The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-13
THE RIGHTS OF MANKIND
The Rev. DR.. GLADDEN. DiscOurses
on Indiyidualism.
Religion and love. He Suys, Must
Counteract the Overestimntion of
Personal Importance, which often
Tlreatcns the Family Happiness.

The Rev DR.. Washington GLADDEN.. OF
the First Congregational Church. Column
bus. Ohio. spoke from the pulpit of the
! Church of the Covenant yesterday morn
ing The Rev DR. Teunis S. Hamlin. the
pastor of the church, is in New York at
tending an anniversary of his seminary
class. Dr. GLADDEN. took his text from
the Epistle to the Hebrews, xi:c9,i0, clos
ing: THAT they apart from us should not
be made more perfect" His address dealt
with the spirit of the Renaissance. the
rise in the spirit of individuality, the
spiritual progress of the nineteenth cen
| fury. and the work to be done in the
twentieth.
/ I'VE are standing in the first spring
bloom of the new century" he said.
What is to be the character of the
/ period that is coming? We are the in
| heritors of all the events, and the re-
| sultant of all the forces and influences
| of the past, yet the past must not be
allowed to dominate us. nor must we re-
| gard it with a fetich-like reverence, as
| do the Chinese, yet 1t was for US that the
past lived. For us Justinian ruled; for US
! Savanarola Numbered his denunciatons
and suffered his agonies; for us that Huss
| confessed.
we owe to the makers of the past they
owe also to us, because it Is our duty to
perfect their work. 1t is with US as it is
with parents and their children. Parents
train their offspring to be right thinking
and right acting. They impart their own
knowledge into their young ones, and
their lives reach a fruiting when their
children achieve success.
THE old reformers and deep thinkers
realized that the good they were work
ing for would not be enjoyed by them.
They knew that what they accomplished
would not be made perfect until we came.
We enjoy the security for which they
labored. Yet our best inheritance after
all is our hope and the limitIess field over
which our activities may yet exert them
selves What has been the work of the
nineteenth century? How will the TWEEN
tieth century complete it?
THE movement toward individual free
dom. termed the Renaissance, which be-
gan in the fifteenth century, has almost
reached its goal in the nineteenth The
principle OF that movement was. in es-
sence. that ii all men might receive the
truth all men might teach it; that man
is a man. and has all the rights. indi-
vidually. as he has collectively. 1t has
realization of these postulates and their
bearing. Now. that Individual man may
be protected, armies will move and navies
sail. Every man is a unit-and whoever
he is, ne counts one
Democracy in social and political life
has become triumphant-and it is the
right of individual man to gain livelihood,
success. and honor that | mean. The
spirit of the world today is that the roads
20 these shall be closed to none. The vie
tory of the principle is complete. though
there are some minor adjustments still
TO be made. In establishing the right of
the individual we have to a large degree,
overlooked the responsibility which he
should assume.
THE tendency toward this was evident
in the beginning of the last century
Randolph. in his letters, speaks of the
growing distemper' and the feeling that
there was no Justice in power that gov
erns. This feeling OF the people is the
counterfeit of the true 'individuaIism'
1t goes under the word liberal word
which means, in its usual construction,
lawiessness, anarchy, and a tendency to
nullify all statues and enactments
THE overestimation of the rights of
the individual has weakened the family
bond-witness the great increase in di-
vorce and the breaking of the home
bond, which is all largely attributable to
the excessive reverence for mans rights
and womans rights, and the rights of
children. Churches and religions have
suffered from this influence, and man has
begun to feel that there is no necessity
that he cooperate with anyone. The
same influence for eSil may be seen in the
trusts, which are merely the spirit of the
egoist, made plain in a material manner
1T is in the excess of the nineteenth
century. In individualism particularly,
that we see the work OF the twentieth
century. We must counterfeit these evil
influences.
THE twentieth century must teach man
his responsibility. must make him aware
that individuality is sacred only when 1t
is dedicated to the public good We must
learn how to use our liberty in the service
of love. That is the only way really to
keep liberty at ALL for there is no liberty
where there is no love. Man must be
made, through his own sensibiIities more
sensible of the rights of others. for there
is no power to restrain law and oppres-
sion when man puts emphasis upon the
sanctity of his own right. There must be
social indignation, and liberty must come
dependence must become interceperdence
and competition must become co-opera-
ton. AS conceived at present liberty is a
centrifugai-centre-fee 1t must
be suppianted by centripetal-centre-
seeking-force.
THE road to all this Is through religion.
Those who are united in a love for one
God must reach the interdependence and
unity of collective purpose that makes
for the general social comfort Doing
right is knowing God. The universe is a
universe because it is unified by one God
above 1t. A universal brotherhood is the
goal of the century to come. The religion
is to be such that believers will never
exploit for their own gain their CO.
religionists. There need be no antago-
nism between the facts of religion and
seeking God. and is not the whole labor
of science but long prayer, Show me
the way, oh God"
This great work Of charity toward
those who sin. in behalf of whom so many
of US are laboring In this city, is at bot
tom religious one. These poor creatures
whom we are hoping to- save have still
the stream of brotherhood feeling In them,
but 1t flows slowly because II is impeded
by warped Inheritance. 1t is our duty
to help develop this trickling thread into
broad stream and to lead the I'M
fortunates into the life they wish to lead
1T is by love that we can do it. CO.
operation is the thing which we are to
other activities. We must work more
with people. as well as more for them
The twentieth century will see a great
revival in religion: it will not be the kind
of religious revival we have had in the
past not a revival of religion looking
toward the safety OF the individual hui
man soul. 1t will be a realization that
life is religion. that God is an integral