Robert W. Rogers

“ For the finest spirits, the deepest minds and the most arresting personalities from Gladstone and Lincoln down to the ordinary citizen, have been those that have drawn their inspiration and thought from hidden sources. Just as the fruit and leaves of these trees receive their rich color from the sunbeams and absorb their health from the moisture coming from the heart of God's hills, so the cultured souls of history have received their winsome illumination of personality from a light that shineth neither by land nor sea. ”

“ And when the masses who have not had the opportunity to travel, catch the spirit of a world patriotism and learn to think and talk in world terms—interested not only in their city, their state, their nation, but also in their world movements,—then a world government unifying the nations will be more easily formulated. I say, when the people once glimpse the vision of world peace, world harmony (or democracy) in its full grandeur, a spirit will be aroused that all the warring kings and illegitimate trusts on earth cannot check! ”

“ A new inspiration for literature is at hand. The times, with its mighty impetus for world movements, more than ever demands a class of literature that has at its heart the world consciousness. And the man that is to write the literature, it seems to me, must familiarize himself with three master-minds:
Walt Whitman, who chatted in terms of world democracy and whose spirit was as readily attuned to the earth as to the dew drop and flower. ”

“ THE PIONEERS OF THE WORLD
O far-seeing seers,
Looking over the shoulders of empires and nations, unconsciously dwarfed with prejudice,
Telescopic in vision, down the vista of the centuries,
You know not how far and deep you thought,
Nor what beginnings you wrought;
For we hasten to crown you, the world pioneers.
* * * * *
Call the roll of the men whose minds have companioned with the globe! ”

“ For with the instinct of good Americans we hasten to declare that the sight of these trees all comparatively of the same height and vibrant with the same beauty and glow of health does not suggest a monarchy, an aristocracy or even a plutocracy but rather a successful democracy; not only one of an equality of rights, because they all have access to the same sunlight and soil, but also an equality of duty because they all seek to bear fruit—a commonwealth in which every private citizen is capable of being an uncrowned king. ”

“ And this is why the nations of the world in their struggle for democracy are looking to America, because she has the most nearly of all nations realized the democratic ideal.
In light of what has already been accomplished, how inspiring then becomes the lure of the ideal of world democracy. Essentially it is splendidly possible. The people crave it because it is God-born. They love to think and work and vote for that far-off divine event. And more than that the words, monarchy and oligarchy, are so out of date that they are anxious to be in spirit and letter citizens of a republic. ”

“ Walt Whitman, whom many may regard as somewhat unwise in some of his utterances, was absolutely right when he intimated that world democracy could not be formulated without religion.
And today there is nothing that is going to help people so effectively to grasp and feel at home with the ideal of an essential union of the nations, as the modern teaching of the immanence of God. If we are a part of the whole world, and if God is in the seas as well as the flowers and hills then we will not dread them, for they are our inspiration and helpers. ”

“ I have learned though our tongues are different and our habits dissimilar, at the bottom our hearts are one. The monsoon clouds, generated on the banks of the Nile, fertilize the far distant shores of the Ganges; ideas may have to cross from east to western shores to find a welcome in men's hearts. East is east and west is west—God forbid that it should be otherwise—but the twain must meet in amity, peace and mutual understanding; and their meeting will be all the more fruitful because of their differences; it must lead to holy wedlock before the common altar of humanity. ”

“ That the mind of man is becoming broader
And your brotherhood from a race is to be freed
As the pilgrims from the nations become the pioneers of the sphere—
As they catch the prophet's vision,
The Son of Man's distant vision of an essentially united earth,
When they begin to think the world-thoughts,
Irresistibly inspired by the spheric union of Jehovah's two vast seas. ”

“ It is an Exposition in which it appears to be natural for the sanest men to be prophetic—one in which men not only behold the star of faith but also feel that the star is calling them to move toward something better, even if they have to grope their way. An obscure vision seems to be in the sky of hosts of people and they are anxious to hear the interpretations of men who are brave enough to suggest one. They are asking what does the peculiar inspiration of this Exposition mean? ”

“ Whenever the Greek looked out at a foothill mantled with an olive orchard, gently waving in the distance, a sea of bluish-green leaves; or seized upon an olive branch, he was reminded of the fact that no man was worthy of a crown of olives unless he was right-minded, peace-loving, and industrious. ”

“ The world has been brought together geographically. It will also be brought into essential harmony politically and racially. The new proximity of the nations created by the canal demands it. And above all, it is the inevitable drift of things. Blessed then are the people that have the vision! And twice blessed are those who give it to others! And above all, blessed are the men who are laboring to make the vision a reality! ”

“ Men everywhere feel the lure of a new inspiration. They want to talk and write in grander terms, bringing new glory to the simple and common place. And they are sure to break forth in the song of a better literature, orchestral with the spirit of world consciousness and broadly sympathetic with the yearning for essential world democracy. Commerce, science and religion are active in world movements, and what a mighty help it will be toward the realization of the ideal when many writers of fiction and poetry, as well as of history and politics, begin to take advantage of this opportunity. ”

“ The key that is in tune with all other keys of its own instrument is in tune with all harmony on the earth. And the man that has attuned his life to justice and liberty in the community in which he lives is in accord with freemen in every land, loves the vision of world-wide liberty and prays for its realization. ”

“ The two olive trees, one on each side of the candlestick, stand for Christian character—one for the stern moral character of the prophet, the other for the mercy of the true religious teacher. And the candlestick stands for work, for service for mankind and the nations. And as both of the olive trees supply the light with oil, so we are not to seek for peace on earth with the sword, but by increasing the number of men whose service for humanity is controlled by Christian morality and justice, mercy, and kindness. ”

“ But, to mention the second lesson of the parable, it is no stranger than the guiding of youth through the formative years into a maturity, morally beautiful and capable of vision. And it is only as the home and school, the church and state watch over these sensitive periods, protecting the young from the blights of the frosts of skepticism and sensuality that their lives will mature into characters as golden and hardy as our native fruit. Sane, honorable evangelism never excludes Christian nurture any more than the sunlight obviates the necessity of soil cultivation. ”

“ I can think of no higher calling that can engage the attention of man than that of trying to express the inspiration of these days in a worthy literature; which shall be majestically spiritual, and will tell what the unscaled eyes see, microscoped and telescoped to find the message of nature and history thrilling with a divine life. ”

“ In history the olive has been nobly emblematic of three virtues—peace, purity and industry with its attendant prosperity. And I mention these three virtues for which the olive stands because we will never in the world establish peace unless it is preceded in community, state and nation by virile-mindedness, which is the very secret of industry and prosperity wherever they are found. ”

“ We are living in a day when it would almost seem that the person who does not value vision is neither helpful nor wise. For it is a day when the people everywhere need an essential vision in order that they may gain courage to settle down to constructive effort after the close of the world war.
In other words there are multitudes who feel that there is a far deeper significance to the opening of the Panama Canal as commemorated by the Panama-Pacific International Exposition than what appears on the surface. ”

“ It may have been that the inspiration of timeless time, the power of eternal years, was awakened in His thought by the knowledge of the marvelous age of those trees. He may have known that well cared for trees will live for three hundred years and even longer. For so great is the olive's hold on life that even when a dying tree is cut down close to the ground, its vigorous root will give birth to still another tree. ”

“ The most necessary thing for America, the waring and neutral nations of the hour is a powerful vision of what ought to be and what can be. Men ought to arise in every country and give the people the vision.
So go forward, O book, not for the sake of displaying any merit of words. But because you are winged by the mighty inspiration of the hour. Speed on and in some slight way help our international statesmen and advocates of peace to carry their message to the peoples from the nations about the seas. ”

“ Hence the religious worker of today has the advantage over the founder of our faith of a visual acquaintance with this luxuriant tree. Indeed this fruit has, because of its color, become the most attractive of all fruits in modern life, so universally in demand that it seems to me that the orange itself has and is still seeking interpreters. So if, with Ruskin, we can only "open our eyes and see things"—see through and back of things, I am sure that we will clarify the vision of our souls and find emphasized some abiding truths in a new parable of the orange tree. ”

“ Much has been written concerning the flowers, hills and climate of California, but at this time, when the world is looking toward our coast, would that more writers would reveal the thoughts that have been inspired in their minds by the sight of our great Western sea.
The prose-poem itself is a denial of the thought that the Pacific is a monotonous calm—an appreciation both of its storms and serenity written after several visits to the beach in which both moods were displayed. ”

“ For the excitement about war is only coarse vaudeville in comparison with the noble passion that takes hold of men's lives when they become interested in the struggle and movements that make for world harmony. ”

“ For, the placing of a crown of olive twigs on the brow of a person was the highest distinction that could be bestowed on a citizen who had merited well of his country.
Not only were the noble-minded statesmen and poets thus honored, but also the athletes who, by scrupulous care and development of the body, gained physical victories at the Olympic games. The harmless and commendable victories of peace always result from well-developed manhood. ”

“ For the interests of humanity are always primary to the interests of the nation. What is good for the whole world is good for each continent and government.
* * * * *
Begin to urge a national individualism among established nations which insists less on rights and more on duties; which recognizes that the greed for territory is the "original sin of the nations." God divided the world into nations so that they might help, not destroy each other; and when they admit this they will begin to inaugurate essential world democracy. ”

“ Remember that vision is worthless unless it helps you to take hold of the handle of service with a firm grasp and a new enthusiasm; but also that it is necessary to enter into the spirit of the world vision a few moments at the dawn of each day. ”

“ Springing from the Christian idea that all men are created equal in the sight of God, in opportunity, it stands for that type of society in which the essential power of government is wielded by the mass of the people.
The one thing that it is important to remember is that a monarchy or an oligarchy is not necessarily an antithesis of democracy—only absolutism in the form of a monarchy or oligarchy or plutocracy is an antithesis to democratic principles.
Many governments which live under the standard of a republic are not democratic in spirit at all. Mexico has virtually been a despotism. ”

“ Where the olive originated, we do not know. Some think in Syria. Others are not afraid to say that it is as old as man himself. For not only did it grow previous to the flood, as is indicated by the dove bringing an olive leaf to the ark. But some actually maintain that it was one of the trees that grew in the Garden of Eden, wherever that may have been. And whether such an assertion is far-fetched or not, there is absolutely no reason why this wonderfully fruitful tree should not have been one of the very first trees appearing on the globe for the sustenance of human life. ”

“ Sea—Verging into the world-vision.
Here on this shore—as prophets are, of course, doing elsewhere—we are putting our feet on the rock and looking out over the waters and into the skys. With San Diego, which is even nearer to the canal, our whole coast is peculiarly susceptible to world thought at this time. And the people who come here may forever after have an outward and upward look in their lives. ”

“ These are the men who will bring peace. God increase the number! These are the men that provi [Pg 43] dence can use to correlate the nations into essential democracy. These are the men who are worthy of a crown of olives! These are the men that we must depend upon to correct the compass of the ship of the world, as it moves forward against the besetting fury of antagonistic waters, bearing its prow day by day and year by year against the unwearied enmity of hateful waves, until it reaches the haven of essential international peace. ”