Mt. Morris, Abraham Lincoln, Freedom, and Faith

I was invited to take part in our town's Let Freedom Ring festival this past weekend, speaking briefly before a dramatic presentation of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. You can learn about the Mt. Morris connection here.

Here's what I said:

I’ve been asked to say a few words before offering a prayer of blessing-- comments related to the freedom of religion, Mt. Morris, and Abraham Lincoln.

The Constitution of the United States was not yet fifty years old when settlers established what would become the village of Mt. Morris, Illinois.

If you don’t know the history, you’ll learn today that, even before it had a name, this community gave expression to the freedom that was articulated at the beginning of the very first article of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The village of Mt. Morris was built around, quite literally, a Methodist institution of higher learning. Founding a seminary at what was called “the summit of the open prairie”—now that’s exercising one’s freedom of religion!

Faith has continued to hold a prominent place in the life of Mt. Morris, whether you consider Rock River Seminary, Mt. Morris College (the Brethren school that took over the Methodist campus in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries), or the four churches that worship and serve within the community today.

Now, it is true that there were Christians on both sides of the civil war that began less than a quarter of a century after Mt. Morris’ founding. Many Methodists were strong abolitionists, but there were also defenders of slavery (in the North and South) that called themselves believers.

There’s a story told of President Abraham Lincoln being visited by the wives of two Confederate soldiers who were Union POWs and who had supported slavery. The wives asked for their husbands’ release and added, "They are religious men." Lincoln replied, "I don’t see how someone who thinks one man should earn his bread by other man’s forced labor can be called religious."

This doesn’t mean that religious faith is worthless, as Lincoln's continued regard demonstrates. It only shows that believers do sometimes fall short of the divine standard of dealing with other people, sometimes tragically so.

The example of Lincoln from an earlier period, the one we are remembering today in the famous debates with Stephen Douglas, shows that faith was critical in overturning slavery. Douglas' position on the issue of slavery was that “The People should decide.” This is called the principle of Popular Sovereignty. In contrast with the sovereignty of a tyrannical king or government, popular sovereignty is a good thing.

But Lincoln noted that there was a greater sovereignty. He pointed people back to the Declaration of Independence, which says that all people are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." If this is true-- if our rights come, not because The People say somebody has rights, but because each and every one is seen to be given those rights as created by God, then we dare not ignore the greater sovereignty of God.

I pray that the churches of Mt. Morris and our country can continue to serve as a reminder that we dare not ignore God as we face the challenging issues of our time, just as Lincoln and Douglas wrestled through theirs.