The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-20

nation in any way subordinate effort to
ease. who would teach the people not to
prize as the greatest blessing the chance
to do n work, no matter how hard, II
1t becomes their duty to do 1t. To the sons
of the Puritans 1t Is almost needless to
say that the lessen above all Others which
P~nritanism can teach this nation Is the
all-importance OF the resolute performance
of duty. IL we are men we will pass by
with contemptuous disdain alike the adj
Visers who would seek to lead us into the
paths OF ignoblc ease and those who
would teach us TO admire successful
wrongdoing. Our ideals should be high.
and yet they shoul be capable of achieve
ment in practical fashion ;Sand we are as
little to be excused if we permit our ideals
TO be tainted with what is sordid and
mean and base, as If We allow our power
either incapable of effort or capable only
of such fantastic effort as to accomplish
nothing of permanent good. The true doc
tfine to preach to this nation as to the in
dividuals composing this nation. is not the
life of case, but the life of effort. If IL
were IN my power to promise the people
them pleasure. I would promise them that
stern happiness which comes from the
sense OF having done in practical fashion
a difficult work which was worth doing.
Lofty Purposes Of the PurItans.
1.-THE Puritan owed his extraordinary sue
cess in subduing this continent and max
ing 1t the foundation or a social life of
49, ~ " az ihNl nat
he combined in Il very remarkable degree
both the power of Individual initiative,
of individual self-help and the power OF
acting in combination with his fellows;
and that furthermore he Joined to a high
heart that shrewG common sense which
saves a man from the besettinG sins Of the
visionary and the doctrlnaire. IN was
stout hearted and hard headed. He had
lofty purposes, blu he had practical good
sense too. He could told his own in the
u workaday world without clamor-
OIlS 1nSiStpUpp Ilnnn hQipo baIne1 nv pthara
and vet he could combine with others
whenever 1t became necessary to do n job
which could not be as well lone by any
one man individually.
THESE were the qualities which enabled
him to do his work. and they are the very
qualities which we must show In doing our
work today. There Is no use i'm our COM
ing here &c pay homage to the men who
founded this nation unless we first OF all
come In the spirit of trying to do our work
today as they did their work in the yes
terdays that have vanished. The prob
lens shift from generation to generation.
but the spirit In which they must be APP
preached. if they arc to be successfully
solved, remains ever the same. The Puri-
tan tanned the wilderness. and built M
a free government on the stump-dotted
amid the primeval forest. His
must try to shape the life of
our complex industrial civilization by new
devices, by new methods. so as to achieve
in the end the same results of justice and
fair dealing toward all. He cast aside
old nrerelV for the snke Of inuo-
walton, yet he did not hesitate to adopt
anything new that would save his pur-
pose. When he planted his common
on this rugged coast he faced
wholly new conditions and he had TO de-
wise rev netbo6s If meeting then, So
we Of today face wholly new conditions
In our social and industrial life.
We should certainly not adopt any
new scheme for grapDIing with them
merely because it is new and untried,
but we cannot afford to shrink from
xrnpDIinG with them because they can
be grappled with by some new
THE Puritan was no Laodicean, no lais- |
theorist. When he saw conduct
was in violation Of his riFhts-of the
rights Of man, the rights Of God. as he un-
lerstood them-he attempted 10 regulate
such conduct with instant unouestionine
.promptness and effectiveness. If there was
no other way TO secure conformity with the
rule Of right. then he smote down the
transgressor with the iron of histwrath. |
The spirit of the Puritan was n spirit
which never shrank from regulation of
II such regulation was necessary
for the public veal. and this is the spirit
which we must show today whenever 1t is
necessary"