Our Worthwhile Heritage

November 23, 1958
Akron

"Heritage" is a word with the meaning that something valuable has been given by others who have lived in another time. Heritage also implies that the gift is precious, must be cared for and defended. In New England, particularly, there is an atmosphere of reverence surrounding colonial furniture, Paul Revere silver, antique interiors and family trees rooted in Pilgrim times. With all deference to those who cherish these possessions and traditions of the past, it should be pointed out that our essential, most worthwhile heritage has no necessary connection with grandfather's clocks, well-rubbed mahogany, Bulfinch architecture or antique pewter.

This Thanksgiving worship service, 1958, occurs at a time when everyone associating with this church will be asked to testify to their loyalty to the spirit and institutions of liberal religion. I would speak to you of our spiritual, that is, our moral, heritage, because the most valuable principles of the Pilgrim fathers are still vital enough to warrant our sacrificial giving to preserve the institution known as the Church.

Three-hundred and thirty-eight years ago a small group of religious refugees looked hopefully toward the shores of a new land as the Mayflower sailed into Massachusetts Bay. These exiled Pilgrims had launched out on a search for a home where they could worship their God as conscience dictated; where they might live in freedom while constructing their own way of life. This religious odyssey had taken them from England, to Scrooby, Holland, and thence to the New World.

No pleasant prospect awaited these "saints and strangers," (not all of them the most desirable people.) Some of them were bond servants, - vagrants for whom life had become too much in the old world. When we penetrate through the haze of historical halos, we become aware that they were hardly a group from whom we should expect heroic lives. A permanent place for the human family would not have been a reasonable appraisal at the time.

The shores were jagged with rocks. The winder was stormy and raw with the damp that chills, even in the heated, protected homes of today. During the long winter months, disease wiped out person after person, family after family. Starvation, as well as the icy grip of winter, stalked through the little community which was hanging desperately to life on the wind-swept shored of Plymouth.

Governor Bradford has left this pathetic note in his diary, "it pleased God to visit us daily and with so general a disease that the living were scarcely able to bury the dead." It should be a sobering realization that these ragged Englishment were ready to freeze, starve, expose themselves to all sorts of disease and danger in order to be free to follow their RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS. How little we demand of ourselves!

So firm was the commitment of this small band, so precious was the liberty they had come to know in this rigorous wilderness, that in Spring, when the Mayflower sailed back to England, not one of the Pilgrims was aboard. Tears were shed as the sails of the little vessel dipped below the horizon, but those tears were shed on the shores of their new and dangerous homeland.

You all know how when Autumn, 1621, came, these Pilgrims gathered with their new Indian friends. They feasted and gave thanks to God for the strength of His everlasting arms. The feast of Leviticus acquired new meaning, that worship always does, when personal experience is blended with traditions of celebration.

Perhaps next Thursday as we gather at our family tables, we will be reminded of the first Thanksgiving of the Pilgrims. Today, I would like you to consider the message of the church of the Pilgrims, and the principles that initiated the drive of their religious fellowship. These principles marked American life. Should these principles be erased, the consequential events will be sorry times for the important values we hold dear.

The first church building of the Pilgrim Fathers is long since gone. The present stone church is, I believe, the fourth structure. But the original congregation which was organized before the voyage to America in Scrooby, Holland, is still operating under their original covenant. There are unbroken records existing and there has been a ministry without break since Pilgrim times. For over one hundred years the religious fellowship of the First Church of PLymouth, of course the oldest religious group in America, has been Unitarian. In addition, for some years the Universalist society of Plymouth has been federated with the First Church organization.

In the lovely stone church in Plymouth, three notable stained glass windows face the congregation. Those stained glass windows symbolize the most worthwhile heritage. The window on the left shows a soldier, seated his sword in its sheath is held by his left hand. His right hand is on an open book which rests on his knee. The window on the right portrays a minister. The scroll of law is his left hand, his arm rests on the Scriptures and his right hand is raised in benediction or exhortation. The center window, largest of the three, shows the Pilgrims gathered in the cabin of the Mayflower, grouped around the COmpact which they signed before setting foot on the shores of Plymouth.

The first window represents civil liberty. The soldier's sword is sheathed. He is not eager to use it. He prefers to depend on democratic ways, symbolized by his seated position and the open book. Discussion, intelligence, reason, should be our mainstays in the affairs of men. As the descendants of these Pilgrims, "we hold these things to be self-evident that all men are created equal."

The right to speak, the right of gathering together peaceably, the right of trial by jury, the authority of evidence --- all these things are symbolized by that soldier who holds his strength in reserve, but holds in readiness. Liberty is our civil life, the right to defend political conviction, the right to promote the cause of a political party, the right to attempt to persuade others to our viewpoint, their right to attempt the same things with us, -- in these civil rights lie our worthwhile heritage. The secret ballot, the political convention that gathers without fear, even though out of power, the newspaper that is willing to express itself fearlessly, no matter what toes are stepped on, our dedication to the pursuit of the truth that makes us free, all of these are expressed by the first window.

Pilate said to Jesus, scornfully, "what is truth?" Pilate spoke for all tyrannies which see truth as of minor importance compared to power, propaganda, and persecution. The Pilgrims were protecing with their cold and weary bodies the flickering flame of truth, "the truth that will make us free." In this century of tension, perhaps that is the key question. "What is truth?" Does a man have a right to be free to speak, teach, and write? Will the civil liberties born of Pilgrim pioneers, Yankee farmers and merchants, the whole American colonial spirit be smothered in the "black silence of fear," in the last half of the twentieth century? Free institutions, and this church is one, ask that you know and defend civil liberties for the sake of our noblest heritage.

The window on the right at First Church in Plymouth shows the minister with the scroll in his hand, his arm on the scriptures. This symbolizes the religious origin of our most worthwhile heritage. When the Pilgrims gathered for their Thanksgiving feast they were not originating an American holiday. They were following the ancient scriptures of the Hebrews. The verses of Leviticus (23 33/38), which were read, state the rules governing the ancient festival of ingathering. Our religious forbears, probably all peoples everywhere, were almost over-whelmed by the mystery and joy of harvest home. In ancient Palestine, the whole population lived for a week in the open, sheltered only by temporary booths made of Palm branches. The American Pilgrims celebrated their feast in the open air. The historian Lecky remarked, the "Hebraic mortar cemented the foundations of American democracy."

Our loyalty should be stirred by the religious heritage brought unto us by our Jewish and Christian ancestors. It is a proud heritage, indeed. The Hebrews contributed a unique institution to history. THeir whole way of life was tied in with their religion. The Greeks were a notable people also. Their contribution is great also. They had their temples and academies. But their was no connection, necessarily, with what was taught in the temples. The Hebrew, particularly those who spoke with moral prophecy and insight, saw that religion must be a guide to all of one's actions, and their teachings were a democracy of the spirit long before that word had meaning to them. From that determination that religion was important, has evolved our American insistence upon religious liberty. In Ancient Rome, because of the profound conviction of the Jews, they were specifically exempted from the law that required the Romans to worship Caesar as a god. From that Hebrew conviction was born the Christian determination to refuse to allow power to interfere with one's religon and they withstood persecution, -- grew strong under persecution.

The tradition of religious freedom has led to a gradually-growing tolerance. We can never take such gains for granted. We must be ever jealous of our dearly-won right of discovering our religious convictions and holding to them. We must never forget that no one, -- no one has all the truth. Each of us has his share. We must cherish the words of John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims, "all truth is God's truth."

Seventy-seven years after the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, a young man was strangled on the public gallows in England for believing in one God. This eighteen year old boy was a Unitarian, and was hanged for questioning the theological term, "god-man," in 1697. The window that symbolizes religious freedom should be a constant reminder that these vital gains have been dearly won and could easily be lost. We need to remember that there were no civil rights in England for Unitarians until 1813. If Universalism had been organized there, then, we too would have been disenfranchised. One could be imprisoned, his property confiscated, for denying the Trinity or the infallibility of the bible. Catholics did not gain civil rights in England until 1829, and the same liberties were not extended to the Jews until 1858. It should not be forgotten too that in Massachusetts, citizenship under Puritan rule depended on church membership. If you were not a member of the established church, you had no vote in public affairs.

On this Thanksgiving Sunday, then, we have no hesitation to proclaim the need for your support so that a free church, jealous of the inroads on religious rights, can continue to grow in strength and influence. Your support is needed for this most worthwhile heritage of freedom to worship one's God, in whatever form, manner or name as may seem right to the individual.

Last, I would challenge you this day with the window of the compact. The Pilgrims gathered in the cabin of the Mayflower, composed and signed the document which you heard about a few minutes ago. In our day of advertising superlatives, it might not have sounded like very much, but perhaps you know the key sentence which is in the direct prophetic line which later produced the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and other amendments: "we...solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation...and to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought the most meete and convenient for the general good of the colonie..." The Compact should remind us that no gain can be achieved alone. You have sung with your friends, "the more we get together, the happier we'll be." The signers of the compact were not all in full agreement. John Alden was a tradesman, Myles Standish was a soldier, and there were various classes and viewpoints represented by the signers. They knew disagreements would occur and that compromise was inevitable. Some might have to submit to the majority. Yet the compact worked. The colony survived. The American colonies had almost innumerable points of conflict. There were few who believed our government could weld together successfully the thirteen states. Yet the Constitution has worked.

David Lilienthal, who was the director of the TVA, later administrator of the Atomic Energy Commission, has been one of the notable men in high office devoted to the ideal and the reality of democracy. Lilienthal once said, "the grandest phrase in our language is, 'I'll go along with you.'"

We will not always be in agreement about policy in this free church. "I'll go along with you," means that we'll express ourselves freely, but that we compact together to come to a "sense of the meeting," to use a good Quaker phrase. Then, we act together.

We universalists have an obligation to continually acknowledge the truth that is in every point of view; to appreciate the contribution of everyone. This view we must advance not only in religion, but in all the narrower areas of social life.

The history of political union illustrates that while the League of Nations failed, there were lessons learned. The Kellog-Briand pact failed, but lessons were learned. The United Nations has had considerable success. It may fail, but again there will be lessons learned which will enrich and guide a new compact. But compact there must be. Compact to fac[e] the real issues of our day. You know the most vital, - We must put an end to war. No matter how gloomy the predictions, always the challenge of religion, your church is, "We must put an end to war." We must bring in the commonwealth of man. There are universal hopes. The challenge of our day is to find the compact that will bring persons together so that the wonderful phrase will be used by all groups, "I'll go along with you."

Most certainly for Akron Universalists such a measure of freedom and compact is an inescapable dimension to the vitality of our present and future.

Sometime ago I read of a dispatch in the paper about a war that had developed between two hives of bees. As I understand it, the bees depended upon the sense of smell to distinguish friend from enemy. A scientist who specialized in study and knowledge of bee culture, sprayed both hives, and the bees in the hives, with apple blossom bath powder. The war stopped right away, because the bees with their smell organs overwhelmed did not know whom to fight.

There is no super-scientist [that is] going to spray the human beehives with powder that will make us forget our irrational hostilities and our unreasonable selfishness. The only way we as human beings are going to be able to make our behavior smell more sweetly is to learn, like the Pilgrim fathers, to come to compact, to walk along together, learning and doing as we go.

That is most certainly a worthy goal for your loyalty in our world. Without doubt it is the authentic challenge of the free church.