King Mammon and the Heir Apparent (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from King Mammon and the Heir Apparent

And, Reader, if you be a serf in this realm of Mammon, do not flatter your foolish self with the idea that tyranny dwells only in the hearts of kings and courtiers. Do not think for a moment that lack of power means the absence of tyranny. Do not cheat yourself with the belief that because Mammon has not honored you, a nobler spirit dwells in your own breast than those which animate other tyrants raised above you. Do not suppose that hating tyrants is the same as hating tyranny. One tyrant, like you and me, may hate another and both remain slaves to their impulses but only those human beings who are emancipated by their love of freedom among other men can themselves be free. Do not believe that mere poverty drives out tyranny from the human heart. The beggar is a despot in beggarly possessions.

Whether, then, you be serf or courtier, Reader, - whether your life-station under Mammon's sway gives you power over other men, ' or whether you feel no power in your ownbnds, but only hatred of some being possessing power that dominates your own life-work - remember that tyranny is a thing which comes out of your own heart and mind. The King whom you honor and serve is only the embodiment of your own instincts. The tyranny of Mammonism is your own inner life, given power and turned against you. The despotism of Mammon is the despotism of his subjects, emanating a little here, a little there, and aggregating finally into a power that is crush ing its creator as petty tyrants have been crushed by aggregated tyranny since man wrote history. Would you dethrone this tyrant? Then first tear out his image from your own heart. Destroy the despot's power there, and all will be well but think not that Mammon's forms of government can be improved by other Mammonism.

Have you, 0 Reader, not helped to build for this tyrant the stately structures described in this secret bulletin from his court?

Stealthily and persistently has the power of the King been extended, and now in the heart of every capital city of the world, where the golden cross of Christ is reared in shameless mockery of His humble teachings, a palace has been built for Mammon's occupancy. In material and decorative effect, the palaces of the King are various but in their ground plans and general development, these stately edifices are identical. The structures are of vary ing extent, but the foundations always follow the lines of a Greek cross with arms extended to the four points of the compass. Every wing of the palace is entered through a great archway, and the interior comprises a vast apart ment in each of the four arms, and a fifth in the center, subdivided into smaller sections and containing at the center the king's throne. Inscribed above the arched outer entrances to these apartments of Mammon's castles appear strange legends, sometimes in one language, sometimes in another, for they are the foundation prin ciples upon which the King claims a divine right to rule, and must be understood by all from whom he would have reverence.

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