ON HUMANITY; A SERMON

[Caranthir_ 2533]

ON HUMANITY

A SERMON

 

BY

ALEXANDER FREDERICK

 

1750

 

TRANSCRIBED

FROM A PUBLIC SERMON

IN THE

CITY OF HELENA

 

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The sole business of man in this world is to act by that which is right and to do their duty to their fellow man. That is the worthy end of every person; do right by their kindred and seek for peace when it may seem impossible. 

 

It is no easy enterprise to untangle our driving self-interest, and to turn our backs on fundamental human nature, which is ultimately corrupting to the soul. The nature of the world has given all men an equal share of all things, yet it is dictated by the laws of man that few can claim them, and fewer still wield them. The governance of the many is consolidated in the hands of those few to which hardship seems not to befall, and to whom riches seem ever-present as a guarantee of life. For the one that thrives upon the loss of others, greed is the rule; charity an exception.

 

I come to you now as a man not removed from the pleasures of wealth and power. In my lifetime I have witnessed the enterprise of man, and have been party to its machinations. I have been witness to the industry of empire building and of empire destruction; all the while disinterested in the misery and plague it brings upon the people. 

 

No stronger proof of the depravity of man could be adduced than the progress of the nation - to which I have seen many in my life. They rise with virtue, and fall with the enervating influences of debauchery and blasphemy. Indeed, our inability to place restraints on iniquity has pitted us against GOD’s own law, meaning men are liable to sin in proportion to the possibility of escaping punishment and the fundamental temptation that is there within all humans. 

 

The most grotesque of all crimes are done by man within their national capacity. GOD’s truth is absolute and unchanging, and penance will be found one way or another. We will all atone for debauchery, yet that very same sin comes from within the national capacity. The misery of the poor is the burden that we all share, and it has come from the limitations of our social impropriety. 

 

Our iniquitas will be our undoing; our inability to do right by each other the price for a nation which looks at the needy with contempt.