predominating sentiment of the public mind, it renders a nation invincible in the defence of their civil rights. It makes courage and fortitude not only matters of ambition, but matters of conscience. It creates among all classes of the people a singleness of object, a unity and sympathy of feeling that nothing but Christianity is adequate to produce; and when the mass of a nation are governed by such high motives they have a power for self defence that defies every invader. When Spain made war upon the freedom of the United Netherlands, her gigantic strength had, in one sense, spread itself over both hemispheres. She was animated by every motive of pride and revenge that could render her strong and determined in the conflict; but still she was baffled and defeated after a long and bloody war in which she poured forth her blood and treasure like water; and the States of Holland showed to the world that where a people, however inconsiderable as to numbers, love their freedom, and are animated by Christian principle in defence of it, they are not to be subdued.*

*It may be thought that the late overthrow of Hungary is an exception. Quite the reverse. If Hungary had been like Holland, in the unanimity of her people, and in the diffusion of Christian intelligence and Christian principle, her liberty would not have been lost by the treachery or weakness of any one man, nor could even Russia and Austria combined have subdued her.

The same conclusion may be drawn from the history of our own country. When she arose to assert her freedom, her population amounted to barely three millions, her resources for war were limited and scanty, and yet she entered upon a conflict with an empire whose combined military and naval power had then no equal among the nations of the earth; and undismayed by the reverses which at times met her arms during a struggle of seven years, she came out of the contest with her rights maintained and her independence achieved. The Bible, which her statesmen and warriors had been taught to read in her schools, they carried with them into the camp and the councils of the Republic; and the high moral sentiment which they had derived from this fountain of wisdom carried them triumphantly through every peril and suffering.

Let it not be said in reply that under a government like ours, which views with equal favor all denominations of Christians, there are insuperable objections against the introduction of religious culture into schools that are patronized by the State. There is no real difficulty in the case if properly presented. In view of every great measure, involving moral duty, there are always men who "see a lion in the way," and with whom the wish is father to the thought. The lion is in the way of those whose imaginations

are predisposed to conjure up some formidable ob stacle as an apology for not going forward. There would be difficulty in the case before us, if the Bible could not be viewed as a separate book from the distinguishing creeds and confessions of faith which different denominations draw from it, while, at the same time, they all unite in regarding it as the only and infallible record of divine truth. However valuable may be these creeds or articles of belief, pre pared by the hands of men as bonds of union for those who embrace them; we do not admit that in our schools, enjoying endowment from the State, religion should be taught in any or all of those dis tinctive forms. But the Bible is the common property and common treasure of all who take the ground of common Christianity; and we insist that a high place be given to this book in training the young, which corresponds with the precedence which all agree in assigning to it as the supreme and unerring rule of faith and of practice, as the great and primary fountain of that wisdom and righteousness which are equally essential to the welfare of a nation and the happiness of man. It is one of the peculiar attributes of the Bible that it can speak to the heart and conscience, moulding them after its own image, with a power that no other book either contains within itself or can exercise on the minds

of its readers. And when we require that a place may be assigned to it in our schools as a book for learners, which shall belong to no others, we simply require that it may be placed where it can have occasion and opportunity for displaying this proof of its own divinity, and for so influencing the minds of its readers while "young and tender," "that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace."

And when I ask for this public acknowledgment of the great charter of Christianity, I ask for nothing more than is already incorporated in our laws as a nation. Christianity, essential Christianity, not, be it remembered, as any one sect may embrace it, but essential Christianity as contained in the Bible, is part and parcel of the common law of the land.* We see this in every Sabbath observed as a day of rest by our legislatures and by our civil authorities. To what precept or command do our makers of law and ministers of law yield obedience, in thus observing one day out of seven, if it is not the command of God speaking in his Bible? We see it in the time-honored practice of opening our halls of legislation with the solemnities of daily worship. We see it in every day of public thanksgiving or humi* Note N.

liation appointed or recommended by our rulers. In these and other instances which we might quote, the State acknowledges the Bible, or the religion of the Bible, as interwoven with our social institutions. Such too is the dictate of enlightened public opinion, a power stronger than either the legislature or the magistrate, and to which both are always constrained to bow. It ever has been, and we trust ever will be, the wise decision of a vast majority in our nation, to recognise and acknowledge Christianity in every due form, and on every proper occasion; and the man who finds himself aggrieved by it must not complain that he is deprived of his rightful liberty. He has all the liberty which a man in a minority can reasonably claim. He has the liberty not to undo and unsettle every thing done and approved by the majority of those around him, but the liberty to go where he can find institutions and neighbors more to his mind. He has "the world before him where to choose," but we must fear that he has not "Providence his guide."

We have not forgotten the trite objection, that the Bible is a sectarian book, which, as a matter of conscience, some men cannot allow their children to read. This is the mere cant of infidelity. The Bible a sectarian book! As well might it be said that the Most High is a sectarian God. The Bible