THE GOD PROPOSED FOR OUR NATIONAL CONSTITUTION. IT is said, that, "once upon a time," the frogs were desirous of having a king. On looking around for a suitable individual, they spied a fat ox feeding in the meadow. Admiring his majestic appearance, they sent a deputation to wait upon him, and ask him to accept the position. The ox, nothing loath, strode down to the marsh, and was properly installed king of frogdom. His happy subjects crowded around him to present their congratulations; but, unfortunately for them, as he moved his ponderous body to return the compliments that were croaked from every side, beneath his royal hoofs lay a dozen of his loyal subjects crushed to the earth. Too late they discovered that an ox, though a fine-looking animal, is no fit monarch for frogs. Before we think of placing a God in the Constitution of these United States, it must be well to examine the character of the individual proposed for the position, or we may find ourselves in the condition of the frogs in the fable; death following every step of our God, and we powerless to stop the destruction. 277 Up to the present time, I have heard of but one God who has been proposed for the highest of all offices in the gift of the people; and that is the Christian's God, whom Jesus declared to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God, then, that we are asked to make the God of these United States, is Jehovah, the God of the Jews, whose sayings and deeds are recorded in their so-called sacred books and in the Christian Scriptures, from which we can, fortunately, obtain a knowledge of his actual character. It is furnished, if we are to believe what these books say, by himself and his friends, it is true; and this must be taken into account, as we may suppose them to represent him in a more favorable light than the facts will really warrant. Moses gives us a portrait of him that is very beautiful: "He is the Rock; his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deut. xxxii. 4). What an excellent example to place before the officers of our government! Of himself he says, "The Lord God is merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exod. xxxiv. 6). Who could object to such a God as this? He needs but to be known to be loved, but to be heard to be obeyed. It may be well, however, to see whether his deeds correspond with his words. Men accepted for what they claim to be, and State-prison convicts are patterns of all excellency. It may possibly be so with gods. Let us see. Jehovah informs Adam (Gen. ii. 17), that, if he shall eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, in the day that he eats of it he shall surely die. But, instead of dying in that day, Adam lived more than nine hundred years afterward. Could Jehovah have made a mistake? That is, of course, impossible. Did he really intend to deceive the man? Was not some other kind of death meant? If truthful in every other respect, we will give him the benefit of the doubt; but, if otherwise, we shall suspect him, to say the least. According to the sixteenth chapter of 1st Samuel, Jehovah told Samuel to go to Jesse the Bethlehemite, and anoint one of his sons, whom he had provided for king over Israel, in the place of Saul. But Samuel replies, "How can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me." Saul was king, and he would kill the man who thus sought to put another man in his place. Now, mark the advice of Jehovah: "And the Lord said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord." Was it for that Jehovah wished him to go? No such thing; but to anoint David king. What was he to take the heifer for? To deceive Saul, and thus escape the consequences of his deed by lying. You may call that a white lie. The crime of lying consists in the deception practised; and in this respect it was as black as any lie. The difference between that and an ordinary lie is, that it was a mean, cowardly lie. Tho man who tells an out-and-out lie stands on his feet when he tells it; but the man who tells a lie like that crawls on the ground like a snake. I have no respect How much better for cowards, be they men or gods. it would have been for Jehovah to say to Samuel, "Tell the truth, and I will attend to the consequences"! or, better still, “If you are afraid to do what I tell you, let it alone, and I will find a more courageous man"! If we are to have a constitutional God of the United States, I think it will be generally acknowledged that he should be a truthful God. I know that politicians, |