And in his Farewell Address (September 7, 1796), which will never be forgotten, Washington says:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. For in vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice; and let us, with caution, indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 'T is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?" 1

We need not quote from the successors of Washington.' But we cannot omit one of the strongest official testimonies to religion from the second inaugural of President Lincoln, which is inspired by a sublime view of divine justice and mercy :

"Both [contending parties] read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayer of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh. If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of these offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern there any departure from those Divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the

1 Sparks, xii. 227.

2 Much material of this kind is, uncritically, collected by B. F. Morris, in "Christian Life and Character of Civil Institutions of the United States, developed in the Official and Historical Annals of the Republic." Philadelphia (George W. Childs), 1864. (831 pages.)

wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

"With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." 1

This document is without a parallel among state papers. Lincoln was of humble origin, defective education, and rugged manners, a fair type of a self-made Western American. In this second inaugural he rose above all political and diplomatic etiquette, and became, unconsciously, the prophet of the deepest religious sentiment of the nation in the darkest hour of its history. A few weeks afterwards he was assassinated, on Good Friday, April 15, 1865, and took his place next to Washington, as the martyr-president, the restorer of the Union, the emancipator of the slaves.'

1 See the whole address and the stirring scene connected with the re-inauguration in Henry J. Raymond's book, "The Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln," New York, 1865, p. 670 sq., and other biographies.

2 Lincoln was not a communicant member of any church, though he usually attended the Presbyterian services at Springfield and Washington. But he was a deeply religious man, and rose to the highest eloquence when under the inspiration of a providential view of history, such as appears in his second inaugural. A parallel to it is his remarkable speech at the consecration of the National Soldiers' Cemetery in Gettysburg, Nov. 19, 1863, which will be read long after the formal, classical, but cold oration of Edward Everett will be forgotten. "Fourscore and seven years ago," he said, our fathers brought

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forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now, we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated

Exemption of Church Property from Taxation.

5. Our government, both Federal and State, respects the sentiment of the great majority of the people by various provisions, which are, perhaps, not strictly constitutional, though not anti-constitutional, and all the more important as voluntary tributes.

The most valuable of these provisions is the exemption of church property from taxation in the Federal District of Columbia, and in nearly all the States. In some States (Minnesota, Kansas, Arkansas) this exemption is secured by the constitution, in others by legislative enactment. No discrimination is made between different creeds and sects. Jewish synagogues are included as well as Roman cathedrals. The Revised Statutes of New York State provide that " every building for public worship" shall be exempt from taxation.

The exemption is a great help to poor churches, but by no means necessary. The people who are able and willing to spend large sums for the erection of church buildings could not plead inability to pay the small sum for the legal protection of their property. All taxation is a burden, but easier to bear for corporations than individuals.

The exemption of property used for religious purposes might be abolished without detriment to religion, but it is founded in justice and can be defended on the same ground as the exemption of government buildings, colleges, public schools, hospitals, and other charitable institutions which make no money and are intended for the benefit of the people. Besides, churches improve the morals of the surrounding community, and raise the taxable value of property.

The Appointment of Chaplains.

6. Another government tribute to the religion of the people is the appointment, at public expense, of chaplains for Conto the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

gress (one for the Senate and one for the House of Representatives), for the Army and Navy, and for the military and naval academies. These chaplains are placed among the officers of government on the same footing with other officers. The law requires that they be regularly ordained ministers of some religious denomination, in good standing at the time of their appointment, and be recommended by some authorized ecclesiastical body, or by not less than five accredited ministers of said body. Proper facilities must be provided by the military and naval commanders for the holding of public worship at least once on each Sunday. Chaplains are elected from all denominations, Roman Catholic and Protestant, according to circumstances, most frequently, perhaps, from the Episcopal Church, for the reason that the Book of Common Prayer makes adequate provision for stated liturgical services, which fall in more easily with military discipline than extemporary prayer.

The several States follow the precedent of the United States, and appoint chaplains for the militia, the prisons and penitentiaries, lunatic asylums, and other public institutions, also for the Legislature (to open the session with prayer). They usually require these chaplains to be regularly ordained ministers of a Christian denomination. So does New York, in the act providing for enrolment of the militia, passed April 23, 1862. The prisons are provided with a Bible in each room.

This custom also may be sufficiently justified by the necessity of discipline and the requirement of public deco

rum.

Congress and the Bible.

7. We may add, as exceptional instances of favor, the patronage extended by the Continental Congress and the United States Congress to the authorized Protestant version and revision of the Sacred Scriptures.

In England, the printing of the authorized version of the Scriptures (without comments) is to this day a monopoly of the university presses of Oxford and Cambridge (which, it must be admitted, issue the work in the best possible man

ner, in all sizes and at all prices). No edition of the English Bible was printed in America during the entire colonial period of more than a hundred and fifty years.' The only Bible which appeared before the Revolution was John Eliot's Indian version (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 16611663), and Luther's German version (by Christopher Saur, Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1743, '63, '76).

During the revolutionary war, Bibles became so scarce that Congress was petitioned to publish the book. This was declined, but authority was given to import 20,000 copies from Europe. The first English Bible appeared in Philadelphia, 1782 (Robert Aitken). Congress submitted it to an examination by the two chaplains, Rev. W. White and George Duffield, and then recommended it "to the inhabitants of the United States," and authorized the printer “to publish this recommendation in the manner he shall think proper." This act was passed Sept. 12, 1782.

The favorable legislation of Congress in behalf of the revised version was brought about by the exertions of Colonel Elliott F. Shepard, a member of the Finance Committee of laymen aiding the American Committee on Revision. It saved them several thousand dollars by exempting from the customary duty of twenty-five per cent. as many memorial presentation volumes as they had promised to their patrons for contributions towards the expenses. This Joint Resolution of Congress was approved March 11, 1882.*

It is doubtful whether any European government would pass such an act in favor of the Holy Scriptures. Certainly no Roman Catholic government would do it. These acts of Congress show that the dominant form of American Christianity is Protestant. It has been so from the first settlements, is still, and is likely to abide. The fortunes of Protestantism are inseparably connected with the Bible, and the Bible has lived long enough to justify the belief that it will last as long as the world.

An edition of the English Bible was advertised at Philadelphia Jan. 14, 1688, by William Bradford, but it never appeared, probably because the English copyright was in the way. 2 See Document IV.