The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-10-06

at Humphrey Street Congregational Perfect Freedom for EmpIOyes and EmpIoyers-Church Should Not Pawn Upon the Rich Nor CoddIe the Poor.
 At the Humphrey street Congrega- tional church last evening the pastor, the Rev. Frank R. Luckey, preached strong and timely sermon on the all absorbing topic of the present coal strike, aiming his remarks at one particular phase, "Lawlessness." His text was from Judges 21:25, which reads: Every man did that which was right in his own eyes" He said in part:
 And the result Was-Lawlessness! To-day the same result obtains where men are doing that which is right in their own eyes, without regard to the law of the land. And the speaker thinks that we are all more or less inn pressed by the indications of the preva- lent spirit of lawlessness in our midst It is seen in the open and avowed
 
 the sheets of no influence, not merely in bloodthirsty speeches by anarchists on platforms in Chicago and New York, but in able and scholarly essays in the great French, German, and Eng fish reviews, transferred, in part at least, to our own country-teaching that all law is bad, that there ought to De no government. and that men should be free to do that which is right ln their own eyes. It is seen in the ln- crease of crime in America, said by the ablest and most careful statisticians to be increasing more rapidly than our population, rapidly as population has been increasing during the last quarter century. It is seen in the acts of mob violence, confined to no particular sec tion of our country-in the west, where one governor of state once said that E'laWlessness must sometimes De winked at," and another, when pardon ing condemned man, took occasion to inveigh against the court which con- victed the man; in the south, rom which there come continually reports of lynchings, hangings, burnings, tortur- ings; in the north and east. in acts of mob violence among the miners or Pennsylvania, in the open, fragrant, un- disguised setting at naught by many saloons of the law of Sunday closing, in the petty and inexcusable assaults a1pon policemen in our own city by young men who ought to know better, in the acts of many great corporations through the legislatures. It is seen in +o Ha the sympathy extended to criminals, the flowers sent to them in prison, the difficulties thrown in the way of their conviction. It is seen in the fact that thousands of people all over our land, stand up and pledge to love, honor ana cherish one another until death do Dart." and apply for a divorce on trivial grounds within brief time. It is seen in the action taken at this time, under the pressure of want created py the coal strike, by many Of our esteemed fellow citizens, who, if reported correct ly, appeal to the president to selze the coal fields in the name of the people, without due process of law, and operate them. which comes pretty near at tempting to cast out Satan by satanic measures.
 Now, friends, it takes only volcano here and there on the earth, to show that the heart of the earth is fire, and that some 9ay it may burst through the thickest crust. It takes only tongue of flame here and there appearing be- tween the shingles or clapboards of a house to indicate that the heart of the house is afire, and that no part of it is genuinely secure. Just so, these indi- cations of the spirit of laWlessness i'll our midst, are of consequence, not so much because they give us momentary discomfort, but because they reveal a lack of regard in the heart of the nation for the sanctity and majesty ot the law; lack pregnant with fearful pos abilities for the future.
 What are we to do about it? First of all, we must endeavor to instill into the heart and minds of the people, es- pecially the youth, that principle, to which governments owe their stability, life it's happiness, creation its continu- ance-obedience to law! We must show them how false is the conception, how frantic the pursuit. how treacher- ous the phantom which men call liberty by which they mean license! We must point out to them that there is no such thing in Gods universe. There can never be-" says Ruskin. 'The stars have it not; the earth has it not: the sea has it not. How could it be other- wise? since if there be any one princi- ple more widely than another confessed by every utterance, or more sternly than another imprinted on every atom of the visible creation, that principle is not liberty, but law" And mans freedom is only granted that his obedi- ence may be more perfect.
 Furthermore, obedience to one partic- allar law must, in these times, be in- sisted upon-the right of every man tt be free to work for whom he chooses and for as many hours as he chooses and for such wages as he thinks he ought to have. This right is fundamen' tai, is his most precious economic herlt- age, and is guaranteed to him by the constitution. No association for the improvement of mans economic condi' fion, ought to interfere with this right The association is legitimate, but wher the tyranny of corporations is more than matched by the tyranny of other associations of men, and the man who wants to work is missed at and hootet and called q "scab" and terroriZed, ther