ADDRESSES OF SUNDAY EVENING,
APRIL
EIGHTH.
ADDRESS OF REV. A. L. CHAPIN, D.D.
MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS
:-My
connection with this celebration is so
peculiar that I shall
crave a moment simply to explain it.
This occasion has
been looked forward to by many of your
people and not by
the people of Marietta or the people of
Ohio alone.
Many months ago, Dr. Andrews, whom I
chanced to
meet, spoke to me of the occasion to
come in the course of
a couple of years. It has been my duty
for some years to
be a student and a teacher of the
Constitution of the
United States, and of the Ordinance of
1787. I told him
my interest in both these
documents-which are essen-
tially the same-was such that I should
be here if I could
be. So I am here on personal
considerations, with a view
to learn what I can about that which is
the fundamental
document of authority to our
Government.
As you have just been told, the Council
of Congregational
(Churches, which met a year ago last
fall, have looked for-
ward to this occasion, and named five
of their number
with a request that they would be here
to represent their
interests, and to speak for them, if it
might be, in regard
to the great principles which are here
involved. I am
happy to say that one of my colleagues
is here with me-
Dr. Sturtevant; the other three are
not.
But a few days ago, I received from the
Governor of our
State-Hon. Jeremiah Rusk-a commission
requesting
me to come here to represent the State;
the youngest sis-
ter of the States which have grown out
of this ordinance
and its history.
I think I stand here in a peculiar
position,--a commis-
sioner from one of the States and from
the Church Coun-
cil; and in these capacities I wish to
say a word or two.
126
Address of Dr. A. L. Chapin. 127
First, with reference to that great
fundamental document
of our nation, from which it derives all
its authority,
which was meant to be, which has been,
and which I
believe is destined to be the continued
source of authority
and of life to the nation for a great
while to come.
I have long been confident that the
Ordinance of 1787
was essentially a part of the
Constitution, necessary to it
-a true exponent of it, throwing light
upon it, and giv-
ing force to it. What I have heard here
respecting the
history of that document and all the
contingent history
has convinced me more and more. I have
been charmed
by what was here presented; and I want
to say here, as I
mean to say everywhere, when I have a
chance to say it,
to all those who are engaged in teaching
the Constitution
of the United States, take the Ordinance
of 1787, and with
it the Constitution, which is incomplete
without it. The
ordinance throws light upon the
Constitution, and shows
just those things which every youth
needs to understand
in order to be a true-hearted citizen of
the United States.
I carry that away with me as one of the
things of this
meeting. I hope others will do the same
thing, and feel
more than repaid for it.
Then, as representing the State of
Wisconsin: Forty-
five years ago I landed at the port of
Milwaukee. Mil-
waukee was advanced a little beyond what
Marietta was a
hundred years ago; yet it is out of very
small things we
are come. All these years I have watched
the develop-
ment of city and State, and I am here to
testify that Wis-
consin owes what she is to-day, and what
she may hope to
become, to the fact that she was a
member of this terri-
tory, which was covered by the Ordinance
of 1787.
I have seen there the blessed result of
having that ordi-
nance established-established and fixed
beyond recall.
At the time when I landed in Wisconsin
the chief settle-
ment of that State was on the west side
of the State.
Perhaps it came up the Mississippi river
from the Southern
States; in love with slavery they would
have been glad to
128 Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly.
have introduced it into Wisconsin, but
they could not do it.
There was a barrier that fixed it and
settled forever the
freedom of that State in which we all
rejoice. And so the
precious principles of the constitution
as they come in that
ordinance, have guided the organization
of the constitution
of our State, and the administration of
our government
in various emergencies as they have come
forward.
We have seen that Wisconsin was one of
the five States
of the Northwest Territory, and that the
Ordinance of 1787
belongs to it as much as it does to
Ohio. Once or twice I
have found myself, while sitting here
and listening with a
great deal of pleasure to all that was
said about Marietta
and Ohio, beginning to be a little
afraid that, in this assem-
bly and on this occasion, another part
of the country that
had as much interest in this ordinance
as you had here
might be unmentioned. I am glad of this
opportunity
simply to say that Wisconsin rejoices
with you in this day,
land in all it commemorates.
It has been a great pleasure to learn
since I came here
that our excellent Governor himself was
born in Ohio, not
very far from here. He is a man of whom
we are proud
as a United States citizen. He has done
honor to Ohio
and won great honor for our own State.
You remember
how well he has stood for law and order
against the recent
rising. Perhaps among all the Governors
of the States,
he stood up as boldly in an emergency as
man could, and
crushed the very inception of that
anarchical movement.
He stands as a son of Ohio, and one who
has received his
principles from this same ordinance -
and Wisconsin will
stand with you for years and generations
to come as a part
of this grand inheritance, and as a
monument to its fathers
who framed that ordinance. These names
that have been
mentioned here are our names, a
monument of which we
are very proud, and to the results of
whose labors we are
so largely indebted.
I did not wish to go away without saying
so much for
myself and the people of Wisconsin with
reference to our
Address of Dr. A. L. Chapin. 129
interest in this occasion. And then, with reference to my
relations to the Congregational
churches-that, perhaps,
is a more fitting theme for this evening
than the other
part. In this relation I feel a special
interest. Their action
in sending delegates here was not taken
in any denomina-
tional spirit; it was not taken with any
thought of magni-
fying the Congregational church over
other churches of
our land; but it was, on the part of
this church, a definite
recognition of the fact, which nobody
can deny, that the
great element of their righteousness,
and of the brother-
hood with man, in the relation of all
parts of humanity to
each other, was as a part of mankind;
this one brother-
hood is such that these principles have
come to be estab-
lished in the Congregational churches.
The Congregational church was the first
to bring out
these principles on the shores of New
England. They
have spread all over the States, and
they have carried
those principles. I do not know that
they are any more
strongly adopted than by other
denominations, but I may
say without boasting, that the
Congregational church did
speak specifically light, and to an
ordinance that was
peculiarly their own, they owe perhaps
that great union
with fellow-creatures-the principles of
evangelical faith,
that gospel truth which we heard this
afternoon was the
foundation and spring of this life from
the beginning;
which was its strength from the first,
and which has fur-
nished this strength throughout all
history.
They stand together, not as a particular
denomination,
but they stand with open hearts and
hands, representing a
determination to maintain those principles
and to keep
alive the same state of results which
was indicated in the
Ordinance of 1787.
It is the spirit of Puritanism, I mean
pure and true Puri-
tanism. One said of the fathers who came
here, that they
had advanced somewhat upon the old
Puritanism of New
England in that they did not hang
witches, nor persecute
heretics. That was never any part of
Puritanism; it was
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130
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
an encumbrance that could not be shaken
off, it belonged
to the age in which it came over. It
took them a little
while to get rid of these things.
The spirit of Puritanism is the spirit
of the gospel of
Christ; it has the great truth of love
to each other; it must
be forever imperishable and enduring.
The idea of full personal government,
the idea of one
personal God, and of individual
accountability to Him; to
Him as the God of the world, and no less
the Father of
mankind; maintaining the simple
government which has in
it a force of righteousness which cannot
be changed, and
yet which is pervaded through and
through with the life
of that Kingdom which shines out from
Genesis to Revel-
ation as the peculiar characteristic of
Him who ordained
the Kingdom and who is carrying it out;
recognition
of what He has done to lift up men;
restoring them
from the power of sin, by the gift of
His own Son to be
their Saviour, and in the recognition of
the truth taught by
that Saviour; this truth which teaches
the accountability
of every man to God; out of which-and
out of which
only-grows the thoroughly good
conscience which is the
foundation of right in the character of
any individual man;
which recognizes law as the basis of all
right action-that
law of love which rises even before that
sense of account-
ability, and is made to pervade the
hearts of men until,
through this ascendency, the man himself
becomes a law
unto himself; then he is divinely good,
because he is self-
governed through the principle which
Christ ordained to
possess the souls of men.
It is just these principles which are to
be upheld if our
Union is to continue-if they are to be
remembered else-
where in the world-through the spreading
of these doc-
trines, not of any denomination, not of
any dogma, but
the grand doctrine which underlies the
whole; and I am
glad to believe that there is growing
among those who
accept these principles-and thus
accepting, try to live
up to them-that large liberty which will
draw them
Address of Dr. A. L. Chapin. 131
together and make them one in the
propagation of these
principles. My hopes for the future are
based upon this.
I believe the Congregational churches
will certainly not
be behind others. We have, I think,
great leaders in carry-
ing forth this work. And it is because I
believe this, that
I am glad here to represent them in
their high purpose
to be leaders, to put forth all their
energies to bring out
these great measures and propagate these
principles; and
to bring out all that is most important
in our nation and
in the application of our government. I
will add only
a word further. As I have listened, and
have had things
I had heard before presented to me in a
new light, I am
struck with the wonderful providence of
God, which has
ordained the course of events, which has
brought about
just this condition of things in which
we do so much
rejoice.
I am exceedingly glad that it has been
my privilege to
be here. I go away instructed. I go away
confirmed in
all my love of the Constitution under
which I live, in all
my purpose to do what I can for it while
I live, that it may be
sustained and prospered. I go away with
a heart raised
in devout thanksgiving to the God of the
Nation. I go away
with a hope based upon His promise,
based upon that which
we have experienced in the past-that in
the future, in spite
of all the difficult problems which we
have before us, in spite
of the threatening evils which prevail-this
Union is not
to be governed by man's wisdom; but by
God's guidance of
man, in the application of all these
principles, put to greater
good, till it shall be indeed the
Government of the earth,
delivered from all evil, gladdening all
nations, and established
in the Kingdom of God, whose law is
love, and which shall
stand forever.