William Samuel Johnson Quotes
Imprint deep upon your minds the principles of piety towards God, and a reverence and fear of His holy name. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and its consummation is everlasting felicity. Possess yourselves of just and elevated notions of the Divine character, attributes, and administration, and of the end and dignity of your own immortal nature as it stands related to Him.
Johnson, William Samuel. Commencement Addresses. William Samuel Johnson Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York.
Karol Jozef Wojtyla
Note the emphasis on the responsibilities of parenting and bringing up the youth. This was a proclamation. As such it did not have the force of law, but was the Governor’s advice to the citizenry. It was somewhat religious in nature but in terms of separation of church and state (which would come 7 years after this proclamation when the Constitution was ratified), it was not as offensive to the First Amendment as using the law to enforce pious Christian behavior as in {623373}.
William Samuel Johnson was an early American statesman who was notable for signing the United States Constitution, for representing Connecticut in the United States Senate, and for serving as the third president of King's College, now known as Columbia University.
