Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/400

 386 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

they have a ring and temper of their own. Both use force ; but the force that society applies is felt by all concerned to be less arbitrary, less "brute," than the force a class uses against its victims. Both use hell ; but hell, as it shapes itself in the social imagination, is the place of just retribution or expiation, while the hell devised by priestcraft is the torture-chamber of an angry tyrant., Both use heaven ; but the heaven conceived by the elite is the place where the just shall "see God," while the heaven that the hirelings of parasites hold out to the poor is a place where they shall be recompensed for patient submission to their hard lot here. Both teach religion ; but genuine social religion is the cult of fellowship, while the religion an upper class pro- vides for a lower is the cult of obedience.

The contrast of religion in the service of a social idea and religion in the service of a ruling class comes out well when we compare Ezekiel's just man with that of England's bishopdom. Ezekiel's ideal man has not "defiled his neighbor's wife, neither hath he come near a menstruous woman, and hath not oppressed any; but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment ; . . . . hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, .... hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man" (Ezek. 18:6-8). On the other hand, the Book of Common Prayer of 1662 defines "duty toward my neigh- bor" as including: " To honor and obey the king and all that are put in authority under him. To submit myself to all my govern- ors, teachers, spiritual pastours and masters. To order myself, lowly and reverently to all my betters."

In a word, the true socializing agencies have sprung partly from disinterested ethical sentiment, and partly from shrewd social policy ; while the enslaving agencies spring entirely from selfish policy. Through the measures that society uses with the rowdy or the hoodlum there flames and pulses some honest feel- ing ; but the measures that a class employs upon its subjects are cold with egoism. The great constraining, as well as the great persuasive, influences are still alive with the love, pity, reverence,