All the articles of government and regulation ordained by the first
General Assembly, held at Upland (Chester) from the seventh to the
tenth day of December, 1682, were fundamentally grounded on this
express "Whereas, the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is
the reason and end of government, and therefore government itself is a
valuable ordinance of God; and forasmuch as it is principally desired
to make and establish such laws as shall best preserve true Christian
and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and
unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, Cæsar his due, and the
people their due, from tyranny and oppression on the one side, and
insolence and licentiousness on the other; so that the best and
firmest foundation may be laid for the present and future happiness of
both the governor and the people of this province and their
posterity;" for it was deemed and believed on all hands that neither
permanence nor happiness, enduring order nor prosperity, could come
from any other principle than that of the recognition of the supremacy
and laws of Him from whom all things proceed and on whom all creatures
depend.
On this wise also ran the very first of the sixty-one laws ordained by
that Assembly: "Almighty God being the Lord of conscience, Father of
lights, and the Author as well as Object of all divine knowledge,
faith, and worship, who alone can enlighten the mind and convince the
understanding of people in due reverence to his sovereignty over the
souls of mankind," the rights of citizenship, protection, and liberty
should be to every person, then or thereafter residing in this
province, "who shall confess one Almighty God to be the Creator,
Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and profess himself obliged in
conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government;"
provided, further, that no person antagonizing this confession, or
refusing to profess the same, or convicted of unsober or dishonest
conversation, should ever hold office in this commonwealth.
And so entirely did this, and what else was then and there enacted and
ordained, fall in with the teachings, feelings, and beliefs of the
hardy and devoted Swedish Lutherans, who had here been professing and
fulfilling the same for two scores of years preceding, that they not
only joined in the making of these enactments, but sent a special
deputation to the governor formally to assure him that, on these
principles and the faithful administration of them, they would love,
serve, and obey him with all they possessed.