It is Felicity on her wings.

God of the moon and the sun, of joy and beauty, of loneli

give me strength to go on, till I love every

Where Freedom makes itself known in a people or even in the soul of a single man or woman, there Democracy begins.

Freedom! the deep breath! the word heard centuries and centuries beforehand; the soul singing low and passionate to itself: Joy! Joy!

II

In the deep cave of the heart, far down, running under the outward shows of the world and of people,

Running under continents, under the fields and the roots of the grasses and trees,

Under the little thoughts and dreams of men, and the history of races,

I see, feel and hear wondrous and divine things.

I seem to see the strands of affection and love, so tender, so true and life-long, holding together the present and past gen

erations.

The currents of love and thought streaming in the watches of the night from far and near, from one to another,

Streaming all the more powerfully for the very hindrances and disasters which arrive or threaten.

I dream that these are the fibres and nerves of a body that lies within the outer body of society;

A network, an innumerable vast interlocked ramification, slowly being built up;

1 Reprinted by permission of Edward Carpenter's publishers, George Allen & Unwin, Limited, from “Towards Democracy."

All dear lovers and friends, all families, groups, all peoples, nations, all times, all worlds perhaps,

Members of a body, archetypal, eterne, glorious, the centre and perfection of life.

The organic growth of God himself in time.

III

Democracy! Underneath all now comes this Word, turning the edges of the other words where they meet it.

Politics, art, science, commerce, religion, customs and methods of daily life, the very outer shows and semblances of ordinary objects,

Their meanings must all now be absorbed and recast in this word, or else fall off like dry husks before its disclosure.

The old structures can no longer stand their very foundations are shifted;

And men run forth in terror from the old, before they can yet find firm ground for the new.

In all directions gulfs and yawning abysses,

The ground of society cracking, the fire showing through, The old ties giving way beneath the strain, and the great pent heart heaving as though it would break,

At the sound of the new word spoken,

At the sound of the word Democracy.

IV

No volcano bursting up through peaceful pastures is a greater revolution than this;

No vast mountain chain thrown out from ocean depths to form a new continent, looks further down the future;

For this is lava springing out of the very heart of Man;

This is the upheaval of heaven-kissing summits, whose streams shall feed the farthest generations,

This is the draft and outline of a new creature,

The forming of the wings of Man beneath the outer husk,

The outspread pinions of Equality, whereon arising he shall at last lift himself over the Earth and launch forth to sail through Heaven.

The Arisen and Mighty soul of Man!

GOD AND HUMANITY

JOSEPH MAZZINI

I

Three things are sacred: Tradition, Progress, Association.

I believe in the immense voice of God which the centuries transmit to me through the universal Tradition of Humanity.

I believe in the eternal Progress of the life in God's creatures, and in the progress of Thought and Action, not only in the man of the past, but in the man of the future.

I believe in Association, as the sole measure which we possess of accomplishing Progress.

And I know that Association can never be fruitful unless it exists among free individuals, among free nations, capable of realizing their solemn mission.

I believe in Humanity, in which is most fully manifested God's thought on earth.

II

The duty of each of you is to use the life which God gave you, to preserve and develop it; each of you, then, owes to life a debt of labour.

Our most important duties are positive. It is not enough not to do harm; we must do good to our brothers.

Life is love.

Life is movement, aspiration, progress.

You cannot obtain your rights except by obeying the commands of Duty.

The origin of your duties is in God.

The definition of your duties is found in His law.