2. The doctrine against which I am contending; to wit, that Christianity has no connexion with our civil Constitutions of government, is one of those which admit of being tested by the absurd and dangerous consequences to which they lead. It cannot be disguised, that a general belief, that Christianity is to receive no regard and no countenance from our civil institutions, must tend to degrade it and to destroy its influence among the community. It has hitherto been believed, that Christian morals, Christian sentiments, and Christian principles ought to form the basis of the education of our youth; but this belief cannot continue to prevail, if the opinion in question shall once become general. It has hitherto been supposed, that our judges, our legislators, and our statesmen ought to be influenced by the spirit, and bound by the sanctions of Christianity, both in their public and private conduct; but no censure can be rightfully attached to them for refusing to comply, if nothing of this kind is required by the commisions under which they act, and from which their authority is derived. If the community shall ever become convinced, that Christianity is not entitled to the sustaining aid of the civil Constitutions and law of the country, the outposts of the citadel will have been taken, and its adversaries may successfully proceed in their work of undermining and destroying it. In this country, where the authority of law is comparatively feeble, every enterprise must be accomplished by influencing public opinion; and the strength of public opinion is irresistible and overwhelming. In fact, under a belief, that such a conviction has been wrought in the public mind, the adversaries of Christianity have begun to break new ground against it; and this too with renewed confidence of ultimate success. is announced from stations usually supposed to be entitled to respect and confidence, that the Scriptures of the New Testament expressly forbid all praying in public ;-that the Christian Clergy It literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend this influence still more widely; in the full conviction, that that is the happiest society, which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceable spirit of Christianity."-Webster's Discourse at Plymouth, p. 54. See Note F. are an unnecessary and useless order of men ;-and that the setting apart of Sunday, is not authorized in any part of the Christian dispensation. These are novel and sweeping assertions, and they have already been repeated so often, that they sound less harsh than they once did, in the ears of our community. Those who attempt to impose such assertions upon us, must calculate with much confidence, either on our willingness to be deceived, or on our having too little acquaintance with the subject to detect their mistakes, or on our feeling too much indifference to our religion to take an interest in refuting them. Who believes, that without an order of men to administer the sacraments, to illustrate the doctrines and enforce the duties of Christianity, without public worship, and without the general and respectful observance of Sunday, there would be the least vestige of religion among us at the end of half a century. As well might we expect the preservation of public order and civil obedience in the community, if our laws were permitted to remain in the statute-book, without a Judiciary to explain their import, or an Executive to enforce their observance. 3. Let us not forget what is historically true, that Christianity has been the chief instrument by which the nations of Christendom have risen superior to all other nations ;-but if its influence is once destroyed or impaired, society instead of advancing, must infallibly retrograde. This superiority of the nations of Christendom is a fact, and as such can only be accounted for by assigning an adequate cause. “With whatever justice other lands and nations may be estimated," says Heeren,* "it cannot be denied that the noblest and best of every thing, which man has produced, sprung up or at least ripened, on European soil. In the multitude, variety, and beauty of their natural productions, Asia and Africa far surpass Europe; but in every thing which is the work of man, the nations of Europe stand far above those of the other contiIt was among them" continues he, "that by making mar nents. *Politics of Ancient Greece, translated by Mr. Bancroft, p. 1. riage the union of but two individuals, domestic society obtained that form without which so many parts of our nature could never have been ennobled ;-and it was chiefly and almost exclusively among them, that such constitutions were framed, as are suited to nations who have become conscious of their rights. If Asia, during all the changes of its extensive empires, does but shew the continued reproduction of despotism, it was on European soil that the germ of political freedom unfolded itself, and under the most various forms, in so many parts of the same, bore the noblest fruits; which again were transplanted from thence to other parts of the world." These remarks, though applied by the author to Europe only, have respect equally to the descendants of Europeans on this side of the Atlantic. They are true of all Christian nations. These golden fruits are what Christianity has produced, and they have been produced by no other religion. If, then, we permit this chief cause of all our choicest blessings to be destroyed or counteracted in its effects; what can we expect from the dealings of a righteous Providence, but the destiny of a people who have rejected the counsel of God against themselves ?* If we refuse to be instructed by the Divine assurance, we shall be made to feel by the intensity of our sufferings, "that righteousness exalteth a nation, and that sin is a reproach to any people." 4. No nation on earth, is more dependent than our own, for its welfare, on the preservation and general belief and influence of Christianity among us. Perhaps there has never been a nation composed of men whose spirit is more high, whose aspirations after distinction are more keen, and whose passions are more strong than those which reign in the breasts of the American people. These are encouraged and strengthened by our systems of education, by the unlimited field of -enterprise which is open to all; and more especially by the great inheritance of civil and religious freedom, which has descended to us from our ancestors. It is too manifest, therefore, to require illustration, that in a great *Luke vii. 30. nation thus high spirited, enterprising and free, public order must be maintained by some principle of very peculiar energy and strength;-by some principle which will touch the springs of human sentiment and action. Now there are two ways, and two ways only by which men can be governed in society; the one by physical force; the other by religious and moral principles pervading the community, guiding the conscience, enlightening the reason, softening the prejudices, and calming the passions of the multitude. Physical force is the chief instrument by which mankind have heretofore been governed; but this always has been, and I trust will always continue to be inapplicable in our case. My trust, however, in this respect, springs entirely from a confidence, that the Christian religion will continue as heretofore to exert upon us, its tranquilizing, purifying, elevating and controlling efficacy. No power less efficacious than Christianity, can permanently maintain the public tranquillity of the country, and the authority of law.* We must be a Christian nation, if we wish to continue a free nation. We must make our election :-to be swayed by the gentle reign of moral and Christian principle, or ultimately, if not soon, by the iron rod of arbitrary sway. Nor will it be sufficient for any of us to say, that we have not been active participators in undermining and destroying our religion; we cannot escape crime, if it shall be destroyed by our neglect or indifference. The guilt of nations which have never been evangelized, for not rendering to Jehovah the glory due to his name, must be very much palliated by their ignorance; which is, in some respects, and in a considerable degree, invincible. But how can we escape, if we neglect, or abuse, or fail to improve the Christian inheritance which has come down to us from our fathers, and which it cost them such sacrifices to acquire. Have we forgotten the saying of our Saviour, that the damnation of Sodom, in the day of judgment, will be tolerable when compared with the sufferings which will, on that day, be inflicted upon Capernaum, which had been exalted to heaven by being made the scene of his miracles, but which still persisted in its impenitence ?* In the Divine administration, then, the principle applies to nations, as well as to individuals, that their punishment will be severe in proportion to the advantages which they have neglected to improve, and the blessings which they have undervalued and despised. If, therefore, Christianity is permitted to decline among us, we cannot fold our arms in silence and be free from all personal responsibility. As a citizen of our community, no man can escape criminality, if he believes in the truth of Christianity, and still, without making resistance, sees its influence undermined and destroyed. We are accustomed to rejoice in the ancestry from which we are descended, and well we may, for our ancestors were illustrious men. One of the colonial governors said in 1692, "God sifted a whole nation, that he might send choice grain over into this wilderness." And the present Lord Chancellor of Great Britain has thus spoken of them :-"The first settlers of all the colonies, says he, were men of irreproachable characters. Many of them fled from persecution; others on account of an honorable poverty; and all of them with their expectations limited to the prospect of a bare subsistence in freedom and peace. All idea of wealth or pleasure was out of the question. The greater part of them viewed their emigration as a taking up of the cross, and bounded their hopes of riches to the gifts of the spirit, and their ambition to the desire of a kingdom beyond the grave. A set of men more conscientious in their doings, or simple in their manners, never founded any Commonwealth. It is, indeed, continues he, the peculiar glory of North America, that with very few exceptions, its empire was originally founded in charity and peace." They were, in truth, men who feared God and knew no other fear.$ In no respect, therefore, were these illustrious men so peculiar, for no trait of character were they so distinguished, as for th * Natthew xi. 23. Brougham's Col. Pol. vol. i. Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, + Am. Q. R. No. xviii. p. 128. p. 59. |