Page:The History of Liberty.djvu/9

 serve their infamous purposes, at the sacrifice of honor, honesty and truth.

Our position that Liberty is the gift of God, requires better support than a single “Ipse dixit”;—, proof is demanded; and proof ample, varied and irresistible in its conclusions can be furnished. We have the inferential and the positive; the first from the works of God, the second from his word.

We will first consider the inferential proof.

For what purpose did God create rational and intellectual natures? for activity certainly. But rational and intellectual liberty is indispensia [sic]ble to rational and intellectual action.—For what purpose has God distributed among men talents so various, and manifold? is it that they are to be laid up in a napkin and buried until the lender thereof calls for them? nay verily—, we have a fearful warning to the contrary in his written testimony to us. No, these talents whatever they may be, must be cultivated and improved or increased just as far as they can be; for the manifestation of the giver’s glory,—the possessor’s honor and happiness; and society’s welfare: a triple obligation there is to do so; a triple reward is the consequence of doing so—and a triple penalty is involved in the neglect thereof. But how, plain common sense will ask, can this obligation be discharged without full and absolute liberty? for if God has given the one and denied the other, he has vitiated the whole circle of his wisdom and benevolence, and nullified his own enactments. For what purpose is the measureless empire of space spread over and around us, and sown with planets, worlds and systems countless as the dew-drops that hang on the eyelids of the morning? for what, but that man should in science range and traverse them all to see and enjoy the wisdom, power and goodness of Him, that glitter in every star, and flame on every sun? but to do this he must have a liberty commensurate with their numbers—their magnitude and extent—, and the limits of this liberty must be the limits of the universe. For what purpose has God created mystery within mystery and wonders beyond wonders in endless cycles in the heavens above—and the earth below; but in order that the mind and intellect of man, might never slumber nor decay, for want of subjects to excite to enterprise and research—; and that so long as generations of men shall endure each may find something new to employ and delight the illimitably progressive mind? But how necessary is liberty for the exercise of this high—this glorious and divine prerogative of man! a liberty that shall only cease when investigation and discovery have canvassed the entire universe of God. And for what purpose has God put into