Page:Justice and Jurisprudence - 1889.pdf/66

Rh who are ever ready to buckle on the armor of truth and sally out against the adversaries of Christianity and the forces of wrong; who through centuries of bitter trial have ever been the acknowledged champions of moral and intellectual superiority: those noble ecclesiastics who have so interwoven religion with civil government that the soundest philosophic basis for the state must be found in those divine truths which they proclaim, and which are indissolubly connected with all that is great, good, and glorious in the destiny of the American people; who have never basely descended to foster the seed or propagate the germs of evils, which the teachings of their master and the supreme law of the land alike seek to eradicate from the breasts of the American people; who, by inculcating the practice of such principles of moral action as are conducive to the highest, purest, and best interests of mankind, have laid the foundations of the intrinsic grandeur and importance of the American state: those ministers of Christ whose church has been the natural companion of civil liberty throughout all its conflicts, and whose religion is now become the sun of the state, the source of its life and warmth, and the centre to which it gravitates: the loving disciples who, having labored long and earnestly to strike off the chains of slavery, now seek to elevate seven millions of people prostrated by the degrading despotism of centuries; who have dethroned oppression, extirpated fraud, and banished violence; whose weapons are not carnal, and whose kingdom is not of this world: those evangelists whose holy mission has been fulfilled through that progressive civilization of the church which has made an exquisite adaptation of morality to the human heart: those subjects who serve a Being able to crush all his adversaries; and who, having sacrificed all worldly passions and interests, strive unceasingly to prepare themselves for a future and higher life: the holy messengers who have proclaimed faith, hope, and charity to men; whose duty it is to magnify goodness; whose teachings have promoted the happiness of mankind by inculcating that spirit of mercy, moderation, and benevolence which has been most efficacious in the introduction of a better and more enlightened sense of justice: these addressers invoke the blessings of the Supreme