National Republican., 1876-01-06

not lose their traditions OF freedom snd squsl
rights, nor will they throw themselves into yio-
lent, perllous departure from them. But ws
hasten to comment upon another sentence, which
Is frequently quoted from the Presidents ora
tion:
altar, the church. and the private school sup
ported BY private contrfbutions."
Precisely 90. II It must come to this II no ar.
rangement can be made by which religion and
morality can be taught In the pablic schools,
then leave the matter to the family altar and the
Church, and allow ft to be done By private CEN
tributions.
In other words, either furnish the people with
that which you pretend to tax them for-viz: Q
fair and equitable system Of public schools-or
allow them to provide for themselves But
whatever you do, keep your hands of the sacred
ness Of the "family altar" Do not set foot into
the hallowed precincts of the domestic sanctuary.
The family, though subordinate, Is not to be vio-
lated BY the State. Parents have rights which
no government can usurp. You have no more
right to force the education of their children out Of
their hands than to define the number of off,
spring by law. You have no more right to estab-
lish q system, to which you will endeavor to Sc
cure their conformity by violent measures, than
you have to establish public wet-nurseries, or
quire that voters shall be brought up on Govern
nent pap and be led out Of q Government spoon.
Keep from meddling with religion; you have no
authority to teach II.
What bitter rebuke these words Of the Pres-
dent contain for that party, small and conte mpt-
bic in ITSELF but powerful by reason of the times
which has ever sought to widen the gulf between
US and our true-hearted countrymen! Il is not
enough that we should be estraRged by the ira
ditions Of three hundred years. 1t Is rot enough
to whisper into the popular ear every stale and
fuathed calumny. 1t is not enough 10 brtDg our
holest rites and beliefs into the obscene lltera-
ture now circulating among the depravei youth
of our country. 1t is not enough to drow with
a thousand NOISY, insolent tongues every atsm Jt
we make at explanation. 1t is not enoush for
this malignant, prosecuting power TO drop is
poison into every creYice Of our social al d rel-
gtous system, from the parlor to the So Eer, fro
the temple TO the lupanar; but the nation must
be org anized against US. Our religion must, in
some way or other, be dragged into politics.
For shame. we cry, with the President. In
country OF such varied religions belief ss ours
there is but one way to ordsr and peacs-"ksep
the Church and State for ever separate"
To sum up: We agree with the President:
l. No "sectarIanism" in our common schools
and, therefore, mot one dollar" to our present
(, ztem Of schools, because they are sec!srian.
9. "Not one dollar" to pagan" schools. in
which God is ignored
8. mot one dollar" to 'atheistical" schools, in
which God Is denied in the name Of "scisacs
falsely so called"
We now turn to consider the prophecy In which
the President warns the American peopl, of its
future dangers:
"If tre are 10 hare dnofhsT contest in Ire rsar
future of our national existence. predict tsaf
The diridiug line tciH not be Mason and Diror's
but 6sficee1 pdtriofIm and Intelligence on the one
side and $upsrsihiOn, ambition and ignorance on
the other"
What Is meant by superstitione
Formerly 1t meant seeking for power or knoul-
edge, by dealing with the impure spirits
Does the President mean TO warn Us against
the delusions and uncleanness Of modern Spirit
ism? If so, we are agreed.
But we do not really suppose that the President
means any such thing. What does he mean:
We find IN the dictionary four other meanings
Of the word which he has used. Superstition
means San excessive reverence or fear of that
which is unknown or mysterious" But We OBJ.
serve no sach phenomenon among our people; If
anything, rather the reverse. Or 1t means 1.-The
worship of false gods" We see no signs Of this
except in the "Joss- houses" ofSan Francisco Nor
do we behold any great belef"in the agency of su:
perior powers In certain extraordinary or singular
events, or in omens, or prognostics." Nor further
do we behold any excessive nicely or scrupulous
as an alarming feature Of oar present
moral condition. There remains but one mean.
ing, (and this, we are persuaded, is tie sense
which the President intended to convey:) "Esps-
cially, an ignorant or irrational worship of the
Supreme Deity"
An ignorant worship of God is one which knows
not what to believe concerning him, or one which
unable to state what it does believe; or further
one which can give no conclusive reason for be.
lieving anything. But, outside the Catholic
Church, there is no religious body which can tell
precisely what It ought to believe, or precisely
what it does believe, precisely why It ought to
believe anything. Again,
AN IRRATIONAL BELIEF IN GOD
Is one which recognizes his existence and at the
same time, denies his attributes. For instance IL
Is an irrational belief in God which denies his
wisdom; which asserts that he has not chosen
means adequate to accomplish his ends: which
represents him, when he has made a revelation TO
man, as leaving his Divine truth in scattered and
mysterious writings in an obscure language, re.
quiripg men to find them, collect them, and be-
lieye their true meaning in order to be saved or
which fancies that reading daily a few pages
from these writings to little children will be
sufficient to prepare them for the duties Of life.
II is an irrational belief In God which represents
him as immoral, as creating man simply to damn
him, or which denies his justice by wickedly
imagining that he will not punish oppression aad
calumny and those who sow discord In the midst
Of free and happy people.
Here again We agree with the President In de.
nouncing such impiety, and in predicting that, If
the liberties and Institutions of this Republic are
soon to be jeopardiZed, 1t Will be by irreyerence
towards God and the contempt of charity and
Justice towards men, ever practised by this
Ignorant sni irrational worship Of the Supreme
Deity"
"ANoTHER ITEN OF DANCER
which the President foresees in the near future is
Ignorance" Here, again. we fni him sounding
he note Of warning, to which we have always
given voice. His Excellency says: "In Republic
like ours, where no power is exercised
except by the Will Of the people, It is important
hat the sovereign, the people, should foster In
intelligence which is to preserve
Is as q free nation" The liberties Of this Re-
public will not be maintained, we say, by an
gnorant, debauched and corrupted generation,
Dur common people must be educated. They
must possess THAT intelligence which is to pre-.
erve us as free nation" They must know
more than simply how to read and
cipher" Nor will It be sufficient to add to this
! knowledge Of music. They must have o sound
ind thorough moral training. Their conscIen.
ious convictions must be grounded on truth daily
aught and daily enforced. They must be daily
aught to control their passions; they must be
aught honesty, and be required to give back that
which 10 untusly gotten. They must be taught
he true purpose OF life.
But this training, as the President afnrms, be.
longs not to the State, but to the "family
Iltar and the Church" Either assist ali
amllies and all Churches, or else encourage
hem to help themselves. These are our senti.
nents. But when sectarian bigotry has gotten
lold OF q system Of the falsely so-called common
chools, !" and with obstinate purpose, snd clamor.
us intensity and ever-swelling defamation, man.
tests Its resolve to maintain this system, even
hough 1t conflicts with the conscientious rights of
Millions Of the people of our country; when, fur.
her, It is determined to force large minority to
ccept this state Of things, or to 60 without In.
tructions, We, as American citizens, denounce the
ystem as tyrannous; in the full sense Of the word
IS q reckless and immoral oppression. We assert
hat those who uphold 1t do not desire Intelli-
renee, but prefer ignorance; that their aim is not
o promote knowledge, but to destroy the reli.
,ious convictions Of our children and to keep US
rom growing in the land. We affirm that such
elf deluson originates In ignorance is perpetu-
ted by ignorance, tends to still deeper degrada-
ion Of ignorance; and We predict that It will
,ring forth the fruits Of ignorance, not only In
morality, but in the lower sciences.
We, for our part, will never relax our efforts to
how up the dishonesty of this party; We will
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