ing, save as they assist the Moral purpose of God in the development
of humanity. To this test we must bring the symbols of the Republic, and
judge whether they are fitting and consistent. No matter what else they
accomplish, no matter what else they signify, if they do not serve this
end they are either incomplete instruments, or vain forms. For, Man is
of more worth than Institutions; Religion is greater than politics; and
the designs of Providence are wider than the cycles of National destiny.

I turn, then, to the signs of our own national greatness; I turn to
these symbols of spiritual freedom and political equality; and I
ask--how completely do they develop this most significant symbol of
all--how completely do they serve the purposes of God in History--by
securing the welfare, the culture, the moral elevation of humanity? And
the reply is--that, by our institutions and our endeavors, these ends
have been served in various ways. There is here, to-day, a more
enlightened, free, self-governed humanity--and we say it without
arrogance--than anywhere else on the globe. Our benefits are of the kind
that are not realized, because they are so great and familiar--like the
light and the air; but take them away, or transfer us to some other
atmosphere, and how we should miss them, and pine and dwindle! Let no
man, in his zeal for bold rebuke or needed reform, overlook what has
been done, and what is enjoyed here, as to the noblest results of
national greatness and power.

But every sincere man must say likewise that, with us, the
_possibilities_ are far greater than the _performance_; that these
symbols are the splendid tokens of what _may be_, rather than what _is_.
And, that I may bring this discourse to a practical conclusion, let me
say that two things, at least, are necessary to convert these
possibilities into the noblest achievement.

In the first place, it is essential that every citizen of the republic
should recognize his own manhood; the sacredness of his own personality;
and should recognize this especially in relation to his duties, which
are inextricably involved with his rights. For here it is true in a
special sense, that the mass is but an aggregate of personalities--that
public sin is but the projection of your sin and mine. A man will often
say that he is responsible to his country, and responsible to his
constituents; but upon no claim, by no sophistry, should he suffer
himself to forget that he is als