King--Where are you going, Father?
+
+I--On a recreation trip, Your Majesty. (I should have said, on a
+reformation trip.)
+
+King--I hope you will have a bon voyage.
+
+I--Your Majesty's wish, God grant it to be so, and I pray that His
+Favour shall crown with joy, all the desires of H. R. H.'s, the Prince,
+in his journey.
+
+King--With your prayers, Father, I believe H. R. H. will be well
+successful.
+
+And with one of his well known diplomatic smiles that contain manifold
+meanings, King George bid us farewell, and in a few moments the big
+whistle blew and a gentle vibration of the boat gave the notice that we
+were on the move. I went into my cabin and looking through the hole that
+was doing duty of a round window, I beheld the monument of Themistocles
+passing slowly, and when I could see that no more, I felt something
+melting in my heart and over-flowingly coming up into my eyes in the
+shape of two drops of burning water. I took them on the tips of my
+fingers and after kissing them with all the tenderness of a loving
+heart, I sprinkled them into the apeiron, farewell to my loved ones left
+behind me, while the big S. S. in full steam was now carrying me faster
+and faster into the unknown and uncertain.
+
+I did not leave my cabin and there took my meals for two reasons; first,
+H. R. H. expressed the wish to take his meals at the regular
+first-class dining table, with all the mortals therein, and I had little
+desire to meet him anyway; and second because I wanted to be alone to
+indulge undisturbed in my thoughts and study them and keep notes of them
+for my future use.
+
+The history tells us that it took thirty years for the greatest
+philosopher that was ever born to give his definite opinion as to the
+immortality of the soul. And if a philosopher like Socrates, after
+thirty years of constant study, he knew one thing, that he knew nothing,
+it is absurd to dare say that we shall ever know more than Socrates did,
+and in regard to the most perplexed problem of the human soul we can
+only rejoice in the fact that we are placed in a more advanced position
+above Socrates, that we can look upon these problems with more light,
+and that is the light that comes from Galilee.
+
+Alone as I was in my cabin I thought of Socrates, I thought of
+Confucius, of Buddha, and in fact I thought of the many ancient and
+modern leaders of great movements, and of new thoughts, my admiration is
+insistent to everything that is noble and pure in sentiment and praxis,
+but there is only one leader, whom my spirit admires the best and I
+worship him with love and devotion, the man who gave his life for me. I
+knew I was free through his death and I was happy. The Hierarchical
+church was opposing me unreasonably; my own dearest and nearest
+relatives did not understand me, their strongest argument being, how
+could I sacrifice such a high office and deny a promising greater
+future and still be in my right mind?
+
+Not being satisfied in my own heart, much less convinced in my mind, I
+made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in order to find out whether Jesus was
+the only Saviour of mankind without the necessity of a priest. It was
+then and there, while kneeling on my knees upon that rock of Golgotha
+that came to me with startling force and clearness that I must be a
+follower of Jesus Christ and not a representative. All men may live on
+the Christ-like way and be happy, but the man who dares personify
+himself with the authorities belonging only to Jesus, that man must be a
+faker; "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
+for his friends" and I knew Jesus was my friend, the only friend left to
+me, while every other friend had forsaken me. In that little cabin I
+felt his companionship, and looking at the clock on the dresser I beheld
+in the mirror a pleasant face smiling at me. The hour was nearly
+midnight and I retired, singing "He promised never to leave me alone."
+
+The voyage from Piraeus to Naples is said to be the best and grandest in
+Mediterranean, and in company of a royal fellow traveller might have
+been interesting even to the most eccentric Yankee, but to me it was a
+monotonous event, and the second evening while I was walking for some
+exercise on the deck, H. R. H. came up to me graciously expressing his
+regrets for not seeing me at the table, and inquiring if I was not
+feeling well, but he soon noticed my laconical way in excusing my
+absence, and he withdrew, leaving me alone in my admiration of a grand
+view on a moonlighted nature in the Mediterranean. And the only thought
+occupying my mind was; how soon could I get to America? For this reason
+perhaps, I decided to take steamship for New York at Naples, Italy,
+instead of going to Marseilles, chief seaport of France on the
+Mediterranean, thus forfeiting my rights on S. S. Messengerie-Maritime,
+that had been paid from Piraeus to Marseilles.
+
+Happily, Mr. Christopher was also representing the S. S. Co., of Fabre
+Line, and the S. S. Germania of the same company was scheduled to depart
+from the harbor of Naples in a few days. It certainly was a pleasure and
+an opportunity of which we took advantage to visit the most interesting
+places in and around Naples, the city of far famous and at the same time
+notorious, for there the stranger notices, in every step, the beauty of
+Italian art and the Neapolitan filth combined in the most peculiar
+texture.
+
+Making good use of the little time which we had at our disposal, we took
+the train and went up to see the City in which the Pope entombed himself
+a living mummy rather than to co-operate with the civilized world in
+building God's Kingdom on earth.
+
+In looking over my memorandums I have just discovered a description that
+I kept about the Eternal City. The historical facts therein are
+supported by undisputable authority. And I think it apropos beneficial
+to my readers, if it will be placed at their hands before the closing of
+this chapter.
+
+On the river Tiber, about fifteen miles from its mouth in the plain of
+what is now called the Campagna, stands the famous capital of the
+Western World, and the present residence of the Pope, the City of Rome.
+The surrounding country is not a plain, but a sort of undulating
+table-land, crossed by hills, while it sinks towards the southwest to
+the marshes of Maremma, which coast the Mediterranean. In ancient
+geography the country, in the midst of which Rome lay, was termed
+Latium, which, in the earliest times, comprised within a space of about
+four geographical square miles the country lying between the Tiber and
+the Numisius, extending from the Alban Hills to the sea, having for its
+chief city Laurentum. Here, on the Palatine Hill, was the city of Rome
+founded by Romulus and Remus, grandsons of Numitor, and sons of Rhea
+Sylvia, to whom, as the originators of the city, mythology ascribed a
+divine parentage. The origin of the term Rome is in dispute. Some derive
+it from the Greek Romee, "strength," considering that this name was
+given to the place as been a fortress. Cicero says the name was taken
+from that of its founder Romulus. At first the city had three gates,
+according to a secret usage. Founded on the Palatine Hill, it extended,
+by degrees, so as to take in six other hills at the foot of which ran
+deep valleys that in early times were in part overflowed with water,
+while the hill-sides were covered with trees. In the course of the many
+years during which Rome was acquiring to herself the empire of the
+world, the city underwent great, numerous, and important changes. Under
+its first kings it must have presented a very different aspect from what
+it did after it had been beautified by Tarquin. The destruction of the
+city by the Gauls caused a thorough alteration in it: nor could the
+troubled times which ensued have been favourable to its being well
+restored. It was not till riches and artistic skill came into the city
+on the conquest of Philip of Macedon, and Antiochus of Syria, that there
+arose in Rome large handsome stone houses. The capture of Corinth
+conduced much to the adorning of the city: many fine specimens of art
+being transferred from thence to the abode of the conquerors. And so, as
+the power of Rome extended over the world, and her chief citizens went
+into the colonies to enrich themselves, did the masterpieces of Grecian
+art flow towards the capital, together with some of the taste and skill
+to which they owed their birth. Augustus, however, it was, who did most
+for embellishing the capital of the world, though there may be some
+sacrifice of truth in the pointed saying, that he found Rome built of
+brick, and left it marble. Subsequent emperors followed his example,
+till the place became the greatest repository of architectural,
+pictorial, and sculptural skill, that the world has ever seen: a result
+to which even Nero's incendiarism indirectly conduced, as affording an
+occasion for the city's being rebuilt under the higher scientific
+influences of the times. The site occupied by modern Rome is not
+precisely the same as that which was at any period covered by the
+ancient city: the change of locality being towards the north-west, the
+city has partially retired from the celebrated hills. About two-thirds
+of the area within the walls, traced by Aurelian, are now desolate,
+consisting of ruins, gardens, and fields, with some churches, convents,
+and other scattered habitations. Originally the city was a square mile
+in area. In the time of Pliny the walls were nearly twenty miles in
+circuit: now they are from fourteen to fifteen miles round. Its original
+gates, three in number, had increased in the time of the elder Pliny to
+thirty-seven. Modern Rome has sixteen gates, some of which are, however,
+built up. Thirty-one great roads centered in Rome, which, issuing from
+the Forum, traversed Italy, ran through the provinces, and were
+terminated only by the boundary of the empire. As a starting point a
+gilt pillar (Milliarium Aureum) was set up by Augustus in the middle of
+the Forum. This curious monument, from which distances were reckoned,
+was discovered in 1823. Eight principal bridges led over the Tiber: of
+these three are still relics. The four districts into which Rome was
+divided in early times, Augustus increased to fourteen. Large open
+spaces were set apart in the city, called Campi, for assemblies of the
+people and martial exercises, as well as for games. Of nineteen which
+are mentioned, the Campus Martius was the principal. It was near the
+Tiber, whence it was called Tiberinus. The epithet Martius was derived
+from the plain being consecrated to Mars, the god of war. In the later
+ages it was surrounded by several magnificent structures, and porticoes
+were erected, under which, in bad weather, the citizens could go
+through their usual exercises. It was also adorned with statues and
+arches. The name of Fora was given to places where the people assembled
+for the transaction of business. The Fora were of two kinds--fora
+venalia, "markets," and fora civilia, "law courts, etc."
+
+Until the time of Julius Caesar there was but one of the latter kind,
+termed by way of distinction Forum Romanum, or simply Forum. It lay
+between the Capitoline and Palatine Hills: it was eight hundred feet
+wide, and adorned on all sides with porticoes, shops, and other
+edifices, on the erection of which large sums had been expended, and the
+appearance of which was very imposing, especially as it was much
+enhanced by numerous statues. In the centre of the Forum was the plain
+called the Curtian Lake, where Curtius is said to have cast himself into
+a chasm or gulf, which closed on him, and so he saved his country. On
+one side were the elevated seats or suggestus, a sort of pulpits from
+which magistrates and orators addressed the people, usually called
+Rostra, because adorned with the beaks of ships which had been taken in
+a sea-fight from the inhabitants of Antium.
+
+Near by was the part of the Forum called the Comitium, where were held
+the assemblies of the people called Comitia Curiata. The celebrated
+temple, bearing the name of Capitol, of which there remain only a few
+vestiges, stood on the Capitoline Hill, the highest of the seven: it was
+square in form, each side extending about two hundred feet, and the
+ascent to it was by a flight of one hundred steps. It was one of the
+oldest, largest, and grandest edifices in the city. Founded by
+Tarquinius Priscus, it was at several times enlarged and embellished.
+Its gates were of brass, and it was adorned with costly gildings: whence
+it is termed "golden" and "glittering," aurea, fulgens. It enclosed
+three structures, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in the centre, the
+temple of Minerva on the right, and the temple of Juno on the left. The
+Capitol also included some minor temples or chapels, and the Casa
+Romuly, or Romulus, covered with straw. Near the ascent to the Capitol
+was the asylum (Cities of refuge). We also mention the Basilicae, since
+some of them were afterwards turned to the purposes of Christian
+worship. They were originally buildings of great splendour, being
+appropriated to meetings of the senate, and to judicial purposes. Here
+counsellors received their clients, and bankers transacted their
+business. The earliest churches, bearing the name of Basilicae, were
+erected under Constantine the Great. He gave his own palace on the
+Caelian Hill as a site for a Christian temple. Next in antiquity was the
+church of St. Peter, on the Vatican Hill, built A.D. 324, on the site
+and with the ruins of temples consecrated to Apollo and Mars. It stood
+about twelve centuries, at the end of which it was superseded by the
+modern church bearing the same name.
+
+The Cirei were buildings oblong in shape, used for public games, races,
+and beast-fights. The Theatra were edifices designed for dramatic
+exhibitions: the Amphitheatra (double theatres, buildings in an oval
+form) served for gladiatorial shows and the fighting of wild animals.
+That which was erected by the Emperor Titus, and of which there still
+exists a splendid ruin, was called the Coliseum, from a colossal statue
+of Nero that stood near it. With an excess of luxury, perfumed liquids
+were conveyed in secret tubes round these immense structures, and
+diffused over the spectators, sometimes from the statues which adorned
+the interior. In the arena which formed the centre of the amphitheatres,
+the early Christians often endured martyrdom by being exposed to
+ravenous beasts.
+
+In modern Rome there are various things to excite the curiosity of the
+stranger, but in my observations I could only see four elements
+predominating above everything, monks, nuns, priests and beggars. They
+form a continued procession all day long of the most spectacular
+carnival that could be seen in any of the Babylons of the world.
+
+And now while in Rome, we might ask the question: Who founded the church
+at Rome? The question is equally interesting, if not important to the
+Protestant and to Catholic. The Romish church assigns the honour to
+Peter, and on this grounds an argument in favour of the claims of the
+Papacy. But strict search in and about all the obtainable sources of
+knowledge, it does give no sufficient reason for believing that Peter
+was ever even so much as within the walls of Rome. Thus, by all inspired
+documents there is one title clear left to Pope and his scheme,
+"unaccountable falsifier." As an ordained High Priest in the Greek
+Orthodox Church, I have been for many years studied in this particular
+subject. The Libraries in Mount Athos gave me all the opportunities that
+the high and exalted position, which I held, could afford, to find the
+truth concerning the claims of the Pope. The Fathers of the Church,
+Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostomus, and all the
+host of Ecclesiastical authorities agree unanimously that the Lord Jesus
+never intended to concede any right of supremacy, to Peter, over the
+other apostles. Otherwise He (Jesus) would never have said those
+wonderful words (Matt. 20, 25, etc.), and Peter himself disclaiming the
+assertions of the Papacy (Pet. 1, 5, 3, etc.). And it is certain that
+there is no instance on record of the apostle's (Peter) having ever
+claimed or exercised this supposed power, but on the contrary, he is
+oftener than once represented as submitting to an exercise of power upon
+the part of others, as when, for instance, he went forth as a messenger
+from the apostles assembled in Jerusalem to the Christians in Samaria,
+and when he received a rebuke from Paul. Now as a matter of fact, if
+Peter was ever Great, that was, when he repented for denying his Master.
+Repentance, therefore, is the only hope left for the Pope, if he ever
+expects to hear the blessed voice "Feed my sheep."
+
+In these days of enlightenment and progress, while humane feelings are
+taking the place of spite and hatred among the civilized nations, and
+religious prejudice is giving way to good will and tolerance, Rome is,
+from the Vatican point of view, the stumbling-block of every honest
+effort in the purification of the individual heart and the uplifting of
+the millions of souls that are downtrodden under the sandals of hyenical
+monks. When the Pope, a few months ago, rejected Mr. Roosevelt and Mr.
+Fairbanks, two models of manhood and virtue, he made it clear to the
+world that he is suffering incurably, from barbaritis, and that his case
+is hopeless. But, it is to be hoped that as Rome is already regenerated
+politically and socially, so, we pray that in not far distant day, Rome,
+shall also be regenerated spiritually.
+
+In the meantime we shall continue our journey, and now we hurry back to
+take the S. S. Germania from Naples to New York. And when I was well
+located on board, I kissed good-bye to my friend and brother
+Christopher, thanking him for his assistance and bidding to the old
+world FAREWELL! FAREWELL!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+_Arrival_
+
+
+Sunday morning the 16th of May, 1903, the very handsome S. S. Germania,
+cast anchor in the docks of Brooklyn. Indeed, there is no particular
+significance in a steamship arriving in the harbor of Brooklyn and New
+York, for they come by hundreds from all parts of the world, every day
+in the week and many of them every Sunday of the year. It is for the
+diligent observer that there are more lessons to be drawn from a day
+passed along the Brooklyn bridge than there are in the most exclusive
+circles of the 400. And if I am allowed to make any comparison at all I
+should put it in the following short sentences. The former lessons would
+be of a heart from which all arteries transport the necessary elements
+to keep up undiminished the vitality of this great cosmopolitan body,
+while the latter uncontrovertibly is only a part of the body, and
+unfortunately it is the stomach that consumes lavishly even to the core
+all that the whole body can produce. Yet to an every day passer-by
+neither when he travels across the Brooklyn bridge rubbing elbows with
+the scores of the masses of humanity that hasten their way unconsiderate
+by nobody, nor when in his big red or yellow automobile hurrying up
+Fifth Avenue he is planning in his mind a new scheme how to make more
+money, or he is the heir of riches untold and many millions are waiting
+for him to be scattered in all winds, his social standard to keep up and
+his neighbor's honor to bring down and as a rule to accomplish his own
+destruction, the time is of no value unless there is some profit in it
+for the only scope in his life is self gratification.
+
+[Illustration: REV. M. GOLDEN In His Street Attire as High Priest]
+
+The S. S. Germania in splendor and commodities could proudly be called
+the Mauretania or Lucetania of the Fabre Line, a very commendable
+company judging from the good officials and desirable attendants we had
+on board the Germania. Her arrival at the present voyage had exceptional
+significance, and if every S. S. which arrives this side of the ocean
+had parallel instances it would be only a matter of time when all the
+legislators which are engaged in making the emigration laws would find
+themselves out of business, because the Kingdom of God that knows no
+divisions and no distinctions of nations and races should soon be
+established to make a heaven on earth and there it would be one
+Lord--one faith--one baptism for all human races, and all men could then
+move in the different parts of the world without any credentials and
+they could be welcome everywhere as members of the same family do when
+they live within the boundaries of love.
+
+Since the invention of Logos in the art of making history worth
+reading, through the ages the historian derives his intelligence from
+all sources apt to contribute to his object and unsparingly he treats
+zoology, botany and all kingdoms ending in some kind of y, just to serve
+his purpose successfully. And the writers of the Scriptures are not
+exempted to this rule, inspired as it were, they mentioned almost every
+known and unknown animal which our forefather Noah saved in his Ark, and
+if the ass plays so an important part in the Book of books, Germania
+surely is entitled to some consideration in the history of my
+conversion.
+
+It will be impossible for me to even attempt to skiagraph all that took
+place on board the Germania from the time we left Naples of sunny Italy
+till we arrived in the docks of Brooklyn, eleven and one-half days'
+voyage with only a short stop at Gibraltar, that fortified rock for
+which Great Britain is ready to play all her power just to maintain that
+dry and ungraceful rock, but, the key of two seas, and in Azores Islands
+to exchange mail, our journey was a never to be forgotten continual
+holiday.
+
+One odd incident that kept our merriment all these days, was the
+symptomatical number thirteen. The S. S. Germania was carrying on board
+several hundred emigrants, mostly from sunny Italy, they were
+representing all conditions and descriptions coming to America to make
+their fortune, which but a few exceptions is a sweet hope into every
+emigrant's heart and though often proves to them that it was only a
+dream, and there are millions of emigrants all over this land who after
+many years of hard work they are still struggling for a mere existence,
+yet they come and they shall continue to come for it is the rule of the
+universe; they simply cannot resist the law that governs and moves the
+Sympan. And the S. S. Germania was well occupied in its various
+compartments, but there were only ten of us voyagers in the reserved
+first cabins, and at meal time with the first Captain at the head of the
+table and one Commissioner representing the Government and the first
+physician of the boat then we made up the number 13; and though I am not
+a superstitious person I was the first one to call the attention to that
+fact, and there the fun began. The fellow voyagers insisting that should
+any danger of tempestuous and stormy gale threaten their safety they had
+to cast lots to know for whose cause the evil came, and as I was the
+only representative of the religious sentiment, in all probability I had
+to undergo the same experience as Jonah had, yet our fears did not even
+approach any realization but instead as it was desirable to all on board
+we enjoyed a very pleasant voyage all the way and the Captain himself
+unreservedly with his boyish cheerfulness expressed his gratification
+for all that came out so perfectly satisfactory. And the Captain being
+desirous to commemorate the agreeable event he gave the night before our
+arrival at Brooklyn a unique banquet in the big reception hall with
+various symbolical decorations in honor to his excellency the number 13.
+And to make the event more memorable the Captain himself went around the
+boat visiting all the emigrants and selecting 13 of the most musical
+Italian boys and girls with their harps, mandolins and tambourines, a
+perfect stringed band, and while our merriment was in its zenith he
+conducted them on the upper deck where the reception hall was located
+into the adjoining room and without warning we began to hear the waves
+vibrating through the walls into our hall and soon our ears were filled
+with divine melodies. They were playing Tosca, Puccini's most inspired
+composition and the translation of these people behind the walls it
+really contained that pathos which all artists agree, yet unable to
+explain how so many children of sunny Italy became world-wide famous for
+the embodiment of that musical and harmonious pathos of which Tosca is
+the favorite piece of the greatest living tenor Caruso.
+
+In an unfortunate event that occurred to me some time ago I lost the
+names of my fellow voyagers on that memorable trip on the Germania, yet
+I can well recollect that there were two American newly-wedded couples
+from the western cities, just returning home from their extensive
+honeymoon trip abroad, and there was a gentleman, very refined and well
+cultured in literature whom we called, the Athenian, as he hailed from
+Boston, which in the language of all foreigners is the Athens of the
+United States, and there was the Jew merchant from Chicago, and another
+gentleman, an Italian professor, who was going to occupy an exalted
+position in one of the Roman Catholic Institutions in New Orleans, and
+to our delight there was Miss Maria, the only beloved daughter of Dr.
+Achilles Rose of New York. Dr. Rose is not only a very prominent
+practitioner as a physician in New York, but he is acknowledged as an
+eminent authority by the most exclusive Academies of Europe concerning
+medical matters, as well as a great linguist in the ancient and modern
+languages, and a number of publications contributed to the scientific
+research are the monuments of his convincing penmanship. His daughter
+had just finished a long course in the best college "Arsakeion"
+exclusive institution for girls in Athens, Greece; and she was well
+qualified to teach the Ancient and Modern Greek language as well as any
+professor in the American colleges and universities. I had to go
+carefully myself in order to keep pace with her in the exactness of
+pronunciation of the Greek words, and when listening to her telling some
+of the joyful experiences she experienced in learning this wonderful
+Greek language I felt like a Sunday school scholar impressed by her
+rhythmical and melodious harmony in pronouncing every word and sentence
+that sound like the old Greek music which even Apollo himself would be
+glad to listen to.
+
+With Miss Maria Rose there was Miss Margaret, a tall slender figure with
+every characteristic of a genuine Kentucky girl, a very respectable
+maiden, she was caressing for Miss Maria Rose with motherly tenderness,
+she was the playmate and constant companion of Miss Maria now passing
+the bridge of her teens; yet Miss Margaret could not tolerate seeing her
+leaning on the rails of the Germania, she appeared presumably afraid
+that some terrible whale might swallow her little Maria whom she loved
+as much as a mother could love her own child, a pleasure which she
+never had, to know and to love a child of her own, and Maria appeared to
+appreciate the kindness of her governess.
+
+Now to make up the list of the ten voyagers there was also your obedient
+servant, coming over to America to study religious, social and
+industrial conditions. An account of his reasons for taking this step
+shall be given later on. At this time I must proceed to complete my
+acquaintances on board the Germania. From the first day on board I find
+myself in very friendly terms with every one of my fellow voyagers, and
+before I knew it I was the father of them all. As a High Priest dressed
+in my church garbs, they just pasted in front of my name the monkish
+title, Father, which I never accustomed myself though my official church
+name consists of about a half a dozen titles.
+
+The Captain of the Germania, a typical French gentleman very agreeable
+in all his ways, with my little French enabled me to make myself
+understood. I had the pleasure of passing many a moment in pleasant
+conversation with him, and when I wanted to speak to the Americans, my
+heart was longing to learn all I could from them, as they were so kind
+to me, and with Miss Maria's assistance I never went lonesome, her
+acting as interpreter between me and the Americans, for by that time I
+was not able to even pronounce correctly a sentence in the English
+language.
+
+With all these acquaintances my time was well occupied and to my
+personal delight, by chance, I found my constant companion in the person
+of Dr. Lucretius, the first physician of the Germania, an Italian
+gentleman. By tokens and signs we found that both of us belong to that
+great body of men that knows each other as brothers in every corner of
+the inhabited world. It was he, Dr. Lucretius, who came to my cabin on
+the morning of the 16th of May, at about 5 a. m., and knocking at the
+door, said, Father Golden, we are now entering into the harbor of New
+York, and if you want to enjoy a grand view of the surrounding country
+you had better come out on the upper bridge. I shall be there waiting
+for you to explain some of the most beautiful sceneries that you have
+ever looked upon in your life. And he was correct, without any
+exaggeration, for when I leaped from my bed and dressed myself as fast
+as I could I went to meet my friend and brother, Dr. Lucretius.
+
+Rushing up to the bridge I greeted him "Bonjorno, mio fratello" shaking
+his hand at the same time, almost I cried out, this certainly is an
+artificial imitation of the entrance to Bosphorus, and if it were not
+for that great statue and mausoleum of Liberty, which I could see ahead
+of me, I would surely believe that I was dreaming, it is like entering
+the harbor of Constantinople, and just at this point, looking into the
+face of my esteemed friend, Dr. Lucretius, I said to him; let us hope
+that the day is not far distant when we shall salute the God-giving
+Liberty in the heart of the great city of Constantinople. That was six
+years ago and every word I said it came out of my mouth as a prayer of
+my heart in all my sincerity. Today I do thank God for it is a reality.
+Turkey is free! But she is like a child; she needs the guidance of a
+strong hand to guide her in the path of righteousness and love to God
+and bring her to Christ who is the only one to give Liberty and Freedom
+"For whom He made free, is free indeed." Turkey has accomplished the
+greatest part of her own salvation, yea, she has done more than many of
+the so-called Christian empires expected her to do. They are now rubbing
+their eyes, and of course it is their purpose in order to save their
+commercial interests, they are going to put in her way all the obstacles
+they can to overthrow the new Constitution, and if Turkey fails in her
+reformation this time, it would not be only her own fault. A great share
+of the responsibility rests upon the shoulders of every American man and
+woman who solemnly declares to stand by and be a protector of the
+principles laid down by Washington, the father not only of his own
+country, but most of the civilized world. Unless America arises equal to
+the occasion there is every reason to entertain all kinds of fears from
+the Middle and Western Europe's diplomats.
+
+How many American active missionaries are there in Constantinople,
+Smyrna, Aidin, Saloniki, Adana, Ephesos and every city in Turkey today
+working for the regeneration of the people who dared and successfully
+broke down from his throne a Sultan? Wake up, my dear reader and gird
+yourself with the noble armor of your manhood and your womanhood and do
+the best, the very best of your ability to help the millions of mothers
+and children over in Turkey, they are starving for spiritual food, they
+are crying to you as your own brothers and sisters of the same family of
+humanity; will you close your ears and not listen to their cry? or will
+you open your heart, your sympathy and your pocket-book and send off all
+the missionaries you can to do the work? I pray that you will, and God
+will reward you in Heaven and down here He will keep the days of your
+life sweet in splendid memory that you have done your part in the
+salvation of all mankind.
+
+The opportunity may occur again to discourse this very heart aching
+subject. Now, as we approach the colossus of Liberty, Miss Maria Rose
+made her morning appearance and before we all could exchange the "Bon
+Jour" salutations to her, she gracefully grasped the gentleman from
+Boston by the arm and walking up and down the bridge with soldierly
+step, began in an apparently joyful voice to sing, audibly "My Country
+'tis of thee, sweet land of Liberty" and just as she was getting more
+enthusiastic in her song, the gentleman from Boston uttered a loud cry
+"Strawberries--fresh strawberries," and as by explosion a heartiest
+laughter went out of every mouth on the bridge, and the waves received
+on their wings that expression of our gratitude to carry it to the end
+of their destination, while the Germania drew us nearer and nearer to
+the land of the free and the home of the brave.
+
+A call came to us all at this moment that the custom officers from New
+York were already in the reception room waiting for us to make our
+declarations in accordance with the customary law, and by the time I had
+complied with my duties, to that respect, I heard a stentorian voice
+"Cast Anchor" and turning around in a semi-circle, with center on my
+right toe I endeavored to unfold the meaning of the exciting motion.
+Sailors and officers of the boat rushing in all directions, it seemed as
+though they were preparing for a great battle, and determined to win.
+The big S. S. Germania was tied in the docks of Brooklyn and every
+voyager was ready to bid her farewell. The steward of my cabin,
+uncalled, he was on my side, and the thought came to me that it was his
+last chance for his gratuities from me anyway. He looked upon my face
+like a child expecting his Christmas presents, and said, with a fainting
+smile, Father, your trunk is on its way to your destination and here is
+your valise and I am awaiting your pleasure to direct you to the Sixth
+Avenue Elevated Station, which will take you to the 123rd Street and
+Seventh Avenue, Harlem, according to your wishes to reach your dwelling
+place. The bell of the Germania was ringing eight o'clock a. m., when I
+was bidding farewell to my steward with the instructions how to reach
+the Elevated Station, and turning to the first corner from the docks of
+Brooklyn, a familiar voice I heard behind me calling "Father," and
+instantly a hand took hold of the sleeve of my garment, and looking
+backward I saw Miss Maria Rose with her governess, Margaret, and the
+gentleman from Boston, who was still holding my garment, and in good
+humor said, he, in his broken French, Now Father, we could not tolerate
+to see you go all alone in the streets of New York dressed in these
+robes, because if you only attract the curiosity of some mischievous
+children there is no telling what may happen to you, if they mistake you
+as a carnival dressed this way just for sport; but, Miss Maria Rose,
+hastened to aid, interrupting the gentleman, Father, you have good luck,
+today is Sunday and early in the morning you will be saved from great
+things which might happen to you otherwise. Besides we are going as far
+as 59th Street and the gentleman from Boston, he is going to take the
+train at 125th Street, Harlem, and there you will be within a few blocks
+from the house you desire to go to.
+
+They bought the ticket for me and soon the Elevated was crossing the
+Brooklyn bridge. The grand panorama on both sides of the bridge brought
+the thought into my mind that if the architects of America were able to
+accomplish such a wonder as this, they would certainly have easier times
+to build the Babel Tower without any confusion of tongues; but my breath
+went out of my breast and for a moment I thought that the beating of my
+heart stopped, when we reached that curving at 110th Street and 8th
+Avenue, New York. The magnificent sight from that tremendous height,
+looking to my left at the mammoth advertising boards, the velvety green
+fields and at the top of the hill that Episcopal church, which will be
+when finished another architectural wonder, and looking to my right at
+the Central Park which we just swiftly passed, now I see the flat roofs
+of the buildings and on many of them the washing of the family hanging,
+forgotten perhaps, from last Saturday, it is indeed a grand sight which
+the inhabitants of New York in that section, by being accustomed to it,
+very little appreciate.
+
+9.30, my friend from Boston, said, as we were descending the stairways
+on the 125th Street and 8th Avenue, as he looked at his time-piece. If
+it were not for my train which I must take at 9.58 I would gladly
+accompany you to your place, yet, said he, you only have two blocks to
+walk southward and one eastward and you will see the number on the left
+hand side, and with a cordial hand shake he jumped on the electric car
+passing at the moment on 125th Street towards New York-Boston R. R.
+station, to board his train, and I started on my way to the place where
+I was going to make my temporary home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+_First Day in New York_
+
+
+It is not my purpose in this little volume to make any boast of myself
+as an historian. Bookmaking is not my profession; neither do I propose
+to go into extensive details more than it is necessary to harmonize the
+coincidents of events as they occurred and the effect they produced in
+the development of an unusual Christian career, and God knows that my
+only desire is to reconcile the opposing privileges of a meek and lowly
+Christian worker, to be equal if not greater to those of a High Priest
+who in his fulness of life though one of the most active ecclesiastical
+officials in the highest circles of church and society, his firm belief
+in success, knowing of no fear, and daringly climbing up in higher ranks
+among philosophical societies, holding such an exalted position in the
+most ancient Christian church. The church that holds the undisputable
+proof as the first authentical apostolic establishment with founder the
+apostle of the Gentiles himself. And who is the student of the
+Scriptures, be he a Christian or philosopher of the Epicurean or the
+Stoic system that could reasonably argue that the oration on the
+Areopagus made by Paul to the Athenians being the masterpiece and model
+of the most convincing speeches ever made in the Christian era? That
+this High Priest, while enjoying all the comforts and privileges
+belonging to his high office, together with its honors and gorgeous
+trappings, does not attach any over-weening importance to ecclesiastical
+dignity, neither does he consider a "comedown" the step he has taken,
+but he gives the simple, yet convincing reason that he just follows the
+process of evolution in Christianity, doing the will of his Master who
+promised to all mankind one Lord--one Faith--one Baptism. And for the
+last six years he has proven that it is possible for a man to begin from
+the very bottom of life, his nearest and dearest relatives opposing him,
+with no friends to understand his desires and his ambitions, to be a
+wanderer in a great country like the United States, and travel from the
+Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Ocean, proud to always be able to support
+himself and also help someone on his way. Exercising the principle of
+the Apostle Paul, working hard for his living, stranger not only to the
+ethics and customs of the people whose sympathetic hearts he was coming
+to win, but unable to even put two sentences together in their own
+language, and today here he is to tell you the story, as true as your
+beautiful breath that keeps your soul and body alive, and the only favor
+he asks from you is that when you severely criticise the grammatical and
+syntactical site in the execution of this work, you may in your
+kindness, remember that his only resource to derive any philological
+assistance, was a twenty-five cent Webster's dictionary, bought from a
+second-hand book store.
+
+This is my first day in New York. And looking around to find the number
+of the house where I was going to stay, my thoughts were so animated as
+to feel that all the arteries and veins of my body through my feet were
+kissing the ground upon which my heart would soon appease with its
+Maker.
+
+A few people, going to the Low Mass, I should judge by the solemnity of
+their walk, men and women, sent curious glances at the stranger dressed
+in the robes on the street. By this time approaching the 7th Avenue and
+not finding the desired number I was just directing my steps towards a
+gentleman dressed in some kind of uniform to inquire about the place,
+when a young man tipped his hat in front of me and raised the finger of
+his right hand and pointed to the sign of the florist's store just a few
+steps backwards. I could then plainly read the name on the board above
+the door. It was the name very dear to me, which, with longing heart I
+was looking for. Almost immediately a man came out from that same store
+with a broad smile on his face and with a gentle bow, as though asking
+my permission, he took my valise thus relieving me just in time, and
+leading the way into the store I saw another gentleman behind a counter
+preparing a large floral design from the rarest flowers of the season,
+for the funeral of a most distinguished politician of Harlem.
+
+Although I yield to no man in the appreciation of a good smiling face
+and here I had two of them and the most typical faces which are
+prominent in the making of this heterogeneous republic, John,
+representing the Huguenot and Dutch, and Jack whose father and mother
+were Irish, and Jack was Irish too. Both these gentlemen with pantomimic
+actions in a few words which now I know were English words but at that
+time I could not tell if they were Chinese or Hindoo. They tried to make
+me understand that Mr. George N., whom they knew I was looking for, as
+they had heard him speaking of me and they saw my photograph, and they
+were waiting notification of my coming, and that they were struck by
+ecstasy at my sudden appearance, he was at breakfast and that he would
+soon be back so I had better step into his office and rest myself while
+waiting for him. The expectancy to meet my friend George N., it
+lengthened every moment for me waiting in that little office.
+Twenty-four years since I saw him last when I was only ten years old,
+and even if I had not seen his photograph in all these years I could
+distinguish him among ten thousand. He was my first teacher in the
+grammar school; neighbor in my home and a very great distant relative.
+He always took especial interest in my scholarship. My childhood and
+school days were not all that I could desire for me, to be, for I was an
+orphan, yet it was that orphan who always carried the first or the
+second honors in the annual examinations. It was for this reason,
+perhaps, that my teachers were all well pleased with my progress. The
+past is only a memory, yet when we look back in the light of our
+sincerity we can trace every point and every reason that contributed to
+our success or failure in our lives. It is not a vision neither is there
+a mere kinetoscope procession. The High Priest is here waiting to
+meet his teacher with the same solemnity as in the old school days when
+he had to meet his teacher after some of his occasional mischiefs. With
+these and other agreeable memories relishing my time in that office, I
+heard a loud applause in the store and the words "Father is here,"
+aroused my inquisitiveness and before I could leave my chair, there was
+at the door of the office standing the man whom I wanted to see. Sturdy
+and resolute with two slow steps he now extends a welcome hand to me and
+as he called me by my childish nickname in response said, I, my teacher!
+Yes, said he, How do you do my Father? Why didn't you let me know when
+you were coming so I could meet you at the pier; How long have you been
+wandering to find this place? And many other complimentaries, but, you
+must, he went on saying, change your appearance at once, for I am not
+going to disgrace myself and you too, if we dare to walk on the streets
+with you dressed in robes like this. Let us go up stairs in my room, and
+I believe you can be fitted with a new suit of clothes made to order for
+me which I was ready to try on today, as the tailor just sent them here
+a little while ago. Then you must have a very clean shave, my goodness,
+there is a whole mask to come off your face and the long black hair you
+have, you can make some money by selling it to any fashionable lady.
+Now, Father, you have to hurry, because the barber shop closes at 12
+o'clock and you only have the necessary time to change your dress.
+
+[Illustration: THE WORLD'S WONDER, ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS, GREECE]
+
+The clothes which George N. offered for my transfiguration with the
+exception of being made for a man one inch taller than my own stature
+they didn't look very awkward upon me and to escape curiosity he took me
+through the alleys of a narrow passage into the 124th Street, where an
+elderly German kept a barber shop and when he was through cleaning that
+over burdened head of mine, he was almost exhausted, and liable to a
+fine, if any policeman happened to see him working on Sunday after 12
+o'clock. The barber closed the door of his shop allowing time for us to
+just step out and we hastened our way back to the store, now walking on
+7th Avenue. Jack, whose name already is mentioned here, is one of the
+leading flower decorators in New York City. He could make a cross of
+flowers look like a picture, and he could make a bouquet for the most
+particular bride, he could decorate a little chapel around the corner
+and make it look as artistic as he could decorate a rich mansion in the
+most exclusive Riverside Drive. Jack made as much money as any of his
+high grade fellow traders in Harlem, and he had no home
+responsibilities, his widow mother being what we might call well-to-do,
+for she owned considerable real estate in that vicinity, yet, Jack,
+every Monday morning had to obtain a loan for his carfare, and more than
+half a dozen young ladies all around Manhattan were particularly
+interested in Jack's welfare. This is Sunday and one o'clock in the
+afternoon, and Jack should be enjoying his holiday, and there were
+already two of his female chums waiting for him on the sidewalk. Yet
+Jack had always some more time to spare to accommodate his employer
+George N., who as now entered the store he gave the synthematical
+pass-word "that's all," which in the language of the employer and
+employees it means "The boys may now go home."
+
+But Jack, as he took a glimpse on me, in all his Irish calibre he almost
+screamed: Help! St. Patrick, what a metamorphosis is this? Is that you,
+Father? You look now to me more like a butterfly out of a caterpillar
+than anything in Ireland. Say, girls, calling his friends from the
+outside, come in you girls, I take the honor to introduce you to the
+Father ..., but, my soul, I am ashamed to call you Father, so
+fashionable a gentleman as you look now. You shall not call me Father,
+said I, as long as you see me dressed like a gentleman. I shall not,
+Jack said, and with his girls took his departure, while George N., who
+interpreted all this merriment, took a fresh white rose and put it in my
+buttonhole. Let us go for lunch, said he and I followed gladly for I
+felt it was a timely call.
+
+As George N. is a bachelor he takes his meals in no particular place,
+anywhere from Harlem Casino or Palm Garden or Manhattan Club to a ten
+cent lunch counter. Today he took me into a dollar a plate restaurant on
+125th Street. Before I was through with my dinner, George N. made the
+remark to me saying "if you always enjoy the American cooking the way I
+observe you doing, you will never starve in America, I assure you." It
+was the wisest prophecy that George N. ever made about my future in
+America.
+
+After dinner we visited Grant's Tomb on Riverside Drive and on our
+return he gave me instructions how to find the Waldorf Astoria hotel
+where Aleck, one of his nephews had a position, and that Aleck would
+make arrangements for the night for me and that the following morning
+George N. would wait for me to discuss my plans for the future. I left
+him and when I was in my room which Aleck provided for me, the time was
+well nigh midnight.
+
+After the day's excitement I hoped that a good night's rest would
+refresh me anew and the next morning would find me prepared for the work
+I chose to devote my future life in this New World. With a lightning
+quickness my mind examined all my past life and with the same speed I
+made my conclusions that there was no more any pleasure for me to look
+back, neither was there any attraction in that garb which so often is
+the representation of hypocrisy itself. I felt so happy for my decision
+and with a grateful heart I bent on my knees in prayer to Him who lay
+down His life for my freedom and my salvation, and as an evidence of my
+good health, the night passed undisturbed in sound sleep and in the
+morning when Aleck called me for breakfast I felt that every fibre of my
+body was springing for action, and with the last touch leaping from my
+bed the first day of new life went into history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+_High Priest_
+
+
+For the benefit of those who ignorantly, if not deliberately by deceit,
+misled to believe that the priest has any authority, which the truly
+converted Christian could not exercise, the present chapter is offered
+in the spirit of love without any fear of contradiction or dispute,
+because the facts given here are well established upon the Scriptural
+Truths and the reader may at all times maintain the proofs to disprove
+refutable arguments of persons whose only purpose is to serve their own
+individual interests.
+
+The priest, one who officiates in secret offices, it is the definition
+given in Webster's dictionary. And from the most authentic Biblical
+concordances we derive the following information: The priest under the
+law was a person consecrated and ordained of God, not only to teach the
+people and pray for them, but also to offer up sacrifices for his own
+sins and those of the people. The priesthood was not annexed to a
+certain family, till after the promulgation of the law of Moses.
+
+Before that time the first born of every family, the fathers, the kings,
+the princes, were priests, born in their city and in their own homes.
+Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham and Job, Abimelech and Laban, Isaac and
+Jacob, offered themselves their own sacrifices. In the solemnity of the
+covenant that the Lord made with his people at the foot of Mount Sinai,
+Moses performed the office of meditator, and young men were chosen from
+among the children of Israel to perform the office of priests. But after
+that the Lord had chosen the tribe of Levi to serve him in his
+tabernacle, and that the priesthood was annexed to the family of Aaron,
+then the right of offering sacrifices to God was reserved to the priests
+alone of this family.
+
+Duties of the priests: The priests were required to prove their descent
+from Aaron, to be free from all bodily defect or blemish; must not be
+observed mourning except for near relatives; must not marry a woman that
+had been a harlot; or divorced, or profane. The priest's daughter who
+committed whoredom was to be burned, as profaning her father. The
+priests were to have the charge of the sanctuary and the altar, which
+being once kindled the priest was always to keep it burning. In later
+times, and upon extraordinary occasions, at least, they flayed the
+burnt-offerings and killed the Passover. They were to receive the blood
+of the burnt-offerings in basins and sprinkle it around about the altar,
+arrange the wood and the fire, and to burn the parts of the sacrifices.
+If the burnt sacrifices were of doves, the priest was to nip off the
+head with the finger nail, squeeze out the blood on the edge of the
+altar, pluck off the feathers, and throw them with the crop into the
+ash-pit, divide down the wings, and then completely burn it. He was to
+offer a lamb every morning and evening, and a double number on the
+Sabbath, the burnt-offerings ordered at the beginning of months, and the
+same on the feast of Unleavened Bread, and on the day of the First
+Fruits; to receive the meat-offering of the offerer, bring it to the
+altar, take of it a memorial, and burn it upon the altar; to sprinkle
+the blood of the peace-offerings upon the altar around about, and then
+to offer of it a burnt-offering; to offer the sin-offering for the sins
+of a ruler or any of the common people; to eat the sin-offering at the
+holy place; and the same way to offer offerings for all the kinds of sin
+and the priest should eat these offerings at the holy place; to offer
+for the purification of women after child-birth; to judge of the leprosy
+in the human body or garments (it is remarkable that the Jewish race
+from the beginning, has been all through the ages a heavy victim of
+leprosy). The priest was to make the ointment of spices; to prepare the
+water of separation; to act as assessor in judicial proceedings; to
+encourage the army when going to battle, and probably to have charge of
+the law.
+
+The emoluments of the priests: The perquisites of the priests were many
+and various, and as Philo calls them very rich, and this statement holds
+good all the way down to the Christian priest who inherited most of the
+virtues of his Jewish predecessors. Thus no wonder for the priests to
+keep their people in dense ignorance of the historical originality of
+the priesthood. And the high priest, besides all duties and privileges
+already mentioned as common to him and the ordinary priest, he must not
+marry a widow, nor a divorced woman, or a profane, or that had been a
+harlot, but a virgin Israelitess. He must not eat anything that died of
+itself, or was torn by beasts; must wash his hands and feet when he went
+into the tabernacle to offer the mass. The high priest was the divinely
+inspired judge and truly he was the supreme ruler till the time of
+David, and again after the captivity. He would ask counsel of the Lord
+if a new ruler was worthy or not and accordingly grant or regret the
+appointment of the ruler. It is the privilege which the Pope derives
+from Eleazar and trying to exercise this privilege against the rulers of
+Europe for fifteen centuries became the menace in the progress of
+humanity. The high priest had also unlimited power upon the funds of the
+sanctuary. And it may be out of proportion in this book to give a
+complete description of all the privileges and regalia of the high
+priest, yet the reader could easily imagine the frivolities
+unfortunately existing even today in the ceremonial dress of the high
+priest, and to confirm this fact he only has to enter in the first
+Russian or Greek or Roman Catholic church at any day of some special
+celebration and there he cannot help but observe an imitation of the
+lamentable vanity of a high priest of the old Jewish faith. And the
+truth is visible to the naked eye. Would ever sincerity and priesthood
+meet in one and the same person it would make the most paradox
+phenomenon, and such exceptional occurrences are very rare in the
+ecclesiastical horizon, for virtue and priesthood are the very logical
+antithesis, and chemically speaking they are protogon matters not
+yielding to adulteration. Between priesthood and Christ there is an
+abyss of argument, but there is no bridge to join both sides. Priesthood
+on one side in the most pharisaic manner imposing its superfluous
+authority upon all mortals. And Jesus the Christ of God with his wounded
+side, in the most emphatic manner, condemning the pharisaic scheme,
+which is a continuation in the Greek--Russian--Roman Catholic church:
+"For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on
+man's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of
+their fingers." And if the words of the blessed Christ himself speaking
+in the 23d chapter of Matthew, have no effect upon the consciousness of
+the priest, there is all vain to any other way trying to bring him into
+the light of wisdom. In the history of all mankind there are three
+distinct stages of priesthood, and in its two former stages it had been
+a complete failure, in its present stage is falling so fast, and it is
+condemned, already, by all reasoning minds, that it is only a matter of
+time before the human race shall be free from these parasites. The
+priest, of the Jewish faith, failed because he was inhuman, the priest
+of the Greek idolatry failed, because he was a philosophical fraud; and
+the priest of the present time, shall fail, because he is the very
+opposing visible enemy of God's kingdom. The sacerdotal office of the
+priest, is anti-christian.
+
+Here we shall attempt to only describe one piece of the dress of the
+high priest, the breast-plate (rationale); a gorget, ten inches square,
+made of the same sort of cloth as the ephod, and doubled so as to form a
+kind of pouch or bag, in which was to be put the urim and thummim, which
+are also mentioned as is already known. The external part of this gorget
+was set with four rows of precious stones; the first row, a serdious, a
+topaz, and a carbuncle; the second, an emerald, a sapphire, and a
+diamond; the third, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst, and the fourth,
+a beryl, an onyx and a jasper, set in a golden socket. Upon each of
+these stones was to be engraven the name of one of the sons of Jacob. In
+the ephod in which there was a space left open sufficiently large for
+the admission of this pectoral, were four rings of gold, to which four
+others at the four corners of the breast-plate corresponded; the two
+lower rings of gold being fixed inside. It was confined to the ephod by
+means of dark blue ribbons, which passed through these rings; and it was
+also suspended from the onyx stones on the shoulder by chains of gold,
+or rather cords of twisted gold thread, which were fastened at one end
+to two other larger rings fixed in the upper corners of the pectoral,
+and by the other end going around the onyx stones on the shoulders, and
+returning and being fixed in the larger ring. And a splendid ornament
+upon the breast was a winged scarabaeus, the emblem of the Sun, and the
+unavoidable portion of the ceremonial dress peculiar to the high priest
+was the miter, mitre or Cidaris, a head gear of gold and silver and
+precious stones whose magnificence we would not dare to describe in
+this work, but the reader may in his life be fortunate enough to see one
+of these wonderful paraphernalia on the head of some of the now-a-days
+self-styled representatives of Jesus Christ, who came to seek and save
+the lost and he did not make of himself a show in these follies of the
+old Jewish faith that proved a failure.
+
+That the priests in Israel more than once by their indulgence went down
+to idolatry, the old testament abounds in evidences, but I shall only
+mention the incidents of Eli the high priest and his two sons, Hophni
+and Phinehas. Josephus says, the high priest had also the very
+idolatrous symbolical meanings of every part of his dress, which being
+made of linen signified the earth; the blue color denoted the sky, being
+like lightning in its pomegranate, and in the noise of its bells
+resembling thunder. The ephod showed that God had made the universe of
+four elements, the gold relating to the splendor by which all things are
+enlightened, the breast-plate in the middle of the ephod resembled the
+earth, which has the middle place in the world. The girdle signified the
+sea, which goes around the world. The sardonyxes declared the sun and
+moon. The twelve stones are the twelve months of signs of the zodiac.
+The mitre is the heaven, because above all. The seven lamps upon the
+golden candlesticks represent the seven planets, and so on every article
+had a reference to some particle of the Egyptian Deities. But the time
+came when man understood better God's plan of salvation. And divinely
+inspired they fearlessly stopped all these idolatrous practises.
+
+Who could dare say, at the beginning of the sixteenth century that God
+could only through Jesus Christ save a soul without the necessity of a
+priest? Yet today even the priest himself would not dare say, not in a
+civilized community, that his presence is necessary for the forgiveness
+of sin. But what of the millions of people that are drifting away from
+God with the idea, that the priest is taking care of their souls? Am I
+criticising the priest? God forbid, for I am not. There are good and bad
+priests, as far as their personal character is concerned, as there are
+good and bad professional Christians, I have met in my Christian
+experience. But I will say, in the authority of the word of God, that
+the man who diligently searcheth the Scriptures and sincerely read his
+Bible and still he insists in holding his sacerdotal office and call
+himself a priest, he is deceived or he is deceiving.
+
+"Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec." Christ is
+the only priest, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and
+made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily, as those high
+priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the
+people's; for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
+
+The Church makes men high priests which have infirmity but the power of
+God makes every man a high priest, who offers up himself to live and
+work for the salvation of all. "Whosoever believeth in Him should not
+perish, but have everlasting life." God's promises are true and the
+reader has only to study the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, to be
+convinced that the sacerdotal office of the priest sooner or later has
+to go out of existence as the spirit of Christ spreads upon the hearts
+of men and women and the knowledge of His salvation makes them "Priests
+unto God and His Father" and thus establish God's kingdom upon the solid
+foundations of love. Then shall they all be made unto kings and priests,
+and they shall reign upon the earth. (Rev. 1-6, etc.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+_Philosophy vs. Christianity_
+
+
+In Plato's dialogue upon the duties of religious worship, a passage
+occurs the design of which appears to be to show that man could not, of
+himself, learn either the nature of the Gods, or the proper manner of
+worshiping them, unless an instructor should come from Heaven. The
+following remarkable passage occurs between Socrates and Alcibiades:
+
+Socrates--"To me it appears best to be patient. It is necessary to wait
+till you learn how you ought to act towards the Gods, and towards men."
+
+Alcibiades--"When, O Socrates, shall that time be? And who shall
+instruct me? For most willingly would I see this person, who he is."
+
+Socrates--"He is one who cares for you; but, as Homer represents Minerva
+as taking away darkness from the eyes of Diomedes; that he might
+distinguish a God from a man, so it is necessary that he should first
+take away the darkness from your mind, and then bring near those things
+by which you shall know good and evil."
+
+Alcibiades--"Let him take away the darkness, or any other thing, if he
+will; for whoever this man is, I am prepared to refuse none of the
+things which he commands, if I shall be made better."
+
+Philosophy, led the Greeks to Christ, as the Law did the Jewish. The
+wisdom of the world in their efforts to give truth and happiness to the
+human soul, was foolishness with God, and the wisdom of God--Christ
+crucified--was foolishness with the philosophers, in relation to the
+same subject; yet it was divine Philosophy. An adopted means, and the
+only adequate means, to accomplish the necessary end. Said an apostle in
+speaking upon this subject, the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek
+after wisdom; but we preach Christ Crucified, unto the Jews a
+stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are
+called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God, and the wisdom of
+God. The Jews, while they require a sign, did not perceive that
+miracles, in themselves, were not adopted to produce affection. And the
+Greeks, while they sought after wisdom, did not perceive that all the
+wisdom of the Gentiles, would never work love in the heart. But the
+apostle preached--Christ crucified--an exhibition of self-denial, of
+suffering, and of self-sacrificing; love and mercy, endured in behalf of
+men, which, when received by faith, became "The power of God, and the
+wisdom of God," to produce love and obedience in the human soul. Paul
+understood the efficacy of the Cross. He looked to Calvary and beheld
+Christ crucified as the Sun of the Gospel system. Not, as the Moon,
+reflecting cold and borrowed rays; but as the Sun of righteousness,
+glowing with radiant mercy, and pouring warm beams of life and love into
+the open bosom of the believer.
+
+It is stranger that among philosophers of succeeding ages there has not
+been wisdom sufficient to discover, from the constitutional necessities
+of the human spirit, that demand for the instruction and aid of the
+Messiah which Socrates and Plato discovered, even in a comparatively
+dark age. And in the whole history of human mind there is not a more
+instructive chapter at once stranger and sad, interesting to our
+curiosity and mortifying to our pride, than the history of Platonic
+philosophy sinking into gnosticism, or in other words, of Greek
+philosophy merging in Oriental Mysticism; showing, on the one hand the
+decline and fall of philosophy, and, on the other, the rise and progress
+of Syncretism. Perhaps, also, it is the most remarkable instance on
+record, that out of the religious, moral, and political, in one word,
+the intellectual corruption which brings on the fall of great and mighty
+nations, as it doubtless was with Babylon and Thebes, and so we know it
+to have been with Athens and Rome, God's providence educes pure
+principles and higher hopes for the nations and people that rise out of
+their ashes, and who, if they will be taught wisdom and principle,
+righteousness and peace, by the errors and sufferings of those who have
+preceded them, may rise to higher destinies in the history of men's
+conduct and God's providence.
+
+The reader most sincerely is asked to devote the required time in any
+public library and study this very interesting subject of "Gnosticism"
+from which the most detrimental system in the Christian era was
+originated, "The Monasticism." In this ecclesiastical order the writer
+had been distinguished with the rank of "Archimandrites."
+
+[Illustration: H. R. H. PRINCE ARTHUR, DUKE OF CONNAUGHT AND STRATHEARN,
+K. G., ETC.]
+
+To what extent the celibacy of monks and nuns debased the fundamental
+principles of Christianity there are a number of publications whose
+authors are eye-witnesses of the orgies practised in their own
+monasteries, and the writer in his superior office in two of the leading
+monasteries had had the opportunity to acquire all the necessary
+evidence to demolish every one of these hell-pits, to many a young man
+and young woman innocent, otherwise, before entering there, and drive
+away all these parasites that have no consideration to any civil or
+moral law and live upon the sweat of the brow of the long-suffering
+Church slaves.
+
+Within the bounds of philosophy, at this stage of our progress it will
+be useful to recapitulate the conclusions at which we have arrived, and
+thus make a point of rest from which to extend our observations further
+into the plan of God for redeeming the world, for "I am not sent but
+unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel." This view is the more
+appropriate as we have known in the history of God's providence with
+Israel, which presents them as a people prepared (so far as imperfect
+material could be prepared) to receive the model which God might desire
+to impress upon the nation. They were bound to each other by all the
+ties of which human nature is susceptible, and thus rendered compact and
+united, so that every thing national, whether in sentiment or practise
+would be received and cherished with unanimous, and fervent, and lasting
+attachment; and, furthermore, by a long and rigorous bondage, they had
+been rendered, for the time being at least, humble and dependant. Thus
+they were disciplined by a curse of providence, adopted to fit them to
+receive instruction from their Benefactor with a teachable and grateful
+spirit.
+
+Their minds were shaken off from idols; and Jehovah, by a revelation
+made to them, setting forth his name and nature, had revealed himself as
+Divine Being, and by his works had manifested his Almighty power: so
+that when their minds were disabused of wrong views of the Godhead, an
+idea of the first, true, and essential nature of God was revealed to
+them, and they were thus prepared to receive a knowledge of the
+attributes of that Divine essence.
+
+They had been brought to contemplate God as their protector and Saviour.
+Appeals the most affecting and thrilling had been addressed to their
+affections; and they were thus attached to God as their Almighty
+temporal Saviour, by the ties of gratitude and love for the favor which
+he had manifested to them.
+
+When they had arrived on the further shore of the Red Sea, thus prepared
+to obey God and worship him with the heart, they were without laws
+either civil or moral. As yet, they had never possessed any national or
+social organization. They were therefore prepared to receive, without
+predilection or prejudice, that system of moral instruction and civil
+polity which God might reveal, as best adapted to promote the moral
+interests of the nation.
+
+From these conclusions we may extend our vision forward into the system
+of revelation. This series of preparations would certainly lead the mind
+to the expectation that what was still wanting, and what they had been
+thus miraculously prepared to receive, would be granted: which was a
+knowledge of the moral character of God, and a moral law prescribing
+their duty to God and to men. Without this, the plan that had been
+maturing for generations, and had been carried forward thus far by
+wonderful exhibitions of Divine wisdom and power, would be left
+unfinished, just at the point where the finishing process was necessary.
+
+But besides the strong probability which the previous preparation would
+produce, that there would be a revelation of moral law, there are
+distinct and conclusive reasons, evincing its necessities.
+
+The whole experience of the world has confirmed the fact, beyond the
+possibility of scepticism, that men cannot discover and establish a
+perfect rule of human duty. Whatever may be said of the many excellent
+maxims expressed by different individuals in different ages and nations,
+yet it is true that no system of duty to God and man, in any wise
+consistent with enlightened reason, has ever been established by human
+wisdom, and sustained by human sanctions; and for many reasons, such a
+fact never can occur.
+
+But, it may be supposed that each man has, within himself, sufficient
+light from reason, and sufficient admonition from conscience, to guide
+himself, as an individual, in the path of truth and happiness. A single
+fact will correct such a supposition. Conscience, the great arbiter of
+the merit and demerit of human conduct, has little intuitive sense of
+right, and is not guided entirely by reason, but is governed in a great
+measure by what men believe. Indeed, faith is the legitimate regulator
+of the conscience. If a man has correct views of duty to God and men, he
+will have a correct conscience; but if he can, by a wrong view of morals
+and of the character of God, be induced to believe that theft, or
+murder, or any vice, is right, his conscience will be corrupted by his
+faith. When men are brought to believe--as they frequently do in heathen
+countries--that it is right to commit suicide, or infanticide, as a
+religious duty, their conscience condemns them if they do not perform
+the act. Thus that power in the soul which pronounces upon the moral
+character of human conduct, is itself dependent upon and regulated by
+the faith of the individual. It is apparent, therefore, that the
+reception and belief of a true rule of duty, accompanied with proper
+sanctions, will alone form in men a proper conscience. God has so
+constituted the soul that it is necessary, in order to the regulation of
+its moral powers, that it should have a rule of duty, revealed under the
+sanction of its Maker's authority; otherwise its high moral powers would
+lie in dark and perpetual disorder.
+
+Further, unless the human soul be an exception, God governs all things
+by laws adopted to their proper nature. The laws which govern the
+material world are sketched in the books on natural science; such are
+gravitation, affinity, mathematical motion. Those laws by which the
+irrational animal creations are controlled are usually called instincts.
+Their operation and design are sketched, to some extent, in treatises
+upon the instincts of animals. Such is the law which leads the beaver to
+build its dam, and all other animals to pursue some particular habits
+instead of others. All beavers, from the first one created to the
+present time, have been instinctively led to build a dam in the same
+manner, and so their instinct will lead them to build till the end of
+time. The law which drives them to the act is as necessitating as the
+law which causes the smoke to rise upwards. Nothing in the universe of
+God, animate or inanimate, is left without the government of appropriate
+law, unless that thing being the noblest creature of God: the human
+spirit. To suppose, therefore, that the human soul is thus left unguided
+by a revealed rule of conduct, is to suppose that God cares for the less
+and not for the greater: to suppose that He would constitute the moral
+powers of the soul so that a law was necessary for their guidance, and
+then revealed none: to suppose, especially in the case of the
+Israelites, that he would prepare a people to receive, and obey with a
+proper spirit, this necessary rule of duty, and yet give no rule. But to
+suppose these things would be absurd; it follows, therefore, that God
+would reveal to the Israelites a law for the regulation of their
+conduct in morals and religion.
+
+But physical law or necessitating instinct would not be adapted in its
+nature to the government of a rational and moral being. The obligation
+of either to the soul would destroy its free agency. God has made man
+intelligent, and thereby adapted his nature to a rule which he
+understands. Man has a will and a conscience; but he must understand the
+rule in order to will obedience, and he must believe the sanction by
+which the law is maintained before he can feel the obligation upon his
+conscience. A law, therefore, adapted to man's nature, must be addressed
+to the understanding, sanctioned by suitable authority, and enforced by
+adequate penalties.
+
+In accordance with these legitimate deductions, God gave the Israelites
+a rule of life--the moral law--succinctly comprehended in the Ten
+Commandments. And as affectionate obedience is the only proper obedience
+he coupled the facts which were fitted to produce affection with the
+command to obey; saying, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out
+of the land of Egypt, and from the house of bondage." Therefore, if ye
+love the Lord ye shall surely keep His commandments.
+
+Further, the only begotten Son of God, who, in order to fulfil the law
+gave himself a ransom for the salvation of all mankind, made the plan
+clearer to "Whomsoever believeth on Him?" saying; "This is My
+commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you."
+
+Therefore, John, whom history acknowledges as the Socrates of the
+Christian philosophy in his personal knowledge of Divine revelations,
+was glad to testify to the fact that "God is Love."
+
+And now with my whole soul lifted up to God I can sing:
+
+    My heart is fixed, eternal God: fixed on Thee,
+    And my unchanging choice is made, Christ for me!
+    He is my Prophet, Priest, and King, who did for me salvation bring
+    And while I've breath I mean to sing, Christ for me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+_God's Providence_
+
+
+In facts from Christian and philosophical standpoints it has been
+demonstrated that the infallible Supreme Ruler of all human spirits has
+made His final provision for the safety of each and every individual
+soul for its temporal and eternal welfare. Now I must prove to my
+readers' perfect satisfaction that to discard all the dignities and
+privileges of a high priest and become a lowly worker for Christ, it is
+not a mere accident nor is it an act of necessity as far as temporal
+necessities are concerned; but, it is a magnificent living monument of
+God's Providential manifestations. In order to protect my reader in his
+judgment from any undue prejudice I have taken pains to present herewith
+all the obtainable facts in regard to God's Providence existing and
+exercising its office upon even to the most microscopical atom. Because,
+it is required by the law of justice, to comprehend this great attribute
+of God's Providence, in order to understand, how, all things work
+together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
+according to His purpose.
+
+The Latin etymology of the word Providence is from (Providentia,
+Pro-videre), and originally meant foresight. The corresponding Greek
+word (Pronoia) means forethought. By a well-known figure of speech,
+called metonymy, we use a word denoting the means by which we accomplish
+anything to denote the end accomplished; we exercise care over anything
+by means of foresight, and indicate that care by the word foresight. On
+the same principle the word Providence is used to signify the care God
+takes of the universe. As to its inherent nature, it is the power which
+God exerts, without intermission, in and upon all the works of his
+hands. In the language of the school-men it is a continual creation
+(creation continua). But defined as to its visible manifestations, it is
+God's preservation and government of all things. As a thing is known by
+its opposites, the meaning of Providence is elucidated by considering
+that it is opposed to fortune and fortuitous accidents.
+
+Providence, considered in reference to all things existing, is termed by
+Knapp universal; in reference to moral beings, special; and in reference
+to holy or converted beings, particular. Every thing is an object of
+Providence in proportion to its capacity. The Disciples, being of more
+value than many sparrows, were assured of greater providential care. By
+Providence being universal is intended, not merely that it embraces
+classes of objects or greater matters, but that nothing is too minute or
+insignificant for its inspection.
+
+Providence is usually divided in three divine acts, Preservation,
+Co-operation and Government. 1. By preservation is signified the
+causing of existence to continue. 2. Co-operation is the act of God
+which causes the powers of created things to remain in being. It is not
+pretended that the existence of the powers of the things are ever
+separated, but only that they are distinguishable in mental analysis.
+Co-operation varies with the nature of the objects towards which it is
+exercised. 3. Government, as a branch of Providence, is God's
+controlling all created things so as to promote the highest good of the
+whole. To this end every species of being is acted upon in a way
+confirmable to its nature; for instance, inanimate things by the laws of
+physical influence; brutes according to the laws of instinct; and free
+agents according to the laws of free agency. Moreover, as Providence has
+respect to the nature which God has been pleased to design to each
+various object, so, in common with every other divine act, it is
+characterized by divine perfections. It displays omnipresence,
+omniscience, omnipotence, holiness, justice, and benevolence. It has
+been sometimes contended that Providence does not extend to all things,
+or to unimportant events, and chiefly for four reasons. Such an
+all-embracing providence, it is said, would (1) be distracting to the
+mind of God; or (2) would be beneath His dignity; or (3) would interfere
+with human freedom; or (4) would render God unjust in permitting evil to
+exist. In reply to these objections against a providence controlling all
+things without exception, it may be observed that the third and fourth
+suggest difficulties which press equally, in fact, upon all hypothesis,
+not only as to providence, but as to creation, and which shall be more
+fully explained in the sequel.
+
+As to the first objection, that the minutiae of the creation are so
+multifarious as to confuse the mind of God, we are content to let it
+refute itself in every mind which has any just sense of divine knowledge
+and wisdom. The second objection, that some things are beneath God's
+notice, if it be not a captious cavil, must result from pushing too far
+the analogy between earthly kings and the King of kings. It is an
+imperfection in human potentates that they need vicegerents; let us not
+then attribute such a weakness to God, fancying him altogether such a
+one as ourselves. Again, it is to this day doubtful whether the
+microscope does not display the divine perfections as illustriously as
+the telescope; there is therefore no reason to deny a providence over
+animalcula which we admit over the constellated heavens. What is it that
+we dare call insignificant? The least of all things may be as a seed
+cast in to the seed-field of time, to grow there and bear fruit, which
+shall be multiplying when time shall be no more. We cannot always trace
+the connections of things. We do not ponder those we can trace: or we
+should tremble to call anything beneath the notice of God. It has been
+eloquently said that where we see a trifle hovering unconnected in
+space, higher spirit can discern its fibres stretching through the whole
+expanse of the system of the world, and hanging on the remotest limits
+of the future and the past. In reference to the third and fourth
+objections before mentioned, namely, that an all-embracing providence is
+incompatible with divine justice and human freedom, it should be
+considered that, in contemplating God's Providence, the question will
+often arise, why was mortal evil allowed to exist? But as these
+questions meet us at every turn, and, under different forms, may be
+termed the one and the only difficulty in theology, it is already
+considered in the previous chapter of this work, and may therefore
+require the less notice in the present article. We should in all
+humility preface whatever we say on the permission of evil (such as,
+mysticism, in religious bodies) with a confession that it is an
+inscrutable mystery, which our faith receives, but which our reason
+could not prove either to be or not to be demanded by the perfection of
+God. But, in addition to the vindication of God's ways which may be
+found in the over-ruling of evil for good, the following theories
+deserve notice:--
+
+1. Occasionalism, or the doctrine that God is the immediate cause of all
+men's actions. It is so called, because it maintains that men only
+furnish God an occasion for what he does. It degrades all second causes
+to mere occasions, and turns men into passive instruments.
+
+2. Mechanism. Many, alarmed at the consequences which occasionalism
+would seem to involve, have embraced an opposite scheme. They criticise
+the definition of the laws of nature, and contend that occasionalism
+derives all its plausibility from adroitly availing itself of the
+ambiguities of language. They would have us view the creation as a
+species of clock, or other machinery, which, being once made and wound
+up, will for a time perform its movements without the assistance or even
+presence of its maker. But reasons press too far the analogy between the
+Creator and an artisan. So excellent a man as Baxter was misled by this
+hypothesis, which evidently is as derogatory to God as occasionalism is
+fatal to the moral agency of man.
+
+3. The authors of the third scheme respecting the mode in which
+Providence permits sin sought to be "Eclectics" or to find a path
+intermediate between Mechanism and Occasionalism. In their judgment, man
+is actuated by God, and yet is at the same time active himself. God
+gives man the power of action, and preserves these powers every moment,
+but he is not the efficient cause of free actions themselves. This they
+say, is involved in the very idea of a moral being, which would cease to
+be moral if it were subjected to the control of necessity, and not
+suffered to choose and to do what it saw to be the best according to the
+laws of freedom. But it is asked, why did God create men free, and
+therefore fallible? It were presumption to think of answering this
+question adequately. It belongs to the deep things of God. But, among
+the possible reasons, we may mention, that if no fallible beings had
+been created, there could have been no virtue in the universe; for
+virtue implies probation, and probation a liability to temptation and
+sin. Again, if some beings had not become sinful, the most glorious
+attributes of God would never have been so fully exerted and displayed.
+How could His wisdom and mercy and grace have been adequately
+manifested, except by suffering a portion of His creatures to become
+such as to demand the exercise of those attributes? How else could He
+have wrought the miracle of educing good from evil? In this connection
+we may allude to the third chapter of Romans, where as in other
+passages, it is declared, that the good which evil may be over-ruled to
+produce, cannot palliate, much less excuse, the guilt of sinners, or of
+those who say, "Let us do evil that good may come."
+
+Among the proofs of Divine Providence may be reckoned the following:--1.
+One argument in proof of Providence is analogous to one mode of proving
+a creation. If we cannot account for the existence of the world without
+supposing its coming into existence, or beginning to be; no more can we
+account for the world continuing to exist, without supposing it to be
+preserved; for it is as evidently absurd to suppose any creature
+prolonging as producing its own being. A second proof of Providence
+results from the admitted fact of creation. Whoever has made any piece
+of mechanism, therefore takes pains to preserve it.
+
+Parental affection moves those who have given birth to children to
+provide for their sustenation and education. It is both reasonable and
+scriptural to contemplate God as sustaining the universe because He made
+it. Thus David, having promised that the world was made by God,
+immediately descends to the course of his Providence. (Ps. xxiii. 6.)
+The creation also evinces a Providence by proving God's right to rule,
+on the admitted principle that every one may do what he will with his
+own.
+
+A third proof of Providence is found in the divine perfections. Since,
+among the divine perfections, are all power and all knowledge, the
+non-existence of Providence, if there be none, must result from a want
+of will in God. But no want of will to exercise a Providence can exist,
+for God wills whatever is for the good of the universe, and for His own
+glory; to either of which a Providence is clearly indispensable. God
+therefore has resolved to exercise His power and knowledge so as to
+subserve the best ends with His creation. "He that denies Providence,"
+says Charnock, "denies most of God's attributes; he denies at least the
+exercise of them; he denies his omniscience, which is the eye of
+Providence; mercy and justice, which are the arms of it; power, which is
+its life and motion; wisdom, which is the rudder whereby Providence is
+steered; and holiness, which is the compass and rule of each motion."
+This argument for a Providence might be made much more impressive, did
+our limits allow us to expand it, so as to show, step by step how almost
+every attribute, if not directly, yet by implication, demands that God
+put forth an unceasing sovereignty over all His works.
+
+A fourth proof of God's Providence appears in the order which prevails
+in the universe. We say the order which prevails, aware of the
+occasional apparent disorder that exists, which we have already noticed,
+and shall soon treat of again. That summer and winter, seed time and
+harvest, cold and heat, day and night, are fixed by law, was obvious
+even to man who never heard of God's covenant with Noah. Accordingly the
+ancient Greeks designated the creation by a word which means order
+(cosmos). But our sense of order is keenest where we discern it in
+apparent confusion. The motions of the heavenly bodies are eccentric and
+intervolved, yet are most regular when they seem most lawless. They were
+therefore compared by the earliest astronomers to the discords which
+blend in a harmony, and to the wild starts which often heighten the
+graces of a dance. Modern astronomy has revealed to us so much
+miraculous symmetry in celestial phenomena, that it shows us far more
+decisive proofs of a Ruler seated on the circles of the heavens, than
+were vouchsafed to the ancients. Moreover, many discover proofs of a
+Providence in such facts as the proportion between the two sexes, the
+diversities of the continents, as well as human nature and the nature of
+all things continuing always the same; since such facts show that all
+things are controlled by an unchanging power.
+
+An objection to proofs of Providence, derived from the order of the
+universe, is thought to spring from the seeming disorders to which we
+cannot shut our eyes. Much is said of plagues and earthquakes, of
+drought, flood, frost and famine, with a thousand more natural evils.
+But it deserves consideration whether, if there were no Providence,
+these anomalies would not be the rule instead of the exception; whether
+they do not feelingly persuade us that that curse of nature is upheld by
+a power above nature, and without which it would fall to nothing;
+whether they may not be otherwise necessary for more important ends than
+fall within the scope of our knowledge.
+
+[Illustration: REV. M. GOLDEN
+
+The High Priest in Church Ceremonial Attire]
+
+A fifth proof of Providence is furnished by the fact that so many men
+are here rewarded and punished according to a righteous law. The wicked
+often feel compunctious visitings in the midst of their sins, or smart
+under the rod of civil justice, or are tortured with natural evils. With
+righteous all things are in general reversed. The miser and envious are
+punished as soon as they begin to commit their respective sins; and some
+virtues are their own present reward. But we would not dissemble that we
+are here met with important objections, although infinitely less, even
+though they were unanswerable, than beset such as would reject the
+doctrine of Providence.
+
+It is said, and we grant, that the righteous are trodden under foot, and
+the vilest men exalted; that the race is not to the swift, nor the
+battle to the strong; that virtue starves, while vice is fed, and that
+schemes for doing good are frustrated, while evil plots succeed. But we
+may reply:
+
+1. The prosperity of the wicked is often apparent, and well styled a
+shining misery. Who believes that Nero enthroned was happier than Paul
+in chains?
+
+2. We are often mistaken in calling such or such an afflicted man good,
+and such or such a prosperous man bad.
+
+3. The miseries of good men are generally occasioned by their own
+faults, since they have been so fool-hardy as to run counter to the laws
+by which God acts, or have aimed at certain ends while neglecting the
+appropriate means.
+
+4. Many virtues are proved and augmented by trials, and not only proved,
+but produced, so that they would have had no existence without them.
+Many a David's noblest qualities would never have been developed but for
+the impious attempts of Saul. Job's integrity was not only tested but
+strengthened by Satan being permitted to sift him as wheat. Passions,
+experience and hope were brought as ministering angels to man, of whom
+the world was not worthy, through trials of cruel mockings and
+scourgings.
+
+5. The unequal distribution of good and evil, so far as it exists,
+carries our thoughts forward to the last judgment, and a retribution
+according to the deeds done in the body, and can hardly fail of throwing
+round the idea of eternity a stronger air of reality than it might
+otherwise have done. All perplexities vanish as we reflect that, "He
+cometh to judge the earth."
+
+6. Even if we limit our views to this world, but extend them to all our
+acquaintances, we cannot doubt that the tendencies, though not always
+the effects, of vice are to misery, and those of virtue to happiness.
+These tendencies are especially clear if our view embraces a whole
+life-time, and the clearer the longer the period we embrace. The
+Psalmist was at first envious at the foolish, when he saw the prosperity
+of the wicked; but as his views became more comprehensive, and he
+understood their end, his language was, "How are they brought into
+desolation as in a moment; they are utterly consumed with terrors." The
+progressive tendency of vice and virtue to reap each its appropriate
+harvest is finally illustrated by Bishop Butler, best of all perhaps in
+his picture of an imaginary kingdom of the good, which would peacefully
+subvert all others, and fill the earth. Indeed, as soon as we leave what
+is immediately before our eyes, and glance at the annals of the world,
+we behold so many manifestations of God, that we may adduce as a sixth
+proof of Providence the facts of history. The giving and transmission of
+a revelation, as the Mosaic and the Christian--the raising up of
+Prophets, Apostles and Defenders of the Faith--the ordination of
+particular events, such as the Reformation--the more remarkable
+deliverance noticed in the lives of those devoted to the good of the
+world, etc., all indicate the wise and benevolent care of God over the
+human family. But the historical proof of a Providence is perhaps
+strongest where the wrath of man has been made to praise God, or where
+efforts to dishonor God have been constrained to do him honor. Testimony
+in favor of piety has fallen from the impious, and has had a double
+volume, as coming from the unwilling. They who have fought against the
+truth have been used by God as instruments of spreading the knowledge of
+it, awakening an interest in it, or stimulating Christians to purify it
+from human additions, and to exhibit its power. The scientific
+researches also with which infidels have wearied themselves to overthrow
+a revelation have proved at last fatal to their daring scepticisms. Too
+many histories, like Gibbons', have been written as if there were no God
+in the heavens, swaying the sceptre of the earth. But a better day is
+approaching; and it is exhilarating to observe that Alison, the first
+British historian of the age, writes in the spirit which breathes in the
+historical books of the Bible, where the free actions of man are
+represented as inseparably connected with the agency of God. If we may
+judge of the future by the past, as the scroll of time unrolls, we, or
+our posterity, and some think glorified spirits in a yet higher degree,
+shall see more and more plainly the hand of God operating, till every
+knee shall bow. Judgments, now a great deep, shall become as the light
+that goeth forth. The tides of ambition and avarice will all be seen to
+roll in subserviency to the designs of God. To borrow the illustration
+of another, "we shall behold the bow of God encircling the darkest
+storms of wickedness, and forcing them to manifest His glory to the
+universe."
+
+As a seventh ground for believing in Providence, it may be said that
+Providence is the necessary basis of all religion. For what is
+religion? One of the best definitions calls it the belief in a
+super-human power, which has great influence in the human affairs, and
+ought therefore to be worshiped. But take away this influence in the
+human affairs, and you cut off all motive to worship. To the same
+purpose is the text in Hebrews: "He that cometh to God must believe that
+He is, and He is a rewarder of such as diligently seek Him." If then the
+religious sentiments thrill us not in vain--if all attempts of all men
+to commune with God have not always and everywhere been idle--there must
+be a Providence.
+
+In the eighth place, we may advert for a moment to the proof of
+Providence from the common consent of mankind, with the single exception
+of atheists. The Epicureans may be classed with atheists, as they are
+generally thought to have been atheists in discourse, and a God after
+their imaginations would be, to all intents and purposes, no God. The
+Stoics were also atheists, believing only in a blind fate arising from a
+perpetual concatenation of causes contained in nature. The passages
+acknowledging a Providence in Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, and all the
+ancient moralists, are numerous and decisive, but too accessible or
+well-known to need being quoted.
+
+In the last place, the doctrine of Providence is abundantly proved by
+the Scriptures. Some times it is declared that the Most High ruleth in
+the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will; as much as to
+say that nothing can withstand His power. Again, lest we may think some
+things beneath His notice, we read that He numbereth the hairs of our
+heads, careth for lilies, and disposeth all the lots which are cast. The
+care of God for man is generally argued, a fortiori, from His care for
+inferior creatures. One Psalm (xci) is devoted to show the providential
+security of the Godly: another (xciii) shows the frailty of man; and a
+third (civ) the dependence of all orders in creation on God's Providence
+for food and breath. In Him, it is elsewhere added, we live, and move,
+and have our being. He, in the person of Christ, sustaineth all things
+by the Word of His power, and from Him cometh down every good and
+perfect gift. But nowhere perhaps is a Providence so pointedly asserted
+and so sublimely set forth as in some of the last chapters of Job; and
+nowhere so variously, winningly, and admirably exhibited as in the
+history of Joseph.
+
+And nowhere could be found more brilliantly illuminating its substance
+than in our own hearts and lives. The fool hath said in his heart, there
+is no God. To undervalue God's Providence it is the most dreadful insult
+that a fool could dare conceive in his mind against God's existence. But
+the wise hearken to His voice.
+
+    My son, if thou wilt receive my words,
+    And hide my commandments with thee;
+    So that thou incline thine ear to wisdom,
+    And apply thy heart to understanding;
+    Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,
+    And liftest up thy voice for understanding;
+    If thou seekest her as silver,
+    And searchest for her as for hid treasures;
+    Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord,
+    And find the knowledge of God.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+_New York to California_
+
+
+When I was but a little boy, I can well recollect, a nice little pond in
+the hollow of two hills beautifully situated, near the school house
+where the pupils would enjoy the intervals of their school time. How I
+would wonder at the experiment of throwing a stone in the pond and
+watching anxiously the circles of water growing larger and larger till
+reaching the banks of the pond and there they would break, as though in
+despair for the limitations of their enlarging tendencies. It seems to
+me, now, a parallel despair threatens my heart, for being obliged to
+compact this story of my conversion. Yet, in view of the fact that the
+American reader is a greater admirer of quality rather than quantity, I
+must content myself by giving a brief account on the practical side of
+my personal experience as a Christian worker, among the rich and the
+poor, the high and the low classes and masses, in cities and towns,
+sunshine or clouds, rain or snow, by day or by night; I made myself
+servant unto all men, that I might by all means save some, and this I do
+for the Gospel's sake. And, it is only proper, to confess, publicly,
+that I am prepared to suffer all things, for the love which I feel in my
+heart to be of some service to my own people, an historical race of
+people they are, drifting away from God, blindly allowing blind priests
+to lead them into the ditch. There is a cheering prospect about this
+people, for whose salvation I have devoted my life, that when Christ
+enters into the heart of a Greek, there is very little hope left for the
+devil to induce him to be a backslider. A truly converted Greek soul is
+worthy of all the joy that the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner
+that repenteth. How much more rejoicing shall be there, if we get
+converted all the Greeks that are living in the United States and use
+them as a kindling matter to start the fire of salvation in the hearts
+of the millions of people under the Greek and Russian church slavery,
+all round the Mediterranean countries?
+
+With this and many other social and industrial problems laying upon my
+heart, I find the atmosphere, in New York, too close for any opening and
+very little encouragement for a beginning. And the atmosphere grew more
+asphyxiating every day with the arguments of my friend George N. He
+never had any sympathy with the subject so dear to my own heart, his
+highest ambition being money-making, for which end he relinquished the
+Presbyterian pulpit, after being duly graduated from a Presbyterian
+Seminary for ministerial ordination. It was only natural that our
+thoughts and our ambitions should face each other suspiciously from the
+diametrical opposite ends. And with all due respect to my old teacher
+and gratefully acknowledging his hospitality for entertaining me many a
+day, I find out that at the best I had to be in his mercy, as long as I
+was not able to explain myself, to the American people, speaking in
+their own language. And, as difficulties have always had a peculiar
+effect upon my personal character; to face them, and fight them out with
+one object in view to die or to win, I left New York right after
+Christmas of 1903, in the midst of an unusually severe winter, rather a
+wanderer; but determined to ramble among the American people and learn
+the language by ear, which proved in my case, and I believe, it is in
+every case, to be the best school for learning the correct pronunciation
+of any language you might desire to speak, and be not laughable when you
+address the natives of that language.
+
+Where should I direct my wandering steps, it was the all important
+question, under my consideration in the first place. Boston: I had been
+scouring the ground before, and from a thorough-going I was convinced
+that to begin in a place where the most superstitious, if not fanatic,
+Greeks are situated, at all appearances it should be a wonderful failure
+without any dose of wisdom in it; while I was not able to take my stand
+before the people, whose sympathies I needed in judging my purposes and
+my efforts. In the great wild West, way out there, where some of the
+best easterners by leaving their homes and their comforts therein, and
+enduring all the hardships of pioneering life they succeeded at last to
+put a solid foundation of a new and permanent civilization
+astonishingly wonderful not only in the development of this great land
+of liberty but revolutionizing the whole commercial and social system of
+the world.
+
+Who hath known the mind of the Lord? We have been taught, that His
+purpose is to glorify Himself through human agency, and we know that all
+the great movements in history were originated in an insignificant way
+by insignificant persons at the beginning. Who could say, at the time,
+when the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and
+there she drew out of the water an ark with a child in it, that that
+child would be the chosen one of God to deliver his people from the
+Egyptian bondage? Or, when, a poor carpenter with his wife went up from
+Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea in a small village of
+Bethlehem, and Mary brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in
+swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room
+for them in the inn; that that baby was the King of Kings, Christ the
+Lord and Saviour of all mankind?
+
+That, humble fishermen would be the heralds of glad tidings, to those
+who accept Christ as their Saviour? That an altruist monk should leave
+his monastery, thus violating his vows to Pope and the church, to be the
+mouthpiece of the Truths of Christ's Gospel, and become the father of a
+Reformation that brought down the Romish pride, for all time and raised
+the banner of personal liberty in Him who is the Only One to save every
+soul that cometh unto Him without the necessity of a priest? That such
+men as John Wesley, Moody, and a number of others, to accomplish great
+things for the advancement of God's kingdom? And the greatest religious
+living man, General William Booth, who, with his ingenious and prototype
+system, is doing more for God and humanity, than all religious bodies
+put together? Their beginning was insignificant.
+
+These names, a few of the many, I thought to mention for the
+encouragement of those who always try to find some excuse, for not doing
+all they can, to realize that for which they every day pray, "Thy
+Kingdom come." As for me, I know, that there is nothing impossible with
+Jesus, and it is only according to our faith, and the work which we put
+in it, that we reap the results of our efforts.
+
+When I left New York, I made a short stop-over at New Jersey, and one
+snowy morning I went to the R. R. station and purchased my ticket for
+Athens, Ohio, because, in studying geography, I noticed that there are
+quite a number of towns in the United States by the name of Athens, and
+I was very desirous to visit the Athens, Ohio, and see if there was any
+Acropolis or monuments to compare with the Athens, Greece. The train
+arrived at Athens, Ohio, R. R. station just on time, not to miss my
+dinner at a nearby restaurant, where I inquired if there were any Greek
+people in the town. A very gentle young lady, waiting on the table gave
+me instructions to find a candy store kept by a Greek, where she took
+her ice cream. I found the place and the Greek who was a real good
+natured middle-aged man and his family living on the floor above the
+store. He received me kindly and after a short conversation he said he
+thought I could make a suitable help for him and he offered me the job
+without asking any questions as to my identification. I had no thought
+of staying at that place and declined the offer. By the same Greek I was
+glad to learn that Athens, Ohio, though there is no Acropolis and no
+Socrates there; yet, she is a nice little college town and the Greek was
+doing a rushing business with the students. The next train was for St.
+Louis, Missouri, and I was very anxious to see the Mississippi river, so
+I went on that train. The great bridge on the Mississippi river and the
+Union station at St. Louis are two buildings that could make honor to
+any city in the world. I left my luggage at the parcel-room and started
+out to find a hotel, where I could have the best accommodations for the
+smallest amount of money. When I located myself the best that I could,
+the next thing I thought to look around for a job, as I liked to stay in
+St. Louis till the opening of the World's Fair in the year 1904. I
+bought a newspaper: I could then read some English, but speak very
+little yet. The advertisement which attracted my attention was a short
+one "Wanted young man willing to work, apply, at given number and
+street." It was Saturday yet I was anxious and willing to work, so, I
+went to answer the ad. By asking in every corner some man in uniform,
+not knowing at the time if they were policemen or conductors in the
+electric cars, I find the street and presently I saw the number above
+the door of a great big livery stable. I looked over the newspaper, and
+the number was correct. I was not prepared for the surprise and for a
+moment I hesitated to enter. The thoughts came to me by bunches: for the
+first time in my life I was looking for an honest work to make an honest
+living, and the first place, God's Providence, brought me, was a stable;
+and what a big stable that was. I never knew anything about stables and
+horses: what could I do there? Instantly my feet began to move backwards
+when a thought came as a lightning: what do you care if it is a stable,
+or a dowager's palace? It is work that you want, and it is much more
+honorable to work in a stable and be right with God, than to live in the
+luxuries as a High Priest and be an hypocrite. Labor, it has always been
+an object of my admiration, though, labor is set forth as a part of the
+primeval curse, "in the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread" and
+doubtless there is a view of labor which exhibits in it reality as a
+heavy, sometimes a crueling burden. But labor is by no means exclusively
+an evil, nor is its prosecution a dishonor.
+
+These impressions, false though they are, have wrought a vast and
+complicated amount of harm to men, especially to the industrious
+classes, causing these classes, that is, the great majority of our
+fellow-creatures, to be regarded, and consequently to be treated even in
+Christian lands, as a parish caste, as hereditary "hewers of wood and
+drawers of water" doomed by Providence, if not primarily by the Creator
+himself, to a low and degrading yoke, and utterly incapable of
+entertaining lofty sentiments, or rising to a higher position; to be
+restrained therefore in every manifestation of impatience lest they
+should temporarily gain the upper hand, and lay waste the fair fields of
+civilization; and to be kept under for the safety of society, if not for
+their own safety, by social burdens and the depressing influences of
+disregard and contempt.
+
+A better feeling, however, regarding labor and laborers, is beginning to
+prevail: these motions, which breathe the very spirit of slavery whence
+they are borrowed, are in a word dishonored, while they are gradually
+losing their hold on the heart, and their influence on the life.
+Individuals arising from time to time from the lowest levels of social
+life to take, occupy, and adorn its loftiest posts, have irresistibly
+shown that there is no depression in society which the favors of God may
+not reach. Especially has a wider and more humane spirit begun to
+prevail since man has learned more accurately to know, and more
+powerfully to feel, the genius and the spirit of the Gospel, whose
+originator was a carpenter's son, and whose heralds were Galilean
+fishermen. Reason and experience too, in this as in all cases, have come
+to revealed truth, tending forcibly to show that labor, if under certain
+circumstances it has a curse to inflict, has also many priceless
+blessings to bestow. Yet, when it fell to my lot, to submit myself in
+that class and be a laborer and earn my bread by the sweat of my brow,
+it was a critical moment to decide upon. And just at this moment a man
+of small stature came out of the stable, and as I looked suspiciously,
+he asked me if I wanted anything. I want this job said I, showing to him
+the ad in the paper. With a few sharp glances at me standing now like a
+marble; all right, he said; you just put on your working clothes and
+come here on Monday morning at 5 a. m., and we will have something for
+you to do. I left him and on my way back home I entered the first
+clothing store and purchased an outfit of working-man's clothes. The
+next day was Sunday and I spent the day in my room, praying that God
+would sustain me in my new career. At night I had very little sleep,
+making my plans for the future, or building my castles in the air, and
+early Monday morning I was at the stable before 5 a. m. Soon the little
+man appeared and after the customary ceremony in taking my name and
+address, he led the way into the inner part of the stable in front of a
+huge heap of horse manure. There, he says, you just shovel that out of
+the window, and handing to me a big fork, for the operation, he
+disappeared.
+
+There are certain happenings in our lives indelibly written in our
+memory, which cannot be effaced by the stream of time, and one week's
+experience in this stable was sufficient to engrave the deepest lines in
+my heart of sympathy and mercy for sinful, suffering humanity. It has
+been said in the old Greek mythology that the greatest achievement of
+Hercules was when he undertook to clean the stable of the king Augeus
+at Argos. But should Hercules lived in this stable for one week, I doubt
+that his name would ever appear in the list of demigods.
+
+[Illustration: REV. M. GOLDEN
+
+Captain of the Salvation Army]
+
+It is beyond the limits of self respect to even attempt a brief account
+of all that took place in that stable, but sufficient to say that I went
+in there one individual and by Saturday I came out ten thousand strong.
+And I had to put up in St. Louis one more week in a bath house, with
+much work and expense to get back into my one individual, and hasten my
+wandering steps towards Chicago, with a stop-over at Springfield,
+Illinois, where I had references to meet a gentleman, professor of the
+Greek language in one of the colleges there. When I arrived at the house
+of the dear professor, he, began to speak to me from a book, in an
+exameter homerean tone, and I understood about as much as the faithful
+who goes to church and the priest reads the mass in Latin. At
+Springfield I lost my satchel and with it my Greek documents, which
+might have been very interesting to the reader, yet, I hope in my next
+publication to have reproductions of those documents from the original,
+which I can easily obtain from Athens.
+
+Chicago is my next stop. The Babylon of the West. Last week of January,
+1904, the weather 12 degrees below zero. All the idles of Chicago hired
+by the city hall could not keep control of the snow on the streets. I
+located myself in a furnished room on Wabash Avenue, and bought a paper
+to find a job, but my experience in the stable at St. Louis, took away
+from me all the courage to select any kind of work from the paper, yet I
+was very anxious to settle for a while in Chicago, in that third
+cosmopolitan city of the world, London and New York being respectively
+first and second.
+
+Chicago offers great opportunity to a student of religious, industrial
+and social conditions, and when, by chance, I secured employment in a
+leading warehouse, a very good paying position, under the circumstances,
+I devoted all my spare time visiting the Greek quarters, incognito, and
+studying everything that came within my observation, and attending all
+kinds of public meetings of various denominations and societies, which
+proved a great help to me in learning the proper pronunciation of the
+English words, in fact for five years I did not speak five times in the
+Greek language.
+
+One morning I read in the paper the following announcement: "The Knights
+Templar of the United States have made their plans to celebrate the 29th
+triennial conclave of Knights Templar to be held in San Francisco, Cal.,
+September 4 to 9. The occasion will be of universal character,
+representatives from all the world; and Great Britain will send to this
+imposing ceremony the highest officials that control the affairs of the
+chivalric order of Freemasonry in the British Isles. The Earl of Euston,
+most eminent and supreme grand master of great priory of England and
+Wales and the dependencies of the British crown, were coming with
+credentials to represent Edward VII, the king of England." I was
+looking forward to my visit to California, since I left New York, but I
+never expected the time for me to go there would come so soon as it did.
+I was longing to see a great gathering of Freemasons, of this class of
+men, that, in every country represents the highest ideals of good
+citizenship.
+
+With a few days preliminary preparations, I bade good-bye to my
+employer, and well supplied with recommendations from some influential
+friends and acquaintances which I had made in Chicago, I saw myself off
+to California, on the forenoon train, the 25th of June, 1904.
+
+The trip was uneventful, excepting the unbearable heat and dust,
+especially going through the States of Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico,
+and the number of Indians, which, for the first time in my life I beheld
+in their own skin living and moving contented as though they still were
+the dominating race on the continent, with their square faces painted in
+various colors, wrapped in their blankets, and bare-footed, their feet
+being very much like those of a mud turtle, they were the real thing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+_Honorable Submission_
+
+
+There was a time when the Eastern part of the United States looked upon
+San Francisco as the coming New York of the Pacific Coast, but since the
+disastrous earthquake in the year 1906, the stream of progress as a
+great commercial center has been turned rather towards the Northern
+Pacific Coast, yet San Francisco with its great harbor, the ever
+increasing commercial developments and number of other advantages, still
+is a magnificent attraction to the homeseeker, who for the last few
+years has been very sceptical in his preference on account of existing
+unfavorable conditions regarding the city's government which is the prey
+of dishonest politicians. For this and many other reasons I should never
+make my home within the limits of the city of San Francisco. There are
+beautiful localities within short distances, desirable in every respect
+and beyond the claws of the city hall of San Francisco.
+
+Mount Tamalpais, I believe, is a most pleasant location for the lovers
+of nature. Words fail, and it is beyond the ability of my pen, to even
+attempt to describe, the beauties which nature has bestowed upon the
+Mount of Tamalpais. Situated just across the bay of San Francisco, by
+the way of Socialito, on the train to Mill Valley and whence on the
+crookedest railroad in the world, climbing 2000 feet above the tide of
+water, we reach the lower top of the mountain, and there we find
+accommodations to entertain kings and princesses, and the most eccentric
+Yankee. Yet, I am assured, that scarcely one-tenth of the visitors to
+California, have ever had the exceptional privilege to spend 24 hours,
+on the top of Mount Tamalpais, and thereafter all through their lives
+enjoy the most wonderful recollection in all God's creation.
+
+The Alps in Europe are too stupendous to be compared with this
+majestically magnificent mount of Tamalpais. The Himalaya in Asia are
+too brutish to be considered as a rival of this gentle and illustrious
+sky-scraper. The Olympus and Parnassus of Greece are out of season to be
+paralleled with this up-to-date marvelous throne of their Majesties the
+Kings of America. There is the Tamalpais Hotel, a real palace, where the
+guests can rest and from the verandas or the windows of their own rooms
+observe the animating sights on the left hand side the snow-covered
+top-heads of the mountains and following to the right look down upon the
+valleys and behold the myriads of orange and lemon and all the
+fruit-bearing trees blooming all the year around and decorated like
+brides in their wedding procession, not only for a few moments, till the
+law ties the knot, but forever as long as the life-giving climate of
+beautiful California lasts and time shall be no more.
+
+When I went up to the Mountain, looking for employment, because I
+wanted to locate myself in such a place, if I could, till the
+celebration of the Knights Templar was over, I was surprised to find
+that the General Manager of the Hotel and the R. R. Station was a lady,
+of a striking majestical appearance, she was the controlling power of
+the whole business on Mount Tamalpais, and she was not a suffragette
+either. But she was a loving mother of two beautiful children, a typical
+Yankee girl, well up in her teens, supervising over the chambermaids,
+and variously assisting her mother, and an active boy of sixteen, the
+good-fellow of everybody, and especially to the Chinamen employed in the
+kitchen. Mr. Johnson was the husband and father of this happy family,
+and he occupied the position of butler of the house, receiving orders
+from his beloved wife.
+
+I presented my credentials to Mrs. Johnson and she, being satisfied, was
+very kind to give me the charge of two tables to wait upon in the dining
+room. It seemed as though I made good as a waiter, judging by the coins
+which the customers, began to forget, beneath their plates, in leaving
+the table, some call it tips, I called it real money.
+
+September was well at hand, one day old, and Mrs. Johnson was very
+anxious to have the premises well decorated, and a big arch should be
+erected at the entrance, with the sign, "WELCOME," to Knights Templar,
+as news came from San Francisco, that the Knights were already in
+possession of the Golden Gate. Mrs. Johnson was almost in despair,
+unable to find someone among that great army of employees, to have any
+artistic ideas of decorating or even to make a few flower designs and
+put up the arch out of some green foliage. We were all green, in that
+respect. But as I always find myself at hand, wherever help is to be
+rendered, I offered my services, and by what I could remember from my
+friend Jack, in New York, how he could decorate everything to a good
+taste, I have been able to put up a nice decoration and the third of
+September, 1904, the flags of all nations were waving and everything was
+ready for the reception of the Knights Templar. Mrs. Johnson was pleased
+to the extent of presenting me with an extra three dollars and relieving
+me from the dining room, she appointed me in charge of the pavilion, an
+out-doors building, where the Knights Templar would privately entertain
+their families and lady friends. In this position I was enabled to see
+more of the high American life than I ever dreamed of before. The
+English Lord, and the Parisien Dame de Honor, were eclipsed as they
+would look like pygmies by the side of the sunshining, bright-hearted
+American gentlemen, and the sweet and graceful demigoddess American
+lady. But my enthusiasm reached its zenith when a gentleman from
+Pittsburg, in company with his ladies, after an enjoyable dinner, at the
+pavilion, he left under his plate a shining five dollar gold piece; at
+the sight of the unexpected I made a sign to which the gentleman was
+obliged to respond, and that settled it, there was no mistake about it,
+the man and I were brothers and the coin was intended as my tip. And
+afterwards the incident occurred repeatedly during the celebration of
+Knights Templar in San Francisco.
+
+Now, if everything in this world was just a procession like that of
+Knights Templar in San Francisco, and everybody was happy as the people
+I have seen on Mount Tamalpais, then there would be no sorrow, and there
+would be no pain; in fact this world would be the paradise on earth.
+But, alas! regretful as it may be, yet it is only the simple truth, that
+it is only the minority that are real happy, while the vast majority of
+men and women and children in this world are just a mass of suffering
+humanity, and if the investigations of religious societies,
+sociologists, and psychologists, are true, the cause of all misery in
+this world is misconduct or misfortune, which in one word is, sin, that
+brings misery. And there is where my purpose in life begins. I am out
+against sin. But to fight sin, it is absolutely necessary to be a
+soldier of the man who gave his life for the salvation of all mankind.
+
+President Emeritus Eliot of Harvard University, a man of colossal
+thought-machine, man, who controls the unprejudiced intellectual minds
+of America, in his address on "The Religion of the Future," is quoted as
+saying: "I venture to add that I am not at the hold of any proud
+world--whatever; second, that such little part of the world as I am best
+acquainted with loves the Lowly Nazarene--and does not hate Him;
+thirdly, that I have met during my life most of the sorrows which are
+accounted heaviest; fourth, that Jesus will be in the religion of the
+future, not less, but more, than in the Christianity of the past." All
+efforts without Jesus, trying to better the world, shall fail. It is and
+will be the opinion of all sane minds for many generations yet to come.
+This was my opinion and the only imposing motive that brought me down on
+my knees on the 14th of October, 1904, in a poorly furnished hall where
+the Salvation Army had the Sunday night's meeting. I gave my heart to
+Jesus, for life and for eternity, to be his and his alone. And I knew,
+there and then, that I was honorably converted.
+
+To make the surrender complete I offered my services to the Salvation
+Army, that I should use all I had, my time and my talent, to uplift the
+down-fallen humanity and help to make this world better. Major Harris
+Connett and Adjutant Allison Coe, were the officers in charge of the Los
+Angeles Salvation Army and they received me into their ranks and for ten
+months I was engaged in this wonderful organization, visiting the sick,
+praying in the saloons, in the slums and everywhere doing all that I
+could to promote the cause of Jesus in bringing souls into his fold. But
+nothing gave me so great pleasure as the poor children of Los Angeles at
+Christmas time when I was dressed in the Santa Claus clothing
+distributing presents to them. I never felt happier in all my life even
+in the best days as a High Priest.
+
+After passing successfully my preparatory studies in Los Angeles, word
+came from the Headquarters that they wanted me in the college Training
+Home, in Chicago, to take the course of officership; and the 15th of
+August, 1905, finds me sweeping the back yard at the Training Home, West
+Adams St., Chicago, Illinois.
+
+Were it possible for every man and woman who pretends to be a minister
+of Jesus, to pass six months in any of the Training Colleges of the
+Salvation Army, then there should be fewer ministers, but far more
+useful, in the betterment of the world, than many of them that are under
+the present conditions.
+
+It is the most psychological system, in these Training Colleges that
+brings out all the virtues that every heart possesses and every bit of
+iniquity that may be hidden in the personal character of the man or
+woman who willingly denies himself or herself of all prospects and
+pleasures in this world just for the only purpose to live and love and
+serve the suffering humanity. There are exceptions to the rule among the
+officers of the Salvation Army, once in a great while some one will
+prove unworthy to the cause, but these exceptions are common in every
+human institution, and they are so few in the Salvation Army that fully
+justifies the public confidence upon this marvelously developing great
+movement.
+
+I went through the theoretical and practical work for which I could make
+a whole volume of the experiences in the slums of Chicago, where I had
+to reprove a policeman, whom I found in a saloon drinking in full
+uniform, while in the back room there was a girl not over fifteen years
+old, in the company of a most reckless middle-aged man, both
+exceedingly intoxicated and still drinking. I dismissed the man, and
+sent the girl to the rescue home, where she would be taken care of.
+
+The 17th of January, 1906, I received my diploma as an active member of
+the National First Aid Association of America, and my commission as a
+Captain in the Salvation Army, and I was appointed in charge of No. 4 in
+Chicago. I went to my quarters and there was not kindling wood enough to
+start a fire, and no coal; and the weather 14 degrees below zero, half
+the glass panes of the windows broken, and everything in the house
+frozen, and the Corps indebted to the extent of 175 dollars, that I was
+expected to pay. You have to put yourself in a position of this kind in
+order to appreciate the circumstances under which I was placed. Yet,
+when everything seems dark, and there is no visible way out of the
+difficulty, it is then that with Jesus on our side, we shall always find
+some way. The first consideration in a missionary work should be to get
+souls converted to God. With much prayer and great faith upon the
+Almighty, I began my work, and when the Spirit spread all round that
+community and the sinners began to flock into the fold of Jesus, there
+was a change in a very short time. The old debt was paid, and we had
+comfortable quarters to lay our heads; and the roll-call of the Corps
+increased, and God was glorified, and there is a Corps, till this day,
+in Chicago, which they call the big 4 of the Salvation Army.
+
+The San Francisco disaster came and the Salvation Army called me into
+its relieving department to help the sufferers. After which they
+appointed me assistant to the Illinois Division, where for two years I
+made a deeper and more thorough study of the various departments in
+operation.
+
+In April, 1908, I visited England with the desire to study closer and
+more extensively the methods, and see for myself the great works which
+the Salvation Army has accomplished in the British Isles.
+
+On my return to the United States I was appointed divisional solicitor
+for the Northern New England, where, splendid success was the result of
+my efforts, and there was a great field to work in and every opportunity
+to do good.
+
+But in searching my heart's ambition I find that it was high time for me
+to turn all my energies toward the people for whose Salvation I was
+ordained a High Priest in the Church, and although the Church failed in
+its mission, yet, to uplift my people is still the aim of my life.
+
+After much thought and due consideration of my obligations to the
+Salvation Army, I came to the conclusion that in view of the fact that
+following an unsuccessful correspondence with the Salvation Army, the
+National Headquarters refused to grant me a leave of absence, and
+insisted that I should go back West, while I knew that the field where I
+was called to fight the battle of my life was right here in New England,
+the best thing for me to do remained to send in my resignation, and I
+did so, thus thrusting myself entirely upon the hands of God.
+
+And though as yet I have received no reply from the National
+Headquarters, my resignation is final, and now I am free, and my work
+unmolested of all denominational differences, dogmas and doctrines,
+which in the light of the Ecclesiastical history has always been the
+fatal cause of failure, in the Churches, to accomplish their mission in
+the Salvation of the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+_Practical Effects of Practical Truth_
+
+
+The necessity of faith, as a primary element in all acceptable religious
+exercises, has already been noticed. A feeling of entire dependence upon
+God for spiritual mercy is the only right feeling, because it is the
+only true feeling. It is necessary, according to the foregoing view of
+the subject, in order to offer acceptable prayer, that man should
+possess a spirit of faith and dependence upon Christ. The principle upon
+which Christ acted in relation to this subject, as well as His
+instruction concerning the duty of prayer, fully confirm the preceding
+thoughts. He seldom performed an act of mercy, by miracle or otherwise,
+unless those who received the mercy could see the hand of God in the
+blessing:--"If thou canst believe, thou mayest be cleansed," was His
+habitual sentiment. As if He had said--Your desire for the blessing is
+manifest by your urgent request; now, if you can have faith to see God
+in the blessing, so that He will be honored and praised for conferring
+it, I will grant it; but if you have no faith, you can receive no favor.
+
+This little book could easily occupy thrice as large a size as its
+present volume, had I taken into account all the blessings which God
+has bestowed upon my faithful prayers and upon His children, using me as
+an instrument of His hand. But I must content myself by referring to
+only two cases, which had had exceptional significance and gratifying
+joy not only to my own heart, but to every Christian worker.
+
+With the individuals spoken of I am well acquainted, having frequently
+conversed with them all on the subjects of which I shall speak. Their
+words in these cases may not have been exactly remembered, but the sense
+is truly given.
+
+The first case, is a story, told all by itself, and the second case, is
+a letter of a dear girl, whose mother was a down to the bone Roman
+Catholic. The daughter accidentally came to our meeting and gave her
+heart to Jesus. The mother thinking that the worldly pleasures might
+drive her newly converted daughter away from Jesus, and being very
+anxious to get her daughter back into the Catholic parish, she gave a
+party to all the young people from the same parish. And there was plenty
+of song and dance, but the daughter did not show up. The mother with a
+number of the guests went into the daughter's room where the girl in
+seclusion was reading her Bible; the young people almost carrying her
+into the reception hall, sat her upon the stool in front of the piano,
+earnestly asking her to play for them while they were dancing. But, the
+girl, lifting up to God her angelic heart and voice, she began to play
+and sing, softly "Nearer My God To Thee," the tears streaming down her
+cheeks; they were tears of joy for the saved girl, but the young people
+could not stand it and they ran away, while the converted girl bended on
+her knees in prayer for them, and her own mother's salvation.
+
+Case 1.--For love of the Christ:--John Davis was the only child of a
+Chicago banker. The wealth and social prominence of his father had
+surrounded him with every comfort and luxury, and his growth from
+boyhood to incipient manhood had been tenderly watched over by his fond
+parents.
+
+All the hopes of his parents were centered in their only child. Mr.
+Davis looked forward to the time when John would become his partner, and
+that his son might be fitted in every way, engaged the best tutors
+procurable to attend to his education. John had graduated with honors
+after four years of college work, which was marked by the thorough and
+earnest application on his part. His father watched his progress with
+growing pride and with fullest confidence in his son's ability, arranged
+to take him into partnership at the proper time.
+
+Seemingly the future for John was one of brilliant promise. But John did
+not show an eager anticipation for the future as planned for him. A life
+devoted to business was to him a selfish one. Something within him was
+insistently calling him to a higher vocation; although apparently
+acquiescing to his father's plans, the prospect daily became more and
+more distasteful to him.
+
+From his mother, a woman of singular devoutness and piety, John had
+received a careful religious training, and he could not reconcile the
+idea of a life devoted to self with the truths he had reverently
+accepted as his faith. Daily he met with examples of shamefully degraded
+manhood, of pitiful want, and of unhelped suffering. His soul went out
+in pity towards these unfortunate ones, and at such times the voice
+within imperiously summoned him to follow in the footsteps of Him whom
+he worshiped as Lord and Saviour.
+
+On the other hand Reason urged filial obedience to the wishes of his
+father. That his mother would understand and encourage him should he
+heed the call of his soul, John did not for an instant doubt. Not less
+clearly, however, did he recognize the attitude his father would take to
+such a course; for his father, while refraining from scoffing at beliefs
+cherished by his wife and friends, made no secret of his own disbelief
+in them.
+
+The life which would appear to his mother and himself as noblest of all
+would seem quixotic and senseless to his father. Besides, his father had
+set his heart on John's becoming his partner in business. John dreaded
+to disappoint him, yet stronger and stronger grew the call of that inner
+voice which now all but dominated him.
+
+One evening as he sat with his parents he surprised them by saying: "Now
+that I have finished my college course it is time for me to choose my
+vocation, to strive to be of benefit to my fellow men."
+
+"All arrangements have been made, John," responded Mr. Davis, "you may
+begin at once if you so desire. Your mother and I thought, however, that
+you were entitled to a vacation after your college work. However we can
+use you at the bank the moment you are ready," laughed Mr. Davis.
+
+"That is just what I desire to talk over with you, father," returned
+John. "For weeks I have felt that the future you have designed for me is
+too narrow--too selfish. With my Master's Call sounding in my ears, the
+thought of devoting my life to any business, however high its position
+in the eyes of the world, is intolerably repugnant.
+
+"I know how firmly your heart has been set upon my joining you in
+business, and I cannot tell you how hard it is for me to disappoint you
+at this late hour, but Christ has called me to preach to His people. I
+feel and know that only in so doing shall I find true happiness and
+contentment.
+
+"You surely, father, will not oppose my doing that which every fibre of
+my body tells me is my duty."
+
+The eyes of Mrs. Davis filled with glad tears, and a prayer for Divine
+guidance for her son went up from her heart; but annoyance and
+displeasure plainly showed on Mr. Davis' face. At length he said:
+
+"I had thought it definitely settled that you were to assist me, and on
+the strength of that belief I have made several important changes in my
+business with the view of affording a proper position for you. Your
+decision declining to accept it will inconvenience me not a little.
+
+"With all due consideration for your religious beliefs, I feel it my
+duty as your father, John, to express my disappointment of the
+profession you at present seem inclined to adopt. However you are
+entering man's estate, and it is for you to decide as to your career. I
+shall, however, insist upon one thing: that you take a good vacation
+before making your final decision.
+
+"If, upon your return you are of the same mind, I shall not oppose you,
+although to speak frankly, John, I am not a little disappointed.
+
+"Anyway a good western trip will greatly benefit you, and I shall not be
+at all surprised if on your return your conception of your duty has
+undergone important modifications." As if signifying that he desired to
+discuss the subject no farther, Mr. Davis rose and left the room.
+
+Keenly feeling his father's disappointment and displeasure, John
+instinctively turned to his mother for sympathy. Mrs. Davis stepped to
+his side and with a fond caress said:
+
+"Thank God you have made this choice; I shall do all in my power to help
+you."
+
+"Thank you, mother dear. I believe you understand me, and know how
+sincere is my desire to do what I can for my fellow men.
+
+"I do so long to lead some of them to Christ; for many are wandering in
+darkness, just waiting for some one to reach them a helping hand.
+
+"In deference to father's wishes I shall take a vacation; though it can
+by no possibility alter my determination. On my return I shall begin
+active work without delay.
+
+"I have education enough to preach the simple truths of God's love. I
+wish to preach to sinners, not to saints. I shall ask no salary and have
+no denomination. My Church will be Christ."
+
+After tenderly embracing his mother, during which the souls of mother
+and son united in a prayer to the Most High, John bade her "Good night"
+and retired.
+
+The following week found John on his way to South Dakota, his plan being
+to make his first stop of any length at Aberdeen.
+
+He arrived there at night and the following morning mounted his bicycle
+for a trip through the surrounding country.
+
+It was a new world to him. His first thought was: how splendid the roads
+were for wheeling, they seemed even better than the paved streets of the
+city.
+
+He cast his eyes over his surroundings. On all sides was the vast
+expanse of prairie, ending only in the horizon--the fields of grass and
+grain, moving in the wind like the waves of the sea; overhead the blue
+sky, stretching out in a dome unbroken by hill or forest. The sun above
+him seemed to shine with a brighter splendor than he had before known.
+
+The beauties of nature filled the soul of this city-bred youth with
+wonder and admiration.
+
+He rode on and on.
+
+At one moment the joyous song of a lark captivated him; at another, the
+capering of some colts, or a sleek herd of cattle quietly grazing in a
+nearby pasture attracted his attention; or a colony of prairie gophers
+which dived excitedly into their burrows at his approach, amused him
+with their antics.
+
+At last he began to wonder how far he had gone.
+
+Seeing nearby a large, well kept farm-house, he rode up to it, to
+procure such rest and refreshment as it might afford him, before
+undertaking his long ride back to town.
+
+His knock at the door was answered by a beautiful girl, apparently about
+fifteen years of age. John explained his errand to her, and requested
+such courtesies as could be granted without putting the people of the
+house to undue inconvenience.
+
+The girl expressed her regrets that her parents were away in town, but
+saying that she expected them home very soon, she invited him in, and
+ushered him into a cool, spacious sitting-room.
+
+Mutual introductions followed and John learned that the name of his fair
+young hostess was Lily Long, "but," said she, with a slight blush,
+"father calls me the Queen of the Prairie."
+
+They visited together for some little time, until Lily, exclaiming that
+her father and mother were coming, went out to greet them.
+
+Left to himself, John glanced around him.
+
+An old-fashioned piano stood in one corner of the room. He noted also an
+ample, well filled book-case at one end of the room.
+
+"Music, books, and Prairie Queen. If this is a typical example of
+country life, I must say that I rather like it."
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Long greeted him heartily and gave him a cordial invitation
+to stay to dinner--an invitation which he gratefully accepted.
+
+And what a dinner it was; vegetables fresh gathered from the garden in
+abundance; fried chicken prepared as only a farmer's wife can prepare
+it; and the countless other good things which go to make dinner on the
+farm. To this dinner John brought an appetite sharpened by his brisk
+morning ride; he did full justice to the tempting viands, nor could he
+remember so thoroughly enjoying a dinner before.
+
+Everything on the farm was so clean and well arranged that John began to
+wish he could board there instead of in town during the remainder of his
+visit; so when they had adjourned to the sitting-room, he informed Mr.
+Long of his wish, and asked if it were possible.
+
+"But before you answer me," he added, "I should like to make myself
+better known to you."
+
+Then he told them of his father and mother, of his own youth, and of his
+college life. A natural question on the part of Mr. Long as to what
+brought him so far West led to an explanation from John, who presently
+found himself telling his new-found friends his future plans and
+ambitions.
+
+"My boy," said Mr. Long, reaching out his hand, "I honor you for your
+choice. You are welcome to share our home as long as you care to stay."
+
+Mrs. Long wiped her eyes as she pressed John to stay with them, for she
+thought of her own son whom God had called home.
+
+Lily must have been thinking of him too, for she said: "I am glad you
+are going to stay, for then I can play you are my brother."
+
+"I certainly shall be proud to be your brother," John answered
+gallantly.
+
+That evening when the family gathered for prayers, Lily took her seat at
+the old piano. Then John realized why they called her "Queen," for never
+had he heard such a magnificent voice, so sweet, so soft, and so full of
+feeling. It seemed as though she carried them nearer Heaven with her
+song.
+
+Before John retired he wrote to his mother, telling her of the home he
+had found, and of "The Queen of the Prairie." This rather amused Mrs.
+Davis, for hitherto, John had had little to say in praise of young
+ladies, although he was a favorite among them.
+
+The summer passed merrily on, and John's vacation was drawing near its
+close, when one morning he received a telegram telling him that his
+mother was dangerously sick. The message filled him with anxious
+foreboding, and he quickly prepared to return home at once.
+
+Tears were on Mrs. Long's cheeks as she helped him pack, for she had not
+realized before to what an extent John had taken her own boy's place in
+her heart. His own eyes were moist as he bade her farewell, promising to
+return as soon as possible.
+
+Mr. Long was ready with a team to drive him to town, and Lily was
+standing beside her father. She raised a tear-stained face to him, and
+said: "Goodbye, dear brother, we shall miss you."
+
+John was not ashamed of his own tears, for this little girl who called
+him "Brother," had grown dearer to him than all the world. He stooped
+and reverently kissed her snow white brow, then sprang in the buggy and
+was gone.
+
+When John reached home, his father met him at the door. Mr. Davis' face
+was ghastly pale; he had grown old with grief.
+
+John's eyes asked the question his lips could not frame.
+
+"She still lives, but the doctor says she cannot last long," said his
+father in answer to his son's mute appeal.
+
+"She is paralyzed. She will probably recognize you, but she can neither
+speak nor move."
+
+Without speaking John went to his mother's bedside, and saw that this
+was indeed true. His mother lay as one dead. A faint spark of
+recognition showed in her fast dimming eyes as he approached but other
+signs of life there were none.
+
+Overcome with grief, John stood motionless at the bedside.
+
+Then in agony he turned to Him who faileth not, he fell on his knees and
+prayed reverently for his mother's recovery.
+
+His father tried to lead him away, but John continued to pray.
+
+Then suddenly in that hour of anguish the grief-stricken man found his
+God. Kneeling at his son's side, he implored mercy from Him whom
+hitherto he had denied.
+
+All at once Mrs. Davis spoke, "My son."
+
+The doctor hastened to her side.
+
+In a moment he turned to Mr. Davis and said, "She is better, she will
+live."
+
+Dr. Gordon was an unbeliever, but at that moment he realized that
+something had control of life, which could act after science had failed.
+
+He looked at John who had not yet risen from his knees, at Mr. Davis who
+was pouring out thanks to the God he had just found, then at the woman
+who had been saved at the point of death.
+
+Like a flash came to him the knowledge of a merciful Christ, and he
+joined the father and son in their prayer of thanksgiving.
+
+Mrs. Davis rapidly recovered her health, and John soon entered upon his
+life work. He received hearty encouragement from his father this time,
+for Mr. Davis had learned the Truth and found his God at the bedside of
+his dying wife in such a way as to leave no place in his heart for
+opposition to work in His service.
+
+John's work was among the poor. He visited from house to house,
+preaching and praying, and extending material help when such help was
+most needed.
+
+His sincerity and earnestness were the means of bringing light into many
+darkened lives, and the message of Christ crucified was eagerly received
+in response to his pleadings.
+
+At one broken-down house he was met by a frail woman who carried a
+half-starved child in her arms. It was plainly apparent that in better
+days she had been a handsome and refined woman.
+
+John introduced himself and asked if he could be of any help to her.
+
+"No," she answered, "I am afraid you cannot aid me. I am Rose Williams.
+My father is a man of wealth. He is living today in luxury in a
+neighboring city, and if I would leave my husband I could be clothed in
+silk and satin instead of these rags, but as long as I stay with him, my
+father will not help me, not even to keep me from starving. But I would
+rather starve with my husband than leave him to kill himself with drink,
+for I love him.
+
+"Drink is the cause of all my poverty and misery. Oh, if Ralph would
+only let it alone."
+
+She ended her story in a frenzied cry which plainly showed the tension
+to which she had been wrought, but John's voice was low and soothing as
+he said, "Suppose you and I pray for your husband. I have great faith in
+the power of prayer. Shall we not pray together?"
+
+Together they knelt down, and offered up an earnest prayer. Mrs.
+Williams spoke in low tones at first, then with great excitement. At
+last she tried to rise, but fell in a swoon on the floor. John placed
+her on a couch in the room and sent at once for Dr. Gordon.
+
+After his examination, Dr. Gordon looked serious.
+
+"This is going to be a bad case of brain fever, John. From all
+appearances it has been hastened by lack of proper food, but she may
+pull through if she has proper care."
+
+[Illustration: REV. M. GOLDEN
+
+The Founder of the Greek-Amerikan-Christian-Association]
+
+John saw that the service of the physician was only part of what was
+needed for the woman's safety.
+
+He went out and procured bedding and food, and his mother sent over one
+of her maids, also a trained nurse.
+
+Soon things were made comfortable for Mrs. Williams, but she could not
+rest.
+
+In her delirium she called continually for Ralph to come home and bring
+her something to eat.
+
+And where was Ralph? For three days he had been laying in a drunken
+stupor in the cellar of a saloon, but this evening he had sobered
+somewhat, and remorse for his cruel neglect of his wife and children was
+finding a place in his heart. He recalled the starving condition in
+which he had left them.
+
+Perhaps for the first time he began to realize how dearly his wife must
+love him to give up the pleasure and luxury of her girlhood home for
+him, and there in that room not fit for cattle, this man cried out in
+his anguish, "Oh, God, protect my wife and forgive me."
+
+He started at once for home but as he neared the house his heart was
+filled with fear, his head began to whirl. Where was Rose? Why was
+everything so still?
+
+He opened the door and was met by a little girl dressed in white and
+with golden curls.
+
+How beautiful she was; she ran to him and cried, "Papa has come, Papa
+has come!"
+
+Then he knew she was his own little daughter.
+
+She led him to the bed on which lay his wife, but the only words which
+greeted him were, "Ralph come home and bring us something to eat."
+
+He called her name but she heard him not.
+
+Again he spoke: "Dear Rose, forgive me, forgive me."
+
+Dr. Gordon laid his hand on the shoulder of the stricken man and said:
+"Ask your God to forgive you, your wife knows not what you say."
+
+He looked at the doctor a moment, then said in a low voice, "I did that
+before I started home. God has forgiven me and saved me. But tell me
+what I can do for my poor wife."
+
+It was indeed true, Ralph Williams was a changed man. The God who had
+heard the prayers of the father and son at the dying woman's bedside,
+and restored her to them, vouchsafed his mercy to the starving wife who
+prayed for her drink-sodden husband, and in answer to it the dulled
+conscience of the husband was aroused.
+
+Slowly Mrs. Williams improved, until one morning she said: "Is this
+Heaven, and are Ralph and my children here?"
+
+"Yes, Rose," her husband replied, "Ralph and the children are here, and
+henceforth I will do all I can to make this home Heaven on earth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The years rolling by saw John still fighting the fight for his Maker.
+Out of the gratitude Ralph Williams had felt for the Divine mercy shown
+him, had sprung a determination to do all in his power towards
+uplifting others. John eagerly accepted his services, and thus the
+nucleus of a rapidly growing power for good was formed.
+
+As more and more came to know the meaning of "Christ Crucified," they
+entered heart and soul into the work of spreading the truth to others
+and soon a mightly cohort of Christian workers spread over the city.
+Individually and with them John labored night and day sustained by his
+faith and enthusiasm.
+
+The work of directing the efforts of so many, the nightly vigil at the
+bedside of sick and dying, the continual breathing of the vitiated air
+of the lower quarters of the city, gradually sapped the strength of
+John, who did not know the meaning of fatigue when a call on the service
+of his Christ sounded.
+
+At last an attack of nervous prostration made him realize his position,
+and yielding to the importunities of his parents and fellow-workers, he
+consented to take a vacation.
+
+Where should he go but to the broad, sunny prairies of Dakota, to his
+dearly remembered friends, the Longs and Lily.
+
+She met him with outstretched arms and a glad smile of welcome. With the
+glory of dawning womanhood about her she was more than ever the "Queen
+of the Prairie," but by the soft light in her eyes John saw that she was
+still his Lily.
+
+During the long pleasant vacation which followed, John gained strength
+and vigor once more, and its close found him ably equipped to take up
+Christ's work once more.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Long were doubly sorrowful at their second parting from
+him, for his heart had found its mate and Lily was accompanying him.
+
+He had gained a lovely bride, and more than that, an enthusiastic
+helpmate.
+
+Together they took up the work where John had left it. Ere long the
+erstwhile "Queen of the Prairie" was known as "Angel of the Poor," for
+her womanly sympathy could often find its way into darkness which even
+John's earnestness failed to penetrate.
+
+One Friday night they both came to take part in our holiness meeting,
+and the Spirit revealed to them that should they submit all their powers
+unreservedly to the will of God, He could use them to still higher and
+more effective purposes of the cause of Jesus. So, John and Lily, side
+by side, came out at the altar and offered their lives and their
+services to Jesus for time and for eternity, they, becoming active
+members in my corps, and a great blessing to the suffering humanity in
+that community.
+
+Case 2.--The following letter was received from the girl already
+mentioned, as the daughter of a Roman Catholic woman, who tried to drive
+her converted daughter, by the worldly pleasures, away from Jesus:
+
+                                 "Chicago, Ill., Oct. 5, 1906.
+
+    Captain Golden,
+      Salvation Army.
+
+    Dear Friend:
+
+    I feel that I must let you know what the Lord has done for me,
+    'through you.'
+
+    Why I ever went to the Salvation Army meeting is more than I
+    know, because I have always been told that the Salvation Army
+    was nothing more than street beggars and a great deal more.
+
+    So I never went to their meetings until I went to No. 4, and I
+    do sincerely thank God that I went, because now I can see how
+    far from the Lord I was wandering and so unintentionally
+    because I never meant to be a sinner, but I just wanted to have
+    a good time. But now, I can see where some of those good times
+    lead us.
+
+    Captain, I often think how brave you must have been to go on
+    with the work at No. 4, with so little help, 'that is, earthly
+    help.' I am sorry that I could not help you, but you see I was
+    not brave like you. I could not talk about Jesus to those who
+    scoffed, but I do want Jesus to help me and strengthen me to do
+    His will. Captain, do you know there is a song that always come
+    to me when I am in any difficulty, 'Lead Me Saviour.'
+
+    Yours sincerely,
+
+        FLOY MAYHEN,
+        2207, 63d St., Chicago."
+
+It is simply wonderful, that there is no one to lead us like the
+Saviour, dear Jesus. Who died on Calvary's Cross for our redemption. And
+now, dear reader, just a word to you. This volume is written for you; if
+you are a converted Christian enjoying the blessings of a clean heart,
+indeed, blessed you are, for "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
+shall see God." But, if for some reason, if there can be a reason for
+not being saved, you kept back until this hour, I pray that you may go
+down upon your knees, at this very moment, just as you are, and open
+your heart to God, and let Jesus come in: and I know and you will know
+that the remaining days of your life will be sweet and happy; and when
+the roll is called up yonder you'll be there, in a robe of white with
+the angels in the air to meet the Lamb of God, Who will say unto all
+that loved Him and worked for Him, "Well done, thou good and faithful
+servant: enter thou into the joy of Thy Lord."
+
+[Illustration: GREEK PEASANT WOMAN]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+_Greek-Amerikan-Christian-Association_
+
+
+It is said, by Him who never told a lie, that every tree is known by its
+own fruit, and the confirmation of the statement is conclusive to the
+student of natural and human history.
+
+It was an idea of King Maximilian of Bavaria, to transmit to history a
+reminder of his reign. He instructed the architects of Germany to design
+a new style to be named after him. Such a style of Maximilianesque was
+created. An architect--it was Semper, if I am not mistaken--when asked
+to take a part in this creation of the so-called Maximilian style,
+answered that such a thing could not be made to order, that a style of
+building is the consequence of the history, the culture, life, and
+doings of a great period of people. If such be the case with a style of
+architecture, how much more must it be the case in regard to religion?
+
+The history of this style of Maximilian's is, that it has no history,
+and consequently all efforts of pursuing eminent architects to adopt the
+Maximilian style failed. This short history is that of the attempts to
+create a very much needed world religion. It is not the dogma nor the
+doctrines or the profession that will make it possible for all right
+thinking minds to unite efforts in building a universal religion,
+sufficient to satisfy the intellectual want of every people and of every
+time. Attempts, all-powerful, such as Papism and Mohammedanism, failed
+in their egotistic purposes to enforce upon the world an exotic
+structure. Neither the fires of Torquemadas, nor the sword of Islam
+could deter the bravery of civilization. The blood that was spilled by
+the millions of martyrs of the lowly Nazarene served to make the history
+of the man who died upon the Cross, more effective and heartfelt
+world-need for the only aristurgimatical shrine in which all human
+families may live in peace and prosperity.
+
+At a time when the world was imperilled by the treatment accorded to
+Galileo for believing in the motion of the earth; and though 69 years of
+age he was cast, by the tools of Vatican, into a dungeon, where he lost
+his sight and ultimately his life; and Copernicus was facing the same
+fate, for accomplishing a noble astronomical discovery; and Martin
+Luther was persecuted by the Roman Catholic church, for trying to bring
+the people nearer to God. The Greeks, a brave people, who, in the face
+of starvation, for lack of food, and horrified by the sword of the
+conqueror, dishonored in their holiest sacreds, pure maidens slain after
+being used in the most beastly way, mothers put to death after their
+children were torn off into shreds of flesh under the sword of the
+barbarous Turk, young people and old aged having no rescuing place to
+escape from horror and death; when all crowned heads of Europe should
+bow on their knees and kiss the slipper of the holy father before they
+could attain their rights to the throne of their own kingdoms; when all
+the known world was trembling equally in the name of Mohammed and Pope,
+these people (the Greeks) stood up, and with all the strength that was
+left in their lungs, they cried out, "we prefer political slavery rather
+than to be the slaves of the Pope," and for more than three centuries
+the Greeks suffered such a martyrdom which if only printed it would be
+more than a human heart could bear.
+
+The history of Greece shall remain until the end of time, and as the
+peoples of the world grow intelligently and intellectually more
+enlightened they will come to the appreciation of the fact that the
+Greek people has contributed more material in paving the way to the
+spiritual freedom and the individual liberty of the world than any other
+nation on the face of the earth, and that the Greek spirit is still
+living and ruling in principle in the very heart of the civilized world.
+
+It is essential that every nation in making up the list of its
+benefactors should give the first place to the most distinguished one.
+In accordance to the general law the Greek nation of today not only owes
+its literary language, in part at least, to the exertions of the great
+patriot Korais, but to him is accredited the prophecy, that, "the Greek
+nation shall never be great again, unless regenerated in Christ."
+
+Adamantios Korais was born April 27, 1747, in Smyrna. From early youth
+he devoted himself to the study of old and new languages. In obedience
+to his father's wishes, he followed a mercantile career during the year
+1772-78, without, however, neglecting the sciences. From 1782-88 he
+studied medicine in Montpellier and established himself as a practising
+physician in Paris. From there he worked incessantly for the education
+of his compatriots, and endeavored to awaken a favorable opinion of his
+nation in the Occidental countries. In 1800 he received the prize of the
+Academy for an edition of the writings of Hippocrates, but before this
+time he had attracted the attention of the world of learning by his
+ability, and Napoleon the Great conferred upon him many honors and
+titles and appointed him the medical adviser of the Court. Later on he
+gained fame by his Greek translation of Beccaria's work on crimes and
+their punishments. This was followed by a work entitled "De l'etat
+actuel de la civilization en Greece" (Paris, 1803). This was the first
+publication in Europe which gave true information on the intellectual
+and moral conditions of the new Greeks. During the period from 1805-27
+he published a collection--twenty volumes--of old Greek classics, with
+critical explanations and prolegomena. In the latter he gave his
+patriotic teachings and advices. His greatest merit consisted in his
+promoting the Greek morals and the Greek language; he eliminated as much
+as possible all foreign elements, but retained all that was good and
+useful from all centuries, rejecting the one-sided retention of the old
+words and forms as not compatible with the understanding of the people.
+He above all, helped to establish a noble literary language. On account
+of his old age he could take no part in the rising of his fatherland in
+1821, but aided it greatly by his patriotic pen. When Greece had gained
+her independence he took an active interest in the new formation of his
+country. In 1830-31 he attacked the government of Kapodistria in two
+publications. He died in 1833. His autobiography appeared in Paris in
+the same year. The name of Adamantios Korais will never die from the
+memory of every patriot Greek, and yet his sincere opinion that "the
+Greek nation shall never be great again, unless regenerated in Christ,"
+had little effect upon the hearts of the people, or rather upon the
+hearts of the leaders of the people.
+
+Great nations have failed, and in every case it was the government's
+corruption and neglect of duty that caused the sufferings and failures,
+of which the political history is too abounding and too accessible to be
+quoted. We only mention the Greek nation, perhaps the greatest and most
+illustrious of all nations that ever failed in their political career,
+because we are well informed and personally acquainted with the details
+that brought this formerly world-wide respected and valued gem of
+civilization into insignificance in the eye of the scornful, and a
+plaything in the hands of the so-called great powers of Europe.
+
+In the year of 1902, while I was a High Priest, Archimandrites, grand
+representative of the Saint Mary's Monastery, Salamis; Orator and Grand
+Chaplain of the Supreme Council of Greece; and confessor in the most
+exclusive societies of Athens, hearing confessions and granting
+absolutions; the following incident, which is published for the first
+time, and only in parts that are printable, brought me to a final
+decision, that I should leave my home, my loved ones, and all the
+flourishing prospects to be a Bishop, with all the comforts and luxuries
+attached to a Bishopric, just because I had witnessed a few scenes of
+the manifold political plots that caused the downfall of my own nation,
+and my own people scattered to the four corners of the world, wandering,
+struggling for their existence, while Greece, the land of the Gods, and
+the home of art and beauty, was left in the hands of a few parasites,
+strangers and unsympathetic feudals who have shown no mercy in straining
+every material and spiritual bit from the people that still honors them
+as their kings and sovereigns.
+
+At the time spoken of, there was an open secret to every well informed
+Greek that the Queen of Greece, Olga, had been the tool of the Russian
+bureaucracy, trying by means of religious influences to keep the Greeks
+under the Russian political control; that the Queen Olga paid the
+expenses for the education of a monk, who, on his return from Russia,
+where he was graduated from the theological academies of Kiev and
+Moskow, became the Queen's personal confessor, and afterwards by the
+Queen's very earnest and almost scandalous activities that monk was
+raised to the Metropolitan Throne of Athens, which position placed him
+at the head of the Greek Church, and made him the President of the Holy
+Synod of Greece.
+
+The Metropolitan Throne of Athens is the highest and most exalted
+position that a mortal Greek could approach, and it is, in fact, the
+next to the King's Throne, most influential occupation, and more
+powerful, even than the Royal Throne, because, the Metropolite of Athens
+is the spiritual leader of all Greeks.
+
+There was plenty of rejoicing in the Queen's camarilla, at the
+installation of Procopios (that was the name of the monk) as the
+Metropolite of Athens, and every effort, Queen Olga leading the fight,
+had gone forth to assure a complete victory for the Russian bureaucracy,
+over the few remaining unspoiled patriotic Greeks.
+
+All the characteristics of a civil war were enacted in the streets of
+Athens when Queen Olga attempted to enforce upon the Greek people a new
+inferior language in their Bibles, and in their holy mass--a language,
+which the Greek people considered as a means to confound their
+historical and religious customs and habits and subdue them into a
+Russian spiritual dependency. Against the attempt there was the very
+best element of the Greek scholars. Adamantios Korais fought the fight,
+100 years before this attempt was made, and he distinctly and clearly
+made it understood that the Attic Greek language has been, it is and
+must be the safeguard of all that is beautiful in the Greek history.
+
+Faithful to their traditions the Greeks of the present generation fought
+and won a triumphant victory. The innocent blood of the people that was
+slain on the streets of Athens by orders from the Royal Palace, have
+wrote with indelible letters, the anathema, which, frenzied mothers in
+the sight of their assassinated sons, and overwhelmed in grief, cried
+against Queen Olga, and her crown all but torn to pieces by the wronged
+multitudes.
+
+Within 24 hours from that terrible bloody day, that will remain an
+indelible stigma in the history of Queen Olga's life, the most exalted
+Metropolite Procopios was a fallen ragmuffin and the most hated person
+in all Greece. And when every one of his colleagues deserted him and the
+King and Queen shut their door in his face, leaving him a pitiful victim
+of the political plots to save the royal skin, and while there was no
+visible friend to give him a helping hand when fallen from the
+Metropolitan Throne, and while this monk-metropolite Procopios, in all
+his glorious days had been a profound enemy against every honest effort,
+especially against young priests who refused to serve his unlawful
+appetites, and my own experience with this monk-metropolite Procopios is
+not of the kind to be printed, yet, it was I who put my own life in a
+probable danger to save him from the mob, that was ready to attack him,
+and probably kill him, the day after I made his escape possible into
+the Saint Mary's Monastery, Salamis, where at the time I was
+Archimandrites.
+
+Procopios, in the opinion of his own friends, was the last man in the
+Greek priesthood, qualified to occupy the Metropolitan Throne of Athens,
+and totally lost his will power when he became Metropolite by Royal
+favor. There was an organized clique around the Metropolitan mansion,
+but the controlling power should be located within the walls of the
+Royal Palace. Procopios was only an instrument transmitting orders. And
+if I was allowed to publish all that Procopios himself told me, in
+Salamis, it would make the Greek people sit up and take notice, but in
+my vows as confessor I have to carry the confession of the fallen
+Metropolite Procopios with me to my grave, unless the need arises to
+serve the best interests of my beloved country. It was his last
+confession upon the earth. He died and went there, where, at the great
+Judgment Day, he, surely will give account for all his deeds done in the
+body.
+
+For the first time in the ecclesiastical history of the Greek Kingdom, a
+Metropolite abdicated from his throne, rejected by his closest friends,
+helpless under the anathema of the people, above whom he was called to
+be the spiritual leader, his life imperilled by the injured public
+sentiment, Procopios, left a real wreck cast by the shore, as a warning
+sign of those dangers to which every public man is exposed, when
+corrupted by higher favours and neglects his duties to the people who
+entrusted him with responsibilities of national importance.
+
+This incident, which I hope will never occur again, and many other minor
+opportunities, in which I had a part to play, during that fateful Queen
+Olga's attempt to adulterate the beautiful and pure Attic Greek
+language, gave me the exceptional privilege to study all the works of
+the political machinery in Greece. I have seen the drama enacted behind
+the scenes. It is a dreadful drama that could break the neck of the
+strongest long-suffering. The awful drama that is enacted in Greece at
+the expenses of the people is a long, very long story; perhaps it has
+its beginning with the reign of King George and Queen Olga, I will not
+say, but the people of Greece, the poorest people of Europe, are
+contented and well pleased that they have a King who is a great
+diplomat, and he is one of the richest Kings in Europe, and their Queen,
+Olga, they believe (the ignorant do) that she is a saintly woman (as all
+the Russian saints are), and this ignorant Greek people, they simply
+feel glad to leave their homes and their children and go into war, like
+sheep into the butcher's shop, sacrifice their lives, thus destroying
+their homes and the hopes of their loved ones, every time King George
+calls them to arms to fight against the Turks. And King George has
+always a great patriotic cause to fight the Turks. And the Greeks could
+not appreciate more highly a privilege than to fight and die for the
+deliverance of their brethren in Crete and for the salvation of the
+unfortunate Christians in Macedonia.
+
+Yet, for half a century, in fact, since King George came to Greece,
+there are hundreds of thousands of the best Greek patriots that have
+been killed, slain, or assassinated, and nearly a billion drachmas
+national debt, hanging upon the neck of every Greek, like the Damoclean
+sword, but there is no deliverance for the Cretans, and there is no
+salvation for the Macedonians, instead there are the traps strategically
+placed across the Greek borders, so, every time the Greek patriots, in
+answer to the call of their King, are sent to render a helping hand to
+the sufferers, they cross the border, only to find, but too late, that
+they have been trapped, under the sword of the enemy, the Turk; or they
+are left at the mercy of their assassins, the Bulgars. This drama is
+going on repeatedly with great success, and to the amusement of the
+observing great powers of Europe.
+
+Occasionally there is some crippling of the territory already belonging
+to the possessions of Greece, because the places are of some strategical
+importance, and this reason is enough, that they should be taken away
+from the Greeks. And there is a financial commission appointed by the
+great powers, because King George is a great diplomat and he wants to be
+sure that his allowance is coming to him increasingly, every year, from
+the coffers of the Greek treasury, while the international commission
+should count every penny that the Greek expends in bread for his
+children.
+
+In the evolution of events, I believe, that there is a time coming, when
+the Greek people shall rise, from the lethargy, in which they
+unnaturally are slumbering, for a long time, and they shall awake and
+break every fetter, and shake off their feet every chain, and their eyes
+shall be opened and they shall see things that will horrify them as a
+nation; then shall they know the persons responsible for their
+sufferings and for the sufferings of the Cretans and Macedonians and why
+Carditses was beheaded in a dungeon, without giving him the privilege of
+free citizenship, to prove his reason or his sanity, without any chance
+to protect his life; and where and by whom that plot was framed up, just
+to turn the tide of public anger against a royal gang, thus causing the
+destruction of two beautiful Greek girls, that left alone in the world
+to suffer from consumption, in agony, to die with the stigma as sisters
+of a would-be royal assassin. It was my privilege to take care of these
+two unfortunate sisters, both suffering, and the story of these two
+girls and the uprising of the Greek people against the adulteration of
+their language by Queen Olga, settled my determination to fight for the
+rights of my own people and my beloved country. But, the time for the
+Greek people to stand up and walk on their own feet, shall come when the
+prophecy of the great patriot Adamantios Korais, is no more prophecy,
+but in reality the Greek people will be regenerated in Christ, and there
+and then shall be a great Greek nation, not only within the boundaries
+of the feudatory of King George, but within the bounds of love that
+unites all the millions of people that speak the historical Attic Greek
+language, and a great Greek nation shall attract the attention of all
+the civilized world, once more as in the days of old.
+
+I know the dangers in which I am exposed for the step I have taken,
+because, I know the character and the principles of the Greek people,
+perhaps, as well as any living Greek, the demagogues, the priests, the
+church, and the drones and parasites of the royal gang, they each and every
+one and all together are going to use all their power and money that is
+at their disposal, and with no regards as to the honesty of means they
+shall move earth and hell to quench this movement for the regeneration of
+the Greek people, but having all my trust upon the Almighty and Omnipotent
+God, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, Who died that all men may be
+happy, and in the right Spirit of love to God and to my fellow men, I dare
+launch the Greek-Amerikan-Christian-Association.
+
+Every Greek of reputable character, and all the lovers of the Greek
+ancient and modern history, are eligible to membership. It is my purpose
+to endeavor by all the Christian means to bring the Greek and American
+people into a mutual, intellectual and intelligent understanding. It has
+been my experience in studying conditions for the last six years, that
+the Greeks in the United States know very little or nothing of the
+American history, government, political, social, customs and habits of
+the American people, which, also, unfortunate as it may appear, yet it
+is the truth, that only a very limited number of Americans whom I have
+found all over the United States, are well informed of the doings in
+Greece, and still fewer well acquainted and unprejudiced as to the
+historical and classical importance of the Greek nation.
+
+It is estimated that there are about 300,000 Greek people in the United
+States, representing the 12,000,000 of Greek-speaking people that is the
+Greek nation extended all around the Mediterranean countries.
+
+When it is considered that the vast majority of the Greeks in the United
+States, has never had any opportunity to attend a Christian meeting, or
+hear the Gospel preached in their own language, it is to their credit
+that, with all the temptations and the ambiguous associations which the
+laboring class is often in contact with they have not been worse than
+they are; it is an indication that the primitive and strong character of
+the Greek seldom yields to temptation; they hold fast to their
+historical energy and honesty.
+
+There has never been an attempt of any importance, neither has there
+ever been any organized effort, for the regeneration of the Greek
+people, and while the Home and Foreign Missions of America for the last
+25 years have given the best of their spiritual leaders for the
+conversion of the Zulu and the Mogul and millions of American dollars
+have been expended, with insignificant returns, in trying vainly to make
+real Christians out of a barbarous and semi-human race of people, and
+trying to civilize the jungles of Africa, the most urgent duty has been
+neglected, and some spasmodical efforts that have been put forth by the
+zeal of earnest individuals, were soon exhausted, and failed, not only
+for lack of financial support, but, the worst, by spiritual
+discouragements, and today a noble and the most historical race of
+peoples, the Greeks, are drifting in despair, away from God, politically
+perishing, blind, and ignorant priests, and political demagogues leading
+them fast into the ditch.
+
+The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; who will help
+us to garner in? HELP! is the cry, the most earnest cry, that was ever
+uttered from the lips and from the heart of a sincere Christian worker.
+
+In organizing the Greek-Amerikan-Christian-Association, all the latest
+and most effective, spiritual and industrial methods will be employed.
+
+It is hoped that the organization will be incorporated under the laws of
+the United States, as soon as there are members sufficient in number to
+assemble in their first meeting and vote the Constitution and the
+By-Laws of the Association.
+
+Much consideration will be given to the methods of the Y. M. C. A., and
+Y. W. C. A. This two-fold Institution, which in the opinion of Christian
+leaders, and the most distinguished sociologists, of the present time,
+is the very best agency to approach all nations, and spread
+civilization, well established upon the fundamental principles of
+Christianity.
+
+For the last few months in my struggle trying to establish the
+Greek-Amerikan-Christian-Association and at the same time keep my soul
+and body together providing a lean livelihood by selling this book, I
+can truthfully say that I had more experiences than in all my life
+before. One clergyman of the high Episcopal church in the most
+fashionable Back Bay, Boston, offered to grant me the use of his church
+any time I wanted to offer the mass as high priest according to the
+ritual of the Greek Orthodox Church, if I would only "break off all
+relations with Protestant bodies here in America." I have a letter from
+this clergyman which is the most astounding fact of his inconsistency,
+because he himself is an active member of the Bible Club, a purely
+Protestant organization: he invited me to one of their meetings, but he
+would not purchase my book to help me to my bread and butter. Another
+clergyman, a member of the executive committee of City Missions, Boston,
+would not purchase my book, unless I offered myself to be employed by
+them at a certain salary, and he gave me his card introducing me to the
+chairman of that organization.
+
+Last winter I began to preach to the Greeks at Kneeland street, Boston,
+in the open air, and when I went to see the police captain of that
+district he promised to co-operate with me and gave me his consent to go
+on with my work, but the following Sunday his Lieutenant came up to me,
+while I was preaching on the street, he stopped me, on the pretense,
+that he was informed of a plot among the Greeks to take my life. And
+when I made my complaints to the General Secretary of New England
+Missions, he told me that I should have known that Boston is a Catholic
+town, and that the police being informed that I was an ex-priest, they
+simply would not tolerate me. Horror stricken by this statement I went
+to see the captain myself, and the very same man who promised
+co-operation, only a few days hence, he stood up in front of my face and
+in a savage manner told me that he would not tolerate me to preach on
+the streets of Boston.
+
+The names of all concerned are in my possession and open to
+investigation by the general public. But I will omit them here for
+reasons well understood.
+
+A number of other discouraging instances, only worked together to deeper
+impress upon my heart the importance and the excellency of my high
+calling. Sooner or later, in the inevitable law of evolution and
+universal progress, the Greek nation must be regenerated in spirit and
+in truth: and I believe that it is not only a case of courtesy, but,
+there is a sense of duty for every true American man and woman to
+co-operate in the uplifting of all mankind. As for me I fully appreciate
+the privilege to suffer for the benefit of my fellow men, and I can
+hopefully repeat Tennyson's immortal words:
+
+    Once in a golden hour
+      I cast to earth a seed,
+    Up then came a flower,
+      The people said, a weed.
+
+    To and fro they went
+      Thro' my garden bower,
+    And muttering discontent
+      Cursed me and my flower.
+
+    Then it grew so tall,
+      It wore a crown of light,
+    But thieves from o'er the wall
+      Stole the seed by night.
+
+    Sow'd it far and wide,
+      By every town and tower,
+    Till all the people cried,
+      "Splendid is the flower:"
+
+    Read my little fable,
+      He that runs may read:
+    Most can raise the flower now,
+      For all have got the seed.
+
+
+
+
+_Conclusion_
+
+
+Allow me, dear reader, to say in closing, that it is my sincere opinion
+that in view of the reasonings and facts presented in the preceding
+pages, every individual who reads this Book intelligently, and who is in
+possession of a sound and unprejudiced reason, will come to the
+conclusion that there is only one religion worth having, and that is the
+religion by Jesus, of Jesus, for Jesus, which is the revelation of the
+Bible, Divinely adapted to produce the greatest present and eternal
+spiritual good to the human family. And if anyone should doubt His power
+(which, in view of its adaptations and its effects as herein developed,
+would involve the absurdity of doubting whether an intelligent design
+had an intelligent designer), still, be the origin of the Gospel of
+Jesus where it may, in heaven, earth, or hell, the demonstration is
+conclusive that it is the only religion possible for man, in order to
+perfect his nature, and restore his lapsed powers to harmony and
+holiness, which is the only avenue to usefulness and happiness.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONVERSION OF A HIGH PRIEST INTO A
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