The wild dogs in
foreign countries, on the other hand, are just as selfish, living
every one for himself, as so many foxes might be. And you find this
same rule holding as you rise. The more a man is like a wild animal,
the more of a SAVAGE he is, so much more he depends on himself, and
not on others--in short, the less civilised he is; for civilised
means being a citizen, and learning to live in cities, and to help
and depend upon each other. And our common English word "civil"
comes from the same root. A man is "civil" who feels that he depends
upon his neighbours, and his neighbours on him; that they are his
fellow-citizens, and that he owes them a duty and a friendship. And,
therefore, a man is truly and sincerely civil, just in proportion as
he is civilised; in proportion as he is a good citizen, a good
Christian--in one word, a GOOD MAN.
Ay, that is what I want to come to, my friends--that word MAN, and
what it means. The law of man's life, the constitution and order on
which, and on no other, God has made man, is THIS--to depend upon his
fellow-men, to be their brothers, in flesh and in spirit; for we are
brothers to each other. God made of one blood all nations to dwell
on the face of the earth.
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