The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-15
RECOGNIZED BY THE NATION.
Rev. DIR. Thomson's Closing Lecture
ON .The American Sunday"

Rev. DIR. ThOmson's Closing Lecture
ON ..The American Sunday"
Rev. DR.. Edward Thomson. in his clos
ing lecture last night at the Duffy Street
Baptist Church said that IN the first arti-
Gle of the constitution is found a Sunday
law: The President of the United States
shall have ten days, Sundays excepted,
in which to consider each bill' that
comes before him from Congress.
| 'Our fathers said DR.. Thomson, Eek
peeted the president to be Christian
man, and the. White House to be, "a Chris
| tian home-where Sundays would be day
of rest and worship, and they proposed
to protect the Chief Executive in the en-
joyment of this privilege These same ia
theirs enacted Sundays excepted for the
courts, legislative bodies, banks and COM
mercia1 affairs. No work on Sunday-Sun-
day, day of rest and lofty thought, is a
characteristic of our civilization as our
fathers established it. Every President
has, more or less, made public acknowl-
edgment Of God in the discharge of his
official duties
an OdtS9OI- HIS pIeSiUGntldl. addresses,
Washington said; t'Of all the disposi-
tons that lead to political prosperity, re-
ligion and morality are Indispensable sup
ports. The mere politician equally with
the pious man ought to cherish and re-
spect these firmest pillars of free govern
ment."
Thomas jefferson said when / con-
slider that God is just, 1 tremble for my
country" Our space forbids many quo
tations. But to show that this same
thought of religion belongs to the
present time, we give a single sentence
from the last inaugural of Grover Cleve-
land: ''Above all, know there is a Su-
preme Being whose goodness and mercy
have always followed the American peo-
pie, and ! know He will moi turn from
us now II we humbly and reverently sesk
His powerful aid"
President Mckinley, in his inaugural
GUS and responsible duties of Presi-
dent of the United States, relying
on the support of my country
men and invoking the guidance of
Almighty God. Our faith teaches that
there is no safer reliance than upon the
God of our fathers, who has so singular
ly favored the American people in every
national trial, and who will not forsake
us so long as we obey His commandments
and walk humbly in His footsteps"
MANY of our Presidents" said Dr.
Thomson. "have issued religious procla-
nations, and for more than thirty years
the national Thanksgiving proclamation
has gone forth from the White House
with as much annual regularity as the
message to Congress. The legislative de-
partment acknowledges God. In 1872 the
men in Congress We're mostly the fathers
of the second generation. When it became
necessary to declare war second time
against the mother country, joint COM
mittee closed its report on this matter In
these words: believing that the God of
Battle will go with us, and crown our eff
forts with success in this righteous
cause your committee recommends an i'm
mediate appeal to arms" They trusted
in God like their fathers had done years
before in the Revolution. II is said Con-
gress is prohibited from establishing rell-
gion in the First Amendment to the Con-
stitution. But what was understood by
an establishment of religion when that
amendment was adopted, was a state
church. and nothing else was thought OF
at that time That phrase was in common
use, and applied universally 10 the state
church which had recently been disestab-
ushed in Virginia. Congress was thus pro-
hibited from taxing the people for the
s,lpport Of the Church of England in
! America or for the support of any other
branch of the Christian Church..
/ "Rut II was not understood as prohibit
| ing the support OF Christianity" said Dr.
THOMSON. ION the other hand. the facts
| of our history show thai Congress is con-
tinually acknowledging God, and az every
session appropriating money, out of the
| public treasury, for the more firm estab-
iishment and propagation of the Chris
| tian religion. Each house of Congress has
| its chaplain--a minister of some Chris
| tian church. He prays at each days ses-
| sion-visits sick members as a pastor, and
buries. with Christian burial, any that
may die during the session-performine
| the functions of a pastor, each house be-
| ing In a certain sense. a Christian church.
| The boys in blue that leave the touch
| of mother and the sweet influence of home
| and church, are provided with Christian
| uy at government expense. With every
| regiment of our, soldiers and with every
| squadron that sails the deep and carries
the Stars and Stripes, there goes minis
ter of the Christian religion who draws
his salary out of our national treasury
In our reformatory institutions we provide
for the teaching of Christianity. Only
Christian teachers are appointed TO our
Indian schools. Thus every Congress APP
propriates large sums of money for the
support and establishment of the Chris
tian religion.
"Our judicial department acknowledges
God" said DR.. Thomson. "No man is per-
mitted to testify or sit on jury, or act