Leander Ker

“ And who can tell why the progress of Liberty, dear to heaven as Christianity, should have been so slow among the nations of the earth? The causes of all these things which perplex the good and confound the wise, are alike hid, from the knowledge of angels and of men, wrapt up in the inscrutible councils of Him, whose thoughts are not our thoughts—and who giveth no account of himself to his servants. What a field for reflection is here! but man was made for action as well as reflection—and it is wisdom to act where reflection is useless and vain. ”

“ We must meet our destiny, and our high calling as a people. Truth calls, humanity calls, the nations of the earth, that see the star of Liberty rising higher and higher and growing brighter and brighter in the western world, call upon us, as they begin to feel its vivifying light and warmth, to preserve its brilliancy that they may find their way out of the darkness of despotism and walk in its light, and repose beneath its smiles. ”

“ As soon will the sun roll his chariot back to the chambers of the morning in obedience to your mandate; and the wild turmoil of ocean—lashed into the utmost fury and wrath, sink into silence and repose at your bidding; or you might as well command the flashing lightening to slumber in the dark bosom of the thunder cloud as it rolls in darkning grandeur along the skies and shrouds in its sable robes the glories of the summer landscape, as arrest now the progress of liberty. She is going forth conquering and to conquer, nor will she halt until tyranny is driven from its last abode on earth. ”

“ And could these United States, whose bright galaxy of Stars, accumulating in numbers and brilliancy, exciting the wonder, awe and fear, jealousy, hate and hope of the world, be persuaded to return to the bosom of Albion’s lion; that by our united energies, and industry we might contribute our part to that lion’s share? It is from such considerations as these that we can judge of the progress that Liberty has already made in our world. ”

“ And yet truth is the alone conservative principle in the universe of God—; the child of God, the apple of his right eye, and the most precious jewel of his throne and his crown. And yet in the economy of the universe, an economy founded upon the accredited principles of wisdom, benevolence and utility, how striking the contrast between the spread of error and the spread of truth; the progress of folly and that of wisdom—; the slow advances that knowledge makes upon the strong-holds of ignorance—, superstition and vice! ”

“ Christianity has not only brought “life and immortality to light”; it has also brought liberty to light; as well as every thing else that is essential to the improvement, happiness and exaltation of our nature in time and eternity. Liberty as well as immortality, is not the creation of Christianity—much less the invention of men. It has a higher and holier origin, as well as a nobler mission to our world than to be a device, and prostituted instrument in the hands of selfish demagogues to serve their infamous purposes, at the sacrifice of honor, honesty and truth. ”

“ An intelligent people well not be slaves; and an ignorant people cannot be free.
Liberty can no more consist with ignorance, than truth can harmonize with error; or good with evil. And they who would expel despotism from the world, must first extinguish ignorance; this is the first and most essential step: for despotism of every kind is the penalty, and the hard penalty of ignorance. God has so ordained it. And in the complex character of his moral administration over this world, he has ordained that knavery and oppression shall be the scourge of ignorance and folly. Knaves grow fat on fools ”

“ For what purpose has God created mystery within mystery and wonders beyond wonders in endless cycles in the heavens above—and the earth below; but in order that the mind and intellect of man, might never slumber nor decay, for want of subjects to excite to enterprise and research—; and that so long as generations of men shall endure each may find something new to employ and delight the illimitably progressive mind? But how necessary is liberty for the exercise of this high—this glorious and divine prerogative of man! ”

“ Oh how feeble and incompetent the sagacity of the statesman, and the wisdom of the politician to measure and estimate the future and ultimate results of Liberty, which is now just beginning to alarm the nations and “shake terribly the earth” And who does not feel the conviction growing stronger and deeper, that God has chosen the American nation as his agent to confer the last and greatest of blessings upon the world? God has ever pursued this course, of employing men and nations to execute his purposes of mercy and love and the contrary, and why not do so still? ”

“ We see, in the far off, distant and misty, political landscape of our world, as we ascend the now broad and tranquil stream of Liberty—here and there a few bright and sunny spots, green and redolescent, sparkling in their isolated beauty, in the moral darkness and waste around them, and showing to the eye of the beholder that here the waters of life are silently flowing. ”

“ Aim at knowledge deep and varied: cherish sentiments of the largest and loftiest liberality; the character of the age demands it, Liberty commands it; and God and man are honored and glorified by it. And let your many privileges—great and important as many stimulate you to the highest and noblest resolves while they fill you with gratitude to your God, love for your country, and devotion to the thrice sacred cause of Liberty. ”

“ It is an interesting task to trace the progress of Liberty in our world—to mark its struggles and slow and tedious advancement—, how its advancement—like that of all truth has the same obstacles to encounter—and the same difficulties to overcome—; and how in the end it is omnipotent and must therefore prevail; and then with blessings large and varied, which have acquired their maturity and perfection during these ages of slow progression, she enriches all who embrace her. ”

“ And for what purpose has God put into our hands the sacred Charter of our immortal destinies, in the hallowed records of which are wrapped up by the wisdom of a father’s love all our multiform interests, which will, under the vivifying and elevating influence of this charter—spread themselves out in all the beauty and grandeur of their perfect developments, over the landscape of time, and over the illimitable fields of eternity? A charter that secures to man all the good that earth and time can yield—and all that heaven and the universe can bestow ”

“ Kings, priests and tyrants, may teach otherwise—and argue otherwise, with tongue, pen and sword, and write their arguments in the blood of slaughtered nations, but it is against high heaven, they write, fight and argue, and in the end they shall eat their own arguments and swallow their own swords. They may prate too “ad libitum” about divine right, power and privilege; but they have yet to learn that whatever divine right, power and privilege there may be in the world—these all belong to the people to be exercised by them for their advantage, honor and happiness, through their official agents ”

“ The world is the patrimony of Liberty by divine right, and she will not rest until it becomes hers by right of occupancy. Call not the progress of Liberty aggressive encroachments: call not these events now in progress, and those in embryo the lawless effusions of licentiousness and rapine. It is the finger of God and his spirit that inspires and guides these things, which to the enemies of Liberty are so offensive and alarming. ”

“ True this was not the purpose for which the son of God visited our world, but it was an incidental and inevitable consequence growing out of the state of society, a state of things which a long reign of wickedness in high places had established in the world, and which would not yield its hold upon society without the most violent contest,—blood and desolation. And just so with Liberty; she has a parallel course to run—, a parallel contest to wage, a parallel object to gain, parallel triumphs to record; each in its own way promoting the glory of God, and the welfare of man. ”

“ Here then is the charter of Liberty to man as a divine gift. Nothing can be more comprehensive than it is. Nothing is excepted—, nothing forbidden. No tree stands in this intellectual garden, a garden whose limits are the limits of the universe, whose tempting fruit has an interdict of exile and death thrown around it ”

“ And when the despots and Statesmen of the old world tell us they cannot understand our institutions—and our Government which are the peculiar results of Liberty they declare the honest truth of their minds. It is foolishness unto them; a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence; just as Christianity in her simplicity and purity was to the philosophers of Greece and Rome, as well as to the Jewish scribe, pharisee and priest. ”

“ And oh what eye but the eye of omniscience can see how much of blood and tears, how much of suffering and misery each and every truth has caused in its advancement to its ultimate consummation before it could bless men and nations!
And thus from the time God said “Let there be light” has knowledge warred with ignorance—, truth fought with error, and Liberty with despotism—and the world has been, still is, and yet shall be unknown ages to come—the great battle field on which these antagonistic forces are marshalled in ceaseless hostility against each other ”

“ We must fill our mighty destiny and calling; a destiny whose high origin started in the age immediately succeeding the flood, ere the sun had yet dried the surface of as drowned world. What time Ham, by his transgressions, entailed a burning and withering curse upon his offspring, when the father of the third part of the human family at that time, fell by sin and like the first father of mankind hurled his posterity into misery and wo, adding thus a second curse to a part of the human race—a curse that may be destined to run out parallel in duration with the one originally entailed. ”

“ Little did they know that the cries and groans wrung from a thousand hearts by their unfeeling cruelty, would in after ages startle grim tyranny himself in his gloomy abode, with the cries of wrath and vengeance, and be the battle cry to lead the sons of freedom to victory and conquest. Little did they think that Liberty like her twin sister Christianity flourished most, and was most strong and pure when most persecuted and assailed ”

“ Liberty then is a high, and a holy thing; and is the greatest of all the gifts and blessings God has given to man, because it gives a value and importance to all other gifts and blessings. But Liberty is more, it is a high moral obligation.—It is my right, my privilege and duty to know for what purpose I am placed in this world—and how I can best honor my Creator, serve my country, benefit my fellow men and promote, consistently with these duties, my own welfare and happiness. ”

“ The false light of the age has discovered that every thing is radically and fundamentally wrong; that the arrangements and order of Providence do not suit the advanced state of society; and that the principle of voluntary association is the great panacea for all the moral, religious and political evils, society is heir to: that even Liberty and Christianity must be put under safe restrictions, lest men become, under their unrestrained influence, lawless and wild. ”

“ Such oppression destroys the energy and intellect; of the people, by destroying the independency of the individual mind, and superinduces instead thereof animal passivity, which when goaded to madness as in, the case of the French revolution,—brute madness—it is alike terrible and destructive to error and truth. And therefore it was that the revolution in France failed. And yet its lessons written in fire and blood are scarcely less valuable to the cause of Liberty than is the successful experiment and result of our own revolution. ”

“ Liberty demands mind, intellect, knowledge, large and varied with virtue pure and lofty in all her sons; and with these she insures success and victory over all her foes, hut when these are wanting she spreads her wings, like the eagle, and flies to her native heaven. ”