This is a Christian nation. Before the Revolution it was so in accord with law; since the Revolution it has remained so in fact. We, the people of the United States, guarantee full religious freedom to all within our jurisdiction, whether they be non-Christian or Pagan. But the nation itself is a Christian nation. Our standards and principles are Christian. Other creeds we protect, that all may be free. These facts must never be lost sight of.

For us of the Church this fact cannot be challenged, for the Lord has declared in modern revelation:

Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written. (Ether 2:12)

The penalty of disobedience to these principles has been declared to be that the people shall “be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them,” and that “The fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.” (Ether 2 :8, 9.)

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