Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-02-24

brought Them the ends they aimed At
and guaranteed those ends to them and
to their descendants. Naturally they
rejoiced in their blessings, but they
did not forget the source whence those
blessings had sprang. With their
prayer Of gratitude to God went one of
remembrance of him under whose
leadership their independence had been
won- The Jews OF Revolutionary
times never forgot Washington, nor
what they owed him and the country
he created. Nor did their descend
ants to whom they transmitted their
privileges, forget him, nor shall we.
But Washington did more than bring
freedom from despotic interference and
oppression to the Jews living during
his day in America. He provided at
the same time a haven and a refuge TO
which the downtrouuen of other coun-
tries might fee, and where they might
find the privileges of exercising those
God-given rights intended for man
from his very creation. And perhaps
to the members of no faith did the es-
t~ablishment of this haven mea more
than to the Jews. l said a moment
ago that during the Revolutionary war
there were only few Jews here. In
1918, long alter the war of 1912 had
become history, they were estimated at
1900. To-day in round numbers they
total about LOCO, 900. What explains
the large increase? Not the fact that
life was easier here, nor yet that the
Jew was or is Of a wandering nature,
L,,t 4hA foot fpat hare fhn Tou- onuld
find those humane privileges which he
was denied elsewhere. The fact that
here, whatever the restrictions that
still he would meet, he would be free
from the persecution that in other
countries he knew, free to work out
his destiny, free to labor to live, free
to utilize his energies in bettering his
wv conditions and those of the coun-
try of his adoption. America became
and has continued the Mecca of dis
possessed and downtrodden Israel suf-
fering elsewhere, because through
Providence that America opened its
arms to him, promised him that pro-
lection it's constitution outlined and
kept its promise. Still lives the old
constitution and still lives the Jew
meath it's protecting wings, pursuing
the even tenor of his way-nobody's
enemy, everybody's friend. That this
is the case is due to what a large mum
Der of men did over 100 years ago, but
in large measure due to what n man
did by the strength of his mighty per-
sonality. George Washington gave to
the Jews a home, and for that Israel
will never forget him.
And then for another reason shall
we remember George Washington. He
kept God out of the constitution, and
greater and grander thing he did not.
l wonder if l am being clearly under
stood. To-day in various parts of the
country men are doing their utmost
to connect church and state again.
They do not and cannot rest easy I'M
til they have given our constitution
what they call a religious coloring.
And what does that religious coloring
mean? 1t means a coloring decidedly,
distinctively UNCONVENTIONAL. Dissat-
isfed with what they term the atheis-
tic character of our governmental life,
living still the thought life of the me-
diaeval inquisition, these fanatics
would change our constitution so as
to make it recognize the particular
form of Iaitn which they avow, give
them it's privileges and them alone,
and so discriminate against those AM
erican citizens who may not be of their
persuasion. Under their kindly min
istration the Jew, and not only the
Jew, but every man of liberal thought
would be denied citizenship, and left
to labor as best he could meath the
restr- ctions imposed upon him by big
otry and ignorance, and the country
would go back to where it was when
still superstition held sway and a dog
matte church ruled supreme.
Let us however not fear any such
result. Over a century ago the men
who built this fair and free country,
built it on a liberal foundation and
built it we'll. They know what the con-
nection between church and state had
already done; saw the miseries of
which it had been productive. His
tory was not without its lessons for
them. They simply knew that denom-
national lands were doomed. So they
wrote over the doorway of their sane
tum, '@This shall indeed be a house of
prayer unto all nations" and under the
spell of that motto, and watchword.
they opened wide their doors to all
shades of belief, welcomed them all
within its portals, gave them full priv
ileges to believe religiously what they
pleased, and pray to God as they pleas
ed; promised them all equal recogni-
ton and the same political rights. But
they refused to force their WI par
ticular conception of God on the men
they welcomed. They kept the consti-
tuition free from every reference that
would or could possibly be interpreted
as a discrimination against any par
ticular faith. They decree once and
for all that Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of re-
ligion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof and that decree made the
United States what they are to-day.
What We call u country is a vast a
of people from different countries, and
with different religious beliefs. But
one feeling dominates all those differ
ing ideas. 1t is the American feel
ing. the American spirit. It is the re-
suit of the freedom men here have been