y or John Power or John
Ireland or Archbishop Williams.

When John Boyle O'Reilly, the Catholic poet, sang the praises
of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in that noblest of odes, when
he quoted in his preface from William Bradford and John Robinson
and Robert Cushman, I was glad to hear what he said, especially
when he quoted from the lips of the clergyman Robinson: "I
charge you before God that you follow me no further than you
have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If God reveal
anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready
to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth by my
ministry, for I am verily persuaded, I am very confident,
the Lord hath more truths yet to break forth out of His Holy
Word." I liked what he said. If I understand your former
letter correctly, you didn't. That is where we differ. When
John Boyle O'Reilly said, declaring the very spirit of New
England Puritanism, and speaking of religious faith, "the
one sacred revolution is change of mind," when he spoke these
noble lines:

So held they firm, the Fathers aye to be,
From Home to Holland, Holland to the sea--
Pilgrims for manhood, in their little ship,
Hope in each heart, and prayer on every lip.
Apart from all--unique, unworldly, true,
Selected grain to sow the earth anew;
A winnowed part--a saving remnant they;
Dreamers who work; adventurers who pray!
We know them by the exile that was theirs;
Their justice, faith and fortitude attest.

When he further said:

On the wintry main
God flings their lives as farmers scatter grain,
His breath propels the winged seed afloat;
His tempests swerve to spare the fragile boat;
Here on this rock and on this sterile soil,
Began the kingdom, not of kings, but men;
Began the making of the world again,
Their primal code of liberty, their rules
Of civil right; their churches, courts and schools;
Their freedom's very secret here laid down--
The spring of government is the little town!
On their strong lines, we base our social health--
The man--the home--the town--the Commonwealth;
Their saintly Robinson was left behind
To teach by gentle memory; to shame
The bigot spirit and the word of flame;
To write dear mercy in the Pilgrim's law;
To lead to that wide faith his soul foresaw--

I liked what he said. If I understand your former letter,
you didn't. You don't want a man who differs from you saying
or thinking such thin