Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-07-07

rights, sinsnfsg wEic.s Is .s3sacrt n nrnn-
osition which DR. Gunsaulus will hard
ly care to deny But the right to be
free and being free are two entirely
different propositions. The fathers as
serted the right to liberty, and they and
their contemporary Americans made
themselves free and made us free.
The sentence "all men are created
equal is absolutely true as Jefferson
and the fathers meant it-not equal in
height. complexion. weight, brains, good
looks or anything of that sort, but
equal in the right to be free, in their
right to live. in their right to be happy
On Yorktown'S blood stained heights
George Washington made that Declara-
ton good, and it is only in these later
days that the truths the great funda-
mental truths therein contained have
been questioned, at least by Ameri-
cans.
The twin propositions, "all men are
created equal" and governments de-
rive their Just powers from the consent
of the governed constitute the foun-
dations of representative government
on this continent and elsewhere.
1t is true that "the Declaration of
Independence was the work of an hour
of intense excitement" as DR.. Gun
saulus says, but it is not false for that
reason 1t was IAN hour of intense
excitement about Mount Sinai when
Moses wrote the Ten Commandments on
tables of stone and declared them to
the disgruntled children of Israel, foot
sore and weary with wandering in the
wilderness, but nevertheless they re
main to this day the basis of every
criminal code in every civilized country
under the sun. 1t was IAN hour of in
tense excitement when on Mars hill
ST. Paul revealed to the Athenians the
unknown God and when he pleaded his
own cause and the cause of Christen-
dom before King Agrippa. but nobody
would assert for that reason that his
burning words on those two memo
rable occasions We're untrue. 1t was Fan
hour of intense excitement" when the
brave, unlettered barons forced Magma
Charta from King John at Runny
! mede, but no sane man for that rea-
son deems the declaration of principles
therein contained false or senseless. 1t
was IAN hour of intense excitement"
when Jesus of Nazareth delivered the
sermon on the mount, but the Christian
world knows that sermon by heart
and will not let it perish while the
earth spins on its axis or slides down
the ecliptic.
A scholar of such rare attachments as
DR. Gunsaulus must know-because it
is a historic fact-that most of the
great deeds have been done and most
of the great truths have been uttered
in ''hours of intense excitement deeds
and truths which have lifted us from
the darkness Of barbarism to the light
of civil and religious liberty truths and
deeds which good men and women
everywhere the wide world round
cherish in their hearts as the priceless
treasures of the human race.
The political gospel that 'all men are
created equaF' and governments de-
rive their just powers from the consent
Ol the SONeEuSQ LIDS CISdleu IVY ellty -olA
republics. 1t is written that "a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump and
the leaven of liberty which the fathers
put into politics will continue to work
until the entire world accepts and prac-
tees the idea of government of the
people, by the people and for the PEG
pie That is our reason for being.
Thanks be to Almighty God for the
''hour of intense excitement in which
the Revolutionary congress performed
the immortal deed which notified to
King George III. and all mankind that
America intended to be freeI
Dilettante philosophers and educators
may not accept the American doctrine
that sall men are created equal but
the great body of the people do. It is
the rock on which this puissant repub-
lie is built, and even the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it,