The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1859-08-18
y 4oeHp,
For the Guardian
Persecution for Opinion.
BY STEPHEN J. " TABOR.

JOHN WESLEY was far "ahead" Of his age in
liberality he was in fact " ahead of most men
of the present age in this respect. The first
thing done in his first conference, after its pre-
liminary forms, was a declaration of the right
of the utmost freedom of discussion. He said
on another occasion !" Condemn no man for
not thinking as YOU think. Let every one enjoy
the full and free liberty of thinking for himself.
Let every man use his own judgment, since ev-
cry man must give an account of himself to
Cod Abhor every approach, in any kind or
degree, to the spirit of persecution. 1fyou can
not reason or persuade a man into the truth,
never attempt to force him into it. If love will
not compel him. leave him to God, the Judge of
all"-Ne,c York Christian Advocate and Journal
for June IL, 1858.
Make it q crime for men to speak and think,
And all our rights would to oblivion sink
The arts would wither-science droop and die,
And commerce, frighten'd, seek another sky ;
Blind ignorance would rule the land with awe,
And superstition be enthrond by law; (trol,
CowPd shaven monks would all the world con-
And burn and illuminate from pole to pole.
But TRUTH needs not the law to make it stand
Nor asks assistance from the stake and brand;
Secure she moves, enshrind with holy light,
And seeks no arms but those of moral might;
So far from gaining strength by lljudg'd d force,
1t clogs her feet and checks her in her course;
Enshrouds in darkness her refulgent lamp,
And marks her brow with errors balefrl stamp.
Away, then, freemen, with those views so vain,
Which would renew vile Torquemada's reign,
And here establish, on Columbia's shore,
The Inquisition known in days of yore
Let ToLERATIoN DER your realms extend,
And faith and works forever find friend
Nor fear that harm may thus perhaps accrue
To aught divine, important, just or true. said,
" Let Truth and Falsehood grapple," Milton
Though the encounter Error well may dread
But truth defes all human strength and wit
MAGMA Est VERITAs-PREvALEBIT!
So reads the motto on her pierceless mail
The TRUTH is MIGHTY AND 1T MUST PREVAIL!
How impotent are then those senseless laws,
Which, made to aid, but retrograde her cause
How base those men, who in the guise of zeal,
Convert with fire and demonstrate with steel!
Such men there were, in a monastic age,
Who made the earth scene of woe and rage,
Who pour'd forth seas of pure and guiltless blood
And revelrd gladly in the crimson flood.
But not to ancient or to monksh times,
Not to far distant or to foreign clmes,
Need we tot turn our horror or-strcken gaze
To mark the blight of Prosecutions blaze
Foro er the earth her scorching flames have run
And fed on gore wherever shines the sun;
Burnt and destroy'd in England, France, Rome,
And hung and branded even here at home
Yes, even here, where prescribe freedom fed
Has Persecution raise her horrid head,
Confind the mind by her oppressive sway,
And boldly walk'd abroad in open day,
O'erspread the land with misery and tears,
And prov'd her doctrines by the scourge and
shears