of having one pope they had many popes, consequently many Protestant sects; and these took the place of that one apostolic church originally established by the apostles.  Notwithstanding, there were some, in all lands that remained steadfast to the principle enunciated by Martin Luther:  “Unless I be convinced by Scripture and reason, I neither can nor dare retract”; and so it came to pass that there were Protestant persecutions as well as Catholic persecutions; and so also it came to pass that men became wearied with this intolerance, and determined to seek beyond the Atlantic Ocean a place where they could worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, with none to molest them or make them afraid.  It was for such cause that the Puritans settled in New England, the Quakers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the Scotch and Irish Presbyterians in North Carolina; and it was for this cause that the French Huguenots, driven out of France by the French king, came to South Carolina.  The most notable cause that induced the planting of the thirteen original colonies here in North America was religious persecution in the Old World.  And as the oak grows out of the acorn, so out of these colonies has grown this nation of which we are so proud.

Great Britain became more Lutheran than Germany, the native land of Luther, and God lifted the British nation up to become the chiefest nation of the world; the United States of North America became more Lutheran than Great Britain, and the eyes of the world are fixed on us in admiration and astonishment.  God blessed the house of Obededom, and all that he had, because the ark of God was in it.

But there are spots on the sun, and there are exceeding blemishes in our Protestantism, notwithstanding the fact that the glory of the American people has grown out of it.  The image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream had feet and toes, part of iron and part of potter’s clay, partly strong and partly broken.  So it is with our Protestant sectarianism, and because of it we are partly strong and partly broken.  Compare the Protestant United States with Catholic Mexico, or compare Protestant Great Britain with Catholic Spain, and compared with these nations we have the strength of iron, but judged by our sectarianism we have the weakness of miry clay.

My friends and fellow citizens, I have the honor to represent to you a people that have said we will go back to that order of things originally established by Jesus and the apostles—­we will make no vow of loyalty to any but Jesus, and we will have no bond of union save the testimonies and commandments of the Lord as given to us by the Lord himself and the holy apostles.  Out of this we hope may grow such a union of God’s people as Jesus prayed for when he prayed that all Christians might be one.  We are striving for such an order of things that Protestants may present a united front against the world, the flesh and the devil, and against all disloyalty to Jesus.