Show SPECTRES OF THE PAST the recent extravagant claims of kaier william of germany that kinge are ordained and appointed by god aal that as fuch they are entitled to the absolute obedience and loyalty of those who are made subjects this defiant revival of a doctrine that is rap lily becoming obsolete ab solete lias called forth a vast comment in current literature in europe and america As for europe elie looks upon this absurd danma as she would look upon a spectre which had but a fow generations ago been the animating spirit of a mighty giant that long ruled the world but in the mind of enlightened europe the giant is dead and the spectre of the divine right of king floats airily and here and ethcie sometimes perching upon tho head of some vain and ill conditioned kinglet like kaiser william high bounding words out of which the ancient dreadful meaning ha long bince departed in the intelligence of tilie dawning of the twentieth century williams performance is that of a child playing with its rattle it ia true that william has a present power which may make hia hearers tremble for their personal welfare is invoked but the meaning of hie words their inspiration and divine power as eternal these have departed of the old time reality there is nothing left but a wandering spectre even now kings are tolerated in europe for the sake of unity and strength of government not as a divine behest but as a merely human expedient his powers are not regarded as god eiven but as granted by the people according to tho old theory government descended from above to the king and the higher classes and from them to the lower orders of humanity but now we know that governing power ascends bom alio people to those who are placed in authority the doctrine of the declaration of independence that governing power is derived from the consent of the governed has permeated all avenues of intelligence this sentiment expresses a necessary in the development of the human mind it means for government just what it means for science when it is finally understood der stood that god is not a potentate or a force standing stand inz outside of and remote fross his works not an extra territorial magistrate but an indwelling and inherent power living in all life extending through all extent spreading undivided operating unspent governing power is but the aggregating of popular sovereignty the concentration of the sense of supremacy that naturally resides in every soul it ia well perhaps that the german emperor has asserted himself as boldly and broadly as be hae for his assumption will come more directly in contact with the modern thought that stands as a protest and outgrowth from ancient superstition the emperors clajus are now seen to be absurd and reactionary and if ho should attempt to enforce them he should raise a storm that n uld sweep away the last vestice of the mythology that still inheres in the of kingly government by divine right |