E 45® .P36 CopV l T II E DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS A DISCOURSE, PREACHED IN THE STATE-HOUSE, SPRINGFIELD, IILINOIS, JANUARY" 86, 1- > 1 , BY J< M. PECK. PUBLISH!:!) BV REQUEST. fouia: PRINTED HV T. W. OSTICK, C01NEH OF SECOND IND I << : r 81 1851. . INTRODUCTION The following documents are submitted, as the reason for publishing this discourse. House of Representatives, January 24, 1851. Rev. Sir : I have the honor to inform you, that the House of Representatives yester- day, unanimously, passed the following resolution : " On motion of Mr. Murphy, "Resolved, That the Rev. J. M. Peck, of St. Clair county, be invited to preach a sermon in the hall of the House of Representatives, on next Sabbath afternoon, showing that the obligations of American citizens to obey the constitution and laws of our national government do not conflict with any 'higher law' m the Sacred Scriptures." I am, sir, very respect fully, roar obedient servant, ISAAC R. DILLER, Clerk If. R Rev. J. M. Peck. Spuinohklh, III., January 27, 1851. Dbab Sir: Saving listened, with great pleasure, to your discourse, pronounced on yesterday, in the hall of ill" Bouse of Representatives, on the obligation of citizens to obey the hv»p of the country, and with reference to a supposed "higher law," and deeming your exposition of that subject to be sound, practical, and scriptural, we respectfully py of the discourse for publication. At this time, when, unfortunately, so many of the clergy of our country arc counte- nancing rebellion and treason, and seriously impairing the moral sense of the people with regard to the constitution of the country, we are gratified to find, in the discourse referred to, sentiments so conservative in their character, and so well calculated to exert a favorable influence upon the public mind. Respectfully, yours, SIDNEY BREESE, Speaker of the House of Reps. THOS. H. CAMBPELL, Auditor of State. A. G. CALDWELL, Representative. R. G. MURPHY, N. W. EDWARDS, JOHN E. DETRICH, CYRUS G. SIMONS, NELSON G. EDWARDS, " JOHN MOORE, Treasurer of State. NEWTON CLOUD, Senator. U. F. LINDER, Representative, J. L. D. MORRISON, Senator. JOSEPH GILLESPIE, Senator. WM. H. SNYDER, Representative. J. R. WYNN, T. M. SAMS. J. R. HOBBS, H. ARMS, S. H. MARTI X. AARON SHAW, A. MILLER, ANTHONY THORNTON, « WM. PICKERING, WM. D. HAMTLTOX. WILFRED FERREL, B. F. BRISTOW, B. T. BURKE, THOMAS QUICK. AUG. C. FRENCH, Governor. WM. McMURTRY, Lieutenant Governor. FRANKLIN WITT, Senator. R. S. BLACKWELL. W. A. DENNING. M BRAYMAN. CYRUS EDWARDS. W. T. BEEKMAX. THOS. L. LITTLE. J. G. JOHNSON. JAMES DUNLAP. Rev. J. M. Pe. k. [ Benjamin Bond, Marshal of the State, did not hear the discourse, but signed the call for printing, on recommendation of his friends.] 5 REPLY. (it.NTLEMEx: In accordance with your invitation, I commit the discourse, I had the honor to preach in the State-house, to the press, with my earnest prayer, that it may prove useful in discriminating between the duties of religion men owe to God, and which are paramount to all human authority — and the duties they owe to the "powers that be." While, in the South, " nullification" and " secession, the fruits of political enthusiasm excited to phrenzy, have destroyed the balance of judgment in many minds — in the Xorth, religious fanaticism has perverted the intellect and conscience, confounded religion with politics, taught the people to rebel against civil authority, and proclaimed prin- ciples which are subversive of all law and all government. It is in entire accordance with a fundamental principle of the denomination with which I- stand connected as a minister, and with sentiments imbibed in early life, to chaw the line of distinction be tween the relation we sustain to God, and the relation we sustain to each other, as citizens of our common country. With sentiments of esteem and respect, I am yours, truly, J. M.. PECK. SERMON. Fellow-Citizens : In this discourse, I shall briefly comment on several passages of the Sacred Scriptures. The first is from Acts iv. 17-20 : "But that it spread no further amongst the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. " And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all, or to teach in Ihe name of Jesus. " But Peter and John answered, and said unto them, Whether it be right, in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. ••' For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Human duties, or the principles of moral obligation, are di- vided into two great classes — the duties men owe to God, and the duties they owe to one another. The distinction between these classes of duties constitutes the line of demarcation between religion and politics — church and state. The prohibition, enjoined by the Jewish magistrates on Peter and John, related to the first class of human duties — those of religion, over which human authority has no control. It was not because the prohibition was oppressive, but because it trenched on their obligations to God as Christians — as believers in, and worshipers of, Jesus Christ, that they refused to obey the mandate. No human authority could interfere with this right. There could be no submission — no compromise. Their Divine Lord had taught them to suffer persecution even unto death. Even this must be borne with meekness and patience. Where this " higher law" exerts its claims, all resistance is forbidden. Violent contention for rights is wholly forbidden in the Gospel. In earthly governments, forcible resistance, in revolution or war, is proper, but not in promoting or sustaining the kingdom of Christ. The Apostles continued to preach Jesus and the resurrection. Although Stephen and James were martyred — the life of Peter sought, and the disciples were scattered abroad — yet, on their part, there was no resistance. In all the duties of religion, the claims of God are supreme, and paramount to all human authority ; bu1 to apply the passage in Acts, and the non-obedience of the Aposth s to the mandates of the Jewish authorities, to laws th;it regulate the relationship of man to man, is a manifesl perversion of Scripture. It is thus perverted and misapplied by Abolitionists, in reference to the constitution and laws of the United States. 8 DUTIES OF AM Ki; I can CITIZENS. I now refer you to Romans xiii. 1-5: " Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. ••Whosoever therefore resisted) the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist, shall receive to themselves damnation. " For rulers are not a terror to good works, but In the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shnlt have praise of the same. t "Fot he is the minister of God to thee for good; but if thou do that which is evil, be afraidj for he beareth not the sword in' vain ; for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that docth evil. " Wherefore ve must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.- - ' Reference may also be had to Titus iii. 1: "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates to be ready to every good work." These several passages are in no respect contradictory to the refusal to obey the civil authority mentioned in the fourth chap- ter in Acts. Obedience to civil authority is enjoined — to all laws pertaining to the relationship of man to man. Christ taught his disciples to " render unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's ; and unto God, the things that are God's." (Math. xxii. 21.) This is a very plain distinction between two governments, and two kinds of authority. The government of Cesar was arbitrary, despotic, and oppressive ; yet submission was required — re- sistance to civil authority forbidden. The mode of collecting tribute was exceedingly unequal and oppressive, yet Christ wrought a miracle to procure the tribute money, (Math. xvii. 27,) and thus taught his disciples their duty as subjects to the Roman government. It was only when the government interfered with theifreligious rights — the duty they owed to God, that they were to resist, by patient endurance of persecution, even unto death. This line of distinction between religion and politics — between church and state — has never been distinctly drawn in any nation in Christendom, except in our country. As a political idea, practically carried out in government and law, it belongs ex- clusively to our nation. No other government ever recognized the unalienable right of man to worship God in the manner he thinks proper, or not worship in any way. irrespective of human authority in every form. Christ taught the true principle of religious liberty in his confession before Pilate, (John xviii. 36.) My kingdom is not of this worlds if ! "!J kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I .should not be deliv- eredto the Jews. Religious communities, from the days of the Apostles, have held this principle inviolate; but they have been few. obscure, and classed by ecclesiastical historians among heretics. The doctrine itself, for fifteen hundred years, was regarded as a most dangerous heresy. This principle, with a single exception, did not exist in the early American colonies. Those of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, made stringent laws againsl heretics, as they called dissenters DUTIES OF AMKKK'.W CITIZENS. *j to tlic established and legalized mode of worship. In their pro- gressive history, toleratioii, not religious freedom, gradually prevailed. Such was the condition of New York, Virginia, and the Car- olinas, until the revolutionary war. Liberal Pennsylvania and Catholic Maryland admitted large toleration. The only excep- tion in all the early colonies was Rhode Island, founded by Roo-er Williams. When this reformer announced, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, that the magistrate had no power to legislate concerning the first table of the Law — of man's duty to God — the Puritans were amazed at the heresy of the minister. He made the distinction which is now clear as the sun. He caught the grand idea, the true and only principle of religious liberty. Mr. Bancroft, the historian, eloquently says: '• He was a Puritan and a fugitive from English persecution; but his wrongs had not clouded his accurate understanding. In the capacious recesses of his mind lie had revolved the nature of intolerance, and he, and he alone, bad arrived at the great principle which is its sole and effectual remedy. He announced his discovery under the simple proposition of the sanctity of conscience. The magistrate should restrain crime, hut never control opinion; should punish guilt, but never violate the freedom of the soul. "The doctrine contained within itself an entire reformation of Theological Juris- prudence. It would blot from the statute hook the felony of non-conformity ; would quench the fires that persecution had so Long kept burning; would repeal every law compelling attendance on public worship ; would abolish all tithes and all forced contributions to the maintenance of religion; would give an equal protection to every form of religious faith; and never suffer the civil government to be enlisted against the mosque of the Mussulman, or the altar of the; fire worshiper; against the Jewish synagogue, or the Roman cathedral. ••'These principles led Roger Williams into collision with the Puritan clergy and commonwealth of Massachusetts. He could hold no communion with intolerance; for, said he, the doctrine of ; □ foi cause of conscience is most evidently and lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Christ Jesus." Here, then, is the true line of distinction. If human authority violates the laws of God in relation to the first class of human duties, men must resist, by patient endurance of suffering. But whatever relates to the second table of the decalogue comes within the sphere of human government, to which submission is required as a Christian duty. I have dwelt longer on this principle than I otherwise should, "because, in the resistance urged to the constitution and laws of Congress by Abolitionists, they have confounded these two classes of human duties, and perverted the Scriptures, in so doing. After all that has been said on the subject, there are ministers of the Gospel, and members of churches, whose per- ceptions of this line of distinction between religion and politics — church and state — are. very obscure. They would not be the advocates of sustaining any particular sect by direcl legal meas- ures, yet they have some vague notions that religion should guide the statesman; that the church, in some - ulate the state. This was the doctrine of the Puritans who settled New England; and, until within the present generation, Massachusetts and Connecticut provided, by taxation, for the 2 10 DUTIES OF AMERICAS CITIZENS. support of the dominant sect. Toleration existed ; but tolera- tion is not religious freedom. Still tlie sentiment exists, to a large extent, that the church should exert an influence over the affairs of the state and national government. It is from this source that has originated the doctrine of a "higher law," that overrides the constitution, and nullifies laws that pertain to the relation of man to his fellow-man. Each person, for himself, assumes, to determine whether he will submit to be governed by the constitution and obey the laws of his country, either by an innate principle within himself, or by his notions of Scripture, however misapplied and misun- derstood. This doctrine, carried out to its legitimate conse- quences, would nullify all law ; as it was in a period of anarchy in the Jewish nation, when " every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (Judges xxi. 25.) That it may be seen that I do not exaggerate the wild, anarchical, licentious doctrines proclaimed from the pulpit — issued from the religious (?) press — and uttered with all the solemnity of ecclesiastical councils, I will give a few quotations. In reference to the fugitive slave law, the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago passed a series of resolutions and a preamble, of which I give the last, as a sample of the whole. " As Christians, we do not recommend physical force to oppose this law, and -we dis- approve of all combinations for resistance by force of arms, and the shedding of blood-, but, nevertheless, we cannot regard it as criminal in the alleged fugitive, (in the posi- tion in which the fugitive slnve law places him,) to defend himself, even, if need be, with violence, inasmuch as he is, by the operation of this law, placed beyond all pro- tection common to civilized society, and is thereby thrown back upon those rights which belong to a man in a state of nature, or before society is organized."* Were principles more lawless and disorganizing, ever before inculcated by a body of christian professors? A semi-annual meeting of the " American Baptist Free Mission Society," an organization of a small class of Baptists in the northern States, who oppose the " American Baptist Mission Union," the "American Baptist Home Mission Society," and other Baptist institutions of those States, was held in Chicago, October 8th and 9th, 1850. The editor of the official paper of this sect, writing of the introductory sermon, says : " It was one of the most masterly vindications of the supremacy of Jehovah, however human governments may undertake to contravene bis authority, we ever had the pleas ure of listening to. The subject may, perhaps, have been suggested to the mind of the speaker by the recent passage of thai 'bill of abominations,' the fugitive slave law- — wherein the government of this nation, literally ' Erai a law,' has proved * In justice to the Presbyterian denomination in Illinois, :md other churches in Chicago, we state, on the authority of Presbyterian gentlemen of that city, that this "First Church," as u is called, some years since, by a majority o( it- members, and in opposition to the runng eldi rs, gave countenan - classes of tdtraists by open- ing their house to lecturers, and encouraging fanaticism in various forms. The elders and old members, (s eof whom we knew a- Leading anti-slavery men in southern Illinois, in the contest about introducing slavery into the State in 1828-4,) were com- pelled to withdraw. At much sacrifice and expense, they raised up the Second Presby- terian Church in Chicago, where correct principles are inculcated, and order maintained. J. M. P. DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 11 itself a ' throne of iniquity,' and one that can have no 'fellowship' with God. _ Whether this were so or not, the impious demand of the law upon the co-operation of all good citizens in the recapture of those who have fled from a crushing bondage, was shown to have beer, put forth in contempt of the divine precept, 'Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant who has escaped from his master unto thee.' "Nor did the preacher fail to make a faithful application of the principle of Ins text, (Acts v. •29.) to this, the most flagitious act ever perpetrated by an American Congress. The -meeting itself had this matter under consideration." — American Baptist, Utica, K Y. Oct. 17. The " Baptist Convention of the State of Michigan," at its session in Detroit, October, 1850, passed the following resolu- tion : •• Resolw d, That the recent law of Congress relative to the recapture of fugitive slaves, violating, as it does, every guaranty of personal rights— setting aside all the ordinary forms of law — giving an exclusive regard to the interests of the slaveholder, and re- quiring freemen and Christians, in order to its enforcement, to violate their obligations to humanity, to conscience', and to God— is a flagrant violation of civil and moral rights, and calls for prompt and efficient effort on the part of all Christian citizens, by all law- ful measures, to obtain its speedy repeal."* At a public meeting held in Worcester, Mass., about the 1st of October, 1850, Hon. Charles Thurber presiding, the following resolution, among others equally treasonable and lawless, was passed : "That as God is our helper, we will nut suffer any person charged with helping a fugitive from labor, to be taken from us ; and to this resolve we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honors." The Christian Chronicle, of Philadelphia, Oct. 30th, states : « At a convention of Unitarian clergy, held in Springfield, Mass., a resolution was unanimously passed in favor of the repeal of the fugitive slave bill, which occasioned much debate and much excited feeling." The Universalists of Boston Association, held at South Read- ing, Massachusetts, November 14th, 1850, passed the following resolution, unanimously : " Resolved, That we feel called on to utter our deep condemnation of the fugitive slave law, lately enacted by Congress. We deem it cruel, subversive of human rights, a clear violation of God ; s laws, and therefore unworthy a Christian's support 5 and in the name of outraged humanity, we call for its unconditional repeal." I find in the papers (and to which I have seen no contradic- tion) extracts from a sermon preached in the city of New York, by Rev. Charles Beecher, against the fugitive slave law ; from which I give the following, as the style of preaching by these fanatics : « This law, then, is wrong in the sigh! of God and man 5 it is an unexampled climax: of sin. It is the monster of iniquity of the present age; and it will stand forever on the pageof history, as the vilest monument of infamy of the nineteenth century. Russia Knows nothing like it. Hungary blesses God thai she never suffered from any thing worse than Ilaynau. And nations afar off pause awhile from their wor- ship of blocks of wood and stone, to ask, what will those Christians do next? * It is with feelings of deep mortification, thai equal and exact justice to all require? us to give th ;se lat n tan of ah trration from the truth, and from the funds mental principles of the Baptisl denomination in all pasl time, in the Line of distinction alluded tobetwixl rehgionand politics— the kingdom of Christand the kingdom of Cesar. Of late years, the dogmas of the Puritans, who founded their church and their civil government on the Jewish theocracy, and thus caused the church to rule the Btate, have crept into Baptist churches in the northern fil The articles quoted utter untrutli They either wickedly nr ignornntly mi represent 12 DUTTES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. " There is yet one step wanting to render complete and awful in the sight of God our mighty guilt ; and that step is obedience to the law. Thai is a sin even moreex- quisitety sinful limn the making of the law i'-self, for two reasons; — -first, because it has the whole atruciousness of the law itself; and, secondly, because it has the whole utrociousness of a stab at the freedom of conscience, and of private judgment. "If this law is obeyed, what docs a Christian do, and why does he do it? I answer, he commits an act of piracy, and tie docs it hecause the law says so, and hecause he must obey the law, right or wrong, as long as it is a law." I might mutiply quotations from a hundred sources, hut I have time and space for but oue more, which is extracted from a sermon by Rev. Ichabod S. Spencer, D. D., preached in the second Presbyterian church, Brooklyn, N. Y., Nov. 24, 1850, entitled " Fugitive Slave Law. Religious duty of obedience to law." The sermon of Dr. Spencer is sound, and clearly dis- tinguishes the " two great classes of human duties." To show the extravagance and recklessness of northern fanatics, he quotes the following resolution, as adopted by the " JVcw York Evangelical Congregational Association" in reference to the fugitive slave law : " Resolved, That we cannot recognize this law as of any binding force upon the citizens of our country." From the same discourse, I quote the following from an edi- torial article, in a religions paper, edited by Congregational clergymen, holding the office of pastors of churches, under the caption, "How to oppose the fugitive law." One of these Christian (?) ministers, in his editorial article, says : " To the fugitives themselves * • • • this law is no law » • * • and to resist it even unto death, is their right, and it may be their duty. • * » » To each individual fugitive — to every man or woman who, having escaped from bondage, and tasted liberty, is in hourly peril of being seized and dragged hack to slavery,, we say — Be fully prepared for your defense. If to you death seems better than slavery, then refuse not to die — whether on the way-side, at your own threshold, or even as a felon on the gallows. Defend your liberty, and the liberty of your wife and children, as you would defend your life and theirs against the assassin. If you die thus, you die nobly, and your blood shall be the redemption of your race. Should you destroy the life of your assailant, you will pass into the custody of the criminal law • • » » under an indictment for murder ; but the verdict of the commu- nity, and the verdict of almost any jury, would be justifiable homicide in self-di fense. • * * • " Or should a different verdict be found, and you be condemned to die as a murderer, your ignominious death shall be luminous witn the halo of a martyr, and your sacrifice shall be for the deliverance of your people." I cannot conceive of more demoralizing doctrines, or more wicked principles, than are here uttered by men who profess to tha fugitive slave lr.w. We charitably presume the authors have never carefully examined the law — thattheyhave never compared the law of 1850 with the law of 17'.':;, under which they have ever lived. But ignorance is no excuse for such palpable misstatements. [n justice to the Baptists and the public, it is her . to state, that in eccle- siastical polity, Baptists have always occupie I i round from the most of other Christian sects. In discipline and all that pertains to ecclesiastical authority, each church, or separate congregation, (of which there are abo fivchuudred in ihe United States,) i- independent of all others. Associations, Conventions, and other organizations, for missions and other purposes, hate no ecclesiastical power. Consequently, for all Buch resolutions as we have quoted, ponsi- bility but the individuals wlio make and adopt them. •'• v. ''• DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 13 be ministers of Christ. They arc in rapid progress, in qualifi- cation, cither for the penctentiary, or the lunatic asylum. Our first objection to all such doings by ecclesiastical bodies and ministers of the Gospel, in their religious capacity, is the violation of the Gospel of Christ, and prostituting the Christian profession to political purposes. All men, who are citizens of the state or nation, can assemble, in a peaceable and lawful manner, to protest against any law, and to adopt measures to obtain its repeal; but no church, or other ecclesiastical body, lias any business to meddle with political subjects. It is a per- version of religious rights, and is an attempt, in an indirect mode, to make the church rule the state. It will be now my duty, and it comports with long established sentiments, to maintain the following propositions: I. It is the duty of American citizens to obey the constitution and laws of our national government. II. The constitution and laws, and especially the law to arrest fugitive slaves, do not co?y'lict with any " higher law" of the Sacred Scriptures. 1. Our national government is not a religious institution. Its fundamental law recognizes and secures the rights of all classes of persons, of every form of religion, and of no religion. u Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof."* The consentaneous interpretation given by the nation to this clause is this : That the national government cannot interfere with the free exercise of any sort of religion that does not inter- fere with the rights of others. Men are equally protected, whether they be Christians or not. The presumption is that no State has laws that interfere with this right. 2. The passages of Scripture already quoted from Romans and Titus, are direct and explicit. They express, in terms that cannot be questioned, our duty, as Christians, to submit to human government in all the relations betwixt man and man. The only exception is in a revolution ; and that is a matter purely politi- cal, concerning which no church, or religious party, as such, lias the right of action. The declaration of Christ, (John xviii. 36,) already quoted, is proof. Revolution in government belongs to men in their capaeity as citizens, and not as religionists; and, in a republican government, like that of our nation, revolution is rebellion, and rebellion is political suicide. All political reform, in our government, cither in a State or the nation, can only be rightfully effected by the slow, but sure and safe, process of the ballot-box. All other modes are at war with the fundamental principles of a republican government and the unalienable rights of man. Hence, every citizen is bound, by the Art. I. Amendment.-) to (lie Constitution. 14 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. highest obligation that can exist between man and man, to sus- tain the constitution and laws of the country : and every man who has taken the oath to support the constitution, and violates it, is guilty of perjury. The oath does not create the obliga- tion, but, in a solemn form, and in a judicial way, is an appeal to Heaven ; and the crime and sin of perjury belongeth to him who, in any way, plots the subversion of the constitution. Secondly. I shall now show that the constitution and laws, and especially the laiv to arrest fugitive slaves, do not conflict with any " higher law" in the Sacred Scriptures. It has been maintained by Senators and Representatives in Congress — concocted into resolutions in political meetings — published by editors of religious papers — declared in reports and resolutions by churches and other religious bodies — and preached from the pulpit by Christian ministers, that the laws of the Bible, as a " higher law," nullify the constitution, and the " fugitive slave law" under it. If this doctrine be correct, we ought to know it. It is a cor- rect principle, that when a government requires its subjects to violate the duties they owe to God, or forbids the free discharge of those duties, there is no alternative but to disobey, and suffer the consequences, whether the penalty be confiscation of goods, imprisonment, or death. In order to know where human authority ends, and the divine law becomes paramount, express revelation is necessary. It will not do to suppose a certain law to be in opposition to the law of God. We must not conjecture, or infer, that it is so. It will not do to take general principles and apply them to particu- lar and doubtful cases, bst, in their application, we be found wholly wrong. There is a divine law against idolatrous worship. We have no right to suppose that certain errors in worship are idolatrous, and, therefore, charge those who hold or practice these errors with the crime of idol-worship. We must employ and interpret all language pertaining to laws, whether divine or human, according to the common use of words, and sound prin- ciples of interpretation. The usus loquendi of language must be our guide. If the constitution of the United States, or of this State, or any of the laws enacted, do require us to violate the law of God, it must be because their words and sense are in direct conflict with the words and sense of the Scriptures. In discussing this subject, I have no occasion to justify, or vindicate, African slavery, as it exists in any country. The question, "Is it morally right, or morally wrong, for ns y as individuals, to buy and hold slaves," is altogether another question, that has no direct bearing on the one we are discuss- inrr. We must take facts as they exist, and have existed in our country for more than two hundred years. There are nearly DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 15 three millions of the African race held as slaves. Their ances- tors were slaves ; they were purchased in Africa in a state of slavery. They were made slaves in war, or were purchased, and conveyed from one " headsman" to another, until they were purchased by European or American traders, and sold to the people in the American colonies. This race made slaves of each other, and sold their countrymen, and even their children, from the earliest period of the Grecian and Roman republics. Each colony in America, before the revolutionary war, made its own laws to purchase and to hold this people and their de- scendants in slavery. At one period, slavery existed by law in every colony. In some instances, European kingdoms made slave laws for their colonies. Thus, in the Illinois and Louisiana country, the King of France, as the sovereign, made a code of laws regu- lating slavery. Since the Revolution, each State has acted on this subject as a sovereignty : slaves are now held by virtue of State or municipal authority. Slavery was a very difficult subject to adjust in forming the constitution, not in relation to the seat of authority over it, but in adjusting the balance of power in congressional representa- tion, and in the election of President. The result was a com- promise, by counting five slaves the same as three white persons in the apportionment. The constitution of the United States provides for reclaiming two classes of fugitives. The clauses are in article iv., and second and third clauses of section two. The second clause reads : " A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or any other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in any other State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he has fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime." Here, I remark, that in action the same proceedings take place as in reclaiming a fugitive slave. Any " person charged with treason," &c. Persons are often charged with crime, and not found guilty on trial. The law holds all thus charged as innocent until tried and convicted in due course of law ; yet, on requisition, they are caught and " delivered up," and taken to another State. No habeas corpus — no trial by jury, is had in the case. The third clause in this section of the constitution applies to fugitive slaves; to apprentices and indentured white servants ; to all who " owe service or labor." It reads thus : " No person held to service or labor in one State under t ho laws thereof, esc into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dischargee! from such service or labor ; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to such service or labor may be due." Under this clause of the constitution, Congress, in February, 1793, made a law prescribing the manner in which the claimant should proceed, and by what authority the fugitive should be 16 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. delivered up. No habeas corpus was needed — no trial by jury provided. A trial in Massachusetts, on the legality of the claim on a fugitive from Virginia, would be preposterous. Every man must be tried by the laws of the State he is charged with violat- ing ; not by the laws of the State into which he has tied. Under this old law, the claimant could apprehend and brino- the fugitive slave before any justice of the peace, or judge of a State court, and, on ex parte evidence, he would be delivered up. If he did not " owe service or labor" in the State from which he fled, or to the person who claimed him, he could there appeal to the law, and have a trial by jury. Such has been the law of the land from 1793, and such continues to be the taw, with the fol- lowing modifications : The old law required State officers to execute this law of the United States government. A i'uw years since, this feature was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Following this decree, and under the abolition excite- ment, some of the northern States enacted laws forbidding their officers to aid in the execution of the fugitive slave law. The law of the last session of Congress was made to carry out the provision of the constitution by officers of the United States government. So far as the slave is concerned, the new law gives more pro- tection than the old one. It provides commissioners, appointed by United States authority, before whom the slave is to be brought, and who is to decide on the claim. On all those persons who aid slaves to runaway, or who protect or secrete them ; who inter- rupt the course of law, or raise riots and insurrections, the new law is far more stringent than the old one. It puts a strong' arm on those Abolitionists who, in public, or in secret, aid fugitive slaves to escape to the northern States and to Canada.* • The fugitive slave bill of 1792-3 was drafted by Hon. George Cabot, of Massa- chusetts, in November, 1792, and it passed the Senate on the I8th of January, L793, unanimously — fourteen members from States now free, and thirteen members from now Blaveholding Stat, s, voting for ii. The committee of the II rose (Theodore Sedg- wick ami Sheerjashub Bourne, of Massachusetts, and Alexander White, of Virginia,) reported the hill to that body, by which it was p issed, on the 5th of February, with- out discussion. Eighl States, now free, were represented by thirty-one votes; six now slavehol , by twentj , seven. The bill passed bya vote of foi peas to seven nays. Massachusetts gave six peas* and one nay. This show on-slaveholding passed the first fog slave law. — [See J rs.~\ A writer in the Boston Courier, Octohcr, 1S50, states: "The restoration of fugitives from servitude is no new thing. "In the articles of >■< the United Colonies of New England, namely, Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, ma there is the following provision: "'It is al DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 17 The question may now be raised — Is the clause in the con- stitution, and the law under it, a violation of the law of God, as revealed in the Scriptures? There are two modes of sustaining the affirmative of this question by Abolitionists. The first is by implication. The doctrine maintained by modern Abolitionists is, that slavery consists in claiming and holding a human being as property ; that, in every form of existence, it is a sin, per se — that is, a sin within itself, irrespective of all circumstances and contingencies ; that all sin should be put away instantly ; and, therefore, instantaneous emancipation, regardless of conse- quences, is the duty of every slaveholder. No passage of Scrip- ture is quoted that teaches this doctrine specifically. It is made by implication from general principles. If slaveholding is a sin per se, under all circumstances, then it is inferred that all laws to protect this species of property are sin; the clause of the constitution, if it means slave-labor, com- mands sin, and must be resisted. A class of Abolitionists — the Gerrit Smith party — maintain the constitution has nothing on the subject of slavery, as the word slave is not in it. That slavery is protected in the constitution, is not to be ques- tioned by any sound mind. Having been so decided by all the departments of government, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the uniform usage of all parties, it cannot now be called in question. Another class, tolerably numerous in New England, have gone beyond the Bible, which they represent as an antiquated book, and its principles as quite "behind the age." They have an innate laiv in each one's breast — a sentiment or feeling, mis- taken for conscience, and by which the immutable principles of right and wrong are to be adjusted. This is, with them, the "higher law/' that overrules the constitution and laws of the land — absolves Senators and Representatives in Congress from the oath of office — arms the colored population against the con- stituted authorities of the nation — makes every man a judrro of the law — and denies the obligation of obedience in all cases where a man thinks the law is unconstitutional or unjust. There are thousands of church members, including not a few ministers, who are now where Garrison and his tribe of Abolitionists were in 1836. They are following the same path, taking one step after another, in (he downward course; and unless a merciful God interpose, they, too, in a few years, will make, shipwreck of their Christian faith, as others have done before them.* •Tie Garrison I ribe of Abolitionists make up the old i Anti- Slavery Society, 1 " thai originated in modern fanatici m. Ii was lo med in Phila- delphia, in December, 1833. A previous local society, managed by the same faction had been formed in Massachusetts. On receiving the proceedings, constitution, and address, we perceived in thedocument elements of tn -.11111 disor- ganizing character, and so did we announce I r readers in Mir Ci Pioneer and 18 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. By that class who still claim the Scriptures for authority, their "higher law" is found in Dent, xxiii. 15, 16: "Thou slialt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. •• He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose, in one of thy gates where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him. ; ' In order to show how this and other passages of Scripture are perverted from their true meaning by modern Abolitionists, it will be necessary to examine the facts concerning servants, or slaves, among the Hebrews and the surrounding nations, at the period of the enactment of the Hebrew laws. My first reply to the application of this law in Deuteronomy, is, that it related exclusively to the Jews, after they entered the land of Canaan; and to apply it to our country, and to Christians, is a perversion of God's word. Waiving that point, I maintain the law itself is perverted and misapplied. There were three classes of servants, or persons held as pro- perty, in the period of this law. 1. Hebrews who were held in bondage by Hebrews. Calmet enumerates six ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty. In extreme poverty, lie might sell himself. (Lev. xxv. 39-41.) A father might sell his children. Insolvent debtors became the slaves of their creditors. (2 Kings, iv. 1.) A thief, if lie had no money to pay the fine laid on him by law. was sold for the profit of him whom he had robbed. A Hebrew was liable to be taken prisoner in war, and sold for a slave by the enemy. A Hebrew slave, who had been ransomed by a Hebrew, could be sold by him, but only to a Hebrew. Hebrews could not be held in bondage to Hebrews for a longer period than six years, or the jubilee ; but should the servant prefer to remain, he had his ear bored at the door-post, when he became a slave for life. (Exod. xxi. 1-6; Dent. xv. 1:2-18.) 2. Slaves bought by Hebrews of the heathen nations. ( Lcvit. xxv. 44-46 :) " Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of thr heathen that are around aboul you; of (hem shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. •• Moreover, of the children bf tbe strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land : ai d they shall be ■ c iion. Western Baptist." There was a glossary aboul these "elements" that deceived many religi ■ and impulsive and' unstable mi I. For some jri jetner, verging onward and downward into the gulf of fanaticism, until Garrison and his | I thr ascendancy, and obtained control . ligious p u-ty, claiming to be orthodox, withdrew, ;n Anti-Si : This party became a political or- , but in ; doctrines the same anti-christian and de- moralize l : Garrison pa r political organization — denounce institution, the govern '.hath, the Christian ministry, and ail organi- zations fo ises. 1 rlcings of this party that have produced ordination, and negro riots, in the once law-abiding city of Boston. Thr , , the polical Abolition party joined the Van Buren faction in 1848, an( 3 i,., . up thr conjunction of abolitionist and •■ Free-soil" parties. A faction, headed bj Get d to join the coalition, and main- taiu a sej ■■ . ' ionization, as the true " Liberty . .:.;•. r. DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 19 "'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.*' These servants continued such for successive generations. This was a merciful law, because it brought these people under the influence of the Jewish system. When Joshua entered upon the conquest of Canaan, the com- mand was to exterminate the idolatrous tribes therein. But the Gibeonites, Chephirathites, Beerothites, and people about Ker- jath-Jearim, dressed themselves in old garments, took mouldy provisions, and pretended to come from a great distance. They made a league surreptitiously, in which Joshua solemnly pledged the faith of the nation, and they were spared. But they, and their children in all succeeding generations, were made slaves to the whole congregation, and became " hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord." (See Joshua, ninth chapter.) 3. The third class of slaves were those held in bondage by heathen and idolatrous masters out of the land of Judea. This class, escaping from a cruel and idolatrous master, and coming into Judea, were not to he delivered up. It is to this class alone that the law in Deut. xxv. 15, 16, applies. Dr. Gill considers this law as applicable to the fugitive who fled from an oppressive and cruel master, sought protection in Judea, and became a proselyte to Judaism. This law, as well as the one just noticed, was beneficent in its purposes. The same construction is given in the Targum of Jonathan. Dr. Adam Clarke says : u A servant who left an idolatrous master, that he might join himself unto God and bis people, was to remain. In any other case, lie was to be given up, as it would have been unjust to harbor a runaway slave." A servant, whether a Hebrew bound to serve for a term of years, or one bought of the heathen out of Judea, and bound for life, and his posterity after him, escaping from his lawful master, or going from one tribe to another, could not be right- fully harbored. And in this respect, there is some analogy in our government. A slave voluntarily escaping from a foreign country, and coming into our nation, is not delivered up to his former master. Hence the conduct of Abolitionists in aiding and secreting fugitive slaves in our country, is a violation 0? the Hebrew laws. The Scriptures they bring to sustain them arc perverted and misapplied. There is real danger to the morals of the people, and to the gov- ernment of our country, from this species of religious fanaticism in the northern States. This •• higher law,' 1 when stripped of its glossary, and seen in its true character, is but a new phase of the old dogma of the church ruling the state. The Bible, with a specious and false interpretation, is enforced as the standard of political government. The source and the principle are 1 1n- same ; the mode of application only differs. Religion and politics 20 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. are blended. The dogmas of the church must again overrule legislation; Moses and Aaron occupy departments in the same government. The declaration of the Saviour, "Render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's, and to God the things that are God's," is nullified. For a quarter of a century, numerous religionists have been sowing the seed that now produces a vicious harvest of lawless- ness and insubordination, which may yet furnish the counterpart to the " reign of terror" in France. This " higher law," claimed by Abolitionists, confounds all distinction between the relationship of man to God, and of man to man. The anarchy and lawlessness now taught by perverting the Scriptures and Christianity, are infinitely more dangerous to morals, to civil government, and to pure Christianity, than all the infidelity ever propagated in this nation. But there is a "higher law" in the New Testament, that points out the duty of teachers of Christianity on this very subject of slavery, in a mode that cannot be misunderstood, while it marks, in strong terms of reprobation, the conduct of Abolitionists. It is found in the first epistle of Paul to Timothy, chap. vi. 1-5 : " Let as many servints as arc under the yoke count their oivn masters as worth)/ of all honor, that the, name of God be not blasphemed. " And they that hare believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; bid rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things leach and exhort. "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according la godliness ; " He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof comet h envy, strife, railing, evil surmising*, " Perverse dis'pulings of men of c nds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness : from such withdraw thyself. The terra, w ' servants under the yoke" distinguishes slavery from every other form of servitude. Such might have " believing masters." Here is the directory for ministers of the Gospel, in their teaching. They have here an infallible guide what to teach, and what they must not teach. " If any man teach otherwise, he is proud, knowing nothing." What a catalogue of fanaticism, insubordination, criminality, and folly, is here given; and yet this is a true picture of hundreds of 1'anaties, and of the style and spirit of their addresses, in the northern States Such is the character of a few in the State of Illinois. What a lament- able picture of blindness, delusion, depravity, and guilt, is^ here drawn. I am thankful they are scarce in this part of this State; and I am rejoiced to bam that the pastors of the churches in this city have already addressed their several congregations on the same subject on which I have been invited to address this crowded assembly to-day. Here, in the address of Paul, the aged, to Timothy, the evangelist, is the guide for ministers of the Gospel in reference to the snbjecl thai has excited so much DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 21 alarm ibr our National Union, and caused our ablest and most venerable statesmen to turn pale — to pause amidst all former strife, and to affiliate in devising measures of compromise and conciliation. O, what reckless fanaticism — what stupidity of conscience — what mental and moral obliquity, must possess those ministers and ecclesiastical bodies to whose sayings and doings I have already referred you! What lamentable perver- sions of God's Book! What demoralizing influences have these men sent forth on community ! Is it not enough that political demagogues, for the basest par- tisan purposes, regardless of the sanctity of their oaths, shall plot the destruction of the constitution they have sworn to sup- port ; or proclaim a " higher law," as their guide? Must men, who " wear the livery of heaven," turn agitators in the very worst form, and defame the name of Christ, who would neither " strive, nor cry, nor lift up his voice in the streets?" " From such withdraw thyself" is the voice of the Divine Spirit.* Does Christian benevolence and philanthropy ask, with an anxious desire of doing good — "What, then, can be done for the slaves of the South ?" From careful, prayerful, and philanthropic observance of the condition of slaves for more than thirty years, from stand-points where the very best opportunities were af- forded for candid and impartial investigation of the subject in all its bearings ; having labored to no small extent for the spiritual benefit of that class of persons ; having watched the progress of the principles and modes of action of modern Abolitionists in the northern States — the speaker claims the privilege, on this occa- sion, to bear testimony to facts, and express his own convictions. Again, I repeat, that the occasion does not call for any vindi- cation or justification of the slavery and commerce of any of the human species. Nor is there any occasion for me to appear as the apologist of slaveholders. Each person thus situated must judge for himself in relation to his duty as a master, or a servant, according to the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures. But could my voice reach the multitude of religionists who for many years have agitated the subject of slavery, and given heed to the most obscene and scandalous misprescntations of slaves and their masters, I would say, in the name of humanity and righteousness, " Cease your agitation. If you desire to benefit that class, you must let the subject alone. All your efforts have conferred no benefit on the slaves, and never will. The subject belongs cx- clu ively to the people in the slaveholding Slates. They, and they alone, can produce emancipation. Your lectures and pro- * In the apostolic age, tfc Bixty millions of Blares in the Roman Empire. They existed, in large numb ind districts of country in which the Apostles preached; and yet, thi instruction the Divine Spirit has given, as a director] formini ' i - of tl l Epi ties. Ref- erence may he h^'l to ! Cor. vii. 21,22; Eph. vi. 5-9; Col. iii. - I it. l 1 Tim. vi.'l-">; Titus, ii. 9, 1"; Philemon. 10—19. J. at. p. 22 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. tests, and denunciations, and resolutions, have touched no slave- holder's conscience. You do not have the co-operation of those who are not slaveholders in the southern States. You are re- garded by all classes, religious and irreligious, slaveholders and non-slaveholders, as factious intermeddlers — as busy-bodies in other men's matters. If you fancy you are making progress, you are only deceiving yourselves. When you learn wisdom, you will cease your agitations, or turn your attention to some practical object nearer home, and expend your philanthropy where there is probability of success." People in the northern States, in most cases, do not understand the reasons why their labors and desires are not appreciated in the South. They know not the insurmountable difficulties of universal emancipation. A number of the free States have made strino-ent laws, and some of them constitutional provision, to exclude in future all colored persons. The people of Illinois, in adopting that section of their new constitution, three years since, gave a majority in its favor of more than thirty thousand votes. How, then, can it be expected that slaveholding States will emancipate their slaves, when the free States refuse to re- ceive the African race when free? There are insuperable objec- tions against the two races living together. This is the strong objection to the emancipation of slaves. Call it prejudice against color, or what you please, it is a barrier that cannot be sur- mounted. There appears but one opening in the gloom that surrounds us — but one luminous spot in the hemisphere — and that is on the African continent. The finger of Providence points in no other direction. The star of hope is alone in-Africa. And, as if to give proof of mental and moral blindness ; as if with the determination to fight against Providence, and follow out measures wholly wrong, Abolitionists, with few exceptions, have been the opposers of African colonization. They have poisoned and filled with prejudice the minds of the colored population who are nominally free. They have done what they could to prevent this mode of relief from being effectual. Even when the slave, panting for freedom, and trying to raise funds to purchase himself, or his family, has solicited aid. Abolitionists, with per- verted consciences, have refused the smallest pittance of relief, while colonizationists have proved themselves the true friends of the slave.* But to all Christians, whose minds have not become perverted with the fanatical doctrines that we have exposed, there is ample room and the largest field for doing good to the slaves throughout the whole South. Ministers of the Gospel may perform every duty of the Christian missionary to this class, on every planta- tion. My generous hearers will pardon the seeming egotism in the statement, that I have had no small amount of experience on this subject. • This fact has been demonstrated, in repeated instances, in the city of New York. DtftlJES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 23 I have taught, in the form of Sabbath schools and the Bible class, between two and three hundred slaves to read the Bible ; given religious instruction, in every mode and form, to thousands of that class ; baptized many hundreds of professed believers ; raised up churches ; and assisted in the ordination of eight or ten colored ministers of the Gospel. I can appeal, then, to slaves and slaveholders for proof of fidelity and success in this depart- ment of evangelical labor. And I affirm, from personal know- ledge and experience, that ministers of Christ, who conform to the instructions given them, can find ample work in the religious instruction of slaves in all the southern States. Again, there has been a class of Baptists in this State, for more thnn forty years, anti-slavery in their position and principles. With these brethren, for thirty years, I have been intimate. They received into their churches persons holding slaves only on specified conditions. Their course has been inoffensive. They are not modern Abolitionist ; for, 1. They never aided and secreted fugitive slaves, in violation of the constitution and laws. 2. They never interfered, in any objectionable way, with the legal and political rights of slaveholders. They preached the Gospel, in an acceptable and successful manner, in slaveholding States. 3. They aimed to do good to both master and servant, in a quiet, lawful, and peaceable mann r. 4. They never adopted the principles, nor manifested the fanatical temper, of modern Abolitionists. 5. They would not hold slaves, except on principles consistent with the claims of humanity. Slaveholders were received into their churches, only on certain conditions and restrictions. The term of distinction employed was, " Friends to humanity ." "Friend/// to the spirit and practice of hereditary slavery," was the term of objection. 6. They consulted the true interests of all parties concerned. 7. They ever upheld the constitution and laws of the country, in a peaceable way. Some of this class were in official stations in this territory and State, and took the oath to support the con- stitution of the United States : they never perjured themselves by the quibble, and under the plea, of a "higher laiv." I give this statement to show that good men can act consci- entiously in maintaining an anti-slavery position — exert an in- fluence in favor of liberty, mid in opposition to hereditary and perpetual slavery, without doing mischief. The abolition mania is not the only form that fanaticism lias put on in certain quarters within the last quarter of a century. Let any one attend the numerous conventions ami associations hear the vagrant lecturers — watch (lie current of influences of a vicious tendency, that are pouring their poisonous streams in every direction — as the speaker has done; and, if he is not 24 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. wholly destitute of the faculty of observation, lie will see that the seeds of anarchy and dissoluteness are thickly sown. The atheism and licentiousness of France were a century in collect- ing the elements for the terrific eruption in 1793. The very same elements are fermenting in New England and New York, and are already leavening the population along the northern lakes. I am not willing to die without lifting up the voice of warning I say to the ministers of the Gospel around me — to all who may read and ponder — beware ! beware ! While the husbandman slept, the enemy sowed tares. A worse enemy than religious fanaticism cannot enter your fields. And this enemy ever comes in the garb of philanthropy, and a spurious Christianity. My respected hearers : Laboring under the infirmities of age.,. I have endeavored to discharge this duty with faithfulness. My thanks are due for your patient attention. My prayer to Heaven is, that the principles I have inculcated may find a place in your minds. ■S2l£s»£bs 2 Ml ^7-«