Gloucester County Democrat., 1909-02-25
Edgerton's
...Farm.

copyright, 1909, by American Press Asso-
citation. This matter must not be re-
printed without special permission.l
Liberty.
A few centuries ago men sought the
fountain Of youth" In all the corners
of the earth they carried the vain
search and died without reaching the
goal. 1t was impossible that they
should have reached it, for 1t does not
exist-not In the outer world Yet
there is fountain of youth. It is In
the spiritual. We need not go abroad
to seek it. Like the man who hunted
all around the world for a treasure
and returned to find it in his own door
yard, so we may find the fountain of
youth at home. 1t is within.
In like manner the knights of old
made long and romantic quests for the
Holy Grail, yet the only Holy Grail they
really desired was spiritual and was
to be found within themselves. Eldo-
RADIO, heaven, all the Aidens and par
adises of which we have dreamed. are
to be reached in this same mysterious
and well nigh undiscovered inner coun-
try
So, too, mankind in all times and
climes have wrought and fought for
Liberty, going to heights Of heroism
dying with her name upon their lips.
New civilizations have been builded
and new nations fashioned in her i'm
age. Yet liberty, like the other ideal
states sought and never quite found, is
a spiritual thing.
in the past few days. l, too, have
loved Liberty, but think l never knew
her completely until now. This is the
way l came to the knowledge. had
given up all but one thing that held
me- At last I broke that chain also.
Then l was free. Now I would not
trade this freedom for all the world
has to give. Of course it does not de-
pend on any material thing at all 1t
might be felt and known under any
sort of material conditions whatsoever
or in state entirely apart from the
material. It could be enjoyed in pris
on, in the worst worldly tyranny, in
slavery or under the lash of physical
need. What, then, is it? Simply the
freedom from desire for anything the
world can bestow. There must be no
reservations whatsoever, for where
there are reservations there is bondage.
The only perfect liberty is in God. He
is the truth that makes US free.
In wild moment in the past
thought that death meant liberty.
now know that death means nothing
at all. It is only seeming thing. He
who is in bondage before death is in
bondage after death. He carries with
him his mind, and his mind is his
only jailer.
Just as the spiritual is the one thing
that can bring liberty to the individ-
ual, so it alone can bring liberty to the
state. So long as the people are en-
slaved within themselves, so long will
they be enslaved in their external re-
lations The inner condition will be
government argues corruption in the
body polite Tyranny on the part of
the ruler argues weakness on the part
of the ruled. They invite the despotic
imposition of a stronger will. If they
were sufficient in themselves to their
own government the outer form Of
tyranny could not exist for day.
We have come to the time for deal
ing with real things. If we are to be
sincere we had just as well be utter
ly sincere. Political, mental and in
dustrial liberty are the three great
goals to be reached in the world, but
none of them can be gained till the
majority of men are free within them
selves. And men can never be free
within themselves till they strike off
their own inward chains, till they
break the shackles of false appetites
false desires. false beliefs, false preju-
dices, false personalities. They must
be utterly true. They must come to
| the final divine statement of the law
Of freedom. aspire to nothing the
world can give; aspire to all that God
can give
Every good the world knows comes
from God. the origin Of good There
is no excellence and no power in the
seeming. To think that there is con-
stitutes but an obsession of false be-
lief The desire for wealth, fame,
place. power, sensation or the gratifi-
cation of appetite other than for it's
function, all these are but obsessions,
demons that tear US, but have no real
power except in our own errors. Why
not open our eyes that we may see?
Why not know real liberty?
MY Goal.
II 10 GOOD thino to ha inst onnsalf