Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-05-19

hrmat10n Is worth more tnan many ue-
malls" So says the article sent me.
There is no doubt that Ethan Allen was
the vulgarest sort OF an infidel, for, sit
ting in a Presbyterian church, his ad-
mirers say he struck the pew in front OF
him and swore out loud, so as to disturb
the meeting, and no gentleman would
do that. / do not wonder that some or
his descendants are ashamed OF him;
but of course they could not help 1t,
and are not to blame. But or all the
decent men of the revolution believed
in God, and our American congress,
now ssembled, will only echo the sem
timents of the fathers when they en-
throne the name of God in the constl-
cution. We have now more reason Tor
inserting that acknowledgment OF d.
vinity than our fathers had. Since
then the continent has been peopled
and great cities from the Atlantic TO
the Pacific built, and all in peace, show
ing that there must have been super
nal supervisal. Since then the war OF
1912. and ours the victory! Since then
great financial prostrations, out OF
which we came to greater prosperity
than anything that preceded. Since
then sanguinary 1862, 1868, 1864 and
1865, and Notwithstanding the fact That
all the foreign despotisms were plan
ming for our demolition, we are
united people and tomorrow you Will
find in both houses of congress the men
who fought for the north and the south.
now sitting side by side, armed with no
weapon except the pen, with which they
write home to their constituents VINO
want to be appointed postmasters. The
man who cannot see God in our Amer
lean history is as blind of soul as ne
would be blind of body if he could not
at II o'clock of an unclouded noon see
the sun in the heavens. AS a matter
Of gratitude to Almighty God, gentle
men of the American congress, be
pleased to insert the four words sug-
gested by the Methodist conference!
Not only because of the kindness oil
God to this nation in the past should
such a reverential insertion be made,
but because Of the fact that we are go
ing to want Divine interposition still
further in our national history. This
gold and silver question will never be
settled until God settles it, This ques-
ton of tariff and free trade will never
be settled until God settles 1t. This
| question between the east and west
which is getting hotter and hotter and
| looks toward a republic of the Pacific
will not be settled until God settles it
We needed God in the one hundred ant
| twenty years of our past national life
| and we will need Him still more in the
next one hundred and twenty years
Lift up your heads we everlasting gate:
of our glorious constitution, and let thu
King of Glory come in! Make one lin'
of that immortal document radian
with Omnipotence! Spell at least on'
word with Thrones! At the beginning
or at the close, or in the center, recog
| nize him from whom as nation WI
| have received all the blessing Of tn
past and upon whom we are dependen
for the future. Print that word God,
or Lord" or Eternal Father" o
Ruler of Nations, somewhere between
the first word and the last. The Grea
Expounder of the constitution sleeps a
Marshfield, Massachusetts,, the Atlanti
ocean still humming near his pillow O
dust it's prolonged lullaby but is Their
not some one now living, who, in tn
white marble palace of the nation o.
yonder hill, not ten minutes away, wi
become the irradiator of the constitu
ton by causing to be added the mos
tremendous word of our English vocal
ulary; the name of that being befor
whom all nations must bow or go int
defeat and annihilation-"God?"
Again before the approaching ad
journment Of our American congress
1t ought to be decided and forever settle
that no appropriations be made to SCI
tartan schools, and that courtship M
tween church and state in this countr
, be forever broken up. That question a
ready seems temporarily settled.
, wish it might be completely and fol
, ever settled. All schools and all IL
, situations, as well as all denomination
, should stand on the same level befol
, American law. Emperor Alexander
Russia, at his Peterhoff Palace, aske
me how many denominations of relii
, ion there were in America, and recitt
: their names as we'll as l could. The
! he asked me the difference betwo-
D them, and there l broke down. B
d when / told him that no religious d
1 nomination in America had any priv
!. leges above the others, he could hard
n understand it. The Greek church FIR
s In Russia. The Lutheran church fir
e in Germany. The Episcopal chur'
i first in England. The Catholic chur,
n first in Rome. Mohammedanism fir
e in Constantinople. The emperor wo
d dered how it was possible that all t
: denominations in America could stal
y on the same platform. But so 1t
n and so let it ever be. Let there be
# preference, no Partially, no attempt
IS help one sect an inch higher than o
J. other. Washington and Jefferson a
d all the early presidents, and all t
Q great statesmen of the past, have lift
d their voice against any such tenden'
o II a school or institution cannot sta
le without the prop OF national appropr
d ton, then let that school or that
r. ~. =,