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Text
THE BOOK
FOR THE NATION
AND
THE TIMES.
BY
A CITIZEN U.S.N.A.
PHILADELPHIA:
WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN,
No. 606 Chestnut Stheet.
1864.
�Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1864,
By WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN,
In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States, in
and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Stereotyped by a New Process, at Martien’s Foundry,
No. 21 South 7th street, Philadelphia.
�TO THE PEOPLE
the Bnited states;
FROM MAINE TO TEXAS,
AND FROM OREGON TO FLORIDA;
OUR
GREAT
ONE
AND
AND
FREE REPUBLIC
INDIVISIBLE:
HOPING THEY MAY TEND
TO ITS STRENGTH AND STABILITY,
THESE PAGES
.
ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED,
BY THE AUTHOR,
��THE BOOK FOB THE NATION.
Stop! my fellow-citizens, stop! Why be carried head
long, we know not whither, by the rapid current of these
excited times? Stop! and let us reason together. You
love your country, and fondly desire for it, honor, great
ness, and prosperity. But is it not for us to make it
honorable, great and prosperous? How can we expect it
to be such, unless we make it such? What do we need,
then, in order to be great and happy as a nation? Only one
thing; and that one thing is Goodness. All know that
we can never be truly great, without being good. With
out goodness, there may seem to be greatness for a time;
but the evil day is sure to come. Goodness is the very
soul and vitality of greatness, and of happiness. God is
infinitely great and happy, because he is infinitely good.
Let us, as a nation, be like him in the one respect, and
we shall be like him in the other. He is the fountain,
and the model, of all that is truly great and good; and
let it be our aim and ambition, to bring up our national
character to the resemblance of that exalted model.
Are we not a Christian people? We surely believe in
God. We believe that he is, and that he is our Sove
(5)
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
reign Ruler. We believe that he is good, and that we
ought to be like him, and to seek his favor. But if we
refuse to listen to his voice, how can we be or do either?
If we refuse to be guided by his counsel, how can we be
like him, or he be pleased with us? To have our nation
conformed to him, and pleasing in his sight, it must be
our effort to mould it by his will. And now, when our
nation is heaving and shaking, and passing through this
great revolution, let us stop and consider what is the
matter; and what it really needs, in order to make it, in
all time to come, both prosperous and secure. If we love
our country, and would have it redeemed from all its
evils, how can we refuse to do this ? And if we love our
country, and desire its redemption, and enduring exalta
tion, how can we refuse the application to it, of those
principles of divine, eternal truth, without which every
nation must eventually totter and fall. “ For the nation
and kingdom, that will not serve the cause of right
eousness, shall perish.”—The mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it.
It is not for an avowedly Christian people, to turn
away from the subject with the impression that it is
merely religious; nor is it by any means such. Allimportant state matters are involved; matters compre
hending the best and dearest interests of the nation.
True, indeed, the subject embraces our duty to God, as a
nation, and has, therefore, its religious aspect; but has
none the less its political aspect also. Nor should any
be alarmed about a blending together of religion and
politics; as any such alarm would be quite irrational.
Because, without a constant blending of politics and reli
gion, it is utterly impossible for national duties to be dis-
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
7
charged. All duties owing to civil society are twofold in
their nature. Divine claims are involved, as well as human;
and their discharge is, therefore, a religious duty. In its
nature, the oath administered in our courts of justice, is
a solemn act of religious worship. Rendering obedience
to civil authority has its religious aspect, because God
requires it. And so also has the administration of civil
government; for it is his ordinance, and its officers are
the “ministers of God.” The notion of keeping separate
politics and religion, is silly and absurd; it is worse, for
it is wicked. Religion ought to be blended with politics
always and everywhere. That is, all state matters ought
to be leavened with religion, but religion ought never to
be leavened with politics. Men ought to be influenced,
not by sectarianism, which is not religion, but by “pure
and undefiled religion,” in all their management of state
affairs. The spirit and principles of this religion ought
to be carried everywhere, and men be ruled by them,
whatever they do, in their politics, as in all things else.
It is not at all improbable, that the effort to separate
religion from politics, has been in no small measure the
bane of our nation. If men lay aside their religion, and
disregard its claims, when engaged in politics, how can
they prosper? To suppose they could, would be absurd.
And a nation or people who attempt to do it, will be sure
to find out that there is something seriously wrong; and
they may have to pass through many calamities, before
they attain to a knowledge of the truth.
Our nation is now suffering under very serious afflic
tions. And at such a time as this, it would certainly be
proper in the people to earnestly inquire, why it is that
we are in this sad condition. When a people, in the
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midst of their calamities, remain stolid and indifferent,
careless about their cause, it indicates a reckless and
abandoned condition of society; and that their calamities
are not likely soon to cease, nor they themselves to be
much improved by what is passing over them. It would,
indeed, be indicative of a people not worthy of continu
ance as a nation, but destined speedily to become extinct.
Better things we hope, however, are in store for our
nation. We may fondly hope, that our end is not
approaching; that we are not to perish quite so abruptly.
We do not suppose that the mission, for which the great
Ruler raised up the nation, has yet been accomplished.
He raised it up for some great and good purpose, and
that purpose has^not yet been fully attained. We doubt
not the design was, that this land should be a land of
liberty, an asylum for the oppressed, a home for the
downtrodden of other lands. And such in some respects
it has hitherto been; and such in every respect, it has
yet to become, by the purpose and providence of God.
We look forward to the time when, as a nation, we shall
be exalted by righteousness, and be that “ happy people,
whose God is the Lord.” For this end we hope he is
now dealing with us, to make us such as he will approve
and bless, and perpetuate for good.
That the Almighty Ruler of nations hath a contro
versy with us, there are but few, we presume, who will
venture to deny. These great and sore calamities, which
have befallen the nation, are not the result of chance:
they are brought upon the land by the overruling provi
dence of God. We are assured by unerring authority,
that even a “sparrow cannot fall to the ground without”
his direction; and much less can a nation be convulsed,
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9
as is ours, without his immediate control. We are
inured, too, that there is no evil with which men are
visited, but is sent of God. Amos iii. 6: “Shall there
be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” What
ever evil befalls a city or nation, the Lord sends it upon
that city or nation. The import of the whole Word of
God plainly is, that the Lord is the disposer of all the
affairs of both individuals and nations; and that the
calamities which befall either, are his visitations on
account of their sins—either for their punishment merely,
or else for both punishment and reformation. The same
infallible authority teaches also, that the Lord never
sends calamities upon nations, when they are innocent.
To suppose him doing so, would be utterly derogatory to
his righteous character. “ Will not the Judge of all the
earth do right?” So saith the Bible. And for him to
punish a nation, not for its sins, but while it is innocent,
just for its improvement, would be far from right. There
must be guilt, either by transgression or imputation, else
the infliction of punishment would be utterly unjust—
incompatible with all sense of right.
The doctrine has been advanced that the Lord is chas
tising us, not for our iniquity, but merely for our improve
ment, so as to fit us for a more exalted and useful position
among the nations. Those who do not see our national
sins, and yet believe in the overruling providence of God,
are necessarily forced into some such unscriptural posi
tion. Admitting that afflictions from God are upon us,
and not being able to see our ill-desert, it must be
assumed that he afflicts us merely for our good, and not
at all in the way of punishment. And men, by refusing
to see our national sins, may at length become quite
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
unable to see them. A man, who persists for a long time
in keeping his eyes closed and refuses to see, may at
length have his sight so impaired that he cannot see.
And a man, who habitually, for a long time, closes his
eyes to the sins of the nation, may become so blind to
them, that he cannot discern them at all. And then,
when national judgments come, he cannot, of course,
understand the cause, and is ready to invent some theory,
even though it should be inconsistent with the Word of
God. But taking that Word for our all-sufficient and
infallible guide, we cannot hesitate to believe, that the
Lord never sends calamities upon innocent nations—never
afflicts but when they are guilty; though he may design
not merely punishment, but improvement also. And in
our present national calamities, we apprehend that both
punishment and improvement are his design—to bring us
to a knowledge of our sins, so as to confess and forsake
them, and thus turn to him, that He may turn to us, with
deliverance and abiding favor.
To be made sensible of our sins is what we, as a nation,
especially require, in order to realize that the hand of the
Lord is stretched forth against us in these calamities.
Indeed, these themselves might be sufficient to force con
viction upon every mind, that we have sinned against
Heaven, and in an aggravated manner, else, in the provi
dence of God, we should not be visited with such terrible
judgments.
By the pen of inspiration we have upon record, “ for
our learning,” the Lord’s dealings with a single nation.
And the whole history of that Israelitish nation proves
most clearly, that national calamities are the punishment
of national sins; and, also, that national repentance and
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11
reformation are sure to be met by the returning favor of
the Lord, granting deliverance and peace. And from
Israel’s history, the great practical lesson to be impressed
upon all nations, in their calamities, is embodied in the
words—“ Come, and let us return unto the Lord ; for he
hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he
will bind us up.”—Hos. vi. 1. Whenever we, as a peo
ple, are brought to use this language in sincerity, it will
then be well with us; it expresses so fully that state of
feeling which is appropriate to a suffering nation. There
is the acknowledgment that the Lord has been forgotten,
and hence his claims and counsels disregarded; and that
their calamities are the inflictions of his hand: and also a
purpose to return to Him, with a recognition of his mer
ciful character—that he will pardon and bless all who
repent and obey. But evidently it is impossible for us to
be brought to a sincere use of this language, unless we
are led to understand our national sins. And our wish is
to aid in the acquisition of this indispensable knowledge.
While attempting to set forth the cause of the Lord’s
displeasure against us, it is the intention to speak of, not
individual, but national sins—the sins of the people, in
their national capacity. There are individual acts, and
there are national acts; there are individual sins, and
there are national sins. And both individual and national
sins may go to make up the guilt of a nation. Nor need
it be doubted that both have contributed to make up the
guilt of our own. National sins are those committed by
the people, in the transacting of national business; such
as adopting constitutions—voting for officers of govern
ment, whether high or low—enacting laws—interpreting
and executing laws. All such acts are national, because
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
performed in the transaction of national affairs. And all
sins committed in these and such relations, are national
sins. Nor can we doubt that many and great sins have
been committed in all departments, in the management of
our national affairs; even from the laying the foundation
of our national system, and during the direction and
management of it ever since. We have sinned in the
adoption of our Constitution—we sin in appointing our
rulers—in the enactment of our laws—in our judicial
decisions—and also in the executing of our laws. But
the primary and radical sin is, no doubt, found in our
Constitution; and lays a foundation for the easy and
ready commission of all the others.
It will be the part of wisdom, then, honestly, consci
entiously, and in the light of divine truth, to examine
into the nature of this Constitutional and radical sin,
which doubtless entails upon us many others, and leaves
us so much exposed to the Divine displeasure. And if
we are willing to submit to a Scriptural examination, it
will probably appear that our great Constitutional and
radical sin consists in a kind of practical, national atheism.
Not avowed atheism, but latent, practical atheism—refus
ing to acknowledge G~od, and his sovereign authority over
us as a nation.
If we are a Christian people, how can we object to
being tried by the Word of God ? Our leading statesmen
and orators everywhere assume that the nation is Chris
tian ; and if such, how can we refuse to take Christ’s
law for our standard and test of character. A people
who believe in the Word of God, cannot consistently
refuse to be tried by that Word. And if we seek to
have the nation such as it ought to be, then must we
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13
have it moulded by the Divine will, and if moulded by His
will it must be through the application of His Word. If
we, as a nation, despise the Word of the Lord, how can we
ever expect to be prosperous and secure ? “ The Lord
hath magnified his Word above all his name.” He has
honored it above all else, whereby he makes himself
known, and we ought to honor it too. As a nation,
we ought to honor the heaven-given Book of God, and
feel that we are honored by having the privilege. But
we have neglected it: we have slighted it: we have disre
garded its counsels, and set it at naught. This is one of
our national sins, and is recoiling upon our own heads.
See where we are now! What wasting floods of evil have
flown over our formerly God-favored land I and all
through the rejection of Iris Word, “ which is perfect, and
makes wise the simple.” This is our fatal Pandora’s box,
from which have issued the countless miseries now afflict
ing us as a nation. The leaven of divine truth would
have saved us. It will cause any nation to grow great,
stable, and enduring. It is the genuine balm to heal the
wounds of our torn and bleeding land. Why should we
hesitate to have recourse at once to its application. It is
the true and only remedy; and will save the nation from
the deadly maladies still wasting its vitality. Let us,
then, build upon this true foundation; having our Consti
tution and the Bible blended together, as the immovable
basis of our national fabric. The edifice will then be firm
and abiding—the Bible being imperishable, so also will be
our Constitution—assaults upon either will be assaults
upon both; and both will have the same Almighty defence
and shield.
But in order to the blending together of the Bible and
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
our Constitution, the latter must be made to harmonize
with the former ; and this can be done only by the adop
tion of certain amendments, for which provision has been
made in the instrument itself. What they are, we learn
only from the Word of God, as this is the standard
by which the deficiencies of our Constitution are to be
ascertained. According to human authority, our Constitu
tion might be considered almost faultless, as it is doubtless
the best ever framed by merely human wisdom. But the
question is not what it ought to be in the estimation
of men, but what it ought to be in the sight of God. We
are not now treating of our responsibility, as a nation, to
men or other nations, but of our responsibility to God
himself; and hence, the standard by which we must
be tried is his Word, and not th'e views and expositions of
politicians and statesmen, however distinguished they may
be. The elaborate disquisitions, settled principles and
dogmas of learned and profound statesmen, are of no
weight, when brought into competition with the wisdom
and requirements of the Almighty. As we are not
discussing our duty to men or nations, but our duty to
God, so from God we must learn what that duty is—
measure ourselves by the standard of his Word. And it
is a standard of supreme and divine excellence. Had
our nation been framed and fabricated in all its parts, in
accordance with the pattern there exhibited, happy would
it be for us this day. Instead of being under the dark
cloud—under the anger and displeasure of a righteous
God, we should be sitting in the sunlight of his favor,
sweet peace and prosperity smiling around every habita
tion. For “ when a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh
even his enemies to be at peace with him.” And so with
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
15
a nation. When its ways please the Lord, he makes it
to sit in peace and safety, “ under the shadow of the
Almighty,” free from alarms within, and the assaults of
enemies from without.—“Blessed is that people whose
God is the Lord.”
But, alas! we are not that people; and with shame we
ought to confess it, that in the framing of our Constitu
tion, we have refused to take the Lord to be our God;
and have framed it without any reference, either to his
existence, his authority over us, or to his law. It has
been framed, in short, just as though there were no God.
“The fool hath said in his heart, No God.” The import
of the workings of his heart is, “No God.” The lan
guage or voice, sent forth by these workings, says, “No
God.” And such is the import of our Constitution. “No
God,” is the meaning of its voice—the signification of it,
from the beginning to the end. There is no God recog
nised in it, for the nation to look to for help, to honor, to
trust, or to obey! And, my dear fellow-citizens, may I
not appeal to your sense of propriety—is it desirable for
us to have a nation, that has no God?
The great and radical defect in our Constitution is, that
the sovereignty of God over the nations of the earth is not
acknowledged. The government of God over our nation,
is not recognised nor admitted in any way. The entire
instrument is drawn up in such a manner as to imply,
that in conducting the affairs of the nation, the govern
ment of God is to be left entirely out of the account. And
God is thus dethroned, so far as this disowning of his
authority can do it. And all our State Constitutions are
defective in the same way : none of them acknowledges
the government of God, as it really exists, as he main
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
tains it over the nations. This, then, is the great primary
and radical sin of the nation. God’s government, as it
actually exists by his own appointment, is disowned and
set at naught by our Constitution, by all our Constitu
tions, and generally in the management of our national
affairs. Some may imagine that this can scarcely be pos
sible ; but let us calmly examine and see.
The Bible teaches very fully, that God hath established
a government over the nations; not merely over the indi
viduals who compose the nations, but over the nations, as
such. And the Bible as clearly teaches the nature of that
government. It is a delegated government—the govern
ment of the Son of God, in his mediatorial capacity—the
man Christ Jesus ruling over the nations, for the good of
man, and the glory of God.
The divine arrangement for the government of the
nations is clearly, fully, and forcibly set forth in the
second Psalm. It commences with a description of the
organized opposition of the nations to the “Lord and his
anointed”—God and his Son, the Messiah, the conse
crated, Supreme Ruler over all: “Why do the heathen
rage?” Though the heathen are mentioned, yet the
reference is not merely to the opposition of heathen civil
rulers; for the rulers of the Jews themselves are also
comprehended, as we are told in Acts iv. 27. Nor is
the language to be restricted to the events connected
immediately with the condemnation and crucifixion of the
Redeemer. Those events were only a continuation of
what is implied in the language; and until this very day,
there is still a continuance of the same. The language
of the Psalm had a significance and application, before
Christ came, and when he came, and still has its applica
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
17
tion until this present time. It is descriptive of the oppo
sition made to the “Lord and his anointed,” as these
were represented and shadowed forth by the theocracy
established in the nation of Israel. And so the prophecy
still has its fulfilment, in the opposition of the nations,
refusing to acknowledge and submit to Christ’s claims and
authority; and in various ways preventing the establish
ment of his reign of righteousness in the earth.
“ The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers
take counsel together against the Lord, and against his
anointed; saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and
cast away their cords from us.” The rulers of all nomi
nally Christian nations have been, and still are, pursuing
this guilty course. Because, in framing Constitutions,
enacting laws, in the execution of laws, and in the whole
management of governmental affairs, they refuse to be
controlled and regulated by the authority of God and his
Christ. They “cast away their cords, and break their
bands asunder,” by refusing to recognise and submit to
the requirements of the divine law, and the rightful
authority of King Jesus, “the Prince of the kings of the
earth.”
And having described the organized opposition of the
nations, to God and his Christ, the Psalm proceeds to set
forth the arrangement which the Lord hath made with
his Son, for their government. He says, “Yet,” or not
withstanding this opposition, “have I set my King upon
my holy hill of Zion.” And he gives to him “the heathen
for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth
for his possession;” and also to “rule them with a rod
of^iron,” and to “break them in pieces like a potter’s
vessel.”
2
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
Thus there is set before us the divine appointment of
the Lord’s anointed, the Messiah, the Son of God, in his
mediatorial capacity, to be the sovereign Ruler of the
nations. And the various Scriptures which teach the
same doctrine, are numerous and explicit. Some of them
are the following, Ps. lxxxix. 27 : “I will make him first
born,” that is, preeminent, above all others in authority,
as explained in the next clause, “higher than the kings
of the earth,” being invested with power and authority to
reign over them. Ps. ex. 1: “The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine ene
mies thy footstool.” He sits at the right-hand of the
Father, the place of supreme honor and authority over
all—He alone being excepted, who hath placed him there.
And there, we are told, “he shall strike through kings in
the day of his wrath;” and “judge among the heathen;”
and “fill places with the dead bodies;”—see the fulfil
ment in our own bleeding land!—and “wound the heads”
or chief ones “over many countries.” And in Ps. lxxii.
it is foretold of him, that “ He shall have dominion also
from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the
earth.” The import of which is, that his authority is
universal, over the whole earth. It is there said also,
“Yea, all kings shall fall do'wn before him: all nations
shall serve him.” Not merely people, but “kings” and
“nations;” so that civil rulers and governments ought to
acknowledge his sovereignty over them.
And what is foretold in the Old Testament is declared
in the New to have passed into actual fulfilment. For
instance, in Eph., first chapter, it is said that God raised
Christ from the dead, and “ set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places; far above all principality
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
19
and power, and might and dominion, and every name that
is named; not only in this world, but also in that which
is to come: And hath put all under his feet, and hath
given him to be head over all to his body the church.”
Here, then, it is explicitly declared, that the man Christ
Jesus, after his crucifixion and resurrection, was exalted
to the throne of supreme dominion, and sways a sceptre
of universal empire over the wide creation of God. He
sits upon the holy hill of Zion, in the heavenly Jerusa
lem, exercising his delegated authority over all rulers and
nations of the earth. And the same doctrine is clearly
taught in Phil, ii.: “Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of those in heaven, and on earth, and under the
earth: and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” “Jesus Christ
is Lord,” that is, supreme and universal governor; and
the exercise of this delegated authority is to the glory of
God the Father. This supreme^ authority of Christ is
set forth again in Col. ii. 10, where he is declared to
be “the head of all principality and power.” And in
1 Pet. iii. 22, the same is emphatically expressed ; for it
is said of Christ that “ H<?is gone into heaven, and is on
the right hand of God; angels, and authorities, and pow
ers being made subject unto him.” And so also, in Rev.
i. 5, he is declared to be “ the Prince of the kings of the
earth.” So that all earthly rulers are the subjects of his
universal dominion.
Thus we see that the prophecy contained in the Psalm
has its fulfilment in the exaltation of the man Christ
Jesus to the right hand of God; where he sits as king
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
upon the holy hill of Zion, in the heavenly Jerusalem.
There is reference, no doubt, to the earthly mount Zion,
the seat and centre of the theocracy established over
Israel, and administered by the house of David. His
descendants were to occupy that throne; but the succession
terminated in the Son of David, the Messiah, “ the
Lord’s anointed,” with preeminence. And when he
came to the throne the seat of dominion was transferred
from the earthly to the heavenly mount Zion. The
nationality of God’s people then ceased, and their govern
ment was no longer to be circumscribed by the bounda
ries of a single nation. Their Prince was to rule over all
nations; but with a “kingdom not of this world”—not
with an earthly, but a heavenly reign; and hence, the
seat of his empire must be, not the earthly, but the hea
venly mount Zion. It is the same throne as that occupied
by king David ; but when it comes to be occupied by
“ Messiah the Prince,” the “ Governor among the nations,”
the seat of empire must be transferred to heaven: the
only suitable place for the throne of Him, whose “king
dom ruleth over all.” It is there, upon the holy hill of
Zion, that the Lord hath set his King; where he is to sit
and reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet, that
is, till the end of time; the iast enemy, which is death,
being destroyed, by the resurrection of all the dead.
When he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the
Father, and cease to reign, laying aside the crown and
the sceptre, and becoming subject to the Father; “ that
God may be all in all.” 1 Cor. xv. 26, 28.
There is no room for doubt, then, as to the nature
of that government which God hath established over the
nations. It is a delegated, mediatorial government, com
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
21
mitted to the hands of the man Christ Jesus, the Divine
Son of God, exercising the regal functions which pertain
to him as the “Lord’s anointed.” And this Godappointed, mediatorial government, all nations ought to
acknowledge and obey. The nation that does not
acknowledge the mediatorial government of Christ, does
not acknowledge the government of God; because this is
God’s government over the nations; and when this is
ignored, God’s government is ignored. But the rightful
authority of Christ over the nations is not acknowledged
in our Constitution; nor in a single Constitution of any
of our States.
Perhaps it may be assumed, that it is not incumbent
upon nations, in their national capacity, to make any such
acknowledgment. But in relation to this the Word of
God is very explicit. After the divine arrangement for
the government of the nations is set forth in the Psalm,
then comes the injunction, for all civil rulers to recog
nize it; and to act in accordance therewith; that is, as
civil rulers to have regard to the Lord’s authority; and to
engage in the discharge of all their official duties, under
a sense of their responsibility to Him. Here is the
injunction—“ Be wise now, therefore, 0 ye kings; be
instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with
fear, and rejoice with trembling.” The appellations—
“kings,” “judges of the earth”—comprehend all classes
and grades of civil rulers, from the highest to the lowest,
and under every form of civil government. And not as
private persons, but as rulers, WMkin ruling, it is enjoined
upon them to serve the Lord—to serve him in the adminis
tration of civil government, which he has ordained for
the good of men. And “with fear,” it is enjoined upon
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
them to serve the Lord; fearing lest they should displease
him, by administering his ordinance in an improper man
ner, while discharging the duties of their office. They
are to discharge these duties under a sense of responsibil
ity to the Lord; remembering that at last they shall
answer to him for the fidelity maintained, in filling the
position to which they have been called. It is enjoined
upon them, too, to “rejoice with trembling.” They will,
and may rejoice, in the honor and emoluments pertaining
to the positions of authority, which in the providence of
God they are called to fill; but while they do thus rejoice,
they should not forget the danger there is of incur
ring the Divine displeasure, by any abuse or misuse
of the important trust committed to their hands. They
should “tremble” in view of their final reckoning with
God. Hence, then, it is evident that, as rulers, they are
to acknowledge the Lord’s authority over them, and to
make it an object to please him in the performance of all
their duties.
And that there may be no possibility of overlooking
the claims of “Messiah the Prince,” as the rightful sove
reign of all rulers, they are enjoined to “ kiss the Son,
that is, to render to him homage and submission—to
acknowledge his authority over them—to do him rever
ence ; and in the discharge of all their duties, to have
respect to his claims and prerogatives, and the require
ments of his law. And when civil rulers are required to
do this, in their official capacity, it is evident that these
duties are incumbent upon nations. Rulers are the repre
sentatives of nations, and the duties of the former are
the duties of the latter. And it ought to be carefully
observed, that the obedience to be rendered to the “ Lord
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
23
and his anointed,” is not required of persons in their pri
vate capacity, but only of rulers: teaching in the most
unmistakable manner, that this obedience is demanded of
nations, in their national capacity.
But, my fellow-citizens, is it not undeniably true, that
our nation has utterly refused to acknowledge the obliga
tion, or to render any measure of this obedience? On
the contrary, by the course pursued, we have said, “Let
us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords
from us.” We have disowned the restraints of the divine
law, and ignored the claims and authority of God and his
Christ. And for this high-handed rebellion', hath not
“the Lord had us in derision?”—hath he not “spoken
unto us in his wrath ?”—and “ vexed us in his sore displea
sure?” We have been wonderfully vexed, indeed; baf
fled, foiled, and disappointed in our efforts to suppress the
rebellion, and restore peace to the nation.
If we are a Christian people, we ought surely to see the
need of reformation in this matter. As a nation, we owe
a duty to the Lord Jesus, which ought not to be neglected,
but promptly and faithfully discharged. It will be for
the nation’s lasting honor and advantage. By divine
appointment, Christ is the Ruler of our nation, and how
can we claim to be Christian, if we in no way acknow
ledge him ? Is it not remarkable, that his claims upon
the nation have been so entirely overlooked, by the people
of the land ? that there should be so few to “ stand up for
Jesus?” Where are all his commissioned ambassadors?
Have they not a word to say in behalf of his just claims
to the nation’s homage? How is it, that while they are
zealous in urging his claims upon individuals, as a
Saviour, they neglect to urge his no less just and
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
undoubted claims upon nations, as a Sovereign ? Perhaps
it is that the salvation of the former is involved; but so
also is the salvation of the latter. For “the nation and
kingdom that will not serve him shall perish; yea, those
nations shall be utterly wasted.” It is true, indeed, that
the eternal salvation of individuals is vastly more impor
tant than the salvation of nations ; but this will not jus
tify silence on the part of Christ’s ambassadors as to his
claims over the latter. And if they are silent as to the
rights and prerogatives of their Divine King and Lord,
“ the Prince of the kings of the earth,” who else can be
expected to speak out? or how can the nation be supposed
to understand its duty in this vital matter ? It is a vital
matter. The Jews said, “We will not have this man to
reign over us;” and see the terrible desolation with
which He swept their nation into utter ruin I We ought
to take the alarm, lest such may be our doom.
Are we Christians ? And would not Christians desire
to see Christ, their Lord and Redeemer, honored and
exalted by the nation? Would they not wish, that “the
glory due unto his name,” his rights and prerogatives,
should be given unto him in the state, as well as in the
church? Would they not rejoice, if their beloved nation
were to “bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him
Lord of all?” Would it be repugnant to their Christian
feelings, or to our republicanism, for us all to say—We
have no king but Christ, “the King of righteousness;”
that we acknowledge the authority of no prince, but
“Messiah the Prince,” “the Prince of peace;” that our
sovereign is, “the Prince of the kings of the earth;” and
to say, “The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Law
giver, the Lord is our King; he will save us?” We are
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
25
Republicans, and we want no king, but “the King of kings
and Lord of lords” to reign over us. And as a nation
we ought to proclaim it, and exult in the fact, that we are
subject to Him, whose “kingdom ruleth over all.” When
we formally take the Lord to be our King, then will our
government be like to that given of God himself to his
people of old; when he was their Sovereign, and human
rulers only officers under him, governing in his name, for
his glory, and the true happiness of the nation. Then,
indeed, would our national glory be truly great—glorious
in the eyes of the nations; for the Lord would be our
glory and defence. Of us it would then be said, “ Happy
art thou, 0 nation! Who is like unto thee, 0 people I
saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and the sword
of thy excellency! And thine enemies shall be found
liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high
places.”
And as we have not admitted God nor his claims into
our Constitution, so we transgress in another respect;
that is, in ignoring his teachings as to the true nature of
civil government. We hold it to be nothing but a human
institution—the ordinance of man—while his Word de
clares it to be the ordinance of God, and worthy of reve
rence as such. Our current doctrine oh this point is
embodied in the common maxim, so frequently uttered,
and so generally received, that in civil government, “ the
people are the fountain of power;” that all authority is
from the people themselves; that there is no power but
of the people. And in accordance with this, in our
national halls of legislation, the idea has been sneered
and scoffed at, that there is any “ higher law” than the
enactments of Congress. For, as all authority to rule is
�26
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION.
from the people, then the enactments of the people’s
representatives must be paramount and final. But on this
subject we are quite aside from the true foundation. Our
prevailing doctrine, however, that “the people are the
fountain of power,” no doubt had its origin among us, in
opposition to “the divine right of kings,” the darling
dogma of the old world’s despots. But while we repudi
ate their dogma, in their sense of it, we should not fly to
the opposite extreme, and deny that God is the fountain
of all legitimate governing authority.
In Romans xiii. it is expressly declared, that “There
is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God.” By “the powers that be,” existing, established
civil governments are meant. Neither the usurped power
of pretenders, nor the power of organized rebellion
against an established government, is implied in the
phrase, “powers that be.” It is not the power of any
man, or any number of men, who may rise up against a
government, and assume the right to oppose it, that is
“ordained of God.” Such a power as that is only the
power of sedition, rebellion, treason; and this is not an
ordinance of God, established for the good of men. God,
for good, wise, and righteous ends, may in his providence
permit a rebellion to succeed; so that the issue shall be
the establishment of a new and independent government.
And then this new government will be the ordinance of
God, and as such ought to be conscientiously obeyed. But
the power of the preceding rebellion is not his ordi
nance, and has no divine warrant to exact obedience—no
man is bound to obey it “for conscience’ sake.” It is
evident that, though “the powers that be, are ordained
of God,” yet every existing power cannot claim the
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
27
sanction of his ordination. A people in rebellion may
adopt a government for themselves, and regulate their
affairs by it; but they have not yet an established govern
ment. All they do amounts to no more than an attempt
to establish one: hence, what they call their government,
has no place among “the powers that be,” and “are
ordained of God.” It is evident, then, that resistance to
their authority is not resistance to the ordinance of God;
nor can they claim obedience on the same ground, as that
of an established civil government. Rebels, in the exer
cise of their usurped authority, will claim obedience, and
those in their power “ must needs be subject” to them; yet
“only for wrath,” but not “for conscience’ sake,” as they
have no authority from God to make any such claim. A
rebellion or revolution is purely an ordinance of man;
but God in his providence may permit it, and overrule it
for good.
Civil government is the ordinance of God, because he
hath appointed it for the benefit of men. And civil rulers,
we are told, are “God’s ministers attending upon this
very thing;” that is, dispensing God’s ordinance among
the people. From the highest to the lowest, in all depart
ments, from the President to the constable, each one is
the “minister of God,” and accountable to him for the
manner in which his ordinance is administered; and each
one will have to answer to God, for the fidelity with which
the duties of his office have been discharged. Men in
power may be so ignorant of the true nature of civil
government, and of their own official character, as not to
know that they are the “ministers of God;” but they are
none the less so, on that account. Men may administer
the ordinance of God in a very unworthy manner; they
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
may prostitute and abuse it, and in the office they fill,
commit all manner of wickedness; but they are still “the
ministers of God;” and it is still his ordinance, which
they are abusing and prostituting to their base and wicked
ends: and hence their danger of having a terrible reckon
ing to render at last, to God, for their unfaithfulness,
while filling an office under him.
A civil government may be very defective, far from
what it ought to be; but it is none the less the ordinance
of God on that account. The government of Israel was
the ordinance of God when administered by Ahab and
Jezebel, though it was idolatrous, tyrannical, and wicked.
And so the Roman government was the ordinance of
God, when administered by the cruel monster Nero. And
on the ground of its being such, did the Apostle enjoin
obedience to it, on the part of the Christians to whom he
wrote. The defects of a civil government, constitutional,
legislative, judicial or executive, do not deprive it of its
character, as God’s ordinance; this it is still, though it
may be marred by blemishes both numerous and great.
Were we to assume that the defects of a government would
deprive it of its character, as God’s ordinance, it would
be difficult to decide when any government is such.
Because the questions would arise, what are the defects
which deprive a government of its divinely appointed
character ? and what degree of perfection must it have in
order to be his ordinance? And these are questions
which never could be settled; inasmuch as there is no
basis anywhere upon which to settle them. The Word of
God affords no such basis; and it would be vain to look
for it anywhere else. It is the Bible which informs us
that civil government is the ordinance of God, and it
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
29
prescribes no measure of goodness or perfection as essen
tial to the sustaining of that character. In speaking of
civil government it says, “ The powers that be are ordained
of God,” and, therefore, they are to be obeyed, “not
only for wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.”
And as civil government is the ordinance of God, and
all officers of government are his ministers, and responsi
ble to him for the faithful discharge of their respective
duties; so all who enjoy the advantages of this ordinance,
ought to respect and honor it as such; giving to it that
support and encouragement which an ordinance of God
may claim as its due. None ought to disown or despise
it, because it does not please them, in the form in which
it has been established, or the manner in which it is con
ducted. The defects may be great and numerous, but it
is the ordinance of God, notwithstanding, and ought to be
honored and obeyed as such. And good men, by taking
active part in the administration of it, may do much to
have its defects removed—all that is wrong in it righted,
and all that is wanting supplied; so as to realize in its
administration what the ordinance implies—the best inter
ests of the nation, and the glory of God.
Yet though civil government is the ordinance of God,
it does not follow, that civil rulers are to be actively
obeyed in all that they enjoin; because they are fallible,
and may enjoin what is in conflict with the laws of God;
and then they are to be disobeyed, in order to render
obedience to Him. Though they are God’s ministers,
they have no authority from him to require the violation
of his law. When they do so, it is the authority of man
coming in conflict with the authority of God; and then,
it is evident that God ought to be obeyed rather than
�30
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
men.—Acts v. 29. But while on this ground civil rulers
may be disobeyed, it is not implied that they may be
resisted by force. Passive obedience ought to be ren
dered ; that is, suffer the penalty of disobedience to them,
rather than sin against God.
But though civil government is the ordinance of God,
it is in some respects the ordinance of man. And the
Scriptures recognize this. 1 Pet. ii. 13. “ Submit your
selves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake:
whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors,”
&c. It is especially an ordinance of man in this, that
the people are the sole fountain of power, as to what
form of government they shall establish. God is the
source of authority as to the existence of civil govern
ment, but man the source of authority as to its form;
because God has not ordained any form. Men may estab
lish a pure Democracy, or a Republic, or a Monarchy, or
any other form, as may seem to them best. The people
are the only legitimate fountain of power as to this: for
in this there is no authority higher than themselves. It
is an ordinance of man, too, because men administer it;
and for men it has been ordained.
Now in this matter, with respect to the fountain of
power in civil government, it is wrong for us as, a nation,
to take from God his right and prerogative, by assuming
to ourselves what he claims as his. Such conduct must
be highly criminal in any people; and will not remain
unpunished. It is robbing God of his glory, and giving
it to others. May he not say to us as he said to Israel—
“ Will a man rob God ? Yet ye have robbed me. Ye are
cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed me; even this
whole nation.” But, my fellow-citizens, should we not
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
31
cease to rob God ? Should we not fear the Lord—hearken
to his voice—cease to do evil, learn to do well, and “give
to him the glory due unto his name?”
And by recognizing civil government in its divinely
appointed character, dignity and value, and acknowledg
ing our authority to maintain it as coming from God, we
shall gain other important advantages. The tendency
will be to have the minds of all impressed with the value
and importance of civil institutions ; as having a measure
of sacred and divine authority and responsibility connected
with them. And in this way will be cherished in both the
rulers and the ruled, a proper estimate of the relative duties
to be discharged—as even in the presence of God, and to
be accounted for to him in the end. Nor can there be
any reasonable doubt, that an abiding feeling of this
kind would contribute very much to the proper and faith
ful discharge of these relative duties. And thus our
duty to God, as a nation, would redound exceedingly to
our own good order, stability, and peace.
There is still another respect in which we are culpable
as a nation. For as God is not in our Constitution, and
as we disregard the teachings of his Word, as to the true
nature of civil government, so also we transgress his law
in the choosing of our rulers. His word is very explicit in
describing the character of those who are to be chosen for
rulers. For instance, in Exod. xviii. 21: “Moreover, thou
shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear
God, men of truth, hating covetousness ; and place such
over them to be rulers.” 0 how different it would be
with us this day, had we been careful to choose such men
for our rulers in times past. If they had been able men,
fearing God, men of truth, never, never would the nation
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
have been visited with the desolations of this terrible civil
war. Bad men in power, men of falsehood and dishon
esty, godless, unprincipled, perjured men, dragged the
nation into the devouring whirlpool of civil discord, car
nage, and death. It is the fruits of our own doings, in dis
regarding the requirements of God’s law as to the moral
character of our rulers. See, again, what that law says,
in 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3: “The Spirit of the Lord spake by
me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel
said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” Here is
the voice of God’s law—-for all times—and all nations—
and all people. And how careful the inspired writer is,
to state the authority by which the law is promulgated.
He says the Spirit of the Lord spake by him : and if pos
sible, to make it more forcible, that the Grod of Israel
said it. And, hence, men can have no way of evading
the force of the injunction, or plea to offer in extenuation
of their guilt, if they disregard its demands. The only
plea for disobedience, that any people having the Bible
could offer, would be that they were willingly ignorant
of the law, or if not ignorant, that they did not like to
obey it. For the law is so plain and pointed, that there
can be no doubt about its meaning and application. It is
God’s authority, and binding upon every nation, to
whom the Word of God comes. It is His law, as laid
down in the Old Testament, with respect to what civil
rulers ought to be; and the law in the New is not at all
different. All that is said, concerning civil government
in Rom. xiii., implies that rulers ought to be good men—
“Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil”
—“ He is the minister of God to thee for good”—“ They
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
33
are God’s ministers attending upon this very thing.”
Reason and common-sense teach, that if they are God’s
ministers, they ought to be good men, “just, and ruling
in the fear of God.” And in 1 Pet. ii. 14, the doctrine
is the same, namely, that rulers “ are sent for the punish
ment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do
well.” And thus we have the will of God expressly
^revealed, in both the Old and New Testaments, as to what
the moral character of civil rulers ought to be. If we,
then, disregard the will of God, so fully and clearly made
known, how can we, as a nation, expect to prosper?
How can we expect to escape the anger and displeasure
of the righteous Ruler of all, whose law we so defiantly
trample under our feet ?
And what, in all candor, has been our course in rela
tion to this matter ? Has it not undeniably been, to
leave the law of God entirely out of the account, when
proceeding to choose and appoint our rulers ? When
have we, on any occasion, in primary meeting, or political
convention, referred to the requirements of the divine
law, as to the moral character of the men to be chosen
and appointed? Truth must answer, Never! All are
aware, that the whole course has been to proceed in this
matter just as though there had been no such law in
existence. It must be confessed that we have chosen
and set over us in authority, characters the very reverse
of what the law of God requires—godless men, profane
swearers, drunkards, debauchees, gamblers, Sabbath
breakers, haters of God, revilers of his law, and scoffers
at his claims and his authority. There may have been
happy exceptions, but the rule has been to select men,
who have “no fear of God before their eyes.”
3
�34
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
The very places and practices associated with politics,
are forcibly indicative of the men’s character who are
usually chosen to manage our state affairs. If bar-rooms
and groggeries, lager beer, whiskey, and tobacco, were
favorable to the production of good civil rulers, we might
certainly boast of having such; for all these have no little
to do with their choice and elevation. It is notorious,
that in our large cities, the centres of influence, very
little can be done in politics, outside the shadow of a
tavern. If a man wishes to attend the primary meeting,
where the nominations are made, he will probably have
to visit the tavern. If he has to seek the assessor, that
he may have his name placed on the tax-list, where can
he find him and his books, but in the tavern? lie must
enter the nasty place, and have his olfactories assailed
with the combined stench of rum and tobacco, and his
ears greeted with the sounds of vulgarity and profane
ness, while seeking to have his name enrolled. And if he
desires to discharge his duty as a citizen, by casting his
vote, he must go at least within smelling distance of the
tavern, in order to have the privilege. And thus, appa
rently, the tavern is the all controlling power in our
politics—as if the inmates and the frequenters of the
tavern had the whole matter committed to their control,
and it were the prerogative of the tavern-men to manage
the all-important affairs of the nation!
A sad condition of things, indeed, that this ordinance
of God—civil government—should be so prostituted, and
given over to the hands of the godless and profane, to be
polluted and deformed with all that is degrading and
vile, and by the associations of its management, dragged
down to the portals of perdition! Why is it, that the
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
35
God-fearing people of the land have suffered this heaven
given ordinance to be dishonored and trampled under
foot, without an effort to rescue and save it? May they
not well apprehend severe chastisement, through the mis
management of this very institution, which ought to have
been jealously guarded by them, so as to be made fruitful
in blessings to the nation ? Why is it, that the patriotic,
the virtuous, and the good, have allowed an institution of
such magnitude and vital importance, for the nation’s
safety, to be so debased and perverted, by such corrupt
ing and ruinous influences ? But, then, is it not just what
might have been expected?—the natural result of the
whole course from the beginning—adopting a Constitu
tion in which there is no God; erecting a government,
assumed to be without any divine warrant or authority;
and choosing our rulers in utter defiance of the express
injunctions of the divine law ? It is not now to be thought
strange, if our politics have become a byeword and
reproach; or that in us should be verified the declaration
of Scripture: “When the wicked bear rule, the people
mourn”—“ They would none of my counsel; they despised
all my reproof. Therefore, shall they eat of the fruit of
their own way, and be filled with their own devices”—
“Thus saith the Lord.”
But, have the truly Christian people of the land, no
interest in this whole matter of civil government? In
some respects, they show that they have; for they usually
manifest a lively interest in party politics. But have they
no zeal for the honor and purity of God’s ordinance—
civil government? Is it not both their duty and their
interest, to have such zeal, and to show it? Their party
zeal and diligence, they say, are to promote the good of
�36
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
the nation. But have they to be told, that it is not the
success of a party, which will bless a nation; unless it be
a righteous party? Do they not know, that it is “right
eousness which exalteth a nation;” and that nothing else
will? Do Christians believe that they can benefit their
country by voting for party men, while they and their
men are both disregarding the counsels and claims of the
Most High? Are they so much engaged in advancing
the welfare of their country, as to lose sight of the neces
sity of having in office, “just men, ruling in the fear of
God?” If so, their whole course is glaringly inconsistent,
ruinous, and absurd.
It ought to be manifest to all, that a thorough and
radical change is absolutely necessary in this whole
matter. It is surely time that an effort were made for
the purpose of securing upright and virtuous men, for
every position, to conduct our state affairs. We ought to
have the best of men for our rulers, because we have the
selecting of them ourselves. Not like the citizens of other
lands, who have their rulers not by choice, but by chance,
as to the people, and must put up with them, be they good
or bad. But if we have not good rulers, we have no such
reason to assign. We make our rulers, and we ought to
make them good. If we do not, we do not deserve to have
such. And if we do not make good rulers, we show that
we are neither fit, nor worthy, to have the privilege of
making them at all. The complaint is often heard, that
we have such bad men for rulers; and yet we ourselves
have chosen these men, and placed them in power! When
we put bad men in office, how can we expect to be ruled
by good men? And when have we ever made it a point,
to reject the bad, and choose the good? Never!
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
37
Now, my fellow-citizens, we ought to seek for reforma
tion. We need a change. Wicked and unprincipled rulers
are a great curse to any nation. And if we are careless
about the moral character of our rulers, we shall certainly
be cursed with that curse. Our only safety is, to obey
the voice of divine wisdom, and change our political base
to the heaven-given platform—“ He that ruleth over men,
must be just; ruling in the fear of God.” Then, as a
nation, we shall be secure; and undoubtedly so.
But, my fellow citizens, let me put the question, in all
kindness and candor, Are we a Christian nation, or are
we not? If we are, where is the evidence? Is it in any
of our national documents? Is it in our Constitution,
which lies at the foundation of the whole structure ? Cer
tainly not. The name of Christ, or any allusion to him,
or his institutions, is not found in it from the begin
ning to the end. And do our national Acts contain the
evidence that we are a Christian nation? Can any
man point out where, in these Acts, it is to be found?
We shall very much rejoice to know where. Was it
when, to secure a treaty with an anti-Christian power,
our government formally declared, that as a nation we
were not Christian, for we had no religion? Did the
course pursued toward the pagan ambassadors from
Japan, evince that we were a Christian nation, when the
tendency of the government’s whole procedure was, to
leave the impression on their minds, that we had no reli
gion, no Sabbath, no sacred books, nor institutions; and
were not a Christian nation at all?
Shall it be said, that we have Christians and Christian
institutions in the land, therefore we are a Christian
nation. And so we have Jews and Jewish institutions in
�38
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
the land; and, therefore, we are a Jewish nation. And
we have Mormons and Mormon institutions in the land;
and, therefore, we are a Mormon nation. Shall it he
said, that we have Christians for government officers, and
hence we are a Christian nation. And so we have Jews,
and Mormons, and Infidels, for officers of government;
and, therefore, we are a Jewish, Mormon, and Infidel
nation. It is evident, that such circumstances as these
do not give us naiz’onaZiiy; and do not make us any one
of the above, as a nation. It is our Constitution and
governmental Acts, which give us nationality; and if
these have not the evidence of our being a Christian
nation, it is nowhere. And, my fellow-citizens, is it
not a reproach to us, that we can point to no decisive
evidence of ours being a Christian nation?
And if not a Christian, so neither are we a Jewish, a
Mormon, nor an Infidel nation. And what, then, are we?
Are we a Pagan nation? No, not quite; only half such.
Ours is only a semi-pagan nation. Paganism consists in
disowning the true God, and putting idol gods in his
place. We do only the first, not the second. Our dis
owning of God, and his Christ, and his Word and author
ity, in our Constitution and Government, is only the one
side of paganism; and, hence, ours is only a semi-pagan
government. It is of that reign of Gentilism, spoken of
in prophecy, as antagonistic to Christ and his cause—
holding on to the civil power throughout Christendom,
trampling under foot sacred things, and prostituting even
Christianity, to the basest of secular and selfish ends.
But in the other semi-Christian nations, this has been
much more the case than in ours.
This semi-paganism of the civil governments of Chris
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89
tendom, was revealed to both Daniel and John, as contin
uing for a considerable period. They both saw it as in
conflict with Christ’s kingdom, and as long hindering the
reign of righteousness and peace in these nations.
Daniel beheld it in the conflict between “the stone cut
out without hands” and the golden-headed clay-iron-toed
image, which received the shock of the stone upon its
feet. The “stone” undoubtedly symbolized the kingdom
of Christ, and not any earthly kingdom, or civil govern
ment; because it was cut out without hands;” which
implies that it was not man-made, but made by Him whose
“kingdom is not of this world;” and, hence, not any
earthly civil government; but the cause of righteousness
and peace—Christ’s kingdom, which is eventually to des
troy all pagan and semi-pagan civil governments over the
whole earth. And the smitten image symbolized the pagan
power, as concentrated and embodied in the Roman
empire at the introduction of Christianity. The strength
and the evil of the preceding empires, Babylonian, MedoPersian, and Grecian, were absorbed by it; and all in one
were shivered by the shock, and tottered to their fall.
But a considerable time was to elapse, before the final
extinction of the pagan element of these kingdoms, with
which the stone came in conflict.
This was made known in Daniel’s vision of the four
beasts, which came up out of the sea. The fourth of
these symbolized the Roman empire, which came into
collision with the kingdom of the “ one like unto the Son
of man”—“Immanuel, God with us,” the Messiah. And
both kingdoms for a long time were to occupy the same
territory, though antagonistic. The beast, with its
instruments of power, the “ten horns” and the “little
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THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
horn,” the ten kingdoms of Western Europe, and the
Papacy, was to hold the civil power, even after the rise
of the Papacy, for a period of 1260 years; for the saints
were to “ be given into his hand, until a time and times,
and the dividing of time.” And thus paganism in the
state was to have power over the saints during all this
time: and at the end of it “ the saints were to possess
the kingdomthat is, the power of civil government was
to pass into their hands. It does not mean that the
saints will anywhere set up a civil government, separate
and distinct from other governments; but merely that
they will, in every nation and kingdom, be the leading
men in civil affairs; conducting the government in the
fear of God, in accordance with his revealed will: ruling
in righteousness, peace and love, for the glory of God
and his Christ, and the true happiness of the nations.
The same reign of righteousness, in state affairs, is set
forth in Rev. xi. 15: “ There were great voices in heaven
saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the king
doms of the Lord, and of his Christ”—“the Lord and
his anointed” of the second Psalm. “ Kings” and
“ rulers” now cease to plot against them; not wishing any
longer to “ cast away their cords,” nor to “ break their
bands asunder,” as formerly. Not the people merely,
but the kingdoms, as such, do this—“kissing the Son”—
“serving the Lord with fear,” and ruling in accordance
with the requirements of his Word. It is evident that
the great change in the kingdoms of Christendom, here
spoken of, is a change in the moral character of their
civil governments; for the “Lord and his Christ” reigned
over them previous to this change; but the kingdoms did
not recognize their claims, nor render obedience to them;
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
41
whereas now they do, and thus become the kingdoms of
the Lord, and of his Christ, by a voluntary, national
recognition of, and surrender to their authority.
The long continuance of semi-paganism, in the civil
governments of Christendom, is foretold in Rev. xi. 2.
The great Reformation in religion, which occurred in
Christendom early in the sixteenth century, when the
Bible became an open book for the use of the people, is
set forth in the tenth chapter. In the progress of that
vision the prophet himself is made a symbol—a represen
tative of the ministers of Christ: and in what he was
directed to do, is set forth the special work of the min
istry from the time to which the prophecy has reference.
He was to prophesy, or preach; to “ measure the altar
and the temple, and them that worship therein:” that is,
to define the true doctrine of the atonement, and to des
cribe the true people and church of God, in opposition to
the degenerate system which prevailed previous to the
Reformation. But the court without the temple he was
forbidden to measure, for it had been given to the Gen
tiles ; and the holy city they were to tread under foot
forty and two months, or 1260 years.
The things mentioned here, pertaining to the Jewish
dispensation, are all employed as symbols, having refer
ence to the Christian church. The temple in Jerusalem
was a type of Christ, or God incarnate. As the glory of
God filled the temple, and the Divine presence abode
there, so the fulness of the Godhead bodily dwelt in
Christ. And accordingly he calls himself the temple,
saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up.” And hence, the temple and its worshippers
symbolize Christ and his people, who are in him by faith,
�42
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
the true worshippers; “who worship the Father in spirit
and in truth.” The altar is the symbol of sacrifice, and
represents the doctrine of atonement. “ The court with
out the temple,” pertaining to the Gentiles, was the inter
mediate place, between the idolatrous world and the wor
shippers of the true God—the place where those who
were not his people, but professed a love for him and his
cause, might draw near, and enjoy an outward connection
with his people and his service; and, accordingly, it sym
bolizes the visible church under the gospel. Here, those
who merely profess to be his people, may enter in, and
take part in the services; and even direct, and rule, and
have the control. And hence this court was not to be
measured—the influence of Gentilism—until the end of
the time predicted, would prevent it from being what it
ought to be: pagan forms, irregularity, disorder, and
want of uniformity would prevail, and hinder its perfec
tion. The “holy city,” Jerusalem, was the city of the
Lord, and the capital of the nation of his people. There
were the symbols of the Divine presence; and thither the
tribes of the Lord went up to worship. And thus Jeru
salem represented the whole nation, and became the
^emblem of the heritage of the Lord; that is, his people,
as a whole. And, therefore, the “holy city” symbolizes
the people of God, together with their sacred institutions,
wherever they are found; and that is all over Christen
dom. Christendom, then, as the abode of God’s people,
and his sacred institutions, is the “holy city,” which the
Gentiles “tread under foot.” And as they were to tread
these under foot, it is evident they were to have the
dominion, wherever these are found. They could not
tread them under foot unless they had the power to do
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
43
it; and hence, in these lands, they must have the civil
government in their hands. Gentilism was to rule in the
Btate, throughout Christendom, forty and two months.
Paganism, in its nature, and semi-paganism, in its prac
tice, was, to fill the high places of civil authority; tram
pling under foot, destroying, and desecrating, holy people
and sacred things. And, accordingly, the former have
been persecuted, and the latter have been prostituted, to
strengthen the civil power, and advance the interests of
the state. Paganism in the state, desecrates and profanes
religion, for merely civil and secular ends. This has
always been the case, in the semi-pagan governments of
European Christendom. In their secularizing use and
abuse of religion and Christianity, they are far more
guilty than our government has ever been. Ours has
never persecuted the people of God; nor for the blood
of the saints, has it to be called to account. Sacred
things have not been prostituted to civil ends, as in the
other nominally Christian nations.
Though our government desecrates the Lord’s day in
its postal arrangements, and otherwise; yet we have not
employed religion for the aggrandizement of the state, as
has been the common practice with the semi-Christian
governments of Europe. They have all made use of reli
gion for merely selfish, worldly, state purposes; but we
have not. Paganism has always employed religion as a
mere state engine, to fortify and strengthen the civil gov
ernment; and the semi pagan governments of Europe have
always done the same. Wherever in Christendom there
has been a union of church and state, this has always
been the case. The civil has always used the sacred, for
the purpose of gaining strength, glory, and stability to
�44
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
itself; whether the church has been made preeminent,
and the state subordinate; or the state preeminent, and
the church subordinate—as exemplified in Italy and Eng
land. In the former, the recognized head of the church,
assumes to be the head of the state; and in the latter, the
recognized head of the state, assumes to be the head of
the church. But the design of the union, in each, is the
aggrandizement of the civil power, pertaining to them
respectively: the prostitution of sacred things for civil
purposes—the “holy city” trampled under foot by Gentilism; because it has the power in its hands, and uses all
for secular ends. But our government, notwithstanding
its defects, has never been guilty of prostituting the holy
religion of Jesus, as an instrument of state policy. This
results from the wise and scriptural arrangement of keep
ing the church and the state, as organizations, separate
and distinct from each other. And this is quite an ad
vance in the right direction. This not abusing of sacred
things for civil ends, is casting away a portion of the
semi-paganism, which is still retained by the governments
of Europe.
It is evident, then, that we are still partakers of this
semi-paganism, which maintains the ascendency in the
state, through all the nations of Christendom; and from
which it would assuredly be both for our honor and
advantage, to free ourselves entirely. As we have taken
the lead of the other nations in discarding one important
part of semi-paganism, let us go on unto perfection, and
cast away from us the remains of this plague and reproach
of the nation. All nations must be freed from it, either
by voluntary reform, or by the overturning judgments of
Ilim, “ who sits King upon the holy hill of Zion,” and
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
45
will “break them with a rod of iron, like a potter’s
vessel.” Let us, as a nation, bend and not break—bend
to the Divine pleasure, and not be broken by his power.
Let us reform more and more, not only refraining from
the abuse of sacred things, but also by conceding to them
that relation to the state which is their due. Would it
not, my fellow-citizens, be both our glory and our gain,
to keep, as a nation, in the advance of all other nations,
God-ward and Christ-ward, and thus upward; rising in
excellence, glory, strength and beauty; till we shall be
the admiration of them all: and they, copying our exam
ple, and emulating our moral greatness and grandeur, set
to their seal, that our free Republican institutions are
right, and we worthy of our exalted place among the
nations of the earth? But we never can appear in our
full majesty and glory, until we acknowledge the
sovereignty of the “Lord and his anointed” over us, and
submit to their counsels and dictation, in the management
of our national affairs. For “Thus saith the Lord”—
“ Them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise
me shall be lightly esteemed.” Well now, Americans, let
us honor Him, and He will honor us; He will exalt us
among the nations; and cause us to ride upon the high
places of the earth. Our light shall be seen from afar,
and hither shall they flock from the nations, both near
and remote, to share in the blessings of that “happy
people, whose God is the Lord.”
But I am aware, my fellow-citizens, that you are afraid
of a union of church and state; and justly so: for from
it have issued many monstrous evils. But we may do
our duty to God and his Christ, his Word and authority,
without any union of church and state; and without a
�46
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
national establishment of religion, or any of the evils
which result therefrom. If we were to have our Consti
tution amended by a prefatory article, acknowledging the
sovereignty of the Lord and his anointed over the nation,
and the paramount authority of his law over all human
laws, and our duty to submit to its requirements in the
choice of our rulers, and in everything else, there would,
in this, be no union of church and state, nor any national
establishment of religion. Nor would there be any neces
sity for adopting religious tests, in order to the holding
of office under the government.
Suppose such as Jews and infidels would be unwilling to
subcribe to, and bind themselves by oath to support such
a Constitution, in order to the holding of office, would this
be any serious loss to a Christian people ? If we are a
Christian nation, is it indispensable to have such as Jews
and infidels for our civil rulers ? Is there any circumstance
that requires it? But would not the rights of such citi
zens be interfered with, and withheld from them ? Pray,
where did they get their rights, to rule over a Christian
nation, the proper Constitution of which they would be
unwilling to support? Are the rights of a Christian
nation not paramount to the rights of a few Jews and
infidels, who may be dwelling in it ? Is it not the right
of a Christian people to acknowledge their Lord and
Redeemer as their Sovereign Ruler? Is it not the absolute right of the “Lord and his anointed,” to require
this acknowledgment of all nations ? and are the rights
of Jews and infidels higher than the rights of God
Almighty ? No man, nor set of men, can possibly have
any rights contravening the rights of the Lord God of
Hosts. There can be no rights, which would require the
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
47
ignoring of what he enjoins. And as He enjoins it upon
nations to acknowledge his sovereignty over them, none
can have any rights which would prevent this. Those
objecting to it, would be utterly unfit to rule over a Chris
tian nation.
But while attempting, for the sake of reformation,
to direct attention to some of our chief national sins, on
account of which the anger of the Lord burns hot against
us, it were great unfaithfulness to pass unnoticed, the sin
of negro slavery. As we have now, in the providence
of God, ample evidence, that this is especially the sin,
for which his judgments are at present so heavy upon
us. Rebellion is the rod with which the Lord is chastis
ing the nation, and negro slavery is the cause of that
rebellion. So that our sin is now punishing us. The
nation supported and fostered the vile system, until it
became a great monster, and rose up to devour the nation
itself. And thus the nation’s iniquity recoils upon itself.
The nation’s sin is the nation’s plague; its crime, its
canker; its destroyer of men, the destroyer of its men.
We maintained slavery for the sake of gain; and now
slavery is causing us to disgorge that ill-gotten gain, with
terrible vengeance, and noted rapidity. The Righteous
Disposer of all things is now, in his providence, scattering
to the winds the wealth, which we made out of the bodies
and the souls of men. And thus our punishment points
so unmistakably to our sin, that it is only the wilfully
blind who cannot see it. And the manner, too, in which
the punishment is apportioned to the two sections of the
land, points clearly to the sin for which it is sent. The
whole nation suffers, North as well as South; and
therefore, the whole nation must be guilty: but the South
�48
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
especially suffers, and hence, the South must be especially
guilty. Slavery is the sin of the nation, because the
national government upheld it; but the greater measure
of the iniquity lay in the South, and now in the Lord’s
national retribution, the larger cup of his vengeance is
placed in their hands. The calamities of the Southern
people are exceedingly great, and their guilt is doubtless
in proportion: but slavery, with its concomitant evils, is
assuredly the overwhelming sin of that people.
That slavery has been the cause of the civil war, and
the resulting national calamities, is just as evident as that
the earth is lighted by the sun. We might as well doubt
that we have a war, as to doubt that slavery has been its
cause. The rebels certainly know what it was, that led
them to commence the war against the United States, and
they affirm that it was slavery. Their Vice-President,
Stephens, publicly declared, that their object in making
war, to cast off the national government, was to establish
a new government founded upon slavery—of which slavery
was to be the “corner-stone.” And he only avowed the
designs of his coadjutors, who commenced the war, and
persist in continuing it ever since. Look at the following
extract from the Richmond Examiner of May 30th,
1863, and see the corroboration of what we affirm:
“ If the Confederacy is at a premium, she owes it to
herself. And so much the better. We shall be all the
more free to run the grand career which opens before us,
and grasp our own lofty destiny. Would that all of us
understood and laid to heart the true nature of that career,
and that destiny, and the responsibility it imposes! The
establishment of the Confederacy is, verily, a distinct reac
tion against the whole course of the mistaken civilization
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
49
of the age. And this is the true reason why we have
been left without the sympathy of the nations, until we
conquered that sympathy with the sharp edge of our
sword. For '•Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,’ we have
deliberately substituted Slavery, Subordination, and G-overnment. Those social and political problems, which
rack and torture modern society, we have undertaken
to solve for ourselves, in our own way, and upon our
own principles. That, ‘among equals equality is right;’
among those who are naturally unequal, equality is
chaos; that there are slave races born to serve, master
races born to govern. Such are the fundamental princi
ples which we inherit from the ancient world, which
we lifted up in the face of a perverse generation, that has
forgotten the wisdom of its fathers; by those principles
we live, and in their defence we have shown ourselves
ready to die. Reverently we feel, that our Confederacy
is a God-sent missionary to the nations, with great truths
to preach. We must speak them boldly, and whoso hath
ears to hear, let him hear.”
Such is the monstrous doctrine of the leading rebels
on this subject; and in view of it, who can doubt the
design of the slaveholders in making the war? It is as
clear as sunshine, that they declare they made it for the
sake of slavery: and if made for the sake of slavery,
then, this was its cause. Those who deny this, make
these men to be public liars. The rebels at the South
openly declare that they made the war in behalf of sla
very, and though their advocates at the North, deny
that they did any such thing, yet, it is not difficult
to decide where the truth lies. Those who made it, know
the reason why, and when they say it was for slavery,
4
�50
THE BOOK FOB THE NATION.
there is then no room to doubt. And thus our punish
ment points plainly to our sin; as our sin is made the
avenging rod to afflict us. A righteous Providence com
pels us to understand, what that great special sin is,
for which he has visited us with these heavy calamities.
The people of our land have had their eyes sadly
blinded to the sin of slavery, by the fallacious reasoning
of the Bible advocates of that system. They have reassoned thus: The Lord allowed the Israelites to purchase
and hold slaves; and slavery existed also in the Christian
church in the days of the Apostles, yet they did not con
demn it; therefore, our system of slavery is no sin in the
sight of God. The fallacy of their reasoning lies in this,
that the conclusion is not contained in the premises. It
would not follow, that our system of slavery is no sin,
even though the Lord allowed slavery in both the Jewish
and Christian churches. Nor even if he had, in a specific
manner, authorized us as a nation to hold slaves, would
it follow, that our system of slavery is no sin; because
our system might be entirely different from what he could
approve. And it is evident, too, that though the Lord
authorizes certain things to be done in certain circum
stances, it does not follow that these same things are
right in all other circumstances. The Lord authorized
the Israelites to make war upon the Canaanites, and on
several other occasions; but it does not follow, that every
war is therefore right. But such is the nature of their
fallacious reasoning—because the Lord tolerated a kind
of slavery in certain circumstances, they jump to the con
clusion, that, therefore, our slavery is no sin!
These Bible advocates of slavery have thus deceived
the people, by professing to examine our slavery in the
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
51
light of God’s Word, while they have never done any
such thing. They have contended for a mere abstrac
tion—a thing called slavery—and have justified it; but
our slave system they have not brought into the light of
divine truth at all. And they have thus thrown dust in
the eyes of the people, and deceived them exceedingly;
leading them into a false position, respecting this matter,
which is of such vital importance to the best interests of
the nation.
It is evident that the question relating to slavery,
which concerns us is, whether our slavery is a sin in the
sight of God or not. As to whether the Lord has or has
not allowed of slavery, is to us comparatively of no impor
tance. He may have done so, and we may be spending
our time in proving it, and that slavery, “per se,” is not
wrong; while our own horrible system of slavery may be
eating out the very vitals of our nation—“treasuring up
for us wrath against the day of wrath”—the day of God’s
righteous visitation upon the land.
If the Bible advocates of slavery had done their duty,
they would have examined our system of slavery, in the
light of the Word of God: they would have compared our
slave laws, and our slave practices, with the requirements
of that Word; endeavoring to know the truth, and set the
people right in relation to the whole matter. But they
have always avoided this. They have never tried to
investigate and expose the great iniquities of our slave
system; but, on the contrary, they have always endeav
ored to conceal them: thus blinding the eyes of the
people, and deceiving them as to the true issue in the
case. If they had honestly taken up our slave laws,
explaining what they forbid and what they require, and
�52
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
exposed the practices of our slavery—comparing all with
the requirements of the pure Word of God—the inhu
manity, barbarous cruelty, and filthy pollution of the
system, would have been so glaring, that a universal out
burst of indignation would have gone forth from the
people, dooming the odious system to a sure and speedy
end: for when our people know the truth and the right,
they act accordingly. But, of course, the leaders will be
followed, in both church and state. And thus the masses
have been deluded, as to the true character of the mon
strous system of oppression maintained in the land. But
those who have deluded them have the greater sin, and
have enhanced not a little our national guilt.
There is no small measure of guilt incurred by justify
ing slavery from the Bible, and at the same time, refusing
to try our slavery by the Bible. The result of this
course has been, not only to blind the eyes of the nation,
as to the wickedness of the system, but also to justify
the slaveholders, and lead them to believe they were
right; and thus to encourage and embolden them, even to
rise up in rebellion, for the purpose of fortifying and per
petuating this great evil. So that the present horrors
and calamities abounding in the land, may be traced,
in no small measure, to the fallacious manner of dealing
with the subject, by the Bible advocates of our slavery.
Had it not been for their influence, the people of the
South, and partially of the North, never would have set
tled down in the belief, that our system of slavery
is a “divine institution,” to be indefinitely perpetuated;
nor by this belief would have brought down the wrath of
Heaven upon the whole land. As long as the system was
viewed as an evil, to be remedied, and a remedy sought
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
53
for, the Lord, in his forbearance, spared the nation; but
when the system came to be advocated as good and right,
and no change to be desired, then He interposed with his
own avenging hand, to break up, and root out this great
evil, in a most effectual manner. This He did by visiting
slaveholders with judicial blindness, through which they
might “stumble, and fall, and be snared, and be taken,”
by adopting a treasonable policy, which would bring
heavy calamities on the whole nation, as a punishment for
this sin, and also utterly consume, and bring to a total
end, the cruel system, in the behalf of which, the treason
was concocted. But if the people of the land had been
taught correctly, by the proper application of the Word
of God to the system, they would have seen the evil, and
discovered a remedy also, instead of being led to provoke
the Divine displeasure, to come with such vehemence
against the nation.
Our slave system would not bear the slightest measure
of investigation in the pure light of the Divine Word. A
system, which dooms and degrades millions of human
beings, to the condition of brutes, can have no counte
nance from the God of justice, love, and truth; nor any
sanction from His holy Word. And that such is the
nature of the system, both in its laws and in its practices,
is just as true as that it exists.
The limits of these pages will not allow the citation
of slave laws, nor the enumeration of slave practices, but
the testimony is abundant, and can be produced at any
time, to prove, that our slave system, dooms and degrades
millions of human beings, to the same level as the brutes.
For instance, the laws of the system forbid the slaves to
learn to read, and as brutes cannot read, it makes the
�54
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION.
slaves like them, in this respect, and puts them both in
the same condition. Men and women, and sheep and
hogs, must all be alike—incapable of reading the Word
of God, or anything else! Our slave system, also, annuls
the divine institution of marriage, among slaves. tThe
laws of the system, do not recognize the relation of hus
band and wife among slaves at all, nor anything like the
institution of marriage. And the system thus consigns
men and women, to the condition of brutes, and compels
them to herd together like the cattle of the field. But
this is only in accordance with the spirit and operations of
the whole system, which make them chattels and things,
and not human beings.
And the practice of the slaveholders has been in har
mony with their laws; because it is common, when their
interests demand it, to “ put asunder” men and women,
who were living together as husband and wife, and were
really such by the law of God; but their system justifies
it, and they practise accordingly. Indeed, the very core
and vitality of our slave system is, to view and treat the
slaves as cattle, that is, to make money out of them, (rat
tle are well kept, fed and cared for, that they may be
vigorous, multiply, and be profitable; and our slaves
have generally been treated in the same manner, and
from precisely the same motives.
And as cattle are made articles of trade and commerce,
so are the slaves. In slave raising States, for instance
Virginia, it has been common for men to go out over the
country, and buy up men, women and children, just as
sheep and hogs are bought up, and drive them in a drove
into Richmond, to be sold to the highest bidder. And in
these, and many other respects, does the system doom
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
55
and degrade millions of human beings to the very condi
tion of the brute creation. And for men to appeal to the
Bible, to justify such a system, is simply an outrage upon
common-sense and decency; and a gross insult to that
just and holy God, who is the author of the Bible. How
preposterous I to appeal to the Bible, in justification of a
system, the whole tendency of which is, to make brutes
of the slaves, and barbarians of the slaveholders, as the
history of events has now fully verified. And when the
leading men in the nation, and chief guides in morality,
filling the highest stations, have been pursuing this course,
is it any marvel that the Lord is much incensed against
us, and his visitations heavy upon the land?
Now, my fellow-citizens, is it not time to consider these
things, and avoid being any longer deluded by sophistical
reasonings? If we want to know the truth respecting
our slave system, let us honestly seek to find out what it
is, and measure it by the infallible standard of the Divine
Word; so as to learn its enormous wickedness, and con
sign it to perdition, where it properly belongs. Surely,
if we are a Christian people, we cannot bear to deal with
any class of human beings, as our slave system deals
with our slaves. Nor would it be amiss to inquire what
our duty was, as Christians, to the Africans found in our
midst, when we became a nation. By English cupidity
and rapacity, the poor Africans were dragged here, and
slavery planted in the land. But when we became an
independent nation, we ought not to have set the seal of
our approbation, to the evil course of England, by con
tinuing the unrighteous system which she had introduced.
And as we were proclaiming ourselves “ the land of the
free,” it was especially inconsistent in us, to establish sla
�56
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
very as one of our institutions. We found the Africans
among us, and they were pagans; what, then, was our
duty, as Christians, toward these pagans? Was it our
duty to make slaves of them ? to oppress them ? to whip,
and buy, and sell, and to make money out of them, as
though they had been so many brutes ? Was this our
duty, as a Christian people, to these pagans? Every
one with any conscience knows the answer. How ought
a Christian people to deal with a handful of pagans found
in their midst, and in their power? Certainly, not in
cruelty, but in kindness. And is it kindness to make
slaves of them ? to make brutes of them ? to use them
merely for the purpose of turning them into money?
Ought we not to have dealt with them for their good, not
for our own? Christian magnanimity, Christian mercy,
and Christian justice, all say we ought. And was it the
duty of a Christian people to add to the number of these
pagans, with the view of making money? As there
never was a single one of them, shipped from the shores
of Africa for any other purpose. In every instance the
motive was the greed of gain. Many of the poor Afri
cans have been benefitted by it; for the Lord can bring
good out of evil, and has done so in this case; but this
does not render the authors of the evil one whit the less
guilty.
These pagans, brought here, were “strangers” in a
strange land, and they ought to have received the sympa
thy, protection, and help of a Christian people, with the
view of making them Christians, not slaves. Is it the
way in which Christians ought to treat pagan strangers,
to make slaves of them ? Very numerous are the injunc
tions to the Jewish nation, to deal kindly with the “stran
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
57
gers” found among them. And these injunctions are
applicable to us. For though we, as a nation, are gath
ered out of all lands, yet, as a white race, we are the
people of the land; the Lord having given it to us as our
inheritance: and the African is emphatically the “stran
ger in our midst.” He ought, then, to be treated by us,
with no less kindness, than was required of the Jews to
»the “stranger within their gates.”
In the Bible, the “strangers,” the “fatherless,” and
the “widows,” are classed together as objects of the
Lord’s special regard; whose cause he will vindicate; and
who are to be treated with much tenderness and compas
sion. We have our “strangers,” and of them there are
great multitudes of “fatherless” and “widows;” for our
slave system has made them. Multitudes of wives have
been torn from their husbands, and sold into cruel and
helpless bondage. Multitudes of children have been torn
from their parents, and doomed to serve under the lash
of hard-hearted and pitiless taskmasters. But these
“widows” and “fatherless” of the African “stranger,”
have a double claim. Nor are they forgotten of the Lord.
He hears their cry. Exod. xxii. 21—24: “Thou shalt
neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: .... Ye shall
not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict
them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely
hear their cry. And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will
kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows,
and your children fatherless.” A great cry, prolonged
for many weary years, has gone up to heaven from
the South land. And though these “fatherless” and
“widows, are dark colored, debased by oppression, and
despised, yet the Lord has heard their cry. And all over
�53
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
the nation, we behold a terrible verification of this portion
of God’s holy Word. It is enough to make any thought
ful person tremble and be afraid ; and to teach all, that
it is a fearful thing for a nation to disregard the counsels
of the Most High.
How touchingly the Bible describes the sad condition
of these “strangers,” “fatherless,” and “widows!”—
“Behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they
had no comforter: and on the side of their oppressor
there was power; but they had no comforter.” Eccl. iv. 1.
And forcibly, too, it describes the cry which went up from
their broken and crushed hearts to heaven :—“ 0 Lord
God, to whom vengeance belongeth; 0 God, to whom
vengeance belongeth, show thyself. Lift up thyself, thou
Judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. Lord,
how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked
triumph? They slay the widow and the stranger, and
murder the fatherless.” And though the Lord waited
long, that the wicked might repent, and cease from
violence and oppression, yet the cry of the helpless is
answered at length. The “Judge of the earth hath lifted
up himself,” and is rendering “a reward to the proud.”
The pride, and haughty, overbearing insolence of the
oppressor, is being returned into his own bosom—as
saith the Lord: “The people of the land have used*
oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the
poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger
wrongfully. Therefore, have I poured out mine indig
nation upon them ; I have consumed them with the fire
of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon
their heads, saith the Lord God.” Ezek. xxii. 29, Si.
Now, my fellow-citizens, we have, as a nation, a duty
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
59
to discharge, in relation to this evil system. Nor is it
merely to remove it; for it is rapidly being removed,
whether we intend it or not. We never could discover a
method by which to bring our slavery to an end; and
simply because we never were willing that it should end.
If the people of the land had sincerely desired its end, it
would have ended long, long ago. Because there has
been nothing on the face of the earth, nor under it, to
prevent its removal, but the unwillingness of the people.
But “the Lord, in righteousness, is now making a short
work” of it; and by his all-controlling providence, will
bring it to an end, and that before long. But we, as a
nation, should gladly concur, and devote our energies to
the speedy consummation of the just and blessed work;
rejoicing to have wiped away this foul stain, which has
been to us, such a provocation for the Lord’s anger, and
standing reproach among the nations. And, besides, we
ought, as a nation, before all men, and in the sight of
Heaven, acknowledge our guilt, in so long upholding a
system, of such enormous wickedness and oppression.
And, as a nation, too, protect and make provision for
those we have so long oppressed—the “harmless, land
less, and homeless” multitudes now cast upon our care.
And thus “break off our sins by righteousness, and our
iniquities by showing mercy to the poor;” that the Lord
may return, and heal our land, and bless us again, with
peace and prosperity in all our borders.
The sins of the inhabitants of the land might be
dwelt upon; for they are numerous and great. Such as
Sabbath desecration, drunkenness and falsehood ; derelic
tion of duty in the family—a sad want of family govern
ment; and, hence, a lamentable disregard of parental
�GO
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
authority: a reckless spirit of insubordination generally;
with national pride and self-sufficiency; but there is
ground to believe that all these, in a measure, spring from
our national forgetfulness of Grod—that this is the foun
tain whence flow these evil streams. And in order to
have healthful streams, we must purify the fountain;
casting into it the salt of divine and unchangeable truth,
concerning God, his law, his claims and supremacy over
us as a nation. We commenced to build aside from the
true foundation, and numerous evils must be the conse
quence. Let us begin anew, where we ought to begin:
recognizing the rightful authority of God over us, and
acknowledging our national subordination to that author
ity. This will be to begin at the beginning, and will have
promise of a happy continuance: it will be laying a
foundation for law, order, and stability, in every depart
ment of the social fabric. When the fountain is purified,
by a recognition of our proper relations to God and his
government, it will have a healing and saving influence
on all the streams of our civil and social life.
Our sorrowful civil war has been protracted, much
beyond our expectation when it commenced. A vast and
inighty power has been brought to bear upon the rebel
lion, to crush it: the slaughter and destruction of the
lives of our people have been fearful and distressing: the
prayers of God’s people have been ascending on both
special and ordinary occasions; but the Lord’s hand
is stretched out against us still. And why so? The
Book, that never mistakes, informs us why—“Behold,
the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your
iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
61
your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not
hear.”—Isa. xlix. 1, 2. This is it, our iniquities have
separated between us and our God. He says to a nation
praying and yet transgressing—“ When ye spread forth
your hands I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when
ye make mapy prayers, I will not hear.” In such cases
it is not merely prayer that is required; it is this—
“ Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your
doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to
do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the
fatherless, plead for the widow.” This is the remedy
which a God of infinite wisdom and loving-kindness pre
scribes; and if we adopt it, soon we shall realize the
advantage of being guided by infinite wisdom. Peace
will flow to us like a river, and prosperity like the waves
of the sea.
“Whatsoever things were writen aforetime, were writ
ten for our learning;” and see the case of Israel, when
smitten before their enemies on account of Achan’s sin.
Joshua and the Elders had recourse to, and continued in
prayer: but prayer was not what was needed.—“The
Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou
thus upon thy face ? * * * * Israel hath sinned; thou
canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away
the accursed thing from among you.” This is what is
requisite in our case—to cease to do evil; and learn to do
well—to repent, confess our sins, and forsake them. A
great change is being wrought in our land; and let us all
see to it, that it be for the better; a thorough and radical
change, reaching to all our evils, and removing them; so
as to have ours that nation, which the Most High will
especially favor.
�62
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION,
The great struggle of the nations is coming on apace:
the judgments of the Almighty will soon descend; for the
“Lord is arising to shake terribly the earth”—to shake
the wicked, and wicked institutions out of it—“ to destroy
them that destroy the earth,” and in their stead establish
his own reign of righteousness and peace. And in the
great conflict the only place of safety for us, will be
“under the shadow of the Almighty.” In the conflict we
shall doubtless have to share; but let us see that we go
into it duly prepared. Not in the strength of national
pride, vainglorious boasting, and self-confidence; nor yet
relying upon armies and navies, though we may have
them. Of all this we have surely had enough; and
recently, not a few impressive lessons, teaching us the
folly and impiety of trusting in our own strength, and of
giving the praise to the mere agency, instead of to the
God of providence, who sent deliverance in the time of
need. Many instances might be noted, but let two suf
fice. The “Merrimac” came forth on her mission of
destruction to our navy, and ruin seemed inevitable, when
there was no help! But the God of providence brought
in the “Monitor,” just at the hour of extremity, and we
were saved ! Then the glory and the praise of the nation
were given to the Monitor; and so the Lord raised his
winds and waves, and sunk her deep in the quick-sands,
off the Albemarle coast! Afterwards the rebel ram
“Atlanta” came forth, purposing, and probably compe
tent, to destroy our fleets. But the unseen hand of a
friendly Providence fastened her aground; so that “gal
lant Rogers,” with the “Weehawken,” made a quick and
easy capture. Then the praise of Captain Rogers and
the Weehawken sounded out from the voice of the
�AND FOR THE TIMES.
63
nation; and the Lord, from whom it was withheld, soon
brought to an end the agency of both. The good cap
tain he removed from earth, and with his mighty waters,
carried the Weehawken down to the bottom of the deep;
just at the very side of the cradle of rebellion! IIow
striking these providences of God! to teach us the folly
and wickedness of forgetting Him: refusing to acknow
ledge his timely interposition for our help: leaning upon
human strength and wisdom—“Thus saith the Lord;
Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh
flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.”
“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence
in man: it is better to trust in the Lord than to put con
fidence in princes.” If the Lord be on our side, we
need not be afraid. And to have him on our side, let us
own him as the God of our nation, acknowledge his
supremacy over us, and regulate our affairs in accordance
with his will. How could we go into a conflict with the
nations, acknowledging no Giod, and having no Grod?
The time has now almost come, for the breaking up
and overturning of the nations, both pagan and semi
pagan. Semi-paganism is to be cleaned out of Christen
dom ere long: the reign of Gentilism must soon come to
an end; and it will be effected, either by national dissolu
tion or reformation. Let us take care, then, to be a
reforming nation, and not a broken and shattered, help
less wreck. If we do as we might and ought, we may
escape this doom; and, on the contrary, be “strong in
the Lord, and the power of his might.” Our peace with
other nations may not continue long. We have seen the
disposition of some of them towards us; and with some
of the European powers, we may have to reckon, for
�64
THE BOOK FOR THE NATION.
their mean, cowardly, and unrighteous treatment of our
nation, in the time of its sore trial and conflict for
national existence.
But whatever our relations may be with other govern
ments, let us be careful to secure good relations with
Heaven’s government; and then, for certain, the “strong
est power” will be on our side, and we shall gloriously
triumph over every foe. For, “In the name of the Lord,
we shall lift up our banners;” and, “In the name of
the Lord, we shall destroy them.” “One shall chase a
thousand, and two shall put ten thousand to flight.”
Then shall we be a truly great and happy people—per
manent, peaceful, and prosperous. For, “The work of
righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteous
ness, quietness and assurance for ever. And the people
shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in sure dwellings,
and in quiet resting-places”—Isa. xxxii. 17, 18—having
verified in us the truthful saying—“ Righteousness exalteth a nation”—and we the happy people, “whose God is
the Lord:” Love, peace, and prosperity going forth
together, and joyously smiling over the face of our entire
broad land—the teeming millions, glad and harmonious,
in the full realization of the countless advantages dis
pensed by our glorious Union—one vast Republic of
Freemen, liberty-loving and happy, in our own institu
tions, in the boundless munificence of earth, and the
sweet approbation of Heaven!
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The book for the nation and the times
Creator
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Morton, George [1832-1907.]
Description
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Place of publication: Philadelphia
Collation: 64 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Published anonymously 'by a citizen U.S.N.A.'. Author believed to be the Rev. George Morton.
Publisher
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William S. & Alfred Martien
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1864
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G5230
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Bible
Politics
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The book for the nation and the times), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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Text
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English
Bible
Christianity-United States
Conway Tracts
politics
Religion
Slavery-United States
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Text
DISCOURSE
UPON
CAUSES FOR THANKSGIVING:
PREACHED AT
WATERTOWN, NOV. 30, 1862.
By JOHN WEISS.
BOSTON:
WRIGHT & POTTER, PRINTERS, 4 SPRING LANE.
1 8 6 2.
�J
�DISCOURSE.
Make: iv: 28.
FIRST THE BLADE, THEN THE EAR, AFTER THAT- THE FULL CORN IN THE EAR.
The content and thankfulness of New England are committed
every spring to her soil by fee hand! oft farmers, who find it
again spreading the color of California gold over their autumn
fields. And what an alchemist is a former, to get that color out
of land so poor and climate so harshgwhefe, what with the
prices of labor, the expense of implements;,;' of draining, manur
ing, keeping of stock and buildings,; and a comfortable life
through a tedious winter not a great deal of feat color finds its
way into his pockety however much he may store in his bins
or send to market. And W;herever.,a ploughmans, from the
Kennebec to the Mississippi, turniiig^fat or meagre soils to the
sun of a temperate summer^ there springs the beautiful thanks
giving harvest of New England# and of the North. Manufac
tures, shoe and leather dealing, all. the trades and inventions,
eat the pumpkins and the corn of fee farmer. And the pursuits
which are closely allied to^agideulture,such as, the breeding
of cattle and the growing of wool, foelp the farmer to create
and feed a North. Lawrence# and Lowell can consume all the
cotton they get, when the farmer of the East and West dumps
his potatoes at the ^factory door. ■ When the great arm of the
engine vibrates, and a million spindles and the hearts of those
who tend them sing, see how fee sJendentferead goes up from
the ball, carrying all the. crops of the year wife it to spin them
into Wamsutta or Merrimac, or other famous brands. The morn
ing tattoo which the Lynn shoemakers beat on their lap-stones
is the echo of flails in a thousand barns. Genesis says, that the
Lord God took a little earth to make the first man ; now man
�4
breathes his own breath of life into the earth again, and it
makes him and sustains him every day.
There is not much land, even among the rich river-bottoms
and prairies of the West, so genial that man has “ only to tickle
it with a hoe to make it laugh with a harvest.” What would
our farmers think of that great tract of black earth in the
empire of Russia, “ lying between the fifty-first and fifty-seventh
parallels of latitude, comprising about 247,000,000 acres, so rich
that if manured the first years of culture, the crops often prove
abortive from excessive vegetation. The thickness of this deposit
varies from three to six feet, and in many places it runs to an
unknown depth.”* But how hard it is to evoke civilization and
knowledge out of that depth, because neither of them cultivate
it. Yet it is in that great temperate plateau of Russia, called
“ The Industrial Region,” that freedom and religion when
planted may be expected to subdue the rankness of the soil.
Here freedom and religion coax and flatter sterility till it fairly
forgets itself and smiles.
In a still autumn morning, when the brown roads have
drift-heaps of red and yellow leaves, and the air seems to be
nothing but a mingling of shine and warmth, what a ride
it is to take up and down the valleys here, through the north
part of Watertown, where the first farmers of New England
sowed their English grass, and across Beaver brook through
the uplands of Waltham, and behind Prospect-hill, where
the farms and wood-lots stretch pleasantly away. Perhaps you
turn off towards Lexington, and cross the famous turnpike
down which the farmers “fired the first shot heard round
the world,” when, as minute-men, they top-dressed their
fields with English blood, and were not chary of their own.
Religion and liberty have grown well ever since. You ride past
their manifest tokens; you pause at their memorial when you
hitch your horse at a farmer’s door, and ask the price of his
potatoes and pumpkins which lie there, great heaps of plenty,
before barns bursting with corn-shucks and upland grass, the
sinews of war and of peace. No sharp-shooting behind the stone
fences now, nor irregular firing up and down the road. The
cricket chirps from the door-step a tranquil song, whose burden
Patent Office Report, 1861. Agricultural.
�5
’seems to be that Nature is laying in sunshine, with good hus
bandry, for another spring. The children break out of the little
primary school-house, where New England planting is carried
on too,—boys and girls trained to grow straight and sturdy, to
handle some day the plough, the loom, or the musket, as the
country needs. Now they are the finest of all the crops on the
slopes which they shall one day inherit. What a ride you can
take through the country lanes, bordered with nothing finer
than the pendent barberry and the purpling sumach, unless you
have an eye for the comfort, and thanksgiving, and popular
Liberty, whose stateliness lines all the road, and stretches far
away between the hills.
When a people own the land, wd own themselves, and conse
quently do not depend upon oiid product and one employment
for their means of intelligence and happiness, they are superior
to bad luck, and know little of the discomforts of a crisis. In
this respect what a different sight meets the traveller who is
passing to-day through the cotton districts of Lancashire,
England, where a population offl nearly three millions have
their welfare entangled in the will-machinery, and cease to
hope as the factory ©fiimnies Q,ease to smoke. They are as
piuch the slaves of thll cotton-plant as the negroes who hoe it
and gin its blossoms. They belong to a style of civilization
*
which thinks little of man, but a great deal of trade ; which
dooms a man all his life, and his? children after him, to make
the head of a pin, to pick under grouffl. at a stratum of coal, to
pull and ripple flaxjfe1 tend a machine in a mill. Take away
his pin-head, his pick-axe, or fail to. feed his machine with
cotton, and he is a p^w^ef| he,,comes upon the parish for his
daily support, or has a^frowl of soup ladled out to him at the
door of some charity. In Manchester, which has a population
of 357,604, the pauperism is-Bow 10f per cent., and out-door
relief is distributed to 16,334 persons at the rate of Is. 4d. per
head per week—about two shillings of ©Mr money. Out of
eighty-four cotton mills, twenty-two
are
**
stopped, and thirty are
working short time. But Manchester is comparatively well off.
The town of Stockport, about six miles from Manchester, has,
out of a population of 54,681, 18,000 engaged in the factories,
in good times; but now there are only 4,000 working on full
�6
time, 7,283 are wholly unemployed, and 7,000 are working on
short time. Then 1,000 people belonging to other trades
depend upon the staple trade, thrown out of work. 30,000
people in Stockport receive relief. But what an amount of
misery do those figures represent. The more able-bodied men
go tramping over the country to seek work, but spinners and
weavers are not able-bodied, and a day’s march often lays them
up. Some of them who can sing form a little company, and
go singing glees, “ with nobody minding,” and few farthings for
their half-starved music. The women also try to win a’bitter
meal with the sweetness of their voice. A spectator describes
a scene of this kind : “ One young woman, about thirty years of
age, with a child in her arms, was standing in a by-street,
singing in a sweet, plaintive voice, a Lancashire song. It was
her first song in public ; and the tremulous voice and downcast
look, as she hugged with nervous grasp her little one, was very
touching. When the song was over, the poor creature looked
round with a timid air to the bystanders ; but she had miscalcu
lated her strength—the occasion was beyond her power of
endurance—and she burst into a passionate flood of tears.”*
I see m that womaU, the patient England held in slavery by a
selfish Toryism, which would be. glad to-morrow to recognize
another slavery in order to keep its own fed and quiet. A
relieving officer in Stockport, says : “ I have gone into the
rooms of the English operatives when they have not had a
mouthful of bread under the roof, and perhaps not had what
you may call a meal the whole $ay, and nothing but shavings to
sleep on through the night, yet they talked as cheerfully and
resignedly as if there was every prospect of employment on the
morrow.” These are subjects of a government which has
trained their bodies and souls to do only one thing, to mind the
brutifying monotony of one machine, and is now exulting over
what it calls the failure of a Democracy, as it lets arms and
steamers for a Southern aristocracy slip through one hand, and
a little soup for its starving poor through the other. This,
then, is the largess of a constitutional monarchy,—piratical
cannon and comfort for slave-drivers abroad, and the great
institution of Soup for slaves at home I
* A Visit to the Cotton Districts, 1862, p. 4.
�7
Even this latter is grudgingly bestowed. Many of the richest
mill-owners have not yet subscribed a farthing to the relief
funds, so that it is a difficult matter to secure a shilling a head
per week to the poor applicants. Yet who subscribed to the
“Alabama?” Whose money fits out steamer after steamer with
munitions to keep the life in Southern slavery ? What capital
is it that buys Confederate bonds at eighty-four cents, and that
is willing to take the risks of sea and a blockade to help in
undermining the great Republic whose manifold prosperity it
dreads ? Thank God, the elements of an American Thanks
giving, material and spiritual, are, and forever will be, beyond
the reach of open levy dr secret m^lfe'e of itsjiearty haters.
In Ashton-under-eLyne, whose population is 36,791, there are
10,933 hands employed tdfi^^MH^^^iting a population of
nearly 22,000. The existing means Of relief reach only 9,000
of these; that is, there are moi^thanb 10,000 dependent on
private charity, or their own eesoffm^ The 9,000 cost <£480
per week. The mill-owners in this place have been disposed to
help the operativestfff'Someof thdm have allowed their unem
ployed hands as much as two^and^shipen'c’e a week, some lend
them money, others maintain a daily distribution of food.
In Preston the progress of the distress is shown by the fol
lowing figures : in August of this year fehe number of poor
relieved by the rates was fe,2'0l| and by' the Public Relief
Committee, 21,616 ; but in September the number had swelled
to 14,289 relieved by the rates, and 23,932 by the Committee.
“ During the week ending September 13, the Relief Committee
distributed 16,832 loaves, weighing;, 601:6 lbs.; 11,301 quarts
of soup, and 4,820 qaaafts' of coffee.” There are seventy-one
firms owning mills imPr^stbff ^ ofthese,. forty-eight contributed
the pitiful sum of :£l,9f8
a re^ifwd of £12,000. Yet
there are 27,600 factory operatives; whose actual financial loss
per week amounts to mop® than £11,00'0. This happens every
week, and one in every seveii and a half of the entire popula
*
tion of Preston become entirely pauperized. To counterbalance
this, forty-eight rich mill-owners contributed less than £2,000,
not per week, but their definitive subscription for the year !
See how these poor men were obliged to take their money
out of the savings banks. In the single town of Blackburn
�8
the annual deposits, from 1855 to 1861, “ had risen from
£18,118 to £49,943, or more than £30,000.” But what was
that sum to the working classes who had lost since August,
1861, at least £350,000 in wages, “ and that amount is now
being increased at the rate of £12,000 per week.” During six
months, down to last May, the withdrawals from the banks were
£10,000 in excess of the usual amount. These savings have
been all swallowed up by this time. “ A lass, thinly clad, but
bearing evidence of better days, saw a dog with a bone. She
tried to take it away. The dog snarled—would not give it up ;
and she stood foiled, in hungry attitude. A tradesman seeing
her said, £ What did you want with that bone ? ’ c I could have
swapped it for salt,’ she replied, £ and the salt I might have
swapped for a bit of bread.’ As she said this she burst into
tears.”
In the midst of this distress, the painful and touching
instances of which need not be repeated, the Boards of Guard
ians in many places have established what is called the ££ Labor
Test,” to protect the parish funds from the poaching of profes
sional paupers and vagabonds. They commence an excavation,
or provide work in stone-yards and on the roads, where every
unemployed man must do his choice in order to draw his relief.
These honest and unfortunate operatives are reduced to labor
at these aimless tasks by the side of vagrants, ragamuffins, gam
blers, “ and corrupt old hucksters,” to get a miserable dole of
parish bread. Whiat a poisoned mess is this which the proud old
monarchy tosses jealously to her plain, straightforward children,
who have woven, spun, carded,, drawn and pieced her million
bales of goods, which stock the markets of the world !
The resort to Indian cotton, which is carelessly gathered and
imperfectly cleaned, appears only to have aggravated the pre
vailing wretchedness. Overseers and ££ managers report the
most harrowing scenes in the factories,
o
*wing
to the exhaustion
of the patience of the men and the women who £ cannot go on
with their work, owing to constant breakages.’ The machines
which they tend stand idle, whilst innumerable threads break
rom sheer rottenness, and almost before the wheels are again
in motion the work is again required to be suspended, from a
cause which had but the moment before been remedied. The
�9
worry of such work is exhausting; it depresses the physical
energies and wears the heart. Some give up in despair, and
leave the factory to beg or work on the moor or in the stone
yard ; others grow haggard or pale under the trial; the strong
men grow weak,—the weak, ill. The men curse, and the
women sit down and cry bitterly. A manufacturer resident in
Manchester, who is by no means a tender-hearted gentleman,
said, that instances of the kind were of daily occurrence in his
factory, and that he had ceased to go into most of the rooms,
4 for the women were all crying over their work.’ ”*
The London 44 Times” informs jks, tl«from the first of Sep
tember to the twenty-fifth of October, the number of persons
receiving parochial relief in all the cotton districts had increased
by 68,456, and that there <ere in ^11
^
*08,621.
In addition to
this, there are 143,870 persons who receive their aid from local
committees. Total, 352,491. jfTJie weekly loss of wages is
estimated at ^136,094,- and th^amou^at^to <^7,000,000 a year.
44 Nor does this prodigious sunu| says the 44 Times,” 44 represent
the whole loss incurred by, these districts, for the ordinary
*
receipts of a manufacturer mutst be such as to cover not only
wages, but the expense of machine^, and the interest of capital
sunk in buildings and land, besides a^handsome^ofit.” It is the
loss of this handsome, profit wshich, more than all the suffering of
the men and women who used to egtrn it, inspires the 44Times”
to unroll its columns of appalling figures in the interest of inter
vention and Southern slavery. The l$ss5..of this profit, and the
discomfort of having- 40.0.,000 gjesh (paupers added in one year
to its list of vagabonds, isthe on® .d^w^ack to English satisfac
tion at seeing the great Republic ,shrivelling from loss of blood,
and sinking from the menace of^its, former estate to insignifi
cance beneath debt, dismembermenti. ^nd national disgrace.
But it reminds me of. .the. principaL.cause for thanksgiving
which we have to-day. J>i;^rea.dmgt;.b,efQye you a few facts in
relation to the distress o%ihe^ng^jwofci^n, my object was
not only to contrast it with the suhgtap^al comfort which the
institutions of a Democracy sustain, at the same time that it
can wage war at the rate of $2,000,000 a day, and deaths and
* Visit to the Cotton Districts, p. 75.
2
�10
wounds incomputable, but to bring that rebellious aristocracy,
to whose bad cause this distress is incidental, before the tribunal
of our grateful thoughts.
Men of New England never had such a reason for returning
thanks as to-day, when they can perceive so clearly that the
whole history of their country has inevitably led to this death
struggle between two ideas as incompatible in the same civil
society as deceit and sincerity in the same heart; an Aristocracy
founded upon depriving men of natural rights, and a Democracy
founded upon securing them to men. We are thankful that
the issue is honestly and squarely made at last, and lurks no
longer behind politics and compromises, and that every measure
of the past which expected to stifle it has distinctly led, by the
logic of a God who cannot bear iniquity, to a great historical
situation, which tears the mask from the evil tendency, and bids
a good tendency assume its grand proportions. The first Revo
lution of ’76 was only a graft upon the rugged American stock,
which blossomed in these latter years, and is now maturing
its fruit. It will be the task of some future pen to show how
the divine thought has picked its way through the political
confusion and disgraces of a generation, to finish its work of
founding a Republic.
How premature were all our notions that we were citizens
of an America. We have been in our minority all the time
—a lusty, passionate and unsettled one, out of which we are
stepping now, to the rights and privileges of an honest demo
cratic manhood. To show how we grew to this, will one
day be the task of some man who will devote to it the flower
and prudence of his life. He will have to divide it into three
epochs—the first comprising the establishment of the Constitu
tion, and the subsequent years to the abolition of the slavetrade. This was the epoch when the rights of man were the
accepted theory of the country, slavery was supposed to be a
self-limited disease, and the Revolution slumbered after resisting
one aristocracy, till it was awakened by another. The second
epoch will tell the great material and political story of the
growth of slavery, in a generation which forgot the feeling of
the fathers from interest and ambition. It will show how
adroitly the new aristocratic ideas helped themselves to power
�11
witir the country’s great watchword—Democracy—by relating
the successive encroachments of an unconstitutional tendency
1 in the name of the Constitution, in each of which free-labor
voted to extend and protect slave-labor, and our mother, with
the Revolution’s blood yet hallowing her starry garments, was
scorned and almost turned out of her own children’s house.
This epoch, with its three sub-divisions of nullification, the
territorial questions, and the reaction of Republicanism, will
extend to the election of Abraham Lincoln. The third epoch
will open with secession, and tell the story of the reappearance
of the rights of man in the reawakening of the Revolution, *
1
when the Democrat and the Aristocrat see each other clearly at
last, only a bayonet’s length
as they did at Bunker’s
Hill and Yorktown. And as-it 4s •jushjis impossible to write
history without idea® as it iatqinake nations and epochs without
them, so the idea of thist, history will be to show how provi
dential and inevitable was the -rise of thisparistocracy and the
resistance of this democracy, with all the triumphs, disgraces,
defeats and miseries qf their irrepressible conflict, with all the
accidents, treasons, indecisions and weaknesses of the people’s
war ; and that these things were for the sake of having a People
at last to illustrate, uphold, and organize.the rights of mankind,
first for America, but no less for th©wo$id^ It will be a history
of two necessities born^of ,£ws> incompatible tendencies: the
necessity of aristocracy, born of slavery, and the necessity of
democracy born of freqdqm. Those, two necessities not only
account for all that ha$ happened, but show how nothing could
*
have happened otherwise^ not eyen military disappointments,
delays and imbecilities;, how, in short, slavery would never
have been destroyed by freedom in any other way, or upon other
terms, or at any other period.
We never believed thi®, and yet we see that it comes true,
and every fresh bulletin ‘^nfirms it; for if, out of all the
crowd of events which makes the history of a country, a few
of them happened by chance alone, the whole series of events
would be vitiated, and the divine intentions, if there are any
such, would be spoiled. If even one event occurred by chance,
that is, illogically, shoved in, on slovenly, like the dropping
of a stitch, the splendid web which we call history would
.1
�12
be shoddy. All the great forces of the world make all their
slightest movements in obedience to law. The only mistake
which slavery makes is in being slavery; that will destroy it,
but in the meantime it is consistent and fatal as consumption.
And God means that it shall be, for consistency’s sake, to
show the necessity of health and freedom. Therefore, we
shall find that there was never a moment previous to the war
when slavery could have been overcome by freedom, and never
a moment during the war. We return thanks for the presence
of God in every disappointment of our history.
Let us look at this point a little closer. When the Constitu
tion became the charter of a Federal Union, slavery had just
strength enough to prevent freedom from destroying it, and not
strength enough to pique freedom in making the attempt. The
two tendencies were neutral, but it was because one tendency
was felt to be evil and unrepublican, and short-lived. In 1790,
’91 and ’92, only 733,044 pounds of cotton were exported from
the United States, a great deal of which was foreign cotton which
had been previously imported.
*
The total value of this export
was only $137,737 ; an amount that would not keep an aristoc
racy in tobacco. But the development of the cotton-crop has
been unchecked and regular ever since, excepting in the year
of the embargo, 1808, and the three years of war, 1812, ’13 and
’14. In 1805, the value of the export was $32,004,005; in
1821, it was $64,638,062; and in 1850, it was $118,393,952.
The “ cotton zone ” extended from the Atlantic to the Rio del
Norte, including the States and portions of States lying between
the 27th and 35th parallels of latitude, “and all of the State
of Texas between the Gulf of Mexico, and the 34th parallel of
* Before the Revolution, hemp and silk competed with cotton for preponder
ance. In a copy of Nathaniel Ames’s Almanac for 1765, I find the following
item : “March 14; above 20,000 cwt. of|iemp has been exported from South
Carolina since Nov. 1. Several stalks measured 17 feet long and 2 inches
diameter at the base.” Thus hemp was exported while foreign cotton was
imported, and more pounds of hemp were raised than of cotton. In a copy of
the Almanac for 1766, is another item: “June 30. Last Triday voted by ye
House of Commons of ye Province (S. Carolina) £1,000 towards establishing a
Silk Filature in this town under the direction of Rev’d Mr. Gilbert. Mrs.
Pinckney of Belmont Plantation, within four miles of Charleston, has made
near 50 bushels of Cocoons this season, which are esteemed of the best kind.”
�13
North latitude.” In this vast area of upwards of 450,000 square
miles, nearly a third is adapted to the growing of cotton.
*
Here,
if any where, was the development of a geographical party with
sectional politics. But at the same period, in 1850, the value
of the crop of Indian corn was $456,091,491; of wheat, $156,786,068 ; and of hay, $254,334,316.f Cotton was smaller than
each of these great staples, being only one hundred and eighteen
millions. Why did no aristocracy spring from those enormous
figures, whose growth is maifilylNorthern ? Because the men
who owned the crops raised them^ and therein lies the difference
between a sectional party and tw national life.
At what period during tliS’ great development of the cotton
staple would yoUr-haw expected ’slavery to come to an end by
the operation of natural laws ?' Wei
®
* sbd
to hear a good deal
about letting slavery alone Mhat it might die out. Why, the
operation of natural laws-was faWrafole ‘to slavery—to the
protection both of slaves and cotton. We might have expected
to see Northern agriculture die out as soon.
The abolition of the slave-trade, in 1808, which the South
regarded at the timAas' a hostile mewurwhas proved immensely
favorable to slavery. It was indeed the first act of positive
legislation with a tendency to ncMrish and protect that institu
tion. For when artohial cargoes of half-barbarous Africans are
introduced into a eoiaAffy, local ' disturbances occur more
frequently, the- mortalitynin'ong' the sWbi W greater, and their
increase comparativelyTeebl'S. t The abolition of the trade gave
•t «
* Andrews’ Report on Colonial, and Lake Trade... 1852.
f These figures, taken from the Agricultural Report, 1861, vary from those
which had been previously given in the Census for 1850. Of wheat alone, the
two States of Pennsylvania! and New York, raised of course more bushels than
the aggregate of all the Southern and Middle Slave States.
t In 1714, the number of slaves; was 55,850; and 30,000 of these had been
brought from Africa,
Between 1715 and 1750 there were imported 90,000 slaves.
cc
6t
■ CC
1751
1760 CC
35,000 11
Cl
Ct
1761 “ 1770 CC
74,000 “
CC
CC
CC 1
1771 “ 1790 CC
34,000 “
CC
CC
1790 “ 1808 CC
70,000 “
These amount to 303,000; but the total number of native and imported slaves
in 1808, was only 1,100,000, showing a feeble increase for a century. But from
1808 to 1850 the number leaped to 3,204,373. The slave-ships always landed
more men than women.
�14
to Southern slavery all those peculiarities which the masters
are pleased to call patriarchal. Plantation life has reared two
generations of American slaves, in a climate comparatively
temperate, where they have preserved and propagated all
their native excellencies undisturbed by the annual relays
of native vices which the slave-ship brought. A good many
savage habits have dropped away from them. Fetichism
and serpent-worship lingers only in a few places in Mississippi,
and perhaps in Louisiana, where the slave-trade lasted longer.
The natural religiousness of the negro is more healthily devel
oped by Methodism aiid the Baptist sects, as in Jamaica, than
by Catholicism, as in Hayti, or by the half-savage rites of
Africa. When the “ Wanderer,” in 1858, landed a cargo of
native negroes on the coast of 'Georgia, the better portion of the
Southern press and people were alarmed and indignant; many
disliked the violation of law; the rest felt that it was an infrac
tion of law which brought harm instead of benefit to the insti
tution. A few papers were clamorous with approbation, but the
more influential recorded their disgust at the sight of the sickly
and savage cargo.
*
In 1850 it was calculated that not more
than eight or ten thousand of originally imported Africans were
yet alive.
It was not long before the polities of the South represented
its controlling interest, in the doctrine of State rights, the
interpretation of the Constitution, the jealous safeguards thrown
around the property in man, the absolute necessity to encroach
and domineer, to invent new compromises, to abolish old ones,
to thrust the fatal tendency into the courts and every depart
ment of government. The South never did a single act that
was not strictly in harmony with the exigencies of its position.
It had recovered from the amiable expectation of the fathers,
that slavery would disappear. Figures, which are said to never
lie, began to prove slavery a divine institution. It was the
cotton crop which sent Southerners to the Old Testament after
a divine sanction for slavery, and to the New, to applaud Paul
for remanding Onesimus to his master. Washington, Jefferson,
Lee, and Lowndes and Mason never cared to build a hedge of
* See Charleston and Savannah papers of that date.
�15
texts around the institution. If they thought there was no
attribute of God that could take the part of the slaveholder, they
would not dare to search their Bibles for slaveholding texts.
But their sons of the next generation saw an undoubted law of
God whitening all their fields with the cotton-bloom. Then the
Bible texts became pods that burst with the doctrines of Cal
houn and his descendants ; for men search the Scriptures to
justify their interest as often as to control their passions *
There was an anti-slavery party in Virginia as late as 1832.
Worn out tobacco-fields helped it to chew the cud of bitter
fancy, as it revolved the sentiments of Jefferson and Mason. An
act of emancipation narrowly escaped passing the legislature of
that State. Why did it not pass,
the prosecution of slave
labor was hostile to the interest of Virginia? We have heard
that the efforts of anti-slavery men in that State were paralyzed
by the commencement, of an anti-slavery agitation at the North.
Slavery was just on the point of dying out, when the publica
tion of the “Liberator,” infused a new and antagonistic life into
its decrepit frame. How farmen have to go for nothing, when
their prejudices, drive! That publication heralded a great
awakening of the republican. tendency, but the Southern
tendency was already pledge^ to its own laws and obedient to
their direction; a “ Liberator < in ^verytown and village of the
North could have neither accelerated nor retarded the march of
natural laws. Just look at ..the facts. In 1832, while the legis
lature of Virginia was discussing, laws relative to emancipation,
the slaves rose immensely ^.pripe- They should have fallen.
The discussion itself was in conseqpence ,of their being worth so
little. Why did they rise ? Did slaveholders give three or four
times as much for able-bodied negroes,- against their own
interest, and to spite the “ Liberatoy
It was the increasing
demand for slaves, the growing activity of the internal slavetrade, the imperious necessity of slave labor, the prospect of new
territory and an expansion of the cottorf zone, that caused the
* Descourtilz, a French. Naturalist, was in Charleston in 1798, and heard a
Quaker declaiming in the square, to quite a gathering of people, against the
enormity of separating and selling some slaves who were exposed there on a
platform. The sale went on, and so did the Quaker. But the snake had a full
equipment of rattles by the time of Mr. Hoar’s mission.
�16
price to rise and emancipation to be shelved as a Virginia
abstraction. It was found to be against nature, and against the
dreadful fatality of Southern wants. An act of emancipation
would have been as much waste paper in Virginia, as if it had
been passed in Massachusetts. The “ corner-stone ” would have
fallen upon it and ground it to powder. It was not the aboli
tionist alone who was antagonistic to slavery, but the spirit of
the age itself.
*
The savage instinct of slavery divined this
enmity which pervaded the air; steadily but resolutely, because
pushed on by the necessity of self-defence, and the necessity of
working out its bitter problem, it sought for guarantees and
for expansion, and stuck at nothing to attain its end. Only
revolution can bleed and pacify such passion ; its logic will not
come to the ground until i bipod does. The whole long story of
*
Southern aggression is a story of Southern self-defence, from the
expulsion of Mr. Hoar, through the annexation of Texas, Fugitive
Slave bills, Kansas-Nebraska, bills, border and senatorial ruffian
ism, Ostend conferences, Illlibusterfsm, to the secret treason
which armed and comforted" secessabSa.
Slavery gradually dying out! Slavery was a system which
decreed its own expansion. It was mightier than 350,000 slave
holders. Do we suppose1 it is that insignificant body of men
which has controlled the politics of this country for fifty years,
and is now dashing its arahed' columns against the bosses of the
shield of Liberty ? It ds a naturafl»8brce hidden in slave-labor,
and enslaving the slaveholder. It ensnared him through his
lust, his pride, his political ambition, his tocal prejudices, and
his pocket. It invigorates his arm, and employs all his gifts to
enforce the extremity of its passion against the vigor of liberty.
The moment when slavery can Jbe artestecl is the moment when
it bleeds to death, and not before.
*How clearly this is shown 'by the scorn and contempt with which for
twenty years the prominent men and journals of the South met the most con
servative advice which its own Northern friends ventured to offer. The vitriol
dashed into the face of the abolitionist was not diluted before being used to
asperse the genteelest remonstrants. The Southern exigency was long ago
betrayed by the passionate tone of able editors. For specimens of rhetoric
hitherto unequalled at the North, see the Richmond “Examiner,” 1853, “The
Paramount Question; ” March 7 and 31, 1854; May 19, “ Every Northern Man
a Swindler;” July 4, 1854; October 16, 1855, etc.
�What moment of the past would you select now, upon delibe
rate afterthought, when, if things had turned out differently,
you can imagine that the Southern tendency would have been
checked ? When great natural elements are at their work of
making history, things happen naturally, and could never
happen differently ; they express with mathematical accuracy
the state of the elements. To suppose a change in the circum
stances you must previously suppose a change in the forces that
are at work, including the mental and spiritual condition of the
people. Sometimes men speculate that if the events of a period
had been different the results would have been different.”*
There is but little virtu© in that “ If,” for an event, by occur
ring, shows that it could not have been different. Events are
always the products of all the forces at the period of their occur
rence. While one force checks, and another force propels, still
another must lie dormant? and others do little but appear upon
the field. And masses of men are butw®§ embodiments of the
forces, which they help at every moment to create, and which
illustrate their period. It is as absurd to wonder what would
have happened if William the Conqueror had not invaded
England, or Washington had not organized the spirit of ’76, or if
Daniel Webster had made a different speech on the 7th of March,
1850, or if Fremont had been elected'President six years ago, or if
Buchanan had garrisoned the Southern forts, as to wonder what
*
the movements of the solar system would have been if the
planets had no moons, or if the sun were half its present bulk.
The good and ill of history combine to repeat the wondrous tale
of the divine necessities. England was invaded, Washington
arose, Webster fell back before advancing slavery, Fremont
lacked three hundred thousand votes, and Buchanan loaded the
first gun and trained it on Fort Sumter, from combinations and
foregoing influences and momentary moods that expressed
themselves thus, in scorn of all ifs and buts, and leaving the
future to explain them. Even the disgraceful things which men
do at critical moments are nice expressions of an evil tendency,
show how far it is disposed to go at every point where a good
tendency does not yet suflice, and are the unconscious menials
* See, for instance, Niebuhr’s Lectures, ii. 59.
�18
of goodness. The vices of men finish up a great deal of
scavenger-work in the housekeeping of God.
Examine any political moment of the past thirty years, when,
if there had been a united and indignant North, you think that
the career of slavery would have been checked, and you will
find nothing out of which to make your supposition. Such a
North was an impossibility. Examine the same period of time
for the moment when the natural decay of slavery might have
commenced, and you will find that the natural growth of slavery
forbade that supposition also. When the Republican party
triumphed in 1860, its leaders thought that slavery was hemmed
in. by a permanent change in Northern sentiment, expressed by
a majority of votes, and that the time had at last arrived when
we should see slavery commencing its decline. This shallow
expectation was soon corrected, because it underrated the logical
necessities of slavery, and overrated the vitality of republicanism.
The triumph of the latter was a moment most dangerous for
real democracy, because the North proposed to be content with
the election of a president. The danger was that republicanism
would have burnt itself out in four years with making a Cabinet
pot to boil. Any Secretary of State might keep that fire well
fed with old speeches that were once plump with generous
abstractions, but served at last only for a crackling of thorns.
After the pot had boiled itself dry, and republicanism had
shrivelled all up inside and scorched sadly to the bottom, it
would have been lifted off the political crane, and a new demo
cratic pot hung in its place, with the South to blow up a fresh
fire of cotton-waste and bagasse, and the North to watch and
stir the new pottage of compromise for the the homely Esau of
liberty. It was a dangerous and almost fatal moment, not only
because the North was disposed to be content, but because a
large portion of the South was disposed to wait for the reaction
in its favor which would have certainly taken place. But
slavery is stronger than the -South, just as liberty is stronger
than the North. And there is always one place where a tendency
comes to its focus of white heat which shrivels up reserve, pru
dential consideration, and all respect: a moment and a place
where a domineering passion breaks through every restraint to
ravish its object. The focus of slavery was in South Carolina.
�19
FEvery channel in her body sent the black blood rushing to her
brain, and congested it with fatal suggestions. How plain it is
now that the temporizing policy, which was always the trait of
half-living republicanism, was the instrument in the hands of
Mr. Buchanan to conjure liberty out of republicanism, decision
out of uncertainty, and draw the bolt out of the gates of the
great North-wind. History will return thanks that the Southern
forts were left without their garrisons, seeing that God meant to
garrison them with liberty. At first it seems clear that there
was a moment when the whole Revolution was in the power of a
few hundred men to be judiciously posted where slavery under
stood itself the best, and was thwbbing with evil purposes. No,
we do wrong to say there was iSBCh a moment. If such a
moment had been essential or possible, it would have become
actual. But the strength of slavery appeared just as much in
the weakness of Mr. Buchanan as in the determination of
Jefferson Davis; it was , against the divine logic that a few
hundred men should tear a glorious page of history.
Seeds are not ready to germinate in April, but after the first
thunder how they swell and burst their flinty husks and send
up shoots like sword-blades over all -the . soil I Liberty was
waiting for the thunder. The awful-looking cloud that blotted
out half her sky and the stars whieh ought to shine there,
gathered and gloomed continually, rolling in upon itself as if
to concentrate and fiercely hearten,
till!
*
the passion that red
dened its great edges could not, bide there another moment, and
forth it sprung. The lightning, Was. neither premature nor
disastrous. It sub^yed the needs/.of liberty, which had lain
frost-bound through a long northern winter, waiting for a genial
hour.
But green shoots do not make a.harvest. There is never a
moment in the summer when the corn might stop growing, with
the delusion that it was ready to furnish food for man. What
moment would you select to break off your corn-tops, expecting
to leave full ears upon the stumps.to ripen in the sun,—when the
joints send forth their ribands, or when the mealy tassels come,
or when the first silk is spun out of the future husk ? Sum
mer’s sun is a growing sun, fierce and almost intolerable.
Autumn points with long shadows to the ripening hours.
�20
Was the corn ripe in the early July sun of the first Manassas;
was it ripe at New Orleans, or ready to be picked at Shiloh ?
Was it mildewed at Ball’s Bluff, or blasted on the Peninsula, or
did the husbandry of God come to nought in the sunless and
chilly days of the second Manassas ?
You cannot mention a single moment in this thunderous
war-summer when liberty could have found her crop. If the
war had closed with early successes, the cause of the war would
have been preserved. Every mistake that we have made,
especially the mistake of underrating the power of slavery,
every lukewarm general who has been commissioned for the
field, every traitor in the cabinet or the camp, every check
experienced by our arms, every example of mediocrity holding
critical command, has precisely represented our immature and
growing condition, and was its logical necessity.
Beauregard hammering at Sumter nailed a flag to the mast
in every village of the North. But though a Republic ran up
all its bunting and had none to spare, it was not till summer
and winter had weather-stained those brave flags and almost
fretted them from the poles, that they began to signalize the
rights of man to every portion of the country, and to stream
like a torn aurora with true American influence from the lakes
to the gulf. Death and sorrow pry up the lids of the heaviest
sleepers; we are all awake now; but when General Banks said
to the North, “ Rais® fl©0,000 men and hold the South as a
conquered province till she is regenerated,” we were astonished
at his exaggeration. And when, still later, General Fremont
said, “ The strength of slavery is in slave-labor, and the sinews
of war are concealed beneath black skins,” the North shuddered
at the bold invasion of property in man, and was not prepared
to see the country itself th© sole owner of its men and women.
So that if a Wellington had gained a complete and subjugating
victory at any of the points where we fondly expected one, he
would have subjugated liberty, and clapped the North again into
the harness of compromises and adjustments. The dreariest
moments have seemed to me the lightest, because I heard the
corn filling with milk under the shadow of the cloud. The
bloodiest days have yielded the finest growing weather to
liberty.
�21
“ Then,” you say to me, “ you do not care for the loss of men
and the anguish of women ? Your liberty is a hyena which
snatches a loathsome feast from lost fields of battle ? ” No
more than she was when Washington seized her hand as he
retreated, and nourished her in his winter-tent upon the gloom
and foreboding of America. No—I am so little careless about
the bloQd which has been shed, that I want to see for what use •
it has gone forever out of the dear hearts of Northern homes.
It is not enough for me that you repeat the hackneyed senti
ment that it is beautiful to die for one’s country. There must
be use as well as beauty, or there is no such thing as a country
to die for. Things that are useful lay the corner-stones of a
great Commonwealth, and build the shafts around which beauties
cluster. If you wish to see thernen who care nothing for the
blood of your kindred, look at those who shout how beautiful it
is to die to keep the cause of death alive, the men who could
stretch a hand to slavery across; three hundred thousand graves,
with a welcome back into a country full of the widows and
orphans she has made. We thank God that His thoughts are
not as such thoughts. A balance in His hand has held a scale
weighted with the glorious truths of this Republic; into it He
has thrown free-labor, knowledge, art and beauty, the common
school, the pulpit and. the plough^ all of these moulded into
liberty in the shape of a winged victory. Into the other scale
the lacerated days of two campaigns! have dripped with blood ;
every precious drop has been marked by that unslumbering
eye to be heavy with New England and Western homes, and
rich with privileges dearly bought y the scale sinks slowly—they
are almost even—the winged victory rises to its equivalent of
blood.
And what thought of the most.ardent worshipper of the liberty
that costs so much can embrace the future which waits at the
outposts of this emancipating "war! After every field-battery
has rolled away into the distance of peace, and the bayonet
hides a strange blush within its sheath, and the last tent is
folded, that future shall step from grave to grave, bringing new
life, new duties, great trials and appropriate joys into the heart
of America. Nations who have been astonished to see how a
free people can organize war by sea and land, will admire its
�22
greater victories over the embarrassments and trials which must
still dispute its path to the highest glory.
When peace returns, it will prove to be a heavy assessor of
our common sense and patience. The problem of self-govern
ment will include the governing and rearing of four millions of
people, richly endowed with affection, veneration and docility,
• but ignorant and awkward, superstitious, full of childish tricks,
and unconscious of the duties of a freeman. Their feeble
ambition has been hitherto one of the advantages of the slave
holder in perpetuating their servile state. But it is also
fostered by the tone of religious instruction among their own
preachers, who represent and confirm the gentle tendencies of
the African. Mr. Pierce describes, in his first report to Secre
tary Chase, a sermon which he hea^d at Port Royal, from the
text, “ Blessed are the meek.” The slaveholder may well
tremble for his acres when he recalls the promise of that text.
It was characteristic of the American slave that the preacher
urged upon his hearers not to try to be “ stout-minded.” How
congenial this advice is to the average negro is shown by the
infrequency and feebleness of all insurrectionary movements. It
was not possible for the slave to organize a formidable insurrection
while the South was in full strength, nor will he ever be disposed
to hazard the attempt, except, perhaps, in case the Proclama
tion of Emancipation is recalled, or hampered with gradualism,
or local efforts are made to reestablish or continue the status
of slavery. Then their scattered condition and the geography
of the country would be less unfavorable to a successful rising
than the slave’s inborn predisposition for bloodless and pacific
ways. Not that the negro dreads death: his mobile and flutter
ing imagination becomes fixed in the presence of a real danger.
He is impassive or frenzied^ and will charge up to the very
mouths of cannon and coil about them. He is singularly cool
to meet what he cannot avoid, but night-fears and fancied
terrors make a child of him. The threat of a novel mode of
torture is too much for him. It is imagination only that makes
a coward of a negro.
If the Proclamation wins, we shall find among the slaves a
general deference to the plans of Government for confirming
their freedom, to make it useful to themselves and to the
country.
�23
And mixed with these four millions of children are the poor
whites, a great horde of immature and stupid boys instead
of men, who never sat at the forms of liberty nor worked out
one of her sums. The North must call its master-builders
together, and those whose business it is to raise and trans
port habitations, for the primary school-house must be shifted
South, and in the little wake which it creates the people’s
chapels must follow, till along that highway of our God, the
court and the jury, the ballot-box and printing-press can safely
pass to disinfect all half-civilized neighborhoods. And wherever
a plough can run, the power-wheel shall follow, and its band
shall turn new wants and enterprises, and hum worthy ambi
tions into ears that have been tuned only to slavery’s lash. And
the great turbine shall go down to put to perpetual labor the
streams that have carried so much of our blood into the sea.
Everywhere the North shall take its revenge, deep, thorough, to
the uttermost farthingJby imposing all the firm and gentle arts
of liberty, with the uplifted ferule of the school-master, at the
edges of reaping-blades, and beneath the weight of every
material and mental instrument that can crush clods, pulverize
a soil, And scatter seed.
There will be a new meaning for. the phrase “ a geographical
party,” for the new Union will circulate by all the great chan
nels of internal navigation, arteries which God opened for
distributing the red blood of an undivided heart. Geography
itself, with mountains, streams, lakes, prairies and defiles, shall
write a people’s creed; and all platforms, whether made at
Buffalo, Chicago, Baltimore or Charleston, shall be supplanted
by the square miles of the national domain. And it seems as if
nature, foreseeing that not cotton but man would be king of this
domain, had sealed up craters, cleared out earthquakes, warned
off the hurricane, and spread a firm soil for every product, from
kitchen comforts to sovereign luxuries—a zone for the orange
and the fig, a zone for cotton, rice and sugar, for flax, for wool,
for wheat, for cattle ; districts for grapes, for the silk-worm and
the cochineal, so that the democrat can dress for dinner and
dine in his own house, if he will; and when he wants to ship his
surplus to feed and clothe the English pauper, every spar that
the wind can stretch without breaking grows, from the live oak
�24
to the mountain pine. Florida and Georgia will lay the ribs
and knees, North Carolina will careen and caulk the democrat’s
vessel, Lake Superior mines will bolt and sheathe it, Maine will
send its suit of spars, and Kentucky strain them with her hemp.
Pennsylvania shall build the boiler and feed the fires beneath it,
and the Great West shall victual New England sailors as they
go floating round the world with a cargo of Rights, Intelligence
and Freedom, samples of the failure of a Democracy.
What a house this is to build, furnish and stock with com
forts, to set wide open to starving spinners and weavers, colliers,
peat-burners, all the landless and the hopeless, where they can
come to hear our mother’s daily lessors of thrift, usefulness and
the true dignity of man, as she goes in and out of all her rooms,
cleanly, cheerily, helpfully, with fends whose touch is order,
with a shape whose noble lines are full of grace, with a counte
nance that can leap from serenity to power, and unchain pure
lightnings at those eyes. She is the mother of us all, Thanks
giving America, divorced from hideous wedlock with slavery, all
her beauty coming back to her, all her gifts enhanced, and with
a deeper meaning in her I-ace than ever when she bids all her
children again to the glittering board which she spreads between
the Atlantic and Pacific seas..
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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A discourse upon causes for Thanksgiving: preached at Watertown, Nov. 30, 1862
Creator
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Weiss, John [1832-1907.]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: Boston
Collation: 24 p. ; 24 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Includes bibliographical references. Sermon taken from the Bible. Mark, IV,28
Publisher
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Wright & Potter, printers
Date
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1862
Identifier
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G5352
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (A discourse upon causes for Thanksgiving: preached at Watertown, Nov. 30, 1862), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Subject
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Sermons
Slavery
USA
Conway Tracts
Sermons
Slavery-United States
Thanksgiving Day
United States-History