A jury was to be empannelled in a remote
settlement of this country--he happened to have left his home without a
Bible--there was no Bible in the house where the jury was to sit, and
the sheriff travelled fourteen miles calling at every house, before he
found a Bible. Pious surveyors stated to your agent that they had
traversed every settlement in a remote section of one or two of our
south western counties, that they had frequently inquired among the
settlers for a Bible, but had never seen or heard of one in a region,
say sixty miles by fifty."
There are few things more striking in the free States than the number
and commodiousness of the places of worship. In the New England States,
however general the attendance might be, none would be excluded for want
of room. The other means or accompaniments of religious instruction are
in the same abundance. How is it possible to evade the conclusion that
Christianity flourishes most, when it is unencumbered and uncorrupted by
state patronage? What favored portion of the United Kingdom could
compare its religious statistics with New England?
Religion and morality, viewed on the broad scale, are cause and
effect--a remark which is fully borne out in the Northern States, and in
no instance more remarkably exemplified than in the spread of
temperance.
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