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1 True Sou of Liberty. 
 
 BY 
 
 i 
 F. P. WILLIAMS. 
 
 " O Liberty ! liberty ! how many crimes are committed 
 
 IN THY NAME I " 
 
 f® 
 
 
 V? * 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 E. Scott, Printer and Publishes, 
 
 134 West 23d Street. 
 
 1892 
 
 ^OS^O W 
 

 Copyright, 1891, 
 
 BY 
 
 F. P. WILLIAMS. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE. 
 
 I. A Talk about Libeety 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 9 
 
 II. 
 
 The Pastob utters more Heresy 
 
 20 
 
 III. 
 
 The Story of the Outcast 
 
 44 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Hidden Impulse 
 
 63 
 
 V. 
 
 Cast out of Fellowship 
 
 85 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Last Appeal - 
 
 106 
 
 VII. One More Day's Work for Jesus 125 
 
 VIII. A Strange sort of Martyrdom 142 
 
 IX. The Wanderer's Welcome - 164 
 
 X. The Pastor's Mistake - - 178 
 
T SAW a mansion rising in vast and stately pro- 
 -*- portions under the hands of many builders. 
 Wherein, dwellers occupying unfinished apartments 
 were saying to each other : " What house is like this 
 house in grandeur or in strength ? Its walls shall 
 rise to heaven and shall last forever." And the 
 dwellers stood at the windows sending their voices 
 abroad, saying : " Come ! Take an abode in this 
 mansion ; for its many apartments are spacious and 
 beautiful ; and its walls are laid upon a foundation 
 chosen by learned counsellors — a foundation that is 
 enduring and strong." 
 
 I also believed these things ; for I saw that the 
 walls were imbedded in a mighty rock that seemed to 
 be eternal adamant. Upon its surface, searching 
 with care to see if it contained aught of flaw or 
 fissure, I discovered this inscription : Self protection: 
 the first law of nature. "Here," thought I, "is full 
 assurance of survival. What can ruin undertakings 
 which rely upon the unfailing laws of nature for 
 success ! " Filled with admiration ; and continuing 
 
6 
 
 to study the staunch, symmetrical and mighty foun- 
 dation, I presently found these words also thereon : 
 Violence, Warfare. And upon another part of the 
 rock I found this sentence written : Knowledge 
 without Wisdom. And also : Ever learning, and 
 never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 
 
 While I pondered, desiring to learn the significance 
 of the writing, I saw a great stone having neither 
 form nor comeliness lying near the walls of the man- 
 sion, and being passed and repassed by the builders ; 
 but yet unnoticed by them. Approaching, I saw 
 that it too bore a writing on its surface. Going closer 
 I read: Tlie stone which the builders rejected; Met 
 chosen of God and precious. And in another place 
 on the rough rock these words were written : Love 
 your enemies. And also these : Except the Lord 
 build the house, they labor in vain that build it. 
 
 Marveling greatly, I turned again toward the man- 
 sion to say to the builders : "Sirs, what means it that 
 a stone seeming so unfit for foundation bears such 
 mighty declarations?" but paused, to look at the 
 living stream which from all abroad was pouring in 
 through the many doors of the mansion, rising to 
 every level, and flowing into all apartments. And 
 still the dwellers, standing at the windows, cried 
 aloud: "Come! Take an abode in this mansion; 
 
for it shall stand forever. See ! We have set upon 
 our banners the everlasting stars for an emblem." 
 And looking upward, I saw on towering and un- 
 finished pinnacles the everlasting stars fixed upon 
 many proudly floating banners. 
 
 But suddenly, while I gazed, all upbuilding ceased ; 
 and the inflowing stream of life stopped, turned 
 backward, and came pouring out through the many 
 doors and away from the mansion. And there was 
 a great sound, as of a terrible earthquake. And the 
 mighty foundation yawned asunder ; and the walls of 
 the mansion with their towering pinnacles, and proud 
 banners bearing the eternal stars for an emblem of 
 duration, fell down into the dust. 
 
 But above the thunder of the falling walls ; above 
 the cries of warning and despair — a voice sounded, 
 saying : "Direct us Lord in all our doings with 
 Thy most gracious favor, and further us with Thy 
 continual help; that in all our worlcs begun, con- 
 tinued and ended in Thee, we may glorify Thy holy 
 Name" 
 
A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A TALK ABOUT LIBERTY. 
 
 Bellicose was in a state of excitement on a 
 certain morning, a generation ago. The strange 
 declarations made at the last night's meeting of the 
 debating club, by the talented pastor of Union 
 Tabernacle, had not indeed been totally unheralded ; 
 previous utterances of the gentleman having apprised 
 his neighbors that he could not be counted as one 
 wholly in sympathy with that spirit of ardent patriot- 
 ism for which the place was renowned. But last 
 night, in the heat of argument, he had gone to such 
 remarkable lengths in his attacks upon ideas which 
 Bellicose held sacred, that his hearers had been 
 thrown into an agitation which could not have been 
 greater had the shock been given without any warn- 
 ing. 
 
 And echoes of the speech were not slow in spread- 
 ing outward in widening circles; for the atmosphere of 
 Bellicose was as celebrated for its transmitting quali- 
 ties as it was for the stimulus which it contained 
 
10 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 for the nourishment of patriotism. Tongues were in 
 rapid motion this morning, and reports of the strange 
 sayings were being given with ready unction or with 
 reluctant consent; as love of country or love for the 
 erring pastor predominated in the hearts of the 
 narrators. 
 
 The attendance at the debate, although quite as 
 full as audiences usually were when a speech from 
 the lips of the gifted pastor was expected, would 
 have assumed the proportions of a mass meeting had 
 Bellicose been given beforehand a programme of 
 what was coming. This was the opinion of Mr. 
 Kitto, who served as trustee of Union Tabernacle ; 
 and who also served to townspeople their burning 
 fluid with such unfailing punctuality that it had 
 been said of him by certain witty persons, that he 
 was trusty in more senses than one. 
 
 At this moment, however, Mr. Kitto was in danger 
 of losing his hard-earned reputation for regularity of 
 conduct. Unmindful of the fact that a can which 
 had been placed under the faucet of a certain tank 
 or reservoir in his delivery wagon needed replenish- 
 ing ; and indeed to all appearances u»nconscious of 
 the presence of the wagon itself, behind which he 
 was standing; Mr. Kitto was describing to an atten- 
 tive listener the effect of last night's speech upon the 
 
A TALK ABOUT LIBERTY. 11 
 
 opinion which he had previously formed regarding 
 the character of his pastor. 
 
 "Now I stand," said he in conclusion, <{ just here. 
 I believe that religion and patriotism go hand in 
 hand. I believe that as a man grows in grace he 
 becomes strengthened in love of country. I believe 
 that the more earnest a Christian is, the more ready 
 he is to leap to his country's succor when her liberties 
 are attacked. I have always had doubts of our pas- 
 tor's Christianity as regards patriotism ; and at times 
 I have felt almost called upon to expostulate with 
 him. I wish now that I had done so. What do you 
 think, Spinner, of a man occupying a position as 
 teacher of religion in a country so evidently estab- 
 lished and protected by Divine Providence as is the 
 land that we live in — what do you think of such a man, 
 I ask — standing up and declaring that resistance to 
 tyrants is disobedience to God ? — saying that our in- 
 stitutions were set up in rebellion ; and that there- 
 fore their foundations are in hell ! What do you 
 think of such a man ? For my part, I admit that 
 our pastor has many lovable qualities; but for all 
 that, he will be the cause of dissension in the Church 
 of Christ if he follows his bent any longer. But 
 what do you think of such assertions coming from 
 the lips of a Christian minister, Spinner; and what 
 
12 A TRUE SCW OF LIBERTY. 
 
 ought I to do in the matter, trustee as I am of 
 Union Tabernacle ? " 
 
 Mr. Spinner, postmaster of the town of Bellicose, 
 loved to express his sentiments in a dual capacity. 
 As an appointee of the government of his native 
 land ; equivalent in his mind to being his coun- 
 try's delegate to a perpetual convention — " voicing, 
 in a sense" — a favorite phrase of his, " the senti- 
 ments of the people of these United States." And, 
 also, " as a simple and unpretending citizen ." 
 
 "Well, friend Kitto," he replied, "not being a 
 member of Union Tabernacle, I prefer not to give 
 advice in the matter. As an outsider and a simple 
 and unpretending citizen, I can only deplore the fact 
 that such words have been spoken in our liberty- 
 loving community. But representing as I do, the 
 people of these United States in their official cap- 
 acity, my sympathies naturally reach out from the 
 department which is my station, and attach them- 
 selves to all public affairs. I feel that loyal America 
 coincides with me sir when I say as I do now, that 
 the author of utterances such as those you have just 
 quoted should be severely censured. Liberty " 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Postmaster ! " chimed in a 
 third voice. " What meaning do you attach to that 
 word — liberty?" 
 
A TALK ABOUT LIBERTY. 13 
 
 The speaker, whose approach had been hidden by 
 the wagon, was the man who had just been accounted 
 deserving of reprimand. But by his bearing he 
 disclosed no consciousness of being worthy of con- 
 demnation. Erect in stature, courteous and straight- 
 forward in demeanor — he would have been the last 
 man singled out by a stranger in Bellicose, as one 
 against whom arrows of scorn were about to be 
 darted ; as one upon whom a mantle of reproach was 
 about to fall. 
 
 " Liberty, " said the postmaster, answering the 
 pastor's question, " liberty — well pastor to be frank 
 with you, I say that liberty is something very differ- 
 ent from what you are trying to persuade people it 
 is. Liberty, sir, is what our fathers achieved through 
 the repression of tyranny, and what, sir, their sons 
 will preserve by the repression of treason, if occasion 
 arises ! In a certain sense, sir, I voice the sentiments 
 of the American people in declaring it " 
 
 "Can liberty be attained or maintained," inter- 
 posed the pastor, " by repressing the acts of tyrants 
 or traitors ? I do not believe it. The rebellion of 
 your forefathers did not establish liberty. What it 
 did establish was dominion of certain ideas which the 
 rebels declared to be self-evident truths. This is far 
 from being an establishment of liberty. Let the 
 
14 A TRUE SON" OP LIBERTY. 
 
 people of any part of the land over which the 
 American union claims right of sovereignty, try to 
 establish a dominion of ideas which they declare to 
 be self-evident truths, but which ideas are distasteful 
 to people of the other parts of the land ; and think 
 you that the malcontents will be accorded permission 
 to set up a dominion of their own ideas ?" 
 
 te Pastor," said the postmaster, in grave tones, " I 
 feel that I am, in a sense, voicing the loyalty of my 
 fellow-countrymen, when I say that the epithet which 
 you have just applied to our noble sires of the Revo- 
 lution is well-nigh treasonable. And when I adjure 
 you solemnly, as I do now, to beware of the heresies 
 of John C. Calhoun." 
 
 ' ' Do not misunderstand me," replied the pastor. 
 "I do not use words or arguments as a partisan. 
 The rebellion in which the formation of the American 
 union was begun, was rebellion against God; that 
 thought concerns me chiefly. When your forefathers 
 threw off the yoke of their oppressor, they threw off 
 also that yoke which Jesus spoke of when He said : 
 'Take my yoke upon you and learn of me/ The 
 yoke of obedience to the will of G-od, which Jesus 
 bore without murmur, necessitates submission to in- 
 justice. He told His disciples to pay a tax far more 
 oppressive and galling than that tax which was 
 
A TALK ABOUT LIBERTY. 15 
 
 imposed upon your rebellious forefathers by their 
 earthly sovereign." 
 
 At the time these words were spoken, that intellect- 
 ual awakening which the poet Lowell speaks of as a 
 discovery that "they didn't know everythin' down 
 in Judee," had not touched Bellicose. Testimony 
 drawn from the Bible was unanswerable if it could 
 not be met by other testimony from the same source. 
 Such an answer neither of the pastor's critics was 
 prepared to furnish at the moment. They were per- 
 plexed by his manner of using Scripture, and their 
 minds were restive because of their inability to dissi- 
 pate the cloud which had encroached upon the glory 
 of their forefathers. 
 
 "Liberty I" continued the non-partisan; "it can 
 never be attained or maintained by acts of coercion 
 and violence. Evil-doers may by violence establish 
 conditions which seem to them to be conditions of 
 liberty; but they are deceived. The blessings of 
 liberty are G-od's gifts to those only who are im- 
 plicitly obedient to His laws. Group together the 
 most beneficent of those so-called blessings of liberty 
 which popular historians say that your forefathers 
 secured to themselves and to their posterity ; and 
 what are they when compared with the accompani- 
 ments of true liberty ? Liberty, to be liberty, must 
 
16 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 be full liberty ; and to true liberty is attached ail 
 privileges, even creative power and deathlessness. 
 See this exemplified in the life, miracles and resur* 
 rection of Jesus Christ, the first Son of liberty 
 manifested to an unbelieving world." 
 
 " Have a care, pastor ! Have a care ! * said the 
 warning voice of the trustee. "Jesus Christ was 
 the Son of God." 
 
 "Have not I just said the same thing in other 
 words?" rejoined the pastor. "Is it not written: 
 ' As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are 
 the sons of God ' ? To be a son of liberty, I must 
 become a son of God. The way to become a son of 
 God does not lie through disobedience to the laws of 
 God." 
 
 The auditors were silenced for a moment ; but foi 
 a moment only. That intense desire to separate men 
 from Christ which possesses the soul of every theolo* 
 gian, quickly prompted the trustee to say : 
 
 "You must not, pastor — you must not couple 
 human beings with the Saviour in that irreverent 
 manner. He is God, and men can never do what He 
 has done." 
 
 "It is written," answered the pastor, "that a 
 hundred and forty and four thousand follow the 
 Lamb whithersoever He goeth." 
 
A TALK ABOUT LIBERTY. 17 
 
 ' ' That man's mind is in a queer jumble/' said the 
 postmaster, as the pastor walked away. " What does 
 he mean by mixing up liberty with religion in the 
 way he does ? Seems as though I should never be 
 able to straighten out my ideas again. He'd better 
 make out some sort of new-fangled political Bible, 
 and preach from that. Ours does not appear to suit 
 his mind." 
 
 "Oh, no," responded the trustee; "his call is to 
 revise all history. I've heard him say that history 
 will never be properly written until it contrasts the 
 lives of conquerors and rulers with the life of Christ. 
 But," — after a pause — "we ought to be more sorry 
 for him in his discontent, than angry with him. He 
 seems to have made up his mind that the world is 
 against him, and so goes through life opposing him- 
 self to everybody. He cannot see that he makes 
 antagonists out of friends, and that he is his own worst 
 enemy." 
 
 With the culpability of the man who, while pro- 
 fessing to be taught of Jesus, speaks of the world as 
 though its friendliness should be sought after, these 
 chronicles have nothing to do. They are written to 
 record the things which the blindness of heart out of 
 whose abundance such thoughts flow, prompted men 
 to do to one who believed that the words : u I have 
 
18 A TRUE soar OF liberty. 
 
 chosen you out of the world, therefore the world 
 hateth you ;" were spoken to him. They are written 
 to show the career of a man who, fully believing that 
 he had been chosen out of the world to follow Christ, 
 was diligently searching to find His footsteps, which 
 had been almost wholly covered over by haters of the 
 narrow way of peace. They are written to show 
 the fate of a man who desired above all things to 
 walk in the footsteps of Christ ; to know sorrows, to 
 become acquainted with grief, and to be despised and 
 rejected of men. To show the fate of a man who 
 believed that the servant ought not to be above his 
 master ; and who realized also — none more fully than 
 he — that the same Jesus Christ who had been to the 
 Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolish- 
 ness ; was to the upholders of the American union, 
 meaningless. 
 
 "Kitto," said the postmaster, "I will acknowledge 
 to you confidentially what I would not admit to your 
 pastor, for I think he ought to be reprimanded and 
 warned. I believe he is a good man. I do indeed. 
 I believe that he means well. But I tell you his 
 ideas are confused. He mixes everything together 
 in his head. Now I say, let every tub stand on its 
 own bottom. I keep my patriotism, and my religion, 
 and my business, all separate and apart from each 
 
A TALK ABOUT LIBERTY. 19 
 
 other. When I want to use one or the other, I take it 
 up and use it, and then put it away again where it 
 belongs. I never think of using one for the purpose 
 to which the other is adapted. I would not think of 
 running my business on patriotic principles ; nor my 
 patriotism on religious principles. It would be like 
 trying to build a house on a foundation of sand. It 
 could not stand, sir. It would be a foolish under- 
 taking." 
 
 "Well, brother," rejoined the trustee, "that sort 
 of feeling may do for the unregenerate ; but I cannot 
 say that it answers for me. I try to do everything in 
 the Lord, my brother — everything in the Lord." 
 
 "»>• < »» 
 
20 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 
 
 The pastor had been reading about the persecution 
 of the primitive Christians, and was musing in his 
 chair with his book lying open before him. The 
 thoughts that he had admitted to his mind were not 
 strangers. Their visits had become more and more 
 frequent as he had progressed in that knowledge whose 
 threshold he passed when he learned to contemplate 
 human events from a spiritual plane of observation. 
 With the boldness of privileged friends they had now 
 summoned him to withdraw his attention from the 
 recorded annals before him, and to consider his own 
 prospects. To remember that the noble army of 
 martyrs had not yet been made full. To remember 
 that persecution of believers in Jesus had not ceased 
 because hatred of Christ had departed from the world, 
 but because love of Christ had grown cold in the hearts 
 of His disciples. To remember that the world, which 
 had killed his Master, had continued, through long 
 ages down to the present time, the same wicked world; 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 21 
 
 without variableness or shadow of turning in its great 
 desire to hunt down and kill every lover of Truth who 
 follows Christ openly and fearlessly. To remember 
 that now — in the place where he is dwelling — a land 
 whose citizens boast that they guarantee to men 
 the right to worship God according to the dictates of 
 their own consciences — he who believes in Jesus with 
 his whole heart must be prepared to lose fortune 
 friends and life. 
 
 Sweet counsellors these to the man who has taken 
 up the cross of Christ with glad willingness of spirit. 
 But, oh, how he yearns to hear the whisper of mes- 
 sengers sent to give strength to weak flesh ! Will he 
 hear their voices when the burden of his life has grown 
 hard to be borne? When his time has come to endure 
 the sneers, the scoffs, the contumely of men; the de- 
 nunciations of their teachers; the sentence of unrelent- 
 ing judges learned in human law — will angels strength- 
 en him then? When on all sides earthly voices cry 
 out: " False! false! traitorously and blasphemously 
 false ! he shall die ! " — Then, in that extremity will 
 voices from on high speak to him in tones of strong 
 assurance, saying : "Thou art of the Truth ! Thou 
 canst not die ! " Or, is it a part of some unalterable 
 plan that God's beloved sons must endure even their 
 bitterest agony in a loneliness like that which once 
 
22 A TRUE SCW OF LIBERTY. 
 
 wrung from stiffening lips the cry: "My God! My 
 God ! Why hast Thou forsaken me ?" 
 
 In some lower room of the house a sweet womanly 
 yoice was singing. There seemed to be at times an 
 almost mysterious interaction of the minds of the 
 pastor and his daughter. Frequently, when he was 
 occupied with thoughts that separated him so wholly 
 from his surroundings that he was unconscious of 
 even a desire to speak, she suddenly surprised him 
 with a remark or question strangely touching on the 
 matter of his own thoughts; and at times so oppor- 
 tune as to point to a way out of some difficulty into 
 which he had wandered. It was as though some un- 
 named and unknown medium of thought transmission 
 lay between father and daughter which they at times 
 unconsciously opened and made use of. 
 
 The marvel was occurring again, now. The pastor 
 going down into gloomy depths had unknowingly 
 sent out an appeal for help, which had awakened 
 utterance in his daughter. Back from her, straightway, 
 borne on wings of melody, was coming a response : 
 
 " God shall charge His angel legions 
 Watch and ward o'er thee to keep." 
 
 It pierced through the shadows that surrounded 
 him; and took possession of his heart. " Oh, thou 
 of little faith," it whispered, "wherefore dost thou 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 23 
 
 doubt ? as thy day is so shall thy strength be. Hast 
 thou forgotten the sure word of hope ? He is faithful 
 that promised. Count well the cost, oh, man of God, 
 but fear not. It is enough for thee to know that thou 
 shalt be led through no darker rooms than Christ 
 passed through before. Enough for thee to know 
 that thou shalt endure unto the end. Enough for 
 thee to know that thou, oh, upholder of Truth, shalt 
 not quail before Pilate. Then, cease not to warn 
 men that those things which they believe are realities, 
 and which they set their hearts upon; are but the 
 shadows of death disguised for their delusion. And 
 build thou on Christ ; on Him alone." 
 
 As the music of the singer's voice died away, the 
 sound of other voices was heard and the door of the 
 study was opened from the outside. Rising from his 
 chair with a "good evening, brethren," the pastor wel- 
 comed the incomers, ten or twelve in number, follow- 
 ing the lead of Mr. Kitto, Under the pastor's smile 
 of greeting, there was evidence of surprise ; an ex- 
 pression of countenance which doubtless was consid- 
 ered suitable for the occasion by the trustee; who, 
 while hands were being shaken, opened the interview 
 in this manner : 
 
 "I foretold that you would be astonished, pastor, at 
 our calling on you in this fashion; but brother Wilbur's 
 
24 A TRUE SOK OF LIBERTY. 
 
 opinion was that the matter is of such importance 
 that it ought not to be postponed until next business 
 meeting. So all of us deacons and trustees deter- 
 mined to call on you in a body." 
 
 Brother Wilbur said nothing at this juncture either 
 byway of corroboration or approval; thinking perhaps, 
 that the powers of his associate were competent to set 
 forth the views of two trustees of Union Tabernacle. 
 
 "I coincide with Wilbur in his belief, pastor," — con- 
 tinued the spokesman. e 'It is of the greatest import- 
 ance — Deacon Tristam here, and all the other deacons 
 and trustees uphold us also — it is of the greatest im- 
 portance — the very greatest — that you should set 
 yourself straight before Bellicose in regard to the 
 strange things that you said the night of the debate. 
 For they were strange, pastor; very strange; and 
 people are saying ugly things about you. Now sir, 
 we have called on you as friends. We call on you in 
 your own interest, and in the interest of Union Tab- 
 ernacle. We call on you to ask you to authorize us 
 to make some statement for you that will take the 
 rough edge, so to speak — off of your words; and 
 make them harmonize with the patriotic sentiments 
 of Bellicose." 
 
 "Or else, pastor" — joined in Mr. Tristam, senior 
 deacon of Union Tabernacle ; evidently thinking 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 25 
 
 that his pastor could not easily be persuaded into 
 helping on a maneuver of policy ; " or else, pastor, 
 you just promise to say nothing at all. Let us 
 explain things to everybody. We will fix things up 
 for you. We will say that the orator like the poet is 
 entitled to special license ; that he ought not to be 
 taken literally to mean exactly what he says. If that 
 does not suffice, we are prepared to go further in 
 your behalf. We will say to whom it may concern 
 that all the enlightened world knows, and that they 
 too ought to know that a man should never be called 
 to account for what he says in debate before a parlia- 
 mentary body. We will do this for you, as I say — 
 provided that you will agree to drop the subject 
 entirelv. That is the main thing ; we are united and 
 firm in regard to that. We can probably open a way for 
 you out of your trouble ; but you must help a us by not 
 opening your mouth hereafter on forbidden subjects." 
 "Yes, pastor" — interposed Mr. Kitto, putting 
 himself forward again — "we insist on that ; as Tristam 
 says. You have got yourself in trouble, and we stand 
 ready to get you out ; but you must keep out here- 
 after. You must now begin to do as we do; and 
 make friends of your neighbors. Behold how good 
 and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together 
 in unity ! A prudent man foreseeth the evil and 
 
26 A TRUE SO]* OF LIBERTY. 
 
 hideth himself. He does not antagonize the men 
 and women who make np his own community. He 
 knows that if he is to get along at all it must be by 
 their aid ; so he acts accordingly." 
 
 Admirable advice, Mr. Kitto ! Admirable advice 
 to give a man who aims at what the world calls 
 success. But it has no weight with him who is laying 
 plans to be hated above all men for Christ's sake. 
 
 " We are willing to view your past conduct, sir," 
 continued the trustee — " in the most favorable light. 
 Let us say that you love to speculate in abstruse 
 theories. Now speculation may be a fine thing for 
 some regions ; but it is not what people want here in 
 Bellicose. We want religion. We are a practical 
 people, sir ; and we must have practical religion." 
 
 "Brethren," answered the pastor — "you remember 
 who it was that said : e No man having put his hand 
 to the plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom 
 of God.' I must not falter. I must speak out my 
 convictions. They are founded on knowledge which 
 is higher than that which is regarded as ultimate in 
 Bellicose. I hear people all around me ; people who 
 are in bondage — boasting of liberty. I, who have 
 looked into the perfect law of liberty must preach 
 that law to them. This is my religion, brethren ; my 
 practical religion." 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 27 
 
 The voice in the lower room began singing again. 
 Its sweet tones seemed to attract a momentary atten- 
 tion from the little group whose minds had been fixed 
 on the pastor ; while on his heart the words : 
 
 Jesus, I my cross have taken ; 
 
 All to leave and follow Thee — 
 
 fell with all the refreshing influence of a timely utter- 
 ance of heartfelt sympathy. 
 
 "The long pull and the strong pull is when all 
 pull together." The senior deacon was speaking 
 again. "If you do not confine yourself to the 
 legitimate labors of your charge, pastor, we fear that 
 you will do much harm in our community. Neither 
 will the ill be unf elt by you . We are your friends, 
 sir, and we warn you kindly. Many patriotic hearts 
 have been shocked by the words and terms that you have 
 been coupling with memories which they hold sacred." 
 
 " Brethren, how can I do otherwise than speak my 
 honest convictions ? I have learned to call earthly 
 things by the names that are given to them in the 
 Kingdom of heaven. Hearts that are anchored to 
 delusions must inevitably quail in the time of an onset 
 of realities. I wish to awaken in the hearts of my 
 people a yearning to rise into an atmosphere where 
 they can see the things of this world in their true 
 proportions." 
 
28 A TRUE SOtf OF LIBERTY. 
 
 ' ' But/' expostulated Mr. Kitto ; " the very charge 
 that is laid at your door is that you are not leading 
 people toward heaven. You should try to spread an 
 atmosphere of love about you ; and thus make earth 
 like heaven. You are not making happiness. Your 
 influence is disquieting. You are arousing antagon- 
 ism. You are casting stumbling-blocks in the path 
 of wayfaring pilgrims. You are becoming unpopular, 
 sir. Do you not care for your character ? Have you 
 no regard for public opinion ? " 
 
 " Brethren, I am a follower of Him who made 
 Himself of no reputation. I care for public opinion, 
 only when it is made up of belief in the Word of God." 
 
 Those words oh pastor, seal thy doom. The men 
 before thee are the makers of public opinion in Belli- 
 cose ; and are bitterly opposed to the "Word of God. 
 And when times are ripe, public opinion will demand 
 thy homage or thy life. There is no release from 
 this alternative anywhere in this present evil world. 
 Bow down ye lovers of Truth — before public opinion ; 
 or at its mandate ye shall be slain ; even as He was 
 whose death warrant was sealed when the multitude 
 cried out at the instigation of their manipulators : 
 " Away with Him ! Crucify Him ! " 
 
 " Pastor/' interposed Deacon Tristam — " the pur- 
 pose of this visit of ours is a double one. We are 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 29 
 
 come to implore you not to persist in closing up the 
 channel of sympathies that exists between yourself 
 and our people. We wish to sefc up a beacon, as it 
 were ; to warn you not to drift out of the safe 
 channel." 
 
 The deacon, at an earlier period of his life had had 
 seafaring associations ; and had picked up words and 
 ideas which he frequently wove into his conversation ; 
 and not infrequently mixed in his metaphor. 
 
 " Since yon. have been among us," he continued, 
 "we have learned to look upon you as a man of 
 singular views ; of many singular views. Strange 
 things have you said from time to time about the 
 ties that bind human beings together ; and regarding 
 the institutions which mankind cherish. Be content 
 with oddity, sir. Have nothing to do with sacrilege. 
 Leave unmolested, we beseech you, the names that 
 we have learned to love while bending o'er history's 
 hallowed page." 
 
 The pastor, being above the plane of existence 
 occupied by the supporters of Union Tabernacle had 
 always been somewhat of a mystery to them ; and it 
 was no new thing for his words to be misconstrued in 
 Bellicose. Once, when he said that where people 
 love their neighbors as themselves family lines are 
 obliterated ; his hearers declared that he had spoken 
 
30 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 against the holy estate of matrimony. Again, when 
 he said that a republic does not help a man to live 
 for the glory of God any more than a monarchy does ; 
 his hearers called him an aristocrat and a tory ; and 
 said that he was an unaccountably strange man. 
 And they thought him very queer indeed when he 
 told them a certain parable or story, which he said he 
 made use of to contrast Christ's plan for the forgive- 
 ness of sins, with the ideas of modern Christians ; 
 and also to point out how natural relationships 
 might be made to serve a higher purpose than the 
 corruption of children. 
 
 "The other reason of our visit is to ask," continued 
 the senior deacon — "why you, sir — a natural born 
 citizen of our republic of freedom, are so hostile to 
 principles which every liberty loving man reverences." 
 
 "It is true my friends," answered the pastor — 
 Every question that was being put to him, was so 
 evidently endorsed by all his visitors that he invari- 
 ably made his replies to the group and not to individual 
 questioners. " It is true that my natural birth made 
 me a citizen of a so-called land of freedom. But my 
 spiritual birth absolved me from that citizenship, 
 and gave me an inheritance in the true land of free- 
 dom ; that land whose inhabitants are free from the 
 bondage of sin." 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 31 
 
 Again the voice was singing. The words : 
 
 "Where loyal hearts and true stand ever in the light ; 
 
 All rapture through and through in God's most holy sight — 
 
 surely a marvelous sympathy of thought had sug- 
 gested them ! 
 
 "Yes," continued the speaker — aglow with 
 spiritual thoughts — " I am of the light and of the 
 day. I am a new man in Christ Jesus ; and hate the 
 things that once I loved. I have renounced all 
 allegiance to the land that claims you for citizens ; 
 for she sits in darkness. I would that your ears were 
 open to the cry : ' Come out of her, oh my people ! ' 
 She is a daughter of hell. Her mission is to wear 
 out the patience of the saints of God. They who are 
 risen with Christ can have no part in her. She is 
 determined that Jesus shall never reign upon the 
 earth. Her name in the spiritual tongue is Sodom 
 and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified." 
 
 The perplexity in the minds of the little group had 
 deepened into mystification. The dissatisfaction in 
 their hearts was hardening into anger. Here was a 
 man from whom they had hoped to draw tokens of 
 repentance, talking to them as if they had never 
 separated themselves from the gall of bitterness and 
 the bond of iniquity. Talking thus to men — each 
 and every one of whom could name the year, month, 
 
32 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 day, hour, and minute of his conversion. Here was 
 a man to whom they had come to offer instruction, 
 as to one possessing at least some perceptions of 
 patriotism, holding them silent while he forced upon 
 them a foul mess of treason garnished with religious 
 phrases to give it a seductive appearance . Here was 
 a man deliberately renouncing and spurning a citizen- 
 ship that men all over the world long and struggle to 
 obtain. Here was a man talking about the new birth 
 as though it was a breaking away from allegiance to 
 civil government. And the man was speaking as 
 though he really believed what he said ! 
 
 Had these hearers been living in environments like 
 those which closed in around their posterity in after 
 years, they would not have hesitated to term their 
 pastor's confession of loyalty to Christ a statement of 
 " views." Nor to attach to the speaker some name 
 invented by purveyors of slang phrases for mean 
 creatures to use when speaking of brave souls ; nor to 
 say that he was showing symptoms of brain softening. 
 But being as they were, intimations of the invulnera- 
 bility of his logic seemed to pierce through their 
 resentment and their bewilderment. They seemed to 
 see dimly that they were confronted by a type of true 
 manhood. Because they were living a generation 
 ago — in a community where the belief that man's 
 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 33 
 
 estate has very little to do with the stature of Christ 
 had not been wholly accepted as infallible. Because 
 they were living a generation ago — in a community 
 where the loyal expectation of the church visible 
 had not wholly died. Because they were living 
 a generation ago — in a community where those 
 manifestations of the children of Satan which men 
 speak of as the achievements of human progress, had 
 not grown alluring enough to be fully endorsed by all 
 those who call themselves Christians, as a satisfactory 
 substitute for the manifestation of the sons of God. 
 
 Mr. Kitto, who had by this time collected some 
 ideas ; and who believed that the true way to use a 
 belief is to air it ; opened his mouth at his pastor again : 
 
 "Are not your ideas somewhat confused sir? 
 Liberty is of different sorts; that is to say, civil 
 liberty is one thing; and religious liberty another. 
 Our institutions guarantee to our citizens both civil 
 and religious liberty. They give to men the privi- 
 lege of governing themselves ; and also the privilege 
 of worshiping God according to the dictates of their 
 consciences." 
 
 "Men cannot govern themselves/' answered the 
 pastor, u nor can human laws give them such power. 
 Men, in their moral acts and utterances are governed 
 either by God or by Satan. They are impelled either 
 
34 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 by good or by evil desires. Where men are moved in 
 any degree by Satan, there is bondage. Where men 
 are moved wholly by God, there is liberty. Nowhere 
 do civil powers permit men to worship their Heavenly 
 Father in spirit and in truth ; to worship the Lord 
 in the beanty of holiness — to be followers of Christ — 
 to love their enemies. Civil powers everywhere 
 assert a right to compel men to kill their enemies. 
 
 "Men may fancy that human laws can confer 
 liberty ; bnt they are deceived. Liberty is a gift of 
 God, vouchsafed only to beings who are qualified to 
 receive it ; beings who are prepared to act solely for 
 the glory of God. The very language of men who 
 talk of achieving liberty for themselves shows that 
 they are in bondage to Satan. Behold a verification 
 of this in the promulgation of intentions published 
 by your forefathers. In what they called their 
 e declaration of independence ' read their confession 
 of submission to the devil. ' All men/ so runs their 
 assertion e are endowed by their Creator with certain 
 rights ; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit 
 of happiness/ The Word of God shows clearly that 
 life is not a right of man ; but that his present exist- 
 ence is an opportunity for him to begin to glorify 
 God. The Word of God reveals that liberty is free- 
 dom from sin. To talk of freedom from sin as being a 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 35 
 
 natural right of man is to talk foolish babbling ; as 
 you, brethren, will readily admit. And instead of 
 teaching that men have a right to the pursuit of 
 happiness, the "Word of God says plainly to man that 
 it is his duty to follow Jesus Christ at all cost and 
 hazard." 
 
 x< Well, pastor" — said the trustee — "Andrew Jack- 
 son has been credited with knowing something about 
 patriotism ; and something about religion too. I do 
 not suppose however that you will admit that he knew 
 what he was talking about, when at his dying hour 
 he summed up his life's belief by laying his hand on 
 the Bible and saying: ( That is the rock on which our 
 nation rests/ " 
 
 " He certainly talked vaguely," answered the pas- 
 tor ; " but to my mind he was not so misguided as 
 was George Washington when he, red-handed with 
 the blood of his fellow-men, partook of the Lord's 
 supper ; believing himself to be at his Master's table. 
 He who believes in the Word of God knows that an 
 unrepentant slayer of his foes cannot hold communion 
 with Him who said : 'Love your enemies.'" 
 
 The visitors had started to their feet on hearing 
 these words. " Pastor, this venting of spleen is 
 mere bluster ! " The voice of the trustee was 
 sounding again ; and in tones angry and loud. " It 
 
36 A TRUE SOK OF LIBERTY. 
 
 cannot be that you are seriously trying to sow treason 
 and infidelity in our hearts. 'Twould be in vain sir 
 to try it. We are far too well enlightened. You 
 cannot possibly construe that command of our blessed 
 Saviour which you have just quoted, into a denial of 
 the right of free men to take up arms in defense of 
 their country. When Christ spoke of enemies He 
 meant our own enemies ; he did not mean the ene- 
 mies of our country." This in one breath ; and in the 
 next : " To fight for our country and for our flag is 
 to fight for our hearthstones and for our families, sir. 
 And you denounce such men ! You scoff at the 
 virtue of : 
 
 — the brave, who sink to rest, 
 By all their country's wishes blessed. 
 
 "You, a preacher of Christianity! You who 
 ought to be the very first to stand up for the good, 
 the noble and the true — heap infamy on memories 
 that men hold most precious ! You, alone of all the 
 world ! On earth below and in heaven above they 
 who fall defending their hearthstones are accounted 
 Christian martyrs : 
 
 By angel hands their knell is rung : 
 By forms unseen their dirge is sung ; 
 There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
 To bless the turf that wraps their clay. 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 37 
 
 " Where is the man ; aye, where is the Christian 
 who would not do battle for his home ! What, sir, 
 would you say, if to-morrow the defenders of freedom 
 should be called to arms; and if you should see orthodox 
 Christians falling into line, and marching away 
 rank after rank ? — as they certainly would in such a 
 crisis ; and members of Union Tabernacle not in the 
 rear, either/' 
 
 "There would be no need forme to say anything, " 
 replied the pastor. "Your own Bible has already 
 spoken in regard to men who band themselves 
 together in such a manner : ' Though hand join in 
 hand the wicked shall not be unpunished/ " 
 
 " Woe unto them that call evil good ; and good 
 «vil ! Have you never read words like these in the 
 Bible, pastor ? Union Tabernacle, sir, is of the 
 Church militant. Its congregation is composed, of 
 Christians who are the descendants of fighters. " 
 That stanch champion of his forefathers, Mr. Kitto, 
 was speaking again. " The descendants of fighters, 
 sir, who bequeathed to their children this watchword : 
 The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." 
 
 "The fathers have eaten a sour grape," said 
 the pastor — " and the children's teeth are set 
 on edge. The congregation of Union Tabernacle 
 would find it hard to reconcile their motto with 
 
38 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Truth ; for the Word of God reveals that the price of 
 liberty is everlasting love." 
 
 The champion of his forefathers was not yet done. 
 "If you mean to say, pastor, that when the heroes of 
 seventy six took up arms to resist oppression they did 
 not do their duty as Christian men ; that acts such 
 as theirs are not fully approved by Almighty God — 
 you not only confess total inability to comprehend the 
 mystery of godliness ; but also woful ignorance of 
 your own Bible. Over and over again that Book 
 speaks of occasions when God commanded His people 
 to smite their oppressors ; to slay them ; yea to 
 spare them not. Art thou a master in Israel and 
 knowest not these things ! Time and time again, the 
 Bible says that when such commands were obeyed ; 
 when God's own chosen people put their enemies to 
 the sword — men, women and children — He was well 
 pleased and gave signal tokens of approval. Well 
 did the children of Israel know that Jehovah Him- 
 self led them against their foes. Immediately after 
 they had slain twelve thousand of their enemies and 
 had burned their city, Joshua built an altar unto the 
 Lord God—" 
 
 " Which," interposed the pastor, "maybe a grand 
 precedent for preaching the doctrines of Satan 
 in a pulpit consecrated to the preaching of the 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 39 
 
 Word of God ; but I am not doing that kind 
 of preaching." 
 
 " Preach this, pastor" — said Deacon Tristam — 
 " for it is what we all love to hear : America, and the 
 Bible ; one and inseparable ! To attack one is to 
 attack the other." 
 
 " Amen " — said the pastor — " with all my heart, 
 amen ! Brethren " — he continued, searching earn- 
 estly the eyes of one and another of the little group 
 that surrounded him — " what dojrou understand me 
 to mean when I speak of the Word of God ? " 
 
 " Why, the Bible, of course ! The Bible ! " broke 
 forth from many lips. " The Holy Bible ! The 
 Old and New Testament, comprising the sacred 
 Scriptures ! " 
 
 " Yes " — sighed the pastor, " I thought that you 
 misunderstood me. When I speak of the Word of 
 God I speak of that Word which was made flesh and 
 dwelt among men. I speak of that Word which is 
 full of Truth. I speak of that Word which is 
 Truth." 
 
 O Word of God Incarnate 
 O Wisdom from on high — 
 
 sang the singer. Once again the close correspondence 
 between the burden of the hymn and the burden of 
 the speaker's utterance was lost to all save one. 
 
40 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Once again the sweet tones of the singer's voice 
 seemed to attract a moment's notice from the little 
 group in the pastor's study ; but once again attention 
 was too strongly bound to the speaker, to wander. 
 
 "Must we understand you to say, pastor" — 
 inquired the trustee ; ' ' must we understand you to say 
 sir, that it is your intention to put yourself still 
 further at variance with Christian believers ? Must 
 we understand you to say that you are determined to 
 make the gulf that lies between yourself and them as 
 deep and as wide as possible ? Surely it cannot be 
 that you deliberately choose to cut yourself altogether 
 away from hope. Surely you will think long and 
 well before you let the infidelity that has taken hold 
 of you drag you into apostasy. Surely you will not 
 turn your back upon the Bible. Surely you will 
 recall what you have said. Surely you believe the 
 sacred Scriptures ? " 
 
 "I believe in Jesus," said the pastor. "In 
 believing in Jesus I believe in the Word of God." 
 
 Hark to the response ! The singer is translating 
 the pastor's majestic and matchless creed into a hymn 
 of praise : 
 
 Thou oh Christ art all I want — 
 she sings. And the pastor feeling that his soul is 
 imbued with excelling strength continues . 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 41 
 
 " The Bible contains both genuine Scriptures and 
 spurious writings. In separating the Scriptures of 
 the Bible from the false records, I am guided 
 by that test which Jesus gave to His disciples 
 for the discernment of Scriptures: 'They are they 
 which testify of me.' Brought to this test, every 
 part of the Bible which says that God has com- 
 manded men to kill their enemies, or that God 
 approves of such an act, must be rejected. It is not 
 Scripture. Such passages do not testify of Christ ; 
 they contradict Him. The commandment which 
 Christ brought from God to men in regard to enemies, 
 is : 'Love your enemies/ Search the Scriptures well, 
 my brethren. They are they which testify of Jesus." 
 
 1 { In behalf of the congregation of Union Taber- 
 nacle, pastor" — said the trustee — " and that congre- 
 gation will, I doubt not, bear me out in what I now 
 say ; I declare to you that if your friends were not 
 willing to remain quiescent under your atrocious 
 assault upon the palladium of our liberties, far less 
 are they ready to join with you in undermining the 
 corner stone of our religious faith. Sir, I can. prove 
 to you that you are ridiculously unfit to be a leader of 
 thought in Bellicose ; or any place where orthodox 
 Christian believers assemble themselves together 
 Prophets, priests and kings of the old dispensation — 
 
42 A TRUE SCW OF LIBERTY. 
 
 did they not all testify of Christ ? Sir, you are as 
 weak in religious knowledge as you are foolish in 
 political argument." 
 
 "I am thinking of a prophet who did not bear 
 witness of Christ," remarked the pastor — passing over 
 the attack without notice ; " that prophet who cursed 
 little children. Christ blessed little children, saying: 
 ' of such is the kingdom of heaven. ' But there is no 
 need for me to condemn the witnesses that you have 
 fastened your faith to. Jesus grouped them all to- 
 gether, and said : 'All that ever came before me are 
 thieves and robbers/" 
 
 "Brethren," said the trustee, turning to his asso- 
 ciates — and holding up his left hand before them 
 with its fingers spread wide open, " I believe that the 
 results of this Christian effort to convert a brother 
 from the error of his ways may be summed up thus" — 
 with the forefinger of his right hand telling off on the 
 extended fingers of his left hand, one by one, his 
 " results" as he named them. " We have heard the 
 honored patriot Andrew Jackson sneered at as an im- 
 becile. We have heard the Father of his Country 
 denounced as a murderer. We have heard our beloved 
 native land called a daughter of hell. We have heard 
 our precious Bible called a pack of lies. And we have 
 heard those men of old who spake as they were moved 
 
THE PASTOR UTTERS MORE HERESY. 43 
 
 by the Holy Ghost, called a set of thieves and robbers. 
 Brethren — in my opinion we ought now to abandon 
 this effort and say good-bye to our pastor/' 
 
 Then they left him and went out into the night. 
 Turning their backs on the Light of the world, they 
 went forth into darkness, with a light within them 
 that was darkness blacker than any darkness that had 
 ever descended upon the earth on any night in any 
 year of its long gloomy history. A darkness which 
 their souls delighted in. A darkness which they with 
 their whole hearts had sought after; and which they 
 prayed that they might never be delivered from. A 
 darkness which they loved to sink down deep into; 
 and to wrap close around them while they recalled 
 and gloated over evil deeds that had been done 
 within its shelter. A darkness which they loved to 
 steep their eyes in; so that leading each other down 
 new by-ways of unrighteousness they might stumble 
 and fall headlong into a foul ditch of iniquity. 
 
44: A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE OUTCAST. 
 
 This is the story which the pastor told to his people, 
 for the purpose of contrasting Christ's plan for the 
 forgiveness of sins with the ideas of modern Christ- 
 ians; and to show that the family circle ought to be 
 made to serve a higher purpose than the corruption 
 of children. 
 
 The dwelling of a kindly man whose latch-string 
 always hung on the outside of his door, was entered 
 one day by a company of his kindred. 
 
 "We are come — oh kindly man/' said the kindred — 
 " to partake of your hospitality; and to recompense 
 you therefor by putting vapid and noxious droppings 
 into the ears of your children ." 
 
 ft Being altogether willing to give you happiness/' 
 replied the kindly man, "I cannot turn you away 
 unsatisfied ; therefore I will ask the housewife to set 
 forth good cheer until you take your departure ; 
 promising myself meanwhile, that when I have re- 
 gained possession of the ears of my children I will 
 
THE STORY OF THE OUTCAST. 45 
 
 pour therein a wholesome antidote ; hoping that it 
 will nullify your vapid and poisonous droppings before 
 they have obtained permanent lodgment; " 
 
 So the kindred sat at the board of the kindly man, 
 and began to partake of his hospitality and good cheer; 
 and to recompense him therefor by dropping vapid 
 and noxious sayings into the ears of his children. 
 While the entertainment was progressing, the door 
 was again opened and an outcast entered, addressing 
 the host in these words : 
 
 " The sight of a latch-string hanging on the outside 
 of your door, oh kindly man, emboldened me to enter. 
 I crave a morsel of food from you, for I am very 
 hungry. " 
 
 " Welcome, most heartily, friend ! " exclaimed the 
 kindly man, going to the newcomer and clasping his 
 hand. Then leading the way to the board, the host 
 prepared a place for the outcast and seated him among 
 the kindred. But they, drawing away as far as possi- 
 ble, with intense disgust showing on their faces, 
 began to grumble and to say: 
 
 11 It would be far more fitting to give this man a 
 crust of bread in some corner. Why is his ill-smell- 
 ing person thrust upon us in this manner?" 
 
 si In order," replied the kindly man, "that I may 
 bring to his mind the memory of by-gone happy days, 
 
46 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 when comforts like these were his own. Or, in order, 
 if such days were never known to him, to put into 
 his mind a desire to be the possessor of pleasant 
 surroundings. In either case, to sow in his heart 
 the seeds of hope and manly resolution/' 
 
 ' ' If fortune were his, does he not deserve the con- 
 comitants of beggary, oh kindly man, for having 
 descended into it? If he has always been an outcast 
 is he not accustomed to his lot; and is it any hard- 
 ship to him? Your attentions to him are as silly, as 
 they are to us odious and galling. " 
 
 " Consider," answered the kindly man, " the 
 odium and gall that have been dealt out to this un- 
 fortunate one; and help me to ameliorate his condi- 
 tion by offering him, freely, welcome and cheer that 
 may soften his heart." 
 
 Here the outcast, who had been ravenously devour- 
 ing everything within his reach, took umbrage at 
 some arrangement of the viands, and began to curse 
 and swear in a manner most startling and horrifying. 
 The kindly man immediately sent his children out of 
 the room, shutting the door behind them. 
 
 ' l Why do you turn out your own children, oh kindly 
 man ! " exclaimed the kindred in united voice. "Why 
 do you turn them out and persist in harboring this 
 outcast ? Why is it, unnatural one, that you prefer 
 
THE STOBY OF THE OUTCAST. 47 
 
 the companionship of this vile creature to that of your 
 own flesh and blood ? " 
 
 "My children are ever with me," answered the 
 kindly man, "and the peaceful influences of a happy 
 home are always theirs ; but this may be the only 
 chance that I shall ever have to save this unhappy 
 creature from a fate to which he is hastening. There- 
 fore, for the moment I sacrifice my own comfort and 
 that of my children; hoping that I may be able to 
 exert a softening influence on the heart of this out- 
 cast. Perhaps he was the child of a parent whose 
 antidotes were not powerful enough to resist the 
 poison instilled in the minds of his offspring by a 
 faithless kindred." 
 
 At this the kindred cried out angrily: "We were 
 glad to partake of your good cheer, oh kindly man, 
 but our gorge rises up against your sentiments! v 
 Then they strode out through the door. 
 
 Hardly had they departed, when the outcast rose up 
 murderously against the kindly man; and leaving 
 him for dead on the floor, made spoils of whatever 
 valuables he could conceal about his person, and 
 slipped softly from the house. 
 
 But the outcries of the housewife alarmed the 
 neighbors, who arresting the flight of the assassin, 
 brought him back again and into the presence of the 
 
48 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 kindly man, who by this time had managed to 
 
 crawl to his bed, where he lay a bloody and pitiable 
 
 spectacle. 
 
 • "Have you anything to say to this miserable 
 
 wretch" — asked the neighbors — "in regard to the 
 
 enormity of his crime?" 
 
 " Friends," said the kindly man, in the loudest 
 whisper he could summon, " I commit this unfor- 
 tunate man to your care. Surround him with eleva- 
 ting influences; and lift him to a height that will 
 enable him to view his conduct in a new light, and 
 that will make a different sort of man out of him." 
 
 " That is what we are about to do, oh kindly 
 man " — answered the neighbors. " The elevating 
 influences are at hand" — slipping a rope over the head 
 of the outcast. "After he has been lifted up by our 
 hands he will be quiet and inoffensive — a very differ- 
 ent man from what he has been hitherto." 
 
 But the kindly man was horrified. u Do not take 
 the poor fellow's life," he pleaded; still speaking in 
 hoarse whispers. " I bear him no ill will. Let us 
 reason about the matter. He is not wholly respon- 
 sible for his acts. Eegard him as a victim of harm- 
 ful surroundings. Whatever has been his previous 
 condition, is it not true that he has been brought to 
 this present pas?;, not by real choice on his part — but 
 
THE STORY OF THE OUTCAST. 49 
 
 by the working together on him of all the bad 
 influences by which he has been surrounded ? His 
 bloody deed is in reality the essence of all the evil 
 words and acts that have been uttered and done 
 within the apprehension of his consciousness, burst- 
 ing through a resolution and finding an outlet 
 through a nature, that have been weakened and 
 warped by improper training." 
 
 (i While you are theorizing, oh kindly man," said 
 the neighbors — "we will act the part of practical 
 men." Then they led the outcast forth and hanged 
 him on a tree by the door. 
 
 ' ' Nevertheless " — sighed the kindly man, as looking 
 through the window from where he lay on the bed, he saw 
 the body swinging in the wind — "that is not the way 
 to reclaim an outcast; nor is it a step towards destroy- 
 ing influences that are impelling unfortunate human 
 beings away from paths of righteousness and peace." 
 
 The pastor told his hearers that the story showed 
 in allegory, the yearning of their Heavenly Father, 
 for the reclamation of wanderers. That as the door 
 of the kindly man invited outsiders to enter and par- 
 take of hospitality and good cheer; so too does the 
 door of the kingdom of heaven say to everybody: 
 "Knock and it shall be opened unto you." That as 
 
50 A TRUE SON* OF LIBERTY. 
 
 the kindly man told his guests to receive the outcast 
 among their number; so does .the Heavenly Father 
 bid dwellers in His mansions show forth the univer- 
 sal brotherhood of man. That as the kindly man 
 sacrificed temporarily the comfort of his own family 
 in behalf of the outcast; so does the Heavenly Father 
 subordinate the present well-being of His own house- 
 hold to the reclamation of those who are astray — 
 saying to His people : " Do good to them that hate 
 
 you." 
 
 The pastor also called attention to the enormity of 
 the ingratitude of the kindred; who while partaking 
 greedily of the hospitality of the kindly man, hated 
 and scouted his utterances. He likened this to the 
 conduct of men who while professing to be of God's 
 family, and while being blessed by His loving kind- 
 ness and bounty, ignore the laws which He has given 
 them. "But," asked the hearers, "how does the 
 story show that modern Christians are ignorant in 
 regard to the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins?''' 
 
 "We obtain pardon for our sins/' replied the 
 pastor, " when we forgive those who sin against us. 
 ' If ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will 
 your Father forgive your trespasses/ Do modern 
 Christians strive in the right way to obtain pardon 
 for their sins? Do they freely forgive those who 
 
THE STORY OF THE OUTCAST. 51 
 
 trespass against them, as the kindly man forgave the 
 outcast ; or do they, like the neighbors in the story, 
 believe in a code which rewards robbery and murder 
 with imprisonment and death? In dealing with 
 wrong doers, are modern Christians actuated by the 
 promptings of mercy — or do they demand eye for eye 
 and tooth for tooth? Do they seek to overpower 
 transgressors with love, or do they wield against 
 them the arm of law?" 
 
 To the listeners, these questions did not seem so 
 thoroughly meaningless — so utterly absurd, as such 
 questions seem to their descendants who are living 
 to-day. For a generation ago, the faith of professing 
 Christians had not been wholly separated from the 
 principles of Him who loved not His own life; had 
 not been wholly attached to the first law of human 
 nature. Self -protection was not to them Alpha and 
 Omega; and self-sacrifice even on lines like those 
 chosen by the kindly man was not wholly unknown. 
 
 Still it cannot be otherwise, than that men who 
 believe that G-od wants them to slay their enemies, 
 are men who can be taught that it is right to deal 
 violently with offenders who are of their own com- 
 munity; and the leaven of Mammon was competent 
 to work out a showing of this in Bellicose. It was 
 only needed that means of transit should be run out 
 
52 A TRUE SOK OF LIBERTY. 
 
 to the uttermost parts of the earth; and should draw 
 in from thence a population that would transform a 
 little settlement where men held intercourse with 
 each other almost as members of one family, into a 
 great metropolis where men would be separated into 
 clusters and classes ; and where the dealings of each 
 with his fellow-men outside of his own circle, would 
 suggest to an onlooker any thought rather than: 
 11 All ye are brethren." It was only needed that the 
 supporters of Union Tabernacle should see in this 
 influx of men, a widening of opportunity to roll up 
 treasures on earth; and should make it their chief 
 purpose to establish relations with their neighbors 
 with that end in view. It was only needed that 
 mighty agents with all-comprehensive arms should 
 gather up the thoughts that grow out of and are affil- 
 iated to such commerce of men with each other — 
 spread them out in Bellicose, and offer them to the sup- 
 porters of Union Tabernacle for a practical bread of 
 life. It was only needed that sons born of men 
 nourished on the maxims that belong to the phil- 
 osophy of "social progress" should reach maturity. 
 These changes only were needed to sink Union Tab- 
 ernacle of Bellicose down to the place that it occupies 
 to-day. Down to the level that men are on whose 
 hearts are set upon the gathering of riches, and 
 
THE STORY OF THE OUTCAST. 53 
 
 infidel as to belief in the brotherhood of man. 
 Down to the level that men are on, to whom the 
 Word of God is made meaningless by the substitution 
 in their minds of human plans of social reform, for 
 God's plan of individual regeneration. Down to the 
 level that men are on who are wholly unable to 
 detect any inconsistency whatever in the creed : We 
 believe in Jesus Christ, and in punishing those who 
 trespass against us. 
 
 Where is the professing Christian to-day, who 
 would refuse for Christ's sake to act as a jury-man? 
 Yet how dare men who feel that they are sinners in 
 the sight of God, take part in the condemnation of 
 other wrong doers ! The sincere believer in Jesus 
 knows that only a jury made up of sinless beings, has 
 any right to make an accusation of guilt against 
 transgressors. "But for divine grace," says he; 
 " but for restraining thoughts which have been im- 
 planted in me, I would have done all that the worst 
 person on earth has done. I, who in my heart have 
 been guilty of every evil deed, have been rewarded 
 with loving kindness. Mercies and forgiveness I 
 have freely received ; therefore I shall freely 
 forgive." 
 
 Then thunders the voice of public opinion : "Per- 
 sonally you have nothing to do with the prisoner at 
 
54 A TKUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 the bar! You are summoned as a member of society, 
 to perform a duty which has been imposed on you by 
 the people. The dignity and welfare of the community 
 are committed to your care. If you refuse to act 
 the part assigned to you by popular mandate, you 
 undermine the bulwarks which society has built for 
 its protection; and" — numbering the disciple among 
 transgressors as his Master was numbered before 
 him — ' ' you are an accomplice of criminals. If every- 
 body should take such a stand as you are trying to 
 take, what would there be to offer resistance to vio- 
 lence and crime! What could save society from 
 wreck and ruin! " 
 
 " I care nothing for the will of the people," replies 
 the believer in Jesus, "when it goes counter to the 
 will of G-od. I have no part nor lot in that which you 
 call society. I belong, I trust, to that little flock to 
 whom it is G-od's pleasure to give the kingdom of 
 heaven. Whatever trespass against me the accused 
 may have committed, I forgive heartily for the sake 
 of Him who raised me up alive when I was dead in 
 trespasses and sins. I shall not encourage nor aid 
 any attempt to subdue violence with force. If every- 
 body should take the stand that I am now taking, 
 there could be no violence. Society cannot count on 
 me to help it to rid itself of the dangers which it has 
 
THE STORY OF THE OUTCAST. 55 
 
 evolved by its own course of procedure. I care 
 nothing for the salvation of society. My concern is 
 for the salvation of men. If my attitude does any- 
 thing to weaken the props upon which society and 
 civilization rest, I am most heartily glad; for I know 
 that they must be reduced to wreck and ruin before 
 Jesus can reign King of nations, as he does now 
 King of saints. " 
 
 "See," said the pastor, "the principle which 
 modern Christians are being beguiled into upholding. 
 Trespasses and sins committed against individuals, 
 are in these days called offenses against the community 
 — which must be dealt with by acts prompted by self- 
 protection. What is this enunciation but swelling 
 words spoken against the Most High ! What but an 
 attempt to make of none avail the divine law of for- 
 giveness, by making it appear impractical to modern 
 Christians; by putting it out of harmony with the 
 tenets of social philosophy ! 
 
 " See what efforts the Prince of darkness is mak- 
 ing " — he continued — "to deceive the children of 
 light; so that their hearts — even the hearts of the 
 very elect, shall be separated from the Word of God. 
 Knowing that the most certain way to break the 
 strength of the Scriptures so that they shall not be 
 able to prevent modern Christians from working out 
 
56 A TKUE SON OP LIBERTY. 
 
 the devil's will, is to make the Scriptures obsolete; 
 he, Satan, has put into the mouths of men new- 
 names for attitudes and acts that are hoary with age; 
 giving them the appearance of new things that ought 
 to be dealt with in a modern manner. The significance 
 of the Scriptural word world has been destroyed by 
 the modern word society. When the modern Christian 
 reads that Jesus said of His followers : ' They are not 
 of the world even as I am not of the world'; he re- 
 ceives therefrom no intimation that it is his duty as a 
 follower of Christ, to refuse to give any support to the 
 social fabric which surrounds him. Acts which Jesus 
 spoke of as trespasses and sins, are now called crimes; 
 therefore when the modern Christian reads that Jesus 
 commanded His disciples to forgive without cessation 
 all who trespass against them ; and when he reads 
 that Christ emphasized His teachings by forgiving 
 sinners, even the very worst, freely — he receives there- 
 from no intimation of what his own attitude toward 
 criminals should be." 
 
 But the warning was given in vain. In vain the pas- 
 tor showed his hearers that the Lord's jewels were being 
 stolen away from the earth. In vain he showed them 
 that even while men's lips were praising God for an 
 open Bible ; the Word of God was being hidden from 
 the sight of men as really as the Bible had been 
 
THE STORY OF THE OUTCAST, 57 
 
 hidden, before the days of Martin Luther. In vain 
 the pastor warned his hearers that they themselves 
 were being bound hand and foot so that they might 
 be cast into that outer darkness where there is wail- 
 ing and gnashing of teeth. 
 
 His was the patience, and his was the faith of the 
 saints of God. Theirs was the impatience and theirs was 
 the infidelity of worldly philosophers. He was abid- 
 ing in the habitation of the Ancient of Days; therefore 
 he could not influence men who were drifting with 
 the tide of modern times. Alienation was inevitable. 
 
 Professedly, the supporters of Union Tabernacle 
 were Christians; but they were also modern thinkers, 
 in whose minds the idea that God ought to be obeyed 
 rather than man, was being more and more associated 
 with, Antiquity. Although they had a desire to hear 
 the will of God as expressed in the Bible; yet the 
 avenues through which the will of God could lead 
 them, were limited in number and were closing. The 
 real resolve of their hearts was to heed the will of man 
 as expressed in popular enactment. Although they had 
 visions of eternal life their hearts were looking 
 toward the gates of everlasting death; and guides 
 that pointed in other directions they contemplated 
 with disfavor. The Master might say: "Follow me;" 
 the Spirit and the Bride might say : " Come ;" but if 
 
58 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 the invitation did not harmonize with the popular 
 utterances of men, the invitation would be offered in 
 vain. Divine revelation must coincide with human 
 reason in order to be of practical use. 
 
 Not a surprising condition for men to be in, whose 
 forefathers had consulted " the laws of nature, and 
 of nature's God;" that is to say the laws of their 
 own nature, and of the God of their nature; in plain 
 language the laws of the devil — to find out how to 
 act towards their fellow-men. Not a surprising con- 
 dition for men to be in, whose forefathers had published 
 their declaration of independence of the laws of that 
 God who is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. It 
 was what might have been expected. And yet those 
 men were not wholly blinded. They were able to see 
 some difference between the civilization of the nine- 
 teenth century and the resurrection of the just. 
 
 But look at Bellicose to-day. See it, now that 
 those foundations which were laid in perverseness; 
 and which were builded on by children of con- 
 fusion — have been received by the hands of benighted 
 descendants. Look at it in these days, when an age 
 of reason having almost wholly eclipsed the light of 
 revelation is nearing a black meridian; and absolute 
 belief in human law is unhesitatingly endorsed 
 everywhere, within the borders of the community. 
 
THE ST0BY OF THE OUTCAST. 59 
 
 Behold the churches now. See their supporters 
 and the depth of their degradation. See their preach- 
 ers — spurning the teachings of Jesus about earthly 
 things — dogmatizing about spiritual things — talking 
 about a Christ who never lived on the earth or anywhere 
 else — and speaking of doubters of their doctrines 
 as promoters of an infidelity that attacks the religion 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Nevertheless, there is hope — there is certainty that 
 light will dawn again, even on those who have driven 
 out of their hearts Christ's plan for the salvation of 
 men by individual regeneration; and who have opened 
 their minds wide to the teachings of worldly philos- 
 ophers, and to their plans for the salvation of society 
 by social reform. For as surely as the sun of the 
 natural heavens disappears only to return again; so 
 surely shall the Sun of Righteousness arise again in 
 glory, majesty and power. The morning shall 
 break, the shadows flee away and all the earth shall 
 see the salvation of the true God. Yea — saith the 
 Father Almighty : (t They shall all know me from 
 the least of them unto the greatest." And speaking 
 of His Word: "It shall accomplish that which I 
 please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent 
 it." Yea; saith the Word of God; " I, if I be lifted 
 up from the earth will draw all men unto me/' 
 
00 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Had the pastor been given to publishing his 
 personal experiences, his hearers would have recognized 
 the picture of the kindred repaying the hospitality of 
 their host by putting noxious droppings into the ears 
 of his children, as a fancy founded on actual events in 
 the childhood of the story teller. 
 
 They would have known of a parent who tried to 
 lead his household into the kingdom of heaven with- 
 out purging it of hindering influences ; not realizing 
 that they who would seek those things which are 
 above, must rise above conventionalities; nor the 
 great principle that human hearts cannot be joined 
 to spiritual ties until the bonds of natural relation- 
 ship are loosened. 
 
 They would have known of the consequences of this 
 ignorance upon the life of their pastor. They would 
 have known how unbridled tongues had kindled evil 
 desires in a young heart that was being taught to thirst 
 for purity and peace. They would have known how a 
 faithless kindred seizing the opportunities offered by 
 natural relationship, had implanted a perverse mind in 
 a child who was being called like Samuel of old, to 
 be a king and a priest unto God. 
 
 They would have known of weary and bitter years, 
 when a child of many hopes was wandering far from 
 paths of righteousness ; and of a parent growing 
 
THE STORY OF THE OUTCAST. 61 
 
 hopeless of the efficacy of faith in Christ — growing 
 tired of well-doing ; and grown cold hearted toward 
 his Master, growing old. 
 
 But the supporters of Union Tabernacle were not 
 worthy to enter into the sanctuary of their pastor's 
 heart ; therefore they heard about it only in such a 
 way that hearing they could not understand. 
 
 Gladly would the pastor have raised them to the 
 spiritual heights whereon he trod ; but they loved low 
 levels. Their conception stopped far short of the 
 knowledge that he who would be a follower of Christ 
 must sunder his natural relationships. If they had 
 been forced to trace the logic of their thoughts fully, 
 they must have declared that Christ Himself was 
 neglectful of duty when He forsook one who had 
 natural claims upon Him, to lay down His life. 
 
 But the pastor had learned to say: "whosoever shall 
 do the will of my Father which is in heaven the same 
 is my brother and sister and mother." 
 
 In later days as the pastor drew nearer and nearer 
 to his appointed end, the dwellers in Bellicose coupled 
 the name "unnatural man" with the other epithets 
 which they bestowed on him. Yet they always con- 
 sidered it wholly proper ; yes, laudable and evidencing 
 fine attainments — for men to do unnatural and even 
 repulsive things for love of science. 
 
62 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 The pastor knew well that no matter how much 
 the people of Bellicose might declare in words for 
 love of purity in self and home, their real affiliations 
 were for the vilest of the vile. It is always so in this 
 present evil world; and certain contingencies will 
 surely reveal it. Let them arise, and let men be 
 bidden to choose for a consort either the son of God 
 or the rascal ; and they will always choose as those 
 people did who once cried out : " Away with this man, 
 and release unto us, Barabbas. " 
 
THE HIDDEN IMPULSE. 63 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE HIDDEN" IMPULSE. 
 
 Beyond the veil which hid the secret of the pastor's 
 righteousness ; into that inner sanctuary of the man's 
 heart where was the record of the covenant which he 
 had made with his Creator, no human being save one 
 ever passed. Only he, the priest of God, knew the 
 mystery of the sacrifice which he had undertaken to 
 make. 
 
 Yet the daughter realized that her father's powers 
 were different from the faculties of the men and 
 women who surrounded him. This was revealed to 
 her daily. It was shown unmistakably in his familiar 
 speech. A frequent occurrence it was to hear him 
 make answer to some commonplace remark — some 
 ordinary saying that apparently had connection with 
 only every day things ; in a manner which showed 
 that his mind pierced through and went beyond the 
 matters which other minds stopped to deal with ; and 
 laid hold of things of wholly different character. 
 And yet sometimes when she was drawn by her 
 
64 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 father's words to contemplate things spiritual and 
 lasting, she was unconscious of being led; and 
 thought that she was in a frame of mind natural to 
 herself. But she could not commune with the pastor 
 in reality. When she tried she signally failed. 
 
 " Father" said she one day, looking up from a 
 book of poems which she was reading; " how often 
 I have heard you say that the churches are not the 
 real temples of God ! Here is the thought put into 
 poetry. Does it not give you pleasure to meet thus 
 with a kindred mind? Listen : 
 
 The groves were God's first temples, ere man learned 
 To hew the shaft and lay the architrave 
 And spread the roof above them — ere he framed 
 The lofty vault, to gather and roll back 
 The sound of anthems — in the darkling wood, 
 Amid the cool and silence he knelt down 
 And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks 
 And supplication." 
 "The words are not true my dear/' answered the 
 pastor. "The groves were not God's first temples. 
 God's first temples were the temples of liberty ; those 
 human forms in which dwelt the sons of God in that 
 world which was in early times." 
 
 And then in almost inspired words the pastor 
 talked to his daughter about those wondrous beings, 
 for whose momentous history archaeologists care 
 
THE HIDDEN" IMPULSE. 65 
 
 nothing ; and of whom all traces, save the slight hints 
 which the Bible contains, are lost. He spoke of the 
 sons of God ; and of their high estate before they had 
 fallen to the estate of a world lying dead in trespasses 
 and sins. He spoke of the hopeless condition of man- 
 kind until the day of Jesus the Resurrection ; Jesus, 
 that Son of God in whom the Heavenly Father is well 
 pleased; that Son of God who kept His high estate — 
 who finished the work that was given Him to do. 
 
 Then the pastor spoke of his own faith in Christ 
 as a wonderful counsellor. He spoke of the hope 
 which he possessed, that he too had received power 
 to become one of the sons of God. He spoke of his 
 desire to follow Christ; to be one of those blessed and 
 holy ones who have part in the first resurrection; 
 who are raised into a newness of life to be witnesses 
 for Truth in this present evil world. And he spoke 
 of the coming manifestation of the sons of God; of 
 the surely approaching glory and power of those 
 whose portion is now shame and humility. 
 
 The pastor had resolved that he would not allow 
 himself to be robbed of his conviction that Jesus had 
 the right conception of how men ought to treat their 
 fellow-men. He believed that it is God's desire that 
 the earth shall be peopled with men fashioned in the 
 similitude of Christ ; and he determined that he 
 
66 A TRUE SOtf OF LIBERTY. 
 
 would do nothing to thwart that desire. With a 
 resoluteness equal to that with which his contempo- 
 raries used their faculties for the purpose of "getting 
 on " in the world, and for the welfare of their homes ; 
 he determined that he would devote his powers to 
 pressing onward in the kingdom of heaven, and for 
 the welfare of that mansion of the blessed. He would 
 turn obstacles into stepping-stones; and compel 
 opponents to serve him, even as they do who gain a 
 mastery in this world's affairs. 
 
 Yet he knew that to separate himself from the 
 fashion of his surroundings; to make himself wholly 
 out of place in the world — would not efface the 
 record of opportunities misused and gone ; nor free 
 him from paying penalty. This was the great sorrow 
 of his heart ; a conviction which carried with it a grief 
 deeper than any which loss of earthly friends or ease 
 could sink him into; a sorrow which even entrance 
 into Paradise could not remove. 
 
 Although to him should be spoken the words: "Well 
 done thou good and faithful servant!" — yet never 
 throughout all coming ages would he be numbered 
 among the truest followers of Christ. Never — never 
 while ransomed tongues continue to sing praises to 
 Him who was, who is, and who evermore shall be, 
 would his voice be permitted to mingle in the strains 
 
THE HIDDEN IMPULSE. 67 
 
 of that song which none can learn save they who have 
 been redeemed from among men to be the first fruits 
 unto God. To bear testimony for Truth ; and to be 
 destitute, afflicted, tormented ; to confess Christ 
 before men and to know the world only as a wilderness 
 of woe ; to be submitted to every ignominy for the 
 sake of the gospel of peace, and to be slain in its cause ; 
 all this, the pastor knew, would not gain him a place 
 in that company where none are admitted save they 
 who lay down virgin lives for the love of Jesus. This 
 was his abiding sorrow. 
 
 This was also the hidden impulse that moved him 
 ever onward. In days of careless ignorance, before 
 the full meaning of Christ's gospel had been revealed 
 to him, he had given his heart to an earthly being. 
 He had married himself to a woman ; knowing not, 
 and caring not to know that they only are without 
 fault before the throne of God, whose espousals have 
 been made with Christ. But it was ordained that his 
 ignorance should be replaced with enlightenment; his 
 carelessness be turned into repentance. Years passed, 
 and in due time He to whose keeping it had been 
 committed by many prayers, knocked at the door of 
 the erring heart to take possession. Too late ! Too 
 late ! Behold the Bridegroom cometh — but alas ! the 
 wedding garment is not spotless. The bridal chamber 
 
68 A TRUE SOKT OF LIBERTY. 
 
 is not garnished and clean. Some there are " which 
 have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of 
 heaven's sake ; " and some there are who let their souls 
 slumber while golden opportunities are passing ; nor 
 awaken until after impassable doors have closed 
 between themselves and purity. 
 
 They who would be wholly consecrated to God 
 must be sexually abstinent. Men and women who 
 desire to have full communion with their Heavenly 
 Father cannot have commerce with each other. 
 
 The people who made up the community where 
 the pastor preached, were wholly ignorant of knowl- 
 edge like this. They did not even know that when 
 a man resolves to put an end to sin in the flesh — not 
 only must he strive after personal righteousness ; but 
 he must also refrain from bringing into the world 
 other beings who may be tempted into evil doing. 
 The supporters of Union Tabernacle were not able 
 to bear doctrines of this sort ; for such are deadly 
 poison to the victims of that process of churching of 
 men and women which was growing popular in 
 Bellicose a generation ago — that process which sub- 
 stitutes for the austere religion of Jesus a system of 
 make believe. 
 
 It is true that men and women of Bellicose in 
 former times had been familiar with this knowledge 
 
THE HIDDEN IMPULSE. 69 
 
 and had been strengthened by it ; but spiritual natures 
 were now so degenerate in the supporters of Union 
 Tabernacle, that they rejected with loathing the 
 pastor's declaration that an ideal community cannot 
 be where marriage is. Yet the same people listened 
 without demur when he read that "in the resurrection 
 they neither marry nor are given in marriage" True 
 it is as the philosopher affirms: "That which the dron- 
 ing world, chained to appearances, will not allow the 
 realist to say in his own words, it will suffer him to 
 say in proverbs without contradiction." 
 
 The pastor's daughter was so innocent that she was 
 prepared to enter with one of the opposite sex into a 
 relationship in which it would be her duty to hold 
 herself in readiness to gratify his passions — she was 
 about to do this, fully believing that she was entering 
 into holy bonds. 
 
 With God all things are possible. Although it was 
 decreed before the beginning of time that Jesus must 
 be slain; yet the prayer uttered in Gethsemane shows 
 that it was possible for the cup of woe to pass from 
 the lips of Christ. It was in God's power to open for 
 His beloved Son some way of finishing His work — 
 other than the appointed way of Calvary. With. God 
 all things are possible. Although the Scriptures de- 
 clare that the highest knowledge of the Supreme 
 
70 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Being vouchsafed to men — the closest communion 
 with Him, granted to them — is given only to such as 
 have kept their virginity ; yet the pastor knew that 
 God can, if it is His pleasure to do so, prepare some 
 new way to fit men for the greatest privilege which 
 He has opened for them. 
 
 Trusting in God, and in His omnipotence, the 
 pastor resolved that he would strive to make his great 
 mistake his last error ; and that thenceforward he would 
 labor to keep himself free from spot or wrinkle or any 
 such thing. He resolved to put away everything 
 opposed to God; to connect himself with nothing 
 opposed to the kingdom of heaven. All laws of his 
 nature, which worked in any way to establish in his 
 body conditions that would oppose the command- 
 ments of his Maker, he resolved to trample down 
 without remorse. All laws made by his fellow-men, 
 which tended in any way to bring about conditions 
 that would make of none effect the laws of the 
 kingdom of heaven, he resolved to violate without 
 scruple. 
 
 He began to put his resolutions into practice; and 
 he began to pay the penalty that is always paid by the 
 man who sets at naught popular tenets and contemns 
 his social surroundings. He persevered; and matters 
 steadily grew worse. From believing him to be queer 
 
THE HIDDEN IMPULSE. 71 
 
 in his views on some matters, men grew into a habit 
 of speaking of him and to him as though they believed 
 him wrong-headed about everything. They seemed to 
 think that he needed advice, instruction and correc- 
 tion at all times. Whatever the subject was, upon 
 which he spoke, they hastened to find fault with his 
 statements. To correct him — to contradict him — to 
 put him down— was always in order. As to his con- 
 victions about matters of religious duty, men strove 
 hard to turn him aside from the destruction towards 
 which they said his feet were turned. They advised 
 him to abandon the stand which he had taken — 
 speaking as though it was a position which he had 
 fallen into by accident — telling him to anchor his 
 mind; to stop drifting; and holding themselves 
 always ready to show him that the right was wholly 
 different from the conception which he had formed 
 of it ; always ready to prove to him that he ought to 
 look at the world through their eyes. 
 
 But the pastor could learn nothing from teachers 
 who tried to impart knowledge of man, without know- 
 ing what is in man. He saw men as they really are ; 
 and knew that they are consistent only in that their 
 logic and desires run the same way. The jangling of 
 their discordant lives could not allure him whose ears 
 were listening to the harmonies of the kingdom of 
 
72 A TRUE SON OE LIBERTY. 
 
 heaven. Their own self -contradictory words and acts 
 had driven him. to ask if consistency can be found 
 anywhere; to search for it and find it in the words 
 and the life of Christ. How then could the words of 
 such men now move him? 
 
 That such a belief as their pastor's could be the re- 
 sult of sincere and accurate thinking, was an idea 
 which the supporters of Union Tabernacle could not 
 by any possibility entertain. They would have given 
 their minds over to any delusion rather than accept 
 his doctrine. It was a belief which they would not 
 have known what to do with if they had possessed it. 
 
 In their minds the kingdom of heaven was so ethe- 
 realized, that to hear it spoken about as though it was 
 a genuine presence; to hear it spoken of in compari- 
 son with the American union, as though it was just as 
 close at hand; was to them like hearing the talk of a 
 person possessed by hallucinations. "The kingdom of 
 heaven cometh not by observation," they said. They 
 had lifted it up; they had put it out of sight. They 
 had relegated it to the domain of intangibilities ; they 
 had transferred it to a place beyond the sky and farther 
 away than the stars. They did not know that it had 
 been established on the earth by Christ during His 
 lifetime. "After Thou hadst overcome the sharpness 
 of death w was their belief, "Thou didst open the 
 
THE HIDDEN IMPULSE. 73 
 
 kingdom of heaven to all believers. " And yet they 
 said of the pastor, that from constant brooding about 
 death and the hereafter, his mind had become filled 
 with morbid ideas. 
 
 Nevertheless, he was not deluded. He knew that 
 any and every dominion to which human beings are 
 loyal, has its real abiding place in the hearts of men and 
 women. He knew that there, in the hearts of men and 
 women, the kingdom of heaven is, when established, 
 just as actual as is the American union in its real abid- 
 ing place. He knew that the evidences which follow 
 the establishment of the kingdom of heaven are as 
 clearly apparent as are the evidences of the existence 
 of the American union. 
 
 "You believe, my friends" — the pastor often said, 
 " that there is a place far away to which Christians 
 go when they leave this earth ; a place where all is 
 peace and love; a place where no violence is ever done. 
 That place is far away from you only as long as you 
 keep it so. When you will it, it is close at hand. 
 Die to the ways of this world to-day, my friends. 
 Enter into the kingdom of heaven now; and do no more 
 violence than you think souls ought to do after they 
 have passed through the gates of the Celestial City." 
 
 The pastor had separated his interests so thoroughly 
 from the interests of his neighbors, that he was able 
 
74 A TEUE SOK OF LIBERTY. 
 
 to think and speak of the doings of the upholders of 
 the American union as freely as of the acts of a band 
 of evil doers at his antipodes. He declared that of all 
 evil spirits that have ever taken possession of men for 
 the purpose of opposing the kingdom of heaven, the 
 spirit of American independence is one of the worst. 
 
 He proclaimed the American union as a union of 
 hearts joined together in hatred of the Author of 
 liberty, to kill thoughts of man's duty to God; to 
 put the mind of man above the mind of Christ ; to 
 degrade and insult Jesus ; to enthrone and worship 
 the devil. He proclaimed the American union as a 
 union of hands joined together to desecrate, defile 
 and destroy every temple of liberty; and to fashion 
 cunning snares so that the souls of the very elect may 
 be entrapped by Satan. He renounced that union 
 of hearts and hands. He denounced it vigorously 
 and unsparingly — saying that in the kingdom of 
 heaven only doth freedom dwell ; and that the true 
 temple of liberty is the body of that man or woman 
 whose heart is filled with love for the Heavenly Father; 
 and whose life is obedience to His commandments. 
 
 But the supporters of Union Tabernacle were far 
 from renouncing their allegiance to the American 
 union. " We must render unto Caesar," they cried, 
 "the things that are Caesar's ! " Which was exactly 
 
THE HIDDEN IMPULSE. 75 
 
 what their pastor kept charging them to do ; saying 
 that they ought not to render unto Cassar the fealty 
 which belongs unto God. 
 
 Thus men continued to say their say at the pastor ; 
 making conditions in which it was dangerous to up- 
 hold truth, and advising him not to touch disturbing 
 questions — recommending the policy of letting sleep- 
 ing dogs lie. They who had educated their lips only 
 to be glib in justifying and defending themselves, 
 said of him who had taught his mouth to justify God, 
 and to be steadfast in defense of Truth, that his 
 tongue was just long enough to cut his own throat. 
 They said that he did not know enough to care for 
 his own interests; that he was more insignificant 
 than a nobody. 
 
 But the interests of Truth were well placed, being 
 in his care. Ambition ! Energy ! Stamina ! To the 
 very degree to which they who gain a mastery in this 
 world's affairs despise him who lacks these qualities, 
 the pastor determined that he would loathe every 
 weakness and tendency toward f earf ulness. And the 
 resoluteness with which men drive out of their minds 
 thoughts of their souls' departure from their bodies, 
 he determined to equal and surpass in driving out of 
 his heart every thought not belonging to eternal life. 
 Even as hearts that are fixed on worldly success, in- 
 
76 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 stinctively reject every thought that opposes their 
 course as soon as it is presented, so he determined to 
 teach his heart to do for the cause of Christ. Kesolv- 
 ing to especially beware of that trait which is so prom- 
 inent in the composition of human character and 
 which is so fatal to trust in Jesus — the tendency 
 toward accommodating self to its surroundings. 
 
 The man who knows that it is entirely within the 
 limits of possibility for circumstances to arise which 
 will make his neighbors ready and eager to tear him 
 limb from limb, cannot feel at any time any great de- 
 sire to enter into close association with his neighbors. 
 The bonds which had once held the pastor to his 
 fellow-men were irrevocably broken, and he knew it. 
 Others did not recognize the fact as yet ; and still 
 looked on him as a man who might be reclaimed from 
 the error of his way. Although he had exasperated 
 them beyond measure, they still bore with him and 
 labored for his reformation. At any time of day, on 
 any street in Bellicose, he could have found men 
 wearing that expression of countenance which people 
 assume when they feel called upon to discipline some- 
 body ; and eager to tell him that the bitterness which 
 his heart knew so well, was of his own mixing. And 
 so indeed it was. He had deliberately chosen to suffer 
 affliction with the people of God. 
 
THE HIDDEN IMPULSE. 77 
 
 There were some who, calling themselves sympa- 
 thetic, offered help from time to time by suggesting as 
 something new to him, thoughts whose influence it was 
 his daily struggle to overcome. Others, who said that 
 they were liberal-minded, told him that doubtless the 
 far distant future would be a day such as he desired 
 to see ; but that his ideas were impracticable for his 
 day; that he was far ahead of his times. To this he 
 replied that peace had dwelt upon the earth already; 
 that good will to men was perfectly manifested nearly 
 two thousand years ago. 
 
 The supporters of Union Tabernacle truly believed 
 that they believed in the Prince of Peace ; and made 
 many professions of their faith in and love for Him. In 
 their experience meetings they frequently told how 
 God's mercy had converted them from a love of the 
 things of the world to a love for Christ. They said feel- 
 ingly that their hearts had been renewed by divine 
 grace; and that they rejoiced because they had been led 
 into the marvelous light of the gospel. Who could show 
 them that the light of the gospel was a light which they 
 shrank from ; an illumination which they hated ? 
 Who could teach them that the glad tidings of grace, 
 mercy and peace to men, was the message above all 
 others which their hearts were hardened against ; the 
 message above all others which their lips refused to 
 
78 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 utter ? Not their pastor ; for they were determined 
 to teach him. 
 
 He could not show them that while they professed 
 to be walking in light they were groping in darkness. 
 He could not show them that while they were calling 
 Christ their Master; and singing loud hosannas in 
 His praise; and declaring that His kingdom shall 
 have no end — they were crucifying Him afresh. He 
 could not teach them that while they were glorifying 
 Him and magnifying Him in words and phrases ; and 
 professing great love for the Name that is above every 
 other name — they were putting Him to open shame. 
 No one could teach them these things. They had 
 buried the Christ out of sight ; and were hoping that 
 He would never rise again. They had hidden the 
 "Word of God under meaningless interpretations; and 
 had learned to number among Christian acts and 
 exercises, the imprisonment and slaughter of their 
 fellow-men. 
 
 The supporters of Union Tabernacle believed that 
 they believed in Christ ; they did not really believe in 
 Him. They did not hope that they might be made 
 like Him ; so strong in righteousness as to be able to 
 deal with men without using force or violence. They 
 did not trust Him as a chosen leader. They did not 
 think that it was necessary to follow Him. " Jesus 
 
THE HTDDEK IMPULSE. 79 
 
 paid it all" was the thought in the heart of each — "all 
 the debt I owe." All their debt of obedience to God 
 having been paid by Christ, there was no need for 
 them to obey God's will. They put their thought 
 into words and said it to their pastor when he spoke 
 to them about the life of non-resistance to evil-doers 
 which Jesus lived on earth. " That was His mission " 
 they said. " He was sent on earth to live the very life 
 which He did live." That it was their mission also 
 to live and die as Christ had lived and died ; that 
 they too ought to have in them a life conceived by the 
 Holy Spirit ; that they too ought to be born without 
 sin; to suffer; to be crucified, and die the death of 
 malefactors — was a thought which they would not 
 admit to their hearts. When it was offered for their 
 consideration by the pastor, they scouted it — and called 
 him a pessimist of the very worst type. They wanted 
 him to be so full of foolish optimism as to believe that 
 men can work for a millennium, by putting themselves 
 in antagonism to the laws of Christ. 
 
 Finally the postmaster, although not a supporter 
 of Union Tabernacle, became so incensed at the pastor's 
 persistence in setting men's duty plainly before their 
 eyes, that he changed the opinion which he had ex- 
 pressed to the trustee, and said that the pastor was 
 the "worst dispositioned " man he had ever known. 
 
80 A TKUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Plainly the pastor's field was a hard one ; but he 
 wrought valiantly. If he ever grew faint-hearted ; if 
 he ever felt as though he would grow weary of well 
 doing — he was awakened to new zeal by the thought 
 that if his soul should die, men would go about their 
 business as calmly as if no calamity had fallen on the 
 community. If his lips should become silent, Truth 
 would not have a witness in all Bellicose. All other 
 lips were sealed. And Truth's enemies never faltered ; 
 never showed signs of weariness. Every morning they 
 arose with renewed determination to do the will of 
 their father, the devil ; and every evening saw their 
 tents pitched one day's march nearer to perdition; 
 saw their hearts more fully opened to thoughts that 
 end in violence and murder. Why then should the 
 advocate of peace grow weak hearted ! Let him learn 
 perseverance from the vigor with which the children 
 of Satan pursue their purpose. Let him make helpers 
 of their never-tiring ardor and zeal. 
 
 Strengthened by thoughts like these, the pastor 
 continued to manifest Christ to men, by striving to do 
 the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven ; and 
 men continued to countenance, uphold and strengthen 
 each other in striving by their words and acts to 
 nullify his endeavor. They continued to answer his 
 words, by saying things wholly foreign to his declara- 
 
THE HIDDEN" IMPULSE. 81 
 
 tions; by asserting that he had stultified himself; and 
 by laughing his doctrine to scorn among people who 
 showed signs of having honestly inclined hearts. They 
 used every method and device which the ephemera 
 employ in striving to break down and wear out the 
 souls of those who would inhabit eternity. Not one was 
 omitted, as men pressed around the pastor — trying 
 to stifle the life that was in him by aid of the 
 death that they carried in their own bodies. Albeit 
 they were not so dead, that they were not pricked with 
 a consciousness that there was in him a likeness of 
 the Master in whom they professed to believe. 
 
 For death, life has no feeling that is not associated 
 with repugnance and loathing. All the life that there 
 is in the living, shrinks and draws away horror-stricken 
 from the precincts of death. The pastor longed with 
 all the yearnings of his soul, for the coming of the time 
 when he should be summoned to leave the presence 
 of that which was becoming to him more and more 
 abhorrent. And in men's eyes his countenance became 
 changed. Outside his redeemed and liberated soul 
 was a form which men hated. And in the hearts of 
 his enemies steadily gathered a malignity toward him; 
 whose intenseness it needed only the lapse of time to 
 make evident. 
 
 The pastor was alive and free. Around him were 
 
82 A TRUE SOK OF LIBERTY. 
 
 men in bondage and dead. And the dead knew not 
 the living. Neither did the daughter know that it 
 was life and freedom that made her father different 
 from other men. She was far from knowing it. She 
 thought that he had death in his soul. 
 
 ' ' Breathes there the man, with, soul so dead — " 
 
 she repeated, time and time again — 
 "Who never to himself hath said : 
 'This is my own, my native land 1 ' " 
 
 Her father had never said it. Her own father was 
 dead to all the feelings of patriotism which other men 
 glory in. America, the land of the true-hearted and 
 free; the thought of whose very name sent a thrill 
 through her whole being — was powerless even with 
 the might of all its matchless history, to awaken in her 
 father's breast one spark of a feeling of sonship. Oh, 
 the hopelessness of such death ! How she had striven 
 to overcome it ! Again and again in countless differ- 
 ent ways, she had tried to kindle in her father's heart 
 the flame of loyalty. 
 
 She came to him all aglow with pride, one day, to 
 read from a newspaper an account of unflinching 
 heroism and unquenchable patriotism shown by some 
 of her countrymen, who had been cast into the jaws 
 of destruction ; who had sunk with flying colors into 
 a watery grave. She thought that such a record of 
 
THE HIDDEK IMPULSE. 83 
 
 what patriotism can make men do, could not fail 
 to draw from the lips of any man, responsive praise. 
 
 A terrible storm had swept a foreign port where 
 vessels of many nations were gathered. For hours — 
 thro tghout daylight and darkness, and into angry day 
 again — the seamen had struggled and fought against 
 an inevitable doom. Torn from their anchorage and 
 driven hither and thither by mighty winds ; beaten, 
 battered and broken by giant waters; the vessels, gal- 
 lant through all, had clashed one against another; had 
 been thrown helpless on ragged reef, or foundered on 
 sandbar. Every officer had stood at his post ; every 
 seaman had done his duty. But grand above all, where 
 bravery was a common possession, was the bravery 
 shown by the sailors who manned a certain American 
 vessel. She, rent asunder by another ship that had been 
 thrown against her, went down ; went down carrying 
 hearts true as steel. She sank under the sea with the 
 American colors flying in triumph. She went down 
 with band playing "The Star Spangled Banner." 
 She went down with every man at his post of duty. 
 And as she sank, sailors aloft on other vessels gave 
 cheer on cheer, in voices that rose above the roar and 
 thunder of the storm. 
 
 u She is queen of the world, father V exclaimed the 
 daughter, with heaving , bosom ; with eyes flashing 
 
84 A TRUE SOK OF LIBERTY. 
 
 through tears ; and with cheeks aflame. "America, 
 the queen of the world ! Her men are the bravest, 
 the most loyal and true ! All nations acknowledge it ; 
 all nations do her honor." 
 
 Then the pastor told his daughter that the children 
 of the resurrection — they who have been born into 
 the kingdom of heaven — do not compare the domin- 
 ions of the world with each other, but with the domin- 
 ion of Christ. "The patriotism which led those men, 
 my dear, whom you have just read about" — he said — 
 "to die heroic deaths; to go down undismayed to 
 graves beneath the waters — leads men also to maim and 
 slaughter their fellow-men ; to follow the flag which 
 they believe in, through seas of human blood. The 
 star spangled banner calls on the upholders of the 
 American union to be always ready to shed the blood 
 of their fellow-men. Against the commandment of 
 x^lmighty God and against His majesty. The banner 
 of Jesus calls on men to prepare themselves to lay down 
 their own lives for love of their fellow-men. I am 
 enlisted under the peaceful banner of Christ. The 
 flag of the American union, I abhor." 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 85 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 
 
 The pastor was not a man to fill a theological pulpit; 
 that was as clear as noonday. He utterly refused to 
 be tempted into becoming one of those who shut up 
 the kingdom of heaven, neither going in themselves 
 nor permitting others to enter. His doctrines were 
 all strange and meaningless to the people of Bellicose. 
 When the supporters of Union Tabernacle petitioned 
 him to insist that they who pass away from the earth 
 without having gone through the form of baptism by 
 water, are doomed to everlasting hell; quoting the text: 
 i( Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of God ; " he asked 
 his petitioners if they did not think that when a man 
 begins to drink of the waters of everlasting life, he is 
 being born of water. "When men asked the pastor to 
 preach hell fire as actual flames, such as are perceptible 
 to human senses ; he asked them in return if their 
 conception of the river of life was of actual water, such 
 as the natural vision of man can see ; or of a flowing 
 of peace and righteousness. 
 
86 A TKUE SON OF LIBEKTY. 
 
 When men catechised the pastor as to his belief in 
 the Trinity, he said that his belief in the Three in One: 
 the Way, the Truth, and the Life — in Christ Jesus 
 could not be shaken. When men asked him to say 
 definitely whether or not he believed in the divinity 
 of Christ ; whether or not he believed in Jesus as God 
 embodied ; he said that he believed in Jesus Christ as 
 infallible ; as Truth personified. And when the 
 supporters of Union Tabernacle sang that the veins 
 of a sinless being had been opened to pour out a 
 fountain of blood for sinful beings to plunge into and 
 be made clean ; their pastor told them that the declar- 
 ation of their hymn was an untrue one ; that it was 
 founded on a misconception of the meaning of that 
 prophecy written in the Scriptures, which says : 
 " There shall be a fountain opened to the house of 
 David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and 
 for uncleanness." He told them that the fountain 
 which had been opened in fulfillment of prophecy was 
 the well of water springing up into everlasting lite, 
 which Jesus revealed to the woman of Samaria. 
 
 The pastor was a man who was constantly striving 
 to turn the supporters of Union Tabernacle from their 
 habit of straining at gnats and swallowing camels. A 
 man he was, whose life was one continuous effort to re- 
 move the landmarks which the fathers of the support- 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 87 
 
 ers of Union Tabernacle had set. ' e Just as if," as 
 Mr. Kitto frequently remarked, "he is determined 
 not to believe anything that the church of Christ 
 believes, because the church of Christ cannot believe 
 what he claims to believe." 
 
 He was declared to be unorthodox in every partic- 
 ular ; yet he still clung to his belief that it is orthodox 
 to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. A man he was, who 
 tried continually to impress upon his hearers this: 
 Until men believe the earthly things which Jesus 
 taught, they cannot understand heavenly things. A 
 man he was, whose usefulness as a teacher and a 
 preacher in Bellicose had ceased ; and whose term of 
 office was rapidly drawing to a close. Such was the 
 opinion which the trustees and deacons had come to, 
 very sorrowfully, they said — after their unsuccessful 
 visit to the pastor. 
 
 Nevertheless, they determined to give the man still 
 one more opportunity to withdraw his odious declara- 
 tions, and to reinstate himself. To that end they de- 
 termined to draw up a set of charges against their 
 pastor ; lay them before the supporters of Union Tab- 
 ernacle, and cite the culprit to appear and answer. 
 He must either recant his heresies before the supporters 
 of Union Tabernacle, and show signs of repentance ; 
 or his pulpit must be declared vacant. More than once it 
 
88 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 had been more or less quietly suggested to him, that as 
 his attitude was detrimental to the upbuilding of Zion 
 he ought to retire from the ministry; but his invariable 
 reply had been, that his desire was not to draw together 
 a large congregation ; but to be a witness for Truth. 
 
 No other church in Christendom, the supporters 
 of Union Tabernacle declared, would have borne with 
 a pastor as they had with theirs. Just think of it! 
 A man pledged by the most solemn vows to stand up for 
 the Bible, making most venomous and public attacks 
 upon it. Not satisfied with denouncing the Christian 
 belief of his befrienders; not even satisfied with 
 denouncing his friends themselves; he tries to bring 
 into public contempt Christianity as a whole; he tries 
 to undermine the very foundations of Christian faith. 
 He denounces the Holy Bible; that book which was 
 written by men divinely inspired ; that book which is 
 a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that book 
 which has truth without any mixture of error for its 
 matter ; that book which shall remain to the end of 
 the world the true center of Christian union; that 
 bookwhiohis the only true and inspired Word of God. 
 
 The trustees and deacons held that the course 
 which they had determined to pursue in regard to 
 their pastor's case was the only course open to them. 
 His sayings were being noised abroad. His relation- 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 89 
 
 ship to his flock was becoming a notorious scandal. 
 Union Tabernacle was a stench in men's nostrils ; as 
 any church would be, if its pastor denounced his 
 congregation as the slaves of Satan. He was always 
 harping on that. Why did he not denounce a slavery 
 which was actual, and in operation in another part of 
 the land ? — that enslavement of men, women and 
 children of the negro race, which was agitating liberty- 
 loving pulpits everywhere. Why did he not point to 
 real sins which other people were committing; and 
 preach against them ? Why should he be forever 
 bringing baseless charges against his own friends ? 
 The thing had gone on long enough ; it could not be 
 endured any longer. 
 
 So a notice was served on the pastor that charges 
 against him would be laid before the supporters of 
 Union Tabernacle at their next business meeting; 
 and he was requested to be ready to answer them. A 
 copy of the charges, with specifications, was served on 
 him at the same time. 
 
 In the indictment were minor charges of conduct 
 unbecoming to a minister of the gospel ; of declara- 
 tions having been made which could not possibly be 
 reconciled with any but atheistic doctrines ; of asser- 
 tions which were calculated to ensnare unwary and 
 feeble believers, to give offense to such as desired to 
 
90 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 be fed with the sincere milk of the Word, and to 
 bring into discredit Christian faith and doctrine. As 
 to specifications of times and places, a statement 
 followed saying that the evils had not been done in 
 the dark; and that attestations of witnesses were 
 unnecessary, the thing being a matter of notoriety. 
 
 But the great charge made against the pastor was 
 blasphemy ; in that he did upon the evening of a 
 certain day, the date whereof was mentioned — in his 
 own study, a place which ought to be almost as hal- 
 lowed a spot as the consecrated sanctuary itself — in 
 the hearing of witnesses whose names were affixed : 
 "speak grievous things against the Holy Bible, 
 namely : He said that it is counterfeit, spurious and 
 unworthy of belief. Only an infidel heart could 
 prompt a man to rush in where angels would not dare 
 tread, and criticise the Word of God. Only a mind 
 puffed up with atheistical conceit could lead a man to 
 thus set himself up in opposition to his Creator, who 
 when He was on earth said, not only that the Script- 
 ures are true and wholly worthy of belief ; but also 
 that they have in them eternal life. To take away 
 anything from the Word of God is to take away ever- 
 lasting life from men ; wherefore he that doeth it is 
 accursed of God, even as St. John teacheth when he 
 saith : f If any man shall take away from the words of 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 91 
 
 this Book, God shall take away his part out of the book 
 of life/ Nothing but an utterly blinded heart, and 
 a wholly deluded mind could lead a man to believe 
 that he can destroy any part of the "Word of God; for 
 God Himself when He in the person of Christ was 
 among men, said : ' The Scripture cannot be broken. 5 " 
 
 The indictment then pointed out, that as "the 
 Bible was written under the direct inspiration of the 
 Holy Ghost, therefore to denounce it is to blaspheme 
 against the Holy Ghost. It is to commit that great 
 sin which, Jesus said, will not be forgiven in this world 
 or in the world to come/' 
 
 "Wherefore, brethren," ran the conclusion — "in 
 view of the enormity of the offence committed by our 
 pastor ; in view of the great reproach which he has 
 brought upon the cause of Christ; and in view of the 
 great desire which we have for the welfare of Zion ; 
 we lay these charges before you. We would be shirk- 
 ing our plain duty, were we to refrain from pointing 
 out to you that a man whose affiliations are with those 
 who are accursed of God, is totally unfit to occupy the 
 position of preacher of the Word of God. We have 
 cited our pastor to appear before you in answer to 
 these charges which we bring against him; and to 
 show why his pulpit ought not to be declared vacant. 
 But we earnestly and devoutly hope that so extreme 
 
92 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 a step on the part of the church may be providentially 
 averted ; that our misguided brother may even at this 
 eleventh hour be brought to see the error of his way; 
 and that rejoicing may take the place of the sorrow 
 which now possesses our souls." 
 
 Under the rules of order of Union Tabernacle, every 
 adult member of its congregation was entitled to a 
 vote at business meetings. Ordinarily, very few mem- 
 bers of the congregation availed themselves of this 
 privilege; and the transaction of business was left to 
 those who had been received into full fellowship. But 
 the night of the pastor's trial showed a full house. 
 Every man and every woman who was in any manner a 
 supporter of Union Tabernacle ; and every one who 
 had at any time been a supporter, was present. And 
 many more, whose curiosity had led them to a spot 
 where they could be spectators of the bursting of the 
 storm. 
 
 The bolt is about to fall. The man, over whose 
 head threatening clouds have been gathering for so 
 long a time, is soon to be stricken by their fury. All 
 Bellicose wants to be present. The supporters of 
 Union Tabernacle have done nothing which they desire 
 to cover up ; neither do they intend doing anything 
 which they would not willingly let all the world see 
 done ; therefore why should their doors shut out any 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 93 
 
 one ? Throw them wide open ! Let all people know 
 how yigilant are the guardians of Zion's walls in 
 Bellicose. Justice is to be meted out at last, after so 
 long tarrying. The hour of Nemesis is come. Every 
 seat is filled and every aisle ; while in and about the 
 open doorway are clustered thick the lovers of equity. 
 Though the mills of God grind slowly yet they grind; 
 and the man who has sneered at the loyalty of Bellicose ; 
 the man who has scouted its patriotism, and poured 
 contempt and obloquy without stint upon memories 
 enshrined and sacred, is now in the hall of judgment. 
 
 By virtue of his office the pastor was moderator of 
 business meetings ; and occupied that position this 
 evening until the regular routine work had been dis- 
 posed of. He then vacated the chair. 
 
 It was moved and seconded that a moderator be 
 elected by ballot to fill the vacancy. This motion 
 was carried. After the vote had been cast it was 
 found that the choice had fallen upon Mr. Kitto ; who 
 thereupon took the chair. He said that the business 
 to be taken up was the matter of the charges which 
 had been made against the pastor of Union Tabernacle. 
 It was moved and seconded that the charges be read, 
 and that the pastor be asked to make answer to them. 
 This motion also was carried. 
 
 The moderator read the charges and then informed 
 
94 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 the pastor that the church awaited his answer. 
 
 For a moment there was profound silence. Then 
 the pastor took the floor. He said that the words 
 which he had spoken in his study upon the night in 
 question, to the trustees and deacons — and which 
 words were misconstrued in the indictment — he had 
 said at other times in other places to other people, 
 many of whom were now before him. Heads in the 
 audience were nodded in corroboration as the pastor 
 said this; and signs of consciousness in many faces 
 declared : " The witnesses are here." 
 
 That he should be called a blasphemer by his own 
 people, the pastor went on to say, cut him deeply. 
 But he remembered that when He who grew up as a 
 root out of dry ground was wounded in the house of 
 His friends, He too was called an utterer of blasphemy. 
 
 ' ' Dry ground ! " said the pastor. " How expressive 
 is that term when applied to the times in which Christ 
 lived. How well too it characterizes these times in 
 which we are living. What was there in the words of 
 the religious teachers of Christ's time that pointed out 
 God's will to men? Nothing. That prophecy was being 
 fulfilled which says: 'Many pastors have destroyed 
 my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under 
 foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate 
 wilderness.' What is there in the teachings of 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 95 
 
 the religious instructors of our day that points out 
 the Word of God to man ? What nourishment is there 
 for the trees of the Lord which He hath planted, to feed 
 upon — in this dry and thirsty land where no water is?" 
 
 The speaker, taking a Bible in his hand, held it up 
 so that all could see it. 
 
 "Whether this book is, or is not inspired, my 
 friends," he said, "is not to the point. Satan is 
 inspired to do the work that he has to do. You must 
 believe that ; for this Bible tells you that God says 
 that He creates evil. This Bible is a book which is 
 known as the Word of God ; a book which all who 
 call themselves Christians reverence and glorify. This 
 is a book which men and women teach their children 
 to adore ; a book which people call Holy. He is a 
 venturesome man who, in a community such as we 
 live in, lifts up his voice against this book. He is 
 bold indeed who couples any declaration of this book 
 with the word falsehood ; yet that is what I have 
 already done ; that is what I again do here and now ; 
 and that is what I shall continue to do as long as God 
 gives me power." 
 
 A ripple of excitement ran through the audience as 
 the pastor uttered these words ; and faces which had 
 been showing only interest and expectation, darkened 
 with unmistakable signs of displeasure. 
 
96 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 The pastor bows his head upon his hand to shut 
 out the spectacle before him. Again a feeling is upon 
 him which has at times taken possession of him during 
 his recent experiences. The events which are 
 transpiring around him — are they actual ? More and 
 more they seem like the movement of scenes which 
 have no connection with his own veritable life ; like 
 something which must be looked upon and which 
 must be finished, before something which is now 
 hidden can be made manifest. The men and women 
 actors — are they real ? Moved as they are by impulses 
 wholly unlike those which he obeys ; and answering 
 as they do unhesitatingly and unfailingly the in- 
 fluences which inspire them ; more and more they 
 seem like beings of an order wholly different from his 
 own ; and devoid of the power of doing any work save 
 that which they have been appointed to do ; unable to 
 choose any course of action apart from that which 
 they are impelled upon. And events following events 
 seem in their aspects more and more familiar to him; 
 as though he has been prepared for their advent ; as 
 though he has known beforehand all that is to follow. 
 Have his experiences been all foretold ; or are they a 
 repetition of something which has already happened — 
 something which he has met before? 
 
 The scenes are old, oh pastor. The annals of time 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 97 
 
 know them well. Towards Truth's advocates the 
 servants of Satan have no power to take any attitude 
 other than that into which they are driven by their 
 master. And their doings are but part of a fore- 
 ordained and foretold plan which makes all things 
 work out good for the friends of righteousness. Time 
 and time again, have lovers of Truth been thus set 
 apart from those who, having their outward form and 
 likeness, have none of their similitude. Time and 
 time again, have they who have chosen to be strangers 
 to the world been thus separated from their surround- 
 ings, taught to forsake the abodes of death, and rise 
 into realities to receive the fulness of life eternal. 
 
 Look up then, pastor! The Word of G-od has 
 redeemed thy soul; redeem thou the Word of God. 
 Rescue the Christ from that oblivion in which He has 
 been buried by servants of the Evil One. 
 
 The pastor lifts his head, and in these words con- 
 tinues his answer: 
 
 "Hear me my friends. I believe in the Word of 
 God wholly, utterly, devoutly. But it is impossible 
 for me to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. 
 I do not believe that the Word of God has had or can 
 have a double and contrary expression. I cannot 
 believe that, can you? There is but one Word of God: 
 the Word that was put into the highest possible form 
 
A TRUE SOH OF LIBERTY. 
 
 of expression; that was written in human flesh and 
 revealed in Christ Jesus. Compare the utterances of 
 that Word, with some of the utterances of the book 
 which men call the Word of God. Behold Jesus, 
 teaching that God is the Father of mankind; and 
 that all men are brethren. Behold the Bible where 
 it says that God has commanded men to kill their 
 fellow-men. My friends, do you believe that God 
 ever told any of His children to kill other of His 
 children, their own brethren? You believe it if you 
 believe in the Bible; but if you believe in the Word 
 of God you spurn the declaration and brand it a 
 hellish lie as I do, here and now. 
 
 " Think of the misery; think of the suffering; think 
 of the bloodshedding that that black lie is answerable 
 for! Think of the men who while professing to be 
 believers in Christ, have been influenced by the Bible 
 to believe that conditions can arise which make it 
 the duty of men to slay their fellow-men. Think of 
 that! Find an endorsement of that belief in the Word 
 of God if you can. Eehold the Word of God, Jesus, 
 amid surroundings which called for violence and 
 bloodshedding, if they were ever called for on earth; 
 behold Him, saying always by precept and by example : 
 'Love your enemies. 3 Saying also : ' I seek not mine 
 oiun will , but the will of the Father which hath sent me. ' 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 99 
 
 And saying : ' I do nothing of myself.' And again : 
 'He that sent me is true; and I speak to the world 
 those things which I have heard of Him.' And again, 
 most convincing of all : f The Father that dwelleth in 
 me, He doeth the works' 
 
 " Where shall we go for the words of eternal life if 
 Christ's words are meaningless? You profess to believe 
 in Christ, my friends; you profess to believe in Him 
 as very God. Is God unknowing; is He not om- 
 niscient ? If Christ is God, as you affirm, was it 
 not in wisdom that He spoke when He taught men 
 how to find the Scriptures ? ( They are they,' He said, 
 ' which testify of me' In those passages of the Bible 
 which declare that God has commanded men to slay 
 their fellow-men, is knowledge given of Christ? I tell 
 you, no! but by their power Satan has been lifted up 
 in the place of God the Father Almighty. Who will 
 help me tear the usurper down! Who will help me lift 
 up Christ the Truth, that all men may be drawn unto 
 Him; that all men may be believers in Him whose 
 vesture is dipped in the blood of His martyrdom; and 
 whose name is called the Word of God!" 
 
 Again a wave of excitement passed over the audi- 
 ence of men and women, who all their lives had been 
 talking about the Scriptures, without once asking : 
 " How can the Scriptures be discerned?" Again dark 
 
100 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 looks of anger swept over the faces which confronted 
 the speaker. This was no recantation. This ! The 
 worst heresy — the most horrid blasphemy, that the 
 pastor had ever nttered before was surpassed by what 
 he was saying now. How dare he call the Holy Bible 
 an instrument of the devil I 
 
 What came ye out for to see, oh generation of 
 vipers? A reed shaken of the wind? Know ye not that 
 the progress of the advocate of Truth is marked by 
 ever increasing hostility to falsehood ? 
 
 " Oh, love the Truth as it is in Jesus " said the 
 pastor, in conclusion — "that you may be able to 
 escape all the wiles of the devil. Though Satan 
 should come to you as an angel of light; though he 
 should robe himself in a garment whereon is written: 
 'holy;' though he should lie in wait for you r souls 
 even among the Scriptures — cast him out, my friends, 
 cast him out. 
 
 "Do not think that Jesus is the Word of God only 
 in a mystical sense ; and that the name Word of God 
 cannot be applied to Him with the meaning which 
 men have when they apply it to the Bible. Christ 
 only, is the Word of God in every sense in which that 
 name can be used. Christ alone, has borne God's 
 message to men. No message to men has come from 
 God which does not speak to them as being given by 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 101 
 
 a Father who is perfect, to children whom He would 
 make like unto Himself. If men believe in the Bible 
 as the Word of God, they reject Christ. If they 
 believe in Christ they cannot accept the Bible as the 
 Word of God. Choose ye ! Choose Him my friends 
 whose throne is to endure for ever and ever. Do not 
 fix your hearts on that which can endure only for a 
 season. Believe in Christ ; of whom God hath said : 
 'His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His 
 dominion is from generation to generation.' Choose 
 ye, my friends ! " 
 
 Alas ! They had chosen. The pastor, as he looked 
 into their faces, realized it ; and knew that he was 
 speaking in farewell. Slowly he passed down the 
 aisle and toward the door. As he disappeared, the 
 attention which had been fixed on his retreating form 
 was turned to the moderator ; and long sighs of relief 
 were heard, as though a burden had been lifted from 
 many hearts. 
 
 " Brethren and sisters," said Mr. Kitto, as he arose 
 in his place — holding a manuscript in his hand, "you 
 have heard our pastor's answer to the charges which 
 have been made against him. Instead of expressing 
 sorrow for his wicked words and showing signs of 
 repentance, he has renewed his attacks on the Bible 
 and has emphasized them. He has made them more 
 
102 A TRUE SON" OF LrBERTY. 
 
 blasphemous than they were before. You are adults 
 full grown" — he was reading from his manuscript — 
 " It would be out of place for me to undertake to teach 
 you, here and now, anything about the Bible; or to try 
 to give you new views about it. You know full well 
 all that can be truthfully said about it. From earliest 
 childhood you have, each and every one of you, been 
 instructed in it. You know what it is; you know 
 where it came from; you know what it has done for 
 mankiud. 
 
 "It is needless that I should tell you that its great 
 object is to give an account of this world both in its 
 origin and government, as the work of an Almighty 
 Creator always and everywhere present ; and especially 
 to exhibit the relation of man to this Creator; and 
 in consequence of that relation, in what manner and 
 with what hopes he ought to live and die. It is need- 
 less that I should dwell on the compass of the moral 
 agency of the Bible, or speak of what it has contributed 
 toward the mental life and culture of the great 
 masses of human beings; of the phrases it has fur- 
 nished for the sons of men to find expression of their 
 joys and sorrows in ; of the myriads whose imagination 
 has fed upon its grand language, and been lifted up 
 by draughts from its wondrous fountains. It is 
 needless for me to tell yoa that from within its covers 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 103 
 
 have been furnished history, poetry, eloquence, 
 rhetoric, logic and philosophy to thousands who knew 
 no other book that represented an iota of these 
 things. It is needless to tell you that so sublime is 
 the conception it unfolds, of the Divine nature as a 
 personal God exercising towards men the love and 
 care of a parent to his offspring ; and in the system 
 of human duties springing therefrom ; that on this 
 consideration alone may rest its claim to being re- 
 ceived as a direct revelation from heaven. 
 
 ''It is needless, I say, for me to instruct you thus ; 
 for you know the Bible well. You know that it came 
 from God ; you love it, and will defend it as Christ- 
 ians should. All that the present emergency, there- 
 fore, calls on me to do — brethren and sisters — is to 
 ask what you mean to do in the case of this man who 
 persists in making scurrilous attacks upon the Word 
 of God ; and who strives his utmost to undermine its 
 authority. But before you give your answer let me 
 tell you an incident which happened to me many 
 years ago ; and which gave me that firm faith in the 
 Bible which has ever since been mine. 
 
 u When a young man, I was examining with intense 
 interest the evidences of the inspiration of the Bible. 
 This led me to a careful reading of infidel objections ; 
 some of which greatly troubled me. Retiring one 
 
104 A TRUE SOtf OF LIBERTY. 
 
 night after wakeful hours of anxious thought, I fell 
 asleep. I dreamed that I was at sea in a storm ; the 
 billows about to engulf the ship ; on the deck of 
 which were stored all the Bibles accessible to me. 
 And suddenly came a mighty wave which, with the 
 boom which it swept across the deck, bore from it 
 every sacred volume, into the wild waves. The shock 
 of the disaster awakened me in a perspiration from 
 my agonizing agitation over the loss forever of the 
 living oracles, to see the very Bible I had read a few 
 hours before, lying on the table near ; reflecting 
 brightly the light of the unclouded moon. My grate- 
 ful surprise brought to my relief a flood of tears. 
 While having no superstitious regard for dreams, 
 from the time of that experience I have had no unrest, 
 or passing doubt of the divine authority of the Holy 
 Bible." 
 
 If there had been any unrest or passing doubt in 
 the minds of the supporters of Union Tabernacle, 
 there was none now. Mr. Kitto's tale of a moonlight 
 revelation had torn to shreds the pastor's argument ; 
 and the audience was a unit for his conviction. 
 
 A motion was made and quickly seconded, that 
 the pulpit of Union Tabernacle be declared vacant ; 
 and that such vacancy begin upon a date which would 
 be six months from the date of the present business 
 
CAST OUT OF FELLOWSHIP. 105 
 
 meeting. This suited the temper of the people 
 exactly. Their pastor had been very leniently dealt 
 with, by his friends, they said ; and had flouted all 
 indulgence. Six months would give him ample 
 opportunity to find a new field of labor. The motion 
 was then put to vote ; and not one ballot was found 
 that dissented from the resolution. 
 
 Thus the separation that existed between pastor 
 and people, was made clearly manifest. 
 
 As was eminently fitting; for the supporters of 
 Union Tabernacle were determined that Jesus should 
 not rule over them, while the pastor belonged to the 
 true Church of Christ ; the church of apostolic descent 
 — to whose members is bequeathed the apostles' legacy: 
 the robes of martyrdom. 
 
 The meeting was dismissed after the people had 
 sung the hymn beginning : 
 
 Blest be the tie that binds 
 Our hearts in Christian love. 
 
106 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 THE LAST APPEAL. 
 
 Although the conflict in which Truth and False- 
 hood oppose each other is a war of extermination, 
 yet in that battle there seems to be in places, at times, 
 a cessation of hostilities. There was a lull in Bellicose. 
 Falsehood's legions, as if satisfied with their late 
 victory, showed a disinclination to begin fresh onsets; 
 and Truth's warrior, wearied by the stress which had 
 been upon him, forebore to renew his assaults. He 
 had been accounted worthy of the armor which he 
 wore; and a commandment had been given to minister- 
 ing spirits to prepare him for high honors; to lead him 
 by still waters for a season and to restore his soul. 
 
 The battle was to be renewed with tenfold fury ; 
 and shortly. An epoch was ended ; a mightier was 
 at hand, and was being heralded by movements of 
 preparation. Out of regions of darkness evil spirits 
 were issuing ; and into the hearts of the dwellers in 
 the American union they were entering. From those 
 black recesses whence came the thought that liberty 
 can be attained by acts of violence, demons were 
 
THE LAST APPEAL. 107 
 
 being sent to take full possession of men ; to set them 
 against each other ; and to make them ready to drench 
 the earth with each other's blood. 
 
 But the dweller in the kingdom of heaven was 
 resting in quietness. Angels excelling in strength 
 were imparting courage to his heart, and teaching 
 him to fear not them which kill the body but are not 
 able to kill the soul. 
 
 All abroad there was clamor and confusion. Satan's 
 emissaries were seizing God's gifts to use them in the 
 service of their master; so that the hearts of men 
 might with greater celerity be prepared for full loyalty 
 to him. Transmitters able to carry with lightning 
 speed the thoughts of men — and which should have 
 scattered broadcast among the dwellers in the Ameri- 
 can union the words pertaining to true liberty which 
 had been spoken in Bellicose, to summon men to 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven and find peace — 
 were hurrying hither and thither, laden with the 
 utterances of the pit of woe. And unseen by men 
 and devils, but working with a power far mightier 
 than their own, were flaming spirits of God — sent to 
 harden men's hearts, and to open new doors in de- 
 struction. So that the time of Satan's discomfiture 
 might be hastened. So that in Bellicose God's name 
 might be glorified. So that in Bellicose a lover of 
 
108 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 liberty might lay down his life triumphantly under 
 the banner of Jesus, the true flag of freedom. So that 
 in Bellicose the spirit of a just man might be caught 
 up from the earth quickly, to be made perfect ; and 
 to dwell forever with the Lord. 
 
 The crisis in the affairs of the American union 
 which the postmaster had refused to consider in his 
 thoughts, was approaching in reality. Certain people 
 who had previously acknowledged the sovereignty of 
 the American union, were complaining that condi- 
 tions which they were upholding under the name of 
 liberty, were not conditions of liberty. 
 
 Not that the malcontents were really and truly 
 beginning to hunger after liberty ; they were wholly 
 opposed to it. They wished to establish a dominion 
 of certain ideas which were pleasant to themselves. 
 That was what they meant when they spoke of 
 desiring liberty; and when they said that the 
 American union did not grant liberty to them. 
 
 The forefathers of the malcontents had inaugurated 
 the American union as an establishment of liberty; 
 and the malcontents themselves had proclaimed it as 
 such. But notwithstanding the fact that they were 
 beginning to throw discredit on the discerning 
 powers of their forefathers, and on their own previous 
 declarations, they did not for a moment imagine 
 
THE LAST APPEAL. 109 
 
 that a doubt could be cast upon their forefathers' 
 belief and their own belief as to the way to obtain 
 liberty. They believed as firmly as eve«r that liberty 
 can be attained by coercion and violence ; and they 
 were making ready to carry their belief into the field 
 of practical action. 
 
 Although this tumult was beginning to raise a 
 sympathetic commotion in Bellicose, it failed to 
 disturb the repose which had fallen on the pastor. 
 During the six months between the date of his 
 dismissal, and the day appointed for that dismissal to 
 take effect, his utterances were deemed wholly unob- 
 jectionable by the supporters of Union Tabernacle. 
 And their behavior during that time showed evidences 
 of nothing but kindly feeling. The excitement into 
 which they were thrown by the storm which was 
 gathering around them, and the sympathy which 
 they felt for the fervid outbursts of loyalty which 
 were becoming more and more frequent among 
 upholders of the American union, they carefully 
 refrained from showing in the neighborhood of the 
 pastor. 
 
 Yet there was an occurrence near the close of the 
 pastor's term of office which was in sharp contrast to 
 the pacific interim; and which deserves to be recorded. 
 
 Thinking that it would be good for their prosperity 
 
110 A TRUE SOH OF LIBERTY. 
 
 j 
 
 to have a new preacher ready to fill the pastor's place 
 as soon as he should retire, the supporters of Union 
 Tabernacle entered into communication with several 
 candidates, with that end in view. Finding a man 
 who gave promise of pleasing them, they requested 
 the pastor to yield up his pulpit for a Sunday and 
 give the applicant an opportunity for trial. 
 
 The newcomer proved to be all that the most 
 ardent patriot could desire. He made the walls of 
 Union Tabernacle ring again with his appeals to loyal 
 upholders of the American union. Sentiment after 
 sentiment ; declaration after declaration, loaded with 
 patriotism, he shot out of stentorian lungs in honor 
 of the American union. Like loyal salutes they 
 echoed and thrilled through the hearts of the men 
 and women before him ; and the supporters of Union 
 Tabernacle knew that at last they had found a man 
 after their own hearts : diligent in patriotism, fervent 
 in belligerency, serving their lord. 
 
 No longer would the band of patriots which iield 
 possession of Union Tabernacle be an army divided 
 against itself. With loyalty in rank and file it would 
 be known as one of the country's sure defences. And 
 that the new auspices might open with all honor, 
 the colors of the American union were nailed fast 
 ' behind the pulpit ; there to remain. 
 
THE LAST APPEAL. Ill 
 
 Once more the hearts of the supporters of Union 
 Tabernacle were filled with a determination to array 
 their belief before the pastor's eyes. Once more the 
 people were on fire to show the pastor evidences that 
 his apostasy had done nothing to break the bonds of 
 their unity ; nothing to separate them from the faith 
 that had been delivered to their fathers. The one 
 opportunity to do so was at hand; for the coming Sun- 
 day would be the last one of the pastor's term of service. 
 During the week, therefore, preparations were made; 
 and Sunday morning saw the supporters of Union 
 Tabernacle feverishly expectant, and wending their 
 way from all parts of Bellicose to that temple where they 
 were wont to assemble themselves together: ( f a peculiar 
 people in the Lord," as Mr. Kitto frequently said. 
 
 As the pastor entered the pulpit and surveyed the 
 congregation, he saw that the first row of pews before 
 him — ranging from one side of the house to the other 
 — was occupied by little girls belonging to the infant 
 class of the Sunday-school. All of them were robed 
 in white dresses ; and each child wore also a sash of 
 parti-colored ribbon — red and blue. 
 
 The organ finished its voluntary and immediately 
 began a new strain. The children rose in their 
 places ; and passing out of the pews, arranged them- 
 selves, each with a Bible in her hand, beneath the 
 
112 A TEUE SON OF LIBEBTY, 
 
 pulpit. Then facing the congregation, they sang in 
 the pleasant tones of their youthful voices, the hymn 
 beginning : 
 
 We won't give up the Bible 
 
 God's precious Book of truth. 
 
 The scene was surpassingly impressive to the con- 
 gregation. "It symbolizes/' Deacon Tristam whis- 
 pered to his wife, sitting beside him — " the union of 
 patriotism and religion ; and reminds me forcibly of 
 the text : ( Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings 
 Thou hast perfected praise."' 
 
 The pastor remained seated until the demonstration 
 was over ; then rising in his place he announced the 
 opening hymn. This was sung by the congregation. 
 Then a chapter of the Bible was read by the pastor ; 
 who afterward offered a prayer. After that, the 
 singing of another hymn took place. 
 
 It was customary with the congregation to remain 
 seated while singing the first and second hymns ; and 
 to sing the last hymn, which always was sung after 
 the sermon had been listened to — standing. But as 
 the music of the second hymn dies away, to-day, and 
 as the pastor — who is standing in his place to begin 
 his address — is in the act of speaking, a trumpet- 
 like sound issuing from the organ breaks in upon the 
 regular course of proceeding. The congregation arises 
 
THE LAST APPEAL. 113 
 
 and confronts the pastor ; and suddenly, from organ, 
 choir and people burst forth the strains of: " America." 
 
 How the people sing ! Old men and maidens ; 
 young men, matrons and little children — are pouring 
 forth with willing voices the words of the mighty 
 song. And how the music of the organ swells above 
 the voices — loud and grand. Pastor and people in 
 their accustomed places ; with patriotism and harmony 
 triumphant at last in Union Tabernacle. What more 
 would the people have? How they sing! The majestic 
 strains thrilling through their hearts exalt and fill 
 them with emotions — vague and overpowering at first 
 — then shaping into distinct desires to do deeds mighty 
 and noble. Oh that they might be enabled to do 
 something that would help the pastor to see the truth 
 as they see it ! This is their prayer. 
 
 How they are singing ! They are pouring out their 
 very souls ! Is there not a power in music which can 
 accomplish what speech can not ? Can it be possible 
 that the verses which these people are singing — these 
 verses which are giving satisfaction and joy to their 
 hearts — have no power at all with the man who is 
 standing before them ! Oh, that he might see what 
 they behold as they sing : 
 
 Land where my fathers died ; 
 Land of the pilgrim's pride ! 
 
114 A TRUE SOU OF LIBERTY. 
 
 j 
 
 They see a company of men and women, weak in 
 numbers, but strong in the power which God gives 
 to his servants — sailing over stormy seas, and landing 
 on bleak, inhospitable shores. They see them fighting 
 to subdue the unfriendly powers of nature ; fighting 
 to drive away disease; fighting to overpower the savage 
 denizens of the wilderness; fighting against all the open 
 and insidious approaches of death. They see them 
 prospering in spite of the assaults of their many adver- 
 saries; and through all — giving thanks to God, whose 
 servants they are. They see the seed of the righteous 
 growing and thriving. They see them in new conflicts, 
 and ever growing stronger. They see them taking the 
 sword of the Lord and of Gideon, and fighting against 
 enemies who seek to fasten upon them the yoke of 
 oppression. They see them starving and burned by 
 summer suns; ill-clad and pierced by winter winds; and 
 through all, fighting for God and for the right — for 
 their families and for their homes. They see them con- 
 quering, and planting firmly the standard of liberty. 
 
 Let music swell the breeze ! — 
 Aye, let it swell ! Let it fill all the house ! Let it swell 
 outward and be caught up by a nation mighty and free! 
 Let a myriad voices pour it forth again, a joyous trib- 
 ute to Freedom ! 
 
 Let mortal tongues awake, 
 Let all that breathe partake— 
 
THE LAST APPEA.L. 115 
 
 Where is the tongue that can keep silence ! See the 
 pastor where he stands — pale and motionless — shut in 
 between the mighty walls of the temple of Liberty ! 
 Before him is a mighty phalanx instinct with her 
 spirit ; behind him, her flaming standard ! Can he 
 escape from her sweet and protecting care, now? Will 
 not he yield himself to her at last, after so long a 
 rebellion against her loving spirit ? 
 
 Our father's God ! to Thee, 
 Author of liberty ! 
 To Thee we sing — 
 
 "To Thy care, oh Father, do we commit this man; 
 for verily Thou art the God that doest wonders. 
 Break up his hard heart. Let the light of liberty 
 shine in and through his dark soul." Breathing out 
 this prayer, the people sing the last words of their 
 song ; having in their hearts feelings very different 
 from those with which they arose to sing at the pastor 
 their anthem of liberty. 
 
 " My friends " said the pastor, when the people had 
 taken their seats — " I did not know what to say to 
 you this morning. I had not prepared any sermon. 
 It seemed as though everything that I could say to 
 you I had already said. But as you sang your grand 
 anthem, thoughts came thick aud fast. My heart grew 
 light and sang for joy. Yes ! Though my lips moved 
 
116 A TRUE S02* OF LIBERTY. 
 
 not, I too was singing; and my soul is singing now of 
 the land of the true and "brave, where men walk in the 
 glorious liberty of the sons of God. I sing not of that 
 country which you praise : the land of the spiritually 
 dead, where men are in chains and darkness ; a land 
 where men crucify Christ and pray God to speed the 
 right; a land where men deal violently with men, 
 and are as Cain who was of the wicked one, and slew 
 his brother — that is not a land of liberty. But of 
 thee, oh land of life and good days ; of thee, oh land 
 of rest and peace; of thee, oh land where there is 
 freedom from sin; of thee, oh land whose inhabitants 
 walk in the light of the Sun of Righteousness; of 
 thee, oh kingdom of heaven that suffereth violence ; 
 of thee, beloved country, where men are overpowered 
 only by the might of God's holy spirit — 
 
 My country 'tis of thee, 
 Sweet land of liberty, 
 Of thee I sing. 
 
 " This is the land to which I belong. This 
 
 Land where my fathers died ; 
 Land of the pilgrim's pride. 
 
 "My fathers were not as your fathers, oh friends. 
 My fathers did not seize a part of the earth and 
 drive other men away with violence and bloodshed. 
 No ! They were truly and honestly, pilgrims on the 
 
THE LAST APPEAL. 117 
 
 earth . They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary 
 way and found no city to dwell in. Hungry and 
 thirsty their souls fainted in them. Then they cried 
 unto the Lord in their trouble and He heard them. 
 They died unto the ways of the world ; and behold 
 they are alive f orevermore ! " 
 
 As the pastor spoke these words, how distinctly he 
 saw it in his mind — the wide gulf that lay between 
 his hearers and himself because of their different 
 ancestry. He was born of Truth and knew his lineage; 
 but they — believing that through natural parentage 
 is the real descent of man — knew no more whence 
 they had come than did those people to whom Christ 
 said : "Ye are of your father the devil." 
 
 "Land of the noble free," 
 said the pastor — 
 
 ' 'Thy name I love — 
 
 ' i Land of the noble army of martyrs — I love thee 
 with an everlasting love. If I forget thee oh Jerusalem, 
 may my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not 
 remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of 
 my mouth ! 
 
 I love thy rocks and rills — 
 
 ''The Eock of my salvation ; the everlasting hills 
 from whence cometh my help ; and thy streams of 
 righteousness, by whose side the sons of liberty walk 
 
118 A TKUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 with God. He that hath mercy on them leadeth them ; 
 even by the streams of water He guideth them. 
 Therefore all ye who desire freedom — ho, every one 
 that thirsteth — come ye to the waters. Whosoever 
 will, let him take the water of life freely. 
 
 "Land of liberty — kingdom of heaven — how fair 
 and how pleasant art thou, oh love for delights ! 
 Awake, north wind ; and come, thou south ; blow 
 upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. 
 
 Let music swell the breeze, 
 And ring from all the trees 
 Sweet Freedom's song ! 
 
 "The trees of the Lord are full of sap; for there 
 He hath commanded His blessing ; that they might 
 be called trees of righteousness — the planting of the 
 Lord. Blessed art thou, oh son of liberty ; thou who 
 art not entangled by the counsel of the ungodly. 
 Yea it is written : ( Blessed are the meek/ But the 
 ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driveth 
 away. They think that they can possess the earth by 
 violence. They speak great words against the Most 
 High, who says that the meek shall inherit the earth. 
 They think to change His times and laws — that they 
 can do evil, and that good will unfold from their acts. 
 They think that God can be mocked ; that men can 
 reap what they do not sow. They scout the laws of 
 
THE LAST APPEAL. 119 
 
 Christ, and say that they believe in the perseverance 
 of the saints. They slay their enemies and proclaim 
 that they are working for the things that pertain to 
 peace on earth and good will among men. 
 
 Let mortal tongues awake — 
 Let all that breathe partake ! 
 
 " Awake, awake — put on thy strength oh Zion! 
 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, for He is 
 the Lord; and worship thou Him. All ye inhabitants 
 of the world and ye dwellers on the earth, see ye 
 when He lifteth up an ensign on the mountains. He 
 shall come down like rain upon the mown grass ; as 
 showers that water the earth. In His days shall the 
 righteous flourish ; and abundance of peace so long as 
 the moon endureth. Yea though the sons of liberty 
 are few and weak on the earth now, yet fear not, little 
 flock — it is your Father's good pleasure to give you 
 the kingdom. Though there is to-day but an handful 
 of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains, 
 the fruit thereof shall yet shake like Lebanon. 
 
 "Go through — go through the gates ; prepare ye the 
 way of the people. Cast up — cast up the highway. 
 Lift up a standard for the people. Proclaim liberty 
 throughout all the land — unto all the inhabitants 
 thereof. For all the ends of the earth shall see the 
 salvation of our God." 
 
120 A TRUE SCW OF LIBERTY. 
 
 "Ah," said the supporters of Union Tabernacle — 
 as the pastor began to translate the sentiments of 
 their patriotic anthem, essaying once more to raise 
 their minds to the level of eternal verities — "he is at 
 it again ; setting the whimsical up for the real." 
 
 But shortly they began to be astonished. The light 
 which he was throwing upon familiar texts of the 
 Bible made them stand out with a newness that was 
 notable and startling. Could it be possible — they 
 began to ask themselves — that the second advent of 
 Christ, which they had been taught to think of, only 
 with fear and trembling — was identical with the dawn 
 of liberty? Could it be possible that the day of 
 judgment would bring with it the very thing that 
 the inhabitants of the earth were yearning for ? At 
 the instant it seemed as though the understanding of 
 the supporters of Union Tabernacle was about to open; 
 and that they would learn why Christ is called the 
 "Desire of all nations" — that they would learn why it is 
 that the judgments of the Lord are more to be wished for 
 than gold — why they are sweeter than honey and the 
 honey-comb. For a moment it seemed as though the 
 supporters of Union Tabernacle had grown able to 
 see Truth. 
 
 Ah, had such been the case indeed ! Had the people 
 who were listening to the pastor been fully resolved 
 
THE LAST APPEAL. 121 
 
 to be liberated from the thralldom of Satan ; and had 
 they gone forth born into the kingdom of heaven — 
 born into a determination to manifest Christ's gospel 
 of peace; the miseries, the horrors, the bloodshedding 
 toward which men were speeding might have been 
 escaped. On the eve of that outbreak which up- 
 holders of the American union call the war of the 
 rebellion against their government, but which is 
 called in the spiritual tongue by a name far different, 
 a nation might have been born in a day into that 
 liberty wherewith Christ makes men free. Accursed 
 of God and renounced by men, the American union 
 would have fallen back into that nether darkness out 
 of which it arose to defy the Almighty. But it was 
 not to be. The time had not arrived for the con- 
 version of this world to Christ. The dispensation 
 had not closed, during which the gospel of Christ is 
 being preached only for a witness. 
 
 The pastor spoke again: "Your father's god — to 
 whom you sing — can never make a land bright with 
 Freedom's holy light ; for he is the prince of darkness. 
 Satan is the god to whom you appeal when you 
 invoke the god of your fathers. Satan — who fed 
 your fathers, and who is feeding your fathers' children 
 on lies. s In union is strength,' he teaches ; and you 
 believe him. You trust in his word, although the 
 
122 A TRUE SON OP LIBERTY. 
 
 Bible in which you profess to believe says to you : 
 'Trust ye in the Lord forever for in the Lord Jehovah 
 is everlasting strength.' 
 
 ' ' Then turn ye — turn ye — why will ye die ! All 
 the devices of the devil must come to naught. 
 Though his children bind themselves together ; 
 though they join hand in hand, cement heart to 
 heart, and declare that they shall stand because of their 
 union ; though they hail the prince of darkness as the 
 Light of the world ; though they fall down and 
 worship the devil ; though they declare that the words 
 of their god are infallible, and preach them as a 
 gospel of righteousness and power ; though they hail 
 the devil as the God of liberty, the only God, the 
 God mighty to save — yet still does power and salva- 
 tion belong to that God who is the Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. He is the true God. He is the 
 only God. He is the Author of liberty. Give your 
 hearts to Him. In the beginning He was ; and in the 
 end He shall be — when His enemies have been put 
 down ; and when every union which opposes his sway 
 shall have been destroyed. 
 
 " Come then with me and I will do you good. Let 
 us seek a home ; let us build up a family ; let us 
 establish a nation — where foundations are everlast- 
 ing — where filial obedience is given to God — and 
 
THE LAST APPEAL. 123 
 
 where liberty dwells. The kingdom of heaven is the 
 only home that it is our duty to battle for. The little 
 company of souls who hear the Word of God and obey 
 Christ's laws is the only family we are commanded to 
 be loyal to. Let us break all the bonds and ties of 
 Satan ! Let us throw off all his entanglements ! 
 Let us destroy the American union " 
 
 See ! They are on their feet now, with wild 
 denunciations upon their lips. They cannot abide 
 realities — these men and women who a few moments 
 ago seemed almost able to face Truth. They are 
 ordinary human beings after all — proud-hearted, and 
 hating ways and thoughts that are above their ways 
 and thoughts as high as the heavens are above the 
 earth. See their angry gestures ! They threaten the 
 pastor. They cry out loudly at him and to each 
 other. But they do not silence him. Hark ! He 
 speaks again: "Loyalty to the American union is 
 treason to Christ ! " 
 
 Louder than his voice — louder than the voices of 
 the people — is the cry of the hearts of the supporters 
 of Union Tabernacle ; listen to it ! 
 
 " This man must be silenced ! His words madden 
 us ! We hate Truth ! We love a lie ! Let us out — 
 let us out from this man's presence, to nurse the dark- 
 ness that is in our souls until it has driven out every 
 
124 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 ray of light ! Let us away from here to make our- 
 selves ready to go such lengths upon the road that we 
 have started on, that to return will be impossible!" 
 
 So ended the pastor's last attempt to work out a 
 separation of Church and State in Bellicose. 
 
 ' ' His words madden us ! " How it is that the self- 
 same words can say wholly different things to 
 different people, is a wondrous mystery. The same 
 words which say to those who are on Christ's right 
 hand : "Come ye blessed" ! — say to those who are on 
 His left : "Depart ye cursed"! The same words that 
 impelled the disciples of Jesus to enter into the 
 kingdom of heaven, and find righteousness and peace 
 — drove other men to do the foulest deed that has 
 been done during all time 
 
ONE MORE DAY'S WORK FOR JESUS. 125 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ONE MORE DAY'S WORK FOR JESUS. 
 
 As the disaffection deepened among the malcon- 
 tents, and as the declaration was more and more 
 frequently made by the people of Bellicose that the 
 American union must and should be preserved, the 
 pastor called attention more and more often to the fact 
 that the upholders of the American union had always 
 praised and glorified their own forefathers for doing 
 what the malcontents were claiming the privilege of 
 doing — establishing a dominion of ideas pleasing to 
 themselves. He also called the attention of the people 
 of Bellicose to the fact that their forefathers had made 
 provision for emergencies like that which was arising; 
 that they had published an acknowledgment of the 
 right of men to withdraw from the American union 
 when displeased with it — in their declaration that 
 governments which are instituted among men, derive 
 their just powers from the consent of the governed. 
 
 But the pastor's timely and honest reminder did 
 not serve at all to repair the breach which was between 
 
126 A TRUE SOK OF LIBERTY. 
 
 him and the people of Bellicose. It angered them 
 against him still more. They did not want to hear 
 facts. They wanted to hear an echo of what was in 
 their own hearts. They could not comprehend how 
 a man could be lifted above the questions which 
 agitated their hearts, and be beyond the influences 
 of partisanship. Their minds being centered on 
 themselves, they could not understand a man whose 
 heart was fixed on Truth. In their belief everybody 
 must be either for them or against them. The pastor 
 was not a unionist ; so of course he was a rebel. 
 
 Rebel — then, was the name applied to the pastor 
 by the makers of public opinion in Bellicose. They 
 denounced him openly in public places ; and his 
 name, which — had they known him as they ought — 
 they never would have spoken save in tones of love, 
 they taught men to couple with the most opprobrious 
 epithet they could lay tongue to. Who so ungrateful, 
 so black-hearted, so full of the spirit of all evil — in 
 the minds of the people of Bellicose — as men whom 
 they called rebels ! There was a rebel in their own 
 community; the worst rebel of all — for he was sinning 
 against the highest light. Privileged to reap the 
 benefit of the same opportunities, associations and 
 influences which made all his neighbors loyal and 
 stanch upholders of the American union — he turned 
 
ONE MOKE DAY'S WORK FOR JESUS. 127 
 
 his back on patriotism ; he outraged loyalty ; he 
 struck hands with his country's betrayers. Judas, 
 spurning the sweet influences which ought to have 
 made him a saint — was not worse than this man ! 
 
 Thus it came to pass that the pastor — the man 
 whose every word ought to have been listened to 
 with deepest reverence — the man to whom children 
 ought to have been brought, that he might bless them 
 with his teachings — was never talked about in any 
 part of Bellicose, in any circle — from high to low — 
 except as an abandoned character. And in the 
 lowest circles of the low — where the word manhood 
 had no more meaning than any other foreign word — 
 suggestions were often made as to the sort of treat- 
 ment which traitors and incendiaries ought to receive 
 at the hands of honest and outraged men. 
 
 What had the pastor done to make men hate him 
 so ? Let us name it in the simplest form in which it 
 can be said. Believing that Jesus Christ was a perfect 
 man, and that by His life the thoughts and ways of 
 all other men ought to be judged — he had tested by 
 that perfect life beliefs and doings which men call right 
 and praiseworthy. He had announced the result 
 courageously. He had detected the real motto of the 
 American union : Let us make Jesus Christ a liar 
 — and he had exposed it to men who were contin- 
 
128 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 ually exhorting each other to ' ' Stand up, stand up 
 for Jesus ! " This he had done, nothing worse ; 
 and in doing it he had earned for himself a reputa- 
 tion compared with which the characters of the vilest 
 of the vile seemed immaculate in the eyes of Bellicose. 
 
 Soon came a day when the malcontents went one 
 step further in imitating acts which the forefathers 
 of the upholders of the American union had com- 
 mitted — acts which the said upholders had always 
 called glorious. They withdrew their support from, 
 and declared their independence of, a sovereignty to 
 which they had been loyal. 
 
 All that consistency permitted the upholders of the 
 American union to do in regard to this rupture, was 
 to deplore the effects of an example which they had 
 called good — but found bad ; and to accept the result 
 as a natural thing. But they did not act so at all. 
 They did not seem to think once of leaving the 
 separatists unmolested, although those people dis- 
 tinctly said that all they wanted was to be left alone. 
 Like wildfire, a demand for their subjugation ran 
 through the American union ; and in response, men 
 were dispatched to the seceding section — there to 
 follow the example that had been set a hundred years 
 before by men whom the upholders of the American 
 union had always styled the enemies of freedom. 
 
ONE MOEE DAY'S WOEK FOR JESUS. 129 
 
 Goaded by what seemed to them acts of usurpa- 
 tion on the part of their oppressors, the separatists 
 in their turn followed the example that had been set 
 a hundred years before by men whom the upholders 
 of the American union had always glorified as de- 
 fenders of liberty. They resisted with violence the 
 mandates of those who claimed right of dominion 
 over them ; and seized property that was in the pos- 
 session of their enemies. 
 
 Did these overt acts open the eyes of the upholders 
 of the American union to the dishonor which they 
 were doing to the memory of their forefathers, by 
 attempting the subjugation of men who were trying 
 to secure something which the founders of the Amer- 
 ican union had declared an undeniable right of man? 
 Did the upholders of the American union hasten to 
 bury out of sight that banner which their voices had 
 always called a flag of freedom, but which their acts 
 were making a standard of oppression ? Not at all. 
 Debased as they were, degraded as was that banner 
 which floated over men who were false — not only to 
 God, but also to their own oft-declared principles — 
 these men still loved their ways; they still glorified their 
 flag, and declared that it should float forever and be 
 honored by all. Through the American union an 
 order was borne that over every house that flag must 
 
130 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 wave. In every community bands of men marched 
 from house to house to tell citizens to display the 
 colors of the American union. 
 
 Where was tyranny ever more relentless, or cowardice 
 more brutal, than they were in those days in "the 
 land of the free and the home of the brave ! " What 
 cared the mobs of self-styled patriots for patriotism ! 
 What respect had they for the convictions of men who 
 chose to abide by a belief which the upholders of the 
 American union had loudly professed allegiance to 
 and meanly sneaked away from! Trampling honesty 
 and sincerity under foot, they went from doubtful 
 house to doubtful house compelling a show of loyalty 
 to the American union. And speedily that banner 
 which the lover of consistency cannot look upon 
 without a feeling of aversion, was flaunting every- 
 where. Willing or unwilling, every citizen saw it 
 displayed on the house of which he was called master; 
 for where opposition was shown, the demand for its 
 exhibition was accompanied by threats which showed 
 a purpose as malignant as was afterward shown in 
 that order which became a watchword throughout 
 the American union : " If any man attempts to haul 
 down the American flag, shoot him on the spot ! " 
 
 There was one house in Bellicose where no banner 
 was displayed — the house which the pastor occupied. 
 
ONE MORE DAY'S WORK FOR JESUS. 131 
 
 But it would not be distinguished in that way long — 
 people said. Only until word had been passed around 
 through the town that the flag which Bellicose loved, 
 was to be hoisted there. Only until the people who 
 desired to see a rebel forced to acknowledge the 
 sovereignty of the American union, had been gathered 
 together. Only until a band of players on musical 
 instruments had been summoned to hail with a burst 
 of patriotic melody the appearance of the American 
 flag flying in triumph on the house of the one rebel 
 of Bellicose. 
 
 It was a lovely day. Morning and Spring were 
 putting forth, by herald and harbinger, promises of 
 coming refulgence and munificence. Under azure 
 skies and over emerald and flower-spangled fields that 
 lay bathed in warm and mellow sunshine — perfumed 
 zephyrs were being wafted. Among woodland boughs, 
 bright plumage was glancing; and from leafy heights, 
 notes of liquid and dulcet melody were falling. Faith 
 and responsive love, benediction and praise, fruition 
 and joy, were in earth, air and sky. 
 
 To the pastor the scene brought sweet and vivid 
 thoughts of the opening of an eternal summer — of the 
 dawning of that unending day when no man shall say 
 to his neighbor : " Know thou the Lord ; " but all 
 shall know Him from the least to the greatest. Its 
 
132 A TRUE SOtf OF LIBERTY. 
 
 coming seemed close at hand ; at his very door. As 
 if the brightness and beauty which were charming 
 his senses would presently merge into manifestations 
 that would enrapture his soul. It seemed as if the 
 vision which he was looking upon were about to unfold 
 a new meaning. He was conscious of being laid hold 
 of by a desire to be made ready for a summons that 
 he seemed about to hear. He felt impelled to make 
 effort to break away from some hinderance which 
 prevented him from taking a departure, to which all 
 the preparation of his life had been a prelude. "I sleep," 
 he said, "but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my 
 beloved that knocketh, saying: ( open to me my love/" 
 
 Eouse thee, oh pastor ! There is a time for every- 
 thing. There is a time to smile and a time to weep ; 
 a time to be joyful in the Lord, and a time to be slain 
 for the cause of Christ. 
 
 A sound of distant music salutes the ear. Looking 
 through his open window the pastor sees many people 
 moving across the fields, and coming toward the road 
 on which his house stands. As they draw near, he 
 sees that they are hurrying rather than marching in 
 processional order ; while a threading in and out among 
 them of excited, gesticulating men, shows plainly that 
 they are in pursuit of some business which their leaders 
 would have them at quickly. 
 
ONE MORE DAY'S WORK FOR JESUS. 133 
 
 On they come, waving many flags and drawing 
 rapidly nearer and nearer. Now they are out on the 
 road, and turned in the direction of the pastor's house; 
 and now the pastor can distinguish the strains of a 
 popular patriotic melody. Now the people are at 
 the pastor's house. Now they are surging through 
 his gateway. Now they are trampling his lawn — 
 looking up at his house — gesticulating — waving 
 flags and shouting. Now the musical instruments 
 are heard again, as a gesture from one who appears 
 to be somewhat in command, hushes in a slight degree 
 the clamor and confusion. Hark ! The band plays 
 again the strains which a few moments ago fell on 
 the pastor's ear from a distance. Listen ! The peo- 
 ple raise their voices and sing in chorus : 
 The union of lakes — the union of lands — 
 
 The union of States none can sever. 
 The union of hearts — the union of hands — 
 And the Flag of our Union forever ! 
 
 Hear the refrain ! Grandly it is swelled out by 
 many voices : 
 
 " Forever!" And again: "Forever!" And once 
 
 more, in tones of thunder : i( Forever ! ' 
 
 The union of hearts — the union of hands — 
 And the Flag of our Union forever ! 
 
 " Three cheers for the Old Flag, boys !" is shouted. 
 
 Then : « Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! " See the 
 
134 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Stars and Stripes, how they are lifted on high ! See 
 the flag, their dear old flag, on the breezes waving ! 
 Now a voice yells : "Show your colors !" And other 
 voices : "Hoist a flag on that house ! Bring out the 
 rebel ! Make him show the Stars and Stripes !" 
 
 In vain the people harangue the house before 
 them. No sign of life is there. Quickly a deputa- 
 tion of two or three men enter, to find the pastor and 
 tell him the purpose for which the crowd is gathered 
 on his lawn. He steps through the low window and 
 out upon a little balcony. He looks calmly down 
 at the faces that are looking up to him. 
 
 "What do you want of me, my friends?" — he 
 inquires. 
 
 Many voices reply : " We want you to hoist the 
 Union flag ! Show your colors ! We want to see our 
 flag on your house ! Three cheers for the Old Flag, 
 boys ! " And again hurrahs are wildly shouted ; and 
 flags are violently waved. " Be quick — you old rebel!" 
 yells a voice on the skirts of the crowd. " Bring out 
 the Stars and Stripes and run them up ! " 
 
 The pastor speaks again : "I cannot do as you 
 wish," he says. "I do not own such a thing as an 
 American flag. I have often spoken to you of my 
 hatred of the ideas of which it is the emblem. I 
 would not willingly stay in any house that harbors it. 
 
135 
 
 The more determined men are to rally around it, and 
 to follow its lead along the road which leads to de- 
 struction — the more determined must I be to abhor 
 it. It commemorates warfare. It urges men to 
 do violence. It summons and leads men to shed the 
 blood of their fellow men. It inspires men to insult, 
 to assault, to trample under foot and outrage the 
 peaceful banner of Christ. Think, my friends, think 
 what that flag which you glory in, really is. 
 
 " I speak to you all ; not only to you who profess 
 to be followers of Christ ; but to you all. Every man 
 ought to live for the glory of God. It is every man's 
 duty to be obedient to the commandments which 
 Christ obeyed. Think of the patience with which 
 God has waited for the nations to pledge their loyalty 
 to Him. Think of the Heavenly Father, waiting — 
 waiting for the peoples of the earth to seek the blessed 
 path of peace which Christ opened nearly two thou- 
 sand years ago. See men of every nation sending out 
 their hearts to you, only to be filled with desires that 
 ought not to enter into the heart of man. See all the 
 peoples of the earth being deceived by your words and 
 acts into believing that the flag which you raise on 
 high is an emblem of liberty ; that the land which 
 you love is a land of freedom. Look at yourselves 
 in shame, you who are monuments of God's long- 
 
136 A TRUE SCW OF LIBERTY. 
 
 suffering mercy, you who ought to be lifting up to the 
 nations the true emblem of liberty — the banner of the 
 cross — the standard of peace on earth — the symbol of 
 crucified lives. Look at yourselves crucifying Christ 
 afresh, you who ought to be leading men into the 
 kingdom of heaven — the only land of freedom. Look 
 at yourselves, seizing all the means for the dissemina- 
 tion of intelligence which this wondrous age has pro- 
 duced ; and using them to put Jesus Christ to open 
 shame before the whole world ; to teach men that He 
 is a liar ; that Truth is not in Him. Has not God 
 waited long enough for the nations to turn to Him 
 for liberty ? Is it not late in the day of his long- 
 suffering for men to lift up a banner of treason 
 against Him — as you are doing when you raise the 
 flag of the American union ? " 
 
 With the exception of a cat-call or two, there had 
 been no interruption of the speaker's words up to 
 this point. The pastor had a power over men when 
 he addressed them, which, inflamed against him 
 though they might be, it seemed hard for them to 
 overcome. The calmness of his poise, the earnest- 
 ness of his speech and the dignity of his manner, 
 always held his hearers silent for a while — no matter 
 how antagonistic his utterances might be to their 
 cherished beliefs. So it was at this time. Up to the 
 
137 
 
 moment he used the word treason the people listened. 
 But — treason ! The word seemed to break the spell. 
 Treason was what they had come out to subdue. 
 "Down with the traitor!" shouted voices in the 
 crowd — "up with the Stars and Stripes I" 
 
 There was a sudden rush to the door of the house. 
 Half a dozen men bearing a flag dashed through, and 
 up the stairway — into the pastor's study and out on 
 the balcony. At a corner of the railing they set their 
 flag-pole — nailing it fast with rapid and heavy blows; 
 and gave the banner to the breeze. Out it floated ; 
 and out from the throats of the people rang cheer on 
 cheer to greet it. 
 
 Underneath the flag the pastor stood, looking down 
 on the excited crowd beneath him. Children were 
 there — some of them no larger than those whom Jesus 
 looked upon when He said : "of such is the kingdom 
 of heaven;" little children — with whose innocence 
 parents had only begun to tamper; and whose feet 
 were not fully set upon the road that leads down to 
 hell. Other children were there — somewhat larger — 
 who had developed a relish for the way of the devil ; 
 and in whose faces the pastor could see Satanic 
 hatred spreading over, yet not wholly obliterating, the 
 marks of childish innocence. And others also, who 
 had progressed further — who knew enough to be able 
 
138 A TRUE SOtf OF LIBERTY. 
 
 to declaim about the rights of man ; to recite the max- 
 ims of patriotism ; to prate about the location of liberty; 
 to do honor to the flag of the American union and to the 
 fathers and mothers which the devil had given them. 
 
 The pastor spoke again ; taking advantage as well 
 as he could, of each momentary lull and subsidence 
 in the noise and tumult of the crowd below him : 
 
 " You have set your flag on my house, notwithstand- 
 ing what I have said to you ; but I shall not follow 
 your example, and resort to violence. If you are able 
 to get any satisfaction from the sight of the flag of 
 the American union flying over the head of a man 
 who hates it, and who cannot be made loyal to it, 
 you are welcome to that " 
 
 A torrent of denunciations, groans and hurrahs 
 drowned his voice. He stood silent. A smile, faint 
 and sad, passed over his features as there flashed across 
 his mind maxim after maxim speaking of this world 
 as a bef riender of the virtues; and as he compared their 
 declarations with the scene that was being enacted be- 
 fore him. The effect of a good example — where was it ? 
 The deference which the world shows to uprightness — 
 the regard which it has for courage and earnest endeavor 
 — its esteem for true manhood and devotion to duty — 
 its appreciation of honesty, sincerity and sterling worth 
 — where were they all ? Manifest, under his very eyes. 
 
ONE MORE DAY'S WORK FOR JESUS. 139 
 
 A freshening breeze caught the flag and floated it 
 far out over the heads of the people. Its shadow 
 falling on the pastor, changed the current of his 
 thoughts. What had he to do with the judgments of 
 this world ! They were nothing to him. He had 
 not been misled. He had never been deceived as to 
 the nature of his surroundings. He had always 
 known that he was in a world where men hate and 
 kill not only their enemies, but also their best friends. 
 His eyes had always been open to the Satanic possi- 
 bilities that are in human beings. He had never 
 sought the world's favor. He had sought and found 
 favor with Him who said : " Whosoever shall confess 
 me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess 
 before the angels of God." He put on strength anew. 
 He lifted his hand and pointed at the flag of the 
 American union. " Behold," he cried, "the idol of 
 your hearts ! Behold the emblem of a treason double- 
 dyed ! May its accursed " 
 
 The sentence was never finished. A heavy stone 
 thrown by some hand in the crowd, struck the aggress- 
 ive Christian in his face ; and he fell backward, 
 senseless and bleeding — into the arms of his daughter. 
 
 Deacon Tristam was fond of his family. He loved 
 the companionship of his wife and children. At 
 night he rarely left his home. After supper, it was 
 
140 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 his custom, to take his youngest child in his arms 
 and put it asleep by rocking it, and singing hymns. 
 Sometimes he sang that hymn beginning : 
 Hush my dear lie still and slumber ! — 
 One verse of it he always sang in a voice that showed 
 strong feeling — the verse in which these lines are : 
 to read the shameful story 
 
 How the Jews abused their King ; 
 How they served the Lord of glory, 
 Makes me angry while I sing. 
 
 " Ah l" — he would often say — ' ' how wicked 
 those men were, my children. I hope that as you 
 grow older, you will learn the enormity of their sin 
 and think of those bad men in the way that your 
 parents and all other good Christians do." 
 
 Why do you think they were so very bad, Deacon ? 
 They returned the salutations of those who met them 
 with pleasant greetings — treating them as they them- 
 selves wished to be treated — doing as they would be 
 done by. They loved their own people. Very 
 probably many of them were strongly attached to 
 their firesides; and were husbands and fathers of a 
 pattern whose excellence even you yourself, Deacon, 
 do not surpass. They loved their own kind devotedly. 
 They clung to each other, and bound themselves 
 together to uphold the beliefs that had been handed 
 
ONE MORE DAY'S WORK FOR JESUS. 141 
 
 down to them by their fathers. And for haters of 
 their union they had no mercy. 
 
 There is no real difference in painted sepulchres, 
 Deacon. The color of some may be white ; and the 
 colors of others may be red, white and blue; but 
 they are all filled with dead men's bones. 
 
142 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A STRANGE SORT OP MARTYRDOM. 
 
 Alas for the pastor's daughter ! She loved a tran- 
 quil and social life. She believed that people who 
 are in Eome ought to do as Romans do. She was a 
 thorough-going pursuer of happiness. To get all the 
 happiness and to give all the happiness that she 
 possibly could get and give — this was to her, religion. 
 She believed that her father was so wrapped up in what 
 Christ said about the treatment of enemies, that he 
 wholly ignored the commandment about conduct 
 toward neighbors. "Does a man love his neighbor 
 as himself " — she inquired of her religious convictions 
 — "when he hurts that neighbor's feelings by attack- 
 ing a belief which the neighbor loves ? " 
 
 Her placid mind could not possibly reconcile with 
 religious duty, denunciatory utterances — words cal- 
 culated to arouse antagonisms, to inflame men to 
 anger and to precipitate trouble. In the name of 
 charity, her religion had taught her to deal very 
 kindly with the beliefs of her neighbors. She had 
 
A STRANGE SORT OF MARTYRDOM. 143 
 
 learned that it is right to suppress and strangle every 
 harsh and angry feeling ; and so, in order to avoid 
 temptation — she laid the ax at the root of the tree, 
 and shut the door of her mild and gentle heart 
 against all disturbing realities. Deep as was the love 
 which she felt for her father, her love for her religion 
 was deeper still. 
 
 Although her mind frequently acted on her father 
 in a way that awakened in his mind suggestive 
 thoughts which prepared him for inspiration and 
 renewed endeavor, she herself could not inspire him. 
 Her powers acted on his in a manner similar to that 
 in which inferior beings direct higher beings toward 
 knowledge ; in a manner similar to that in which the 
 doings of the human race cause angels to glorify God. 
 Yet remarkable as the statement may seem, it is 
 nevertheless a fact that wholly different from each 
 other as were the pastor and his daughter — they had 
 both built up their characters by exactly the same 
 process. Each had gotten something by contact with 
 the world ; and both had laid hold of that something 
 with such power as to make it part of their very selves. 
 Although the impulses which the daughter prepared 
 her father to receive were impulses which her heart 
 disapproved ; although the acts which those impulses 
 gave birth to, were acts which she deeply deplored ; 
 
144 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 filial love kept her from saying so to one to whom 
 she owed honor as well as obedience. But the added 
 restraint of her religion was needed at times to keep 
 the daughter silent when the pastor's course seemed 
 as foolish as deplorable. * c What good will it do " — 
 was always her final thought — "to withstand a man 
 so set in his way ! Neither he nor I will be made 
 happier by my speaking." Thus her religion tri- 
 umphed; thus she clung to it. "I love it" — she 
 whispered to herself — "as devotedly as my father 
 loves his belief ; even if I do not publish my devotion." 
 At the time of the pastor's expulsion from the 
 pulpit of Union Tabernacle, the daughter had, in the 
 secrecy of her heart, accused her father of ruining 
 himself and injuring his own flesh and blood for the 
 sake of a mere idea ; a delusive will-o'-the-wisp. Of 
 Truth as a living Spirit — that can be befriended ; that 
 can be loved ; that can make returns for love ; that 
 can suffer ; that can be slain ; that can rise again 
 — her heart knew nothing. How a man could alienate 
 his friends and separate himself from his own kindred 
 for the sake of an indefinite thing which no one ever 
 succeeded in locating, she could not conceive. So ran 
 her thoughts. Loyalty she could understand — and 
 also love ; but they ought to be given to human beings. 
 To her kindred and to her friends she was determined 
 
A STRANGE SORT OF MA.RTYRDOM. 145 
 
 to cling. Through evil report, and through peril she 
 would serve them faithfully and unhesitatingly. f 'The 
 world has far too much unhappiness in it already" 
 — she said — "I would count it a sin to add anything to 
 its misery. I could never enshrine an intangible fancy 
 in my heart, and east out therefrom affection for living 
 people who ask for my love and who are able to respond 
 to it. ISTo ! Peace on earth and happiness among 
 men can only come through love of human beings ; 
 never through love of ideas. The devotion of men to 
 ideas which they call truth always has, and always will 
 stir up discord and strife ; and the reason is plain — 
 ideas differ. If advance in knowledge is claimed, and 
 assertion made that truth can be seen where error 
 was before — contradiction arises immediately. Men 
 say that truth is elsewhere. Discord follows ; and 
 wrangling. Or, if in some other field, progress is 
 claimed, and men assert that truth demands that they 
 and their fellows ought to begin to act in some new 
 fashion — opposition arises at once, also in the name of 
 truth ; and warfare is begun between those factions." 
 The pastor's daughter lived in that state of mental 
 confusion which they are in to whom fact and axiom, 
 moral utterance and scientific dogma, theological 
 enunciation and divine revelation, are known indis- 
 criminately and collectively by the name : "truth." 
 
146 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 It might be said that the daughter was not very 
 blameworthy in the feeling which she had in her 
 heart about her father's conduct. It might be said 
 that she sometimes forgot — most naturally too — just 
 what her father believed ; that she listened dutifully 
 and respectfully to his words when he spoke; but that, 
 as he was not always talking — and as others had strong 
 opinions which they too talked about — her errors 
 were due, perhaps largely, to mere lapse of memory ; 
 to the forgetting of the precise points of her father's 
 doctrine. Yet underneath this action of mind and 
 governing it, was a will; by which she chose the sphere 
 that she desired to live in. Her loves and her longings 
 had built for her a congenial place of abode; and 
 although it almost seemed at times as if her father's 
 words had power to draw her therefrom, she never 
 permitted herself to be wholly lifted out of her 
 chosen sphere of occupation. Through its medium 
 all words and thoughts must pass in order to reach her. 
 
 The daughter had made her own personal choice. 
 Hers was a quiet but indomitable persistence ; which, 
 although it might seem at times to be swerved by the 
 words of eternal life, returned unerringly to the course 
 that her heart had chosen. To her way of thinking, 
 the Christian graces were the qualities which establish 
 men and women in the good graces of other people. 
 
A STRAKGE SORT OF MARTYRDOM. 147 
 
 In them she was determined to live; in them she 
 desired to die. Neither persuasion nor power could 
 separate her from her religious convictions. 
 
 Although she thought that she ought to be accepted 
 at the value she placed on herself, she never ceased 
 from criticising her father's conduct. It was her 
 unchanging purpose to pull the pastor down to the 
 level of the worldly interests of his family. Yet she 
 did not proselyte boisterously ; she upheld her religion 
 quietly, even as they do who love the approbation of 
 their fellows. She did not force her ideas before the 
 notice of anybody. The utmost that she did in mis- 
 sionary work, was in taking advantage of opportuni- 
 ties that offered from time to time, to quote instances 
 in her father's hearing, which proved conclusively to 
 her own mind — that, regarding religious convictions, 
 although speech is sometimes silver, silence is very fre- 
 quently golden. And she waited for him to draw his 
 own inferences ; hoping always that he would stumble 
 over some principle that he had laid down ; and see 
 the necessity of abandoning his course. What was 
 she doing but lying in wait for the pastor to entangle 
 himself in his talk ! 
 
 She did not know her father ; but he knew her — 
 knew her as she was, a foe in his household ; the most 
 unscrupulous of his enemies in Bellicose — making 
 
148 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 use of natural affection in her effort to slay the hope 
 of a believer in Jesus. 
 
 Oh, how she yearned to stand well in the estimation 
 of her friends ! And how hard — how very hard to 
 bear — had been the knowledge, that beneath all the 
 kind words which her friends spoke to her, there was 
 pity for her in their hearts. " Our troubles seem so 
 unnecessary" she said to herself. "I cannot conceive 
 how that can be Christianity which causes a man to 
 stop providing for his family — when such provision 
 is being made in a respectable profession or line of 
 business." 
 
 How could she — who had not the slightest suspicion 
 that events could impress minds in any way except 
 the way in which they impressed her mind — how could 
 she understand that her father had been loyal to duty ! 
 Social surroundings, family ties and public opinion, 
 being in her estimation the great realities — how could 
 she believe otherwise than that Christianity, to be 
 vital, must be their preserver and friend ! 
 
 "Ought not sound-minded love of Christ" — she 
 asked herself — "prompt a family man to cling with 
 ail his might to his means of support ? * If any 
 provide not for his own, and specially for those of his 
 own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than 
 an infidel.' These words are not mine. How can I 
 
A STRANGE SORT OF MARTYRDOM. 149 
 
 feel reconciled when the Bible speaks so unmistakably 
 and so emphatically ! 'I have been young' — says the 
 Psalmist — 'and now am old; yet have I not seen the 
 righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread/ My 
 father has wrested Scripture to his own destruction." 
 
 But the pastor heard no word of complaint from his 
 daughter. Things went from bad to worse ; and she 
 bore her trouble in silence. Then that most terrible 
 thing happened — the fresh disgrace, deeper than any 
 that had fallen on the little family before. " What 
 has been benefited" — she asked herself — "by the 
 rioting that we are now suffering from ! Surely not 
 the cause of Christ — that cause which my father has 
 turned into a weapon to assail men's beliefs with — 
 that cause whose mission is to make men harmless as 
 doves. Even if my father is wise above all other men, 
 does that make strife any the less strife? does that give 
 him absolution for bringing warfare to his own 
 threshold?" 
 
 She was far, very far from believing that her father 
 could be wise above all other men. The argument of 
 numbers was all-convincing to her. She was one 
 who firmly believed that what everybody says, must 
 be true. She believed implicitly in the omniscience 
 of the majority. "If one man can be right" — she 
 said — "and a whole community wrong, how can 
 
150 A TRUE S02* OF LIBERTY. 
 
 there be any meaning to the term : common sense ? 
 No, it cannot be that my father knows more than 
 all other people/' 
 
 Misguided woman ! making the same assault upon 
 an advocate of Truth that Christ's murderers made 
 when tormenting Him. "Whom makest thou thy- 
 self!" they cried out when Truth through His lips 
 denounced their wicked religion. 
 
 The daughter would hare been aghast if her judg- 
 ment of her father's course of action had been written 
 down and shown to her. She never fully faced her 
 thoughts ; yet never could she wholly escape them. 
 Her religious convictions forced them before her — 
 fragmentarily, but constantly. Never could she stop 
 asking in her heart: "Who began the trouble? 
 surely" — she thought — " if my father had been gen- 
 erous toward other men's beliefs; if he had never 
 wounded the feelings of his neighbors — we would be 
 happy to-day. The community was orderly in the 
 first place ; men were friendly to my father and loved 
 him. But he repulsed them and insulted their 
 cherished opinions. Surely we ought to use hospi- 
 tality without grudging — to opinions as well as to 
 persons. Kind words can never die. They must pre- 
 vail. Why did not my father put his faith in them V 
 
 She had never thought once in all her life — that if 
 
A STRANGE SORT OP MARTYRDOM. 151 
 
 praying, singing and succoring the needy had been 
 all the religion practiced by Christ — He would have 
 liyed to old age before the Jews would have molested 
 Him. 
 
 At times it seemed to her that her father's course of 
 action was a series of mistakes which originated in his 
 not looking on the bright side of things. At other times 
 she thought that his fundamental error was excessive 
 eagerness after perfection ; which made him try to real- 
 ize it in his own life, try to find it in other people, and 
 blame them if they did not attain it at once. Why 
 had he not started on the path of righteousness with 
 the determination to make haste slowly ! "He hates 
 policy " — she said — " but is tact irreligion ? Why did 
 he not moderate his enthusiasm; why did he not 
 learn to adapt it to his surroundings ? Does he not 
 know that in whatsoever state we are — therewith we 
 ought to be content ? And if having food and 
 raiment we ought to be content, how much more ought 
 we when we have also pleasant social surroundings ! " 
 
 How lamentably ignorant she was of that mighty 
 restlessness which lays hold of God's witnesses with 
 such power that they never know content. How 
 wholly unconscious she was of the mission of those 
 who are described in the allegory of St. John the 
 divine, as being round about God's throne and in the 
 
152 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 midst of it ; and who are full of eyes so that they see 
 all things. They cannot be deceived. False Gods 
 and false Christs have no power over them. Ordinary 
 employments cannot hold them. They rest not day nor 
 night ; but ever bear witness of the one true G-od ; the 
 Lord God Almighty which was, and is, and is to come. 
 
 "Why did not my father know better" — queried the 
 daughter — ' ' than to try to turn human beings into 
 angels suddenly ? All things come round to him who 
 waits. The Apostle's express injunction is to run 
 with patience the gospel race. Why did not my father 
 know better than to oppose himself to the will of 
 determined men? Why did not he let his neighbors 
 alone, and talk over his theories quietly with me ? 
 I would have humored his idiosyncrasies ; and he and 
 I would have lived in comfort and happiness. Yet he 
 need not have given up one iota of his belief that the 
 world ought to govern itself in accordance with his 
 ideas." If her life had depended on it, she could not 
 have gotten out of her thoughts the saying that kept 
 inserting itself among them — that a man once lived 
 who got along very well in the world by minding his 
 own business. 
 
 "Well! What has happened, has happened" — 
 she said — "and must be accepted. I will try to 
 make the best of our altered circumstances. I will 
 
A STRANGE SORT OF MARTYRDOM. 153 
 
 try to be as cheerful and as happy as I can ; and I 
 will do all that lies in my power to make father as 
 comfortable and happy as he can be made." 
 
 She nursed the pastor tenderly and patiently 
 through the illness that followed the assault which 
 had been made upon him. To her gentle and assidu- 
 ous care he owed his recovery. Gradually he grew 
 convalescent. Slowly, but surely, day after day — he 
 regained strength of body and vigor of mind. And 
 at last as he sat in his chair by the open window, 
 looking out upon fields that were rejoicing under 
 summer skies, and calling to his daughter from time 
 to time to notice some new beauty in the scene before 
 him — he seemed almost the same man that he had 
 been in past days. He had never been robust in form 
 or florid in complexion ; therefore his present thin- 
 ness of figure and paleness of countenance were not 
 very noticeable. The only real alteration of his 
 visage was where it was marred by the scars of the 
 wounds which the patriots of Bellicose had set upon 
 him. 
 
 "Father" — the daughter ventured to say one 
 beautiful morning, to the pastor sitting in his favorite 
 place — " I believe that you do love the world after all; 
 notwithstanding all you have said and done. I am 
 sure that no one could enjoy a day like this more than 
 
154 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 you do. To look at the birds and the flowers gives 
 you a joy which you cannot conceal." 
 
 She spoke, with a look of appeal on her face which 
 almost showed anxiety. In her mind there was a 
 vague belief that if she could win an assent from her 
 father it would open up ideas which would in some 
 way make possible a restoration of father and daughter 
 to their former position in Bellicose. 
 
 "My dear," said the pastor, "you must not con- 
 found the earth with the world ; they are entirely 
 and distinctly different things. The earth ever since 
 its creation has been fulfilling the mission it was sped 
 upon ; and is to-day putting forth all its powers in 
 obedience to the laws of God, to preserve the order 
 which He has ordained — shaping blade and ear so 
 that kindly fruits shall be brought forth in due 
 season. But the world of human beings on the earth 
 is wholly without form and void — shapeless in the 
 sight of God; and void of obedience to His will. 
 Confusion reigns there ; and darkness broods over 
 the deeps which are in the souls of men. With all 
 its powers, the world which now is upon the earth 
 withstands the commandments of God; and strives 
 to thwart His desire to banish chaos. His times and 
 seasons are scouted. The seeds of righteousness are 
 treated as chaff ; and sowers go forth sowing to the 
 
A STRANGE SORT OF MARTYRDOM. 155 
 
 wind; so that the harvest which God loves shall not 
 be gathered in ; so that reapers shall reap the whirl- 
 wind. As we look with gladness on the pleasant 
 scenes which the earth is presenting to our eyes — let 
 us sorrow, my daughter, because of the world which 
 now is on the earth. But more abundantly let us be 
 joyous because of the world which is to come. For 
 as surely as the Spirit of God once moved upon an 
 earthly void, so surely shall His Spirit move upon the 
 hearts of all people — and a world of men and women 
 shall be upon this earth, wherein the pattern which 
 was shown by Jesus shall be the prevailing fashion." 
 
 But the upholders of the American union cared 
 nothing for the fashion of the world to come. They 
 did not propose to meet violence with meekness. They 
 did not mean to love their enemies. They meant to 
 subdue them ; they meant to kill them. 
 
 The fashion of this world was good enough for the 
 upholders of the American union. It had stood the 
 test of time. Self -protection was their rock of ages. 
 And so, with darkened understanding and with hearts 
 filled with love of evil they went about their purpose 
 of raising an army to ee put down the rebellion " — 
 coupling with their enterprise the name of Him who 
 said: "If ye love me keep my commandments." 
 The argument with which they cheated their souls 
 
156 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 was, in its real analysis, this : Christ came to earth to 
 uphold the right and to put down evil. We are in the 
 right because we are we. Therefore if we love the 
 right and hate evil as Christ did, we must uphold 
 ourselves and each other, and put down those who 
 oppose themselves to us. 
 
 From city to city, from settlement to settlement 
 throughout the American union, a call to arms was 
 sounded. From pulpit to pulpit the summons was 
 re-echoed in the name of the Prince of Peace. 
 Preachers, who by most solemn vows had pledged 
 themselves, in the presence of God and man, to up- 
 hold Christ's gospel of good will, called on men 
 everywhere to lay hands on murderous weapons and 
 go forth to slay human beings ; praying to Satan 
 under the name of the God of battles to give victory 
 to the upholders of the American union in the con- 
 flict which was before them. Other reverend recruiters 
 preferred to hide facts from their hearers. They did 
 not tell volunteers for battle the real murderous 
 acts which they were being summoned and sent to 
 do. They said : ' ' Go and die for your country ! " 
 
 This manner of speaking of the soldier's mission 
 speedily grew very popular. Men cried out to each 
 other to rally around the Stars and Stripes — to follow 
 the flag of the American union and die. They said 
 
A STRANGE SORT OF MARTYRDOM. 157 
 
 that they could accomplish more desirable things than 
 one, by the proceeding — that they could turn slaves into 
 free men like themselves. And they called each 
 other and themselves imitators of Christ, with less 
 hesitation than ever. Back and forth through the 
 American union the popular sentiment was thrown. 
 Men caught it up quickly and sent it abroad again. 
 The poet put it into metrical and lying verse. The 
 melodist set it to music ; and from one end of the 
 American union to the other, the people sang it. 
 
 As He died to make men holy, 
 Let us die to make men free, 
 
 they blasphemously sang — likening the Prince of 
 Peace to their own murderous selves. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, this proposal which 
 men were making to each other and singing about — 
 the volunteers knew that they were rallying around 
 the standard of the American union for some other 
 purpose than dying ; else why did they bear swords 
 and guns ? Rhetorical and metrical humbuggery did 
 not delude them ; neither did it deceive anybody ; 
 unless, perhaps, the young children whom double- 
 tongued parents and guardians were seducing from 
 paths of innocence into the ways of the devil. In 
 reality, the inspirers and abettors of the volunteers — 
 and they themselves — hoped that they would return to 
 
158 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 their homes alive and well; bearing trophies of victory, 
 and swords dyed with the blood of their fellow-men. 
 
 The Bellicose contingent of that army of three 
 million men, which in those days went out to pro- 
 tect their earthly homes by slaughtering the defenders 
 of other homes, was marching on its way to the front. 
 The pastor, sitting in his accustomed place, watched 
 its departure. With flowers, with bright colors, with 
 inspiring music, the volunteers marched away — step- 
 ping with a boldness and confidence which they could 
 not have exceeded if they had been setting out on 
 some laudable enterprise ; marching to slaughter 
 their fellow-men with an eagerness which they could 
 not have surpassed if they had never declared that 
 life is one of the unalienable rights of man. 
 
 In the ranks, and not lagging, were many who 
 times beyond count had proclaimed themselves follow- 
 ers of Him who told men to return good for evil. 
 They too, were going forth to shoot down men who 
 were opposing them — going far out of their way to 
 disobey Christ's law, with as much zeal as if they had 
 never even heard of being shod with the preparation 
 of the gospel of peace. To borrow an expression 
 from Mr. Kitto — the members of Union Tabernacle 
 were "not in the rear." Side by side with them 
 marched other recruits drawn frdm the various de- 
 
A STRANGE SORT OF MARTYRDOM. 159 
 
 nominational bodies which gathered in the different 
 churches of Bellicose. " See ! " said the pastor, 
 "they hold their faith in unity of spirit, notwith- 
 standing their apparent dissensions. Touch their 
 hearts, and at once it becomes apparent that they are 
 all at one in their religion. To Satan with one con- 
 sent they bend the knee, and hail him God over all, 
 worthy forever \" 
 
 Some there are who believe that the human face is 
 an index of character. The faces of the women, who 
 in Bellicose bade farewell to the departing volunteers, 
 showed naught of the wickedness of their hearts. 
 Their fair and lovely features seemed rather the incar- 
 nation of goodness and purity than masks to cover 
 black souls that were plotting the slaughter of their 
 fellow-creatures, and treason against their Creator. 
 
 Forward marched the soldiers, encouraged by the 
 plaudits of all the people of Bellicose — save one. 
 From an upper window of the pastor's house the 
 daughter waved a farewell; and leaning far out, 
 made loving gestures to a soldier whose eyes dwelt 
 fondly on her features. Every heart in Bellicose, 
 save that of the believer in Jesus, cried : ' ' God 
 speed ! " — to men who, calling themselves Christians, 
 were hastening to reveal themselves as the most 
 benighted heathen. 
 
160 A TRUE SOX OF LIBERTY. 
 
 " These are they," said the pastor, "who have 
 the effrontery to call other men heathen. These are 
 they who being horrified because little children in 
 foreign lands are slain in the name of religion — send 
 missionaries to those lands to teach people how to do 
 right. How much better by far it is to slay little 
 children in their innocence, than to preserve their 
 lives and rear them up with an education which 
 teaches them in the name of Christ to butcher their 
 fellow-creatures. Oh, that these men would learn 
 to hate the heathenism of their own hearts ! Oh, 
 that they would pray for preachers of Christ's gospel 
 to be sent to them ! " 
 
 In all Bellicose, only he who had laid down his life 
 for a home eternal would have cried "halt V 9 to the 
 men who were on their way to destroy other men's 
 lives, in the vain belief that they could thus give 
 stability and security to homes whose very natures 
 decreed that they could be nothing but transient. 
 
 The emotions in the pastor's heart were like the 
 sorrows which Jesus knew when He wept over the 
 doomed city. " Oh, Jerusalem ! w he cried, as those 
 who had named the name of Christ and were pressing 
 toward iniquity, passed his window. " Thou that 
 stonest the prophets and killest them that are sent 
 unto thee, how oft would I have charged thee to be 
 
A STRANGE SORT OF MARTYRDOM. 161 
 
 true to the home eternal; to be loyal to the only family 
 which can endure forever — the household of faith in 
 Christ ; but thou wouldst not. Thou hast chosen to fix 
 thy affections on things which cannot remain. There- 
 fore thou art given over to disobedience ; and knowest 
 not the time of thy visitation." 
 
 The pastor knew well that mistaken ideas of duty 
 lay at the root of the evil which the professing 
 Christians of Bellicose were going out to do. li How 
 fearless of danger they are ! " said he. ' ' They shrink 
 not from peril. Dauntless they are going where what 
 men call death — and that in its most horrid form — 
 will strike on all sides of them and at them ; believing 
 that they are answering duty's call. Men who can 
 thus face all that human flesh naturally shrinks from, 
 battling for the dominion of their own ideas, could 
 face the same horrors unresisting, for the sake of 
 Christ's dominion, if they believed that duty demanded 
 it of them. A false conception of their duty makes 
 them soldiers. Brave and resolute — unswerving of 
 purpose and fearing neither suffering nor what men 
 call death — truly of such as these, God makes Christ's 
 martyrs when it is His good pleasure to do so. 
 
 " Oh, if these men would learn what death really 
 is, and fear it ! Oh, if they could be taught that 
 disobedience of God's commandments is death ; and 
 
162 A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 learn to shrink from death. Oh, if these men who 
 are so reckless of what this world calls life, could be 
 taught what life is — and learn to prize it ! Oh, if 
 they could be taught that to obey God is to live. 
 But they cannot see Truth. Verily, Thou art a God 
 that hidest Thyself, oh Lord. 
 
 " These men cannot see that it is God's purpose 
 that professing followers of Christ shall be deceived 
 by the ways of this world. They cannot see that He 
 is thus teaching some lesson which men in the world to 
 come will thank Him that they have learned. These 
 men cannot see that it is God's purpose that this world 
 shall not be converted to Christ. They cannot see 
 that God has ordained that Christ's gospel shall be 
 preached during this present dispensation ; not for the 
 salvation of this world from sin — but for a witness — 
 for a summons — to gather a little company of believers 
 who are to be hated and killed by this world, and 
 afterward to be hailed as leaders of men, in the world 
 which is to come. These men cannot see that Christ 
 is not being truly shown to this world ; that God for 
 His own wise purpose is permitting this world to look 
 at Christ through beliefs and prejudices which have 
 obscured men's minds. 
 
 t( This world will never see that the only family 
 which men ought to be unswervingly loyal to, is that 
 
A STRANGE SOKT OF MARTYRDOM. 163 
 
 family which loves God as a Father, and Christ as an 
 elder brother ; that family whose habitation is eter- 
 nity, and whose unalienable possessions are endless love 
 and power to forgive offenses, trespasses and sins. 
 The God-like power of forgiving sins — the Christ-like 
 attribute of meekness — is denied to those whose hearts 
 are bound by earthly ties. 
 
 " These men are blinded, " said the pastor — as the 
 volunteers passed out of sight, and as the last hurrahs 
 of their admirers died away — " these men are 
 blinded because they are men whom God intends 
 shall be blinded. Men were not thus blinded in that 
 world which once was, when the sons of God walked 
 the earth. Neither will men be thus blinded in the 
 world which is to come; when the sons of God shall 
 again be manifested. Only this present evil world 
 has power to draw a veil between the understanding 
 of men and the Truth as it is in Jesus. Only of this 
 world does Christ say: 'It must needs be that offences 
 
164: A TRUE SON" OF LIBERTY. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE WANDERER'S WELCOME. 
 
 The soldier whose eyes looked fondly on the 
 pastor's daughter as the volunteers were marching 
 away from Bellicose, was Deacon Tristam's son. He 
 was a member of Union Tabernacle, and patriotic to 
 his heart's core. He was a teacher in the Sunday- 
 school and a believer in hell fire. He believed that 
 human beings, who have not repented of their sins 
 before their souls' departure from their earthly bodies, 
 are doomed to dwell forever in flames actual, terrible, 
 and burning with an intensity far beyond anything 
 that mind can conceive of. He believed that such 
 unrepentant sinners are given bodies that can burn 
 in endless flames; that can suffer inexpressible agony, 
 and yet can endure forever. He believed this, fully and 
 sincerely ; and he acted on his belief. He made it 
 his life's mission to strive to keep souls away from 
 the flames of hell. The solemn thought never left 
 him, that he was every day in contact with human 
 beings, who, before another sunrise, might be sum- 
 
165 
 
 moned to the bar of God ; and sent from thence to 
 dwell in torments. He prayed earnestly that he 
 might ever have a realizing sense of the daily and 
 hourly peril that human beings are in ; and that he 
 might work while it is called to-day. When he met 
 a friend or acquaintance who had not made a public 
 profession of religion — instead of inquiring of such a 
 one in regard to physical health — his questions were 
 always about the welfare of the soul. And so sincere, 
 earnest and solicitous was he in his manner, that the 
 most frivolous among the " unregenerate " could not 
 scoff without an uncomfortable feeling in his heart 
 that he was putting himself still further in the wrong ; 
 and that the deacon's son was wholly right in the 
 matter. 
 
 Ed. Tristam was a good man — such was the verdict 
 of Bellicose. More than one dying person had been 
 aroused to a sense of his guilt in the sight of God by 
 his instrumentality. " How can my zeal ever falter I" 
 he was wont to say. "To die a sinner is to be 
 doomed to burn forever ; from this there is no escape; 
 the law covers the whole human race." 
 
 He had lost a sister by death when she was seven 
 years old. Before she died — a little innocent, know- 
 ing no more about sin than the angels in heaven — he 
 had inquired into her soul's condition. "Mary" he 
 
166 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 said, solemnly and kindly, during a lucid interval of 
 her fever — "it may be that you are about to die. 
 You must repent ; or else God will put you down 
 into that awful burning hole where wicked persons 
 must stay forever. You do not want to go there, do 
 you dear ? You want to go to heaven and live forever 
 with Jesus and the angels ; don't you, my darling ?" 
 
 Little Mary who was a sensitive, timid child, 
 shuddered and said that she did not want to burn 
 forever in hell; then she became delirious. Her 
 mother told the doctor, when he called, that Mary had 
 seemed to be somewhat better for a little while ; but 
 had got worse again. The next day when Mary was 
 free of her fever once more, her brother talked with 
 her again about her soul until she said that she had 
 repented of her sins. When she died, he thanked 
 God, on his knees, that he had been instrumental in 
 saving his little sister's soul. That she was wholly fit 
 for the presence of God without any interference on 
 his part, was a thought which could not by any 
 possibility have been gotten into his brain. 
 
 Union Tabernacle was proud of the deacon's son ; 
 and called him a bright and shining light. With the 
 boys of his Sunday-school class he labored and prayed 
 most faithfully. And his labors had been crowned 
 with success. Not as fully, it is true, as he desired ; 
 
THE WANDERER'S WELCOME. 167 
 
 but enough so to warrant him in believing that his 
 talents were gaining other talents for the Lord's use. 
 Many had been led by him to feel concern about the 
 welfare of their souls — to realize their lost condition, 
 and to cry : " What must I do to be saved \" Many 
 had professed faith in Christ and had been received 
 into the full fellowship of Union Tabernacle — 
 promising young converts. 
 
 The deacon's son kept careful record of all his 
 scholars ; and especially of the spiritual condition of 
 those who left his class without having made a public 
 profession of religion. If they continued to live in 
 Bellicose he was careful to call on them from time to 
 time, and to make inquiries about their souls. And if 
 — as sometimes happened, they left the town altogether 
 — he opened and kept up a correspondence with them. 
 He said that his scholars were always his scholars until 
 they had been received into the Church of Christ. 
 Whether they were present or whether they were 
 absent — all the youth who had ever been taught by 
 him had always a claim upon his care until they had 
 given evidence that their souls were numbered among 
 the saved. 
 
 On one member of his class, the deacon's son had 
 never been able to make any impression. This boy 
 was a hard one ; seeming to have every vicious pro- 
 
168 A TRUE SOI* OF LIBERTY. 
 
 pensity planted deep in his heart; and picking np 
 every idle and bad habit. The teacher had been advised 
 again and again to give the boy over as irreclaimable. 
 The superintendent of the school had more than once 
 threatened to expel him. Everybody save the deacon's 
 son declared the boy's case hopeless ; and that his 
 presence in the school was hurtful to discipline. The 
 boy's teacher was told that he was doing his other 
 scholars an injury by befriending the boy — that the 
 one sickly sheep would surely poison the rest of the 
 flock. But the deacon's son would not listen to his 
 advisers. He said that the boy would surely yield 
 in course of time,, to his pleadings and to the good 
 example set by the other scholars. He said also that 
 underneath the outer crust of the boy's heart there 
 was sincere love for his teacher. 
 
 But the boy seemed to take pride and delight in his 
 wrong doings; and in offsetting them against the 
 ways of the others scholars. He grew worse instead 
 of better. 
 
 One Sunday he was absent from his class. During 
 the session of the school loud voices and sounds of 
 altercation were heard outside the door, and in the 
 vestibule or passage-way which separated the school- 
 room from the street. These noises breaking upon 
 the quiet of the session were so unseemly, that a teacher 
 
THE WANDERER'S WELCOME. 169 
 
 near the door went quickly out to suppress the 
 disturbance. On his return he reported to the 
 superintendent that he had found the bad scholar of 
 brother Ed. Tristam's class smoking a cigar in the 
 vestibule, and skylarking with another boy. He said 
 also that he had remonstrated with them and 
 had been answered with abuse and vile language. He 
 then, according to his report, had taken the boy by 
 the arm — had walked him out of the door — and the boy 
 had gone away threatening to do him bodily damage. 
 As the boy was being ejected he had put his hand inside 
 of his coat, and had partly drawn out something that 
 looked like a weapon. Such was the report of the 
 teacher who had ejected him. 
 
 The bad scholar never entered the school again. 
 When the deacon's son visited him to continue his 
 efforts at reclamation, the boy's version of the eject- 
 ment differed from the report that had been made to 
 the superintendent ; and he said that he would never 
 return to a Sunday-school that he had been knocked 
 and kicked out of. The deacon's son did not know 
 what to believe about the occurrence. The boy's 
 reputation was bad. Very probably he would not 
 hesitate about telling a falsehood in order to make 
 out a case for himself, and secure sympathy. On the 
 other hand the teacher who had ejected the boy was 
 
170 A TRUE S(W OF LIBERTY. 
 
 known to be quick tempered ; and in anger he might 
 have done more than he afterward remembered. 
 
 At all events, the bad scholar was never seen in the 
 Sunday-school again. Shortly after his ejectment 
 his parents moved away from Bellicose and his 
 teacher lost all traces of him. Yet during the years 
 which followed, the deacon's son did not give up the 
 hope of finding his lost scholar and of "saving his 
 soul." Although every effort which he put forth 
 failed, he still yearned over the missing one, in his 
 heart. He still prayed for the boy. He still said 
 that he had a hope which was almost certainty, that 
 he would some day learn from the boy's lips how a 
 repentant wanderer had been led to return to his 
 Heavenly Father's home to find forgiveness, love and 
 welcome. 
 
 Nevertheless, when the deacon's son marched out 
 of Bellicose among the volunteers, he had not received 
 the slightest clue to the whereabouts of his lost 
 scholar. Before he went he requested the members 
 of his family to notify him immediately if any message 
 from, or information of the missing one should reach 
 Bellicose. He said that he would write to the lad at 
 once, on receipt of such information, and try to win 
 him from the paths which lead down to hell. 
 
 The pastor's daughter and the deacon's son had 
 
171 
 
 pledged themselves to marry each other. Their 
 farewell tryst had taken place the night before the 
 departure of the troops. There was no time for 
 lingering words the next morning, at the spot where 
 the troops were assembling. There was only time 
 then for the lovers to hurriedly embrace ; and to 
 hastily charge each other to write frequent letters. 
 Then the pastor's daughter returned to her home to 
 witness from an upper window the departure of the 
 man to whom she had given the love of her young life. 
 
 Thus the deacon's son and the pastor's daughter 
 separated from each other ; he with his heart filled 
 full of a patriotism which had swallowed up every 
 other feeling, and had caused him to break away from 
 every tie at his country's call ; and she with her 
 heart filled with those emotions which women know 
 whose loved ones go forth to kill and to be killed in 
 battle. 
 
 The hastily written letters which the pastor's 
 daughter soon began to receive, kept her informed of 
 the movements of her soldier. They told of the 
 marching of the volunteers from point to point in 
 their progress toward the scene of conflict. They 
 spoke of various scenes incident to embarking and 
 disembarking when resort to railroad or steamboat 
 had been necessary. They told of the passing of the 
 
172 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 troops through cities which lay in their course — 
 patriotic cities whose inhabitants greeted "the boys 
 in blue" with wild applause — and cities where patri- 
 otism was halting and where citizens showed the flag 
 of the American union with reluctance. And ever 
 and ever again between such items of news was a 
 word or two about the missing scholar. Sometimes 
 a charge for a speedy notification as soon as a message 
 from the delinquent should come ; and always the 
 expression of a firm conviction that the writer would 
 meet his lost scholar again and that together they 
 would bow down in thankfulness and joy before the 
 Father of all mercies. 
 
 Then the letters told of the arrival of the volunteers 
 at the seat of war; and of their encampment. And 
 then came a letter which made the pastor's daughter 
 shudder with horror — which sent her with a face of 
 deathly whiteness, hurrying with shaking limbs to 
 her father ; and which brought out on his face — on 
 the countenance of the man who had schooled himself 
 to meet unshrinkingly every terror which this world 
 can launch at the follower of Christ — an expression of 
 almost cowering awe. 
 
 The letter said that a night or two before the date 
 which it bore, the writer had been appointed to do 
 sentry duty. It told how, as he had paced up and 
 
THE WANDERER'S WELCOME. 173 
 
 down upon his post silent and alone, with night's 
 darkness about him, and stars glittering overhead, his 
 thoughts had been employed. It told how fond 
 memories of loved ones far away had filled his mind 
 and throbbed through his heart; albeit every sense 
 was alert to protect the encampment which had been 
 committed to his guardianship. Thoughts of dear 
 ones in Bellicose had suggested thoughts of that loved 
 and lost scholar who at some time would return in 
 some providential manner to gladden the heart of his 
 teacher. The letter said that while the thoughts of 
 the writer had been thus employed — just as he had 
 decided to write again to Bellicose to emphasize his 
 former charges about sending news of the lost scholar 
 as soon as received — he fancied that he heard a 
 rustling of leaves and a snapping of twigs in a clump 
 of bushes close at hand. 
 
 "Immediately/' said the writer — f * I halted ; and 
 pointed my musket at the spot — waiting for another 
 sign or movement. The silence was profound. I 
 remained thus for a moment ; and then thinking that 
 my ears had been deceived, I was about to resume my 
 steps, when I thought that I saw something crouched 
 low down on the ground a few paces away and 
 approaching me — a form whose vague outlines were 
 hardly distinguishable from the surrounding gloom. 
 
174 A TRUE SOtf OF LIBERTY. 
 
 " ' Who goes there ! ' I cried. l Advance and give 
 the countersign, or you are a dead man ! ' 
 
 " As I spoke, the form rose up — and I saw rushing 
 at me, the figure of a man with hand uplifted and 
 brandishing a weapon. It all happened in a moment. 
 I fired ; and the man, giving a yell, pitched headlong 
 to the ground and lay at my feet — writhing, groaning 
 and uttering most horrible curses. The next moment 
 he was quiet." 
 
 The letter then said that amid the confusion which 
 followed the report of the gun — while drums were 
 rolling out an alarm — while bugles were sounding, and 
 voices shouting a call to arms — a lantern was brought; 
 and by its light, the writer — looking on the features 
 of the dead man, lying where he had fallen — saw the 
 face of his lost scholar. 
 
 " Where the poor lad went" said the writer, in 
 conclusion, "when he left Bellicose — I know not. 
 I only know that in some way he was led into the 
 rebel army, and has fallen fighting against the flag 
 of his country. Oh, it is horrible ! horrible ! — the 
 thought of those curses which seem always to be 
 ringing in my ears. Did he die thus — or did the 
 wondrous mercy of G-od turn his poor heart to Christ 
 even while he was in the very clutches of death? Did 
 the poor lad, even like the dying thief, rejoice in Jesus 
 
THE WANDERER'S WELCOME. 175 
 
 with his last expiring breath ; and is his saved soul 
 now with his Kedeemer in Paradise ? Who can tell ! 
 I hope that it is so. I pray that it is so. What can 
 we say, but : G-od's will be done ! " 
 
 "Amen !" cried the pastor — throwing down the 
 letter and walking up and down the room in an 
 agitation which the daughter had never seen equalled. 
 " Amen ! Amen ! What can we say but God's will be 
 done ! Bow the heavens, oh Lord, and come down ! 
 so that Thy will may be done upon earth as it is done 
 above. Our hope is in Thee alone. There is no 
 hope in man. Too long has man wrought the will of 
 Satan upon earth. Too long have the eyes of men 
 been darkened. Too long have men, while professing 
 a love for human souls, been slaughtering their 
 fellow-men and sending them red-handed into the 
 presence of their final Judge. Too long have men, 
 while professing a belief that the torments of hell are 
 endless, and that few there be that escape them — too 
 long have they been sending their fellow-men off of 
 the earth by thousands upon thousands, to meet their 
 eternal destiny. ,Too long have men, while professing 
 to believe that the whole duration of time is as a span 
 when compared with eternity — too long have they 
 been slaying their fellow-men because of offenses 
 whose effects at the very worst could only last during 
 
176 A TRUE SCW OF LIBERTY. 
 
 a fragment of a span. Too long ! Too long ! But 
 the ways of man are not endless, oh God ! They are 
 not the movements of a system which must go on 
 forever. Somewhere upon the course which his feet 
 are pursuing — and which man calls the path of 
 human progress — Thou hast set a bound that he 
 cannot pass. Some time he will surely hear Thy 
 voice saying : Thus far shalt thou go and no farther. 
 Oh, Thou who didst ordain that the sons of God, who 
 once walked the earth, should fall from their high 
 estate — Thou who didst ordain that Thy true church 
 should pass away ; and that in its place the wrecks 
 and ruins of a pure belief should vaunt of a 
 religion undefiled, and delude men's souls — grant 
 oh, Thou most mighty God, that this too shall pass 
 away ! Evil times are pressing in upon the saints of 
 God and are wearing out the patience of Thy elect 
 who are in the earth. Descend, oh God in majesty ! 
 Make thy sons manifest once more; and open the 
 path of salvation into a broad highway. Let the 
 righteous shine! Blot out this wicked interim — so that 
 Alpha and Omega shall be as one. For thy elect's sake 
 shorten these days of tribulation. Destroy the false 
 Christ ! Slay the man of sin ! Even as it was in the 
 wondrous beginning — let it be now, upon earth — 
 oh, God — and grant that so it shall evermore be; 
 
THE WAKDEBER'S WELCOME. 177 
 
 world without end, Amen !" Drawing his daughter 
 to his side, the pastor sank down on his knees — 
 pouring out with his whole soul the prayer which, 
 sooner or later, every child of God learns to breathe : 
 Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ! 
 
178 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE PASTOR'S MISTAKE. 
 
 To say that factors mightier than man are in the 
 world ; to say that man is but an agent, through 
 whose instrumentality superior powers are working 
 out ends and accomplishments; to say that spirits 
 take possession of man and use him — is unfashionable; 
 it is obsolete. 
 
 Yet they who are fully abreast with the times — they 
 who are in the very forefront, among modern thinkers 
 — declare unhesitatingly, that ideas are the moving 
 powers of the world. 
 
 What is the difference between the two statements ? 
 Who can tell ? Yet men think that the former is a 
 belief that belongs to an age of superstition ; and that 
 the latter is a belief that belongs to an age of enlight- 
 enment. Men substitute new words for old, and think 
 that they have discovered new things — that the world 
 is entering new paths, on a progress toward perfection. 
 
 When in all this world's history has true progress 
 been shown, in man's thoughts or ways ? When men 
 
the pastor's mistake. 179 
 
 change from killing other men in the name of God 
 and religion, as in old times — to killing other men in 
 the name of society and patriotism, as in these times 
 — what sort of progress has been achieved ? 
 
 Compare age with age; compare prominent features 
 of periods separated by vast stretches of time ; and 
 find if you can, real improvement in the ways of man. 
 Compare the medieval period with the present age. 
 Take the mode of life which approached nearest to 
 the ideal, in the belief of men and women who lived 
 in those times, which — according to history — stood 
 only in the dawn of a bright day in whose broad noon- 
 tide we of these times are ; compare that manner of 
 life with the manner of life which is popularly 
 accepted to-day as being the best way of living. 
 Compare the cloister life of the middle ages with the 
 family life of the nineteenth century. Is the latter 
 an improvement on the former ? 
 
 Historians say that monasticism cast contempt on 
 woman, degraded domestic relations and withdrew 
 from active life the noblest souls of the age — men 
 and women the world had need of. They say that 
 the cloisters of past ages were retreats for weak 
 characters who found total abstinence easier than 
 temperance, religious thought more pleasant than 
 godly action. They say that the cloisters were pro- 
 
180 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 moters of enervation and decrease of population. 
 
 But can anybody truthfully say that a family 
 circle where children are taught that it is right for 
 man to slay his fellow-man, is not a nursery of Satan? 
 
 There is no real change in the ways of this present 
 evil world — no betterment. As it was of old, so it is 
 now ; and so it shall be. For thus it is written — and 
 this world cannot by any possibility get outside of the 
 course marked out for it in the Scriptures. Always 
 must judgment begin at the house of God. Always 
 is Jerusalem chief persecutor of the prophets. Always 
 is the church visible a slayer of Truth and a hater of 
 upholders of Truth. 
 
 The pastor understood this fully. He believed 
 that God intends that this world shall scourge His 
 beloved sons; and that this world always has and 
 always will be fulfilling its mission. Therefore 
 human historians had never been able to make any 
 impression on his mind. " Only the book of the 
 recording angel," he often said — "bears true witness 
 of man's doings." 
 
 Neither did his own apparent downfall, nor the 
 momentary triumph of the upholders of the American 
 union, dismay the pastor. Nation after nation — he 
 knew — God-defying, like the nation that surrounded 
 him, had gone down into oblivion after having 
 
THE PASTOR'S MISTAKE. 181 
 
 fulfilled their mission of preparing God's elect for 
 that day when the meek shall inherit the earth. 
 t{ The wicked can possess the earth and trample the 
 Word of God under foot, only for a time/' said he — 
 "only for a short time." 
 
 The pastor believed that in the great awakening 
 which is to come — in that day when it will be easy to 
 follow Christ — many will be sorrowful because they 
 did not follow Him in peril. And the pastor was sad 
 for their sakes ; sad because men were wasting their 
 only opportunity to be valiant fighters for Truth; 
 sad to see noble and mighty talents perverted by men 
 who were wilfully blinding themselves, and who were 
 destined to open their eyes in shame and confusion. 
 
 Every great discovery hailed by men as the opening 
 of a new avenue for the advancement of the human 
 race, was to the pastor but a suggestion of the 
 wondrous possibilities which the discoverer had 
 rejected in refusing to use his talents in opening the 
 kingdom of heaven. "Had that great mind/' he 
 was frequently heard to say — { ' had that great mind 
 which discovered and made known to men the law of 
 gravitation, employed itself ceaselessly in searching 
 and preaching those laws which Christ has enjoined 
 upon man — the doctrines out of which grew the 
 American union, might have been strangled in their 
 
182 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 conception. What right have men to use their 
 talents in piercing the sky and in burrowing the 
 earth, while the human race is lost and wandering 
 away from Truth ! " 
 
 But the pastor had no cause for self-condemnation. 
 His free spirit had cried " I will ! " to every call of 
 his Master. His past was sealed; it could not be 
 re-opened. Each experience, he had passed through 
 only once, upon his onward way. How different was 
 his condition from the state of the man who is 
 enslaved by appetites and passions, and who struggles 
 to be free — going through the same experience over 
 and over again. 
 
 The pastor was not naturally a venturesome man. 
 He never would have gone into dangerous places for 
 love of science or gain. Out of weakness he had been 
 made strong. Yet it seemed as though in some ways 
 he had had a natural preparation for the course that 
 he had chosen. He had not been obliged to weigh 
 family duties against the interests of the kingdom of 
 heaven ; to consider how much aid a man ought to 
 give to his neighbors in their ways and doings, for 
 the sake of his children's temporal welfare. The 
 little sum of money which he had laid aside was not 
 all gone ; and he had a garden patch to eke out 
 support with. He was not yet forced to face starva- 
 
THE pastok's mistake. 183 
 
 fcion ; and as to abundance, he had always said that 
 he would far rather have his name honored by being 
 associated with noble deeds, than to have it honored 
 by many bankers. To have lived up to his belief 
 was worth all that it had cost him. 
 
 As it was of old, in this present evil world, so it is 
 now ; and so will it ever be until the end of the days 
 during which Christ's gospel must be preached for a 
 witness. There is no real change. Always is the 
 world turning to itself and feeding upon the thoughts 
 that have been conceived by its own evil desires. 
 Always is it devouring its own offspring ; always is it 
 ready for its own destruction. 
 
 The ceaseless cravings of men — what are they in 
 their real meaning but unending desire for that peace 
 which alone can satisfy ! The discords and tumults 
 of this world, which clash against each other, destroy 
 each other and come to nothing — what are they in 
 their real meaning but ineffectual attempts to attain 
 those harmonies which alone are worthy of duration! 
 The yearning of men — the desire of this world, is for 
 the advent of those harmonies of the kingdom of 
 heaven, whose sweet utterance enraptured that world 
 which was, when the sons of God walked upon 
 the earth. 
 
 Other utterances are lost to this world. Often had 
 
184 A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY. 
 
 the pastor yearned in his heart to know the things 
 that Jesus said to his disciples and which are not 
 recorded. One day when talking to his daughter 
 about the walk to Emmaus, and the appearing of 
 Jesus to the two disciples who journeyed and were 
 sad — the pastor said : 
 
 "It is written that He expounded to them in all 
 the Scriptures the things concerning himself. What 
 a flood of light must have fallen upon the dark 
 understanding of those two disciples ! With what 
 joy must they have opened their eyes to see a fulfil- 
 ment of the promises of God concerning the man 
 whose delight is in the law of the Lord. * He shall be 
 like a tree planted by the rivers of water* — the Script- 
 ures had said — ' that bringeth forth his fruit in his 
 season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever 
 he doeth shall prosper/ What ignorance is in the 
 world to-day, because there is no record of what those 
 two disciples learned from their Master ! They saw a 
 man alive and prospering, whom evil doers thought 
 they had destroyed. God had said of this man : 
 'With long life will I satisfy him.' How grandly the 
 meaning of this 'long life ^ must have burst on the 
 consciousness of the two disciples ! Often had they 
 seen wicked people thriving and continuing in the 
 flesh unto old age. That continuing and that 
 
THE pastor's mistake. 185 
 
 thriving, they had always taken for long life and 
 prosperity; and their faith in the Scriptures had been 
 weakened. But now, clear sight was substituted for 
 uncertain faith and they discovered their mistake. 
 They saw long life and prosperity as they are under- 
 stood in the thoughts of God ; and as He bestows 
 them on His beloved sons." 
 
 As days followed each other, and as the pastor felt 
 himself drawing nearer and nearer to full vigor, the 
 sorrow of his heart seemed to lighten. He found 
 himself growing into a belief that men had done 
 their worst to him. One of his innermost convic- 
 tions — that he would die a death from violence at 
 the hands of men — seemed to be losing its hold on 
 him. Men had wreaked their vengeance on him; 
 they had poured out their hate; and still their victim 
 was alive. He took courage. He thought that the 
 worst was past. He began to believe that his dis- 
 figurement was a seal certifying that a record had 
 been completed ; that it was a guaranty of future 
 immunity. " Henceforward," he said, "let no man 
 trouble me. I bear in my body the marks of the 
 Lord Jesus." He even began to look forward to a 
 time when men would grow calm ; when their hearts 
 would incline to him again, and when he would be 
 able to take up his witnessing again in Bellicose. 
 
186 A TRUE S02* OF LIBERTY. 
 
 " When war times are over," he said — ' ' when men 
 are hot-headed no longer, then perhaps they will 
 listen." 
 
 But not yet was war over ; not yet had the up- 
 holders of the American union slaked their thirst 
 for the blood of the dweller in the kingdom of 
 heaven. The army that had gone forth "to put 
 down the rebellion," had met with disaster. Eetreat 
 and demoralization were its achievement ; defeat and 
 humiliation were written on its banners. If hatred 
 of ' ' rebels " had been hot in Bellicose before, now it 
 blazed with tenfold intensity. 
 
 Hitherto, as if in compensation for troubled days, 
 the pastor's nights had always been peaceful. Save 
 during the period of his illness, sweet and dream- 
 less slumber — or dreams most pleasant had, night 
 after night, gathered him in beneficent embrace. 
 So that in his heart he had often felt grateful for 
 sleep; believing that to its periodical respite he owed 
 in no small degree the physical powers of endurance 
 which had done much to uphold him. One evening 
 at his accustomed hour he bade his daughter "good 
 night," and went towards his bedroom — stopping on 
 his way, for a few moments, to look out of a window 
 that opened toward Bellicose. 
 
 The quiet prospect that met his eye — the shadowy 
 
the pastok's mistake. 187 
 
 houses, with here and there a roof reflecting in 
 shimmering ray the radiance of a full unclouded 
 moon — spoke of rest, peace and security ; and gave 
 no hint of oncoming devastation. How gladly the 
 pastor would have sacrificed a night's repose ; how 
 gladly he would have gone out of his house and into 
 the town to meet a kindred soul with whom he could 
 hold full converse . But he knew that a search for 
 such a one would be vain. Bellicose had rejected 
 the things that pertain to true welfare. To a man 
 the community had scoffed at the gospel of the 
 Wonderful Counsellor ; the salvation of the Prince of 
 Peace. 
 
 " But outside of Bellicose," said the pastor — " and 
 scattered here and there through the land over which 
 the upholders of the American union assert a right 
 of sovereignty — are men and women who believe in 
 Jesus as truly as I — who trust Him as fully — and who 
 would lay down as much as I have laid down, 
 and more, to show forth the glad tidings of peace 
 on earth and good will to men. I cannot see 
 them; but I commune with them. We are one in 
 spirit, even as God and Truth are one — and to 
 those men and women I send outpourings of love. 
 Yes ! To men and women throughout the earth 
 who have been enabled to stand steadfast in the cause 
 
188 A TRUE S02ST OF LIBERTY. 
 
 of Peace, with that which has been committed to 
 their care — I send forth congratulations and love." 
 So saying the pastor moved away from the window, 
 and entered his bedroom in search of repose. 
 
 An hour passed ; another, and another. At the 
 dead of night — just as the daughter, who had been 
 sitting up unusually late, was extinguishing the lights 
 in the lower part of the house — there came a loud 
 knocking upon the outer door. Startled out of her 
 self-possession for a moment, she looked around the 
 room ; not knowing what to do. Again came the 
 knocking — louder and more rapid than before ; and 
 at the same time the door bell was pulled violently. 
 Timidly the young woman went through the hall, 
 and to the door — the locks and bolts of which she 
 cautiously unfastened — thinking to look out in a 
 guarded manner and demand the business of the 
 intruder. But the door was flung out of her hold, 
 and wide open. 
 
 One — two — three — half a dozen men with masked 
 faces, are bursting through the doorway and into the 
 house. " Where is your father ! " they roughly de- 
 mand. " Gro and get him — quick ! He's wanted on 
 important business." And they are starting to go 
 through the house. 
 
 But the pastor — disturbed by the noise — is now 
 
189 
 
 entering the room into which the intruders are just 
 striding, by another doorway. " Come old man !" 
 they cry out as they see him enter. "There's a 
 jollification meeting of rebels up yonder in the woods, 
 over the news from Bull Eun. You are specially 
 invited to attend, and we have come to escort you." 
 They lay hold of the pastor, disrobed as he is — except 
 for a gown that he has thrown over his shoulders ; 
 and they thrust him out over his own threshold and 
 into the quiet night. Into the quiet night — that is 
 calm and peaceful, except for the shouts and calls 
 sent up by a crowd of men and boys that surround 
 the gateway. 
 
 "Have you got him?" they cry. "Bring him 
 along ! Give the old rebel the color that belongs to 
 him ! " This, with confused ejaculations about tar, 
 shouted out by one and another, tells the wickedness 
 of the plot. But the daughter heeds nothing. 
 Unconscious she lies, prone upon the floor — as her 
 father is thrust out through his doorway. 
 
 In the early dawn, a form bearing something of the 
 semblance of a man— yet in such unsightly, such 
 horrid guise, that human beings would have recoiled 
 from it as they do not from their kind — slowly 
 approached the pastor's dwelling. Tottering, it came; 
 falling down upon the ground ; creeping ; slowly and 
 
190 A TRUE SOH OF LIBERTY. 
 
 laboriously rising, and staggering onward again. 
 Feet that had been distractedly flying hither and 
 thither during the night hours, ran to the object. 
 Loving arms surrounded it. A slight female form, 
 bending under its weight, supported it and helped it 
 slowly along, and into the house. 
 
 There is not much more to tell. Only to speak of 
 the heart-breaking labor of cleansing the pastor of 
 the filth with which the patriots of Bellicose had 
 disfigured his body. Only to speak of the victim — 
 lying on his bed, dying ; and of the daughter at the 
 bedside ; her eyes open at last — seeing her father as 
 he is : a conqueror, crowned with many crowns. 
 
 So it was in Bellicose a generation ago ; so it is to- 
 day ; and so it will ever be, while this present evil 
 world shall endure. In the sacred name of Freedom 
 blinded multitudes do violence and murder to estab- 
 lish a dominion of their own ideas ; while only 
 here and there a man or woman can be found who 
 knows that only "where the Spirit of the Lord is, 
 there is liberty," 
 
 THE E2sTD. 
 

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