\ . ( \ A THANKSGIVING SERMON \ PREACHED DECEMBER 7th, 1865. AT A UNION SERVICE IN LOCKLAND, OHIO, MADE UP OF THE METHODIST, BAPTIST, AND TRESBYTERIAN CDURCHES. By Rev. SILAS HAWLEY. JUSTICE IS GREATNESS! "I WOULD HAVE THIS TO HE VOUU FIRST IIUSINESS— TO LAY FOUNDATIONS. ( ObBtiuctiouB at the fountain are ilaiigerous : that bod}' cannot live. Tlu'ie is no \ remedy but to do that by Law whicli cannot po.ssibly bo done without it." > Sir Henry Vane. ^ ^d£) .los. B. Boyd. Priuter, 25 West Fourth Street. Cincinnati. NATIONAL EECONSTRUCTION. GLORY m THE MM OF 1 NATION. A THANKSGIVING SERMON, PREACHED DECEMBER 7, 1865, AT A UNION SERVICE IN LOCKLAND, OHIO, MADE DP OF THE METHODIST, BAPTIST, AND PRESBY- TERIAN CHURCHES. By Eev. SILAS HAWLEY. JUSTICE IS GREATNESS 1 " I would have this to be your first business — to lay foundations. Obstructions at the fountain are dangerous : that body can not live. There is no remedy but to do that by law which can not possibly be done without it." — Sir Henry Vane. CINCINNATI: WESTERN TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY. 1866. E C u .H-3^ LocKLAND, Ohio, Dec. 12th, 1SG5. Rev. Silas Hawley, Sir : Having listened with pleasure and profit to your Thanksgiving Sermon delivered in Lockland to the united congregations of the Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian Churches, and believing that its circulation among the people would be beneficial to the cause of Human Progress, and materially aid the friends thereof in properly directing the popular mind, we respectfully request a copy of the same for publication. Yours truly, Wm. B. Fkench, W. H. Blair, Geo. S. Stearns, Wm. Cornell, Jr., C. B. Evans, Edward Allen, E. Cowing, G. H. Burrows, J. B. Powell, C. R. BACHfiLOR, C. Harkness. Samuel Dunn, T. S. Cowden, Thomas Pox, J. H. Tangerman, L. jM. Miller. C. S. Woodruff, Cincinnati, January 8th, 1866. Rev's. Powell, Cowden, and Messrs, Tangerman, Fox, Stearns, French, Harkness, Cornell, and others : Gentlemen : — The Sermon, with slight additions and changes, is at your disposal. The President, in his Proclamation, kindly gave me the text; and I have done the best I could with it. I will send his Excellency, as the best return 1 have it in my power to make, a copy of the Discourse. Yours, for Righteousness, SILAS HAWLEY. THE GLORY AxND THE SPIAME OF A NATION. " Kighteonsness exalteth a natioa : but sin is a reproach to any people." Prov. 14 : 34. 1 use this text, at tliis time, because it serves ray purpose, and because, as an additional reason, it is used by the Presi- dent, and as a special ground for the act, in his Proclamation appointing this service. It is the affirmation of the Great Ruler of nations, and also, by indorsement, of the Ruler of this people. Its use, then, on this occasion, has a two-fold pertinence and appropriateness. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Righteousness is Right- ness ; and Rightness refers to relations. Out of relations spring Rights; hence Rights are the standard, and measure, of Rightness. To respect the Rights^outspringing from rela- tions, to do this practically and habitually, is Righteousness; it is so in a man, and so in a nation. That is a Righteous man, who, in this sense, respects the claims of his relations ; so, too, that is a Righteous nation, which, in the same sense, respects the claims of its relations. Just so far as a man does not respect such Claims or Rights, he is not Righteous; just so far, too, as a nation does not, it is not Righteous. We are to measure a nation, in this respect, as we measure a man ; the same standard, the same test, is to be employed. The standard of Righteousness is one. There is not a high standard for the person, and a low standard for the nation ; 6 THE GLORY AND THE there is the same standard for both. A nation is but an individual many times multiplied ; hence the law of the in- dividual, is the law of the nation. Numbers do not affect it. And so as to that which exalts a nation. Whatever exalts an individual, exalts a nation; whatever is glory in a person, is glory in a people. The same law, as in the other case, holds. And what is this ? What is it that exalts a people ? What is the true glory of a nation ? It is not any thing material, not any thing intellectual ; not, at least, primarily and essentially. It is something above these. It is not an army, not a navy, not territorial greatness, not vastness of population, not wealth, not refinement, not im- provement, not prowess, not science and learning; that which elevates a nation, which is its true glory, is not any of these. No, no ; you are to look for this in the field of the moral. All true glory is found in moral qualities. It is so in a man; so in a nation; so in God himself. It is Righteousness. Righteousness exalteth a man. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Righteousness exalteth God ! And this alone does it. It is the only exalting element anywhere. It is the only quality that can dignify and ennoble. Righteousness is dignity itself. It is nobility itself. It is glory itself. Other things, all other things, exalt, as they stand connected with, and are subservient to, Righteousness. This is so of wealth, numbers, breadth of territory, armies, navies, literary and scientific attainments, the arts, military and naval achieve- ments ; these lift up a nation, give it dignity and glory, if allied with, and tributary to, Righteousness ; if, in other words, they are the possessions and acts of a Righteous people. If not, the opposite is true. There was a lifting of the nation, a glory, in the late war. Not, however, in the marvelous energy it awakened, not in the immense resources of the nation it revealed, not in the mighty army it extemporized, SHAME OF A NATION. 7 not in the formidable navy it built up, not in the splendid generalship it illustrated, not in the high fighting qualities of the soldiers it displayed, not in the iron strength of the government it demonstrated, nor yet in the grand victories, on the land and on the water, it achieved; the glory was not in these. The glory was in the Righteousness of the cause. It was, on our part, a Righteous war, and hence one of exalta- tion. We went to war for the Right; and, by the favor of Heaven, and the strength of the cause, we won. Hence we have been immeasurably raised in the eyes of the nations. Righteousness, in (his things has surely exalted the nation. Right has covered our arms with glory. It is Righteous- ness, then, and this onli/, that exalts a nation. The reverse, of course, is true. Sin, or, which is the same thing, Uii- righteousness, sinks a people; is the shame of a nation. But sin is a reproach to any people. Sin ; not a scanty territory, not paucity of numbers, not a meager army, not an indifferent navy, not a lack of wealth, refinement, improvement, prowess, science and learning ; not these : these, of themselves, are not a reproach to a people. It may have, in these respects, all belonging to any people, and even more, and yet be a nation of shame. Righteousness exalts a nation; Uiiughi- eousness, whatever else it has, or may have, sinks and dis- graces a people. The text, therefore, teaches the GLORY and the SHAME of a nation. Let us heed it. Now, a nation, to be Righteous, must be so in three res- pects : in its Framework, in its Administration, and in its Subjects. In other words, it must have a Righteous Constitution, a Righteous Rule, and a Righteous People, These, and nothing less than these, make up a Righteous nation. Let us give these a separate consideration. We say, then, beginning at the commencement, a nation must have a Righteous Framework. It must be put up 8 THE GLORY AND THE Righteously. Its stones, its timbers, all its components, must be Righteous. There must be organic Righteousness ; Righteousness in the very stntctuve itself. It must be Righteous from its corner-stone to its cap-stone. It must have a thoroughly Righteous Constitution. It will not do to have Unrighteousness here; Unrighteousness at the founda- tion, at the root, at the very seat of the national life, and to look for Righteousness elsewhere ; this will not do. Such a thing is preposterous. There mnst be Righteousness here, or nowhere ; this is certain. But what is such a national Framework? What, in other w^ords, is a Righteous Consti- tution ? It is one, as already indicated, that is in strict keeping with the Rights that exist; Rights outgrowing from relations. A nation, built up on the basis of Rights, Rights higher and lower, is, in its Framework, its Constitution, Righteous; and no other is. And these Rights — what are they? Whence shall we look for an authoritative definition and statement of them ? Turn to the Decalogue, the Great Law given to the Jewish nation, and, through it, to all nations, and you have them ; turn to the Form of Govern- ment God gave the same people, the only Form, and you have them ; turn, too, to our national Creed, the immortal Declaration of the Fathers of the Republic, and you have them. There is, in all these, a striking harmony. — We first turn to the Decalogue. And we find it — what ? Merely, a great Bill of Rights. It has, as we should expect, two parts : the first part setting forth God's Rights ; the second part, Man's Rights. God's Rights are summed up in this : LovE THE Lord thy God with all thy heart ; that is, make Him Supreme. Man's Rights are summed up in this : Love THY neighbor AS THYSELF ; that is, make him an Equal. Here is the sum of Rights ! God is First — He stands alone in the First Table of the Law ^ He is to hold the First place. SHAME OF A NATION. 9 But, wlien we come to tlie second Table, we have Man's place and Man's Rights. Love thy neighbor as thyself; why AS thyself? Because he is an Equal ; he has the same Nature, the same Bights, is put on trial for the same Destiny, and holds, by consequence, the same Place in the scale of being. This, of course, sweeps away every idea of Inequality from among men — every notion of caste ; it makes every man an Equal. It is the very origin of the idea of Equality ; the very origin of all true Democracy. Love thy neighbor as thyself — thy neighbor, white, black, red, olive, any color ; treat him as an Equal. How fatal such a principle to all aristocratic notions, pretensions, and arrangements ! And this Law holds as between nations. Nations are but Neigh- bors ; hence the Law of the Neighbor is the true Interna- tional Law. The Golden Rule should be the Golden Law of nations. Let it be, and you immensely simplify all inter- national matters, and avoid the most troublesome complica- tions. Let the Neighborly Law be carried out by the nations, as nations, and international diflBculties cease ; let it be car- ried out by individuals, as individuals, and difficulty, of every character, is at an end! I said truly, then, that we have in this Law the sum of all Rights ; aqd, I might have added, the sum of all Duties. Make God, God in Christ, Supreme. Here is Theocracy ! Here is Piety ! Here is Christianity in its higher branch ! Make man Equal. Here is Democ- racy ! Here is Humanity ! Here is Christianity in its lower branch ! It is all here ! We see, therefor e, in the lio-ht of this great individual and national Law, what are the Bidets that exist and that command resp'ect. — We nest turn to'the Form of Government God gave the same people. And what loas this ? What Government did God give the Jews; give them for themselves, and for the nations? Here is a most vital point. What Government did he give them ? 10 THE GLORY AND THE I was told two years ago — and by a thinker, too, a sort of an American Carlyle — that our Government was breaking up, because it was not the true Government, it was not a Mon- archy ! What docs such a man mean ? Where can he go for his wisdom ? Now we say, in opposition to all such twaddle, that the only Government God ever gave the Jews, or any other people, was a Democracy ; or, to speak with exactness, a Theo-Democracy. We say, too, that when the Jews clamored for a king, he gave them one in his wrath; solemnly warning them, at the time, of the consequences. We say, further, that He emphatically declared that the de- sire for a king was the rejection of Himself. Monarchy the true Government ! No, no ; it is a Heathen institution ! It came from Pagans, and not from Heaven ! God never gave such a Government. We go further, and say. He could not. True Government must be in keeping with the Great Law we have considered; it must reflect, and honor, God's suprem- acy, and Man's Equality. Hence it must, in its higher ele- ment, be Theocratic, and, in its lower, Democratic. God, in Government, as in the Law, must hold the First place, and Man the Second. And they did, as we have seen, in the Government, the only Government, He ever gave to Men. The same Rights, then, are seen to exist in the only God- given Government. — We now turn to our National Creed, the Great Declaration of the Fathers. And here we shall see the same Rights. I think it does not lessen the value of this immortal Declaration, to say that its substance is found in a work of Sir Henry Vane, one of the master spirits, if not the master spirit, of the time of Cromwell. And Vane picked it out of the Moral Law, and the Primitive Govern- ment, Heaven-given, of the Jews. We may be certain that all that is distinctive and imperishable in that great instru- ment, came from this high source. When, then, we hear SHAME OP A NATION. 11 the Fathers solemnly Declare, That we hold these truths to be self-evident: That all Men are created Equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Kisrhts ; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Hap- piness ; that to secure these ends, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their Just Powers from the consent of the Governed, they most distinctly assert the Supremacy of God, and the Equality of Man. God, as Creator, as the Giver of Rights, stands First ; Man, Man as Equal, next. And when they say, that, to secure these ends, that is, the Equal Rights of men, Governments are instituted among them, there is no intention, of course, to say that Govern- ments are not to secure the Rights of God. They surely did not intend, after a solemn recognition of Him as Creator, as the Giver of Rights, to exclude Him, or his Claims, from Human Governments ; such an idea cannot, for a moment, be entertained. God, in this great Creed, is put in his just place, and Man in his. God is Supreme, and Man is Equal. And hence, after the Supremacy of God, the Equality of Man, Man irrespective of country, or color, or condition, or belief, in other words, Simple Manhood, is the sovereign element, and distinguishing glory, of the Political Faith of this land ! Now the blindest can not mistake what is a Righteous national Constitution, or Framework. It is most plainly one in which God has His place, and Man his place. One recognizing the Divine Supremacy, and Man's Equality. One embodying the Theocratic and Democratic elements. One reflecting the great verities of the Moral Law, and of the Creed of the Fathers. One that is true to God, and true to Man. This, and nothing less, is a Righteous Constitution, or Framework, of a peopl'^. And here the question naturally rises, is our oxon so ? Is it so? As to the Divine Supremacy, where is the rccogni- 12 THE GLORY AND THE tion ? And as to Human Equality, where do you find it ? We know it is not there : Slavery cast it out ! Slavery spoiled the fair work. Slavery led the first builders to reject the stone of Equality ; hence they built without it. But Slavery has fallen ; and the whole work, to a great extent, has gone down with it. It was wrong, wrong from the bottom stone; hence the fearful bowing and fall ! And now where are we ? What is the national situation ? What are we doing? What is the work of To-Day ? It is that of Reconstruction I We are to tear up, and build anew. We are to rear again the National Fabric. This is the high Work, Duty, Respon- sibility, now pressing upon the American people ! And let us, though intensely mortifying, thank God that we may do this. God, in marvelous clemency, grants us, what he seldom grants a people, the opportunity to correct our organic errors — to rectify the mistakes of the Constitution — to re-lay the na- tional foundations — to re-cast^ as far as it is needful, the whole form of Society. It is a high favor. It is a rare favor. It is now our grand and rare privilege, to Reconstruct the nation, including the very basis ; to begin anew, and from the first stone ; to build over again, and from the very bot- tom, after the Pattern given by God to the Fathers, and embodied in .the Declaration of Independence ! This, in Heaven's special mercy, is our high opportunity. God, winking at the great error of the first builders, and yet toppling down their work, virtually says to us : Try it over again ; I give you a second opportunity to rear, and after the Model furnished, a Righteous national Edifice. And surely we should noio see to it that the work is rightly and thor- oughly done. We should lay iijust foundation. We should not again be under the necessity — if God should give us the opportunity, as He may, and probably will not — to tear up things from the very basis. It is a most diflacult thing to SHAME OF A NATION. 13 correct a fault in the foundation. We should, then, at this time, lay the right basis — put in the right stones, and in their right place ; we should do this, though it should take half a century. Put, then, in the National Constitution, a distinct recognition and assertion of the Existence and Rights of God ; make it radiant with such recognition and assertion. Make God, God in Christ, to hold His true place in the In- strument. Make it emphatically Christian. We, by pro- fession, are a Christian people ; put out the fact, therefore, distinctly, prominently, radiantly, in the Constitution of the Country. And put out the same in every State Constitution. 3fake it the First Great Lata of the land ! And in keeping with this, let the President and Governors, in their Proclam- ations, recognize God in Christ. Let them be Christian, and not Deistical, Proclamations. But this is not enough. Put Man, too, in his true place in these Instruments. Put there just as distinct and emphatic a recognition and assertion of the Rights of Man. Let God's Supremacy stand first ; and then Man's Equality. Hence blot from the Federal Consti- tution every line, and word, and dot, put there by Slavery — expunge every trace and finger-mark of the Iniquity ; and put in their place, broadly, legibly, unmistakably, the Doc- trine of Human Equality. Let it glow and blaze with this great Truth. And let the same be done with the Constitu- tion of each and every State in the entire Union. Let Man, every man, in its Constitution, stand in the same relation to the Courts; to the Ballot-Box; to every political Right and Immunity. Malce Eq_uality the Second Great Laiv of the land ! And, in the circumstances, I would begin this work at the South. I can not at all agree with those who tell us, that we can not compel the South to do what we will not do. It was the South that led the Founders to construct the Union 14 THE GLORY AND THE falsely in tlie first place ; let them, then, be the first to re- pair the mischief. First in the Wrong ; let them be the first in the Right. This is simply just. Hence I would, for this reason, begin there. I would, too, begin there, be- cause there is the most rottenness there. I would, further, begin there, because Grod began to tear down there. I would, once more, begin there, because the southern builders, with hot zeal, are building wrongly and falsely. I would, as a final reason, begin there, because we now have the right AND POWER TO DO WHAT WE PLEASE THERE. And hoW wonderful the manner we acquired this right and power ! We have them ; and God gave them to us ! Before the war, things were tied up — tied up by the Constitution ; hence we could not rightfully reach Slavery in the States. But God taught us how to reach it, and slave-holders, too ! We have reached both, and both are at our feet ! These States, though not out of the Union, have forfeited their Rights\; they are wholly at the mercy of the Federal Government. So the President treats them ; and his policy, strange to say, has received the indorsement of all parties. True, some tell us they go for the Constitutional Rights of the South ; what do they mean? Go for the Constitutional Rights of the South? Why, they have only two ; tlie right to he tried, and to he liung ! And do these persons go for these ? I confess / go for them, touching some of the Leaders ; but not touching: the southern masses. I am not so vindictive as that ! As for several of the Leaders, I am most decidedly for giving them their full Constitutional Rights ! But I would stop here. The South, therefore, as revolted States, have no Rights — none, at least, to be coveted ; very well. It is for us, then, to dictate the terms upon which they may regain their rights and standing. And this gives us the ichole ground. We may do as we please with them \ I mean, SHAME OF A NATION. 15 within the limits of right and reason. And surely we should please, in the Grand Opportunity afforded by God himself, to have them reconstruct those States Rightly, Christianly, Democratically ; to reconstruct them after the Creed of the Fathers ; to reconstruct them by making them, as the Con- stitution requires, Kcpuhlican States ; to reconstruct them in such a way as to give the loyal black the same Rights as the disloyal white ; to reconstruct them in such a manner as to shield the millions of helpless Freedmen from the vindictive and crushing power of their late masters, now smarting from defeat and humiliation ; to so reconstruct them that the man of color shall have the protection of the ballot as well as the poor man without color ; in a word, to have the reconstruc- tion such as to embrace the Divine Supremacy, and Human Equality. This certainly ought to be our pleasure. And if it is not, we are the guiltiest of all people ! If we have the right and the power, and use them not, what justification can we offer to Heaven, and the civilized world ? I tremble when I think what may be the result of a failure here. It is a momentous matter ! A fearful responsibility rests on the nation at this hour ! Heaven is watching our action ! The eye's of the struggling masses of all lands are fixed upon us ! Let us not be deceived. Let us not misjudge the crisis. Let us not be carried away by the miserable cry of concilia- tion. Why, this very cry led us into error before ; led us to build up a false national fabric. We must conciliate, we were told — we could form no Union without it ; that concil- iation proved our ruin ! And now we hear the same cryjl Conciliate ? Yes, conciliate God, and justice, and the victims of southern oppression, and their countless sympathizers throughout the world ! Yes, conciliate these ; and by doing that which is simply Eight and Equal ! And this must be done. We tell the President, we tell the members of Con- 16 THE GLORY AND THE gress, we tell the southern builders, that this stone of Equal- ity must go into the structure. It 77iust go in. You may reject it, as did the first builders ; you may reconstruct without it ; you may put up your masonry on another basis ; but it will not stand. It is sure to come down. God will tumble it down. Your Reconstruction will end in Rede- struction ! It can not stand. God's threatening against a similar Jewish work, in Ezekiel, is sure to be executed against it. It is false in itself; and, in addition, is dauhed ivith untempered mortar ! Of course it must fall. And yet we hope better things of the President, and of Congress, though we thus speak. But just here we are met with difficulties. It is difficult, we are told, to fix the status of this people. It is difficult, if we ignore our principles ; otherwise it is not. Why, the status of these men, in the light of our principles, is that of any other men unconvicted of crime ! Keep this fact in view, and where is the difficulty ? But it is a grave problem, we are further told, to know what to do with them. Is it a grave problem to know what to do with the Irish and Ger- mans ? Make it such, if we dare! Do with them? That, I modestly suggest, is none of our business. They are, thank God, and the late President, and our brave soldiers, their oion men ; hence it is a question of tlieirs. But they can not live at the south, it is urged, in a state of Equality; so it was urged that they could not live there in a state of Freedom ! Give these men the ballot at this time, we again hear, and you ensure their destruction. Fill the south, then, with colored troops ! Do this, and we will risk the results. But voting, we are told, is not a natural right. What folly! Governments, the/ Fathers say, are instituted to secure natural Ptights ; hence, they are essential to this end. As an essen- tial, therefore, to natural Bights, Government is a natural SHAME OF A NATION. 17 Right. A natural Right is no Right without Government ; hence Government is a natural Right. But vodnff is cjovern- ing in this country ! Voting then, clearly and undeniably, is a natural Right ! But, it is further urged, they should be sent out of the country. That, I would gently hint, does not happen to be our business. They are their own masters ; hence they are not likely to leave until they send themselves! Besides, the nation is solemnly pledged, by the great Proc- lamation of Freedom, to use its entire power to maintain and maintain here, the full Freedom of this people. We may not depart an inch from this high engagement. There is> we hear from another quarter, a natural antagonism between the races; consequently, one or the other must perish. We should think so when we see the bleached faces of these people all through the South! Why, look at it. Out of four millions of persons reputed African, few are found of pure blood ! This, if natural antagonism, must be a very queer type ! There is, others insist, a constitutional repug- nance to color. I say not. These self-same persons wear many articles of black. A gentleman said this, in a stage- coach, recently ; I remarked that he must be mistaken. I pointed to what he had on, and all selected from his own taste; and I then drew from him the confession, seeing he had intensely yellow whiskers and mustache, that he had paid barbers largely to turn them into black ! And yet this gentleman insisted, that he had a constitutional repugnance to black! Men are mistaken here. Their repugnance — I will not say it is constitutional — is to a low condition ; and as black has been the badge of that condition, they mistake a repugnance to that for a repugnance to color. This, at least, is so largely. But it is said, this is the white man's country. It is ; and the black man's, too. It is the rich man's country, and the poor man's country, the strong man's 2 18 THE GLORY AND THE country, and the weak man's country ; in fact, it is every Man's country ! Rather, it is Man's country. To be more exact, it is, first, God's country, and secondly, Man's country. The white man's country! An aristocracy of color! It is positively shameful ; the most hateful and irrational of all aristocracies. White man's country ! A country first occu- pied by a people not white ; a country whose independence was achieved partly by black men ; a country whose creed ignores all distinctions of hue, birth, belief, and condition ; a country whose second victory over England was, in part, won by colored troops; a country just saved, largely, by soldiers in ebony ; and yet a white man's country ! Perish the unjust, ungrateful, un-American, shameful sentiment! Let us hear no more of it. This matter of suff"rage, we hear still, has always been left to the States themselves. Very well ; and so has the matter of Slavery itself I And yet we have stepped in and taken it out of the hands of the States. Why not do so in the matter of suffrage ? But if the Fed- eral authority gives the ballot to the colored man of the South, it must to the colored man of the North, Most ab- surd ! Because the Federal authority does what it will in States that ha-v a forfeited their Rights, may it do what it will in States that have not forfeited their Rights ? Strange that men in high places can blunder in so plain a case ! But all this, we hear still, would lead to social equality. Not at all. Giving the ballot to the Irish, does not lead to social equal- ity. Social equality is a matter of taste; political equality, a matter of right. It will, however, it is further pressed, lead to amalgamation. Not necessarily so. Slavery is the great amalgamationist ; Freedom is not much gi^en to it. But if we must have amalgamation, let us have it in a state of Freedom rather than in a state of Slavery. But these men, it is answered, are not fit for the ballot. Once, they SHAME OP A NATION. 19 were not fit for Freedom ! But they are as fit, and wjore wortliy, than many a southern white. Further, they are as fit, and as worthy, as the great mass of Irish voters. But Time, we hear from very high sources, is an Element in Re- form. Just so said the Fathers when they put up the na- tional structure with Slavery in it ! Time, they said, would make all right ! And we know — know to our sorrow and shame — what Time did in the premises. Time make all right ! Do a mighty Wrong, a terrible Injustice To-Day, and leave it to Time to correct ! Make Unrighteousness organic — make it vital and fundamental, and then tell us that Time will work a complete cure ! What an idea ! What a plea, coming from such sources ! Still you must allow, we are once more told, that we have our Prejudices. Yes ; and we have our Principles. And prejudice, I think, should bow to principle. Let us, therefore, face our principles, or re- nounce them ; let us live up to our professions, or abandon them ; let us be Americans, or quit the country ! We have, we see, the most valid reasons for beginning with the South. Let us, then, begin there. And let us in- sist upon the most entire thoroughness. Let us not be in haste. No matter as to time ; no matter if it shall take as long to rear up the prostrate institutions of the South as it did the Chinese wall, if so there be thoroughness! Lfet us pursue the same course with the South, that the authorities here, as I learn, did with the bridge that was a long time in process of re-building. Many wondered at the slowness of the work ; but the secret, as I have it, was, that, the work being defective, the workmen were required, and several times, to tear up and build over again. So let it be with the South. The President has made them tear up some, and re-build; let him continue to do it, until they are thoroughly right. Let him insist, backed by the Congress, and the 20 THE GLORY AND THE voice and sentiment of the nation, that every stone, and tim- ber, and part, and parcel, belonging to a Christian and Dem- ocratic structure, &]iall go into their work. Let this be done, and all, as to Framework, is right at tlial end of the Union. And then let the same work be done in connection with the whole National Building. All, in a sense, calls for Eecon- structiou. The whole nation, to an extent, should be re-cast. The work should be carried, in its just measure, into the so- cial, religious, educational, and industrial departments of the nation. There should, I think be a Utile Heconstruction touching churches, schools, street- cars, and perhajjs, some other things. We must be, throughout, a Christian and Democratic people ! Let us be, and we shall, in our Frame- work, be a Kighteous people ! A nation, too, to be Righteous, must have a Righteous Rule. If a machine must be right in itself, it must be used rightly. So if a nation, in its Framework, is to be Righteous, it is to be Righteously governed. It will not do to commit a Righteous thing to Unrighteous hands ; to commit a Right- eous Government to Unrighteous Rulers. This will not do. There must, then, be a Righteous Rule. But a Righteous Rule, supposes a Righteous Ruler. What, therefore, is a Righteous Ruler ? He is one, I answer, who reflects, in his own person and acts, the two great features of the organic Law of a Righteous people ; who, in other words, reflects the Theocratic and Democratic Elements. A Ruler, like the nation itself, stands in two relations : first, in relation to Grod, and secondly, in relation to the people. He is the minister of God, as well as the minister of the people ; and first the minister of God. And, as the minister of God, he is responsible to Him; as the minister of the people, he is responsible to them. On him, therefore, rests this two-fold responsibility. He is to see that God does not suffer, and SHAME OF A NATION. 21 tliat Man does not suffer; he is set as a guarclian of the Rights of both. Hence it is said, he that rukth over men, must he Just; ruling in the fear of God. This is the great Law of Rule. He must be just ; just as a man, and just as a Ruler. And he must rule in the fear of God. Not simply in the fear of the people, but in the fear of God. Must be JUST. Surely men of profaneness, of looseness of life, men of corruption, men of the cup and of lust, men Avilhout the fear of God, and without, too, the lear of a Righteous people, are not such Rulers ! The great Apostle, in striking keeping ■with this, says : For rulers are not a terror to good tcorJcs, hut to the evil. Wilt thozt, then, not he afraid of the power ? do that u-hich is good, and thou shalt have jJraise of the same: Fur he is the minister of Gi>d to thee for good. But if thou do that ichieh is evil, he afraid ; for he heareth not the sicord in vain : for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeih evil. Here, then, you have the two-fold character, relation, and, by consequence, responsi- bility, of the Ruler. He is the minister of God, and the minister of men. You have, too, his work : to reward the good, and punish the evil. He is a praise to them that do well, and a TERROR to the doers of evil. He bears not the sword in vain— he has a sword, and he uses it ; nor does he possess his creat power of reward in vain. When men are good and loyal, they have his praise ; when they shed their blood for the country, he rewards them, if they have them not, with the full rights of citizenship, and, in addition, with honors. He is a j^raise to them that do well ! And he is more ; he is a terror to evil-doers. A terror, mark ; and how a terror ? By being a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Pardoning, you see, is not the whole of his husiness! He executes wrath. Not upon little offenders, while the -reat are screened; not upon such as a Payne, and 22 THE GLORY AND THE a Wirz, while such as a Davis, and a Lee, go unpunished ! He is a terror to evil doers, and the greatest terror to the greatest evil-doers. And this makes the Righteous Ruler. This makes the Just Ruler. This, in fact, makes the Great Ruler. Agesilaus, the noble Spartan Ruler, on hearing his men praise the great king, asked : Eow is he greater than /, unless he he more Just? He was right. Justice makes the' Great Ruler. And all this, of course, applies to every kind of Ruler, to Law-Makers and Judges, as well as to Execu- tives. Thej are all bound by the same law. They are, in their several departments, to be Just men, ruling in the fear of God. Justice is to be their guide, and "justice the measure of their greatness ! ^ Now, with this view, we naturally turn at this critical time to the President; turn with anxiety and with hope. We can not but feel that he has been called to his high posi- tion for such a time as this. He has certainly come to the Presidency the right xoay^ that is, has come from the masses. Like the pure and noble Lincoln, he \^ from the people, and of the people. And, knowing the people, he will care for them,- knowing, as we trust, the God of his Fathers, he will rule in His fear ; knowing the time he comes to the Presi- dency, he will prove himself equal to it; knowing the weak and helpless condition of the loyal and patriotic blacks, he will arm them with the ballot and every other American Right; knowing the hate and revenge of their late masters, he will make them powerless for harm ; and knowing, too', the leading enemies of the country, he is sure to punish them. This, at least, must be true touching Davis. That man I hold to be the guiltiest of this, or any other age. If we consider when, and where, he was born ; when, and where, reared; consider his culture and intelligence; consider the positions he has held in, and the favors received from, the SHAME OF A NATION. 23 Government; consider the diameter of the Government; con- sider the Rebellion he instigated, and led ; consider its ter- rible destruction of life and of projterty ; consider the horrors and atrocities of Andersonviile, Salisbury, Belle Isle, and Libby Prison, for which, more than all others, he is respon- sible; consider the imprisonment and execution of loyal men in East Tennessee, and elsewhere, under his eye, and most likely, by his direction ; consider the demoralization of the country caused by the war ; consider the woe and lamenta- tion carried to the homes of the" American people by the loss of hundreds of thousands of loved ones; consider the scoun- drels in Canada, acting by his authority, and under his pay, invading our towns, robbing their banks, and killing their citizens, and, besides, spreading the yellow fever, by the importation of infected clothing; consider h\s connecdon, I will not say complicity, with the murder of the good and oreat-hearted Lincoln, and the attempted murder of the Secretary of State; — I say, if we consider these things, and others scarcely less atrocious and horrible, we shall, we must set that man down as the guiltiest of men ! And, as such, I would, if a Ruler, hang him! I would hang him on a Friday, if I knew the Millennium would dawn on Saturday ! I would do it the day before, resting assured that I should have the hearty applause of the Righteous millions of that glorious ao-e ! Let the disbelievers in capital punishment remonstrate, let the sympathizers with treason protest, let even the Ply- mouth pulpit dissuade, let the women of the South petition, let hloodi) England, and bloody Europe, bawl ; I, neverthe- less, would hang the Arch-Traitor ! And 1 can not think the President will do less. He, I am persuaded, is awake to the claims and responsibilities of the situation. Never did man, never did President, have a grander opportunity! Hence I would say to the President what Milton wrote to 24 THE GLORY AND THE Cromwell, on Lis elevation to the Protectorship of England, and in the spirit, I trust, in which he wrote, with slight vari- ations adapting it to the different circumstances. "Consider frequently, consider in thy inmost thoughts, how dear a pledge, from how dear a parent intrusted (the gift Liberty, the giver thy Country) thou hast received into thy keeping. Revere the hope that is entertained of thee, the confident expectation of America ; call to mind the features and the wounds of all the brave men, who, under the command of thy martyred predecessor, have contended for the inestima- ble prize ; call to mind the ashes and the image of those who fell in the bloody strife ; respect the apprehension and the discourse that is held of us by foreign nations, how much it is they look for in the recollection of the Black Man's Lib- erty, so bravely achieved, of our redeemed Republic, which we may now so gloriously Reconstruct; which if it shall be in so short a time subverted, nothing can be imagined more shameful or dishonorable ; la^t of all, revere tliys^clf, so deeply bound, that that Liberty, in securing which thou hast en- countered such mighty hardships, and faced such fearful perils, shall, while in thy custody, neither be violated by thee, nor any way broken in upon by others. Recollect that tliou thyself canst not he free unless the hlaclcs are so; for it is fitly so provided in the nature of things, that he icJio con- quers another s Liberty, in the very act loses his oion ; he be- comes, and justly, the foremost slave. Thou hast taken on thyself a task which will probe thee to the very vitals, and disclose to the eyes of all how much is thy courage, thy firmness, and thy fortitude; whether that piety, perseverance, moderation and justice really exist in thee, in cunsideration of which we have believed that God hath given thee the su- preme dignity over thy fellows. To govern thirty-six mighty States by thy counsels ; to recall the people from their cor- SHAME OF A NATION. 25 rupt institutions to a purer and nobler discipline; to extend thy thoughts and send out thy mind to our remotest shores; to foresee all, and provide for all; to shrink from no labor ; to trample under foot and tear to pieces all the snares of pleasure, and all the entangling seducements of wealth and power: these are matters so arduous, that, in comparison of them, the perils of war are but the sports of cliildren. These will winnow thy faculties, and search thee to the very soul; they require a man sustained by a strength that is more than human, and whose meditations and whose thoughts shall be in perpetual commerce with his Maker." Now let the President be of this character, and let the same spirit characterize the men in the several departments of the Grovernment, and this nation, in its Rule, is a Right- eous people ! But, finally, a nation to be Righteous, mnst have Righteous Siiljects. The People must be Righteous. A Righteous Framework, and Rule, are vital and fundamental ; so, and in a higher sense, are Righteous Citizens. To make the Cii- izcn Righteous, is the end of Righteous Laws and Magis- trates. They, in fact, borrow their value from this end. Hence let the Citizen be ?7«righteous, and all that is valuable in a Righteous Constitution, and a Righteous Rule, is wholly lost ; the end is not attained. Further, the true criterion of judgment, in respect to a nation, is the character of the Peo- ple. This is so touching an individual. We really judge an individual, not by his creed, or his professions, but by his life and walk. We go behind his creed, behind his the- ories and professions, to see what his character is. It is well to have a good creed — very well ; but better to have a good character. So a nation. In our decision here, we step be- hind Laws, and Administrators, to see what the People are. This, specially, is the place to look for Righteousness. Here, 26 THE GLORY AND THE in reality, is where Grod looks for it. Moreover, Righteous Laws and Magistrates, and an Unrighteous People, increase the guilt of that Unrighteousness. Surely, with such Laws, and Rule, there is no excuse, no cloak, not the shadoio of either, for Unrighteousness ! Besides, an Unrighteous peo- ple will not long have Righteous Laws and Rulers. They will change them. They. will pull them down. The Jews did this. They had perfect institutions — so, at least, germ- inally ; they had God, and good men, to be their Rulers. And yet they lusted for the institutions of the heathen ; they desired a king, and other things to correspond. The truth is, that they virtually became heathen, and hence, and naturally, clamored for heathen institutions ! And God, as we have seen, granted them in his wrath. And so it is with a nation: it will lift up its character — lift it up by Right- eousness ; or it will change, or drag down, its Laws and its Rulers. This is the natural and certain result. But more than all this is true. To have, in this land. Righteous Laws and Rulers, there must, very largely, be a Righteous People. The People, with us, make the Laws and the Rulers. Hence, the latter, to a great extent, reflect the former. You see, in a high sense, the People in the Laws — the Citizen in the Ruler. Make, therefore, the People Righteous, and you really have Righteousness everywhere ! Righteousness, then, must exist in the People of this land. The People, in their characters and lives, must reflect the Divine Supremacy, and Human Equality; must, in other words, be Christian and Democratic. They must honor God, and honor Man. These are the great elements of a Righteous People. And here, my friends, there is WORK to be done. We talk of Reconstruction. Here, after all, it is most vitally needed. Our deepest need, say what we will, is a Recon- struction of Character and of Life. Here we are specially ^ SHAME OP A NATION. 27 wrong. Here we are specially Unrighteous. There is deep wrong in business, in social usages, in religion itself, in in- dividual habits, in the lives of men ; there is a stern call, touching all these, for Reconstruction. What a state of morals we see in the land I What a state, amid all that Heaven has done for us ! What profanity ! What drunk- enness ! What lewdness! What sabbath profanation! What robberies! What murders! What villanniea iu high and low life ! What luxury ! What neglect of God, and the Soul ! Surely the very flood-gates of Unrighteous- ness are open ! Our large cities fairly fester, and reek, and boil, and overflow with pollution. Licentiousness, like a spring-flood, is sweeping through all ranks and circles. In- temperance, too, is equally swelling, and rushing, and deso- lating. This, together with impurity, is hurrying untold numbers of the young, of the old even, to ruin. Crime, every one knows, is startlingly bold and defiant. Plainly, there is a demand, an imperative demand, for a broad and thorough Reconstruction. We should, as a people, should, in our elemental character. Reconstruct. This is Heaven's expectation. It is Heaven's demand ! Let us, then, be alarmed. Let us awake. Let us work. Let us pray. Let us warn. Let us push the work of moral and religious Reconstruction. Let us work at the very roots of the na- tion. Let us strike at the very foundations of the national disease. Let us, having, under Grod, put down our Enemies, now put down our Vices. Let us blot out every vestige of Slavery, and with it, and as a part of it, the shame and dis- grace of thePolygamy of Utah. I trust that that abomination will not live through the present Congress. Let us, too, cul- tivate the neighborly Law in respect to other nations. We should not be in haste to go to War. What we have just done, is, I am persuaded, enough to secure all our Rights ; 28 THE GLORY AND THE enough, for at least, fifty years. Maximilian, I am satisfied, will take the hint ; if not, let us be slow to give him the hick. " Rightly to be great, Is not to stir without great argument." We should be neighborly toward all Nations. Let us, then, by correcting and lifting up the character of the People, make the nation, together with the other things we seek, a Nation of Righteousness. And thus shall we be a Nation of Exaltation and Glory ! Thus shall Salvation be nigh to us, and Glory dwell in the land ! Thus shall Mercy and Truth meet together, and Righteousness and Peace kiss each other. Thus shall Truth spring out of the earth, and Righteousness look down from heaven ! Thus shall the Lord give that which is good, and our land yield her in- crease ! Thus shall Righteousness go before Him, and set us in the way of His steps ! But let us refuse to do this, and, with all that is priceless in our Institutions, glorious in our History, and rich in the hopes of our Future, we shall become a Nation of Shame ! Righteousness Esalteth a Nation : but Sin is a Reproach to any People ! " What constitutes a State ? Not high raised battlements, or labored mounds, Thick wall or moated gate; Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned ; Not bays and broad-armed ports, Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride — Not starred and spangled courts, Where low-browed baseness wafts perfu?ne to pride. No ; Men, high-minded Men, With powers as far above dull brutes endued, In forest brake or den. As beasts excel cold brakes or brambles rude; Men who their Duties know Best know their Rights,, and. knowing, dare maintain SHAME OF A NATION. 29 Prevent the long-aimed blow, And crush the Tyrant, while they rend the Chain. These constitute a State, And Sovereign Lata, that State's collected Will, O'er Thrones and Globes elate. Sits Empress — Crowning Good, repressing 111 ! " And now we bring, in this Chri,stian temple, an offering of Thanks and Praise to God in Christ. We thank Ilini, first of all, that the Nation lives ! We thank Ilim that it lives in its integrihj and entirety ! We thank Him, just as devout- ly, that Slavery does not live ! We thank Him that this Great Enemy of the Republic, choosing to take the sword, has perished by the sword ! We thank Him for the com plete and signal victory of our arms ! We thank Him that the old Flag, to-day, floats proudly over every foot of our vast domain ! We thank Him for giving us the best of Generals, and the bravest of Soldiers! We thank Him, while dropping the tear over the noble slain, that so many of our valiant boys have been spared to us! We thank Him that war, having gloriously accomplished its work, has ceased in the land ! We thank Him, that, all through our mighty struggle, He has averted foreign war! We thank Him for the prospects of a Righteous Reconstruction ! We thank Him, too, for the health and fruitfulness of the year I We thank Him for a Free Gospel, a Free Press, and Free Schools ! We thank Him for Churches, and Pastors, and Sabbath-Schools. We thank Him that we are Americans. We thank Him that it is ours to live, act, achieve, and suffer in this Advanced and Glorious Age ! For these, and other mercies, we offer devout Thanks, through the Redeemer, to the God of our Fathers ! And having thus, by the lip, ren- dered Thanks, we go out, we trust, to do so by Patriotic and Righteous Lives ! LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS ■) r 013 744 506 2 " That they must not only sweep the house clean below, BUT MUST PULL DOWN ALL THE COBWEBS W^HICH HAWG IN THE TOP AND CORNERS, THAT THEY MIGHT NOT BREED DUST, AND SO MAKE A FOUL HOUSE HERE- AFTER ; that they had now an OPPORTUNITY to make their Country HAPPY by removing ALL GRIEVANCES, AND PULLING UP THE CAUSES OP THEM BY THE ROOTS, IF ALL MEN W^OULD DO THEIR DUTIES." John Pym.