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 A SERMO:^^, 
 
 PREACHED IN THE 
 
 CENTER CHURCH, NEW BRITAIN, 
 
 MAY 19, 1861, 
 
 AND 
 
 REPEATED, BY REQUEST, IN GOSHEN, 
 
 A.XJGUST 18, 1801. 
 
 By LAVALETTE PERRIN. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 -'^^''' 
 
 HARTFORD : 
 PRESS OF CASE, LOCKWOOD & COMPANY. 
 
 1861. 
 
 9r 
 

 N. B. — I give this Discourse to the pubhc, because many 
 whom I love, and in whose judgment I have confidence, have 
 urged it as a duty, and kindly furnished the means for its pub- 
 lication — and also because I wish to express, as publicly as I 
 can, my hearty allegiance to, and sympathy with, our National 
 Government, in its struggle for self-preservation. 
 
 L. PERRIN. 
 Neav Britain, August 26, 1861. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 MATTHEW 22: 21. 
 Render therefore unto C^sar the things that are Cesar's. 
 
 I TAKE this command of Christ as a condensed 
 expression of what the New Testament teaches, 
 respecting the duties and obhgations of the Christian 
 citizen. Ca3sar is made to impersonate civil govern- 
 ment; so that what is here said, appHes not only 
 to those to whom the text was addressed by our 
 Saviour, but to us also, and to the subjects of every 
 civil government, in all time. 
 
 In pursuing my present object, I call your atten- 
 tion first to the fact, that civil government is neces- 
 sary TO THE existence OF HUMAN SOCIETY. And I surcly 
 need not go into an argument to prove this. His- 
 tory proves it. The Bible gives abundant reasons 
 why it is so. Without a power to check and restrain 
 him by force and present penalties, man, as the wild 
 beast of the forest, will prey upon his fellow-man — 
 the baser passions will rule him — and the ties of 
 famil}', and the rights of property can not exist. 
 
 I Avill not attempt here to examine the different 
 theories which have been devised to account for the 
 existence of civil government. The question of its 
 
origin I leave untouched. The fact of its existence 
 I lay hold of as an argument in proof of its neces- 
 sity. It has existed in one form or another in all 
 ages. A felt want of mankind called it into being 
 at an early period ; has continued it till now ; and will 
 continue it in time to come. 
 
 Nor is it of special importance to notice here the 
 fact that there have been many and widely different 
 forms of civil government. What we are now to 
 notice is, that civil government, in one form or 
 another, is essential to the existence of human 
 society. Such is man's nature that no considerable 
 number of men can live near each other without it. 
 Nor is there a tribe or nation on earth who do not 
 recognize this fact. It is imjDlied in the very 
 words — tribe, nation, and others of like import. 
 There may be degrees of culture ; there may be 
 steps of progress ; but as we pass from its ruder 
 forms found among savage tribes, to its more per- 
 fectly developed systems under a Christian civiliza- 
 tion ; every where we see civil government existing 
 in answer to the stern call of necessity. Though 
 often quite imperfect ; though many times cruelly 
 unjust ; yet always it is relatively a blessing. As 
 man is by nature, any government is better than no 
 government. Such and so many are the wicked 
 passions of man that like hidden volcanic fires break 
 out and devastate society wherever the restraints of 
 government are withdrawn, that this earth, as a 
 dwelling place, would be little better than hell itself, 
 if all civil government, imperfect as it is, were abol- 
 ished. There could be no such thing as families, 
 
neighborhoods, states, or nations, without it. It is 
 therefore necessary to the very existence of human 
 society. 
 
 Notice now secondli/, its divine authority. A hint 
 of this we might find in that necessity, of which I 
 have just spoken. But clearer evidence than this 
 demands our attention. Civil government is not a 
 purely human institution : that is to say, it is not a 
 device of man, having only the sanction of his 
 authority. Men are indeed the framers of govern- 
 ment, and they give to it the particular form, which 
 their measure of civilization demands, but its author- 
 ity comes from a higher source than man. What 
 has already been said implies this. For that which 
 is found both a necessity and a fact in God's empire, 
 must certainly be a part of His plan. 
 
 We are not, however, left to our own reasoning 
 for evidence in this case. No language could be 
 more explicit in setting forth the divine authority of 
 civil government, than is the language of the Bible, 
 and especially the New Testament. Read, for exam- 
 ple, the thirteenth chapter of Paul's Epistle to the 
 Romans. He there affirms that rulers are of God's 
 appointment. As agents of God, to enforce the 
 necessary regulations of society, they are called 
 potver'S. According to Paul's teaching, civil govern- 
 ment is a power ordained of God, and appointed as 
 his minister to bear the sword for the suppression and 
 punishment of evil. " For he " — i. e. the 7'uler, 
 whether emperor, king, president or governor — " is 
 the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath 
 upon him that doeth evil." And our Saviour presents 
 
6 
 
 substantially the same view of this matter, in the 
 text and context. So that we have not only inspired 
 language, but the language of the great Teacher 
 himself, to prove the divine authority of civil gov- 
 ernment. And this was a point which our fathers 
 made quite prominent in founding the government 
 under which we live. We, their descendants, have 
 well nigh lost sight of it. Many and powerful have 
 been the influences tending to root out from the 
 nation this idea. Once gone entirely, and the sheet 
 anchor of our government is hopelessly lost. We 
 have sinned grievously as a people, by refusing or 
 neglecting to recognize God's authority in the gov- 
 ernment under which we have lived, and been pros- 
 pered and blessed, more than any other people in the 
 world. Our present difficulties and calamities are 
 due in a great measure to the practical atheism of 
 the people, which lurks in such expressions as — " the 
 sovereign people " — ^' popular sovereignty," and the 
 like. A great and important truth, of which we 
 have been sadly and wickedly forgetful, God is 
 beginning to vindicate. That truth is, that sov(t- 
 eigidy belongs to Him, and to Him only, in all mat- 
 ters, natural, civil and religious. The state, the gov- 
 ernment, rulers, by whatever name they are called, 
 are God's ministers; his servants; the instruments 
 by which he executes his will. Of course, the power, 
 the authority, the sovereignty, is of God; and to 
 resist civil government, in the exercise of its legiti- 
 mate functions, is to resist God. To rebel against 
 it, is to rebel against God. This is the teaching of 
 
Paul, who says : " Whosoever resisteth the power, 
 resisteth the ordinance of God." 
 
 It is important that we bear in mind, that this 
 hmguage was first addressed to Jewish Christians 
 under Roman rule. Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius, 
 with their terrible abominations of cruelty, rapacity 
 and hatred, had just past from the theatre of action. 
 Nero, more fiendish, if possible, than they all, had 
 grasped, and was holding firmly the sceptre of em- 
 pire. It is true the fires of persecution had not yet 
 broken out with their most terrible energy against 
 the Christians to whom Paul writes. But the char- 
 acter of the emperors just named was well known. 
 Their cruelties, their debaucheries, their open wick- 
 edness, had given them a world-wide fame. And it 
 was while the reins of government were in such 
 hands that Jesus said to his hearers — Render unto 
 Caesar the things that are Csesar's. And when the 
 cruelty and wickedness of Caesar had become yet 
 more apparent, Paul declared — " The powers that be 
 are ordained of God." Even in the hands of such 
 agents, and when men of such high handed wicked- 
 ness were administering it, civil government was of 
 divine authority, so that he who rebelled against it, 
 rebelled against God. How much more is this true 
 then, when the rulers are upright, and the govern- 
 ment just. Surely such a government is of divine 
 authority, and rebellion against it is the highest 
 crime against God and society possible to man. 
 
 If then civil government is a necessity — and if it 
 is of divine authority, we can not fail to see thirdly, 
 
 that IT IS THE DUTY OF EVERY CHRISTIAN CITIZEN TO DO 
 
8 
 
 ALL IN HIS POWER TO SUSTAIN THE GOVERNMENT UNDER 
 
 WHICH HE LIVES. That government may not be per- 
 fect ; it may indeed be very imperfect ; its working 
 may be quite unequal, and its administration may 
 be corrupt ; but the obHgation to sustain it, v^ithin 
 the sphere of its legitimate sovereignty, is not gradu- 
 ated by any of these considerations. The command 
 to be subject to government, or to the powers that 
 be, is not qualified. Paul does not say — " Let every 
 soul be subject to the higher powers, if in his judg- 
 ment they are worthy of it." The command is with- 
 out qualification or condition. The fact of its 
 existence is to be taken as evidence of its claim. 
 " What ! " some one will say, " am I bound to support 
 a wicked government?" Yes, if it be in fact a gov- 
 ernment, and you are under it. For a wicked gov- 
 ernment is better than none at all ; and the powers 
 that be are ordained of God, even when a Nero 
 sways the sceptre of empire. It does not devolve 
 upon me as a Christian citizen to investigate and 
 determine the question of its origin and legitimacy 
 before I obey or sustain the government of the land 
 in which I live ; nor is its sovereignty over me origi- 
 nated or measured by my opinion of its rights. 
 Whatever may be said of the doctrine o^ passive 
 endurance, in obedience to a higher law, we can not 
 justify by the Scriptures an open rebellion against 
 civil government, for any cause. Its actual exist- 
 ence is proof to me, that the government under 
 which I find myself is the ordinance or power to 
 which I must yield obedience and support in all 
 civil matters. This is to me, what the image and 
 
superscription on the penny brought to Christ were 
 to those who brought it ; and the command — " Ren- 
 der unto Caesar the things that are Csesar's," reaches 
 me through this fact of the existence of civil govern- 
 ment, and makes subjection and support a duty. 
 The Scriptures leave no place in the creed of a Chris- 
 tian citizen for rebellion. 
 
 A revolution in the forms of civil government may 
 take its rise in a rebellion, but the end does not 
 sanctify the means here, any more than elsewhere. 
 Rebellion has often, in the world's history, gathered 
 to itself strength enough to vindicate its claims to 
 recognition as a permanent power among the na- 
 tions. God has often used the spirit of rebellion, 
 and the forces it has marshalled, to effect great 
 changes for the better in civil society ; just as in 
 other matters he brings good out of evil. This is 
 his prerogative as a sovereign. But it does by no 
 means authorize us to call evil good. To say that 
 rebellion is ever right, is to say that sin is holiness. 
 For rebellion is an attempt to destroy civil govern- 
 ment, and it can not be right to destroy, or to 
 attempt to destroy, God's accredited minister, or ordi- 
 nance. 
 
 In the question of paying tribute to Coesar, which 
 our Saviour answers in the text, the bare fact that 
 Ca?sar's image was upon the tribute money ; that is 
 to say, the actual existence of authority and power 
 thus indicated, was taken as proof of obligation. It 
 indicated God's will, and therefore determined or 
 pointed out their duty. And so all that the New 
 Testament says upon the subject of civil government, 
 
10 
 
 recognizes it as the ordinance of God, to be obeyed 
 and sustained for conscience' sake. 
 
 Rejecting therefore all the thia and shallow theo- 
 ries of civil government which rest its authority upon 
 a social compact or agreement, we claim for it the 
 authority of God's will ; and claiming this we say 
 that motives and considerations of rehgion. as well 
 as those of expediency, require us as citizens, to 
 uphold and defend the government imder which we 
 live. It is doing God sei-vice as truly when by our 
 words, our votes or our contributions, we strive to 
 uphold and strengthen the civil government that is 
 established over us — it is obeying God's commands 
 as actually when we do thus, as when we give our 
 support to the special institutions for the promotion 
 of religion. For we can have no sure progress in 
 rehgion that is not wedded to a progressive civiHza- 
 tion ; and all true advancement in civilization finds 
 its strength and defence in civil government recog- 
 nized as the ordinance of God. 
 
 There is then a religious as well as a ci^'il obhga- 
 tion binding every Christian citizen to sustain the 
 government under which he lives. At whatever 
 cost of time, of effort, or of money it is effected, he 
 must not shrink horn, personal sacrifices, until the 
 sovereignty of civil government, within its legiti- 
 mate sphere is -vnndicated against every assault of 
 treachery or rebeUion at home, and of jealousy or 
 ambition abroad. It is but rendering unto Caesar 
 the things that are Caesar's, when at the caU of his 
 imperilled government, the citizen soldier appears, 
 to lay himself a sacrifice, if need be, upon the altar 
 
11 
 
 of devotion. It is but rendering nnto Caesar the 
 things that are Cassar's, when with ready hands and 
 loyal hearts, a people pour treasures without stint 
 into the coffers of government to strengthen and 
 encourage it in the struggle for self-preservation. 
 It is but rendering unto Caesar the things that are 
 Caesar's, when a noble unpulse of chastened loyalty 
 in woman, says "Go," to the husbands, sons and 
 brothers of the land, who are called to the field of 
 battle in defense and vindication of civil govern- 
 ment as God's ordinance. And surely, if amid the 
 vices and cruelties and wild excesses of a govern- 
 ment like that of imperial Rome, the great Teacher, 
 by express command, imposed upon Christian sub- 
 jects the obligation of loyalty and devotion; much 
 more would he with emphasis say to all his followers 
 under a nominally Christian government — " Render 
 unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's." 
 
 This language of Christ then, may serve as our 
 guide in determining our duty at the present time 
 toward our government, which is now put upon a 
 struggle for self-preservation. A more unnatural, 
 unreasonable and thoroughly wicked assault upon 
 God's established ordinance, has never darkened the 
 pages of history, than that which makes the present 
 a crisis in the history of our government. We need 
 to call things by their right names, and trace effects 
 to their real causes, in order to know just what the 
 obligations of religion, as well as the claims of the 
 State, demand of us hi this hour of a nation's per- 
 plexity and peril. Let us therefore clear away, if 
 possible, the mist and darkness which a designing 
 
12 
 
 sophistry has occasioned in many minds and look 
 this thing fairly in the face. That we may do thus, 
 two things need to be better understood by us as a 
 people. 
 
 First. We need to see and feel, that all the states 
 of this Union owe allegiance to a single, common 
 sovereignty. By interchanging the terms Republic 
 and Confederacy — by confounding the ideas ex- 
 pressed by these terms — by an ingenious play upon 
 such ideas as are common to the two forms of gov- 
 ernment which they designate; the notion has been 
 quite extensively fostered, that civil sovereignty 
 pertains only to the governments of the States sin- 
 gly, and not to the government of the States united, 
 or as we commonly say, the United States. It is of 
 the first importance that we abide by the truth, and 
 the facts, in determining this question; for if sover- 
 eignty does not inhere in what we have been so long 
 calling our National government, then it is not a 
 government, and we are not a Nation. Of course, 
 if this is not a government, it has no claim upon our 
 allegiance. 
 
 What then is the difference between a Confederacy 
 and a Repubhc? Let us see. In a Confederacy, the 
 States do not part with, or delegate their sovereignty 
 in regard to any matters. >No act of the general 
 government is valid, as binding a particular State, 
 until that State has sanctioned it. The actual sov- 
 ereignty, therefore, is retained by the individual 
 states. The general government, if it be proper to 
 call it a government, is not a sovereignty — has no 
 positive authority — is not an ordinance of God, in 
 
13 
 
 the sense of being a power. There is always an ap- 
 peal to be made, after its voice is heard, to each 
 State ; and unless every State says amen to its decis- 
 ion, there is no authority in it. As a form of gov- 
 ernment therefore, a Confederacy has not in it the 
 elements of sovereignty. It is not Csesar. Its acts 
 carry with them only the influence of recommenda- 
 tion. The obligation of obedience is not imposed by 
 its commands. 
 
 It is far different with a Repubhc. Here, the sev- 
 eral states are no longer sovereign, m matters which 
 the Constitution commits to the general government, 
 but their individual sovereignty is absorbed in a dis- 
 tinct and higher sovereignty, in virtue of which, as 
 by prerogative, that government speaks and acts for 
 all the states; and these, as subjects and subordi- 
 nates, are under the obligation of obedience, so that 
 to disobey is rebellion. Here, I will let another 
 speak for me, because he had spoken before the pres- 
 ent crisis could have an influence to bias or prejudice 
 the mind. "A Republic is a sovereign nation, and 
 acts legitimately as a sovereign among nations, and 
 within the Constitution has no more responsibility 
 to its own states, than to foreign states. When the 
 assent is once given, and the sovereign Republic 
 constituted, no state has the right of secession, or 
 nullification, except by a strict construction of the 
 Constitution itself; and if the right is not plainly 
 expressed, then does it not exist; and those who 
 have adopted the Constitution have vested rights 
 under it which no separate state can amend or dis- 
 regard. The public freedom, to the extent of the 
 
14 
 
 constitutional provision is henceforth committed to 
 the sovereignty of the Kepublic as fully and irre- 
 versibly as the entire public freedom is in any inde- 
 pendent nation ; and the crime of treason attaches 
 to all armed resistance to it, as in the rebellion of any 
 part of any nation." * 
 
 We need to keep this difference between a Con- 
 federacy and a Republic distictly in view, if we would 
 see what certain men, and combinations of men, are 
 doing in the land, and feel our obligations to the 
 government in this crisis. If this is a Confederacy, 
 we are under no obligations to the general govern- 
 ment as to a power, or sovereignty — a minister of 
 God. If this is a Republic, we owe it an allegiance 
 from which no power on earth, but the Republic 
 itself, can excuse us. It becomes then a question of 
 vital importance to us, which it is. And the ques- 
 tion is not, which we would have it, or which we 
 think it ought to be, but which, according to truth 
 and facts, it really is. 
 
 In answering this question then, observe three 
 facts. First. — The individual states of this Union, 
 with only one exception,-|- as governments, have 
 never possessed, have never exercised, and until 
 recently, have never claimed a national or complete 
 sovereignty. As colonies, they were subjects of the 
 British crown; and as territories and states they 
 have been subjects of a general government. Until 
 quite recently, not one of these states has attempted 
 to exercise, or even claimed, civil sovereignty. 
 
 Secondly — The citizens of the several states, as 
 
 * Hickok's Moral Science. t Texas. 
 
15 
 
 such, and in a solemn form of attestation, have placed 
 the State within the Republic as a subordinate, m- 
 tegral part of one Nation; and have acknowledged, 
 and proclaimed to the world the sovereignty of the 
 Nation, in all matters not reserved by the express 
 provisions and limitation of a Constitution, made, 
 ratified and proclaimed, not by the States, but by 
 the people of the United States. The people, by ex- 
 press act and declaration, made the States subjects 
 of a higher sovereignty, when they said-" This con- 
 stitution, and the laws of the United States which 
 shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties 
 made, or which shall be made, under the authority 
 of the United States, shall be the supreme law ol 
 the land; and the judges in every state shall be 
 bound thereby; any thing in the constitution or 
 laws of any state, to the contrary notwithstandmg. > 
 Thus the Constitution itself, by its clear, guarded 
 language, makes it evident, that our fathers m found- 
 ing this national government, made it, and intended 
 to make it, a, Republic. _ 
 
 Consider, also, a third fact. Havmg faith in the 
 wisdom and integrity of our fathers and accrediting 
 their solemn acts, the whole civilized world-all the 
 nations of christendom-have recognized us and 
 treated with us, as a RepubUc; so that all our treat- 
 ies with other nations, all our pledges and stipula- 
 tions as a nation, at home and abroad, rest for secu- 
 rity upon this idea. We have not only aUowed but 
 enforced the prevalence of this idea for more than 
 
 » Constitution of United Stales, Art. 6, Sec. 2. 
 
16 
 
 three score years — indeed, during our whole history 
 as a nation. Other nations have never recognized 
 the individual States as competent to hold intercourse 
 with them as sovereigns ; and the States have never 
 asserted that right or power. 
 
 Still further; even those States which have re- 
 cently organized a rebellion against the government, 
 have taken and acted upon this view of the matter. 
 Nay more, some of them have with special empha- 
 sis published this view to the world. Hear the voice 
 of Virginia, once the mother of Presidents — now the 
 hot-bed of traitors. In her leading public journal * 
 of Nov. 1st, 1814, she says — " No man, no association 
 of men, no state nor set of states, has a right to with- 
 draw itself from this Union of its own accord. The 
 same power which knit us together can only unknit. 
 The same formality which forged the links of the 
 Union is necessary to dissolve it. The majority of 
 states which form the Union must consent to the 
 witljdrawment of any one branch of it. Until that 
 consent has been obtained, any attempt to dissolve 
 the Union or obstruct the efficiency of its constitu- 
 tional laws, is treason — treason to all intents and pur- 
 poses." Such was the language of Virginia half a 
 century ago. Behold her actions now ! By her own 
 mouth let her be judged. Her verdict was boldly 
 given. " Secession is ireasony Need we further evi- 
 dence that this is in ftict a Republic ? Is it not in- 
 vested with a sovereignty, which no citizen, or com- 
 bination of citizens, may resist, without resisting the 
 ordinance of God? 
 
 * The Richmond Enquirer. 
 
17 
 
 If then this is a Republic, and not a Confederacy, 
 so that all the States of this Union owe allegiance 
 to this sovereignty ; a second important matter for 
 us to bear in mind is, that the struggle in which we 
 are engaged, is in no proper sense of the word a 
 War. 
 
 The conscience of Christendom has for years been 
 in a process of education toward the point of deny- 
 ing that Avar is justifiable. And very many Chris- 
 tians in this land, and in other lands, have fairly 
 brought themselves to the conclusion, that the spirit 
 of the gospel can not be reconciled with the justifi- 
 cation of war between Christian nations for any pur- 
 pose. There is just now, therefore, a hesitancy and 
 great misgiving of spirit on the part of many, lest 
 by word or action, they become committed to a jus- 
 tification of war. The authors and supporters of 
 this great and wicked conspiracy are shrewdly play- 
 ing upon this tenderness of conscience, and turning 
 it to their own advantage as much as possible by the 
 cry — "The North is making war upon the South." 
 It is important, therefore, that we relieve all tender 
 consciences upon this point, if we can, by showing 
 that this is not a war in any proper sense of the 
 word. A wrong impression is conveyed, by the use 
 of this word, to designate the conflict in wdiich our 
 government is engaged. 
 
 War is a state of hostility and armed conflict be- 
 tween sovereign nations; who, because they have 
 no superior or sovereign to appeal to for the settle- 
 ment of their difficulties, resort to force and arms. 
 And because they are sovereigns, and therefore 
 3 
 
18 
 
 equals, they may, if they will, without by implica- 
 tion relinquishing their sovereignty, submit their 
 differences to an umpire for settlement. Hence the 
 advocates of peace have good ground upon which 
 to affirm that nations ought always to do this. 
 
 But this in which we are involved is not a strug- 
 gle between two sovereignties, who are therefore 
 equals, and may call in an umpire for their relief 
 It is an assault made by a subject upon its accredited 
 sovereign. It is treason. It is rebellion, of the rank- 
 est sort, urging in its own justification and defense 
 the very essence of blasphemy toward God, and tjr- 
 anny over men. It is as when the law as a sover- 
 eign, lays hold, by force, of the murderer to call him 
 to account for his crime ; and the principles in the 
 case are not altered, whether it requires only one, or 
 fifty, or five hundred thousand, to act with the sheriff 
 as a "posse," in vindicating the sovereignty of the 
 law. Do w^e call it war, when a criminal is thus met 
 and subdued with force and arms, if need be, by the 
 law? 
 
 Let us discard then, the use of this word, to ex- 
 press the conflict in which our government is en- 
 gaged for the vindication of its sovereignty. Let us 
 cease talking about the North making Avar upon the 
 South, or the South upon the North, and call things 
 by their right names. This is not war in any proper 
 sense of the word. It is rebellion — sheer, shameless, 
 high-handed rebellion, forcing itself with ambitious 
 and selfish malignity against the authority and power 
 of a government, second to no other government on 
 earth, in the validity of its title to sovereignty, or 
 
19 
 
 in the number and magnitude of the blessings it 
 yields to the people who are its subjects. 
 
 Let us see if this is not so. Certain restless and 
 ambitious men in several states, utterly disregarding 
 the rights, and by threats and violence silencing the 
 voice, of other citizens, or forcing them into co-ope- 
 ration, have refused to yield to the Federal Govern- 
 ment the service and obedience which the Constitu- 
 tion says they must yield. Without even the form 
 of an appeal to the constituted tribunal for the ad- 
 justment of difficulties, and in defiance of the sov- 
 ereignty lodged in that sacred instrument, which 
 they have sworn to obey and defend, they have 
 said to the country and to the world : "We defy the 
 government ; and will destroy it if we can." They 
 have accompanied this declaration with the most 
 graceless and abusive threats and taunts, which only 
 a lawless and treasonable spirit would employ. 
 They have trampled upon many of the sacred de- 
 fenses of civilized society, violated the rights of per- 
 son, of conscience and of property; and in their 
 mad haste to steal the march upon the general gov- 
 ernment they have resorted to perjury, treachery 
 and robbery without scruple ; depleting its treasury 
 by frauds — disabling its army and navy by defection 
 — and pouncing upon its unguarded forts and arse- 
 nals, and armories, as highwaymen fall upon the un- 
 suspecting traveler. They have outraged even the 
 rules and decencies of savage life, and by a public 
 proclamation defied the better sense of all Christen- 
 dom, by encouraging piracy, and offering a reward 
 for the heads of peaceable citizens, engaged in law- 
 
20 
 
 ful and useful callings. And, as if to vent the inmost 
 virus of this wicked rebellion against the govern- 
 ment, they have trailed the symbol of its sovereignty 
 in the dust, while reeking with the blood of its de- 
 fenders, and lifted a fiendish shout of exultation 
 over the act ; insensible to the shame and guilt of 
 their execrable crime. 
 
 And shall we call this war? No — no — never! 
 War is a trial of strength and strategic skill between 
 sovereigns, who as such, are equals, and who main- 
 tain at least the semblance of honor and decency. 
 War recognizes certain rules of action as demanded 
 by reason, by civilization and religion. But this of 
 which Ave are now speaking is lawless, fierce, ram- 
 pant rebellion; pressing into its service the most 
 barefaced acts of treason, and riding rough-shod in 
 its hot haste for power, over the most sacred ties of 
 humanity, and the laws and demands of civilized 
 warfare, until the government is compelled to vindi- 
 cate its sovereignty — its very existence even — by 
 force and arms. 
 
 The question, then, is not whether the North shall 
 make war upon the South. It is whether loyal citi- 
 zens shall respond to the call of civil government as 
 God's minister, when it is put upon a struggle for 
 existence. We doubt not, that if it were allowed, 
 the sober judgment, and holier impulses of multi- 
 tudes at the South, would instantly appear in organ- 
 ized resistance to this frenzy of rebels. We doubt 
 not that prayers as sincere and devout as any that 
 we offer, go up to God from southern states, asking 
 
21 
 
 Him to arrest this mad conspiracy in its march of 
 devastation. 
 
 It is not, then, a question of war upon the South, 
 or of war at all. It is a question of anarchy or 
 order— a question of rebellion or obedience— a ques- 
 tion involving the very existence of civil society. 
 See how it runs down through all the lesser branches 
 of the body politic, and reaches the very heart, and 
 every pulsation of society. If the State may deny 
 the jurisdiction of the Repubhc, the County may 
 deny the jurisdiction of the State— the Town of the 
 County— and each lesser division may deny the 
 jurisdiction of its superior ; until in the chaos of con- 
 flicting wills, every man's hand will be against his 
 
 neighbor. 
 
 The real question with us, therefore, is— bhall 
 God's ordinance of government be sustained and 
 perpetuated in this land ? Shall responsible power, 
 vested in government as a divine ordinance, and 
 restrained by constitutional limits, sit in sovereignty 
 over our civil relations, and give us liberty, prosperi- 
 ty happiness and all the untold and priceless bless- 
 inJ^s which we as a people have enjoyed more than 
 any other people under heaven? or shall the foun- 
 dations of society be broken up, and universal anar- 
 chy curse the land ? Such is the real question before 
 us as christian citizens. Can any one hesitate m 
 mving his answer ? Does not every consideration of 
 piety as well as of patriotism challenge from us a 
 prompt and spirited reply ? Does not the command 
 of Hhn in whom is vested all sovereignty— that 
 command with which as a text we started upon this 
 
22 
 
 inquiry — answer for us? Render unto CaBsar the 
 things that are Caesar's. 
 
 Here is the best government that has ever found 
 a name and place among the nations — a government 
 under which the largest measure of personal liberty 
 compatible with general order and safety is secured 
 to every individual — a government which for half a 
 century and more has been silently breathing its 
 own free spirit into the old and creaking forms of 
 despotism the world over — a government which lias 
 yielded a home, protection, and free scope for all 
 manly endeavors, to hundreds of thousands of the 
 persecuted and impoverished of other lands — a gov- 
 ernment framed by the wisdom, consecrated by the 
 prayers, and bequeathed to us with the benediction 
 of an ancestry whose very names are synonyms of 
 the noblest virtues and the purest graces — here, I 
 say, is such a government ; confronted and be- 
 leaguered by the most arrant treason and wicked 
 rebellion ; and in its peril, calling upon us as citizens 
 to uphold it in the effort to withstand the assault. 
 Is this making war upon anybody ? No — it is sim- 
 ply obeying the mandate of Heaven, implied in the 
 necessitated existence of civil government and clear- 
 ly expressed in the Bible. It is God's ordinance 
 vindicating its right to be, and lifting itself in the 
 majesty of its divine commission, while it calls 
 heaven and earth to witness, that its fixed purjDOse 
 is, not to hear the sivord in vain. 
 
 What then is our duty, when such a government, 
 thus imperiled, calls upon us for support ? Does not 
 the text answer this practical question, to which we 
 have come by this discussion ? 
 
sa 
 
 HeNDER unto CiESAR THE THINGS THAT ARE C.ESAR's. 
 
 What things, then, are Caesar's ? What is due to 
 our government, from us, in this day of its peril ? 
 First, our good will, and ready sanction of all its law- 
 ful acts. As things now are, it is a sin against God, 
 the government, and ourselves, to be carping and 
 finding fault, and criticising those errors and imper- 
 fections which are unavoidable under such a sudden 
 and intense pressure as now rests upon the Adminis- 
 tration at Washington. Let all partisan and personal 
 criticisms then be hushed by an earnest sympathy, 
 until this pressure is removed. 
 
 Then secondly, we owe the government our earn- 
 est prayers for its success in this struggle. More in 
 real value at a time like this, than all " columbiads,'' 
 and other engines of destruction which guarded the 
 fort in which he fought so nobly, is that spirit of 
 Christian heroism, breathed by the intrepid Ander- 
 son, when he said in allusion to the defense of 
 Sumpter — "I put my trust in God, and I believe that 
 God put it into my heart to do what I did." And if 
 such is the feeling of the Christian soldier amid the 
 perils of the conflict, shall we not, like Moses, hold 
 up the hands of prayer, that Israel niay prevail ? 
 Our fiimily altars, and church conference, brethren^ 
 should now as never before, evince to ourselves and 
 to the world, a working faith in God. That Chris- 
 tian who is not found at the place of prayer at a 
 time like this — that Christian whose heart does not 
 prompt him to wrestle with God in prayer, often, for 
 the government, if he is not a rebel, can be counted 
 
2i 
 
 no better certainly than a neutral. He is not ren- 
 dering unto Caesar that which is due. 
 
 Thirdly, we must give to the government money — 
 money without stint or grudge. Liberal contribu- 
 tions, and heavy taxes cheerfully given in this crisis, 
 are a better test and proof of true patriotism, than 
 flippant speeches or loud huzzas. Nor may we 
 reasonably expect that this demand for money will 
 end with a single levy. Heavy drafts, repeated for 
 years to come, will doubtless try our perseverance 
 in the matter of thus rendering unto Caesar that 
 which is Caesar's. If this government had cost us 
 more — if we had been made to respond more fre- 
 quently and largely to its demands for tribute — it 
 might perhaps have nourished among us such a 
 spirit of loyalty, as to discourage all treason at the 
 outset of its wicked endeavors. But it has really 
 cost us so little in a way to be felt, that the people 
 are left in doubt whether we have a government. 
 The people of other countries never have such a 
 doubt. The demand now made upon us for tribute 
 will be likely to remove this doubt from our minds. 
 Let us thank God for the unparalleled munificence 
 in giving, which this crisis has already disclosed. 
 And let every man, rich or poor, when tribute is 
 demanded, show a ready mind. 
 
 Fourthly and finally, we must render unto Caesar 
 men. Ourselves, if the call is for us — our sons, broth- 
 ers, husbands, fathers, if the call is for them. Ah ! 
 here is where the tribute demanded strikes the most 
 sensitive nerves of the soul ! It is when we enter 
 the sacred enclosure of the family, and wrench the 
 
25 
 
 very heartstrings of fathers and mothers, wives and 
 sisters, by laying the demands of Cassar upon the 
 hearth-stone of home — it is when we call for the 
 father, into whose sad eye childhood looks inquir- 
 ingly as we speak — it is when we call for the young 
 husband, upon whose ruddy cheek the kiss of bridal 
 affection has but just set a holy signet — it is when 
 we call for the son — perhaps the only son — whose 
 noble brow the instincts of a mother's heart have 
 bathed wath tears such as only a mother sheds ; oh ! 
 it is when we come to this, in urging the claims of 
 government, that we sound the deepest depths of 
 Christian patriotism, and see a difference between 
 the genuine coin and its counterfeit, that challenges 
 our admiration. Let us thank God that this fiery 
 trial has already disclosed to us in the present gen- 
 eration, so much of that pure gold, which enriched 
 and ennobled the character of our fathers and moth- 
 ers of blessed memory. 
 
 I have endeavored by this argument and appeal to 
 guide you, my hearers, to a Christian view of the 
 crisis which is upon us. I would have you feel that 
 the claims of government are the claims of God, and 
 act accordingly. We are not making war upon any 
 one — we are upholding and defending civil govern- 
 ment as the ordinance of God, established for the 
 good of our race. In the name of the Lord God of 
 Hosts, therefore, do we set up our banner — the glo- 
 rious " stars and stripes ; " that banner which was 
 borne in triumph by a Washington from the battles 
 of the Revolution; that banner which has com- 
 manded the respect and deference of all the civilized 
 4 
 
26 
 
 nations of the world; that banner, whose graceful 
 folds have danced in the breezes of every clime, and 
 kindled the inspiration of hope and joy in despairing 
 millions 5 that illustrious old banner, which our 
 fathers set up in the name of the God of Liberty, we, 
 their children, will lift from its threatened disgrace, 
 and God helping us, we will keep it waving " o'er 
 the land of the free and the home of the brave," as 
 the ensign of a government, divinely commissioned 
 to bear the sword not in vain, against all treason, 
 rebellion and crime. Its very composition bespeaks 
 its celestial origin. Yes — 
 
 " Wlien freedom from her mountain height 
 
 Unfurled her standard to the air, 
 She tore the azure robe of night, 
 
 And set the stars of glory there. 
 
 She mingled with its gorgeous dyes 
 
 The milky baldric of the skies ; 
 
 And striped its pure celestial white, 
 
 With streakings of the morning light. 
 Then, from his mansion in the sun. 
 She called her eagle bearer down, 
 And gave into his mighty hand 
 The symbol of her chosen land." 
 
 Thus recognizing with the poet its heavenly ori- 
 gin, and regarding it as the symbol of our nation's 
 divine commission, who will not add with the empha- 
 sis of kindled enthusiasm — 
 
 " Flag of the free heart's hope and home ! 
 By angel hands to valor given — 
 Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, 
 And all thy hues were born in Heaven !" 
 
,27 
 
 May the God in whose name we lift up this ban- 
 ner, make iis prompt, patient, hberal, cheerful and 
 successful, in sustaining and defending the best gov- 
 ernment ever inaugurated as his minister among the 
 nation's of the earth. Amen. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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