The Leavenworth weekly times., 1875-03-04


a large and respectable number Of Jews and
anti-Christians who do not believe the Gal
i!ean peasant to have been different from
common men, and cannot find the slightes.
evidence OF his rulership among the na-
tions. Though there be many who revere
the Bible, who love the name, and read the
Book and iind much help and good among
Its ntterances, still there are a few, even
among the devout and holy ones, to whom
the Bible really appeals a. complete rule
OF conduct for either individuals or ma
tions.
Ny friend believes in God, but God to
him is only the law in Nature Another
says he cannot separate the law from the
matter in which il acts. Nature is unit
including law, therefore Nature is his God
But will such acknowledgement Of God
answer the design OF the amendment? In
deed, no; for Nature cares not whether
We acknowledge her or not. We shall
bow to her will, and at the grave, at last
recognize her as the author and finisher
OF all things, but to her it matters not.
But God, j heard one say, is our King,
and if We do not swear allegiance to him,
he Will cut us of from all his providence.
If you do not recognize him as King, YOU
do not recognize him at all. But how
many are there in the land to whom God is
King, seated somewhere ON throne be-
yond our sight, in space, with royal scep-
tire in his hand? The Acknowledgements of
God Is worthless unless it has meaning in
1t; and certainly there can be no allegi-
ance to king when men do not believe
there is king. And if they do not be-
lieve are they not cut of from citizenship?
Ii they swear no loyalty are they not dis
franchised? In what sense can Jesus be
called the ruler OF nations? Granting that
he still lives in spiritual being-which
many will deny-thcre is no claim of roy
atty for him unless you believe him to be
God. II he is only man how is he royal
above the thousands who have been mon-
archs? You see there is no genuine ac-
knowledgment of him unless YOU believe
him to be the Almighty Ono, the head of
the human race by virtue of his Deity.
They would not have men acknowledge
what they disbelieve, am sure, since they
are honorable men.
But the belief in God who is King, ard
in Jesus who is God, depends upon the
Bible as they interpret it, and so they make
the Bible the third person in their amend
ment-trinity. The Bible, says the proposed
amendment, is the foundation of all law,
and the conduct rule for nations But law
was lo,g before the Bible, and noble conduct
before the races lived who wrote the Bible.
There are nations now with systems Of law
in most rasnec,s a. connl.,s ,s ours 10
whom onr R;ble il a booE of beres;ss In
those nations mon and women live ,,ooJ
and noble lives who never hoard of our
R;ble as a conduct rule Take tb, R;ble ,s
II il and il contains no system of law nor
nrincinles Of law excent the Jewish code
and the added golden rule of Jesns IL To
love tbv pe;pbbor as tbvse,f and tn do 10
Others AZ Won would be done Inv ia the
foundation Of ali law which this amend
mont means then no ono wouId object
But even then our Bible is NOT its sonrce
1t is law of highest human feeling, in ev-
ery age of man, the hottest expression of
the soul common to every land, and may be
found to-day in The Bibles OF the Parsi,
Buddhist, Chinese and Turk. ii this pre-
cept gives the Bible its claim of authority,
then all these other Bibles | have named
make the same strong claim upon, and
must themselves become one fundamental
law, The Jewish code, with all the good
IL
which it sprang, can scarcely be fitted to
the country we live in, and the New Testa-
ment contains no code at all Jesus repu-
dated all interference with the jurisdiction
of the State. Let State and law alone he
said. Render unto Cesar the things that
are his, and unto God your holy life. Were
the Bible to be made the fundamental law
OF the nation, the Jew, who would be ex-
cluced by the clause concerning Jesus
Christ, might still expect to see his temple
ceremonial, sacrifices, offerings and prayers,
his commands and penalties, enforced as
national law, ior these are the real law OF
the Hebrew Bible lou see the lnconslst-
encies and absurditles involved, present the
PROJECT as crazy scheme, devoid oil real
thought.
1t is said that we are Christian nation,
but We are not and cannot be, while single
citizen remains who will not call himself
a Christian. The nation is its citizens, not
one, nor a few, not many, but all, and no
name can be fastened to the nation which
does not fit each citizen therein. The name
Christian is refused by many, and you can
not make them swear that they are Chris
tian. But a vastly larger number who are
Christians in the name, are not in fact, and
ii our Bible is the real rule of conduct for
our private and public life to-day, then GER
tainly the inhumanity, the crime and wrong
that is attached to all society and national
proceedings, demand of Us that we shall
find another and n better rule.
1t is declared that no interference is in
tended with the citizenship OF the land, but
who could claim citizenship, who take the
oath of loyalty, who sit on juries and serve
in public places, unless they did believe the
dogmas thus proposed? 1t is said that the
Jews, who chiefly disagree, are small mi
nority, and would not be responsible, and
are not conscience bound. But would it be
a genuine conscience which could swear al
legience to compact whose primal state
ment is a dogma which they disbelieve and
hate? The proposition Of these amend
ment agitators to bear the general conscience
in the stead Of Jews Liberals, Atheists, Mo-
hammedans or Buddhis,s, Is species OF
vicarious atonement l never contemplated
peiore, ana IKE al snpsts'utioh-, seems 10
me dishonest ana sham.
sand the convention, the majority nave the
right 10 make the change, and the majority
are christian. But we nave lived nun
dred years natioh WIN the Prouo poas,
u Ina. an IA Ints onI nu "anz,;,n,;on - m ua,
= nN:;a." TT o;a.;,, a.a IL.;.,;au
Iis I. ~, ma -. e -, m ~e ,i.s
ou. "e III; ~ i.;,L RI
ndt,J" i:1n - VI 5.aI n, an. III, ~ =,