p. 584 | THE STAR OF LIBERTY by M. H. Brown

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 24, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 37.

THE STAR OF LIBERTY.

By M. H. Brown

A Fourth of July Oration.*

ONE hundred and seventeen years ago to-day our revolutionary forefathers signed the Charter of our Liberties, the still memorable Declaration of Independence, and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, to the maintenance of the principles therein set forth.

Four hundred years ago last October Columbus discovered America, and the great Columbian Exposition now in progress at Chicago was planned to commemorate that discovery, and place on exhibition within its gates the productions of labor, skill, and genius in every department of life, that the progress of the world, and especially of this country, in mechanics, the arts, the trades, in agriculture, invention, and discovery, during this period, might be brought more prominently before the public, and be a means of education, progress, and profit in the years to come.

The first three hundred years of this period of our history were years of discovery, adventure, and settlement. The growth during that time was small, and the prospect of future greatness was by no means flattering. Indian troubles, the rival claims of discoverers, religious bigotry, and sectional differences, were sources of danger and weakness, and the conditions did not give promise of a strong and united people, under a wise and stable government. The outlook for the future during the revolutionary period was much of the time dark indeed, but the star which lighted the pathway of the nation to union and victory was the star of liberty, which shone with a clear and brilliant light from that constellation, the Declaration of Independence, that has been admired by every lover of liberty since it arose in the political heavens.

One hundred years ago our country had just emerged from the great struggle for liberty; the independence of the Colonies had been acknowledged; the Constitution had been adopted; Washington, the first President, had been inaugurated; and the ship of State had been fairly launched, with Liberty as her guiding star.

As the long dark night of papal rule and oppression was drawing to a close, and its waning influence culminated in the loss of its life or power to persecute, by the deadly wound inflicted in 1798, there was the dawning of a brighter day, of which Liberty was the bright and morning star. But unlike the morning star which is seen in the east at the dawn of the natural day, this star was seen in the west.

John in prophetic vision, on the lone and rocky Patmos, saw the deadly blow inflicted upon the Papacy, and as he saw it fall under the sword of its enemies, he beheld another power arise, having a mild and lamb-like character, in marked contrast with its predecessor. We need not stop here to show how faithfully this prophecy has been fulfilled in the history of our country since that time. We will simply remark that, while the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, it was not till 1783, after a long and severe struggle of seven years, that the war ended, and it was not until the Constitution was adopted, in 1787, and Washington was inaugurated President, April 30, 1789, that our national life was really begun. The desperate struggle for freedom had so exhausted the resources of the people, and such was the disorganized condition of the country, that it took many years to recover from it. So that it was not till 1798 that she had risen to that position of competence that brought her into the field of the prophet's vision.

It may be well to outline briefly the causes that operated in securing the adoption of those principles of liberty and equality which have been the glory and pride of all loyal Americans, and which have made our country

THE ASYLUM OF THE OPPRESSED

and downtrodden of other lands, and given it a rapidity of growth and a degree of prosperity that makes it a marvel to all the nations of the earth. Most of the early settlers had suffered more or less from the persecutions and intolerance of those who held the reins of power in the Old World, and they longed for liberty. The view of liberty, however, which they entertained was no broader nor more liberal than that which prevailed in those days, namely, liberty for themselves but not for the other man, hence, as soon as the opportunity was offered for them to rule, they manifested the same spirit of bigotry and oppression of which they had complained so bitterly when they were the victims.

Our colonial history furnishes the sad and melancholy spectacle of zealous but misguided men endeavoring to regulate the religion of other men, under the fatal but specious delusion that they were the divinely appointed custodians of the divine law, and the judges and executors of the divine will. Thus these self-constituted regulators of the religion and consciences of their fellow men ruled with the same spirit of rigor and intolerance that was manifested in the Old World, only as the rule of the Puritan popes was checked by a more enlightened public sentiment, as the history of the colonies clearly shows.

Roger Williams has the honor of being the first one in these last times who was a consistent advocate of the

TOTAL SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE,

and of the true principles of religious liberty and the rights of conscience. He not only advocated these principles in his own behalf when he was the victim of religious persecution and others were in power, but he advocated them in behalf of others when he was in power, and because of such advocacy and his plea for the persecuted Quakers when he was at the head of the Rhode Island colony, Massachusetts threatened to cut off the trade of Rhode Island. In other words, the Puritans threatened to boycott them unless they would join them in persecuting and banishing all Quakers from New England. Roger Williams appealed for protection to Cromwell, who then ruled England. In that appeal were these memorable words: "But whatever fortune may befall, let us not be compelled to exercise any civil power over men's consciences." Rhode Island was refused admission into the confederacy of the New England colonies on account of its advocating and maintaining the principles of liberty of conscience.

During these days men and women were whipped, tortured, hanged, and burned at the demand of religious bigotry and through the influence of ambitious, self-important ecclesiastics. Prominent among the actors in the scenes of horror which were enacted were John Cotton, John Winthrop, John Wilson, John Rayner, John Endicott, and John Norton. Of the two latter it has been said that they were "two as arrant fanatics as ever drew breath." Cotton argued that "persecution is not wrong in itself. It is wicked for falsehood to persecute truth, but it is the sacred duty of truth to persecute falsehood," and being in power and puffed up with brief authority, he, and others like him, imagined that it was their duty, in view of their better(?) knowledge of the truth, and their superior(?) mental and spiritual endowments, and their being the best(?) people in the country, to persecute and extirpate falsehood and error and all their adherents from their jurisdiction. Winthrop said: "We have come to New England in order to make a society after our own model; all who agree with us may come and join that society; those who disagree may go elsewhere; there is room enough on the American Continent." How much this sounds like the utterance of the modern Dr. Jonathan Edwards, only the intolerance of the latter is expressed in stronger terms, for he would not permit those who were not Christians in his estimation, to dwell on the same continent. After chasing Sabbatarians and those who differ with his infallible views as atheists, he declares that "the atheist is a dangerous man. Tolerate atheism, sir? There is nothing out of hell that I would not tolerate as soon. Atheism and Christianity are contradictory terms. They are incompatible systems. They cannot dwell together on the same continent."

John Cotton distinctly taught the blessedness of persecution in itself, and its benefits to the State. Among other reasons for it he said that "the punishments executed upon false prophets and seducing teachers, doth bring down showers of blessing upon the civil State." John Norton, supported by the rest of the Puritan clergy, circulated a petition praying that "the penalty of death should be visited upon all Quakers who should return after having been banished." Among those who suffered from the hard-hearted cruelty of these persecutors were Roger Williams, John Wheelwright, Anne Hutchinson, John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes, John Crandall, and Thomas Gould, Baptists; and Mary Fisher, Anne Austin, William Brend, William Leddra, William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, Mary Dyer, Anne Coleman, Mary Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose, Quakers.

Bancroft, in his history of the United States, says that "the creation of a national and uncompromising church led the Congregationalists of Massachusetts to the indulgence of the passions which disgraced their English persecutors." And Adams, in his work entitled "The Emancipation of Massachusetts," says, "Let posterity draw the veil over the shocking scene." To-day we lift the curtain for a few moments that we may recognize in these bitter experiences, under the rule of the Puritans, one of the causes which led to the complete separation of Church and State when the Constitution was adopted and our national government was organized. For, as Puritanism ruled in New England, Catholicism in Maryland, and Episcopalianism in Virginia, and neither was willing to have one of the others established as the national religion, and as the result of the great conflict in Virginia between the advocates of a State church and religious freedom had been a triumph for liberty, and experience proved the wisdom of granting to all equal rights and privileges in

religious matters, the adoption of a free and liberal constitution, which guarded the rights of all, was a logical necessity.

THE PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY

so ably defended by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in Virginia during the struggle for liberty in that State in 1776 and 1785, proved safe and salutary in the experience of the commonwealth, and hence the lovers of liberty entered the Constitutional Convention in 1787 with the prestige of victory, while the dominant religious sects were so afraid that some of the others would gain the ascendancy over themselves that they were glad to adopt a free Constitution in order to guard their own liberties.

Thus, in God's providence, the great principles of freedom and equality, which were set forth in the Declaration of Independence, were enshrined in our peerless Constitution, and guaranteed by the fundamental law of the land. Under a kind and beneficent providence our beloved country has had a growth unparalleled in the history of the world, and she has stood forth as a prodigy among the nations, a beacon light to humanity struggling under the heel of oppression and the curse of religious intolerance. It is because of this that to its hospitable shores a tide of human life has flowed, with liberty as its guiding star of hope; and here, under the folds of the Red, White, and Blue, the native born and the oppressed of other lands have found an asylum, and enjoyed the sweetest and best of earthly boons, liberty.

But with such a wonderful charter of liberty as the Declaration of Independence, and a Constitution based upon the principles therein set forth, a feeling of security has taken possession of the people, and they have become careless and indifferent, not realizing and remembering that

"ETERNAL VIGILANCE IS THE PRICE OF LIBERTY."

With wonderful clearness of vision and keenness of foresight, Jefferson foretold the change that would come, the carelessness of the people, and the results of their apathy in preserving the freedom bequeathed by the Revolutionary fathers. In his "Notes on Virginia" he says: "The spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may commence persecution, and better men be his victims. The people will be forgotten and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights." How prophetic are these words! How exactly have they been fulfilled! In 1829, when the church people attempted their encroachment on the domain of the State by petitioning for a Sunday law prohibiting Sunday mails, they were met by the statesmen of that day in our national Legislature with such words as these: "If Congress shall, by the authority of law, sanction the measure recommended, it would constitute a legislative decision of a religious controversy, in which even Christians themselves are at issue. If the measure recommended should be adopted, it would be difficult for human sagacity to foresee how rapid would be the succession, or how numerous the train of measures which follow, involving the dearest rights of all—the rights of conscience. It is perhaps fortunate for our country that the proposition should have been made at this early period, while the spirit of the Revolution yet exists in full vigor." Truly it was fortunate, but it is indeed sad that now our rulers have become so corrupt, and our people so careless (to use the language of Jefferson), that as the extensive religious combinations of our day bring to bear their influence in securing religious legislation, the civil power bends under it, and through legislative action and court decisions

THE LIBERTIES OF THE PEOPLE ARE BEING SUBVERTED, and the star of liberty, which has shone with such brilliancy for over a hundred years, grows dim under the darkening cloud of religious intolerance, entrenched in the strongholds of power, and sustained by selfish politicians and ambitious churchmen; so that now, when the churches clamor and the clergy demand, the time-serving politicians do not consider it wise statesmanship to refuse them what they ask. Take an instance of this: In the discussion of the Sunday-closing proviso of the "World's Fair Appropriation Bill" in the Senate of the United States, Senator Hiscock, of New York, said:—

I would write the provision for the closure in any form that the religious sentiment of the country demands, and not stand here hesitating and quibbling about it. I should make this closure provision satisfactory to those petitioners who have memorialized us against the desecration of the Lord's day.

Senator Hawley, of Connecticut, in advocating the same measure, said:—

Now, if gentlemen repudiate this, I should like to see the disclaimer put into white and black, and proposed by the Congress of the United States. Write it. How would you write it? Word it if you dare. How many who voted for it would ever come back here again? None, I hope. You endanger yourselves by opposing it.

A member of the House Committee, to which this bill was referred, in explaining why he and others would vote for it, was reported in the Chicago Daily Post of April 9, 1892, as saying that "the reason we shall vote for it is a fear that unless we do so, the church folks will get together and knife us at the polls, and—well, you know we all want to come back, and we can't afford to take any risks. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and that is all there is about it."

Shades of our fathers! What would the heroes of freedom in the early days of the republic have said to such craven words and cowardly utterances from those who are chosen by the people to look after their interests and guard their liberties? How have the mighty fallen! Surely the republic has gone into captivity, and we have entered the twilight of Freedom's day. Where are the heroes of liberty among our public men, who, like Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Richard M. Johnson, will sound the note of alarm, and in clarion notes arouse the people from their slumber to realize that the star of liberty is being obscured by

THE STORM CLOUD OF PERSECUTION,

and the blood-bought, God-given rights of the people are fast being subverted, and the chains of slavery are being forged by legislative enactments and court dictums, which will bind the people under the rule of a religious despotism. Already the clanking of these chains is heard. Already our fathers and mothers, our wives and children, are suffering for conscience' sake, and loyal hearts and true are subjected to fines and imprisonment in this boasted land of freedom, for no other offense than fidelity to God, and the conscientious discharge of religious duty. In other words, no occasion is found against them except concerning the law of their God.

In conclusion, we inquire, What is the logic of the situation, and what is the lesson of the hour? The student of history may mark the rise and fall of nations, and the causes that led to their greatness and their final ruin. He discovers that all the nations, whether of ancient or modern times, have declined and fallen as the minds and morals of the people have been corrupted, and wealth, luxury, intemperance, and oppression have become prevalent. And what is the situation to-day? We find the ruling classes of society given to luxury, extravagance, excesses of all kinds. The social world is reeking with vice. Crime and violence are rampant everywhere. There is a terrible disregard of human life, as seen in the carelessness and criminal negligence of national, State, and municipal authorities, concerning the use of unsafe public buildings and the sanitation of cities. The trampling down of human rights in the cases of the weak, the defenseless, and the innocent, as manifested in the recent religious persecutions, the cruel and shocking barbarities, and the lawless outrages, committed in various sections of our land, and many other things which might be mentioned, indicate clearly that the republic has already started down the road which must end in national ruin. Already our rulers are perplexed with the problems they have to solve and the difficulties they have to meet.

THE LESSON FOR US TO-DAY,

and for the stormy days upon which the nation has entered, is one which is difficult to learn for those who have watched with intense interest and glowing pride the onward march of our beloved country to the pinnacle of fame and greatness which it has reached. To think that our country, whose institutions are so free, whose power is so great, whose wealth and resources are so boundless, whose growth has been so rapid, whose flag we have learned to love, and whose history has been so thrilling,—to think that our country, the birthplace of freedom, and the hope of the world, should follow in the footsteps of Rome, and surrender liberty into the hands of a church hierarchy, is sad and humiliating indeed. But so it is, and here, where the star of liberty arose, and in the only country where the principles of freedom enunciated by Jesus Christ have been adopted as the basis of the government, here is to witness the total eclipse of that star, so far as earthly rule is concerned; and the pall and darkness of a starless night, without one ray of light, will be spread over all nations, and the hope of liberty in our world will go out in the blackness of darkness forever.

But there is a

BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR,

a daystar whose rising is even now lighting up the pathway of the pilgrims and strangers that by faith are traveling home to Zion, and this light will increase until the Sun of Righteousness, with all his brightness and effulgence, shall usher in the eternal day of rest, and peace, and endless joy, to those who fear God's name and who choose Christ as their King. May the glorious realities of that eternal day which is now dawning attract our gaze and win our hearts from this dark world, with its sorrowing hearts, its desolated homes, and its disappointed hopes, that when the fast-approaching crisis is reached, and He comes whose right it is to reign, we may share the fullness of his joy, and reign with him forever and ever.