136 THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY.
like ours, great revolutions are accomplished; and no
movement has ever arisen so suddenly as this to so
high a position in public esteera with certain classes,
and taken so strong a hold upon their hearts.
Says Mr. G. A. Townsend (New World and Old,
p. 212):—
“Church and State has several times crept into Amer.
ican politics, as in the contentions over the Bible in the
public schools, the anti-Catholic party of 1844, etc. Ow
people have been wise enough heretofore to respect the
clergy iu all religious questions, and to entertain a whole-
some jealousy of them in politics. The latest politico
theological movement [italics ours] is to insert the name
of the Deity in the Constitution.”
The present movements of this National Associa
tion, and the progress it has made, may be gathered
somewhat from the following sketch of its history,
and the reports of the proceedings of some of the con-
ventions which have thus far been held.
From the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Commercial of Feb. 6,
1874, we take the following: —
“The present movement to secure the religious amend-
ment of the Constitution originated at Xenia, Ohio, in
February, 1863, in a convention composed of eleven dif-
ferent religious denominations, who assembled for prayer
and conference, not in regard to the amendment of the
Constitution, but the state of religion. Meetings (small
in numbers) were held shortly after in Pittsburgh and
elsewhere. At first the association was called a ¢ Relig-
ious Council;’ now it is known as the ‘National Asso-
ciation to Secure the Religious Amendment of the Con.
stitution of the United States,’ and is becoming more
popular, and increasing largely in numbers.
“ The first National Convention of the Association was
held in the First United Presbyterian Church, Alle-
gheny, Pa., Jan. 27, 1864, at which a large delegation was
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 137
2 appointed to present the matter to the consideration of
. : red :
Hon. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States.
~ An adjourned meeting was held in the Eighth Street
Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, on the 7th and
© 8th of July of the same year; and another in the same
EL city, in the West Arch Street Presbyterian Church, Nov.
© 29, 1864.
« Conventions were held in New York in 1868, in
Columbus, Ohio, February, 1869, and in Monmouth, I11.,
April, 1871. oo oo
k National conventions were held in Pittsburgh, 1870;
EE Philadelphia, 1871; Cincinnati, 1872; and New York,
1873. The National Convention which meets this aft-
ernoon [Feb. 4, 1874] in Library Hall [in Pittsburgh,
. . . . . NL
Pal, is, we believe, the fifth in order.
From the report of the executive committee at the
Cincinnati Convention, Jan. 31, 1872, it appeared
that ten thousand copies of the proceedings of the
Philadelphia Convention had been gratuitously dis-
tributed, and a general secrctary had been ap-
pointed. Nearly $1,800 was raised at this Conven-
~ tion.
The business committee recommended that the
delegates to this Convention hold meetings in their
respective localities to ratify the resolutions adopted
at Cincinnati; that twenty thousand copies of the
proceedings of this Convention be published in tract
* form; and that the friends of the Association be
urged to form auxiliary associations. All these
recommendations were adopted.
Among the resolutions passed were the follow-
ing: — |
“ Resolved, That it is the right and duty of the United
States, as a nation settled by Christians,—a nation with
Christian laws and usages, and with Christianity as 1ts
greatest social force, — to acknowledge itself in its
written Constitution to be a Christian nation.