Pennsylvania Supreme Court (1817) in the case of The Commonwealth v. Wolf, 3 Serg. & R. 48, 50 (1817), stated the court's opinion as follows:
<Laws cannot be administered in any civilized government unless the people are taught to revere the sanctity of an oath, and look to a future state of rewards and punishments for the deeds of this life. It is of the utmost moment, therefore, that they should be reminded of their religious duties at stated periods....A wise policy would naturally lead to the formation of laws calculated to subserve those salutary purposes.
The invaluable privilege of the rights of conscience secured to us by the constitution of the commonwealth, was never intended to shelter those persons, who, out of mere caprice, would directly oppose those laws for the pleasure of showing their contempt and abhorrence of the religious opinions of the great mass of the citizens.> 1817PA001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1817PA001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1817, The Commonwealth v. Wolf, 3 Serg.& R. 48, 50 (1817).