CHAPTER XXV.

THE GREAT CONSPIRACY.

T would seem that all people in the United States would

supreme law this nation is pledged to religious freedom. It would seem that everybody ought to be glad of the opportunity to herald to all the world the fame of a nation under whose protection all people might dwell wholly unmolested in the full enjoyment of religious rights and the liberty to worship or not to worship according to the dictates of their ⚫ own consciences.

Such, however, is not the case. As religious bigotry knows no such thing as enlightenment or progress; as ecclesiastical ambition never can be content without the power to persecute; so from the beginning, complaint has been made against the character of the United States Constitution as it respects religion, and constant effort has been made to weaken its influence, undermine its authority, and subvert its precepts.

From the very beginning, this feature of the Constitution has been denounced as foolish, atheistical, the strictly national sin, and the cause of epidemics, etc., particularly by ministers of such religion as had not sufficient power of truth to support itself, and doctors of a divinity so weak and sickly that it could not protect itself, much less protect and bless its worshipers or anybody else.

October 27, 1789, "The First Presbytery Eastward in Massachusetts and New Hampshire," sent to President Washington an address in which they complained because

there was no "explicit acknowledgment of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, inserted somewhere in the Magna Charta of our country." September 20, 1793, in a sermon preached in New York City on a fast day on account of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, and entitled "Divine Judgments," Dr. John M. Mason magnified the "irreligious" feature of the Constitution as one of the chief causes of the calamities of which he was speaking. He solemnly observed that had "such momentous business" as forming a Constitution, been transacted by Mohammedans, or even the savages, they would have done it "in the name of God" or "paid some homage to the Great Spirit." Yes, that is all true enough; and their god would have been as cruel and savage as the Mohammedan and other national gods have always been. But happily for us and all the rest of the world, the noble men who framed the Constitution were neither Mohammedans nor savages. They were men enlightened by the principles and precepts of Christianity, and by a knowledge of history; and were endowed with respect for the rights of men.

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In 1803 Samuel B. Wylie, D. D., of the University of Pennsylvania, preached a sermon in which he inquired: "Did not the framers of this instrument . . . in this resemble the fool mentioned in Ps. xiv, 1, 3, who said in his heart, There is no God'?" In 1811 Samuel Austin, D. D., a New England Congregationalist, afterward president of the University of Vermont, preached a sermon in Worcester, Mass., in which he declared that this "capital defect" in the national Constitution "will issue inevitably in the destruction" of the nation.

In 1812 President Dwight of Yale College preached a sermon in the college chapel, in which he lamented the failure of the Constitution to recognize a God, declaring that "we commenced our national existence, under the present system, without God." The next year he recurred to the same thing, saying that "the grossest nations and individ

THE CONSTITUTION DENOUNCED.

701

uals, in their public acts and in their declarations, manifestoes, proclamations, etc., always recognize the superintendency of a Supreme Being. Even Napoleon did it." Of course Napoleon did it. It is such characters as he that are most likely to do it; and then, having covered himself with the hypocritical panoply, to ruin kingdoms, desolate nations, and violate every precept of morality and every principle of humanity. Yes, Napoleon did it; and so did Charlemagne before him, and Clovis, and Justinian, and Theodosius, and Constantine, to say nothing of hundreds of the popes. But the fathers of this republic were not such as any of these, the noblest pledge of which is the character of the Constitution as it respects religion, for all of which every Christian can most reverently thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In 1819, on a thanksgiving day appointed by the governor of Pennsylvania, Dr. Duffield preached a sermon at Carlisle, in which he declared the Constitution" entirely atheistical." Other such testimonies as the foregoing might be given to a wearisome extent, but with one more these must suffice.' In 1859 Prof. J. H. McIlvaine, D. D., of the College of New Jersey, known also as Princeton College, published an article in the Princeton Review for October, in which he really lamented that "the practical effect" of the Constitution as it is, with respect to religion, is the neutrality of the government with respect to all religion;" and seemed much to be grieved that no possible governmental influence can be constitutionally exerted for or against any form of religious belief." If only our fathers in forming the national government and making the Constitution, had created a national god and established its worship under penalties of fine, imprisonment, whipping, branding, banishment, or death,

1 The reader will find these and many others like them in the "Proceed ings of the Fifth National Reform Convention," held in Pittsburg, February 4, 5, 1874, issued by the National Reform Association, and sold by the Christian Statesman Publishing Company, Philadelphia, Pa.

and had drawn up a national creed so that the question of orthodoxy, with all its riotous and bloody accompaniments, could have been the grand issue in every congressional or presidential election, no doubt all these distressed doctors of divinity would have been delighted. Fortunately for the

country and for the human race, the noble men who established this government had in view the protection and preservation of the inalienable rights of all the people, rather than the clothing of religious bigots with governmental power to force upon others their false religious views.

So far, however, all these criticisms and denunciations had been merely individual. Though they were strongly seconded by the legislative, judicial, and executive authorities in almost all the States, there was as yet no organized attack upon the Constitution, or regular war upon its principles. But in 1863 such an organization was effected and such a war was begun. In February of that year, "A convention for prayer and Christian conference" was held in Xenia, Ohio, to consider in particular the state of the country. It was composed of representatives of eleven different religious denominations from seven States. The convention met February 3, and on the fourth, Mr. John Alexander, a United Presbyterian and covenanter, then of Xenia, later and now (1891) of Philadelphia, presented for the consideration of the Convention, a paper in which he bewailed the "human frailty and ingratitude" of the makers of the Constitution, and deplored the national sin of which they and all their posterity were guilty, because they had "well-nigh legislated God out of the government ;" and closed with the following words :

"We regard the Emancipation Proclamation of the President and his recommendation to purge the Constitution of slavery, as among the most hopeful signs of the times.

"We regard the neglect of God and his law, by omitting all acknowledgment of them in our Constitution, as the crowning, original sin of the nation, and slavery as one of its natural outgrowths. Therefore the most important step remains yet to be taken,- to amend the Constitu

A RELIGIOUS AMENDMENT PROPOSED.

703

tion so as to acknowledge God and the authority of his law; and the object of this paper is to suggest to this convention the propriety of considering this subject, and of preparing such an amendment to the Constitution as they may think proper to propose in accordance with its provisions.

In order to bring the subject more definitely before the convention, we suggest the following as an outline of what seems to us to be needed in the preamble of that instrument, making it read as follows (proposed amendment in brackets):

"WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, [recognizing the being and attributes of Almighty God, the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures, the law of God as the paramount rule, and Jesus, the Messiah, the Saviour and Lord of all,] in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The convention approved the spirit and design of the paper, and ordered its publication. The following July 4, "a few delegates" met in Pittsburg, issued an address to the country, and formed a plan for the calling of a National Convention, which met in Allegheny, January 27, 1864. It is reported as "an earnest, prayerful, and most encouraging meeting." It adopted a series of resolutions and a memorial to Congress, which latter is worth quoting, as showing the rapid growth of their designs upon the national Constitution. It runs as follows:

"To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress assembled:

"We, citizens of the United States, respectfully ask your Honorable bodies to adopt measures for amending the Constitution of the United States, so as to read in substance as follows:

"We, the people of the United States, [humbly acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler among the nations, and his revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian government], and in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, [and secure the inalienable rights and the blessings of life,