I BREAKING THE WAY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. 4 PROGRESS 2 FREE THOUGHT x iUNTRA_MMELnD V01. IX.-—N’o. 3.+WL¢1e No. i S NEVVYORK, JUNE 19, 1875. ._A__.__' PRICE; run onn;rs;, ‘The truth shallmothe you free.—Je_sus. Inthe clays of the voice of the seventh angel, the mystery of Goal shall be finis/zed.—-Ste. John the Divine. - ‘ Whereof I was made Cl minister /to preach the un- searehcible richesof , Christ, and the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been but in G00l.——Paul. ' RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY AND SOCIAL REFORM. Ar HOME, May, 30, 1875. Dear Weekly-—It seems‘ to me sometimes the most astonish- ingothing in the make-upof our common humanity, the ease and grace with which certain members of “ our best society” will admit the weakness and wickedness even of our social and religious_ status. and.then live and act in daily-life as though- present institutions andcustemsrwere infallible, the safest and best for human nature’s daily-food. I have been in conversation before now with professing Christians of both sexes on the social question, and in no in- stance have Ifound, them even, slow to admit the unhealthy condition of, the moral. and. social atmosphere of to-day, and. the powerlessness of the Church, as a popularized organiza- tion to mend thepmatter. ’ Hold a..confid_ential argument with any church-member of more than common intelligence, and possessed of as much honesty, of thought and expression as can be expected of’ a creed-bound soul,‘ and it does not matter; how strongly you put ideas and..facts—as to results» of the social and religious scheme, they seldom fail to concede allthat the -boldest free- thinker, free-lover, infidel, atheist or what-not has dared to. think upon the subjects; showing that ev.en the sacred pale of,Mother Church does not keep her children’s eyes closed to; a certain claissaof glaring facts in our presentcivilization; and; thatall the Church’s canons, and anathemas, and excommu- nications will not serve in these" free timesgto keep back the impulse to express free thought. . ‘ o However, they still stick in their outward allegiance to the- infallibility of the Church. and to the immaculateness of social rule, thou ' h admitting thatthe Church andMrs. Grundy are, and ever: ave been, . the rankest. enemies of radical reform. hoiwevef. they fxnay pwheelinto line after great: revolutions have decided vital issues, and shout with the 1,0.udest—-“ See! _ behold what God has ‘donefor His people !” ~ I am, led to these, reflections by a conversation I held a few‘ days since with a. dear oldlady whom-I metgup the Ohio riv- er. I was ushered: intoher room to wait for myvown to be got ready for me—-because the parlor was occupied by a_ couple those itinerant and interesting studies of human nature and soeialpurity, commercial travelers. The moment I entered the “ dear old lady’s” presence I scented an atmosphere of purityandrefinement, also of great religious rigidity-,xwhich, however, did not scare 011’ my in-' stincts from coming into rapport with the innateharmony of the,old1.ady’s nature. Evidence of religious bigotry cannot prevent;n1e»from sipping delicious draughts from a congenial cup when the gods offer it. A ' My “ dear, old lady”'I at once knew was not of the com- mon stcck; shedidn’t act as though her virtue were in dan- ger of contagion from a “ strange woman,” but she entered into. easy converse; and I was not long in learning that she had not fed all her life on gallvand Wormwood, or traveled up and downthe world in the bonds of iniquity. She was, in short, growing old gracefully. ' In the course of our talk togetherwe soon get into the deep waters of the Beecher scandal. I foundher sweet soul full of that charity whichlis greater than faith or hope, which ever puts itself in another’s place before it passes judgment. ‘I Sheadmitted the evidence of Mr. Beecher’s guilt, and she "also admitted that it is possible he may justify himself to him- self? in.the;f'ull fear of God, save and except in the manner of his defense, in view of his having done that wherewith he‘is_ charged. ' » - A “ _ She thought if Mr. Beecher held ideas to justify his course as charged, and of the truth-of which charge she has no doubt fromthe-evidence, shewould have honored him for bravely maintaining these ideas; whereas she can feel nothing but tify himselfto his own conscience in the presence of his God, in all save his most -lamentable denial of principle; and that his higher conscience will yetso prick and sting him for his course, that, no matter how he may become exalted through a verdict of acquittal which is highly probable now, he will yet put himself in the dust of humiliation before his out- raged soul and? confess the truth, and so redeem his tarnished honor, and be fitted, by a fiery ordeal in the flame of worldly scorn,—to becomethe apostle of the great truth which his in- ner life has proven. ’ A Suchis the dream of the indestructible grandeurof that man’s nature. But I am told he is not made of any such stuff, that even as Theodore Tilton has sunk out of sight in the depths and filthiness of worldliness, even so will the “great “preacher” sink. Yet my dear old lady “ hoped he might be brought unto such a stateof grace” as I dreamed for him. From Beecher there was not a. step to the social evil. And .1. found even I had not dared to think more radically on the subject‘ than that pious old lady. Ivfound-that all her faith and hope for the race turn upon the pivotal idea of'woman’s complete sexual emancipation. She has come to the conclu- sion that nothing less than that will redeem the World from the present abandonment to sexual sin; that no twisting of that old Bible text——“-wives submit yourselves, etc”—is going tolserve, but only -a complete revolution of its meaning and intentwill serve to send the scale of manhood and woman- hood? to a just‘ balance ultimately. And when I said to her that it does not matter how that ‘ grand-result is to be achieved, whether it bring anarphy for a time, free-love, promiscuity, polygamy or whatever other so- called evil thing, and she did not demur, Ithcught the climax reached. Yet I fear that even she, divested of hermomentary enthu- siasm, and with her Church weighed in the balance and found Wanting, would look back upon Sodom. I find plenty of souls ready to admit these truths, and even to advise me to run the race tor the martyr’s crown, who, when the time comes to choose betweenme, my cause, and their social and religious status, would denounce me in synagogue, deny me more times than Peter did his Master; for they cannot bear the warfare with the Church—not with religion, by any means, ‘but the corrupt and offensive Church, that in its prosperity waxes full of all manner of uncleanness. lWithout an effort that old lady admitted that the Church is bound to be the greatest enemy that this‘ cause of i'voman’s sexual emancipation willhave to encounter. She was con- sistent enough to know that there are no flowery paths of dalliance toward the end, but that it is straight on through fire and smoke, through flood and fury to the triumph of the war; and if the’Church oppose. as oppose it will, the interests of the-race demand the subjugation of the Church. Yet in the dire press of such an alternative I think I saw ample-‘evidence that she would hold ‘fast to the Church, un- mindful that pure and undefiled religion can rise triumphant, like the phoenix from its ashes, over the ruin of every estab- lished church under the sun. The pure spirit of truereligion, the eternal spirit of truth, isriding on this storm whose mutterings are already heard; and it writes with lightning on the walls of all the godless Churches, given over to the worship of mammon, “ Mene, mene, tekel upharsinl” H Christ himself would choose the company of publicans and sinners again in preference to the “best society” of “His “church” to-day. In vain would the parsons and the deacons and the grimly virtuous sisters invite him to tea to help eat hot biscuits and fried chicken at eight 1?. M. in Mrs. Grundy’s drawing-room, with the linen covers all removed for the oc- casion to show him the fine furniture. Even in the midst of the “grace before meat” the instinctive purity of Jesus of Nazareth would shrink as of old from the whited sepulchres; he would again have to admonish the Scribes and the Phari- sees and the hypocrites; after which he would go to the hum- iible cabin. of the Marys and the Marthas and spend a congenial ‘evening. _ My “ dear old lady” told me she thought I was called to the inevitable martyrdom of thiscause. But could I_ count upon even her support. in the midst of-the flames? Alas! I fear not. To be called to martyrdom and not to be chosen is most un- fortunate; but to be vch_csen,,on,e must have the baptism of contempt-fora "course-in~ directfantagonism-to_ a pgingipie; :91- the—sakeof.'a:-temP‘l'ra1mess=«of‘pottage3" ” i “ ” "" fire which has not yet wrapped in its sacred flame the soul of; . e W HELEN Nssny ..a,(_...._ .........u.=: — T ‘;}¢.,'_.;.. <».“x:-<.-.496 I assured herthat I believe Henry Ward Beecher does jus- THE GREAT SOCIAL PROBLEM. ” Friends of the Weelcly—Will you acknowledge the receipt‘ of the money sent, in your list, as donated; by Iiibertyflircle No. 1-, Friends of Progress, andothers? I regretthezamounti was so small in comparison to your need; but. yet more, be.-. cause it indicates an ignorance of. and,indifl’erence..to--the,sa-, cred cause of freedom among its professed adherents.-and,,, as; I know, intolerant and bigoted opposition to the WEEKLY and its proprietors. I am thankful, however, that a few on this coast appreciate the lofty purpose, unselfish, endeavors and heroic struggles of a; trinity of souls, which deserve to be ranked with tl1e‘noblest'benefactors of “suffering humanity: at least as muchas it is possible" for any -one to appreciate Nor would such closer contact, involving, as it must,fa knowl- valuation of, and indebtedness for,.such,s_erv.ice .as,ma_ke sor- ~dinary efforts seem valueless. I If anything could dishearten me it would be the intolerance, malicious scheming: detrac- tion, and‘ the whole host of evil spirits that constitute the make-up of a large number, ifnotthe largest numbers, ofthe professed leaders and advocates” of liberal ideas. No‘ consid- erable advance will be made until itis clearly seen, as it even- tuallymust be, thatthe spirit which prompts any one to desire. the exclusive use-of the special functions of--.another:is.iden- ‘appropriation of all natural. and created wealth.. I I-know, that Victoria, like many, probably. a majority, of free lovers, advances the idea that V monogamyis thehighest, form of sexual combination. I assert there is not a known» fact from which a valid argument can be drawn for such a claim. The monogamic relation is as low and immoral state, such as a philosopher would naturallyipredicate of a race just ‘emerging 'from”brutehood. When men-and women become sweet and pure—-human--they willabhor-the thought of an exclusive. attachment, if, indeed, they wiil not then be una- ble to conceive of its beingpossible, rightly regarding itasian old diabolism, the necessary product: otgross unspiritual con- merce of .men and women. The non-exclusive free lover, governed by principle, is as far above the exclusive one as is he whose soul goes out to all souls freighted with Sympathy anda blessings beyond him whose love is confined‘ to the atomic spacefcalled home. A fewimight be trusted with such liberty but the rest would abuse itlt Ah!‘ [- see. ~ You think the liberty-of, the-crest should ‘be intrust.ed~t0- you for safe keeping. So has authority in all time. justified; thevusurpa- tions of rulers. Such is the claim under which. kings, priests, aristocrats and democrats have attackedthe liberties Iofunan. It is this idea that founded the inquisitiompburned heretics, laid waste populous lands by fire and sword. This has been the watchword of all who have done iniquity in the name of their god. There are yet those who believe each is the ligst guardian of his own happiness. But mankind is not pre- pared for such amovementl When has man been prepared for any advance other than by-the conception of : an idea, yet not knowing how to apply it until taught by repeated failures and at the cost or human life? Theboy does not learn to ‘swim until feeling desire he attempts the feat while yet unable to accomplish it. And boys get drowned now as they did ten thousand years ago. Shall all boys, therefore, be forbid the water until they canswirm? Whenever any -one accepts an idea, he is prepared to attempt its execution. All right prac- tice is the result of wrong practice. How else have- civilized; nations reached their present status? The bird willnot leave. its nest until fledged; neither will mankind permit them- selves freedom beyond their capacity to enj oy.. V I Ours is the exalted function, not devoid of pleasure, to teach by precept and example to what divine excellence. all can ascend by forever striving to use all their faculties in the best way that their existing limitations will permit. To-day we gratulate the birth and life of the father of his country, but is this just to his compatriots? '1‘hisicountrywas not the product of an exclusive begetti-ng.’ Itwas a. free love child. Thisfalse and unjust distinction in easures. the status of the nation. Wegawards the highest honor to. theimilitary chief- tain, while by our ethics he is least entitled. to it among lead- ers. ' V ‘ J osnrn H. SWAIN. San Fmncisco, Cal, 1875. ‘ l : ‘ . ' I "I ._ ..__.:_...«__ ,;j4.....,-,_;_,.«.=~~»—«---3-,-v-~——_ _;~q=‘«:'\'v.—;’I1‘.'¢‘—".,:.-—_;T;-‘>~..:.‘..‘au'.3"‘-' " '- those with whose daily lifehe iswnot. personally fam-iliaivr. ~ edge of their necessary limitations as mortals, .lessentheirg tical with the selfishness which ' isthe rootof‘ all-the. unjust. ditions. ‘Promiscuity! Well, we must, wait_wit_h patience, until you have grown-' both moraland intelligent‘-enough.to I distinguishpbetween promiscuity and non,-exclusive com-. H We have often said in these columns. and oftener upon ‘ ¢ 2 l - WIOODHULL & CL.AFLIN’S WVEEKLY. _~‘ ‘June 19, 1875. the rostrum, that there is an honest difference of opinion among those who favor freedom for the affections in regard to what direction the results of freedom would take. Some hold that »it would lead to the obliteration of ‘all special at- tachments between the sexes; others, that it would tend to the establishment of selected variety, and others still, that exclusive attachments, such as are attempted by law now, would be the ultimate. But all of this is but a difference of opinion. whichever prevail as a result of freedom, it would be a natural and consequently a'right result. There are strong arguments to be madefor each of these positions; but which one can be said to have the balance in favor of it will probably never be decided,’ absolutely, until decided by ex- perience. In the meantime, if freedom were the rule, there would be representatives of each of the positions, and each of these parties would be living their highest ideal of the sexual relations. As people, being free to choose the food they eat, naturally choose that which contributes most to their health,:abjuring those things that they learn by expe- rience areharmful, so would people naturally adopt the sexual relations that by experience they should be taught were most beneficial to their health and happiness. ' A cardinal fact in these relations, now almost wholly ignored by the people, and altogether by the law, is, that relations that are not conducive to health, cannot promote either the happiness or the welfare of individuals or the community constituted by them. Moreover, there is no doubt that dif- 'ferent people require diflerent relations. Some to whom promiscuousness brings death, would be benefited by wise selection, while there are thousands, specially -women, actually dying, now, because they are restricted to commerce with their legal choice. The sexual relations should be governed by the law of their own existence——by attraction and adaptation. Where these do not exist, to maintain them _is to invite disease, suffering and, ultimately, death. Like St. Paul, we say: “Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind,”“and then act accordingly. We are willing to rest under the criticism of Bro. Swain, whom we know to be an honest and earnest seeker after the truth, and a deer of it as he sees it when found ; and also under that of the sticklers for legal marriage, who have the form merely of that which we still believe will exist in spirit when per- fected men and women shall know the truth, and knowing it, be made free thereby. ' There is, however, this single point, which, perhaps, may be properly mentioned ‘here. There are two reasons that may be cited as leading to commerce—that which may be said to occur specially for reproduction (if this is possible at all, aside from all considerations of attraction and adapta- tion), and that arising from mutual love and desire, into which the consideration of children does not enter, except as apossible result. If it be admitted that commerce, in perfected conditions, will be for reproduction only, then se- lection for that purpose will be the rule,regardless alike of love as a. base or happiness as a result, and not utter indiscrimina- tion. But if the amount of happiness to be derived, or the amount of physical benefit that is to follow, is a factor in the causes leading to it,then such commerce will occur as produces the most of these results. Here we arrive at the true point of decision, since it is true that the amount of happiness and health to the individual varies in his or her relations with different persons. Consequently, in selecting, those will be chosen by both sexes who contribute most to happiness and to health. There must, it seems to us, be preferences; and if there are preferences as between different individuals, then some one will be preferred above all others. This, it seems to us, is logical; and if it is logical, then monogamic attach- ments will be the logical result of freedom. Moreover, we do not believe there can be a perfect sexual blending, such as must come. to prepare the way for the resurrection, save between pairs of individuals who are perfectly adapted and magnetically related to each other. That is to say, there can be no more than one perfect negative to each positive, or vice versa. Those who think that the future of the sexual relations will be more exclusive do not take the spiritual side of the matter into the consideration at all, but look upon I it from a purely material standpoint. As God and Nature—w the positive and the negative of the universe—-are one, the two making and being one in all things——so do man and we‘- man, created in His image, make one for all the purposes of life. - ‘ -L —:_:_. I emrs FROM ronnrnn. N 0. II. WOMAN’S RIGHTS ANTICIPATED. “ The best nations—whether,in‘ the barbarian, civilized or savage conditions—are those in which women enjoy the most liberty.” Examples.—-The Otaheitans, occupying a. position midway between Eden and Savageism. ~ - - The Eden period is considered by Fourier a primeval con- dition, in which association, or rather, communism, was uni- versal though unsystematic. Of this condition he considers Otaheitans the nearest remaining exemplar, until they were corrupted by European civilization which their want of or- ganization prevented them from withstanding. The Samoans to-day retain several of these beautiful and harmonious characteristics destined to reappear more defi- nitely and permanently in the social order of future gen- erations. Perhaps a few may have already reached-it. Here is a description cut from a recent number of the Cincinnati T1’/mes: _. .1 . . “The Samoans are the most lovely race of savages with. It is not at all a diflerence of principle, since let‘ whom it has been my fortune to meet. They have not the flat noses, thick lips and frizzled hair of the negro type, but have ‘distinctly European features and a very pleasing expression. The color of their skin is a rich golden; their whole costume is limited to a light fringe of grass around the waist, and the women confine themselves, in the way of tattooing, to a couple of thin blue lines across the lips. The men are of great physi- cal strength and enormous stature: they have a queer disdain for us whites and say that while we employ brute-force, c. g. Armstrong guns, etc., like a bull, they have the reason and intellect of the child that runs away from the bull. They live a happy, graceless life ; the earth, unasked, produces her treas- ures in abundance; they have no need to dig when all is ready to their hand. They bask-in the sunshine, or bathe in the cool waters of some retired cove, and cannot understand why we should come to thrust our business worries upon them,to buy their land and grow cotton and sugar and disfigure the ro- mantic picturesqueness of their island with convenient but intrusive roads; and above all why we should send mission- aries who can’t agree among themselves, and who attempt to introduce all-concealing garments of which their want was before unknown. It isn’t half as pretty 3. dress as the garlands of fresh flowers with which they love to adorn themselves in their artless and primitive simplicity. They are not made according to our ideas——far from it, but they have a strong sense of the esthetic, and chastity does not rank as a virtue among them where the reverse is no sin.” (11: will be observed that I am adding materials for elucida- tion here and there, as they come to hand.) . As intermediate between barbarism and civilization, Fourier classes the Chinese and the Japanese. Among the Chinese, women enjoy very little liberty; among the Japanese, very much. The Japanese he considers much superior to the Chinese, and the more accurate knowledge of both, acquired since his time, has fully vindicated his esti- mate. The Chinese improve very little, if at all, on acquaint- ance; the Japanese very much. . As civilized nations, he contrasts the French and the Spaniards in their treatment of women——the French being among the best of civilized nations, and the Spaniards the worst; and in France women have comparatively very great freedom; in Spain, very little. “If God has given to amorous customs so much influence on the social mechanism and the metamorphoses to which it may succumb, it is because of his horror of violence and op- pression. He desired that the happiness or unhappiness of human societies should be proportioned to the liberty or the constraint which they permitted. But God only recognizes as freedom that which extends to both sexes. He also willed that all the germs of social horrors, such as savageism, bar- barism and civilization, should have no other pivot than the servitude of woman; and that all the germs of social good, such as the sixth, seventh and eighth periods (see the pre- ceding article of this series), no other compass than the pro- gressive enfranchisement of the weaker sex. “Those truths are not perceived by civilizees; they judge women by their present manners—by_ a dissimulation which our customs make compulsory in depriving them of all liberty. They (civilizees) believe that this duplicity is the natural and invariable attribute of the female sex. Yet if \ we observe, even now, so much difference between the ladies of our capitals and the odalisques of the seraglio, who believe themselves automatons created for men’s pastime, how much greater difference will there be between our ladies and those. of a polished nation, where the sex would be elevated to entire freedom? And what kind of freedom will be de- veloped among such women? “These are questions that philosophers are careful not to raise; animated by a spirit of oppression, by a secret antipathy to women, they habituate them by empty compli- ments to divert their thoughts from their slavery, and smother even the idea of inquiring as to the manners which would characterize women in a social order; that would weaken their chains.”—(Vol. I, pp. 89, 90.) “Social progress and changes of period operate in the ratio of the progress of woman toward liberty; and the decadence of the social order operates in proportion to the decrease of liberty of woman. * * The extension of the privileges of women is the general principle of all social progress.” (Vol. L, pp. 132, 133.) p ‘‘lt is a surprising thing that women have always shown themselves superior to men when they have been enabled to develop on the thrones their natural gifts, of which the diadem assures the free use. Is it not well known that out of eight woman sovereigns, free and unmarried, seven have reigned gloriously; while out of eight kings, seven’ are habitually counted weak? And if some women have not shone on the throne, it is because they have, as in the case of Mary Queen of Scots, hesitated and become annoyed before prejudices in regard to the relations of the sexes, which they should have boldly trampled under foot? When they have taken this lat- ter position, what men have known better how toibear the sceptre? The Elizabeths, the Catherines, did not make war, but they knew how to choose their generals, and it suificed - to have good ones.” [REMARK.—Elizabeth is not a good casein point. It seems probable, if not certain, that the successes of her reign were achieved by her ministers, her naval and military command- ers, and the energy of her people, in spite of her littleness, her meanness, her caprices, her vacillations and her want of prin- ciple; but she often put the “right men in the right places.”] “ In every other branch of administration have not women given lessons to men? What prince has surpassed in firmness Maria Theresa, who, in a moment of disaster, where the fidelity of her subjects was tottering, where her ministers were struck with stupor, undertook alone to revive all their courage? in She knew how to intimidate, by her bearing, the Hungarian Diet, which was but little inclined in her favor; she harangued the magnates in Latin, and ‘ brought her very enemies to swearon their swords to die for her. ~ Here we see an-iindication of the wonders which feminine emulation will bring about in, a social order which will leave free play to her faculties? . - - « “ And you of the oppressing sex, would you not exceed the failings with which woman is reproached, if, by a servile education, you were, like her, trained to believe Y0111‘361V63 automatons, made to obey prejudice and to crawl before a. master that chance may have given you? Have we not seen your claims of superiority confounded by Catherine, who has trampled under foot the masculine sex? In establishing titled favorites, she dragged man in the mire, and proved that in his full freedom he can degrade himself below the woman whose vileness is excusable because compulsory. . “It would need, to confound the tyranny of man, that there should exist for a century a. third sex, male and female, stronger than men. This new sex would prove by blows that men are made for its pleasures, as well as women; then men’ would be heard protesting against the tyranny of this her- maphrodite sex, and confessing that force should not be the only rule of right. But why should men refuse to women those{privi1eges, that independence,which it would reclaim as against the third sex? ‘ >:< >z< az * * >x< >1: >:< “ In describing women who knew how to soar from such viragoes as Maria Theresa to such lighter shades as N illoid de l’Enclos and Madame de Sevigne, I am sustained in maintain- ing that woman, in a state of freedom, will surpass man in all functions of mind or body which are not attributes of physical force.” (Vol. I., pp. 148-9.) PROMISCUOUS SEXUAL IN TERCOURSE. Common, indiscriminate sexual intercourse is not a natu- ral condition. It is a prostitution.of the sexual functions, in total ignorance of what is a natural, healthy sexual act. Any male or female once enjoying a natural, sacred, crea.-_ tive love culmination, simultaneously, under love’s most in- tensifying magnetic quickening of life’s energy, never can feel or be promiscuous thereafter. It is a perfect and total cure of promiscuity. All below that most sacred realization will be an undesirable prostitution of life forces. Only those who can debauch each other below the sacred experience can be and are promiscuous, and the lower down they go in de- bauchery the more promiscuous they are, until they reach the bottom of masturbation, impotency; then any india rubber male or female representation will answer their pur- pose as well, because they have utterly and entirely vitiated their sexual nature, and are very much disgusted with the sexual question. This is the eternal truth, evident to every one now standing in purity on the sacred eminence of creative love power. Just in proportion as we rise up to more exalted and perfected creative love conditions with another, will all below that point grow stale and undesirable with others. Thus, freedom in love will only lead away from promiscuity, through the most careful selection, on to the most sacred monogamy in the fullness of life and love. Those who so carefully avoid free love, to shun promiscuity as they suppose, will be sure to grow more and more pro- miscuous, and away from love and sex, until rubber is all they want to complete sexual‘ impotency and disgust. Nature seems true to herself. A burnt child dreads the fire. Im- potency manifests disgust of the sexual question. The pros- tituted are fearing prostitution, and the promiscuous are fearing promiscuity. Thus sinners are always fearing and stoning each other, but it does seem to be more to cover up their own sin and shame than to free themselves from it. The foregoing is only a. plain statement of facts, audit is time that all those who fear promiscuity so very much, should know what ails themselves, and what it is within them that can so excite their fears. They should be made aware of their already debauched condition, which enables them to even imagine that such could ever be the case with others, and that the measure they mete to others is but a. measure of themselves. A little careful examination of their own condition might possibly reveal the fact that they are already prostituted, and thus far never yet in all their inter- course did love culminate simultaneously in each one, in the creative love and life-giving act, so that really they are only on the road to promiscuity, and utter impotency and disgust; of sex. May they have mercy on their own damned con- dition in life before they thrust their own, shame at free lovers, is my sincere prayer. Come, friends, wake up! and show these very sensitive and modest sinners, ever looking through promiscuous eyes, what ails them. that “love is the fulfilling of the law” and “ worketh no ill,” and that “to the pure all things are pure,” while to the im- pure there is nothing pure. A. D, BOWMAN ...j.__. FREE LOVE. When two persons of opposite sexes intuitively perceive that the magnetic life or emanating sphere of the one is such as to excite to grander action the life of the other, they find ' a powerful attraction existing between them spiritually, mentally and physically. Their thoughts, charged with the affections from which they spring, fly back and forth in rapid succession in their efforts to project themselves from the one to the other, and the loving glances of the eyes, by giving quick indication of the hearty response these thoughts and afiections meet in the soul, stimulate each to that perfect union of flesh with flesh wherein the love of becoming one with the other finds a fullness of expression. This ultima- tion of love, which in outward things so beautifully gym- bolizes the inner union of soul with soul, is, in our eyes, 3 divinely beautiful thing; and we cannot resist the conviction that where an inner oneness exists, coupled with a desire on the part of each to respond to the love of the other, the affec- tions ought to be left free to assert themselves to whatever extent the love of echoing Grod’s life from one to the other may lead. a When one meets another, the music of whose life is per- ceived to be in harmony with the grand symphony its own heart-strings {are pouring forth, we can conceive of no more beautiful thing than the union of the two in that loving em. brace which places the seal upon the harmonious relations existing between them. This natural blossoming of love, by enabling the aifections and aspirations of each to more then v Let them know , I v\ f i 5.1. . 2 . ,3 . X \ 5,’! June 19, 1875. oughly permeate those of the other, animates both with new vigor, and inspires them to pour forth a purer and sweeter music, a grander and more harmonizing influence. Sexual intercourse, however, which is not the spontaneous outbirth of a hearty love of soul for soul, is a thing so re- volting that it is well to term it adultery; and, while those who indulge in such intercourse, whether in the marriage re- lation or out of it, are the true adulterers, those, on the con- trary, whose sexual intercourse is but the bursting into bloom of the beautiful bud of genuine love, reflect upon earth the pure and chaste life of heaven. We cannot understand why those who reject the doctrine of total depravity, and endeavor to overthrow the belief that man’s thoughts tend only to what is false and evil, hence that he cannot trust his own reason, do not perceive that if there is enough truth in the thoughts of man to warrant his trusting them for guidance in matters of an intellectual nature, there must also be enough gopd in the affections of man to warrant his trusting them for guidance in matters of an afl’ectional nature. If the reasoning part of man came from God, surely the afiectional part did also. If ‘God has given man reasoning powers to guide him intellectually, and ordained that by their free exercise he is to continually pro- gress in wisdom and knowledge, has he not also endowed him with affections to guide him in matters pertaining to the domain of the heart, and ordained that by their free exer- cise he is to rise to higher and purer states of aflectional life? If man cannot progress intellectually so long as his thoughts are not allowed to act in freedom, how then can he arrive at purer states of aifectional life while his aflections are cramped and repressed in their action by the creed that dominates popular opinion? Those who maintain that humanity can arrive at truth and wisdom only by consulting much with ~ their thoughts, must, so far as we can see, admit that they can arrive at what is pure and clean in love matters only by taking counsel with their affections. The affections, at the present time, are in about the same condition that the intellect was in the days of papal supre- macy; for, to listen to their protest against the state of slavery in which they are held, is, to—day,, thought to be as dangerous as it was then to heed the chafings of reason against the credal walls that imprisoned it. Those who believe that man’s life is so entirely separate from God’s as to be totally depraved, are consistent in holding their reasoning faculties in with bit and bridle, and in suppressing their aifectional nature as much as possible; but those who regard man’s life as inflowing from a pure and wise source, are, in our opinion, very inconsistent, if they deny to the heart freedom to act as its affections shall dictate, and at the same time leave the head free to entertain whatever opinions its thoughts may decide upon as right and true. “The voice of God in the soul of man” can be as correctly interpreted by the feelings of the heart as by the thoughts of the head. Intimacy between the sexes is one of the pure and beauti- ful methods instituted by the Creator for molding his crea- tures into more perfect images of himself; for making a man more truly a man, and a woman more thoroughly a woman; therefore, we advocate a breaking of that yoke that binds and fetters the afiections of mankind, and seek to so modify pub- lic sentiment that the sublimest expression of love may ever appear sacred and pure, even though it manifest itself con- trary to the laws and restrictions which man’s selfishness at present imposes upon it. Man, in his eagerness to limit the affections of a certain woman to himself, and to check the affectional freedom of his brothers lest their love also should flow out toward the one he has found so lovable, and they become sharers with himself of the love and life she has to give, heaps up laws and precepts which prove the death-warrant to his own freedom as well as theirs. Thus is self-love, in its blindness, ever hanging itself upon the gallows it intended for others only. We think the outward restraints at present fettering the affections of mankind are outgrowths of their selfish, unde- veloped condition. If so, one of the great fields of labor for the social reformer is to help him self and others to that high- er plane of life where one acts from pure, disinterested mo- tives and legislates for noble ends. , When men arrive at that purer plane oflife which is ac- tively engaged in seeking the welfare of others, they will find, perhaps, to their surprise, that self is most abundantly served when so absorbed in endeavoring to bless others that its own interests are forgotten. Love, to be essentially free; must not only be “liberated from the restraints imposed upon it from without, but also . delivered from bondage to the lower nature within the man himself. The nature of love is to bless others; hence, it cannot be free while enslaved to the seeking of one’s own gratification; therefore, we lay great emphasis upon cultivat- ing a sincere regard for the good and happiness of others; that love, being no longer held in slavery by selfishness, may be free to manifest itself in all the beauty and boldness of its real inner character. C. W. B. DAWN VALCOUR COMMUNITY. (Concluded.) _ Moved by an irresistible power that continually over- shadows me with the one thought»-that the hour has come when the two worlds are to be interblended in one by the the union of the advanced minds in a fraternal bond—I have never despaired for a moment of the final success of this Val- cour ‘movement as a prelimiary step toward the dawn of peace and harmony that is‘ destined to strike down all dis- tinctions and classifications among men. But we were des- tined to pass through a series of trials in order to fit us for the great work. Our short experience has demonstrated that it ‘ was impossible for us to carry the burdens imposed upon us by Mr. Shipman. He instituteda formidable effort, aided by two or three others, to rule out social freedom by placing the sexual relations under the control of an executive board com- posed of three members, with himself at the head during life. It became evident that we must divest ourselves of this authority before we could possibly succeed. Failing in our utmost endeavors to induce all parties concerned to come up to a complete recognition of the principles of justice and truth, I was compelled to precipitate Mr. Shipman’s affairs into bankruptcy, as the only available means of securing the property at a fair valuation for our future basis. During this period all those who were found to be unfit to become good and useful members were induced to leave; thus the report went broadcast through the land that we had failed and aban- doned the enterprise. I No one who is conversant with revolutions in human society can fail to discern that we are upon the eve of important changes, changes that are destined to overthrow the present order of things, and from among the dust and ashes of the ages that have accumulated among the human rubbish, a new order of society is to dawn upon the earth, that will not stop short .of guaranteeing to each child of Grod its unalienable rights. The hope that lwould some day see this grand re- sult realized has been continually before me. During my past life I have dreamed. only of an ideal future when an order of society would be established on earth where strife, discord and hatred would forever cease, simply by removing the causes that lie at the basis of those evils in the present order of society. The same propelling power that has imbued me with this thought, assures me that the hour has arrived when the work is to commence; that the time is past when the old system of introducing temporary reforms in society, while the ‘basis is fundamentally wrong in every particular, will be effectual. I now realize more fuliy than over that no community movement that falls short of a complete recogni- tion of the rights of woman, not only in every industrial de- partment, but also in her absolute right to control her sexhood, can possibly succeed. The time has come when we must stand squarely upon issues, not only in words, but deeds. If we expect assistance from the guiding hands of ad- vanced minds of the ages past, without whose assistance we will certainly fail, we must come up to a complete recogni- tion of every human right. If a cowardly expediency re- strainsvus from a full expression of these truths, then we ' render ourselves unfit to be trusted with the work that is to reform society. We, as humble instruments, are not pos- sessed of that independence of action that we sometimes im- agine. All great reform movements have their birth in the higher spheres of the spirit world, and in the proper time they come to the earth as irresistibly as the tides. All of the ad- vanced thinkers of these times are more or less ‘mediumistic, and they are attended by guardians who are leading them forward to a practical realization of human redemption on earth. When we gave to the world our plan of organization, which is probably the best one ever given to the public, it 1 met with a universal expression of approbation. ‘But as soon as the breath of discord was introduced by Shipman’s unjust exactions in relation to the property, and his efforts to sub- stitute for -our constitution his code of blue laws imposed upon us in the bond, we began to realize that we were los- ing ground. Our correspondence ceased, and it was evident that the unseen intelligences who were watching our progress had telegraphed to our numerous friends to wait. I realized our situation at a glance, and spent the weary days and weeks in a fruitless eifort to convince Shipman of the necessary. steps to be taken in order to meet the demands of both worlds in this great work. But this wasiuseless, as he only believed in one world, and that one was within the limits of himself. Iturned to the members and begged of them to stand by the cause, but they had become so disheartened, and faithless in the possibility of effecting anything like a satis- factory compromise with Shipman, that they would not even accept any terms that he might propose. I realized that the case was hopeless. The most that we could do was to sub- mit with all the calmness that we could command, and wait until Shipman should despair of attempting to rule a com- munity under a despotic government. His first move, when he became hopeless of subjugating us, was to thrust me into prison. This miscarried. His next move was to write us down through his circular. Realizing the bitterprejudices that exist against the ‘advocates of social freedom, he con- ceived the plan of fabricating a bundle of charges in regard to our sexual relations; but he lacked generalship in this, since his circular and appeal to others to come to his aid in the formation of another community were addressed to social reformers. ‘ In conclusion we may sum up the case thus: Our enter- prise failed-——so far as it has failed-—because it was impos- sible to negotiate with Shipman for the property, the market value of which is less than the incumbrance upon it; and because of his policy of oontroliing the community himself by creating a centralized power, with himself perpetually at the head, under whose management and control the entire business and social affairs of the community were to be sub- jected. To secure this management of the government in the hands of the privileged few, he enlarged upon his gra- tuities and the inflated value of his domains, and insisted that official privileges were only to be bestowed upon those who brought the largest investments. Property qualification was to be the ruling power, and to secure this end he pro- . posed to establish what he termed in the bond a “senior order” that was to be formed upon a basis of capital, the poorer classes enjoying the privileges and blessings of carry- ing forward the manual industries. It may be thought strange that we would submit to such arbitrary dictation, but, as I said before, it was imposed upon us through the bond after we had made our investments. But we still live, and are the better and the wiser for the experiencewe have passed through. I We cane East for the purpose of starting a community, and, as we are determined to secure a basis that will recognize perfect. equality among the members in all the affairs of life. we expect the co.-opera tion of reformers in both worlds. We are still situated upon Valcour Island, holding super- vision under the sheriff of this county over that property which is now under process of foreclosure on mortgages. ‘We ask the co-operation of a few persons of means to secure this property as a basis for our future work. Persons of limited means can correspond with us, and state the amount they can invest immediately. woonngum. la CLAFLIN’-S ‘WEEKLY: . s We have sufficient inducements already to warrant us‘, in going forward; but, after the amount to be paid down is met, we wish to make some improvements necessary to the com- fort of the members, and for this need additional funds. Cor- respondents will please inclose stamps. JOHN WILLCOX. V Address, Dawn Valcour Community, South Plattsburgh, New York. VALCOUR ISLAND, June 1, 1’87’5. THE MAN WHO wanrnn INFORMATION. . From the Detroit Free Press. . Yesterday noon, while all the people around the oflice ex- cept the “ head reporter” were at dinner, the smell of smoke suddenly became apparent, and a fat man, smoking a big pipe, came toiling up stairs. When he‘ had recovered his breath and taken a seat he inquired: “ Is der big editor what knows everydings in?” “ N o—gone to dinner,” was the reply. “ Und he shall come back purity soon?” “ In about two hours.” b ' ' “I can’t wait so quick as dot; I haf to go to a funeral.” “ Did you want anything?” . “ Yes, I wants to know somedings about dot Peecher scan- dal. You zee, one day about dree months ago, a fellow comes mit my zaloon and he says: ‘ Did you hear noddings about Mr. Peecher? ’ und 1 say nix, und he say Mr. Peecher shtole. corn.” “ Yes.” " “ Und der next day when I went home my wife says: ‘ Did you hear noddings (about Mr. Peecher? ’ Und she said Mr. Peecher shtole a dog.” ' “ Yes.” “ Und when I was in der street-gar a man says: .‘ Hello, Mr. Ritterman, what you dinks about Mr. Peecher?’ Und" I says no man can be a goot man who vill shteal a dog. Und den everybody laughs und winks, und I don’t know about it.” 54 YeS_n - / “ Und when I was in der Zity i-Iall a man shtrikes me on der pack, und says: ‘ Hello, old front, is Mr. Peecher guilty?’ Und I said I dunno, und he said Mr. Peecher hiret a man to blow up a schurch mit a barrel of bowder.” 4sVY'es.9v . “ Und den ven I vas in Dearborn a man looks bretty sharp at me und says: ‘ You lif in Dadroit, don’t you?’ Und I said I hf in Dadroit. Und he says: ‘ What is your shudgment on dot Peecher pisiness ? ’ Und I said noddings. Und he said Mr. Peecher had a fight mit a zircus man.” “ Yes.” ' “ Und when my pig poy come home from Doledo he say: ‘ Fadder, what you dinks about dot Mr. Peecher?’ Und I says I dunno, Hans. Und he says Mr. Peecher got some gloze und shumped der dai1or’s bill.” -" Yes.” “ Und when I goes home or in der street-gar, or mit my zaloon, or in der best-office, somebody say somedings about dot Peecher pisiness, und I dunno. Who is dot Mr. Peecher? Where he lif ? ” I N “ He is a great preacher, and he lives in Brooklyn.” ' “Z0? Und what he do?” i , “ He got one of those tobacco boxes with a needle in the cover, and carried it around in his pocket. When a man five feet.” : “Is dot bossible ? ” Y “ Yes, and he had his vest pocket made so deep that a cigar would go clear out of sight, and _he kept it full and deceived the public.” . - “ My zoull but is dot zo ? ” “ Yes, and he keeps an old wild-cat bill in his wallet to lend out when a man wants to secure tlieloan of a dollar for a few minutes.” 1 “ Vell I deglaresl Ven a breacher shall do like dot we shall vonder vat next. {Z0 dot is der Peecher pisiness, eh? Vell, Vell.” ‘ THE Hrsronv or META.L Stuns.-The era of the metal signs of the present day began in 1852. Mr. Charles Monks in that year arrived in New York from Liverpool, where he had learned his trade in letter engraving. He was then a poor boy of seventeen. But being of an ingenious and push- ing disposition, and moreover, being forced by the necessities of his condition, be conceived the idea of getting’ up an en- graved metal sign to fasten on the bottom of show window ledges. He prepared a sample, and solicited orders for it in Broadway». ‘White, the hatter, iwho kept his store where Knox does now, next the Herald building, was the first who took hold of it. Mr. Monks made a sign for his show window ledge, which, on account of’ its novelty and ‘bright and neat appearance, attracted much attention. After that Mr. Monks had no difficuityin procuring orders. But his great improve- ment was in his semi-circular, door jam metal signs. The first one he made was for Messrs. Mellis 82: Ayres, at that time old and heavy dealers in laces and white goods, on'the corner of Broadway and Reade street, opposite Stewart’s. Its success as a sign was simply immense. The store was besieged by persons inquiring for the address of the manwho made the signs, for the purpose of getting similar ones made. But his address could not be furnished. Mr. Monks, for- tunately for himself at that time, had not given it, and so was saved from annoyance and interruption. He had more orders than he could possibly fill at any price he chose to ask. He had no assistance, and could rocure none. In his little shop in the basement of No. 15 lm street he labored day and night alone. Driven at length by the increasing demand for his metal signs he sent over to England and engaged four men to assist him, paying all their expenses of outfit‘ and passage across. He then moved into more ambitions quarters, corner of Broadway and Walker street, where his business enlarged rapidly. During this time it never occurred to him to procure a patent for his improvement, and as soon as his apprentices acquired sufficient knowledge of the trade to do the work, they quit him and began for themselves in dif- ferent cities of the Union. The metal signs were also intro- duced iiito England and on the continent, and new they are made and used ail over the world. Two years ago Mr. Monks moved his establishment to the corner of Broauway and Lie- penard street, where he constantly keeps from twelve to fifteen men engaged on indoor work, engraving and preparb ing these signs. Mr. Monks is still a young looking man, and doubtless has a long and successful future before him. tried to open it the needle went into his thumb about twenty- I _which the WEEKLY is noW« devoted. 4 L i wooDHULL & 'O‘L‘A’FLIN’;S'WEEKI:_Y ;r.....-sa--9, irnnnor sues-cmprm1v.i PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. .1- One copy’ for one year, - $3 00 50ne'=copy=‘for-six months, - = ;- -, ~ — 1 50 ’ ‘Single copies, 1 - ‘ - - - - - 10 CLUB RATES. Five copies for one year, - : - - -- $12 00 Ten copies for one year. ' ' . ’ °’- - - 22 00 Twenty copies (or more‘ same rate), . - ' - - 40 00 Six months, - -’ “- - - - ’-One-half these rates. FOREIGN SUBSCRIPTION CAN BE MADE TO THE AGENCY 015‘ THE AMERICAN NEWS '00MPA'.r.‘u'Y, LON DON, ENGLAND. One copy for one year, - - $4 00 ' One copy for six months, ( - - - - 2 00 RATES or ADVERTISING. Per line (accordingto location), - - From $1 00 to $2 50 -D Time, column and page advertisements by (special contract. Special place in advertising columns cannot be permanently given. Advertiser’s bills will be collected from the ofiice . of this" journal, and must inall cases, bear the signature of Woonnou. & CLAFLIN. Specimencopies sent free. Newsdealersfsupplied by the American News Company, No. 121‘ Nassau street, New York. All communications, business or editorial, must be addressed Woodhull if Claftin’-s Weekly, - ‘ » ' P. O. Box, 3791, N. Y. Ofiice,111 Nassau Street,’R'oom 9. 7 Twin. \ F If ’a man lceeyoeth my saying he shall never see death.-Jesus. To him that overcometh, I will give to eat » of the hidden manna-.——-St. John the Divine. .That through death he might destroy "him that had the power of death, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime sulgjeot to bondage.——Paul. . — ' I The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then yoeaceable, gentle, easy to he entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and withouthy-A 10_0orisy.——J ames, iii., 1 7 . And these ‘signs shall follow them .' In my name shall they cast‘ out devils,‘ they-shall take up serpents; and if they ‘drink any deadlything it shall not hurt them,‘ they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall reeover.—Jesus. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1875. PERSONAL ANI) SPECIAL. Mrs. Woodhull and Miss Clafiin will be at home, at No , 26 East Fiftieth street, after 12 o’clock daily, to their friends and to the friends of the truth, let it be what it may and lead where it may. The ofiice of the paper will be at its old quarters, 111 Nassau street, Room 9. THE’ DOUBLE TRIANGLE ;, OR, THE SIX—POINTED STAR IN ‘THE EAST. ‘_For we have seen his star in the East, and we are come to worship h1m.——ST. MATTHEW, ii., 2. . "This figure is allegorical of the truth, to the exposition of It has been clearly shown, in our present series, of leading articles that it repre- sents the ‘coming’ blending together of the inhabitants of the earth and spirit spheres in a common brotherhood, and the establishment thereby of the universal human family. It also represents still another and more important truth which has not yet been introduced, but which, defined in a few words, is, God in man reconciling the world unto Himself. ‘We adopt this diagram as emblematic of our future .work, and as symbolizing the possession by man of the whole truth, which we hope and trustmay be shortly realized. , THE HUMAN BODY-—-THE A HOLY ‘TEMPLE. A Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill ?—- Psnnms, XV., 1. - \ Jesus answered and said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.——JoHN, ii., 19. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place ?—IBID, xxlv., 3. Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thmehonor dwelleth.-—ImD, xxvi. , 8. And the temple of God was open in heaven: and there was seen in his temple the ark of h_is.testament.~—-REv., 1:1,, 19. L - Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live (feed) of the things" of the temple ?~—1 CORINTHIANS, ix., 13. And _thou shalt know that my tabernacle shalt be in peace; and thou shalt visit my tabernacle, and shalt no_t sin.—JoB, v., 24. One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after, That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.—-IBID., xxvii., 4. And I heard a voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them and they shall‘ be his peo- ple and God himself shall be with themandibe their G0d.——REVELATIONS, xxi., 3. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy; which temple ye are.—‘l CORINTHIANS, iii., 16 and 17. And what agreement hath the temple of God with Idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.- II CORINTHIANS, vi., 16.. ‘ What I know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you. which ye have of God. and ye are not your own ? For ye are brought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body and in, your spirit, which are_God’s ——IBID., vi., 19 and 20. Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty; a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.—HEBEEws, viii., 1 and 2. ’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the new Jerusalem, descending’ out of- heavcn from God. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and ‘the Lamb are the temple of it.,—REv., xxi., 10 and 22. Stand _ in the gate of the Lord’s house and ~say,'Hear the word of the Lord all that enter in at these gates. Amend your ways and your doings, and I wsll cause you to dwell in -this place. For the children have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord. They have set theirvabominations in the house, which, is called by my name, to pollute 1t.-J EREMIAH, vii., 23, 24 and 30. .3 . Therefore, are} they before the throne of God, and serve him day and , night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyeS.—REVELA'l‘IONS, vii., 15, 16 and 17. 1 And the Lord whom ye seek shall ‘come suddenly to his temple, even the messenger ‘of the covenant iniwhom ye delight; for he is likea refiners fire. Even from the days of your fathers ye have gone away from mine ordinances. Return tome, andl will return to you. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, ‘and prove_me if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out _a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive il:.——MALACHI, iii., 1, 2, 7 and 10. A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGrELS—I.N HIS 0WN—Il\zIAGrE. Man stands on the apex of creation, its crowning work. Beneath his feet is his mother earth, in whose womb he was conceived of the omniscient and omnipresent God, the. great and only Creator of the universal immensity. As far back into the eternity past as when the elemental gas or gasses of which the solar system is composed, filled the space over which the sun holds perpetual sway, it may be saidthat God begun the work of creating man———a work, when conipleted, to be in His own image. I/Vhen the earth was set apart-— amid the other circling stars assumed its orbitular homage to the parent Sun—‘—.the immediate work began. As the master builder goes to the forest and the ledge, and fashions the-parts from which the temple made of hands is to be framed, in which the outward show of worship is perform- ed, so did God “in the beginning” begin to fashion the parts of which he should construct his holy temple, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; and the stars, already build-if ed, sang glad anthems, and in their prophetic strains pierced the infinite future and saw the work completed. Nor did He; rest from his labors at all, but on through countless millions of eras, first by this step and then by that, until the earth was no longer without form and void, He wrought. From the fiery mass the rocks were made and the waters condensed; and by these, together with the winds, the dust of the earth was made, and so on from simplest organic formation, through fin, feather and vegeta- tion, up to animal, ultimating finally in the highest form of which it is believed the elements are possible—-man. No single part of all this gigantic scheme could have been omitted. Strata on strata, and formation on formation, - _ each making the’ next possible, and_the next coming as the inevitable, was the way in which the foundation for the ap- pearance of man was laid; and when he stood forth, God rested from his labors. Each thing, including man, that he had formed, now reproduced its kind. Seeing the immense machinery that he had set in motion ‘revolving in perpetual order,_he pronounced it good, and so it was. Even man can now observe its various parts and realize that they are good. 1 ’ Is THERE ANY'I.‘HING,BEYOND HIM. It has been said by some wise minds that there is no con- clusive proof that man is the highest formation of which the earth is possible; and that, ultimately, he may be merged into something else. The argument that man, being limited to his own possibilities, thinks himself perfection in form and feature, and that nothing better is possible, would be valid of the future if we did. not know the past. But man can conceive and analyze the past. He takes up the methods by which he was formed and comprehends them, and he finds that all the possibilities of the earth have been exhausted, in his creation, and that he in turn assumes the use of all below him. Nothing previous to him made use of everything. The animals, next to him in form, staid their hunger and quenched their thirst, and thus they lived and died; but man from that condition, originally, has gone forth over the whole earth, making everything within its confines minister to him as he went; even harnessing the lightnings and compelling them to do his will. Well indeed might God rest from his work when he had formed a thing so nearly like himself as this, who, taking the wo,'rk':s.:that God had fashioned, and learning from his constructive methods, has made the face of earth to teem with useful- ness and beauty. Is it too much to say that He created him in His own image, when what man has accomplished is observ- ed? In this country especially, which two hundred years ago was a howling wilderness, is it not almost impossible to withhold from exclaiming, Doth not‘God continue his work- ing through man,-that all these things are done; that the desert places are made to blossom like the rose, and the mountains are transformed into blooming. gardens? What other more complex machine than man can there be formed? A _ THE ULTIMATE CONDITION.‘ Admitting that man is the ultimate product of the earth’s possibilities, the question then arises, How is he to exist ulti- mately? There hav,e been various theories prevalent in the worldin regard to the future condition of man; but the Christian belief finds expression in the term resurrection, and this means a ‘return to the physical body. "Undoubtedly the doctrine of the resurrection is taught in the Bible; but there are a great many reasons for believing” that that doc- trine means a great deal more or less than what is involved in the.’ Christian theory. That theory is, in short, that at a given day, at some time distant in the future, all the dead are;to‘ be called forth from the ground where they have slept, to be judged according to the deeds done while in the body; the good to be sent to heaven and the bad to hell, both to live there for ever. The “Master” himself, however, nega- tived this theory when he said, “There is none good but one, that is God.” According to this all are bad, and going to hell instead of heaven. If, however, there are any say- ings so worded in the Bible as to conflict with known.prin- ‘ciples of life or science, such sayings must be harmonized with the revealed truth, or else they can mean nothing to the analytic mind. Everybody knows that when the Bible is read literally throughout, thousands of utter contradictions appear; but they do not by any means impair‘ its just or proper claim of inspiration. They only reveal the imper- fectness of human language and understanding. Moreover, W the, Bible itself does not pretend to speak inpositive lan- guage, but rather in parables; but the hidden meaning is the truth. Christ taught almost wholly in parables, sometimes afterward having to unfold his meaning even to his disciples. — If they, whom he had chosen, and upon whom he had poured out of his spirit, could not understand the hidden meaning of his teaching, how can it be expected that every- body, or rather anybody, can do so now? For instance, he said to the Centurian, “that unless a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” The Centurian, not understanding him, asked for an explanation; but Jesus, for some reason, would not- give it, and only repeated his statement. He also said to his disciples that he had many things to teach them that they were not then able to bear. Many have said that Christ’s teachings are definite, and that the salvation and damnation. by them is arbitrary and ab- solute. But that this is an error is clearly shown by the fact that he himself. recognized progression. If his disciples were not able to bear the whole truth then, he must have held that they would be able to do so at some future time. Many other things might be cited to show the same fact. Nothing is clearer than that the doctrine of evolution is taught in the Bible; indeed, that it is founded upon that theory is evident- from beginning to ending. SALVATION, RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. We have before shown that the salvation taught by Christ was the being saved from death. If this subject were fully developed, as it will be at some future time more fully than it has yet been done, it would be seen that salvation, to- gether with everything else in the world, is a process of evolution. People are saved in part whenever they receive D a new truth in their hearts and live it in their lives; and are saved completely when the whole truth is born -into them; the whole truth being the acquisition of the power over death. Death is man’s last and greatest, as it is his firstand ‘ most insidious, enemy. To become conqueror over this fell destroyer is to have, not to hope for, eternal life; and until eternal life is obtained salvation; is not complete. So salva- tion really goes on ‘from day to day, and means, in its last analysis, interpreted in the language of to-day’s understand- ing, growth. If this is the truth about this phase of the general question, then it follows that the day of judgment and of resurrection, of salvation and damnation (condemna- tion), of rewards and punishments for the deeds done in the body, go on from day to day as the deeds are performed —-the judgment and resurrectionday of the Bible meaning all the ‘time, and the sounding of the trumpet, the power that moves men to action. I GOD IN PERFECT TEMPLES ONLY. The reason we dwell on these things is to be able to arrive at a reasonable cdnolusion about what constitutes the final completion of the building of the holy temple of God,which as clearly established, is the human body; this being God’s last and best work, in which when,complete—when per- fected—Grod shall come and “ dwell, and they shall be His people and He shall be their God.” One thing seems evi- dent, and that is that God, the great high priest, cannot dwell in His temple until it is completed; and that it cannot be completed until i.t has become superior to all things by which it is liable to be destroyed; that is, in the language of scripture, until, all its enemies have been destroyed; andin the language of latter-day science, until the laws-of. lifeare so thoroughly known and lived, that the thing made perfect fifl” . W-OODHU I» L .0 I-.A..F L I ms WEE K L Y. s- -in?.form“and.function in thewomb of nature in the-begin-in " -ning,;ean be perfectly maintained by a life in accord-with the requirements ‘of ‘its organic laws. _ . The logic’-of this position is complete, since if death be an enemy thatdeprives man of a sphere of life to which he has afterward to be resurrected when the requisite conditions come, then the condition to which he isresurrected is the further"-on development than death, into which, when death is destroyed, man Will develop, without passing through its portals and the resurrection to attain. Therefore it must be ., «;,§{9ncluded.that theperfect temple in which man is to wor-E "‘ship*Gg‘od, and in which God is to come to dwell with man, , is the;huip.gi,_1 body risen or resurrected into a condition over which deatliihlias-lost its dominion. In biblical terms, death is the devil, orltlie sum of all evil things that stand in the way of life eternal ; or, translated into scientific phraseology, is -all. those ‘stages of progress through which man passes in his development from an ignorance of good and evil to a knowledge of all good and evil, or into the perfect knowl- edge whose accompaniment is always the perfect love which casteth outfear to which all their lives men have been in bondage - by reason of death which has been considered as the goal through which all must, sooner or later, pass to final and eternal salvation or damnation. . e ’ So here again it is found that biblical and scientific truth agree perfectly. leads those who follow her deductions to their ultimate, to realize that when the physical development of man shall be completed ; when man shall have discovered the hidden laws ' of life, and shall regulate the perfect functions of the temple in which he dwells by them, that life may be per; fectly maintained and death destroyed or done away. It is only in such‘ temples that God can dwell. “If any man defile the temple, him shall God destroy.” Does he not do this? Does not death follow the defile- ment of. the temple? In the temples that man has erected, and into which he enters on every seventh day to worship God, He does not dwell. These are "the figures or the images only, as Paul ‘said, of the true temples. Neither in this mountain or at Jerusalem shall man worship ; but in spirit and in truth, said J esus— in the temples not made with hands—which, when mendo; there will be no use for those they make with hands. The fact that ,,there are so many temples made with hands, into which aii__ the -professedly Christian world feels it to benecessary to enteriand worship, is a certain evidence that their temples, not made with hands, are not'yet the abode of "God. Not having consciously the kingdom of heaven within them, where God comes and dwells with them, they still go after him, thinking to find him in the temples made withhands, and there to worship him; and theyare so blind that they do not see their own condemna- tion in the act. If a person has God dwelling in him, he need- not go to church to worship him, nor by so doing to ‘make ‘ it evident to others that he is one of God’s people’, to whom He has '‘ come and with whom Herhas taken up his abode. Those who have to make a profession of faith to make it appear that they have God, only expose their own hypocrisy, for God’s presence in any human being is self- evident proof of the fact. A NEW ORDER on SOCIETY INEVITABLE. It is legitimate now to consider for a moment what effect A the indwelling of God in man will have upon the practical lives of men and women. We do not think that any pro- fessing Christian, to say nothing about people who make no professions, will undertake to ‘Y say that there is anything in the present orders in society that could have any place among a society of sons and daughters of God, or perfect men and women. Everything: now maintained. by law, custom or public opinion, is a positive denial of 7the'teach_— ings of ” Christ. It is = nothing but’ the most shameless ‘hypocrisy to profess to be followers of Christ when a life, inopen disregard of the only commandment that he ever A gave to man, is lived. When Christians say that they love their neighborsas they do themselves, they know» they either try to deceive - those to whom they speak, or else they are themselves deceived, which amounts to the same thing. ‘All those who are born- of God are equal in everything, and a ‘society composed of “ Sons and‘Daughters ’f would be one_in which there should not be a single distinction in any material sense; in which each would be upon an equal footing with every one, the greatest in any probable sense being the'servant.of the least in every. possible way. Christians are specially severe on all attempts, at community-life, but they know ’-weli?-enough that that‘. form of society is the only one in which it is possibleto live after the commandment , of-Christ. Nevertheless, it «is next*to -andmpessibility‘ for ‘even a few‘ people whohave the ‘Christ-Spirit,‘ and who are ‘desirous of living “Christian 1ives,'_to live at allin society as N novwconstituted. "Should any attempt be made in this city to i set up the kingdom of heaven, according to Christ’s teaehings,.Christians who yet worship in-temples made with hands, would find .some way to destroy it and prevent the worship .of.God in the temples not‘. made with hands‘ eternal in the heavens. THE sons AND DAUGHTERS on son. to establish community life.before,the..individuals.of " which the communities are to _ be composed are perfected (are born Science, no less clearly than the Bible,“ , , in or by the body ? And yet it is in this way thatthe kingdom of, God is to, and O - will be set up in the earth Those who are Sons and Daugh- .t§rs_.of Himmust and will come and betogether in one place .with onejraccorcl. We .are.We1l€aware;that all attempts made of .the..Sp‘irit‘.andfsup_eriorito death), will .be partial if not ‘ complete failures. . The attempts, however, are none the .less evidence that the truthful.method of life is at last come into the mind and heartof man, and is endeavoring to find expressionin a practical form of social organization, which, though.failures, are nevertheless prophecies of that which is to come, that shall be perfect. - When a number of peo- ple who have been born of the Spirit shall institute a com- munity life, they will be God’s people, and to them “He will come and take up His abode. Here, then, the perfected temples will be congregated, which will constitute the