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It Isn’t Enough

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, the enslaved son of a plantation owner, Francis J. Grimké (1850–1937) became a well-known Presbyterian minister and a founder of the NAACP. He was the nephew of the prominent abolitionists Sarah and Angelina Grimké. This selection is from a 1909 sermon he delivered at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, where he was the pastor. 

“If the time ever comes when we shall go to pieces, it will not be from any desire or disposition on the part of the States to pull apart, but from inward corruption, from the disregard of right principles, from the spirit of greed, from the narrowing lust of gold, from losing sight of the fact that ‘righteousness exalteth a nation, but that sin is a reproach to any people’ [Proverbs 14:34].… The secession of the Southern States in 1860 was a small matter compared with the secession of the Union itself from the great principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, in the Golden Rule [Luke 6:31], in the Ten Commandments [Exodus 20], in the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5—7]. Unless we hold, and hold firmly, to these great fundamental principles of righteousness, of social, political, and economic wisdom, our Union, as Mr. [William Lloyd] Garrison expressed it, will be ‘only a covenant with death and an agreement with hell.’ If it continues to exist it will be a curse, and not a blessing [Deuteronomy 11:26]."

“… It isn’t enough that these States are held together, they must be held together on right principles—principles of justice, of equity, of fair play, of equality before the law for all alike. Whether there is patriotism, political wisdom, moral insight, and stamina enough to lead men to forget their differences on minor matters and to unite their forces for the attainment of this greater and more important end, remains to be seen.”

Reflection

Grimké calls out several biblical texts (and the Declaration of Independence) that provide “fundamental principles of righteousness” for civic life. He warns of consequences if the United States does not base its unity on them. What principles does he name that can be drawn from these texts? Do you agree with him? Are there others? Read through at least one of these passages today, and think about how it provides wisdom to make unity a blessing.