Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-08-15
DIR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

Mass, TO that immortal little band
which came to these shores in the May
flower-a little band which is repre-
sented to-day by these widespreading
and prosperous United States, and which
is destined to be inseparably and for
ever associated with the principles of
religious liberty. The monument is not
itself a new thing. 1t has been growing
for many years. Nor does it represent
a new sentiment. The sentiment goes
back beyond the date of the founding
of the republic, back beyond colonial
times, back to the times when religious
liberty was being crushed out in Eng
land, and when true, God-fearing men
put conscience above loyalty, above
patriotism, above wealth, above every
thing which the world, so called, holds
dear, and chose for conscience's sake to
leave all, to face the raging deep, and
to seek new homes in the waste, bowling
wilderness.
OF these men, the grandest mOnu-
ment is the United States of America
the noblest monument ever reared by
the active energy of great sentiment
and a great principle. The Plymouth
monument, however, was not rendered
unnecessary by the grander monument
of the American republic. On the con-
trary, the grander monument rendered
the lesser monument a necessity; and
the completed monument which now
stands near the spot where the first
Pilgrims landed, in more crystalliZed
form gives expression, and will con-
tinue to give expression, to sentiments
which have been the making, and which,
SO long as they are ife-giving to our
people, will prove the salvation of this
great and glorious home of liberty.
1t would almost seem as if the COM
pletion of this monument had been re-
served by Providence to this particular
time for a special and particular pur-
pose. Under the Old Testament ecOno-
my, the Jews were ever forgetting and
ever being reminded of their origin and
of the purpose for which, as a nation,
they were called into existance; and not
infrequently were they, because of their
backsliding, delivered over to terrible
punishment. The ways of Providence,
when properly understood, have been
wonderfully alike in all ages and among
all peoples; and there is nothing which
history more clearly teaches than that
fidelity to the principles which have
built up a nation saves and preserves,
while the abandonment or neglect of
these principles saps the foundations
and leads to decay and death. We do
not mean to make too much of the Ply
mouth monument when we say that its
completion has been singularly oppor-
tune, and that the monumental figure,
sky pointing, with the lesser emblems
beneath and all around, has lesson to-
day for the American people, to which
they would do well to give heed.
1t was when the chosen people of old
were most astray that the voices of the
prophets called most loudly 1t was
then that the Elijahs, and the Isaiahs
and the Ezekiels, and the Jeremiahs,
and the John the Baptists denounced
most fiercely and made the largest la
mentations. 1t is when America is in
danger of giving away her birthright,
when she is giving many signs of for
getting the ladder by which she has as
cended, when the sentiments and princi-
Piles which have hitherto given tone and
character to her people are counted as
matters of Indifference, that the monu-
ment to the Pilgrim Fathers is complet-
ed and inaugurated. The circumstance
is not without significance. 1t seems
like voice calling upon us to reflect, to
remember what we are, and whence we
came; to think of our rich inheritance,
and how we came by it; to bear in mind
our duty to those who are to come after
us, and to see to it that the inheritance
does not suffer in our hands.
We cannot deny that religious liberty
in many ways is being threatened. From
various directions the enemy encroaches
upon us. Strange to say, also, the enemy
in all the more prominent instances is
nursing of our own. Sons and daught-
ers of the land of freedom, we have, with
a noble generosity, opened our doors and
invited the oppressed of all lands to en-
ter. We have made no distinction of
race or creed. The invitation has been
accepted. They have come from the
East; they have come from the West;
they have come from the North, and they
have come from the South. In some
cases they have repaid us with undying
gratitude, and powerfully aided in
building up the republic. In other cases
they have repaid us with basest ingrati-
tude; and our experience has been the
of him who nursed the ser
pent in his bosom. We have had the
sting for our reward.
Two classes of people who have found
these United States cOngenial and con-
Portable, who have enjoyed the full ad-
vantageS of our free institutions, and
who have greatly increased in material
have shown but small graft
tude for favOrs received. We refer toi
Romanists and Hebrews. We do not
when we say that among both
these classes of religionists there are
many who are animated with a spirit
hostile to our free institutions, and es-
pecially to that religious liberty which
was wont to be the pride of the Ameri-
can citizen. We do not say that all
Romanists and all Hebrews are so actu-
ated. Far from it. We have highly
estimable people, excellent, patri-
otic, law-abiding citizens, both among
The Romanists and the Hebrews. But
there are some notable exceptions, |
Scarcely week passes but we have ex-
amples of the exercise of family or |
priestly authority which is in direct |
conflict with our American principle of |
religious liberty. To leave the one
or the other-the Roman
Church or the Jewish Church-is to be
visited with all the pains and penalties
IF accommodation. This would be
5he more tolerable if it were not, as it |
generally is, accompanied by the more
and practical punishment of
OF late this form of |
punishment in the case of conversions