THE term " free children of nature " is sometimes applied to barbarous peoples; but the title ill befits that class. Free they are not. Children they may be, but in a sense the reverse of that which Paul commended when he said, " Be not children in understanding; howbeit in malice be ye children."
A Typical West India Lady.
Their " nature " is fallen human nature—very far fallen.
That such people are not free is usually apparent even in their civil life. Generally they are dominated by arbitrary chiefs; and their freedom is further circumscribed by intertribal wars and personal feuds. Domestic tyranny denies liberty to the women of most or all unchristianized countries. Even the conventions of society hamper barbarians as well as Europeans.
But the worst thralldom is that imposed by malign deities. Almost universally, people who do not know the true God, benign and beneficent, live in fear of malevolent deities. The gods of the heathen are commonly designated by their worshipers as " evil spirits " or " black gods," whose wrath must be appeased by offerings, sometimes by sacrifice of life.
Truly the title " free children of nature " is bitter irony when applied to pagans. Every unexplained phenomenon portends to them the anger of some deity; trivial coincidences suggest impending disaster; and the supposed terrors of the great beyond make these hapless creatures " through fear of death . . . all their lifetime subject to bondage."
The worst slavery to which any mortal is liable is that which rules the will. Many a wretched man—notably the drunkard—is in that state of helplessness which impelled one to declare, " What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." Certainly the uncivilized are not exempt from this soul-bondage. So obvious is the lack of self-control on the part of the aboriginal inhabitants of our own country, and likewise those of other countries, that special legislation is enacted to protect them from their own passions. The sale of intoxicants to those classes is forbidden by law.
Verily, not in the abandonment of wild life is freedom secured, nor in disregard of any just restraint. On the contrary, the appetite, or other carnal impulse that is not kept in subjection, will enslave its possessor. In rightful obedience is the only true liberty. " Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God." Then will the Son of God make you free. And " if the Son . . . shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
MRS. ADA D. WELLMAN.
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QUIT grumbling and grunting. To bear adversity in silence is proof of the reserve power that makes men " more than conquerors."
FRED T. ELKIN.
