The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1909-05-08
lglI|RlACE IS ClUs
I'LL our WOES
Least ACOUSTIC of Truth oper.
ates TO Widen Acquisition
of Mind.
Freedom Of Heart in the Truth
of Love Is the Desirable
81 Attainment. i 5ss- ::.5

BY Rev. George r. Gebauer, First
Unitarian Church.
: For the mind Of man, not chains
and walls mean bondage, but alone
ignorance said Rev. George r. Ge-
bauer, at the First Unitarian church
yesterday. RS s.i :.s
knowledge and Freedom. z s5 55z
1.-THE less a man knows the more he
is shut in. The more he possesses
Of knowledge, the greater grows his
freedom. If we had absolute know
ledge Of the universe, then our mind
would possess the freedom Of God.
Our knowledge may be but imperfect,
and yet even the least acquisition
Of truth widens by SO much the freeA
dom Of the mind. - :
The Theory illustrated. Els
The theory Of light does not, give
us a single more ray of light, but
it breaks down opaque partitions in
our intellect. The study Of geography
does not increase the world by single
square inch, but the mind expands, as
it comprehends this wonderful earth
Of ours. Our knowledge of history
| does not change a single fact in the
past. but it gives to us the freedom
of humanity. r. ~ = /. 9 -
Advantages Of knowledge. ssS
TO him who is ignorant the past
is but a huge graveyard, in which
human follies and human ambitions
lie buried. But to him who knows
| the past is as alive as the present
perhaps more so, as in way the
present only becomes alive in the flu
ture. The names of places and per-
! sons open to the student Of history
| wonderful vistas, while the ignorant
sees nothing. Westminster Abbey is
to the ordinary tourist huge pile of
| stone and an immense tomb, but to
him who has looked at the magnifi-
| cent history of Great Britain these
| stones tell wondrous stories.
And SO If we travel, the more we
know about land, the freer we move
I in it, the better do we understand the
things we see. The freedom Of a city
is ours, not SO much by a patent letter
! but by our knowledge of its history.
So it is in art. There is enjoyment in
music to him who has ears to hear
and TO- understand the harmonies of
tone, hut vastly greater joy is his, who
can see the inner truth of Beethoven
sonata, Or. who can apprehend the
meaning of score by Wagner and
can understand the intricacies Of an
opera by Richard Strauss. -
Our Social Relations. =:
'The same is true as to: our social re-
lations. The more ignorant man is
the more he is limited in his. inter
course, with his fellows. He may, per
haps walk and talk with the educated,
but he cannot consort with them. The
more we know the wider is our sphere
Of life, the more freely may we move
about. All these social fences and bars
! which we see about us do not serious
ly interfere with mans real freedom.
The. truly educated and true mind
laughs at the little hedges of society
and like a bird flies over them and Is
/ at home everywhere. r, ~,
The Higher Freedom. s--
I'm But there is higher freedom than
the freedom OF the intellect in knowl-
ledge. It is the freedom Of the heart
in the truth Of love. Mere intellectual
freedom is poor thingafte all, if not
Joined by loving heart. The man
who, by his sympathy understands his
fellows in their strength and weakness
has a greater freedom than he, who
knows all about planets and sons
The purer our life is, the more pos
sess of that precious freedom. All that
disturbs the purity of love, limits that
freedom. AS soon as we hate, we are
shut up in ourselves. If, we but de-
spise a single soul, we have by that
limited our freedom, that soul is shut
to us. >~ ., -. -. -. 49,. p: : s
| "' The Guilty Knowledge. z
An so the guilty conscience, the
wrong within the soul, is like q
charmed circle. which let's mono enter
into. us and does not permit us to step
outside into other lives. Ourguilty
conscience imprisons us the free flow
of soul to soul is interrupted, we are
kprisoners Of sin. And, lastly, there is
the freedom Of faith. 1t is that atti-
Etude of perfect trust, which will never
doubt the sgoodness Of the spirit of the
universe. Spiritual freedom, the free
dom of the sons of God. comes to him
who trusts God with all the powers OF
his soul, trusts Him against all APP
pearances, trusts Him most when de-
spair would be but natural. In God we
possess the truth, which frees us from
all fear and leads us into the liberty
Of the Son Of Man. W. ,s.
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