Untitled article

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · June 2, 1892

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 7, No. 22

SPEAKING to the resolution before the Methodist General Conference, in Omaha, in favor of closing the World's Fair on Sunday, Dr. F. D. Blakeslee, a delegate from the New England Southern Conference, said:—

I represent that little spot on the map of this great continent, a little speck which men call Rhode Island. It is, as I am accustomed to say, the pluckiest State in the Union. Many facts in our history are explanatory of my last remark. One particularly relates to this subject. Many of us remember that colossal engine at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the product of Rhode Island skill and industry. It was proposed there to open those gates on Sunday. George H. Corliss, the maker of that engine, said: “Gentlemen, you have it in your power to vote to open the doors of this Exposition, and I suppose I can not prevent it; but, gentlemen, that engine is mine, and it shall do no work on God's holy day,” and it did no work, and the gates were closed; thanks to the Rhode Island man. I have the honor, also, to represent the Conference which has within its bounds “Old Plymouth Rock,” so suggestive of the action of our Pilgrim forefathers, who laid in righteousness the broad foundation of this Christian Republic. Representing as I do Rhode Island and New England Southern Conference, I do hope that this General Conference will unanimously, and by a rising vote, pass the resolution that is now presented to us.

Of course Mr. Corliss had a perfect right to say that his engine should not be run on Sunday, although he should have so stipulated in the first place and not have waited until the Exposition was

dependent upon him for power to move the machinery.

So far as showing the pluck of Rhode Island the Doctor would have done better by reference to its early history and its noble stand for liberty of conscience, but that particular feature of Rhode Island history was not apropos to the occasion. Not so the reference to “Old Plymouth Rock.” The Puritans had sterling qualities but tolerance for the religious opinions of others was not among them. They had no sooner escaped persecutions themselves than they began to persecute others, and “Old Plymouth Rock” instead of being, as some would have us believe, a souvenir of soul liberty is a reminder of the first religious despotism established upon American soil.