The Burlington weekly hawk-eye., 1863-03-21
For the Burlington Hawk-Eye.
THE GREAT REBELLION IN THE
LIGHT OF CHRlSIlAN1TY.

No. 2.-The Hand of God in America.
The discovery of America was coeval with
the revival of learning, the invention Of print
ing and the reformation Of the church. The
United States of America is linealy descended
from Great Britain, the most enlightened,
powerful, and free nation Of Europe. The
Pilgrim Fathers we're e1iles from her shores,
but they were nevertheless Englishmsn in spir-
it and in sentiment. They were countrymen
of Shakespeare and Milton, and of Hampden
and Cromwell They brought to the new
world the English language, the English Bible,
and the Common Law.
But Notwithstanding these things, we are
substantially different people from those of
Great Britain. Every British immigrant feels
at once upon his arrival an ong us, that he is
in another country, that the moral and social
atmosphere which he breathes here is entirely
different from that to which he has been &C
customed 1t was by the ordering of Pr1vi-
dence, rather than from the wit and design of
men, that we were relieved from a monarchy,
and from an order of nobility, and from an es-
tablished church, the three dominant and over
shadowing institutions of the British Empire.
The war that severed our connection with
those things was not commenced for that pur-
pose; but sucn was the result The Declara-
ton of Independence was not made until more
than year after the battles of Lexington and
Bunker Hill. We owe it to Providence, that
the doctrine of privileged classes was explo-
ded upon our shores, and that our institutions
were based upon the great ideas of Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity. To honor man
as man, without reference to the acci,
dents or conditions of his existence, to open
the courts of justice to all, to give all voice
in the election of their rulers, to provide edu'
cation for all, to clear the obstrpctious from
every honorable and useful career, and afford
every man fair opportunity to do his best
in life-these are the essential ideas and the
characteristic objects of American institutions.
Nor is it so much the Constitution of the
country that gives us these things, as it is these
! ideas that gave US the Constitution. These
things give to America the distinction OF hav'
ing opened new era in the worlds history -
Such is the impartial justice and the liberality
of our institutions, that we claim them to be
the fullest development and application OF
Christian principles to human affairs that has
vet been made They are the very richest
fruit of our holy religion.
Superficial thinkers have sometimes COM
planned of the Republic, because it makes nc
formal religious profession, forgetting that tbe
practice OF Christianity is the best profession o.
it, and that the very cardinal ideas of Chrisiiani
ty-lcs principles OF impartial justice and OF uni
yersal bene, olence-are incorporated into toe
basis, aai framework and life of the nation.
Oyr Repubc bears but faint resemblances tt
the republics of the ancient world. They were
horn Of Pasanism. They were not based upoI
natural rights, but upon the laws OF conquest ane
force Usually they we're but petty aristocrs-
cies. in which few daring spirits banded to-
ge,her 10 enforce their own supremacy, and hol'
in su.,iection millions of plebeians and slaves =
Like the slsveholdipg aristocracies of the South
the n..ricians Of the ancient republics held tha
/ thew we're born to rule, that they were a privl
eyed class, that it was not honorable for free
men to be employed in manual labor, and tba
work belonged only to slaves. Our Republic
t on the other hand, is the latest and mobiles
}. birth of Christianity and Of Time. 1t recognize
It the brotherhood of the human race, and teache
# ne 70 claim no more for ourselves than we stan
d willing to concede to every one else. 1t recog
e pizss the doctrine Of equal rights, which is b,
ID another form of expression for the great law
r. Christianity: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor
le thyself;' Such is our country. Such are Il
N great spiritual ideas that constitute the elemer
al life Of the nation, and give character and vi
Of tue to our institutions. For these things !
,. owe much to the wisdom and magnanimity
or our fathers, for the last two hundred years,
90 They suffered and toiled in the faith and in t
.ly hope of brighter and better day for their ch
n, dren. They had confidence in the suprel
be Ruler Of the world, and in their own principl
In the language Of one of the Pilgrims, they b