The Leavenworth weekly times., 1875-03-04
.'GODINTHE CONSTITUTIONS %
An Able Discourse BY Edmund IL.
SanbOrn.
Delivsred at Plummer's Hall,
February 21st, 1876.
In WhicA He Tells Many Plain
Truths.

nonymous with religion itself. Use the
name of God with reverence call Christ
your Saviour; speak of the Bible as the
rule and guide of your life, and they will
count you religious. To them God is =
a king, and you are not loyal to Him unless
you proclaim your allegiance. The Bible
is the only revelation God has given to man,
and il the Bible is not to you all Of trnth,
you cannot be religious. Christ is the door
to Heaven, and if you climb up in any
other way-under any other name, you are
a thief and robber. Some of these pious
people have organized themselves into a
small, but Jealous party, whose wish it is
is to made this nation religious in name, if
not in fact. Many conventions have been
held, much discussion has ensued with the
purpose Of amending the Constitution Of
the United States, so that it shall acknowl-
edge God as the Author of National ex-
istence, Jesus Christ as the Ruler of Nations
and the Bible as the foundation of all law,
and the conduct rule Of nations. A two
days convention in this town has attracted
public attention to the movement and asked
the criticism and opinion of all citizens Of
the State. 1t is to such an expression that
l now address myself.
The ideal nation Is 4 form of government
which shall be nermanent meei;ne ali the
contingencies OF human association. adjust
ing the equal duties and privileges of all
its members. This ideal has never been re-
allied. The actual nation is built by the
circumstances of necessity or expediencv
The ideal nation ia what Government ouobt
20 ha Our .o,n.I ,.,;o,, -, -,
10 pe. Our actual hatlon Is wnat govern
ment has to be. One is the vision of what
all truth and ,-;-r,or cap br;py tn tho
mn-,I IT. T.u Can urinS 70 tie
worio. Inc oihef as the measure OF our
run anu VISION to-day: Inc actnai ma
,r .,on - oniy .ae pIo"ss el pui,aihs. io.day
s'u: WIN 'he 'ri.lai anu hiomeh'ary
uesifes 1 .. men, c9htes'ing 'heir mercenary
anu sno''sisnoeu uesires, tomorrow grant
MI oo.eessioHs anu 'or'urihg t1u'n In con-
Ill ai1n I"e.i vow pelsuauinG anu enl!ea'ihs'
me: :nen .sn'nu! ., oPPGsips. mere giving an
I'n 'n.te ue"'t,uhg an eh III re.urh. ihe
iueAi hu''oh Is .he puiidihg nhisheu,"a
.on =. so:enen. sh. IN which equailty
,sHy ,els"s .,a Isn' ses suPreme IN every
.Lo'e, ~ shi, "nose aIarri'les Wr, VIII resu.' ih
w. "I'ou'e ~ HEm'i "hen 'his iueai Is at
.a, .n.ie WI, pe NO cnuIch, no S'a'e, as
u"u ''nu 'no'e ,ines u-uay' ou, oniy
ui Ioeiely, IN when al ne wi, VII pe
Sc Iause II wiz oe .ne iuinii%eh'
vi Iu nsn anu hoiy motives. IL sone'hhg
i'Ae 'iAe u'."'i vi 'he Poe'' "qen he
"Dipt into tie future, as far as human eye could
Saw ,ss see, .,so, of H.. xo,,s ,,, III A.. o, ,.,
would be. '''A'
When the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the
7, a., pp..is hass were ,urieu,
world, VI ''e
When the common sense of most should hold fret
Ind ,tu bui liad,., Is,din IN .,S ave, ,,, u,,
verx,I law"
This condition Won ob.erve ob,i,er,,es
all selfsbness and only ,,tes note 81 ,b.
present that II NAV be bent and fashioned
into the fnture To-d,v !, m,ds ,b,, Ssr-
want Of To-morr,w
Without ,bis ideal no n,,;on c,, sur.
vive without il ali governments are only
tadno,es horn for a dav There mps, ha
f,;tb in !, future humanity or the nrsSsn,
humanity will sink into barbarism There
must be noble purpose or the mipbtiest ac.
tiyities are emptied of ali s;gnifcance and
mowers. industries and triumnbs melt away
ike n mirage N,,ions which arc only er-
periments ior power do not deserve the
name and cannot last Nations which only
make monuments of caste whether Of blood.
wealth color sex or religious belief +
based on seIfishnes, and denies the funda.
mental Thought of the IDEAL From the ear.
liest clansbip when one had supreme an.
thority to one great Republic, when a color
or a sex wields the sceptre. Every nation
has been driven to change its structure, or
has been driven to ruin. And this because
humanity is one. Beneath our colors, un-
de- all our various beliefs, in spite of our
different conditions of wealth or sex, OF
even knowledge, We are all "man," one in
essential nature, one in the possibilities that
lie before Us, on in the eternal bonds that
bind us in servitude to the future. The
wedge, however slight which tries to sunder
this massive unity will crack thrones, tum-
bic cathedrals, and dismember confedera-
tions. Every inequality in the rights and
privileges of man will be more moment
Gus and terrific in its results than the mol
ten vain beneath the great earth's crust,
lifting the mountains, and swallowing cities
in the chasms of its march. Injustice to
man always brings Its punishment, and no
caste can live. Uneasy is the head that
wears a crowD," and the wars that have
swept the face of the world, the nations that
have disappeared, and the awful trials OF
those which still exist, declare that any class
which assumes or asserts superiority in
government, will find its life most turbulent
and uncertain.
But what has all this to do with the re-
lipious amendment TO the Constitution?
This. the proposed amendment, creates a
political caste! One nation claims univer-
sal suffrage as it's corner stone, and though
it has never vet fulfilled the claim, still the
tendency is toward il. and we are moving
as fast as the intelligence of the people will
hermit. The black men have been enfran-
cbised and the barrier of color is removed.
The day will come, do not doubt, when
the remnant of the black race in this land
will he the peers of the color which was so
long their master. To-day. the enfranchise-
ment of the liberated slaves seems to me a
calamity. but am sure the time will come
when the ardent expectations of our eman-
cipation will be more than realized. Wo-
men is vet unfranchised, but even this wall
is crumbling away. and the voice of woman
will one day rank with mems in the ad-
ministration of the State. 1t NAV be a dis
aster. it NAV be dangerous to our highest
good: do not thinE II will. but if it were,
still the enfranch;.. m It of woman is de
manded of us in ii. uame of Justice. equal.
ity, and truth, while our Constitution pro-
claims universal suffrage, and our banner
represents that thought on every sea and in
i n IL