Ezra S. Gannett

“ It is time that the more modern conception of national glory as identical with national superiority, if not in arms, in some other class of achievements, should give place to a right appreciation of the end for which a nation should labour. This end is neither aggrandizement nor superiority, but virtue. To what should a nation make all its laws and institutions and the whole action of its government subservient? ”

“ Self-preservation should not be the object most studied by a party. The preservation of a character which will stand the test of moral principle should be far dearer. If a party cannot live without adopting what it condemns, let it perish; let falsehood and shamelessness triumph. It will be only for a season. From the ashes of a party that has fallen a sacrifice to its own rectitude will arise another phenix of political virtue, with fresh vigour and immortal hope. It is sometimes contended, that a man must go with his party, though it be against his conscience. ”

“ I need go no farther in detailing the influence which religion should have on politics;—on its theory and its practice. On its theory, by banishing whatever is inconsistent with the Divine will or with the welfare of the whole human race. On its practice, by causing every one to act under a sense of God’s goodness and his own responsibleness, with uprightness of soul and in the spirit of Christian love. ”

“ It remains for us to vindicate the principles of political virtue. We have placed the sceptre in the hands of freedom; let us enthrone religion in still loftier state. American patriotism! be it such as the world has never yet seen. American statesmanship! be it such as mankind shall wonder at, till their admiration subsides into imitation. American character! be it such as Christian sires would rejoice to see worn by their posterity, and unborn generations shall receive as the most precious inheritance that could be transmitted to them. ”

“ The most powerful instrument that a political party can use for the accomplishment of its ends, whether good or bad, is the press, and therefore this should be placed under the control of moral and religious conviction. A press which violates the sanctity of truth and lends itself to unrighteous uses, is a disgrace to the community which gives it support, and which cannot long endure its presence without feeling its disastrous influence. If men sit beneath the shade of the poison-tree, they cannot but inhale its noxious atmosphere. The press should be consecrated to intelligence and virtue ”

“ Religion must control and sanctify the whole life of the individual and of the nation. And yet this doctrine is repudiated; yes, openly and in high places. And this doctrine of repudiation,—not a birth of yesterday, but as old as civil government,—is that which should be most indignantly rejected by honest men and good citizens. It is said, that men need not be as scrupulous in their public as in their private relations. There is a morality for the public man, and another for the private citizen. ”

“ Worthily, so far as language could go, did the greatest of Israel’s monarchs, and one of the first of human bards, in these words celebrate the majesty of Him who is Higher than the highest, the Maker, Guardian, and Sovereign of the universe. Religion adopts this description as the groundwork of its sentiments and exercises. With God it begins, to Him it returns, in Him it rests. To Him it traces all blessing, from Him receives direction concerning the aim and course of life, and as its first and last and central principle aspires to “do all things to his glory.” ”

“ He will pursue this course of fidelity, alike to himself and to the trusts which he is called to execute, because he accounts the obligations of righteousness to be immutable. And here his judgment is according to the truth. There is no sphere or scene of life which gives a man the privilege of doing wrong; no land of license, nor castle of power, where he is exempt from the authority of religion. Neither the throne nor the senate-house, the secret conclave nor the popular assembly, can shield one from the force of that primary law of human action—thou shalt not sin against thine own soul. ”

“ Then will war stand forth before their view in all its hideousness, its features distorted by rage, and its garments dripping with blood,—a mournful and a fearful spectacle. Oh! when shall the time come, that the true character of War—its horrors, its vices, its crimes, unredeemed by a single trait properly its own,—shall be understood. ”

“ If ever a community on earth should be distinguished by religious sensibility, it is this of which we are a part.
With this recognition of the Divine power and goodness must be united a sense of the responsibleness under which every one lies before God. These privileges—many and great—of which we have spoken are entrusted to us by One, the righteous principle of whose government it is, that to whom much is committed, of them will much be required. Our political advantages lay on us a peculiar weight of obligation. ”

“ Commence and reign and end.
“He is Governor among the nations; but justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” “Thine, O Lord, are the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, and thou art exalted as Head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all: and in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all.” ”

“ Let such a man enter on the performance of any service which devolves on him through his relation to the State, and he will proceed as to a work demanding high and holy principle. He will esteem it treason to his country to let go his own rectitude of soul. Temptation to sacrifice his uprightness to interest will only make him more resolute. The persuasion of example will be as vain as an open bribe. ”

“ Once more I say in reply, that I am not content with no greater progress than the old States of Europe, burthened with the institutions of dark ages and tottering with infirmity, are able to make. It is for us to encourage them, by the spectacle of what may be accomplished by young and unshackled energies. It is for us to do the world a greater service than it has yet received through achievements wrought on this soil. We have asserted the principles of political liberty, and established them above the reach of overthrow. ”

“ But who can for a moment seriously believe that such a purpose is entertained by one who loves, or by one who understands, American institutions? A State religion does any one dread? I should think there was just now more danger of almost any thing else. It is not a national Christianity, but a Christian nation, which I desire to see; and if this wish betray an unfriendly feeling towards republican principles, then I must bear the reproach, but I shall not bear it alone. ”

“ It may be said, that things are in a sufficiently good state; that the country is at peace, though some men and some writers are doing their utmost to involve it in war; that our public men succeed in keeping the wheels of government in motion, though they sometimes discover a deplorable lack both of skill and of principle; and that the people are, on the whole, virtuous and perhaps religious, if they do not connect their religion with their politics. ”

“ I have heard it said by those who knew him well that an individual of great influence, who had been placed in the most elevated offices within the people’s gift, was a man of strict integrity and the mildest character in his private connexions, though as a politician he was distinguished for his disregard of truth, his violence, and his use of any means to carry the ends which his party espoused. And on the other hand we hear men whose private vices are notorious—profane, profligate, unprincipled—commended for the consistency and purity of their political course. ”

“ It includes all men under one law, and all sinners under one condemnation. Now why shall the politician be released from the demand made upon every one else? Why shall political life form an episode in the history traced by successive generations on the tablet of the ages, which shall have not only its own rules of composition, but its own principles of moral interpretation? Shall mercantile life be required to cover itself with the sanctity of moral obligation, shall the demand of the age be for a Christian literature, shall there be a general lamentation over the want of faith and virtue ”

“ No place so public, no spot so private, no situation so humble, no office so high, that Christianity will not rise to its eminence, descend to its depth, penetrate its seclusion, occupy its position, and still reiterate the same language,—speaking as one having authority, because it speaks in the name and in behalf of the Almighty. ”

“ It is neither a part of human nature, nor a part of human life, which must be devoted to religion; but the whole—the whole of life, the whole of man. The man must be thoroughly, habitually, entirely religious. His loftiest purposes and grandest conceptions, his most familiar exercises and meanest employments, his whole impulse, energy and activity must be sanctified by faith—faith in God and his will, in Christ and his revelations. “Whether he eat or drink, or whatever he do, he must do all to the glory of God.” ”

“ The principles of political action should harmonize with the principles of a perfect character, and no single act be allowed that would offend these principles. The consistent politician in a Christian land is he who can invite the scrutiny of Omniscience upon his motives, while his outward life is shaped by his inward purposes. See you a man who in the heat of a political conflict, or the toil of public service, keeps himself humble, pure and disinterested; who never violates his conscience, and never forgets his God ”

“ And if I needed other support for this assertion than is furnished by the very terms in which it is expressed, I might quote the words of Washington, who in his Farewell Address, after remarking that “of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports,” adds, “In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them.” ”

“ It has one and the same instruction for all men, whether they live in palaces or wander houseless, whether they are versed in tongues or are rude of speech, men of science or men of handicraft, subjects of a monarchy or citizens of a republic; to them all it says, Hearken and obey—walk by faith—lead holy lives—fulfil all righteousness. Even if this be called by the unbeliever the pretension or the arrogance of Christianity, he must admit that the claim which it sets up is as broad as human existence. Wherever the religion of the New Testament can reach a man, over him it asserts its authority. ”

“ I do not indeed acknowledge a morality that is not based on faith in God, whose will is the only standard, as from his government must be derived the sanctions, of virtue. But a compliance with the requisitions of morality is not all that should be demanded of him who enters political life, or of any one in the discharge of his functions as a citizen. He should remember what is due to God, as well as what is due to man. Let us see how the principles which we have laid down will affect political action. ”

“ Strange that men should ever think to deceive God by playing the parrot or the hypocrite! There are many who make the fatal mistake of substituting profession for reality; and in a community who hold religion in high regard there may be politicians who will take this course in the hope of winning their fellow-men. If they succeed, they only effect a selfish purpose; they do not illustrate the influence of religion.
Neither is it an attention to forms, however sincere, nor a use of institutions, however constant, that will satisfy the demands of Christianity. ”

“ But let them be formed on unsound principles, or without principle, or let them be conducted in a greedy or vindictive spirit, and they will become the occasions of incalculable mischief. When falsehood and violence are the weapons which one party provokes another to adopt; when the passions of men are addressed, and their prejudices are fostered instead of being enlightened; when the aim is not to serve the country so much as on the one side to get, and on the other to retain power ”