2. Russian Sorrow (Cont.)

American church preachers joined in the general chorus of sympathy for the Russian people and in their sermons expressed both condolences to Russia and contempt for the mad and brutal nihilist movement. One of the preachers, namely Doctor Newman, on this occasion developed an entire treatise on freedom and its abuse, which may not be useless for those who confusedly understand the idea of freedom, of whom there are, unfortunately, not a few in Russia – even among those who consider themselves guides of public opinion[1]. The preacher took as his text the words of the apostle: “You were called to freedom, brothers; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Gal 5:13. “Many imagine,” says the preacher, “that under the Gospel they can do whatever they wish, and this without sin. Some think that virtue and vice are conditional terms which do not represent realities but only conventions. Others think that freedom is the negation of law, order, and propriety, and as applied to morality, politics, and well-being, it means liberation from all constraints. On the contrary, freedom in its very concept contains limitation and responsibility. Absolute freedom is not only nonsense, but the attempt to realize it is a crime against the universe. Man is an organized limitation. The human body can grow only to a certain height. Cast aside this law of limitation and a man’s head would reach such a height where life would be impossible. Man can eat and drink only a certain amount, can sleep only so much, and can endure only so much cold and heat – all of this contains limitation. We are so constituted that even sensitivity has its limits. Heightening of feeling beyond a given point leads to fainting or death. We could hear the music of the spheres if we had sufficient hearing; we could see the throne of the Invisible if we had the appropriate optical ability. Our mental ability is such that for it there are certain limits beyond which we cannot think. Nature everywhere calls for a stop. Man has social obligations, as he has personal rights. Marriage is limited to two persons because the number of sexes is equal. Children must obey their parents to ensure domestic harmony and happiness. Organized society is organized limitation. This means a surrender of personal freedom for the benefit of organized society. Government is a necessity which flows from our social needs. Every man is so created that he instinctively entrusts to his community the care and protection of his rights and the avenging of his wrongs, and his brothers in turn instinctively accept this responsibility. He and they do this with the full force of natural law. There is no place for choice – whether or not a man wants to be a member of civil society. He becomes such as soon as he begins to live, and society at once provides him all the benefits of its care and demands from him the fulfillment of certain obligations. From this mutual relationship arise the duties and rights of patriotism, and in recognizing this relationship a citizen obeys the law, pays taxes, and if necessary lays down his life for the good of his country. In recompense, the citizen receives protection of his life, property, and family, the benefits of education and religious freedom. At the present time there is outcry against the limitations represented by government; but this is the outcry of the mad against wise and beneficent security and protection. It is the outcry of the lawbreaker, the prodigal son, the drunkard, the cheat, the robber, and the murderer. One form of government is undoubtedly better than another, but what is most important here is not the form of government but the character of the citizen himself. Better men have lived under worse forms of government, like the apostles under Nero, the Puritans under the Stuarts. They were oppressed, persecuted, condemned to death, and they – valiant men – were models of virtue. It has also happened that under the finest, most fatherly forms of government have lived the most vicious, brutish people. Of all the most honorable words in our speaking world, the sweetest to enchantment and most powerful to inspire is “freedom.” It warms our hearts, broadens our minds, inspires our courage. For it mankind has struggled for sixty centuries, for it men have died in fire, on the field of battle, at the hands of enraged crowds. But what terrible crimes have been committed in the name of freedom! The fires of the French Revolution burned at cries of – freedom; the Commune dyed the streets of Paris with human blood with shouts of – freedom; the tsar of Russia was murdered in the name of “freedom.” But this is dissolution; this is contempt for law, order, and propriety; this is the destruction of organized society; this means robbery and murder; this is the abuse of freedom. The hand that struck the tsar of Russia or attempted the life of the Emperor of Germany would also strike the president of a republic. These are enemies of established authority, organized limitation, and should have no indulgence from those who love order and respect the law. At the present time in our country there is outcry against capital, but capital is as necessary for the well-being of society as government itself. The enormous commercial enterprises of our time, which give employment to thousands of industrial citizens, cannot be conducted without enormous capital. These political and social errors flow largely from the philosophy of free-thinkers, who claim the right to think, speak, and act – exactly as they please. I deny this right. The law of limitation has as much dominion everywhere as the law itself, and human thought is no exception to this rule. There is, of course, a difference between the ability to think and the right to think. I have the ability to think that two and one makes four, that a part is greater than the whole, that an effect can exist without a cause; but I have no right to do so. By right I understand justification. To think that a part is greater than the whole is to think nonsense. You have the ability to think that there is no God, but you have no right to think so, because you are obliged to think according to the laws of thought, the facts in a given subject, and the results that might follow from your thinking. To think that an effect can exist without a cause is to commit a crime against reason, because you have no right to think what is contrary to self-evident truth. Communism and nihilism are products of this monstrous absurdity, that man has the right to think as he pleases. The freest man in the world is he who renders the fullest obedience to the law, and he who recognizes the beneficial limitations in which he was created. This is religious freedom in its highest form. This is the emancipation of the soul from sin to a life of righteousness.”