Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-07-06
THB STORY Or LIBERTY
Senator McLaurin Told 1t
Over at Gaffney.
Beautiful Lesson Beautifully Presented

Here In America Citizens First Be-
came Sovereigns and Here the
Boon Must Be Forever Guarded
The War With Spain Restores
the brotherhood of the North
and South.
We have assembled for the purpose
of celebrating the 122d anniversary of
the natal day of our republic. We
renew today allegiance to the prin-
ciples for which our forefathers suffer
ed, in order that we might enjoy a
measure of liberty and prosperity
never before allotted to the people
of any nation.
There was another summer day,
nearly 1000 years ago-it may have
been the Fourth of July; we at least
do not know it was not, while we do
know that it was in the time of
summer-when the son of an humble
carpenter, lowly Nazarene, despised
by the wealthy and aristocratic, but
beloved by the common people, de-
scended into the water, and the voice
of God spoke from the clouds, saying:
"This is my beloved son, in whom l
am we'll pleased" The Son of God
had come to teach the world that ''all
men were created equal" and the only
commandment he gave was "to love
one another''-a universal brother
hood of the subjects of God. This
was the first that the world had ever
heard of the true science of political
economy.
Ambition, avarice and lust bade
men put aside the unwelcome truth,
and instead Of the doctrine Of equali-
ty there was taught the divine right OF
kings to rule and the strong to oppress
the weak. One hundred and twenty
two years ago there was not foot OF
ground upon the earth where the voice
of liberty could be heard. A group
of men, nearly all of them farmers,
met in Independence Hall, and startled
the world with the declaration, first
made by the "Priuce of Peace" that
"all men are created equal" Liberty
awoke from the sleep of centuries,
her fetters were unbound, and the old
bell rang out the glad tidings of the
birth of new nation that was to bring
about the freedom Of the world. Its
tones reverberated along the peaks of
the Alleghanies down to the shore OF
the Southern sea, where the waves
Joined in the chorus and the winds
whispered them across northern plains
until they were echoed back from the
granite rocks of New Hampshire. The
words Of that declaration of indepen-
ence have never ceased to reverberate
throughout the world. Republics have
been established in Europe, Asia, Afri-
ca and the islands of the seas. No
civilized nation exists where the peo-
pie have not been accorded priceless
liberties they did not possess when
that band Of patriots laid the founda-
ton of our Republic upon the corner
stone of divine government.
Gail men are created equal" and
the governments derive their first
power from the consent Of the govern
ed. The Bible tells us that we are all
equal in the sight of God, and that no
man will enter the kingdom Of heaven
who does not desire to become sub
iect of God. 1t would seem that a
divine mind, in a single thought, e1,
pressed the scheme of government by
which God rules the world, and by
which it is intended men should rule
themselves.
What is revolution ? What mystic
rious influences work in the minds and
souls of men, until the divine yearn
ing of a whole people finds expression
in the words of Patrick Henry, "Give
me liberty or give me death ?"
Who can understand it? We car
read of the battles and recount the ex
ploits of the many revolutions that