Page:The collected works of Theodore Parker volume 7.djvu/17

Rh power to the injury of the nation, to make laws which seem good for themselves, but are baneful; to the people; to control the churches, so that they shall not dare rebuke the actual sins of the nation, or the sins of trade, and so the churches be made apologizes for lowness, practising infidelity as their sacrament, but in the name of Christ and God. the ruling power in England once published a volume of sermons, as well as a book of prayers which the clergy were commanded to preach. "What sort of a "Gospel got recommended therein, you may easily guess; and what is recommended by the class of merchants in Now England, you may as easily hear. But if their temptations are great, the opportunities of this class for doing good are greater still. Their power is more readily useful for good than ill, as all power is. In their calling they direct and control the machinery capital, and thereby the productive labour of the whole community. They can as easily direct that well as ill; for the benefit of all, easier than to the injury of any one. They can discover new sources of wealth for themselves, and so for the nation; they can set on foot new enterprises, which shall increase the comfort and welfare of man to a vast degree, and not only that, but enlarge also the number of men, for that always greatens in a nation, as the means of living are made easy. They can bind the rivers, teaching them to weave and spin. The introduction of manufactures into England, and the application of machinery to that purpose, I doubt not, has added some millions of new lives to her population in the present century—millions that otherwise would never have lived at all. The introduction of manufactures into the United States, the application of water-power and steam-power to human work, the construction of canals and railroads, has vastly increased the comforts of the living. It helps civilize, educate, and refine men; yes, leads to an. increase of the number of lives. There are men to whom the public owes a debt which no money could pay, for it is a debt of life. What adequate sum of gold, or what honours could mankind give to Columbus, to Faustus, to Fulton, for their works ? He that did the greatest service ever done to mankind got from his age a bad name, and a cross for