.H49 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DDDDSDE4S7E -. "^ .^^' . ^-..9^' ^ ^^^^^. ,0* .'j^;^- ♦' "*^^ ■ " -.**' • •^^ r*- A , ^-t •*A0* UNION AND SLAVERY. thanksctIYInCt sermon, DELIVERED IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Clarksville, Tennessee, Not ember 28t!i, 1S50. BY J. T. HENDRICK, PASTOR PRINTED BY C. O. FAXON CLARKSVILLE, TZNTNESSKE 1851 — -n^^ iQ ^^' Clarestillk, Nov. 29, 1850. Rev. J. T. Hexdrick, Dear Sir: — Being delighted with your sermon on Thanksgiving Day, and the highly patriotic sentiments so eloquently advanced and en- forced, we beg leave to ask the favor of you to furnish a copy of it for publication, at as earl> a day as may be convenient to you. We remain, verv respectfully, your ob't serv'ts, JAMES B. REYNOLDS, J. G. HORNBERGER, h O. SHACKELFORD, A. ROBB, E. HOWARD, W. B. MUNFORD. J. H. PRITCHETT, S. SIMPSON, W. P. HUME, WELLS FOWLER, W. F. FALL, J. E. FRANKLIN, L. P. ROBERTS, JOHN McKEAGE. Clarksville, Nov. 29, 1850. Hon. J. B. Reynolds^ J. G. Hornbergery J. O. Shackelford, A. Robb, and others: Gentlemen:— 111 compliance with your polite note, I herewith submit to you for publication the sermon delivered yesterday, hoping you may find it at least scriptural and conservative. I am, with great respect, yours &c , J; T. HENDRICK. A THANKSGIVING SERMON, Psalm xcvii, i. "TAe Lord reignetli, let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles he glad thereof ^ All holy beings in the universe rejoice in the reign of God. J heard a great voice in heaven of much people, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. That which causes joy and praise throughout all the ranks of hoi} beings in heaven, should be a source of joy to all the inhabitants of the earth. This would, doubtless, be the case but for the entrance of sin into our world. But, sad as the reflection may be, the reign of God is not a source of gratitude to all the inhabitants of the earth, it is the christian alone who rejoices in the divine administration. The great mass of mankind look upon the government of God as stern, severe, and arbitrary, and would rather rejoice to be cei- tain that no God had to do with the affairs of men, that no omniscient eye watched over them, that God could be banished from the throne of the universe, and they permit- ted to follow their own -devices without any reference to the judgment seat of Christ. We rejoice that the Governor of our State, in common with the Governors of several other States, has recognized the government of God, and issued a proclamation for a day of Thanksgiving throughout this commonwealth. In compliance with this recommendation, and in accor- dance with our most excellent and venerable standards, we observe this day, as a day of thanksgiving. It has ever been a most prominent and leading trait in the char- acter and history of the Presbyterian Church, that it has been a law-abiding church. Hence, in our Directory for public worship, written more than two hundred years ago, we say, "If at any time the civil power should think ii proper to appoint a fast or thanksgiving, it is the duty of tiie ministers and people of our communion, as we live under a christian government, to pay all due respect to the same. Public notice is to be given a convenient time be- fore the day of thanksgiving comes, that persons may order their temporal affairs, that they may properly attend to the duties thereof. On days of thanksgiving the minister is to give information respecting the authority and providen- ces which call to the observance of them, and to spend a more than usual part of the tmie in the giving of thanks, agreeably to the occasion, and in singing psalms or hymns of praise." Chapt. 14. In complying with this injunction of the civil and eccle- siastical laws, we shall endeavor to lead your minds to the contemplation of some facts in the providence of God to- wards our beloved nation, that are of a most striking and interesting character. 1. The text states fully the great truth that God reigns. Reason and the light of nature confirm the truth, that none but the omnipotent God could reign over such a world successfully. God reigns in the natural and moral worlds, he reigns in the legislative, judicial, and executive depart- ments of all nations. "The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver (or statute maker,) the Lord is our king, he will save us." Is. 33, 22. The laws of ihe natural world are perfect, and infallible in their operations. The regularity and uniformity of the laws of nature are such, that the astronomer makes his calculations with unerring certainty everi hundreds of vears before hand. 'I'he most erratic and apparently un- certain of all things in the world are the comets, these wayward and astounding visitors of our system, yet such is the regularity of their movements, that lialley, and others have predicted to the day their return. Relying upon the invariable course of nature have all the discoveries of natural science been made. God has established certain great laws in the natural world by which he rules and con- trols all nature, and the wisest men are those who have stu- died and found out the character and true operation of these laws. The violater of the laws of nature will most cer- tainly be punished, while those who obey them shall be blessed. It is in the regular operation of these laws that God has said "While the earth remaineth seed time and harvest, cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night, shall not cease." Gen. 8, 22. It is as he reigns by the operation of these laws, that he gives us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. If this year has been fruitful, and God has given abundance, we are in duty bound to give him the gratitude of our hearts, and render thanks for all his benefits. He could easily have suspended the laws of nature and have withheld from us all the bounties of his providence. It is because we are so accustomed to re- ceive his blessings, that we often fail to appreciate them. Like the Israelites in the wilderness when the manna fell around their camps every day for forty years, we come to look upon these blessings as a matter of course, and not as the special gift of his omnipotent hand. "We condemn the Hebrews when we read of their ingratitude, and yet imi- tate their example. When the manna first fell around them, and they saw abundance of food on the face of the desert, gratitude heaved in every bosom, and the bounty of God was acknowledged by all. How short a time elapsed till this gratitude was turned into apathy and indif- ference, and they began to look upon the manna in much the same light as we look upon the dews of the evening, or crops in the harvest, as something regular and custo- mary, the denial of which might justify complaint, but the bestowal of which was not reckoned as fitted to call forth thankfulness. Because the water flowed with them through all their journey, so that the heat of a burning sun could not exhale it, nor the thirsting sand of the desert drink it up, just because it continued all the time as fresh, and as cool, as when it leapt from its parent rock, the Israelites came to regard it with as little wonder as we do 1. 6 the stream which may pass our dwelling. The pillar of cloud hung continually before them, so that the rays of a meridian sun could not dissipate it, nor the winds of heaven drive it away; and they came at last to be no more grateful for it than we usually are for the light of the sun returning every morning. Just because this pillar of cloud was kindled into a pillar of fire every night they became as familiar with it as v/e are Vv'ilh the stars that God lights up in the firmament. The younger portion of the people, born in the desert, and long accustomed to these wonders, may have come to look upon them as altogether natural, and would no more be surprised at the sight of the fiery pillar, casting its lurid glare upon the sands, than we are with the meteor that flashes across the evening sky. Does it not appear that the very frequency of the gift, and the regularity of its coming would lead mankind to forget the giver? It is as if a gift were left every morning at our door, and we at length were to imagine that it came alone without being sent. It is as if the widow, whose barrel of meal and cruse of oil were blessed by the prophet, had come at length to imagine that there was nothing supernat- ural in the transaction, just because the barrel of meal did not waste, and the cruse of oil did not fail." Will any contend that our daily food is less the gift of God because it is not sent at random, but in appointed ways and at certain seasons, that we may be prepared to receive it? Have not all the rich blessing for v»'hich we are called upon to-day to give thanks been bestowed by the same liberal and bountiful hand that fed Israel in the wilderness, and have we not become as insensible to the divine good- ness as ever they were? V\'as the water of which Israel drank less beneficent because it followed them all the way through the wildernsss? No one will affirm that it was; and yet there are persons who feel as it they did not re- quire to be grateful for the water of which they drink, because it comes to them from the clouds of heaven, and the fountains that gush from the earth. Brethren, we act most unreasonably and ungratefully when we fail to recog- riize the hand of God in all our common daily mercies. The intimate connection of God with all the works of hia hand around us, is a first great christian truth, the direct control of all the laws of the physical world by his infinite wisdom and unbounded goodness, is the true foundation of our confidence in him as the king of the universe, and the ground of rejoicing to all saints and angels. The moral government of God is equally wise, good, and certain in its operations. The moral laws of God are the transcript of his own mind and character, and there- fore perfect. Whether we contemplate God in his abso- lute government of the moral world, or Christ in his mediatorial reign, as head over all things for the Church, or in his providential dispensation, the same attributes of the divine character are manifest. The natural, the moral, and spiritual reign of God display a most glorious and perfect being, possessed alike of every possible perfection. While this is true, "one of the most lamentable proofs of the blindness of the human mind spiritually, in an eminently learned and great man is found in Humboldt, whose mind stored with physical knowledge and human learning, should sweep through the visible universe, as on eagle's wings, without discovering a God, or, at least, without expressing any admiration of his perfections." Too many in this day would supplant God by deifying the laws ofiia- ture. While the Geologist and the AstrDnomer would vainly substitute general laws, these methods of divine conduct, for God himself, the true believer would recognize that wherever general laws can be discovered, a great law- giver must also exist, and these general laws are but the ways in which he governs the world whether of matter or mind. The laws of God are perfect in their precepts, extending to all the affections of the heart, and while they teach every duly, they equally condemn every sin. The divine laws are likewise perfect in their penalties, self- operating, and will follow the violator wherever he may go, and thus are infallible in their operation. They are also universal and impartial, extending alike to all moral 8 agents in the universe. The same law, saying, <*Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," that is, love God to the full extent of thy powers or capacity, is binding upon Gabriel, and every angel in heaven, and passes on down from angels to men in all places, limes, and circumstances, and from men to devils in hell, and will ever continue to bind them to the throne of God and to demand of them perfect obedience. In the government of God, human agencies, or civil governments are included, as second causes by which he carries out his purposes, and accomplishes his will. So that God does reign in the legislative, judicial, and execu- tive departments of civil government in such a sense as to accomplish his own will. It is to his overruling hand, swaying the destinies of nations, that we ascribe the exis- tence of our union. He declares with emphasis, "By me Kings reign and princes decree justice.'^ "Blessed be God, for wisdom and might are his, and he changeth the times, and the seasons; he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings, he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. The most high ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, and say to him what doest thou." The same truth is clearly manifest from many facts recorded in scripture. He allowed the people to choose Saul King, he then took the kingdom from Saul, because of his wickedness, and gave it to David. He raised up Absalom to rebel against David, and to divide the kingdom. He defeated the coun- sel of Ahethophel that most renowned of all the counsellors of antiquity. And the same God, we trust, will likewise defeat the counsel of all these Southern Ahethophels now consul- ting for the division of our Union, and preserve us as he did David and his kingdom, from the headlong counsels and rashness of the Southern Disunionist, and from the fanatical and ruinous measures of the Northern Abolition- 9 ists, and those who refuse to submit to the Fugitive Slave Law, so just in itself, and so well calculated to restore harmony and tranquillity to our divided and distracted country. II. The general principles of the government of God, as above named, have been most strikingly illustrated in the establishment and history of our own Republic. The special providence of God has been manifest toward our nation from the first day that the Pilgrims landed at Ply- mouth, 1620, till the present moment. What was it that caused England, Scotland, France and Holland to send out the noble colonies that first peopled this goodly land? The spirit of God stirred up the true principles of civil and religious liberty in the hearts of our fathers. The persecutions of the old world, like the persecution that arose after the death of Stephen to scatter the early dis- ciples out to preach the gospel in all the Roman privinces, drove our ancestors to seek an asylum of liberty in the new world. Who was it that sifted all the nations of the old world to select the choice seed to plant this new virgin soil, but the God of goodness and of grace? Who was it that brought the Puritans to setUe New England, the Dutch to settle the Middle States, New York and Pennsylvania, and the noble Huguenots from France to settle the more southern colonies, but the God of Abraham, of Paul, the God of the U'aldenses, the pious witnesses of the dark ages, and the God of Luther, ]\Ielancthon and Calvin, the God who stirred up the hearts of the Reformers of the sixteenth century, the same God who led Luther to find a Latin Bible to open his heart, and warm his soul with life divine, at the very same time that he led Columbus to discover America, the new world, where the true Protest- antism, that the word of God caused to spring up in Luther's heart, should have its full development, and dis- play all its great, elevating influences, to elighten and save the world? He, who has ages and centuries in which to work, is always accomplishing the most magnificent and glorious purposes for the honor of his son, and the good of 10 his people. The colonies who first settled in America were holy, pious, praying, bible loving men, the son had made them free, and they would be free indeed. They came not to these wild woods for gain, they came not for glory, but under higher, nobler, and purer influences, it was for "freedom to worhip God," it was that each man might bow down under his own vine and fig-tree, and wor- ship the God of the Bible, without one to hurt or make him afraid. In the beautiful verses of Mrs. Hemans, "What sought they thus afar' Bright jewels of the mind'? The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? Tliey sought a faith's pure shrine! Ay, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod, They have left unstained what there they found, Freedom to icorskip God!'' The same kind providence that guided the Mayflower over the stormy sea, guided our ship of state through the stormy day of the revolution, and led us on to victory under our illustrious Joshua, George Washington, the patriot, ihe christian, the noble man of nature and of grace, the glory of whose name will continue to brighten, and the splendor of whose achievements will continue to increase as long as the sun and the moon endure. Brethren, we are beloved for the Father's sake ; the prayers of the noble men who established this govern- ment have not yet all been exhausted; many prayers put up for this nation and this Union, by the pious pilgrims, and the Huguonots, saints who had power with God, are still before the throne of God, calling for vengeance upon the profane soul who should dare to raise his hand or tongue against this Union. This nation cannot be dissolved — it was sealed with blood, it was steeped in the prayers of God-fearing patriots. God says, "Destroy it not for a blessing is in it," "she is beloved for the father's sake." God does not work in vain, nor call his children to labor 11 for naught; he established this nation fot some great and glorious purpose, and by the labours, prayers, the tears, and blood of noble men. Think you that he will allow it to be destroyed by the folly of fanatics, and misguided men? Never shall the nations hear of such a thing. The same storm raged at the formation of the federal constitu- tion, and the same fate was feared, but he guided us safely through, by the same spirit of compromise manifested by the noble "committee of thirteen" in the last Congress. He has all hearts in his hands, and he seems to have led that patriotic committee to the most suitable and sate conclusions. This he will ever do in times of great emer- gencies. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity'^ is a proverb as manifest in the history of our country as in the providence of God over his church. The Lord reigneth in the councils of our country, let the earth or the people of the United States rejoice. III. The special providence of God may be seen in the existence in our midst of that one institution that has caused all the agitation £t the present time. I mean the existence of slavery. No truth is clearer to my mind than that the hand of God is in all this matter, and that great and glorious results will follow from the existence of sla- very in the United States. The special providence of God is manifest in first allowing them to be brought here, as Joseph was taken into Egypt by special design and for wise purposes, or as Daniel was taken to Babylon. All hope of civilizing and christianizing Africa by white men, and white missionaries being cut off, God sent them here to become civilized and christianized, that they may take back these blessings to their own native land, and thus redeem from barbarism and idolatry that long degraded quarter of the globe. The number of professing chris- tians among the negroes of the South is greater than all the converts in all the heathen lands in all the missionary stations on the globe combined. Thus more souls will be saved by the existence of slavery than has'yet been saved by missions. 12 An excellent writer says, "It is manifest, that the cir- cumstances of slavery, in which Providence has placed the negro, are most favorable to his conversion and reli- gious enjoyment. This position is abundantly corroborated by facts, for out of three millions of slaves in this country, at least a half a million — one in every six — are professors of religion, which is a proportion greater than can be found in any other class of mankind, where the profession of religion is a voluntary thing on the part of individuals. And not only so, but it is another remarkable fact, that there are more professions of religion, three to one, among the slaves in America, than in all heathen countries put together. The number of evangelical missionaries in different parts of the world is only 1450. The number of church members in heathen lands, including the colonists, which, I presume, constitute a large majority of ihe whole, together with the families of missionaries, is only 190,623, whereas there are not less than six hundred thousand professing christians among the slaves in this country. — How amazing and how gracious the overruling providence of God, in making use of the slave trade, as a means, indirectly, of saving more souls than all the combined missionary operations of all Christendom, within the last three hundred years, thereby bringing good out of evil — turning the cause into a blessing — and causing the wrath of man to praise him." But look at the colony of Liberia, one of the most flour* ishing and promising Republics on the globe; modled after our own government, colonized from the free negroes of this country, and flourishing far beyond any of the first American colonies, and exerting an influence upon Africa greater than all the world besides. Having some three hundred miles of coast free from the slave trade, having under her 6000 inhabitants, more than 80,000 of the native population, and by degrees giving laws to all the neigh- boring nations. Liberia is this day doing more for Africa than all other nations combined. Is not the hand of God in all this? 13 IV. The point to which we invite your special attention is, that the doctrines and principles of the abolitionists are diametrically opposed to all the teaching of the Bible, and the facts of history. They will not commune with us as christians, they tell our servants when they escape from us to go on to Canada, or to hide in Ohio, and refuse us that justice secured by the terms of our constitution. All this we hold to be unscriptural, unchristian, unbrotherly, unjust, and unmanly. 1. The Bible is the oldest book in the world, and con- sequently carries us back many hundred years before even Homer or Hesiod, or Heroditus the father of history. The intoxication of Noah gave occasion for one of the most remarkable declarations in regard to slavery in the Bible. The truth of this prophecy is now manifest in the existence of slavery in the United States. "And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in ihe tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." Gen. 9, 24 — 27. This is the first account of slavery after the flood, and the truth of this declaration is now witnessed daily in the United States. That this was the native land of the Indians or the Sliemltes, called ''the tents of Shem,^^ none can deny. That the whites of this country are Japhethites enlarged or spread out from Eu- rope to settle this land is equally clear, and that the negroes, our servants, are Hamites, or Africans, all admit. The only question is as to the certainty of the Indians being of Asiatic origin or Sheinites; this has been so abundantly established by Judge Haywood, in his "History of Tennes- see," that we shall refer you to that able work and omit further evidence. Then, while the United States shall exist, composed of people from Europe and England, and we shall dwell in America, "the tenis of Shem," the place where the Indians 2 14 spread their tents originally, and the negroes are our ser- vants, we shall have a standing proof that the word of God is true, and that slavery was entailed as a curse upon the Africans for the sin of their father Ham, as guilt has been entailed upon the race of Adam for his transgression. The facts in both cases are unquestionable. This is the starting point of slavery, and from this fountain have flowed all the curses and evils that have been connected with it. This is one of the most remarkable passages in the word of God. It is a standing miracle, like the exis- tence of the Jews as a separate nation, to prove the truth of the Bible. It stands out in bold relief upon the page of Holy Writ and in the living characters of White and Black that walk daily in our midst upon American soil. It is a daily rebuke to infidelity on the one side, and aboli- tionism on the other. It is the justice of God showing his hatred of sin, and he will so overrule this wrath of man as to make it praise him. Great good to the world shall be the final result however numerous the evils and suffer- ings connected with it. All slavery then is the result of sin; all slavery resulted from loar, debt, or cri?ne originally. There was no slave in the garden of Eden, there would have been none had man continued in his primeval holi- ness. When Cain became a vagabond he became a slave, yea when Adam hid from God amid the trees of the gar- den, a servile fear, the feeling of guilt and degradation ruled his heart. Then after the'flood it prevailed more fully in the family of Ham, and extended over the whole world. "Proud Nimrod first the bloody chase began, A mighty hunter, and his prey was man.'' — Pope. I. The oldest book in the Bible, is, probably, the book of Job, which takes us back to the earliest ages of the post- deluvian patriarchs. Now it is a remarkable fact, that throughout all the ages' of the Patriarchs, the days of primitive simplicity, when society was least artificial, that slavery existed of the very same character as that of the present day. The servants of Job are named over and 15 again as "a very great household." Then in chapt. 7, 2, the difference between a hired servant and a slave or bond servant, is given most forcibly and clearly in these words, ♦'As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as a hire- ling looketh for the reward of his work." Here the one expected nothing but the rest of the night, while the other looked for his wages. But what makes the matter so cleajr and unequivocal is, that in the original two words are used which are invariable in their meaning. Ehed signifies "a bought slave," "a servant" and always has this one mean- ing; while the word Sauheer, signifies "a hired servant." These two words in Hebrew answer to the Greek words Doulos and Misthotos, the first signifying "a servant, the property of another," the second signifying '-a hired man" and expresses the reward paid for his service. Doulos always occurs in translating Ebed, and never as the trans- lation of Saukeer. The Hebrew Ebed occurs some 700 times in the Old Testament, and is rendered in the Greek Bible by Doulos 306, by the word Pais, a boy, often by the word oiketes, a household servant, 28 times, but is not one time rendered by the Misthotos, a hired servant. — Showing that in all cases where the word servant occurs in our Bible it signifies a slave, the property of another, ♦'one born in his house, or bought with his money." And whenever they designed to express a hired servant, they used a word expressing that fact alone. Then Job, the most pious and distinguished man of all the East, was a slaveholder; yet our pious Abolitionists of the north would not commune with him. Could his three friends and miserable comforters have been abolitionists, that the}'- laboured so hard to prove Job a hypocrite, till God inter- posed and declared him to be a true christian, and they in error? The next most distinguished Patriarch is Abraham, with whom God made the covenant, and in whose house first set up his visible church. Now Abraham had "three hundred and eighteen servants born in his house and bought with his money," the only kind of servants known in our south- 16 em States. Would these pious souls of America have communed with Abraham the father of the faithful, whom God took into the church with his own pure hands, and gave him the true seal of the covenant, and made him all the promises? To carry out the Abolition sentiments of this day, the venerable father of all the faithful, the disin- terested, hospitable, and noble specimen of an ancient gentleman, who entertained angels and conversed with God, would be cast out of the church, and men wise in their own eyes and famed for cant, would refuse even to eat with him, who was honored with angels as his guests, and the great Jehovah as his friend. I need not detain you to cite all the examples given of servitude among the patri- aichi. One more fact may suffice on this point. Take the case of Hagar, Sarah's maid, who run away from her mistress, and was met by the angel of the Lord, who was no other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself; the angel so far from telling her to go on down into Egypt or Arabia, commanded her to go back home and be subject to her mistress. The words are, " And when Saiai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face, and the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilder- ness, by a fountain in the way to Shur. And he said Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence earnest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands." Gen. 16,6— 9. This was the character of the teaching of Christ in pa- triarchal times. Has Christ changed his religion? If not, such is now the teaching of God's word, as we shall see from the example of Paul sending Onesimus home to his master Philemon in the days of Christ. But abolitionists teach the very reverse of all this, and encourage slaves to run away from their masters, and refuse to restore them when found. Can they be consistent christians? H. Under the Jewish dispensation we find the subject of slavery fully provided for, and the most explicit regulations 17 concerning it laid down. These regulations refer always either to Hebrew servitude or servitude from the heathen round about them. When God separated the Jews from all other nations he gave them laws peculiar to themselves, and yet the Jewish law in regard to slavery continued much as it was in the patriarchal age, and as it did in the days of Christ. See Ex. 21, 2. "If thou buy a Hebrew ser- vant, (Ebed) six years shall he serve, and in the seventh shall he go out free for nothing. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my chil- dren, I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him unto the Judges, he shall also bring him unto the door-post and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever^ Thus we find an official, legal act for perpetual slavery. Moreover, all the children were kept in perpetual bondage, for the law says. "If the master have given him a wife, and she has borne him sons and daughters, the wife and her children shall be her mas- ters, and he shall go out by himself." Here we find the foundation of the Justinian code fully recognized ^'Parltis sequiiur venirem,''^ the children go by the mother, a slave mother perpetuates the children in slavery. This all refers to Hebrew servitude, which thus became perpetual. When we turn to the servants taken from the heathen the law is still more explicit. Leviticus 25, 44, 46, "Both thy bond.nen and thy bondmaids which thou shalt have shall be of the heathen round about thee, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaidens. Moreover from the chil- dren of the stranger that sojourneth among you, of them shall ye buy, and of the 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 possession; they shall be your bondmen forever, but over your brethren, the children of Israel, ye shall not rule with rigor." Note three things, viz: 1. This law clearly teaches that they might buy and hold as slaves forever the heathen nations. 2* 18 2. They could will them to their children as an inheri- tance as property in perpetuity. 3. These are called ''ebedim,'* slaves emphatically, who were born in their house, and bought with their money, and willed from father to son. Now 1 ask any reasonable man to say, if there is any other slavery known at the South, but such as is here de- scribed? AH the slaves in America are bought, born at home, or inherited, all three of which are named as lawful and proper among the chosen people of God under the Mosaic dispensation. But there is another argument of great force to which we ask your attention. The tenth and fourth precepts of the moral law clearly imply the existence of slavery at the time they v/ere given, and in all time to come. "Remem- ber the Sabbath day to keep it holy, six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but 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 daughter; thy 7nan servant nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, &c." Then in the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man servant, nor his ?naid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbors." This law shall never cease while the world stands, heaven and earth shall fail before one jot or titile shall pass away. But this shows also, that slavery may exist as long as man shall live on earth, as long as the Sabbath may last or man be covetous. — This law clearly legislates for slavery, takes it lor granted, and teaches the duty of all in their several places and relations in life. How any sane mind can deny that the Bible tolerates slavery while the 4lh and 10th command- ments are in the decalogue we cannot conceive. The whole Jewish dispensation contemplated the existence of slavery, and made full provisions for it. III. The christian dispensation, under which we live, commenced when slavery was almost universal among the Komans and other nations. 19 Paulus Emilius brought 150,000 captives from his wars in Epirus, and sold them into slavery for prize money for his soldiers. Julius Csesar took a half million of human beings in his Gallic wars and sold them into slavery. — Trajan made 10,000 captive gladiators fight in view of the Roman people. Might he not have preserved their lives and kept them in slavery far more humanely? In Atica among the highly cultivated and intellectual Greeks, while there were 120,000 citizens, there were 400,000 slaves. In Sparta there were 150,000 citizens, and 500.000 slaves. In Rome nearly all manual labor was peformed by slaves. Single masters are reported to have had as many as 10,- 000, or even 20,000 slaves at once. Gibbon records that about the time of the christian era ihere m'ght be a slave for every freeman throughout the whole of the provinces of the Roman empire. Blair calculates that at the same time, in Italy, there were three times as many slaves as freemen. Now if these things be true, why did not Christ and his apostles act the same parts in the Roman and Grecian provinces that the abolitionists are acting in this country? Were they less conscientious and faithful in the discharge of their duties? Had they less courage, and zeal for the honor of God? Did they have less humanity and love for their suffering brethren? Unless these ihings be true, then we conclude, that if the disciples of Christ were now living in our Northern States they would act as Paul did in sending home Onesimus, and in teaching servants all their duties. We have the right to conclude that the so called friends of humanity in our country are decei- ving themselves with a zeal without knowledge, running on errands where they have never been sent, and minding other men's affairs to their own hurt. That they are delu- ded men rather to be pitied than reasoned with, fanciful castle builders, who would take the government of the country, and the church out of the hands of God, and es- tablish a new order of things. We are willing, hov/ever, to seek for the old paths where is the good way of our pious fa- thers and to walk therein, that we may find rest for our souls. 20 So that Christ and his Apostles came in contact with it dally, and doubtless taught on this subject, as well as all others, the whole duty of man. In the New Testament, as in the Old, we have two words distinct and clearly de- fined; the one, Doulos, signifying " a servant, the proper- ty of another," as Ebed did in the Old Testament. This word occurs in the New Testament 125 times, always signifying servant. The other word, " e/w/Aeros," a free- man, is used as its opposite, so that the two are in contrast, just as we in English say freeman and hondman. Take an example: John 8, 34 — " He that commiteth sin is the servant (doulos) of sin. but if the son make you free ye shall be free indeed," Elutheros. Again, Rom. 6, 17: " Ye were the servants (douloi) of sin — being then free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness. The contrast here is clearly marked. So 2, Peter, 2, 19, " While they promise you liberty, (eluthe- ria) they are themselves the slaves (douloi) of corruption." 1 Cor. 7, 21, " Art thou called being a servant, (doulos) care not lor it; but if thou mayest be free (elutheros) use it rather." These two v/ords are thus contrasted through- out the New Testament. The great definiteness manifest in the use of the terms servant, hired servant, and free- man, is worthy of special notice by all intelligent Bible readers. It is also worthy of notice, that neither Christ or his fol- lowers the Apostles, at any time interfered with the existing relations of master and servant, but in all cases, taught the relative duties of both master and servant, just like they taught the relative duties of husbands and wives, and parents and children ; and what is remarkable too, taught all these duties in the same passages of scripture. See, for example, Eph. 6 chapter. Col. 3, 4 chapter, Titus, 2 chapter. 1 Cor. 7, 20-4, " Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant, care not for it, but if thou mayest be free use it rather. For he that is called being a sers'ant is the Lord's freeman, likewise he that is called being free, iff 21 Christ's servant. Brethren, let every man wherein he is called therein abide with Gcd." This shows the gospel so far from interfering with existing relations, qualifies men lo fill their various relations with greater propriety and usefulness. Paul in writing to the Ephesians, after teaching the du- ties of all other Christians, especially of husbands and wives, thus speaks of servants: "Servants, be obedient to them that are masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. With good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord wheUier he be bond or free. And ye masters, do the same thing to them, forbearing threatening, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven, neither is there any respect of persons with him.'^ Eph. 6. 5-6. Could the duties of servants be more fully and emphati- cally taught, could stronger motives be offered to make faithful, obedient, aud upright servants? This is the ten- dency of the religion of Christ upon all classes of men, to make them more faithful, cheerful and useful. The same duty is taught in Col. 3, 22, in these words: *' Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing God. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto man, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheri- tance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons." Again, in Titus, 2, 9, " P'xhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering again. Not purloining, (i. e. stealing se- cretly) but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things," 22 Such sentiments preached daily to our servants would make them tar better servants, better men, and much hap- pier for time and eternity, and relieve masters from a world of trouble. This was the teaching of Paul. Once more: 1 Peter, 2, 18, "Servants be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward. For this is thank- worthy, if a man for conscience sake towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye take it patiently, but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God." Here duty to the worst of mas- ters is enjomed from a principle of conscience, and the most powerful motive offered to mduce obedience. What could be more noble and better calculated to make good subjects of any government or family? The most comprehensive and conclusive passage is found in 1 Tim. 6, 1-5, " Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blas- phemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren; but rather do them service because they are faithful beloved partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thy self." This passage contains my creed on the subject of sla- very, and gives a full description of the men from whom we should withdraw. This comes nearer to the dootrine of withdrawing from a union with all abolitionists and re- sisters of the fugitive slave law, than is taught any where else, and teaches clearly our duty in reference to the inter- minable doters about questions of strife and excitement. Thus we have shown that slavery was fully recognized 2S and tolerated in the three great periods of the Church, iii the patriarchal, the Jewish and the Christian dispensations, and the duties taught them as fully as the duty of children and subjects. The same is true of all other nations, if the facts of history are to be relied on. All slavery has resulted from mail's own siii, depravity and folly, and may be traced to the following causes, viz: I To V/ar ; 2 Crime; 3 Deht. It was the old univer- sal notion, that all captives taken in war were at the mercy of the conqueror, he could put them to death, or preserve them alive for slaves as he chose. Hence when the Ro- mans preserved their captives taken in war, they called them " servi,'' the preserved ones, hence our English word servant. This has been the most fruitful source of slavery. It begun early and still continues in all heathen countries. Xenophen says, " It was a law established from time immemorial among the nations of antiquity, to oblige those to undergo the severities of servitude whom victory had thrown into their hands." Homer, both in the Odyssey and Iliad, shows that the practice of making slaves of captives taken in war, exis- ted in Egypt, the Egean Islands, and on the continent of Europe among the Greeks and other nations before the Trojan war. Clarkson says, " As other States arose, this custom is discovered to have existed among them, it travelled over all Asia, spread through Europe in the Grecian and Ro- man world, was found among the barbarians that subver- ted the Roman Empire. Then we find it most fully re- cognized in the Justinian code." The Gibeonites were made slaves to Israel under Joshua in this way. Among the Hebrews, and indeed in many other nations, men sold themselves or were sold for debt, and thus be- came slaves and entailed it upon their families, as may be seen in the history of villains of the middle ages, and the serfs of Europe. 24 Others, again, were sold for crime and banished, as the l^nghsh send men now to Botany Ba3^ No fact is more clearly manifest from history than that slavery in some form has existed in all ages of the world since the fall of man; and will likely continue on earth till the world shall become a new heaven and a new earth, filled with righteousness, truth and justice. Since God in his providence has placed them here, let us take care of the trust committed to us, let us act wisely and faithfully towards them, and not ruin our country and both races by the folly of the abolitionists and disunionists. The man who would resist the fugitive slave law is as great an enemy to his country, as the man who withdraws i'rom the Union because of the admission of California. Many speak of "the higher law" which makes it their duty to resist the laws of Congress. What law can be higher than the law of God? which says, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained by God. Whosoever therefore, resislath the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that visit shall receive to themselves damnation." Rom. 13, 1 — 2. No man can be a christian who refuses to be a law-abiding man. No man has the right to take upon himself the character of a judge and to decide upon the constitutionality of the laws of Congress. The Supreme Court of the United States alone must decide all these questions. That is the proper tribunal, and to that decision all good citizens must bow, or there is an end of government. There is neither rhyme nor reason in the course pursued by the disunion- ists north and south. The fugitive slave law has been virtually in operation since 1783, the last Congress only added the completing clause, which should always have been there to make it consistent. So that, it has been virtually decided, by the Supreme Court, to be constitu- tional, times without number. The man who would now resist it, resists both the ordinance of God, and the righ- teous laws of his own country, and deserves to be dealt 25 with accordingly. The admission of California on the other hand and the acts complained of by southern dis- unionists, are perfectly consistent with the constitutional rights of all the parties concerned, or, if they are not, let the Supreme Court decide them otherwise, and then, and not till then, has any man the right even to hint at a refusal to disobey them. Whatever the men of the world may do, no christian, and especially no Presbyterian, with our excellent standards in his hand, can talk of disunion, un- der present circumstances, without renouncing the first principles of his religion and his church. When our gov- ernment shall forsake the constitution and attempt to tram- ple upon our vested rights, and take away our civil and religious liberty, then no people would be more ready to resist usurpation and declare for revolution than Presbyte- rians; but even then we would take the ground of the right of all people to resort to revolution to maintain their rights, as we did in our immortal declaration of rights. Abide by our laws and our most excellent constitution we must, we can, we will. V. The last point to which we invite your attention is, that God in his providence has permitted the present agita- tion of our country for the purpose of developing to the world the power and strength of our government, that the deep-seated love, the wide-spread attachment of our people for the Union might be shown forth. What noble disin- terestedness, and love of country have already been dis- played by the leading men of both parties in Congress. Who can help admiring the patriotic stand taken by Gen- eral Cass, the North-western star of the Senate, who has thus written his name high on the scroll of his country's fame, and shall be rewarded by her sons. W^e need only name on the same side such men as Foote and King, and Douglass and Dickinson, as specimens of noble disinteres- tedness, men who rising above the shackles of party have sought the safety and welfare of their country. While on the other side, without seeming invidious, we may allude only to two, and your better information will supply the 3 26 rest, both of whom have honored their race and themselves, and embalmed their deeds and memories in the hearts of their countrymen. The one, the great defender of the consti- tution, the Ajax of American freedom, the man whose fame has been wafted round the world by his countrymen, "whose march is on the mountain wave, whose home is on the sea," has gathered a fresh wreath of laurels to adorn his brow. The Star of the East has shone with a brighter lustre in its decline than at its zenith, and thus fully de- monstrated his title to a place among the ranks of men, who approach nearest to angeUc intellects. But brightest amid the galaxy of bright stars in our American firmament shines the Star of the West, the orator of the worlds the mediator in all times of political danger, the man of soul, patriotism and philanthropy, Curtiuslike at the head of the noble thirteen, threw himself into the breach, and re- ceived into his own throbbing bosom, and upon his hoary head, all the shafts of venom, and the poisoned arrows from the sullen men of the north, and the fiery darts of the furious spirits of the south, until he had quenched them all by his shield of fidelity and kindness, and pared them off by his lofty bearing and burning eloquence. Thus the polar star of the North-west, the star in the East or New England, the star in the West, and the several burning lights constituting the Pleiades of the South, have all shed their concentrated, clear light upon our country in her darkest hour, and guided her safely through the storm". — Brethren have we not cause for thankfulness in view of these facts? Should we not recognize the hand of God in this deliverance? Does he not reign in the councils ot our country and turn the hearts of men as the streams of the South? Dead, indeed, must be the soul of that American citizen whose heart does not swell with gratitude on this day. If this agitation shall continue to develope such heroic deeds as have already been manifest in Congress, and if it shall jostle and agitate the two great political par- ties, until a greater union party shall be formed of the choice men of the country, to rebuke disunionists both in 27 north and south, it will prove a lasting blessing to our country, and all future generations. Every wave of such agitation only serves to waft us higher on the rock of ages, and to settle the foundation of our constitution upon a more immovable basis. As the winds and storms of hea- ven serve to loosen the roots of the mighty oaks that they may grow the better, so these political storms cause the great tree of liberty to strike its roots deeper, spread its branches wider, and bring forth more abundant fruit and foliage to refresh the nations reposing beneath its shade. The present agitation, however, we believe will be seen ultimately to have been gotten up chiefly by demagogues who live on excitement, and who hope to be so magnified as to be seen by their countrymen. The great mass of the people of this union have never been moved, the sturdy yeomanry of the country are not excited, they cannot be shaken from their steadfastness. Let the day be appoin- ted to divide this union, and you will see them pour in from every hill and valley throughout the length and breadth of the land, asking with anxious looks, "What are these men at Washington going to do with this Union, this rich inheritance from our fathers?" I may illustrate this point by a fact said to have taken place in Virginia. In the mountains of Virginia lives a venerable man of God, who has long been pastor of the same church, until he has baptised in their infancy most of the members of his church, afterwards received them into communion, and married them, and is emphatically a father in Israel. — Sometime since a few of the fasionables of his congregation concluded that they would like to get rid of the old minis- ter, and get a more fashionable preacher to suit the taste of the age. The congregation were invited to meet oma. stated day for this purpose. When the day came, hours before the time appointed, all the roads, lanes, alleys and avenues leading to the church were seen crowded with men and women making their way to the house of God. There might be seen old, plain, sturdy farmers, with their carefully preserved Sunday hats and coats, venerable ma- trons with their antique bonnets and shawls, young married couples, with middle aged men and women, all wending their way to the church, each asking with more than anx- ious looks, ^^What are they going to do loith Father Mcll- haneyl What is to he done with Father McIlhaneyV When the hour of meeting came, the disunionists with their resolutions all cut and dried came, and found, to their great astonishment, every aisle and seat so crowded that they were unable even to get into the house, while the ever repeated question "What are they going to do with Father Mcllhaney?" so astounded them that they fled in utter consternation without even reading the resolutions for the dissolution. And Father Mcllhaney still preaches to his old church. Just so it will be when the day comes to divide this Union. Thousands of patriotic souls will come pouring in from the hills, plains, and vaUies of this great and beautiful country, asking with anxious countenances, and thrilling anxiety, " What are you going to do loith this Union? What is to he done with our Constitution, this rich legacy of our fathersV At the very sound of this question and the determined looks of the men asking it, every disunionist will be confounded, not one of them will ever be able to read the resolution for the dissolution of this Union. Their very tongues will cleave to the roof of their mouths and their right hands forget their cunning. This Union cannot be dissolved. The spirit of the Purt- tans and the Huguenots, the spirit of Washington and the men of seventy six, will reappear from all parts of this ex- tended country, frown upon the spirit of misrule, and preserve our institutions from the Goths and Vandals who would destroy them. Biethren, children of the noble Puritans, the ardent Huguenots, and the sturdy men of Holland, show your- selves to be the true sons of your worthy sires, be stead- fast, be decided, trust in the God of your fathers, do your duty, and your country is safe beneath the shadow of the Almighty. "The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice." Amen, JK46 .4> r^ o »f e V v^ ^<^ ". ^ ., o V V\tRT WtKI BOOKBINDING Crant\(lle Pa in feb 1989 i ' ^*Oi^ * '^ ^ ". d^^^-«