By the Christmas Fire | Page 2

are sharpened that it may tear it in pieces.
By right of these superiorities, the eagle reigns as king among birds.
"The wings of the eagle, the sinews of the tiger, the brain of the man,
are primarily weapons. Each creature seizes the one that it finds at hand,
and uses it for offense and defense. The weapon is improved by use.
The brain of the man has proved a better weapon than beak or talons,
and so it has come to pass that man is lord of creation. He is able to
devour at will creatures who once were his rivals.
"By using his brain, he has sought out many inventions. The sum total

of these inventions we call by the imposing name Civilization. It is a
marvelously tempered weapon, in the hands of the strong races. Alas,
for the backward peoples who fall beneath it. One device after another
has been added for the extermination of the slow-witted.
"Even religion itself assumes to the anthropologist a sinister aspect.
The strong nations have always been religious. Their religion has
helped them in their struggle for the mastery. There are many
unpleasant episodes in history. Spiritual wealth, like material wealth, is
often predatory.
"In the Book of Judges there is a curious glimpse into a certain kind of
religiousness. A man of Mt. Ephraim named Micah had engaged a
young Levite from Bethlehem-Judah as his spiritual adviser. He
promised him a modest salary, ten shekels of silver annually, and a suit
of clothes, and his board. 'And the Levite was content to dwell with the
man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah
consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was
in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will
do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.'
"This pleasant relation continued till a freebooting party of Danites
appeared. They had discovered a bit of country where the inhabitants
'dwelt in security, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure;
for there was none in the land, possessing authority, that might put
them to shame in any thing, and they were far from the Zidonians.' It
was just the opportunity for expansion which the children of Dan had
been waiting for, so they marched merrily against the unprotected
valley. On the way they seized Micah's priest. 'And they said unto him,
Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be
to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be priest unto the house
of one man, or to be priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? And the
priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the
graven image, and went in the midst of the people.'
"Of course, Micah didn't like it, and called out, 'Ye have taken away
my gods which I made, and the priest, and are gone away, and what
have I more?' The Danites answered after the manner of the strong, 'Let

not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and
thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. And the children of
Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for
him, he turned and went back unto his house.'
"Is not that the way of the world? The strong get what they want and
the weak have to make the best of it. Micah, when he turned back from
a hopeless conflict, was a philosopher, and the young Levite when he
went forward was a pietist. Both the philosophy and the piety were
by-products of the activity of the children of Dan. They sadly needed
the priest to sanctify the deeds of the morrow when 'they took that
which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto
Laish, unto a people quiet and secure, and smote them with the edge of
the sword; and they burnt the city with fire. And there was no deliverer,
because it was far from Zidoh, and they had no dealings with any man;
and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob.'
"The wild doings in the little valley that lieth by Beth-rehob have been
repeated endlessly. Whittier describes the traditional alliance between
Religion and sanguinary Power:--
Feet red from war fields trod the church aisles holy, With trembling
reverence, and the oppressor there Kneeling before his priest, abased
and lowly, Crushed human hearts beneath the knee of prayer.
"When we inquire too curiously about the origin of the things which we
hold most precious, we come to suspect that we are little