Speech

The Brotherhood Man His Outer Life before Men AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE BROTHERHOOD OF ST. ANDREW AT ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH HOUSE, BOSTON, SUNDAY, FEB. 12, 1899 BY CHARLES SUMNER HAMLIN Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis THE BROTHERHOOD MAN His Outer Life before Men AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE BROTHERHOOD OF ST. ANDREW AT ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH HOUSE, BOSTON, SUNDAY, FEB. 1z, 1899 BY CHARLES SUMNER HAMLIN BOSTON GEO. H. ELLIS, PRINTER, 272 CONGRESS STREET 1899 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis MM. 4•I THE BROTHERHOOD MAN: HIS OUTER LIFE BEFORE MEN. The invitation to address the Brotherhood of St. Andrew came as a complete surprise. I should have hesitated long before accepting it, did I not feel that a request from this great Christian body was a command which must be obeyed. The subject assigned to me is "The Brotherhood Man: His Outer Life before Men." It deals of necessity with the relation of man to his fellow-men, with his outer life before man as opposed to his inner life before God. It has not neces- sarily to do with religion, but rather with ethics. In religion we deal with an infinite personality. When dealing with finite personality, we are in the domain of ethics. The study of man is a most interesting one, to the student and historian as well as to the philosopher. One instinc- tively calls to mind the beautiful words of Sophocles in the Antigone, telling of the wonders of nature, and pronouncing the greatest wonder of all to be man: he fearlessly sails over the sea; earth yields him her treasure; with plough and steed he makes the barren soil redundant; he captures fish and fowl; he rides the fiery steed and guides the stubborn bull; he studies the future by the past; teaches his chil- dren; makes laws; loves his country; he yields only to death,— to the grave he must go! A better epitome of life could not be written. In the history of the world man has indeed proved himself a greater wonder than Nature. At the height of our present development, at the very zenith of our prosperity, it becomes our bounden duty to consider just what are the duties we owe ourselves and society, and whether or not we are fulfilling such duties. It should be remembered that material prosperity may be but Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis INEk 4 5 the forerunner of intellectual and moral decay. If we ad- ness, the one man opposed to every other,—the success of vance in harmony with true morality, we shall have healthy the one the measure of the loss to the other. progress. Without it must follow retrogression and decay. As opposed to this extreme selfishness of Utilitarianism, The ethical duties of man to his fellow-men is a subject there were other systems of philosophy,— notably, those of which for centuries has engaged careful thought and atten- the Sentimentalists and the Idealists. The Sentimentalists tion. We must, as I have said, carefully keep out of the early grasped the idea of a broader self, and something be- domain, in such a discussion, of both religion and law. In yond one's self. Cumberland recognized that, although our religion we are dealing with the infinite: our discussion has object in life is to seek happiness, yet that happiness must to do only with the finite. In law personality is regarded be sought in connection with others. With him sympathy as complete, and society is considered but the aggregation was a link binding together mankind. of equal units. The personality we are considering, how- Adam Smith, the famous economist, carried the idea yet ever, is capable of infinite development; and it is this de- farther: he looked upon sympathy as a universal element of velopment of the individual in his relations to his fellow- mankind; he thus recognized a broadened "self." He pre- men with which we to-day concern ourselves. Ethics has ferred the judgment of the man within the breast (con- been called the science of self-preservation. It deals with science) to that of the man without (vanity). His writings man as opposed to his fellow-men, with self as opposed to furnish an easy stepping-stone to the school of philosophy society. The theory of these relations has been carefully known as Idealism. studied, especially by the English and German philosophers, The theory of the Idealists was the very opposite to that and, beginning with an absence of the religious element of the Utilitarian school. The latter based morality solely almost akin to Paganism, has undergone a steady develop- on the consequences to self. The Idealists absolutely re- ment, finally merging into the truths of Christianity. pudiated this narrow conception of self in connection with We find two diverse schools of philosophy, running side morality. by side, treating of the relation and duties of man to his The principal writers of the Idealist school were Cud- fellow-men: the one, Utilitarianism, so called; the other, worth, More, Clarke, and Kant. They taught the idea of Idealism. The former is purely objective, the latter sub- absolute right and wrong. To them the laws of the world jective. The Utilitarian school is best represented by were but the thoughts of God. The idea of right and wrong Hobbes, Mandeville, Locke, Rousseau, Paley, and later by they believed to be firmly implanted in our nature. Kant Bentham and John Stuart Mill. According to this latter even broadened the idea of self almost to the conception school of thought the natural state of man was considered of Universal Reason. His maxim of life was, "C anst a warlike state. Society was an armed neutrality. All things thou will that thy maxim should be Universal Law?" were good or bad as they affected individuals. Its disciples With Kant actions were good or bad according to the believed, originally at least, that man had no interest save in motive which determined them, not according to the object himself; that society is but the aggregate of completed units. aimed at. Mandeville even looked upon man as a brute seeking simply Thus these two schools of philosophy stood opposed one the gratification of his own desires. While incidentally he to the other, the one utterly selfish, the other utterly disre- does seek the good of others, it was not, according to Mande- garding self. ville, because of others, but because it is his own good. The The later development of the Utilitarian school, however, theory of these writers is one of intense individual selfish- brings it very near to Idealism. Bentham, starting with a Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 6 7 narrow conception of self, broadened it into the "g reatest Or, to broaden the conception, do we not to-day see great happiness of the greatest number." He clearly saw that nations, really interdependent because of diversity of soil, society has an important place in the problem of self. He manufactures, or climate, eying one another askance and would even have sacrificed the individual to the many. ever increasing the burdens of taxation for the creation of John Stuart Mill began with the belief that actions are LI fS rtcations and engines of war, which, if used to their right in proportion as they tend to promote individual hap- capacity, might destroy civzation, and even man himself ? piness, wrong as they tend to promote the reverse. He Do we not hear the proposition boldly advanced that con- taught that man gives up much to society, not because of duct which would be characterized as wrong in an individual, any claim which society may have upon him, but because and would subject him to scorn and contempt, is justable thereby he individually is benefited. It was a purely selfish in the case of a nation ? Can we not but deplore the steady philosophy, but Mill, later in life, was forced practically to growth of the feeling of militarism, which openly distrusts abandon it. He finally recognized that there was such a and even derides the beneficent peace offering to humanity thing as social feelings of mankind as opposed to those of at the hands of the Emperor of Russia ? the individual ; that man never conceived himself save as a Let it be the duty of the brotherhood man to break down member of a body ; that the ultimate sanction of conduct is these savage, barbarous conceptions of mankind, and to hold a subjective feeling in our own minds. In other words, his up the true ideals of life. Let us reveal to our fellow-men conception of self becomes broadened until it embraces so- by precept and practice that the sacrifice of self for the good ciety. Finally, he grasped the truth that individual ha If societythe long run, not only true expediency, ness comes out of the happiness of society, and that the true but also is in strict accord with the principles of Christianity. S.s perity of the individual comes from the prosperity of Let us teach our fellow-men that the gauge of a useful life society. should be not material success, but its contribution to the Thus we see these rival schools of thought, originally as cI mmon cause of humanity. wide apart as the poles, come together in substantial unity. Selfish, material success is limited, but the good the in- But it may fairly be asked, To what practical purpose dividual can do for humanity is illimitable. According to should the Brotherhood Man apply these ethical teachings ? the material standard, how few have succeeded in this life ! One has only to look around mSt find the answer to this In the contribution to the general good of humanity, what a inquiry. The early Utilitarian view of man we see daily wealth of riches has been gathered ! Let us keep before the reflected in life. world the idea of the common good and the necessity of per- How few of us in the struggle for existence strive for sonal sacrifice. Let us constantly impress upon our fellow- other than our own selfish gain ! How many of us look men that development of society through individual sacrifice upon life as but a conflict between man and man, in which is what tends to make the progress of man and of nations the strongest survives! How many believe that the gain of S• rmanent, and not ephemeral. Let us obey the injunction one in this world is necessarily achieved at the cost of loss of the man within the breast rather- than the man without. tI. nother ! Let us follow the teachings and precepts of that great Saviour Look around us at the mad struggle for wealth and power, of men who gave his life that others might live. These are the favorable recognition of success, even though acquired by the truths for which the Brotherhood Man should strive. methods of doubtful morality. Observe the tendency of the The remembrance of the Columbian Exposition has not times to estimate the value of a man's life by his material yet faded from our minds. Who can forget the Court of puccess or failure. Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis S Honor, guarded by majestic buildings, our highest conception of the beautiful? or the noble columns of the Peristyle, and the shimmering waters beyond? On that Peristyle, in let- ters of gold, were those sacred words: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Let us seek that truth; and, knowing it, we, too, shall be made free, and throwing aside the false ideals of life, we can better discharge the sacred duties we owe ourselves, society, and our Maker. 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Charles S. Hamlin (1899, February 11). Speech. Speeches, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/speech_18990212_hamlin

@misc{wtfs_speech_18990212_hamlin,
  author = {Charles S. Hamlin},
  title = {Speech},
  year = {1899},
  month = {Feb},
  howpublished = {Speeches, Federal Reserve},
  url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/speech_18990212_hamlin},
  note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}