law. The lawbreakers, malcontents, dissidents and criminals of our day would have been rejected by the Pilgrims. To them freedom under the law meant judgment for the lawless. To them retribution was not only a tenet of their faith, it was also the practice of their com monwealth. They made laws in keeping with Biblical convictions. They not only feared those laws and their judges, they also obeyed them. If they did not, they could expect a certain penalty. In an hour when crime and vio lence are sweeping the country we should read again Ecclesiastes 8:11: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." The Scriptures teach that any delay in the trial of the accused—or any miscarriage of justice — leads to more violence. Anyone looking at the American judicial system today must realize that we need drastic changes if the crime rate is to be lowered. Fourth, the Pilgrims left us their example of a people who had keen social concern. They believed that every man was made in the image of God, that each one was of infinite value and worth in the sight of God. Though the Pilgrims knew they were citizens of another world, they sought to improve the world they were passing through. They learned to live with the Indians, who had a different religion, a dif ferent skin color and a different culture. In March of 1621 Samoset, an Indian chief, visited their vil lage and a peace treaty was signed which lasted for many years. It was a treaty with high social and ethi
earning a living and for a way of sur vival. At first they tried the com munal life. But greed, jealousy and pride kept it from working. In Gov ernor Bradford's Plymouth Planta tion, he lamented the communal plan: "This communal system con ceived by Plato was found to breed much confusion" (paraphrased). When communal living failed, they assigned a parcel of land to every family; with individual enterprise, prosperity came to the colony. There is a philosophy today in our world that we would prosper only if all private property could be taken away. If everything were owned by the state, we are told, then all would be equal, free and happy. But it is interesting to note that in many parts of the world where this is now being tried, peo ple have to be held together by force. We have only to remember recent events in Czechoslovakia and Poland to remind us of the failures of that system. Across the Western world there are bands of roving, rebellious young people living in communal style, enjoying what they call "ab solute freedom." They are free to take narcotics, free to experiment with uninhibited sex, free to go unwashed and free to dress as they please and do what they like. But they remind me of a man in a hos pital who because of his illness must be fed through a tube. Hav ing tired of the tube with its dis comfort he tears it away from his body and declares he is free. Free? He is free only to die, because he has removed himself from his one hope of life. The freedom exercised by the Pilgrims never degenerated into license. Theirs was a liberty under Page 10
Made with FlippingBook Annual report