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Show k'i, II U tj U ! , vp ,1 v. ; I B kBLv u. jn. il I L FLAY3BSG0TRY Dr. Henry Vr.n Dyke Declares Defeat of Smith Would Be "National Calamity." ASSAILS SECHET PROPAGANDA Warning American vo'ts that sinister sin-ister and secret forces are threatening threaten-ing the very foundation upon which our Government Is built, Dr. Henry Van Dyke, eminent educator, Presbyterian Presby-terian clergyman, author and diplomat diplo-mat has Issued, from his home at Seal Harbor, Me., a ringing appeal lor religious re-ligious tolerance. Dr. Van Dyke who holds decrees from Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania University, Union College and Oxford University is perhaps one of the best-known of living writers and elergymeu- In a formal state meut, he said: ' - "At the present moment there is on foot in' these United States a wide . spread cabal to keep one of the candidates can-didates for the Presidency from election elec-tion because he is a member ot the ' Catholic Church. The other candi- date has handsomely disavowed any ! personal share In the sentiments oi arguments which characterize this cabal. This is much to his credit. "But unfortunately he can not, oi at least he does not, restrain and check the pernicious activity ot bis supporters, who are convinced that the end of a victory for their party justifies any means which they employ em-ploy to secure it. "Hence, If their candidate should be elected, he would owe his election In part to the religious prejudice and anti-Catholic enmity which the cabal-Ists cabal-Ists have stirred up and marshalled to the polls. This would be a misfortune mis-fortune for him, and a calamity for our country as the home and citadel of religious liberty. Most Important Issue "The mere prospect of such a calamity ca-lamity ought to move the hearts ot true Americans and honest Christians with dismay, and awaken their minds to serious thought and earnest action ' In defense of that real freedom of conscience which is the hard-won crowning glory ot America and the dearest jewel of Christianity. "That seems to me far and away the most Important question before the country today, a question not to be answered .by heated appeals to partisan allegiance, a question not - raised, thank God, by either of the honorable candidates for the PresI- j dency; but a burning question thrust ' upon the conscience of every Amer- : lean voter by the overt fulminations and covert whisperings of those who ; seek to defeat one of the candidates because he is a Catholic. "My Protestantism is obedient to Him who said, 'Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.' My Protestantism, which Is hereditary from the school of William of Orange, tells me that 'conscleuce is God's 'province.' My Americanism, which Is a stout growth of eight native-born generations, tells me that to vote against a. man because of his church-membership church-membership is to be untrue to the central faith of the Republic. . "Freedom of conscience Is the greatest rthing at stake In this cara-paign. cara-paign. Hundreds of thousands of voters vot-ers fail to realize it. It is time to blow a trumpet to awaken -the sleepers. The Palladium of the Republic is attacked by secret and open foes. It is In danger, trembling trem-bling In its marble hall. The spiritual call to arms goes out to every man and .woman. Defend thj religious Liberty of America!" |