Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-05-26

AN ACT for establishing religious freedom, paseed
in the Assembly Of Virginia in the beginning Of
the year 17se:
Well aware tina. Almighty God hath created the
poral punishments or burdens, or by civil incapa-
citations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy
and meanness, and are departure from the plan
Of the Holy Author Of our religion, who being Lord
both Of body and Of mind, yet chose not to prop
agate by coercions on either, in his almighty
power TO do; that the impious presumption Of leg
isatures and rulers civil as well as ecclesiastical
who, being themselves but hllible and uninspired
men, have assumed dominion over the faith of
others, setting up their own opinions and modes of
thinking as the only true and infaible and az such
endeavoring to impose them upon others, hath es-
tablished and maintained false religions over the
greatest part of the world and through all tine
that to compel man TO furnish contributions OF
money for the propagation Of opinions which he
disbelieves is sinful and tyrannica that even the
forcing him to support this that teacher Of his
own religious persuasion IL depiving him Of the
comfortable liberty Of giving his contributions
to the particular pastor whose morals he would
make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most
persuasive righteousness, and Is Withdrawing from
the ministry those temporal rewards, which, pro
ceeding from appreciation Of their personal con-
duct, are an additional incitement to earnest and
unremtting labors for the instruction of mankind;
that our civil rights have no dependence on our re-
lgious opinions more than our opinions in physics
or geometry; that, therefore, the prescribing Of
any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by
laying upon him an incapacity of being called 70
the offices of trust and emolument, unless he pro-
fess or renounce this or that religious opinion, Is
depriving him injuriously of those privileges and
advantages to which, in common with his fellow
citizens, he has natural right; that Il tends also
TO corrupt the principles Of the very religion IL is
meant to encourage, by bribing with monopoly
Of worldly honors, those who win externally pro-
Tess and conform to 1t; that though indeed, those
are criminal who do not Withstand such tempta-
tons, yet neither are those innocent who lay the
bait In their way; that to suffer the civil ma
gstrate to intrude his powers into the field of opn-
ion and to restrain the profession or propagation Of
principles on the supposition Of their III tendency
is a dangerous fallscy, which at once destroys All
religious liberty, because he being of course Judge
of that tendency, win make his opinions the rule
nf iudrnent. and approve or condemn the .enti
ments Of others only as they shall square with, or
differ from, his own that II is time enough, for the
rightfu purposes Of civil government, for it's OH
GERS TO interfere when principles break out into
overt acts against peace and good order; and
finally, that truth is great and win prevail II left to
herself that she Is the proper and sufficient antsg
onist Of error, and has nothing to fear from the
conflict, unless by human interposition dsarned Of
her natural weapons, free argument and debate,