The North Star (Rochester)/1848/01/14/Religious Equality
For the North Star.
RELIGIOUS EQUALITY.
There is no equality like that of religion. Not that of laws, the most clear and inviolable; for human nature is fallible, and the most conscientious judge may, through ignorance, pass an unrighteous sentence. Not that of birth; for while some are supplied with all that is conducive to the growth and development both of body and mind, others are left to grow up like the neglected weed, without culture, and with scanty nourishment, subject to every privation and every hardship. Not that of life; for while some possess every means of a pleasurable bodily and mental existence—free in thought, free in action—others are the victims of a detestable, heaven-insulting system of slavery, which debases the soul, destroys the intellect, unmans and deteriorates the whole being. Not that of death; for while to some the coming of the last enemy is delayed by the skill of the physician and the healing virtues of medicine, others fall his early prey by the effects of protracted toil and accumulated suffering. But religion is liable to no such partialities. The wonders of creation are above, beneath, and around us. If we look up into the firmament, we behold it peopled with a thousand worlds, which forever proclaim the wisdom and majesty of their Creator. If we look around, we see beneficence everywhere displayed in the beauties of the primrose, the carnation, and the dahlia, which delight the eye, and perfume the air with their fragrance; and the notes of nature's warblers pour upon the ear their sweet songs of happiness, thrilling in each bosom like a delightful dream of paradise. And the beautifully diversified landscape—the waving trees, the green fields, and the winding stream—the rain and the morning dew, the ice and the snow—are all produced by the same uncontrolled, free, omnipresent goodness. After surveying even for a moment, these works of his Creator, what soul of man is there that does not expand in gratitude and praise, and is ready to burst forth, with the Hebrew poet, into one of those most beautiful songs, which are at the same time the very soul of poetry and the essence of adoration: "O ye frost and snow, bless ye the Lord; praise ye his name forever and ever! O ye ice and cold, bless ye the Lord, praise ye his name forever and ever! Praise ye him, all his angels; praise ye him, all hosts; mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars; kings of the earth, and all people, princes and all judges of the earth. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven."
Such is the equality of religion. It is not restricted to particular creeds, nor is it the peculiar privilege of any denomination. It is free as the air we breathe; it is extended as the universe. It is the charter of our nature, and forms a part of our very existence. It is alike the privilege of the king and the beggar—the prince and the peasant—the learned and the ignorant. It is the inheritance of all God's children—the inalienable birthright of all his intelligent creatures.—J .D.