God, it ought to be
there. As the charter of American liberty, and the corner stone of our
system of public education and jurisprudence, it ought to be there. No
one has any more right to exclude the Bible from the public schools of
America, than he has to exclude the sun, for both are God's own
provision of light. It is intended of God to be the one unchanging
standard of morality and purity, for old and young; and to be as free
for all, as the common air that we breathe. Its use, at an early age,
tends to develop the conservative principles of virtue and knowledge,
which serve as the world's best protectors against ignorance, barbarism
and vice.

RISE AND FALL OF INTOLERANCE

Excluding the Bible, from the public schools of America, is an old world
innovation. In some countries of Europe, books on science, literature or
philosophy have not been permitted to be published, without the previous
approval of the government. "The Bible itself, the common inheritance,
not merely of Christendom, but of the world, has been put exclusively
under the control of government, and has not been allowed to be seen,
heard, or read, except in a language unknown to the common inhabitants
of the country. To publish a translation in the language of the people,
has been in former times a flagrant offense." (Story on the
Constitution, page 263.) [Internal link: page 263.]

The popes, as early as the eighth century, condemned the circulation and
reading of all writings unfriendly to the papacy. In 1515, after the art
of printing had been invented, the papal decree was issued, "That no
book should be printed without previous examination by the proper
ecclesiastical authority, the Inquisition." The books prohibited by it
included the bible in the English and German languages, and all the
books published by Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and other Reformers. While
the Reformers were called, heresiarchs, they proved themselves to be the
world's greatest benefactors, by giving the people the Bible.

When Roman Catholicism was the state religion of Italy, France, Spain
and Britain, it was intolerant, and by massacres and persecutions
endeavored to suppress the reading of the Bible and also its publication
in the language of the people.

In 1531, when the bishops were almost universally statesmen, lawyers or
diplomats. Henry, the King of England, by an act of parliament, which
consisted of a convocation of the clergy, became the recognized head of
t