The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-08-02

master. The right to religious freedom,
however, stands on the same 1unqamentaI
ground as civil liberty. In Thought ana IN
fact there are not various KINDS Oh iree9om'
A man is free or he is not free. But freedom,
neither as to religion nor as to CIVIL rlgnts, Is
secured by the mere separation OF church
and State; for tyranny can be eccleslastlc as
well as polite. But 1t was an immense STRIDE
when this separation was won. Inc
next step was more safely TAKEN, tLiat
churches we're voluntary organizations, ,When
'the consent of the governed" gave author
ity over its. members. AS soon as IT Is
matter Of right to unite with or withdraw
from a church. to organize or destroy
church. then religious freedom becomes per-
manent For to voluntarily unite with any
from union with. any religious body: But
for a higher and nobler reason this is also
true, for it Is based on the right OF prlvate
judgment, and this is intellectual 1or no
man can elect for himself the doctrines IA ne
will believe, the facts he will accept, the
forms he prefers and the communion ne
yearns for until he possesses mental free
dom. This is the very highest possible ex-
ercise of human faculties-to SIT In conscious
judgment upon the revelation OF God and
accept or reject the statements alleged 10
have been made by his authority and IN MS
name. This is the very climax OF human
freedom-to take the things Of eternity and
the councils of Jehovah and subject them to
the free judgment Of our intellect, our con-
science and will; and as citizens, this Is now
our unquestioned,. unchallenged. legal rignt
Its exercise at first blush may seem blasphe-
nous, and to result only in license; but on
deeper reflection, this is wholly untrue
Gle TRUE FAEDoE.
There can be no safer mode OF making out
of mankind all that is possible than to cause
daily intellectual communion with noble and
splendid themes to exert to the utmost all
our power of mind by protracted and intense
study of lofty and severe topics; to feed our
hearts continuously on tender and divine
manifestations of love and power; to bathe
our souls frequently and fearlessly in Infinite
pity and omnipotent mercy. The honest,
sincere, inyincible yearning to know, to COM
prehend, to possess the truth In the unseen,
and therefore eternal world, OF necessity
produces love of order, reverence for law,
habitual obedience to constituted authority,
grave reserve and growing caution as @ 70 ao-
solute and dogmatic statements, and increas-
ing respect for the views OF others VINO are
possessed by the same spirit. When our au-
thority for our belief is our own interpreta-
tion, the increasing tendency is reluctance 10
set up that authority and that Delle1 as
standard for others. From the moment all
authority is confessedly based 'en the con-
sent of the governed" that governed" be-
gins new and higher development caused
by this very responsibility OF constant
and frequent decision; by. the inereas-
ing necessity of voluntary and responsible.
action. at once freemen seek association,
and these voluntary associations act and re-
act on their members and themselves. Inc
joint will becomes law and takes regulatlve
form, and the wisdom of everybody being
constantly made in raising the body of the
community nearer to the type OF It's best
citizen. ''The humanity of one age becomes
the cruelty of the next, was truthfully SAID
for, perhaps, the progress OF man can be
measured by the ameliorations or cruelty,
which become themselves held to be cruel,
and these ameli0rations have been made in
spite of law and authority, because society
had grown better than the expression OIL It's
will made on yesterday. Law represents
the mind Of yesterday public opinion ;5tns Is sne
free, free in soul; when there are no tram
mels on this deathless intellect, no chains
on this immortal soul. no manacles on the
will created after the likeness OF the divine
will; there are always men In advance urging
and public opinion comes nearer uttering
their voice and making demands that conduct
shall conform to their standard. These Ply
mouth Separatists were denounced even by
the Puritans themselves. who were willing
to die for their own convictions, as preachers
Of anarchy, and, perhaps. the bitterest pang
they had to suffer was from the hard words
Of Christians with whom they agreed on
everything else; as the heaviest cross ten
der, but determined. soul can carry is the
disapprobation Of pure, but unconylnced
beloved one. And to have their Puritan
brethren denounce their doctrines as ''anar-
chical.". as destructive of all authority, as
subyersive of the very foundations of social
order, was, perhaps, heavier than exile.
UNRELENTING PERSECUTION OF PROTEST
ANT CLERGYAfEN.
Before this church went to Holland the
persecution of the Puritan lergymen was
unrelenting In one year 800 were deprived
of their livings, and these prosecutions con-
tinued during the entire period of their stay
In Holland, and these prosecutions were de-
signed as much to subvert the civil liberty of
the kingdom as to restore the ancient church
SO that they seemed shut Cup to the choice of
ultimate absorption In the land of their ref
uge or migration to America. And so, on
this day, 269 years ago, those chosen to make
the venture embarked atDelfthaven for New
England. 1t was a meagre outfit. When we
read of the three vessels with which Colum-
bus discovered America, those in which so
many voyages of discovery were made, those
in which John Smith, the adventurous
hulSub-6IIdub VI LILO DOW seas, anu tuOoC
with him sailed, of the Dove and Ark, and
others which bore the founders of States, of
the Speedwell and MayiOwer, we fail to
realize how very small and insignificant
they were, and how. meagre was the largest
preparation for such ventures. And then
when we attempt to weigh the necessities for
successful colonization in such climate and
country as ours then was, that all such VEN
lures did not fail is the marvel. But here,
as everywhere. the man in the enterprise is
the factor of prime importance-it is that
Columbus is in command. And so it is to-
day. With all our marvellous inventions, by
which we seem to have supplanted human
labor, more than ever before the true factor
of success Is the, man, whether on the
mighty ships which have made New York
and London near neighbors, or at the head
of an army, with tremendous guns and the
terrible machinery Of destruction, or at the
head of the State. The human element in
all machinery is still the element on which
success depends. Small and comparatively
obscure as was that company, meagre and
weak as was the ship and the outfit, the hu-
man element here was superb.
The Poem.