The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men,
17 May 1776:
There is not a single instance in history
in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty
preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal
property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into
bondage.…
Nothing is more certain than that a
general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people
ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold the
rotten materials together for some time, but beyond a
certain pitch, even the best constitution will be
ineffectual, and slavery must ensue. On the other hand, when
the manners of a nation are pure, when true religion and
internal principles maintain their vigour, the attempts of
the most powerful enemies to oppress them are commonly
baffled and disappointed.…
That he is the best
friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active
in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets
himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity
and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of
God, I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country.… It is in the man of piety and inward principle, that we may
expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen,
and the invincible soldier. God grant that in America true
religion and civil liberty may be inseparable and that the
unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to
the support and establishment of both. |
