f ^^ ^. /jh^^^-£^r9% ^^Uj^^ ^£^^ LIBRARY r OF THE Theological Seminary, PRINCETON, N. J. Case ^^ ^^^-^ •^^'^ ^^^9 »se, Spring, Gardiner, 1785-1873 Shelf, The obligations of the worl( to the Bible J t ^ft^r*- THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE WORLD TO THE BIBLE: A SERIES OF LECTURES TO YOUNG MEN. BY GARDINER SPRING, PASTOR OF THE BRICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK NEW YORK : TAYLOR & DODD, LATE JOHN S. TAYLOR, CORNER OF PARK ROW AND SPRUCE STREETS. 1839. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by Taylor & Dodd, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. ADVERTISEMENTS. Just published by Taylor & Dodd, Publishers and Booksel- lers, Brick Church Chapel : THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE WORLD TO THE BI- BLE, By Gardiner Spring, D. D. 1 Vol. 8vo. pp. 404. T. & D. are also the publishers of the following additional works from the pen of Dr. Spring, Pastor of the Brick Presby. terian Church, New York City, viz. FRAGMENTS FROM THE STUDY OF A PASTOR, 1 Vol. 12mo. HINTS TO PARENTS, ON THE RELIGIOUS EDU- CATION OF CHILDREN, 1 Vol. 18mo. CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE, ILLUSTRATED IN THE DEATH OF THE REV. EDWARD D. GRIFFIN, D. D. 1 Vol. 18mo. SKETCH OF JEREMIAH EVARTS. Also for sale, SPRING ON NATIVE DEPRAVITY, 1 Vol. 8vo. Z ADVERTISEMENTS. The following notice of SPRING'S FRAGMENTS is ex- tracted from the N. Y. Commercial Advertiser of Nov. 10th, 1838. The first piece entitled the " Church in the Wilderness," is one of the most beautiful sketches in our language. It is in every respect a finished production — a picture complete in all its parts, that for the time captivates the affections, enchains the powers of the mind, and fills the soul with the most exalted con- ceptions. The Church is represented, under the various cir- cumstances of her earthly allotment, leaning on the arm of her Beloved, and deriving all her strength from this unfailing source. The chastened but glowing fancy, elegance of diction, and puritj- of thought, conspire to give beauty to the image, and make us dwell upon it with delight. The other pieces in the collection are scarcely of inferior merit. " The Inquiring Meeting" portrays with great vividness some of the phases which the human heart exhibits, when under the influence of religious excitement. The " Letter to a Young Clergymen" abounds in instructions of inestimable value. It may perhaps, be doubted whether the author attaches sufficient importance to pastoral visitation. " The Panorama," is an affecting delineation of the employment of men as they usually appear on the stage of active life. " The Useful Christian" con- tains sound practical suggestions for informing the mind, regulat- ing the heart, and inspiring energy of action. INTRODUCTION. In venturing to give this work to the public, the Author comphes with repeated and earnest solici- tations. The subject is of sufficient importance to have employed the pen of abler men 5 nor does he doubt that abler thinkers, and students of greater research and more leisure will find abun- dant cause for animadversion in the following pages. They have been prepared amid the un- diminished labours of the pulpit during the last autumn and winter 5 and now that he has com- mitted them to the press, more deeply than ever does he desire that his time and engagements per- mitted him to give them a more careful revision. Though very many of the thoughts here presented are not new, he is not aware that the train of thought and illustration has ever been presented X INTRODUCTION. before. So far as this humble and imperfect effort may tend to such a result, his earnest desire has been to exalt and honour the Holy Scriptures, more especially in the estimation of the young. With the fervent prayer to their God and their father's God, that it may be thus directed, he sub- mits it to their attention. Brick Church Chapel, New York. June 1839. CONTENTS. LECTURE I. Page. The use of Oral and Written Language to be attributed to a Supernatural Revelation . . . . 13 LECTURE II. The Literary merit of the Scriptures. ... 43 LECTURE III. The obligations of Legislative Science to the Bible . 67 LECTURE IV. The Bible friendly to Civil Liberty ... 101 LECTURE V. The Scriptures the Foundation of Religious Liberty and the Rights of Conscience ..... 126 LECTURE VI. The Morality of the Bible 158 LECTURE VII. The Influence of the Bible upon the Social Institutions. 183 Xll CONTENTS. LECTURE VIII. Page. The Influence of the Bible upon Slavery . . . 214 LECTURE IX. The Influence of the Bible on the Extent and Certainty of Moral Science 252 LECTURE X. The Pre-eminence of the Bible in producing Holiness and True Religion • 276 LECTURE XL The Pre-eminence of the Bible for the Influences of the Holy Spirit 305 LECTURE XII. The Obligations of the World to the Bible for the Sab- bath 330 LECTURE Xni. The Influence of the Bible on Human Happiness . 354 LECTURE XIV. Conclusion ........ 380 THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE WORLD TO THE BIBLE. LECTURE I. THE USE OF ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE TO BE ATTRIBUTED TO A SUPERNATURAL REVELA- TION. " Whoever," says the celebrated Tholuck^ " who- ever stands on a lofty mountain, should not look merely at the gold which the morning sun pours on the grass and showers at his feet 5 but he should sometimes also look behind him into the deep valley where the shadows still rest, that he may more sensibly feel that sun is indeed a sun. Thus is it also salutary for the disciple of Christ, at times, from the kingdom of Hght to cast forth a glance over the dark stage where men play their part in lonely gloom, without a Saviour, without a God !" The inquiry has no doubt often occurred to every reflecting mind, What had the condi- 2 14 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. tion of the world now been, had no supernatu- ral revelation ever been imparted to men ? The design of these Lectures, my young friends, is to call your attention to the Bible, and to exalt and honour, in your estimation and my own, this Great Book. The most fearful blow that can be direct- ed against the best interests of men, is aimed by un- behef; and owes its succes not unfrequently to an imperfect knowledge of the Bible, as well as neg- lect of its sacred precepts. Can then a higher service be performed for the youth of our metrop- olis than to vindicate its claims, assert its superi- ority, and challenge for it the scrutiny of the in- credulous, and the admiration of every devout mind? We look for greatness in all the works of God. We gaze upon the exterior universe, and ex- claim with the Psalmist, " Marvellous are thy works. Lord God Almighty ; in wisdom hast thou made them all!" We expect a supernatural rev- elation to exhibit its Divine author in the same illustrious and splendid character in which he appears in the works of creation and providence. Nor are such expectations disappointed or deceiv- ed. Infinite intelligence belongs to the Deity. We see it in his works, and we see it in his word. At the first glance, we can scarcely fail to per- ceive that the God of creation and providence is the God of the Bible, and that the system of truth revealed in the Scriptures must have ori- ginated with the same being who created and gov- ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 15 ems the world.* When, however, we examine the Bible carefully and minutely 5 when we explore the treasures of its pages, and seem for the mo- ment to grasp the full measure of its wonders and its knowledge 5 how is our admiration heightened ! The words of the apostle break almost instinctive- ly from our lips 5 the expression of his feelings be- comes the best expression of our own, — " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God !" It was the remark of a sensible and thinking layman, many years ago made to the writer, that " it sometimes seemed to him that the Bible is as much greater than all other books, as its author is greater than all other authors." I am well persuaded that the seeming extravagance of such an observation will diminish with our increasing acquaintance with this wonderful volume. Tin- dal^ a deistical writer in the early part of the seventeenth century, in his work entitled, " Christi- anity as old as the Creation" labours to show that it was impossible for God to teach men what they did not know before, and that the perfection of the human mind is such that it admits of no addition from a supernatural revelation. I cannot but hope that the presumption and preposterous- * The spirit of this remark is largely illustrated in that in- comparable work, The Analogy of religion, natural and reveaU ed, to the constitution and course of nature, by Joseph But- ler, L. L. D. 16 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. ness of this remark will appear in the following pages. It is not surprising that a deist should depreciate a supernatural revelation. But it is matter of surprise that, as Christians, we should not appreciate it more highly. There is no book in any country, in any language, in any age, that can be compared with this. From one page of this wonderful volume, more may be acquired, than reason or philosophy could acquire by the pa- tience and toil of centuries. The Bible expands the mind, exalts the faculties, developes the pow- ers of the will and of feeling, furnishes a more just estimate of the true dignity of man, and opens more sources of intellectual and spiritual en-, joyment than any other book. Science and litera- ture have taken deep root in this consecrated soil. No book furnishes so many important hints to the human mind 5 gives so many clues to intellectual discovery, and has so many charms in so many departments of human inquiry. In whatever paths of science, or walks of human knowledge we tread, there is scarcely a science, or pursuit of permanent advantage to mankind, which may not either trace its origin to the Bible, or to which the Bible will not be found to be a powerful aux- iliary. Whether we consider its influence upon an oral and written language — upon history and literature — upon laws and government — upon civil and re- ligious liberty — upon the social institutions — upon moral science and the moral virtues — upon the ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 17 holiness which fits men for heaven, and the pecu- Har spirit and exalted character which prepares them to act well their part on the earth-^upon the happiness they enjoy in the present world — or upon the agency and power by which these desir^ able results are secured j we shall be at no loss to see that the world in which we live is under ever- lasting obligations to a supernatural revelation. In this enumeration of topics, you have the genC' ral outline of the following lectures. The present opportunity will be devoted to the thought, that the use of oral and written language is to be attributed to a supernatural revelation. The art most necessary for man, even from the commencement of his existence, must have been language. If not an indispensable instrument of thought, yet without it, his mind must of ne- cessity be confined within a very narrow and limited range. His most immediate wants, the play of various passions, and perhaps an imperfect and incoherent narrative might be indicated by signs and the expression of his features. Commu- nications less apparent than these — those shades of emotion, those fainter recollections, and above all, those more intricate combinations of thought arising from the experience of others, as compared with, and confirming, modifying, or refuting his own,— these must be debarred him until he is in possession of an oral language. And how could man ever have invented articu- late speech ? Universal observation shows that chil- 2* 18 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. dren learn to speak by imitation j and " where the opportunities of imitation are wanting, the use of articulate speech is unknown." If I mistake not, it is a fact well ascertained that not an instance is found of the use of articulate sounds as the signs of thought, unless taught immediately by God, or gradually by those who had themselves been in- structed. We see not how it is possible for lan- guage to have been of human invention. Its structure is too complicated and artificial. It must have required the previous use of language to have constructed the most simple language of the most uninstructed tribes. And whence is it, if language were of human invention, that the old- est languages are more complete in their structure than those languages that have been more recently formed 5 and why, as we mark the progress of im- provement, are we not carried back to some early and rude state of this invention ? The use of language is so necessary to the con- venience and comfort of man, and the difficulty of forming it so obvious, that it is not unreasonable to suppose it would be immediately conferred up- on him by the Author of his existence. He had a body "curiously and wonderfully made," and a mind so capacious, strong, and penetrating, as to have been, before his apostacy, the greatest, as well as the best of men : and yet, must this " no- blest work of God" have been, very imperfect without speech. Nor is it easy to see how his at- tainments could have been so surprisingly great ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 19 and rapid, or how his intellectual endowments could have been so successfully cultivated as we know they were, if he had been originally ignorant of all language. But while the nature of the case might con- vince us that language is of divine origin, when we look into the Mosaic history, that convic- tion must be confirmed. There we learn that the laics given to our first parents were given through the medium of language. They obvious- ly conversed with God and with one another. Nor have we any intimation that this intercourse was conducted in any other way than by an oral language. The early worship of our first parents could not have been purely mental and meditative 5 but oral, and in the noblest language ever uttered by man. We learn too, that our progenitor very early gave names to all the animal creation. It was by the channel of an oral language also, that the Tempter infused the first taint of sin into the bosom of man, breathing his poison with his words. It seems indeed to be more generally conceded, that the first use of oral language is to be attributed to a supernatural revelation. There are exceptions to this opinion, but it is very dif- ficult to give any other tolerable account of the origin of this art.* * This topic is discussed at length by Herder on the origin of language ; by Suckford in his connexions ; by Condiliac on the origin of Human knowledge ; by Smith in his Theory of Moral 20 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. The researches of the most accredited philolo- gists go far to support this opinion. The more critically modern, as well as ancient languages are investigated, the more are they found to re- semble each other in their roots and primary forms, and the more clearly are referable to one common stock. The languages which prevailed in all the South 'of Europe after the destruction of the Roman Empire, were a barbarous mixture of the Latin with the different languages of the Northern invaders. The modern languages of Europe have all evidently been derived from the Roman; the Roman from the Greek, and the Greek from the Phoenician. Goguet^ in his Ori- gin of laws^ arts and sciences^ remarks that " the comparison of the Phcenician and Greek Al- phabet would alone be sufficient to convince us of this. It is visible that the Greek characters are only the Phoenician letters turned from right to left." Authorities might be greatly multiplied to show that the Phoenicians spoke a dialect of the Hebrew, The Chaldee, Syriac, and Samaritan are also dialects of the Hebrew, without any con- siderable deviation, or many additional words. Sentiment ; by Magee in a valuable note to his work on Atone- ment and Sacrifice ; by the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, article Lan- guage ; by Dr. Samuel S. Smith ; by Stilingjleet, in his Orignae Sacrae ; in the Boylean Lectures ; in Beanie's Theory of Lan- guage ; in the Scholar Armed ; in Woolastxm!s ReUgion of Na- ture, and in Winder''s History of Knowledge. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 21 There is a striking similarity also between the Ethiopic and the Hebrew 5 the Hebrew and the Arabic, and the Arabic and the Persic. There are strong analogies between the Sanscrit and the Hebrew, and between the Hebrew and the Cop- tic 5 while the Coptic is identified with the ancient Egyptian. Dr. Lightfoot^ whom Adam Clarke pronounces to have been the first scholar in Eu- rope, is of the opinion that the original tongue was Hebrew j that this was the language spoken in Canaan before the time of Joshua j that it was the language of Adam and the language of God. " God" says he, " was the first founder of it, and Adam was the first speaker of it. It began with the world and the Church, and increased in glory till the captivity in Babylon. The whole language is contained in the Bible, and no other book con- tains in it an entire language."* The German scholars of the present century would present much the same account, while they seem to hesitate in expressing the opinion that the Hebrew is the mother tongue. We learn from them that the modern languages of Europe, to- gether with the Gothic, Sclavonic, Greek and Latin are discov.ered to bear a close affinity j and under the name of Indo-European^ are classed with them in one family. Between these and the Semitic family, which, among others, includes the * Lightfoot's Works. 22 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syriac Samaritan, Ethiopic and Arabic, striking analogies are discovered, and by every new research they are becoming more fully identified. Wiseman^ a learned Romanist, says, that the decision of the academy of St. Petersburgh upon the celebrated paper of count Goulianoff was, that all languages are to be con- sidered as dialects of one now lost. I am at a loss to understand the ground of this uncertainty. The Chaldee and Syriac were formerly one lan- guage, only they were written with a different character 5 and they were both dialects of the Hebrew. The hypothesis, for it is an hypothesis merely, that the book of Job is older than the Pentateuch and was written in Arabic, seems in- deed to countervail the position that the Hebrew is the first written language. And yet Lightfoot unhesitatingly affirms that the Arabic is a dialect of the Hebrew, and that " all languages are indebt- ed to this, and this to none." This much how- ever may be confided in, that both believers and unbelievers in the Mosaic history have affirmed the original unity of all language 5 disclaiming the notion that men are of entirely distinct races, and thus far corroborating the position that the same divine source of the physical organs of speech imparted to man the knowledge of their use and power. The first method of rendering thought visible was by pictures, symbols, and the various kinds of ideagraphic writing. But there is a marked dis- ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 23 tinction between these imperfect, and elementary forms and Alphabetical writing. This is a sys- tem which is expressive primarily of sound rather than of thought. Instead of employing characters as multifarious as the different objects to be point- out, it makes visible by the combination of a few elements of sound, every idea which the mind is capable of conceiving. From our familiarity with this art, it is not easy for us to appreciate its importance. The extreme simplicity by which results so complicated are at- tained, bears a strong analogy, not to the works of man's invention, but to the operations of the God of nature, distinguished as they are, not less by the fewness and simplicity of their agents, than their astonishing, nay unlimited combinations. Were we now in possession only of such a mode of writing as distinguished the ancient Egyptians, or the Mexicans upon the discovery of this conti- nent, and as distinguishes the Chinese at the pre- sent day ; and should some gigantic mind penetrate the mysteries of sound, embody them and give them form, and present to us our simple Al- phabet, the first lesson of our childhood, and ex- plain to us its combinations and its uses j what honours, I had almost said, what veneration should we withhold from him ! The claims of most nations to this singular dis- covery arise solely from their supposed antiquity. And yet is it a somewhat remarkable fact, that some of the most ancient nations remained desti- 24 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. tute of this art long after it had prevailed in ad- jacent countries.* Dr. Mc Knight remarks that "the literal method of writing, is generally said to have been first practised by the Phoenicians 5" though he himself countenances the idea that the first specimen of the art was that on the tables given to Moses. But, it may be shown with the utmost degree of probability that the Phoenician Alphabet was derived from the He- brew. A learned writer in the Edinburgh En- cyclopsedia expresses the opinion, " that the pre- tensions of the Phoenicians must give way to the better established claim of the Hebrews." Go- guet thinks it more probable that this invention is to be ascribed either to the Assyrians, or the Egyptians. It is true that the Assyrians were a more ancient people than the Hebrews j but, their antiquity extended beyond the period when letters were invented. On the mere ground of antiquity, they have a higher claim than any other nation. But I have found no evidence in * The leading authors to which I have had access on this gene- ral subject are Winder's History of Knowledge — GogueVs Origin of Laws — Dugald Stewart's Dissertation prefixed to the Encyclo- paedia Brittanica — the Edinburgh Review for 1836, — the works of Lightfoot — Astle on the origin and progress of writing — War- burton's Divine Legation of Moses — Gilbert Wakefield's Disser- tation on Alphabetical writing — Daubuz on the Revelation — and also some valuable thoughts at the close of the last volume of Dr. Mc Knight on the Apostolic Epistles. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 25 in favour of their claims except this. On the con- trary, the best authorities dispute their pretensions. With regard to Egypt, more may be said in in- vaHdating its claims to this invention than has been said against those of Phoenicia and Assyria. Is there not a sort of literary mania which has led so many renowned men to ascribe almost all that is valuable in literature, science, or the arts to Egypt ? Though comparatively a very incompe- tent judge of matters of this sort, I have never been so convinced as some have been of the supe- riority of this degraded and pagan empire. Egypt " owed her splendour to strangers, rather than to her own vigorous and nourished intellect." Scy- thia rivalled her in arms. Tyre in commerce, Syria in letters, Chaldea in astronomy, and Babylon in every department of natural science. Dr. Delaney in his Life of David, expresses the opinion that the great models of Grecian architecture, are not, as has more generally been supposed, to be traced to Egypt, but to that most perfect of all models, the Temple at Jerusalem, the entire plan of which was given to David by God himself. The hiero- glyphics of the ancient Egyptians were never brought to such a state of perfection as to consti- tute a system of phonetic writing. They remain to the present day 5 and they are almost useless and silent, because they represent none of the ele- ments of articulation, and bear no analogy to any other system, whether ancient or modern. What- ever may have been their learning of other kinds, 3 26 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. the Egyptians never possessed Alphabetical writ- ing ; they were " contented with their hieroglyphi- cal method and never, of themselves, advanced be- yond it." The same may be remarked of the Chinese even at the present day. It is a point well established that the elements of their writing, or keys as they are termed, are merely symbolical, and could never have given rise to any one of the Oriental alphabets. It is "purely an artificial structure which denotes every idea by its appro- priate sign without any relation to the utterance. It speaks to the eye like the numerical cyphers of the Europeans, which every one understands and utters in his own way." Modern authors seem generally to agree in tracing the pervading igno- rance of this people to this fact. Neither can the claims of the Hindoos be defended on any better grounds than those of the nations already named. Sir William Jones has clearly made it appear that the Hindoo pretensions to antiquity are excessively extravagant, if not altogether fabulous. Events which they used to fix at a date of some million or two years back, actually took place in the tenth, or eleventh century of the Christian era. Their fa- mous astronomical tables, by which it has been imagined that great antiquity might be assigned to this nation, are shown to be incorrect, and to have been calculated backwards. It has been satisfac- torily proved that the Treatise which they con- sider the most ancient in the world, must have been compiled since the Christian era. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 27 Though no man is warranted in speaking with confidence on this subject, yet is there not some good reason to beheve that the earhest specimens of a written language came from the Hebrews 1 Is there not presumptive evidence of this, in the mere fact that the first oral language was the He- brew ? If the Hebrew language was the lan- guage originally imparted to men j if it was pre- served through all the corruptions of the antedilu- vian world, through the division of the family of Noah in the time of Peleg, and through the sub- sequent confusion of tongues 5 if it was the lan- guage in which God spoke to Abraham and to Moses, and in which Moses conveyed the revela- tion of the divine will to mankind j is there not some strong presumption in favour of the idea that it was the first written language ? Notwithstanding the efforts of the infidels of Ger- many, who have endeavoured to show that alpha- betical writing was not in use at all even so early as the time of Moses, it will not be denied except by infidels of the boldest class, that the Hebrew char- acters existed in a perfect state when this inspired author wrote the Pentateuch. Dr. Winder, in his History of knowledge, maintains the position, that the art of alphabetical writing was communicated to Moses when the Great Lawgiver gave him the law upon mount Sinai. The considerations which support this hypothesis, to say the least, amount to strong presumption in its favour. With two exceptions writing is not even apparently 28 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. mentioned in the Scriptures before the giving of the law, and these as we shall presently show, may not invalidate the hypothesis of which we are speaking. There was no such thing as writing known before the flood, nor is there any mention made of it in the book of Genesis before that period. Nor was it known from the time of the flood to the time of Abraham's leaving Chaldea. Nor was it known in Canaan at the death of Sarah, and when Abraham bought the cave of Ephron of the sons of Heth. Goguet remarks, that " all deeds among the Hebrews at that time were verbal, and were authenticated and ascertained by being made in presence of all the people." Nor was it known at the time of Isaac's marriage. Nor was it known either in Phoenicia, or Canaan, at the time of Isaac's league with Gerar. Nor was it known either in Canaan or Syria, when Jacob went to Laban. Nor was it known in the family of Jacob, while Joseph was in Egypt, either during his servitude, or preferment. Nor was it known at the new settlement of the lands after the famine*, nor when the Hebrews settled in Goshen j nor when their oppression began, and the sanguinary edicts were published.* Though these were periods and transactions, during which had alphabetical letters existed, they would not only have been of the greatest 'utility, but as it * See these positions illustrated and defended in Winder. OKAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 29 seems to us indispensable, and could scarcely fail of being mentioned 5 yet are they not only not mentioned, but all these important transactions, and all the correspondence between the parties, as well as all the communications from Heaven, were effected by verbal intercourse. And yet there is a. precise period beyond which they are mentioned, and mentioned on almost every fit occasion, and introduced into all the na- tional and ecclesiastical affairs of the Jewish people. That period is the inscription of the law on Mount Sinai by the hand of God, on the two tables of stone. After this period, Moses is commanded to write the laws in a book 5 to write the narrative of the war with the Amalekites *, to write a copy of the law for future kings j to record the laws that they might be read 5 and to place a copy of them in the ark of the covenant. After this period also, and not before, as a close examination of the whole passage most clearly shows, we read of the engraving of the nmnes of the twelve tribes on the breast plate of judgment, and of the engra- ving oii the mitre of Aaron of the memorable label, HOLINESS to the lord. The giving of the tables^ it will be noticed was a different thing from the writing of the tables. The disregard of this very plain distinction has led to the supposition, that the charge given to, Moses which relates to the ephod and breast plate for the High Priest, on which inscriptions were to 30 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. be made like the engravings of a signet was given before the law was written. The law was not given to Moses until just as he was about to leave the mount, at the close of the forty days. But it was written more than a month before 5 and not until after it was written, did Moses receive the instruction to prepare the ephod and the breast- plate of Aaron. Signets are mentioned before the writing of the law, but there is no evidence that they were not purely hieroglyphic. God now required Moses to engrave on the mitre of Aaron letters^ as distinctly as had heretofore been the hieroglyphic representations of a signet. Now, whence is this perfect silence on the sub- ject of alphabetical writing, until after the super- natural writing of the law, and whence the fre- quent notices of the art afterwards ? Is not the only answer to this question found in the fact, that the origin of the art is to be attributed to God himself, and that he was the original instructor of Moses during the forty days in which he was upon the Mount ? It would be natural to suppose, if a written lan- guage were thus discovered to men, that there would be some intimations of this fact in the Mosaic history. Are there not intimations of it ? Let us advert a few moments to the narrative of this transaction as it is recorded in the book of Exodus. " And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me in the Mount and be there 5 and I will ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 31 give thee tables of stone, and a law and com- mandments, which I have written." The tables here spoken of, it is obvious were already pre- pared and finished at some previous time. God affirms that he had written them. Subsequently to this, we are told that " God gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him on Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." Just after this, the fact is repeated, " and the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables." It is a question which deserves to be impartially considered, whether God does not here affirm that he himself is the author of this invention. When a work is declared in the Scriptures to be the work of God^ to have been wrought by the finger of God, the idea conveyed is that it is the pecu- liar work of God, and altogether above the power of man. When it is said that Israel is the sheep of God''s hand, the meaning is that they belong to God and to no other. When the Saviour says that he cast out devils by the finger of God, we understand him as declaring that he performs a work to which no other power is adequate but the power of God. When the magicians of Egypt exclaimed of the miracles of Moses, this is the finger of God, they acknowledged his divine mis- sion. And so the Psalmist, when he says, " when I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers," expresses the idea that, no other could create the 32 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. heavens but God. On the same principle idols are the invention of men, and are called the work of meii's hands^ and which their own fingers have made. Is it not then a fair exegetical inference, that, when the law is declared to have been writ- ten by the finger of God, the legitimate import of the phrase is, that it was so peculiarly his work that the original invention is due to him. I remarked that with two exceptions writing is not even apparently mentioned in the Scriptures before the giving of the Law. One of these occurs just before the giving of the Law, and refers to a future rehearsal in the ears of Joshua of what Moses should subsequently commit to writing for the instruction and encouragement of his successor ; and by no means proves that the art of writing was known to Moses before the time when the Law was written. Especially is this remark de- serving of consideration, when it is recollected that it is no uncommon thing for the Scriptures to notice future events by this sort of anticipation. The other apparent exception will be found no ex- ception at all. It is recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus. " And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: — and he took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people." It is said, that as God did not call Moses up into the Mount and give him the written tables until after this period, Moses must have had the art of writing before the tables were written. But the question is, when were the tables written ? ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 33 Moses had been up to the Mount with God be- fore the period here referred to. His first ascent is noticed as far back as the nineteenth chapter. He had ascended a second time, as related in the same chapter. And as is related in the latter part of the same chapter, he had ascended a third time. Not until he came down after the fourth ascent, is he represented as writing the civil and judicial statutes and reading them to the people. Now had not God prepared the two tables of the moral Law before Moses wrote and read to the people their judicial code ? He had not committed them to Moses till after this, but when he did commit them, it was a commitment of tables, as we have already seen previously prepared j how long be- fore no man can tell. But it cannot be shown that it was after Moses wrote and read the judicial statutes. It is also objected to this position, that Job must have lived previous to the time of Moses, and that as he distinctly refers to ancient writing by books and sculpture, there must have been a writ- ten language before the giving of the Law. When it shall be made to appear that the book of Job was written at an earlier period than the time of Moses, it will be time enough to give weight to this objection. The age in which Job lived, and in which the book of Job was written is unknown. If the most distinguished critics may be relied up- on, this book was posterior to the time of Moses, or Moses himself was its author. Dr. Warburton 34 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. judges it to have been written about the close of the Babylonish captivity. Dr. John Mason Good, Dr. Winder and Dr. Grey, with great strength of argument, attribute it to Moses. Gregory Nazi- anzen, Spanheim, and Adam Clarke attribute it to Solomon. Several distinguished writers have supposed that the silence of the author of this book respecting the destruction of Sodom and Gomor- rah, the Exodus from Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, and the promulgation of the Law, prove that it was written prior to these events, and during the age of the early patriarchs. But is it to be supposed that every book in the sacred canon which does not refer to these events, was written prior to these events themselves ? Two things are indispensable to the conclusiveness of this ar- gument, neither of which is known. The first is, that upon the supposition, that the author of the book of Job, or Job himself had lived subsequently to these events, he was acquainted with them 5 the second is, that upon the supposition that he was acquainted with them, they must necessarily, or even probably have been noticed in this Book. Nor does the longevity of Job necessarily place him in an age previous to the giving of the Law. That he did not live in so early an age as that of the longeval patriarchs is evident from two con- siderations 5 in the first place, the reference of Bildad to the longevity of that age, as a peculiari- ty that distinguished it from his own, as appears from the 8th and 9th verses of the 8th Chapter 5 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 35 and in the second place, there is no evidence that the age of Job himself was such as to justify the remark, that he " was old and full of days," unless he hved long after the early patriarchs. The writer of the passage, "man that is born of a wo- man is of few days, and full of trouble 5 he com- eth forth like a jflower, and is cut down 5 he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not 5" cannot well be supposed to have lived at a period when the life of man was prolonged from six hundred to a thousand years. The reference to the flood as a very ancient event is inconsistent with the suppo- sition that Job lived anywhere near the period of those who walked in the " old way" and were " cut down out of time." The reference to the law of land-marks and pledges rather indicates also that the hero of this book lived after the time of Moses. It has also been said that there is ground for a presumption that the art of writing was known be- fore the time of Moses, in the fact that there were officers called Shoterim among the Israelites ; and that this word primarily and properly means wri- ters. The passage referred to, is Exodus the fifth chapter and sixth verse. "And Pharaoh com- manded the same day the task-masters and the officers, saying, ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick." Our translators translate the Hebrew word officers, and most certainly the scope and sense of the passage would be violated by translating it writers. Adam Clarke says that 36 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. the shoterim " were an inferior sort of officers, who attended on superior officers or magistrates to execute their orders." So say Patrick and Rosenmuller, who give at length the reasons for this opinion. And Mr. Poole gives the same translation, affirming, with RosenmuUer, that the secondary meaning of the word is scribes. It appears therefore in a high degree probable that the art of writing was imparted to Moses at the giving of the law. The hypothesis is certain- ly attended with fewer difficulties than any other which I have met with. The two tables we are informed were written by the finger of God ^ and after these were broken, they were rewritten by the same unerring hand. And what additional, what overwhelming evidence would it offer to the Jewish people of the divine origin of the moral law, when these tables were presented to them, inscribed with mysterious and living characters ! If Moses himself was unacquainted with the art of writing before he ascended the mount, the possi- bility of collusion or deceit was precluded, and the most stubborn minds must have yielded im- pHcit confidence in the divine legation of their lawgiver. We find that notwithstanding the solemnity of that memorable scene, a portion of the people gave themselves up to idolatry, even while Moses was yet communing with God upon the mount. After his descent with the two tables in his hands, as the final witness and seal of his errand, for a long time we hear no more of doubts. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 37 no more following after idols j and is it unreason- able to suppose that the obstinancy of an incredu- lous people was at last vanquished by the two tables of testimony ? If you ask, why there were no de- monstrations of surprise on the part of the Jew- ish lawgiver upon the revelation of this art, or on the part of the people at its introduction among them j I reply, there may have been, though they are not recorded. And even if there were not, we need not wonder at this, when we recollect that Moses was with God forty days in the mount, and especially when we reflect upon the prodigies which nature every where displayed around the people, when Sinai sent up its flame and smoke, and the voice of the ever-living God was heard amid the thunders of the mount. And is it not somewhat remarkable, that, if of human origin, the author of so wonderful a discov- ery as that of alphabetical writing, should be so utterly lost in the remote ages of antiquity, that no man can specify the nation, or even the era to which it can be attributed ? There is something quite as ludicrous to my mind, in the theories of the gradual construction of alphabetical letters, as there is in the systems of Pagan cosmogony. Is it reasonable to suppose for example, that the old Shemitish letter D was suggested by the word door^ or the old Shemitish letter H by the yvovAfence^ and the Shemitish V by a hook or nail ? And yet this system has very learned advocates. May we not gravely inquire whether the invention of letters does 4 38 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. not exceed the powers of man ? The learned Shuck- ford, though an advocate for the early invention of the art, says, " that men should immediately fall on such a project, to express sounds by letters, and expose to sight all that may be said, or thought, in about twenty characters variously placed, exceeds the highest notion we can have of the capacities with which we are endowed." It is truly a won- derful art. And it was perfect from the beginning 5 nor has there been any improvement from the days of Moses to the present day. With one ex- ception all the Hebrew letters are found in the decalogue. Every guttural, labial, lingual, and dental sound is here disclosed. Nor is it less worthy of note, that not an in- stance is known in which any man, or set of men, ever invented the use of letters by their own un- aided powers. I am not disposed therefore to receive the opin- ion that the origin of letters is lost in time 5 or that the art rose from small beginnings, and was gradu- ally improved as the wants of men demanded it ; but that it was revealed to men by God himself. Nor is this at all a novel conclusion. Among the Christian fathers, Clemens Alexandrinus, Cyril and St. Augustin ; and among the moderns, Mariana, a learned Romanist, Dr. John Owen, Sir Charles Woollesly, Drs. Winder, McKnight, and others, held the opinion that Moses introduced the first Alphabet.* * Vide Winder. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 39 In relation to the period when the art of writing was communicated to other nations, as might be well supposed, different views have been expressed by different men. It is obvious that the Hebrews had no opportunity of communicating with other nations either during their forty years in the Desert, or the time of Joshua's conquests or go- vernment. The period between the death of Joshua and the government of Samuel, as charac- terized by the reign of the Judges, was marked by great corruption and degeneracy. Milman, in his history of the Jews, well describes it as " the heroic age of Jewish history, abounding in wild adven- ture and desperate feats of individual valour." During this rude and unsettled period, a period of above four hundred years, they were scarcely fitted to receive, or extend instruction of any kind. Under the government of Samuel, the literature of the nation may be said to have taken its rise. He founded a school of the Prophets *, he was the author of the earlier part of the life of David 5 and he wrote a treatise on civil government, which was called " the manner of the kingdom," for the instruction of Saul, the first king. David was a Prince of highly cultivated mind, and greatly elevated the nation in arts and in arms. It was not, however, until the distinguished reign of Solo- man, that the Hebrew state attracted the atten- tion of the surrounding nations, and became as remarkable for its wisdom, as for its wealth and splendour. The reign of this Prince was the 40 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. zenith of Israel's glory. It was to the Hebrew nation, what the present century has been to Ger- many 5 what the reign of Anne was to Britain 5 the reign of Louis XIV. to France 5 the Pontifi- cate of Leo X. to Italy 5 the reign of Augustus Caesar to Rome ; and the influence of Pericles to Greece. Solomon's court was the most splendid and enlightened court in the world. The whole country of Palestine was then classic ground. It was a time of profound peace j and the people were no longer the sport of the sword and the pestilence. Agriculture and commerce, lucrative occupation of every kind, and unobstructed inter- national intercourse had rendered their land and their metropolis " the beauty of perfection, and the joy of the whole earth." Never had the nation so favorable an opportunity of forming and execu- ting the noblest and most useful designs, and of extending its influence for the melioration of our race. It is most probable that it was not until about this period that the knowledge of letters passed from the Hebrews to the Pagan world, and especially to the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, and the Chaldeans j each of which had peculiar facili- ties for becoming acquainted with the Hebrew language.* The researches of able Chronologists give weight to this opinion. David and Solomon were con- temporaneous with Hiram in Phoenicia ; with Ha- * See Winder. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 41 dadezer in Assyria; and according to Sir Isaac Newton, with Sesostris in Egypt, and Cadmus in Greece. Not far from this period, we find that letters were introduced into different Pagan na- tions; and they gradually became the habitation of genius and learning as they were more or less remote from the Holy land. May we not then regard Judea as the birth place of letters ? Her language was a sort of universal language ; her central position had been reserved by the God of nations in his division of the earth, for the express purpose of making her the depository of knowledge; and her prophets, her historians, and her poets were eagerly sought after. She was the most powerful and the most accomplished nation ; and the active, imposing character of her inhabi- tants ensured to her a commanding influence. Her priests were learned men, and their cities were like so many Universities. Nor is it unrea- sonable to believe, that to her belonged the distinc- tion of serving as a model to her more barbarous neighbours. The apostle once said, " I am a debtor to the Jew." And so is the whole literary world. If the press is the palladium of civilized society ; if letters are the great hope of its advancement, and the only effectual security against its return to bar- barity and wretchedness ; what do we not owe to this now scattered, but once concentrated and enlightened people ? Whatever may be the bene- fits of this great art upon the intellectual and 42 ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE. social character, and upon individual and public prosperity, may we not say, the honour of it be- longs to the Hebrews — to Moses their great Law- giver — to the Bible ? Not until this treasury of knowledge was unlocked, were the riches of thought diffused through the nations. It is not undeserved homage to this sacred Book to say, that philosophers and great men of other times Hghted their torch in Zion, and the altars of learn- ing caught their first spark from the flame that glowed within her Temple. The tongue of man is the glory of his frame ; and the use of it was taught him by his Maker. These mysterious letters, too, are from him. When we take up a profitable book, we should recollect whose hand first inscribed the living characters. Every time we take our pen too, to inscribe these characters on the page of business, or of friend- ship, we should recollect with gratitude that we owe the wonderful art to him from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift. LECTURE II. THE LITERARY MERIT OF THE SCRIPTURES. We do not claim for the Scriptures simply the honour of having given the world its letters. This they might have done, and have left the field of literature barren, and with all the difficulties of cultivating it to be overcome by the tedious toil of successive generations. But they open before you a " goodly land," everywhere fruitful and luxuriant, and ripened already to a full harvest. Mountain, and meadow, and pure streams diver- sify and adorn its surface 5 and at each step a mine is disclosed, yielding as it is explored, new and ex- haustless treasures. Who would not be a way- farer amid such scenes ? If the Bible is of human origin, it must certainly be regarded as the most wonderful effort of created intelligence. That there should be so perfect a book in so early a state of the world ; that no volume, either ancient, or modern, and written in the most advanced and cultivated condition of human society, should compare with this ancient 44 THE LITERARY MERIT record, originating in a comparatively rude age j is to my own mind, a fact not easily accounted for on the principles of infidelity. The world is filled with books that are the product of the mightiest sons of genius 5 but they are sterile and jejune, deformed and ungainly, in comparison with the riches of thought, the extent of research, the ac- curacy, the grace and beauty, which distinguish the Bible. Without the Scriptures, the world would be profoundly ignorant of some of the most impor- tant and interesting points of historical inquiry. Within the narrow compass of the first few chap- ters in the book of Genesis, we are furnished with a distinct and connected history of more that two thousand of the earliest years of time. The nar- rative of Moses completely covers that period of history, which with other nations is called fabu- lous^ and which is merged in the regions of fabri- cation and conjecture. There are no ages of un- certainty here — no regions of fable — no chasm. From the first dawn of the creation down to the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, the entire period is filled up with events, the effects of which are widely extended over the earth and are visible to the present hour. There are multitudes of facts and phenomena, both in the natural and moral world that never could be accounted for, but for the Mosaic his- tory 5 while a slight acquaintance with that history shows us how exactly it is accordant with the ex- OF THE SCRIPTURES. 45 isting state of things both in the physical and moral creation. The creation of the material universe, about which so much has been written by wise men, and than which nothing is more in- dicative of folly, is here given so succinctly, and so philosophically, that all the quibbles of infidehty, and all the researches of natural science, instead of invalidating, have only served to strengthen and confirm our confidence that the narrator was super- naturally taught of God. The ancient account of the creation of the world among the Chaldeans was, that there was a time when all was water and darkness, and in these were contained the original elements of all future existence 5 that a woman was the great presiding mind j that Belus clove her asunder, and formed earth of the one part, and heaven of the other 5 that he divided the darkness, separated earth from heaven, and arranged the order of the universe ; that he then ordered one of the gods to cut off his head, to mix the blood which flowed from the wound with earth, and of this mixed mass to form men and animals 5 and that after this, he framed the stars and planets, and thus finished the produc- tion of all things. This account is indeed suf- ficiently ridiculous, and yet is it the sober narra- tive of Berosus, who was a priest in the temple of Belus at Babylon, who lived in the time of Alex- ander the Great, and was the author of the history of Chaldea. The Phoenician Theogony of Sanco- niathan is still more ludicrous, and too absurd to be 46 THE LITERARY MERIT narrated in an intelligent assembly 5 but may be found in Eusebius, and Winder's History of Know- ledge. The Egyptian account as given by Diodo- rus Siculus, was that all beings originally existed in a chaotic state; that the sun and stars were formed by the continual agitation of the air ascend- ing upwards j that the gross and earthy matter sunk below, and was gradually made hard by the heat of the sun j that animals were created from the heat and moisture, and eventually perpetuated, each, its own species. And what was the Theogony of the Greeks — the learned Greeks ? I may not utter it for its debasing impurities. Compared with these, and others such as these, how simple, how rational the narrative of Moses. " In the be- ginning God created the heavens and the earth !" Here is a cause equal to the wonderful effect, while every view of the effect leads to adoring admiration of the power, wisdom and goodness of the mighty author. The formation of man too with all his full grown powers of body and of mind — his primoe- val rectitude, federal character and fall — the pro- mised Saviour and his predicted victories — the patriarchial age — the deluge — the foundation of the new world — the settlement of the mother country — the division of the earth — the confusion of tongues, and the dispersion — the early settle- ment of Egypt — the rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire, even to the names of all its successive Princes from the first to the last — the origin, pe- OF THE SCRIPTURES. 47 culiarities and overthrow of the Hebrew State — the progress and dechne of Canaan, Persia, and Media, are all familiar topics of biblical history. Ancient cities too — Thebes, — the No-Ammi of Nahum — Nineveh, Jerusalem, Babylon, with all that rendered them the wonders of the world, would be traced to the remote darkness of the fabulous age, but for the Old Testament. The only authentic history of these remote events and kingdoms, is in the Pentateuch and in the Prophets. Before the days of Moses, there were no histori- cal records either in Assyria, Egypt, Phoenicia, Chaldea, or Greece. No other historian has lived at so remote a period as the exodus from Egypt. Dr. Winder shows at considerable length, that Moses is the only man who had any considerable materials for Egyptian History 5 as the ancient learning of Egypt must have been chiefly lost by the excision of the first born and the disasters of the Red Sea. Since the priests, the more com- mon depositories of learning, usually attended in their wars, the people who were left behind must have been chiefly the common people 5 so that for a long time after this disaster, Egypt was involved in ignorance and darkness 5 nor is this nation sub- sequently mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, until the reign of Solomon. " Moses was the father of history." Infidels have affirmed, there were astronomical calculations in Babylon that reached back to a period much farther than the Mosaic history j which therefore, if true, invalidate 48 THE LITERARY MERIT the entire account given by Moses. This assertion has received a very conclusive refutation from the astronomical calculations of Bedford. But there is a fact stated by Gillies, in his history of Greece, that confirms the calculations of Bedford. This historian states, that after the conquest of Babylon by Alexander, he " eagerly demanded the astro- nomical calculations that had been carefully pre- served in that ancient capitol about nineteen cen- turies. By the order of Alexander they were faithfully transcribed and transmitted to Aristotle," who was the preceptor of this Prince. And " they re-mounted to twenty-two hundred and thirty-four years beyond the Christian era," a period not even so remote as the deluge. There is no history that can be so safely relied on, or that is so ancient, as the Mosaic history. Every other attempt at his- tory until the reigns of David and Solomon, is but a mass of shapeless re-arranged tradition, as cor- rupt as it is fabulous. Long after this time in- deed, the pages of writers esteemed the most au- thentic, are disfigured by absurd and disgusting fictions. This defect in the annals of earlier times must be everywhere and deeply felt, if we exclude the information obtained from the Bible. There only is the deficiency supplied. Sanconiathan, Berosus, Ctesias and Manetho are the oldest hu- man historians 5 but " Moses was five hundred years before the first, and more than a thousand before the last." It deserves also to be remembered that the OF THE SCRIPTURES. 49 chronology of the Bible is definite. The most authentic ancient historians abound with chrono- logical inconsistencies. Sir Isaac Newton has clearly detected great errors in the system of pa- gan chronology by bringing his powerful mind to the study of the Bible,* The authors of profane history are greatly indebted in this particular to the chronology of the Scriptures. By a careful comparison of its history with its prophecies, a standard is formed by which the chronological errors of pagan historians have been rectified, and the order of a great multitude of dates and events satisfactorily determined. Nor is the facility of doing this at all diminished by the discrepancy between the chronology of the Hebrew and Samaritan text and the Septuagint. Geography and chronology have been well called the "two eyes of history." Nor can our notions of history be otherwise than exceedingly confused, where the series of events does not lie before us in the due and proper order of time. What adds pecuHar interest to the historical notices of the scriptures, is that they are so re- plete with instruction on the great and important subject of efficient and final causes, as well as moral causes generally. They bring forward in bold relief the superintendant and all-govern- ing providence of the most High : — as in the his- * For information on this subject, see the different Encyclope. dias, Bedford's chronology, and Winder. 5 50 THE LITERARY MERIT tory of Joseph, the revolt of the ten tribes, and the books of Esther and Daniel. They exhibit a luminous picture of the human character in every age and country with which they are con- versant; — as in the history of the antediluvian world, and the entire history of the Jewish nation. They present a history of the divine purposes and the divine government, and every where illustrate the great truth, that "there is a God that judgeth in the earth," and that he "worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." They furnish a his- tory of the church for more than four thousand years. They present as their great subject the all-absorbing work of Redemption. They have an object which they never loose sight of 5 a cause to which they are always subservient j principles which are developed with some new accession of strength and beauty on every page 5 a Hero, not of mortal nature, whom they every where honour 5 a deity, not of the poet's creation, whom they worship with a pure ritual, and to whom they as- cribe eternal praise. Nor need we hesitate in saying, that no work possesses such literary merit generally^ and that has equal claims to be considered as the standard of a polished and useful literature. The char- acteristic style of the Bible is, that it is always adapted to the subjects of which it speaks. A chaste, terse, nervous diction distinguishes all its compositions. It is strongly marked by its simpli- city, its strength, and often its unrivalled sublimity OF THE SCRIPTURES. 51 and beauty. Its words and figures, though not a few of the latter are altogether new, and probably never would have been thought of except by the inspired mind who conceived them, and are even symbolical and hieroglyphic, when once presented, are seen and felt to accord with the familiar con- ceptions of men. Its manner of writing with re- gard to the choice and arrangement of words, is at all times dignified and serious, and at a great remove from the pomp and parade of artificial ornament. Everywhere we see that its great ob- ject is to inculcate truth^ and that it uses words only to clothe and render impressive the thoughts it would convey. There is both rhetoric and in- spiration in the Bible 5 but amid all the boldness and felicity of its inventions, there is no overdoing — no making the most of every thing — no needless comment — but every thing is plain, concise, and unaffectedly simple. In the historical compositions of the Scrip- tures, we have the most simple, natural, affecting, and well told narratives in the world. Witness the history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his family — the recapitulations in Deuteronomy — the narratives of Ezra and Nehemiah — the story of the Saviour's trial and crucifixion, and the life of the Apostle Paul. For fidelity and impartiality, for unvarnished truth, for the choice of its matter, its unity, its concise and graphic descriptions of character, and above all its usefulness^ the his- torical parts of the Bible are without a parallel. 52 THE LITERARY MERIT No critic can say of them. " They are too mono^ tonous — too wordy — or too uniformly stately, tra- gical and emphatic." The characters walk and breathe. They are nature, and nothing but na- ture. By a single stroke of the pencil you often have their portrait. You see them. You hear them. Every scene in which you behold them is a fit subject for the painter. And does it not deserve remark, that the finest subjects for his- toric painting within the entire circle of the Fine Arts have been selected from the Scriptures ? Such are Lot and his two daughters hastened by the angels out of Sodom^ and the Finding of Moses on the Nile, by Rembrant — Moses striking the Rock, by Poussin — The Deluge, by Trumbull — Belshazzar^s Feast, by Martin — The Transfig- uration and the Madonna by Raphael — Moses re- ceiving the Law — Abraham and Isaac, at the foot of the mountain — PauVs Shipwreck — Christ Re- jected — and Death on the Pale Horse, by West, —the Last Supper, by Davinci — Christ in the Garden, by Guido — the Fall of the damned — and the Resurrection of the Just by Rubens. Ra- phael, the first painter in the world, and who was employed so extensively, by Leo X. painted chiefly scriptural subjects. His famous Cartoons, are all scriptural themes. Nor may it be denied, that these and other similar subjects have been selected with inimitable judgement and taste. None knew better how to make or prize the selection, than these illustrious artists 5 for none brought to the OF THE SCRIPTURES. 53 selection minds better furnished, or more intensely devoted to the object. I look upon it as no un- meaning compliment to the Bible, that the best Artists have awarded to it this distinguished hon- our; and one reason why they have done so, obviously is, that profane history furnishes no such themes. Nor do I know any thing to equal the didactic and argumentative parts of the Scriptures, espe- cially as they are presented in some of the Pro- phets ; in the discourses of our Saviour, and the epistles of Paul. Read the instructions of the greatest of all teachers to Nicodemus : advert to his conversation with the woman of Samaria : study his argument to the complaining Jews in the Temple, and to the deceived multitude that followed him across the sea to Capernaum : turn to his discourse to the people at Nazareth : and then read his farewell address to his disciples. Where will you find so rich a vein of thought, argument, and alternate rebuke and tenderness ? There is nothing in the compositions of Addison, the most neat and nervous of all the English classics, to be compared with these, or with the Sermon on the Mount. Nor is there anything in the finest orations and treatises of the most celebrated mas- ters of antiquity, so eloquent as the glowing pre- diction of the great Apostle of the restoration of his countrymen, or his triumphant argument for the resurrection, or his bold and exquisitely wrought description of the privileges of the people of God. 5# 54 THE LITERARY MERIT You recollect how he closes the first. " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and know- ledge of God! how unsearchable are his judg- ments, and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? Or who hath been his counsellor ? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again ? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things : to whom be glory forever !" I cannot do justice to his illustration and argument relative to the second, without rehearsing a part of it. " All flesh is not the same flesh : but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celes- tial bodies, and bodies terrestrial : but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and ano- ther glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars : for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption j it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory •, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power 5 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. The first man is of the earth, earthy ; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy 5 and as is the hea- venly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the OF THE SCRIPTURES. 55 kingdom of God 5 neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold I shew you a mystery : We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incor- ruption, and this mortal immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law 5 but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" When this author first presented these epistles to the world, I have no doubt they produced impressions of the deepest interest, if not of high astonishment. Some of you can recollect the emotions with which you read them more than twenty years ago 5 and they excite the same emotions still, except that they are more enlightened and vigorous. You well recol- lect also the close of his description of the privi- leges of the children of God : " And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predesti- 56 THE LITERARY MERIT nate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified 5 and whom he justified them he also glorified. What shall we say then to these things ? If God be for us, who shall be against us ? He that spared not his own Son, but freely de- hvered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created existence shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There is a noble specimen of lofty argument and expostulation also in one of the early books of the Old Testament which I may not pass over in silence. " Gird up thy loins now like a man. I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Will thou also dis- annul my judgments ? Will thou condemn me that thou mayst be righteous ? Hast thou an arm like God ? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him. Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency. OF THE SCRIPTURES. 57 and array thyself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath, and behold every one that is proud and abase him. Look on every one that is proud and bring him low, and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in secret. Then will I also confess unto thee, that thine own right hand hath saved thee !" There are several fine points in this passage, but none more exquisitely fine than this, — " Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath, and behold every one that is proud, and abase Jiim I hook on every one that is proud, and bring him low V It is a lofty challenge from God to the arrogance and power of man. O how impotent compared with the Almighty One ! There needs but a look from God to level the proudest worm. I know not where to find passages of equal force, sublimity, and simphcity out of the Bible. And they are but specimens from almost innumerable passages equally brilliant. There is no vapidness in such passages as these, which palls on the taste. Their flowers do not fade, nor does their fruit loose its freshness. The sacred writers differ in this respect from all others. These dis- sertations have long been published to the world j but they have lost none of their power, none of their grandeur and beauty. They are always new, and more and more deeply interest a classical mindythe oftener they are read and the better they are known. No matter how often you read 5$ THE LITERARY MERIT them, the last perusal leaves the highest relish be- hind it. One of the most eminent critics has said, that "devotional poetry cannot please." If it be so, then has the Bible " carried the dominion of poetry into regions that are inaccessible to worldly ambi- tion." It has " crossed the enchanted circle," and by the beauty, boldness, and originality of its con- ceptions, has given to devotional poetry a glow, a richness, a tenderness, in vain sought for in Shake- speare or Cowper, in Scott or Byron. Where is there poetry that can be compared with the song of Moses at his victory over Pharaoh ; with the Psalms of David ; with the Song of Solomon, and with the prophecies of Isaiah ? Where is there an elegiac ode to be compared with the song of David upon the death of Saul and Jonathan, or the Lamentations of Jeremiah ? Where, in an- cient, or modern poetry is there a passage like this ? " In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me and trembhng, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face : the hair of my flesh stood up. — It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof An image was before mine eyes. There was silence. And I heard a voice saying, shall mortal man be more just than God ; shall a man be more pure than his Maker ? Behold he putteth no trust in his ser- vants, and his angels he chargeth with folly. How OF THE SCRIPTURES. 59 much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust and who are crushed before the moth !" Men who have felt the power of poetry, when they have marked the " deep working passion of Dante," and observed the elevation of Milton as he " combined image with image in lofty gradation," have thought that they discovered the indebtedness of these writers to the poetry of the Old Testament. But how much more sublime is Isaiah, than Milton ! How much more enkindling than Dante, is David! How much more picturesque than Homer is Solo- mon, or Job ! Like the rapid, glowing argu- mentations of Paul, the poetic parts of the Bible may be read a thousand times, and they have all the freshness and glow of the first perusal. Where, in the compass of human language, is there a para- graph, which, for boldness and variety of meta- phor, dehcacy and majesty of thought, strength and invention, elegance and refinement, equals the passage in which " God answers Job out of the whirlwind?" What merely human imagination, in the natural progress of a single discourse, and apparently without effort, ever thus went down to " the foundations of the earth" — stood at " the doors of the ocean" — visited " the place where the day-spring from on high takes hold of the utter- most parts of the earth" — entered into " the trea- sures of the snow and the haiP'-^traced the path of the thunder-bolt — and, penetrating the retired chambers of nature, demanded, " Hath the rain a 60 • THE LITERARY MERIT father ? or who hath begotten the drops of the dew ?" And how bold its flights, how inexpressi- bly striking and beautiful its antitheses, when from the warm and sweet Pleiades, it wanders to the sterner Orion, and in its rapid course, hears the " young lions crying unto God for lack of meat" — sees the war horse pawing in the valley — descries the eagle on the crag of the rock — and in all that is vast and minute, dreadful and beautiful, dis- covers and proclaims the glory of him who is " ex- cellent in counsel and wonderful in working ?" The style of Hebrew poetry is everywhere forci- ble and figurative beyond example. The book of Job stands not alone in this sententious, spirited and energetic form and manner. It prevails throughout the poetic part of the Scriptures 5 and they stand confessedly the most eminent examples to be found of the truly sublime and beautiful. I confess I have not much of the feehng of poetry. It is a fire that is enkindled at " the living lamp of nature," and glows only on a few favoured altars. And yet I cannot but love the poetic associations of the Bible. Now, they are sublime and beauti- ful, like the mountain torrent, swollen and impetu- ous by the sudden bursting of the cloud. Now they are grand and awful as the stormy Galilee, when the tempest beat upon the fearful disciples. And again, they are placid as that calm lake when the Saviour's feet have pressed upon its waters and stilled them into peace. There is also a sublimity, an invention in the OF THE SCRIPTURES. 61 imagery of the Bible that is found in no other book. Here you see " a land shadowing with wings" — a " star coming out of Jacob, and a scep- tre arising out of Israel" — the " lion of the tribe of Judah" — and the " tongue of the Egyptian Sea." — You read of " New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven" — of a " rain-bow round about the throne" — of a '' sea of glass" — and of a " woman clothed with the Sun, and the Moon un- der her feet." Here you have allegory, apologue, parable and enigma, all clearly understood and en- forcing truth with a strong and indelible impression. Here you have significant actions uttering volumes of instruction 5 as when " Jesus called a little child and set him in the midst of his disciples and said, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" — as when he cursed the barren fig-tree — as when he "washed his disciples feet." And where is there a comparison like this, — " And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled to- gether." Where is there a description like this, — " And I saw an angel standing in the Sun — and he cried with a loiid voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather your- selves together unto the supper of the Great God." Or where is there a sentence like the following, — " And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them." English literature is no common debtor to the 6 62 THE LITERARY MERIT Bible. In what department of English literature may not the difference be discovered between the spirit and sentiments of Christian writers and those who have drawn all their materials of thought and of ornament from Pagan writers ? In the lan- guage of an anonymous writer, " Not to say that antiquity furnishes no example of a philosopher who could think like Newton 5 or a moralist who could illustrate human obligation like Edwards or Johnson 5 we find a proof of the superiority of Christian principles even in those works of ima- gination which are deemed scarcely susceptible of influence from rehgion. The common romance and the novel, with all their fooleries and ravings, would be more contemptible than they are, did they not sometimes undesignedly, catch a concep- tion, or adorn a character from the rich treasury of revelation. And the more splendid fictions of the poet derive their highest charm from the evan- gelical philanthopy, tenderness, and sublimity that invest them. But for the Bible, Homer and Mil- ton might have stood upon the same shelf, equals in morality, as they are competitors for renown. Young had been ranked with Juvenal 5 and Cow- per had united with Horace and with Ovid to swell the tide of voluptuousness." There is not a finer character, nor a finer descrip- tion in all the works of Walter Scott, than that of Rebekah in Ivanhoe. And who does not see that it owes its excellence to the Bible ? Shakespeare, Byron and Southey are not a little indebted for some OF THE SCRIPTURES. 63 of their best scenes and inspirations to the same source. At the suggestion of a valued friend, I have turned my thoughts to the parallel between Macbeth and Ahab— betw^een Lady Macbeth and Jezebel — between the announcment to Macduff of the murder of his family, and that to David of the death of Absalom by Joab — to the parallel between the opening of the Lamentations of Jere- miah and Byron's apostrophe to Rome as the Niobe of nations — to the parallel between his ode to Napoleon and Isaiah's ode on the fall of Sen- nacherib — and also to the resemblance between Southey's chariot of Car mala in the Curse of Ke- hama, and Ezekiel's vision of the wheels ; and have been forcibly impressed with the obligations of this class of writers to the sacred Scriptures. May it not be doubted whether scholars have been sufficiently sensible of their obligations to our com- mon English Bible. It is the purest specimen of English, or Anglo-Saxon to be found in the world. It was made by the order of James the I. in 1607, by forty-seven of the most able and learned men of Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge. It has stood the test of two hundred and thirty years ex- perience and is a noble monument of the integrity, fidelity, and learning of its venerable translators. Addison remarks " There is a certain coldness in the phrases of European languages, compared with the oriental forms of speech. The English tongue has received innumerable improvements from an infusion of Hebraisms, derived out of the practi- 64 THE LITERARY MERIT cal passsages in holy writ. They warm and ani- mate our language, give it force and energy, and convey our thoughts in ardent and intense phrases. There is something in this kind of diction, that often sets the mind in a flame and makes our hearts burn within us." Nor has it been at all improved by American Philologists. Was it too much for a learned Commentator to say, " Our translators have not only made a standard transla- tion J but they have made their translation the standard of our language. The English tongue in their day was not equal to such a work. But God enabled them to stand as upon Mount Sinai, and crane up their country's language to the dignity of the originals j so that after the lapse of two hundred years, the English Bible, with very few exceptions, is the standard of the purity and excel- lence of the English tongue." The Bible has also been the instrument of pre- serving and diffusing classical learning among the most polished and literary nations. On the sub- version of her fairest temples, ofttimes has litera- ture taken refuge in the asylums of Christianity. Since the Ark that once contained and preserved this sacred book was destroyed, this hallowed volume has been itself the ark in which were con- tained and preserved for the long night of a thou- sand years, and amid the rude assaults of barbarous nations, '' the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." More than once, when ignorance has enslaved the human mind, has the Bible stricken off its fetters. or THE SCRIPTURES. 65 The scriptures constrain men to be learned. So that while on the one hand, literature has nothing to lose, but much to gain from the Bible, the Bible has much to gain, and nothing to loose from a solid literature. " A little learning," says Lord Bacon, " tendeth to atheism 5 but more bringeth us back to religion." It is for the interests of reli- gion to encourage the pursuit of science and lite- rature in every form and department. The more the Bible is brought to the test of intellectual re- search, the more abundant will be the evidence of its superiority. From the comparative study of languages, from the natural history of the human race, from the whole circle of natural sciences, from early history, from oriental literature, from the most rigid scrutiny of its most acute and learned enemies, it has nothing to fear. The igno- rance of its friends may give its enemies a short lived triumph 5 but it shall be as ignoble, as it is momentary 5 and the weapons by which it has been accomplished shall be broken and thrown back, recoiling on the heads of those who wield them. Should some future Julian arise, who should debar the friends of the Bible the lights of science, the unbelieving wprld, and the powers of darkness, might be emboldened to assail it with new confi- dence. But I trust in God that time is past. And were it possible that the world could again be sub- jected to the caprice of a single man, and receive its laws from a despot, Jesus Christ is, as he ever has been, " head over all things to the church," and 6* 66 THE LITERARY MERIT, ETC. will make all things subservient to her interests. The power of despots shall be extended or dimi- nished, as it shall ultimately extend or diminish the power of the gospel. Wise men of the East shall again offer incense to the child of Mary. The Scribe and the Rabbi shall yet wreathe garlands for the ark of the covenant. The science of France and the learning of Germany shall become as truly tributary to the cause of truth and hoh- ness, as was the gold of Ophir. And the most illustrious classics of antiquity shall gather their freshest bays to adorn the temples once crowned with thorns. If it were for nothing but their literary merit therefore, these Scriptures claim the earnest atten- tion of the young. I know of no standard by which the character of literary and scientific men may be so safely and successfully formed. The more he reads, the more, I am confident an ac- complished scholar will study the Bible. There are no finer English scholars than the men edu- cated north of the Tweed. And there are none who, from their childhood are so well acquainted with the Bible. I have heard it said that the cha- racteristic wit of Scotchmen is attributable to their early familiarity with the Proverbs of Solomon. No well informed man, no well educated family is ignorant of the Bible. We can better afford to part with every other book from our family libraries, our schools, and colleges, than this finished pro- duction of the Infinite mind. LECTURE III. THE OBLIGATIONS OF LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE TO THE BIBLE. Our last lecture expatiated upon the literary merit of the sacred writings. We purpose at the present opportunity, to contemplate the influence this remarkable book has exerted upon human laws — upon the science of legislation^ and the great principles of jurisprudence. From the nature of the subject, it will be seen that it will more tax the sober thought of my audience, than the previous lecture, if it does not even tresspass somewhat upon their patience. As a general remark, it is no doubt true, that, like every other science, law has advanced gra- dually to its present state of improvement. But this remark is to be received with some qualifica- tion. That the Mosaic code was the first written law ever delivered to any nation no man will deny. And yet it was delivered in a state of high per- fection. 68 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. Theoretical philosophers who have set aside, or forgotten the inspiration of the Scriptures, have taught that the earlier codes of law, — codes de- signed for men in their wildest state, and at a period of the world when their wants were few and simple, their rights acknowledged, and their crimes had scarcely begun to be flagitious, — were necessarily very limited and very imperfect. They tell us that the first regulations of human society were those domestic rules which the father of a family would have occasion to observe in the con- trol of his household. When men began to unite in villages and cities, these more private regula- tions would be found inadequate to restrain a more numerous society 5 and a body of rules, as well as an authority accompanied by greater power than the paternal, became necessary. They tell us, that afterwards, when towns and cities united for their common convenience and defence, the judicial re- gulations necessarily became multiplied j and the supreme authority from which they emanated, and by which they were to be enforced, issued sooner or later in different forms of magistracy. And as the conduct of the wisest and most just men would naturally suggest a rule of conduct to others, so their counsels and advice would gradually acquire force, and be adopted as a general regulation. And hence they tell us, that sages and philoso- phers were the first authors of laws. Now, all this proceeds upon an entirely gratui- tous assumption 5 an assumption as contrary to LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 69 sober, uninspired history, as it is to the word of God. That assumption is " that the original state of man was exceedingly degraded 5 that he occu- pied a rank at first, little, if any, above the beasts of the field 5 and that having by his own exertions gradually escaped from the state of brutality in which he was originally found, he is in a constant course of improvement." How far this hypothesis is at variance with facts, I leave believers, and indeed I might say, unbelievers, in Divine Re- velation to determine. Since the fall of man from that state of primeval integrity and blessedness in which he was created, unaided by wisdom and laws revealed from heaven, the invariable tendency of his nature has been to sink deeper and deeper into darkness and lawless corruption. Hence God gave him law at his first creation 5 and by oral communications from heaven, guided and instruct- ed him for the first twenty-five hundred years, un- til he gave the Hebrew nation their memorable code from Mount Sinai. "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do ?" The enactment of wise laws, and the due administration of justice in any commu- nity, are so intimately inwoven with its best in- terests, and of such acknowledged importance, that they need not become the topics of remark. Law is the measure of right. It gives every man a rule of action, and prescribes a course of con- duct which entitles him to the support and protec- tion of society. It teaches men to know when 70 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. they commit injury, and when they suffer it. Eve- ry just law is dictated by reason and benevolence. Of the authority to command and the obligation to obedience, the foundation, or principle, is the happiness of those to whom the rule is directed. " Salus popuU suprema lex." None will doubt that the goodness of all laws depends upon their intrin- sic rectitude and benevolent influence. " The hand of time has been passing over the mighty fabric of human laws for four thousand years j" and yet little has been added to the stock of legal science, and little change has been made in the most improved principles of human juris- prudence since the days of Moses. As might have been justly supposed, there have been great im- provements in commercial law, because the He- brews were an agricultural, and not extensively a commercial people. And there have been im- provements in international law, because the Hebrews were, by divine command, separated from other nations. Laws also have been changed by the condition of the countries for which they have been enacted; they have been extended in their specifications 5 they have been modified by the character, customs, religion, soil, position, and pursuits of different nations ; but the fundamental principles, the great outline of legislative science, is found in the civil polity of the Jews. The last four books of the Pentateuch contain the founda- tions of all wise legislation. We have in the first instance the Moral Law^ LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 71 comprised within the short compass of ten com- mandments. This law contains the nucleus, the germ of all moral obligation, enforcing the claims of the one only living and true God, as the auto- crat of the Hebrew nation, and at the same time presenting a comprehensive statement of the du- ties which man owes to his fellow man. It was given, not through the intermediate ministry of their legislator, but directly to the assembled na- tion y not by the voice of angels, but by the voice of the Almighty lawgiver. It was stamped as his own, and he imparted to it a sacredness and au- thority suited to its high pre-eminence. " Concerning thy testimonies," says the Psalm- ist, " I have known that thou hast founded them for ever. I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right." The moral law is built upon firm and immutable foundations. It was not im- posed by arbitrary will, but corresponds to truth, to the nature of intelligent beings, and the rela- tions they sustain toward God and one another. It is adapted to all times, and places, and intelli- gences 5 is without change, or abatement j and is alike fitted to earth and to heaven. It requires what human laws may not require, — perfect holi- ness 5 and it forbids what man may not forbid, — all sin. It has a province with which no human code may interfere *, for it controls the heart. It may deserve inquiry. Whether the moral law of the ten commandments was merely a moral law for the private government of individuals ? 72 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. Was it not a law contemplating man as about forming a community 5 and laying down certain rules, not merely fit for individual conscience, but as also the indispensable requisites of a social state ? In this sense, they are not merely rules of conduct as to internal conscience, and which make men responsible to God ; but rules of social exist- ence, without which human society cannot con- tinue, and which make men responsible to the State. Do they not embody, both rules of con- science and the great principles of union among men, and constitute the vital basis of social organi- zation ? These ten commandments are indeed a wonderful code. So comprehensive a summary of the indispensable principles of a social state, and so wonderful a summary of moral duty, never could have been of human invention. This great moral code deserves to stand at the head of all the Mosaic institutions, and through the people to whom it was originally proclaimed, to address its claims to all the nations of men. Next to this great moral law, there is what may be called the Civil or Political Laws. They differ from the moral law in several important par- ticulars *, but in none more than this, that they do not require absolute perfection, nor forbid all sin. In other and plainer language, they tolerate what is wrong, and what the moral law does not tolerate. They tolerate imperfection at hearty for they do not profess to reach the heart. That is done by another law, and by no mere civil, poli- LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 73 tical code. They tolerate imperfection in the hfe 5 for no system of human legislation, even though God were its author, would ever attempt to secure even a perfectly blameless exterior. Hence there were usages in the Hebrew nation which were in- consistent with the moral law, and with the gene- ral scope and spirit of the divine oracles, which the civil code of the Old Testament did not pro- hibit to the Hebrew people. Great complaint has been made against the Old Testament for these connivances 5 but great injus- tice has been done to it in this particular. We have said, that every just law is dictated in wis- dom. But while it is indispensable to the due administration of justice, that no law should be unjust, it is not indispensable that every just law which may be thought of should be enacted. A civil code may legislate too much, as well as too little. The object of a law should always be at- tainable, and always of sufficient importance to demand its enactment. It may be to a high de- gree fit and proper that men, as citizens, should do right in every thing 5 while it may not be fit and proper, that any system of mere human legis- lation should require absolute perfection in human conduct. This, as has been before remarked, is the province of a moral, and not a civil code. This is the province of the divine lawgiver, acting as the moral governor of men, and not of human legislation. He must do this, or his law would not be holy, just and good^ nor commend itself to the 7 74 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. conscience. He cannot do less, however extensive his empire, and however remote the period of time, or ages of eternity to which his government is extended. The great pecuharity of his moral government is, that it is a perfect government, conniving at no kind or degree of wickedness, and adjusting penalty to crime with that perfect preci- sion and exactness of moral balance, that is in all cases proportioned to the measure of its ill desert. But this is not the work of human legislation, un- less men may legislate for God, and with the design of securing a sinless community. This were im- practicable and visionary. Even were there such a thing as perfect rectitude among men, it would be impossible for any civil code to draw the line between guilt and innocence by any distinct or dejfinite Hmitations. Nor could justice ever be- come so active, vigilant and cautious, as to prevent, or punish every instance of wickedness. The difficulty of a civil law in attempting to reach everything wrong is but half. The still greater difficulty also would be, in enforcing such laws when made. Their minuteness would render them dif- ficult to be known ; transgressions would be con- stant, and the whole business of society, would be the discovering, trying, and punishing of offences. Intention too would be the corpus delicti^ and this would have to be tried by fallible judges, liable to partiality and corruption, and by means of wit- nesses perhaps still more hable. I can imagine no state of anarchy or contention equal to that which LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 75 would be produced by civil laws attempting to en- force all that is right, and to prohibit all that is wrong. The basis of all legislation by general rules admits of partial evil for general good 5 and this is the only practicable legislation. Moses, for example, allowed polygamy, because, in that age of the world it was not once thought of as a sin 5 and the time had not come for him to sunder the ten thousand bonds which existed all over the na- tion between husbands and wives, parents and children, and suddenly break up the foundations of long established society by enforcing the origi- nal law of marriage. And for the same reason he allowed of divorce for other causes than conjugal infidelity, and also because in a state of society where polygamy is allowed, one of the means of gradually preventing polygamy was not to render divorces too difficult. It is essential to a moral law, as we have before intimated, that it tolerate nothing that is wrong, however strong the reasons for the con- nivance j while it is essential to the wisdom of every code of civil legislation, that it connive at many things, lest by aiming at too much it defeat its own designs. - Take a plain and familiar ex- ample. What course would a wise man pursue, if he were to form a Civil Code for the Sandwich Islands, or for the colonies on the coast of Africa ? God has already proclaimed to them his moral law^ requiring perfect holiness. This law the faith- ful missionary of the cross illustrates and enforces 76 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. in all the perfection of its precepts, and all the severity of its sanctions. But as a virtuous and wise jurist, he is called upon to modify and change their civil code^ by which they shall regulate their mutual intercourse, define rights and tresspass, and crimes; try criminals, and determine civil actions. It would be puerile to suppose that he would prescribe to them the ten commandments^ or which would amount to the same thing, that he wpuld expressly prohibit by penal sanctions everything which is not accordant to the perfect demands of the moral law. He would obviously inquire, to what extent it is practicable, expedient, and conducive to the ends of good government to require all that is right, and forbid all that is wrong. While the code which he would estabhsh would enjoin nothing that is sinful, under a sound discretion he would ask, to what extent it might tolerate and suffer some evils, lest it should defeat its own design. Nay, would he not even establish laws to regulate those very evils ; to prevent the increase and abuse of them, that ultimately and in a more improved and advanced state of society, they might be wholly eradicated ? Now this is what infinite wisdom heis done in the civil code of the Hebrews. The moral law he had given them. But that recently enslaved people were about to assume a new character. They were about to be organized into a body politic and to be constituted the Hebrew state. And in this crisis of their history, God himself was their counsellor. He LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 77 condescended to give them statutes and judg- meMts^ and to become the author and framer of their civil and judicial code. And would you deny to him the discretion of a wise jurist ? Is it to be supposed that he would conduct so weighty a concern with any lack of wisdom, or any want of regard for the condition and charac- ter of the people for whom he was about to legis- late ? John Locke could write with distinguished ability on the powers of the human mind j but when he comes to discuss the great practical ques- tions of civil government, and to prepare a consti- tution for a free state, he is like Samson shorn of his strength. The divine wisdom was never more needed by the Hebrew nation than at the com- mencement of their political existence, just after they had escaped the servitude of Egypt. Cavil- lers at the political law of the Hebrews, seem to have lost sight of the very obvious distinction be- tween their moral and civil code j while a very slight attention to the Scriptures, and to the na- ture of the case evinces that they were delivered at different times, to different persons, and for widely different purposes. The object of their civil laws is to define and illustrate the doctrine of personal rights 5 to govern their intercourse in the common transactions of human Hfej to extend their influence into the domestic circle, and regulate the reciprocal duties of husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant. And most abun- dantly do they indicate their divine Author. 78 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. We cannot do justice to this part of our subject without entering briefly into some specifications. The caution with which the Mosaic law prevented the accumulation of debt, — the fidelity with which they required the restoration of lost property, — the restoring of property that was injured, or stolen, in the former case to the full amount of its original value, and in the latter to double that amount, — and the distinctness and simplicity of the law of bailment, are replete with instruction to every succeeding generation of men. Any man who carefully reads that beautiful treatise of Sir William Jones on this last subject, will see that all the leading principles of the law of bail- ment there illustrated, are found in the law of Moses.* In the Mosaic code you find the follow- ing law in relation to injuries arising from care- lessness and inattention. " If a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox, or an ass fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them 5 and the dead beast shall be his. And if one man's ox hurt another's that he die 5 then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it 5 and the dead ox also they shall di- vide." This law contains the germ of all the ex- isting refinements of the law of injuries from want of care, and those arising without fault. There is a nice equity in this law, where, upon payment for * Exod. 22. 14, 15. LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 79 the damages, " the beast shall be his" who was the occasion of the injury. The division of the loss, too, where neither party is in fault, is a very re- fined notion of equity. It is the rule at the pre- sent day, in the case of the collision of ships ; and is both more equitable and more tender than leav- ing the loss upon that party who, by accident, first sustains it. Dividing the loss also greatly dimin- ished the temptation to quarrel about the probable fault, and to prevent a litigation 5 and this is a car- dinal object of all wise governments.* The doc- trine of restitution in the cases of theft, of the difference in the degree of restitution between the selling and killing the stolen ox, or sheep, and its being found in the thief's hand, was both most just and most politic. As the article could be re- stored, there was no fear of the thief's gaining by a difference of value between the sold or killed ox, and those to be restored.f The law of mandato- ries^ or the law concerning property given in charge for safe keeping, is not to be surpassed for wisdom and equity 5 and all the refinements of the law to this day, do not carry the principle any further.J No rule of damages in cases of seduc- tion is so wise as that in the law of Moses. It is the usual one lawyers now present to juries, where the case is one of real deception.|| These, and * Exodus 21. 33—35. fib. 22. 1—4. \ lb. 7—15. 8 lb. 16. 17. 80 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. other similar laws are expressive of great wisdom, and have been uniformly honoured by all wise and benevolent legislators. It has no doubt occurred to the intelligent reader of the Mosaic law, that there is a series of tender and sentimental injunctions^ the design of which was to form the moral sensibilities of the Hebrews by a standard at once the most refined and honourable. They consist chiefly of precepts directory, to which no penalty is annexed, except that which might be inflicted by the all-governing hand of God in the ordinary dispensations of his providence. But they were designed to exert a powerful influence 5 to be great moral axioms ; to guard men against unnatural obduracy, and hard- ness of feeling ; and be a sort of standing appeal to the tenderness and honour of men in all their mutual intercourse. I allude to such examples as the following. " Thou shalt not vex a stranger, nor oppress him 5 for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afiiict any widow, nor fatherless child. If thou afllict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry 5 and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword 5 and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." God bound them to act in this matter from an affec- tionate regard to his authority 5 and gave them distinctly to understand, that if they refused to do so, he himself would become the guardian of the poor, the father of the fatherless, the protector of LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 81 the helpless orphan, the widow's God, and the avenger of her wrongs. A law like this is an everlasting testimony against the man who ne- glects the sufferings of his brethren j and though he may have all the religious ardour and zeal of a martyr, it denounces him as a base dissembler. Of the same general character is the injunction, to leave the " forgotten sheaf" in the field in the time of harvest ; not " go over the boughs of the olive tree a second time ;" nor " twice glean the grapes of their vineyard j" but that what remained after the first gathering, should be left for " the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow." The same remarks are also pertinent to the rule as to " pledges," forbidding them to " take the upper or nether millstone to pledge," because this was the life, and only remaining means of sustenance to the poor. There is a remarkable delicacy too, a singular refinement of feeHng in the law relative to pledges. "When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge." You may not enter there to discover the nakedness of the land. Your eye shall not penetrate the miseries of his humble dwelling. Your presence shall not bring the blush of shame upon the face of his mortified family. You shall not have the opportunity of pubHshing to the world their abjectness and low estate. "Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend, shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee." Of the same general character is the law 82 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. that required a man, if he " met his enemy s ox, or ass going astray, to bring it back to him again 5" the law that the '•' wages of every hired labourer should be paid punctually before the going down of the sun 5" the injunction against slander and tale bearing j the law against usury ^ and the law which even guards against hardening the feelings by destroying the bird with her eggs. Now, all this was above any mere philosopher, sage, or hero. These precepts are very touching 5 they are the finest political morahty ; and not only very high morahty, but very deep sentiment. A leader of a horde of fugitive slaves, who had employed his time in tending sheep upon the mountains of Arabia Petrea, and associating with oppressed makers of bricks, could hardly, of his own undi- rected wisdom, have been so sentimental in his equity. A collection of the rules of this general character would be one of the most striking collec- tions of kind, considerate, and merciful legislation ever known 5 and can scarcely be believed of a lawgiver so sternly denouncing blood for every crime which struck at the social organization. The combination of the two things proves him, not to have been a cruel, and to have been a wise legislator. The trial of jealousy also is a singular institu- tion among the Hebrews, if actually practised. But there is in it such an appeal to the secret ter- ror of a guilty conscience, as to have prevented any but the innocent from submitting to its appa- LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 83 rently harmless portions. How different was this trial to an innocent person from the trials of Ordeal in the dark ages. What innocent wife could walk over burning plough shares 5 steep her hands or feet in burning oil; or float, when fet- tered, in the horse-pond ? The poor Jewess had an ordeal which could not hurt the innocent; while the middle ages had ordeals which left the innocent no chance of escape. So likewise the reference of matters of so much nicety as not to be capable of solution by judges, to the priesthood as a hody^ and punishing with death a presumptuous contempt of the sentence, was well calculated to protect the ordinary magis- trate from the animosity of a losing party, where the question of right was very difficult, and where the loosing party would never be satisfied with a mere reason. In modern constitutions it is now necessary to rest the ultimate decision of difficult matters to large bodies, who cannot, from their very multitude, be objects of personal animosity. After their civil, or political laws, is their code of Penal Statutes. Law punishes as well as pro- tects j and punishes only to strengthen its protec- tion. In a well governed state, crime is prevented more frequently tban punished. To make punish- ment unnecessary is the great employment of legis- lative wisdom. There are, I know, some peculia- rities in the penal code of the Hebrews which have been the subject of loud complaint. Not a few of these peculiarities are to be accounted for 84 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. by the fact that they were designed to keep that people distinct from the rest of mankind, and thus prevent their being involved in the idolatry of the pagan world. Infidels have made themselves merry also at the minuteness of this code. And it may be, that there are some honest, but fastidious readers of the Old Testament whose delicacy has been wounded at the rehearsal of some of those very recitals, which have contributed to the forma- tion of that high standard of susceptibility which shrinks from the conception of laws so necessary to this degraded people. When we consider that the Mosaic code was prescribed for a people igno- rant of all law 5 a people who had just emerged from the most abject slavery 5 a people scarcely beyond the limits of the most loathsome and defil- ing paganism 5 we shall cease to wonder at the minuteness of its details, and admire the divine wisdom and condescension in stooping thus to their low condition. There are several striking points of difference between the Mosaic penal code and that of most modern states. One of these is the requiring of two witnesses for every mortal crime, and that the witnesses should aid in the execution of the guilty. This is a very remarkable provision among such a people as the Hebrews; wonderfully cal- culated to prevent false testimony, and deserves imitation among the most enlightened judges and legislators. Another is, that they had no law of imprisonment, either for debt, or for crime. There LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 85 are but two recorded exceptions to this remark within my knowledge. The one is the keeping of a criminal in custody for a single night, until the will of the Deity could be consulted concern- ing him, and the other is the appointment of the cities of refuge for the man-slayer. Though of ancient usage and origin, imprisonment did not originate with the law of Moses. Instead of im- prisoning for crime, the Mosaic code requires the immediate and prompt execution of the law. It was their doctrine that laws were made to be exe- cuted ; and the divine lawgiver saw fit to decide that there should be no needless delay in the exe- cution. Another striking difference related to the character of the crimes that were punishable with death. They were all either of high moral mahg- nity, or crimes that tended to the subversion of their whole civil polity, and endangered the social existence of the nation. The propriety of the law against them rests upon the same grounds as the punishment of treason and murder, and is ful- ly justified. In ordinary cases, constituted as that nation was, under a Theocracy^ they strike at the root of social existence *, and the severity of the punishment against them was in self-defence for the very existence of society. Besides, with a people of extreme simplicity as to property, almost the only punishment must be personal 5 and as they were emerging from a slavery where the taking of life was probably very common, capricious, and despotic, without severe punishments they were 8 86 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. without any. One thing also, is quite remarkable in a code where the ignorance of the people and the simplicity of property and social state left the lawgiver few punishments of which to choose and threw him upon stripes or death. I mean the tenderness of bloody and the almost superstitious reverence for human life. The ox that killed a man, or woman, was stoned, nor should his flesh be eaten 5 and if he were an unruly ox, and this be known to his owner, not only was the ox stoned, but his owner was put to death. This is the origin of all those forfeitures in law which arise from the misfortune rather than the crime of the owner, and are called deodand.* It is not long since this principle was carried into exten- sive operation in the laws of England. Whatever personal chattel was the immediate occasion of the death of any reasonable creature, was forfeited to the king and applied to benevolent purposes. Bracton states the law to have been, that " all things which, while in motion, caused death, are to be offered to God." But the English law was even more extensive than this. If a man were killed by a fall from a cart, or a horse, the cart or horse was forfeited. A well in which a person was drowned, was ordered to be filled up under the inspection of the coroner. And among the Athenians, "whatever was the cause of man's * Blackstone's Commentaries, vol I. chapter 8th. LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 87 death by falling upon him, was exterminated, or cast out of the dominions of the repubhc." There seems to us to be superstition in such a law, but it is a humane superstition. The mind was taught by it to contemplate with horror the privation of human life ; and it might not be familiar even with an insensible object which had been the occasion of death, lest that sentiment should be diminished. The most corrupt and melancholy state of human society is that in which the mind becomes familiar- ized to blood ; and it is a question of grave import, whether any thing is gained by abrogating even the sacred, and, if you please, superstitious, regard to human life which was inspired by this great principle of the Mosaic code. When you take up the special examples of penal law under this code, you cannot but admire their wisdom. You have in the first place idolatry^ and the penalty was death. It was treason against the state, to acknowledge any other as king, than God. This crime also was always connected with the inhuman and bloody practice of offering human sacrifices. It was of most aggravated enormity, and struck at the very existence of the nation. The next crime is blasphemy^ and was punished with death for the same sufficient reason. The next is deliberate and wilful murder. " He that smiteth a man so that he die, shall surely be put to death." This was a re-pubUcation of the law given to Noah, and in my humble judgment is obliga- tory upon the world in all subsequent ages. The 88 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. nice distinctions laid down in the Mosaic code between murder and manslaughter, are to the pre- sent day the just and recognized principles of the law of homicide, and are carried out into every ramification without any new principle. Another mortal crime is smiting a parent. This is a very unnatural, uncommon, and improbable crime. Like several others, it struck at the basis of society, framed as it was on a patriarchal model and or- ganization, which could not continue long on the land given to it unless the simple principles of its organization were severely defended. So of curs- ng a parent., which was also punished with the same severity. And so of inveterate disobedience to parents for the same reason. So also of incest — sodomy — bestiality — -forcible violation — and adultery^ and all for the same reason. So also of false pretensions to prophecy for the same rea- sons with idolatry and blasphemy. So also of witchcraft. Whether witchcraft be imaginary, or not, no cruelty is known equal to that committed by pretenders to this mystery. Witness the medi- cine men of our own western Indians. In an ignorant body of slaves, without intelligence and subject to superstitions, pretensions to witchcraft were likely to be most disastrous to the happiness of the people, and very dangerous to the govern- ment : and I w^ould at this day, legislating for our Indians, or for negroes subject to Obi superstition, punish conjuring with death, quite as readily as for any crime short of actual murder, or treason. LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 89 The only other crimes punishable with death by the Mosaic code, were manstealing, Sabbath break- ing, and contumacious resistance against the su- preme authority of the State. The time was, and that less than two hundred years ago, when by the laws of England, one hundred and forty-eight crimes were punishable with death. By the Mo- saic code there are seventeen. Let the profane cease from their rebukes of the penal statutes of Moses ! There is one fact in relation to the Mosaic code which is a severe rebuke to modern govern- ments. No injury simply affecting property^ no invasion of personal rights whatever, could draw down upon an Israelite an ignominious death. Mammon was not the god of the Mo- saic law. That code respected moral depravity more than gold. Moral turpitude and the most atrocious expressions of moral turpitude, these were the objects of its unsleeping severity. " Mammon leads us on, Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell From heaven ; for e'en in heaven his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold, Than ought divine or holy." — Nor is it a slight commendation of that code, that its laws were equal. Ye "shall have one manner of law as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country." Every man in the com- 8* 90 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. munity had the same protection from the penal laws. Not a little has been said against the law of retaliation, or the lex talionis^ as it is enjoined in this code. But has it not been hastily said ? No man doubts that, as the law of individual^ and private revenge^ it is wrong. It is in this view, and only in this view, that it is condemned by the Saviour, and superseded by the injunction, " Resist not evil." No man may take the law into his own hands, and become at pleasure the avenger of his own wrongs. But where is its severity, or ini- quitableness, as the adjudicated decision of a legal tribunal ? The lex talionis in relation to delibe- rate and premeditated crimes is just, and it is not certainly impolitic. " Thou shall give life for life." Nor do I see any injustice, or inexpediency in punishing deliberate maiming by a similar judicial maiming. No man can say, it is not the measure of punishment most consonant to natural equity. As applied to perjury, a crime always of great and studied premeditation, there is a strong propriety in its being rigidly executed, and in doing to the perjurer " as he had thought to have done unto his brother." Nor let the conscientious reader of the Mosaic law be induced to imagine that there is any thing either in the civil or penal code of the Hebrews that requires and justifies sin. It is not so. Great injustice has been done in this particular to the Old Testament, as I have remarked before. LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 91 There is a difference between a moral and a judicial code, even though proceeding from the same source ; and though what the former may not allow, the latter may not require^ yet what the former may forbid, the latter may leave unnoticed, and even regulate and control. It is not necessary that a code of civil laws should adjudicate upon every moral evil. It is not best that it should. Notwithstanding all that has been said and writ- ten, there is no evidence to my mind that there is any thing in the laws of Moses which countervails the unchanging principles of moral rectitude. Sometimes you find the Saviour, when comment- ing on that code, giving the preference to a moral precept over a positive institution, but this is no evidence that the positive institution was sinful. Moses " suffered some things for the hardness of the hearts of the people," which, in a subsequent age and a different state of society, he would not have suffered 5 but this is no evidence that what he judicially suffered he morally approved. Not an instance can be found in which the divine command required that, which can upon any fair construction, be regarded as a violation of that rule of right, which is founded in the nature and relation of things, and is written in every human heart. The Jews in the time of Christ had erro- neous views of the laws of Moses, and perverted them, and needed the exposition which was given them by the Saviour. And not a few at the pre- sent day have erroneous views of the instructions 92 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. of Christ, and pervert them, and need to be taught that they are perfectly consistent with the instruc- tions of Moses. The gospel is in advance of the law, but not in opposition to the law. Moses wrote of Christ, and if we believe the words of Christ, we shall believe the writings of Moses. The Jews were a favoured people. Their penal laws are so much distinguished for discretion, hu- manity, equity, and mildness, that they cannot but challenge the admiration of every intelligent jurist. Let them be compared with Hales' Pleas of the Crown, and it is no difficult matter to see on which side the advantage lies. Nothing escapes their notice. They guard the morals as well as the per- sons of the community. It were well if every crowded city had as good a system of sanitary re- gulations as the camp of Israel. The uniform tendency of their whole system of jurisprudence was to promote a good understanding between man and man 5 and the great object of their po- lice, the prevention, rather than the punishment of crime. Moses is not less truly the great lawgiver, than the first historian. The surrounding and contemporaneous nations were far in the rear of this favoured people in every department of legis- lative knowledge. Chaldea, Egypt, Phoenicia, Media, Persia, then under the sovereignty of Cherdorlaomer, had every thing to learn on this subject from the Hebrews. "• What nation," says the God of Israel to his chosen people, " what na- tion is there so great, that hath statutes and judg- LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 93 ments so righteous, as all this law which I set be- fore you this day ?" Men do not always follow ancient customs be- cause they are wise. And yet is there no doubt that many succeeding ages, as well as those that were contemporaneous, were deeply indebted to the Mosaic institutions. Dr. Graves, in his admi- rable lectures on the Pentateuch, says, that " the Mosaic code must have been generally known in those eastern countries from which the most an- cient and celebrated legislators and sages derived the model of their laws." Moses indeed labours to impress this thought upon his countrymen as a powerful motive for a careful observance of their institutions. "Keep therefore and do them, for this is your wisdem and your understanding in the sight of the nations which shall hear of all these statutes, and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." The lawgivers of na- tions bordering on the Jews borrowed many of their institutions from the laws of Moses. This was obviously true of the Egyptians and the Phoe- nicians. During the reign of Artaxerxes Longi- manus, while the Jews were scattered through- out the kingdom of Persia, their laws were the subjects of reniark and notoriety j for Haman speaks of them to the king as " diverse from the laws of all people." That the extent to which the laws of Greece were indebted to the institutions of Moses was not inconsiderable, may be inferred from the influence of the Hebrew State on the 94 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. political condition of the world, during the early ages of the Grecian history, as well as from the direct testimony of learned men. Very many points of resemblance between the Grecian laws and customs, and those of the Hebrews are stated by Archbishop Potter, in his Antiquities. The Athenians had a prescribed bill of divorce, and so had the Jews. Among the Jews, the father gave names to the children 5 and such was the custom among the Greeks. The purgation oath among the Greeks strongly resembles the oath of jealousy among the Hebrews. The harvest and vintage festival among the Greeks — the presentation of the best of their flocks, and the oflTering of their first fruits to the gods — together with the portion prescribed for the priests — the interdiction against garments of diverse colours — protection from vio- lence to the man who fled to their altars — would seem to indicate that the Greeks had cautiously copied the usages of the Jews. And whence was it that no person was permitted to approach the altar of Diana, who had touched a dead body, or been exposed to other causes of impurity, and that the laws of Athens admitted no man to the priesthood who had any blemish upon his person, unless from the institutions of Moses ? And has not the agrarian law of Lycurgus its prototype, though none of its defects, in the agrarian law of the Hebrews ? Many of the Athenian laws in re- lation to the descent of property, and the prohi- bited degrees of relationship in marriage, seem to LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 95 have been transcribed by Solon from the laws of Moses. Sir Matthew Hale, in his History of the Common Law of England^ affirms, " that among the Grecians, the laws of descents resemble those of the Jews." It will be universally conceded that the Roman^ or Civil Law^ as collected and digested by the order of Justinian, has exerted a powerful influ- ence even on the institutions of modern times. Nor is it to be supposed that this intelligent people, who had long suffered under the evils of unwritten laws, when they turned their attention to the formation of a more certain and permanent code, would not consult the existing laws of the wisest nations. Both ancient and modern writers of Roman his- tory, therefore affirm, that the individuals commis- sioned by the senate and tribunes to form the Twelve Tables, were directed to examine the laws of Athens and the Grecian cities. So that the Ro- man law must have been not a little indebted to the Mosaic. Sir Matthew Hale remarks, " that among the many preferences which the laws of England have above others, the two principal ones are, the here- ditary transmission of property, and the trial by jury." And who does not see that these originated with the Jews ? By the law of Moses, the succes- sion, in the descending line, was all to the sons, ex- cept that the oldest son had a double portion. If the son died in his father's lifetime, the grandson succeeded to the portion of his father. Daughters 96 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. had no inheritance so long as there were sons, or descendants of sons. Where the father left only daughters and no sons, the daughters succeeded equally. And was there nothing in the administra- tion of penal justice among the Hebrews, that sug- gested at least the trial hy jury ? I mean the pub- licity of their trials in the gates of the city, where their judges, though elders and Levites, were taken from the general mass of the citizens. Sir Mat- thew Hale, in the work to which reference has already been made, has another remark in relation to the influence which the Bible generally has ex- erted upon the laws of England. In speaking of the difficulties of ascertaining the origin of the common law, among the rest he enumerates the " growth of Christianity in the kingdom, introdu- cing some new laws, or abrogating some old ones, that seemed less consistent with Christian doc- trines." A portion of the common law as it now stands was first collected by Alfred the Great 5 and it is asserted by Sismondi, in his History of the Fall of the Roman Empire, that when this prince " caused a republication of the Saxon laws, he in- serted several laws taken from the Judaical ritual into his statutes, as if to give new strength and co- gency to the principles of morality." And hence it is no uncommon thing in the early English re- porters to find frequent references to the Mosaic law. Sismondi also states that one of the first acts of the clergy under Pepin and Charlemagne of France, was to introduce into the legislation of the LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 97 Franks, several of the Mosaic laws found in the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus. I need not say, that the entire code of civil and judicial statutes throughout New England, as well as throughout those states first settled by the de- scendants of New England, shows nothing more distinctly than that its framers were familiar with the Bible, and substantially adopted " the judicial laws of God, as they were delivered by Moses, as binding and a rule to all their courts V And why should not this sacred book, so full of the counsels of wisdom, and itself a law to man, exert a para- mount influence on all human laws, wherever it is known and revered ? " The Scripture," says the judicious Hooker, " is fraught even with the laws of nature, insomuch that Gratian, defining natural right^ termeth it that which the books of the law and the gospel do contain. Neither is it vain that the Scripture aboundeth with so great store of laws of this kind 5 for they are such as we of ourselves could not easily have found out ; and then the benefit is not small to have them readily set down to our hands 5 or if they be so clear and manifest, that no man endued with reason can lightly be ignorant of them, yet the Spirit, as it were, borrowing them from the school of nature, and applying them, is not without most singular use and profit for men's instruction." It was from God himself that one nation, and one only immediately received their laws. And they are worthy to be regarded as the model for 9 98 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. all succeeding ages. There is no comparison be- tween the laws of this people and the laws of other ancient nations, except as the latter were bor- rowed from the institutions of Moses. The learned Michaelis, who was professor of law in the univer- sity of Gottengen, remarks, " that a man who con- siders laws philosophically, who would survey them with the eye of a Montesquieu, would never over- look the laws of Moses." Goguet, in his elaborate and learned treatise on the Origin of Laws^ ob- serves, that " the more we meditate on the laws of Moses, the more we shall perceive their wisdom and inspiration. They alone have the inestimable advantage never to have undergone any of the revolutions common to all human laws, which have always demanded frequent amendments ; some- times changes ; sometimes additions 5 sometimes the retrenching of superfluities. There has been nothing changed, nothing added, nothing retrench- ed from the laws of Moses for above three thousand years." Milman, in his history of the Jews, re- marks, that " the Hebrew lawgiver has exercised a more extensive and permanent influence over the destinies of mankind, than any other individual in the annals of the world." It was the opinion of that distinguished statesman and jurist, the late Fisher Ames, dare et venerabile nomen, that " no man could be a sound lawyer who was not well read in the laws of Moses." This venerable code claims our reverence, if it were for nothing but its high antiquity. But it LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. 99 has higher claims. Taken as a whole, it contains more sublime truths, and maxims more essentially connected with the well-being of our race, than all the profane writers of antiquity could furnish. They were perfect at their formation j uniting all that is authoritative in obligation, with all that is benevolent in their tendency, and not less condu- cive to the glory of the lawgiver, than to the hap- piness of his subjects. That bold personification of law in the abstract made by Hooker, may with strong propriety be applied to the system of legis- lation revealed in the Bible. " Of law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world. All things in heaven and earth do her homage 5 the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempt from her power. Both angels and men, and creatures of what condition soever, though each in a different sort and name, yet all with one uniform consent, admire her as the mother of their peace and joy." A portion of this law was designed to be author- itatively binding on the Jews alone 5 another por- tion of it is equally binding on us , and " though heaven and earth pass away, shall never pass away." — " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself." The nature and extent of this law, and our everlasting responsibilities to it as the creatures of God, as in- telhgent and responsible agents, it becomes us, my young friends gravely to investigate, both as it re- 100 LEGISLATIVE SCIENCE. lates to our destiny in this world and that which is to come. We are not, hke the vegetative and ani- mal creation, passive subjects, submitting to the imperative law of our nature, but active, accounta- ble existences, voluntarily obeying or refusing to obey. All the features of this law we know are " holy, just, and good." Its very penalty is but the sterner accent of love warning us of our danger. Its penalty and precept are both written upon the conscience 5 and wo be to the transgressor, who, because it is no longer the rule of his justification before God, disregards it as the rule of his duty. LECTURE IV. THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO CIVIL LIBERTY. Every considerate friend of civil liberty, in order to be consistent with himself, must be the friend of the Bible. I have yet to learn, that tyrants have ever effectually conquered and subjugated a people, whose liberties and public virtue were founded upon the word of God. The American people, I am confident, owe much in this respect to the influence of this great charter of human freedom. I need scarcely soUcit the favourable regard of my audience, therefore, when I say to them, that the topic of the present lecture is the influence which the Holy Scriptures have exerted, and are adapted to exert upon civil hberty. Civil liberty is not freedom from restraint. Men may be wisely and benevolently checked and con- troled, and yet be free. No man has a right to act as he thinks fit, irrespective of the wishes and interests of others. This were exemption from the restraints of all law, and from all the wholesome 102 CIVIL LIBERTY. influence of social institutions. Heaven itself were not free, if this w^ere freedom. No created being holds any such liberty as this, by a divine warrant. The spirit of subordination, so far from being in- consistent with liberty, is inseparable from it. It is essential to liberty that men should be subjected to the restraints of law j and where this restraint is limited by a wise regard to the best interests of the State, there men are free. Every restraint of natural liberty that is arbitrary and needless *, that is imposed on one class of society, merely for the sake of aggrandizing, and augmenting the influence of another 5 every restraint that is not called for, for the purpose of securing to men of every rank and condition their just rights, and of diffusing the spirit of industry, virtue and peace, is in its own nature tyranny and oppression. The highest de- gree of civil liberty is enjoyed where natural liberty is so far only abridged and restrained, as is neces- sary and expedient for the safety and interest of the society or State. A community may be free, for example, without extending to persons of all ages and both sexes the right of suflrage ; without making all eligible to office 5 without abolishing the distinction of rank ; without annihilating the correlative and reciprocal rights and duties of master and servant ^ without destroying filial sub- ordination and parental claims j without abolishing the punishment of crime j without abjuring the restraints of sanative and maritime law ^ and with- out giving up the right of those compulsory services CIVIL LIBERTY. 103 of its subjects which the common weal demands. The civil liberty of men " depends not so much on the removal of all restraint from them^ as in the due restraint of the natural liberty of others.'^'' There are a few leading principles on which all free governments must forever rest. They are such as the following : That government is instituted for the good of the people — that it is the right and duty of the people to become acquainted with their public interests — that all laws constitutionally enacted, should be faithfully and conscientiously obeyed — that the people, by their representatives, should have a voice in the enaction of these laws — that mild and moderate laws should be invested with energy — that the life, liberty, and property of no man shall be infringed upon, except by process of law — that every man who respects and obeys the laws has a right to protection and support — and that all that is valuable in civil institutions rests on the intelligence and virtue of the people. Such, as far as I am acquainted with them, are the great principles of civil liberty and a free govern- ment, let the form of that government be what it may. It may be monarchical, or republican 5 its constitution may be written, or unwritten 5 but wherever the duties of magistrates and subjects are prescribed and deffi.ed, and their rights pro- tected by the preceeding principles, a people may be said to be free. There never has been any such thing as true freedom among those who were ignorant of the 104 CIVIL LIBERTY. word of God. The great mass of men from the more early ages of the world to the present time, have been controlled by mere arbitrary power. They have known very little of exemption from the arbitrary will of others. In many countries, this exemption has indeed been secured by estab- lished laws, and has had the semblance of salutary restraint 5 while the laws themselves have been lawless and arbitrary ; at one time extravagantly severe, and at another extravagantly indulgent, and the mere expression of individual fickleness and authority. There are few profane historians, with the ex- ception of Herodotus and Thucydides that can be relied upon, which give any account of the world earlier than Alexander. From that time down- wards, the history of nations becomes more clear, just, and authentic ; but from that time upwards, the Bible is the only source of authentic informa- tion. There was a general dispersion of mankind into various parts of the world, as early as the days of Peleg, and probably, just before the death of Noah, and under his direction. Eusebius and Winder give some very plausible reasons, to say the least, for this opinion. The dispersion was completed at the Tower c^^abel, when the pos- terity of Ham, who, under me direction of Nimrod had wrested the plains of Babylon from the de- scendants of Shem, were scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. The beginning of Nimrod's kingdom was Babel. And the Bible in- CIVIL LIBERRY. 105 forms us what a despot he was 5 everywhere insti- gating war and bloodshed, laying the nations under tribute, and transmitting his despotic and warlike power from generation to generation, till the Egyp- tians drove his descendants into Canaan and Joshua drove them into Greece. Ninus inherited the tyranny of his father 5 and the whole history of the Assyrian empire from the days of Ninus to its overthrow by the Babylonians and the Medes, is a history of the most absolute despotism. Such also was the character of the Babylonian empire from the revolt of Nebopolassar to its destruction by Cyrus. Egypt and Persia also were equally stran- gers to civil liberty. And with some partial re- strictions, by which the authority of the former was controlled by established customs, and that of the latter by the senate, such was the character of imperial Greece and Rome. The republics of Greece and Rome were comparatively free; though their freedom was far from being founded upon a correct understanding of the rights of man. I do not know that there is in antiquity a single example of a free state, in which the people have exerted any due influence upon the government until you come to the Jewish republic. When I cast my eyes over the earth at the present day, I cannot fix them on a flftgle Pagan, Mahomedan, or Antichristian country, where the genius of liberty has a dwelling place; she may at times have hovered over them, hke the dove over the 106 CIVIL LIBERTY. waste of waters, but like her, has found no rest for the sole of her foot. The Bible is the great protector and guardian of the liberties of men. It is the true basis, and the only basis of the temple of freedom. It is the necessary result of an acquaintance with the word of God that a people should be restive under a tyrants yoke, and sooner or later break from their chains. It is a maxim in the Romish Church, that " ignorance is the mother of devotion 5" but the true origin of this aphorism is, that ignorance rivets the chains of civil as well as ecclesiastical power. It were impossible for a people to be ignorant of their own rights, or the responsi- bilities of their rulers, who are deeply and honestly imbued with the principles of the Bible. Where the Bible forms public opinion, a nation must be free. Who does not see that such a tyrant as Nero, or Caligula j or such a wretch as Henry VIII. of England, or Charles IX. of France, or Juhus II. or Alexander IV. would not be tolerated in Protestant Christendom for an hour ? The rea- son is, men read and understand the Bible. Moral and religious knowledge is everywhere circulated, and men can no more submit to chains in a Chris- tian land, than they can be suffocated, while they live and breathe a vital atmosphere. Considering the age of the world in which the Jewish code was established, and how little the doctrine of personal rights was understood in the CIVIL LIBERTY.- 107 world generally, is it not somewhat remarkable that the laws of Moses were so decidedly the friend of civil liberty ? I have taken some pains to examine some of the most instructive writers, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the heau- ideal of a free government were not realized in the Hebrew State. And I confess I have been not a httle delighted and surprised. I know not where to look for any single work which is so full of the great principles of political wisdom as the laws of Moses and the history of the Kings of Judah and Israel. There is not to my knowledge any where to be found such abundant and effective illustrations of these great principles, as are found in the laws and history of this people. Notwith- standing their recent servitude to a foreign and des- potic prince, and though just entering upon a tedious pilgrimage in the deserts of Arabia, they adopted a regular form of government. It was a govern- ment which lasted almost half a century before they came to their promised land ; and which, when they were ultimately settled in that land, remained for a series of years undisturbed, and enabled them to maintain their independence throughout all the varieties of their national history. And yet, with the exception of the writ of habeas corpus^ a privilege not required under their government, be- cause it did not allow of imprisonment, I do not know that there is a single feature of a free State, but is here distinctly developed. They were a 108 CIVIL LIBERTY. people remarkably well acquainted with their rights and form of government. One reason, no doubt, why God left them wandering forty years in the desert of Arabia, was that the various parts of their political machinery might be arranged and adjusted, and well understood among them- selves, before they took possession of the promised land. And it was thus arranged and understood, and proved itself not less adapted to their pros- perity, than their adversity j to their final settle- ment in Palestine, than their pilgrimage in the wilderness. Though rich in resources, and power- ful in arms, they were free. Though holding, as they did in the time of David and Solomon, the balance of power between the two great monarch- ies of Egypt and Assyria, and giving law to all the petty kingdoms between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean, they remained a free people. They were free in choosing their own form of go- vernment 5 free in the enaction of their laws; free in that "the laws governed, and not men." The superior excellence of the Mosaic institu- tions, when compared with the institutions of the most celebrated pagan nations, is strikingly dis- played in their attachment to the cause of free- dom. They were founded on a sound knowledge of human nature, and such as the art and science of government rest upon every where. There was every security for the preservation of social order which could be imparted on the one hand CIVIL LIBERTY. 109 by a veneration for power, and on the other by a high sense of personal independence and indivi- dual rights. The form of government established by Moses was republican y though, with salutary restric- tions, the people were at liberty to change it when they desired. It consisted of twelve great tribes 5 each under its own leader constituting a little commonwealth, while all were united in one great repubhc. They were a nation of confederated states, bound together for the purposes of defence and conquest. Their government was more nearly assimilated to that of the Cantons of Switzerland, and the Confederated States of our own Union, than any other government. It bore some resem- blance to that of the ancient Gauls, or Celtse 5 and still more to that of the ancient Britons, except that the Gauls and Britons had no federative bond. During the commonwealth, they chose and accepted God as their King, and he chose and declared them his peculiar people. When their form of government was changed, it was at their own request and solicitation. From a re- public, it became an elective, hmited monarchy ; under which their kings, whether appointed by God, or hereditary, did not enter upon the func- tions of their office until they were accepted and crowned by the people, and by a sworn capitula- tion were restricted in their prerogative. Their laws, though originating for the most part with God, were approved by themselves. The nation, 10 110 CIVIL LIBERTY. in other words, adopted their own laws. Nor is there an instance on record, to the best of my knowledge, in which their laws were not proposed to the representatives of the people, and received their unanimous consent. On the one hand, there were some strong democratic tendencies in their government, and in the other some strong tendencies to despotism ; but both under so many checks and balances, that never was nation better acquainted with their public interests, and rarely have the rights and duties of rulers and subjects been more definitely prescribed, or life, liberty and property more secure. The liberties of a people depend much on the proper distribution of landed property. The He- brew government was founded on an equal agra- rian law. Unlike the agrarian law of Lycurgus, which debased the Spartans to a state of semi-bar- barism, and ultimately committed the culture of their lands to their slaves j and equally unlike the feudal system of the middle ages, which has given shape and colouring to all the political and civil institutions of modern Europe ; it made provision for the support of 600,000 yeomanry, with from six to twenty-five acres of land each, which they held independant of all temporal superiors, and which they might not alienate, but on the condi- tion of their reverting to the families which origi- nally possessed them, every fiftieth year.* Such * Graves' Lectures on the Pentateuch. CIVIL LIBERTY. Ill were the immunities of the mass of the Hebrew population , not of its lords, nor its vassals, but its medium population. There were the poor beneath them, and men of superior rank and property above them, — the princes of their tribes and the heads of their thousands. But there was no de- graded peasantry and no hereditary noblesse. And notwithstanding all that has been said of the pre-eminence of one poor, dependant tribe — a tribe that were disqualified from becoming the proprie- tors of a single foot of landed property — never was there less of a proud aristocracy in any form to trample on the rights of the poor, or, until a late period of their kingdom, of a merciless oppres- sion of the lower orders of the people. No nobler people, no better organized community ever existed, than the ancient Hebrews. Inured to honourable industry — wealthy, but without ostentatious mag- nificence — ready at a moments call to resist every attack upon their country^s freedom — with an honest pride exulting in their revered ancestry — they may well be regarded, during the more auspi- cious periods of their history, as the noblest speci- men of a free and independant nation. The proud descendant of Abraham was not always what he is now. "Many- that are first shall be last, and many that are last shall be first." We may con- ceive of the sadness and despondency with which some lineal son of the ancient family of God, seated by the rivers of some modern Babylon, would ex- claim, " how shall I sing the Lord's song in a strange 112 CIVIL LIBERTY. land !" And we may easily conceive of the high enthusiasm that would enkindle in his bosom as he turns his thoughts in prospect toward the hills of his own loved Palestine, and anticipates the time when his people shall be no longer a hissing and a by-word among the nations. How would his eye kindle, as by the light of prophecy he beholds the lion of the tribe of Judah displace the crescent that even now waves over the ruined Temple, and the mosque of Omar fall before the man who in the visions of God had a " line of flax and a mea- suring reed in his hand," to rebuild the walls that are once more to contain the emblems of the divine presence and glory ! How would his heart beat with hope as such visions passed before him, and taking his harp from the willows, with what emotions would he again sing, " The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation j he is my God, and I will prepare him an habita- tion ; my fathers God, and I will exalt him." "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." The love of liberty thus expressed in the Old Testament is still more clearly indicated by the Christian dispensation. One of the most unfounded objections to Christianity that ever originated with designing, or was believed by foolish men, is that it is adapted to subject the many to the few. So far from this, it is the only religion which honestly and effectually c6nsults the interests of men for time, as well as eternity. It is the only instrument by which the poor can CIVIL LIBERTY. 113 defend their rights and resist the encroachments of the proud and oppressive. The whole spirit and genius of Christianity are everywhere friendly to freedom. It teaches us that men of every tribe, language, clime, and colour are the creatures of God. It announces that the great Creator " hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth." It pronounces the inci- dental, and circumstantial, and temporary distinc- tions between men, as of minor consequence, and of no account whatever, when compared with the great points of similitude which result from their common origin, their common depravity, their common suffering, common dependance, and com- mon responsibilities. It is remarked of the divine Founder of the Christian faith, that the " common people heard him gladly." He was himself one of the common people. He was raised from an obscure family in Israel, and was from the humbler walks of life. All his sympathies were with the common people. He knew the heart of the suffering and oppressed, and was touched with the feeling of their infirmi- ties. Of the same character were his Apostles, and the principal teachers of his religion. And of the same character do we find all their doctrines and precepts. " To the poor the gospel is preach- ed. In Christ Jesus, there is neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free." "The cultivated heathen," says Tholuck, "were offended at Christianity precisely for this reason, 10* 114 CIVIL LIBERTY. that the higher classes could no longer have pre- cedence of the common people."* We have very justly regarded the Kingdom of Spain, as furnish- ing no very enviable exhibition of civil liberty. But notwithstanding all the corruptions of Christi- anity in that Papal Kingdom, evidence is not wanting, that it exerted some influence at least in restraining arbritrary power. In the last hours of the distinguished Queen Isabella, a recent and ac- comphshed historian of our own country informs us, that " she expressed her doubts as to the legali- ty of the revenue of the alcavalas^ constituting the principal income of the crown. She directed a commission to ascertain whether it were originally intended to be perpetual, and if this were done with the free consent of the people : enjoining her heirs in that event, to collect the tax so that it should press least heavily on her subjects. Should it be found otherwise, however, she directs that the legislature be summoned to devise measures for supplying the wants of the crown — measures depending for their validity on the good pleasure of the subjects of the realm.'^^^ Never, with the Bible in our hands, can we deny rights to another, which under the same cir- cumstances we would claim for ourselves. " Chris- tianity," says Montesquieu, " is a stranger to despotic * Biblical Repository. Vol. II. j" Prescot's Hist, of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. CIVIL LIBERTY. 115 power." "The religion," says De Tocqueville, " which declares that all are equal in the sight of God, will not refuse to acknowledge that all citi- zens are equal in the eye of the law." Elsewhere, this elegant and instructive writer remarks, " Re- ligion is the companion of liberty in all its battles and all its conflicts 5 the cradle of its infancy and the divine source of its claims." Nor is it any un- usual thing for the friends of liberty in France to speak in terms of enthusiastic commendation of the republicanism of the Scriptures. Even the Abbe de la Mennais, whom a late writer distin- guishes as one of the most powerful minds in Europe, little as he regards Christianity as a reve- lation from God, familarly speaks of its Author as the Great Republican of his age. Our distin- guished countryman, the late Dewitt Clinton, in a highly polished address before the New York Al- pha of the Phi Beta Kappa, writes the following thoughts which are so truly worthy of his charac- ter as a statesman, and his creed as a believer in divine revelation. " Christianity is in its essence, its doctrines, and its forms, republican. It teaches our descent from a common pair ; it inculcates the natural equality of mankind 5 and it points to our origin and our end, to our nativity and our graves, and to our immortal destinies, as illustra- tions of this impressive truth." And what is more to our purpose, considering the prepossessions which the writer has so often avowed against the rehgion of the New Testament, the author of 116 CIVIL LIBERTY. Travels^ in England^ France^ Spain and the Barhary States, pays the following unreluctant homage to the beneficial influence which Christi- anity exerts upon civil liberty. After landing in France from the last named country, he remarks, " I could breathe freely, speak freely, I no longer viewed my fellow men with distrust, and I thanked God that I was in a Christian land."* And what is the language of facts ? Whence, with the exception of slavery in the United States, an evil brought into the country originally under the authority of the British government, and con- tinued in defiance of all the remonstrances of our ancestors, whence is that equality of condition which is so indicative of liberty, so much more complete in Christian countries, than in any other part of the world ? Who but a Christian poet has ever sung, " 'Tis Liberty alone that gives the flower Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume ; And we are weeds without it ?" Every where the men whose minds have been im- bued with the light and spirit of the Holy Scrip- tures, have been the devoted friends of civil liberty. Such were the Lollards in England, the adherents of Luther in Germany, and of John Knox in Scotland. Such was Holland, when her * Travels in England, France, Spain and the Barbary States, by Mordecai M. Noah. CIVIL LIBERTY. 117 sturdy republican virtues, the learning and piety of her clergy, and the excellence of her moral and literary institutions spread her fame throughout the earth. Such was Switzerland, not only during those periods when she was most free, but those in which she struggled, however unsuccessfully, for her freedom. Such were the protestant non- conformists from the days of the Reformation to the death of Queen Elizabeth. Such were the Presbyterians in the days of the first Charles. Such were others, who, though in some respects misguided men, laid their hands upon the Bible, and boldly proclaimed, that " resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." Such were those noble men, the Huguenots of New York and New Jer- sey, as well as others of their suffering companions, who fled from France, and sealed their testimony with their blood, on the fatal revocation of the edict of Nantz. Such also were the Puritans of New England, who through the favour of Divine Providence, opposed, though not a bolder, a more successful resistance to despotic power. With the courage of heroes and the zeal of martyrs, they struggled for, and obtained the charter of liberty now enjoyed by the British nation. Even the his- torian, Hume, whose prepossessions all lay on the side of absolute monarchy, and who was sufficient- ly prejudiced against the Bible, was constrained to the confession, " that the precious spark of li- berty had been kindled and was preserved by the Puritans alone^ and that it was to this sect the 118 CIVIL LIBERTY. English owe the whole freedom of their constitu- tion." It has been common with a certain class of writers to speak evil of these excellent men. Those who would not do this ignorantly, should acquaint themselves with their character as it is exhibited in Brodies' British Empire, from the accession of Charles I. to the Restoration 5 in Vaughn's Stuart Dynasty ; in Godwin's History of the Commonwealth, and in Bishop Burnet's His- tory of his own times. The general character of the dissenters of the independent denominations in England also verifies the scope and spirit of these remarks. On the celebrated motion in the House of Lords, for inquiry iiito the cause of the death of the devoted missionary, Smith, in one of the West India Islands, Lord Brougham spoke of the Independents as a " body of men to be held in lasting veneration for the unshaken fortitude with which, in all times, they have maintained their at- tachment to civil liberty : men, to whose ancestors England will ever acknowledge a boundless debt of gratitude, as long as freedom is prized among us. For they, I fearlessly confess it, they, with whatever ridicule some may visit their excesses, or with whatever blame others, they, with the zeal of martyrs, the purity of early Christians, the skill and courage of the most renowned warriors, ob- tained for England the free constitution she now enjoys. It is worthy of remark, that the Bible recog- nizes and maintains the only principle on which it CIVIL LIBERTY. 119 is possible for a nation ever to enjoy the blessings of civil liberty. That principle is, that all that is valuable in the institutions of civil liberty rests on the character which the people sustain as citizens. The fear of God is the foundation of political free- dom. " He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, And all are slaves beside." Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impos- sible that a nation of infidels or idolaters should be a nation of freemen. It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains. The princi- ples of liberty and the principles of the Bible are most exactly coincident. A vitiated state of mo- rals, a corrupted public conscience is incompatible with freedom. Nothing short of the strong influ- ence of that system of truth which God has re- vealed from heaven is competent so to guide, mode- rate, and preserve the balance between the con- flicting interests and passions of men, as to prepare them for the blessings of free government. Hol- land was free, so long as she was virtuous. She was a flourishing republic, she produced great and enlightened statesmen, until she became corrupt, and infidelity spoiled her of her glory. France would have become free on the accession of her present citizen king, but for the radical deficiency in her moral virtue. When the distinguished Per- rier, who succeeded La Fayette in the office of prime minister to Louis Philippe, was on his bed 120 CIVIL LIBERTY. of death, he exclaimed with great emphasis and fervour, La France doit avoir une religion I " France must have reUgion." Liberty cannot exist without morahty, nor morahty without the rehgion of the Bible. It is a nation's love of law, its love of wise and benevolent institutions, its attachment to the public weal, its peaceful and benevolent spi- rit, its love of virtue, and these alone that can make it free. Take these away and there must be tyrants in their place. I hold no axiom more true or more important than this, that man must be governed by moral truth, or despotic power. As soon as a nation becomes corrupt, her liberties degenerate into faction 5 and then nothing short of the strong arm of despotism will restrain the passions of men, and controul their pride, their selfishness, their love of gold, their thirst for domination, and their brutal licentiousness. The Bible alone is the source of that high-toned moral principle which is necessary to all classes, in all their intercourse, for the exer- cise of all their rights, and the enjoyment of all their privileges. Without it, rulers become tyrants, and the people are fitted only for servitude, or anarchy. Without it, there is no such thing as an intelligent, lofty, ardent, honourable and disinterested charac- ter. Nothing else is capable of combining a nation into one great brotherhood — annihilating its divi- sions — quenching its hate — destroying its spirit of party — bringing all parts with all their jarring inter- ests into one great whole, and inscribing on the banner, forever sacred to freedom and virtue, E CIVIL LIBERRY. 121 plurihus unum. Nothing else will rightly controul its suffrages 5 send up a salutary influence into its senate chamber 5 diffuse its power through all ranks of office 5 direct learning and laws 5 act on com- merce and the arts, and spread that hallowed influ- ence through every department of society that shall render its liberties perpetual. Statesmen may be slow to learn from the Bible 5 but they will find no surer guide to political skiU and foresight. The common people may be slow to learn from the Bible ; but they will no where find their interests so watchfully protected, and their liberties defended with such ability and so many counsels of wisdom. The designs of ambitious and intriguing men, the artifices of demagogues, the usurpations of power, the corrupting influence of high places, and the punishment of political delusion, all find their pro- totype and antidote in the principles, prophecies, biography, and history of the Bible. Where may a people learn a more aflfecting lesson, than in the succession of weak and wicked princes, from the death of Josiah to the destruction of the city and temple, and the capture of Zedekiah, by Nebu- chadnezzar ? Read the history of the subtle and traitorous Absalom. Bold, valiant, and revenge- ful 5 haughty, eloquent and popular, he " stole the hearts of the people ;" expelled his venerable fa- ther from Jerusalem \ and having conciliated the affections of a misguided and deceived populace, became after a short period as much the object of their contempt, as he was before the object 11 122 CIVIL LIBERTY. of their veneration. Were such a monument as Absolam's pillar of stones erected over the body of every demagogue at the present day, it might be a wholesome comment upon the influence the Bible exerts upon the principles of civil liberty. Read too the history of Jeroboam the son of Nebat ; a base idolater, the descendant of a slave, a turbulent, ambitious prince, a fugitive from pub- lic justice, corrupt and intriguing, raised to su- preme power by an unprincipled majority, cor- rupting and destroying the people, drying up the sources of national wealth, entailing poverty and abjectness upon the ten tribes to the latest generation, and drawing down upon them the wrath of heaven for twenty successive reigns, and more than two centuries after his death! Contrast also the reign of Solomon with the reign of Jeroboam ; the reign of Asa with the reign of Ahab j the reign of Jehoash with the reign of Je- hoahaz 5 and you will form a just estimate of good rulers, and see what a fearful scourge wicked ru- lers are to their subjects. The God of the Bible is the king of nations. The Lord is with them while they are with him. Creation and provi- dence are under his controul. With all their in- fluences, all their power, all their glory, they are under him as the Prince of its princes, the Lord of its lords, and all subservient to his designs. A heathen prince was once constrained to say, that " his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation." His CIVIL LIBERTY. 123 service is freedom 5 alienation from his empire is the veriest bondage. The land we live in is a Christian land. The Bible is here recognized as true ; and in our own State, has been solemnly decided as constituting a part of the common law. We shall be a free people, only as we remain a Christian people. If a low and degraded infidelity should ever succeed in its already begun enterprise of sending up from the whole face of this land her poisonous exhala- tions, and the youth of our country become re- gardless of the God of their fathers j men in other lands who have been watching for our downfall, will in a few short years enrole us on the catalogue of enslaved nations. You will have a part to act on this great theatre, my young friends, when older heads shall sleep beneath the clods of the valley. Act it like Christian men. Love your country, and for your country's sake. Hold those in detestation who disturb her peace, and tamper with the minds of the young for the purposes of office and gain. It will be in vain that infidel poli- ticians plot the ruin of this fair land, if her young men remain firm to the interests of moral virtue and the Bible. Would that my voice could reach the ear of every young man in the land, and an- nounce to him, how much his country expects from every intelligent friend of the Bible. There is no want of effort to corrupt and demoralize the young men of this nation 5 and when once this is done, they in their turn will become the corrupters 124 CIVIL LIBERTY. and demoralizers of others, until the nation be- comes ripened for ruin. The Bible is your pro- tection. There is a natural propensity in the human mind to lawless indulgence, and to hostility to all those systems of human government that are based on the word of God. Beware of being car- ried down this fatal current. There is nothing that may be so safely trusted in the formation of your political sentiments and influence, as the Bible. I have never known a great political strug- gle in a Christian land which was not a great moral struggle, and would not have been decided in an hour by the appropriate influence of the Bible. Here is the danger of this Republic. So long as the Bible remains our glory and happi- ness, our liberties will remain ; but beyond this, there is nothing to forbid the fear, that we shall gradually become an enslaved nation. But I must close, with a single thought more. " If the Son make you free, ye shall be free in- deed." Seriously considered, other liberty is an imaginary theory — an illusion — a name — a sound. You may chant its praises and celebrate its con- quests, and yet be slaves. You may deify it, and erect to it monuments, and build its altars, and pour upon them costly libations, and yet be the slaves of sin. But there is a liberty that is worth the name. It is that intellectual and moral condi- tion of the soul which constitutes her highest ex- cellence and glory. It is that spiritual liberty — that Christian freedom — that liberty of mind, and CIVIL LIBERTY. 125 conscience, and heart, which through divine grace the soul enjoys, when she breaks the bonds of her iniquity and possesses the hberty of the children of God. It is to be no longer the servant of sin; no longer the slave of passion *, no longer in bondage to vanity, pride, self and the world ; but to be the loyal and happy subject of the divine government, the renovated citizen of the common- wealth of Israel, and the servant of that Divine Master, whose every requisition is a benefit, whose every command is a promise, and to whose service every sacrifice becomes a favour, every act of self-denial a blessing. Such a man is free — free every where j free in solitude — free in the midst of the world — free in his abundance — free in his poverty — free in life — free in death — always free — " free forever, because he is forever with God." 11* LECTURE V. THE SCRIPTURES THE FOUNDATION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. Having at our last opportunity expressed a few thoughts in relation to the influence of the Bible upon civil liberty and human governments, I pro- pose to devote the present lecture to a considera- tion of the influence it exerts upon religious liberty and the rights of conscience. The subject is one of no common magnitude. Who, had he no other alternative, would not cheerfully consent to be- come the vassal of the most despotic government on the earth, where the rights of conscience were respected, than the citizen of the freest republic, where these rights are denied ? Of all human rights, the rights of conscience are the most sacred and inviolate. Civil liberty relates to things seen and temporal, religious hberty to things unseen and eternal 5 civil hberty relates to the body, reli- gious liberty to the soul; and which may be the RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, ETC. 127 more readily dispensed with, no honest and virtu- ous mind can be long in deciding. By religious liberty, I mean the right of every man to adopt and enjoy whatever opinions he chooses on religious subjects, and to worship the Supreme Being according to the dictates of his own conscience, without any obstruction from the law of the land. Religious toleration is the allowance of religious opinions and modes of worship, when different from those established by law. Religious liberty disclaims all right of law to control men in their opinions and worship. Re- ligious toleration implies the existence and the modified exercise of power in such control 5 reli- gious liberty implies that no such power exists, and none such is assumed. The most perfect re- hgious liberty exists in that community, where there is no such thing as toleration, because there is no need of it. None desires, or can conceive of a greater degree of religious liberty than that which exists under a government, where one man, and one religious denomination, has as good a right as another, to the free and unobstructed enjoyment of its creed and worship. If we mistake not, this greatest and most in- alienable of all human rights is one of the last that has been respected by civil governments, and has found a refuge only in the well-defined principles and mild auspices of the Christian dispensation. On how many a page of pagan history, do you find the melancholy fact recorded of men who 128 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND were condemned to the hemlock and the flames, because they would not worship at the shrine of idol gods ? The decree of the proud Nebuchad- nezzar, that " whosoever falleth not down and worshippeth the golden image that he had set up, should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace," was an ancient and very common mode of punishment among the oriental nations, inflict- ed on those who would not worship their idols. Mountains of flame have ascended to heaven, and rivers of blood have been poured upon the earth, as offerings on the altar of a malignant, or mis- guided intolerance. From the time that Antio- chus laid waste the Holy Land, and depopulated the city of Jerusalem, to the destruction of the infants of Bethlehem by Herod 5 from the resur- rection of the Saviour, to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus ; from the destruction of Jeru- salem, to the accession of Contantine to the throne of the Roman empire 5 the prediction has been most fearfully fulfilled, "There was war in hea- ven : Michael and his angels fought, and the dragon fought, and his angels." The limits of a single lecture do not allow me to speak at length of the spirit of intolerance, which has in various ages of the world been the fruitful source of so much misery and crime. Not volumes merely, but Hbraries have been written without exhausting the mournful theme. Jews, Ma- hometans, Christians and pagans have all, though not always with the same ardour and phrensy, THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 129 been to a greater or less degree, involved in this miserable warfare. Intolerance toward the Christian faith was early expressed by the Jews, at the very birth of Chris- tianity. As a nation, they were distinguished for their spiritual pride and bigotry, and regarded other nations with a haughty superciliousness, which easily matured to malignity and persecu- tion. Though at the time when our blessed Lord appeared in the flesh, Judaism was in the last stages of decay 5 though it had the form of godli- ness, and was destitute of its power, and had in- deed become a sort of practical infidelity j it sum- moned and collected all its remaining vigour to oppose the gospel of the Son of God. Though it was split up into a great variety of sects and par- ties; yet fearful of the influence of Christianity, jealous of its power, trembling for their own pre- rogative, the Jewish priests and rulers lost no op- portunity of indulging themselves, not only in the extremes of contumely and abuse against the Christians, but did not hesitate to persecute them to the death. The Pharisees were formalists ; the Saducees were infidels 5 the Essenes were enthu- siasts and mystics — deeply imbued with the Phi- losophy of the Platonic School, and regarding even their own law as a mere allegorical system of mys- terious truths. But like Herod and Pontius Pilate, afl these jarring sects forgot their mutual and minor alienations in their absorbing enmity to the gospel of Christ. Many of them indeed, like the 130 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND early disciples, and Saul of Tarsus, and others on the day of Pentecost, saw the insufficiency of their own religion, felt the need of a surer guide, and became the followers of Christ 5 but the mass of the nation were violent and uncompromising in their hostility to the Christian faith. They pursu- ed the infant Saviour from his cradle to Egypt, from Egypt to Nazareth, and from Nazareth to the cross. After having satiated their malignity upon him, they directed it in all its infuriate mad- ness against his disciples. Stephen, James the son of Zebedee, and James the just, who presided over the Church at Jerusalem, were among the early victims of their rage. Sometimes their vio- lence was expressed in threatening ; sometimes in rash and headlong counsels 5 sometimes in the im- prisonment of the Christians 5 and sometimes in stripes and death. Nor were their persecutions limited to Palestine. Wherever they were scat- tered throughout the Roman provinces, they be- came the instigators of those feuds among the populace, and that violence of the magistracy which destroyed so many of the harmless followers of Christ.* The early Christians had no more bitter enemies than the Jews. From the highest seat of power in Jerusalem, down to the lowest publican who sat at the receipt of custom, the embodied efforts of the nation, both in the Holy * Vide. Mosheim's Institutes of Ecclesiastical History. THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 131 land and out of it, were enlisted against Christi- anity. There was this semblance of apology for the Jews. The God of Abraham had called them out from among the nations with the view of dis- sociating them from all the varieties and forms of pagan idolatry, and until the coming of the Mes- siah, of preserving among them the only remnant of the true religion on the earth. They were early taught by God himself to regard all other nations with suspicion 5 to have no intercourse with them 5 and to prohibit their residence among them until they had first renounced their paganism, and be- come proselytes to the faith and worship of the true God. It is a lame apology ; but like one of their own misguided countrymen, they often " did it ignorantly and in unbelief." They were strongly attached to their own national, religious peculiari- ties 5 and yet nothing could be more contrary to the genius of their own religion, than the pride, envy and malignity, with which they arrayed those peculiarities against Christianity. Nothing could be more contrary to the light of their own symbols, prophecies, and law. Nothing could be more contrary to the overwhelming testimony that Jesus was the Son of God. And yet they have ever been an intolerant' people, and have extended their intolerance not less to their own countrymen, who renounced the Jewish religion, than to strangers. Wherever they have been in power, they have always been an intolerant people. When Morde- cai was prime minister at the Persian Court under 132 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND the reign of Artaxerxes Longimaims, " many of the people of the land became Jews, because the fear of the Jews came upon them." The Jews had authority and they exercised it so effectually, that the Persians professed Judaism through fear. We know too what an iron sceptre their rulers swayed, and under what a reign of terror the na- tion groaned in subsequent ages. There was no such thing as religious liberty. If any man con- fessed Christ, he " was put out of the synagogue j" he was pronounced an outlaw 5 his property was confiscated 5 he was denied all the charities of life 5 his person was put beyond the protection of the government 5 and the man that killed him was thought to have done God service. If from the Jews, we turn to the Mahomedans, we have the same melancholy picture. Like a furious torrent, the religion of the false prophet laid waste Asia, Africa, and a great part of Europe. It was introduced at a period of the world, when the corruptions of Christianity and the divisions throughout Christendom invited the enterprise of some bold, and ardent mind, and when the cus- toms and passions of men, and the circumstances of the times were easily made subservient to such a design. The spirit of intolerance also which existed among the Christians proved a favourable event for the advancement of Mahometanism. Justinian had previously commenced his persecu- tions ; he had destroyed the Samaritans in Pales- tine j and their posterity probably embraced the THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 133 new religion out of hatred to the Christians, and in consequence of the severe edicts pubhshed against them by the Roman Emperors. Tlie Ro- man and Persian monarchies were also on the de- cline 5 and Mahomet had discernment enough to turn all these favourable opportunities to his own advantage. It is scarcely necessary to say, that Mahomet boldly professed to convert the nations by the sword. It was one of the main pillars of his system, that paradise was the reward of extir- pating those who would not become his followers. It was his maxim, that " the sword is the key of heaven and of hell." The Jews were more the objects of his hatred than any other sect. He utterly destroyed them in Arabia, confiscated their property, and subjected them to tortures. He would not condescend to allow them to become his followers, and gave testimony of the hatred he bore them in his last hours. " May God curse the Jews," said he, " for they have made Temples of the sepulchres of their prophets !" With this ex- ception, the alternative he offered to his enemies was, to acknowledge the true God and his prophet, tribute, or death. And with this alternative, he subdued a great part of the world. His first con- quests were in Arabia, Persia and Syria. Subse- quently his successors subdued Egypt and Africa, from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean. After the Saracens became Mahometans, they overran and desolated the Roman empire, and made the most fearful devastation of the Oriental Churches. Not 12 134 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND satisfied with these conquests, they penetrated into Spain and France 5 subsequently attached the Turks to their standard, became masters of the fairest portions of Europe, and planted the crescent on the walls of Constantinople. The mildest fea- ture in the religion of Mahomet was, that he did not deny that the followers of any religion might be saved, if their actions were virtuous. And yet strange to say, wherever he came in contact with )/ men, he recognized no rights of conscience, no degree of religious liberty. Wherever his followers went, it was Ismalism, tribute, or death.* The pagan world too has fiercely set itself against the Lord and against his anointed. With few exceptions, the pagan nations cannot be said to have expressed any great degree of intolerance toward one another. They have been bitter persecutors of the religion of the Old and New Testaments, but not often per- ecutors of paganism itself. Though plunged in the grossest superstition, and though almost every nation had its own peculiar deities j this variety of gods and religions was rarely the source even of division or animosity. Dr. Mosheim ob- serves, that the Egyptians are an exception to this remark 5 while at the same time he confesses, that " the Egyptian wars, waged to avenge their gods, cannot properly be called religious wars, not being * Vide. Sale's Koran — Picart's Ceremonies, and Herbelot's Biblioth. Orient. THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 135 undertaken either to propagate, or to suppress any one form of religion." The Roman empire, in the days of her pagan princes, became drunk with the blood of Christendom. Before the close of the first century, the power of the gospel was felt throughout that vast empire. But its suc- cesses only roused the dormant hostility of its foes. After the demolition of the Jewish State by Vespasian, a series of persecutions against Chris- tianity was commenced, beginning under Nero, in the thirty-first year of the Christian era, and ex- tending to the reign of Dioclesian, including about three centuries of as bitter suffering and cruelty as men were ever called to endure. The Christian religion was deemed a "detestable superstition," and the Christian name contemptible to a proverb. Under the reign of Nero, no class of men were considered more the enemies of mankind than the Christians 5 and notwithstanding the purity and benevolence of their character, they incurred the hatred of the pagan world, were obnoxious to its fury, torn by wild beasts, consumed by fire, and in such multitudes that the streets of Rome, night after night, were illuminated by the fearful confla- grations. In the latter part of the reign of Domi- tian, who succeeded to the empire in the year eighty-one, all the horrors of Nero's persecution were renewed. Under Trajan, the persevering profession of Christianity was by law a capital offence. It was by his order, that Ignatius the bishop of Antioch was carried a prisoner from that 136 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND city to Rome, and thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre. After Trajan, Marcus Antoninus, though a prince so universally popular that the gratitude of Rome at his death enrolled him among the gods, became the implacable enemy of Chris- tianity, subjected its disciples to torture, and put to death whole churches. It was under his reign that Justin Martyr, Polycarp, the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne, became victims of the ghastly tortures and bloody animosity of the pagans. After him, tor- rents of blood were shed by Severus, in Africa and Egypt 5 and many a Christian female, like those noble women Felicitas and Perpetua, was stripped, scourged and thrown to the wild beasts, exclaim- ing, as the latter did to her weeping friends, " Con- tinue firm in the faith, love one another, and be not offended at our sufferings !" After him, the spirit of persecution broke out in all its horrors under Decius, whose cruel and terrible edicts were exe- cuted with a variety and intenseness of newly in- vented suffering. The successor of Decius was Gallus, whose short reign was distinguished by such severity of persecutions and such a collection of human miseries, that Cyprian, the bishop of Car- thage, himself a martyr to the Christian faith, thought that the reign of Antichrist was come, and the final judgment near at hand. During the early part of the reign of Valerian, the church found in him a friend and protector 5 but after a short truce of three years, as one of the most memorable in- stances of the instability of the human character, THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 137 he commenced a deadly persecution. After Vale- rian, a general persecution, instigated by the pagan priests, broke out under the reign of Dioclesian, who demohshed the temples of the Christians, burned their sacred books, deprived them of all civil rights and honours, and consigned them to torture and flames. This persecution raged against all sorts of men who bore the Christian name 5 and with the exception of France, pervaded the whole Roman world. As evidence of the severity of this persecution, a coin was struck under the reign of this detestable persecutor, with this inscription, "Nomine Christianorum deleto" — The Christian name extinguished.* Thus was this vast pagan empire, this colossal power, extending itself from the straits of Gibraltar to the Caspian sea, cover- ing all Europe, and having its territories even in Africa and the south of Britain, combined almost as with the counsels and heart of one man, against ^he gospel of Christ. All ranks and conditions of men seemed bent on its destruction — -emperors trembling for their crowns, priests for their gold, philosophers for their systems, and the common people, the more terrible for their ignorance and superstitions. It was indeed a dark day to the church. One universal, cry of persecution and death might have been heard from Jerusalem to Ephesus, from Ephesus to Rome, from Rome to the provinces of Gaul. * Vide Mosheim, Milnor and Lardner, • • ' 12* 138 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND It were devoutly to be wished that we could say with truth, that the Christian Church were herself pure from the spirit of intolerance, and the blood of persecution. It is a most melancholy retrospect to look back upon the slow progress of religious liberty, even in the visible Church of God. The world has no where seen greater evidences of the imperfection of men, of the bhndness of the hu- man heart, of the dangers of an excited state of mind in religious controversies, and of the influ- ence of the spirit of the age and times in which men live, than in the tardy growth of reHgious liberty even under the light of Christian truth. It is indeed a melancholy retrospect to look back upon the very slow progress of religious toleration in our world. The principles of religious liberty seem to have been understood by few of any reli- gious denomination, until a very late period. The human mind seems to have been enveloped in an unaccountable hallucination on this plain subject ; and ages and men, otherwise distinguished for discretion, for piety, and even for moral gran- deur, have been scarcely less distinguished for an intolerance and bigotry utterly at war with the spirit of Christianity, and a lasting reproach to the Christian name. Not a little watchfulness is ne- cessary, even on the part of the best of men, be- fore they will cultivate a kind spirit toward those who dissent from them on subjects so important as the various topics of their religious faith. No man, and no set of men, know what they will do, THE RIGHTT OF CONSCIENCE. 139 till they have power. The pride of power, and power too over the conscience — a pride which, while it seems to be associated with the love of the truth, is at heart associated with that subtle self-complacency which says, " Stand by thyself for I am holier than thou 5" a pride which, while it conceals its true motives under the pretence of contending earnestly for the faith^ cannot sup- press the ostentatious claim of Jehu, " Come see my zeal for the Lord," — this is the height, the gid- dy height from which intolerance and persecution have in every age pronounced the doom of the humble followers of the crucified Saviour. Differ- ent departments of the visible Church have differed widely in their views and conduct in relation to this subject. The Romish Church ever has been the great enemy of religious liberty. Witness her assumption of the civil power, when princes bowed at her feet, and received their crowns at her hands; when nations trembled before her, and were anathematized at her pleasure. Witness her slaying of the witnesses for the truth throughout Germany, France and Britain. Witness her per- secutions in the valleys of Piedmont and the rocky Alps. Witness the decisions of her councils, the developement of her secret plots and conspiracies, her open invasions and blood. Witness the histo- ry of that dark and sanguinary tribunal, the In- quisition. Think of the blood which deluged Bo- hemia for thirty years. Think of the massacre in the reign of Charles IX. of France, when that 140 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND heartless prince boasted of having slaughtered three hundred thousand protestants. Advert too, to the intolerance of Louis XIV. and of Queen Mary of England, when the prediction was so memorably verified, that " It was given to the beast to make war with the saints and to overcome them." Nor has she reformed in principle from that hour to the present 5 but is still the same un- changing enemy to religious liberty, and the rights of conscience, as the actual influence of her doc- trines, her precepts, and her practices every where evinces. It was foretold that antichrist should "wear down the saints of the most High," and that the " scarlet-coloured beast should be drunk- en with the blood of the saints." And these pre- dictions have been mournfully fulfilled in the op- pression, cruelty and intolerance which have ever distinguished the Church of Rome. Intolerance is the natural and genuine effect of her whole sys- tem. " Toleration," says Bossuet, who was far from being a violent Romanist, " toleration is not a mark of the true Church."* Uniformly has the " Son of perdition" maintained the right to perse- cute even unto death, every deviation from his creed, and every secession from his family. By the solemn decisions of his councils, still unre- voked, heresy and schism are "mortal sins." But while we say that the Romish Church has * Bossuet's History of the Variations of Protestants. THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 141 been, and still is, the great enemy, with ingenuous shame must we confess that the Protestant Church has not always been the friend of religious free- dom. It was no doubt more the fault of the age, than of the man, that Calvin instigated the con- demnation of Servetus. But what a comment upon the spirit of the age ! The law which con- demned heretics to the flames, was retained by the Protestant Churches of England during one hun- dred and thirty years. And long after P^rotestant- ism was finally established at the revolution in Scotland, it framed the solemn League and Cove- nant for the extirpation of prelacy by the sword. There is no more humbling view than that which is presented by this single feature in the history of the Church. At one moment she is the persecuted of her pagan neighbours j at the next, the perse- cutor of some of her own family. Scarcely has she rest from her external foes, and the wounds are staunched that were opened by the sword of the unbeHeving, than she herself turns it against her own children ! And yet, the bitterness of this spirit has been allayed by the gospel. The vehe- mence of this fierce orthodoxy has been gradually subsiding, and its unfeeling, icy rigour melting away, in proportion as the Sun of Righteousness has been gaining a gradual ascendancy over the mind 5 and as the Church has become wiser and better, she has become the more consistent friend and advocate of rehgious liberty. The principles of religious liberty are clearly 142 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND revealed in the New Testament. And what are those principles ? They are in the first instance \fthat the Holy Scriptures are the onhj source of authority in matters of religion. It is not remote antiquity. It is the Bible. It is not tradition. It is the Bible. Tradition is an in- definite, intangible thing — found any where — found no where. It is not the decision of coun- cils, nor ecclesiastical statutes. It is the Bible. " The word is nigh thee, in thy heart, and in thy mouth." Another of these principles is, that the Bible secures to every man the undeniable and invio- lable right of private judgment in all matters of religious faith and duty. This was the doctrine of the Great Reformation ; this is the doctrine of the New Testament. That sacred Book, does not more clearly reveal the obligations to faith and obedience, than it asserts the right of individual thought and opinion founded on the principle of in- dividual, personal responsibility. This the Church of Rome denies, and the Scriptures affirm. On this point, they have been, and still are at issue. On this point also the Church of God has, from age to age, been at issue with civil governments, instigated as they have been by ecclesiastical establishments, to interpose the power of the secu- lar arm to secure uniformity in belief and modes of worship. But what is more evident from the New Testament, than that men are, in this respect, responsible not to any secular tribunal, but to God THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 143 alone ; that the Bible is the only infallible standard, and the Author of the Bible the only Judge ? The Scriptures commend those, who, with a noble in- dependance of thought and Berean character, brought even the instructions of inspired apostles to the unerring authority of God's holy word. They invite men to read and hear for themselves ; humbly and prayerfully to examine every religious subject, and employ all their powers in investigat- ing the truth j and when they have done so, solemnly, and in the fear of God, to form their own opinions. They require them to form, not a wrong judgment, but a right one, and make them responsible to the Searcher of hearts for the judg- ment they form. God gives them light, and bids them beware how they pervert, or abuse it, or call it darkness. Prejudice, and partiality, and hostility to the truth he allows no man to exercise. None may form his judgment without evidence, nor in opposition to evidence, but according to evidence 5 and if he fails to do this, he must answer it to his Maker. "To his own Master he standeth, or falleth." For this high prerogative God has formed him, and given him a supernatural revelation, and laid the solemn injunction upon his conscience, " prove all things j hold fast that which is good." The Bible gives no man, or set of men, dominion over human faith. The apostles themselves ex- pressly disclaimed this authority. The maxim of the prophets was, " to the law and the testimony." The direction of the Saviour stands out in living 144 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND characters before the world, " call no man master, for one is your master, even Christ." There is no thought enstamped more legibly on the pages of Holy Writ than the individual, personal responsi- bility of every subject of the divine government. " If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself 5 but if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it." " Every one of us shall give an account of himself unto God." " Every man shall be judged accord- ing to his works 5" works that are the sole exposi- tor of his character, because they are the result of affections that indicate him to be the enemy, or the friend of righteousness, as they have grown out of his views of divine truth. There would be some semblance of reason in submitting our religious opinions to the dictation of men, if they could assume our responsibility and stand in our place when we stand in the judgment; if they could suffer in our stead when we and our principles are condemned at the last day. I know men may greatly abuse the liberty of forming their own religious opinions. They have done so to their souls undoing. I know too that one of the great stratagems of the deceiver is this boasted liberty, and that many swerve from the faith through the fear of not thinking for themselves. But much as this artifice of the destroyer is to be detested, better had the right of private judgment be abused, than not enjoyed. There is no right, without its corresponding obligation. The man who abuses the right of private judgment has fear- THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 145 ful responsibilities. Let him see to them. It is at his peril, if " he receives not the love of the truth, that he may be saved." Another of the great principles of religious liberty as disclosed in the New Testament is, that reli- gion is a spiritual system^ and must he promoted hy a m,oral and spiritual influence, A man's opinions do not admit of coercion. You may coerce his professions, but not his judgment. You may compel him to acknow^ledge that he believes what he does not believe ; you may make him a hypocrite 5 but you cannot make him a Christian. You cannot reach his understanding by pains and penalties, nor by any means of this sort give vigour to his conscience, or affect his heart. You may awaken resistance 5 you may rouse enmity 5 you may give hardihood to his obduracy and make him patient in suffering 5 but you cannot change his views, nor impart holiness of heart, or life. These are produced by the blessing of God upon his own truth. Men have a part to act in securing this result, but it is of no coercive kind. They may reason, expostulate, persuade, but it belongs not to men to compel. The field of argument and im- partial investigation is the arena where the truth has ever won her most splendid victories. Christi- anity is no gainer, but has been uniformly the looser by calling in the aid of the secular arm. There never was a greater error than in supposing that the interests of truth and piety were thus advanced. We may be sincerely desirous to deliver men from 13 146 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND their intellectual and moral aberrations; we may oppose every system of delusion and wickedness, and endeavour to break the bondage of the prince of darkness ; but physical force is not the way to accomplish this benevolent end. If you would promote error, persecute it. If you would establish false religions on a more permanent basis than they have yet occupied 5 if you would enlist the sympa- thies of men in favour of a cause, which otherwise would have no sympathy ; persecute it — send its ad- vocates to the stake and gibbet — persecute it to the death. " Persecution is disgraceful to those who inflict, but honourable to those who suffer it. It throws around them the charm and glory of a rela- tionship to the apostles and prophets, and men of whom the world was not worthy." Error is not worthy of such an honour. I would not persecute error. I would not persecute at all ; but, if there must be persecution, let truth have the honour of being the victim. There is a God in heaven, and a conscience in the bosoms of men 5 and it were infinitely better for the cause of righteousness to suffer wrong, than to do wrong. "In meekness instructing those who oppose themselves, perad- venture God will give them repentance, to the acknowledgement of the truth," — this is the way the Scriptures recommend of opposing error, des- troying false religions, and turning the world to the service and worship of the true God. There is still another very obvious principle of religious liberty disclosed in the New Testament 5 THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 147 and that is, that Civil Government^ as such, has no other concern with religion than to respect the rights of conscience, and extend to men of all religious names and denominations its im- partial protection. This is all that the true reli- gion soHcits of the secular power. This is not religious toleration merely, but religious liberty. I am acquainted with no writer who has discussed this single point with so much ability, as the cele- brated John Locke. He contended with the monstrous error, to which we have already refer- red, and which was so rife during the reigns of the first and second Charles, and even through the intervening revolution in the days of Cromwell, that men ought to be coerced by pains and penal- ties inflicted by the civil power, to profess a de- finitely prescribed form of religious doctrines, and to conform themselves to one particular formulary of religious worship. His object was to draw the lines of demarcation between the Church and the State 5 to distinguish between the powers of civil government and the powers of religion 5 and to show that the one is exclusively concerned in pro- moting the spiritual and eternal interests of men, and that the other has the care of the Common- wealth. The province of the civil magistrate, is to secure to all the members of the body politic, the just enjoyment of life, liberty, reputation and pro- perty. This is the whole of its jurisdiction. The care of souls is not committed to the civil magis- trate j any more than to other men. The power 148 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND of the civil magistrate, consisting only in outward force, is of such a kind that it can never be applied for religious purposes, in any other way than by the impartial execution of equal laws for the pro- tection of religious liberty. The Church is a different society, formed for different objects, and acting within altogether a different jurisdiction. It is a spiritual community, and clothed with no temporal power. Its objects are the maintainance of the true religion and the true worship of God in the world. It has its principles and laws, and is bound by the authority of Jesus Christ as its only King and Head. The Church has no more power in the State, than the State has in the Church. They are perfectly distinct organiza- tions, are pursuing different objects, and exercise a different authority. The liberties of the State are nevier in greater jeopardy than when the Church is invested with civil power j while the liberties of religion and the Church are sure to be endangered by giving ecclesiastical power to the State. The Church never acts more out of cha- racter, or more unworthy of her high calling, than when she arrogates to herself the authority of civil government, and endeavours by fire, or sword, or civil disabilities of any kind to coerce men to re- ceive her doctrines and worship. "My kingdom," says the Saviour, " is not of this world 5 if my kingdom were of this world, then would my ser- vants fight." The Church has no secular organ- ization J no secular head ; no secular nature. She THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 149 may not oppose force to force, as the kingdoms of this world do; nor may she exercise the force which this world exercises even in the execution of her own laws. Such are some of the leading principles of reli- gious liberty as contained in the New Testament. The world is under lasting obligation for the illus- tration and defence of these principles to the inde- pendent churches in Great Britain. It was among them that the immortal Locke became so deeply imbued with that manly liberality of sentiment which distinguished him above the men of his age. Lord King, himself of the established church, in his life of this celebrated philosopher, has the lib- erality to say, " By the independent divines, who were his instructors, Locke was taught those principles of religious liberty which they were the first to disclose to the world. — As for toleration, or any true notion of rehgious liberty, or any general freedom of conscience, we owe them not in the least degree to what is called the church of Eng- land. On the contrary, we owe all these to the independents in the time of the commonwealth, and to Locke, their most illustrious and enlightened disciple." Nor let us withhold the honour that is due to the personal exertions of Cromwell him- self There never was a firmer friend to the rights of conscience than Ohver Cromwell. It was his interest in the cause of protestantism that induced him, on his assumption of the protectorate to choose an alliance with Louis XIV. rather than with Spain 13* 150 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND and Austria. He made his friendship valuable to France and Holland, that by their means he might exert the greater influence in behalf of religious liberty throughout Europe. Nor was his policy unavailing. He well nigh controlled the court of Versailles during the early part of the reign of Louis. It was the common remark in Paris, that Mazarin, the prime minister of Louis, " had less fear of the devil, than of Oliver Cromwell." The suffering protestants throughout Europe, and even from the confines of Hungary and Transylvania looked with hope toward the English common- wealth. The suffering Vaudois, under the duke of Savoy, long and gratefully remembered his merciful and princely interpositions in their behalf, amid the mouldering ruins of their depopulated villages. Besides appointing a fast, and a general collection throughout England for these confessors, he wrote to the duke of Savoy, to the king of France, to the kings of Sweden and Denmark, and to all the pro- testant princes in Europe with the view of arrest- ing these fearful persecutions. Nor " was any part of his negociation with foreign princes more ac- ceptable to his country than this."* * For a full account of this, see " The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, and the State of Europe, during the early part of the reign of Louis XIV. illustrated in a series of letters between Dr. John Pell, resident ambassador at the Swiss Cantons, Sir Sam- uel Morland, Sir William Lockhart, Mr. Secretary Thurloe, and other distinguished men of the time," by Robert Vaughan, D. D. of London University. THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 151 Nor do I refer to these declarations with the less reluctance, because I am a presbyterian. It must be confessed that the presbyterians of Britain were as tenacious of civil power as the episcopa- lians 5 nor was there any denomination of Chris- tians at that period, except the independents, who, as a religious body, recognized to their full extent, the sacred rights of conscience, and who while in power accorded to others the rights which they advocated for themselves under oppression. This praise is awarded them by distinguished historians, who were themselves ministers and members of the established church.* And it is in no small degree to the influence of this very class of men, that the broad principle of religious liberty holds so promi- nent a place in the constitution of the American States. Such too are the principles distinctly re- cognized in the Confession of Faith and Form of Government of the presbyterian church in this land. We have never, in this respect trodden in the steps of transatlantic presbyterianism. While we give an honest preference to our own doctrines and discipline, we claim no infallibility 5 we invest ourselves with no jus divinum^ and cheerfully ac- cede to others the same rights and immunities, both civil and rehgiou's, which we claim for ourselves. Our excellent Confession of Faith explicitly de- clares, " God alone is Lord of the conscience, and * Grant's History of the English Church Sects ; Introduction to Col. Hutchinson's Memoirs ; Brodie's British Empire. 152 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND hath left it free from the doctrines and command- ments of men, which are in any thing contrary to his word, or beside it, in matters of faith, or wor- ship. So that to beheve such doctrines, or to obey such commandments out of conscience, is to betray true hberty of conscience j and the requiring of an imphcit faith and an absolute Wind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also." But it will probably be asked, has the church no power — no authority over her own membei's ? Has she no discipline ? And may she not admonish, re- buke, censure, and even exclude from her commu- nion those who reject her doctrines, and pay no regard to her worship ? She has all this authority, and is bound meekly and firmly to exercise it. She is not a voluntary society, associated upon principles of human invention, but a society divinely instituted and governed by the laws of her redeem- ing God and King. It is indispensable to her prosperity, that she be governed 5 that she be go- verned by laws well defined and understood. She must have rules for admitting, controling, and dis- ciplining her members. And her discipline ought to be accordant with the high and sacred ends of her divine institution. " Ecclesiastical laws," says Mr. Locke, " are to be enforced by exhortations, and advice. Where these fail, there remains no- thing farther to be done but that such stubborn and obstinate persons, who give no ground to hope for their reformation, should be cast out and sepa- rated from the society. This is the last and utmost THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 153 force of ecclesiastical authority." No man should complain, because he is made responsible to the church with which he has voluntarily united him- self by irrevocable bonds. Nor should he, when he denounces her doctrines and government, think it a hardship if he is required to acknowledge his offence, or withdraw from her communion. " A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject !" " If thy brother shall tress- pass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, tell it unto the church ; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an hea- then man and a publican !" But he must liear^ and if he desires it, must he heard. By the laws of Christ, the most erring and most vile of his professed followers is entitled to a full and im- partial trial. To pronounce sentence, or even the mildest judicial admonition, without a hearing, is a direct violation of the great principles of religious liberty, the word of God, and the everlasting law of rectitude. A church can suffer no greater calamity than the loss of such a right. But it were a sad perversion of the truth to plead the rights of conscience for the neglect of wholesome discipline. " The free circulation of the blood, and the proper discharge of all the animal func- tions, are not more necessary to the health of the body, than the discipline which Christ has institu- ted, to the spiritual health and prosperity of his 154 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND body the church." One sickly sheep infects the flock. And a black flock would the church indeed be, if she were embarrassed and frustrated in at- tempts to reclaim, or exclude those who are unfit for her fellowship. " How can two walk together, except they be agreed ?" Men who are " tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine," may not, because they cannot have any fellowship with that truth which is one and immu- table. I have given you evidence, by an almost thirty years ministry among you, that I am not in- sensible that the peace of the church is broken, her strength divided, and her vigor impaired by foolish contentions : but contentions for substantial truth are not foolish. Men may " wrap up their decep- tions in scriptural phrases, and even in language which is consecrated by the usage of the Christian Church, and yet be apostles of error." There are two extremes in the exercise of a faithful discipline which every Christian Church should cautiously avoid. The first is, that it is a matter of indifference what religious principles a man adopts^ and what form of worship he prefers. The Bible contains essential principles — principles which constitute the very elements and essence of the gospel 5 which must be believed and loved in order to salvation j and which are so fun- damental, that if any one of them should be denied, the denial would, in its legitimate consequences, subvert the entire method of salvation through Jesus Christ. It forms no part of that religious 4- THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 155 liberty that is founded on the word of God, that it is of no consequence what a man beheves. No where is this thought, or feeling encouraged in the Scriptures, but every where discouraged, frowned upon and denounced. "Keep specially clear," says a forcible writer . " of uncommon pretenders to charity. Satan will mask his designs as long as he can, and so will all his ministers. Believe that God is love, that he is the great and essential charity. Be satisfied then with as much charity as he has shown, and do not think of improving upon your Maker by entertaining and expressing a more charitable opinion of sinners than himself" The other extreme is to have no charity at all. There are things spoken of in the Bible, which are neither fundamental to the gospel, nor essen- tial to salvation, and about which good men may differ. Men may be ignorant and uninformed in these things, and yet be saved. And I would not dare to say, that they may not misunderstand and pervert these things, and yet be saved, any more than I would dare to say how much indwelHng sin is compatible with true holiness of heart, or how much remaining unbeHef is consistent with saving faith. The least, truth perverted, as well as the least remaining sin in the heart, is without excuse 5 while neither of them proves that the bosom in which they dwell has no interest in the Son of God. I hold it one of the great duties of a Chris- tian, to judge severely of himself 5 of others, cha- 156 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND ritably. " Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged ; and with what measure ye meet, it shall be mea- sured to you again." I may not necessarily break charity with men as Christians, with whom I would not deem it expedient, nor for edification to be united in the same ecclesiastical connexions. I would hope not to sympathise with their errors 5 but I would charitably impute their errors to causes which may exist in the hearts of good men. " Humanum est errare." I may err, as well as they. "Hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim." The flock of Christ will be a little flock indeed, even after it is all gathered in, if there be not many sheep that are not of our own fold. The many mansions in our Father's house will be but sparsely inhabited, if it be not found at the last day that God our Saviour can hold fellowship in the Church above, with not a few with whom it is not for edification for us to maintain ecclesiastical connexions in the Church below. The charity that " rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth," also " beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things." As men may be heretics, and excluded from the Church without being dehvered over to the secular arm, so they may err in judg- ment without being heretics. They may diflfer in their religious opinions, and yet be Christians 5 THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE. 157 they may differ without animosity, without the fury of intolerance, without having recourse to courts of law, and without disturbing either the public peace, or the charities of social life. I do not know that I have expressed your views, my young friends, in the present lecture. For myself, I solicit no greater liberty of conscience than this, and I will not be satisfied with less. It is impossible for the Church to flourish either in alliance with the civil power, or controlled by its authority, except so far forth as it extends an im- partial protection to her civil rights. Nor is it less impossible for her to flourish while composed of essentially jarring materials — of the mingled iron and clay — of men who believe and profess, and men who disbelieve, and deny, and ridicule the fun- damental doctrines of the gospel. The liberty of conscience is your birthright. You are " not children of the bondwoman, but of the free." There is nothing in the Scriptures which debars you from full inquiry into all truth, or which demands of you an assent to its doctrines without an examination of the evidence that they come from God. You boast of this liberty. But it is this which renders you so fearfully responsible. It is this which gives the divine government such resistless claims upon you, if you turn your liberty into licentiousness, and under the specious pretence of this right, become sceptics, or deists, or the enemies of God and his truth, by whatever name they may be called. 14 LECTURE VI. THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. There is no one particular in which the Bible has effected a greater change in the condition of the world, than its outward and visible morality. To say nothing of that spiritual character upon which the Scriptures every where insist, there is not now, nor has there been ever, any portion of the world where the principles of revealed religion have been received, where the most astonishing changes have not been produced in the moral habits of society. This justice must be done to infidelity, that while it has waged war upon the truths of the Bible, it has commended its moral precepts ; and while it has ridiculed its miracles and prophecies, it has ingenuously acknowledged that its morality is altogether more pure and lofty than that which philosophy ever taught. And however involuntarily, or incautiously made, such confessions are no unmeaning homage rendered to THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 159 the truth of the Sacred Scriptures. For, if dis- jointed, disfigured, mutilated, torn from its founda- tions, and deprived of all its natural Hfe and vigor, as it has been by the great mass of infidel writers, the morality of the Bible has grandeur and excel- lence enough to extort the commendation of its enemies ; what must it be, when undisturbed from its foundations, unsevered from its proper aliment, it is seen and recognized in its true power and ex- cellence ! Neither pagan philosophers, nor modern infidels, nor the philosophical world in Christian lands have been without their moral theories. When the Saviour of men descended from heaven, the Gre- cian and Oriental philosophy had obtained power- ful influence over the thinking part of mankind j — the former prevailing throughout Greece and Rome, the latter throughout Persia, Syria, Chal- dea, and Egypt. " The Greeks sought after wis- dom." And yet among them we find the sect of the Epicureans, who believed that the world arose from chance ; that the god's extended no care over human aflfairs 5 that the soul was mortal 5 that pleasure was the chief good 5 and that virtue was to be prized only as it contributed to man's enjoy- ment. The academical philosophy, from Plato down to the period when the academic school was transferred to Rome, was professedly a system of doubt and scepticism. Its disciples denied the possibility of arriving at truth and certainty ; held it doubtful whether the god's existed, or did not 160 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. exist 5 whether the soul is mortal and survives the body 5 and whether virtue is preferable to vice, or vice to virtue. The most profound, as well as the most ingenious of this sect yielded to the notion, that amid the endless varieties of human opinion, nothing could be decided. This evil was so deeply felt by Socrates, that he deemed it necessary that an instructor should be sent from heaven with special authority to reveal and enforce the duty of man. The Stoics held that man was bound to act according to his nature 5 that nature impels him to pursue whatever appears to be a goodj that the great object of pursuit is not pleasure, but confor- mity to nature, and that this is the origin of all moral obligation. The oriental philosophy re- garded matter as eternal, and as the source and origin of all evil and vice 5 and that the material creation in its present form, and the race of man, derive their origin not from the supreme God, but from some inferior being. The Persians asserted the existence of two eternal principles, the one presiding over light, the other over matter; the one good, and the other evil.* The professed character of the god's of paganism was distin- guished for crime, while the religion of those who worshipped them required them to be immoral. I hold it to be a truth capable of clear demon- * Murdock's Mosheim, Warberton's Divine Legation, and Cud- worth's Intellectual System. THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 161 stration, that no man is better than his principles. To be virtuous, he must possess virtuous princi- ples. " As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." As his principles are, so is the man. There is an indissoluble connection between the nature of his moral conduct, and the principles from which they flow. Any thing may be called by any name, and any thing may appear under any shape 5 but never can it happen that of " thorns men gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes." Men are governed in their outward deportment by their in- ward views and motives. It is so in politics, in literature, in science and the arts *, and it is so in morals and religion. And yet, how often do we hear it asserted, that it is of little consequence what a man believes, if his heart is right 5 that you must look at his character and not at his doctrine 5 that good men are to be found in pagan, Moham- medan, and Christian lands, and of all creeds and professions; that moral conduct is not the result of any set of opinions 5 and that it is of no conse- quence what a man's faith is, if he is only sincere ! But this is a delusive and destructive morality. If there be any truth in such a theory, moral princi- ples are of no account whatever. One system of morals is as good as another, and those persons are just as likely to be virtuous who believe what is false, as those who believe what is true. But com- mon sense instinctively revolts from such a doc- trine, while all observation and experience evince its absurdity. Good conduct never grows out of 14* 162 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. corrupt principles, nor is evil conduct the natural result of principles that are good. Is it so that a man may be one thing in his principles, and another in his morality j one thing in his belief, and ano- ther in his character ? By what sort of philosophy is it that he is thus divided against himself 5 that he is thus torn asunder, and while one part of him is pronounced good, another is pronounced bad ? A man's principles are himself. His morality is himself. Suppose for a moment, that the hypothe- sis on which we are animadverting should be real- ized. Here is a man who is one thing in his prin- ciples and another thing in his practice. He be- lieves for example that the earth is a sphere, and yet he navigates it as though it were a plain. He believes that food is necessary to animal life, and yet he abstains from food. He believes that the hand of the diligent maketh rich, and yet he is a sluggard. He believes that fire will burn, and yet he plunges deliberately into the flames. He be- lieves that Jehovah is the true God and yet he worships the devil. You call him a madman 5 and well you may. But not more certainly than the man who believes there is no difference between what is right and what is wrong, and yet forms all his plans and conduct with a view to that differ- ence. Not more certainly than the man who be- lieves there is no God and no hereafter, and yet fears God and shapes his deportment with a view to an hereafter. His morality must take its rise from his principles. Moral principles constitute THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 163 the seed, the germ of which moral character is but the developement. Men are every where the subjects of moral law, and capable of moral actions. Their conduct as moral beings is good or evil, as it rests upon a true or false foundation, as it is determined by a true or false standard, as it flows from right, or wrong mo- tives. And hence it is, that pagan morality is so defective. Detached from the Bible, it has no other guide than the passions of men, and those few principles which may be suggested by the lights of reason and nature. It is no caricature of pagan morality to say, that it had no settled standard of right and wrong, and that we look in vain throughout all their philosophy for any well estabhshed principles of duty, or motives and aims that commend themselves to an enhghtened con- science. What is the nature and foundation of virtue 5 what is the rule of moral conduct ; what is the ultimate object toward which it should be directed 5 in what does the duty and happiness of man consist ? are inquiries which never have been satisfactorily answered by the unassisted powers of the human mind. What the practical results of these uncertain speculations were, the annals of all pagan history show. Nor are they any where more comprehensively exhibited than in the following declarations of the great apostle, con- cerning the whole pagan world. " They became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. They were filled with all unrighte- 164 MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. ousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, ma- liciousness, envy, murder, deceit, malignity. They were backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, inventers of evil things, disobedient to parents, without natural affection, implacable and unmer- ciful." Their manners and customs, where not dictated by the love of wickedness, seem to have been dictated by mere caprice and whim. What was virtue in one country, was vice in another 5 and what was unpardonable rudeness in one, was refinement in another. Egypt was distinguished for great corruption of morals, as early as the time of Abraham and Joseph. Their public festi- vals were celebrated by practises so shameful, that they disgrace the page of the historian. If from Egypt you pass to Asia Minor, you see the promi- nent traits of moral character still the same, — un- righteousness, malignity, luxury, effieminacy and sensuality. If you look to Greece, in the early part of their history, you see brutal savageness in its most shameless forms*, while, in the age of greater refinement, iniquity only " put on an em- broidered garb, and of more delicate texture." The Olympic, Pythian, and Isthmian games, while they imparted that strength of body and courage in battle, which were formerly the most enviable qualities which this nation knew, degraded and polluted their minds and morals to the lowest de- gree of debasement. Wherever indeed you read of the " heroic ages" of ancient times, you may be assured they are fruitful in crime and horror, THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 165 in parricide and incest, and all those melancholy and tragic catastrophies which present the most dismal and hideous picture of our race. The monarchs of Assyria passed the greater part of their lives in voluptuousness and debauchery. The proud Semiramis, notwithstanding all the com- mendations passed upon her heroism, led her sub- jects a career of unrestricted voluptuousness and debauchery. The most brilliant ages of Babylon were most distinguished for dissolutenesss, and even the greatest refinement in debauchery. — Gorged with riches, they tasked their ingenuity in the invention of all that could delight the senses, and alternately excite and gratify the basest pas- sions. Here was that memorable temple in which every female was obliged by law, once in her life to prostitute herself to a stranger, for the purpose of augmenting the public revenue. As a general fact, debauchery was not only allowed by the ancient pagans, but approved by their religion. Even as cultivated a mind as that of Cicero, re- garded it as no crime. Horace represents Cato as commending the young men who frequent the public houses of pollution, because they did no- thing worse.* If such were the morals of the " Virtute esto, inquit sententia, Dia Catonis Nam simul ac venas inflavit tetra libido Hue juvenes, equum est descendere non alienas Permolere uxores." Sat. lib. I. S. 2. v. 32. 106 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. purest state of Rome, and of Cato, the severest censor of public manners, what must have been the most impure ? I will tell you what they were. The emperor Nero drove through the streets of his capital with his naked mistress 5 and the empe- ror Commodus first dishonoured, and then mur- dered his own sister. " If these things were done in the green tree, what were done in the dry." Vice always descends from rulers to subjects. If such were the morals of emperors, what must have been the morals of the common people ? And what but such a depravation of morals is to be expected, where reason, blinded by appetite, is the only guide 5 where conscience has no firm moor- ing, and the only impulse is the fitful breath of passion ? How could the doctrines of paganism excite to moral virtue ? It is perfectly obvious from the character of their gods, and from their hopes of a voluptuous paradise, that the whole system of the pagan world had not the least ten- dency to produce and cherish virtuous emotions. And how much better are the moral principles of modern infidels ? Lord Bolingbroke resolves all morality into self love. And so does Volney. Hobbes maintains that the sole foundation of right and wrong is the civil law. Rousseau says, " All the morality of our actions Hes in the judgment we ourselves form of them." Lord Shaftesbury declares that "all the obligations to be virtuous arise from the advantages of virtue, and the disad- vantages of vice." Hume affirms, that "moral, THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 167 intellectual, and corporeal virtues are nearly of the same kind." Have such moral principles ever reformed the world ? Did they reform their au- thors ? Where will such principles lead, if carried out into practice ? What are their fruits ? What is there in an enlightened conscience that responds to their pretensions ? And are there not some systems of ethical phi- losophy which are not found either among pagans, or infidels that are far below the spirit of the Bible ? What is the morality, the foundation of which is simply what is useful and expedient j the standard of which is the spirit and maxims of this world J and the motives of which are purely mer- cenary and selfish ? Can that be called morality, which recognizes no immutable distinction- be- tween what is right and what is wrong 5 which has no reference to the obligations of the divine law 'j and is concerned only with our own interests ? Can that be called morality which asks, not what is right, but what is profitable ? which enquires not for duty, but for interest, for the opinions of men, for the spirit of the age ? Such a morality is most certainly radically defective. It is the morality of the world, not of the Bible. It is a mere external - morality. It has no thorough lodgment, no permanent abode in the hidden chambers of the soul. It is a superficial observ- ance. It is what all morality must be, separated from the truth of the Scriptures : — a body without 168 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. a soul — a whited sepulchre — splendid only in se- pulchral magnificence. The morality of the Bible is well and intelligibly defined. Its foundation, its standard, its motives are distinctly set before us, and ought not to be misunderstood. Why then is any being in the universe under obligations to be morally virtuous ? Why is the Divine Being bound to be holy, unless because holiness is right, and he is capable of per- ceiving it to be so ? And why are intelligent creatures bound to be morally virtuous, unless be- cause they are so made as to be able to perceive, and feel under obligation to approve and practise moral virtue ? " Be ye holy^ for I the Lord your God am holy.'''' If the Divine Being were malevo- lent, or selfish, would that circumstance bind us to be so too ? The moral excellence of the divine character is a good and sufficient reason why men should be morally excellent. God requires them to be holy., because he is holy. The character that is right in God, is right in creatures. It is in its own nature just what it ought to be. The Deity would not be satisfied with himself without pos- sessing such a character ; nor would virtuous and holy minds be satisfied with him, if he were not thus perfectly amiable and excellent. God is love 5 God is truth 5 God is rectitude 5 God is mercy •, God is justice. There is a wide and im- mutable diflference between such a character and the opposite. The former is right, and the latter THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 169 is wrong. Nothing can reconcile them. There is not, nor can there be any gradual approxima- tion of them to one another. They are perfect opposites, and so will always remain. It would not be right for God to possess any other charac- ter than that which he does possess 5 and no con- siderations of profit and loss, no considerations of the probable tendency of any other character, can ever induce him to change, or modify it •, nor were it possible to do so, except for the worse. The foundation of moral obligation therefore lies in the immutable difference between what is right and what is wrong, and in the capacity of intelli- gent beings to perceive that difference. I say in the capacity to perceive that difference 5 for in a fallen creature especially, that difference may not always be perceived, while the obligation to per- ceive it remains unimpared. When we look at our own natures, and the natures of our fellow men 5 when we contemplate the relations we sus- tain to them and they sustain to us j unless our minds are blinded by wickedness, we cannot help perceiving that all the moral virtues are right. They grow out of our mutual relations, and not to practise them is wrong. And on this basis the Scriptures place' our obligations to moral virtue. It has been often asserted that utility is the foundation of moral obligation. Utility to whom ? To mc ? Then indeed is the securing of my own advantage the great end. And what sort of moral virtue is this ? Utility to the universe ? Then 15 170 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. let it be made to appear that throughout the vast empire of God no sinful thought or action was ever indispensable to the highest good. Nothing is more obvious from the Bible than that the reason why God requires moral virtue is, not because it is useful, but because it is right. He is " of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and cannot look on sin." He could not be bribed to do this for all the universe, ten thousand times told. He requires the duties of morality because they are right, and in conformity with himself. He does not " do evil that good may come." He never requires men to do what is wrong, even though he foresees in many instances, that their sinful conduct may be turned to the best account. It is utterly immoral to make utility the foundation of moral obhgation, and to assign either the direct or indirect tendency of an action to promote happiness, as the reason why it ought to be performed. Moral, virtue has a nature besides its tendency to happiness. Just as truth diflers essentially and immutably from falsehood, just as light differs from darkness, and sweet from bitter, does good differ from evil. No law can confound them j no beneficial tendency of the one, or of the other can alter their nature 5 but like the nature of the Deity, they will remain forever the same. To make utility the foundation of moral virtue, seems to my mind to tear up all the founda- tions of moral virtue itself. Virtue is no longer virtue, and vice is no longer vice, if this theory be true. If this theory were true, then, if in view of THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 171 the divine mind, vice is expedient, it is no longer vice 5 and if virtue is inexpedient, it is no longer virtue. And what wonder if men should abuse this reasoning, put themselves in the place of God, and decide that to be virtue which promotes their happiness, and that to be vice which promotes their misery ? There have been such moral philo- sophers and they are well described by the apostle as — " men of corrupt minds, supposing that gain is godliness." Such a morality were the most changeful and evanescent thing in the world. No matter what its pretensions, it is mere selfishness, and radically hostile to all moral virtue. If virtue is any thing, it is virtue every where and always 5 and if vice is any thing — any thing but a name, it is vice always and every where. The divine na- ture is unchanging. It is virtue — the highest virtue ^ and nothing in the condition of this world, or other worlds — nothing in the divine purposes or government — nothing in time or eternity, can alter its nature. And this is one reason why, when the knowledge of God was lost in the world, there were no longer any just ideas of virtue and moral obligation. How is it possible there should be a sound morality where there is no knowledge of God ? There is a chasm in morals which can be supplied only by a just acquaintance with the Deity. The Bible teaches us that the true and only standard of morality is the divine law. The rule, or standard of duty, is a different thing from the 172 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. foundation of moral obligation. No being in the universe is so capable of judging of the nature of moral virtue, of the difference between what is right and what is wrong in all the circumstances and relations of human existence, and of what is, and what is not conformed to his own character, as God himself. No creature has the right to do this to any such extent as would make his own will, or judgment, or notions of any kind, the rule. The only standard to which all human conduct ought to be conformed, and conformity to which is rectitude, is the law of the great Supreme. If there be a God, he must rule j his will must be law. He has no superior, no antecedent 5 and there is no being of equal claims and rectitude. He only has a right to give law, and he only is able to give it in conformity to the eternal rule of his own perfect nature. We have perfect assurance that his law is like himself, and that he requires nothing but what is right, and forbids nothing but what is wrong. Be- cause his own character is spotless and pure, he requires purity in others. Nothing 'but moral virtue is the object of his approbation and com- placency, and therefore he can require nothing else. His will is the safe standard in kind, weight and measure. Whose will should be law, if not his in whom men live, and move, and have their being 5 whose, if not the will of that great law- giver, whose authority is uncontrolled and infinite ? How can we wonder at the fluctuating morality of the pagan nations, when they have no unfluc- THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 173 tuating standard? how can it be otherwise than that their ideas of moral virtue should be low and contracted, when even their very vices are pre- scribed as virtues ? If the previous remarks are just, it scarcely need be said, that the grand motive of a sound morality is a heart-felt respect for God as the rightful law- giver. It is a remark of the infidel Volney, that " there is no merit, or crime in intention." Just the reverse of this, is the morality of the Bible. What it uniformly requires is virtuous conduct springing from right motives. It aims at the heart. It addresses its claims, not to the love of pleasure, nor the love of the world, nor the love of fame and power, but to an ingenuous regard for God. It is a sense of duty that governs, and of duty springing from love to God. It is a sense of right. Our selfishness may be never so wisely directed 5 its calculations may be never so shrewd and politic j but they can never rise to the elevation of holy love. Nay, " though I give all my goods to feed the poor, and my body to be burned, and have not love 5 I am nothing." The morality and the reli- gion of the Bible are identified. " This is the love of God that we keep his commandments." There is no love to God' without keeping his command- ments, and there is no keeping his commandments without love to God. There is no religion without morality, and there is no morality without religion. In the language of a modern Scottish writer, " Mo- rality is religion in practice 5 religion is morality in 15* 174 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. principle."* The morality of the Bible springs from the predominant principle of holy love. And it is an all-governing principle — fruitful, life-giving and powerful — stronger even than the energetic principles of evil within us, and making the yoke of obedience easy, and its burden light. Such are the distinctions between the morality of the. world and the morality of the Scriptures. The former has no foundation on which it can rest 5 no unvarying standard, no high-born impulse. It may have instances of cautious abstinence, of ardent devotement, of heroic magnanimity 5 but they will not bear the inspection of the omniscient eye, nor the analysis of eternal truth. Their ele- ments are pride, vanity, and egotism. Actions whose fame has resounded through the world, at- chievements whose praise is recorded on the page of history, men whose proud name has been encir- cled with a halo of human glory from age to age, will all be found wanting when once weighed in the balances of eternal truth and rectitude. It is a remark of Foster, in his Essay upon the causes for the neglect of evangelical religion by men of taste, that " the moral philosophers seem anxious to avoid every thing that might subject them to the appel- lation of Christian divines. They regard their de- partment as a science complete in itself j and they investigate the foundations of morality, define its laws, and affix its sanctions in a manner generally ♦ Wardlaw's Christian Ethics. THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 175 SO distinct from Christianity, that the reader would almost conclude religion to be another science complete in itself. It is striking to observe how small a portion of the ideas which distinguish the New Testament from other books, many moral philosophers have thought indispensable to a the- ory, in which they professed to include the entire duty and interests of men. A serious reader is con- strained to feel that there is either too much in that book, or too little in theirs." The justice and importance of these observations will occur to the mind of every one as he adverts to the treatises of Paley, Gisborn, Brown, Stewart, and Mcintosh. It should excite no great surprise in a Christian audience to be told that the science of morals is founded on the principles of divine revelation, and that the great principles of morality are insepara- ble from the word of God. Moral philosophy is the science which treats of the nature of human actions, of the motives and laws which govern them, and of the ends to which they ought to be directed. And surely such a philosophy is found in the Bible alone. For the heart to be right to- ward man, it must be right with God. Motives for the regulation of human conduct are suggested in abundance by men whose moral theories were never identified with the sacred volume 5 but they have been addressed, if not to the worst, to some of the most unworthy passions of the human heart. But the morality founded on such a basis, and sup- ported by such incentives, is devoid of principle. 176 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. It knows no law but the opinions of men, and the ever fluctuating state of human society. It invests itself with different forms, as the character of the age, the state of the times, and the circumstances of the individual require. It is one thing in Europe, and another in Asia j one thing in the palace, and another in the mansions of the poor 5 one thing amid the quietude and searching observation of a rural village, and another amid the bustle and con- cealment of a crowded city 5 one thing on the Ex- change, and another amid the retirement of private life j one thing in the equable seasons of untempt- ing prosperity, another amid the embarrassments and agitations of calamity and misfortune*, one thing in peace, and another in war ; one thing at home, and another abroad. It is one thing to-day, and another thing to-morrow. It is unstable as water and variable as the wind. It is a tempori- zing, time-serving morality. It complies with the hour and the occasion. It humours the current of opinion and circumstances. It is a system of moral obsequiousness, that is every where pliant and con- ciliating except to the claims of sterling integrity. But with what different views do we regard the morality of the Scriptures. On every page of this sacred volume we see a system of ethics as pure, as lofty, as invariable as its Divine Author. We meet with perpetual evidence of those great principles of unbending virtue, which, while they purify and regulate the interior, also purify and regulate the exterior man 5 and which produce an THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 177 equability of character, a "calm constancy," a tenderness of conscience, a kindness of spirit, as far removed from the morality and philanthropy of the world, as are the cold abstractions of hea- then philosophy from the sermon on the mount. The Bible settles the great question. What is du- ty ? It is every where famihar with that all-im- portant principle, that to do right^ men must do what is right in itself^ from right motives^ and with a right spirit. These two things God has joined together, and no man may put them asunder. It is not enough that a man's conscience is satisfied that he is doing right, unless he does it with a right spirit and from right motives. Nor is it enough that he acts from a right spirit and right motives, unless he does what is right in itself. He may not speak what is untrue, because he does it with benevolent intentions j nor wreak a malig- nant revenge upon his enemy, because his con- science may be so blinded as to justify his maligni- ty. Conscience may be so blinded as to lead a man sincerely to do what is abomination in the sight of God. The rectitude of his conduct may not depend on his sincerity. He may act from prejudice, selfishness, and malevolence; and the time may come wben, notwithstanding all the con- victions of his conscience, like Saul of Tarsus, he may bewail the madness of his spirit, and see that he was altogether without excuse. His conscience may adopt false conclusions, conclusions in which light is resisted because he loves darkness ; while 178 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. in opposition to evidence he may persist in these conclusions, because a wrong spirit has paramount power. It is only when conscience is obeyed from a right spirit, that we have convincing evi- dence that our conduct is right in the sight of God. We may do many things that seem to be right, from a wrong spirit 5 and we may do many things that are wrong, from a right spirit. The morahty of the Bible teaches us that to do right, we must do so from a right spirit. Such a morality is the same thing every where. In every portion of it you see the divine original. What it is now, it always was, and always will be. The knowledge and love of God impart a simpli- city, a symmetry, a beauty to the theory of morals which insinuate themselves into every part of the system, and by a thousand imperceptible shades and impulses, adorn and control the whole. What beautiful simplicity, what resistless energy, when contrasted with the heavy and complicated move- ments of an infidel, a pagan, or a pharisaic mo- rality ! God requires it — this is the motive which sways the Christian moralist. You may descant upon the dignity of his nature, upon the beauty of virtue, the turpitude of vice, and the claims of a well regulated selfishness •, but how weak and un- attractive are such considerations compared with the authority of that Supreme Being whom he loves and adores ! Would you reform the manners of human so- ciety, you must aim at the heart 5 you must diffuse THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 170 throughout the mass the leaven of truth , you must throw around the conscience the strong bonds of obhgation, and draw the heart by the cords of love, as with the bands of a man. You must extend the empire of the great Lawgiver over the understanding, over the memory, over the imagi- nation, over the warm and grateful affections, over the whole soul. This alone will suppress the ger- minations of crime, and check wickedness in its bud. This will impart the seeds of virtuous prin- ciple, which, in the maturity of their growth and expansion, will exemphfy on the largest scale the great practical axiom, distinguished alike for its certainty and its perspicuity, " Make the tree good and its fruit good." The only specious objection to the morality of the Bible is, that it is one of its leading doctrines that moral virtue avails nothing toward making an atonement for sin *, that no transgressor of the di- vine law can merit anything by his good works ; that his justification is entirely gratuitous and rests upon the righteousness of another 5 and that in the whole matter of his salvation, " it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." If this is so, of what avail, it is asked, are all the moral virtues, and what en- couragement have men to do the will of God ? We need only reply to this, that the foundation of man's acceptance and justification before God is one thing, and the character or moral condi- tion in which he is justified is another. The foun- 180 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. dation of his justification is the finished atonement, the obedience unto death of God's eternal Son. The character, or moral condition in which he is justified is that of a repentant sinner, an humble believer in Jesus Christ. But what is the faith which is thus the condition of his acceptance ? Is it a cold assent to the truths of the gospel ? Or is it a warm, vivifying sentiment of the heart, working by love and putting all the powers of the soul into vigorous action in deeds of righteousness ? " What doth it profit, tho' a man say he have faith and have not works?" Do the Scriptures recognize any such faith as this, even though a man may say he have it, and that it is the true faith ? " Can such a faith save him ?" Never. If it have not works, " it is dead, being alone." It is no faith. Works of righteousness are not merely the fruits of faith, but they enter into the nature of all the faith that lives, and breaths, and throws its anima- ting pulsations throughout his moral frame. So that the method of gratuitous justification by faith in the Son of God, instead of annihilating, con- firms *, instead of diminishing, augments 5 and in- stead of countervailing, gives a new impulse to the primoeval obligations and motives to moral vir- tue. "How shall we who are dead to sin, live any longer therein ?" Is this undermining the obligations to moral virtue ? " Ye have been bought with a price, and that not of silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Son of God, as of a lamb without blemish and without THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. 181 spot J wherefore glorify God in your bodies and spirits, which are his." Is this diminishing the motives to moral virtue ? " The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead 5 and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but to him that died for them, and rose again." Is this weakening the force of moral obHgation? "Do we make void the law through faith ? Yea, we establish the law." "This do, and thou shall live," is to the transgressor an impracticable condition. It is too late for a sinner to dream of being justified by deeds of law. But there is another law. " Be- lieve, and thou shall be saved." Under the first covenant, obedience secures salvation 5 under the second, salvation secures obedience. He "loves much, who has much forgiven j" and he only obeys, who loves. If I urge upon you then, my young friends the claims of morality, it is the morality of the Bible. It is not the morality of Seneca or Plato. Nor is it the morality of the young man who said, " All these have I kept from my youth up j" but whose " heart was bound in fetters of gold." There is a morality that will never become the possessor of heavenly treasures. Nay, it were "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle," than for such a morality to enter into the kingdom of God. You must practically acknowledge the God of heaven as your king and love him with an un- 16 182 THE MORALITY OF THE BIBLE. divided heart. You must take up your cross and follow your Saviour, or you are not worthy of him. True morality will lead you to love him above all others, and prefer his service above that of all other masters. Without this, it were in vain to think of governing your life by his example and laws. A mere outward morality will serve you and your generation a little while j it may even diminish the aggravation of your guilt and the weight of your sufferings in the future world. But it can avert neither 5 and if this is all you have to plead in the presence of your Judge, it will "profit you nothing." LECTURE VII. THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE UPON THE SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. By s6cial institutions, I mean those which form the basis, or grow out of the various relations of human society. Man is a social being. His phy- sical, intellectual, and moral constitution, have a manifest reference to a state of social existence. Destitute of that strength which distinguishes many animals, unfurnished by nature either with weapons to resist, or speed to escape from their attacks, care for his safety alone would lead him to unite himself in close alHance with others of his species. The years of childhood and old age are conditions in which he must of necessity de- pend upon others ; and in claiming during these periods of infirmity, sustenance and protection from his fellow men, he must consent in the days of his own strength to anticipate and deserve them. 184 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. Though well nigh the most helpless of all the ani- mal creation, no longer a weak, isolated existence, he has been constituted the lord of this lower world. Instead of being the prey of ravenous beasts, he holds the brute creation in fear and ser- vitude 5 instead of being exposed to the tempest, his dwelUng bids defiance to the winds 5 and when the hunger, want, and debility which he has suc- coured in others, become his own lot, his past ser- vices return to him at the hands of his fellows, though it be after many days. But not alone from his physical nature is he impelled to seek the society of his species. His moral and intellectual faculties determine him no less strongly to a social state, and pre-eminently fit him for it. Some of the noblest faculties of his soul, as well as some of the most amiable and exalted of his natural affec- tions could be exercised only in such a condition. Benevolence, complacency, gratitude and heroism would all lie dormant, if he were an isolated being. Next to the pure fountains of spiritual joy, the most delightful sources of his enjoyment are those for the first time unlocked when he meets his fel- low man. Isolated man can scarcely be said to have the capacity for lofty thought, or great at- chievement. The noble efforts of human power and genius, of which there are so many monu- ments in our world, have been made under the strong encouragement, the powerful incentive of society. Led by these impulses, and guided by the light of nature alone, man has no doubt made SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 185 vast progress in the arts of social life. He has founded empires, builded cities, collected armies, and has framed laws for their government and guidance. Literature and the arts have flourished in a greater or less degree of splendour, and a beneficial, though imperfect code of morality has crowned the work of his mind and hands, and raised it to the highest elevation which his own unaided powers have permitted. Still however the structure is incomplete. It rests on no sure foundation, and is also imperfectly cemented and fitted together. The elements of which it is compounded are of such conflicting qualities, that they can be brought into harmony and perfect union, only by the all-pervading in- fluence of a pure system of morality, founded on pure rehgion. To be sensible of this, it is neces- sary to take a glance at the various relations of human life where no supernatural revelation has ever been made. And here permit me to remark, this is the only method of ascertaining the appro- priate influence of a supernatural revelation upon the social institutions. What was the state of hu- man society before the Bible was given to men ? What has been its condition since, and what is it now? There are evils in the social state; but had they no existence before a supernatural revelation was known ? In what condition did the Scriptures find the social institutions ? In what condition are these institutions found at the present day, where the Bible has never been known, or heard of? In- 16* 186 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. fidels have charged not a few of the social calami- ties in the world on the introduction of Chris- tianity. But I cannot help thinking, that if they did not feel an interest in rejecting the sacred Scriptures j if these holy oracles did not so severely reprove their wickedness and rebuke their pride; and if they were not either profoundly ignorant, or obstinately perverse; they would never resort to so dishonourable and disingenuous a mode of reasoning. The true questions in such a discus- sion are, has human society ever been well organ- ized without the Bible ? — Have the social rights and obligations been any where understood and respected, where the Scriptures have had no exist- ence ? — And where they have been best under- stood and respected, and their various relations have been peaceful and happy, has the Bible dis- turbed this organization, trampled on these rights and obligations, and rendered men contentious and miserable ? We are bold to say, that an enlight- ened and honest answer to these inquiries will do honour to the Bible. Where the Scriptures have found men without any social bonds, there they have laid the foundations and reared the super- structure of institutions that have endured for ages. Where they have found society loose and dis- jointed, and formed upon principles that must en- sure its overthrow ; there, as fast as they could exert their influence, have they, without fail, re- duced this chaos to order and beauty. And where they have found it unrefined and impure, gross and SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 187 cruel 5 there have they, even m the most corrupted ages of Christianity, silently effected a change in the social relations which has gradually elevated the minds and habits of men to a visible and ac- knowledged superiority over all pagan lands. There seem to be two sources from which man might of himself arrive at a considerable degree of social culture and enjoyment. The first is from the invention of some system of religion, which, by superstitiously influencing his fears and his hopes, would restrain him from crime, and by its imposing ceremonies and dark mysteries, influence him to virtue. The second is by the careful cultivation of those intellectual faculties which God has given him, by the exercise of which his more base and degrading propensities may be subdued, and his intellectual and moral nature be improved and ele- vated. But to show how insufficient these are to produce the end in view, look at the two celebrated nations of antiquity, which have the most to boast of in these respects j Persia and Rome. The re- ligion of the Persians was the purest of all unin- spired religions, and the most calculated to elevate the soul. In the heavenly bodies, they worshipped their unknown author, and in the two presiding principles they sought an explanation of the ming- ling of good and evil upon the earth, — that problem which has so long perplexed and confounded un- enlightened reason. But their creed, however in- genious, could only exercise the intellect, and amuse the curiosity of its followers. It was desti- 188 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. tute of all salutary influence upon their social re- lations. The history of Persia is a compendium of crimes, suffering and intolerance. A despot ruled the state, and polygamy, that despotism in minia- ture, gave law to the private and domestic relations of the people. In all that philosophy and moral culture alone can do for the social institutions, an- cient Rome stands pre-eminent among all nations. Their reHgion was indeed gross and peurile in the extreme, exercising an unhappy influence upon the lower orders, but disbelieved by the priests who taught it, and by the worshippers in secret, who ridiculed it. Yet so far as the most ingenious and sublime speculations of their sages could refine and improve them, they were favoured beyond exam- ple. Look then at their history. In proportion as their philosophy improved, the integrity, the purity, the happiness of their social relations de- clined 5 until the state became the legalized organ of oppression and cruelty, the marriage bond the pledge of encouraged hcentiousness, the domestic circle the scene of terror, and that love of country for which Rome was distinguished in the best days of the early republic, was extinguished in the blood which flowed indiscriminately from her friends and her enemies. I have anticipated much that might be said in regard to the relation which exists between the state and its citizens^ as these relations are de- veloped in pagan and antichristian countries, in the lectures on the influence of the Bible on human SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 189 laws and government. If any man will examine the government of Rome from the institution of the regal government, to the expulsion of Tarquin ; from the consulship established by Brutus, to the magistracy of the military tribunes 5 from the usur- pation of Cinna, to the supreme power of Augus- tus 5 from the empire of Augustus, to that of Nero ; from Nero, to Valerian, and from Valerian, to Constantine j he will see dissimulation, revolt, tu- mult, slaughter, revolution, despotism, servitude, peace and war, and where the evils of peace were not unfrequently the worst calamities. Often was that fair land deluged with blood from the ambition of rivals to the throne. And then again, new schemes of mutual ambition would carry fire and sword to the remote and peaceful nations, till the flames of civil war raged in almost every part of the world. The resources of some great mind, in- creased and irritated by his calamities, possessing all the vices and none of the virtues of his species, would develope itself in all its hideousness, and wreak its vengeance in atrocities that cannot be thought of without horror. While, as often, elated with success, and dazzled with the pomp and con- sequence of station, it would again seek repose in brutal indulgence; or sanguinary persecutions. And how much better was ancient Greece, or Gaul, or Germany, or Britain ? How much better are the modern nations of paganism, where the power of Christian lands does not restrain their ferocity ? Just in the measure in which the influence of 190 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. the Bible has been extended to the nations, have these evils been diminished, or entirely removed. " The Spirit of the Lord spake by me," says the anointed king of Israel, " 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, ruhng in the fear of God: and he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds 5 as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain." The relation existing between the State and its citizens, the Bible re- cognizes as of divine appointment. The foun- dation of civil government is the will of God. Life, liberty, and property, peace and order, public morals and religion, have never been left by the benevolent author of our social existence, to chance, or anarchy, or the social compact. Government is an ordinance of heaven. " The powers that be, are ordained of God," not for their own honour and aggrandizement, but for the good of their subjects — not to gratify the pride, minister to the lusts, and subserve the ambition of rulers, but for the tranquillity, virtue, and pros- perity of those they govern. Where, in pagan, and Mahometan lands, are rulers taught this im- portant and salutary lesson from any such sources as make them feel its authority, or constrain them to respect the rights of the people ? Or where, except in lands illumined by the light of super- natural revelation, do the people, on the one hand, SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 191 know and feel that they have rights, and are themselves clothed with the authority to see that they are respected 5 or on the other, know and feel that government is an institution of heaven ? Christian princes, it is true, have not always ex- erted the happy influence which the God of na- tions requires them to exert. Nor have Christian nations always respected their rulers, or asserted their own rights with firmness, and with the meek- ness of wisdom. But where have antichristian and pagan princes done it ? And where have pa- gan nations, in a single instance, been influenced by any other motive than the restive, factious de- termination to put down one despot for the sake of elevating another ? But look through Chris- tian lands, and see how often the prerogative of the prince has been limited, and the rights of man asserted by a free and virtuous people. Witness the condition of England from the time of Alfred to the present hour. Witness the condition of France, though more often scourged by severe persecutions, from the reign of Clovis to the ac- cession of Louis PhilHppe. Witness the triumph of Germany over Leo X. and the fifth Charles. And witness our own memorable revolution. What had been the condition of this brave and high- minded people in those days of peril, but for the Bible ? And what had been our condition at many a fearful crisis of our public affairs, since that period, had these American States not been re- strained and governed by the spirit of that holy 192 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. book ? Our obligations to the religion of the Bible, are not always, in this respect, duly appre- ciated. Why is it, that at every popular elec- tion, instead of some petty broil, we are not in- volved in oceans of blood ? It is because there is found, through the blessing of Almighty God, a mass of public virtue, a weight of moral principle, — virtue and principle founded on the word of God, — that subdues and restrains the " wrath of man." Why is it, that with every calamitous and disas- trous measure of our government, we do not wit- ness the scenes that were exhibited in Rome, under the reigns of Tiberius and Nero ? It is because we have been taught from the lips of the divine Saviour himself, to " render unto Csesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." It is because his holy apostles have given us the injunctions, " Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake." It is because we have been taught to respect, and reverence, and pray for our rulers, " that we may lead a quiet and peacable life, in all godliness and honesty 5 knowing that this is good and accepta- ble in the sight of God our Saviour." Such a spirit constitutes a virtuous community ; and with such a spirit no people can promote discord and revolution, until " patience has had its perfect work," and the last limits of Christian forbearance have been far exceeded. Who does not see with how much more benevolence the Scriptures con- SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 193 trol the relation between the state and its citizens, than any other book, or any other set of opinions, or any other maxims, however high their authori- ty, or however extensively received ? Who does not see that the crimes and sufferings so long at- tendant on the administration of human govern- ments, would soon be unknown, and the conten- tions, revolutions and blood which have so long desolated the earth soon disappear, if the Scrip- tures were once duly honoured, and the voice of God regarded in preference to the seductive influ- ence of aspiring, designing, and corrupting men ? The most important of the all social institutions is marriage^ — the primoeval, parent source of all the other relations. Nor is there any expression of the divine wisdom in determining the condition of the human race, more significant and delightful than this sacred institution. It is by this relation, that the world we inhabit is constituted a collec- tion of families 5 where the best natural affections are cherished, and the worst subdued 5 where there is a community of affections and interests; and where are the highest inducements to a reciprocal and virtuous influence, and especially in forming the character of the rising generation. The in^ habitants of this esarth are not brought into exist- ence by a single act of creative power, such as gave existence to the angelic creation. These unfallen existencies, with all their shining hosts, and in all the variety of their rank and excellence, were formed at once, and with no successive de- 17 194 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. pendance of one generation upon that which pre- ceded it. Nor has there probably been any in- crease, or diminution in their numbers, since that early dawn of the creation, when these " morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." And such will be the relation of the "spirits of just men made perfect," after the resur- rection. "They neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God, in heaven." The race of man, on the other hand, is perpetually increasing, and the current of human existencies flowing on, augmented by almost innumerable tri- butary streams to the end of time. It required more than finite wisdom so to arrange this per- petually augmenting population, as most effectually to consult its social interests, its honourable, virtu- ous character, its immortal destiny. And who does not see with what admirable efficiency these ends may be secured, and secured only by the nuptial bond ? To test the verity and importance of this remark, let us bestow a few considerations on the methods by which human society may be supposed to be organized and continued The first is by a promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, unrestrained by any law, and uncon- trolled except by the consent of the parties. Such has been the usage of a few barbarous lands ; such is the doctrine of Robert Dale Owen and other modern reformers 5 and such are the habits of a few gregarious, anomalous communities, even in Christian countries at the present day. From the SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 195 cradle, the sexes are taught that there is no barrier even in thought against the most universal indulgence. And what shall be said of such a society, but that it is polluted and poisoned at its fountain head, and a hideous mass of corruption and rottenness? There is no moral safe-guard in such a community to protect it against the most disastrous and desolating evils that can be commis- sioned to scourge its degraded and guilty inhabi- tants. Marriage is a term of reproach 5 the paren- tal relation is unknown ; and the unhappy offspring of such a concubinage are thrown out upon the world with no restraints of parental love and wis- dom, and no obligations of filial affection and reverence 5 — monsters in crime, giants in iniquity, and in a Httle while, the fit objects of such sweep- ing judgments as desolated the old world by the waters of the deluge, and the cities of the plain by a tempest of fire out of heaven. Look then for a moment at the system of po- lygamy^ under which a man has a plurality of wives. This evil was indeed tolerated among the ancient patriarchs and Hebrews. But' it was a perversion of the original institution of marriage. " Moses suffered it for the hardness of their hearts ; but from the beginning, it was not so." All the evils of that early and idolatrous age of the world could not be remedied in a moment. And such was the state of society, that not even until the advent of the Saviour was the institution of mar- riage restored to its primoeval integrity by revok- 196 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. ing the permission of polygamy and divorce. Ex- perience has abundantly and painfully proved that polygamy debases and brutalizes both the body and the mind, and renders society incapable of those generous and refined affections, which, if duly cul- tivated would be found to be the inheritance even of our fallen nature. Where is an instance in which polygamy has not been the source of many and bitter calamities in the domestic circle and to the state ? Where has it reared a virtuous, heaven- taught progeny ? Where has it been distinguished for any of the moral virtues 5 or rather, where has it not been distinguished for the most fearful de- generacy of manners ? Where has it even been found friendly to population ? It has been reck- oned that the number of male infants exceeds that of females, in the proportion of nineteen to eigh- teen, the excess of the males scarcely providing for their greater consumption by war, seafaring, and other dangerous and unhealthy occupations. It seems to have been the " order of nature that one woman should be assigned to one man." And where has polygamy ever been friendly to the phy- sical, and intellectual character of the population ? The Turks are polygamistsj and so are the Asiatics 5 but how inferior a people to the ancient Greeks and Romans ? I spoke of the domestic circle of the communities under the influence of polygamy J but is there any thing worthy of the name in such countries ? Let the universal seclu- sion of females from the eye of man, and the un- SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 197 sleeping jealousy of their husbands furnish the answer. What is the domestic circle, or the so- ciety of friends, where the presence and all sub- duing influence of woman^ its brightest ornament and glory, is banished ? " Hail, woman, hail ! last formed in Eden's bowers, Midst humming streams and fragrant breathing flowers, Thou art, 'mid light and gloom, through good and ill, Creator's glory, man's chief blessing still. Thou calm'st our thoughts, as halcyons calm the sea, Sooth'st in distress, when servile minions flee ; And O without thy sun-bright smiles below, Life were a night, and earth a waste of wo." I am not extensively acquainted with the domestic condition either of Turkey, or Persia, nor have I been able to find access to those sources of infor- mation which I have desired ; but if the few his- torical notices of some of the royal families of these countries, which have met my eye, are a faithful index to the evils of polygamy, it is among the most fruitful sources of misery and crime. What can be expected from a system, where woman fades at twenty, is decayed at thirty, and before five and thirty sinks to her grave ? Look now at that modification and combination of the two preceding systems which is found in those countries where the nuptial relation is only temporary, and where, while the promiscuous inter- course of the sexes and a plurality of wives is in- terdicted, the frequency of divorces opens the 17* 198 SOCIAL INSTITTIIIONS. door to the most unbridled licentiousness. In an- cient Rome, the matrimonial institution was re- garded as a mere civil contract, established for pur- poses of convenience and expediency, protected du- ring its continuance by the civil magistrate because it was deemed a blessing to society, and by the law of the Twelve Tables, continued only during the pleasure of the husband. The sober and well at- tested fact in relation to this arrangement is, that in all those countries where polygamy was not tol- erated, the frequent and rapid succession of divor- ces and marriages took the place of polygamy and introduced all its evils. Especially was this the case in Rome. A glance at the history of that nation will render us sensible of this. Such was the facility of obtaining divorces among the Ro- mans, that the nuptial tie offered not the slightest resistance to motives of ambition, avarice, or ir- regulated passion. The private history of women of the first rank is but a succession of marriages and divorces j each new marriage yielding to one more recent, with the same readiness with which itself had displaced a former union. Perhaps it may be thought out of place to enumerate exam- ples of this nature j and yet nothing else can give us a just conception of the extent of the evil. Oc- tavia, the daughter of the emperor Claudius, mar- ried Nero, and was repudiated by him for the sake of Poppaea. Poppsea herself was first married to Rufus Crispinus 5 then to Otho 5 and at length to Nero, by whom she was killed by a violent blow SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 199 and at a period when the trials of her sex shotild have been her protection. For his third wife, Nero married Thessahna, and to possess her per- son, murdered her husband. Juha, the daughter of Augustus, was married first to Marcellus, then to Agrippa, and then to Tiberius. Livia Oristella was on the eve of a marriage with Caius Piso, when Cahgula, enamoured of her beauty, carried her off by force, and in a few days after, repudiated her. Marc Antony, who was married to Octavia, the sister of Augustus, repudiated Octavia, because he was in love with Cleopatra. Such examples you will find almost endlessly diversified in the Annals of Tacitus. The extent to which this licence was carried may be also learned from the poet Martial, who tells us, that when the Julian law against adul- tery was revived as a preventive to the corruption of the age, within thirty days Thessalina married her tenth husband, thus legally evading those re- straints which the laws had imposed upon her Hcentiousness. What is the marriage bond worth in such a state of society ? And where is the state of society essentially better than this without the Bible ? It can hardly be said there is any such thing as social institutions where the nuptial vow is the sport of every caprice and passion, and where it is violated without penalty, and even without re- morse and shame. And now let us turn, as from a dry and parched desert to a fruitful land, from this disgusting sur- vey, and see in how different a light the Bible 200 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. considers the matrimonial relation from that in which it is viewed by Pagan and Mahometan lands, and by unbelievers in divine revelation in lands that are Christian. This sacred Book re- gards it as a religious institution 5 as owing its origin, not to earth, but to heaven, not to the light of nature, but to a divine command 5 as an insti- tution established by the Creator himself immedi- ately after the formation of man, and subsequently put under the protection of his law. It inscribes in deep legible characters on every nuptial altar, "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder!" It explicitly defines marriage to be the act of uniting two persons in wedlock and only two. " For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh." The degrees of consanguinity within which this union is lawful are not left to the judgment of fallible men, but in the institutions of the inspired legislator of the Hebrews, are marked with perfect definiteness. And when once formed, the Bible pronounces this connection a perpetual union, and to be dissolved only by crime, or death. " The woman that hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth j but if her husband be dead, she is losed from the law of her husband." And with what tenderness, does it prescribe the recip- rocal duties of this relation ! " Husbands love your wives," — not according to the maxims of a cold and changing philosophy — not after the fash- SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 201 ion of this world, — but '' as Christ loved the Church. Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord 5 for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church." Who that has seen heedless and frequent infringe- ments upon these precepts, has not seen the wis- dom of them in the disastrous consequences of their own folly, — not merely upon the peace, and harmony, and mutual confidence that ought al- ways to distinguish this happy relation — not mere- ly upon their own respectability and influence in the Church and in the world — ^but upon the cha- racter and conduct of their children ? Rarely can you find affectionate children, where there is an unkind husband 5 or dutiful children, where there is an undutiful wife. And how solemnly do the Scriptures protect the sanctity of the marriage vow ! God required that the adulterer and adul- tress should be punished with death. He aflSrms before the world, ^' Whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge." With an emphasis never to be forgotten, he demands, " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy ?" Nothing but the Bible can set bounds to human licentiousness. There is a place of which the unerring voice of inspiration has said, "He knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell." There is a character of which the same unerring voice declares, " None that go W2 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of Hfe." There is a sin of which this Book of God often speaks, but on which it rarely expatiates — a sin which the pure and holy Author of the Bible does no more than significantly indi- cate with the one hand, while with the other he opens to its obdurate and groveUing perpetrator the doors of the eternal prison, and points to the " lake which burns with fire." In speaking of the social institutions, we may not forget how much the Bible has done for wo- man. The condition of woman was more exalted in Rome than it ever has been to my knowledge in any land where the day spring from on high has not visited her. The nations of the east have kept her in a state of ignorance and slavery. Among the Greeks, she occupied a very inferior sphere j so that if she was restrained from evil, she was helpless to do good. While the laws of Rome, on the other hand, allowed her greater li- berty and consideration than she had heretofore enjoyed, still was the sex without those restraints of morality and purity which alone can preserve her from degradation. No happy influence did she exert upon the public, or private welfare of the state. Her influence ascended to ambition ; poli- ticians intrigued with her 5 and her liberty degen- erated into licentiousness. The former deluged the streets of the capital with its best blood 5 and to such an extent was the latter carried, that among the several decrees which passed the SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 203 senate, under the reign of Tiberius, against the licentiousness of female manners, it was ordained " that no woman whose grandfather, or father, or husband was a Roman Knight, should be allowed to make her person venal !" The laws of a nation are a faithful and instructive history of its manners. And what must have been the corruption of fe- male manners in Rome, when such a law was ne- cessary to suppress female Hcentiousness in the highest ranks of society ? If such was the cha- racter of a Roman baronness, what must have been that of the subordinate classes ? There can scarcely be a more degrading view of woman than this, unless it be the condition which she now pre- sents in pagan lands. And what is that condition, now, in the nineteenth century of the Christian era ? Hated and despised from her birth, and her birth itself esteemed a calamity — in some coun- tries not even allowed the rank of a moral and responsible agent — so tenderly alive to her own degradation, that she acquiesces in the murder of her female offspring — immured from infancy — with- out education — married without her consent — in a multitude of instances, sold by her parents — re- fused the confidence of her husband, and banished from his table — on her husband's death, doomed to the funeral pile, or to contempt that renders life a burden : — such is her degraded and pitiable condi- tion, in almost all except Christian lands. The Bible has an appropriate place for woman, a place for which she is fitted and in which she shines. It 204 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. elevates her, but assigns her her proper sphere. It does indeed exclude her from the corruption of the camp and the debates of the forum. It does not invite her to the professor's chair, nor conduct her to the bar, nor make her welcome to the pul- pit, nor admit her to the place of magistracy. It bids her beware how she overleaps the delicacy of her sex, and listens to the doctrines of effemi- nate debaters, or becomes the dupe of modern re- formers and fashionable journalists. It asks not to hear her gentle voice in the popular assembly, and even '•''suffers her not to sjyeak in the Church of God.''"' It claims not for her the right of suffrage, nor any immunity by which she may " usurp au- thority over the man." And yet it gives her her throne 5 for she is the queen of the domestic cir- cle. It is the bosom of her family. It is the heart of her husband and children. It is the supremacy in all that interesting domain, where love, and ten- derness, and refinement of thought and feeling pre- side. It is the privilege of making her husband hap- py and honoured, and her sons and her daughters the ornaments of human society. It is the sphere of piety, prudence, diligence in the domestic sta- tion, and a holy and devout life. It is the sphere that was occupied by Hannah, the mother of Samuel 5 by Ehzabeth, the mother of John 5 and by Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is " the orna- ment of a meek and quiet spirit, which, in the sight of God, is of great price." It is the respect and esteem of mankind. It is that silent, unob- SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 205 served, unobtrusive influence by which she accom- plishes more for her race than many whose names occupy a broad space on the page of history. More than this, too, does the Bible do for woman. It opens to her the stores of knowledge. It pro- scribes her no intellectual advancement. It com- mits to her intelligent culture the minds of the rising generation. It tells her that her peculiar province is to embellish and adorn. It opens be- fore her the loveliest spheres of active benevolence. And while it tells her to be a " keeper at home," it at the same time points her to the poor, the afflicted, the widow, the orphan, the sick and the dying, and says, " Pure religion and undefiled be- fore God and the Father, is to visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and to keep herself unspotted from the world." It does more for her than for the stronger sex, because it gives her more piety than it gives to pious men 5 more ar- dency and devotion in her religious affections 5 more numerous, as well as more illustrious exam- ples of converting grace ; a greater reward, and a brighter crown. Nor can she ever know what she owes to the Bible, until she is presented by her great Lord and husband, faultless before the throne. But let us turn a moment to another of the so- cial relations : I mean that which exists between parents and children. I have often wondered why there are so few scenes of domestic joy painted in pagan history 5 and whence it is that we never 18 206 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. find access lo the bosom of a well regulated and happy family in pagan lands. May not the reason be that the materials for the picture never existed ? Pagan historians there were, of a high standard of excellence 5 and pagan poets, whose classical sub- limity and beauty it would be treason to the cause of a polished and elegant literature to question. But their themes are conflict and revolution 5 dei- fied heroes and heroines 5 a base and corrupting mythology 5 the beauties and tranquiUity of pasto- ral life ; or the passion of a shepherd for some beautiful boy. Though many of the pagan poets maintain the first rank of excellence, and abound with imagery that might naturally have found cul- ture and ahment amid the more virtuous and lovely scenes of domestic joy, yet do these scenes seem, even to their poHshed minds, to be almost inter- dicted themes. Before the introduction of Chris- tianity, there was a strong tendency to sacrifice the domestic to a more public life. The citizen of Rome and Athens was distinguished, not for his domestic virtues, but for his literary attainments and his public valor. He employed his life in the field, in the academy, or in the forum, but found little to interest him at home. He lived abroad amid the alluring example of a licentious world ; he threw himself into the current of its seductive temptations 5 but rarely found interest and happi- ness in the society of his children. Home was a word dissevered from all those high and holy asso- ciations, inseparable from it in a Christian family. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 207 He was known rather as a citizen, than as a father, a son, a friend. He had indeed his household gods, his altar and his fireside ; but he had no voice of supplication and praise — no bond of God's eternal covenant sealing blessing to him and to his for a great while to Come. In ancient Rome, under the emperors, it was even considered an advantage to be without children 5 and fathers often renounced them for the estimation and flattery which were showered upon them by those who might be ex- pectants of their inheritance. More than once has an affluent citizen proved too powerful for his ac- cusers, simply because he was childless. And it was no strange occurrence for children as fre- quently to become the accusers, as the advocates of a father, and as ready to destroy, as to protect him against his enemies. A father pleading for his life, while his son stands forth his accuser — what a scene were this in Christian lands ! Nero poisoned his mother *, and Seneca, one of the wisest and best of the heathen philosophers was accessory to the base transaction. Where in all the annals of Christendom, is registered so foul a deed ! Men never sin so obstinately, as when they sin from principle. And even at the present day, it is deemed a reHgious duty in pagan lands, for parents to destroy their children 5 and, as though God had with awful severity inflicted the legem talionis^ in return, for children to destroy their parents. But see how the Scriptures speak of this rela- tion. Mark how they honour and protect it, and 208 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. how they define and enforce its corresponding rights and duties. To the parent they say, " Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." To the child they say, " Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." To the parent they say, " And ye fathers provoke not your your children to wrath, lest they be discouraged." To the child they say, and in language never to be forgotten, " The eye that mocketh at his father, and refuseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." Under the Mosaic law, the man that cursed his parent was surely to he put to death j the men of his city " should stone him with stones, that he die." The whole scope and spirit of the Bible consider the appropriate performance of the rela- tive duties w^hich result from the relation of parent and child as laying the foundation of every private and public virtue. They recoil from the arbitrary power and cruel tyranny of a parent, and from the hardened impiety and obstinate stubbornness of a child. The Spartans venerated age 5 but how much more energetic and authoritative is the Ian guage of the Jewish lawgiver when he says, " Thou shalt rise up before the face of the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God." Have my youthful readers been instructed by ex- ample, by precept, by unsleeping vigilance and un- wearied effort, and by a discipline equitable and SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 209 kind, in habits of virtue 5 have their minds been en- lightened and their wants supphed 5 and are they conscious that it has been the united aim of their parents by their self-denial, their counsels and prayers to render them religious, useful and happy 5 permit me to remind them, they owe this distinc- tion to the Bible. And where is the parent who is surrounded with the tokens of filial piety, and whose heart has been habitually comforted by all that is tender and grateful in the affections, and respectful and dutiful in the deportment of his children, but feels that for all this he is indebted to the same divine source ? There is a beautiful incident in the life of Christ, which illustrates the influence of the gospel upon domestic life. It was among those last sublime and tender exhibitions of his nature which took place upon the cross. For- giveness, love, and resignation had already beamed divinely through the horrors of that scene, and at- tracted the eye of the believer to a picture where otherwise all was so sad and revolting. The Saviour was in his bitterest agony. The guilt of dying men was weighing upon his soul 5 interests incalculably vast were absorbing his attention, and he might well be supposed to have lost sight of those by whom he was surrounded. In such an hour, and amid the depths of his own sorrow, who would wonder had he overlooked the claims of earthly kindred ! But at a little distance stood his mother. Near her, he beheld the youngest and best beloved of his disciples. Those earthly ties were about to 18* 210 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. be sundered, and he would not leave her without a support to her advancing years, nor the young dis- ciple without a guide for his inexperienced youth. " Woman," said he to the first, '^ behold thy son !" To the latter, " Son, behold thy mother ! And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home." The history of pagan nations is an instructive study, though it is little else than a narrative of crime. It teaches us how helpless man is to guide himself in the path of virtue and happiness by his own unaided powers. It teaches us how much we are indebted to the Bible 5 how much of our social advantages we owe to its pure spirit which has breathed over the chaos of nations, and brought order, light, beauty and fruitfulness from the shapeless void. It teaches us to be thankful that " the lines are fallen to us in pleasant places," where the endeared names of husband, wife, parent, child, speak with a tenderness to our hearts which we cannot appreciate, unless we have traced in the history of the past, how little these ties have been valued. No author sets this in a stronger light, than Tacitus in his Annals of the Roman Empire. The hand of that masterly historian must have trembled as he delineated the picture. There you will find a narrative of all that can shock the tenderest sensibilities of our nature j all that man can perpetrate in crime 5 all that the arch enemy can bring up from his dark kingdom to disturb and ruin. Suspicion, massacre, and SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 211 licentiousness — the conspiracy of wives against their husbands, and husbands against their wives — men every where faUing upon their own sword — famihes whose peace is disturbed by violence and ruined by intrigue — children sacrificed by the machinations of a mother — the wife murdering her husband for the purpose of wedding her para- mour — women " practised in the trade of poison- ing" — this is paganism and in the most enlightened age of Rome. But it is not Christianity. Let a man compare the present state of society in Pro- testant countries with the state of society under the dynasty of the Ceesars, and he cannot fail to see what the Bible has done for the social institu- tions. Let him go into the interior of the first and most polished famiUes in Rome, and he will bless God for a supernatural revelation. Let him mark the diflference with which the social relations are regarded by the wisest and most virtuous of pagan moralists, and a well instructed Christian teacher j let him see how in Christian lands, they bear the test of experience, and endure the proof of trials — how the spirit that sustains them grows cold only in death, and is extinguished only in the grave 5 and then let him go into lands unen- lightened by the gospel, and observe how the sweetest charities of life are destroyed by the suspicions of envy, the jealousies of love, the vio- lence of ambition, the thirst for power, and at best decay when the flower of beauty and the graces of youth are gone 5 and he will adore the Father 212 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. of mercies for that blessed Book " more to be de- sired than gold, yea than much fine gold. And yet are there those who would have us be- lieve that the religion of the Bible is a morose and unsocial religion. If to have no sympathy with wickedness is to be unsocial, then is it an unsocial religion j but if to promote all that is kind and virtuous, and pure and true, — if to take pleasure in all that subdues what is malignant and ferocious, what is ambitious and cruel — if to sympathize with all that elevates and transforms the human cha- racter and makes it the ornament of human socie- ty here, and the glory of angelic society hereafter, be social ; then is it truly and in the highest de- gree friendly to social institutions. There cannot be a more gross misconception than that the reli- gion of the Scriptures is an unsocial religion. Every where it inculcates the gentle and kind af- fections. If there be softness, sweetness, cheerful- ness and honour in the intercourse between man and man, to what are they to be attributed, if not to the power of that heaven-born " charity, which suffereth long and is kind, which envieth not, which vaunteth not itself, and is not puffed up ;" which " doth not behave itself unseemly, and seek- eth not her own 5" which " beareth all things, be- lieveth all things, hopeth all things 5" without which we "are become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal!" We see not how an unsocial spirit can spring from such a source. And yet so it is, that the Bible is made to answer for all the SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 213 moroseness and severity in the world, when it is known to enjoin all that is benevolent and cheerful in the social affections. Let every Christian man therefore bear in mind, that the Bible, with won- derful wisdom, adjusts its claims to the relations which men sustain to time as well as eternity 5 to this world, as well as the world to comej and that it is one of the distinguished glories of its religion, that while it lives above the world, and walks with God, instead of retiring from earth and renouncing the intercourse of social life, it carries its disciples into the midst of human society to purify, reform, and elevate it, and there " let their light so shine before men, that they seeing their good works, may glorify their Father which is in heaven." LECTURE VIII. THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE UPON SLAVERY. While treating of the influence of the Bible upon the Social Institutions, there is one subject we cannot pass over in silence, notwithstanding the difficulties attending it. I allude to the rela- tion existing between master and slave. The dif- ficulties are intrinsic, growing out of the subject itself, as well as the enterprise and character of the age. At the present day, and in the present condition of our country, it is a subject of great importance ; and it becomes every one in forming his judgment concerning it, to turn to that sacred book in which we profess to find a guide and in- structor, and submit his opinions to the unerring decisions of the oracles of God. I do not know that I have any personal interest in giving a per- verted, or partial view of this vexed question. In- deed I find it no easy matter to take such a view SLAVERY. 215 of it, as satisfies my own mind. The Bible is the fountain from which we are to draw, not only our religious doctrines, but our rules of duty. "I have always observed," said an able and wise divine, " that when people become better than the Bible, they are very apt to be wrong." We cer- tainly cannot depend upon the reasonings of men, however plausible their arguments, as we may de- pend upon the decisions of God. All our notions of property, all our abstract reasonings upon the rights of man and his natural freedom and equality, all our principles of moral science and in all their varied applications, must be ultimately brought to the infallible standard revealed from heaven. God is our teacher. It is not for man to sit in judg- ment upon any of the truths which he has made known. "God never left his works for man to mend." His wisdom is unerring 5 nor is there any greater presumption than for us to refuse to make the Bible the standard of our duty, and be satisfied with that standard. Have we a written communi- cation from heaven, whose author is a being of universal charity, boundless knowledge, and eter- nal truth ? Then from this source, and this source alone, are we bound to derive our opinions and our instructions on every subject on which it ad- dresses us. Not more truly " would an infidel be labouring in his vocation" in charging errors upon the inspired penmen of this sacred book, than in relying upon his own reason as the ultimate stand- ard of moral duty, and in taking upon himself to 216 SLAVERY. teach the inspired writers, rather than suffer them to teach him. It is an unhappiness that the pub- He mind is in such a state of febrile excitement in relation to slavery, that it is difficult to speak the whole truth in relation to this subject without giving offence. But we may not forget, that this state of feeling has nothing to do with our appli- cation of the great principles of moral duty as revealed from heaven. It decides nothing 5 is variable and fluctuating ; while truth and duty, as God has revealed them, remain the same. Slavery has been defined by Dr. Paley, to be, '' the obligation to labour for the benefit of the master, without the contract, or consent of the servant." This relation has existed in a great variety of forms, and degrees of severity. Very often it has been a condition marked by injustice and cruelty, attended with no adequate remunera- tion for labour, great civil disabilities and personal suffering, great domestic wrongs, and great intel- lectual and moral degradation. And there are instances, as facts show, in which it has existed un- accompanied by any of these evils. These are evils that have been wickedly superinduced by the cruelty and cupidity of men, rather than evils which necessarily and essentially belong to the relation itself Long before the Bible was given to the world, slavery had an extensive prevalence throughout the oriental nations. So far from introducing the evil, it found the earth filled with it, and has silently SLAVERY. 217 and gradually so meliorated the relation between the master and the slave, that in the progress of its principles and spirit, it must ultimately either abolish this relation, or leave it resting upon a basis of the purest benevolence, and the source of mutual advantage. This, we purpose to show is the appropriate influence of the Bible upon slavery. Nor do we design to extend our remarks beyond j this single point. What is the legitimate influence of the Bible upon slavery? This is the only question which falls within the range of appro- priate discussion in these lectures. We cannot take an intelhgent view of this ques- tion, without a glance at the condition of slavery in those countries where the influence of the Bible I has never been enjoyed. The great antiquity of the Assyrian empire, extending beyond the period when letters were invented, leaves the customs of the ancient Assyrians in great obscurity. Five of the Canaanitish tribes were the vassals of Cher- dorlaomer for twelve years, and obtained their li- berty by an open revolt. Abram was an inhabitant of Assyria, and at the time of his recovery of Lot from Cherdorlaomer and his allies, he was the proprietor of several hundred "trained servants, born in his house." From the predatory nature of their wars, it is probable that the condition of slaves in Assyria was not essentially different from the condition of the same class of men in the sur- rounding countries. The manner in which slaves were treated among the Babylonians, the Persians, 19 218 SLAVERY. and other nations of remote antiquity, was such as " excluded them from every privilege of society, and almost every blessing of life." They were de- pendant on the caprice of imperious masters, and were unprotected by the laws. They might be tortured, maimed, or put to death, at the arbitrary will of their masters. In these early ages, in times of great public calamity, men often sold themselves for slaves. While Joseph was the prime minister of Pharaoh, and during the seven years' famine, the people came to him and said, " Buy us and our land for bread 5 and we will be servants unto Pharaoh." Joseph granted their request, and said unto them, " Behold I have bought you this day, and your land, for Pharaoh." Before this time, Egypt was a limited monarchy. The people were free, and had lands independent of the crown. Now they became vassals, feuda- tory tenants, and the government despotic. The condition of slaves in Egypt we know was suffi- ciently abject and degraded. We need no greater evidence of this, than Pharaoh's treatment of the children of Israel, and more especially his cruel order to the midwives. Nor were they enemies, nor the children of enemies, who were subjected to this severe servitude, but the descendants of a family who had been the saviours of Egypt, and the builders up of royal power. Nations whose unmixed ferocity and thirst for revenge were more generally satiated by the indiscriminate butchery of their enemies 5 who denied them even those SLAVERY. 219 common funeral rites, which in the opinion of the times, were necessary to the repose of the soul after death 5 who directed even their captive kings to be taken to prison and slain ; regarded it as a mitigation of the laws of war to substitute slavery for death. Adult males were usually put to the sword, and the women and children captured and enslaved. A distinguished writer on the principles of political law, remarks, " In former times, it was a custom almost universally established, that those who were made prisoners in a just and solemn war, whether they had surrendered themselves, or were taken by main force, became slaves the moment they were conducted into some place dependant on the conqueror. And this right was exercised on all persons whatever, even on those who hap- pened to be in the enemy's country at the time when the war suddenly broke out. The prisoners themselves and their posterity were reduced to the same condition." In some countries, insolvent debtors were sold for slaves. There were periods in the Roman history, when if the debt were not discharged within thirty days after a number of citations, by the direction of the prsetor the pub« lie crier proclaimed in the forum, "Let him be punished with death, or sold beyond the Tiber !" In the institutes of Justinian, slaves are said to be- come such in three ways^ — by birth, where the mother was a slave 5 by captivity in war ; and by the voluntary sale of himself by a freeman. In 220 SLAVERY. Greece, the disproportion between freemen and slaves was nearly in the ratio of ninety to four hundred. This large portion of the population, according to the account given by Mitford, were not only slaves, but nothing could exceed 4he in- sult, the injury, the cruelty, to which they were subjected. The Spartan youth hunted them as wild beasts, for the sake of making themselves ex- pert in the use of arms. " A scanty and disgust- ing dress, and dog-skin cap, distinguished them from all the rest of the inhabitants. Those who were too robust had to be enfeebled by various kinds of ill-treatment; and if the masters did not do this, they became themselves liable to a penalty. Every slave annually received a certain number of stripes to remind him that he was a slave ! Hymns of a nobler kind they were not allowed to sing; but only gay and sensual songs. To complete their degradation, they were sometimes compelled to sing songs in disgrace and ridicule of themselves ; and to the same purpose they were also compelled to perform indecent dances. In order to make the sons of the Spartans loathe the vice of drunk- enness, the slaves were compelled to intoxicate themselves in public assemblies. When they be- came too numerous, they were murdered clandes- tinely 5 every year, at a certain period, the young Spartans, clad in armour, used to hunt them; and to prevent their increase, they were killed with SLAVERY. 221 daggers."* The same author relates an affecting anecdote respecting the slaves of Sparta. When, during the Peloponesian war, the Spartans became apprehensive of the influence of their slaves, they made proclamation that the most meritorious and heroic among them should present themselves be- fore the magistrate for the honour of freemen. In conformity with this invitation, two thousand pre- sented themselves for this honour. The offer, however, was but a lure to detect the most aspir- ing and generous minded of those unhappy beings, and drew out their choicest spirits. Instead of the promised freedom, all were inhumanly slain, in accordance with the atrocious policy of that se- vere and sanguinary state. The slaves of Greece were generally branded like cattle. According to the laws of Lycurgus, they could neither be eman- cipated, nor sold. In Sicily and Italy, they were chained and confined to work in dungeons. Rome was a continual market for slaves, where they were commonly exposed naked. It is computed by the historian, Gibbon, that this class composed one half of the inhabitants of that extensive empire, and could not have been less than sixty millions. As a body of men, they were considered danger- ous to the welfare of the state, and were therefore depressed in every way. They were left entirely at the disposal of their masters, who might treat * The Nature and Moral Influence of Heathenism, by Tho- luck. See Biblical Rep. for 1832. 19* 222 SLAVERY. them in whatever manner they pleased, and who were invested with absolute power and authority over them. The aged, the sick, and the infirm, were carried to an island on the Tiber, where they were suffered to perish. Vedius Apollo, an inti- mate friend of Augustus, fed his fishes with the flesh of his slaves. Nor was this degradation of limited extent. A single individual in Rome had slaves to the amount of four thousand, one hun- dred and sixteen. When the master was murder- ed, and the murderer could not be detected, all his slaves, with their wives and children, were put to death. There was a class of slaves among the the Romans, called the Ostiarii, who were chained like watch-dogs before the houses. The laws of Rome regarded them all simply as property 5 not as persons^ but as things ', and as far as they could do so from the nature of the case itself, hardly distinguished them from brutes. Nor was it until the time of the emperor Adrian, more than a hundred years after the birth of Christ, that masters were divested of the arbitrary power over their slaves which they possessed in the days of the republic and the Csesars. Such was the condition of slavery in pagan lands. Such was essentially its condition when God called Abram from an idolatrous country, to make him the founder of the Hebrew State, Such was its condition when God gave the moral and civil law to Moses on Sinai and in the wilder ness. Such was its condition when Nehemiah SLAVERY. 223 the Hebrew reformer, a man of no common integ- rity and boldness, roused the minds of that de- generate community to a conviction of their viola- ted obligations. Such was its condition when the Saviour descended as the great Teacher of men, and when his Apostles so faithfully and fearlessly published and enforced the great truths and duties of the Christian dispensation. Such was its con- dition during all the progressive revelations which God gave to men down to the period when the sacred canon was completed. Slavery most cer- tainly had existed, and still existed in its worst forms, and with all its most fearful and appalling attendants and consequences. It existed exten- sively among the Jews, even down to the days of the apostles. Tacitus mentions that there were 20,000 slaves in the army of Simon when Vespa- sian was marching against Jerusalem. Here then, in view of these plain and affecting facts, we propose a grave question. How did the Scriptures treat this solemn subject ? What is the course which Moses and the Prophets, Christ and the Apostles pursued in relation to this deeply interesting matter ? It is not difficult to conceive of a course which \ they mighty and in the judgment of some persons, 'ought to have adopted. They might have reason- ed thus. — Slavery is wrong. No man, no set of men have a right to deprive another of his per- sonal liberty. The obligation of service at the discretion of another is void. Without the con- 224 SLAVERY. tract, or consent, or crime of the servant, such an obligation is in all cases, sinful. All men are born equally free and independent, and have the same right to their freedom which they have to property, or life. In all its features, the whole system of slavery is utterly at war with the law of nature and the law of God. Justice and humanity shrink from it. It is unjust in the same sense and for the same reason, as it is to steal, to rob, or to murder. It destroys the lives, depraves the morals, corrupts the purity, and ruins the souls of men. It discourages industry, makes a mock of the marriage vow, shuts out the light of religious truth from more than one half mankind, and reduces them to a degradation below the dignity and responsibility of intellectual and immortal beings. It is an evil therefore, that may not be endured. The owners of slaves must every where be denounced as wicked men. They must be held up as the objects of public censure and obloquy. They are giants in cruelty and crime. They are men- stealers, robbers, pirates, and may no more have a place in the Church of God on the earth, than they can be admitted into the kingdom of heaven. The system of which they are the abettors must be put down. No matter by what revolutions in Church or State 5 no matter by what agitations, or insurrections: it must be put down. It is a sin, and cannot be abolished too soon. Duty is cur's, events are God's. No matter how disas- SLAVERY. 225 trous the consequences of arresting it, it must be arrested, be they what they may ! Such a course as this I say the Bible might have recommended. And why did it not recommend jsuch a course ? It was not from inadvertence, be- ' cause it frequently adverted to the subject. It must have been from design. The evils of slavery were under the eye of the sacred writers, and met them every where. They were wise and good men, and under the plenary inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They were divinely instructed in the best method of fulfilling their great commission, and of carrying the designs of it into execution. The great Author of the Bible exercised his wisdom in this feature of his revelation as well as in every other. Nor can it be doubted by any, except those who would invalidate all confidence in his word, that he has selected the best method of instructing the world upon this important subject. There was in the nature of things, hut one best metliod ,* and that method was not only known to God, but he was under a moral necessity of adopting it. Those who find fault with the instructions of the Bible in relation to slavery, directly arraign the rectitude, goodness, and wisdom of him who does all things after the counsel of his own will. Nor may it be supposed there was any want of sensibility in the sacred writers to the deplorable state of the slave population. Nor did they want firmness and en- ergy of character 5 but were every where bold, determined, and steady to their purpose. They J226 SLAVERY. were never rash, but never fearful of opposing them- selves to the swelling, menacing tide of the corrupt propensities and passions of men, nor hesitated to do all that they could for truth and right, for rehgion and virtue, for order and happiness, and for the protection of the oppressed, however for- midable the opposition they met with, however great the sacrifices, or however imminent the dan- ger. The reason why they did not pursue the course to which we have referred, must have been that it was not the true and right course. It was neither right in itself, nor best for the master or the slave, for the church or the world. What then was the course which the Bible pur- I sued ? In giving this book to mankind, its wise I and benevolent Author undertook the work of a ', great reformer. His object was to benefit the world, and subdue it ultimately to himself, by set- ting in motion a series of moral influences, that were silently to operate for good among the na- tions, and gradually to renew the face of the earth. His plans were vast and magnificent, and would not be accomplished in a day. Nor did he fail to count the cost of the enterprise. If there were evils in human society, he modified and mitigated them, because to have done more, would in the end have been to accomplish less. If there were existing institutions, long and deeply imbedded in the frame of human society, the abuse of which could not but be deplored, he so regulated the in- stitutions themselves as to sever them from their SLAVERY. 227 abuses, while he breathed into all his moral in- structions and government, a spirit that should finally eradicate all evil, and fill the earth with ho- liness and salvation. Nor is there any subject to which these remarks are more applicable than that of slavery. Let us turn our thoughts in the first place, to what may ibe gathered from the Old Testament in rela- 'tion to this subject. In glancing at the early his- tory of the Hebrews, and before the giving of the law to Moses, we have already seen that the fa- thers of that nation, the patriarchs, possessed slaves in great numbers. And yet we do not find that God reproved these holy men for being the propri- etors of slaves. He did not at that time forbid slavery. Though, if he designed to do so at all, it would seem to us to have been the proper time for him to have required Abram to emancipate his slaves, yet he made no such requisition. He had just called him out from the corruptions of a pa- gan empire, for the purpose of founding in his family his visible church, and in them of setting an exam- ple to the world of a society that should be under his own guidance and direction. And yet he did not make it a condition of Abram's adoption into his family that he should give freedom to the ser- vants, that were bought with his money, that were born in his house, or that were given to him by Abimelech. Instead of this, he so far recognizes and sanctions the proprietorship of this patriarch in his servants, that he required every male among 228 SLAVERY. them to be circumcised, and claimed for them all the privileges of the covenant, of which circumcis- ion was the seal.* If we pass from the days of Abraham to those of Moses, we find a moral law revealed from hea- ven, and a code of civil statutes, in both of which the existence of a state of servitude is distinctly recognized, without being forbidden. In the fourth commandment it is written, " The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daugh- ter, nor thy man servant^ nor thy maid servants And in the tenth commandment it is written, " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife, nor his m^an servant^ nor his maid servant^ If from the moral, we turn to the civil code of the Hebrews, we find the following facts. As one of its great and capital principles, it forbids the slave trade, or the seizing of those who are free and seUing them as slaves. "He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." This is the deliberate judgment of the divine mind in relation to every branch of this nefarious traffic. It is an offence punished with death. The original man-stealer and the receiver of the stolen person must lose their life under the Mosaic law. The slave cap- * Gen. 17 : 10—13, and 27. SLATERY. 229 tain and the negro dealer are here admonished of their reward. This code also recognizes the dis- tinction between slaves and hired servants. " It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away from thee j for he hath been worth dou- ble a hired servant unto thee, in serving thee these six years."* So that when this code speaks of servants^ it speaks of them not as hired free- men, but as slaves. The Mosaic law refers to the following ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty. In extreme poverty, he might sell him- self "If thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond servant^ but as a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of the Jubilee."t A father might sell his children. " If a man sell his daughter to be a maid servant, she shall not go out as the men servants do."J Insol- vent debtors became the slaves of their creditors. " My husband is dead, and the creditor is come to take my two sons to be bondmen."|| A thief, if he had not the money to pay the fine exacted from him by the law, was by the sentence of the judge to be sold for the benefit of him whom he had robbed. " If a thief be found, he shall make full restitution ; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft."§ As the Hebrews were liable *Deut. 15: 18. and Lev. 25: 39, 40. fLev. 25: 39. X Exod. 21 : 7. I| II Kings, 4:1. § Exod. 22 : 3. 20 230 SLAVERY. to be taken prisoners of war, and sold for slaves, so a Hebrew slave who had been ransomed from a gentile, might be sold by him who ransomed him to one of his own nation, and the price of his re- demption was "reckoned from the year that he was sold, unto the year of jubilee."* The Hebrews were also allowed to hold slaves whom they pur- chased from the surrounding nations, who should be " their possession, and an inheritance for their children after them."t All the prisoners of war also that were taken by the Hebrews, were slaves. "When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make an answer of peace, — that all the people that shall be found therein shall be tributaries unto thee and shall serve thee. But if it make war against thee, then thou shalt beseige it, and shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword, but the women and the little ones shalt thou take unto thyself."J In these seven ways, slavery might originate among the Hebrews. And it is worthy to be distinctly re- marked, that with the exception of those slaves that were purchased from surrounding nations, and those who were taken in war, it was a state of ser- vitude originating with the consent of the servant, or growing out of ids fault. It was also a servi- *Lev. 25: 50. fLev. 25: 45. :j:Deut. 20: 14. and Numbers, 31 : 18—35. SLAVERY. 231 tude greatly modified by very many important mitigations. Every where the Jewish law is most scrupulously protective of the person of the slave, while it allows for the master's peculiar relation, on the ground that the servant is " his money." While it recognizes the right of the master to the possession of the servant, it recognizes no rights that are inconsistent with the high nature of his being, but is itself the guardian of every right, founded on his obligations as a moral and respon- sible agent, to God or his fellow men. As in the patriarchal, so it was in the Mosaic age : the slave passed under the bonds of God's covenant, was consecrated by his master to God, and was educa- ted in his fear. The law guarded his person from severity, in some cases by the death of the master, and in others by his own immediate freedom. He enjoyed all religious rites and privileges, not ex- cepting the sabbath, the year of jubilee, the an- nual festivals, the new moons, the day of atone- ment, and other seasons of appointed rest. He had a sure and certain support, and was entitled to all affection and kindness. Every where God ad- monished the Hebrews against treating their slaves as they themselves had been treated in Egypt, and as slaves were generally treated in surrounding countries. In addition to this, let it be borne in I mind, that no Hebrew^ could by the laws of Moses, Ibe a slave for a longer term than six years, unless •by intermarrying with his master's servants, or for ^ other causes, he chose to remain in servitude ; and 232 SLAVERY. I at the end of the six years, he was to be sent out I liberally furnished. A female Hebrew servant also, I frequently became the wife of her master, or the ■ wife of his son ; and in that event was entitled to I all the privileges of honourable matrimony, or a I lawful daughter. I cannot help thinking, that the \ system of servitude under the laws of Moses, so , far as it regarded slaves who were themselves He- brews, was not unlike the system of apprentice- ship in Great Britian, and in this country, where ;a child is bound out for a term of years, and at the end of that period the parent receives a stipu- lated compensation for his services. The two most revolting features of slavery among this people are recorded in the following paragraphs. " If a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall surely be punished;" and the punishment was death. "Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his money." The reason of this law I suppose to be this. If the servant survived a number of days, it could not be so clearly proved that the punish- ment occasioned his death, as to justify the death of the master. It might rather be charitably pre- sumed, that he died from some other cause. There would not be conclusive evidence of delibe- rate malice. The pecuniary interest which the master had in his servant was a presumption in his favour, and the law would not condemn unless on the strongest testimony. And was not this SLAVERY. 233 right 5 and are not, ought not all penal laws to be construed as favourably as possible to the accused ? The other paragraph is this. " Of thy bond-men and thy bond-maids which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you. Of them shall ye buy bond-men and bond-maids. Moreover, of the children of the strangers, that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they beget in your land : and they shall be your possession. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a posses- sion ; they shall be your bond-men forever." It seems difficult to deny that this feature of slavery existed among the Jews until the final destruction of their city. The language of the passage is that of injunction, but it implies nothing more than that the Hebrews were permitted to procure slaves of the surrounding nations, and hold them in perpetual bondage. No considerate man sup- poses that they were required to do this, and that the Hebrew who neglected to do it was living in sin. We have two remarks to submit in relation to this general permission. The first is, that the kind of servitude to which foreign slaves were subjected was in all respects the same with the servitude of the Hebrews themselves, except that it was perpetual. They were protected by the laws 5 were circumcised, and introduced to all the blessings and promises of God's peculiar people. But there is another remark. The condition of 20* 234 SLAVERY. the Hebrews was a peculiar condition. The na- tions with which they were surrounded, were nations whom for their total apostacy from the worship of the true God, their degraded idolatry, their unnatural cruelty and pollution, the Hebrews were required to exterminate. There was one condition on which they were relieved from the execution of this decree. It was that the Canaan- ites submitted to their invaders, renounced their idolatry, and became Hebrews. Their conquerors were the ministers of the divine justice, command- ed to execute this sentence, and to relax its rigour BO far as their enemies submitted to their go- vernment and their rehgion. The right to des- troy carried with it the right to enslave 5 while the slaves purchased their lives by the voluntary surrender of their liberty. I cannot think that I have set the slavery of the \ Hebrews in too fair colours. I have not designed to do so. Most certainly, it was a very different thing from what it was in the surrounding nations. Look at the contrast, and see the influence of the Bible upon slavery, even at that early age of the world. Slavery there was among the Hebrews, but few of its evils. The eiUire dispensation of the Jews made at once a bold and decided inva- sion upon its abuses and eradicated them. And yet it is a fact equally clear, that it left the relation between master and servant untouched, and in- stead of denouncing slavery as a crime, is offended only with its abuses. t- SLAVERY. ' 235 Such was the meUoration which the Bible intro- duced in regard to this large class of our fellow- beings, for whom it so kindly and wisely legislated under the old dispensation and down to the coming of Christ. And nothing is more obvious than that, while it exerted the happiest influence upon this relation of social life, it did not overturn and de- stroy it. The same essential principles of reform, and no others, we find every where developed in i the New Testament. Employed exclusively in propagating the doctrines of their Divine Master, his apostles no where opened a crusade upon the despotism of the government under which they lived, or upon the institutions sanctioned by its laws. Melioration in civil affairs they left to be gradually brought about by the silent operation of those divine principles which purify the heart; which have in their progress banished such an amount of sin, tyranny, and slavery from the world ; and which are destined, in the same heaven-like way, to complete their work. In all the mutual intercourse of men, the great maxim which they enforce is one and unchanging : " Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them ; for this is the law and the prophets." This spirit runs through the whole of the New Testament, and addresses itself equally to the master and the slave. One cannot but observe with admiration, the high-born wisdom, the meekness and gentleness with which the apostles conducted this discussion. The re- 236 SLAVERY. I ligion they taught is a religion of love- It breathes peace on earth and good will to men. What in- congruity with such a spirit to have excommuni- cated every slaveholder ! or to have made immedi- ate emancipation the condition of church member- ship ! What incongruity with such a spirit to have excited revolt among the Christian slaves, or to have disseminated notions which must have revo- lutionized the principles of social order, and broke down all the distinctions of rank and condition ? They did nothing of all this. They were taught from above, and their wisdom and meekness gave efficacy to their ministrations. They had access to the slave population of the Roman empire ; they penetrated " Caesar's household ;" they urged the cause of their Master in the palaces of kings, and carried the hearts of masters and slaves by gaining their impartial attention, and expressing the gen- tleness of Christ. I have been not a little affected with their in- structions to both these classes of men. Mark their delicacy, and at the same time their tender- ness and sympathy when they address the poor slave — just weak enough to begin to think he is an emperor, because by the grace of God he has be- ( come a Christian. " Art thou called being a ser- vant ? Care not for it. But if thou may est be I free, use it rather. For he that is called in the I Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman. Let j every man abide in the same calling wherein he is I called !" How wise ! how kind ! How different SLAVERY. 237 |( from some modern reformers ! I seem to see the great apostle laying his paternal hand upon the head of the poor slave, and hear him say, Care not for your slavery. You are the Lord's freeman. Stay where you are. You shall have a throne here- after. And that your master may share it with you, let him see your spirit of love and meekness. " Be obedient to your masters, according to the flesh, with good will doing service as unto the Lord, and not unto men. Account your masters worthy of all honour that the name of God be not blasphemed !" If you have Christian masters, de- mean not yourselves superciliously on this account, but rather more affectionately and dutifully 5 " de- spise them not because they are brethren, but ra- ther do them service because they are faithful and beloved !" Nor is it to the slave only that they ad- dress their counsels. While they neither excom- municate, nor even rebuke the master, simply be- cause he is a master, they do not withhold their rebuke of all his oppression and injustice — nay they thunder forth their anathemas against the degra- dation, the ignorance, the misery, the wickedness, and every violation of the personal and domestic rights to which he subjects his slaves, and solemnly remind him of the fearfulness of that day when God shall call him to account. They admonish him not to be unmindful of the obligations to his slaves on his part. They say to him, "• Masters, give unto your slaves that which is just and equal. Do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening 5 238 SLAVERY. knowing that your Master also is in heaven, neither is there any respect of persons with him !" They say to him, You are responsible, as well as your slaves *, and as you would enjoy the favour of your Judge, honour his religion, and find mercy at that day, be ye merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful. Your slaves are not things^ but per- sons j they are not brutes, but fne7i j they are not your creatures, but God^s j they are not your pro- perty, but his who " made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, if haply they might feel after him and find him." Thus do the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament treat the subject of slavery. They sanction no other slavery than this. The exclu- sive title of man over a fellow worm, who belongs not to him, but to God 5 the assertion of any hu- man will as supreme over a fellow-creature, when there is no supreme will in heaven or on earth, but the divine will 5 the lording it over the conscience of the slave, when God alone is Lord of the con- science 5 this they rebuke and indignantly con- demn. Whatever servitude denies the slave the rights of his moral nature, annihilates his capacity of improvement, crushes intellect that would other- wise brighten and expand, subdues affections that would otherwise be elevated to the spirit of hea- ven, shuts out the light of truth, and binds body and soul in the chains of ignorance and death 5 they denounce as one of the things which the Lord hateth. But a slavery that is dissevered SLAVERY. 239 from all these evils, and dissociated from the abuses to which it is so exposed from the corrupt propen- sities and selfish passions of men, it no where, to my knowledge, forbids. Such a slavery, for ex- ample, as Onesimus sustained to Philemon, a state of Christian servitude, a state in which the master and the slave were required to conduct themselves as brethren and heirs of the common faith and salvation, Paul certainly did not forbid., when he restored this fugitive slave to his master. So far from justifying him for absconding, he required him to go back, at the same time furnishing him with a letter of introduction to his master, entreat- ing him to overlook his fault, and regard him as a penitent and faithful servant, and "brother be- loved.^' I hold myself ready to revise these views, when- ever I see evidence from the Bible that they are not true. Nothing is more plain to my mind, than that the word of God recognizes the relation be- tween master and slave as one of the established institutions of the age 5 and that while it addresses slaves as Christian men, and Christian men as slaveholders, it so modifies the whole system of slavery, as to give a death blow to all its abuses, and breathes such a spirit, that in the same pro- portion in which its principles and spirit are im- bibed, the yoke of bondage will melt away, all its abuses cease, and every form of human oppression will be unknown. The Bible is no agitator. It gradually meliorates what it cannot suddenly re- 240 SLAVERY. move. Instead of carrying fire and sword through- out the world without the least prospect of advaii- t tage, it aims at making men holy and fitting them ' for heaven. It changes human governments only as ;' it changes the human character ; and thus produces all those alterations which commend themselves to I a mind enlightened by the truth and spirit of God. It aims at transforming the world 5 but it is by transforming the dispositions and hearts of men, and diffusing throughout all the social institutions, the supreme love of God, and the impartial love of man. Let us now take a brief view of the practical effect of these general principles, as they have actually been applied by several Christian States. European civilization may be said to have com- menced from the fall of the Roman empire. To say nothing of antecedent periods, from this time, the Bible, though often in the hands of a corrupted hierarchy, has been exerting a powerful influence on all the social institutions. Barbarism gradually subsided into feudalism, and feudalism gave way to the various modifications of civil Hberty. Slavery was among the last of the evils, so imbedded in the constitution of human society, to which the Bible extended its influence. "Mr. Barrington, who has given a very strong picture of the degra- dation and oppression of the tenants under the English tenure of pure villenage, is of opinion that feudal servitude existed in England so late as the SLAVERY. 241 reign of Elizabeth."* But the personal servitude which grew out of the abuses of the feudal system, was a much milder form of slavery than that which existed among the ancients. " No person in Eng- land was a villain in the eye of the law, except in relation to his master. To all other persons he was a freeman, and as against them he had rights of property 5 and his master for excessive injuries committed upon the vassal was answerable at the kings suit."t The importation of negro slaves into the Spanish colonies had commenced as early as 1501 5 and in 1517, the emperor Charles V. granted a patent to certain persons to supply the Spanish islands with slaves from Africa. But this enters- prise was opposed with great spirit and vigour by some of the Christians of Spain, who had great influence in mitigating slavery in the colonies. The first Englishman who introduced the practise of buying, or kidnapping negroes in Africa, and transporting and selling them for slaves in the West Indies, was Sir John Hawkins, an English admiral born at Plymouth, and who signalized himself under Elizabeth, especially against the in- vincible armada. It is matter for lamentation that having signalized himself in so good a cause, he should have become signal in a cause which loads his name with everlasting reproach. This was in the year 1562. From that time to the * Kent's Commentaries, Vol. II. f Ibid, 21 242 SLAVERY. year 1808, the British West Indies became the great receptacle of these unhappy beings. "In 1620, a Dutch vessel carried a cargo of slaves from Africa to Virginia 5 and this was the sad epoch of the introduction of African slaves into the English colonies on this continent. The Dutch records of New Netherlands allude to the existence of slaves in their settlements on the Hudson, as early as 1626 5 and slavery is men- tioned in the Massachusetts laws, between 1630 and 1641."* Thus, for well nigh three successive centuries, the negro race remained almost without an advo- cate — crushed, broken, and deserted, and the ob- jects of a cupidity which it would seem nothing could satiate. England, deeply stained with the guilt of this foul traffic, at length stands foremost for the relief and elevation of the African race, unless we except the government and people of Massachusetts, who, in 1645-'46, so boldly pro- tested against the introduction of African slaves into the colony as a heinous crime.f At the com- mencement of that distinguished era which was introduced about half a century ago, when the missionary spirit began to agitate the Christian world 5 when the judgments of heaven began to * Kent's Commentaries. ■\ Winthrop's and Bancroft's Histories, as referred to by Chan- cellor Kent slaverv. 243 descend on the nations which had "given their power and strength to the beast 5" when the cause of evangehcal truth was revived, and the spirit of God began to descend in that series of revivals of rehgion which has not ceased to the present hour 5 a movement was begun in Britain, by which Chris- tianity and civihzation were conveyed to long-ne- glected and abused Africa. Clarkson, Sharpe, Wilberforce, Thornton and Gregorie, became the undaunted and unwearied advocates for the aboli- tion of the slave trade throughout the civilized world, and the inquiry was every where agitated, whether it were not practicable to wipe away this deep stain from Christian lands. About the same time, the estabhshment of the colony of Sierra- Leone, and the fearful revolution in St. Domingo, gave additional impulse to the enterprise, and awakened the hope that the day of Africa's deli- verance was near. " God Almighty has set before me," said Wilberforce, " two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade, and the reformation of manners." After some few unsuccessful strug- gles, the celebrated Mr. Pitt was enhsted in this cause, and Mr. Fox concluded the last speech he ever made in parliament with the immortal resolu- tion for the abolition of the slave trade.* In the mean time, such men as Sir Samuel Romily and Sir James Mcintosh, aided by venerable prelates. * See Croly's Life of George IV. 244 SLAVERY. threw the vigour of their minds and the ardour of their hearts into the benevolent struggle, and Edmund Burke had exclaimed, "-This is not a traffic in the labour of man, but in the man him- self!" In March, 1807, the bill for abolition was passed. After the general peace in Europe, in 1814, the subject was again brought before parlia- ment for the purpose of securing the co-operation of the other Christian powers in the suppression of this nefarious traffic. In 1823, the house of commons unanimously adopted a series of resolu- tio'!! with the ultimate view of emancipating all slaves within the British dominions. The parlia- ment of Great Britain had peculiar facilities for doing this. It had unlimited power. The slaves were not a constituent part of their own popula- tion, but in remote and feeble islands, having no voice in the government at home, and whom a few ships of the line could awe into obedience. In 1826, the same resolutions were adopted unani- mously by the house of lords. A little before this, Mr. Buxton and Mr. Canning had introduced the resolutions for the more lenient treatment of the slaves, especially as regards religious instruction and their social condition. And, in 1833, a more decisive course of action was adopted 5 and the memorable bill passed, which, at an expense of £ 20,000,000, as an equitable consideration to the planters for the slaves, resolved on the entire abo- lition of slavery throughout the British colonies. But, as we have already seen, Great Britain, in SLAVERY. 245 opposition to repeated expostulation and strong remonstrance from such men as Franklin, Adams, and Hancock, had extended the evils of slavery, and diffused this malignant plague throughout lands to which the omnipotence of her parliament could no longer be extended. Though long since abolished in New England, slavery was introduced into that country soon after its settlement. But it was in a form modified and mitigated by the spirit and principles of the Bible. While the cupidity of New England had done much to replenish the slave market of the south, the institutions of the Mosaic law were professedly the model of her own slavery. It was early enacted in the Massachu- sets colony, that " all slaves shall have the liberties and Christian usage which the law of God esta- blished in Israel concerning such persons, doth morally require." The law in the state of Con- necticut is thus expressed by Judge Reeve, in his law of baron and femme. '' Slavery here was very far from being of the absolute and rigid kind. The master had no control over the life of his slave. If he killed him, he was liable to the same punishment as if he killed a freeman. He was as liable to be sued by the slave in an action for beat- ing, or w'ounding, or for immoderate chastisement, as he would be if he had thus treated an appren- tice. A slave was capable of holding property in character of a devisee, or legatee. If the master should take away such property, his slave would be entitled to an action against him. Slaves had 21* 246 SLAVERY. the same right of hfe and property as apprentices 5 and the difFerence between them was this, — an apprentice is a servant for a time, and a slave is a servant for hfe." And where the Bible has begun to exert this in- fluence, it does more. It gradually remedies the evil, and wears it away. It did in Massachusetts, and slavery was abolished by their constitution. It did in Connecticut, and statutes were passed in 1783 and 1797, which have in their gentle and gradual operation, totally extinguished slavery in that State. It did in New Jersey by an act of the legislature in 1784. It did in Pennsylvania, by a similar act in 1780. In New York, for a long series of years, the Bible appears to have exerted little influence in mitigating the condition of the slave. "The master and mistress were authorized to punish their slaves at discretion, not extending to life or limb, and each town was authorized to ap- point a common whipper for their slaves, to whom a salary was to be allowed. In the year 1740, it was observed by the legislature, that all due en- couragement ought to be given to the direct im- portation of slaves, and all smuggling of slaves con- demned, as an eminent discouragement to the fair trader !" The criminal code against them was fearfully severe. When capitally impeached, they were often tried out of the ordinary course of jus- tice, and denied the rights and privileges of free subjects under like accusations. They were con- victed on suspicion and on testimony that would SLAVERY. 247 have been rejected by any court where a white man was the accused person. In 1741 on the dis- covery of what was called the "negro plot," thirteen were adjudged to the stake in our own city.* The last execution of this kind was witnessed at Pough- keepsie shortly before the commencement of the revolutionary vvar.f But this severity could not long be sustained in a Christian land. In process of time the penal code against slaves was meliora- ted 5 facihties were multiplied for the manumission of slaves 5 and the importation of slaves was at length prohibited. Laws were enacted also to teach the slaves to read, and a system com- menced for the gradual abolition of slavery. Till at length, by the act of the 31st. of March, 1817, it was declared that every subject of the State, from and after the 4th day of July, 1827, shall be free. And now tell me, where except in Christian lands, can any such history of slavery be found as this ? Is it not true that the Bible has silently and gradually so meliorated the relation between the master and the slave, that in the progress of its principles and spirit, it must ultimately either abolish this relation, or leave it on a basis of the purest benevolence ! \ I am pained to say, that slavery in no very miti- ' gated form still exists in these United States. * Smith's History of New York. ■{• Kent's Commentaries. 248 SLAVERY. I There are Christian masters to whom the evils land abuses of slavery are unknown. Nor are 'they few. And yet there are abuses in this system which it is high time were eradicated. I speak not now of those physical evils to which these our suffering fellow men are subjected, but of the do- mestic wrongs, the intellectual ignorance, and jmoral debasement to which they are doomed. The slave population of the south are by law forbidden to read 5 they may not unlock the treasures of human and divine knowledge. This cannot be right. This must be an offence in the sight of . Libran 1 1012 01247 9871 Date Due M 11 '38 f " ^