BR 516 8382 Photo by Kadel & Herbert, from Keystone View Co., N. Y. ABRAHAM LINCOLN Lover of Liberty Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors. Familiarize yourself with the chains of bondage, and you prepare your own limbs to wear them. . . . The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.- Abraham Lincoln, in a speech at Edwardsville, Ill., Sept. 13, 1858, FOREWORD THE publishers of this book believe in civil government and in the importance of religion. The Christian church and organized civil government are both of divine origin.. We believe that the Christian church was established by God for man's spiritual welfare, and that civil government was ordained by divine authority to protect all men in the exercise of their natural rights. But while we believe that both the church and the state are ordained of God for man's highest good, we also hold that each is ordained for an entirely different and separate line of work,- that they should operate in distinct spheres, and that the realm of the one is in no sense the sphere of the other. Believing this, we are decidedly opposed to a union of church and state, or, as some call it, a union of religion and the state. We are opposed to a union with the state of any church or any combination of churches. We see significant and dangerous movements tending toward such an unholy union, and encroaching upon the sacred rights of the individual conscience. From many quarters and organizations come insistent petitions to lawmakers for civil aid in the enforcement of religious obligations. Gigantic and powerful religious combinations are formed to speak with authority for the church in order to bring overwhelming influence to bear upon political institutions. In some instances these mighty ecclesiastical machines have grown so powerful and influential that they have ceased to petition, and boldly demand action on certain measures. Under these powerful influences, for the sake of patronage, political parties are beginning to "bend" and "bid," and thus the stability of civil government and the liberties of men are endangered. Against this present-day tendency, and against these encroachments upon human rights, we feel the time has come to raise a note of warning and to point out the danger signals that are looming up just ahead of us. With men we have no controversy; but to all policies and measures that imperil and encroach upon the civil and religious liberties of humanity, we stand uncompromisingly opposed. A careful perusal of the contents of this book will convince the candid reader that our fears are not groundless, and that still "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION. THE RISE OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN THE UNITED STATES "WE hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 66 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." These fundamental principles, enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the First Amendment to our national Constitution, respectively, have made the United States of America "the land of the free." A desire to share in the blessings of liberty has led many from other lands to leave their homes and come to our shores, where they have found freedom in both church and state. The American idea of the relation between religion and the civil government is not toleration, but liberty. Toleration is a concession; liberty is a right. The one is a gift of man; the other is inherent, being a gift of God. Until the American Government was established, this difference had not been recognized in a practical way as a sound political principle, though it was taught by Christ and was held by the early church. Church and State Divorced Later the church departed from the pure principles of the gospel, and for centuries walked with the state, linked arm in arm. No opportunity was afforded for a practical application of the principle that man is answerable to God alone in questions of religious faith and practice. It remained for the American Government to divorce church and state. It has been demonstrated in the United States that the church is more prosperous when untrammeled by the prohibitions and commandings of civil law. It is stronger, more spiritual, and more fruitful standing alone than when united with the state. Separation is also better for the state. "Secular power has proved a satanic gift to the church, and ecclesiastical power has proved an engine of tyranny in the hands of the state."- Philip Schaff, D. D., LL. D., in " Church and State in the United States," p. II. |