The Hartford herald., 1879-07-02

that the virtue based upon it is of supe-
riOr value. 1t is the thinnest kind of a
virtue, and if there be not the love OF
God and man behind it, to give it vital
ity and meaning, il can never minister
much to good character. What Il man
does, actuated by the motive of love, he
does nobly, and the same thing may not
bc done nobly at all when done in ac-
cOrlance with the rule to do to others
what one would like TO have Others do
to himself.
/ There are other virtues that are very
much over estimated, eminent among
[ which Is that of federation. We know
of none 80 thin as this, vet this il one
over which an enormous amount of
Dragging is done. We talk about the
religious liberation practiced by our gov
crnment to protect its own people in
/ the exercise of their most precious opin-
ions and privileges. The man who per-
sonally tOlcrates all men, and all sOcie-
/ ties of men, in the exercise of their
opinions upon religion and politics, is
not without his boast of il, and "A feel
ing that he has OutgrOwn most of tine
/ people around him. The sad thing
about il all is, of course, that country
or community can be so blind and
stupid that liberation can appear to be
virtue at all, or So bigOted and willful
that 1t can even appear to be vice.
We thank no man for tOlerating our
[ opinions on anything, nor do we give
: him any praise for il, any more than we
thank him for liberty of breathing with
him common air. federation is the
name that we give to the common de
cencies of intellectual and moral life. IL
is the Golden Rule applied to things of
opinion and expression. IL is by no
means high affair. 1t is simply per-
hitting others TO do, i'm all matters of
politics and religion, freely, i'm our pres
cnce and society, what we claim the
privilege of doing in their presence and
society. People who are intOlerant-
and we are informed that there are such
in this country-are simply indecent.
They are devOidOf intellectual courtesy.
They are Doors who are out of place
among free people, and, no matter who
they may he, they ought to be persist
emily snubbed until they learn polite in
tellectual manners The spirit of intol-
terance is n spirit of discourtesy and
insult, and there il no more praise due
man, or sect, for being tolerant,
than there is due man for being gem
tleman; and we never saw a gentleman
yet who would not take praise for being
a gentleman as involving an insult. Ii
Is at least the thinnest of all virtues to
brag about.
There is a virtue lying i'm this region,
though, alas, but little known, which
needs development. liberation, as we
have said, Is a very thin affair. Men
tolerate each other and each others sem
timents and opinions, and are much too
apt to be content with that. They alto
gether Overestimate the value of it, but
beyond this there is i'm some quarters,
and ought to be in all quarters, a sense
of brotherhood among all honestly and
earnestly inquiring souls. There is no
reason why Dean Stanley and Mr. Dar-
win should not be the most aftectionate
friends. There is no good reason why
MIR. rockingham and DIR. Hall, DIR.
Draper and DIR. Taylor should not be
bound up in a loving brotherhood. They
undoubtedly tolerate one another now.
It would be simply indecent for them to
do anything less, but we fear that we
have not quite reached the period when
these men, with Il profound respect for
one anOther's manhood, truthfulness
and earnestness, recognize each Otheras
seekers for truth, and love and delight
in each other as such. We are all in
terested in the same things, but we hap
pen To be regarding them from different
angles.
Some of the sincerest men i'm the |
world are the doubters.
There is more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creedS."
These men get very little of the SYM |
pathy that by right belongs to them. |
They have as great love for truth as /
and are looking for il, but by I
the constitution of their minds, or by /
the power of an unfortunate education, |
or the influence of an untOward personal I
they find themselvesth thrown 4
of into region of skepticism, where I
they have no congenial companiOnship. |
They do not get even federation, from /
those particularly who inherit their 1
creeds, and To whom faith is as natural 4
as breathing. These men ought all and \
always to he brought afiectiOnately into /
the great brotherhood of truth-lOvers 4
and truth-seekers, and Christian of
any name who cannot throw his warm
est sympathies around these, and regard |
them with peculiarly affectiOnate in
terest, must necessarily be a very poor
sort of creature. All honest truth-seek-
eTs are always truth-finders, and all
have something in possession that will
be of advantage to the Others. The diff
ferences between them are sources of
wealth to the whole.
This is true of all truth-seekers, and
it is particularly true of the different
sects of Christendom. Let not the
Catholic think for moment that he
has nothing TO learn of the Protestant,
and let not the Protestant think that he
holds all truth to the exclusion of his
Catholic brother. The fact that all these
sects exist and find vitality enough i'm
their ideas to keep them prosperously
shows that there is something
to be learned, everywhere, and among
them all, and that the policy is poor
which shuts them away from one
another's society. Ii is better to re-
member that truth is one, and that
those who are earnestly after il, whether
they deny Christianity or profess il,
they are called by one name
or another, belong together, i'm one great
brotherhood of affection
and pursuit.