The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-12

The path of duty was the way to
glory"
We have two important duties de-
volving upon us as men-duty to God
and duty to our country. l believe
we who are assembled about this board
tonight appreciate and recognize these
duties. We ought to love the supreme
author Of our being, and we do love
our country, We are actuated by
passion to serve her. and we desire her
welfare and prosperity. We want to
throw every safeguard around this re-
public and this government; we de-
sire to maintain in their integrity and
preserve from corrupting influences, in
situations which the foremost Euro
pean statesmen of this and preced-
ing generations have thought worthy
of most careful study, and which many
of them have declared, notwithstand-
ing some defects, to be the best yet
devised by the ingenuity of men for
their government.
I think a careful study of the ORR
gin of our republic will show us how
much we are indebted to religion for
the great benefits we have enjoyed as
well as many dangers averted.
/ need not attempt to define what we
mean by religion. We know that it
consists of love, submission to an ex-
allied superior, a sense of dependence,
reverence, gratitude and hope for the
future. James Russell Lowell says;
The worst form of religion is no re-
ligion." He also says: when men
founded their first society, they in
stinctively recognized in the priest and
lawgiver the supreme fact, that in
tellect is the divinely appointed lieu
tenant of God in the government of
the world
The discovery of this great western
world was brought about by religious
influences; and Immediately upon land
ing, Columbus and his companions Of
fered hymns and prayers of thanksgiv-
ing to God for their safety and great
discovery.
The late Francis Parkman has
graphically portrayed to us in series
of beautiful word pictures the history
Of the French discoveries and settle
inents in North America, and the spirit
which actuated that noble band of men
and women who braved such great
dangers, and many Of whom died mar
tyrs for the greater honor and glory
of God.
The motive that prompted the set
Element of the original 10 colonies was
religious. Conscience impelled men
and women to give up the comforts and
luxuries Of civilized life and to endure
all the hardships incident to life of
the wilderness, exposed to constant at
lacks from savages. Can we too often
recall the religious spirit of the New
England settlers? We may not agree
with their severe tenets; we must adj
mire their sacrifices and respect their
sincerity. With what solemnity and
decorum, they begun the wording of
that compact of government on the
18th of November, 1920, when the May
flower dropped anchor in the roadstead
now Provincetown, In the name of
God. amen And then proceed: I'VE
whose names are underwrltten, the
loyal subjects of our dread sovereign
lord, King James, by the grace of God
of Great Britain, France and ireland,
defender of the faith. and having I'M
dertaken for the glory of God and adj
vancement of the Christian faith and
honor of the king, to plant the first
colony in the northern. part of Vir-
ginia: do by these presents, solemnly
and mutually in the presence of God
and one another covenant and COM
bine ourselves together into civil
body polite for our better ordering and
preservation and furtherance of the
ends aforesaid. and by virtue thereof
L.
equal laws, ordinances, acts, cOnstitu-
lions and Offices from time to time as
shall be thought meet and convenient
for the greater good of the colony"
The Plymouth colony was kind of
a theocracy, a government of church
and state; none but men Of good
standing in the church had voice in
the government. The religious spirit
prevailed in all the colonies, as the
fundamentals of religion were insisted
upon The founders of our government
were men fully imbued with a firm
faith in the Christian religion, They
were not mere theorists and expert
mentors, but sound and serious think
ers, After the war of the revolution
and the peace of Versailles came the
meeting of the constitutional eonven-
ton. Those who have read the pro-
ceedings of that body know how near
it wos to dissolving without accom-
plishing anything, when the deadlock
came in the convention on the question
of the suffrage of the states in the two
proposed houses of congress. 1t was
only the strong appeal by Dr. Franklin
to the religious spirit of the assembly
and the call for prayers that averted
grave danger and kept the convention
together. The preamble of the con-
stitution and bill of rights of Massa-
=,
Massachusetts. declare with grateful
hearts the goodness of the great Legis-
lator of the Universe in affording In the
course of his providence an opportun-
ity, deliberately and peacefully, devout-
~ imploring his direction in so inter
esting a DESIGN. do agree, ordain and
establish the following declaration of
rights, etc. etc"
The commonwealth requires all its
officials to take an oath in the pre-
scribed form to support the constitution
and laws. She opens her courts OF
justice, still appealing to God to save
the commonwealth. So end all the
proclamations on solemn occasions. In
all her courts, men are required to
speak under the solemnity of an oath,
the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. We hear continually an appeal
made to the religious element in man
for the safety of the body polite. Mon
tesquie tells us THAT the chief end of
all states should be security to each
member of those absolute rights which
are vested in them by the immutabie
laws of nature" We learn to respect
those rights from the teachings of re-
ligion, and we are happiest and most
contented men when we obey the NOR
al laws.
There is certainly one name in our
history that we venerate above all
others, who was true to our government
and to the union; "as constant as the
northern star, of whose true fixed and
resting quality there is no fellow in the
armament" of whom Gladstone said:
THAT among all the pedestals supplied
by history for public characters of ex-
traordinary nobility and purity, l saw
one higher than all the rest, and if I
were required at a moments notice to
name the fittest occupant for it.
think my choice any time during the
last 80 years would have lighted and
would now light on Washington"
What Washington thought of religion
as the safeguard of the republic, we