King's New Clothes," will happen to men occupying positions created by violence. The tale tells of a king who cared enormously for new clothes, and to whom one day came two tailors who agreed to make him a suit woven from a wonderful stuff. The king engaged them and they set to work, saying that the stuff possessed the remarkable quality of becoming invisible to any one unfit for the office he holds. The courtiers came to inspect the work of the tailors, but could see nothing, because these men were drawing their needles through empty space. However, remembering the consequences, they all pretended to see the cloth and to be very much pleased with it. Even the king himself praised it. The hour appointed for the procession when he was to walk wearing his new garment arrived. The king took off his clothes and put on the new ones—that is, he remained naked all the while, and thus he went in procession. But remembering the consequences, no one had the courage to say that he was not dressed, until a little child, catching sight of the naked king, innocently exclaimed, "But he has nothing on!" Whereupon all the others who had known this before, but had not acknowledged it, could no longer conceal the fact. Thus will it be with those who, through inertia, continue to fill offices that have long ceased to be of any consequence, until some chance observer, who happens not to be engaged, as the Russian proverb has it, in "washing one hand with the other," will ingenuously exclaim, "It is a long time since these men were good for anything!" The position of the Christian world, with its fortresses, cannon, dynamite, guns, torpedoes, prisons, gallows, churches, factories, custom-houses, and palaces is monstrous. But neither fortresses nor cannon nor guns by themselves can make war, nor can the prisons lock their gates, nor the gallows hang, nor the churches themselves lead men astray, nor the custom-houses claim their dues, nor palaces and factories build and support themselves; all these operations are performed by men. And when men understand that they need not make them, then these things will cease to be. And already men are beginning to understand this. If not yet understood by all, it is already understood by those whom the rest of the world eventually follows. And it is impossible to cease to understand what once has been understood, and the masses not only can, but inevitably must, follow where those who have understood have already led the way. Hence the prophecy: that a time will come when all men will hearken unto the word of God, will forget the arts of war, will melt their swords into plowshares and their lances into reaping-hooks; - which, being translated, means when all the prisons, the fortresses, the barracks, the palaces, and the churches will remain empty, the gallows and the cannon will be useless. This is no longer a mere Utopia, but a new and definite system of life, toward which mankind is progressing with ever increasing rapidity. But when will it come? Eighteen hundred years ago Christ, in answer to this question, replied that the end of the present worldthat is, of the pagan system would come when the miseries of man had increased to their utmost limit; and when, at the same time, the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven - that is, of the possibility of a new system, one not founded upon violence - should be proclaimed throughout the earth.1 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only," said Christ. "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." When will the hour arrive? Christ said that we cannot know. And for that very reason we should hold ourselves in readiness to meet it, as the goodman should watch his house against thieves, or like the virgins who await with their lamps the coming of the bridegroom; and, moreover, we should work with all our might to hasten the coming of that hour, as the servants should 1 Matt. xxiv. 3-28. 2 Matt. xxiv. 36. use the talents they have received that they may in crease.1 The day and the And there can be no other answer. hour of the advent of the Kingdom of know, since the coming of that hour depends only on men themselves. The reply is like that of the wise man who, when the traveler asked him how far he was from the city, answered, "Go on!" How can we know if it is still far to the goal toward which humanity is aiming, when we do not know how it will move toward it; that it depends on humanity whether it moves steadily onward or pauses, whether it accelerates or retards its pace. All that we can know is what we who form humanity should or should not do in order to bring about this Kingdom of God. And that we all know; for each one has but to begin to do his duty, each one has but to live according to the light that is within him, to bring about the immediate advent of the promised Kingdom of God, for which the heart of every man yearns. CHAPTER XII CONCLUSION REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!" I Encounter with a train carrying soldiers to establish order among faminestricken peasants-The cause of the disorder - How the mandates of the higher authorities are carried out in case of peasants' resistance -The affair at Orel as an example of violence and murder committed for the purpose of asserting the rights of the rich-All the advantages of the rich are founded on like acts of violence. The Tula train and the behavior of the persons composing it - How men can behave as these do-The reasons are neither ignorance, nor cruelty, 1 Matt. xxiv. 43; xxv. 1-13, 14-30. nor cowardice, nor lack of comprehension or of moral sense-They do these things because they think them necessary to maintain the existing system, to support which they believe to be every man's duty - On what the belief of the necessity and immutability of the existing order of things is founded - For the upper classes it is based on the advantages it affords them-But what compels men of the lower classes to believe in the immutability of this system, when they derive no advantage from it, and maintain it with acts contrary to their conscience?—The reason lies in the deceit practised by the upper classes upon the lower in regard to the necessity of the existing order, and the legitimacy of acts of violence for its maintenance - General deception-Special deception-The conscription. 3 How men reconcile the legitimacy of murder with the precepts of morality, and how they admit the existence in their midst of a military organization for purposes of violence which incessantly threatens the safety of society Admitted only by the powers for whom the present organization is advantageous-Violence sanctioned by the higher authorities and carried out by the lower, notwithstanding the knowledge of its immorality, because, owing to the organization of the State, the moral responsibility is divided among a large number of participants, each of whom considers some other than himself responsible — Moreover, the loss of consciousness of moral responsibility is also due to a mistaken opinion as to the inequality of men, the consequent abuse of power by the authorities, and servility of the lower classes-The condition of men who commit acts contrary to their conscience is like the condition of a hypnotized person acting under the influence of suggestion - In what does submission to the suggestion of the State differ from submission to men of a higher order of consciousness or to public opinion?— The present system, which is the outcome of ancient public opinion, and which is already in contradiction to the modern, is maintained only through torpor of conscience, induced by auto-suggestion among the upper classes, and by the hypnotization of the lower-The conscience or intelligent consciousness of these men may awaken, and there are instances when it does awaken; therefore it cannot be said that any one of them will, or will not, do what he sets out to do- Everything depends on the degree of comprehension of the illegitimacy of the acts of violence, and this consciousness in men may either awaken spontaneously or be roused by those already awakened. 4 Everything depends upon the strength of conviction of each individual man in regard to Christian truth—But the advanced men of the present day consider it unnecessary to explain and profess Christian truth, regarding it sufficient for the improvement of human life to change its outward conditions within the limits allowed by power-Upon this scientific theory of hypocrisy, which has taken the place of the hypocrisy of religion, men of the wealthy classes base the justification of their position-In consequence of this hypocrisy, maintained by violence and falsehood, they can pretend before each other to be Christians, and rest content-The same hypocrisy allows men who preach the Christian doctrine to take part in a régime of violence - No external improvements of life can make it less miserable; its miseries are caused by disunion; disunion springs from following falsehood instead of truthUnion is possible only in truth-Hypocrisy forbids such a union, for while remaining hypocrites, men conceal from themselves and others the truth they know - Hypocrisy changes into evil everything destined to ameliorate life- - It perverts the conception of right and wrong, and therefore is a bar to the perfection of men- Acknowledged malefactors and criminals do less harm than those who live by legalized violence cloaked by hypocrisy - All recognize the iniquity of our life, and would long since have modified it, if it were not covered by the cloak of hy pocrisy - But it seems as if we had reached the limits of hypocrisy, and have but to make an effort of consciousnesss in order to awaken — like the man who has nightmare—to a different reality. 5 Can man make this effort?- According to the existing hypocritical theory, man is not free to change his life-He is not free in his acts, but is always free to acknowledge or disregard certain truths already known to him- The recognition of truth is the cause of action-The cause of the apparent insolvability of the question of man's freedom-It lies only in the acknowledgment of the truth revealed unto him- No other freedom exists - The acknowledgment of the truth gives freedom, and points the way in which a man, willingly or unwillingly, must walkThe recognition of truth and of true freedom allows man to become a participant of the work of God, to be not the slave but a creator of life - Men have but to forego the attempt to improve the external conditions of life, and direct all their energies toward the recognition and profession of the truth that is known to them, and the present painful system of life will vanish forthwith, and that portion of the Kingdom of God which is accessible to men would be established - One has only to cease lying and shamming to accomplish this - But what awaits us in the future? What will happen to mankind when they begin to obey the dictates of their conscience, and how will they exist without the customary conditions of civilization? - Nothing truly good and beneficial can perish because of the realization of the truth, but will only increase in strength when freed from the admixture of falsehood and hypocrisy. 6 Our system of life has reached the limit of misery, and cannot be ameliorated by any pagan reorganization - All our life, with its pagan institutions, is devoid of meaning-Are we obeying the will of God in maintaining our present privileges and obligations? - We are in this position, not because such is the law of the universe, that it is inevitable, but because we wish it, because it is advantageous for some of us - All our consciousness contradicts this, and our deliverance consists in acknowledging the Christian truth, not to do to one's neighbor that which one |