So our fathers said: "We shall form a secular government, and under the
flag with which we are going to enrich the air, we will allow every man
to worship God as he thinks best." They said: "Religion is an individual
thing between each man and his Creator, and he can worship as he pleases
and as he desires." And why did they do this? The history of the world
warned them that the liberty of man was not safe in the clutch and grasp
of any church. They had read of and seen the thumbscrews, the racks and
the dungeons of the inquisition. They knew all about the hypocrisy of
the olden time. They knew that the church had stood side by side with
the throne; that the high priests were hypocrites, and that the kings
were robbers. They also knew that if they gave to any church power, it
would corrupt the best church in the world. And so they said that power
must not reside in a church, nor in a sect, but power must be wherever
humanity is--in the great body of the people. And the officers and
servants of the people must be responsible. And so I say again, as
I said in the commencement, this is the wisest, the profoundest, the
bravest political document that ever was written and signed by man.