The working-man was to fix his hopes upon a future life,
while his pockets were picked in this one; he was brought
up to frugality, humility, obedience, -- in short to all the
pseudo-virtues of capitalism. The destiny of civilization
would be decided in one final death-struggle between the
Red International and the Black, between Socialism and
the Roman Catholic Church; while here at home, "the
stygian midnight of American evangelicalism--"

And here the ex-preacher entered the field, and there
was a lively tussle. "Comrade" Lucas was not what is
called an educated man; he knew only the Bible, but it
was the Bible interpreted by real experience. And what
was the use, he asked, of confusing Religion with men's
perversions of it? That the church was in the hands of
the merchants at the moment was obvious enough; but
already there were signs of rebellion, and if Comrade
Schliemann could come back a few years from now --

"Ah, yes," said the other, "of course. I have no doubt
that in a hundred years the Vatican will be denying that
it ever opposed Socialism, just as at present it denies that
it ever tortured Galileo."

"I am not defending the Vatican," exclaimed Lucas,
vehemently. "I am defending the word of God -- which
is one long cry of the human spirit for deliverance from
the sway of oppression. Take the twenty-fourth chapter
of the Book of Job, which I am accustomed to quote in my
addresses as 'the Bible upon the Beef Trust'; or take the
words of Isaiah -- or of the Master himself! Not the
elegant prince of our debauched and vicious art, not
the jeweled idol of our society churches -- but the Jesus
of the awful reality, the man of sorrow and pain, the out~
cast, despised of the world, who had nowhere to lay his
head--"

"I will grant you Jesus," interrupted the other.

"Well, then," cried Lucas, "and why should Jesus have
nothing to do with his church -- why should his words and
his life be of no authority among those who profess to
adore him? Here is a man who was the world's first
revolutionist, the true founder of the Socialist movement;

[[398]]

p397 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p398w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p399

v?