The record-union., 1895-10-31
PACIFIC BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.
Rev. 7. J. Morgan's Lecture on
Building the Nation"
Programme of Business of the Session,
Which VIII Continue for the
Next Three Days.

The meeting of the Pacific Baptist
Association commenced last night at
the First Baptist Church with the lee
ture of Rev. T. j. Morgan of New York
on the subject, Building the Nation"
He said he had known something of
the city from it's earliest days, his
brother, Alexander Morgan having
published the first directory of the city,
he being forty-niner
There are two great elements in our
daily life-the divine and the human.
The mountains, hills, plains and rivers,
said he, are the work of the Creator.
Man had nothing to do with it. James
Erice said that in his travels he found
that the people generally regarded our
country as the special favorite Of
Providence. Washington cherished
also that idea, that God had guarded
and protected our infant nation.
Lincoln also expressed the opinion that
the nation had been guided by divine
hand. These men were not fanatics,
and their opinions should therefore re-
ceiVe due attention.
Suppose God had decided to plant the
germ of a new nation on this continent
how should we designate that germ?
Each nation has something peculiar to
itself. Our religion comes to US from
the Jews, our laws from the Romans,
our research from the Germans, and al
that is distinctive and good has come
to US from other nations. But our idea
of government is different, it is that
the government should be as near to
the people as possible; that all the ma
chinery of the government can be safely
trusted to the common people. Some
times we tremble at the thought that
we have too far committed ourselves 10
that principle and put too much power
il their hands
The second feature of our Govern
ment is the liberty of the people The
citizen can choose his own religion, his
own mode of worship, or he can have
none. He can speak his mind freely
and publish his opinions to the world
In no country in the world did the
speaker know of so much liberty. And
this is the principle of our Government
that every man shall be perfectly
free. to do everything that does not in
terfere with the rights of his neigh
bors.
The third principle is that our coun-
try is governed by constitutional law.
Liberty does not mean license. 1t does
not mean that the anarchist can march
through the streets with his red flag
and destroy the property of those who
have amassed more than they. There
can be no society without government,
without law.
There were four factors to build up
our country. First, it had to be colo
nized When Columbus discovered this
country it was a wilderness. How was
it to be coIonized? If Spain had colo
niZed it it would have been another
Mexico. If France, it would have been
another Quebec. Those who did come
to colonize it were the Pilgrim Fathers
and others from England. OF course
there were other nations who sent
their people, but these dominated, and
left the impress of their character and
opinions on the country. They pushed
back far away from the Seacoast, away
into the prairies; into the forests of
Michigan and Wisconsin, and finally
far beyond them. The spirit of freedom
carried John Brown and his compan-
ions to Kansas, through danger and
priYatiOn.
How were these colonists to scale
the mountains? Suffers Fort answers
the question The men who came here
we're not all saints, but they brought
with them the traditions, the same high
ideal of rational life as those possessed
who had settled the fertile plains of the
MISSISSIPPI Valley.
If he were to select a man as a type
Of these colOnists he should name
Roger Williams. The second point was
the blending Of all the people who came
t. the country into one nation. They
had come here for freedom and We're
opposed to Capitalization Of govern
ment. and it required all the experience
of the Indian wars; OF the Revolution;
all the wisdom and elOQuence of Wash
/ ingtCn and Hamilton to show the ne
cessity Of Capitalization. And even after
the adoption of the Constitution in
| 1879 we were not a nation beyond a
! peradventure. The question of slavery
came up and the war of secession be-
| gan. Men thought it would soon end
! and said that it was only a war for
| the preservation of the Union, and
! that slavery would not be touched.
| But slavery went, and even after the
| war was over the nation was not united.
| Men in the South said, You have con-
! cuered us, but the cause still lives
But a few weeks ago, however, he
was on the battlefield of Chickamauga
and listened to the speeches Of General
| Gordon and others, and saw survivors
| of the Confederate army, in their old
tattered uniforms, marching side by
! side with those of the Union army,
under the stars and stripes, and he
| knew that we were once again united
nation.
The third thing is the Americanizing
| of the hosts that have come from the
nations of the world. You go into New
York City and you see the Scandina
vians, the French, the Germans, the
Italians. living in groups, speaking
each their own language only and re-
| tanning their own customs. Our Ian
guage may not be sweeter or better
| than the French the German or the
Italian, but it is the language Of Amer
| lea, and therefore all will have to
learn to speak it and to teach it TO their
children. We must have one language
| in use in our schools. our books and
everywhere in order to have a nation.
The next principle is the separation of
| church and State. Roger Williams was
| the first to enunciate this and went
! down among the Indians to preach it.
| Those who looked on said it never
| could succeed. but to-day it has come to
| be accepted all over the country and it
| is acknowledged that this is new era
! in the history of the world and that the
| trend of thought in America is that the
| relations between the two must be
| friendly, but that the church must
/ keep its hands off the State. must not
| mt its hands in the treasury of the