Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 17 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
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Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 17 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Only when we consider the universality of the Moral Law can we
fully appreciate the grandeur of this Unity. The great philosopher
of Germany, Kant, declared that there were two things filling him
always with admiration,--the starry heavens above, and the moral law
within.[149] Well might the two be joined together; for in that moral
law, with a home in every bosom, is a vastness and beauty commensurate
with the Universe. Every human being carries a universe in himself; but
here, as in that other universe, is the same prevailing law of Unity,
in harmony with which the starry heavens move in their spheres and men
are constrained to the duties of life. The stars must obey; so must
men. This obedience brings the whole Human Family into harmony with
each other, and also with the Creator. And here, again, we behold the
grandeur of the system, while new harmonies unfold. Religion takes up
the lesson, and the daily prayer, “Our Father who art in Heaven,” is
the daily witness to the Brotherhood of Man. God is Universal Father;
then are we all brothers. If not all children of Adam, we are all
children of God,--if not all from the same father on earth, we are all
from the same Father in Heaven; and this affecting relationship, which
knows no distinction of race or color, is more vital and ennobling than
any monopoly. Here, once more, is that universal law which forbids
Caste, speaking not only with the voice of Science, but of Religion
also,--praying, pleading, protesting, in the name of a Common Father,
against such wrong and insult to our brother man. In beautiful harmony
are those words of promise, “I will make a _man_ more precious than
fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.”[150] Against
this lofty recognition of a common humanity, how mean the pretension of
Caste!
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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