Seattle University - Aegis Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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20 T II E P A L E S T U A and spiritual slavery, recount in each some well defined recognition of the right of the human mind to exercise untrammeled the form in which the Deity should be acknowledged. In the earlier days the struggle was Between master and slave, but the betterment of human conditions as the years rolled by, wrought the emancipation of the human body from the thralldom of slavery; even pagan Rome produced a Brutus, who slew his Cesar “Nor that he loved Cesar less, but Rome more.” When the yoke imposed by the confederation of titled nobility under the feudal system became so galling that it was to be no longer endured, when property rights were made secure only by the power of the sword and even the sacredness of family ties were subservient to the whim of the feudal lord, the downtrodden subjects of the English realm arose en masse and demanded that King John secure to them that freedom and those rights, which the immutable laws of God accorded them as creatures endowed with body and soul, with material necessities to be satisfied and spiritual rights not to be denied. Then was the Magna Charta penned and the greatest stride made in modern times to secure to the Anglo Saxon race and their descendants those fundamental principles of liberty, which today arc writen in all the laws of the civilized world. The constitution of our own glorious land is the next milestone we behold along the pathway leading the human race to the haven of greater freedom and although pointing with unerring hand the road to civil liberty, it was not erected without commingling the blood of patriots with the soil in which it stands. These bulwarks, securing to the individual the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, are also cast about his relationship as a creature to his Creator, and now with equal freedom he worships according to the dictates of his own conscience, his God, who is his beginning and his end and the Giver of all good gifts. Some one has said that religious liberty is antagonistic to civilization. True civilization, the reverse of decadence and retrogression signifies the advance of mankind as much with regard to morality and .intelligence as to material well-being. Perfect civilization is comprised of the material and moral elements in the same manner as the human nature consists of body and soul; and as the body is subject to the higher and nobler part of man, namely his soul, so likewise in civilization the material element is subordinate to the moral element, which is the intelligence. Religious liberty is not inimical to the enjoyment of prosperity or to the proper exercise of governmental functions, as it at no time implies the indulgence in vagaries or fanaticism on the part of a few as against the common good of the many. Thus the constitutions of many of the states provide for a guarantee against abuse by declaring that liberty of conscience shall not be construed to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state, and the supreme court has held that liberty of worship, as understood in the United States extends only to relations between the individual and an extra-mundane being, and not to relations among individuals themselves. Therefore, liberty is not the absence of all restraint, bur the absence of undue restraint. Ever since man first departed from the confidence of God, and it became incumbent upon him to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, the struggle between ruler and subject. between masses and classes, between poverty and wealth, between the tyrant and the oppressed, has continued almost without interruption, down to the very eve of today; sometimes waged with greater fierceness but ever continuing without cessation, leaving its crimson trail behind. Patrick Henry, that renowned statesman

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S K A T T L K C () L L K G E A N N U A L 19 fSHtgioua IGttehj O Liberty, thou goddess heavenly bright. Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight! Eternal pleasures in thy presence reign. And smiling Plenty leads thy wanton train; Eased of her load. Subjection grows more light. And Poverty looks cheerful in thy sight; Thou mak'st the gloomy face of nature gay, Giv’st beauty to the sun, and pleasure to the day. IN these beautiful lines the poet places the wand of magic in the hand of his goddess and with its touch transforms the troubled world into a paradise that is indeed a fit abode for the gods. However, 1 shall not enter into a lengthy discussion of what might be the results of the liberty of which the poet fondly sings, but direct your attention to that division of liberty, without which no true freedom can be had ; namely, religious liberty. By this I mean the inherent right of an individual to form his religious opinions according to the dictates of his own conscience ami to give outward expression to them in the form of public worship, independently of all undue restraint or coercion upon the part of the state. This includes more than mere freedom of conscience, which in reality can only be controlled by the person himself and therefore is beyond the control of the state. It also includes more than mere toleration, which leaves each one free to choose his own style of worship and which may be withdrawn at any time by the sovereign granting it. Religious liberty includes freedom of action in religious motives, which are not directed to corrupt the morals of the people or to undermine the power of the state, and freedom of choosing your own form of worshiping the Creator or Supreme Being. But you may say that to allow a man to choose his own religion would be encouraging error because what one religious sect worships the other dis- approves; some adore Christ, while others deny Him. Unfortunately, the fallibility of the human mind and the interference of our bodily desires permit of this divergence in our conclusions concerning the one true manner in which the creature shall acknowledge his dependence upon his Creator; but an unbiased search for the truth will ultimately lead mankind to an acknowledgement of the general attributes of the First Cause and his dependence upon Same; “Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.” Let us look into the conditions that prevailed in a few of the countries where religious liberty was withheld, for instance Rome, during the reign of Nero. How many were flung to the savage beasts of the amphitheatre, or suffered some other form of torture and death during those awful days cf religious persecution. Or let us briefly refer to a more recent event, during the time of Henry VIII, when great numbers were cast into prison, others exiled and many, after undergoing the most inhuman and diabolical tortures, were mercilessly slaughtered. These are but two meager examples taken from the pages of intolerance which are written in the blood of nations that were denied the right to follow the dictates of their own consciences and worship God, as the light had been given them to see. The epochs that mark the progress of mankind and his gradual departure from social

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S K A T T L K COL L K C K A A’ XU A L who was among the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, gives us a glowing example of the earnestness with which he prizes his liberty when in addressing his fellow countrymen, and exhorting them to fight to the last, he exclaimed: “But as for me give me liberty or give me death.” We, who share the blessings of a beneficent government, who live in the land of tolerance. should guard as a priceless heritage 21 this freedom, which has cost the world so dearly, and be ever wary lest some retrograding step be taken, lest some of the work accomplished be again undone, lest the fanaticism of a misguided coterie of individuals prevail upon the weakness of a notoriety-loving legislature. pervert the ends of justice and threaten the very existence of those relationships which the eternal laws demand shall remain sacred among men. Lovell Spellmire, '16. SNOQUALMIE FALLS A silent moon entranced ’mid pleasant skies In wondrous awe gloats down upon the sight The falls aglow with kisses of the night. Before me beckon to my feasting eyes A seething mass whose onrush never dies. It fumes and roars and tumbles from its height As twere to burst the manacles of might And rend asunder Nature’s lasting ties. What clouds of hoary mist and foam rise i ow From off the eddies of that troubled brow! And yet how soon this agitated sea Shall turn from surge to raptured streamlet’s claim, Whose only course, and solitary aim Allures the brambled dingle, vale and lea. Raymond Beezer, ’17.