The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-01-01
NOT ALL THE GOOD IN ONE DENOM
NATION,

The Rev. DR.. Francis j., Patten
President of Princeton, College, said a
the New York FOrefathers' dinner, il
part: Every man moves in his own world
The outsider passes his neighbours door
looks in at his window, and generally
succeeds in misjudging him. The gif
of seeing others as they are is quite al
much to be coveted as that of seeing
ourselves as others see us. Vanity il
no worse than consciousness. 1t is {
mistake to geometrize with self as {
centre.
This is another lesson. The religion
list makes this mistake when he thinks
that all the good is in his denomination
The Bostonian makes it when he fOrgets
that the centre of gravity has SHIFTED
and declines to read the New YoPl
papers. The man of business makes il
when he undertakes the scholar, and the
scholar makes it when he supposes tina
he can construct a tariff bill out of theo
retical economics.
We are all more or less provincial; anC
the most obvious lesson suggested by {
company of New Englanders dining il
this cosmopolitan city is that we SHOULD
not be provincial. Let us be New Eng
landers, and yet remember that Americ;
is the larger word: let us be Americans
and at the same time not forget the bono
of common speech and common law tina
binds us to the land of Shakespeare anC
Blackstone.
The outsider sometimes says that thu
New Highlander is provincial. Perhaps
he is. That is to say, New England haI
great men, great universities. She hal
chapter TO the history of Opinions-anC
to the most casual observer it is apparent
that the New Highlander is fully aware
of it. Now, sir, the best thing we can dc
is to universalize the New Englander
When the New England merchant goe.
West, when the New England capitalist
goes South las he will. for the railroad,
will make more money on the meridiaDs
by and by than on the parallels), wher
the New England farmer sells out to the
French Canadian, he steps into larger
mission. By the New Highlander NEAR
the Puritan, and by the Puritan | NEAR
the man who has the spirit of the Pill
grims, no matter where on eartl
you find him; and Puritanism is the
salt of the American earth. loud
applause.)
Puritanism is individualism, it affirms
the right of personality, 1t was a pro
test against Capitalization in the begin
ming; and when we are told by the State
Socialists to nationalize the telegraphs
and nationaize the railroads, and nation.
alize the land, Puritanism will protest
again. (Applause.)
Puritanism emphasizes the respOnsi.
bility of the individual. The Puritan is
often misunderstood. 1t is said that he
is not worldly, because he is so other.
worldly; that he gives poverty a free
ticket to the banquets of heaven, and
relieves distress by singing Sweet BY
and By" 1t is said, that pleasure has
no place in the Puritan vocabulary, and
that punch expresses his theory of
life when he makes the sister say to her
brother, go, see what baby is doing,
and tell him that he mustn''t.' But the
only truth in this is that the Puritan has
a strong sense of responsibility, and that
is what we need to-day. You may tell
me that the end of life is the well-being
of society, and therefore / should be
benevolent. But enforced benevolence
is taxation, and excessive taxation is
tyranny.
TRYING To RECONSTRUCT SOCIETY.
The evils of accumulation are obvious:
the difficulty is to cure them. 1t is
amusing to see how men undertake to
reconstruct society. Authors get rich
by writing Utopias, in which they can
get no copyright Qaughter), and where
they would be the employees of the gov
eminent Men find fault with the con-
solidation of capital, but notice that
they buy the bonds of the strong COM
panies.
They advocate a legislative limit to
private ventures, but always draw the
line far in advance in their own Tespec-
tive accumulations. Uaughter.) / have
no desire TO see wealth evenly distribu-
ted. That would only destroy its poten-
tial energy. There is enough water
power wasted in the State to run all the
railroads in New England. There is
enough money wasted in New York, |
suppose, to run all the colleges of New
England, but il is better to run the risk
Of waste and keep the sense of individual
responsibility. >
What the world needs. however, is not
the Puritan and society, but the Puritan
in society; not the separation of con-
science and self-lOve, but a partnership
Of conscience as head of the firm. We
are great enough. There is no question
Of that. We have fertile soil and bound
less resources. We can feed ourselves
with our own wheat and clothe ourselves
with our own cotton; we can shelter our
selves with our own lumber, and
build our railroads with our own iron.
(Applause.)
But the question is whether we can be
loyal to righteousness and truth. Ii re-
mains TO be seen whether the spirit of
the Pilgrims will abide with us; whether
It will vote at elections and sit at direc-
tors tables, and whether under its inhu-
ence we shall speak plainly in the pulpit,
act honestly in trade and refuse TO hold
a brief for fraud. The Puritan spirit is
the safeguard Of morality. II is the
Puritan in us that protests against
corruption in the management Of munic
ipal affairs.
The hope of America lies in univer-
salizing the Puritan, for the Puritan is
above all things a man of conscience;
and conscience is the best part Of man.
Conscience was speaking in Paul when
he said: "If meat make my brother
offend ] will not eat meat while the
world stands"
Conscience was speaking in Peter when
he said we ought 10 obey God rather
than men. The voice Of conscience has
always been heard in human society,