Iron County register., 1889-08-08
ON PLYMOUTH ROCK.
Dedication of the National Monu
ment to the Pilgrims.
The Most Important Event In the His
tory of Our Country Fittingly Com
memorated In Enduring GRAM
and Marble.

great numbers. The weather of the early
morning was unpropitious, and it was
necessary to view the parade from
beneath umbrellas, heavy show
er prevailing. The celebration began
at sunrise with salute by
Battery A, and the ringing Of the bells.
The morning trains brought large num-
bers of strangers and great throng sur
rounded the new monument at half-past
nine O'Clock when the dedicatory exer-
cises were begun by the Masonic Grand
Lodge, according to the ritual of their or
der. These exercises were very interest
ing.
The band rendered a selection by John
praise written by r. w. Thomas Power
was sung by the Temple Quartette. Fol-
lowing the song came the address of the
president Of the Pilgrim Society, ex-Gov-
ernor Long; the response of Grand
Master Henry Eudicott; proclamation
by Grand Marshal George H.
Rhodes; reading Of Scripture selec-
tions by Grand Chaplain Rev. Charles
A. Skinner; prayer by the Grand Chap
lain; report on the examination of the
monument and libations of corn and
wine by the junior and senior grand
wardens respectively. The lbation Of
oil by De putty Grand Master Samuel Wells
was followed by the invocation by the
grand chaplain. Grand Master Henry
Endicott then delivered an address. The
entire assembly then sung an appropriate
closing hymn to the tune of America"
The exercises concluded with a proc
1amation by the grand master, benedic.
ton by the grand chaplain and the
Pilgrim Chorus by the band. Meantime
the procession had been forming, and at
eleven O'Clock moved, in seven divisions,
over an extended route. At the COM
pletion Of the parade the officers and
members OF the Pilgrim Society, with the
orator, poet and guests, took their places
in the great dining tent and the feast
provided for the occasion was discussed
for an hour. Then Ex-Governor Long
introduced the orator of the day, Mr..
Breckinridge, who arose amid apprecia-
tive applause and delivered his oration:
1t has been urged that one OF the honors to
be given to these revered men is that they
were ''at the beginning of our institutions :;
that they left behind them the old forms and
institutions of the other continent and started
new Institutions based on Few principles and
protected by new governmental modes. But
institutions are growths, not manufactures.
The option of institutional material at any
given time is limited; the choice left to states
men is narrow. the margin between the lines
of development is relatively small and herein
lies the claim to honor among the immortal
who have deserved well of mankind, that at the
critical moment, perhaps amid the din Of peril
Gus battle. they chose wisely and heroically
And, as the growth continues ceaselessly. there
constantly recurs the necessity for new choice.
the obligation of fresh decision. Thus it is
that on the hand each generation must
meet and solve its own problems and yet, ON
the other hand, each generation finds that
y1,at hnSh ha. 1on haFo ~ o;r,o
has limited it's action and shut it up in straight
ened lines of choice. No historian has given to
those who first suffered for the sublime truth
that human freedom was impossible, except by
the separation of Church and State, that place
of emhence which is by right theirs. This is
the truth, to which the pilgrim fathers testi-
fled. This truth they first brought to America
This is their true honor: this their fadeless
crown. The company (which came over in the
Mayfiower," was the Calvinistic Protestant
church. Its popularity was that it was sep
aratist church. 1t was purely English. 1t diff
fered alike from the Catholic and English
churches. including the Puritans in the En-
glish church, and the difference was wide,
fundamental, and irreconcilable. 1t
involved nothing less than the whole
question of enforced or free religion, the
difference which separated and still separates
the State church from the free What is in
volved in this belief? That the church is a
voluntary spiritual ASSOCIATION, to be gov
erned only by the laws of Christ and entirely
free as a church from the domination of the
state. The honor due to the Plymouth fathers
is that they first brought that truth as a prac-
tical, vital principle of governmental life to
this continent. It was an immense stride
when this separation was won. The next step
was more safely taken, that churches were vol
untary organizations, when thefonsent OF the
governed" gave authority over its members.
AS soon as it is matter of right to unite with
n Withdraw m Tn n
stroy church then religious freedom becomes
permanent. For, to voluntarily unite with any
church presupposes the right to refrain from
union with any religious body. But for
higher reason this is also true. for it is based
On the right OF private judgment; and this is
Intellectual. No man can eject for himself the
doctrines he Will believe, the facts he will ac-
cept, the forms he prefers and the communion
he yearns for until he possesses mental free
dom. We fail to realize how small were the
vessels which bore the founders of States and
how meager was the largest operation for such
ventures. And when we try to weigh the
necessities for successful colonization in such
climate and country as ours then was, that
all such ventures did not fail is a marvel But
here. everywhere, the Man in the enterprise
is the factor OF prime Importance; with all our
marvellous inventions and accomplishments,
the true factor of success is the Man. The CEN
trail point in that sad days events was that
their reverend pastor, falling on his knees,
and all of them with him, commended
them with fervent tears to the Lord.
1t was official act Of the pastor as the Sc
lected part of an organized church then set
apart to the task of establishing a new home in
America. There was no civil government. The
immigrants did not believe in theocratic state
any more than in a seculariZed church IL was
necessary to organize a form OF civil govern!
ment, and out of that necessity sprang that no
BILE instrument known as the social compact OF
the forefathers. That such compact Was
deemed necessary demonstrates how scrupu-
lously these men held to the separation OF
state and church Already an organized church
they. by their own convictions OF the province
of its powers ard the limitations OF its authori-
ty, felt compelled to form civil body polite.
True. emigrants do not leave their country be-
hind them, they carry 1t with their 1aitn ana
customs. Men die these survive. They enter
into the beliefs, convictions, life and hopes OF
composite people who are born, trained ana
live under their influence. These forefathers
brought with them their conception of ngland
their England. They brought no titles or
ranks; no priestly hierarchy: no eccleslastlcal
ranks and orders; no complicated system OF
fees. But they did bring with them monogamic
marriage, with it's individuality and sanctity OF
home: the rights of the subject to the protec-
ton of law: the sacredness OF individual prop
erty: the precedent consent before the levylng
OF taxes, and the right to express in some legal
and prescribed manner their will for those VINO
were to represent them in legislature and
church 1t is not true. except in a narrow
sense that they were freed from the insttu-
tions of the Old w orld and at liberty to choose
what material they would use in this new
world. No men were ever more fully commit
ted by the prepotency OF blood, race,
training, life and convictions than these
grave. earnest, heroic pilgrims" and
the highest praise to be awarded them Is That
they were faithful to those convictions, stead
fast in that faith, unwavering in their devo-