V Glass £^01 Book .S7^ // SPERMiCETI FORMNWAl^t)TfeuK WITH 'HRESCKIP' FROM THE SADDLE-BAGS OP BRS. FMNKLIN AND JEFFERSON, REVISED AND AMENDED FOR THE USE OF • \ MODERN POLITICO, THEOLOGICO, VALEJ^IMIAm " No shaking While taking — Once took / It can't be shiook." SYRACUSE : ' PRINTED AT THE JOURNAL OFFICE. 1851. w :) i //•t- "' They that are wiiole have no neecl of the Physician" but lliey that are sick." "Shall not uncircuii)cision,whicli is by nature, if it fulfil the Law, reprove that which is by 'OircumoisioB, if it transgress the Law V" ■. In considering the developement of human intelligence,' in its difl[erRnt spheres of activily, from its infancy to the present day, there will be discov- ered a great fund.imental principle or law, to which it is subjected, by an in- variabte necessity, and which is estabhshed by rational proof deriv, d from a knowledge of our organization, as well as from an attentive examinalionfof the past iiistory of the human taniily. Tliis principle or law is thus briefly declared: "Every .principal -conception of man, in every branch of knowl- •edge, passes successively through three different stages of theory — the first •of which is the theological or fictitious stage; the second, the melaphysical •or abstract; the third, the scientific or positive stage." In other words, the human mind naturally employs, in all its researches, tliree successive methods of philosophy, each radically opposed to the other in its essential character, the first of which methods is tlie theological; the seeond the metaphysical, ■n,nd the third the positive or scientific method. Hence we have derived three •distinct systems of conception, upon all subjects of human knowledge, which mutually destroy each other. The first is the necessary starting point 'of human intelligence; the second the transition stage, and the third the aim and end of human inquiry, the positive state of fixed facts, the only true ■philosophy. In the theological state, the human mind, directing its researches towards the internal nature of existence, the first and final causes of the eflects with 'whicti it astonished, in one word, toward the absolute truth, imagines these ^effects to be produced by the direct action and continued agency of super- natural beings, more or less numerous, whoso arbitrary intervention explains ^ali tlie apparent anomaiie'^ ot the universe. In the metaphysical siate, which is in reality a irere modification of the theological state, the supernatural agents arc re-placed, by abstract personifi- cations of realities, inherent in the various existences of the worlH, who are conceived capable of generating of themselves, ail observed phenomena. Thirdly and lastly, in the positive state, the human mind, convinced of the impossibility of ascertaining absolute trutli, ceases to investigate the origin and destiny of the universe, as well as the final cause of effects, in order to devote itself e.xcusively, by combining reason with observation, to the dis- covery of the laws of eflect, and their invariable relations of succession aniions was similar to that of images, a third eve was necessary in order to see theui. Is it not equally so in this case of interior observation 1 It is evident that the human mind, by an invincible necessity, can observe all phenomena siue its own — for by whom shall the observatidii be made? The observed and the observer bei g identical, how can the ob-ervatioii take place? Now, let us examine liie modus opi'randi of tlii-< proceeding. Im- primis you are to isolate yourself as much as possible from all exterior sen- sation— intellectual effort is expressly forbidden. In the second place, after having attained to this perfect state of mental torpor, you must occupy your- self in contemplating the operations of your mind, while in its torpid state ; ascertain what your mind is doing when it does nothing ! Where is Moliere ? What mysterious rapping ! What wonder that many men have many minds, and that'the numbers of each are equal, upon such mysticisms. What valua- ble discovery has ever been made by interior observation, or inspiration ? either in physical or moral science? Can one be named? The first great result of positive philosophy will be the manifestation by experience 6f the laws of our intellectual functions, and consequently a pre* cite knowledge of the general rules essential to the attainment of Truth, without the possibility of mistake. A second consequence, no less important, and of much more pressing ne- cessity, is the reorganization of our system of education. There is but one opinion among sensible men, as to the necessity of revolutionising our edu- cational system, which remains essentially theological, metaphysical and lit- erary, by a substitution of a positive education, in harmony with the spirit of the age and adapted to the wants of modern civilization. We need a fundamental regeneration of the general system of education, from the pri- mary school to the last finishing touches of a sound and perfect accomplish- ment. The insatiable thirst for useful knowledge, the eagerness for popu- lar lectures upon scientific subjects, the neglect and contempt of the theolo- gical and metaphysical and even literary productions of the age, all point with unmistakable significance to the absolute and immediate necessity of revolution in our system of education. Our children are crying for bread ; shall we continue to give them stones ? have we not had enough of this hard feed? Look to it Legislators! Thirdly and lastly, but not leastly, my fellow-citizens and brethren. Posi- tive philosophy is destined to become the only solid basis of the reorganiza^ tion and regeneration of our Social system — upon which can repose in secu- rity the convulsed nations of the civilized world. It would only be wasting time to attempt to prove to you, what it is almost superfluous even to state, that in this country, opinions govern — through the instrumentality of Law, as a means of avoiding anarchy — and that at this moment, there exists in this country a moral and political crisis of opinion refusing the aid of Law, and threatening anarchy as a matter of course. Our present difficulty con- sists in a profound divergence of opinion upon fundamental maxims upon which our social institutions are based. So long as individual intelligence, do not by unanimous consent adhere to a certain number of general ideas capable of forming a common social doctrine, it cannot be diguised that the state of the nation is essentially and necessarily revolutionary, notwithstand- ing the existence of temporary political palliatives, operating as a provisional government, and maintaining an outward fora. of social order for the time being ; whiqt it is equally certain, that if there be a combination of opinions and principles opposed to the organized political institutions, these institu- tions must eventually conform to the opinions and principles, sooner or later, by force of opinion or by reason of force. It is to this point that should be directed the attention of all, who feel the impoitanee of the original sources of the power of society. Now, from the point of view upon which the pre- ceding considerations have placed us, we can readily discover the fundamen- tal difiiculties of the present crisis, and also their remedy. The difficulty lies in the existence of three incompatible systems of social philosophy — clash- ing one against the other — the theological — the metaphysical, and the posi- tive systems. If either of these systems possessed in reality , a complete and universal preponderance, there would at least be harmony ; it is the co- 8 existence of the three opposing systems which creates the confusion and chaos of our position. If this be true, tlien the question is, which of the three shall prevail ? for thee can be but ane Supreme. Reduced to these simple terms, the answer app.nrs ready ; tor ii must be evident to the most careless observer, that the ) ositive philosopiiv is destined to succeed; being True it must prevail. " Snlitary and alone" it has been progressing for ages; while its antagonists have been at the same time gradually sinking tD decay. Deplorable as the fiJct may be considered, it is nevertheless incontestible: We may lament it, but we cannot destory it; neither can we neglect it or overlook it, without incurring the penalty of indulging in an illusory specu- lation. This general revolution of the human mind is at this momentaccomplished, and in this country it is very gener.illy realized, although not as yet positively established or systematised. This is the proper duty of the rising gen- eration — thj crisis is at hand — the triumph of positive philosophy will restore order. The decided preference of all heads and of all hearts from the highest to the lowest, for truth and common sense before the vagaries and mysticisms of the pulpit, is a sure presage of the general acclamation with which a free and enlightened People will hail the regeneration of our worn-out social system, now about to be reorganized upon the principle of our political institutions — the basis of the sovereignty of the will of the People. Theology and metaphysics are struggling against each other for suprem- acy ; and both unite against the positive system, which only interferes to condemn and conquer both — with its success, is identified the cause of Free- dom, and Humanity, not only in America but throughout the world. Having now finished this abstract exposition, which is taken almost liter- ally from the work of the best thinker of modern times, I proceed to take a more practical and popular view of the effects produced upon our political and social institutions by the application of these contending principles. In moral as in physical science, there are certain first principles or axioms, which are too obvious for demonstration — some of which are equally appli- cable to both. For example, all must admit, that all natural power (for of the Supernatural or Higher power we can form no idea) must be either sta- tionary or locomotive — and that all motion must be either progressive, retro- active or rotary. 1. Of the progressive principle. If we consider man in his lowest original state of mental development, we find him, instead of being "little lower than the angels," but little eleva- ted above '• the beasts who perish" — a mere eating, drinking, sleeping, propa- gating, fighting, roaming cannibal brute. Upon the first step of the scale, rising from the brute, we find him, instead of eating his captive in war, enslaving him as the weaker animal, and reduc- ing him, and the female animal, to a state of slavery and boijiiage. The master animal thus rises to the warrior state — leaving his captive and his woman to drudge at home. Here then is the first step of human progress — and we find man a warrior and a " mighty hunter" — enslaving the weaker man and woman, himself tiie slave of his animal nature, and of an imagina- tion, striving in vain to find a cause for the most simple operations of the natural world by which he is surrounded. Conscious of his own weakness of body and mind, he ascribes every effect to an imaginary cause. Terror- struck with the visible operations of the powers of nature, he ascribes their inscrutable causes to the first object which presents itself to his senses. He propitiates these powers for his safety and welfare— he deprecates their wrath by sacrifices, worship, flattery — in one word, he is an idolater — and stocks and stones and croeping things are his gods, — free in body, but a slave to his uiilutored, unsubdued imagination — without reason or under- standing. This is the first step of progress — but is it not, nevertheless, pro- gress? and does it not shew that tins first step was attained l)y subjecting his fellow being, by force to labor for him ? He would not hi bor himself, any more than any other animal will labor, unless compelled by superior force. No mere savage will labor. Slavery then, slave-labor was the first step of human progress. We next find this slave-savage, man and woman, gradually learning to labor — which necess;irilv implies mental as well as bodily labor — for a man who woiks must think about whnt he is doing. Hence reason began to dawn by being necessarily compelled into action by brute force or s^hi very — and from the simplest operation of raising vegetables and fruits he learned agriculture — from building huls he learned architecture — from making up skins for clothing he became a manufacturer — hence labor, slave labor, gradually elevated man from the warrior or hunter state, to the industrial man — habit made labor easy and it became "second nature;" hence man,, finding out by experience and reason that it was better to labor than to bo idle, continued to labor. He taught his children to labor, and rose from slave-labor to free-labor. Hxercise of body and mind, increased the strength of both — and tiie slave from being the weaker, became the stronger man, and gradually, in the course of time, asserting his natural right of freedom, of which savage force had deprived him, he accomplished his deliverance from slavery, both of body and mind — temporal and spiritual. As reason ad- vanced by means of labor and exercise, imagination receded. He learned that stocks and stones and creeping things had no power — instead of being superior to him he found the reverse to be true — but reason, being yet in its infancy, and imagination consequently strong, he attributed effects to imagi- nary causes — to Jupiter, Juno. Osiris, &c. Was not here progress? As numbers increased, and labor began to supply more than the mere ani- mal wants, ideas of property and society arose. Man began to tame animals and kept herds and flocks — he became a shepherd — a roving herdsman — he began to wa'ch the return of the seasons — the rising and setting of the stars — in one word, he became a student of na.ture — and there arose the idea of a division of labor. These students of nature became astronomers, as- trologers, magicians, oracles, priests of the Sun, of Apollo, of Diana, &c. Using their superior power of reason, they enslaved the weaker reasons, by subjecting them to their control. Strong in imagination and credulous, they became the easy dupes of the superior reason — hence hierarchies and spirit- ual slavery. But the superior reason ruled for good — it taught the inferior and the race progressed. Reason grew in the schools of the hierarchy and was disseminated gradually to the spiritual slaves of their power. Civiliza- tion, with rude arts and simple sciences increased — and man began to con- gregate in villages and cities and prof^ressed, slowly emerging from temporal and spiritual bondage as he increased in reason. In this stage of progress, imagination still governed society — Polytheism, with its temples, its oracles, its Hamens, ruling by hereditary and divine right, holding direct and visible communication with invisible and imaginary powers or causes, swayed the destinies of man for centuries. Socrates, and Cicero, and Plato, at length arise to demonstrate the pro- gress of man from his normal state of cannibalism — and to progress them- selves from Polytheism to Monotheism — the idea of the immortality of the Boul, foreshadowing the immortality of reason, is born, and gradually eradi- cated Polythei-^m. Under Constantine, Catholicism arose with its mighty, world-wide political hierarchy, and as=old Rome, enslaved body and mind for 10 centuries — this was a great step in human progress. By making its hierar- chy elective instead of hereditai-y, it taught the world the secret of mental over mere animal power — the power of mind over matter — and the world, profiting hy tlie lesson, gradu lly learned to reason — to think — until Galileo appeared and, reasoning with more power than his teachers, tauglitm mkind that tile immutable and eternal laws of nature were beyond llie control of all s])eeial visible and direct interposition from any higher power. Miracles ceased of course — and with tiiem Catholicism expired. Men began to con- lide in tiiis new power of man ; they began to (question the oraculir power of the Clinrch — which Galileo iiad proved to be not exactly infallible — they became curious to see tlie oracle itself — they obtained the manuscripts — and free labor having meantime learned to print, they all with one ac Ord began to read the oracle for themselves. Instead of taking it second hand from the sooth-sayers and interpreters of dreams, all bi'came inspired, and the oracle alone was infallible. Was not this progress? Luther and Calvin and Erasmus were progressive spirits in their day and generation. Galileo had taught them the power and the courage of Truth. He was not afraid of the ra<'.k — and Luther defied Christendom. Calvin burned Servetus— but he was still progressive The thunders of the Vatican had become " brutum fulmen" — the lightning had gone out. Henry the 8th was determined to marry Anne Bullen, who was delighted to change her name — and Catharine of Arragon, and the Emperor and the I'ope might consent or not as they pleased. Anne Bullen was too much for the Po, e's Bull — and Henry the 81 h arrogated to himself the incarnation of the Papal Bull. Was not this progress? Did not the temporal power then bid defi- ance to the Hierarchy ? did not Henry establish the Church of England,in sub- serviency to his Supreme will, uniting in himself the combined power of Church and State — temporal and spiritual. Was he not King and High Priest — enslaving body and soul to the behests of his supreme control ? — Was he not the Higher Power ? and was not this progress in temporal and spiritual power ? Aye, the end of the Progress of the animal and imagina- tive power of slavery, temporal and spiritual. What more progress could there be ? with one foot on the State and the other on the Church, and tramp- ling under foot body and soul of man, why progress ? Had not temporal and spiritual slavery risen to its acme? Can it rise further? If it stir must it not go down — culminate? What then must it do ? It must stand still. It becomes the Stationary Power, combining in itself the elements of the progressive principle, by which it had overcome the spiritual dynasty of Rome — that is the temporal power or state, as well as the church or spirit- ual power, which was struggling to return to Rome, the old dominion of its past glory, instead of remaining stationary under the temporal despotism of Church and S ate, in subservience to which it must now act. Hence the spiritual power or church wasretrogade in its principle — and these principles, progressive and retrograde, being combined in nearly equal strength pro- duced the stationary power. Then commenced and still continues, the strug- gling between these powers on the continent and in England, whence .sprang the United States. Hastening over the details of English History, in which is recorded the death struggle of the triangular warfare of these contending principles, and the triumph, after various reverses, of the progressive principle in the down- fall of Charles I,, and the establishment of the Commonwealth — and with- out pursuing the continued struggle of this princi|)le to establish itself firmly in power, from that i)eriod lo the recent repeal of the corn lawsof Enirland, the death-knell not only of the stationary ])rinciple, now feebly rejjrescnted by the pageantry of the Crown, but of the Church or retrogade principle. 11 //C Btill struggling to ally itself to its mother of Rome, — let us follow the pro- gressive principle in its path of glory, sighing like the spirit of Alexander for new worlds to conquer. Paying a farewell visit to its continental friends, and liking an affectionate leave of the Fuderland, it embarks in the May Flower, lands at Plymouth Rock, and strips to its mighty work. Presby- terians, Covenanters.iifth Monarchy men,Congregationalists, Baptists, Metho- dists, Puritans, Episcopalians and Romanists, all partially released from the retrograiie shackles of prelacy, papacy and such erastianisms pro- gressives, all, fly to the promised land of New England. Younger sons of worn out courtiers, the scattered waifs of the wrecked stationary power, with })rogrefsive Huguenots from France, are gradually thrown upon the shore from Delaware to Georgia. Quakers go to Pennsylv;inia — while the slowly, but surely, progressive sons of the Faderland follow in the wake of Hendrick Hudson, Having shown the existence of the progressive, stationary and retrograde powers, J proceed to demonstrate the existence and effect of the rotary power, in Political, Social and Religious institutions. This is a very impor- tant power — it combines readily with either of the three demonstrated powers.or it re-acts upon either — it is a kind of a villainous compound of them all, and is usually manifestc^d by a badge of office, in staring capitals, or a consequential air which will betray its presence without a badge. It is im- material which way it works— it has no fixed principle of action, except to re- volve on its own axis, and will go any way, if it can only be paid. Its presence as a moving power is unmistakable, and yet it can be more easily imagined than described. In politics, its influence is practically, to make time-serving demagogues, who watch the struggle of the contending princi- ples — whose sole aim is to get into the car that is likely to go. Tiie ques- tion with them is not so much v^'hero shall we go, but can we go any way — for go we must; whether it be North or South, East or West is a matter of no moment, if we can only go, (or stand still,) and get paid. Will it pay T We are at the service of either principle. In social life this principle assumes the practical form of Conventional- ism — it conforms to the fashions and customs and etiquette of society — it goes to the tailor, to the mantaumaker, and the milliner for its dress- it goes to the fashionable churches for its religion, its morality, its established usage — it troubles itself little with the politics of the times, which are too positive and progressive for its f istidious taste — it does not inquire very par- ticularly as to what is strictly right or wrong — but as to what is customary — fashionable — and in accord:ince with received usages and ceremonies. Con- form to these outw irdly, and you can think and act secretly as you please — but bew;ire how you infringe the Ceremonial Law. You will be ridiculed out of the pule of social life — and ridicule is the severest kind of persecu- tion. There is no tyranny like that of conformity to the fashion of this world. In iUdigion. (let me tread lightly upon its grave, for it is consecrated, holy gi-ound.) it endeavors to reconcile God and Mammon — The will of God, with the will of Mm— Theocracy, with Democracy — The Bible and the U. S. Constitution — Special interposition of Divine providence with the eternal and immutable laws of nature — in one word, the progressive principle of Hum III Reason, witii the retroactive principle of Imagination, Superstition^ and Fanaticisms — Preaching the doctrines of a by-gone and defun. t theolo- gical system derived from the Bible, the revealed will and infallible oracle of Deity: often in direct conflict with Reason. It endeavors to reconcile the one with the other of these antagonistic principles. It would combine the light of Reason with the darkness of superstition and compromise upon 12 a dim twilight. The will of God is mridc subservient to mnjorities declaring- the will of man; and yi^t the will of God is supreme. The will of man must in c;'rt.iiii pilrticu! irs coniform to the will of God, and yet the L:iw of the hind is .•^upreme. Hence two suprcmes — the will of God, and the Bible — The will of Man, and the Constitulion. The retrograde principle strives for the will of God or the Bible, wiih conscience or wiLli inspired infallibility to interpret, for, by that means, it has for ages ruled and enslaved the human race : and still s:'eks to recover its lost suprcm.icy. The progres ive princi- ple strives for the Constitution, or the will of man, for by that means, man has escaped from spirituiil bondage and its necessary concomitant, temporal and personal bondage. Reason and Revelation are at swords points. The rotary principle strives to reconcile, to compromise, to pour oil upon the troubled waters and quiet them into a temporary superlicial calm upon which their frail theological barks niiy ride in safety. But the ground swell is heaving from the bottom — it m ly not be, Progress is mighty and must pre- vail. Ye cannot, upon your own principles, serve God and mammon, — the idols of your imagination — let them both succumb to the Dominion of the Supreme Law of Truth. Before the will of God, can be assumed as a rule of conduct, it is necessary to prove the existence of God, the fact that this bible is his revealed will, and that the interpretation thereof is in'accordance with the letter and spirit of the revealed will. Have either of these dogmas ever been proved? can they ever be proved? are they not expressly contra- dicted by Reason ? These are mighty questions, which must be solved. Reason has solved thorn. The Jehovah of the Jew, the Osiris of the Egyp- tian, the Jupiter of the Roman, and the Triune God of the Christian are in the eye of Reason efjually creatures of an imagination, which Reason has gradually and successively, in its progress of triumph, exterminated from the mind of man. The idea" of God is utterly incomprehensible to Human Reason; and can only be proved by appealing to the Bible, or Revelation. Is then the Bible therevealed will of u Goil. proving his own existence? — Must you not prove his existence extraneously ? Has that, can that ever be proved? No! Theologians themselves admit it. You must rt.'!N)/me the Bible as the infallible word of God, or you cannot prove God. Is this Rea- son? is this Truth? But what evidence is there of the dogma, that the Bible is the revealed will of God ? Internal ? or External ? Read the Bible — read Genesis — is that the revealed will of an intelligent, moral, just, righteous God? There is no internal evidence, derived either from a scientific, historical, poetical, or moral aspect of the old or new testament, entitling it to its high pretentions of Omniscient origin, except, perhaps, in its poetry. The Bible is not even on a par with the intelligence of the Augustan age; and Homer and Virgil contain passages of sublimity that may vie with the best speci- mens of the sacred muse. As to the prnphecies, I will not condescend to argue. Let those who understand them, e.xplain them, with the book of Revelations. I give it up. Is the Jehovah of Genesis the God of your worship? Can you abide his morals, his politics or his religion? But aside from all other con- siderations, ran the existence of G:)d be proved by the Bible? Certainly not — no intelligent man can or does pretend so monstrous an absurdity — no internal evidence, no matter what its amount can prove it — it is iiadmis- sible. You cannot prove the fact of existence from the will of God, be- cause in so doing you pre-suppose the existence of God. which is the very fact to be proved : hence all direct internal evidence, fills. And when we come to the indirect internal evidence, no sane man can believe that the Je- hovah of the Jew, and the God of the Christian is the same — and hence the 13 //? inference is reasonable that the whole book is fabulous allegnrical and utterly unworthy the importance, factitious and fiftitious, wliicli it oecupies in the civilized work!. It is a relic of barbarous infanlile, puerilities — the nursery rhy»:ies of the race. The miserable attcnipt of Paley to prove a Deity by the .story of the watch, is an admitted failure. A savage find in ij a watch, unless he had prt'viously known that man could make a watch, would natur-, ally infer tiiat the Gn^at Spirit made it — as witness the fact, one of 1000 that tlie savage of Like Erie wiien he first saw the steamboat coming up Detroii.Rivcr, exclaimed that it w.is tiie Great Spirit. So man when he sees the sun and moon and stars and all the iirmiMnent on high, exclaims it is God who raide the world — and the Bible reeonnt of the nanncr in which he pro- ceeded to make it, shews inconlrovcrtibly that it is the woik of man's imagi- nation, and not of Gnd. The account of the creation of matter and of man, contained in Genesis, not only contradicts itself, but it is contnidictcd by all human experience — and it is vain that the rotary power persists in its attempt to reconcile it with reason : blind failh is the only basis upon which it rests. Tiie existence of the Great Spirit is flssam^c/. and then hu- man reason is bewildered in endeavoring to reconcile the inevitable confusion arising Irom the conflict not only between Rea.soii and Revelation, but be- tween the conflicting interpretations themselves : hence, wars, and bloodshed, and strife, and ignorance, jioverty, crime, and '• all the ill that flesh is heir to." Abolish tlie blind faith which enslaves reason, and man rises at once to the dignity of his nature. If he cannot as yet, by reason, solve the problem of existence, he has .at least proved the utter falsity of the Mosaic fable : and faith instead of aiding liim, only dazzles to bewilder and destroy. Rea- son has discovered enough to justit^y the expectation, that in the progressive spirit of the march of science and knowledge, she will yet discover the great secret of nature : and meantime do not let us retard and keep back reason, by the retrograde principle of adhering to consecrated error and time-honored delusions ; they are fast fading away — the dark aues are past, and the dawn of Reason, that day-spring from on high, is ushering in a glo- rious age of intelligence for unborn millions. Granted we have elegant Church edifices, and that multitudes flock to them. Grant the outward and visible form, but where is the inward and spiritual grace ? the essential vitality of metaphysical theology? Granted the people go to Church, but wliy do they go? Strip the Cliurch of the adventitious bolsterings of fancy and sensitive feelings, and who would fill its pews? Does not reason sleep in its sea ? Where are the faithful 1 The lovers of sacred melody and sacred poetry, the votaries of fashion and con- ventionalism, the miserable victims of avarice and ambilion and selfishness, in pursuit of the "great gain of godliness,"' go to Church. Butaniid these "beggarly elements," where do wedi'-cover the pure element or the "Godly symptom ?" What are our city churches, extraordinaries excepted, but thea- tres and s.acred operas in disguise ? Are our country churches, with the same exceptions, any thing else than phansaical synagogues of pride, self- conceit and hypocrisy? Where is the faith of Abraham, the patience of Job, the self-sacrifice of the meek and lowly Jesus to the cause of suffering humanity? Does the pampered Christianity of modern times alTord any ex- ample of these types? Does not reason reject faith, as demonology and witchcraft, Beelzebub? If men are afflicted, does not common sense teach them a practical remedy, far better than that of Job's comtbrters? Has not self-culture, self-preservalion and self-reliance, supplanted, in the eye of reason and common sense, the exploded ideas of total depravity, vicarious atonement, imputed rigliteousness, martyrdom and miracles? If, then, the vital spark of Christianity and of Judaism has fled, why attempt to galvan- 14 \ze ot embalm the corpse ! Wliy not " himontinir, take a mournful leave," and respectfully, quickly, and if you please, affectionately consig-n it to tiiat bourne whence no traveller returns? Strewing its grave with the flowers of kind remembrance for this time honored friend of our forefathers, shed- ding a tear over the departing visions of childhood, let us not weep as those \vho are without hope, but console and reanimate ourselves with the joyful reflection, that from the ashes of Faith. Truth springs triumphant on exalt- ing wing, and rises. PhcBnix-like, to cheer, to guide and to save. If the errant and extravagant spirit of Faith, hieing it from i:s conflne, still Te-visit tbe glimpses of the moon, in cither of the questionable shapes of spirit of health, or goblin dannicd — bringing with it airs from Heaven or blasts from Hell, it will be found shunning the day-light of Reason, walking in its winding-sheet, amid the dark superstitions of the Church of Rome, subjected in passive obedience to the powers that be — to infallible authority of pretended divine inspiration, in opposition to the sovereignty of the will of the people — or it wanders among the ruins of the Jewish Synagogue, in the vain expectation of the restoration of Theocracy over the Democracy of Reason. It may occasionally present itself in an abolition convention, or a camp-meeting — or it may perhaps oftener hover over the conch of death, when a bewildered imagination and feverish brain, frightened from its pro- priety by the approach of the King of Terrors, summons to its aid the early impressions of its childliooii. But it shrinks from the sun-light of Trutli'; at the faintest glimmering of the dawn, at the first shrill crowing of Chan- ticleer, it hies again to its confine. It not only shrinks from the light of Reason, but even of the dawning intelligence of the Pulpit itself. An en- lightened clergy, yielding to the guidance of their flocks, who seek the nat- ural and fresh pasturage of common sense in preference to the spiritual manna of the wilderness, have ceased to urge them up the steep and thorny road to Heaven. The flocks prefer to dally amid the flowery paths and sedgy brooks of enjoyment, and the shepherds follow instead of leading the ■flocks. We'll may Faith hide itself in darkness and moon-shine. Most of the clergy are practically in advance of their theoretical faith — the congre- gations are in advance of the clergy, and men of intelligence are in advance of botli — so that common sense leads and faith follows in the rear, in re- 'versed order of the tactics of the olden time — '"On a change tout cela," and \ve enjoy the feast of reason and the flow of soul. Metaphysical theology must languish and expire under the operation of any form of government, based like the Constitution of the United States, upon the sovereignty of the people — upon Democracy as opposed to theocra- cy. The Constitution is emphatically anti-theological, as well as anti-slave- ry, in all its important principles and provisions. Any attempts to reconcile these repugnant principles must fail. Vox populi, vox dei, is the language of the Constitution, and of the sovereign people of these United States., Under the mild operation of the laws tolerating religious belief, the intelli- gence of the age has gradually eradicated the belief itself, and it is equally vain to attempt to restore the maxim, " vox dei, vox populi," as to reconcile the two by submitting to the arbitration of " majorities"' or "palpable cases." The Constitution is a fixtd fact in this f articular, and never will or can bo amended, for the reason that, it is perfect. The more intelligent of the clergy are beginning to understand this, and if the recent agitation shall have tended to enlighten the public mind, lay and clerical, upi)n this point, it will have served a better purpose than the agitators designed or desired. It is to be hoped that public .attention, which has been. S3 unexpectedly awakened to the consideration of this subject, will neither slumber nor sleep until satisfied, from thorough inve^tigatiion of these grare q^uestibna*. of tl c- urgent necessity of a feorganization of our social institutions. Our system •of education is glaringly defective, and cannot be amended short of a radi- cal change in reg;irdto the theological pretention of assuming the guardian- ship cf our schools, academies and cnUeges. Common sense has got posses- sion of the common school f..nd, and let her defend it with her life ; and may the attempt to pervert this sacred fund to sectarian purposes, be met with the "gcorn of whigs and jest of tories." The great obstacle to the immediate reorganization of our Political, So- cial and Religious institutions upon the basis of Reason and Truth, without regard to preconceived opinion, is the almost universal prevalence -A the idea, that religion is the basis of morals. Now nothing can be more clearly proved, both from experience as well as a priori, than the utter fallacy of this position — unless it be tlie truth of the position, th;it, so far from being the true basis of morals, it is the very reverse, the radical, if not the imme- diate cause of all immorality. Look about you, and tell me whether you find morality confined to the uninquiring l>eliever ? Confined, did I say? Do you not find that those who believe most are the least moral 1 Look at the savage — the heathen as he is called — does he not believe ? Here you s ee faith in its pristine state of undisputed sway over the mind of man ; and as yon proceed in your inquiry, among the nations of the earth, marii now wonderfully man rises to moral excellence, in exact proportion to the cr.ian- cipation of the reason from the dominion of faith. Coming down to our own times, compare the present civilized nations with each other; a:i |>.ii- ticularly scrutinize the people of our own beloved country. Is faith the parent of virtue, or is it reason, which opposes faith as its natural enemy? Reason is the only safe basis of morals ; and all experience, all observation confirms the truth that knowledge, and reason, and not faith, are the source of all the morality extant. That just in proportion to the exercise ot the reasoning faculty of man, is his power over the animal passions of his na- ture, as well as over his imagination. Religious belief, as it is vaguely called, ia falsely and impudently claimed by all who entertain it, in a greater or less degree, as the test of moral character — nothing is more unfounded in fact or in reason. We see men immoral, in the church and out of it — and why ? because morals are taught in the church and out of it; and because men are naturally more or less under the influence of their animal passions, in the church and out of it. The Bible contains much of sound moral philosophy mixed up with its metaphysical theology. Hence people who frequent our churches, which are orderly, and moral institutions in their designand effect, are moral as a general rule. But it is not in proportion to their faith, that they are moral. Faith has nothing to do with morals — faith teaches duty to God — morals duty to man. The one requires prayer, and praise; and above all, it requires prayer for fiiith ; for without faith there would be no prayer, and without prayer there is not much faith. '• By faith are ye saved" is the maxim of the popular religion of the day. Saved from what ? " Eternal wo in a burning lake of fire and brimstone, where shall be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth," O temporal O Mores! By morals man learns his duty to himself and to his neighbor. Now I ask, who in point of fact does best discharge these duties? Is it the devotee, the bigot, the fa-- natic? or is it the rational believer? Surely the latter. Rational belief is then more moral than blind faith ? O yes ! Faitli then in its pure state is not 80 moral as when mixed with a due proportion of reason ? No. Why not then improve the compound by rejecting all faith 1 Why adulterate rea- son with faith ? Does not reason teach us our duty to man and to ourselves !' Does it not teach us to love one another and not to hate — to> honor our parents, not to kill, not to lie or steal or covet. Does it not teach us to coa- 16 trol all our animal propensities, and subject them to the law of reason ; and is not this morality ? What need that these phiin deduoiions of reason, which the child learns long before it pretends to know any thing about th.-oiogy, should be revealed to ns from a burning bush and wri^en on tdjies of stone ? They are the plainest and simplest deductions of natural reason : and most of the so called heathen nations learn ar.d pracli.;e them without tlianks to the missionary societies, for a change of faith. Teach them reason then and not f.itii. Were the Indiana of America anymore moral for being ehriMianiscd? and if so, was it because of tlieir abstract theological science, or was it from their iinit,:ition of the manners and customs of their e!n-isti:in bretln-en who sold them rum. and endeavored to improve thir physical as well as .their epirituil man by the propagation of work-; as well as of Faitii? The his- tory of mankind on every pagi-, contradicts this impudent assumption of tiie religious world. Even its boasted m.-xims of '"love thy neighbor as thyself," " do to others as ye would that others do to you," are not original. Confucias announced these precepts long before the Christian era. Polyga- my is countenanced in both tiie old and new testaments. Many of tl e moral sentiments of both systems are either rejected or entirely neglected, as un- worthy of the code of civilization, refined by reason and common sense. The plumage of morality, in which modern religion struts, is borrowed from reason. Now let us look at the rea^'on of this result. Why should religious belief, influence moral conduct? I know of none except it be the belief in the doctrine of future rewards and punishments. Our creed? and catechisms inform us that if we believe, we shsU be saved, and if we believe not, we shall be damned : and the natural inference, is, that works are unnecessary — this is the fair inference. But as this seems to be too much for the rational portion of the religious world, they tell us that works must accompany faith. Granted. This is a great advance upon the old creed of " the faithful." And reason is most happy to welcome it, and meet it in Jlhe spirit of cordial sym- pathy. Faith and works then are necessary to salvation. What works? — Duty to God and duty to man. We pr-iy and praise God, and love our neigh- bor as ourselves, and go to Heaven. Omit these, and we go to Hell. They are ho\h esi^enliah — neither will answer alone. Agreed. Now why do we obey this Law? To secure the great reward of Heaven, or to escape the damnation of Hell — in another future and everlasting, unchangeable state. These are the motives addressed to our hopes and fears : and this is the rea- son 1 why we should both believe and practice the precepts of the Bible, the infallible oracle of the will of G«d. Is not this a fair statement of popular theology ? And this is claimed to be a safer basis of morality th.an mere human reason. Now I deny this conclusion. I atiirm on the contrary, that it is not so safe. Nay more. I insist that it leads inevitably to immorality, and is the radical, if not tlie immediate, cause of depravity, — and why ? Be- cause, experience shews, and we must be ourselves perfectly conscious of the fact, that immediate, present, temporal gratification of animal passion is not, in cases of extraordinary excitment, checked by a regard for any future consequences whatever- -let them be ever so fatal, or ever so certain, or ever 80 immediate. Much less then will they be checked by a more remote and less certain apprehension of punishment. Passion is mere brufality. It does not reason — it does not reflect — hence it is when uncontrolled by rea- son, equally regardless of all Law, himian and divine; and hence we see crime in the faithful as well as in the faithless. But, furthermore, we see that the first obstacle to crime, is the present, temjioral punishment. It is the halter and not hell that deters the murderer. If he can escape the halter, ho knows that repentance through faith will open heaven to him at last — hence he dreads the law of man more than that of God. Hence w§ see that the present reward, has more weight than the future reward — and that present punishment has more influence than future punishment. Hence by remov- ing this faith in the future state, you remove only a secondary or remote ob- stacle to crime, committed under undue excitement of animal passion — and which we have seen, is not practically any obstacle at all But this is not all. This foith in a future state of rewards and punishment leads to crime, by the certainty of pardon which it holds out to th ■ culprit, through repen- tance and faith. And more than all, it tends to immorality, by debauching and enfeebling the understanding and the reason, which are the only con- trolling powers over passion, by appealing to imagination and blind faith rather than to reason itself. The fear o' Hell's a Iiantrman's whip To haud Ihe wretch in order: Bui where ye feel your Honor grip, Let that aye be your border. Its slighiest louches— instant pause — Debar aside pretences. And resolutely lieep its Laws, Uncaring consequences. The Bible contains no basis of morals so safe as this. The reason of man, as a general rule, is more powerful over his passions than fear, of hell or halter. If it fail in its autiiority, hell and halter are alike forgotten : but of the two, the fear ( f the halter is greatest — and the fear of hell is nullified by the certainty of pardon through faith and repentance. Hence future punishment not on'y fails to check crime ; but on the contrary, the blind faith necessary to its belief, enfeebles reason, which is the only check of passion. And hence a belief in future rewards and punishments tends to immorality. Aside from this consideration, I know of no influence which faith exercises over morals: and having shewn this to be injurious, I conclude, fairly as I think, that Faith is injurious to morals, — and that the morality of the churches would therefore be iraprovedby increasing knowledge, and gradually dimin- ishing faith: A process which it is satisfactory to know, is going on with more or less rapidity under the progressive growth of Reason and Truth. The only remaining obstacle I shall notice, which opposes the progressive spirit of the age, is the undue reverence for antiquity. Hoary error is mow regarded by the majority of mankind than youthful truth. Men look back with fondness to the precepts of early maternal kindness — to the early im- pressions of their childhood — when 'fancy free" they could indulge without injury, the dreams of imagination, not yet tamed and trained to usefulness by Master Reason, whom it looks upon even in later life, as a very useful old schoolmaster, but as a great bore. How delightful is it to snatch aHolyday hour : to play the truant for a day, to roam at will, and soaring away from tho dull plodding routine of this matter-of-fact-world, on the wings of imagina- tion ; return to the scenes of our infancy ? How hard to give up the delusion* of ftmcy ? In hopes of an im.iginary heaven, we run the hazard of a millioa to one against us, of an imaginary eternal hell. It is an inexplicable mystery, which must be left for time and future di»- covery to solve, by what means men of honest intentions, and of sound un- derstanding, possessing both the courage to look fact in the face, and th* intelligence to reason logically and fairly upon observed fact, can still persist in clinging to their conclusions. The struggle between Reason and Imagination is deadly. Progressive and retrograde movements joined in mortal combat, have long drenched thn ^N^ 18 world ill blood. Reason has triuraphed, in the human race, in the Politi- cal, Social and Religious institutions of man, as woU aa in the individual, and its triumph rhust continue. The law of progress, like that of water, is " ciirrel el debet currerc.'" Rejecting imagination, let us, then, cherish the Con>titution of the United States of America asa political organization, realizing, and for the first time practically applying to the govenim>'nt of mankind, that sublime social truth, that greatest discovery of Reason, the principle of the progressive nature of the human mind — growing with its growth and strengthening with its strength — gently almost imperceptibly, yet constantly rising from a state of Ravage infancy and imbecility to a state of civilization and power, the extent of which no eye hath seen, or tongue told, or imagination yet conceived. The principle of progress in political and social science, like that of Elec- tricity and the expansive power of steam in physical science, was discovered long befo re it was mechanically applied. The framers of a Constitution for a new world, untrammelled by the stationary and retro-active principles of the Old World, which conflict with the progressive principle of the new, .accomplished for political and social science, what Fulton and Morse have done for Physical Science — theij leaiized, they applied, they subjected social and political chaos to law and order, based upon the principle of the gradual, constant, irrepressible and eternal progress of Truth. The progressive spirit of the Constitution is expressly avowed in the clause which provides for its future amendment. Unlike the laws of the Medesand Persians, which were unalterable, it provides for its own altera- tion, whenever man, for whom it was made, should, in the progressive spirit of his nature, judge it reasonable and right so to do. Avowing the princi- ple, it provided the ways and means to accomplish its design ; it based the Executive and Legislative power of the Government upon the will of the people, expressed by means of the Elective Franchise, which will, when it shall have assumed the organization of Law, by being passed through the Legislative and Executive work-shops, is declared to be the '• supreme law of the land," and is necessarily exclusive of all '• higiier power." Having assisted in framing the Constitution, we pretend to know something about it.and have left in our writings many notes and commentaries,vvhich we respectfully commend to tiie careful study of the present and rising gen- eration. At the era of the adoption of the Constitution, there were three contend- ing principles struggling in triangular war for the mastery of the civilized world. The one was the old spiritual Hierarchy, wliich was the ruling power of man in his infancy, and naturally looked back with complacency upon the days of its past glory and power, which it lost, by being subjected to the milit;iry or temporal power — hence the spiritual power was retrograde, re- tro-active, and repelling; it insisted that man was originally perfect, and had fallen from thisstate to a state of imperfection. It worsliipped the past, and was, in ail its sympathies, opposed tO' the present ruling principle, which had humbled its pride, and enslaved the Church to the State or civil power. The Church, then, was the retrograde, retro-active power, and so remains to thi.s day, as we see fully excm])iilied in the history of the times. Opposed to this retro-active principle, was the Slate, or civil authoritj', rul- ing by Divine Right, enforcing its will by military brute force. Jealous of the spiritual power, which was always exacting from it the homage of rever- ence, and passive obedience to its infallible decrees, as well the more sub- stantial homage of the purse — claiming to be the Vicegerent of God upon earth, the inspired interpreter of His law, and sole executor of His will, claiming the power of deposing Kings, of absolving theiv subjects from all /%0 19 allegiance to their temporal authority — dissolving the lies of marriage, and above all, holding the keys of Heaven and of Hell. Well might the tempo- ral pow<^r strive against it. It h.ad done so fbr centuries— it had overcome it, but had not and has not yet annihilated it. It is still alive — still strug- gling, with a force gradually diminisiiing, as man, through reason, progresses. With the spiritual authority under one foot, subjecting the reason of man, by superstition and an appeal to Divine right — and "witii the other foot crushing man to the earth with serfdom and slavery of the body, the tempo- ral power of Kings, was supreme — it had notiiing more to ask or to hope for — hence it dreaded a return to the past dominion of the spiritual power, and opposed all future changes. It became, therefore, the stationary power, opposing both the retro-active and the progressive. In its opposition to the progressive principle, hitherto in its infancy, but fast growing to manhood, it combined with the retro-active as a means of enslaving reason, which is the motive power of progress, ihus enslaving the body by temporal power, and the reason by the spiritual auihority of the Church, which was still held in check by itself — hence it tolerated t!ie Church so long as it was subservient to the State, and sustained it as a pageant to preach the Divine right of Kings, the temporal and spiritual slavery of man. "Come! let a proper text be read, And tich it all" with vijjor! How graceless tlain laugh at hisDad, And made Canaan a nigger !" But rea-'on progresses, mind grows, man drops his swathing bands, grows toboyhood, attains his majority; wlien he was a child, he thought" as a child, he spake as a child, he acted as a child, but now he is a man he putteth away childish things. Cutting loose from the apron strings of Mother Church, and defying the rod of paternal discipline, he assumes the preroga- tives of manhood, self-control, freedom, libert)-. Wittiout power, without wealth, defeated in every effort to secure a home in the land of his Fathers, he flies to the wilderness of the New World, where he gradually learns to help himself, and finally, in the C.nstitution of the United States, proclaims to^ the world liis total independence of Church and State,, makes himself the source and end of political and ecclesiastical pov/er, and declares the rights of man. '• Cluirch and State were made for man— nol "man for Church and State. Vox populi, vox dei. There is no higher " power than the Law and the Constitution." In one word, the prineipfe of progress was established. The stationary principle of Slate, and the retro- active power of the old Church, which was the mere menial of the State, were both annihilated by tlie Constitution. All connection between them was positively forbidden. The will of the people, learallv enacted, is the Supreme law, and there is but one Supreme. The Elective Franchise, ruling bylaw, and based upon the will of the people, annihilates the stationary principle of the feudal system, ruling by military pov/er, derived from heredi- tary Divine nght, while the retrograde principle" of the Flierarchv, or spiritual power, receives its death warrant in the first amendment of the Constitution which secures freedom to the reason of man. The stationary and retro- grade principles, being thus annihilated, the progressive principle which tri- umphed over both, proceeded, in the plenitude of its Supreme power, to se- cure its dominion over the destiny of man, by the adoption of the Consti- tution, as a means, a motive power— a political engine, working upon the progressive principle— a grand social locoraolive, capable of conveying in its train, slowly and gradually, (for it is a heavy load) the whole 'human family — man, woman and child — without regard 'to name, nation or color, to its glorious land of promise, its final destiny of perfection. Its motion 'Sjl 20 mnst necessarily be slow. It may occasionally meet with some of the relics of its old adversaries, Chnri'h and Si ate, lyiiiji" across the track — for the frag- ments of tliose old instiiutioiis are still extant. The e^pe^ience of sixty years proves iiuontestibiy that such has been its operation. By the gr.idual generalization of this prinrij)le, mankind have progressed beyond all for- mer example, particul.irly in the United States, and gt neraliy tliroughout the civilized world. Tht- old world has experienced the shock, and we now witness the death struggle of these contending jjrinciples. convulsing it to its center. The result of the combat is certain. Truth is Almighty, and must prevail. The establishment of this principle of progress, thus securing the eman- cipation of man from temjjoral and spiritual bondage, was a giant stride in the onward march of the human race — an advance which struck terror into the hearts of trembling dynas ies. It was the hand-writing on the wall, "mene, mene, tekel upha sin,'" causing the face of tempiral and spiritual tyranny to change wi h fear. " They could not find out the interpretation of the thing" — they do not understand ityet. With the joints of their loins loosed, and their knees smiting one another, they send for the sooth sayers and interpreters of dre ms. full of the spirit of knowledge and understand- ing, but in vain. The dissolvers of hard sentences and doubts "cannot shew the interpretation of the thing." How shall it be shewn ? Who shall expound it ? Have ye not asecond Daniid ? aye, two of them, and are they not RuKts in the Land ? and is not the spirit of the Gods in those Daniels, with light and wisdom and excellent understanding? Listen then to the interpretation. Thus saith thi- Constitution : — "Ye Kings and Hierarchs of the Earth — holding in temporal and spiritual bondage tiie sons and daughters of men, before whom all p' ople, and nations, nnd langunges, tremble with fear; slaying whom ye would, and whom ye would keeping alive — setting up whom ye would, and whom ye would put- ting down — with your hearts lifted np, and your minds hardened with pride, in the name of Almip.hUj Eternal Truth, ye are deposed ! and your glory is teken from you ! Know ye that truth and reason shall hereafter govern the children of men, and that they will appoint to rule over th^-m whomsoever they will. The progress of truth and reason has numbered your Kingdoms and" finishiid them ; ye are weighed in the balance and found wanting. Your Kingdoms of error arc divided and given over to the dominion of Truth and Reason, which is gathering all the nations of the Earth to itself. Truth must prev;!il. Before its triumphant car, working upon the principle of gradual but irresistible progress, as the fundamental law of the organic con- stitution of man, Kings and Hierarchies. Lords temporal and Lords spiritual, must clear the track, or be crushed and ground to powder. Leaving the things which are behind, and pressing forward to the prize of his high call- ing, man, under free institutions, takes up the line of march. Adopting the Eagle as the en^blem of his destiny, soaring high above the ken of mortal eye, with union, as an indispensable adjunct, inscribed upon the banner of freedom, he sounds the tocsin of liberty. The alarm resounds from across the Atlantic; France re-echoes the Marseilles Hymn, man-hons ! en avant! advance! progress I and there rises from the civilized world a universal shout from the sons and daughters of temporal and spiritual boridage, cry- ing, Amen ! now and forever! one and inseparable!" This is the interpretation of the thing. Thus say the Daniels — thus saith the spirit of the Constitution. Will you obey its voice, or will you not? Will you advance with the principle of progress and the Constitu- tion, or will you remain stationary, under slavi-ry of the body, to the old feu- dal militaiy power, or will you retrograde to the dark agis of the infancy /^/ 21 of man, to fanaticism, superstition and spiritual bondatre? Will you im- pede the gradual emancipation of slaverj', temporal and spiritual, which was gradually, peaceably, silently going on under the mild yet irresistible influ- ence of the progress of reason and truth, acting by the Constitution, until the progressive movement was checked by the interference of the retro- active relic of northern fanaticism, attacking its old and natural enemy, the relic of the old feudal military slave-holding institutions of the South? which, returning the fire of its ancient adversary, has rouse I the dying em- bers — fanned into a flame the spark of the fires of SmiiJiJield, transported in the begi 'uing Iroin England to America'? Is this old quarrel between Church and State to be fought out in the new world ? What says the Con- stitution ? what says common sense and common humanity ? what says the true interest of the Church? what says the true interest of slavery itself? The voice of the Constitution is, " Peace, be still, vengeance is mine. I will repay." It bids both these antagonistic principles, in the name of reason, to desist. What is the reply? Do they not immediately combine their for- ces, in perfect harmony with their natural principles — in harmony with the history of the past? Do they not attack the Constitution, the progressive principle, the natural enemy of both, because the natural and sworn friend and ally of Freedom, temporal and spiritual? Is not this the present actual position of the contending forces of this triangular contest — now convert- ing their plough-shares and pruning honks into swords? What is to be the result? Your fate is in your own iiands. You have the powei'*to slay or to let live: ye can put up whom ye will, and whom ye will ye can put down. Will you fight on the side of Truth and Reason and Freedom, or on the side of Error and Slavery, temporal and spiritual ? This same triangular battle was fought at the adoption of the Constitution, when the powers of temporal and spiritual slavery were much stronger than they now are, and when the rights of man, sixty years, aye six hundred years younger in the growth of reason than no^v. triumphed gloriously over both factions. Sepa- rately or combined, the Constitution must again triumph over them — by force of reason, if possible, and if not, then by reason of force, for triumph it must, and will, and shall. How will it triumph ? Not by a war of exter- mination, but as it did before, by the destruction of vital principles, leaving outward and visible forms, as lifeless trunks, to stand the ''un- disturbed monuments of the safety with which error can be tolerated, while truth and reason are left fref to combat them.'' The Constitution did not fell the tree of slaver}^, nor lop olf either branch, but it girdled it — and why? Because in the crash of its fall the Constitution would have been buried be- neath its ruins. Like rational men, the framers of the Constitution looked to consequences. Tlicy did not m idly condemn expediency. They consult- ed reason, ihey conciliated, they reconciled, they compromised, and they tri- umphed, so ye must consult reason, and conciliate, and be reconciled ; ye must compromise, and ye will be saved alive. Let the old trunk stand with both branches — the lileless branch of slavery at the South — the lifeless, leafless branch of fanaticism at the North — it will soon rot down — it haa rotted — it is rotting — it will continue to rot — its roots will decay in tim'e, and then, and not till then, can ye plough them out — meantime, let them continue to rot. Slavery cannot exist under tJie present advanced state of civilization ; frea labor of body, and free thought of mind, is gradually supplanting and eradi- cating it from the Land. It can no more exist in the presence of freedom^ than the uncivilized red man can exist in the presence of civilization. It must vanish like chaff before the wind, like darkness before the light of tho sun, which is just dawning upon a benighted, ignorant, miserable world. 22 Will the immediate emancipationist, and the slave-holder, deign to look at the fact of the red man, and before they madly rush to tht-ir fate, involving in their fite (if not cheeked in their career) all that humanity holds dear? Will they condescend to pause for a moment and consider the story of the uncivilized infant red man of Amer'ca, who, from their very midst, has van- ished, died, and " Irfi. no sign ?" Wliere is the red man ? Without stopping to answer this question of ?o/!e7T, reason asks, w/i;/ has he died? Was he not free as the air he breathed? He was jpo temporal slave ; on the contra- ry, he was a slavo-Iiolder. He was superstitious, and hence subject to spiril- xial slavery, but not to bodily slavery. From this notorious and pregnant fact, may not reason faiily conclude, that until man is somewhat advanced in his careir of progress — until reason has had an opportunity of subduing the imagination to its control — until man has been instructed in the rudi- ments of his moral and intelleciu;il education — until he has taken the first steps in human progress, he must remain a savage or a slave? Free labor is the fruit of civilization, slave laborthe root. What is the first step in hu- man progress? What is the germ of civilization? Is it not labor? Will the savage man labor? No. Now if labor be the first step of human pro- gress, and if savage man wont labor, how is lie to progress ? How is infant man to learn to walk? He viust creep first. Lal)or is the germ of civiliza- tion. Whence tlie germ ? It rose from brute force — from slavery. The Bavage man, in the first dawn of reason, learned to enslave hLs captive instead of devouring him. Cannibalism is the normal state of man. He first karned to enslave woman by superior brute force; then he enslaved his captives in ■war instead of eating them. The woman and the captive labored in obedi- ence to their Lord and Master, who scorned labor. Here was the origin of labor — slarery. Slave labor was the first step of human progress. Man and woman were compelled by slavery to learn to labor. Savage un- civilized man will not labor, voluntarily, any more than horse or ox. He must be trained to it, and nothing but force will drive him to it. Slave labor, then, is the first step. What next? Labor of body strengthens the body, as the exercise of reason strunglhens reason. Both are necessary to labor, to slave labor as well as to free labor. The laboring man then grew by ex- ercising his faculties of body and mind: he progressed, so did the woman, for savage woman is notoriously higher in the scale of being, than savage man. Both progressed until both gradually overcame the idle principle. IMan learned from experience that labor was better for him than idleness ; 'he tauglit this lesson to his children, and theyllabored, and by degrees man and woraiui rose from the state of the idle savaj^e, to the indnsfrious and par- tially (•ivilized state. He ceases to fight and fish and hunt. He plants corn, and builds houses, and gradually advances to a more or less civilized condi- tion. If this be true, and all experience proves it, then wliere is the imme- diate emancipati nist? I repeat the question, where is the red man? Gone, and why? Because he would not work, and was free to be idle ; and where is the slave, whom he compelled to work? He has risen to subdue and eradi- cate his master. Idleness cani;ot live in the presence of labor — industry is "death wiihnut words" lo idleness, and the industrial free-labor class, gradu- ally rising from the germ of slave-labor, has triiimphtd over slavery, tempo- ral and spiritual, and now, in its commercial, ma u fact u ing and airricDltural classes, swavs the destiny of the civilized world. Who rul<*s Great Britain? who rules France? who is engaged it its struggle of inde[)cndence on the ■continent of Europe ? It is the industrial, commercial, manulacturing, work- ing classes — rhe men of science and of intelligence. The old royal farai- Jies, the old hierarchies, are defunct, extinct — Robert Peel, the son of a cot. 23 ton spkner, and Russell and Victor Hugo, and Lamartine — the men of progress, they govern the old world as well :)s the new. What then is the lesson of the red man, as applied to the black man? for it is not color, it is reason that distinguishes uian from brute, as well as mar« from man. A white or red man is not, in the eye ot reason, naturally supe- rior to a black man, any more th;in a white or red animil is superior to a black one. The prejudice of color is unworthy of reason. All men are born ina state of nature, free and equal, and this is the fair interpretation of my maxim, which has been so shamefully misapplied and misunderstood. Hel^lius led me into this error; but Gail and Spurzheim have progressed. Now, compare the black slave race with the free uncivilized red races. Have they disapjieared? Have they not increased even faster thtin their white masters ? Do ye not see the reason? Is it not because the black man labors, and because the red man and the white master scorn labor ? And will not labor triumph in the long run ? will it not continue to eradicate idleness? will it not, as heretofore, gradually, but by ceaseless progress, rise to free labor? Can slave labor compete with free labor? No. Slave labor then must give way. It will cease to pay. It has vanished before free labor from the North, the East and the West. It was rapidly disappearing from Ihe South until the insane movement of the retro-active principle of Northern fanaticism checked the action of the progressive principle by calling upon the supernatural Higher Power principle, to aid the natural progressive prin- ciple — the consequence of which unnatural pressure must of course produce disaster and detention. The constitutional machinery will be..r a moderately high pressure, but Almighty power will destroy the world itself unless guided by reason and certain fixed principles, and invariable laws. Hasten slowly; slow and sure goes a great ways. You have a heavy load to carry — the whole human family are on the move. The Constitution was intended for the Emigrant train, and if you apply the lightning or the thunder, or any such higher power pressure, beware of consequences. Let the black man alone; iie is advancing, he labors, he is on the move. The black slave, aa a general rule, is in a better condition than the free black, even in this country. He is far in advance of the native African. Look at St. Domin- go — look at Jamaica — and will you persist in the dogma of immediate eman- cipation? Must you not previously educate and train and civilize? Even your European while shives are not yet prepared for freedom. They strug- gle to attain physical supremacy, but they are not enlightened in mind ; they •do not yet fully realize the necessity of free labor, of voluntary restraint, of self-control, and hence they remain subjected to masters. Thjy are on 'he move, but Ih'jy must creep before they can walk. The people of the United States are fir in advance of all the nations of the earth, in their political sys- tem, and it is in vain that you would expect Ihe black in:in,or any uncivilized race, to wield its destiny. You might as well expect from childhood the wis- dom of manhood. If religion and humanity pre-ses too hard upon the safety valve, let off the surplus steam upon spiritual .slavery and erratic politics ut the North. It will tuke fifty years at least to abolish this bondage. Preach reason and truth I'i'd common sense, and temporal slavery at the South will dis:ippear with spiritual slavery at the North. Reform the Pulpit, reform the Senate. In all brandies of practical business, there are casesin which an individual is bound to conform his pr.ietice to a pre-established rule, while there are others, in whk-h it is pirL of his task to find or construct the rule by which ,5ie is to govern his conduct. The first, for example, is the case of a Judge, under a definite written code. Here the Judge is not called upon to decide what coBTse would be intrinsically the most advisable in the particular case 24 in hand, but only within what rule of law :t falls. Now, in contrast with the situation of a Judge, suppose the case of a Legisluior. As the Judge has Jaws for ills guidance, the Legislator has rules and maxims of policy. But it would be a manifest error to suppose that the Legis'ator is bound by these maxims in the same mannertlie Judge is bound by the laws. The Lepisla- tor is bound to consider the reason or grounds of the maxim — the Judge has nothing lo do with those of the law, except so far as a consideration of theni may throw light upon the intention of the law-maker, where his words have left it doubtful. To the Judge the rule once positively ascertained is final ; but the Legislator, or other practitioner, who goes by rules rather than by their reasons, like the old fashioned German tacticians, who were vanquished by Napoleon, or the physician, wiio preferred t lat his patients should die by rule, rather than recover by it, is rightly judged to be a mere pedant, and the slave of his formulas. In the complicated affairs of life, and still more in those of states and so- cieties, rules cannot be relied on without constantly referring back to the sci- ■,entific laws on which they are founded. By a wise practitioner, therefore, rules ot conduct will only be considered as provisional, and not as superse- ding the necessity of going throuj.h (when circumstance require) the process requisite for framing a rule, from the data of the particular case before us. The error is therefore apparent, of those who would deduce the line of con- duct proper to particular cases, from supposed universal practical maxims, overlooking the necessity of consUintly referring back to first principles in order to be sure of attaining even the specific end which the rules have in view. How much greater still t!ien must be the error of setting up such unbending principles, not merely as universal rules for attaining a given end, but as rules of conduct generally, without regard to the pos>ilti!ily that suc- cess itself may conflict with some other end, which may be mure desirable. This is the habitual error of the politicians of your day. an error which has brought much discredit upon them in tiie estinjation of sound thinkers and physicians. The common-places of politics, are large and sweeping practi- cal maxims, from wliich men reason dow n lo particular applications. This they call being logical and consistent. For instance, the maxim "Love thy neighbor as thyself," is urged to the extent of rescuing a fugitive slave under arrest, in conformity with the biw of the land, at the hazard of life, liberty and [)roperty. Now the error of this potiiion is two fold. First. You ex- tend the maxim fiir beyond its terms, and defeat its end ; you love your neigh- bor more than you can reasonably love yourself, for it is absurd to suppose that, violent as self-love may be, you can carry it to the extent of sacrificing to it life, liberty and properly. This is self destruction for the sake of self- love; and if you may annihilate yourself, may you not at least allow the an- nihilation of your neighbor? Do you not involve yourself in the paradox of Paddy, who " meets with his friend, and for love knocks him down?" Second. The maxim requires important limitations and restrictions, instead of unlimited extension. Self-preservation is a law of our nature, second to none, not even to that of " Love thy Jieighbor as thyself," and must limit, if it does not justly and practically annmilate llie maxim itself. Who pracli- « instead of '' breedinir in and in," will produce its invariable^bane- ficial result. Both the yellow and the black race will improve ; and by a cross between this imp -oved stock and the white race, between which tlieiv. exists no antipathy, will emanate a mixture, by means of which the bl.ick race will grarluallv disappear. This process cannot take place directly be- tween the white and black races. The difference is too great to admit, of co- habitation, except uoon demoralizing and degrading terms, equally prejudi- cial to both races. Tlie mulatto is almost invariably a bastard, an oiitcaat, and consequently without any fault jf liis, with lew acknowledged and high-' ly honor.ilili! exceptions, the rc^allt of peculiarly favorable circuuistance.s, a vicious, unfortunate, unliappy vagabond upon the face of the ear h. How different would l)e the result if born in honorable wedlock, the issue of a yellow and black cohabitation, this same human beinir had been bred in a state of society congenial instead of adverse to his natural and moral devel- opmeut ? Instead of being a fugitive from the land of his nativity, he would remain at home. Instead of being hunted and driven to starve and freeze in a foreign land, an exile and an outlaw, he would, like the while man. enjoy his existence, and cositribnte to the general welfare of humanity. Let the black man then go south. Let the planter take him there in the first instance ; Jet hiin be at the c.xp.^nse of transportat on, and let him get paid for his trou- ble and expense if lie can. He ought to be paid for it. Protect the planter in this just claim, and then " laissex faire." Depend upon it, the black man will take care of himself. Lit him cross with the yellow woman, and the planters will eventually not object to an amalgamation between these im- proved stockf. All will work together for good. Human nature is human nature! Its lights and shadows will, like kindred drops, soon mingle into one. Here is a natural self-adjusting method of colonization equally benefi- cial to the white, red and black races. Here is a pass through which slavery is strnggline to leave your country. Will you block it? Beware of Ther- tiiopyhii. Rather pave it with gold, and tempt the retreating enemy to its exodus. Beware of the j)lagnes of Egy|)t ? and send Davy Wilinot to Daw Jones. Let the north then consult its own interest, and identify itself with the interest of the south, and let nature work. Let the black man go to the south, and you will have no more disturbance about VVilmot provisos, or fu- gitive hlave laws, or .slavery in any of it- appalling aspects. Slavery will gradually dis;ippearfrom the southern Slates, as it has from the northern and eastern and weslern, and free labor will fill the vacuum. If the white free laboier cannot season himself to tlie climate and soil of the south, the yellow or mixed race can, and the south will eventually import free labor from Central andSouihern America, as the norili imports free labor from Ireland and Ger- many. This is the way to untie the Gordjan knot of slavery without c/;»i7J^. And you, ye Soutliern Sons of Chivalry, ye F. F. V.'s. our kinsmen and friends, pull off those ki-^ gloves, and gradually accustom those delicate fin- fiers to s(mie gentle manipulating process. Picking cotton is a very soft and easy employment. "Don't fret your cattle on the start" — take it easy, keep cool, spike those cannon, save your money. The Constitution will keep an eye upon you. It wont seriously hurt you; perhaps a little discipline may be necessary, but there is no real danger so long as the progressive indus- trial ci.asst's are true to tlieir interests,and stand by the Constitution, as they undoubtedly will. Me.in time keep your tcmper,aiid learn to work, not only with your hands, but with your brains. Cultivate your reason, enlarge your understandings, and sober your passions. Mental and bodily labor is all you require. Give up your old feudal notions about stationary power; get upon the locomotive principle, and learn to go uli<'ad as the progressive Yankees do, and have done, until they have left you out ot sight. Fire up and put on the steam Ad«pt the progressive f^pirit of the age —look forward instead of backwards. "These things if ye do, ye shall do well ;" but if you remain where you arc, stationary, or retrograde, as many of you are, preaching up the " will of God" to sustain slavery, whi c the Nortii are preaching up the " Higher Power" to abolish it, you will soon see the iiand writing on the wall; you will be deposed, weighed in the balance and found wanting. 27 ^ Above all things, re-organize your system of education, and endow onr University generously. Est:ib!isli a poiytecliiiic tiiere liial will equal the one at Paris. Do this tiirdy justice to our nicmdry, and your children and children's children will grow up men of pr:ic(ical common sense, which they never will be as long as you send them tc play the .levil and study theology and metaphysics at the north. Teach them natural science, instead of supernatural science ; and then instead of supporting Northern Colleges to preacli " Higher Power," Abolitionism, you can send preachers of cominon sense to eradi- cate Northern Fanaticism, your deadliest foe. All yoi lack is a good school where your children may learn common sense. The present generation are hopeless. We foresaw' this crisis, but yon were behind the times, .nnd there you remain yet. Build up that school and go ahead. Let it be conducted upon the strictly progressive principle. No scholastics, nothing but posi- tive science. Let the north revise its educational system. Let existing, crumbling in- stitutions be demolished from turret to foundation stone, and upon their ruins rc-construct the Temple of Truth. Adopt the Girard principle. The Smithsonian Institute is good. How is Dr. Wayland ? Put your shoulders to the wheel. Hercules is dead, and it is in vain to call upon him. Let on the steam, and go ahead. Keep the track of the Constitution ; adhere to that for your lives. We know what it cost to obtain it, and you ought to consider, before you attempt to abandon it, that the first element of social union, obedience to a government of any sort, has not been found so easy a thing to establish in the world. Amid a timid and spiritless race, like the inhabitants of the vast plains of tropical countries: passive obedience may be of natural growth, though even there we doubt whether it has evfr been found among any people with whom fatalism, or in other words, submission to the pressure of circumstances, as the decree of God, did not prevail as a religious doctrine. Cut the difficulty of inducing a brave and warlike race to submit their individual will to any common umpire, has always been felt so great, tiiat nothing short of supernatural power, has been deemed ade- quate to overcome it; and such tribes have always assigned to the first insti- tution of civil society, a divine origin. In modern Europe itself, after the fiill of the Roman Empire, to subdue feudal nnarchy, and bring the whole people of any European nation into subjection to government, even with the aid of Higher Power Christianity, required thrice as many centuries as have elajised since that time. Before you destroy the Constitution you should remember that wlurever thisli;ibilual submission to law and govenmient has been firmly and flsuably established, certain prc-reqni'-ites and conditions have been fulfilled, ci which the following nny be considered the principal : First. There has existed, for all wjio were :!ccounted ciiizens. for all who were not slaves, kept down by brute force, a system of educatuin, bei^nnning with itif.incy and continued through life, of which, whatever else it might in- clude, one main and incessant ingredient was re?liairiwg dhd}h>i?. To train ihe human being in the habit, and thence the power of subordinat.ng his personal impulses and aims to what were con-^idered the ends of society — of adherinir ag.iitisl idl temptation, to the course of conduct uhich those ends .prest^ribed— of controlling ii: himself all those ieelings which were liable to militate jigainst those ends, and encouraging all such as tended towards them. Whenever this discipline or self-restraint becomes relaxed, anarchy e^isues, ;uid the nation becomes either the slave of despotism, or the prey of a foreign invader. The second condition of permanent political society, has been found to be the existence, in some form or other, of the feeling of allegiance or loyalty. \^A 28 This feeling may vary in its objwts, and is not confined to any particular form of iroverniiient. But wlietluT in a democracy or in a monarcliy, its es- sence is always tiie same, viz :— That ihere he somelhing m the Constitution, which issellkd and unquesthmable, hy general consent. This rt-eiing may attach Itself, as among the Jews, and iither Commonwealths of aniiqmty, to a common God or G.;ds, the protectors and rruardians of the State. Or it may attach itseil' to certain persons, who are deemed to be, wiiether tiy divine appointment, by long prescription, or by general consent from any cause, the lawtu! guides and guardians of the rest: or it may attach itself to laws, ancient customs, or even domestic institutions of the Stale, but there must be some fixed point, something which men agreed in holding sacred, and which must not be touched, but held above the reach of discussion. Now the necessity of this feeling may easily be proved ; for a State never is, and until mankind are vastly improved, never can be, for any long period, exempt from internal discussion. VViiat then is to enable societvio weather the storm ? Frecisely this — that however important the interests about which men fall out, the confliet does not affect the fundamental principles of the government, nor tlireatnn large portions of the community with the subver- sion of that on which thev have built their hopes and interests. But when the questioning of these fundamental principles is not only an occasional disease, but habitual and chronic, the State is virtually in a state of civil war, cnd^can iiever long remain free from it in act and in fact. The third essential condition, peculiarly wortiiy of your most solemn at- te^ntion at this crisis of your poiiiical atf:iirs, is a strong and active principle of natlonaUtii. VVe need scarcely siy that we do not'' mean a senseless an- tipathy to foreigners, or a cherishing of absurd peculiarities because they are national, or a refusal to adopt what has been found good by other countries. *Ve mean a principle of sympathy, not of hostility— of union and not of separation. VVe mean a feeling of common interest among those who live under the same government ; we rr.ean that one part of the T-ommunity shall not c 'iisider themselves as foreigners with reijard to another part— that they shall cherish the tie which holds them together, shall feel th it they are one people, that their lot is cist together, that evil to any of their fellow- countrymen is evil to themselves, and that they cannot selfishly free tliem- selves trom their share of any comiuon inconvenience bv severing the con- nexion. ^This feeling of nationality is the secret of the strength of the old Roman Eiupi e; and in modern times the countries which have had this feel- ing strongest have been the most powerful, Enrrland, France, Holland, Swit- zerland. While on the other hand, Ireland suffers by its absence towards Lngland, so Italy, Austria and Spain, havin-j lost thei'r nationality, languish. Whilo t!ie completest illustration of the deplorable effects of this vy.int of nationality is atfurded by the Republics of South America, where the parts of one and the same Slate adhere so slightly together, that no sooner does any province think itself ajurieved by the general government, than it pro- claims itself a sovereign State. Now it was upon a happy combination of this spirit of nationality, with the vigorous and manly principle of selt-inde- pen lenco of the Slate go\^.rnments, that the Constitution of the United Mates was b ised and ao-reed to. Let this basis not be disturbed ; let the fra- ternal tie never be sundered. Educate and train your children and children's children to look to it, and to it alone, for safety and happiness. There is yet a type of Old Do-ninion, stationary and retrograde slavery ex- isting 111 the U. S., as well as throughout the civilized world — milder there than elsewhere, yet not extinct. It can be traced directly to the iiifmt state of the nice, a re'ic of birbarism, cherished by the temporal and spiritual tyranny of uncivilized superstitious man. It is sustained by Lords tempo- 29 /%.<■ o-aland Lords spintunl. The Inw of (lie land, and (be Higher Power law, l)oth enact i', and unite in excluding woman from the post of honor, from all public emolument, fmra all voii-e, power or control, in securing either her temponil or eternal Wflt'are. She is not only thus enslaved by positive en- actment, but by a power of opinion hi-'ht-r tnan any law, human or divine, in its operation upiin a highly cultivated mind It excludes her fmni the most [profitable pur-iuitsof labor, (Vom the learned professions, and' frum the free exercise of her faculties, either of mind or body. But woman has eyes and ears, and above all, she has a tongue, and she h:is learned how to use them, 'In perfect harmony with the progre-'sive spirit of the Consiituiion and of the times, she is beginning to ask troublesome questions. She is not salis- ified with being told that submission and passive obedience to the power* that be, are the laws of her nature. She finds herself endowed with a power ito reason, tnore or less perfectly emancipated from a pov.'erful imagiiiation, which she is daily subjecting to its control. Comparing herself wilh her Lord and Master, ruling by Divine Right, she ventures to question the cre- identia-ls. She calls St. Paul an old l)acl:el#r, wlio could not, by any poasi- bility, ex vi termini, know any thing about the rights of woman, and hence exceeded his powers when he" attempted to legislate for woman. They ut- terly reject the rib story, and think Sarah was no better than she should be, and that Father Abraham was a cowardly old cuckold, fiiirly entitled to his- 'horns. When woman turns to the Constitution, she finds herself excluded from the Elective Franchise, and from office of trust or emolument — and she asks why is this? why should female slavery be sanctioned ? The -nswer to the question may be found in the fact that woman was not then ready for this imnaense stride in progress. From a long state of subjection to both tem- poral and spiritual Lords, she had not advanced as far in the expansion of her rsasoning faculty as man. She was too much the creature of imagination; hence the Constitution founded its corner stone upon man as the reasoning power; but this object on is not necessarily permanent, and from the rapid advances she has made and is making, it would be doing violence to reason to conclude that the time may not arrive, when, under the benign influence of education and cultivation of the intellectual faculties, she may not ba deemed the equal of man in reason and sound judgment. When that time 8hall have arrived, then a case may arise, which the Constitutioii has provided for, which would justify the exercise of the power of amendment. Mean- time let woman advance in her career of progress — let her continue to exer- cise her reasoning faculty. It will grow by culture; it is the fairest flower of Eden; it is not forbidden fruit; let her not be afraid to eat of it, or to share it with man ; it is not an apple. Let her increase in knowledge, in science, and having proved her facts, let her not fear to exercise her reason, and trust to it as a guide. Let imagination and its fears be subjected to reason and truth rather than to error consecrated by time, custom, prejudice or interest. Let her beware of Lords temporal and Lords spiritual. Let not maji oppose her — let him aid her. Free labor is better than slave labor. Let him first prepare her and then admit her (o that legal equality from which he has degraded her by restricting her from the exercise of the only meana by which he has left her behind in the march of mind. Give her fair play. Let him not longer insult her understanding by amusing her with the idea of a fancied social supremacy, as a compensation for his legal supremacy. Masks oft' — away with hypocrisy and cant. Let us advance to honesty and common sense — the twin offspring of Truth and Reason. The social or- ganization must conform to the political organization — they must act in har- mony. There is no legal or political equality of sex, and the evil requires 30 a remedy. The fact ia notorious, that savajre woman was superior in morals and inteiligHnce to savage man. And why? Because she labored and was industrious, while the man was idle and vicious. Indu-^try is the pnrent of virtue and intelligence — idleness the parent of vice. Why is not civilized woman equal in stature of body and mind to civilized man? How has civi- lized man succeeded in rising above her in mental capacity, as well as in bodily strength ? It; is because he has condemned her to compirative idle- ness by banishing her from all tlie higher pursuits of life, which tend to ele- vate the mind, exercise the reason, and enlarge the understanding, at the same time confining her to domestic drudgery, and excluding her from labor in the open air. Whenever woman can escape from this servitude of mind and body, whicii forbids iier the exercise of her faculties, does she not rise to the level of manhood ? Look at the German laboring woman. ls,she not equal, nay the superior of non-laboring "nan ? Compare her, body and mind, with idleness of cither sex — is she not equal? nay superior? Look now at the doll of civilized man. Sec her enervated in body and mind — the creature of fancy and imagination — where is fier reason? Confined by education and fashio:i to the merest puerilities — a child, a baby — where is her piiysioal constitution? Cramped, like the Chinese, until she toddles through life, a useless, wretched, miserable thing. Look at laboring woman, the world over, and you see her moral and intelligent, just in proportion to her oppor- tunity of exercise. Let her then be released from the serfdom of idleness, ten times worse than the .serfdom of labor — let public law, human and divine, ndapt themselves to the progressive spirit of the a^e, to the wants and de- mands of truth and reason, and woman and man will rise together, redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emanci- pation, temporal and spiritual. Strange times are these we live in, but stranger still are coming. Old opin- ions, old customs, all old things, are gradually passing away under the pro- gressive principle of the age, and behold all things are becoming new. God speed the movement, and remove all impediments, all stationary or retro- active or erratic principles, tending to retard the progress of man to his des- tiny. God save the Constitution ! Waft, waft, ye winds, its story, And you, > e waters, roll, Till like a seaof glory, ' It spreads from [>ole to pole. Till o'er our ransomed naUire, Redeemed from Error's chain. Truth, Supreme Dictator, O'er all the earth shall reign. Excuse our doxology. We consider it orthodox. Resolved, That Life and its attributes, temporal, spiritual and eternal, are sacred (rusts, held in subserviency to the eminent domain of absolute 'I'ruth .'s Lord Paramount, wiiose we are, and whom alone we serve, in defiance and contempt of political speculators and spiritual metaphysicians, combining their forces, in the vain attem[)t ^o harmonise the hostile principles of monar- chy and theocracy, witli popular ascendancy — endeavoring to reconcile eman- cipation of mind and body from mental and bodily slavery, with the doctrine of " passive obedience to the divine right of Kings and priestly hierarchies" — the supremacy of the Law of God, with the supremacy of the Law of Man : yet, in fact, establishing two supremes — two masters — Gofl and Man — the Bible, as the will of God — the Constitution as the will of the People. " Consistency thou art a jewel." iiie.5oZ(er/, That until mankind shall become generally convinced, either by investigation or by instinct, of the existence of " ihe abosolute Truth," 31 /.i-C " The Word"' in its various voices, modes, tenses, numbers, persons and gen- ders, such existence and its consequent organic Laws, cannot be assumed as a fundamental legal basis, upon which to construct moral or political Laws, destined to be obligatory upon individuals or communities of mankind, aspiring the dignity of Freedom from Slavery, either in its temporal or spirit- ual phase. On the contrary, all dogmas upon such existence and its Laws, until so universally generalised among men, as to command universal assent, should remain, in the significant language of Jefferson, "the undisturbed monuments of the safety, with which the wildest theoretical notions may be tolerated in the abstract, so long as common sense is left free to check, con- trol or reject them in the concrete. Me.-inli le while mankind are necessarily compelled, in the absence of the knowledge of the absolute, to resort to such relative truth or received opinion as a basis of political action as may com- bine suthcienfc assent to constitute a political organization, whose inherent energy may prescribe and enforce its will as the law of political conduct, expatriaiion, anarchy, or annihilatidn being tlie inevitable results of any de- parture from this rule, in its political aspect, they are nevertheless not only free from any such im erious necessty, compfelling them to adopt any uni- form code of moral conduct, but on the contrary, rightly reserve to them- selves, as individuals, the prerogative of private judgment upon all jihsirae- tions of a moral or intellectual nature, as well as the prerogative <>l' Ivicly declaring such judgment, and incorporating it, under just legal limiiaiiuiis. into the supreme law of the land, based upon the will of the people, thau which there can be no higher power*.. ■ Resolccd, As a corollary from the foregoiTig propositions, that wc reject, with equiil repugnance, "The Higher Power principle," tending, in i!s |ir;u-- tical application to our poliycal institutions, to extend and perpetuate i:\,- i :.;!- idly expiri .g existence of a lime-worn metaphysical theology, preaching- mental and spiritual siiivery ; and the "Passive Obedience" principle, tencf- ing, with equal certainty', to extend and perpetuate the slavery of the body. The confusion of ideas, resulting from the attempt to enforce the maxims of the Bible, as a code of*political morality, upon a people who have adopted a written Constitution a^ the Supreme Political Power, is too obvious in its intellectual aspect, and too lamentable in its practical consequences, to re- quire, at tiie hands of an abused and insulted community, any consideration, save that of unqualified' condemnation. A code of laws, under which sla- very, of the most odious type, is justified in one section of the country, and repudiated in another section — a code which arrays wJnole communities and States, as v;ell ;^s indivii^uals, in hostile collision, and which is, in other par- ticulars, highly exceptionable in its moral and intellectual tendencies, should be furnished with tlie strongest and most convincing evidence of its super- 'numan pretensions, before it can be admitted as a rule of action, either in politics, or in morals, or in science. Whereas, The Constitution of the United Stales combines, in itself, suffi- cient of relative h-uth anti'recei.ed opinion, to command the assent of a vast majority of the said S^-ate^i to its provisions, as a basis of common political ."iction. '' / ' ■ • And whereas, wc recognize, in its provisions, principles designed and practically tending to eradicate from oui- country the relics of slavery, bodily and mental, equally abhorrent to our confftftm human nature. x'lnd whereas, said Constitution, although, in some particulars, r.ot in ac- cordance with our moral sentiments, yet contains within itself a provisio?j for its adaptation to the wants and changing opinions of the community, whenever such wants or opinions shall have become sufficiuutly generalized to obtain the assent of a majority thereof. 32 And whereas, said Constitution is, in other particulars, satisfactory to us, establishing, as it does, a Democratic form of government, in opposition to an Aristocracy or Aulocracy on the one hand as well as to a Theocratic Hierarchy on the other, therefore. Resolved, That in the exercise of the prerogative of moral and political free agents, judging each for himselt, in liis individual capacity, as to tlie ex- pediency of obeying the law, or suffering the pendty of disobedience, we decide and declare, that while it is inexpedient to aitempt, by violence, to oppose the peaceable execution of laws made in pursuance of the said Con- stitution, we proclaim eternal and «ncompj-omi^ing hostility to the principle of human shivery, either in its leinpond or spiritual phase, in wliatever form or. place it may for a tim<^ continueMo dragtjuta lingering existence. Resolved, That as a means, more etlecual than immediate emancipation. to accomplisii the end of exlingui. ^■' ^' -r. \ -^ ^>^^ \ V. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1 i