Citizens, Lovers of Right and Truth: As announced, I am to
speak to you this afternoon on the question, What Is Patriotism in the
United States? {1898 ATJ, WIP 1.1}
The first point in this inquiry is, What is patriotism in any country?
What is patriotism in itself ? Patriotism is usually defined, in brief, as love
of country; but love of country is more than the love of the mountains
and hills, the plains, valleys, rivers, and rills, of which the country is
composed. More fully defined, patriotism is the spirit which prompts
obedience to the laws of one's country, and to the support and defense of
its existence, rights, and institutions. Thus, love of country is really love
of the institutions and the principles which make a country what it is in all
respects. {1898 ATJ, WIP 1.2}
If love of country were simply love of the mountains and hills, valleys
and plains, rivers and rills,-the landscape,-of which the country is composed,
there could never be any such thing as civil war; for plainly there
could never be any dispute over that, among people inhabiting the same
territory. It is evident, therefore, that patriotism in truth lies in love of the
principles and institutions which make a country what
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it is in all respects; it is loyalty to those specific principles and institutions.
Hence, the patriot is correctly defined as "any defender of liberty,
civil or religious." {1898 ATJ, WIP 1.3}
What, then, is patriotism in the United States? In order that this question
shall be rightly answered, it is essential that we study the fundamental
principles which characterize this nation, which are the basis of its
government, and which have made it all that it has ever been among the
nations of the earth. Having learned this, and knowing that patriotism is
the spirit which prompts obedience to the laws of one's country, and the
support and defense of its principles and institutions, it will be easy for
all to discern what is, and what is not, patriotism here. Firm allegiance,
strict adherence, to these fundamental principles is in the nature of the
case patriotism. Any forgetting, any ignoring, or any disregarding of
these principles, however much those who do so may proclaim their patriotism,
is in truth, the very opposite. {1898 ATJ, WIP 2.1}
THE FIRST OF ALL PRINCIPLES
There can be no question but that the Declaration of Independence
was the beginning of this nation. And the first principle embodied in
that immortal declaration is that "all men are created equal, and are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." {1898 ATJ, WIP 2.2}
The first and greatest of all the rights of men is religious right. And
"religion" is "the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of
discharging it." The first of all duties is to the Creator, because to him we
owe our existence. Therefore the first of all commandments, and the first
that there can possibly be, is this: "Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is
one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is
the first commandment." Mark 12: 29, 30. {1898 ATJ, WIP 2.3}
This commandment existed as soon as there was an intelligent creature
in the universe; and it will continue to exist
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as long as there shall continue one intelligent creature in the universe.
Nor can a universe full of intelligent creatures modify in any sense the
bearing that this commandment has upon any single one, any more than
if that single one were the only creature in the universe, for as soon as an
intelligent creature exists, he owes his existence to the Creator. And in
owing to him his existence, man owes to him the first consideration in all
the accompaniments, and all the possibilities of existence. Such is the
origin, such the nature, and such the measure of religious right. {1898 ATJ,
WIP 2.4}
Did, then, the fathers who laid the foundation of this nation in the
rights of the people-did they allow to this right the place and deference
among the rights of the people which, according to its inherent importance,
are .justly its due? That is, did they leave it sacred and untouched,
solely between man and his Creator? {1898 ATJ, WIP 3.1}
The logic of the Declaration demanded that they should; for the Declaration
says that governments derive "their just powers from the consent of
the governed." Governments, then, deriving their just powers from the consent
of the governed, can never of right exercise any power not delegated
by the governed. But religion pertains solely to man's relation to
God, and to the duty which he owes to him as his Creator, and therefore
in the nature of things it can never be delegated. {1898 ATJ, WIP 3.2}
It is utterly impossible for any person ever, in any degree, to delegate
or transfer to another any relationship or duty, or the exercise of any relationship
or duty, which he owes to his Creator. To attempt to do so
would be only to deny God, and renounce religion: and even then the
thing would not be done; for, whatever he might do, his relationship and
duty to God would still abide as fully and as firmly as ever. {1898 ATJ, WIP 3.3}
As governments derive their just powers from the governed; as governments
can not justly exercise any power not delegated; and as it is
impossible for any person in any way to delegate any power in things religious;
it follows conclusively
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that the Declaration of Independence logically excludes religion in
every sense, and in every way, from the jurisdiction and from the notice
of every form of government that has resulted from that declaration.
{1898 ATJ, WIP 3.4}
This is also according to Holy Writ. For to the definition that religion
if, "the recognition of God as an object of worship, love, and obedience,"
the Scripture responds: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him
only shalt thou serve." Matt. 4: 10. "It is written, As I live, saith the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
Rom. 14:11. {1898 ATJ, WIP 4.1}
To the statement that religion is "man's personal relation of faith and
obedience to God," the Scripture responds: "Hast thou faith? have it to
thyself before God." "So, then, every one of us shall give account of himself
to God." Rom. 14: 22, 12. {1898 ATJ, WIP 4.2}
And to the word that religion is "the duty which we owe to our Creator,
and the manner of discharging it," the Scripture still responds: "For
we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one
may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. 5:10. {1898 ATJ, WIP 4.3}
No government can ever account to God for any individual. No man
nor any set of men can ever have faith for another. No government will
ever stand before the judgment-seat of Christ to answer even for itself,
much less for the people or for any individual. Therefore, no government
can ever of right assume any responsibility in any way in any matter of
religion. {1898 ATJ, WIP 4.4}
THE CONTEST FOR THIS PRINCIPLE IN VIRGINIA
Such is the logic of the Declaration as well as the truth of Holy Writ.
But did the fathers who made the nation recognize this and act
accordingly?-They did. Indeed, the enunciation of this principle in a
public document, antedates the Declaration of Independence by about
three weeks.
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For, June 12, 1776, the House of Burgesses of the Colony of Virginia,
adopted a declaration of rights, composed of sixteen sections, every one
of which in substance afterward found a place in the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution. The sixteenth section of that declaration
of rights reads in part thus: {1898 ATJ, WIP 4.5}
"That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging
it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or
violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of
religion, according to the dictates of conscience." {1898 ATJ, WIP 5.1}
Then on July 4 following, came the Declaration of Independence with
its notable principle that the Creator has endowed men with certain inalienable
rights; and the people accepted and used the Declaration of Independence
as having in this principle enunciated the absolute supremacy
of religious right. For no sooner was the Declaration published abroad
than the Presbytery of Virginia openly took its stand with the new and
independent nation; and, with the Baptists and Quakers of that State,
addressed to the General Assembly a memorial in which they said in
substance, 'We have now declared ourselves free and independent of
Great Britain in all things civil; let us also declare ourselves independent
of Great Britain in all things religious.' This they did because the English
Church was still the established religion of the State of Virginia. This
excellent people, in their memorial, called for freedom of religion in Virginia,
and in so doing said:- {1898 ATJ, WIP 5.2}
"When the many and grievous oppressions of our mother country
have laid this continent under the necessity of casting off the yoke of
tyranny, and of forming independent governments upon equitable and
liberal foundations, we flatter ourselves that we shall be freed from all the
incumbrances which a spirit of domination, prejudice, or bigotry has interwoven
with most other political systems.... Therefore, we rely upon
this declaration, as well as the justice of our honorable legislature, to secure
us the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of our own
consciences. . . . {1898 ATJ, WIP 5.3}
"In this enlightened age, and in a land where all of every denomination
are united in the most strenuous efforts to be free, we hope and expect
that our representatives will cheerfully concur in removing every
species of religious,
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as well as civil bondage. Certain it is, that every argument for civil liberty
gains additional strength when applied to liberty in the concerns of
religion; and there is no argument in favor of establishing the Christian
religion but may be pleaded with equal propriety for establishing the
tenets of Mohammed by those who believe the Alcoran; or, if this be not
true, it is at least impossible for the magistrate to adjudge the right of preference
among the various sects that profess the Christian faith without erecting a claim
to infallibility, which would lead us back to the church of Rome." {1898 ATJ,
WIP 5.4}
The result of this memorial was that the Episcopal Church was disestablished
in Virginia, dating from Jan. 1, 1777. This was the disestablishment
of a particular sect, or denomination. This was no sooner done,
however, than a strong movement was made by certain denominations to
secure the establishment of "Christianity" as such, without reference to
