The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-04-10


fore by men in authority. The Scotch
Covenanters revenged the prosecutions
which they suffered. The French
Huguenots retaliated upon their tor
mentors. The Lutherans and Calvin
lists did MT rise above the intolerant
spirit of their age. But the Pilgrims
were not only free from excuses
which disgraced the annals of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, but prac.
ticed the amenities due from Chris-
tian people to their neighbors, what
ever their difference in creed. The
policy adopted by the Colonists in
America, against political disorgan-
izers, and which set in motion what
seems to us religious persecution, was
not known at Plymouth. Even in
1916, they would not join the other
Oolonists "for the seasonable and due
suppression" of heresy. Samuel Cor
ton and ten followers were compelled
by the Massachusetts Bay authorities
to labor with an iron chain fast bolted
around their legs, and if they spoke
to anyone on the subject of religion,
or complained of their usage, they
were to suffer death. In Plymouth,
Gorton had merely been sentenced To
give security for good behavior and TO
pay fine.
Even witchcraft, which was popu
lar superstition in the Colonies (as it
was over all England at that time,
and which sent victims to death in a
neighboring colony, was never pun
ished at Plymouth, the law against it
being a dead letter and never exc
cuted.
1t is hard for the descendants of the
old Pilgrims to understand what it
cost TO exercise this tolerance in those
early days. The ancient Pilgrim trod
the bare ground in his cabin. His
room was lighted by pine knots. He
took his lonely watch at the log fort.
A captured Indian squaw, held a. hos
tage, was the most exciting spectacle
the ancient Pilgrims child could see.
1t was a hard life. Many died from
lack of comforts and insufficient food.
liberation under these conditions
was heroic, when compared with
that i'll our own day, which is a sort of
easy-going allowance of any doctrine
which does not disturb the material
interests of the community; tacit
agreement between well-to- do neigh
bors not to interfere with each others
beliefs, provided these views do not
stand in the way of the comfort, hap
piness or morals of the people The
real truth is that the Pilgrims eXer-
cised hearty liberation, not an intel
lectual liberality. They were narrow
in their views, but they were not
bigotted. They knew little of theOl-
Ogy, but were well up in Christian
ethics. Their faith was replete with
tenderness and mercy. What they
loved next to their Bible was Christian
fair play. In that age their federation
was almost sublime. o.
AS compared with the Puritans,
they lived in a different theological
They were different
men. They left no poems or wise
sayings; no memoirs except simple
diary of each days doings. But they
and verse; have aroused more sympa-
thetic eloquence and have written
their deeds across the continent in
larger characters than all the rest of |
the colOnists put together. They |
unconsciously, but glOr |
iously. What civilized nation has not |
heard of and honored them! What |
Christian church has not enshrined |
their memory as that of the pioneers
Of religious freedom! Their tolerance
was their own, but it has proved to be
a tonic for all generations. If they |
were "cranks," then welcome that
sort of crankiness when it sticks to /
hat sort of crankinesss. They were
peculiar. They may have been stern.
Let this be true, yet they were no
,ealots or fanatics, in their scorn OF
their aversion Of tyranny,
heir hatred of hypocrisy. Let, then,
'coffers call Plymouth Rock the
Blarney stone of America. We may
we'll stand upon 1t as the corner
tone of our religious liberation, the
me rood of earth where persecution
tayed its hand, and man dared to say
o the wild waves of cruel zeal, "Thus
ar, but no farther"
80 In life and death they teach
This thought-this truth-sublime.
There's no man free, except he reach
Beyond the verge of Time.
" So, reckoning up the starry slope,
They bid our souls to live;
And flooding all the world with hope,
Have taught us-to forgive"