SML Cb82 51

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE

DUTIES -OF AMERICAN CITIZENS

A DISCOURSE

PREACHED IN THE STATE-HOUSE, SPRING! 'L.LD, 1ILINOIK,

JANUARY 26. lbSl,

BY J. M. PECK.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

St. Houxr.
PRINTED BY T. W. 0STICK, COJJNEK Or SECOND AND LOCUST 3THEETS.
1851.

INTRODUCTION.

The following documents are submitted, as the reason for
publishing this discourse.

House of Repeesentatives, January 24, 1851.
Rev. Sir : I have the honor to inform you, that the House of Representatives yester
day, unanimously, passed the following resolution :
" On motion of Mr. Muephy,
''Resolved, That the Rev. J. M. Peck, of St. Clair county, be invited to preach a
sermon in the hall of the House of Representatives, on next Sabbath afternoon, showing
that the obligations of American citizens to obey the constitution and laws of our
national government do not conflict with any ' higher law' in the Sacred Scriptures."
I am, sir, very respectfully,
Tour obedient servant,
ISAAC R. DIXXER, Clerk H. E.
Rev. J. M. Peck.

Springfield, III., January 21, 1851.
Deae Sie : Having listened, with great pleasure, to your discourse, pronounced on
yesterday, in the hall of the House of Representatives, on the obligation of citizens to
obey the laws of the country, and with reference to a supposed " higher law ;" and
deeming your exposition of that subject to be sound, practical, and scriptural, we
respectfully solicit a copy of the discourse for publication.

At this time, when, unfortunately, so many of the clerJJfcWmr (.Rintry are counte
nancing rebellion and treason, and seriously impairing the moral sense of the people
with regard to the constitution of the country, we are gratified to find, in the discourse
referred to, sentiments so conservative in their character, and so well calculated to
exert a favorable influence upon the public mind.
Respectfully, yours, SIDNEY BREESE, Speaker ofthe House of Reps.
THQiH. CAMBPELL, Auditor of State.
A. <^P^A.LDWa__L, Representative.
R. G. MURPHY,
N. W. EDWARDS,
JOHN E. DETRICH,
CYRUS G. SIMON'S,
NELSON G. EDWARDS, "
JOHN MOORE, Treasurer of State.
NEWTON CLOUD, Senator.
U. F. LINDER, Representative.
J. L. D. MORRISON, Senator. '
JOSEPH GILLESPIE, Senator.
WM. H. SNYDER, Representative.
J. R. WYNN,
T. M SAMS,
J. R. HOBBS,
H. ARMS,
S. H. MARTIN,
AARON SHAW,
A. MILLER,
ANTHONY THORNTON, "
WM. PICKERING,
WM. D. HAMILTON,
WILFRED FERREL,
B. F. BRISTOW,
B. T. BURKE,
THOMAS QUICK,
AUG. C. FRENCH, Governor.
WM. McMURTRY, Lieutenant Governor.
FRANKLIN WITT, Senator.
R. S. BLACKWELL.
W. A. DENNING.
M. BRAYMAN.
CYRUS EDWARDS.
W. T. BEEKMAN.
THOS. L. LITTLE.
J. G. JOHNSON.
Rev. J.M. Peck. ^MES DUNLAP.
[Be™ Bond, Marshal of the State, did not hear tho discourse, but signed the
call for printing, on recommendation of his friends.]

REPLY.
Gentlemen: In accordance with your invitation, I commit t-Jdiscoursc. IShnMth?
honor to preach in the State-house, to the press, with my earnA 'prayer, that it mayn
prove useful in discriminating between the duties of religioiLmen owe to God, and
which are paramount to all human authority — and the duti^Wbey owe to the " cowers
that be.'7
While, in the South, " nullification" and " secession,U-f fruits of political enthuaaS
excited to phrenzy, have destroyed the balance abiidgment in many minds — in the
North, religious fanaticism has perverted the intellect and conscience, confounded religion
with politics, taught the people to rebel againe civil authority, and proclaimed prin
ciples which are subversive of all law and all government. It is in entire accordance
with a fundamental principle of the denomination with which I stand connected as a
minister, and with sentiments imbibed in early life, to draw the line of distinction be
tween the relation we sustain to God, and the relation we sustain to each other, as
citizens of our common country. With sentiments of esteem and respect, I am yours, truly, J. M.. PECK.

SERMON.

Fellow-Citizens : In this discourse, I shall briefly comment
•on several passages ofthe Sacred Scriptures.
The first is from Acts iv. 17-20 :
" But that it spread no further amongst the people, let us straitly threaten them,
that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
" And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all, or to teach in
the name of Jesus.
" But Peter *and John answered, and said unto them, Whether it be right, in the
sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
" For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
Human duties, or the principles of moral obligation, are di
vided into two great classes — the duties men owe to God, and
the duties they owe to one another.
The distinction between these classes of duties constitutes the
line of demarcation between religion and politics — church and
state. The prohibition, enjoined by the Jewish magistrates on Peter
and John, related to the first class of human duties — those of
religion, over which human authority has no control. It was
not because -the prohibition was oppressive, but because it
trenched on their obligations to God as Christians — as believers
in, and worshipers of, Jesus Christ, that they refused to obey
the mandate. No human authority could interfere with this
right. There could be no submission — no compromise. Their
Divine Lord had taught them to suffer persecution even unto
death. Even this must be borne with meekness and patience.
Where this " higher law" exerts its claims, all resistance is
forbidden. Violent contention for rights is wholly forbidden in
the Gospel.
In earthly governments, forcible resistance, in revolution or
war, is proper, but not in promoting or sustaining the kingdom
of Christ.
The Apostles continued to preach Jesus and the resurrection.
Although Stephen and James were martyred — the life of Peter
sought, and the disciples were scattered abroad — yet, on their
part_ there was no resistance.
In all the duties of religion, the claims of God are supreme,
and paramount to all human authority ; but to apply the passage
in Acts, and the non-obedience of the Apostles to the mandates
of the Jewish authorities, to laws that regulate the relationship
of man to man, is a manifest perversion of Scripture. It is thus
perverted and misapplied by Abolitionists, in reference to the
constitution and laws ofthe United States.

DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
I now refer you to Romans xiii. 1-5 :

For there is no power but

" Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
of God The powers that be are ordained of God. , ,
"Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and
thev that resist, shall receive to themselves damnation. ,„..,,, .. t
"Vor rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not
be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the

samp.

, a«For he is the minister of God to thee for good; but if thou do that which is
evil be afraid; for he heareth not the sword in vain; for he is the minister of
God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
" Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience
sake." Reference may also be had to Titus iii. 1:
" Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates
to be ready to every good work."
These several passages are in no respect contradictory to the
refusal to obey the civil authority mentioned in the fourth chap
ter in Acts. Obedience to civil authority is enjoined — to all
laws pertaining to the relationship of man to man. Christ taught
his disciples to " render unto Cesar the things which are Cesar's;
and unto God, the things that are God's." (Math. xxii. 21.)
This is a very plain distinction between two governments, and
two kinds of authority. The government of Cesar was arbitrary,
despotic, and. oppressive; yet submission was required — re
sistance to civil authority forbidden. The mode of collecting
tribute was exceedingly unequal and oppressive, yet Christ
wrought a miracle to procure the tribute money, (Math. xvii.
27,) and thus taught his disciples their duty as subjects to the
Roman government.
It was only when the government interfered with their religious
rights — the duty they owed to God, that they were to resist, by
patient endurance of persecution, even unto death.
This line of distinction between religion and politics — between
church and state — has never been distinctly drawn in any nation
in Christendom, except in our country. As a political idea,
practically carried out in government and law, it belongs ex
clusively to our nation. No other government ever recognized
the unalienable right of man to worship God in the manner he
thinks proper, or not worship in any way, irrespective of human
authority in every form. Christ taught the true principle of
religious liberty in his confession before Pilate, (John xviii. 3.6.)
My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom ivere of this
world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be deliv
ered to the Jews. Religious communities, from the days of the
Apostles, have held this principle inviolate ; but they have been
few, obscure, and classed by ecclesiastical historians among
heretics. The doctrine itself, for fifteen hundred years, was
regarded as a most dangerous heresy. This principle, with a
single exception, did not exist in the early American colonies.
Those of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire,
made stringent laws against heretics, as they called dissenters

DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 9
to the established and legalized mode of worship. In their pro
gressive history, toleration, not .religious freedom, gradually
prevailed. Such was the condition of New York, Virginia, and the Car
olinas, until the revolutionary war. Liberal Pennsylvania and
Catholic Maryland admitted large toleration. The only excep
tion in all the early colonies was Rhode Island, founded by Roger
"Williams. When this reformer announced, in the town of Salem,
Massachusetts, that the magistrate had no power to legislate
concerning the first table of the Law— of man's duty to God —
the Puritans were amazed at the heresy of the minister. He
made the distinction which is now clear as the sun. He caught
the grand idea, the true and only principle of religious liberty.
Mr. Bancroft, the historian, eloquently says :
" He was a Puritan and a fugitive from English persecution ; but his wrongs had
not clouded his accurate understanding. In the capacious recesses of his mind he
had revolved the nature of intolerance, and he, and he alone, had arrived at the
great principle which is its sole and effectual remedy. He announced his discovery
under the simple proposition of the sanctity of conscience. The magistrate should
restrain crime, but never control opinion ; should punish guilt, but never violate
the freedom of the soul.
"The doctrine contained within itself an entire reformation of Theological Juris
prudence. It would blot from the statute book the felony of non-conformity ; would
quench the fires that persecution had so long kept burning ; would repeal every law
compelling attendance on public worship ; would abolish all tithes and all forced
contributions to the maintenance of religion ; would {jive an equal protection to
every form of religious faith ; and never suffer the civil government to be enlisted
against the mosque of the Mussulman, or the altar of the fire worshiper; against
the Jewish synagogue, or the Roman cathedral.
" These principles led Roger Williams into collision with the Puritan clergy and
commonwealth of Massachusetts. He could hold no communion with intolerance ;
for, said he, the doctrine of persecution foi cause of conscience is most evidently
and lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Christ Jesus."
Here, then, is the true line of distinction. If human authority
violates the laws of God in relation to the first class of human
duties, men must resist, by patient endurance of suffering. But
whatever relates to the second table of the decalogue comes
within the sphere of human government, to which submission
is required as a Christian duty.
I have dwelt longer on this principle than I otherwise should,
because, in the resistance urged to the constitution and laws of
Congress *by Abolitionists, they have confounded these two
classes of human duties, and perverted the Scriptures, in so
doing. After all that has been said on the subject, there are
ministers of the Gospel, and members of churches, whose per
ceptions of this line of distinction between religion and politics
— church and state — are very obscure. They would not be the
advocates of sustaining any particular sect by direct legal meas
ures, yet they have some vague notions that religion should
guide the statesman ; that the church, in some way, should reg
ulate the state. This was the doctrine of the Puritans who
settled New England ; and, until within the present generation,
Massachusetts and Connecticut provided, by taxation, for the
2

10 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
support of the dominant sect. Toleration existed; but tolera
tion is not religious freedom. Still the sentiment exists, to a
large extent, that the church should exert an influence over the
affairs of the state and national government. It is from this
source that has originated the doctrine of a " higher law," that
overrides the constitution, and nullifies laws that pertain to the
relation of man to his fellow-man.
Each person, for himself, assumes, to determine whether he
will submit to be governed by the constitution and obey the
laws of his country, either by an innate principle within himself,
or by his notions of Scripture, however misapplied and misun
derstood. This doctrine, carried out to its legitimate conse
quences, would nullify all law ; as it was in a period of anarchy
in the Jewish nation, when " every man did that which was
right in his own eyes." (Judges xxi. 25.)
That it may be seen that I do not exaggerate the wild,
anarchical, licentious doctrines proclaimed from the pulpit —
issued from the religious (?) press — and uttered with all the
solemnity of ecclesiastical councils, I will give a few quotations.
In reference to the fugitive slave law, the First Presbyterian
Church in Chicago passed a series of resolutions and a preamble,
of which I give the last, as a sample of the whole.
" As Christians, we do not recommend physical force to oppose this law, and we dis
approve of all combinations for resistance by force of arms, and the shedding of blood;
but, nevertheless, we cannot regard it as criminal in tne alleged fugitive, (in the posi
tion in which the fugitive slave law places him,) to defend himself, even, if need be,
with violence, inasmuch as he is, by the operation of this law, placed beyond all pro
tection common to civilized society, and is thereby thrown back upon those rights
which belong to a man in a state of nature, or before society is organized.''*
Were principles more lawless and disorganizing, ever before
inculcated by a body of christian professors ?
A semi-annual meeting of the " American Baptist Free Mission
Society," an organization of a small class of Baptists in the
northern States, who oppose the "American Baptist Mission
Union," the "American Baptist Home Mission Society," and
other Baptist institutions of those States, was held in Chicago,
October 8th and 9th, 1850. The editor of the official paper of
this sect, writing of the introductory sermon, says :
" It was one of the most masterly vindications of the supremacy of Jehovah, however
human governments may undertake to contravene his authority, we ever had the pleas
ure pf listening to. The subject may, perhaps, have been suggested to the mind of the
, speaker by the recent passage of that ' bill of abominations,' the fugitive slave law—
wherein the governtasnt of this nation, literally ' framing mischief by a law,' has proved
* In justice to the Presbyterian denomination in Illinois, and other churches in
Chicago, we state, on the authority of Presbyterian gentlemen of that city, that this
" First Church," as it is called, some years since, by a majority, of its members, and in
opposition to the ruling elders, gave countenance to varions classes of ultraists by open
ing their house to lecturers, and encouraging fanaticism in various forms. The elders
and old members, (some of whom we knew as leading anti-slavery men in southern
Illinois, in the contest about introducing slavery into the State in 1823-i,) were com
pelled to withdraw. At much sacrifice and expense, they raised up the Second Presby
terian Church in Chicago, where correct principles are inculcated, and order maintained.

DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. U
itself a ' throne of iniquity,' and one that can have no ' fellowship' with God. Whether
this were so or not, the impious demand of the law upon the co-operation of all good
citizens in the recapture of those who have fled from a crushing bondage, was shown to
have been put forth in contempt of the divine precept, ' Thou shalt not deliver unto his
master the servant who has escaped from his master unto thee.'
"Nor did the preacher fail to make a faithful application of the principle ofhis text,
(Acts v. 29,) to this, the most flagitious act ever perpetrated by an American Congress.
The meeting itself had this matter under consideration." — American Baptist, Utica.
JS[. Y. Oct. 17. * r > <
The " Baptist Convention of the State of Michigan," at its
session in Detroit, October, 1850, passed the following resolu
tion :
_ " Resolved, That the recent law of Congress relative to the recapture of fugitive slaves,
violating, as it does, every guaranty of personal rights — setting aside all the ordinary
forms of law — giving an exclusive regard to the interests of the slaveholder, and re
quiring freemen and Christians, in order to its enforcement, to violate their obligations
to humanity, to conscience, and to God — is a flagrant violation of civil and moral rights,
and calls for prompt and efficient effort on the part of all Christian citizens, by all law
ful measures, to obtain its speedy repeal."*
At a public meeting held in Worcester, Mass., about the 1st
of October, 1850, Hon. Charles Thurber presiding, the following
resolution, among others equally treasonable and lawless, was
passed :
" That as God is our helper, we will not suffer any person charged with helping
a fugitive from labor, to be taken from us; and to this resolve we pledge our lives,
our Fortunes, and our sacred honors." ,
The Christian Chronicle, of Philadelphia, Oct. 30th, states :
" At a convention of Unitarian clergy, held in Springfield, Mass., a resolution was
unanimously passed in favor of the repeal of the fugitive slave bill, which occasioned
much debate and much excited feeling."
The Universalists of Boston Association, held at South Read
ing, Massachusetts, November 14th, 1850, passed the following
resolution, unanimously :
"Resolved, That we feel called on to utter our deep condemnation of the fugitive
slave law, lately enacted by Congress. We deem it cruel, subversive of human
rights, a clear violation of God's laws, and therefore unworthy a Christian's support ;
and in the name of outraged humanity, we call for its unconditional repeal."
I find in the papers (and to which I have seen no contradic
tion) extracts from a sermon preached in the city of New York,
by Rev. Charles Beecher, against the fugitive slave law ; from
which I give the following, as the style of preaching by these
fanatics :
"This law, then, is wrong in the sight of God and man; it is an unexampled climax
of sin. It is the monster of iniquity ofthe present age ; and it will stand forever on
the page of history, as the vilest monument of infamy of the nineteenth century.
Russia knows nothing like it. Hungary blesses God that she never suffered from
any thing worse than Haynau. And nations afar off pause awhile from their wor
ship of blocks of wood and stone, to ask, what will those Christians do next?
r« • '«« * «

* It is with feelings of deep mortification, that equal and exact justice to all requires
us to give these lamentable instances of aberration from the truth, and from the funda
mental principles of the Baptist denomination in all past time, in tlie line of distinction
alluded to betwixt religion and politics— the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of
Cesar. Of late years, the dogmas of the Puritans, who founded their church and their
civil government on the Jewish theocracy, and thus caused the church to rule the state,
have crept into Baptist churches in the northern States.
Tlie articles quoted utter untruths. They either wickedly, or ignorantly, misrepresent

12 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
" There is yet one step wanting to render complete and awful in the sight of God
our mighty guilt ; and that step is obedience to the law. That is a sin even more ex
quisitely sinful than the making of the law itself, for two reasons ;— first, because it
has the whole atrociousness of the law itself; and, secondly, because it has the whole
atrociousness of a stab at the freedom of conscience, and of private judgment.
"If this law is obeyed, what does a Christian do, and why does he do it? I
answer, he commits an act of piracy, and he does it because the law says so, and
because he must obey the law, right or wrong, as long as it is a law."
I might mutiply quotations from a hundred sources, but I have
time and space for but one more, which is extracted from a
sermon by Rev. Ichabod S. Spencer, D. D., preached in the
second Presbyterian church, Brooklyn, N. Y., Nov. 24, 1850,
entitled " Fugitive Slave Law. Religious duty of obedience to
law." The sermon of Dr. Spencer is sound, and clearly dis
tinguishes the " two great classes of human duties." To show
the extravagance and recklessness of northern fanatics, he
quotes the following resolution, as adopted by the " JVew York
Evangelical Congregational Association" in reference to the
fugitive slave law :
" Resolved, That we cannot recognize this law as of any binding force upon the
citizens of our country."
From the same discourse, I quote the following from an edi
torial article, in a religious paper, edited by Congregational
clergymen, holding the office of pastors of churches, under the
caption, "How to oppose the fugitive law."
One of these Christian (?) ministers, in his editorial article,
says :
" To the fugitives themselves * * * * this law is no law * « « « and
to resist it even unto death, is their right, and it may be their duty. * * * *
To each individual fugitive — to every man or woman who, having escaped from
bondage, and tasted liberty, is in hourly peril of being seized and dragged back to
slavery, we say — Be fully prepared for your defense. If to you death seems better
than slavery, then refuse not to die— whether on the way-side, at your own threshold,
or even as a felon on the gallows. Defend your liberty, and the liberty of your wife
and children, as you would defend your life and theirs against the assassin. If you
die thus, you die nobly, and your blood shall be the redemption of your race. Should
you destroy the life of your assailant, you will pass into the cuslody of the criminal
law * * * * under an indictment for murder ; but the verdict of the commu
nity, and the verdict of almost a_iy jury, would be justifiable homicide in self-defense.
* . * * * * 0*" should a different verdict be found, and you be condemned
to die as a murderer, your ignominious death shall be luminous witn the halo of a
martyr, and your sacrifice shall be for the deliverance of your people."
I cannot conceive of more demoralizing doctrines, or more
wicked principles, than are here uttered by men who profess to
 r7.
the fugitive slave l._w. We charitably presume the authors have never carefully
examined the law — that they have never compared the law of 1850 with the law of
1793, under which they have ever lived. But ignorance is no excuse for such palpable
misstatements. In justice to the Baptists and the public, it is here necessary to state, that in eccle
siastical polity, Baptists have always occupied different ground from- the most of other
Christian sects. In discipline and all that pertains to ecclesiastical authority, each
church, or separate congregation, (of which there are about ten thousand five huudred
in the United States,) is independent of all others. Associations, Conventions, and
other organizations, for missions and other purposes, have no ecclesiastical power.
Consequently, for all such resolutions as we have quoted, no one has the IcoM rrsponti-
fahty hit Ifre individuals who make and adapt t/irm. ... M. r.

DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 13
be ministers of Christ. They are in rapid progress, in qualifi
cation, either for the penetentiary, or the lunatic asylum.
Our first objection to all such doings by ecclesiastical bodies
and ministers of the Gospel, in their religious capacity, is the
violation of the Gospel of Christ, and prostituting the Christian
profession to political purposes. All men, who are citiizens of
the state or nation, can assemble, in a peaceable and lawful
manner, to protest against any law, and to adopt measures to
obtain its repeal; but no church, or other ecclesiastical body,
has any business to meddle with political subjects. It is a per
version of religious rights, and is an attempt, in an indirect
mode, to make the church rule the state.
It will be now my duty, and it comports with long established
sentiments, to maintain the following propositions :
I. It is the duty of American citizens to obey the constitution
and laws of our national government.
II. The constitution and laws, and especially the law to arrest
fugitive slaves, do not conflict with any "higher law" of the
Sacred Scriptures.
1. Our national government is not a religious institution. Its
fundamental law recognizes and secures the rights, of all classes
of persons, of every form of religion, and of no religion.
" Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religio*n, or prohibit
the free exercise thereof."*
The consentaneous interpretation given by the nation to this
clause is this : That the national government cannot interfere
with the free exercise of any sort of religion that does not inter
fere with the rights of others. Men ar* equally protected,
whether they be Christians or not.
The presumption is that no State has laws that interfere with
this right.
2. The passages of Scripture already quoted from Romans
and Titus, are direct and explicit. They express, in terms that
cannot be questioned, our duty, as Christians, to submit to human
government in all the relations betwixt man and man. The only
exception is in a revolution; and that is a matter purely politi-
. cal, concerning which no church, or religious party, as such, has
the right of action. The declaration of Christ, (John xviii. 36,)
already quoted, is proof. Revolution in government belongs to
men in their capacity as citizens, and not as religionists ; and,
in a republican government, like that of our nation, revolution
is rebellion, and rebellion is political suicide.
All political reform, in our government, either in a State or the
nation, can only be rightfully effected by the slow, but sure and
safe, process of the ballot-box. All other modes are at war with
the fundamental principles of a republican government and the
unalienable rights of man. Hence, every citizen is bound, by the

• Ark I. Amendments to the Constitution.

14 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
highest obligation that can exist between man and man, to sus
tain the constitution and laws of the country: and every. man
who has taken the oath to support the constitution, and violates
it, is guilty of perjury. The oath does not create the obliga
tion, but, in a solemn form, and in a judicial way, is an appeal
to Heaven ; and the crime and sin of perjury belongeth to him
who, in any way, plots the subversion of the constitution.
Secondly. I shall now show that the constitution and laws,
and especially the. law to arrest fugitive slaves, do not conflict
with any " higher law" in the Sacred Scriptures.
It has been maintained by Senators and Representatives in
Congress — concocted into resolutions in political meetings---^
published by editors of religious papers — declared in reports and
resolutions by churches and other religious bodies — and preached
from the pulpit by Christian ministers, that the laws of the Bible,
as a " higher law," nullify the constitution, and the " fugitive
slave law" under it.
If this doctrine be correct, we ought to know it. It is a cor
rect principle, that when a government requires its subjects to
violate the duties they owe to God, or forbids the free discharge
of those duties, there is no alternative but to disobey, and suffer
the consequences, whether the penalty be confiscation of goods,
imprisonment, or death.
In order to know where human authority ends, and the divine
law becomes paramount, express revelation is necessary. It
will not do to suppose a certain law to be in opposition to the
law of God. We must not conjecture, or infer, that it is so. It
will not do to take general principles and apply them to particu
lar and doubtful cases, lest, in their application, we be found
wholly wrong. There is a divine law against idolatrous worship.
We have no right to suppose that certain errors in worship are
idolatrous, and, therefore, charge those who hold or practice
these errors with the crime of idol-worship. We must employ
and interpret all language pertaining to laws, whether divine or
human, according to the common use of words, and sound prin
ciples of interpretation. The usus loquendi of language must
be our guide.
If the constitution of the United States, or of this State, or
any of the laws enacted, do require us to violate the law of God?
it must be because their words and sense are in direct conflict
with the words and sense ofthe Scriptures.
In discussing this subject, I have no occasion to justify, or
vindicate, African slavery, as it exists in any country.
The question, " Is it morally right, or morally wrong, for us,
as individuals, to buy and hold slaves," is altogether another
question, that has no direct bearing on the one we are discuss
ing. We must take facts as they exist, and have existed in our
country for more than two hundred years. There are nearly

DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 15
three millions of the African race held as slaves. Their ances
tors were slaves ; they were purchased in Africa in a state of
slavery. They were made slaves in war, or were purchased,
and conveyed from one " headsman" to another, until they were
purchased by European or American traders, and sold to the
people in the American colonies. This race made slaves of
each other, and sold their countrymen, and even their children,
from the earliest period ofthe Grecian and Roman. republics.
Each colony in America, before the revolutionary war, made
its own laws to purchase and to hold this people and their de
scendants in slavery. At one period, slavery existed by law in
every colony.
In some instances, European kingdoms made slave laws
for their colonies. Thus, in the Illinois and Louisiana country,
the King of France, as the sovereign, made a code of laws regu
lating slavery. Since the Revolution, each State has acted on
this subject as a sovereignty : slaves are now held by virtue of
State or municipal authority.
Slavery was a very difficult subject to adjust in forming the
constitution, not in relation to the seat of authority over it, but
in adjusting the balance of power in congressional representa
tion, and in the election of President. The result was a com
promise, by counting five slaves the same as three white persons
in the apportionment.
The constitution of the United States provides for reclaiming
two classes of fugitives. The clauses are in article iv., and
second and third clauses of section two.
The second clause reads :
" A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or any other crime, who
shall flee from justice, and be found in any other State, shall, on demand of the
executive authority of the State from which he has fled, De delivered up, to be
removed to the State having jurisdiction ofthe crime."
Here, I remark, that in action the same proceedings take place
as in reclaiming a fugitive slave.
Any " person charged with treason," &c. Persons are often
charged with crime, and not found guilty on trial. The law
holds all thus charged as innocent until tried and convicted in
due course of law ; yet, on requisition, they are caught and
" delivered up," and taken to another State. No habeas corpus
— no trial by jury, is had in the case.
The third clause in this section of the constitution applies to
fugitive slaves; to apprentices. and indentured white servants;
to all who " owe service or labor." It reads thus :
" No person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping
into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged
from such service or labor ; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom
such service or labor may be due."
Under this clause of the constitution, Congress, in February,
1793, made a law prescribing the manner in which the claimant
should proceed, and by what authority /the fugitive should be

lg DUTIES' OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
delivered up. No habeas corpus was needed— no trial by jury
provided. A trial in Massachusetts, on the legality of the claim
on a fugitive from Virginia, would be preposterous. Every man
must be tried by the laws of the State he is charged with violat
ing not by the laws of the State into which he has fled. _
Under this old law, the claimant could apprehend and bring the
fugitive slave before any justice of the peace, or judge of a State
court, and, on ex parte evidence, he would be delivered up. If
he did not " owe service or labor" in the State from which he
fled, or to the person who claimed him, he could there appeal to
the law, and have a trial by jury. Such has been the law ofthe
land from 1793, and such continues to be the law, with the fol
lowing modifications : The old law required State officers to
execute this law ofthe United States government. A few years
since, this feature was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court. Following this decree, and under the abolition excite
ment, some of the northern States enacted laws forbidding their
officers to aid in the execution of the fugitive slave law. The
law of the last session of Congress was made to carry out the
provision of the constitution by officers of the United States
government. So far as the slave is concerned, the new law gives more pro
tection than the old one. It provides commissioners, appointed by
United States authority, before whom the slave is to be brought,
and who is to decide on the claim. On all those persons who aid
slaves to runaway, or who protect or secrete them ; who inter
rupt the course of law, or raise riots and insurrections, the new
law is far more stringent than the old one. It puts a strong arm
on those Abolitionists who, in public, or in secret, aid fugitive
slaves to escape to the northern States and to Canada.*
* The fugitive slave bill of 1792-3 was drafted by Hon. George Cabot, of Massa
chusetts, in November, 1792, and it passed the Senate on the 18th of January, 1793,
unanimously — fourteen members from States now free, and thirteen members from
now slaveholding States, voting for it. The committee ofthe House (Theodore Sedg
wick and Sheerjashub Bourne, of Massachusetts, and Alexander White, of Virginia,)
reported the bill to that body, by which it was passed, on the 5th of February, with
out discussion. Eight States, now free, were represented by thirty-one votes ; six
now slaveholding States, by twenty-four votes ; free State majority, seven. The bill
passed by a vote of forty-eight, yeas to seven nays. Massachusetts gave six yeas,
and one nay. This shows that States now non-slaveholding passed the first fugitive
slave law. — [See Journals of Congress — American State Papers."]
A writer in the Boston Courier, October, 1850, states :
" The restoration of fugitives from servitude is no new thing.
" In the articles of confederation between the United Colonies of New England,
namely, Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, made in 1643,
there is the following provision :
" ' It is also agreed that, if any servant run away from his master into any confed
erate jurisdiction, in such case, upon certificate from one magistrate in the jurisdic
tion out of which the said servant fled, or upon other due proof, the said servant
shall be either delivered to his master, or to any other that pursues and brings such
certificate and proof.' "
Very probably this compact between the colonies related to white servants, bound
for a term of years, as there were but few blacks in the colonies at that early period ;
but the principles in the law are the same. _. m. p.

DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 17
The question may now be raised — Is the clause in the con
stitution, and the law under it, a violation ofthe law of God, as
revealed in the Scriptures?
There are two modes of sustaining the affirmative of this
question by Abolitionists. The first is by implication.
The doctrine maintained by modern Abolitionists is, that
slavery consists in claiming and holding a human being as
property ; that, in every form of existence, it is a sin, per se —
that is, a sin within itself, irrespective of all circumstances and
contingencies ; that all sin should be put away instantly ; and,
therefore, ' instantaneous emancipation, regardless of conse
quences, is the duty of every slaveholder. No passage of Scrip
ture is quoted that teaches this doctrine specifically. It is made
by implication from general principles.
If slaveholding is a sin per se, under all circumstances, then
it is inferred that all laws to protect this species of property are
sin ; the clause ofthe constitution, if it means slave-labor, com
mands sin, and must be resisted.
A class of Abolitionists — the Gerrit Smith party — maintain
the constitution has nothing on the subject of slavery, as the
word slave is not in it.
That slavery is protected in the constitution, is not to be ques
tioned by any sound mind. Having been so decided by all the
departments of government, the Supreme Court of the United
States, and the uniform usage of all parties, it cannot now be
called in question.
Another class, tolerably numerous in New England, have gone
beyond the Bible, which they represent as an antiquated book,
and its principles as quite " behind the age." They have an
innate law in each one's breast — a sentiment or feeling, mis
taken for conscience, and by which the immutable principles of
right and wrong are to be adjusted. This is, with them, the
" higher law," that overrules the constitution and laws of the
land — absolves Senators and Representatives in Congress from
the oath of office1 — arms the colored population against the con
stituted authorities of the nation — makes every man a judge of
the law — and denies the obligation of obedience in all cases
where a man thinks the law is unconstitutional or unjust. There
are thousands of church members, including not a few ministers,
who are now where Garrison and his tribe of Abolitionists were
in 1836. They are following the same path, taking one step
after another, in the downward course; and unless a merciful
God interpose, they, too, in a few years, will make shipwreck
of their Christian faith, as others have done before them.*

*The Garrison tribe of Abolitionists make up the old or first organized "American
Anti-Slavery Society," that originated in modern fanaticism. It was fo med in Phila
delphia in December, 1833. A previous local society, managed by the same faction,
had been formed in Massachusetts. On receiving the proceedings, constitution, and
address we perceived in the documents elements of the most dangerous and disor
ganizing character, and so did wc announce to our readers in the *¦ Pioneer and
3

jg DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
By that class who still claim the Scriptures for authority, their
"higher law" is found in Deut. xxiii. 15, 16:
"Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his
master unto thee. .
" He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose,
in one of thy gates where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him."
In order to show how this and other passages of Scripture are
perverted from their true meaning by modern Abolitionists, it
will be necessary to examine the facts concerning servants, or
slaves, among the Hebrews and the surrounding nations, at the
period of the enactment of the Hebrew laws.
My first reply to the application of this law in Deuteronomy,
is, that it related exclusively to the Jews, after they entered the
land of Canaan; and to apply it to our country, and to Christians,
is a perversion of God's word. Waiving that point, I maintain
the law itself is perverted and misapplied.
There were three classes of servants, or persons held as pro
perty, in the period of this law.
1. Hebrews who were held in bondage by Hebrews. Calmet
enumerates six ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty.
In extreme poverty, he might sell himself. (Lev. xxv. 39-41.)
A father might sell his children. Insolvent debtors became the
slaves of their creditors. (2 Kings, iv. 1.) A thief, if he had no
money to pay the fine laid on him by law, was sold for the profit
of him whom he had robbed.
A Hebrew was liable to be taken prisoner in war, and sold
for a slave by the enemy.
A Hebrew slave, who had been ransomed by a Hebrew, could
be sold by him, but only to a Hebrew. Hebrews could not be
held in bondage to Hebrews for a longer period than six years,
or the jubilee ; but should the servant prefer to remain, he had
his ear bored at the door-post, when he became a slave for
life. (Exod. xxi. 1-6; Deut. xv. 12-18.)
2. Slaves bought by Hebrews of the heathen nations. (Levit.
xxv. 44-46 :)
" Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the
heathen that are around about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
"Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them
shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land :
and they shall be your possession.
Western Baptist." There was a glossary about these " elements" that deceived
many religious people, and impulsive and unstable ministers of the Gospel. For"
¦some years they worked together, verging onward and downward into the gulf of
fanaticism, until Garrison and his party gained the ascendancy, and obtained control
at the anniversary. The religious p irty, claiming to be orthodox, withdrew, and
farmed the "American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society." This party became a
political organization, but there is in its doctrines the same anti-christian and de
moralizing tendencies. The Garrison party eschew political organization — denounce
the constitution, the government, the Sabbath, 1he Christian ministry, and all organi
zations for religious purposes. It is the workings of this party that have produced
the lawlessness, insubordination, and negro riots, in the once law-abiding city of
Boston. The majority of the nolical Abolition party joined the Van Buren faction in 1848,
and have, since that period, made up the conjunction of Abolitionist and " Free-soil"
parties. A faction, headed by Gerret Smith, refused to join the coalition, and main
tain a separate organization, as the true "Liberty party." j. m. p.

DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 19
" And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit
them for a possession, they shall be your bondmen forever : but over your brethren,
the children of Israel, ye shall not rule with rigor."
These servants continued such for successive generations.
This was a merciful law, because it brought these people under
the influence of the Jewish system.
When Joshua entered upon the conquest of Canaan, the com
mand was to exterminate the idolatrous tribes therein. But the
Gibeonites, Chephirathites, Beerothites, and people about Ker-
jath-Jearim, dressed themselves in old garments, took mouldy
provisions, and pretended to come from a great distance. They
made a league surreptitiously, in which Joshua solemnly pledged
the faith of the nation, and they were spared. But they, and their
children in all succeeding generations, were made slaves to the
whole congregation, and became "hewers of wood and drawers
of water, for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord."
(See Joshua, ninth chapter.)
3. The third class of slaves were those held in bondage by
heathen and idolatrous masters out of the land of Judea. This
class, escaping from a cruel and idolatrous master, and coming
into Judea, were not to be delivered up. It is to this class alone
that the law in Deut. xxv. 15, 16, applies.
Dr. Gill considers this law as applicable to the fugitive who
fled from an oppressive and cruel master, sought protection in
Judea, and became a proselyte to Judaism. This law, as well
as the one just noticed, was beneficent in its purposes. The
same construction is given in the Targum of Jonathan.
Dr. Adam Clarke says :
" A servant who left an idolatrous master, that he might join himself unto God
and his people, was to remain. In any other case, he was to be given up, as it
would have been unjust to harbor a runaway slave."
A servant, whether a Hebrew bound to serve for a term of
years, or one bought of the heathen out of Judea, and bound
for life, and his posterity after him, escaping from his lawful
master, or going from one tribe to another, could not be right
fully, harbored. And in this respect, there is some analogy in
our government. A slave voluntarily escaping from a foreign
country, and coming into our nation, is not delivered up to his
former master. Hence the conduct of Abolitionists in aiding and
secreting fugitive slaves in our country, is a violation of the
Hebrew laws. The Scriptures they bring to sustain them are
perverted and misapplied.
There is real danger to the morals ofthe people, and to the gov
ernment of our country, from this species of religious fanaticism
in the northern States. This "higher law," when stripped of its
glossary, and seen in its true character, is but a new phase of
the old dogma of the church ruling the state. The Bible, with
a specious and false interpretation, is enforced as the standard
of political government. The source and the principle are the
same; the mode of application only differs. Religion and politics

20 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
are blended. The dogmas of the church must again overrule
legislation; Moses and Aaron occupy departments in the same
government. The declaration of the Saviour, " Render unto
Cesar the things that are Cesar's, and to God the things that are
God's," is nullified.
For a quarter of a century, numerous religionists have been
' sowing the seed that now produces a vicious harvest of lawless
ness and insubordination, which may yet furnish the counterpart
to the " reign of terror" in France.
This "higher law," claimed by Abolitionists, confounds all
distinction between the relationship of man to God, and of man
lo man. The anarchy and lawlessness now taught by perverting
the Scriptures and Christianity, are infinitely more dangerous
to morals, to civil government, and to pure Christianity, than all
the infidelity ever propagated in this nation.
But there is a " higher law" in the New Testament, that points
out the duty of teachers of Christianity on this very subject of
slavery, in a mode that cannot be misunderstood, while it marks,
in strong terms of reprobation, the conduct of Abolitionists. It
is found in the first epistle of Paul to Timothy, chap. vi. 1-5 :
" Let as many serv-inis iis are under the yoke count their own masters as
worthy of all honor, that the name of God be not blasphemed.
" And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because
they are brethren; but rather do then service, because they are faithful and
beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.
"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not io wholesome words, even
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according to
godliness ;
"He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railing, evil sur'misings,
" Perverse disputing! of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness : from such withdraw thyself.
The term, " servants under the yoke," distinguishes slavery
from every other form of servitude. Such might have " believing
masters." Here is the directory for ministers pf the Gospel, in
their teaching. They have here an infallible guide what to teach,
and what they must not teach. " If any man teach otherwise, 
he is proud, knowing nothing." What a catalogue of fanaticism,
insubordination, criminality, and folly, is here given ; and yet
this is a true picture of hundreds of fanatics, and of the style
and spirit of their addresses, in the northern States. Such is
the character of a few in the State of Illinois. What a lament
able picture of blindness, delusion, depravity, and guilt, is here
drawn. I am thankful they are scarce in this part of this State ;
and I am rejoiced to learn that the pastors of the churches in
this city have already addressed their several congregations on
the same subject on which I have been invited to address this
crowded assembly to-day. Here, in the address of Paul, the
aged, to Timothy, the evangelist, is the guide for ministers of
the Gospel in reference to the subject that has excited so much

DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 21
alarm for our National Union, and caused our ablest and most
venerable statesmen to turn pale— to pause amidst all former
strife, and to affiliate in devising measures of compromise and
conciliation. O, what reckless fanaticism — what stupidity of
conscience— what mental and moral obliquity, must possess
those ministers and ecclesiastical bodies to whose sayino-s and
doings I have already referred you ! What lamentable perver
sions of God's Book ! What demoralizing influences have these
men sent forth on community !
Is it not enough that political demagogues, for the basest par
tisan purposes, regardless of the sanctity of their oaths, shall
plot the destruction of the constitution they have sworn to sup
port; or proclaim a " higher law," as their guide ? Must men,
who " wear the livery of heaven," turn agitators in the very
worst form, and defame the name of Christ, who would neither
" strive, nor cry, nor lift up his voice in the streets ?" " From
such withdraw thyself," is the voice of the Divine Spirit.*
Does Christian benevolence and philanthropy ask, with an
anxious desire of doing good — " What, then, can be done for the
slaves of the South ?" From careful, prayerful, and philanthropic
observance of the condition of slaves for more than thirty years,
from stand-points where the very best opportunities were af
forded for candid and impartial investigation of the subject in
all its bearings ; having labored to no small extent for the spiritual
benefit. of that class of persons; having watched the progress of
the principles and modes of action of modern Abolitionists in the
northern States — the speaker claims the privilege, on this occa
sion, to bear testimony to facts, and express his own convictions.
Again, I repeat, that the occasion does not call for any vindi
cation or justification ofthe slavery and commerce ofany ofthe
human species. Nor is there any occasion for me to appear as
the apologist of slaveholders. Each person thus situated must
judge for himself in relation to his duty as a master, or a servant,
according to the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures. But could
my voice reach the multitude of religionists who for many years
have agitated the subject of slavery, and given heed to the most
obscene and scandalous mispresentations of slaves and their
masters, I would say, in the name of humanity and righteousness,
" Cease your agitation. If you desire to benefit that class, you
must let the subject alone. All your efforts have conferred no
benefit on the slaves, and never will. The subject belongs ex
clusively to the people in the slaveholding States. They, and
they alone, can produce emancipation. Your lectures and pro-

* In the apostolic age, there were about sixty millions of slaves in the Roman
Empire. They existed, in large numbers, in all those cities and districts of country
in which the Apostles preached ; and yet, the only definite instruction the Divine
Spirit has given, as a directory for ministers of the Gospel, is in the Epistles. Ref
erence maybe had to 1 Cor. vii. 21,22; Eph. vi. 5-9;. Col. iii. 22-25, and iv. 1
1 Tim. vi. 1-5; Titus, ii. 9, 10; Philemon. 10-19. J. m. t.

22 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
tests, and denunciations, and resolutions, have touched no slave
holder's conscience. You do not have the co-operation of those
who are not slaveholders in the southern States. You are re
garded by all classes, religious and irreligious, slaveholders and
non-slaveholders, as factious intermeddlers — as busy-bodies in
other men's matters. If you fancy you are making progress,
you are only deceiving yourselves. When you learn wisdom,
ydu will cease your agitations, or turn your attention to some,
practical object nearer home, and expend your philanthropy
where there is probability of success."
People in the northern States, in most cases, do not understand
the reasons why their labors and desires are not appreciated in
the South. They know not the insurmountable difficulties of
universal emancipation. A number of the free States have made
strino-ent laws, and some of them constitutional provision, to
exclude in future all colored persons. The people of Illinois,
in adopting that section of their new constitution, three years
since, gave a majority in its favor of more than thirty thousand
votes. How, then, can it be expected that slaveholding States
will emancipate their slaves, when the free States refuse to re
ceive the African race when free? There are insuperable objec
tions against the two races living together. This is the strong
objection to the emancipation of slaves. Call it prejudice against
color, or what you please, it is a barrier that cannot be sur
mounted. There appears but one opening in the gloom that
surrounds us — but one luminous spot in the hemisphere — and
that is on the African continent. The finger of Providence
points in no other direction. The star of hope is alone in Africa.
And, as if to give proof of mental and moral blindness ; as if with
the determination to fight against Providence, and follow out
measures wholly wrong, Abolitionists, with few exceptions, have
been the opposers of African colonization. They have poisoned
and filled with prejudice the minds of the colored population
who are nominally free. They have done what they could to
prevent this mode of relief from being effectual. Even when the
slave, panting for freedom, and trying to raise funds to purchase
himself, or his family, has solicited aid, Abolitionists, with per
verted consciences, have refused the smallest pittance of relief;
while colonizationists have proved themselves the true friends
ofthe slave.*
But to all Christians, whose minds have not become perverted
with the fanatical doctrines that we have exposed, there is ample
room and the largest field for doing good to the slaves throughout
the whole South. Ministers of the Gospel may perform every
duty of the Christian missionary to this class, on every planta
tion. My generous hearers will pardon the seeming egotism in
the statement, that I have had no small amount of experience
on this subject.
• This fact has been demonstrated, in repeated instances, in the city of New York.

DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. 23
I have taught, in the form of Sabbath schools and^the Bible
class, between two and three hundred slaves to read "the Bible ;
given religious instruction, in fev,ery mode and form, to thousands
of that class ; baptized many hundreds of professed believers ;
raised up churches ; and assisted*in the ordination of eight or ten
colored ministers of the Gospel. I can appeal, then, to slaves
and slaveholders for proof of fidelity and success in this depart
ment of evangelical labor*. And I affirm, from personal know
ledge and experience, that ministers of Christ, who conform to
the instructions given them, can find ample work in the religious
instruction of slaves in all the southern States.
Again, there" has been a class of Baptists in this State, for more
than forty years, anti-slavery in their position and principles.
With these brethren, for thirty years, I have been intimate. They
received into their churches persons holding slaves only on
specified conditions. Their course has been inoffensive. They
are not modern Abolitionist ; for,
1. They never aided and secreted fugitive slaves, in violation
of the constitution and laws.
2. They never interfered, in any objectionable way, with the
legal and political rights of slaveholders. They preached the
Gospel, in an acceptable and successful manner, in slaveholding
States. 3. They aimed to do good to both master and servant, in a
quiet, lawful, and peaceable manner.
4. They never adopted the principles, nor manifested the
fanatical temper, of modern Abolitionists.
5. They would not hold slaves, except on principles consistent
with the claims of humanity. Slaveholders were received into
their churches, only on certain conditions and restrictions. The
term of distinction employed was, " Friends to humanity."
"Friendly to the spirit and practice of hereditary slavery,"
was the term of objection.
6. They consulted the true interests of all parties concerned.
7. They ever upheld the constitution and laws ofthe country,
in a peaceable way. Some of this class were in official stations
in this territory and State, and took the oath to support the com-
• stitution of the United States : they never perjured themselves
by the quibble, and under the plea, of a "higher law."
I give this statement to show that good men can act consci
entiously in maintaining an anti-slavery position — exert an in
fluence in favor of liberty, and in opposition to hereditary and
perpetual slavery, without doing mischief.
The abolition mania is not the only form that fanaticism has
put on in certain quarters within the last quarter of a century.
Let any one attend the numerous conventions and associations —
hear the vagrant lecturers — watch the current of influences of
a vicious tendency, that are pouring their poisonous streams in
every direction— as the speaker has done; and, if he is not

24 DUTIES OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. '
wholly destitute sof the faculty of observation, he will see 'that _
the see'ds of anarchy and dissoluteness are thickly sown. The
atheism and licentiousness of Fjance were a century in collect
ing -the. elements for the iterrific eruption in 1793. The.very
same, elements are fermenting fn New England and, New York,
and are already leavening the population along the northern
lakes. I am not willing to dje without lifting up the voice of
warning. I say to the ministers of "the Gospel around me — \p
all who may read and ponder— beware ! beware ! While the
husbandman slept, the enemy sowed tares. ,A worse enemy
than religious fanaticism cannot enter your fields. And this
enemy ever comes in the. garb of philanthropy, and a spurious
Christianity. My respected hearers : Laboring under the infirmities. Of age,
I have endeavored to discharge this duty with faithfulness. My
thanks are due for your patient attention. My prayer to Heaven
is, that the principles I haye inculcated may*8Bid a place in
your minds.

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