Benjamin Franklin Morris (1810-1867) was an American historian. He wrote many insightful works, including: Memorial Record of the Nation's Tribute to Abraham Lincoln, 1865; The Life of Thomas Morris-Pioneer and Long a Legislator of Ohio, and U.S. Senator from 1833 to 1839, 1856; Historical Sketch of Rising Sun, Indiana, and the Presbyterian Church-A Fortieth Anniversary Discourse, delivered Sept. 15, 1856, 1858; and The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States-developed in the Official and Historical Annals of the Republic, in 1864, in which he expounded:
<These fundamental objects of the Constitution are in perfect harmony with the revealed objects of the Christian religion. Union, justice, peace, the general welfare, and the blessings of civil and religious liberty, are the objects of Christianity, and always secured under its practical and beneficent reign.> 1810BM001
<The state must rest upon the basis of religion, and it must preserve this basis, or itself must fall. But the support which religion gives to the state will obviously cease the moment religion loses its hold upon the popular mind.>1810BM002
<This is a Christian nation, first in name, and secondly because of the many and mighty elements of a pure Christianity which have given it character and shaped its destiny from the beginning. It is pre-eminently the land of the Bible, of the Christian Church, and of the Christian Sabbath....
The chief security and glory of the United States of America has been, is now, and will be forever, the prevalence and domination of the Christian Faith.> 1810BM003
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1810BM001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Benjamin Franklin Morris, 1864, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States-developed in the Official and Historical Annals of the Republic (Philadelphia, PA: George W. Childs; Cincinnati: Rickey & Carroll, 1864; located in the libraries of Case Western Reserve and the University of Cincinnati, Miami), p. 262. Gary DeMar, God and Government-A Biblical and Historical Study (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Press, 1984), p. 137.
1810BM002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Benjamin Franklin Morris, 1864, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States-developed in the Official and Historical Annals of the Republic (Philadelphia, PA: George W. Childs; Cincinnati: Rickey & Carroll, 1864; located in the libraries of Case Western Reserve and the University of Cincinnati, Miami). Stephen K. McDowell and Mark A. Beliles, America's Providential History (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Press, 1988), p. 94.
1810BM003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Benjamin Franklin Morris, 1864, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States-developed in the Official and Historical Annals of the Republic (Philadelphia, PA: George W. Childs; Cincinnati: Rickey & Carroll, 1864; located in the libraries of Case Western Reserve and the University of Cincinnati, Miami), p. 11. Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States; 143 U. S. 457, 471 (1892).