'America for Americans!' - John Philip Newman (classic literature books txt) 📗

VII. That Christianity, in its ethics and charities, is the religion of this land.

It was a bold venture for the fathers of this Republic to declare personal liberty foremost, without regard to birth or education or civilization. This has elevated our nation above all nations. It was sublime courage for those grand men to declare that our civil and political rights are not grants from superiors to inferiors, but that they flow out of the order and the constitution of nature. It is this, my countrymen, that differentiates us, that distinguishes us from Englishmen, and Frenchmen, and Russians. What are the two great declarations of which England is proud? Take the Magna Charta Libertatum. The historians say that this is the bulwark of English freedom. Yes, Englishmen, you do right to so esteem it. But then you should remember that the Magna Charta Libertatum was a concession from King John—a concession from a superior to inferiors, and the men who wrung that concession from that English king did not esteem themselves his equals, but permitted themselves to be treated as inferiors. Then take what is known in English parliamentary history as A Petition of Rights. It secured a concession from King Charles I—a superior to inferiors. But our fathers said we are the superiors. [Applause.] We recognize no superior but God; we declare a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. [Applause.] We ask not for a Magna Charta Libertatum. We offer no petition of rights. Jefferson made our declaration of rights and the fathers signed it, saying, We are born free and equal, created in the image of God; our political rights are inalienable, inseparable from our birth. [Applause.] That declaration turned the corner of political history. It astounded all Europe. It sent a chill through royal blood. It caused a paleness to come over kings and queens; yet it was a declaration which oncoming generations approved, and oncoming centuries will applaud, because born of truth, justice and liberty.

The naturalized American must renounce all allegiance to foreign prince or potentate or government; in so doing he must reject the assumed superiority of any human grantor and assert the superiority of the individual citizen in whom inhere these rights. [Applause.]

The fathers ventured the assertion that a government of the people and by the people and for the people should be supported, not by physical force, but by a moral power, an astounding fact in the national history. The power that conquered in the war for independence was a moral force. It was the spirit of '76. It was the spirit of '76 that inspired Warren to say: "Put me where the battle is hottest." It was the spirit of '76 that moved Putnam to shout out on the eve of battle: "Powder! powder! Ye gods, give us powder!" It was the spirit of '76 that caused the New Jersey dominie, when the army was destitute of wadding, to rush to the church and, getting a copy of Watts's psalms, shout out: "There, boys, put Watts into them." It was the spirit of '76 that led Washington to consecrate himself, his time, his wealth, and the grandest men in the country to consecrate themselves for the accomplishment of the grandest of facts. The Continental Army was an army of plowmen and artisans, poorly armed and poorly clothed. Baron Steuben, when he came to this country with Lafayette to organize our army, declared that the only regularity that he saw was, that the short men were put in front and the tall men put behind, and old Putnam gave him this explanation, that Americans didn't care about their heads; they only cared about their legs; shelter their legs and they would fight forever. Baron Steuben attempted to organize those troops, but lost his temper and swore at them in three languages at the same time. [Laughter.] But the spirit of '76 led to history.

We maintain our free institutions by moral force. Our twenty thousand soldiers scattered here and there wherever they can find an Indian to shoot is hardly a respectable police force. [Laughter.] The founders of this Republic knew that freemen are soldiers in the disguise of citizens. Let the tocsin of war be founded; let a foreign foe invade our shores; let an insurrectionary body arise in our midst, and a million of freemen, armed to the teeth, will "Rally round the flag, boys, rally once again." [Vociferous applause.] It is difficult for immigrants coming to this country to appreciate this fact. They pass through the land and see no gens d'armes, no standing armies, and rarely a policeman. [Laughter.]

The true American stands forever on duty, a soldier of the Republic in the disguise of a citizen, the custodian of the Republic's life. Out of such a citizenship comes the moral sentiment which in its aggregation is public opinion, which is mightier than standing armies or floating navies. [Applause.]

A third attribute is the individuality of the citizen, out of which comes the collective man, our national life. We have exalted the individual; the American citizen is a republic of one. Whether we have fifty millions, or ten millions, or a million, whatever may be the ratio of our population, the Government recognizes the individuality of the citizen as paramount. As God is the center of the universe, and Christ the center of the church, so the citizen is the center of this Government. All its laws, all its administrations, all its soldiers in the army, all its guns in the navy, are for the protection of the American citizen. Wherever he wanders, whether in Africa, or Europe, or Asia, or Germany, or Ireland, or Cuba, or Mexico, the American citizen must and shall be protected. [Applause.] It is difficult for men coming from Europe, where men are contemplated in masses, to realize the potency of individuality; but it underlies our free institutions.

Fourthly, he is an American, whether native-born or foreign-born, who accepts the bold venture of the fathers to segregate public education from the teachings of the church. It was a bold move in political science. There is no authority under the Constitution of the United States, there should be no authority in the constitution of any State, there should be no authority in the municipality of any part of the country, to impose religious instruction upon the childhood of America. You and I may tremble in the presence of this tremendous fact, this daring project in the science of statecraft, but then you must remember that, according to the organic law of our country, we know no class but citizens, we know no obligation but protection, no duty but the welfare of the people. In all the nations abroad there is the combination of secular and religious instruction. Arithmetic, geometry, geography, physiology, must be taught under the sanctions of religion. But in this country public education is separated from sectarian religious teaching. We may pause in the presence of such a fact. We know that intelligence is almost a boundless power. Intelligence has produced as much evil as it has good; the greatest monsters who have damned humanity have been men of the highest possible culture, and the men who are sowing the seed in this country of discord are men of sublime intellects and polished education. And therefore the founders of the Republic recognized the duty of the individual citizen to add home instruction, instruction in the church, instruction in the Sunday-school, to sanctify this intelligence. Whenever they expounded constitutional law, or spoke in behalf of the perpetuity of our institutions, they never failed to give pre-eminence to private virtue and public morality; nor did they hesitate to say that this virtue in private life and this morality in the public society must flow out of that religion which we esteem divine.

Those great men ventured on another and a desperate mission, the segregation of State from Church. In the nations of the old world these are allied. The Czar is the head of the church. Victoria is the head of the church. The King of Germany is the head of the church. The Hapsburg, of Austria, is the head of the church. The Sultan is the head of the church. But here we have no earthly head of the church. To the individual Christian Christ is the head of the church. This is fundamental in our Government. Here we have "a free church in a free country." Christianity had been supported by thrones in the old world. Religion had been enforced by armies and navies. The great cathedrals, and what are called the church livings, had been maintained by a tax imposed upon people who did not believe the creed taught, and did not observe the forms of worship practiced. In our organic law it is stated that Congress shall not legislate on the subject of religion. Religion shall be free. Here the Mohammedan may rear his mosque and read his Koran. Here the Brahmin may rear his pagoda and read his Shasta. All religionists may come and worship here, but their worship shall not infringe upon the worship of others nor work injury to the body-politic. The Typical American should set his face against all seeming alliance of Church and State. We say to the Holy Father, live in peace. Stay in Rome. Live on the banks of the Tiber. If you come here, you must be an American citizen, rejecting your doctrine of temporal power. You may come and be naturalized and be a voter, but we can have no temporal popes here. [Applause and laughter.] So we say to our countrymen that come from dear old Ireland, the best country in the world to emigrate from, [laughter], to the Italian, to the Spaniard, to the German, you may belong to the church of the spiritual pontiff but you must renounce all allegiance to temporal pontiffs. I hold that under our laws of naturalization, that it is the duty of every cardinal, every archbishop, every bishop, and every priest, every monk, Franciscan or Jesuit, to solemnly renounce before God and the holy angels, all political allegiance to the Pope as a temporal prince, who to-day is seeking to re-establish diplomatic relations with England and other European nations in recognition of his temporal sovereignty.

And he is a true American citizen, whether foreign-born or native-born, who maintains, as an American institution, the Holy Sabbath-day. He can call it Sunday, after the old pagan god, but he must rest on the seventh day, rest from toil, rest in the interest of the dignity of labor, rest as discount upon capital, rest for intelligence, rest for compensation, rest for domestic happiness, rest for pious culture. The seventh day of every week should be consecrated to cessation from labor and devoted to physical and mental repose. It should not be a day of recreation to be spent in riotous living and in brawls, but a day peaceful, in harmony with the institutions of religion and the dominant sentiment of the country. Our fathers consecrated the Sabbath, and had you the patience to hear and I, the time to read from Franklin, from Jefferson, from Washington, touching the Sabbath, in recognition of it as indispensable to the welfare of our body politic, you would be confirmed in this great truth. The danger to-day is that we are becoming un-American in cutting loose from the Sabbath-day as a day of rest and of worship. I cannot invoke the civil law to do more than to say that it shall be a day of rest. I cannot invoke the civil law to say that that man shall worship here or worship there, or worship at all, but I can invoke the civil law to say that it shall be a non-secular day; not a day for the transaction of business,