And how could it be otherwise?  If we had not positive facts before our eyes, if we did not know that one entire sect of Christians, the Quakers, have devoted themselves, body and goods, to the service of poor fugitive slaves, if we did not recognize the deep Puritan imprint in the movement which has colonized Kansas, and in that which has borne Mr. Lincoln to the presidency, should we not be forced to ask ourselves whether it is possible that the Gospel remains a stranger to a struggle undertaken for liberty?  There exist, thank God, between liberty and the Gospel, close, eternal, and indestructible relations.  I know of one species of freedom which contains the germ of all the rest—­freedom of soul; now what was it, if not the Gospel, that introduced this freedom into the world?  Remember ancient Paganism:  neither liberty of conscience, nor liberty of individuals, nor liberty of families—­such was its definition.  The State laid its hand upon all the inmost part of existence, the creeds of the fathers, and the education of the children; moral slavery also existed everywhere, and if slavery, properly called, had been anywhere wanting, it would have given cause for astonishment.  The Gospel came, and with it these new phenomena:  individual belief, true independence makes its advent here on earth, a liberty worthy of the name appears finally among men.  From this time we see men lifting up their heads, despotism finding its limits, the humblest, the weakest opposing to it insurmountable barriers.

They act without reflection, who attempt to place in opposition these two things:  the Gospel and liberty.  And remark that in the United States, in particular, the Gospel and liberty are accustomed to go together; they first landed together at New Plymouth with the passengers of the Mayflower.  Why had these poor pilgrims torn themselves from all the habits of home and country, to seek in the dead of winter an asylum on an unknown soil?  Because they loved the Gospel, and because they desired liberty; the chief of liberties—­that of the conscience.  From the 21st of December, 1620, there existed on the shores of the New World the beginning of a free people—­free through the powerful influence of the Gospel.  All who have studied the United States with sincerity, will ratify the opinion of M. de Tocqueville:  “America is the place, of all others, where the Christian religion has preserved the most power over souls.”  This power is such, that we find it at the base of all lasting reforms.  In this country, in which the idea of authority has little force, there is one authority, that of the Bible, before which the majority bow, and which is of the more importance inasmuch as it alone commands respect and obedience.