Show RELIGIOUS BELIEF M JOHNSON once said in the house of that the framers of the constitution recognized the eternal principle that mans relation with his god is above human legislation and his rights of conscience inalienable seasoning acas not necessary to establish this truth we are conscious of it in our bosoms it is this consciousness which in defiance of human laws has sustained so many martyrs in torture and in llames they felt that their duty to god was superior to human enactments and that man could exercise no authority over their conscience it ay iy an inborn principle ing can eradicate the bigot big ot in the pride of his authority may loose sight of it but strip him of his power proscribe a faith to him which his conscience rejects threaten him in turn with the dungeon and the fagot and this spirit which god has implanted in him rises up in rebellion and defies you that is as grand a principle as was beyor uttered and we maintain further that oven man himself is not master of his faith it is by circumstances when belief is grounded on truth and a person becomes in possession of true faith it is impossible for him or any earthly power to eradicate it from the mind honce the folly of test oaths and lays that interfere with the religious belief or the rights of conscience they can accomplish nothing |