The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-08-14
A CHRISTIAN NATION.
The Great Moral Power That Underiies
All Our Institutions.

The Great Moral Power That Underies
All Our Institutions.
The religion taught in the Scriptures
of the Old and New Testament, of
which Jesus Christ wonderful
Man of Galilee, and, at the same time,
God manifest in the tlesh-is the GEN.
trail sun, and which came into this
world by supernatural revelation, is,
by an overwhelming preponderance.
the religion recognized and established
in the convictions Of the American peo-
pie. Such it has been ever since the
first settlement of this land by civilized
men. Not all the people profess to be
Christians; yet, so far as they have any
religious faith Mt all, that faith, as eX-
isting in the great mass of the people,
turns its eye toward Christianity. i
The growth of the Christian Church
in the United States has been proper
tionately fully equal to the growth of
population. There is not the slightest
danger that Christianity will ever be
superseded in this country by any 9th
er religious system. or that it will be-
come obsolete by its own feeblcness
and decay. 1t is here to stay; and here
it will stay to the end of time.
1t is quite true that the American
people have not adopted the theory OF
"Church and State, and are not likely
to do so; and that they do not add the
commands and sanctions of the civil
power to those of religion, thus
abrdging the rights of the individual
conscience. Both the Church and the
State in this country are too wise to
commit so great an error.
1t is not the less true, however, that
Christianity, rs embodied and realized
in individual souls, and as organized
for maintenance and propagation by
Christian denominations, is the great
moral power that underlies all our in
sttutions; that, more than any thing
else, has made them what they are,
and that contains their most reliable
promise for the future. In this sense
the American people may be justly
called Christian nation. They form
a nation that owes more to Christianity
than to any other cause, and, indeed,
to all other causes put together. The
conscience of this country is il
lumined with the ethics of the
Bible; and the practice of the people is,
in a thousand ways, nodded and affect
ed by its authority. The people are
certainly not what they would have
been if Christianity had never visited
these shores, and established perma-
nent domicile among them. No form
of paganism ever did OF ever will pro-
duce such a nation as that of tho Unit
ed States. Inhdelity can not do it.
Socialism can not do it. Mere intellect
ual culture will not do it. Such ere
alton demands moral power that
purilies the heart, and hence reforms
the life; and this power we find in
''the glorious Gospel of the blessed
God. as preached by Christ and His
apostles. 5lrl
Let God be praised, then, for the re-
ligion of this country. 1t came down
from Heaven to bless mankind, and
has prc-eminently blessed this land.
Let all the people praise God for the
Heavenly gift. Let rulers in high
places and the humblest citizen re-
member that the surest path to ma
tional safety is to honor God. Let the
Church, by the pulpit, by the Sabbath.
by the missionary organization, by the
printed Bible and the Christian tract
yea, by all the agencies within her
power-do her utmost to bring Chris
tianity into direct and living contact
with the conscience of the people.
This will serve their interests alike for
both worlds. M Y. Independent.