Public faith

“ It is the duty and the right of Christians not only to seek for the regeneration of individuals, but also to protest and work against social and political wrongs and to seek to create and strengthen a strong public Christian sentiment. ”

“ What is wanted is a revival of civic faith, a quickening of spiritual life in the political sphere, the inspiring of men and women with the conception of what may be done towards the salvation of the world, if they will but bring to bear upon public affairs the same spirit of self-sacrificing labour that so many thousands manifest in the ordinary drudgery of parochial and evangelistic work. ”

“ and I will add further, that I never did, or countenanced, in public life, a single act inconsistent with the strictest good faith; having never believed there was one code of morality for a public, and another for a private man. ”

“ Cannot the people and government perceive in us, as a people, industry, sobriety, order, and well regulated society; also a general diffusion of knowledge and dissemination of moral principle? And do they not know that these are the unmistakable signs and fruits of virtue, truth, love of our country, and high regard for her institutions? And do not such views, feelings, practices, and principles emanate from a pure and undefiled religion, a high sense of faith, practice, and obligation unto Christ our Lord, and his revealed will unto us? ”

“ It seems to me that it cannot last, as nothing can endure, or ought to endure, that is not founded upon principle; and its principle I have not discovered. In nothing, whether it be religion, or government, or manners, sacred or political or social life, do I find faith; and if there be no faith, how can there be duty? Is there such a thing as religious truth? Is there such a thing as political right? ”

“ Would I could believe that we shall live many lives and each a preparation for a higher one. Our religion, like our government, as it grows old grows complex and rotten. What we need is a simple government, a simple faith and one God. ”

“ I need not prove that in any vote, in any line of conduct which affects the public interest, every Christian is bound, most solemnly and most religiously, to follow the dictates of his conscience. Let it be for, let it be against, let it please, let it displease, no matter with whom it sides, or what it thwarts, it is a solemn duty, on such occasions, to act from the pure dictates of conscience, and to be as faithful to the interests of the great mass of your fellow-creatures, as you would be to the interests of any individual of that mass. ”

“ But let me say most emphatically, that you want a public religion that will tower high above all other influences whatsoever; that will predominate over all, and ask favors of none; that will unite mankind in charity and brotherly love, and not divide them into hostile sects, and that will infuse its spirit into, and thus give direction to, all social and political movements. Such a religion the world must have, or from this hour degenerate. ”

“ Strengthen and encourage those Protestant Representatives who are faithful to Thy cause; increase their influence, and add to their numbers. Pour out Thy Spirit upon all estates of the realm, the clergy and the laity, the rich and the poor. May they strive together, as members of one body, for the common faith. ”

“ Alas! for the number! when we hear daily of public opinion apart from the Church, and the thoughts and feelings of a Christian man; and that in a country where all have been baptized, and where nearly all would be the dutiful children of the Church but for her long, long neglect. How ominous a word is "public opinion," when we see it take against the solemn institutions of religion, and in some cases even against Christianity itself. ”

“ There are hundreds and thousands in this situation in the States, who desire to see truth, righteousness, and right prevail; but they have not strength and power of mind to break loose and say," We will be for God and none else." They follow the customs of their fathers, and more or less cling to the faith and religion of their fathers. ”

“ Be it yours to reconcile reason with faith, liberty with authority, politics with the Church. From the height of that triple majesty with which religion, age, and misfortune adorn you, all that you do and all that you say reaches far, to disconcert or to encourage the nations. ”

“ Societies, if they reflect on the end of their association, will perceive that to secure it they must observe good faith and punctuality in their engagements. The citizen, when he consults his reason, will perceive how much it is necessary, for the good of the nation to which he belongs, that he should exert himself to advance its prosperity, or, in its misfortunes, to retrieve its glory. ”

“ Let others partake of its waters in My name, that the leaders of men in every land may fully recognize the purpose for which the Eternal Truth hath been revealed, and the reason for which they themselves have been created.
CX: The Great Being saith: O ye children of men!... The Great Being saith: O ye children of men! The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. Suffer it not to become a source of dissension and discord, of hate and enmity. ”

“ Full and free discussion has indeed been the first article of our faith. We have founded our political system on it. It has been the safeguard of every religious, political, philosophical, economic, and racial group amongst us. ”

“ Let them rise with manly integrity above the mean suggestions of temporizing policy, and look only to the substantial and permanent interests of the Church, which are those of truth and charity, of freedom in alliance with order, of Christianity in its most ennobling form, and of the public welfare of the British Empire. ”

“ Faith is everywhere the support of the laws and the constitution, the foundation, therefore, of the social fabric, which could hardly hold together at all if religion did not lend weight to the authority of government and the dignity of the ruler. ”

“ The great underlying principle of democracy,—that men are brothers and have equal rights, and that God clothes the soul with freedom,—is a truth taught by Christ, is a truth proclaimed by the Church; and the faith of Christians in this principle, in spite of hesitations and misgivings, of oppositions and obstacles and inconceivable difficulties, has finally given to it its modern vigor and beneficent power. ”

“ It is not therefore a vague aspiration or a faint wish, but an active faith, an energetic volition which creates, in the freed political Power, the reality of its own moral personality and of its collective consciousness. ”

“ In this way, by gaining all the truth of the age in thought or action, by trying public opinions with its own brave ideas, by promoting good works, applying a new truth to an old error, and with unpopular righteousness overcoming each popular sin, the Christian church should lead the civilization of the age. ”

“ And, moreover, the essential rationality of the ideal gives us a right to demand that it should be recognised by all public men, by our legislators who represent us, the Press which aims at reflecting the life and thought of the age, the professors and masters who have the care of our youth, and above all by fathers and mothers to whom tender children are confided, and those men who assume the responsibility of speaking to their generation in the sacred name of religion. ”

“ But since your people hold it to be allowable and right, and a duty, for a civil legislature in a Christian country to take cognizance of matters of religious faith, (which we think should be left between each man’s conscience and the Deity,) you ought, methinks, to see nothing 195incongruous neither in a religious community taking cognizance of political matters also, and embodying in its creed and formularies decisions, not only of points of faith, but of points of politics. ”

“ Hoping, therefore, to be believed in all good faith, we say to those whose ideas differ upon several points of our creed: 'Do you sincerely want religious liberty, liberty in educational matters, in civil and political affairs and liberty of the press, which, do not let us forget, is the guarantee for all types of liberty? ”

“ It is hardly necessary to add that, throughout the whole, perfect fairness to all sections of country, local institutions, public men, political creeds, and religious denominations, has been a sacred principle and leading aim. ”

“ Far be it from me to wound, unnecessarily, the feelings of people whom I so sincerely esteem; but it is much to be suspected, that certain opinions in politics have a tendency to lead to certain opinions in religion. Where so much is at stake, they will do well to keep their consciences tender, in order to do which they should try to keep their discernment acute. They will do well to observe, that the same restless spirit of innovation is busily operating under various, though seemingly unconnected forms. ”

“ You have been told that articles of faith which hitherto you have not been bound to believe, are to be imposed upon you; that points affecting civil society and the relations of Church and State are to be treated in a spirit opposed to the laws and usages of the age; that a certain vote is to be carried by acclamation; that the bishops will not be free, and that the minority, even if eloquent, will be treated as an opposition, and will soon be put down by the majority.... ”

“ As against this, Christian Democracy, by the fact that it is Christian, is built, and necessarily so, on the basic principles of divine faith, and provides for the betterment of the masses, with the ulterior object of avaihng itself of the occasion to fashion their minds for things which are everlasting. ”

“ But it is probable that the feelings of the people, as determined in good part by consideration on subjects of politics, of morals, of business, etc., have so modified the opinions expressed by the preachers themselves, and have so reacted upon the feelings of the theological leaders, that our present dogmas, as believed by the public, are rather the result of conflicts of pew versus pulpit than of the direct action of the pulpit over the pew. ”

“ Political science can place the liberty of the Church on principles so certain and unfailing, that intelligent and disinterested Protestants will accept them; and in every branch of learning with which religion is in any way connected, the progressive discovery of truth will strengthen faith by promoting knowledge and correcting opinion, while it destroys prejudices and superstitions by dissipating the errors on which they are founded. ”

“ The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith—the text of civil instruction—the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; ”

“ Wherever they meet to worship, there they will meet to consult of their plans, hopes, and progress, as at once a distinct race and a part of the American people. Their religion is tinged with political thought, and their political thought shaped by religious conviction. ”

“ The truth is, friends, our ecclesiastical, like our political philanthropy, is grounded on faith in men—intelligent, Christian faith in the manhood, capacities and possibilities of men; and when that faith is gone, the bottom is out and we must have new foundations. ”

“ When States are so reformed, that they conforme such as are profligate, into good civility: civill men, into religious morality: When Churches are so constituted, that Faith is ordained Pastor, Truth Teacher, Holinesse and Righteousnesse ruling Elders: Wisedome and Charity Deacons: Knowledge, love, hope, zeale, heavenly-mindednesse, meeknesse, patience, watchfulnesse, humility, diligence, sobriety, modesty, chastity, constancy, prudence, contentation, innocency, sincerity, &c. admitted members and all their opposites excluded: then there will bee peace of Country and Conscience. ”

“ In conclusion, therefore, let me urge every soul who desires to be truly Christian to no longer separate Christianity from politics, but to make it the base upon which to build the future political structure. ”

“ As the political Principles here laid down and inforced, will be found strictly connected with Religion and Morals; no Apology will be made for endeavouring to establish the public Happiness of Mankind on the solid Basis of Virtue, which is the End of Religion itself.—In this Point the Writer confirms himself on the Authority of an excellent and learned Prelate, whose political Researches were of like Tendency. ”

“ In the sincere observances of the principles of true religion and virtue, we recognize the base, the only sure foundation of enlightened society and well-established government. In truth and by virtue of divine appointment we combat error, and seek to rend asunder the vail of darkness enveloping the human race. ”

“ Such a politician looking around him and seeing how the national conscience is to be touched—for unless the national conscience be touched you can never raise citizens of that kind—finds that the great power which alone can do it, is that which goes by the name of religion. ”

“ As governments grew more popular they learned to rely less on our aid. The glorious sway of Belief was superseded by direct appeals to what they called common sense, and imperceptibly, but irrevocably, the world was being Protestantized. ”

“ Under these circumstances how can faith be serviceable to morals? If no one can have faith but upon the assurance of another, and consequently cannot entertain a real conviction, what becomes of the social virtues? ”

“ Our only hope is in the work of the Christian church through all its agencies, social, ecclesiastical and educational, moulding out of the glorious material so abundantly at its disposal, a band of men who shall convert the seats of power into seats of righteousness, and make government and purity synonymous terms. ”

“ All have been agreed in one belief, that the teachings of Jesus Christ are to be carried out in political institutions, and that the form of society based on his teachings, is to be defended at any sacrifice and at all risks. ”