he soul, while as the grounds of false supremacy
dissolve all gives way.

And, my friends, the tendency of things is to bring out more and more
these real claims to human precedence, and to throw all spurious titles
into the shade. This is the radical purport of true democracy, which I
take to be the social synonym of _Christianity_. I have shown what
inconsistencies and false distinctions swarm here in our midst, under
the profession of republican equality. This, however, is because names
are _not_ things. I don't call that "democracy" which is simply the
domineering spirit of self-exaltation in a new shape. For there is no
_essential_ difference whether we call the social order a monarchy or a
commonwealth; whether its leading men are Charles and Louis, or
Robespierre and Cromwell. If we must have the old social fallacies, they
appear more attractive with the old symbols. In that case, I would
rather not have them changed. For, when I look merely at the
_sentimental_ side of things, I feel sorry when the so-called "Royal
Martyr," with a dignity which contrasts with his past conduct, stretches
his head upon the block; or when the pitiless insults of a Parisian mob
are hurled upon the head of the beautiful Marie Antoinette. A poetic
regret and enthusiasm is awakened by the associations that cluster about
the Golden Lion and the Bourbon Lilies. And, when I turn to those grim
Ironsides, or those frantic Jacobins, the work they are doing looks
savage enough. But, with a more discriminating vision, I perceive that
that rude popular storm, which desolates palaces and shatters crowns,
embosoms a rectifying process which, tumbling all false distinctions
from their pedestals, shall by-and-by heave up the platform of social
justice, and reveal the true dignity of man. The essential work of
democracy is not the destruction of forms; is not the giant arm of
revolution, striking the hours of human progress by the crash of falling
thrones. But its great work is _construction_--is in changing the very
_spirit_ of institutions--and it asserts its legitimacy and bases its
claims upon the Christian doctrine of the human soul.

Therefore, I regard these spurious claims to precedence--these endeavors
after social distinction by virtue of riches, and equipage, and
wardrobes--as only evidences of a transition-state. Men, letting go the
feudal forms, and still assuming that there is some ground of human
precedence, as there really is, have