Morning journal and courier., 1885-07-06
SQew 2255aren @ailg a1loring gonrnal aud Gunrier

Blessed is the nation whose God IS the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance"
 Our national constitution prohibits State church or the union of church and State, but leaves religion the widest empire of liberty. The footsteps of God in our national history have been distinct as the mountain ranges ot our national history. In the Capitol at
 Washington is a grand painting of the de- parture of the pilgrim fathers, Delft Ha- ven, Holland. They are committing them selves to the provldentlal care of God. They seek his bless ing upon their godly undertaking to find a land and found nation where God should be more than the kin6; where men should be sovereigns and not subjects; where civil and religious liberty should be as unre-
 strained of rational scope as the virgin air; and where Christian commonwealth should incorporate the best ideals of the kingdom of God. For this coveted land of promise they are leaving home aud kindred and sacred
 ties and in prayer are committing themselves
 to the God of nations. Near this picture is
 another commemorstion of their landing Tn
 bleak winter on rock-bound coast, lnnao- ited by savages, and consecrating themselves
 and their new home to the same sovereign
 power Their highest conceptions ot com
 monwealth were the realizations of condl-
 tion of society in which God and the
 Bible were supreme. NO concepIlon
 of the State was ever more perfect
 Plato's dream of the ideal republic fell far
 short of if Their conception was this: The
 State must conform to the same divine stan
 dard as that which should govern the 1ndl-
 vidual This meant Christian republic
 The Bible was the highest statute The State
 must harmonize with the kingdom of God
 Hence they fought the battles of the com
 monwealth with Bibles in their knapsacks.
 They studied the institutes of Moses, and
 sang the psalms of David as they fought
 their way to independence. So grand was
 their faith in the word of God that in the throes of revolution side by side with appro
 priations for gunpowder by Congress stands an order for the importation ot twenty thou sand copies of the holy scriptures. The states men of that early day were God fearing men and the clergy were Christian statesmen,
 who greatly aided in shaping the institutions
 of our early history. From the Puritan dl- vines who championed religious liberty m the New World came the best ideas of civil hber ty. It was Puritan divine that issued pamphlet entitled Democracy is Christ's Goyernment" Another Puritan divine
 wrote to James Otis that the communion ot churches had suggested to him the union and communion of the colonies. It was rom
 that germ that there sprang the union 1t or tne colonies into commonwealth. mus fen- eyious liberty was the acorn out of which de yeloped the stout oak of civil liberty. With the founders of this nation citizenship was a part of piety. All down the stormy struggle for independence their supreme reliance on divine power shone with the steadlness ana strength of the sun at midday. If the revo- Iutionary fathers fought with the courage ot heroes they fought with the fervor and faith of saints Theirs was That God is on the field, when
 He is most invisible.
 In council and Congress they often turned from buman saoacity to invoke the wisdom | and help of him whose kingdom ruleth over ! all. They recognized his presence and glorl- | fled his stately footsteps ill signal lnterven- tions, hence their eyes were directed to the | everlasting hills from whence should come | their help While the people gave all due 1 honor to the brave hearts that fought and | the wise heads that planned and guided, they l failed not to recognize the arm of the Lord | that gave them the victory. When I recall the chain of more pervadlnG | evidences of religious sentiments Tn the ma | tion, revealing truer and stronger consclous i ness of the presence and everything hand O. | God in the destiny of tn l commonwealth, toning up the colonies fol | the great revolutionary struggle; resisting and overcoming the French infdellty tha crept into our thought near the beginning o ! this century: developing more and more tn 1 reIioious element in the people till we were 1 endowed with power and crowned with tn l baptism of fire that swept the nation iron | 1857 to 1860; preparing us for the terrible l baptism of war that fell upon us, and lead l ing the whole land to see the hand ot Go'
 dealing with us in chastisement; compelhni | North and South to recognize his footsteps
 the issue; preserved united people unde ! the flag of our fathers without a star lost 0 l a stripe erased-the symbol of union an
 liberty forever, hailed and honored in un
 questioned loyalty by all sections and classes
 the glad refrain starts again to our lips, n
 Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice.
 Then, again, I further record the rellglou
 progress in the increasing ratio of Christla
 members in the churches to population, a unvarying, steady progress of the mos
 cheering character, save the one invasion , French infdelity, shown by the foliowln tabulated statement: In 1775 one churc , member to. every 16 of population; in IT: to IS: in 1929 1 to IA; in 1855 to 658; 1860 1 to 515; in 1870 to 4115; in 1880 t 315. a record which indicates a grand at vance in the prevalence of the idea and II
 | cognition of God, and in the development ( , a Christian republic, which sense of divine T.
 | sponsibility should make for the security 2 good acquired and for the advance ,ot all tn' l promotes the ending prosperity of a natlo and the glory of her flag, the jubilant T
 l frain swelIs once more in deeper slgnlhcan' ] from patriotic and Christian hearts. I'll | Lord reigneth. let the entire earth reJo1ce!