The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-01-01


over the construction of their own doc
trines. The famous fight for Governor
between Winthrop and Sir Henry Vane
was made upon the burning question OF
faith and works. All the appliances at
the modern polls were used for the sue
cess of the candidates, except the Austria
liam ballot. The one side shouted and
labored for Winthrop and grace without
works, and the other for Vane and grace
with works. Uaughter.) Transferred
to our own times, the followers of the
doctrine of grace with works were in
favor of the Mckinley bill and the sup
porters of the theory of grace without
works are for the free coinage of silver.
But the election was an object lesson in
Puritan characteristics. The Puritan
settled one thing at time, and concen-
trated his whole mind on it. He was
then hewing straight path to Heaven,
and temporal matters and State ques-
tons could be laid on one side. He had
risked life and fortune in contests with
crown and hierarchy in England, and
braved the perils of the sea to enjoy lib
erty of his own conscience and to pre-
vent the souls of his neighbors being lost
by their fooling with their consciences.
He cared naught for material things:
Money, property, business the things OF
this world. In the same spirit he fought
at Bunker Hill and triumphed at York
town, threw his life and home into the
contest for free soil in Kansas and for
the freedom of the slave on John
Browns scaffold at Harper's Ferry;
Ferry; marched with the 9th Massachu-
sets through Baltimore to save the Cap
ital, and, closing his shop and bidding
farewell to his family, went with Sher,,
man through Georgia to the sea, and
stood by Grant at Appomattox.
(Cheers.)
THE SPIRIT OF DUTCH TOLERANCE.
Pastor Robinson had fully absorbed
the spirit of Dutch tolerance, and his
parting sermon to the Pilgrims was the
most important utterance from the pull
pit of those times. 1.-THE Lord" he said,
'has more truth yet to break forth out
of His Holy Word. Luther and Calvin
were great and shining lights Of their
times, yet they penetrated not into the
whole counsel of God. l beseech you,
be ready to receive whatever truth
shall be made known to you"
This was the hammer which
broke the shell of Puritan bigotry.
(Cheers) 1t was the yeast which fer
mented in the Puritan church and filled
New England with multitude of creeds,
1t has taken from the Puritan the hell
he loved to contemplate-fOr others, but
it has brought him in goodly company
nearer to heaven. The Dutchman was
a good citizen, but not a Stakeholder
The restless energy of the Yankee dis
turbed him. and the New-Englander'
persistence and inquisitivcness aroused
his distrust. But it was these qualities
which made New York, peOpled the
West, created new States, built railroads,
opened mines, founded cities, and made
these United States nation. The
Dutchman was quite willing to admit
his infirmities, for they did not trouble
him. He never cared to know the reason
why. The merit of Yankee as piece
of human dynamite was that he is never
satisfied.
This is Heaven" said Saint Peter to
a newcomer, who did not seem to appre-
ciate his surroundings. yes said
he; II suppose so but | am from Bos-
ton. Uaughter) The Puritan is quick
to see the faults of others, either in
Church or State or individuals, but he
never admits his own, unless it be to his
Maker. | remember when a boy, my
mother always made me go to Friday
evening prayer meeting in our village
church at Peekshill. An old Yankee
deacon who had sold me a pair of
skates which were of dull edge and soft
metal, was rcciting his shortcomings and
offering fervent petition for mercy.
He summed up the catalogue by saying:
"Oh, Lord, am morally and spiritually
man of wounds and bruises and petri-
flying sores" AS we were leaving the
church, in my rage about the skates,
said: "Well, deacon, you told the Lord
the truth about yourself tonight, any
way" Uaughter.) bear to this day
the scars resulting from this frank com
ment with the deacon. Laughter)
The Dutchman was happy in his home,
his church and his party. Others might
wander far and do worse or better, but
his physical wants fairly supplied, he
did not quarrel with his creed nor with
his politics, nor trouble himself about
those of his neighbOrs.
THE PURITAN INTERROGATION MARK.
But the Puritan had always an inter |
rogatiOn mark before his face as large as
the pothook which hung from the crane |
in the ample fireplace of the Colonial |
kitchen. He was and is in faith an orig |
nal thinker, and in politics mugwump. |
lbduBnbcI dbiu CltcIbs) hb hCCtplb luc |
truths of Scripture and then puts upon I
thorough sympathy with the
John p. Robinson, he
Said they didn't know everything down in JUDGE,
(Laughter.)
Against the Stuarts and the Episco-
pacy in the Old World, against Demo-
cratic subserviency to the slave power
md Wing fear Of attacking it in the
New; against the party idols without
souls and bosses without principles, he
was and is always a kicker. (Cheers.)
The Dutchman with his mild tendency
% superstition and fondness for legends
would have joined in the ghost dance,
,ut the Puritan would have examined
he ghost. Cheers and laughter.) The
Yankee stops panic or restores conf
lence by going like rifle ball straight
or the mark. "Where was Starvation
)ampl located?' said Hartford man
through his nose TO the great explorer,
jtanley. ION the bank Of the Congo"
the traveller. ''Waal, then"
aid the Yankee, "why didn't you fish?'
Laughter and cheers.) But the crucial
two hundred years ago and
o-day between the New Yorker and the
Few Highlander is that the latter thinks
lis birthplace a good starting point
rom which to emigrate, and the former
wherever he may roam longs and hopes
o pass the evening OF his dogs and die in
Few York.
SATISFIED WITH YEARLY VISIT.
The Yankee returns once a year on
day to the Green Noun
aims or the Berkshire Hills, and then
'oes back 10 his distant activities with
N impaired digestion, torpid liver, and
creme satisfaction with the accident
Which made him a citizen and a power
n a distant community. daughter and
heers.) The first thing Yankee does
m settling in new town is to buy a
amily plot in the cemetery, and the first
ct Of New Yorker is 10 arrange for a
Ass back 10 the metropolis. (Laughter.) |
The rudest and most pathetic lament in
he language was that of the exile Of ,
weed days, who, living in lavish luxury
n Paris said: ~ would exchange all the ,
opportunities Of Europe 10
'e lamp post In New York" Laugh /
er) The New Yorker has no State
ride which would subordinate his 10y
lily 10 the Republic 10 his duty 10 his
commonwealth; he has no municipal
ublic spirit which Would induce him TO I
make sacrifices for her SUPREMACY, but
q loves New York, and his morning and
vening prayer is to live and die within
en- borders. loud and long cheerinQ.l I
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