Alexander Crummell

“ While yet fresh and young, with the mighty power of natural religion in their souls, they were strong, mighty, and prosperous. When luxury and affluence were secured, idolatry arose; and they gradually failed, and at last perished! No nation that we know of ever became great whose origin was coeval with a worship of stocks and stones. And however mighty a nation, that is idolatrous, is, if it clings to idolatry, it must fall! ”

“ I cannot think that the assertion that "a nation is but the aggregate of the individual men within it," contains the full and the complete idea of national being. A nation is Society, in an organized state, under the influence and control of broad principles and superior ideas. This does not define man, the individual: neither can any single incident or accident of the one or the other, be presented as representing the proper idea of either. The necessary mortality of man, therefore, cannot imply the necessary decay and ruin of the State, for the man dies; nay, whole generations of men die ”

“ In the idea of God, in the evolvement of the religious idea, in the pure, and strengthening, and gracious principles of Jesus, is a nation's only sure and real hope for growth and permanency. And therefore I say again—"God and our country"—for if this idea, in all its true relations, governs the minds of this people, then shall our country be unto God for ever, for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory. "For happy is the people that is in such a case; yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God." ”

“ And hence, whatever greatness or renown a country may have, it flows in from the individual, personal contributions of this, and that, and the other man, and of all our fellow-citizens; who, either by industry, enterprise, skill, talent, statesmanship, learning, or, far above all, by character and goodness, give the country a name, and add to its greatness and renown. For you should remember that no one man can make a country. ”

“ It is a wrong idea to suppose that the first ages of the world were blind and uncultivated; and equally wrong is it to suppose that man advanced from barbarism to civilization, instead of that he fell from it. ”

“ Professing themselves to be wise, they became fouls, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." And when they took birds, and beasts, and creeping things as their deities, God brought them down to the level of beasts and creeping things! and laid Nineveh, and Babylon, and Egypt, low in the dust! And where, I ask, on the face of the earth, can you find a nation that worships birds, and beasts, and creeping things, that is great, powerful, and free? ”

“ I am to show that national greatness is always correlative with the ideas of God and religion. By this I mean that a nation is great just in proportion to the clearness of its idea of God. If a people think that God is a Spirit, that idea raises, or will raise them among the first of nations. If, on the other hand, they think that God is a stone, or a carved image, or a reptile, they will assuredly be low and rude. A nation that worships stocks, or ugly idols, can never, while maintaining such a style of worship, become a great nation. ”

“ But no good citizen, no true patriot, wants his country ever to die; but wishes rather that, when buried and cold in the tomb, his country may live on, and be immortal! But here the question arises—"Is immortal life a possible element in a nations being? Such a thing has never been. Man has never witnessed vitality of this kind and of such a measure in history. China, though dating back, it is said, to the time of Noah—China, whose age numbers thousands of years—China, the oldest of all governments, is going to ruin! ”

“ All fixedness, all endurance depend on Him, whether it be the firm seating of the hills around us, or the everlasting permanency of the eternal throne! Ay, brethren, God is every thing; and all of high, and great, and noble, depends on Him. ”

“ And this, not that it should make men foolish—priding themselves on the perishing things they may amass; which is the most ludicrous thing the angels look down upon;—but wealth to do good, to glorify God, to add to the nation's importance, to push forward civilization through Africa, to promote science, to found virtuous families, to increase comfort, and to provide for those, for whose existence and well-being we as parents are responsible. And thus, by industry, by enterprise, by skill, by learning, all colored and characterized by genuine piety ”

“ But independently of ail this, we also know that if the light of letters grows dim; if the power of commerce and of wealth relaxes; if luxury cloys and enervates; and the might of arms becomes nerveless and fails; we know, I say, a power which knows no decay and which repels all weakness; which is all-vital and energic; which, amid the transitoriness of all temporal things, retains the fixed reality of heaven; and which, here, amid the things of time, shows even now the might and endurance of eternity:—I mean the religion of Jesus. ”

“ Whatever Liberia be now, or may become in the future, depends upon the aggregate character of her citizens. No one man can make Liberia a great nation. Her greatness, which is all in the distant future, if, indeed, she ever attain it, can never come from any single individual, be he who he may. But if you and I, and all our compatriots, "quit ourselves like men," for the glory of God in this land, and for the honor of our country ”

“ There are various causes which cause this solicitude in the breast of a good citizen: the great poet of our language says that "man is a creature who looks both before and after;" and among his many cherished sentiments, are hope for his children and love of his country. And I have no doubt that, to a great extent, it is because reason and manly feeling thus act in man, that, besides anxiety for a pure past history, a Christian patriot ponders deeply upon the interests of the future. ”

“ Religion does take cognizance of all national affairs. Christianity does maintain its ascendency on the State, and all its concernments: for one of the prime ideas of the Word of God is, the fact of Divine Sovereignty over all the nations of the earth: and the magnificent idea of the Scripture is, that the Lord Jesus Christ is of right "King of kings"—the Great Spiritual Potentate over all the empires of creation ”

“ As an officer in the Kingdom of His grace, that Kingdom which He has established in this world;—a Kingdom which is yet to rule over this and all other nations; and, as a citizen of this country, I deem it fit, and meet, that while the ideas of freedom, nationality, and independence, are fresh and lively in your minds, to bring before you the relation of Christianity to our country:—or, God in a nation ”

“ And here the Christian patriot of Liberia can see whence this nation, though young, weak, without resources, and yet in feeble infancy, can lift up its head, and look clown calmly, and with assurance, through the deep vistas of the future; and purpose in God, to have for her children, in ages yet to come, a national life; and live on forever, mindless of decay, and fearless of ruin! We know that there is no trust in wealth ”

“ Since the coming of Christ, a new principle has been introduced into this world of ours, and into national life, which can become part of a nation's existence, and thus preserve, intact, its vitality! I know the objection:—"Man dies, and he is necessarily mortal. What is a nation but the eiggregate of the individual men it contains? Therefore a nation is necessarily mortal and decaying." ”

“ Their commerce, letters, laws, luxury, could not preserve them; for there is no inherent life in commerce, letters, laws, and luxury. Their religions did not, for they were false, and all error is full of death; and therefore these nations died. But now an element has been brought into modern civilization, which was never known before, and which makes it a question, whether all nations must go down into decay and ruin. ”

“ On the contrary, my belief is that Christianity should permeate all the relations, and all the institutions of society; and hence that there is no true, faithful, exercise of the Christian ministry, unless that ministry causes the faith to touch everywhere with an illuminating, life-giving energy. ”

“ But then the question arises, what leads to commerce? to agriculture? to manufactures? to wealth? to art? I am speaking now, understand, not of the mere supply of natural wants, by fitful activity, as in the savage state—I refer to Society, if you please, in the early buddings of civilization. What leads, I ask, to these developments of organized society? Why, the enterprise of men! But what is the main spring of human enterprise? ”

“ But you will notice the condition I introduce, that is, that we quit ourselves like men—like godly men—each and every one of us, in our respective spheres. To this end the scholar must bring his lore; the merchant his enterprise and wealth; the man of letters his refinement; the artizan his skill; the mechanic his plodding energy; the agriculturalist his industry. Every effort must be made to deepen the tone of morals among us; to increase a sense of personal honor and manly integrity ”

“ We talk of a nation, but too often forget that a nation is made up of the aggregate of the individuals that live in that nation. We speak of our country, but should never fail to remember that this, our country, is composed of all the integral persons who are citizens of this country ”

“ We shall find sage and weighty observations concerning trade and commerce; industry and manufactures; agriculture and production; wealth and luxury; science and art. As a general thing, these are considered the fountain-heads, whence have arisen the mighty streams of national greatness in the different ages of the world.
There can be no doubt whatever that commerce has a vast deal to do with increasing the might and power of nations: and so has agriculture ”

“ For any one can see that neither the monarch nor the statesman could do these things alone. There is every probability, moreover, that there were as great men in Pussia and in England as these men, only that they were not in the position to lead the national mind; and, still further, that these other great men, in their several positions, were large contributors to the whole mighty mass of virtue, enterprise, and character, which swelled up the honor and the fame of their respective countries. ”

“ For although godless riches and unsanctified wealth "make themselves wings and fly away," and "perish by evil travail," and are filled with "deceitfulness," and are spoken of as "corrupted;" yet we see, both in sacred writ and in God's providence, that He gives riches, and wealth, and affluence, as precious gifts and favors, to the chosen ones whom He wills. For "Abraham was very rich" through His favor; and David had earthly prosperity in his day, and "died full of riches and honor;" and to Solomon the Lord declared—"I will give thee both riches and honor." ”

“ Folitical partisanship in the ministry is unseemly, distracting, and unspiritualizing in its influences and tendencies: but that there is any thing in the State, or in the general principles or policy of government, which is without its moral character, or, which is entirely unrelated to Christianity and the Church, is a grievous error. For every thing in this world tells some way upon religion, however merely material or secular it may be ”

“ In Hayti there exist undoubted evidences of a growing civilization, refinement, intellectual culture, and commercial expansion, and clearly showing, that, were it not for the incubus of Romanism, Haytian civilization would fast run up to its culminating point. In the United States the free black men of the North, by the encouragement of friends, by the formation of High Schools and the opening of Colleges, are making rapid progress in the acquisition of learning and in strength of character. ”

“ Our children must be trained up in intelligence, manners, and virtue, and our wives and daughters must present to the world an unstained chastity, a purity and simplicity of manners, at once pleasing and attractive, and a womanly dignity and self-respect, which shall both demand respect and excite admiration. ”

“ Other races have been swept out of existence, but God has preserved our life; and, in the lands of our captivity, has given our brethren freedom from the yoke, the light of Christianity, and some of the enjoyments of intelligence and culture. And now, wherever we loot, the acknowledged manhood of the race has been won, and the race is going upward and onward to high intelligence and increased power. Kot only are they emancipate and freed in the British and French West Indies, but, in the changes which emancipation has caused, the children of the former oppressors of our race are being reduced ”

“ I remark, secondly, that we have a further inducement to pious patriotism, from the fact that God's gracious favor is evidently manifested to our race. For three centuries we have been passing through the ordeal of trial and suffering, in the severe school of slavery: and yet in all these days God has been with our fathers, upholding and sustaining them. ”