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RIGH] TO WORSHIP GOD."
AN ADDRESS
BY THE REV. J. E. Mc ILVAINE, D. D.,
PRINCETOT, N. J., 1859.
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"A NATION'S RIGHT TO WORSHIP GOD."
AN ADDRESS
BEFORE THE
Aiitatt  Wvig  an    Cliosop it Soetittts
OF THE
COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY.
DELIVERED JUNE 28th. 1859.
BY THE REV. J. H. McILVAINE, D. D.
TRENTON, N.J.:
.URPHY & BECHTEL, PRINTERS, OPPOSITE THE CITY HALL.
t               1859. 
> , to
CC, F - 
~tA,' -,
"I -a   r
WHIG HALL,
June 28th, 1859.
Extract from the minutes of the American Whig Society:
"RESOLVED, That the thanks of this Society be tendered to
the Rev. J. H. McIlvaine, D. D,, for his able and eloquent address
delivered to-day, and that a copy be requested for publication."
June 28th, 1859.
H. C. CAMERON,
WM. G. UPSON,     Com.
HENRY GOLDTHWAITE,
Extract from the minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Cliosophic Society,
June 28th, 1859:
RESOLVED, That the thanks of this Society be presented to the
Rev. Joshua H. McIlvaine, D. D., for the eloquent and instructive
Address this day delivered before the Literary Societies of the
College, and that a Committee be appointed to unite with a similar
Committee of the American Whig Society, in requesting a copy of
the Address for publication.
JOHN T. DUFFIELD,
E. R. CRAVEN,
H. E. RUSSELL. 
a 
ADDRESS.
GENTI4LMEN OF THE CLIOSOPHIC AND AMERICAN WHIG
SOCIETIES:  I shall have the honour to discourse before you to-day
of the principles and laws of social progress; and of
these, in the endeavor to elucidate THE RELATIONS BETWEEN
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION, UNDER AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS.  There are gpave questions connected with
this subject, which I am persuaded must soon be re-opened in this country, and come to engage the most earnest
thinking of our time.  With no affectation of modesty,
I must be allowed to express my deep regret, that the
discussion of these has not fallen on the present occasion
into other and abler hands.
Let us observe, then, at the outset, that a certain faith
and hope of human progress are interwoven with the
very fibres of parental affection. We find it easy to persuade ourselves that our children will reflect honour upon
us; and that we shall be comforted, with respect to our
own errors and failures in life, by their successes and happiness.  On a certain occasion, a good and wise father
called his son into his presence, on the day he came of
age, and said, "My son, you are no longer a child; you
are now a man. From this time you have no muaster but
God.  God and your country now call you to liberty and 
.A Nation's Right to Worship God.
to duty.  I wish you to remember, my son, that it was
ever the aim of your father to be a man, to act a man's
part in life; and that his honour is flow committed into
your hands.  You will not betray, nor tarnish it."  That
was all he said to the young man, but as he turned away,
with a tear of parental hope and pride, he softly added,
"It is an honest lad; the boy will not discredit his name;
he will do better than his father has done."
A single generalization from this fact gives us the faith
and hope of the human heart in that physical, mental,
and moral development of thie race, which we call by the
name of social or historical progress.  This faith we hold
to be indestructible.  It is true, indeed, as every thlinking
man must be well aware, that much of what is called by
the name of progress is miscalled.  If the destinies of
humanity were in the hands of many who vociferate this
word, but who are only camp-followers to the army, intent
on plunder, no victory could ever be gained, organized
society would soon be dissolved, and the world engulfed
in perdition.  Notwithstanding, from the times of the
Hebrew prophets, in whose glowing predictions it finds
its most sublime utterances, this has ever been the faith
and hope of all the greet and good of mankind.  It is,
indeed, the' light of human life, without which life itself
would be intolerable. We cannot believe in a permanently retrogade movement. No, the deep and fervent
aspirations of our hearts, and the faithful striving of our
hands, are not doomed to end in disappointment.   The
succeeding do enter into the labours, and profit by the
experience, of preceding generations. Human reason is
a nobler endowment than the instinct of the beaver.
A little attention, however, to the phenomena of history reveals the striking fact, that this progress is never
in a direct line, but in a zig-zag movement, like that of a
ship beating to windward; which may well illustrate the
actual condition of our fallen humanity. From the social
evils of a given system of philosophy, or prevailing solu
6 
A  Nation's Right to Worship God.
tion of the great problems of life, a reaction sets in, under the influence of which the course of human thought
shoots far over into the opposite extreme.  When the
evils of this extreme begin to make themselves extensively felt, and others, more grievous, are threatening us,
like "breakers ahead," a similar reaction takes place;
again the word is passed, "About ship! helm hard down!"
when we come up into the wind, and if we do not miss
stays, and fall off upon rocks or quicksands, we go about,
and lie over on the other tack. But head as close to the
wind as we possibly can, we soon find ourselves, not indeed in the same, but in a similar extreme to the first.
In the meantime a certain progress has been achieved,
yet by no means so great as he imagines, who watches
only the motion of the vessel through the water, but does
not lift his- eyes to the guiding constellations of heaven.
Sometimes, where the wind is dead ahead, and the
channel very narrow, as in France for the last hundred
years, these courses are very short. There we have the
apotheosis of despotism under Louis XIV., the experience of the evils of that extreme, the subsequent reaction, and the subversion of that ancient and renowned
monarchy.   Next the opposite extreme of Jacobinism,
the Reign of Terror, the reaction, and the consequent
overthrow of the first Republic.  Following this we have
the military throne of the first Napoleon, under whom
the course of national thought ran on in the same direction, through the sorrows of France depopulated by incessant wars, and of Paris occupied by the allied armies,
reaching at length the extreme point of the restoration
of the ancient dynasty, with most of its obsolete traditions. Hence, again, a similar reaction towards republicanismn, stretching through the second expulsion of the
Bourbons, and the reign of the Citizen King, to the provisional government, and the second Republic. And yet,
again, a reaction set in against this movement, not so
mruch, as it would seem, because of any extremes lwhich
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A  Nation's Right to Worship God.
it had actually reached, nor from evils actually experi enced, but from those which were apprehended as im pending and inevitable.  For during the brief continu ance of the second Republic, the socialistic ideas had
made such rapid advances as to threaten the rights of
property, the integrity of the nation, and civilization it self. This was well understood at the time by the first
minds in France. Cavaignac himself, that staunch republican and most incorruptible of Frenchmen, is known to
have declared, that, although he would not forfeit his own
consistency, yet, if Louis Napoleon, or any other capable
man, chose to put himself at the head of a reactionary
movement, he would not draw his sword in defence of
republican ideas. This was the secret of that great man's
virtual acquiescence in the coup d' etat which established
the present order of things.  He could not disguise from
himself that a change was indispensable to save society
from dissolution.  And now, if we compare the second
Republic with the first, and the present condition of the
French people with that under the first Napoleon, and
still farther, with that under the legitimate despotism of
the old monarchy, it becomes quite evident that the result
of all these conflicts has been a true and living progress.
Thus it has always been in the history of the human
race. For if, to the generalization of this construction of
particular facts, it be objected, as we sometimes hear it
said, that French nature is not human nature, and such
proceedings are never seen but in France, we are not to
attribute the least force to this expression. Its wit is the
chief element of its life and currency.  Human  nature
everywhere is numerically one, and identically the same.
We  meet similar phenomena iii Greek, Roman, and, as
we shall see hereafter, even in Jewish history.  In fact,
throughout all past time, wherever any life and movement
at all have been manifested, this progress by reaction from
extremes has been  going on, in more or less striking
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A  Nation's Right to Worship  God.
forms, through longer or shorter reaches of thought, according to the peculiarities of-each several people.
The reason of this is obvious to reflection. For the life
of humanity consists, in great part, of the development
iunder logical forms, and of the realization in action, of
intellectual conceptions, principles, ideas. Facts, res gesta,
are the phenomena and the body of which thought is the
law and the soul. History is cirystalized thought. Not
that principles in their abstract forms, are first apprehended by the mind; on the contrary, facts are first in
the field.  Some leader of human activities becomes conscious of a common want, and therefore immediately
takes action.  In order to justify such action, to induce
others to unite with him in sharing its responsibility and
its benefits, reflection is brought to bear upon it, and the
principle which it contains is abstracted from it and defined. This principle now enters into a course of logical
development; its contents are drawn out of it, and applied
in various directions, according to their capabilities; and
thus it passes into history. In so far as any such given
principle or idea is both true and fruitful, the nation or
people over whose history it presides for the time, is animated with a vigorous and flourishing life. The time
during which it supplies impulse and energy, normal and
corrective, to the human activities, is marked as an historic period: which is of longer or shorter duration, and
more or less rich in grave and important events, according
to the fulness and truth of the ideas by which it is inspired
and governed.
Thus it is that all great movements of mankind are
movements of thought in course of evolution and application to the affairs of life. And wonderful it is, to see with
what vigorous, logical procedure such developments march.
For although each individual be capable of but little
thought, and that little may often wander, and load itself
with inconsequent deductions, yet, as in orchestral music,
the discords of the various instruments are assimilated and
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A  Nation's Righlt to Worship  God.
absorbed in the full tide of the harmony, so the errors in
the reasoning of individual minds are either neutralized
by each other, or taken up and borne along in the vast
sweep and volume of national thought, so that the mass
movement follows, in the main, a logical direction. Of
this our own history, as we shall presently see, affords
many striking illustrations.
In order now to comprehend why such movements can not run on for ever in the same direction, we must here
take into consideration the infinite nature of the truth,
and the finite capacities of the human mind.   Conse quently these ideas which are developed in history, are
never absolute. In so far as they are true, they are but
glimpses into the infinite of truth, which are liable, in the
course of time, to be exhausted of their contents, so that,
torture them as we may, they will yield no more consequences capable of being realized in act; whence they
cease to inspire the life and energies of the people, and
give place to other ideas which turn the current of history. Human life, moreover, is manifold and many-sided.
No one idea, however great and fruitful, can be adequate
at any time, to fill out its whole circumference. The life
of each individual, much more that of a nation or race of
mankind, consists in the development and realization of
many different and often conflicting ideas, which have relations to each other, and will yield consequences which
never can be foreseen or predicted.  For it is only in life,
through actual historical development, that the logical
contents of any great principle can ever come to be fully
known. Hence it follows that when such principles continue to be fruitful, they are liable to be pushed on to unforeseen results, which not only clash with each other,
but are pernicious in themselves. For there is no principle which is capable of definition, development and realization, that is to say, there is no historical principle
which will not yield, by perfectly legitimate processes,
extreme resutlts, which practical wisdom will steadfastly re
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fuse to adopt and act upon. Every such principle is necessarily, to a certain extent, contingent -ipon circumstances, in some of which its legitimate consequences are
true and valid, in others, false and pernicious. Tlowever
incontrovertible it may be when abstractedly stated, however beneficial its consequences when realized up to a
certain point, others are sure to be evolved out of it in,the
course of time, with respect to which it will require to be
severely limited in its application to the affairs of life.
Now where this is ill understood or neglected, where a
people do not stop to apply these necessary limitations,
but push on the great ideas, which animate and inspire
their energies, to the remotest results of which they are
capable, these extreme consequences, as they are unfolded
and realized, become productive of intolerable social evils.
Then it is that reaction sets in; the ship goes about, and
lies over on the other tack.
The most sharply defined and typical forms of this
whole procedure we have found in French history.  The
reason of this lies in the obvious truth, that the most
striking characteristic of the Gallic national mind is logic.
The French are eminently a people of ideas, in this sense,
that they carry out their social theories, as if they were
absolute, to the most extreme logical results of which they
are capable.  Your true Gaul follows his logic "down
Niagara."  Hience the rapidity Mith which they run
through their historic periods; hence the frequency, and
strength, and violence of their reactionary movements.
The English, on the contrary, are not a people of ideas,
that is to say, of theories.  The grand trait of their national mind is common sense. Above all men whom we
know, whether of ancient or modern times, the English
are clothed with the power of arresting extreme consequences, of limiting the development of one idea by that
of another. They understand the necessity of checks and
balances in every human arrangement.  Hence those long
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reaches of thought through which their historic periods
run, and the permanency of their social institutions.
In such views as these we may find ample justification
of that maxim of the people's wisdom, which I take to be
essentially of English origin, "It is very good in theory,
but will not hold in practice "-a maxim, however ridiculed by sciolists, both sound in itself, and of extensive
application. For here we see that the wisdom and safety
of any act, or course of action, do not wholly rest upon its
being a legitimate consequence of some received, and, in
the main, sound principle.  In order to demonstrate a safe
practical judgment, each separate result of our guiding
principles must be brought to the test of other ideas, as
also of experience, and of common sense.
In the light of these principles and laws of social progress, we may now endeavour to understand ourselves,
and to determine through what stage, whether of healthful action, or of extreme results, we, as a nation, are now
moving in the development and realization of the grand
ideas which inspire and govern our history.
And here it is necessary to ascend to the fountain head
of that which only, as I think, can properly be called
modern history. The historic period through which we
are now moving, begins-in so far as any part of what is
necessarily an organic whole, call be said to have a beginning-in Luther's first act of rebellion against the authority of the church of Rome. The principle which was
contained in that act, I take to be this, that the mind and
conscience of the individual are responsible to the truth
and to God alone-the principle of INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY,
AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY. The history of the Protestant nations, from the sixteenth century to the present
time, chiefly consists of the progressive development, the
further and more widely extended realization, of this idea.
This mighty truth, this vast and fruitful principle, according to the strength with which it actuated Martin Luther,
and According to his agency and influence in opening to
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it a career of development in the world, is that which constituted him, truly and properly, an epoch-making man.
With all reverence for the other great Reformers, especially for Calvin and Melancthon, it seems no way unjust
to them to say, that the relation which they bear to Luther is like that of La Place to Newton.
Now this principle of individual liberty and responsibility, as all other ideas which have exerted a regenerating
and transforming influence upon the world, had its birth
in a fact of religion. Consequently, it was first applied to
doctrinal and church reforms. Hence we have the Reformation, the Reformed Religion, with all that is signified
by these words.  But it was self-evident that this principle could not be limited to the sphere of the religious life.
Immediately, therefore, it began to be applied to literature, science, and art, in all other directions, and to all
other human affairs. Hence came Oliver Cromwell, Puritanism, the English, American, and even the French
revolutions, together with all their fruits and consequences in modern history. Hence the freedom of the
press, universal education, and all free institutions. Hence
all freedom of scientific inquiry, experiment, and publication, and that riches and bloom of Protestant literature,
science and philosophy, especially that stupendous growth
of the physical sciences, in their application to the industrial arts, in the midst of which it is our happiness to live.
The immeasurable superiority, with respect to all these
things, of the Protestant over the Papal nations-except
France alone, emancipated, to a great extent, from Papal
influence by the revolution-is proof that they belong to
the germinal principle of the Protestant Reformation.
But it was on this continent, in this new and vast country, and by reason of the character, antecedents, and objects of our forefathers, that this great religious, political,
and social principle found a wider and more favourable
sphere, than it had ever before enjoyed-its true and
proper home. Consequently our history, as no other in
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the world, consists of its more and more extended development and realization. This we now proceed to trace.
Taken as the right of private judgment, it is this principle of individual liberty and responsibility which has
given us much of that intense individualism, self-reliance,
directness of thought, abounding energy, restless activity,
and daring enterprise, which in religion, politics and business, are so strikingly characteristic of the America4
mind.  Hience, also, we  derive our prevailing mode, to
question, examine, discuss and criticise, rather than to
believe.  In all the departments of thought and life-in
science, art and philosophy; in theology, morals and religion; in the church, the state, and the family-there is
nothiing too great or too small, too high or too low, too
sacred or too profane, for individual criticism. This also
places us in constant and powerful resistance to the authority of the past, the deliverances of tradition, and prescriptive right.  But since fashions always tend to extremes,
and no less, as we have seen, in philosophy than in dress, it
would not be surprising if those who come after us, should
reject much that we have retained.  It is certain, that if
the habit of mind should continue to grow upon us, it
must in time lead to the rejection of many just and true
ideas; of many sound maxims and wholesome customs.
The principle from which it springs, therefore, requires
to be checked or limited, at least to some extent by reverence for the past, the experience of the human race, and
common sense.
The application of this idea to civil affairs, has given us
the right of self-government, with all its priceless advantages over all other forms of government ever known to
mankind. Hence we have our central, state, county,
township, and municipal organizations; the whole country being divided and subdivided again and again, that
the idea of self-government may be the more perfectly realized. But it is evident that the principle admits of a
still further development, in the entire separation of the
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A  Nation's R?ight to Worship God.
North from the South, of the East from the West, and of
each.state from all the others, into so many disconnected
and absolute sovereignties. Nay, its remote consequences
would displace the very idea of a state or sovereignty, and
constitute each individual the supreme law, and sole ar biter of his own life and conduct. Here, therefore, the
principle requires to be limited by that of national unity,
of which we shall have more to say hereafter.
Nor is there anything in this idea to restrain any man
from marrying as many women as he can persuade to be come his wives.  Hence we have lived to see United
States officials exercising, in a perfectly valid and recognized form, all the functions of territorial government,
with harems of women around them, more numerous than
that of the Grand Turk. This is a significant fact, and
well worthy of being understood in connection with the
principle from which it springs, and by which it is justi fied. Hence, also, our communities of free lovers, and
the impunities they enjoy; together with the enormous
multiplication of divorces among us.  For where all parties freely consent to such arrangements, the idea of indi vidual liberty is the more perfectly realized, without vio lation of the civil rights of any.  Here again the principle
requires to be limited by that of the Christian character
of our nation, of which also we shall have more to say.
The right of self-government, moreover, admits of an
easy and perfectly sound translation into the received for mula. All the powers of government are derived from
the consent or concessions of the governed. But it is evi dent that a man cannot alienate from himself a right
which he does not possess; and no man is possessed of
the right to take away his own life, for any purpose, or in
any circumstances. Consequently no man can surrender
to government this right to take away his life. Govern mnent, under this formula, has no right to inflict the death
penalty; and capital punishment becomes murder. Here
we find the true explanation of those popular agitations
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against the death penalty which we experience from time
to time; which have already excluded it from the penal
code of some of the States; and which must ultimately
abolish it altogether, if the idea from which they spring
be not limited by the Divine right of civil government,
and of society to protect itself.
In fine, the principle of individual liberty, carried out
to its utmost consequences in civil affairs, is, of course,
simply anarchy. And such was the actual condition of
the Jewish people at the close of that historic period which
is covered by the Book of Judges; when there was no king
in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own
eyes. For what state of social disorganization those words
were intended to describe, is plain from that horrid affair
of the Benjamite's wife, in which a whole tribe of Israel
were almost exterminated by their brethren, and which
closes in that stormy period.  Hence the uicontrolable
reaction that followed, and the establishment of the monarchy to save society. Nor is there any other way, as it
would appear, to escape precisely similar results in our
own history, but by the limitation of the idea of individual
liberty by the correlative principles of national unity, and
of the religious character of the nation.
The application of this principle to matters of religion,
has given us all our individual religious liberties, with all
their unspeakable blessings.  From it also we derive that
vast multitude of different religious sects, with their adv-antages and disadvantages, by which Protestant Christianity is distinguished from the outward and formal unity
of Romanism. And here it would seem that we have al ready reached extreme results in the development of the
idea, which exert no little influence to undermine and
weaken the faith of the people. The church, the body of
Christ, appears to exist among us in a dismembered state,
its mangled limbs violently torn from each other, and the
life-blood, which is faith, pouring forth from its wounds
in fatal streams.  I cannot but think that the inward and
iw
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spiritual unity of the church demands some outward and
visible sign, in order first, that it should be a living unity,
and secondly, that it should be so manifested as to convince the world that Jesus Christ is the Sent of God.
This seems to be included in that repeated Irayer of our
blessed Lord, interceding for his people, in the wordsThat they all may be ogne; as thou Father art in me, and I in
thee, that ther, all may be one in us; that the world may believe
that thou has sent me.  For how can the world, who cannot
discern spiritual things, be aware that there is any spiritual unity in the church, so as to be convinced by it that
Christ is sent of God, otherwise than by its going forth,
and expressing itself; in some outward manifestation and
visible sign?
But not to insist upon this interpretation, it.is evident
that in the idea which has given birth to all these different denominations, there is nothing to restrain it from
continuing to multiply them to an indefinite extent. Accordingly, we find it in full career of development and.
realization, up to the present time. Within the present
generation it has given us Mormonism, the so-called Spiritualist Circles, and a number of new Christian sects;
and it has rent in twain the Methodist Episcopal Church,
North and South, the Presbyterian Church, and twice
again, the New-school branch of it. Still it threatens
other comnmunions.  Where will it naturally stop?  Let
it run on to'the last extremes of which it is capable in
logic, and it must subvert all creeds and confessions of
faith, displace the very idea of church unity, and make
each individual his own church, and thence, practically;
his own Savior and his own God. -All that is needed to
ensure this result, is that the very same mental processes
and acts, wvhich have broken up the Christian church
among us into the existing number of different sects,
should continue to repeat themselves without let or re straint. Here therefore the principle from which they
spring requires, and it mrust find, limitation in catlholic
2
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A Nation's -Right to W~orship God.
unity, experience and common sense.  The last, and now
the only hope of Romanism in the world, lies in the possibility that Protestantism, in this country, may not have
the wisdom to apply these limitations in time to save the
faith of the people.
We come now to consider the influence of this idea, of
individual religious liberty, in moulding our governmental institutions.  For in order that every individual might
be not only absolutely free, but wholly unbiased by the
influence'of the government, ill his religious opinions;
the Constitution of the United States has rigorously abstained from all recognition of, and allusion to, Christianity, or to the being of a God:  and all* our Constitutions
prescribe and ordain " that no religious test shall ever be
required as a qualification for any office or public trust."
Consequently they cannot require an oath in the name of
God.  What is called the- oath of the President elect,
which is the model of all others, wh-ethler of the general
c or state governments, is prescribed in these words:  "I
do solemnly swear or affirn'," &c.; in which the officer
elect is left free to swear by nothing  at all, and thus to
leave out not only all recognition of God, but therein also
the very essence of an oath.  Whenever the name of God
is introduced, in such cases, whether under the Constitution of the United States, or of any particular state, in
any department of the governmnent, executive, legislative,
judicial, educational, or military, it is purely optional.t
The practical effect, whether or not the original object,
eif all this, is the neutrality of the government with respect to all religions, so that no possible governmental influence can be constitutionally exerted for or against any
form of religious belief.
-' The ConstituLtion of North Carolina, unchanged since its adoption in 1776, is
an exception to this.
.  In some of the States, the form of the oath is in some cases prescribed by law
so as to make a direct appeal to God, but this can always be evaded by substituting the affirmation.
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A  Nation's?Right to WVorship. God.
This absolute neutrality in religion of the Constitution
of the United States, is admitted and defended by the
commentators.  Says one of them: "It has been objected
by some against the Constitution, that it makes no mention of religion, contains no recognition of the existence
and providence of God..... But there were reasons
why the introduction of religion would have been unseasonable if not improper. The Constitution was intended
exclusively for civil purposes, and religion could not be
regularlyv mentioned.  The difference among the various
sects of Christians is such that, in an instrument where
all are entitled to equal consideration, it would be difficult
to use words in which all could cordially join....  The
purity of religion is best preserved by keeping it separate
from government." -For these and other reasons, he adds:
"It was impossible to introduce into the Constitution
even an expression of gratitude to the Almighty for the
formation of the present government."* Such are the
views-of the commentators upon the Constitution of the
tUnited States, in which they manifest a cordial zeal for
the purity of religion "by keeping it separate from governnient;" but unfortunately they do not inform us what is
to preserve the purity of government after it has become
sequestered friom religion-has thus solemnly excommunicated itselt.  It were "devoutly to be wished" that
some eminent statist of that school would speak to this
point.
The same principle substantially rules in our state Constitu.tions.  It is true that in some of the earlier of these
there is still a faint recognition of God, and even.of the
Christia.n religion.  In that of North Carolina there is
even a Protestant clause.  But from most of those which
have collie into existence under the further development
of the idea of individual religious liberty, either all trace
of relig,ion has disappeared, or, as in those of Missouri
' Bayartrd on the Constitution of the United States
19
I 
A  Nation's R?ight to  Wosship  God.
and Texas, there are provisions of positive, though, no
doubt, of unconscious hostility to Christianity. The Constitution of New Jersey is an honourable exception to
this statement. As revised two years ago, under the influence of the eminent Christian statesmen of that Commonwealthl, it exhibits a decided tendency to return to the
idea of a Christian state. But the Constitution of New
York is an admirable example of this perfect religious
neutrality, the more significant in so far as the inhabitants of the Empire State are a typical people.  For it
guarantees the largest liberty to all mankind, with respect
to      all religions, in the words, "without discrimination or
preference."  That the true intent of that clause is to
place all the religions, and all the infidelities of the world,
upon exact level with Christianity before the government,
we   have the best possible evidence.  For being well acquainted with the truly eminent and accomplished gentieiman to whom chiefly that Constitution owes its present
form, and happening to meet him soon after its adoption,
we   took occasion to say, "You, sir, have done what surely
no   other man in the state could have accomplished.  Iaving    yourself been born, and brought up, and moulded
under the influence of the Christian church, you have
given us a Constitution for the government of a great
Christian people, which covers a vast extent and variety
of topics, and yet which carries out one idea with such
perfect logical rigotlr, that from no single word, or form
of   expression, could it ever be inferred that such a fact
as   the Christian religion ever existed."  "Ah!" he repliedS with manifest delight, "how well you have understood it! That was just what we intended to do."   Yet
was he anything but an irreligious person.  lIe was a
regular attendant, and liberal supporter of the Presbyterian church, and, indeed, formerly one of my own parishioners. But this was his theory of civil government.
A Christian person, even a Christian family, he could understand; but a Christian state was an idea totally incon-'
20 
A  Nation's  Right  to  Worship God.
sistent, in his mind, with that of the religious liberty of
the individual.
Thus far we have actually realized this principle in our
Constitutions. Its further development in the same direction, leads, by necessary sequence, to the abrogation
of all our laws for the protection of the Sabbath, the punishment of blasphemy, and the like; also to the banishment of all observance of the Sabbath, chllaplaincies, and
religious services, from our legislative bodies, our army
and navy; and of all recognition of God, and of the
Christian religion, from the messages of our presidents,
and other executive officers, and from all other public
documents, and governmental acts. Even the executive
appointment of our thanksgiving days is contrary to the
spirit, and many of the things mentioned, to the express
letter of our Constitutions, because they are governmental acts with "discrimination and preference" in matters of religious belief, which is constitutionally repudiated. They exert a governmental influence to bias the
minds of individuals in favour of Christianity against infidelity, and against all non-Christian religions;  consequently against every man's position and success in public life, who is an enemy to the national faith. They are,
in fact, the lingering remains of an obsolete system of
ideas, with respect to which our governmental institutions
are, as yet, but imperfectly purified, from religion. Hence
the agitation which, from time to time, calls for their abolition.  They have been allowed to remain-the laws for
the protection of the Sabbath, and the punishment of
blasphemy, being merely a dead letter, often violated by
the government itself-only because their religious influ ence is so ill defined, and ineffectual.
The influence of this jealous neutrality, with respect
to all religions, of our supreme and state governments,
upon our public men, political parties, and political life
in general, is very striking.  For no government can be
administered and carried on, according to its true intents
21 
A  Nation's Right to Worship God.
and aims, but by men who are personally in symlpatlhy
with its character. And since our Constitutions do thus
exclude from tlhemselves all influences which could bias
the minds of individuals either for or against any religious belief, they cannot but act, in a most subtle and
powerful manner, to repel from their offices of trust, and
from the political organizations under them, all men who
have any religious character, and to attract those who
have as few religious and conscientious scruples as possible.  Accordingly, I observe, that our chief magistrates
have hardly ever been professed Christians. Even when
favourably disposed towards the Christian religion, commonly theyi have held themselves aloof from formal chulrch
membership until their retirement from office. The like
is true, with noble exceptions, of our legislators, judges,
aspirants to office, leaders of political parties, and public
men in general.  And here we find the true and all-sufficient explanation of that almost total banishment of religious ideas and restraints from politics, and of that portentous, ever-increasing political corruption, which  already perplexes and appals the nation.  For it is nmauifestly impossible thus to shut out all religious aims and
obj ects froma any sphere of human life, without weakerning, and ultimately destroying, the power of religious
principle within that sphere.  The inevitable result, in
time, of this rigorous exclusion of religion fromi politics,
is the irretrievable demoralization of the whole sphere of
public life.  The idea is yet indeed but imperfectly realized.  But it can hardly be denied that we have been of
late, and are daily making good progress.  The principle
is in full career of development up to the present hour.
When it has reached its last termns, all appeal to religious
motives in politics, will be held to be as much out of
place, and'illegitiminate, as is now the appeal to political
motives in religion.   This idea is a two-edged sword,
which cuts with equal keenness both ways.
22 
A  Nation's _Right to Worsh?p God.
It were possible, however, to bear all this, if it were
not for still another consequence of this governmental
neutrality in religion, which seems to me of deeper, and
farther reaching significance, than all others put together.
This is its influence upon our whole educational system.
For inasmuch as our public schools are strictly governmental institutions, organized and maintained under Constitutions from which all religious objects have, been
sedulously excluded, from these schools must also be excluded all religious objects, worship, instruction, and influence.  Accordingly, it is one of the fundamental laws
of this department of the government, that "no religious
test shall ever be required Qf the teachers of our public
schools; and no teacher shall be deemed unqualified for
giving instruction in them on account of his opinions ill
matters of religious belief."  One of the most eminent of
American jurists* has officially decided, that "it is no
part of the object of our public school system to give re- 
ligious instruction."  How otherwise could he honestly
interpret our Constitutions and laws? Even the reading
of the Bible in these schools, although in some of the
States the school laws do specify that it shall not be prohibited, is in palpable conflict with this idea of governmental neutrality in religion: under which it is the constitutional right of the Romanist to object against the
coimmon version of the Scriptures, of the Jew against
the New Testament, and of the heathen and infidel against
the whole.  Each and every religionist can rise up and
say, you have no Constitutional right to tax me for the
instruction of my children in a religion which I do not
believe.  Nor at the point where we now stand in the development of the idea of individual religious liberty, is
it possible to answer tlhemn.  The logic of the case they
have all their own way. And the carrying out, in good
faith, of these provisions must ultimately banish the Bible,
prayer, every vestige of religious worship and influence,
'The late John C. Spencer.
23 
A  Nation's Right to WTVorship God.
and all teaching of morality which is peculiar to the
Christian religion, from our vast and all-moulding sys tems of public education.  This is the inevitable logical
consequence of the principle, as it is already, to a great
extent, the actual result. Who that has reflected upon
the subject at all, can fail to see it?
What must be the effect of this extrusion of religion
from the public schools, both upon education itself, and
upon the national character, it is not difficult to foresee.
For the three great ends of education are, to communi cate the most important information, to train the mind,
and to form the character; and these three are one.  It
is not possible to attain any one of them apart from both
the others. Consequently all sound education, whatever
is worthly of the name, must needs be an organic process.
For the knowledge which is of paramount importance is,
of course, just that which pertains to the moral and spiritual world; the communication of this by right methods
is the most effectual way to discipline and impart strength
and steadiness to the mind; whilst these two, right
knowledge and right discipline, with respect to the facts
and truths of the moral and spiritual world, are the fundamental elements of a right character.  By the knowledge of the facts and truths of the moral and spiitual
world, and of the relations which these bear to each other,
the mind is fed, and nourished, and invigo d, as the
body by its appropriate food, and by healthful exercise.
Ignorance is the want of intellectual food, the faminie and
starvation of the mind.  If'that which is communicated
in education be of trivial importance, the mind is dwarfed,
as the body by insufficient nourishment.  If the relations
between the facts and truths comnmunicated be not traced
out, the mind is surfeited, as the body with an overloaded
stomach, and without'exercise. If in the tracing of these
relations unsound processes be followed, the mind is
warped, as thle body by unnatural exercises antl contortions.  If that be given for fact or truth, which is neither,
24 
A  Nation's _Right to Worship  God.
the mind is poisoned, as the body by unwholesome food.
It is only when the matter of instruction in education is
of the deepest significance, i. e., when it is just that
which pertains to the moral and spiritual world, that
which is revealed in the word of God, and when the ret
lations of the things taught to each other, are traced out
by sound processes, that the mind is adequately fed, and
nourished, and invigorated, is broadly developed, and attains to the full growth and maturity of all its faculties
and powers.  In other words, the intellect of man is
grafted in, so to speak, upon a moral and spiritual, that
is to say, upon an infinite, exhaustless root, by which supported and replenished, it is rendered capable, as distinguished from the brute mind, of culture, development,
and growth, from generation to generation, and from age
to age. And it is necessary that it should be trained
with special reference to this idea, in order that it should
uphold its highest and most plentiful blossoms, and should
bear its golden fruit of true wisdom.  This moral and
religious training is indispensable from the beginning to
the end of the whole educational process.  To interest
the minds and hearts of children at the dawning of their
intellectual and moral life; to acquaint them with all
things most necessary to be known, both for this world
and that which is to come;  to accomplish them in the
most profound, abstruse, and infallibly correct processes
and methods of reasoning; to imbue them with the
knowledge of history, eloquence, and poetry; to quicken
their perceptions of the true, the beautiful, and the good;
to inform them with sound principles of right and justice; to purify their aflections, and fix them upon the
most exalted objects; to make of our sons, men, and of
our daughters, women, in the highest sense of these
words; in fine, to ennoble, transfigure, and glorify their
whole humanity-to accomplish these sublime objects the
Iholy Scripture alone is adequate, and indispensable,
25 
A Nation's Right to Worship God.
throughout the whole course, as matter of instsuction and
principle of education.
All this, of necessity, is lost to the education of the
masses by excluding the Bible and religious instruction
From the public schools. Nor is it possible to provide a
sufficient remedy by placing our children in private or select academiies.  For this great public school system is an
all-moulding power upon the ideas themselves which are
entertained of education, among all classes of society.
The views of education which prevail in the public schools
soon come to prevail in the nation. Religious instruction
and influence driven from these, soon cease to form any
part of the idea of education in the community at large.
Accordingly we find that the loss of this idea is working a revolution in the whole department of education, as
also in tihe character of the teachers and instructors themselves. For the system, being without aims and objects,
naturally attracts to its service a class of men who are personally in sympathy with it; in other words, who have as
little of the religious character as possible; consequently,
unLconscientious, unscrupulous people, whose chief enid of
life is a piece of bread. Such teachers, themselves intellectually incompetent, and in order to flatter both parents
and -children, are easily attenmpted to pass rapidly over
elementary exercises, and to increase thie number of studies beyond all rational limits, crowding one upon another,
and hurrying on with such reckless speed, that learning,
in any true sense of the word, becomes impossible. Ihence
it is already one of the most difficult things to finid an instructor under whom a child can be placed, with any rational expectation that he will obtain such a knowledge of
language as will enable him to read the classics, in after
life, with any facility, pleasure, or profit. The same ineffectual methods, and abortive results, are equally apparent in other branches of education. In this way, children of the brightest intellect are soon discouraged. Thoroughly instructed in what they pass over, when it is light
' 26 
. A Nation's -Righ tto Worship God.
behind, they are easily interested in study, and learn to
face, without shrinking, the darkness which lies before
them.  But when it becomes dark behind as well as before, they are utterly confused and disgusted; their minds
are stupefied and enfeebled, instead of being educated.
This evil is already enormous, and no less, perhiaps even
greater, in private than in public education. It is one of
the greatest calamities that can befall any people.  Hlence
the almost universal outcry from parents and guardians,
What shall we do with our children?  Send them where
we will, they do not learn. They seem to feel no interest
in study; and we cannot pesuade our boys to go to college.  For this is one of the chief causes of that relative
decline in the nunber of our youth who aspire to collegiate, and the higher forms of education-they have no
genial interest awakened in study, they are discouraged
and disgusted with its blind and fruitless toil, in the lower
departiments.
The fuirther influence of this whole system of education
divorced from religion, upon the character of the young,
surely cannot be misunderstood.  It is already but too 
evident in that early loss of the simplicity and innocence 
of childhood, in that precocious development of subtlety
and forbidden knowledge, in that disgusting manishness,
whilch dwarfs the stature, enfeebles the mind, and, like
the worm in the first ripe fruits, cause the premature decay and death of so many of our American youth.  Some
one has bitterly said, "There are no children in America;
they are all pigmy men and women; and half of them
never grow up to full size."  For how is it possible that
the humanity in them should continue to grow through
the ordinary length of time, and attain to the full stature
of men and women, when it is deprived of that religious
instruction in education which is its most necessary food.
The influence of this change in education we have begun to feel in every department of life.  It extends even
to the fundamental relation between parents and children.
2T
t 
A  Nation's R?ight to Worship God.
Formerly, as is well known, a certain religious character
and dignity belonged to the father of the family, a certain
prophetic, priestly, and kingly authority, was vested in
the head of the household, in virtue of which he felt
obliged to assert for himrnself, and for the mother of his
children, a Divine right to their reverence and obedience;
and to set apart some portion of the week to instruct them
in their relations and duties, "as inferiors, superiors and
equals." Hlow little of all this is found among us now!
How indeed could it remain after it had ceased to be a
self-evident truth, that education is essentially a religious
training!
In a few generations this influence must extend to the
whole population of our country, and recast in its own
likeness, our national character, which already tends to
the merging of its original Anglo-Saxon depth and seriousness in a certain French levity and frivolity.  There is
no less of truth than of wit in the saying that, " Good
Americans, when they die, go to Paris."  For it may be
safely affirmed that all other influences which go to determinle our national character and destiny, are scarcely superior to that of our all-comprehending, all-moulding syst.ems of governmental  education.  As  are the public
schools of this land, such. will be the great and governing
masses of the people.  If they are Christian, the nation
will be Christian.  If thie Bible shall be driven from them,
it can never maintain the place it has hitherto occupied
in the nation.
These are some of the extreme consequences, logically
derived, already extensively realized,'and in full course of
realization up to the present hour, of the principle of individual liberty, taken in its widest sense.  This is the
course we are steering with full sails.  Is it not plain to
reason that if we pursue it long enough, we must find ourselves in perilous waters? And when the nmast-head
watch shall call out, " Breakers ahead-and close under
the lee bow!" there will be no time to trim the vessel
28 
A  Natiot's -Right to Worship God.
Then a sudden and violent change in our course will be
our only and doubtful possibility of escape from disastrous
shipwreck. If the principle by which we are now guided,
be not limited, and its extreme consequences arrested in
time, by some other principle of historical developmYent,
of equal validity, fruitfulness and power, a violent reaction against it is inevitable.  And the longer this is delayed, the greater the lengths to which the now dominant
idea shall yet go, the more sudden and violent that reaction must be, and the greater will be those evils of the
opposite extremne, into which the American mind is as
sure to run, as that it has not escaped from under the laws
which have governed all preceding history.  It seems
plain that there is no other way to save and perpetuate
the innumerable and priceless blessings which we owe to
this great principle of individual liberty, but faithfully to
apply these limitations in time.
And now what is that other principle of historical development, no less valid and true, no less fruitfill, and no
less evident, than this of individual liberty, by whiil it
can and ought to be limited, and restrained firom rushing
on to these, and even greater, extremes. It is of this only
that we have yet to speak; and we answer, it is the principle of NATIONAL UNITY, NATIONAL LIBERTY, AND NATIONAL
RESPONSIBILITY. It remains to develope this idea.
Let us observe, then, that what we call a nation, is not
to be conceived of as a mere aggregate of individuals, a
bare collection or collocation of men, women and children, having no other than personal relations to each other,
and to God.  A nation is properly an organism, with a
unity of existence and life, distinct from all others, and
from the individuals of which it is composed.  Such an
organism is a tree which, though capable of being grafted
with the buds and branches of other stocks, has yet a life
of its own, distinct from others, and from all the different
parts of which it is composed. In like nianner ethnic
life must needs be conceived of as a unity, else it could
29 
A  Nation's RiyAht to Worship  God.
not be life at all; for life is one. As the vital force in
the human body is one, and not many, so that if you
wound the feet it is felt in the head, and if you kill
the head the feet also die, so every body politic has a
distinct life of its own, which is not many, but numerically one and the same in all its members.  And I
wish to be understood here in the strongest sense of a
realistic philosophy.  HIence it is that nations followe, to
a certain extent, the analogy of individuals in the phenomena of infancy, childhood, youth, growth, and maturity-of decline, old age, decay and dissolution.
But it is worthy of observation, that this oneness of
ethnic life does not wholly depend upon unity of race or
tribal descent.  For God hath made of one blood all nations
of mnen, for to dwell on all thelface of the earth; (i. e., of one
life: for the blood is the life.)  So that in other combinations than those of tribal descent they are capable of forming new organisms or states, which soon become as conscious of their own separate unity and identity as if they
were all derived from one subordinate branch of the great
family of man.  There is no doubt, however, but that,
even in such cases, there must be one predominant race,
to which all the others are as grafts to the original stock
of a tree, by whose life both the native and grafted
branches are alike supported and nourished.  Of this we,
as a people, are now giving to the world a remarkable
proof and illustration.  For there is hardly any country
in which the national life is more unique, or the national
character more distinct and sharply defined, than in our
own.  The word American is altogether as precise in signification as the word French, or Spanish, or English, and
far more distinct than the word German. Our nation,
made up of all heterogenous varieties of mankind, already,
whilst yet in its infancy, manifests an organic life so different from all others, so full and strong, that, as a vast
galvanic battery, it easily disintegrates, assimilates, and
Americanizes those dense masses of alien populations,
30
a 
A  Nation's Right to Worshp  God.
which, like the ocean waves that bear them, are ilncessantly rolling in upon uis, and losing all separate form and
identity in breaking upon our shores.
This principle of ethnic unity is fully recognized by nations themselves, in all their dealings with each other,
and in all their sovereign acts.  For the national sovereignty resides in the nation as such.  It is a pernicious
fallacy to speak of each American citizen as a sovereign.
Individual sovereignty is anarchy.  The nation, as such,
and that alone, is vested with sovereign authority and
power.  And-this national sovereignty manifests itself in
constitutions, laws, the coining of money, in matters of
peace and war, in governments, and in all governmental
acts. In these the nation acts as a unit, and expresses its
nationality, in distinction firom the individuals of which
it is composed. These are the acts of the nation as such,
in which no distinction of individuals is, or can be, made;
by the wisdom and justice of which the bad, no less than
the good, are benefitted; for the sin and folly of which
those whlo dissent and those who assent, the guilty and
the innocent, suffer together; for which the people as a
whole are responsible.  Thus England and America, and
all other.nations, deal with each other.  A declaration of
war between any two of them affects alike those who  approve and those who disapprove of it;  a treaty of peace
binds every individual of both nations.  In all this the
unitv of national life is fully recognized by the nations
themselves.
Nor is it less evident that God deals with nations as
distinct moral entities, than that they so regard and treat
each other.  There is a national character and conduct of
which Tlie takes account in the moral government of the
world.  For he is the God of nations no less than of families and of individuals.  I-e creates them, and lath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitionts.  lie governs  them  with  supreme  sovereignty.
Hence he reveals himself as the Governor amon?y the nations,
31 
A  Nation's Riht to Worship God.
as the King of AI'ations, the blessed and only Poteintate, the
King of kings and Lord of lords.  All government, of whatever form, exists, and derives its essence and authority,
from God alone.  For there is no6 power but of God.  The
potwers that be are ordained of God. The civil magistrate is
the mninister of God; and he beareth not the sword( in va(in.
And here it is another great fallacy to say that all the
powers of governmenlt are derived from the people.  Not
one of them is thence derived. All the powers of government, its authority and very essence, are from God
alone.  As to its form only, it is from the people.  It belongs to the people simply to determine and prescribe,
according to the light given them, what those powers are
which God has vested in civil government. They have
no more right either to take from, or add to, these, than
they have to increase or diminish the powers of the Christian chutrch.  The church and the state are equally Divine institutions.  God is no less the head of the one than
of the other.  Consequently, and as a matter of fact and
observation, God deals with nations no less obviously
than with individuals, by a system of rewards and punishments.   With blessings and prosperity he seeks to
quicken the national gratitude; with afflictions and chastisecienit he calls to national humiliation and repentance.
In the distribution of these national rewards and punishments he makes no distinction of individuals, whether
they as such be innocent or guilty, precisely as nations
themselves, in dealing with each other, must ignore such
personal distinctions.  In times of peace, health  and
plenty, these blessings are not confined to the good; nor
are the wicked alone cut off by war, pestilence and famine.
In all this God himself fully recognizes the distinct entity,
and moral unity, of nations.
From these truths it follows of necessity, that nations,
as such, have a moral character, and are clothed with a
moral responsibility, of their own.    In  other words,
nations, in distinction from the individuals of which they
32 
A  Nation's Right to Worship God.
are composed, have relations and duties to the God of
nations and Supreme Ruler of the world, no less than
individuals themselves.  And it is evident of itself, that
these duties, and this moral responsibility, if they exist
at all, cannot be conceived of as requiring anything less
than some national acknowledgment of themselves. For
as our individual responsibility requires recognition and
acknowledgment from each individual, by his own act, so
the valid acknowledgment of national responsibility must
be the act of the nation.  In other words, our national
responsibility requires, and cannot be conceived of as
being satisfied without some national acknowledgment of
the being, providence, and government of God, in those
acts which are the most solemn and significant, the highest, not to say, the only acts of the nation itself-the acts
of government. But moral responsibility implies moral
freedom.  Whatever a nation is morally obliged to do,
that, as a nation, it is of right free to do.  Consequently,
it is an inalienable right of nations to acknowledge the
being and government of God, to worship, honour, and
obey him, in their national and governmental acts. Such
is the idea of national unity, liberty, and responsibility.
In applying this general principle to our own case, we
may assume what surely does not need proof, that, inll our
moral and religious character, we are not a heathen, nor
a Mohammedan, nor an infidel, but a Christian nation.
For the emigrants from the Old World, in whom our national existence was first constituted, were, as a body, eminently religious and Christian people. It was chiefly a
religious and Christian movement which brought them to
this continent. Driven from their country and wealth,
from their kindred, homes, and churches, they brought
with them hardly anything but their religion.   They
sought and found in these western wilds a refuge for their
persecuted faith, where they might worship God in freedom, and freely educate their children in the saving truths
of th, gospel.  And they were not only thlie founders of
3
33 
A  Nation's Pight to Worship God.
our nation, but also of the national character. Even so
far as mere numbers can have any bearing on such a
question as this, it is safe to say, that a vast preponderance of our population has always been on the side of
Christianity.  The great mass of our people have always
been, as they still are, at least speculative believers, carrying with them into all their new settlements as a sacred
palladium, or rather as their national covenant and safety,
the word of God, the preaching of the gospel, and the
Christian church.
Here I would gladly arrest this argument, without any
discrimination among all those who call themselves Christians.  But the plain truth of the case carries us further.
For our national character is no less Protestant than it is
Christian. Our civil and religious liberty, all our free
institutions, even our civilization itself, are, as we have
seen, an outbirth and growth of Protestant Christianity.
We are eminently a Protestant nation. Nor is this truth
even limited by the fact that Romanism is found among
us.  For this is nothing properly American.  It is an
exotic, a purely foreign growth, not yet assimilated or
Americanized. The members of that communion, in a
vast proportion, are foreign born. Its head, whom both
priest and people are sworn to obey in all things, both
temporal and spiritual, as lord paramount, with full power
to absolve them from their allegiance to the governments
under which they live-a power which he has actually
exercised again and again-is a foreign prince. Whilst
they remain subjects to him, they cannot enter into our
American and Protestant nationality. As they become
Americanized they cease to be Romanists. And this is
a process which is continually going on. For incredible
numbers of their children, in spite of the perfection of
their organization, and of all they can do to prevent it,
cease to be Papists.  They can no more escape from the
all-transforming influence of our American institutions,
the enormous assimilating power of our Protestant nation
34 
A  Nation's Right to Worship God.
ality, than from the effects of the American atmosphere
and climate. Accordingly, as we learn from the statistics
of the Propaganda, the Papists who have emigrated to
this country, have lost thereby full one-half of their numbers; that is to say, they would have been twice as
numerous as they now are, if all the emigrants, with their
children, had remained in their own communion. But
inasmuch as they are now grafted into the stock of a
Protestant nationality, the life which nourishes them, and
circulates in all their veins and thoughts, is a Protestant
life; which ensures that they shall cease to be Romanists
in becoming Americans.
If then we are indeed a Christian and a Protestant
nation, in thle name of the people, in the name of the
truth, in the niame of God, we have the right to, say so in
our Constitutions and laws, in our national and governmental acts.  It is the chief element of our national religious liberty, that we should be allowed, and we are
bound by the most solemn of all moral obligations, to
acknowledge, worship, and obey our God, not only as
individuals, but also as a free Christian and Protestant
nation.  For no moral creature of God, no creature which
is subject to his moral government, such as we have seen
a nation is, can refuse or decline to honour its Creator by
public and solemn worship, with impunity. As the individclual, and the family, so the nation that neglects this,
must bring upon itself His sovereign displeasure, and a
grievous punishment.  And since all our national institutions and blessings, yea, our civilization itself, are the
fruits of Protestant Christianity, in the name of the people,
in the name of truth, in the name of God, we have the
right, and we are morally bound, to recognize and honour,
in our national acts, the source from which, and the chan nel through which, they have been derived to us. For it
is contrary to the constitution and order of nature, it is
evidence of a base mind, and can never come to good,
when the child, for any reason, or to gain any object, re
35 
A Nation's Right to Worship God.
fuses to own its parentage. And we are bound to vindi cate this right at all hazards. To yield it up, is to renounce
our national parentage, birthright, and character; it is to
dishonour our national religion, and the God of our
fathers, yea, it is to betray ourselves, blindfold and man acled, as our children will find to their sorrow, in the very
citadel of our religious liberties.
But does not all this imply some form of Erastianism,
or at least some modified union of church and state, which
American institutions have repudiated bodily? I answer,
that it implies nothing of the kind.  For Erastianism
makes the church the creatures of the state, which is
abomination in the sight of God and man. The union of
church and state, in any right acceptation of the words,
either gives the state some sort of control over the church,
and makes the church, to some extent, dependent upon
the state, as in England; or reverse the relation, and givess
the church some control over the state, making the state,
in some degree, dependent upon the church, according to
the Papist theory.  Both of these ideas I cordially repudiate, and that in the name of every branch of the Pro'testant church in this country. I do not believe there are
any Protestants amnong us who can tolerate either of them.
The doctrine here advocated is, that as the different
branches of our national government, the executive, legislative, and judicial, are co-ordinate, each supreme within
its own sphere, and independent of the others, but all
alike responsible directly to the people, so the church and
the state are co-ordinate institutions, totally independent
of each other, each, in its own sphere, supreme with respect to the other, but both alike of Divine appointment,
, having one and the same head and fountain of all their
powers, which is God.  Whence both alike are bound to
acknowledge, worship, and obey him.  It is as great a
solecism for the state to neglect this, as it would be for
:the church.  Many seem to think that the complete separation of church and state, implies that the state, as such, 
A  Nation's Right to WTorship  God.
has no duties to God, and no religious character. As
logically it could be inferred from the family's independelnce of the church, that the family has no religious
character, and no duties to God.  The family, the church,
and the state, these are all co-ordinate institutions, severally independent of each other, yet all alike having one
and the same Head, which they are equally bound in
solemn form to acknowledge, worship, and obey.  When
the state, for any reason, declines to do this, it falls into
a gross anomaly, and exemplifies that which is described
in the second Psalm: Why do the nations ragye, and the
p)eop)le imagine a vain thing?  The kings of the earth set themselv,es, and the rulers take counsel together, aga(inst Jehovah,
and( aygainst his Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands
asunder, arnt east away their cords from us.  He that sitteth
in the heavens shall laugh; Jehovah shall have them in derision.
But even if this doctrine of church and state could be
refuted, we ought not to forget that there are two extremes to this question, no less than to every other, both
of which are equally removed from the only practical
truth.  For one of these extremes king Charles lost his
throne and his head; and we lose what is dearer than life,
our national religious liberty, while we rush to the other.
In oedio t(ttissimus ibis: the golden mean is ever the path
of safety.
All that for which I here contend, requires but the least
possible chanIe in the words of our Constitutions; which,
moreover, would express nothing but an obvious truth:
"WVe, avowing ourselves to be a Christian and Protestant
nation, do ordain and establish this Constitution." That
change would leave all denominations calling themselves
Protestant Christians, whatever liberty they now enjoy,
to follow their natural developments, and to exert all the
influence of which Lthey are now capable; it would complicate no question between them severally; and it would
give them all a great advantage in prosecuting that glorious work in which they are all co-labourers with the
37 
A  Nation's Right to Worship  God.
fathers of the Reformation, and of all civil and religious
liberty. That constitutional change would open its true
channel to the current of our national life and history,
and allow it to flow with perfect freedom in its natural
course.  And it would give us the constitutional right to
worship the God of our fathers, in our legislative bodies,
army and navy; to require an oath in the name of God
in our courts'ofjustice, and of our officers elect; to observe, as a nation, and to protect by law, our Christian
Sabbath; to punish blasphemy, adultery and polygamy,
and to protect the unity of marriage; to inflict the death
penalty for murder; and to make the word of God the
matter of instruction, and the principle of education, in
our all-moulding public school system.
Whatever in the idea of individual religious liberty is
inconsistent with such an avowal of the Christian character of our nationality, and inconsistent with these its immediate logical results, is to be regarded as an extreme
and baleful consequence of the principle from which it
flows. Not long ago a California judge-and we happen
to know this to be a fact-undertook to elicit the truth
from a Chinaman by swearing him on a cock's head, instead of the Bible.  The foolish magistrate had been instructed by some wag that this was the idolatrous sanction of witness-bearing among the Chinese, althoughl the
whole procedure must have been as incomprehlensible and
absurd to the witness as it was to the spectators. But
the idea of the court was that the government having no
religious character or preference of its own, could easily
accoimmodate itself to those of the individual, whatever
they might be*-a perfectly sound inference from the
It is objected to this illustration, that it is an old English  law maxim. and a
plain dictate of common sense, that the witness must be sworn upon what he holds
sacred.  But I am constrained to adhere to it.  In a Christian state the principle
of the objection must have its limitations.  For example, the worshippcrs of Sheitan, or Satan, visited by Mr. Layard, could take no other oath than one by appeal
to the devil himself. Could a Christian court accept such an oath? And the Scriptural view of all idolatry is, that it partakes more or less of the nature of devil
38' 
A  Nation's Right to IWoship God.
principle.  Upon the same ground the Mormon  denies
our authority to punish him for his loathsome polygamy,
and insists upon his constitutional right to sit in our
legislative bodies, and to fill our highest judicial and military offices, in thle very eye of the nation, with all his
harem around him.  Upon the same ground the Papist
denies our right to the reading of the Bible, to religious
instruction and worship, in our public schools; and the
Jew, our right to observe as a nation, and to protect by
law, our Christian Sabbath.  UTpon the same ground, and
with equal reason, the infidels, of every name, deny our
right to require an oath by the name of God, in our courts
of justice, and of our officers elect; our right to the appointment of chaplains in our legislative bodies, army
and navy; and our right to worship or acknowledge the
God of our fathers in any of our governmental or national acts.  If we yield to this brazen cry of a very few in
every thousand of our Christian population, we accept all
those evil results to religion, morals, education, politics,
and liberty itself, fiom which we now suffer, and which
unchecked are certain, in the end, to overthrow all our
free institutions, and even our national existence.  If we
admit these extreme consequences of the idea of indi vidual religious liberty, we give the death-blow to nation al unity, liberty, and responsibility. The nation, as dis tinguish]ed from the individuals of which it is composed,
worship. Whilst the theory of a Christian state recognizes God as the Supreme
Judge, and invisibly present in all its courts of justice, it implies that justice is administered in his name and by his authority.  It is his justice which is dispensed.
In such a court none but those forms of witness-bearing which are agreeable to
his mind are admissible; and nothing can be valid which does not acknowledge his
authority. Surely, now it is not possible to conceive of Him, the Supreme Judge,
administering an oath in which there is an appeal to the devil, or to any heathen
god, or which is accompanied with any idolatrous rite. In such an oath the witness
would insult and repudiate the authority of the court itself.  The difficulties which
would grow out of this theory of a Christian state, in such a government as that
of the English in India, exhibit only one of the many anomalies which are ilseparable from the subjection of a conquered people to the rule of foreign masters, and
render more certain the ultimate triumph over the whole world of the great "cause
of the nationalities."
39 
40          A  Natioin's Right to Worship God.
is deprived of every vestige of religious liberty. Yea,
the first principles of national existence itself are sub verted.
The doctrine for which I here contend, will give us an
answer to these brazen demands. Children of the Pa pacy, do we not know you, in all your historical antece dents, as the sworn enemies of both civil and religious
liberty?  When did you ever concede, where you had
the power to withhold, either the one or the other? Who
can number the martyrs of both you have slain? htaving
fled from your own countries, where, ground to the earth
by the despotism of your priests and princes, you had
neither liberty, nor bread, nor hope, you have taken refuge
in the protecting arms, and fostering bosom, of a free
Protestant nation. We have received you to liberty,
plenty, and a new life, the fruits to us of two centuries of
a Christian and Protestant education in all our institutions of learning.  And now you demand, in the name
of religious freedom, as a right of your consciences, that
we banish the word and the worship of God from all our
public schools, which, as you yourselves avow, through
your highest authorities, must inevitably result in making
us a nation of infidels.  If this, indeed, is the freedom
of conscience which only will content you, once for all,
you cannot be gratified. Set your hearts at rest. And
if without this you cannot be contented, return to your
own nationalities, to the Italian priest who is'your temporal prince, and ask him for rights and liberties, and see
whlat he will give you.
Enemies of Christianity, by whatsoever name, Jew,
Pagan, Mormon, Mohammedan, or Infidel, you are called,
we did not receive our free institutions, nor any of the
priceless blessings which distinguish us above all other
nations, from you, but from our God, and through the
channel of the Christian religion.  We are a Christian
uation.  As such, we are one, free, and responsible to
God. You dwell among us. Whatsoever righlts, liber 
A  Nation's Right to WTorsht) God.
ties, and blessings you can enjoy in consistency with this
our Christian character as a nation, are freely yours. We
will defend them with our blood, as promptly for you as
for ourselves. But you demand in the name of religious
freedom, as a right of your consciences, not only that we
banish the word and the worship of God from our public
schools, but also from our legislative bodies, army and
navy; that we abolish all legal protection of our Sabbaths,
and of marriage; that we expunge all acknowledgment
of our Christian nationality, and even the name of our
God, from the sacred roll of our Constitutions and laws;
and that we thus repudiate the source from which, and
the channel through which, we have derived all our national institutions and blessings. This, as you are well
aware, would soon bring us to your ground, and make of
us an infidel nation.  Now, if this be the liberty of conscience which only will content you, it is time you were
given to understand, that we also have a conscience, which
binds us by the most sacred of all obligations, to worship
our God in our most solemn and significant national acts,
and to educate our children in our Christian faith. We
will defend and maintain our sovereign right to do this
against the world in arms.  Beware how you touch it.
You cannot be gratified in this thing.  Set your hearts
at rest.  And if you cannot rest, go form a nation and a
state where you can find a place, and see if infidelity will
do for you what the Christian religion has done for us.
Such answer the great palpitating heart of our nation
already feels to be most just and right; it needs only to
be interpreted and justified to the intellect of the people.
Even now it begins to make itself heard in no uncertain
solunds.  We hear it in the popular determination expressed from time to time, as of late in Boston, and later
still in the city of New York itself, that no quack t.bheories of government shall be permitted to drive the word
and the worship of God fromn our public schools; and it
speaks in that mighty reaction which has taken place all
41 
A Nation's Right to Worship God.
over this country, in the last fifteen years, ill favour of
religious education. We hear it in the throes of our
great cities, whose governments are clutched and held by
obscene harpies, that eat up the property of the citizen,
whilst they afford no protection to life.  We hear it in
the muttering of national perplexity over corruption in
political life, whiell is already prodigious. Inarticulate,
as yet, but full of a vast meaning, like the thundrous
tramp of armed squadrons, like the ground swell of the
ocean, or the heavings of the earthquake-it is the indignation of a mighty people, awaking to the conviction
that they have been deceived by political quackery, into
the surrender of the most precious rights of a free, Christian, and Protestant nation.
Young Gentlemen, you have come to the close of a
most important and ever mnlelnorable portion of your lives;
and you are now ready to go forth into the world to mnake
proof of your manhood, and of the worth of that religious
education which you have here received. The closing periods of time, and the opening of new scenes, whether marked
by the courses of the heavenly bodies, or by other changes
in nature, or in human life, are always solemni.  In vain
the artist strives to represent in painting or sculpture that
nameless expression which rests, in his idea, upon the
features of the.dying year. WVho can adequately speak of
death?  Therefore I have made bold to speak to you, on
this occasion, upon a great and solemn theme.
But with you hope is predominant, as it ought to be;
for this is your strength.  You have youth, you have
health, you have education, you are rich in friends, your
reputations are untarnished, the red wine of life mantles
in your veins, your hearts are unchilled with sorrow, and
you are about to enter upon the privileges and the dignity
of honourable manhood. Ah! if I could but hang these
walls with pictures of the future, as it lies before your
imaginations, what a gallery of rainbow scenes should we
42 
A  Nation's Right to Worship God.
behold! For the day star of hope is rising over your
life; lord of the ascendant may it ever remain to you!
And truly old Nassau Hall would be proved to have
fallen into decay if we should not hear of you, in time to
come, in the walks of literature and science, in the professor's chair, in the pulpit, at the bar, on the bench, in our
state and national councils, as members of conventions
to form and revise constitutions, and in all the places of
trust and influence in this land.  The interest and honour
of our Almna iMater, of our education, of our coun.try, and
of our religion, are now to be committed into your hands.
You will not betray the one, nor tarnish the other.  You
will do better' than we, who go before you, have done.  I
would wish to die before anything should drive out of my
heart this precious faith.  And allow me to say, for a good
purpose, that there is more of latent power in somle of
you, like enough in those who are altogether innocent of
ambition, than in your wildest dreams you have ever surmised.  A great principle will sometimes wake up a new
nature in a mian, of whose capacities and powers he was
before totally unconscious. Such a principle I announce
to you this day, in the words, NATIONAL UNITY, XATIONAL
LIBERTY, RATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY.  Cherish it in your
hearts; let it work in your minds; take it as your motto
and watchword, to remind you unceasingly of your high
duty to contend, in all situations, on all occasions, for
such constitutional reforms as are indispensable to realize
it in our national life.
The motives to faithfulness and energy in fhe fulfilment of this sovereign obligation,. are all-constraining.
It opens the path of honour to the greatest abilities. For
the time is not far distant, as I am persuaded, when some
capable man, putting himself at the head of a movement
which is already making itself felt, to vindicate our na tional religious liberty, our inalienable right to worship
God as a nation, will become the most popular candidate
for the presidential chair.  A  Christian and Protestant
43 
A  Nation's Right to Worship God.
people, whose patience has become exhausted by intole rable p6litical corruption, and indignant at the demnoral ization of its educational interests, will stand by him.
Raising his voice in behalf of a nation's right to worship
God, his words will speak into clear consciousness their
own struggling thoughts; and they will hasten to crown
him with their highest honours.  And I think it is easy
to predict, that when he comes, it will be from this seminary and nursery of so many of our purest patriots and
greatest statesmen.  But if this motive were wanting, the
worldliness and mockery of the age have not been able
to quench the sacred flame of patriotism in your hearts.
For this is the true Promethean fire which cannot be extinguished, whilst an honest and brave man, or a virtuous woman, continues to exist.  My fatherland, let me
honour thee with my life; my mother country, I will defend thee with my blood-my countrymen, there is not
one of you here present whose heart does not thrill with
the power of this great mystery.  And'the Christian religion, the Protestant church, which has made us what
we are for good-by this faith we live; for this faith we
are ready to die.  It is more to every one of us than husband or wife, father and mother, than kindred, home,
and country. We will not betray' our religion. In the
strength of these all-powerful motives, we will defend and
maintain, on all occasions, against all opponents, our inalienable right to avow ourselves, in our Constitutions
and laws, in our national and governmental acts, a free,
Christian, and Protestant nation. And the ages to come
will bless us, the preservers, as we now bless the authors,
of all civil and religious liberty.
44