Connecticut western news., 1896-05-14

poStmaSterA The man who cannot see God in our American history is as blind of soul as he would be blind of body if he could not at la o'clock of an uncloud- ed noon see the sun in the heavens
 As & matter of gratitude to Almighty God, gentlemen of the American con- gress, be pleased to insert the four words suggested by the Methodist conference. to this nation in the past should such reverential insertion be made, but be- cause of the fact that we are going to want divine interpretation still further in our national history This gold and silver question will never be settled un- til God settles it, This question of tariff and free trade will never be settled un- til God settles it This question be- tween the east and the vest which Is getting hotter and hotter and looks to- ward republic of the Pacific, will not needed God in the 12o years of our past national life, and we will need hlm still more in the next 1ao years. Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates of our glorious constitution, and let the King of Glory come in! Make one line of that immortal document radiant with omnipotence! Spell at least one word with thronesl At the beginning, or at the close, or in the center, recognize received all the blessings of the past and upon whom we are dependent for the future. Print that word God" or Lord" or Eternal Father or "Rul- CT of Nations" somewhere between the first word and the last. The great e1- pounder of the constitution sleeps at Marshfield, Mass. the Atlantic ocean still humming near his pillow of dust it's prolonged lullaby. But is there not some one now living who in the white marble palace of the nation on yonder hill not ten minutes away will become the irradiator of the constitu- tion by causing to be added the most tremendous word of our English vocab- ulary, the name of that being before whom all nations must bow or go into
 defeat and annihilation-"God2"
 Church and state
 Again, before the approaching ad- journment of our American congress, it ought to be decidedly and forever set tied that no appropriations be made to sectarian schools, and that the court ship between church and state in this country be forever broken up That question already seems temporarily set tied. Iwish it might be completely and forever settled. All schools and all in stitutions, as we'll as all denominations
 should stand on the same level before
 American law. Emperor Alexander of Russia, at his Peterhof palace, asked
 me how many denominations of reli-
 zion there were in America, and re- cited their names as well as l could
 Then he asked me the difference be-
 tween them, and there I broke down.
 But when | told him that no religious
 denomination in America had any priv
 ileges above the others, he could hardly
 understand it The Greek church first
 in Russia, the Lutheran church first in
 Germany, the Episcopal church first
 in England, the Catholic church first
 in Rome, Mohammedanism first in
 Constantinople-the emperor wondered
 how it was possible that all the denom-
 nations in America could stand on the
 same platform. But so it is. and so let
 it ever be. Let there be no preference,
 no partiality. no attempt to help one
 sect an inch higher than another.
 Washington and Jefferson, and all the
 early presidents, and all the great states
 men of the past, have lifted their voices
 against any such tendency. If a school
 of xvfthnr1f
 the prop of national appropriation. ther
 let that school or that institution @
 down. On the other side of the sea the
 world has had plenty of illustration O,
 church and state united Let us have none of the hypocrisy and demoraliza tion born of that relation on this side of the Atlantic. Let that denomination come out ahead that does the most fol the cause of God and humanity, men, institutions and religions getting whai they achieve by their own right arm ot usefulness and not by the favoritism ol government As you regard the vel fare and perpetuity of our institutions keep politics out of religion National Conventions.
 But now that am speaking of na tional affairs from religious stand point bethink myself of the fact tha two other gavels will soon lift and fall the one at St Louis and the other @, Chicago, and before those national con ventions adjourn ask that they ao knowledge God in the platforms Int men who construct those platforms an here this morning or will read thes' words Let no political party think il can do it's duty unless it acknowledge that God who built this continent and revealed it at the right time to the dis coverer, and who has reared here 6 prosperity which has been given to nc other people. "Oh," says some one, "there are people in this country who do not believe in God, and it would be an insult to them" We'll, there ars people in this country who do not be heve in common decency, or common honesty, or any kind of government, preferring anarchy. Your very platform is an insult to them. You ought not tc regard a man who does not believe ir God any more than you should regard . man who refuses to believe in common decency. Your pocketbook is not safe 6 moment in the presence of an atheist. God is the only source of good govern.
 ment Why not, then, say 30 and le, the chairman of the committee on reso-
 lutions in your national conventions
 take a pen full of ink and with bold hand head the document with one sig nificant whereas" acknowledging the goodness of God in the past and beg. ging his kindness and protection fol
 the future. Why, my friends, this coun. try belongs to God, and we ought in ev. cry possible way to acknowledge it From the moment that, on an October morning in 1492, Columbus looked owe,
 the side of the ship and saw the carved staff which made him think he wal near an inhabited country, and saw alse thorn and Q cluster of berries (type O, ,ur history ever since, the piercing sor. eoxrs and cluefar of ', e oSiorol ;<xreN -n<;