e supreme law; so acknowledged by the people of this land,
at least by the thoughtful and sober part of the people? We but repeat
one of the common-places of the pulpit, which however disregarded no
one thinks of denying, when we say that the influence of religion
should be paramount in every department of life. We but adopt an
illustration with which every one is familiar, when we speak of it as
a spiritual atmosphere, that must enclose the institutions and
movements of society, and insinuate itself into every form of personal
existence. The authority of religion, its right to exercise sway over
human wills and human hearts, is admitted on all sides. It is not
monks and nuns, nor religious teachers and their families, upon whom
in these days it is believed that the command to fear God and work
righteousness expends its force; it is not men on sick beds and in
dying moments alone, of whom it is said, that they ought to think of
the duty which devolves on them in view of their relations to God and
eternity; but men and women full of life, in the midst of life's
cares, temptations and labours--the young, the vigorous, the
busy--merchants in their traffic, farmers in the fields, scholars in
their studies, mechanics in their workshops, the wife and mother in
her domestic occupations, the daughter of toil at her needle--the
rich, the poor--the wise, the simple--all should be religious,
heartily, truly, constantly religious. This is the doctrine of the
present time; or if it is not, it should be. This is the democratic
doctrine about religion, and this is the Christian doctrine about
religion. It includes all men under one law, and all sinners under one
condemnation. Now why shall the politician be released from the demand
made upon every one else? Why shall political life form an episode in
the history traced by successive generations on the tablet of the
ages, which shall have not only its own rules of composition, but its
own principles of moral interpretation? Shall mercantile life be
required to cover itself with the sanctity of moral obligation, shall
the demand of the age be for a Christian literature, shall there be a
general lamentation over the want of faith and virtue; and yet an
exception be made in favor--no, not in favor, but to the disadvantage
and disgrace--of one class of engagements, in which all the people of
this country participate? Such injustice will not bear a moment's
examination. Away with it forever!