The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-08-27
LIBERALITY.

From hearing many people talk about
the affairs and the conduct of others one
would naturally infer from their argu-
ments that the world is suffering because
these critics are not consulted, and that
mans sense of right and wrong is the
same the world over. Could they be
consulted they would produce harmony
out of what seems to them to be chaos.
they would regulate all our conduct by
that infallible guage, their own con-
science. It never occcrs to these gossip
ing casuists that wise men may honestly
differ, that morality is constantly grow
ing and developing into higher ideal,
that even the uneducated conscience is
not safe guide no matter what the sin
cerity of its conservative possessor. All
around them they see the causes operat-
ing to produce inevitably diversity of
opinion, but yet they would struggle
against fate and long for the proscrip-
ton that could fetter minds. The Hin
doc woman throws herself under the car
of Juggernaut or casts her sickly infant
| into the holy river in response to what
| she deems an infallible monitor within
| her. The savage tortures and enslaves
the females of his tribes, and commits
the most heinous crimes, without com
junction. And even men with large
share of sympathy and good amount
of education condemned their fellow be
ings to the stake and the flames for an
honest difference of opinion, and all this
without experiencing one moment OF
remorse. Would any one attempt tc
accuse these OF insincerity? If not, is
an ordinary conscience an infallible auC
perennial guide, or instead of following
it should we not endeavor to cultivate il
and educat it? Man is responsible fol
mis- beliefs The individuals opinion OF
any question is founded upon evidence
and the whole truth can never be reach
ed until the entire mass of testimony i:
dDNi SlitCl duSi III u
law. When a proposition is thrust be-
fore US, it may harmonic with something
already in the mind or it may be diamet
rically opposed to our own conception o
truth. 1.-THE latter shall We dogmatically
contradict or shall we listen to what cal
be said in its favor? Plainly the lattel
is our duty. Do we find upon examina
ton that the new doctrine rests upo1
evidence more substantial than tina
which can be adduced in support of on,
own previously formed conception o
truth we are in duty bound to embrace
it and retain it until in the fullness o
time more and more brilliant light comel
to illuminate our paths. The whole O
truth can never be discovered. Human
experience iustifies the assertion tina
what we now deem positive truth may b.
eventually proven to be false. Then le
no one imagine himself to be an infal-
lible guide for all men, and let him re-
member that duty to himself demand
the constant improvement of his owl
views. The law of the land proclaim
liberation in the government, but in tn,
domain of mind intolerance still prevails
and too often enslaves its possessor ant
does injustice to those who come beneath
its influence. Happy the man wh'
wears the armor Of liberation in it:
broadcast sense! The sneers of bigotl
and the shafts of fanatical enthusiasts
are too impotent to do him harm, while
they recoil to anger anew the hopeless
source from which they came.