The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-07-22
tons through the unprecedented

/ lnC AdNI lIeI liiC
persisted; and perpetuated in both
state and church the paternal idea,
that the peoples welfare is less the
concern of themselves than of those
set over them. The European nat
ions that succeeded to the old Roman
Empire were thus corrupted by it's
civilization; they lost to a consider
able extent their heritage of individ-
ual liberty and local self-government
and became more and more central
lied despotisms. The masses were
trained to lean upon the state for
nearly everything, instead of depend
ing upon themselves. This reliance
upon goyemment-interven kept
them in state of tutelage, a condit-
| ion of childhood. And the religious
| system of the church, which was a
union of Christian and Pagan doctrine
connected with pre-Christian organi-
cation, strengthened this spirit of de-
pendence. When a man has learned
to delegate his spiritual interests to
another, to commit to priest or con-
fessor the making of his peace with
God, he will be ready to leave also po-
litical interests to be cared for by
| OlbCio WnOot III lutlI SpHGIG
he similarly reveres. Priestcraft and
beingcraft thus sustain each other,
and they who are subservient to one
will be subservient to both. A Rom
aniZed church and Romanized govern
ments held the masses in Europe in
bondage for ages. Christ's teaching
of the principle of indiyidualism SEEM
ed to have persisted.
But it was revived and regained in
huence in the Great Reformation of
the 10th century, which indicated the
privilege of every soul to come dir
ectly to God in Christ without the in
Prevention of any human mediators.
| The Reformers recovered the long
lost gospel of Christ, and put ii into
the hands of the betrayed and down
trodden people. They exalted the
word of God and the supreme author
| ity in religion; declaring that we
must have a Thus saith the Lord"
for every doctrine required to be be-
lieved or duty required to be prac-
ticed. And they repudiated the auth
ority of human tradition, as only
Thus saith the church in some age
| of darkness and ignorance The Re-
formers taught that men are to be
lsaved not because they are members
of an ecclesiastical body that holds
monopoly of grace, but because
Christ died for each and every one of
them, and they appropriate the bene-
| fits of His death by a personal faitn
consequently that a mans responsib-
| lity is not merged in obedience to
the church but rests upon himself; he
| cannot be released from it: he must
answer to God for his treatment of
the gospel offers for his use OF his
talents and opportunities, for his con
duct and his character
| These teachings of the Reformers,
which were simply return to the
teachings of Christ and His Apostles.
| accomplished great results. They
were a turning of the world upside
down, as the unbelieving Jews in
Thessalonica said about the labors of
Paul and Silas. A new spiritual life
was exhibited by the Protestant
| cnurches; and those nations which
| became Protestant easily outstripped
in progress and prosperity thosewhich
remained Roman Catholic. So ever
since the line of progress seems to be
strictly coincident with the advance
of the principle of individualism as
over against that of paternalism. The
strongest and richest and most intel
| ligent nations are those where the in
centive to individual eXertion has
been greatest and where tne largest
personal liberty has been enjoyed.
| Great Britain and America thus lead
the world. 1t is not merely the force
| fulness of the Anglo-Saxon race to
which are to be attributed their sue
| cessful achievements. in every line of
| effort and the energy which has ex-
tended their dominions around the
world, but these things are due to
the training in self dependence and
self help which has come from exer-
cising individual freedom of action
and from cherishing sense of indiv-
idual accountability. A free church
in a free state has ever developed
high aspirations and worthy endeav-
ors to better ones lot; while stagna-
| ton if not decadence is the condition
Of the people where the care of the
| individual is made the province of the
state or of the hierarchy.
Now 1t is we'll to remind ourselves
of these facts of history in these days.
when there is a trend toward seeking
| the elevation of men through social
reforms which merge tae individual
| into the mass, and make the improve
ment of the unit dependent on his
surroundings. This is in general
terms the proposed solution of sever
al problems at present about which
| thinking people are talking, e. e.
The evils resulting from excessive
competition in business have led to
great consultations of capital to
monopoiies and trusts, which are JUS
tilted on the ground That they can
produce and distribute products more
'heaply, and lessen the cost to con
sumers while insuring better profits
TO capital and more regular employ
nent to labor But labor has felt
that it did not receive its fair share
Of returns, that. it was oppressed still
more severely under the new system
than under the old, because wages
were fixed by these aggregations of
employers at lower figures than they
were when employers were Compel
ing, and there was lack of agreement
among them what wages should be
paid Hence to insure to labor its
sights and rewards ii has been mass
ed under the control of some union or
federation that aims to determine the
hours of labor and what shall be its
wages and who shall be allowed to
work. Every such union minimizes
individual initiative and subordinates
the workman to the interests of the
Int tn hat