PUNGENT PARAGRAPHS 245 "This being a Christian nation, we have the right to acknowledge God in the Constitution; because, as things are now, this is not a Christian nation, and needs such recognition to make it one. "This having always been a Christian nation, we have a right to keep it such; and therefore we need this amendment, since hitherto, without it, we have only been a heathen nation. "In other words, we need to make this a Christian nation, because we are already such, on the ground that if we do not make it such, we are not a Christian nation. "Because the people are substantially all Christians, we have a right, and have need, to make the Constitution Christian, to check our powerful element of unbelievers. "We mean to interfere with no man's rights, but only to get certain rights, now belonging to all, restricted to Christians. "This religious amendment is to have no practical effect, its object being to check infidelity. "It is to interfere with no man's rights, but only to make the unbeliever concede to Christians the right to rule in their interest, and to give up like claims for himself. "It is meant to have no practical effect, and therefore will be of great use to us. "We want to recognize God, and Christianity as our national duty to Deity, but intend to give no effect to such recognition, pleasing God by judicially voting ourselves pious, and doing nothing more. "We shall leave all religions in equality before the law, and make Christianity the adopted religion of the nation. "Christianity, being justice, requires us to put down infidelity by taking advantage of our numbers to secure rights which we do not allow to others. "Justice to Christians is one thing, and to infidels another. "We being a Christian people, the Jewish and unbelieving portion of our people are not, of right, part of the people. "And so, having no rights which we, as Christians, are bound to respect, we must adopt this amendment in our interest. "Passing this act will not make any to be Christians who are not Christians; but it is needed to make this a more Christian nation. "The people are not to be made more Christian by it; but since the nation can not be Christian unless the people are, it George Washington "Every man who conducts himself as a good citizen is accountable to God alone for his religious faith, and should be protected in worshiping God according to the dictates of his own conscience."-From letter written by Washington with direct reference to Sunday legislation, in reply to is meant to make the nation Christian without affecting the people. "That is, the object of this amendment is to make the nation Christian without making the people Christians. "By putting God in the Constitution he will be recognized by nobody else than those who already recognize him; and therefore we need this amendment for a fuller recognition of him. "If we say we believe in God and Christ in the Constitution, it is true of those believing in him and a lie as to the rest; and as the first class already recognize him, we want this amendment as a recognition by the latter class, so that our whole letter from a Seventh-day Baptist society, some of whose people shall recognize members had been prosecuted for doing Sunday work. him. "Whether we have an acknowledgment of God in the Constitution or not, we are a Christian nation; and, therefore, it is this recognition of God that is to make us a Christian nation." Of course, appropriate legislation will be required to carry these proposed amendments into effect, and somebody will have to decide what are "Christian laws and institu tions," since it is demanded that "all Christian laws, institutions, and usages of the government" shall be placed "on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the A PARALLEL TO THE PAPACY land." And when this question is raised, who will be appealed to as qualified to determine Thomas Jefferson 247 the matter in question?- The doctors of religion, of course. Then what shall we have? The church sitting in judgment on men's religious opinions, the church defining heresy, and the state waiting its beck to carry out whatever sentence shall be affixed to a deviation from what the church shall declare to be "Christian laws and institutions." But was not this exactly the situation in the darkest reign of Roman Catholicism? And would not its production here be a very "image to the beast"?-Yea, verily. But this is the inevitable sequence of the success of this effort to secure a religious amendment of the Constitution. From what we learn of such movements in the past in other countries, and of the temper of the churches of this country, and of human nature when it has power suddenly conferred upon it, we look for no good from this movement. From a lengthy article in the Lansing (Michigan) State Republican in reference to the Cincinnati convention, we take the following extract: "I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises." Jefferson's Letter to Rev. Mr. Millar, Jan. 23, 1808. --- "Now there are hundreds and thousands of moral and pro fessedly Christian people in this nation to-day who do not recog nize the doctrine of the trinity,- do not recognize Jesus Christ the same as God. And there are hundreds and thousands of men and women who do not recognize the Bible as the revelation of God. The attempt to make any such amendment to the Constitution would be regarded by a large minority, perhaps a majority, of our nation as a palpable violation of liberty of conscience. Thousands of men, if called upon to vote for such an amendment, would hesitate to vote against God, although they might not believe that the amendment is necessary or that it is right; and such men would either vote affirmatively or not at all. In every case, such an amendment would be likely to receive an affirmative vote which would by no means indicate the true sentiment of the people. And the same rule would hold good in relation to the adoption of such an amendment by Congress or by the legislatures of three-quarters of the States. Men who make politics a trade would hesitate to record their names against the proposed Constitutional amendment, advocated by the leaders of the great religious denominations of the land, and indorsed by such men as Bishop Simpson, Bishop Mc Ilvaine, Bishop Eastburn, President Finney, Professor Lewis, Professor Seelye, Bishop Huntington, Bishop Kerfoot, Dr. Patterson, Dr. Cuyler, and many other divines who are the representative men of their respective denominations." Not only the representative men of the churches are pledged to this movement, but governors, judges, and many who are among the most eminent men of the land in other directions, are working for it. Who doubts the power of the "representative men of the denominations" to rally the strength of their denominations to sustain this work at their call? We utter no prophecy of the future; it is not needed. Events transpire in these days faster than our minds are prepared to grasp them. Let us heed the admonition to "watch!" and with reliance upon God, prepare for "those things which are coming on the earth." But it may be asked how the Sunday question is to be af fected by the proposed Constitutional amendment. Answer: The object, or to say the least, one object, of this amendment, ONE OBJECT OF THE AMENDMENT Patrick Henry "Religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience. unpunished and unrestrained by the magistrate.". Tyler's "Patrick Henry," pages 183, 184. 249 is to put the Sunday "Resolved, That, in view of the controlling power of the Constitution in shaping State as well as national policy, it is of immediate importance to public morals and social order, to secure such an amendment as will indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages in our government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land, specially those which secure a proper oath, and which protect society against blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, and polygamy." By Sabbath-breaking is meant nothing else but Sundaybreaking. In a convention of the friends of Sunday, assembled Nov. 29, 1870, in New Concord, Ohio, the Rev. James White is reported to have said: "The question [of Sunday observance] is closely connected with the National Reform movement; for until the government |