Qass BJ"/a.gV Book "1 ETHICS FOR OUR COUNTRY AND THE TIMES. - s By B. P; AYDELOTT, D. D. .^ryofCo^ 1887 <- CINCINNATI: R. W. CARROLL & CO., PUBLISHERS, 117 West Fourth Street. WILLIAM SCOTT, 28 West Fourth Street. 1866. 1/ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by B. P. AYDELOTT, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United State9, for the Southern District of Ohio. STEREOTYPED AT THE FRANKLIN TYPE FOUNDRY, CINCINNATI, 0. CONTENTS. Letter to Chief-Justice Chase 11 CHAPTER I. Introductory — The importance of ethics, especially in a free country — The evils of neglecting ethical teachings, and the benefits of obeying these — Milton, Cromwell, Lincoln — > The Bible the great book of ethics 17 CHAPTER II. Introductory — Early cultivation of ethics among all na- tions — Its absolute necessity to the safety of our Republic — Moral dissolution of the South, and its influence upon our whole country, rulers and people — A hopeful waking up to this subject — The Higher Law — Contempt for it, and the punishment thereof. 22 CHAPTER III. God the origin and end of all things — Their being, qualities, relations, etc 31 CHAPTER IV. Various views of the foundation of ethics stated — Of these, four not tenable; the fifth to be maintained 33 CHAPTER V. Arguments against the first four views, and in favor of the fifth 35 CHAPTER VI. Ethical teachings of the Bible — God's nature, will, purpose, acts, etc. — His personality, freedom, abhorrence of sin — Our obligations to be like him 39 (v) VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. False ethical views exposed — Great end of punishment not the reformation of the offender nor the good of society — God wills that transgressors be punished — Our duty to obey him — Mere utility has no moral element in it — The danger of false ethical views — Cicero's views here — Serious errors of Dr. Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy — Our highest good associated with God's glory — Duty of seeking them 43 CHAPTER VIII. Ethics of compromises — Evils of compromises — Slowness to see our folly here — Meanness and wickedness of sacrificing colored patriots to gratify slaveholding rebels — Mr. Sum- ner's manly stand 50 CHAPTER IX. Present ethical influence of the loyal North upon the rebell- ious South — Duty of the people to instruct their public servants to be faithful here — People ahead of their rulers in nearly every thing good — Without justice, no true peace 55 CHAPTER X. An analysis of moral nature; illustrated in the case of crimes committed during intoxication — Insensibility of the public here 61 CHAPTER XI. Ethics of capital punishment — Bible teaching, and that of all nations — Dangers of a false humanitarianism 66 CHAPTER XII. Ethics of expediency — Perversion of public conscience — Miserable consequence of this — The crime of substituting expediency for justice — Mr. Hamlin the best safeguard to President Lincoln — The President's assassination the fruit of expediency 69 CONTENTS. Vll CHAPTER XIII. Ethics of the Temperance cause — Touch not, taste not, handle not — The price of blood, etc 85 CHAPTER XIV. Ethics of divorce — The Family the foundation of the State — Social evils begin in the family — The cure must also there begin — Bad children make bad citizens and a declining community — Facility of divorce the great cause of all these evils— A return to the Scriptural law the only remedy. ..88 CHAPTER XV. Ethics of bad counsels, laws, customs, etc. — Moral agency and responsibility not to be put off — Bad laws are not law — Benefits of Christian resistance to such — Indebtedness to antislavery men — Good results of Sabbath-keeping — Cases given, etc 94 CHAPTER XVI. Ethics of casualties, public and private — Men who die in war are murdered, and this crime must be accounted for in the great day — God knows who are the guilty, and will punish such — All casualties should be judicially looked into 102 CHAPTER XVII. Ethical relations of citizens to the Government — Wrong views very prevalent — Government our greatest earthly benefit — Its cheapness, etc. — Duty of liberally supporting the Government; especially in its endeavors to discharge our obligations to its soldiers, public creditors, etc 106 CHAPTER XVIII. Ethics of suffrage — Its constitutional and moral right — It ought to be universal — The people sovereign, and hence must govern — Early and continued attempts of slave- holders to limit suffrage — The ballot the grand conservator Vlll CONTENTS. of freedom — All governments hitherto composite— Continual tendency to pure Democracy — How prepare the public mind for this — Christianity the grand means of extending and upholding free institutions — Terrible evils of the sham Democracy — Why the Government may, in some cases, hinder the exercise of the right of suffrage — How treat foreigners here — How females, the most of whom are better qualified to vote than many who now hold the ballot — The right of freedmen to vote — Their superiority here over the great mass of the whites at the South — Folly and danger of denying universal suffrage Ill CHAPTER XIX. Ethics of sovereignty — No form of government necessarily atheistic — Our Constitution democratic — A sham Democ- racy, the vile spawn of slaveholding, has brought reproach upon a true Democracy, etc... 133 CHAPTER XX. Ethics of popular education — Importance of educating the sovereign people — Much done already in the free States, but a great deal more to be accomplished — How to improve and extend common schools — Christianity must run through and vitalize this reat work 136 CHAPTER XXI. Ethical claims on the body politic — Frightful evils of de- fective legislation — Lord Bacon's " wild justice " — The body politic mainly responsible here — Why we have so long been without certain righteous laws — Fraudulent transfer of property, breach of trust, seduction, etc. — Perjury of courts, juries, etc., the only remedy for these evils 141 CHAPTER XXII. Ethical claims upon the Church — Her solemn responsibility — She is especially intrusted with the ethical instruction of CONTENTS. IX all classes — Her unfaithfulness here, especially in the case of slavery — Most painful but instructive facts — Let the Church come manfully up to duty, and so endeavor to make some amends for past unfaithfulness — The hypocrisy of the cry, "Politics in the pulpit ! — The perils of reconstruc- tion great, etc 146 CHAPTER XXIII. Ethical relations of ministers to war — Duties of ministers in a righteous "war; their importance, etc. — The minister stands at the fountain-head of a nation's moral and spirit- ual life — If faithful in their peculiar position, ministers may do more to enlighten, invigorate, and sustain the people, and so contribute to success in a righteous war, than the best general, statesman, etc. — Most congregations, even at much sacrifice, showed more wisdom than the Adminis- tration — Policy of compelling ministers to do military duty, etc. — Right Reverend General Polk — Bishop Meade's gentle but solemn rebuke, etc 156 CHAPTER XXIV. Ethics of retributive justice or vengeance — Great and most dangerous errors here — Government, God's vicegerent to execute justice — Terrible result of the impunity of crime — The exceeding guilt of sparing the guilty 163 CHAPTER XXV. Ethics of representation — A difference of views, etc. — All who hold office are agents of the people, and hence subject to the law of agency — The ignominy of President Tyler a warn- ing to all apostate Presidents — No excuse for such unfaith- ful men * 167 CHAPTER XXVI. Ethics of government — All public officers are servants of the sovereign people, and ought to obey the people or resign — X CONTENTS. Not to do this, proves such men void of principle — Allow- ance to be made for hesitancy in rulers, as well as for their superior opportunities of knowledge — The apparent ineffi- ciency of Mr. Lincoln's Administration — A letter on thia subject — Superior sagacity and energy of the people — Thf Administration at last compelled, by the popular voic to proclaim emancipation and call colored citizens to the war — The long-predicted and happy results of this right- eous measure — The unfaithfulness of the Government at thia moment to its responsibilities — Terrible results of this at the South — Intemperance produces much of these evils- Let us the more steadily look to God for deliverance... 172 CHAPTER XXVII. Ethics of electors — Availability the common ground on wh*vQ candidates are selected — But good morals and competency are chiefly to be regarded — Corrupting consequences of thia view of availability as the chief thing — A bad man never can be a good officer — Men corrupted by intemperance, slaveholding, or any immoral practice, are not fit for office — The murder of Mr. Lincoln 183 CHAPTER XXVIII Present ethical relations of the free loyal States to the late slaveholding rebellious States — Two important facts here — Duty of the North to labor liberally and earnestly to edu- cate and evangelize the South, white and colored — In this way the North may make some amends for past unfaithful- ness — Without this true Christian foundation- work, no plan of reconstruction can be successful 188 CHAPTER XXIX Ethics of pardon — Pardoning power must be lodged some- where in every government — No one can be pardoned who has not been legally condemned — How the amnesties ex- CONTENTS. X tended to rebels by the President are to be regarded — Every such offender still liable to be tried for treason before the civil courts — Danger of losing sight of this fact 190 CHAPTER XXX. Ethics of consequences — Most intimate relation between ethics and truth — Truth defined — Ethical tendency to follow out every truth to all its logical consequences : first, our late civil war was inevitable ; second, universal suffrage must, erelong, be established among us, and brought to bear di- rectly upon every office ; third, freedom of intercourse be- tween us and all other nations must be brought about at the earliest day practicable ; fourth, it is morally certain that Christianity will finally prevail over the whole earth... 193 CHAPTER XXXI. Ethical view of our country's future — Unparalleled greatness before us — An open Bible and a free Christianity ours — the blessing of these — Church establishments paralyzing, cor- rupting — Benign influence of dissent— Wesley, Whitfield, etc.; their bitter persecution — 2. Our people sovereign — Sovereignty in other countries; France, Russia, etc. — The whole people more intelligent, wise, powerful than any one man, or select number of men — The amazement and fear of other governments at every view^of this Republic, etc. — 3. The last few years made us to know ourselves, and made the nation to know, also, how great is our future — 4. This country the grand depository of the rights and destiny of other nations — How responsible our trust — Evils among us ; how these will be overcome, etc 207 SALMON P. CHASE, CHIEF-JUSTICE OP THE UNITED STATES: Dear Sir — Your course generally, as a public man, has shown the deep interest you feel on the subject presented in the following volume. I say this, not from a distant view, but from personal intercourse extending over nearly half of my long life, and more than half of yours, as fellow-members of con- vention, as officers of college, as pastor and parishioner, and in the friendly greetings of every-day life. Your words, your actions, have ever expressed a pro- found regard for a true ethics. It was this which led you, (UubtUss, at much sacrifice, personal and political, to "fee for them that are in bonds, as bound with them." And this noble stand you took when it cost something to De an antislavery man. And it is this deep moral con- .ction, I doubt not, which led you to sympathize with (xiii) XIV DEDICATION. the mass of the people, and boldly advocate the right and the safety of universal suffrage. The one great blessing has already, in the wonderful workings of a good Providence, been granted to us — the abolition of slavery. The other — universal suffrage — is advancing with avalanche speed, and must shortly be ours, as I trust, by the peaceful progress of light and good feel- ing; but if not, it must come by great, perhaps greater and more terrific upheavings than accompanied the birth of universal emancipation. Even I scarcely despair of seeing that happy day. You, as some fifteen years behind me, may much more confidently anticipate the sublime spectacle of a people universally free and politically equal as citizens of a truly Christian republic. I need not say how fruitful in beneficent results such an era would be. What a glorious prospect of national power, virtue, and happiness would it open before us! Such a people could not but become the cheerfully-ac- knowledged leaders and benefactors of the whole human family. This, I doubt not, is our future. But, to prepare us for so great a work, so high an honor, as enlightened, whole-hearted laborers for the world's regeneration, we may yet need much chastening. If so, the God of providence and grace will assuredly lead us into the furnace, and consume our dross and brighten our gold, and so prepare us as " workers together with him" for the advent of the latter-day glory! To this happy day of earth's blessed and holy liberty not only the DEDICATION. XV thoughtful and hopeful men of every age, but universal human nature, and even creation itself, have looked for- ward, "in hope of deliverance from the bondage of cor- ruption into glorious liberty." (Rom. viii : 21.) You will perceive that in the following ethical discus- sion I have spoken very plainly and frankly, and, I trust, kindly. He who would not or could not do this ought to be silent. Does not much of Christian and patriotic bold- ness become us all in this day of our country's solemn crisis ? I have addressed this volume to you, not from the ex- pectation that you will concur in every particular judg- ment advanced, but with the pleasing assurance that the great ethical truths it advocates will meet a cordial re- sponse in your bosom. Has it not been the labor of your life to extend them? And is not this the one great secret of your distinguished success? And I will here add, that in all I have met with in the writings of the great fathers of our country — Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Jay, etc. — I know of no utterance more replete with the light and the benevolence of a true ethics than is contained in a single sentence of one of your published letters during the late rebellion — a letter characterized by your usual clearness, simplicity, and vigor of style: "We can not afford to wrong any class of our people. One poor man, colored though he may be, with God on his side, is stronger against us than the hosts of the rebellion. 1 ' That God may long spare you for the duties of your XVI DEDICATION. elevated and most important position, and continually guide and uphold you in them ; and that you may, at last, through the riches of redeeming blood and grace, hear the blessed welcome from the lips of our God — our Savior and Judge — "Well done, good and faithful servant." This is the earnest prayer of your old friend and servant in the Gospel, B. P. Aydelott. ETHICS FOB OUR COUNTRY AND THE TIMES. CHAPTER I. IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS. — INTRODUCTORY. The subjects discussed in the following pages concern every citizen, particularly in a free country ; and they ought to command the es- pecial attention of statesmen and all in au- thority, of divines and professional men, and of studious persons generally. So long as it is true that educated mind governs the world; and it will hold true so long as the world stands; they who aspire to rule ought to be well grounded in a true ethics — its evidences, its principles, and its practical bearings. It may be safely asserted that almost no great calamity has ever befallen any nation or peo- ple that did not grow out of ignorance here, 2 (17) 18 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. or, what is still worse, sinning against the light. And how often have statesmen of unquestioned ability and attainments miserably wrecked their reputations and their most carefully-devised measures either by a want of ethical knowledge, or contempt for it. And, on the other hand, was it not their love of a sound morality, and their generally steadfast adherence to it, that made Milton, the poet, and Cromwell, the farmer, and Lin- coln, the village attorney, so pre-eminent as political leaders and benefactors of their coun- try? Cromwell, with his usual clear vision, foresaw all this. Hence, amid the darkest night of calumny and opposition, he could calmly predict the coming of that day when his character would appear in its true light. "J know that God has been above all report, and will, in his own time, vindicate me" And that day has come when Cromwell, so long mis- represented and misunderstood, stands forth, by the world's almost unanimous verdict, Eng- land's greatest, wisest, noblest ruler. And no one doubts of our « Martyr-President " that it was his honesty which mainly made him what he was— purged his mental eye, strengthened his arm, and enabled him to stand up against the embattled hosts of a most mad and cruel THE IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS. 19 rebellion, and above all, gave him firmness to resist what he believed the mistaken counsel of his most tried friends. But, it may be asked, how shall we come at a true ethics ? The world has almost from the beginning been greatly divided here, and mul- titudes have hitherto wandered, and do yet wander, in error. What has caused this? and how may we escape it ? We answer, the word of God has never yet had its rightful position of pre-eminence in these discussions. In some of the moral sci- ences it has been kept completely out of view, and in others only partially deferred to. In psychology, for example, or the philoso- phy of the human mind, do not nearly all the great authors, in the very face of Scripture tes- timony, assume throughout that the mind is in its normal state? And therefore they make no allowance whatever for the disturbing influence of evil on the faculties, and hence they frer quently flounder in the dark, and too often are betrayed into the grossest errors. And in moral and political philosopy, also, or ethics strictly so called, how little has as yet been made of Bible authority. Hence the many false and fatal theories that have been put forth, and are continually broached at this day. 20 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. But in opposition to all this, we venture to say that the Bible is the very best text-book in the philosophy of the human mind, in eth- ics or moral and political philosophy, and in the moral sciences generally. With the Bible in our hands we can easily see through almost every error, and solve most of the dark questions that metaphysicians have started; and with the Bible in our hands we may readily brush away the cunningly-woven webs of Paley's " Falsehoods not Criminal." And what is still more worthy of remark, humbling as it is to our pride, that while we are full of self-gratulation, on account of our superior knowledge of the great principles of liberty, and our possession of the freest political institutions in the world, we may see, if we choose, the only perfect model of a free gov- ernment — a true democracy — presented on the pages of the Bible more than thirty centuries since, in the deserts of Arabia, by the great Hebrew Law-giver, Moses, or rather through him, by the God and Father of all mankind. Just so far as our Constitution has departed from this divine pattern is it defective; and for these shortcomings and positive errors are .we now paying, and we have been paying through all our past history, the righteous pen- THE IMPORTANCE OP ETHICS. 21 alty. And it is for us now, in this the most solemn crisis of our country, to avert these evils from our posterity, and open before them a brighter prospect than we inherited from our fathers, of national power, blessedness and glory, by honestly looking back in our legisla- tion to the divine rule, the only true ethics, and so laying the foundation of our reconstructed Government in righteousness. Will we do this ? Who can doubt it? Let us "thank God and take courage." Are not the clouds clearing away and the skies brightening over us? The present Congress has so far done nobly. God give them wisdom and firmness to complete the great work ! How enviable their position of usefulness and influence. How largely will they render a grateful people their debtors, and with what rich historic honors will their names go down to the latest posterity, if they continue faithful to their high trust. We would contribute our mite to this great result, and therefore do we solicit the reader's serious, candid attention to the following chap- ters. 22 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. CHAPTER II. EABLY CULTIVATION OP ETHICS — INTRODUCTORY. Even in the earliest ages of the world to which our history of the moral sciences extends, many of the questions brought forward in the following pages, engaged the attention of phi- losophers and thinking men. They were ably discussed in the different schools; they gave rise to great diversity of sentiment ; they were transmitted to succeeding ages, and they live to this day. And although, as might be ex- pected, much light has been shed upon them, they still are by no means settled; at least great differences of views exist in regard to many of them. It is scarcely necessary to say that such ques- tions must be very difficult and profound, and that their great importance must have been generally felt. Their whole history, and that of all nations and people show this. Our own country also, as every thoughtful observer must be sensible, gives deeply interesting proofs of EARLY CULTIVATION OF ETHICS. 23 the same fact. There is, perhaps, not one of these questions, on which there are not oppo- site views embraced among us ; and errors on some of them have become so manifest and wide-spread as to occasion serious alarm in many reflecting minds. Indeed, these questions meet us every- where, and touch our interests at all points. They concern the pulpit and every department of government, legislative, judiciary, and execu- tive ; they mainly control the morals and poli- tics of the people. In a word, nothing is so fundamental and all-embracing as ethics. With truth generally settled and seen by us here, our country is safe. But if such errors as have been developed and extended among us for some years past are not speedily and fairly met and exposed, our free institutions CAN NOT LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LONGER. We venture this assertion without the least misgiv- ing, because we assuredly believe that it is true, not only of individuals, but of communi- ties also — for what are these but aggregates of individuals ? — that " whatsoever a man sow- eth that shall he also reap." We have just passed through the terrible war of secession, and only been saved "by the skin of our teeth." But have we not now a 24 ETHICS FOR TEE TIMES. vastly more alarming struggle before us ? Have we not proofs, in frightful abundance, that we are threatened, as a people, at this moment, with a general moral dissolution? In com- parison with such a calamity, secession is but a flea-bite. At the South this moral dissolution was far advanced years since, and it was rapidly ma- turing at the breaking out of the rebellion. What but such a general moral dissolution could have emboldened their Jeff*. Davises and Masons to stand up with brazen fronts and pour out their treason even on the floor of the Senate-chamber of the United States? And what but such a moral dissolution running through the whole popular heart of the South could have enabled these perjured traitors to drive the people — against, in many cases, their own votes — like so many unthinking, ferocious brutes into a bloody war against their country ? And — to name no more — what but this state of utter moral dissolution in southern society could have produced such scenes as were daily witnessed among our imprisoned soldiers at Belle Island, at Salisbury and at Anderson- ville — scenes whose cool, demoniacal atrocity make even Sepoy savages apostles of humanity? And to come still nearer home, is it not daily EARLY CULTIVATION OF ETHICS. 25 becoming more and more difficult here at the North to carry out, or even sustain, some of the plainest and most important of God's laws — laws sanctioned, too, by our own legis- lation, and laws, till within a few years past, universally regarded and upheld ? Has it not been, for example, next to im- possible to convict and capitally punish even the most atrocious murderer ? Indeed, one or two States have already gone so far as to re- peal such punishment, thus assuming to be wiser and more humane than the righteous Sovereign of the universe; that they know bet- ter than he does what is the just penalty of blood guiltiness, and what would best protect the lives of individuals and guard the general good. And signs inviting to gambling, in the very teeth of the laws, meet us in every street, and drunkenness is seen reeling all over the land, and, what is still worse, this villainy of intem- perance is known to destroy annually millions of dollars' worth of property and thousands of lives by what is most falsely called " Horrible Accidents." And to such a height has this deluge of shameless profligacy reached, that we now see men in the lofty places of the nation coming 26 ETHICS FOE, THE TIMES. down and pouring out harangues so low and incendiary to disloyal rabbles, and putting forth manifestoes embodying such notorious misrepresentations, as would make quite re- spectable the vilest sans-culotte of the French revolution. After the foregoing was written, there ap- peared in the Cincinnati Gazette of August 1, 1866, a letter from its Washington correspondent, H. Y. £L B., generally understood to be the gal- lant and distinguished General Boynton, in which a scene is reported most painfully ex- emplifying the danger of a moral dissolution pervading the land. We extract the passage: " After having held and exercised the office of Judge in the Confederacy, and having sworn to support the Confederate Government, he swore before the assembled Senate, among other things, that he had 'never sought, or accepted, or attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority, or pretended authority, in hostility to the United States;' and with the former oath admitted, and the latter one on his lips, he took his seat as a Senator." Taking this to be a correct report, and we see no reason to doubt it, could there be a more palpable instance of flagrant perjury in EARLY CULTIVATION OF ETHICS. 27 high places, and of a shameless complicity in it by those who sustained the act? A test oath, carefully framed, to prevent traitors from get- ting scats in the national legislature, had been passed into law just before ; but this law was now trampled under foot, and the President's son-in-law, Mr. Patterson, late a Judge under the rebel government, was admitted to a seat in the Senate of the United States. "Will the Grand Jury of the District of Co- lumbia present this case ? Do the laws of the District provide for the trial and the punish- ment of such offenders? If they do not, they must be far below the standard even of the most moderate ethical system. Well might Trumbull, and Wade, and Shellabarger, etc., raise the voice of solemn remonstrance and warning against such a shameful and danger- ous procedure. What further evidence need we of a most disastrous moral dissolution threatening our beloved country? What are w r e coming to ? What are we coming to ? Is not this w r orse than secession? Is it not w r ide-spread, overwhelming evidence of moral dissolution — such a breaking up of "fountains of the great deep" as threatens shipwreck to all w T e hold sacred and dear? Hence, the hearts of very many patriots and 28 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. thinking men are every-where filled with ap- prehensions of what is coming upon the nation. But we hope better things. We think we see bright stars, not a few, shedding light over the prospect before us. Good citizens, and Christian men, and patriotic statesmen, in all parts of the land, give hopeful evidence of a waking up to these " signs of the times." They have begun to look the crisis full in the face, and with brave hearts and strong hands are girding themselves up for duty and for danger. They seem to say, " Our country SHALL AND WILL BE SAVED ! " But to do this great work we must look back to old foundation principles. We must study these, and determine, God blessing us, to stand upon them and to stand by them. The law of God, and the laws of our country, also, so far as these are in accordance with God's law, we trust will yet stand forth vindicated, and, with all their power to benefit and to bless, be faithfully carried out. Only in this way will popular morals — the very foundation of our country's liberties — be lifted up and reinvigorated, so as to give us, in the time to come, none but public men worthy of such a people. Then shall we no more hear our statesmen EARLY CULTIVATION OF ETHICS. 29 gravely discussing mere policies and expedients, and the embodiment of these in deceitful com- promises, framed to favor cunning cliques and selfish aristocracies, while they cruelly oppress multitudes. Do not such crafty, silly states- men forget — if, indeed, many of them ever knew — that it is principle, and not policy — ■ principle manfully carried out — which alone will save our country? So sure as God reigns, "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a re- proach to any people." Does not a true ethics lie at the foundation of all true statesman- ship? and must not mere policy, apart from a true ethics, ultimately ruin a nation? But, alas ! how short the time — thank God, however, we have almost got safely through it — how short the time when the Higher Law, that is, God's law, was spoken of with the most malignant scorn, even in the Senate- chamber of the United States. Might not the eye of faith have seen, at that moment of im- pious triumph, a divine hand put forth, and writing on the wall, "Mene, mene, tekel!" — "Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting; the dominion has passed from thee !" (Daniel v: 26-27.) And the then dominant party suddenly rotted down and has perished in its own corruption. Thankful, thrice thank- 30 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. ful should we be to Almighty God, that, in his merciful providence, we, as a nation, have been relieved from slavery and its hideous, atheistic outgrowth — a sham Democracy! It is because we see evidences of such a national revival of truth and moral principle among us, that we feel assured of the final salvation of our beloved country. The one design of the following chapters is to clear up, and vindicate, and extend those great fundamental ethical principles, which alone can make popular morals and religion and government what they ought to be; such as shall assuredly raise the nations of the earth to that exalted position of wisdom, virtue, hap- piness, and glory to which a favoring Provi- dence and the gospel of the grace of God do so loudly and lovingly call them. 81 CHAPTER III. GOD, THE ORIGIN AND END OF ALL THINGS. " Op him, and through him, and to him are all things ; to whom be glory forever. Amen." (Rom. xi : 36.) What is the teaching of inspiration here? Is it not plainly that God is the source of all things ; that is, all other beings come into existence of or from him, and they all derive their several natures or modes of existence from him? And, farther, through him they all continue in being; that is, on him are they wholly de- pendent, so that were he to withdraw for a single moment his supporting hand, they would all instantly vanish, or sink into nonentity, or their original nothingness? And, finally, to manifest his being, counsels, and perfections, he called all things into exist- ence, and upholds them in being, and continu- ally orders and overrules every event, from the greatest to the most minute. In a word, God is the sole Creator, Preserver, and Universal 32 ETHICS FOR TIIE TIMES. Sovereign, and his glory is the final or grand end of creation and providence. This statement, interpreted in its widest, proper sense, is, we believe, in accordance with the teachings of inspiration. " Of him, and through him, and to him are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen." And be it here remarked that this passage is only a brief but very clear and comprehen- sive summary of what is taught us on this most important subject in various other parts of the Bible. All the multitudinous phases of this great truth, which shine out as so many stars in the Holy Scriptures, are here condensed into one most luminous utterance, as sublime and wonderful as it is simple. VARIOUS ETHICAL VIEWS. 33 CHAPTER IV. VARIOUS ETHICAL VIEWS STATED. Now, a profound question here presents itself to us — a question that has engaged the atten- tion of philosophers, and religious men, and reflecting persons in all ages. It is this : Is there a moral system, or a fitness of things, or a great law "of rectitude, or a moral necessity, each immutable and eternal, and each apart from and independent of God, but according to which he always determines and acts, and ever must determine and act ? so that Gocl, as well as all his moral creatures, are alike obligated to this system or fitness of things, or great law of rectitude, or moral necessity? One class of thinkers — and a very numerous and respectable class, too — assert that there is such a moral system, or fitness of things, or law of rectitude, or moral necessity, immutable and eternal, and binding alike upon the Crea- tor and all moral creatures. Hence they hold that God always purposes and acts in accord- ance with this immutable and eternal system, 3 34 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. or fitness of things, or great law of rectitude, or moral necessity, and that it can not be other- wise. The arguments for each of these views are very many and apparently strong; so much so that, without God's revealed truth in our hands, we see not how they could be satisfactorily met to some minds. Another class of thinkers maintain that not only all creatures, material and spiritual, and others, too — if there are such — together with their several natures or modes of existence, are derived from God, and are continually upheld and governed b} r him; but likewise that all distinctions of things, or their different char- acters, qualities, and properties, and all their relations, also, moral as well as physical, have their origin and end in God. This last view we believe, on rational grounds, to be the true one, and that it is taught us also in the verse which introduces our third chap- ter, and in many other parts of the sacred Scriptures. And we now proceed to give some reasons for our judgment. ARGUMENTS. CHAPTER V. ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE FIRST FOUR OF ABOVE MENTIONED VIEWS AND IN FAVOR OF THE LAST. 1. If there is a moral system, immutable and eternal, apart from God and independent of him, but binding alike upon all moral beings, then there must be another God — were this possible — because such a system supposes an intelligent, designing author, and this author must necessarily be supreme, and, therefore, the only true God. 2. If there is an immutable and eternal fit- ness of things, apart from God and indepen- dent of him, but to which he must conform, this fitness of things must have had a contriver and sustainer, who himself must be intelligent and supreme, and, therefore, God. 3. If there be a great law, or an immutable and eternal rule of rectitude, apart from and independent of God, but in harmony with which all the divine counsels and doings must 36 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. be framed, such a law demands a legislator, and he must be the only true God, because supreme over all. And, lastly 4. If it be an immutable and eternal neces- sity, which alike enfolds God and all his coun- sels and doings, and all his moral creatures also, this moral necessity or fate, call it which we may, must have one who spoke it into existence ( Fatum, that is, something spoken ) ; that is, an arbitrator or author, and this arbi- trator is Lord over all, verily and truly God. Whichever, then, of these views we adopt, it must lead us, if logically followed up, to reject the God revealed in the Bible, and to substi- tute a God of our own fancy for him — either the author of the moral system, or the con- triver of the fitness of things, or the legislator of the great rule of rectitude, or the arbitrator of moral necessity. One of these do we really make God, the Almighty, universal, supreme Sovereign. But such views, the whole history of the world has shown, tend to Atheism, and must lead many down this fearful abyss. We can not persuade men to hold to an abstract God, a mere idea formed by the human mind. They must have the God of Revelation, or travel through every grade of superstition, till they ARGUMENTS. 37 come, sooner or later, to the very sum and grand climax of all superstition — Atheism.* * There is, indeed, a sense in which we may properly use any of the above statements of Ethical Theories, and in this sense, doubtless, many good men have used them, and still do. If, for example, by the phrases Moral System, Moral Fitness, Great Law of Rectitude, Moral Necessity; is meant simply a moral system, or fitness of things, or law of recti- tude, or moral necessity, ordained of God and dependent upon him, immutable and eternal as his own nature, and expressing his sovereign rule to all his moral creatures, and so unchangeably and supremely binding upon them, if this be meant, it expresses a great truth. To such a use of either of these phrases we, therefore, can have no objection. There undoubtedly is such a system, or fitness of things, or law of rectitude, or moral necessity; but these are all divine in their origin, existence, operation and end. They all are " of God, and through him and to him." (Rom. xi: 86.) His nature is their sole great moral support and issue. But the too common use of these terms, and the whole history of ethics, have shown a continual tendency to depart from this true and safe sense, and put such a construction upon them as clearly tends to banish the recognition of God's govern- ment, and, indeed, the very idea of the true God. We can not, therefore, but regard them as dangerous expressions. Just as (to illustrate our meaning) in Natural Philosophy, or the Physical sciences, we have no objection to the terms Powers of Nature, Natural Laws, Correlation and Conserva- tion of Forces, etc., if thereby we are to understand the actings out, or rather the modes of the acting out, of the Divine Will in the material world; whose source, support, and end are all in the Divine Will, and entirely dependent upon it for continuance and direction. This is a Theislic 38 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. sense, and we suppose that many physicists and students of natural philosophy thus use these phrases. But very different are the views of others, and their employ- ment of these terms. In the positive philosophy put forth in France by M. Auguste Comte, and advocated by many in other countries, these phrases are intended to express some- thing wholly apart from God, and independent of him. And still worse, they are clearly designed to shut out all idea of God, and to teach the impossibility of our ever coming to any knowledge of Godj or of any thing above or beside the mate- rial world. In a word, they are designed to teach and estab- lish a system of blank Atheism. This, in fact, and to strip away all devices, — this is the position of Comte, and the English Comte, John Stuart Mill. Such, then, being the tendency of the use of the aforemen- tioned terms in ethics and the natural Sciences — so darkening, demoralizing, and dangerous to all our interests, for time and eternity---it behooves us to be very careful not to be led astray by the improper use of them, daily met with even in authors otherwise very instructive and excellent. And especially does it behoove us to be very careful ourselves when we use these terms, manifestly to employ them only in the theistic or truly ethical sense. ETHICAL TEACHINGS OE THE BIBLE. 30 CHAPTER VI. ETHICAL TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE. In opposition to the foregoing views, we hold, and we believe the Scriptures teach, 1. That God is not only the Creator, Upholder and Supreme Sovereign of all things, but that from him proceed all their relations and all distinctions of things, and all possibility of these distinctions. (Rom. xi: 36.) 2. That God's character and will being simply the expressions of his nature, are what they are, just because he is what he is. " I am that I am." (Exod. ii : 14.) 3. That as God's nature is eternally and un- changeably the same, so his character and will are eternally and immutably the same. He is God from everlasting to everlasting, without any variableness or shadow of turning. "I am the Lord, I change not." (Ps. xc : 11; James i : 17 ; Malachi iii : 6.) 4. That God's will and acts have their origin and end simply in his own nature, and not in view of any system or fitness of things, 40 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. or law of rectitude, or moral necessity, apart from and independent of him, and by which he is bound or in any way controlled or influ- enced. (Dan. iv : 35.) 5. That God always purposes and does what is good, because, as his nature is perfectly good, and only good, and will be forever good, so his will must forever be absolutely, that is, per- fectly, good. (Ps. xxv : 8 ; James i : 17.) But it may be said, if this be so, if God's will is eternal and unchangeable, then both he and we are forever bound up in a chain of im- mutable and eternal necessity or fate. Not so. We solemnly, and again and again do we solemnly, protest against this conclusion as unwarranted, absurd, and impious. (Rom. ix: 19-21.) Fate is unintelligent, brute force, a hideous abstraction, a monster, the crea- tion of a superstitious fancy. But God is a reality, a person, and therefore a moral being, and therefore free. He is the almighty, omnis- cient, infinitely wise, good, and righteous Cre- ator, Upholder, and Governor of all things. We say God is free, because take away free- dom, and you destroy moral agency ; and take away moral agency, and you destroy personal- ity; and take away personality, and moral purposes and moral acts are impossible. Man, ETHICAL TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE. 41 for example, in distinction from the brute, is a person, because a moral agent, and a moral agent because free, lie is always addressed and treated as such by the Bible and all human laws, and hence most reasonably and right- eously held responsible for all his purposes and conduct, good and evil. But if God, the God of the Bible, be the almighty, omniscient, infinitely-wise, good, and righteous Creator, Upholder and Preserver of all things, immutable, eternal, and supreme, then, manifestly, it shall ever be " well with the righteous," and " it shall ever be ill with the wicked." (Isaiah iii : 10, 11.) We may be certain, also, that " all things work together | for good to them who love God." (Rom. viii:J 28.) And " nothing," we arc assured, " can \ harm those who are followers of that which isy good." (IPet. iii: 13.) What good man does not rejoice that God is such a sovereign, and feel it his highest privilege, honor, and happiness to be under his government and obey his will? (Ps. xcvii : 1.) Only the wicked hate God, and desire to cast off his rule. Unbiased reason always} testifies for God. (Rom. i : 19, 20.) Hence it is written, " The fool," that is, the wicked man, "hath said in his heart" mark, it is not in his 42 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. head, for no one ever yet has been fool enough for that, but " in his heart, the fool hath said there is no God;" and the reason why, the in- spired writer immediately adds, " They are corrupt, they have done abominable works." (Ps. xiv : 1.) A corrupt heart is the root of all atheism. 6. Sixthly and lastly, we maintain that if God's nature, and that expression of it w T hich constitutes his law, are immutably and eternally holy, just, and good, it follows that sin, or moral evil, must ever be abhorrent in the divine sight, and that the law must condemn it. And if w r e ourselves are upright — that is, if our moral na- ture is in harmony with the nature and law of God — we also shall so regard sin, and hence shun it ourselves, and feel, too, that not duly to punish it in others when we have the au- thority is itself a great sin. (Jer. xliv: 4; 1 Pet. i": 15, 16 ; Prov. xvii : 15.) FALSE VIEWS STATED AND EXPOSED. 43 CHAPTER VII. CERTAIN FALSE VIEWS STATED AND EXPOSED. If the foregoing argument be sound, we may readily see that all systems or views which teach that the great object of punishment is the reformation of the offender, or the good of society, or both, must be radically false and mis- chievous. For even where we can see no prospect of such reformations or social good, we are still bound by our allegiance to God and the obligations of his law to inflict punish- ment upon evil-doers. In other words, sin, or moral evil, is to be punished, because God's holy nature and his holy law demand this; and to disregard, in such a case, obedience to God, is itself a great sin. The ruler who does it, incurs guilt, and if the community uphold him they also become involved in the guilt. Hence a whole nation or people has often be- come guilty and been punished, in the course of a righteous providence, because of guilt thus incurred. The history of the world, secular and sacred, 44 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. is full of solemn instruction here. What ter- rible retributions, for example, have been vis- ited upon us within the last few years, and how still sadder the prospect, it may be, yet before us, on account of our complicity, as a people, in the cruel plunderings and bloodshed perpe- trated in the Cherokee Reservation,* in Florida, in Texas, in Mexico, and in Kansas, at the be- hests of our slavery lords, in order to extend their area of oppression. Is it not our duty and our safety here at once to repent, confess, and give glory to God, break off our sins by righteousness, and our iniquities by showiny mercy to the poor ? (Josh, vii : 19 ; Dan. iv : 27.) If these views of God's nature and law be true, can any system or views which teach us that utility, or the general good, is the founda- tion and great end of virtue — as that alone * How impressive and instructive the parallel between the guilt and punishment of Ahab and ours ! " In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine." (1 Kings xxi : 19.) And all this fearful dealing because of this wicked ruler's coveting and violently- taking possession of Naboth's vineyard. And it was at Mis- sionary Ridge, the very scene of our covetousness and cru- elty toward the unhappy Cherokees, that their grasping per- secutors, the slaveholders of the South, with their guilty abettors, the freemen of the North, so profusely poured out each other's blood in mutual slaughter ! "Be sure your sin will find you out." (Numbers xxii : 23.) FALSE VIEWS STATED AND EXPOSED. 45 which rentiers virtue and its contrary, sin, what they are — can such a system, or views, w^e ask, be true ? So far from this, be it here noted that, there is no ethical element whatever in the mere con- cept of utility. Take, for example, a house, ac- knowledged on all hands to be a very useful thing, and yet there is implied in the idea no obligation upon me to build, buy, or rent one. If I ought to do either of these, in any given case, the obligation comes to me through considera- tions altogether apart from the idea of a house. My family, for example, may need it, and I am bound to provide one for them; or a poor neighboring family may be without a home, and charity may require of me, a man of am- ple means, to procure a dwelling for them. Hence, is it not plainly my position, as the head of a family, or a more favored neighbor, which carries the idea of duty with it? But it is equally evident that the mere concept of a house has in it no moral element whatever. Very different, however, is it with the ideas of truth, justice, mercy, humanity, etc. The ethical element is not only always present here, but it is the most prominent part of each of these concepts. I ought always, and under all circumstances, to "tell truth, do justly, love 46 ETHICS FOE THE TIMES. mercy, and walk humbly before God," and I ought to do these things not because it may promote my interest, or that of others, but be- cause it is right, morally right in itself. The nature of God hath made it so, and binds it upon me ; for is it not written, "Be ye holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord f\ (Micah vi : 8 ; 1 Pet. i : 16.) All moral systems and views are, then, wrong and perilous which put utility, or the general good, in the place of God's will. Their con- tinual tendency is to introduce a mere expedi- ency, or policy, or the morality of selfishness, as practically the rule of duty, and so ultimately break down all true divine ethics, and flood the world with immorality, antinomianism, universalism, and atheism. Dr. Paley, for example, whose system of Moral and Political Philosophy advocates the doctrine of utility, justifies falsehood under certain circumstances. He shows, as he thinks, that, in some cases, falsehood is expedient, and, therefore, right. And certainly he is in this consistent with his system. But the upright, unperverted conscience always cries out against such teachings. "Flat justitia, mat ccelum." Let justice be done, come what may! And even a heathen philosopher could say, " Hones- FALSE VIEWS STATED AND EXPOSED. 47 turn, igitur, id intelligimus, quod tale est, ut detractaorani utilitate, sine ullis premiis fructi- buisve, per soipsum jure possit landari." We understand virtue (or moral right) to be of such a nature that, irrespective of any consideration of use or benefit to ourselves or others, it ought for its own sake (or for what it is in itself) to be commended. (Cicero De Finibus, 11-14.) But in Bosk II, chapter vi, of his Moral and Political Philosophy, Dr. Paley explicitly teaches that " actions are to be estimated by their tendency to promote happiness. What- ever is expedient is right. It is the utility of any moral ride alone which constitutes the moral obligation of it." And hence, in Book III, chap. xv, he gives many instances of what he terms "Falsehoods which are not criminal." But we hesitate not to say that any reader, with the Bible in his hands, and his mind not perverted by a false philosophy, will unhesitatingly pro- nounce these cases, instances of lying — lying which, if not repented of, must bring down on the offender the righteous indignation and pun- ishment of Almighty God. In truth, the whole "system of utility," as we may term it, is false. It at once lowers our ideas of God and his law T . Its constant tend- ency is to give us another ruler and another 48 ETHICS FOR TOE TIMES. rule. In opposition to this system, we main- tain that we ought to do right, if there were no other reason, or none we could see, because God's holy nature and law require it; and we ought to punish wrong-doing on the same ground. This we believe to be clearly the teaching of Scripture and nnperverted conscience. And if we depart here from the Bible, and that moral sense which the God of the Bible has given us, we are as a ship in a dark night on a stormy ocean, without a compass and a helm. We have really no standard, no directory. To say, act for the good of the whole, is to require me, a finite creature, to comprehend an infinite subject. I can not tell, if left to myself, what is good for the whole. God alone, the omniscient God, knows this. But, blessed be the Lord, I am sure that if I obey him, though often perhaps I can not see how it will be brought about, yet such conduct will at last be found for the good of the whole. Utility, or the good of the whole, as a prin- ciple of action, is an incomprehensible, and, therefore, an impracticable, rule; but "the com- mandment of God is a lamp, and his law is light. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." (Prov. vi : 23; Ps. xix : 7.) Let us, indeed, be grateful that God, in his FALSE VIEWS STATED AND EXPOSED. 49 infinite benevolence, holiness, and power, has indissolnhly associated his glory with the hap- piness of his obedient creatures, so that if we Bimply seek to glorify God in obedience to his law, or revealed will, we shall assuredly promote our own best interests and those of others. It is evidently, therefore, under the divine system, not wrong to be influenced by a desire to be happy. We would be not men, but moral monsters, if we did not desire our own welfare. Indeed, are we not required to "love our neighbor, as ourselves," thus making self- love (not selfishness, but self-love,) or our con- stitutional desire to be happy, a motive and a measure for the love due our neighbor? But let us never forget that the only true, right, and certain way to do both ; that is, to benefit our- selves and others is supremely to seek God's glory in a hearty obedience to his holy, just, and good commandments. Such, then, we are assured, is God's perfectly wise, holy, benevolent, moral system of the universe, having its origin and foundation solely in the infinite and unsearchable depths of his own holy nature — his glory its ultimate or great end, and the happiness of all his holy, obedient creatures indissolubly and eternally bound up in this high and glorious end. 4 50 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. CHAPTER Yin. ETHICS OF COMPROMISES. Compromises have ever been the bane of na- tions. By these reprehensible compromises we mean the surrender, at least for a time, of principle, either to sustain or introduce some wicked institution, or some unrighteous inter- ests, and so establish a false peace. In this way justice is given up, and multitudes are often cruelly oppressed to favor a few. ^ But the sensible and safe conservative (as he considers himself) who is seduced into a compromise, soon finds that he has sold his principles and lost the price. The knaves who deceived or corrupted him will observe the terms of the guilty bargain just so long as it is to their interest. But just as soon as they see that it will only inure to the benefit of their dupe, they will find some way, either by craft or bluster, to break up the compromise. What mournful proofs does the history of our country give us of the folly, the wicked- ETHICS OF COMPROMISES. 51 ness, and terrible consequences of these polit- ical bargains ! Our fathers compromised with slavery, because it appeared comparatively a very small thing, and might soon be got rid of. But " the little cloud," at the time " no larger than a man's hand," soon spread and darkened our whole heavens, and came down upon us in a tempest of wrath. It cost us more than a million of lives and upward of three billions of dollars to get rid of the in- iquity of slavery thus foisted upon us. But terrible as was the sacrifice, the blessing was cheaply purchased. But, oh how slow are we to learn wisdom L Before the lightning flash of God's righteous indignation has entirely passed away, and while the thunder of his wrath still mutters on our ears, we begin to contrive some cun- ning policy by which we may cheat our long and cruelly oppressed ones, who so magnani- mously forgave us and came to our help in the darkest night of our national calamity ! Yes, the danger now apparently over, we would defraud our faithful colored friends and fellow-citizens, who so nobly poured out their blood on many a battle-field to put down the rebellion and uphold our country's flag ! " Is there any attribute of the Almighty thai will take a 52 ETHICS FOR TIIE TIMES. part with us here ? " Mr. Jefferson would ask of us, were he now living, as lie once did on a similar occasion. And all this meanness and villainy that we may conciliate traitors ! Yes, traitors dripping with the blood of our murdered fathers and broth- ers. And more than this, we are to receive them back not only to all the rights they had forfeited, but to the control of the Govern- ment, and so again degrade ourselves before the nations of the earth, and more deeply than ever imperil all a free people hold sacred and precious. But if we do this foolish and wicked thing, how know we that we may yet have another day of deliverance ? or, if we do, it may come to us after a still more protracted, dark, and bloody struggle ? Certainly, we seem now to be " treasuring up for ourselves wrath." If God puts a price in a nation's hand to get wisdom, and they madly evade or delay the duty ; their period of probation may speedily pass away, and they themselves be left to perpetual re- proach, and suffering, and ruin ! Let us be wise in this our day of merciful visitation. An instructive view of the evils' of compro- mise was lately presented in the debates of the United States Senate. We have not the public ETHICS OF COMPROMISES. 53 reports at hand, and therefore must write from memory. A bill had passed the House of Representa- tives and was sent up to the Senate for its con- currence. It was generally conceded to be an important bill; but, with much that was ex- cellent, it contained a clause making it, or at least recognizing it, as a constitutional right in a State to disfranchise at will any of its citizens. A Senator, while expressing a strong general approbation of the bill, opposed it on account of its disfranchising clause. He argued that it would be better to wait still longer for the acknowledged benefits which the bill offered to the country, rather than by constitutional provision allow, or at least recognize, in any State the right to inflict so great a wrong; that the reconstructed rebels would, sooner or later, take advantage of the power thus un- justly conceded to them to defeat all the ben- eficial results expected from the bill; that, ^'come to the worst, it would be better to be defeated on the ground of principle than to be victorious by compromising principle. The bill was rejected. But, for his opposition to the bill, the speaker was assailed by another very able and distin- guished Senator. His speeches were generally 54 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. described as exhibiting the Senatorial peda- gogue and sophomorical declaimer. Allowing this criticism to be just — which it is not — it was not only untimely, out of place, and un- dignified, but it was morally wrong to en- deavor by ridicule, to bring contempt upon an eminent and patriotic public servant, and thus impair his influence for good to his country. We hesitate not to say that the first Senator was constitutionally and ethically right, and that the country will unquestionably sustain him and the Senate for rejecting the measure. His assailant was not only politically but eth- ically wrong, and laid himself open to the suspicion of being instigated by selfish feel- ings of personal rivalry, or the spirit of a nar- row-minded partisanship. INFLUENCE UPON THE REBELLION. 55 CHAPTER IX. OUR PRESENT ETIIICAL INFLUENCE UPON THE REBELLIOUS SOUTH. It is a most fearful thought, and still we must not here pass it over in silence, that the recent revival of a treasonable spirit all over the South, and the still more alarming evidence of utter moral dissolution there, may be clearly traced, in a great measure, to the low moral, or rather altogether unrighteous, course of the North toward these Southern traitors. Are we not, practically, every day saying to tlicm: " Treason is no crime. Oh no I We have already forgotten the bloody graves of our fathers, brothers, and sons, scattered all over the land. We are ready at once again to join hands with you as very honest, -worthy gentlemen — only a little mistaken I " But does not " the voice of blood cry from, the ground?" and are we not really and deeply in- volving ourselves in a fearful complicity of guilt with murderers? (Gen. v: 10. Num- bers xxxv : 31-34.) Why have not the ringleaders, civil and military, of the late most unprovoked and 56 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. bloody rebellion not been capitally punished for their horrid crimes ? And why have not the vast landed estates of the rich rebels, used hitherto only to oppress all around them, white and colored, been seized and employed to pay the wages so hardly earned and so long kept back of their poor crushed laborers, and to re- ward our patriotic soldiers for their valor in putting down this wicked rebellion, and saving their deeply imperiled country? Let then the legislatures of the several loyal States, and the people of these States, in every Congressional district, adopt and send up to their servants in Washington instructions to do promptly this great duty of national justice and patriotism. Such a lesson they would not be apt to slight. A righteous God, and his righteous law and righteous providence, and our Constitution and laws, and our beloved country's future welfare — nay, her very life — -these all solemnly now sum- mon us to this upright and manly course ; and woe to us if, in this hour of our nation's awful crisis, we trifle about policy and expediency, and shut our ears, and harden our hearts, and stupefy our conscience against the voice of truth and justice! If thus madly guilty, the blood of this most wicked rebellion will assuredly INFLUENCE UPON THE REBELLION. bi come upon our whole country, and bring down upon us speedy and utter destruction. It may be well here to add, that when we spoke, in the beginning of this chapter, of "the unrighteous course of the North," we did not mean by " the North " the people directly, but the people as represented by their leaders in and out of office. The people have always been far more honest, clear-headed, decided, practically sagacious, and patriotic than their leaders. The latter, meas- uring the people by themselves, rarely manifest a fearless, generous confidence in their constit- uents. Hence a misty, timid, cunning policy is their usual refuge and strength. They are afraid to be frank, manly, upright, patriotic, lest the people will not sustain them. This view of the people and their leaders has been very often clearly and strikingly ex- emplified in the last few most eventful and stir- ring years. The party leaders and the Admin- istration have nearly always manifestly been far behind the people. Energetically to carry on the war; promptly to punish traitors; and thoroughly to sweep away slavery, and all its debasing and abominable influences, so disas- trous to the country ; and to see the national Hag floating over a universally free, loyal land : 58 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. such have ever been the desire and determina- tion of the people. They have never swervered from this patriotic resolve ; but their grand difficulty was not to find in themselves a will and ability strong enough, morally and physi- cally, to overcome traitors, but to inspire into their leaders and the Administration a confi- dence, an energy, and a patriotism that would qualify them for the crisis. In answer to every popular call to go a mile ahead — if we may so express ourselves — the Administration would move perhaps a rod, often scarcely a foot. Still, the war was at last closed, and the General Government was avowedly recognized in all the States. And the people, with their usual good sense, jjatriotism, and feeling of justice, have never ceased since to call for the condign pun- ishment of traitors, the universal establishment of freedom, and for such righteous adminis- tration of law as will render treason odious in all coming ages, and so insure the future safety of the republic. But here, again, the leaders and the Admin- istration lag far behind the people. Not a leading traitor has been condignly punished. Your Stephenses, your Lees, your Beauregards yet walk at large, and Jeff. Davis is still at ease and in safety, and, at the public expense, INFLUENCE UPON THE REBELLION. , 59 meditating future schemes of secession. It is common now to ascribe this state of things, so full of danger to the whole country, solely to the President's " policy ;" but, in truth, had the other departments of the Government, and the public leaders generally, stood up man- fully with the people and for the people, the selfish, infatuated, wicked policy of no one man, or hungry clique of office-seekers could have endured a single month, much less wrought out evils so multitudinous and disastrous, against a wise, resolute, patriotic union of leaders and people. It is, therefore, for the people themselves now to make their representatives feel by their instructions, and especially by their votes at the coming elections, that trifling with treason and further forbearance with traitors is ruin to the country. This popular demonstration, we doubt not, will speedily be given, and what name will soon be more execrated throughout the South than that of the author of " my policy." The people there had been so cruelly ground down by the military despotism of Jeff. Davis, and so thoroughly subdued by the armies of the loyal North, that they were read}' to accept any terms, and do any thing which the Genera) Government would think proper to GO, ETHICS FOE TTIE TIMES. require. And had this disposition continued, the South would at this moment have been far onward and upward in the path of peace, good order, and prosperity. But " my policy " — most manifestly to secure an election to the Presi- dency — has done much to destroy all this good. The spirit of hate and rebellion has again been kindled at the South ; all is there now agita- tion and fearful uncertainty. Robbery, rape, conflagration, and murder stalk over the land unrestrained and unpunished ; and Union men, white and colored, are every- where proscribed and persecuted unto death. Who, then, is responsible for all this? Not merely the infat- uated ambition of the author of " my policy," but the culpable timidity of better men. Let the people now so loudly lift up their voice for the right, that justice shall be every- where done, promptly done, and so the country be universally pacified. There is one comfort to be derived from this terrible outbreak in the late rebel States. It must produce a profound popular conviction of the madness and the wickedness of " my pol- icy," and make every loyal heart feel, to its ver} 7 depth, that we must, if we would save our beloved country, promptly execute the be- hests of a true justice and a pure, lofty patri- AN ANALYSIS OF A MORAL NATURE. 01 olism upon the head of ever}' evil-doer. Trai- tors, South and North, must be made to feel that our country, our Government, our free institutions, are worth something. CHAPTER X. AN ANALYSIS OF A MORAL NATURE. There are many things quite generally felt to be true, and their consequences almost uni- versally accepted, and yet very few have a proper understanding of them, and can defend their position, or the course to which, their convictions lead them. It is pre-eminently so in respect to what is termed a moral nature. Men speak of it every day, and are, they feel, bound continually to act it out, and to require of others to do the same ; and yet how few have any definite, clear conception of a moral nature, and how many and dangerous the errors here. What, then, it may properly be asked, is a moral nature f We very briefly reply, it is made up of three elements. First, an understanding, to discern the relation, of 62 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. things ; second, a conscience, or moral sense, to see and feel the moral obligations growing out of these relations ; and, thirdly, a will free to obey or disobey these dictates of conscience. He who has such an understanding, such a conscience, such a will, is a moral agent, and consciously so. He is so regarded, too, in the universal judgment of mankind, and as such he is always addressed in the Word of God. A being thus endowed, whether man or angel, whether in the body or out of the body, knows that there are some things which he ought to do, and others tha/t he ought not to do, and that he is justly responsible for all his moral conduct, and deserves all the retributions of a righteous judgment. But take away any one of the above three described faculties, and you destroy moral agency, and, consequently, moral responsibility. To punish, for example, an insane man or an idiot, in whom the moral faculties, to say the least, are, for the time, not in exercise, or a brute beast, that clearly has no such capacities, is manifestly unjust and absurd. And here the question may fairly arise — so important, as all must see, and' yet so little understood, because not regarded in the light of a true ethics — what ought we to think and AN ANALYSIS OF A MORAL NATURE. 03 to do in the case of crimes committed during intoxication ? Altogether to clear the drunk- ard of criminality for his conduct is evidently unjust and full of danger to the community. Indeed, no one is safe if any wretch who con- ceives a spite against him may hide behind the shield of voluntary drunkenness and commit brutal and, perhaps, fatal violence upon his victim. But how regard the conduct of such an evil- doer? It has, we think, a clear illustration in the case of a man who, sitting on the ridge of a roof, and so not able to see immediately downward over the front wall of the house, were to roll bowlders from above upon the public pavement below, and in this way kill some un- happy passer-by. Such a man might plead that he had no personal malice toward the in- dividual killed, that he did not know he was on the pavement, and, it may be, that he never had any acquaintance with him whatever. Who would be satisfied with this excuse? Why, to commit such an outrage clearly shows that the man was actuated by a general malig- nity against human nature ; that he was in heart a murderer, and that he became actually such through his own fault. So, also, the drunkard. When he became 64 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. voluntarily intoxicated, he committed one of the greatest of crimes, because it virtually in- volved all the crimes possible for him to per- petrate in that state. He voluntarily cast aside for a time the all-important power of self- government with which his Maker had en- dowed him, and so laid himself open to every temptation to any and every act of wickedness. For him, then, to plead that he had no personal malice against the individual whose life he de- stroyed — perhaps that he did not even know him — such a plea, we say, is no better in his case than in that of the man who wickedly rolled down bowlders upon casual passengers. The drunkard knew, or he ought to have known, when he voluntarily threw away his God-given safeguard against temptation and crime, that he incurred a liability to most fear- ful consequences both to himself and others. He is, therefore, really guilty, and ought to be treated as such on the same principle that we just now condemned the wretch who destroyed life by rolling bowlders from the house-top, though he, too, had no special malice toward his victim. He could not, indeed, after he had let loose the stone, stop it in its career down- ward ; neither can the drunkard, in many cases, check the mad violence of passions which he AN ANALYSIS OF A MORAL NATURE. 65 himself had unchained. But the question here is, Who loosed the tiger ? Is not, then, the crime of drunkenness doubly great — great in itself because an outrage upon the man's own higher nature, and great because known on his part to involve terrible conse- quences to himself and others? But, alas, how little do drunkards — how little does even society, in its present moral status — think of this ! Drunkards, as well as the com- munity generally, treat intoxication as a very little evil, scarcely to be accounted such — in- deed, often a thing only to be laughed at. "The fellow is a little tight! He has got a brick in his hat ! " And thus do "fools make a mock at sin." (Prov. xiv : 9.) But is it not written, "Nor drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God ?" (ICor. vi: 10.) When will our country rise to the elevation of a true ethics here, and regard and punish, drunkenness as other crimes, or rather as one of the greatest of these, because the monster parent of that countless progeny of vices and crimes that is continually destroying the peace of individuals, of families, and of society gen- erally ? 66 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. CHAPTER XI. ETHICS OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. The justice and need of the death-penalty have been questioned by some. But the founda- tion and evidences for it are abundantly clear and satisfactory, both in the Word of God and the general voice of mankind in all ages. Before the deluge — so far as appears — the experiment of the social state without capital punishment was long and fairly tried. And what was the result? "The earth was filled with violence." (Gen. vi: 11.) The ground became so deeply stained with blood-guiltiness that only the waters of a deluge could cleanse it. Immediately after this awful judgment of Almighty God, the precept was given to Noah, the second head of the race, and through him to the whole human family, " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by men shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man." (Gen. ix: 6.) This great divine law, grounded on the " rock of ages," God's eternal and immuta- ble character, was republished on very many ETHICS OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 67 occasions afterward, and was continued in force under the Mosaic economy ; and when the gospel dispensation succeeded, not a word was said implying the abrogation of this law. On the contrary, its continuance and binding power are clearly taught us in such passages of the Scripture as these : " The ruler beareth not the sword in vain ; for he is the minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." (Rom. xiii : 4.) We know that the sword was the usual in* strument of capital punishment under the Roman Government; and hence, in the use of this figurative language, the apostle here rec- ognizes and sustains the justice and the need of the death-penalty. And on another occa- sion, when the apostle was himself on trial before a Roman court, he thus expresses his views of capital punishment: "If I be an of- fender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die." (Acts xxv: 2.) Here, also, the apostle is seen in his own case to acknowledge the justice and the need of the death-penalty under certain circumstances. And it is a remarkable fact, too, that all nations and people, ancient and modern, how- ever separated in religion, customs, modes of government, distance, or in any other respect, 68 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. all unite in declaring the death-penalty just and needful ; n the case of the murderer; and in that of the traitor, also, who aims a fatal blow, not at the life of one man, but at that of the whole community. We have, then, the law of God — the Sov- ereign, Creator, Ruler, and Judge — and we have, also, the almost universal judgment of men, in all ages and countries, in favor of the justice and the necessity of capital punishment for certain crimes. To go against such evidence, must it not involve fearful responsibility ? A false human- itarianism is one of the most dangerous forms of falsehood, injustice, and real cruelty. THE ETHICS OF EXPEDIENCY. 69 CHAPTER XII. THE ETHICS OF EXPEDIENCY. We are persuaded that there is no error which has spread so widely at this day, and is so balefully demoralizing the public mind, as the doctrine of expediency. Not long since, as we were walking on the street, we met a judge, and, after conversing with him a few minutes about a shocking mur- der that had been recently committed, we asked him what would probably be done. He coolly replied, "Perhaps nothing. You know," he added, " that when a case of this sort occurs, the public mind is at first horrified, and an al- most universal cry bursts out for the condign punishment of the murderer. But very soon this dies awa}% and such strong influences be- gin to be put forth to release the offender that it is difficult, perhaps not possible, certainly not expedient, to resist, and so the whole matter too often comes to nothing, or next to nothing." Of this sad fact, indeed, we were w^ell aware ; but at once the reflection came rushing upon 70 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. us, " Alas ! so* soon to forget the poor victim, lying in his bloody grave, and to have no more feeling for the cruelly bereaved wife and chil- dren, and to regard so little outraged law and an outraged country, but to be all sympathy for the murderer whose hands are yet dripping with blood, "What a dreadfully demoralized state of the public mind does this demonstrate ! How Godless, how brutal, how atheistic ! " But, alas ! this is the natural result of the impious doctrine of expediency. How common, also, is it now to meet, in cer- tain public prints, such expressions as this : "It is perhaps not expedient to hang Jeff. Davis" etc.; that is to say, if you execute such a villain, you will give offense to thoughtless men, here and there, who have little or no concern for morals or law ; and to wicked men, who are too conscious of their own ill-desert to think well of punishment of any kind or degree, and to infidel humanitarians, who eagerly seize upon any occasion to make a cheap display of their superior humanity. And so, by this foolish, corrupt influence, are better men too often led silently to acquiesce in the impunity of the most atrocious criminals. " It is not expedient!" But we would solemnly remind all such easy ones that there is a crime that they seem little THE ETniCS OF EXPEDIENCY. 71 to think of, terrible as it really is — the crime of substituting expediency for justice, the crime of thus practically nullifying God's holy law and all righteous law, and so opening wide the flood-gates of vice and villainy upon the coun- try, just to please a few bad men, or to pander to a corrupt public sentiment. What a fearful weight of guilt do these men of expediency bring upon themselves, and how awful their account in the last day, when a just judgment will surely be visited upon them, and all other evil-doers ! Let us ever solemnly bear in mind that, in the case of crime, our one fixed determination and endeavor should be to "do justice" and calmly leave the consequences to Almighty God, the righteous sovereign of the universe. This is our wisdom and our safety, and it is the plainest teaching of a true ethics. The terrible results of the policy of expedi- ency were clearly and most impressively ex- hibited in the assassination of President Lincoln. Mr. Hamlin, by education and social circum- stances no friend of slavery, or its demoralizing and mischievous influences, was selected as candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States, on the ticket with Mr. Lincoln as Presi- dent. Having successfully fought this first hat- 72 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. tie for freedom, and been elected to office, and having shared in the responsibilities, the labors, and the perils of conducting the country safely through the rebellion, a true ethics identified before the country these two distinguished men, and called upon them, by every principle of integrity and honor, to sink or swim to- gether. But when the time of a second election drew nigh, Mr. Lincoln, (as was almost certain be- fore, but now made positively so by the dis- closures of the Secretary of the Senate of the United States, Mr. Forney,) moved by the policy of expediency, put forth an influence, or at least caused it to be used, upon the Con- vention at Baltimore, which substituted Mr. Johnson as candidate for the Vice-Presidency. But, alas for the shortsightedness of human nature ! this expedient to conciliate doubtful men and disloyal men seemed to some won- drously wise ; but very speedily was the folly of it manifested. Mr. Hamlin, as an anti slavery man, was the great safeguard of Mr. Lincoln. He was Mr. Lincoln's best policy of life insur- ance. But from the moment of the election of a slaveholder to the Yice-Presidency, Mr. Lin- coln's days were not worth calculating. The traitors knew their advantage, and speedily I THE ETHICS OF EXPEDIENCY. 73 improved it. Mr. Lincoln was assassinated, and the secessionists have not been disappointed in their expectations of the results. And how alarmingly are these results every day now coming out. And what is yet before us God alone knows. The Government has trifled with treason and dandled with traitors, and we are now reaping the harvest of this our folly and wickedness. We have reason at this moment to apprehend a second and more terrible na- tional crisis. May it find the great body of the loyal people, through God's guidance and bless- ing, thoroughly prepared for it! A true ethics indissolubly associated Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Hamlin ; but a cunning, timid expediency seemed to call for the retirement of Mr. Hamlin, and to this policy, as events have shown, was Mr. Lincoln the sacrifice. But it is not the first time that a noble though mistaken man has fallen a victim of political expediency. "We have long since been warned, by the highest authority, that when a good man is betrayed into such a position, he lays himself open to the most dire calamities. The evils of this policy not unfrequently " re- turn upon his own head, and come down upon his own pate." But the terrible influence of the doctrine of 74 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. expediency may now be most widely, and deeply, and mournfully studied in the history of the late war. That slavery was the chief cause of the re- bellion is acknowledged on all hands — at the outset by secessionists themselves, and very soon by the loyal people at the North. And it speedily became manifest that slavery was the main strength and support of the war on the part of the South. Just on the eve of our troubles, and before any battle had been fought, a citizen of the West, earnestly wishing to avert so dire a ca- lamity from the country, became convinced that this could be done without the shedding of one drop of blood, if we, instead of trifling any longer with cunning but delusive and wicked expedients, would manfully place our foot at once on the ground of right. Accordingly, he sent a communication to the President and members of the Cabinet, and other leading men, in which, after briefly showing the origin, growth, and malign influence of slavery over the whole country, and demonstrating that it was the chief reason of the terrible evils then impending, he pointed out the way to a true, peaceful, and immediate deliverance of the na- tion. We here subjoin a few extracts: THE ETHICS OF EXPEDIENCY. 75 " Slavery, instead of dying out in a few years, as our patriotic fathers believed it would, has gone on extending, till at last, emboldened, in- fatuated by success, it has openly proclaimed its policy to crush out the very spirit of freedom from the Union, and subdue the whole country, in all time to come, to its own hateful rule. " But though the free States have hitherto been shackled at every step by the influence of slavery propagandism, yet, in spite of this, they continued to advance in population and wealth, and every thing which deservedly gives weight to a people. The encroachments of the slave power began, however, within a few years past, to be so manifest and full of peril, that the free States could no longer close their eyes to the fearful fact that they must soon be stripped of their precious legacy of civil and religious liberty, and sink down into poor, dastard serfs, or they must arise in their strength, and exercise their constitutional right of taking the administration of the Na- tional Government into their own hands, if they could. They did so fairly ; but had they failed in the late National election, they would no doubt, as before, have quietly submitted till another occasion was presented of legally right- ing themselves. 76 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. "Not so the slaveholding oligarchy. When they discovered that they could no longer rule, they determined to ruin. It is now the auda- cious policy of secession to seize upon the Na-. tional capital, break up the General Govern- ment, and usurp the power of the whole country. The mask is thrown aside; they have recently told us that the Fugitive-slave Law, and other kindred measures, were merely pretexts got up in times past to humiliate and break down the spirit of the free North, and that disunion has really been their master- policy and purpose from the beginning. " But we needed not this shameless avowal. General Jackson long since understood the whole case. In speaking of the South Caro- lina nullification movement of his day, and which he nipped in the bud, he remarked, * It was tariff then; next it will be the nigger!' But the stern old man put down his foot, and, with his usual oath, declared that he ' would hang the chief leader of that treasonable scheme if he proceeded a step further ; that the Union must and shall be preserved' This firmness killed in a moment that secession rebellion. And the same result would have followed under the late Administration had the same brave, patriotic spirit animated it. THE ETHICS OF EXPEDIENCY. 77 " The cause of all our troubles is now patent. For years the slaveholding oligarchy has had a school of politicians — cunning, unscrupulous, ambitious — laboring most industriously and in- sidiously to keep out all light, and poison the minds of the people with secession schemes. And when they saw that their day of rule was over, they determined to strike a bold stroke for power. Doubtless they were encouraged to this mad attempt at usurpation by equally artful, unscrupulous politicians at the North, who led them to believe that there were mul- titudes in the free States who sympathized and would make common cause with them against the Union. " The whole secret, then, is just this : Seces- sion is merely the means by which the slave- holding oligarchy are determined to perpetuate their power, crush out freedom, and rule a newly -constructed pro-slavery Union. " Shall they do it? The whole free North have arisen as one man, and declared they shall not. Whether, then, the Union shall be restored or we become a separate people, this point is settled: the free men of the North will never hereafter bow their necks knowingly to slavery domination. " What, then, is now our greatest danger ? 78 ETniCS FOR THE TIMES. Does not the above rapid sketch of onr coun- try's history supply the answer ? " The South has all along been really weak, and she has hitherto ruled — or, rather, a very small slaveholding aristocracy has ruled — alike over the free masses in the South and in the North, and it has done this only by a series of compromises. The famous Missouri Compromise was merely one example of this, and its history is full of instruction. When an honest man is simple enough to make a compromise — that is, to yield a principle for the sake of expediency — the rogue will observe his part of the bargain just so long as he can profit by it, and then be sure to repeal it; so that in the end the victim finds that he has sold his principles and been cheated out of the price. " The secessionists well know that the Con- stitution, honestly carried out, kills all their hopes ; and that to defend and uphold free- dom, not slavery, will hereafter be the sublime mission of this Union, as its noble authors in- tended it should be. Hence, they are not sat- isfied with the Constitution as our fathers gave it to us. O no! They must have engrafted upon it such changes as will guarantee slavery, incorporate it into our very national existence, THE ETHICS OF EXPEDIENCY. 79 unalterably pledge all the people of the Union to indorse and uphold it to the end of time. Slavery would then be, not sectional as it now is, and bad enough as that is, but national. "Are the free States prepared to do this? With our whole soul we believe not. And yet their greatest danger is being cheated into it — cunningly led under the yoke before they are aware of it. Let them only even consent to parley with the tempter, to open their ears to the siren song of com/promise, and all is over with them ; their locks will be shorn, and the Philistines be upon them, and put them to j grinding corn in the prison-house/ the only employment they will then be fit for. "As much as we abhor chattel slavery, we do admire the outspoken frankness of Mr. Stephens, the Vice-President of the sham re- public. He proclaimed to the world, in a late speech, that slavery is the corner-stone of the secession confederacy; that its grand and pe- culiar mission is — as, indeed, the Rev. Dr. Palmer, of New Orleans, had taught them — to perpetuate and extend slavery ; and that to uphold this diabolical crusade against the whole civilized world, they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. "From what we know, however, of the 80 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. eraft, the violence, and the villainy with which State after State has been hurried into seces- sion by a few leading spirits, may we not hope that Mr. Stephens has misrepresented the great mass of the Southern people, the non-slave- holders? But should it be found that this declaration of Mr. Stephens is, indeed, the fair expression of sentiment, rooted and grounded in the Southern mind, how can we ever be brought together on the same platform ? Such an attempt at union would be the madman's folly of mingling fire and gunpowder. "A glorious destiny, we trust, is before the free North, if we go alone, as perhaps we must; but the South, in thralldom to a slave- holding oligarchy, will be left to work out a fearful ruin, unless a Napoleon — perhaps now born — is mercifully raised up to coerce into peace and order those who are manifestly in- capable of self-government — unfit for free in- stitutions. "Do not recent events in our country sig- nally confirm the teachings of God's Word, and of all history, that they who oppress others must themselves, sooner or later, suc- cumb to the yoke? Yerily, the prospect of the slaves is brighter than that of their mas- ters and the non-slaveholding masses about THE ETHICS OF EXPEDIENCY. 81 them ; for to the former the day of their re- demption seems at hand, but the latter have a long, dreary night before them. " Another lesson : Does not the present posi- tion of the seceded States place the startling alternative before every friend of freedom and the Union throughout the country, You must kill slavery or slavery will kill you ? "When the judgments of God are abroad in a land, is the warning of inspiration, it becomes the inhab- itants thereof to learn righteousness. The 'cry of the oppressed' has for many long years been going up to heaven from our coun- try, and the vials of wrath are now being poured out upon us. Are we learning right- eousness? Are we yet willing to put away the < accursed thing ' from us ? So sure as there is a God in heaven, we shall never know a true peace till we do. "But can this measure, demanded alike by the plainest justice, Christian benevolence, and a sound policy, be legally accomplished? It can. That great statesman, and honest, fear- less patriot, John Quincy Adams, in a debate in the House of Representatives, proclaimed the law of nations upon this subject : < In time of war, whether servile, civil, or foreign, not only the President of the United States, 6 82 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. but the commander of the army, has power to order the universal emancipation of the slaves/ This he announced as the well-settled, uni- versally-recognized law of nations. The House and the country were profoundly impressed by its first utterance, and no one has yet been found to contradict it. " Such a proclamation would instantly par- alyze secession, restore peace to the country, and perpetuate the Union. We have it, then, rightfully in our power to* put away, at once and forever, the accursed cause of all our evils. And are not all things manifestly drifting to- ward this point ? And is not the popular mind already far in advance of the politicians? It is widely seen and felt that the slaveholding oligarchy, by wilfully throwing itself outside of the pale of the Constitution, has forfeited all claim to the protection of those laws which it had cunningly imposed upon the free men of the land, in violation of the Constitution, to guard and uphold its wicked system of op- pression. Wide and plain, then, is the path of. deliverance which a good Providence, through the infatuation of secessionists, has opened before us. And how solemn is our responsibility! The future destiny of our be- loved country, for weal or for woe, is in the THE ETHICS OF EXPEDIENCY. 83 hands of the men of this generation. Honor, interest, duty, the salvation of our free insti- tutions, all we hold dear for ourselves and for those who shall come after us, call upon us now to wipe off the foul blot from our national escutcheon, to cut out by the roots the cancer that is consuming the very vitals of our Republic. " Have we an Administration enlightened, brave, patriotic enough to take this noble stand, and save the whole country, the South and the North? A position so sublime could not but call forth the admiration and cordial support of the great mass of the people. It would gain the plaudits of the whole civilized world, and achieve for its heroic authors an enviable renown in all coming ages." But the events of the next three years showed that we had not such an Administra- tion as the writer of the above hoped. "We blundered on from one expedient to another, till, at last, it became manifest that we must cease from our foolish, crafty devices of expe- diency, 'and "do justly," or God would leave us to perish. It was not so much, then, high moral con- siderations and a sense of dutifulness, but a clear and stern necessity, that drove the Ad- 84 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. ministration to that great but long and most criminally-delayed measure of righteousness, the Proclamation of Emancipation, and the call upon our colored fellow-citizens to rally round the flag of our common country. From that moment the dark clouds broke away, and all became clear before us. We marched on from victory to victory, till the slaveholders' rebellion was crushed out and the national banner floated over the whole land. Alas for human folly and wickedness! that so much precious life was sacrificed, so much treasure , wasted, so many homes filled with mourning, so many hearts broken all over the land, before we were willing to do what was simply right— so clearly right in the sight of the President himself, that he solemnly in- voked "the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God " upon the act. But we are not alone here in the world's history. The great object of human governments hitherto seems generally to have_ been to avoid doing justice. May our recent sad experience burn in upon the very souls of our statesmen the folly, the wickedness, and the danger of devising political expedients, instead of always manfully standing up for the right! ETHICS OF THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE. 85 CHAPTER XIII. ETHICS OF THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE. We have spoken of the moral responsibility and criminality of drunkards. But does not the fearful state of the inebriate call for the se- rious concern of others and of society generally ? We here propose, therefore, very briefly to notice our duty toward the cause of temper- ance. 1. We ought to set an example of total absti- nence from all intoxicating drinks as a beverage, because without this we can not here labor con- sistently and successfully for the good of others. We must be able to show in our own case that a strict temperance is practicable and beneficial. Only in this way will we be likely to exert a salutary influence upon society generally, and especially upon the unhappy victim of strong drink. It is, therefore, needless to endeavor to prove that the use of intoxicating liquor, even to taste a single drop of wine, is a sin, 'per se, that is wrong 86 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. in itself. This ground we have heard even good men take, and place the temperance cause upon it. But equally good men can not accept this view. It is well, therefore, that we are not required to advocate the cause of temper- ance upon this ground. We have a great ethi- cal principle here on which all good men may stand — broad enough and strong enough upon which to stake any interest, however large and solemn, without any fear of the result or even divisions among good men. It is, there- fore, needless to endeavor to prove that the use of any intoxicating liquor is a sin in itself. It is sufficient to say that, 2. A true ethics requires us to love our neigh- bor as ourselves, and, consequently, to do unto him as we would he should do unto us. We are required, then, by the great law of charity, which is the vital principle of all sound ethics, not only to avoid injuring others, but to do them all the good we can, especially by our example. If we do not feel the force of this argument, we have strong grounds to suspect our own characters as followers of the Savior, or truly moral men. No one doubts the lawfulness of eating meat, and yet Paul declares " that he would not eat meat while the world stands, if thereby he ETHICS OF THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE. 87 caused his neighbor to offend ;" that is, if his example was likely to embolden his weak or less-enlightened brother to do wrong, or what he believed to be wrong. (1 Cor. viii : 13.) We want no higher, firmer, or more durable ground on which to place the temperance or any really good cause. 3. For the same reason we ought not to make, buy, sell, or give such liquors as a beverage, or rent our property or loan our capital to those who will use it for such purposes. All such practices, and the profits thereof, are " the price of blood" Do they not cause the cry of murder to come up from all parts of the land, and send tens of thousands every year into an undone eternity ? Surely a true ethics forbids such practices and profits. 88 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. CHAPTER XIV. ETHICS OP DIVORCE. The family is the foundation of the State for morals and durability. Let the family be rightly ordered, and the community will certainly be peaceful and prosperous. But badly-brought- up children will be sure to make bad citizens and a declining country. That there has been a great increase of crime throughout the land for years past we all know, and that penal laws are fast losing their power is very manifest. Respect for government among us is certainly not so widely and deeply felt as it once was. Hence the open and quite general prevalence of gambling, and violation of the Sabbath, and other vices, in the very teeth of public enactments. And hence, also, the fre- quent mobs, and still more numerous acts of individual violence, daily reported . in all parts of the land. All these evils begin in the family. The want of proper instruction and government ETHICS OF DIVORCE. WJ there sends out those bitter streams, which agi- tate and infect, and must, if not checked, finally destroy the body politic. The cure must, therefore, begin in families. So long as these are in an unsound state, it is plain the commu- nity can never become healthy. Things must go on from bad to worse, till such a general alarm be felt as shall lead to a radical repent- ance and reformation, or a moral dissolution so deep and universal ensue as must terminate the nation's life. Now, what has so fearfully impaired the pur- ity and good order of the family among us ? Doubtless there are many causes continually operating this disastrous result ; but we hesitate not to say that one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of these causes, is the vicious facility of divorce. A strong sense and feeling of the sanctity of the marriage relation are essential to render farnilies the abode of virtue and hap- piness. But our legislation is, for the most part, too well calculated to impair this sense and feeling of the marriage tie. The grounds on which a divorce may be ob- tained have been so multiplied, that few appli- cants can fail of success. And the knowledge that the marriage compact can be nullified pretty much at the pleasure of the parties, 90 ETHICS FOR TIIE TIMES. tends, as a matter of course, to produce thought- less, indiscreet, and improper marriages, to en- courage dissatisfaction and strife after marriage, and so to render the home any thing but a place of virtuous training and happiness to the children, and very often to produce a final sep- aration or divorce of the parents. Such fami- lies are continual fountains of corruption and disorder to the country. So well understood is this facility of divorce in some of our States, that it has been often jocularly remarked, in the public prints, that the lady whose husband has gone into one of these States for a brief time, professedly to attend to a business transaction, should be careful how she receives him on his return, lest she take to her arms — not her husband. In- deed, the evil has become so great that some of the States have been compelled to disregard such divorces. They have been obliged to pro- tect their own citizens by judicially deciding that the plea of such a divorce, obtained abroad, shall, in case of a second marriage, after a return home, be no bar to judgment; that the of- fender shall, notwithstanding, be sent to the pen- itentiary as a bigamist. This is right, but it is not all that is necessary. The laws of divorce call for a thorough revision. They have, hith- ETHICS OF DIVORCE. 91 erto, to a great extent, been framed upon the principle of expediency. It is time now to go back to the divine rule, the only true ethics, if we would put a stop to this swelling tide of corruption. What, then, is God's law of marriage? We answer, The absolute indestructibility of the CONTRACT, UNLESS FOR ADULTERY. The Words of the Divine Lawgiver are too clear and simple to be misunderstood by any honest reader: "He who made them at the beginning, made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Whoso? ever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commit- teth adultery; and whosoever marrieth her who is put away, doth commit adultery." (Matt, xix: 4-6, 9; also, Mark x: 11, 21; Luke xvi : 18.) But here a very important question may be asked : How may we arrive most speedily at a sound legislation on this momentous subject? We answer, let the Church, as the great con- servator of public morals, at once begin to act 92 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. faithfully in the matter.* Let her discipline all offending members here, and refuse to marry again any person who has obtained a divorce on other than scriptural grounds. The public conscience would soon thus become enlightened, purified, and elevated, so as to demand just and wholesome legislation on the subject of divorce. And then one of the most copious springs of corruption, and vice, and wretch- edness to society would soonest and most ef- fectually be dried up. But should it be said that, even without the *The Genera} Assembly of the (N. S.) Presbyterian Church has taken the scriptural position on the subject of divorce. The case of a minister deposed by a Presbytery for mar- rying a woman divorced, but not for adultery on the part of the husband, was brought by appeal before the Assembly, and the Presbytery was sustained. The Assembly took the occasion to deliver the following most clear and decided ut- terance c "The General Assembly, whilst rendering this decision, takes occasion to call the attention of the churches under its care to a jtendency, manifest in some portions of the country, to relax the sacredness of the marriage tie. Lying, as the institution of marriage does, at the very foundation of order, purity, and prosperity in the State and in the Church, the Assembly can not view, without abhorrence, any attempt to diminish its sanctity, or extend beyond the warrant of the Holy Scriptures the grounds of divorce." [Di- gest, page 248. Rev. W. E. Moore, compiler. Philadelphia, 1861 ETHICS OF DIVORCE. 03 crime of adultery, other sins, such as habitual drunkenness, etc., may so destroy the peace and corrupt the morals of the household, and, indeed, endanger the lives of wife and children, ns to render living together most injurious, perhaps unendurable. Let the innocent party, so unhappily situated, separate. This measure, as a last resort, has often been found most ef- fectual to work a thorough reformation and a happy reunion. By thus returning to the scriptural rule — and nothing short of this is a true ethics — we take the best means to render the marriage re- lation sacred and venerable in the eyes of the public, to insure though tfulness and prudence in those who anticipate an entrance into its bonds, and, what is more important, the culti- vation of mutual forbearance, and a kindly spirit and deportment, between married persons ; and, what is most important of all, we insure virtuous and happy families. The strength, the purity, the peace, the prosperity of the State, brought about by the influence of such families, can not be measured. But whatever else we may do, it is vain to look for such blessings to the country with- out a thorough ethical revision of our divorce laws. As these now are, they virtually hold 94 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. out a premium to all the terrible evils we have alluded to, and, vastly worse, not to be described. >»?€ CHAPTER XV. CUSTOMS, ETC. At a public meeting, a few years since, a very respectable and intelligent gentleman spoke of the scruples with which some were unnecessarily troubled, and of the counsel he himself had recently given to a friend thus perplexed. He evidently considered his exam- ple one which it behooved all present to follow, His friend, it seems, hesitated about embark- ing in a certain public service, because some things of at least doubtful morality would prob- ably be required of him. The advice given him was this : " Be not con- cerned at all about it. They who, in authority, direct you, and not you, are responsible in such cases." The person who so counseled his friend was ETC. 95 evidently not at all aware how false and per- nicious the ground was which he assumed. It upsets hoth law and gospel, because it implies that moral agency and moral responsibility may, under certain circumstances, at the will of an individual, be nullified or thrown off. But in what part of the Bible, or in what sound system of ethics, is it ever taught that we may sink our moral agency and responsibility, or shift them oft* upon others ? Our moral agency is, in truth, our own; it is a part of our very nature, and we can not get rid of it, even for a moment, without ceasing to be what we are. Hence our actions are always our own, and must ever remain so. Accordingly, each one of us must give an account for himself in the great day. If others would wickedly impose upon us wrong conduct, the} 7 have that sin to answer for ; and if we consent to do the evil enjoined by them, we also become guilty. It is, therefore, wrong voluntarily to place ourselves where we have reason to think that we shall be required to do evil. With what propriety can we pray God " not to lead us into temptation," when we thus willingly run into it? Again : If at any time an unjust law is sought to be imposed upon us, we must, with the Apostles, under similar circumstances, respect- 96 ETHICS FOK THE TIMES. fully but firmly reply, " Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye," etc. (Acts iv: 19.) Consider, under these circumstances, first, that such a law is really no law at all — a mere sham, an arbitrary and wrongful human impo- sition, for which no government has authority from the great Lawgiver. On this most im- portant point, all the great lights of the law, from Sir John Fortescue, in 1630, down to Sir "William Blackstone and Chancellor Kent, of our day, are perfectly clear and decided. "No laws" they declare, with one consent, " no laws are valid if contrary to God's law, and all hu- man laws derive their binding authority solely from their divine original." 2. You may use all proper and innocent means to escape the penalty of disobedience to such laws. (Matt, x: 23.) 3. If you must suffer, " possess your soul in patience;" and not only so, but "count it all joy," for you may, in this way, do more to awaken and enlighten the public conscience than by all other means combined. The com- munity generally will be stirred up to think, and they will, sooner or later, see that you are the victim of a wicked law, and they will de- mand its repeal. ETC. 97 4. The administration itself will speedily be made to feel that it was foolish policy to at- tempt to constrain the moral convictions of any, however humble, and that it is best to let you off as easily as possible, and trouble you no more. Was it not just so in the case of the late Fugitive-slave Law ? In obedience to our slave- holding lords, a servile administration passed that most wicked and unconstitutional law. The consequences were, good men every-where condemned it, the people took the alarm, and all who were punished for extending the hand of charity to the poor, panting, hungry fugitive from slavery were justly regarded as " persecuted for righteousness' sake." Hence, scarcely any but "lewd fellows of the baser sort" would have any hand in carrying out this abominable enactment. And so it soon became a dead let- ter ; still, however, an ulcer on the popular heart and a standing reproach upon our free country. It had, however, one salutary operation : it helped, like all the other infatuated measures of the slave lords, the more speedily to bring on the late national crisis, and thus destroy the villainous institution itself, to uphold and ex- tend which, over the whole land, was really the great object of the law. 7 98 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. And hence, suffering endured under this pre- tended law was not in vain. To such noble martyrs for truth, righteousness, and freedom we of the present day are greatly indebted ; and future ages will call these sufferers "blessed," while "the memory" of their persecutors "will rot." Furthermore, the principle here advocated — viz., that we never can voluntarily put off' our moral responsibility — throws light upon many other cases also. Take that of the traveler, for example. If the proprietors of a public conveyance will not stop their vehicle on the Sabbath, let the sin be theirs ; but let the trav- eler, if possible, leave it, and so avoid a, guilty complicity in this sin. Let him stop, we say, to engage in the duties and enjoy the sacred privileges of the Lord's day. He will be sure to have his reward even here. (1 Tim. iv : 11.) We might relate many instances of the most happy results of such obedience to God's law. Take but three for examples : 1. The late able and deeply pious Jeremiah Everts, Esq., Corresponding Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, when on his frequent tours to attend to the business of his agency, was always wont to keep holy the Sabbath. If traveling in a ETC. 99 public conveyance, he would leave it, when practicable, to enjoy the privileges of the Lord's day. To say nothing here of the influence of so good an example upon his fellow- travelers, he gratefully records that he found this sacred rest full of profit to his own soul ; and we doubt not that it greatly contributed to his growth in that spiritual wisdom and energy which so remarkably characterized him as a servant of Christ and the Church. " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary ; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah xl : 31.) 2. A few years since, two or three travelers on the New York Canal, going westward, left the boat near a village, on Saturday, to observe the rest of the Sabbath. They were greatly refreshed by the religious privileges afforded them, and delighted, also, to find so many doors unexpectedly and kindly opened to them for Christian usefulness. The next day they proceeded on their jour- ney, and learned, on their arrival at Buffalo, that the steamboat on which they were to go had they not stopped to keep the rest of the Sabbath, had met with a calamity, resulting in the loss of several lives. While deeply grieved 100 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. at the catastrophe which had befallen their fellow-travelers, they could not restrain their thanksgivings in view of the Lord's distinguish- ing goodness to them. " If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on mj holy day ; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own way, nor find- ing thine own pleasures, nor speaking thine own words : then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father : for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah lviii : 13, 14.) 3. The writer had among his parishioners, several years ago, a poor but respectable me- chanic, who, by his daily toils, supported his family in tolerable comfort. He and his were active and exemplary church-members. A few years afterward, I again met this man, who had in the meanwhile established himself in the interior of the State, and was there en- gaged in a very profitable business, and had, indeed, already become quite prominent and influential as a citizen and a member of the Church. His remarkable and rapid elevation of circumstances was thus providentially brought ETHICS OF BAD COUNSELS, ETC. 101 about. Ho left my charge because he thought he might better his condition by going further west. In Missouri he met with a party about to go upon a hunting expedition, who per- suaded him to accompany them. "When the Sabbath approached, he proposed to stop at some convenient point, and there suitably spend that holy day. They refused, and he separated himself from them to carry out his purpose alone. Early on the following Mon- day, as he was getting ready to rejoin the com- pany he had left, a United States surveying expedition arrived at the village. As they wanted another man, they invited him to enter the service, under the promise of a fair com- pensation. He did so. After the public work was accomplished, he was given, as a part of his reward, a tract of wild land. Immigration rapidly flowed in, and these lands were quickly disposed of at very favorable prices. The money thus obtained enabled him at once to enter advantageously into business. He soon rose to an enviable position of pecuniary abil- ity and Christian usefulness. Now mark, dear reader : It was by tarrying behind, in obedience to God's law of the Sab- bath, he was providentially brought into com- pany with the surveying party, and thus a 102 ETHICS FOR TIIE TIMES. way was most unexpectedly opened before him in the midst of the wilderness — short, honest, and easy — from poverty to prosperity. "So that a man shall say, Yerily there is a reward for the righteous; verily he is a God that judg- eth in the earth." (Ps. lviii : 11.) CHAPTER XY1. ETHICS OF CASUALTIES. These casualties, as they are commonly called, may be divided into public and private. 1. The first public caualties we shall here notice are those of war. It is well known that of the multitudes who perish in war, the greater part fall victims to the hardships and diseases incidental to a military life. But each of those, whether he died on the battle-field, or in hospitals, or by the wayside, might have lived, had it not been' for the war, a useful citizen and a prosperous, happy man, many years longer, perhaps to a ripe old age. His untimely death was, then, the result of ETHICS OP CASUALTIES. 103 war, and, consequently, the responsibility of blood-guiltiness must rest somewhere. Who slew all these? is a solemn question. Usually this can be determined only by the omniscient Judge. He knows to whom the blood-guiti- ness is, in each case, justly chargeable, and it will appear in the last great day. Now, the whole history of the world has shown that the national guilt of war is usually shared by both parties. In some rare instances, however, the sin is nearly, perhaps altogether, on one side. In this latter case, the blood of murder rests entirely on the guilty nation or party, and upon each individual of that nation or party, according to the influence he exerted to bring on the war. All is naked and open before God, and he will not fail to execute a righteous judgment in each case. Some one must give an account for each individual who dies in war. The real murderers will then stand exposed and receive the due reward of their evil deeds. It becomes us all, therefore, here to judge ourselves, and avoid guilt by doing nothing to inflame or misdirect the public mind so as to lead to unnecessary war and the terrible guilt thereof. But particularly should men in power, and politicians and their miserable tools, and 104 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. partisan editors, who selfishly endanger the nation's peace for their own personal or party interests — it behooves such, we say, to reflect upon the heinousness of their crime and the terrible responsibility to which they must at last be held. It was a fearful foreshadowing of this judgment, exhibited, as the papers re- port, by a mutilated soldier, not long since. He approached, at a railroad depot, a man once high in office, who had been notoriously among the most guilty in plunging our country into the horrors of the late civil war, and, hold- ing up the stump of his arm, the maimed sol- dier indignantly exclaimed, "Look at that, you hoary-headed old ! It is all your work! You must soon be called to account for it!" The same principles apply in the case of all other sufferers, whether bereaved families, in- valid soldiers, or those who have been impov- erished, perhaps ruined, by the war. 2. There is another kind of casualty con- tinually occurring. Persons are every day in- jured or killed by being run over in the streets and highways, or by substances falling upon them from windows or house-tops as they are passing along; and — to name no more — by violence on public conveyances. In all such ETHICS OF CASUALTIES. 105 cases, those concerned in the calamity should he put on trial, and made to show that they used all due care to prevent evil ; and, failing to do this, they ought to be condignly pun- ished. If justice were thus done, we would hear of but few such cases in the time to come. The guilt of neglecting a righteous judicial process must rest somewhere. In nearly all such cases, the whole matter is now usually sought to be covered over by the false announcement, A "horrible accident!" We say false, for, in truth, in most instances, the evil is manifestly the result of culpable care- lessness, often of downright recklessness of human life. 3. Private casualties are so various that it is impossible in such a treatise to even enumer- ate them. Adulteration of medicines and of articles of food, and carelessness in putting up medical prescriptions, are of every-day occur- rence. To only one other cause of these "cas- ualties" will we allude. It is the pointing and snapping of fire-arms at others, either in bravado or to alarm the timid, and so too often wounding or, perhaps, killing them ! The plea in such cases always is, that they did not know the weapon was loaded; but they ought to have known that it was not. And, in- 106 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. deed, if they were assured of the latter fact, still, they had no right to trifle with the feel- ings of others by such apparently dangerous conduct. Not one of these cases of private casualties should be passed over without ju- dicial investigation. Such processes of retri- bution are the best means of preventing them, and of cultivating thoughtful ness and con- science in the community, and so preparing the world for a higher, safer, and happier civiliza- tion. =**<*> CHAPTER XVII. ETHICAL RELATIONS OF CITIZENS TOWARD THE GOVERNMENT. Very many seem to regard the Government, to a great extent, as an unreasonably restrain- ing and exacting power, and, therefore, that its demands may be evaded as far- as we safely can. They can see little or no wrong in such conduct; indeed, they often glory in any suc- cess they may here attain. The various pro- RELATIONS TOWARD THE GOVERNMENT. 107 cesses of Government, by which its measures are to be carried out, and the claims it puts forth upon our property for support — all these are disliked by such persons, and, if possible, escaped. Taxes, for example, of every kind, are odious in their eyes — little short of rob- bery by public .authority ; and hence their efforts to conceal or undervalue their property. And were it not for fear of the penalties of dis- obedience, they would seldom be found in courts as witnesses, or in the jury-box. But such views, feelings, and practices are all immoral and wrong; and, so far as they prevail, they inflict great evils on the country, and, if not arrested, must ultimately destroy it. Government is, in truth, among the greatest of all our earthly benefits, and yet the cheap- est. Who could lie down in peace at night were it not for the sleepless eye of Government? And whose life and property would be safe for a single day were not the strong arm of Gov- ernment about him? There is malignity enough and there is villainy enough in every community to render our lives miserable, and destroy every thing precious and sacred to us as individuals, and very speedily to break down the whole fabric of society, and bring upon the land utter desolation and universal moral and political 108 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. dissolution, were it not for the fear of Govern- ment. Government is, therefore, under God, our great earthly safeguard. And yet its pro- tection costs us less than almost any other temporal good. Had we to pay the one half of our property to save the other, and to pro- tect our lives and liberty, civil and religious, it would be a cheap purchase. But where is such a price ever asked? It is, indeed, but a very small per cent, of our means we are obliged, ordinarily, to give for the guardian care of Government. It is, therefore, the duty of every citizen highly to appreciate and obey the Government of his country, cheerfully to comply with its demands for his services, and pay his full pro- portion toward its support. In giving a state- ment of his property for taxation, let him be careful to render a faithful account ; and if, at any time, a doubt arise in his mind, let him be sure to give the Government the benefit of it. Better that you pay too much than fall short. "Be subject to rulers, not only for wrath's sake, (that is, for fear of punishment,) but for conscience' sake," or a sacred regard to what is just and right, is, indeed, an ordinance of God. (Rom. xiii : 5-7.) Let it always be manifest, by your cheerful obedience and lib- RELATIONS TOWARD THE GOVERNMENT. 109 end course hero, that you do thankfully feel your obligations toward Government as, under God, one of your greatest earthly benefactors. Pay due respect to all its officers, whatever their personal character may be, for their of- fice' sake, and promptly obey all their lawful requirements as representatives of the Gov- ernment. Ever to be law-abiding is an essential part of a true ethics. We would here add, that in the state of our beloved country at the present time, the above remarks are pre-eminently true, seasonable, and important. We have just passed success- fully through a most unprovoked, costly, and cruel civil war. The most heroic and self- sacrificing efforts were called for and cheer- fully made. The money and blood of the people were poured out without stint. But by these tremendous sacrifices we saved our free institutions and every thing dear to us as a nation. How sad would have been our state had the slaveholders' rebellion triumphed! We can conceive of no people on earth whose condition would be more deplorable. Irre- trievable ruin must have fallen upon us; or, had we ever recovered from our prostrate con- dition, it would have been only after ages of dreadful sacrifice and bloodshed. 110 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. While, then, our debt of gratitude never can be sufficiently discharged toward those who nobly laid down their lives for our country, let us be careful most honorably to meet all our pecuniary engagements to those who, at the darkest hour, confiding in our integrity, risked, in many cases, their little all in loans to Gov- ernment, to enable it to carry the war to a successful issue and so save our country. Not to fulfill to the last farthing these ob- ligations, would stamp upon us, as a people, such a brand of infamy as never could be ef- faced. And yet this is just what selfish dem- agogues, and half-disguised traitors, and cor- rupt men every-where are continually threat- ening, in order to destroy popular confidence in the patriotic party that carried us safely through the late struggle, and in this way seat themselves in power. It will demand all the moral light and energy of the people to prevent such a catastrophe. But God has mercifully "delivered us in six troubles," and we doubt not, with his blessing, the final tri- umph of truth and righteousness in our land. THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE 111 CHAPTER XVIII. THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. Who shall be endowed with the right of voting? is very generally regarded as a ques- tion of mere expediency. And who shall be permitted to exercise this right ? is also viewed in the same light. The idea of ethics entering into either question is very rarely thought of. But, in opposition to all this, we maintain that every native citizen has by birth a moral right, under the Constitution, to the elective franchise, and that they who would hinder the exercise of this right are bound to give good and sufficient reasons for this abridgment of liberty. Each human being born into the world has the " right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Hence, these are justly pronounced native and inalienable in the Declaration of Independence; and upon this ground the pos- sessor of these rights is entitled to use all powers necessary for the protection of these his inalienable rights. 112 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. "We ? the people" of the United States, as sovereign thereof, framed and adopted the Constitution, which makes all public officers servants of the people, to be chosen directly or indirectly by the people, and removeable from office in the way prescribed by the peo- ple. The people are, then, clearly and exclu- sively sovereign; and to take this character from them is to revolutionize our Government, the great end of which, as it now exists, is to protect the people and every individual citizen in the exercise of his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.* Now, the vote is simply the expression of * These celebrated and often-quoted words, so dear to every true American heart, are not altogether original with the author of the Declaration of Independence. In the Congress which met in Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1774, a series of very able, bold, and patriotic resolutions were introduced on the 8th of October, and in the first of the series was this ex- pression : " They," that is, the people, " are entitled to life, liberty, and property." The foundation of this title they declare to be " the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English Constitution, and the several charters or compacts " of the Colonies. In the Congress held also in Philadelphia in 1776, Mr. Jefferson, as Chairman of the Committee to draft the Decla- ration of Independence, adopted the foregoing form of ex- pression, with the exception of the last word, property, and for this substituted the more comprehensive phrase, "pursuit of happiness." But, with true Anglo-Saxon brevity, almost all THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. 113 each sovereign citizen how and by whom he would have the Government carried on so as best to protect himself and his fellow-citizens. Hence, to deny his right to the elective fran- chise, and to exercise that right, is virtually to deny his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If the last is a moral right— and none deny this — then the first is also a moral right, because it is absolutely necessary — and our whole history shows it — in order to pro- tect our native and inalienable rights. Each one feels this to be so in his own case. The Southern slaveholding aristocracy early saw this, and hence, as quickly as possible, deprived the colored man in their several States of the right of suffrage ; and, by their corrupt- ing and domineering influence over the poli- ticians of the North, they sought, and, to a vast extent, successfully sought, to deprive the col- ored man there also of the ballot. Why? Just that they might secure the slavery of the colored man where it then existed, and finally our writers and speakers since have used the old Congress- ional form of expression : life, liberty, and property. It is a remarkable fact, also, that, instead of the original words " immutable laws of nature," Mr. Jefferson employs the terms, "They," the people, " are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights," etc. 8 114 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. extended it over the whole land. The ballot is THE GRAND QONSERVATOR OE FREEDOM ! Let ns suppose that the so-called Republic of San Marino, in Italy, is, like ours, a de- mocracy; that is, a Government professedly built upon and controlled by popular sov- ereignty. Now, suppose that there are in this little de- mocracy one thousand adult male citizens — all, of course, of equal constitutional rights — and that of these, six hundred disfranchised the remaining four hundred — would not permit them to vote for public officers. But it is manifest that, on the same ground, the four hundred might have disfranchised the six hundred. The effect, in either case, would be a revolution of the Government and the intro- duction of an aristocracy more or less limited. But suppose, further, that, in this same re- public, one citizen, on the same ground upon which the six hundred or the four hundred had acted, were to disfranchise all his fellow- citizens, and claim to himself the right of solely exercising the elective franchise. The aristoc- racy would, in this case, become a monarchy, and this one man might make himself king. He, and not the people, as in a democracy, or some four or six hundred of the people, as in THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. 115 an aristocracy — he alone would be sovereign, and the fountain of all power and honor in the State. All would be his subjects, and all the political rights they exercised merely privi- leges granted by him at his sovereign pleasure. Popular sovereignty is, then, the vital prin- ciple of a true democracy ; and popular sov- ereignty always demands for its exercise uni- versal suffrage ; it can rightly be put forth in no other way. Take away universal suffrage, and the Government is merely a democracy in name, or, at the best — as ours is — an imperfect democracy. Sovereignty must reside in the whole people, or in a part, or in one man. The first is a democracy, the second an aristocracy, and the last a monarchy, or kingly government. From the foregoing views, it is clear, as a fact, that all existing governments, and all that ever have existed, are composite; that is, they all have in them these three elements: the Democratic, the aristocratic, and the kingly, or, at least, two of these, mingled up in various proportions. Russia and France, for example, have in them more of the royal element ; Aus- tria, more of the aristocratic element ; and England has a large infusion of the democratic element. It is a fact, also, that the United States was the first humanly-devised Govern- 116 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. merit, professedly built exclusively upon the democratic element — a pure democracy. And hence the continued and rapid tendency of our i country has been toward universal suffrage, or the practical realization of our theory of a true democracy. England has for ages been going in the same direction. Indeed, it is impossible to read the history of the Christian nations generally without being convinced that they are all borne along upon the same popular current, and must, sooner or later, become thoroughly democratic in spirit and form. If it here be asked, How long before this grand popular consummation can be effected ? we answer, As soon as the whole body of the people become so enlightened, purified, and elevated as to be capable of working out and sustaining such perfectly free governments. To such a people, a pure democracy is the greatest earthly blessing; but to a people not thus prepared, the sorest curse that could be inflicted upon them would be a democratic government. Indeed, if brought to them by others, they would reject it, or, at least, they would not carry it out, but would' return to their old form of government, or sink into an- archy, and from that emerge, sooner or later, into a military despotism. THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. 117 And if it be asked, How shall a people be prepared for truly democratic institutions? we unhesitatingly reply, that only Christianity can so educate and lift them up to that position of vir- tuous intelligence which will qualify them for a perfectly free government, a pure democracy. Just, therefore, as any people become really Christian — that is, Christian in the Bible sense of the term — will they become free and remain so. Every other plan to build up free institu- tions must prove a failure. This was sadly verified in the various forms of republican government devised and put in operation in France, and in other countries under her con- trol, between the overthrow of the throne of Louis XVI and the establishment of the em- pire by Napoleon I. The secret of their down- fall was simply this : the people were not Chris- tian enough to appreciate and sustain a true democracy or perfectly free institutions. So, also, has the whole history of the South Amer- ican republics taught us the same lesson. The Gospel, in its purity, must be widely under- stood, revered, and obeyed before a people can intelligently appreciate and uphold a true de- mocracy. In the light of the foregoing remarks, it will be seen that we, as a people, are now passing 118 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. through the most perilous period of our his- tory. Few intelligent men doubted the result of the late civil war. That the superior intel- ligence and strength, moral and physical, of the loyal North would finally prevail in the contest, was as certain as any human event could be. But it was feared that the energy and other qualities which could carry us suc- cessfully through the war, might not be com- petent to a safe reconstruction. This is now manifestly the fact. Have we, then, sufficient popular intelli- gence, wisdom, and virtue to purge out all the aristocratic hindrances that grew up and were associated with the system of slavery, and by it diffused, more or less, over the whole land, and so build up for ourselves now a true de- mocracy — a government perfectly free, entirely purified from those corruptions which had well- nigh ruined us? The sham Democracy, as a party, is indeed dead. But did it not, during its long reign, so demoralize aud debase the popular mind as to render it incompetent to reconstruct a true republic ? Some, too, plainly fear that this is our sad case, and that the patriotic efforts and fearful sacrifices of the late war will all be in vain. But a calm and comprehensive survey of the past and present THE ETniCS OF SUFFRAGE. 119 condition of our country must, we believe, in- spire us with a good hope. The signs of the times are, upon the whole, full of encourage- ment. Has there not been progress in the right direction, and most extraordinary prog- ress, too, during the last six years ? Who can deny this ? Who could have thought, in 1860, that in five years the giant slavery would be prostrated, and its monstrous, godless progeny, the sham Democracy, be dashed in pieces? After such wonderful blessings of Providence upon the efforts of Christian patriotism, what good is there we may not now expect ? The day is brightening before us, and the sun, we feel assured, will soon shine upon us a per- fectly free people, the land of equal rights, of universal suffrage, a true democracy. Let, then, those who would, in any case, seek to deprive any citizen of the ballot, give a good and sufficient reason for it. The burden of proof justly and manifestly rests on them, and not on the individual whom they seek to degrade and oppress. Can there, then, be a valid reason for deny- ing to any one the exercise of a right which, as a citizen under the Constitution, is clearly recognized in him as a means to protect his native and inalienable rights? This is ccrtainlv 120 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. one of the gravest questions, and it is just as truly moral in its character as is the right of each one of us to life, liberty, and property. And it is just as immoral to deprive us of the exercise of the right without a just cause, as to take away our life, liberty, or property under similar circumstances. Can there, then — we repeat the question — be a valid reason for depriving any citizen of the right to vote ? We reply that we know noth- ing to justify this but the great public as well as private right of self-defense. Ordinarily, it would be immoral, a great crime, in any one to assail the life, liberty, or property of another; but if that other has first attempted my life, liberty, or happiness, may I not use all means necessary to my defense, even if the use of these end in the destruction of the assailant's rights? So the country, also, like each indi- vidual, has the right of self-defense. It may rightfully and lawfully protect itself. Hence, if it appear that any one is not com- petent to the exercise of the elective franchise, either because he has not the knowledge and capacity required for the conduct of the ordi- nary business of life, or because he has been convicted of such criminal developments of character as render it imprudent and wrong to THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. 121 trust him, in either case, we say, the right to exercise the suffrage may be denied to him. Hence, minors, insane persons, and criminals are universally prevented from voting. The safety of the country demands this. His right as a citizen to the elective franchise is not de- nied; but so long as the safety of the country requires it, he is rightfully and lawfully pro- hibited the exercise of it. Traitors have, by their own acts, forfeited all rights under the Constitution (except the right to be hanged). They can justly and legally claim nothing ; and should they ever be pardoned and restored to those rights, it is merely an act of mercy and grace — an act, be it ever remembered, only to be extended to such when it can be done with safety to the country. But what of the ease of foreigners is it morally right for us to do? Let us consider that such persons usually come to us because, under the oppressive aristocracies and ecclesi- astical establishments of other lands, the ex- ercise of their natural and inalienable rights are generally, and grievously, and hopelessly abridged. It is clearly, therefore, our duty to take these strangers by the hand, as children of our common Father in heaven, and give them, as speedily as we safely can, the privi- 122 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. lege of exercising all the rights of citizenship. This is what a sound ethics demands of us; and it is clearly enjoined upon us by the Word of God. (Exodus xii : 49. Levit. xix : 33, 34. Deut. x : 19.) But what of females ? Just the same great moral principles should govern us here. To shrink back in this case, and especially to en- deavor to pour contempt and ridicule upon the whole, subject, as shallow-pated lords of crea- tion, and selfish, crafty politicians usually do, is both unmanly and immoral. Is it not a most patent fact that multitudes of American women are far better qualified to exercise the right of suffrage — to which, as citizens, they are justly entitled — than multitudes of the other sex who are permitted to vote? Who can deny this? And if we have not greatly misunderstood the signs of the times, the day is rapidly coming when the rights of women to exercise the ballot — formerly conceded and used in some of the States — will be universally allowed. Shall we, then, put off this day till the most pressing exigencies of the nation demand it — till it be terribly demonstrated (as when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued) that we must die, as a people, through rampant THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. 123 corruption and disloyalty, which we can not overcome unless we are willing to do justice and yield their rights to one-half of our fellow- citizens, and that the purer part, whom we have hitherto disfranchised ? How much better, more manly, honorable, reasonable, just, to do this thing at once, and cordially, because it is right, rather than be driven into it by the stern but wise and righteous dealings of Providence. In one way or the other it will surely be brought about. Again: no distinction of caste should ever be allowed among us. Let not the rich, for example, or the learned, or those high in po- sition be admitted to the elective franchise, and all others denied. Let no mere place of nativity, or shade of color — things not in the power of the individual to control, and not in themselves immoral or injurious to the coun- try — let none of these things shut out any from the polls. Universal suffrage is with us a constitu- tional and moral right, and hence we are bound to come up to it as fast as we safely can. If we deny this, what other principle shall we adopt? If any one class claim the right to exclude another, where shall we stop ? Shall we not be continually biting and devour- 124 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. ing one another ? The excluded will be sure to feel that they have been robbed and out- raged, and be ever ready to retaliate. Thus our country must be in continual unrest — a prey to contending factions; and, sooner or later, must we in this way be destroyed. This has so clearly appeared in our past his- tory, that we have been almost uniformly mov- ing onward toward universal suffrage as the only safe policy. For us this cosummation can not be much longer delayed. No people can long retard the logical results of a great principle fundamentally ingrafted into their political system. Universal suffrage is the necessary se- quence of popular sovereignty. It is both morally right and politically expedient. But the particular question upon this sub- ject about which the country is most agitated at present is, the case of the four millions lately slaves, but now freedmen. Ought they to be allowed the exercise of the right of suf- frage ? We say exercise, for the right is already theirs as recognized native-born citizens of the United States. Let those who deny these freedmen the ex- ercise of this right give a good reason. We have never heard, or read even, a respectable attempt at this. But how to skulk the ques- THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. 125 tion has really been the one aim of objectors. Is ignorance to stand in the way of these freedmen? Then, unquestionably, the great mass of the Southern people ought to be excluded ; for they are not only ignorant, but fearfully depraved and most malignantly disloyal. The influence of slavery, it is well known, con- tinually increased the darkness, poverty, moral and social degradation, and wretchedness of the "poor white trash" as they were contemptu- ously called, even by the slaves. Their ig- norance appeared deplorable even in the cen- sus returns, though these, as is well known, covered up, as far as possible, the facts of the case, so disgraceful to the South. But the mil- itary reports, during the late war, showing how comparatively few of the rebel prisoners could read or write, surprised even those who already were aware of the statistical frauds which had been practiced. The indigence of the great mass of the peo- ple of the slave States, as well as their con- tempt and dislike of all industrial pursuits, were also well known. But the war disclosed one other feature of the Southern people that horrified not only the North, but the whole civilized world. We mean their fiendlike ferocity, so commonly 126 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. manifested; and especially in their treatment of Union prisoners. It went beyond any thing ever witnessed on earth before. It could be matched nowhere short of the infernal pit. Now, look at the case of the late slave at the South. His condition compelled him to be temperate, industrious, economical; and not only so, but tended to give him habits of ob- servation, and serious reflection, and remark- able shrewdness. He was driven, also, by the daily hardships and sufferings of his lot, to look above for support, guidance, and comfort. It is owing, doubtless, to this long and hard training, in worse than Egyptian bondage, that the freedmen now manifest such an eager- ness and aptness to learn, such readiness to labor for any thing like fair wages, and, above all, so quick a sensibility to the touches of the Gospel. All the letters of our soldiers and the reports of the army chaplains, and of those enlightened and benevolent Christian men and women who, since the war, have gone South to labor for the instruction and elevation of the freedmen, and the people gen- erally — all these, we say, testify to -most pleas- ing and promising facts on this subject. We need scarcely add that these freedmen are all most intensely loyaL THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. 127 Are not, then, a people so trained, or, as we may, with peculiar propriety, say, educated, vastly better qualified at this moment to ex- ercise the right of suffrage than the ignorant, lazy, depraved, malignant white rebels? To grant this most important right to multitudes of such white men, and withhold it from the loyal colored man, would not this argue that terrible moral infatuation which is the sure precursor of a nation's ruin ? But what epithets are strong enough to de- scribe the meanness and the villainy of putting the bayonet into the hands of a man in th e day of our country's peril, and then, when the victory is achieved, withholding the ballot from him ! Over aud over again have we pledged ourselves to give them the rights of freedmen ; and shall we now most ingeniously and wickedly argue and plan to avoid the fulfillment of these most solemn engagements ? Has not the whole history of our country shown that the safest, surest way to secure the rights of free- men, is to put the ballot in their hands. With this they can peaceably, cheaply, and most effectually protect themselves. This would speedily convert their former oppressors into apparent, and in many cases, it is to be hoped, into real friends. 128 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. If it be said — as, indeed, it has been — that unprincipled whites would keep the colored voters, notwithstanding their legal right, from the polls, the remedy here is easy and per- fectly sure. Let no member elect to Con- gress from the late slave States be permitted to take his seat if evidence of such fraud or violence appear; and it will be sure to appear if it existed. The very candidate himself would be careful to prevent such outrages at the election, if he knew that it would be certain to procure his rejection in the National Congress. Let us learn from his discussion not — as is almost universally done — to talk about the ex- pediency of giving the right of suffrage to some and withholding it from others; for it is not a question of expediency at all. "We are con- stitutionally and morally bound to recognize this right in all our fellow-citizens. And sore will be the evils we shall be sure to bring upon our country if, instead of manfully stand- ing up for this great constitutional and moral right of all our fellow-citizens, we cunningly, as w T e flatter ourselves, but, in truth, foolishly and basely, compromise it away to serve the interests of a political party, and cheat our loyal freedmen by leaving the question to the legislatures of the late rebel States. This THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. 120 would be, emphatically, the folly of giving up the sheep to the guardianship of the wolves. But this is just the sin to which we are now tempted, and it is one of the greatest dan- gers of reconstruction to which we are now exposed. Conscience, self-interest, patriotism alike lift up the voice of warning here. Let us give heed, and not madly press on to the pit.* * It is painful to add that, since the above chapter was written, we have stepped into the very pit there alluded to. The most important and solemn question, then, before Con- gress, has been referred to the States, rebel and loyal alike. It is left to them to disfranchise whom they please. Had this been a mere law, there might have been some shadow of excuse for it, in the fact that many suppose that it is now constitutionally a State right. We need not discuss this point here, because it is a constitutional amendment, not a law, that is now proposed. It manifestly behooved Congress, then, to look first simply at what was the true and the right, for these alone are sure, and safe, and eternal ; and then to what the minor interests of the country might require. Had they done this, it is evi- dent that loyal, sovereign citizens all over the land, standing politically on an exact level, and equally possessing natural and inalienable rights, it was the business of Congress to make sure to all such these rights, if, indeed, there has been any well-grounded doubts on the subject. Certainly, the peace of the country, confessedly so important, can never be secure till this justice is done. We verily believe that, if Congress had had less fear of traitors, North and South, and more generous confidence in 9 130 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. Let us learn, also, that though the safety of our country may render it expedient to deny the exercise of this great right to some, at least for a time, yet in this case it is our duty to give reasons showing the rightfulness of this temporary restraint. But to lose sight of ethics, and to reduce every question and measure to a mere expe- diency, is the besetting sin of statesmen and politicians, and the rock on which multitudes of them have split, and too often, also, unhap- pily wrecked their country. Let us be sure, first, that we are morally right, then we may the intelligence, integrity, and patriotism of the people, and especially a supreme regard to the true and the right, they never could have given in to such an expedient, apparently so politic and fair, but really so unwise and unjust. Oh, that Congress had listened to the warning voice of Mr. Stevens, and other enlightened, honest, brave patriots ! Should our beloved country escape a righteous retribution of Providence for this unwise, bad measure, it will be through the mere mercy of God. Such an expedient can do us no good, but much harm every way. If the country comes out safely from the great contest before us, it will be because the ex- treme folly and wickedness, now so shockingly manifest in traitors North and South, will arouse a loyal people to such a sense of their danger, that they will determine first to crush down the combined disloyal elements, about to be represented in the Johnson Philadelphia Convention, as the greatest of two evils, and then, at their leisure, to sift out the politically and morally weak among the professed friends of the Union. THE ETHICS OF SUFFRAGE. 131 properly bring in arguments and motives from a sound expediency. Finally, let us never forget that the great end of the Constitution being to protect every citizen in the exercise of his native aud in- alienable rights, the ethical element most largely enters into the relation between the Government and each citizen. The Govern- ment is not only politically but morally bound to protect the rights of the citizen, and the citizen is both politically and morally bound to support the Government in all its constitu- tional measures. Now, the elective franchise being clearly the grand means by which each citizen may make his sovereign power and all his rights seen and felt, to deprive him of the exercise of this right is most unjustly to prevent him from doing what he ought to do to preserve his native and inalienable rights, and those of his fellow-citizens. In a word, the citizen ought — that is, he is morally bound, as a partner in the national sov- ereignty — to uphold the Government in all its legitimate acts; and the Government ought — that is, it is morally bound, as the grand con- servator of the country — to see to it that every citizen bave the opportunity, safely and with- 132 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. out molestation, to exercise his right of suf- frage. Let us, then, never forget that the re- lation between the Government and the citizen is not merely political, but always, and under all circumstances, pre-eminently ethical.* * In the light of the above principles, it is manifest that no public officer under our Government has a right to form and be guided by " a policy" or system of administrative action. In Russia or Austria, or any other despotism, under which, of course, the people are merely subjects, the Emperor has the right, as sovereign, to devise his own course of government, and carry it out. But with us the people are sovereign, and all officers, from the President down, are simply their agents or servants, bound to obey their will or resign. To talk about "a policy " of the President, or his Cabinet, or of the Congress, is im- proper and absurd. The only question is, What is the will of the people? and then every officer in his place is bound faithfully to execute it or quit his place. And no officer among us can be honestly ignorant of the voice of the people. In our present difficult and dangerous position, it is acknowl- edged on all hands that the Chief Executive is going directly against the minds of the people. He was elected to pursue a certain, well-defined course, and has now arrayed himself in direct opposition to the people who chose him. This is polit- ically a blunder and ethically a crime. ETHICS OF SOVEREIGNTY. 133 CHAPTER XIX. ETHICS OF SOVEREIGNTY. In a late work, by a distinguished American author, the doctrine of popular sovereignty is stigmatized as atheistic. This we regard as a great and most injurious error. Neither monarchy, aristocracy, nor democ- racy (or a government based on popular sov- ereignty) is in itself atheistic. Each may rest on a true ethical base ; that is, it may acknowl- edge the absolute or perfect sovereignty of God, and the universal and immutable obliga- tion of his law. And just so far as it does this honestly and consistently, it vindicates its divine right. It claims sovereignty only as resting and dependent upon God's sovereignty, and yields obedience to his law as the true ethics. Indeed, the whole moral truth here may be put in a nutshell. Government is of God; it is a divine ordinance ; and hence no moral crea- ture ought to be without government, or out- side of its rightful jurisdiction; but the form 134 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. is of man, and in choosing this and carrying it out, he ought to acknowledge God's supreme authority at every step. But which of the three aforementioned forms of goverment is best for their welfare, in their circumstances, is for each people to judge, under a solemn sense of their accountability to Almighty God, the Supreme Arbiter of the universe. We of the United States have decided in favor of a de- mocracy (or a government resting exclusively on popular sovereignty); but we are, notwith- standing, a Christian and not a heathen, much less an atheistic people. Our particular form of government the writer believes to rest most largely on an ethical basis, and is most conducive, under Divine Provi- dence, to popular moral development and hap- piness. This is the secret of the unparalleled advance of our country in education, religion, wealth, and every thing which constitutes na- tional power, welfare, and glory. Our great hindrance hitherto has been slav- ery, a disastrous element most unwisely and wrongfully admitted into the system for, as was supposed by the compromisers, a short time ; but, though now cast out mainly through the infatuation of its adherents, the struggle cost us a fearful sacrifice of blood and treasure. ETUICS OF SOVEREIGNTY. 135 We suppose that the distinguished author alluded to in the beginning of this chapter had in his mind, when he branded popular sover- eignty as atheistic, the party which lately was the dominant power in the land. But this sham Democracy was altogether alien in spirit and character to popular sovereignty, and a standing reproach upon it. It was the mon- strous spawn of slavery, and slavery was its strength and animus, daily more and more so, throughout its whole existence. That such a party should become more and more atheistic in its developments was just what might have been expected, and very many wise and patri- otic men among us long saw this and often warned us against it. Thank God ! the party of shams is now rotted down in its own cor- ruptions. But let not a true democracy, the constitutional Government of the United States, be made the scape-goat to bear the iniquities of the most villainous political swindle that ever cursed any people. 136 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES, CHAPTER XX. THE ETHICS OP POPULAR EDUCATION. In a monarchy it is felt to be of the highest importance to have the heir of the throne suitably educated. This is reasonable and right, because the destiny of the people, for weal or for woe, must ever largely depend upon the character of the sovereign. Now, among us the people are sovereign ; hence our Government can not be sustained if the people are ignorant and vicious. The mis- rule and the misery of such a dominating power will be sure, after a longer or shorter period of disastrous anarchy, to lead us to a military despotism. From this we may grad- ually emerge after a lapse of ages of oppression and suffering, into a constitutional monarchy, under which much of substantial liberty might again be enjoyed. If, then, we prize our free institutions, and believe these are the best possible to make us a great, prosperous, and happy people, blessed ETHICS OF POPULAR EDUCATION. 137 ourselves, and a blessing* to all other nations, is it not merely our true policy, but our duty, suitably to educate the whole mass of our peo- ple ? Are we not morally bound to give all that is necessary of our money, our time, and our influence generally, to maintain educational institutions all over the land, from the common school and high school up to the university? Let us ever feel it a part of our American ethics to pay our taxes for schools cheerfully, and to give liberally, and labor heartily where- ever we can in this great national work. An enlightened, virtuous republic can not perish. It will, under God's blessing, live and prosper, and become more and more a whole- some and inspiring example to all other people. And has not the late terrible crisis through which we have passed demonstrated that a free, popular government can put forth efforts and make sacrifices which no monarchy or aristocracy ever has or could exhibit ? What could be more sublime and heart-inspiring than the example of our loyal States, in the midst of a most unprovoked, atrocious, and gigantic rebellion? How forbearing and yet firm, how merciful and yet persistent, how enduring and lavish of treasure and blood was the free North in her protracted struggles, not only with the 138 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. slave States, but with nearly the whole world against her ! History exhibits no other ex- ample of a patriotism so wise, generous, heroic. And the results have struck aghast the corrupt monarchies and aristocracies of Europe, who did all they dared to encourage our wicked as- sailants, with the base expectation, each one, of sharing in the plunder of our wrecked Repub- lic. But it is pitiable now to see their manifest readiness to listen to our demands of justice, while they themselves are at this moment agitated, terrified, and tottering to their fall. May a wise and benign Providence overrule the terrible convulsions with which they are now shaken, to the speedy deliverance of the long and cruelly oppressed masses among them ! If, then, we love our country and our fellow- men, and desire the elevation and happiness of the whole human family, let the cause of uni- versal education be much in our hearts. To contribute and labor here is one of our great duties as citizens. The free States have always felt this, and have already accomplished much. But at the South, owing to slavery, the igno- rance, poverty, immorality, and consequent deg- radation of the people are deplorable, almost beyond belief. They have really never been Jit for citizenship in a republic, and have been a ETHICS OF POrULAR EDUCATION. 139 continual source of universal disquiet and cor- ruptipn — a blight upon the prosperity and a blot upon the character of our country. But how bright the prospect before the South, if her people duly improve their deliverance from the curse of slavery. We say their deliv- erance; for, in the righteous retributions of Providence, the oppressor himself must ever, by a necessary reaction, suffer a larger portion of the woes he inflicts on others, and these will frightfully increase upon him till he repent or be overwhelmed in remediless ruin. Let the South learn lessons of wisdom, peace, and honest and honorable industry in the dreadful calamities she brought upon herself, and not become still more infatuated by the mad ^pol- icy " of her selfish, ambitious, pretended friends. It is encouraging to think that our common schools at the North are continually improving. But they are yet far from being perfect. Mul- titudes are still outside of their beneficent influence, and those within might and ought to be much more benefited. Ought not the great aim of our school system be simply to furnish to all the children of the land the ele- mentary branches of English education — read- ing, writing, arithmetic, and geography ? But have \vc not lost sight of this in our endeavors 140 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. to establish high schools, and similar costly insti- tutions for instruction in the higher branches, called for in the learned professions ? Let i those who desire, and are able to pay for such education, provide it for their children; but let not the people's money, the earnings of hard- handed labor, be spent to provide a few such schools for the more favored classes of society, which earnings, judiciously laid out, would greatly increase the number of common schools, and furnish a good elementary education to all the children of the people. One of the speediest and most effectual ways to improve our schools, is to secure to the teachers a liberal compensation and a highly respectable position in society. If this be done, we shall never lack able, upright, and accom- plished teachers. But let us, above all things, bear this in mind : that such a system of education as we need can never be established, and sustained, and perfected among us, unless the light and the spirit of a true Christianity be largely infused into all our educational plans and pro- ceedings. ETHICAL CLAIMS ON THE BODY POLITIC. 141 CHAPTER XXI. ETHICAL CLAIMS ON THE BODY POLITIC. By the body politic, we mean the people and rulers, as organized for government. Upon these, as a body, ethics has certain claims, to which we wish, very briefly, to call the reader's at- tention. It is usual to make a distinction between sin and crime. By the former is meant a " trans- gression of God's law," and by the latter, a vio- lation of the law of the State. This distinc- tion is convenient and important. But it must ever be borne in mind that there are few crimes which do not involve sin, and, consequently, crime is to be avoided, not merely for wrath's sake, (or fear of the civil ruler,) but for con- science' sake also, because we not only sin against God's commandment to obey rulers, but because nearly all crimes are sinful in their nature. Indeed, were our legislation perfect, all sin against human rights would be forbidden as crime; and just as we improve our legisla- 142 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. tion will we come nearer and nearer to onr whole duty toward God and toward man. But legislation, even under the best human government, is as yet far short of " the perfect law ;" so much so as occasionally to produce a terrible jar to the moral sense of the commu- nity. Things are done which the law of the land does not call crime and punish, but which so outrage conscience and the rights of men that great indignation is excited, and thi3 aroused state of feeling too often leads to vengeful action. In other words, where the law of the land fails to protect from injury, or to give satisfaction for it — that is, fails to do jus- tice — what Lord Bacon most expressively calls "wild justice" is too apt to follow. Injured persons and a sympathizing community take the matter in their own hands, and visit retrib- utive justice upon the guilty party. Hence, sudden and violent outbreaks of aggrieved individuals, and the action of vigilance com- mittees, regulators, etc. But this "wild justice" though it may inflict upon criminals, who would otherwise escape, what they have richly merited, yet it is full of danger. It must, if not properly prevented — that is by removing occasions for it — too often lead to outrages upon innocent persons, to the ETHICAL CLAIMS ON THE BODY POLITIC. 143 destruction of legitimate government, and finally to a frightful anarchy and universal ruin. The best remedy for this, as we have just hinted, is to make the laws of the land as perfect as possible, so as to protect against every vio- lation of right, and promptly and condignly punish every act of evil-doing. When this is the case, there will be no inducement nor ex- cuse for individual or social violence, and the community will be satisfied. We may mention here some examples of de- fective legislation. Drunkenness, and the dread- ful consequences to families and the commu- nity generally which are sure to follow it, are not at all adequately provided against and pun- ished by law. Breaches of trust are continually occurring, to the great injury of individuals and the pub- lic, and that almost with impunity. The fraudulent transfer of property is very imperfectly restrained and rarely punished. Hence, glaring instances of this so often occur. The bankrupt, riding in his carriage, supercil- lionsly looks down upon the foot-passenger whom he has reduced to want by his knavery. But the most deplorable consequences of legislative deficiencies is seen in the case of seduction. This is a crime of so deep a dye, 144 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. and so grievous in its results to individuals, to families, and to society, that, in many in- stances, under the Mosaic Law, it was punished by death; and in some other nations, ancient and modern, the same penalty was visited upon the offender here. Terrible consequences of this crime are almost every day reported in our country. At times a frenzied brother shoots down like a dog the seducer of his sister; the father that of his daughter ; and the husband takes bloody ven- geance upon the ruthless destroyer of his do- mestic peace. While every enlightened and good man will look with sorrow upon these outbreaks, and condemn them, he can not but feel that the guilty one has been met with a righteous retri- bution. And as it is the nature of wrong to propagate itself, so these instances of "wild justice" almost always lead courts and juries to violate their oaths of office to decide accord- ing to law, by letting the offender off upon the alleged but often illy-sustained plea of insan- ity, or on some other still less warranted ground. This is now so common, that no one dreams that a jury will convict in such a case. But, to say nothing here of the danger of the innocent falling victims in this way to a blind ETHICAL CLAIMS ON THE BODY POLITIC. 145 rage, the effect is disastrous upon the public mind and the morals of the community. We ought to have laws which hold out adequate protection and condign punishment in every such case. And why have we not such laws? Perhaps the best answer may be found in the witty but shrewd and truthful distich of the poet: " No rogue ere felt the halter draw With good opinion of the law." Legislators, unless pure and upright men themselves, will always be apt unduly to sym- pathize with offenders here ; and not only so, but, by an instinctive presentiment, will they be disposed to shrink back from enacting a law which some day ma} 7 be brought to bear hardly upon themselves. A case in point occurred some years since in a neighboring State. The country was horrified by a most heartless case of seduction and the bloody vengeance that followed. The Legislature was then in session. The members felt compelled to do something to meet the outraged feelings of the community. Accordingly they took a few steps toward a righteous law ; but delayed and delayed, till the popular excitement somewhat subsided, and then quietly dropped the whole matter, or, at 10 146 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. the most, adopted a few miserably lame amend- ments to the existing very imperfect legislation. And this has generally been the case. Where does the guilt of these crimes, and the dreadful outbreaks they occasion, mainly rest? Chiefly, we reply, upon the body politic. A sound ethics demands of every body politic here the enactment and the execution of right - eous laws ; and if the people insist upon such laws, they will be sure to have them. CHAPTER XXII. ETHICAL CLAIMS UPON THE CHURCH. The Church, and each member thereof, is as " a city set upon a hill." Their profession neces- sarily makes them conspicuous, and draws all eyes upon them. Their example must, there- fore, be deeply and widely felt. It may be most mischievous, or full of richest blessings to the world. The Church has the pure and perfect law of God in her hands, and professedly makes it " the man of her counsel." Hence, she ought ETHICAL CLAIMS UPON THE CHURCH. 147 to be, and to show herself, the great conserv- ator of the morals of the world, not only by her teachings, but by her example of " what- soever is pure, lovely, and of good report." Unless the Church is such, she becomes as "salt that has lost its savor; thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trodden under foot of men." (Matt, v : 13.) Let the pulpit, while clearly and steadily holding up the pure and perfect law of God and the great doctrines of grace, so that each hearer may see what the divine standard is, and what that glorious hope is which is set before him in the Gospel; but let the pulpit also carefully and fearlessly bring the law and Gospel to bear upon the whole walk and char- acter of men, to show them what manner of persons they ought to be in all holy conduct and godliness ; that is, what living, bright ex- amples they ought to be in all their relations, domestic, civil, and political, of a true .ethics. But to do this demands much patient study and great faithfulness on the part of the min- ister, and the cordial support of the members. Let the discipline of the Church, also, be faithfully maintained. It is a great mistake to estimate the strength and prosperity of a Church by the number, or wealth, or high so- 148 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. cial position of her members. Holiness — that is, Christian morality, or "obedience to the truth" — is the real power of a Church and the measure of her success. Better have a handful of con- sistent, earnest, exemplary members than an overflowing communion of heartless, worldly- minded professors. Every such professor only increases the weakness of the Church, brings dishonor upon her character, and lessens her good influence upon the world. Let all Church councils and judicatories, as well as individual ministers and members of Churches, throw their influence heartily into the scale in favor of a sound public morality, that so they may lift up higher and higher the ethical sentiments of the people, and the eth- ical character of political measures, legislative enactments, and judicial decisions. The professed religion of a country, what- ever it is, will certainly be the great moral standard thereof. The great mass may, and certainly will, fall short of this, but they will never transcend it. How solemn, then, the responsibility resting upon the Church ! God will hold her to a strict account for the morals of the country. Without her wise guardian care, these will be certain to run down. Let her, then, see to it, ETniCAL CLAIMS UPON THE CHURCH. 149 and let all her members see to it, that their ex- ample and their influence generally be such as will uphold and diffuse every-where a pure ethics. They may do much in this way to bless and save their country, as well as the souls of men. But if the Church is faithless to her high trust, all our interests for time and eter- nity must be wrecked. But it is especially difficult, in these times, for ministers to do their whole duty. The Gospel embraces the entire man in all his relations — as a citizen as well as a mem- ber of the family, and one engaged in the or- dinary business of life. However faithful min- isters may be to set forth the duties of their hearers, growing out of the domestic state and their daily walk in their worldly avoca- tions, yet if they neglect to instruct men in their obligations as citizens of a free country, they grievously fail in their great work. The religion of their hearers must go with them to the polls and into every public office to which they may be called. The people are sovereign in our Republic, and must give an account of this their high stewardship. Great, therefore, is their re- sponsibility, many their trials, and arduous their duties. Certainly, then, the}' need in- 150 ETHICS FOR TEE TIMES. struction here, and counsel, and rebuke, and prayer, as much in their position as citizens and public officers, as in other spheres of life. But there is nothing which corrupt politicians so much dread as to have the light of a pure Christianity shed upon their character, their cause, and their measures. This, they feel, would be ruin to them; and, hence, every influence, cunning and potent, will be brought to bear upon the pulpit to silence or corrupt it. The cry usually raised— and, alas! how successfully for many years past! — the cry usually raised is, "Politics in the pulpit!" But this clamor only proclaims the fears of those who raise and those who repeat it. Why should they dread to have their party position and measures faithfully held up in the light of God's law and the gospel of his grace ? Their outcry here shows not only the rottenness of their cause, but that they themselves are con- scious of it. " They hate the light, and will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved." (John iii : 20.) But how is our beloved country to be saved ? How is all we hold sacred and dear- to be pre- served, and perpetuated, and handed down to future generations, if they who are set to guide their fellow-man in the way of duty neglect ETHICAL CLAIMS UPON THE CHURCH. 151 their high trust, either through the fear or the favor of men ? There is no duty, no trial, no danger, to which men may be called, in which the minister of the Gospel is not bound to sympathize with them, and help them, to the best of his ability, by his teachings, his counsels, his reproofs, and his prayers. There is one fact, we have often thought, which shows not only the error but the hypoc- risy of those who seek to deceive or terrify the pulpit into sileuce on the duty of citizens to their country. These same politicians, so zeal- ous for the purity of the pulpit, have not only no objection to have their party sustained by the preacher, but can find no language strong enough to express their delight in such dis- courses: " How sensible! How prudent! How calmly conservative! How deservedly popular!" But, on the other hand, to give but a single example, let the preacher show by his prayers that he " feels for those in bonds as bound with them," and then, by plain and solemn but kind application of Bible truth, show how utterly antagonistic to God's law of love and the gospel of his grace is the whole system and practice of American slavery, and at once the outcry is raised, "Politics in the pulpit! Crucify him! Crucify him!" 152 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. And to so mournful an extent was the Church, even at the North, thus intimidated and corrupted for years past, that her bondage was more pitiable, degrading, and injurious than that of the poor slave at the South. Not a whisper would be tolerated against the sin of oppression. If the offending minister was a pastor, he must be driven off; if a candidate for the Church, he must be contemptuously rejected; if a professor in a theological semi- nary, or a missionary of an ecclesiastical board, he must be disgracefully dismissed; and if a member of the Church sinned in the same way, he must somehow be silenced. A single statement will here be given on this subject. A few years since, the writer was at a prayer- meeting in an Eastern city, on the evening of the Lord's day. The large lecture-room of the church was well filled, with apparently very intelligent and respectable worshipers. A plain- looking man knelt down, and, during his prayer, which was evidently that of an unlettered but deeply devout Christian, he supplicated God's compassion for those who are in bonds. The poor man had scarcely uttered these offensive scriptural words, before the pastor turned to the writer, who was in the desk with him, and, ETHICAL CLAIMS UPON THE CHURCH. 153 in an agitated manner, asked, "What shall I do with such a man?" The writer, though surmising the real cause, replied, "What is there wrong in him?" " Why," said the pas- tor, " did you not hear what he said just now ? " "Yes, sir; but what was there wrong in it?" "Nobody here," replied the pastor, "sympa- thizes with him ! " Alas ! thought the writer, can it be possible that not one in this great company of professed Christians feel with this humble friend of Jesus! "What shall I do?" repeated the pastor. Fearing that he might burst out in scathing rebuke, such as would crush the poor man on the spot, and inflame every bad feeling in others, the writer said, "Why not talk with the offender privately?" "It will do no good," subjoined the pastor, much excited. Dreading still more a painful explosion, the writer thought he would make one other appeal to his conscience, which could scarcely be without effect : "Brother, pray for him!" The flush on the pastor's face paled; he trembled somewhat; and, at that moment, the poor man, utterly unconscious of what had been going on in the desk, and how very near he had been to a public rebuke, arose from his knees. The minister turned to the Bible, read a portion, and the usual services followed. It 154 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. is scarcely necessary to add that the writer was made to feel that he himself was suspected of being in sympathy with the humble brother who dared to pray for the oppressed. Such was the miserable, sinful bondage of nearly the whole Northern pulpit for very many years before the late terrible slaveholders' rebellion. Had the Church been faithful to her duties, might not our country have been spared the horrors of the recent war? What an awful responsibility now rests upon her in consequence of this sad neglect, and how faith- ful ought she to be in the time to come. We say the time to come; for reconstruction has its perils, its temptations, its difficulties, and its duties, far greater than those of war. We are now in the midst of these, and never was our country in more danger than at the present moment. And faithfully to guide and encour- age a patriotic people in the arduous work before them, we especially need able, intelli- gent, deeply pious ministers, such as can not be turned aside from their duties by the fear or the favor of man.* * In all his numerous and useful writings, Mr. Barnes never gave a truer utterance, and one which more deserved the serious attention of Christians and American citizens, than the following: "There is no power out of the Church ETHICAL CLAIMS UPON THE CHURCH. 155 that, could sustain slavery an hour if it were not sustained in it." And how speedily did we lose sight of the great principle avowed by our revolutionary fathers : " They," said President Madison, alluding to the Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, " They thought it wrong to admit the idea that man could hold property in man." What a deluge of blood and treasure have we re- cently been compelled to pour out to revive and re-establish this great truth, once so generally held sacred among us. 156 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. CHAPTER XXIII. ETHICAL RELATIONS OF MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL TO WAR. War is always sinful, unless waged for the cause of truth and righteousness, which could not possibly be sustained in any other way. The nation that places another in such a posi- tion that she must violate, or give up truth and righteousness, or fight in their own defense, commits a great crime, and the dreadful respon- sibility of such a war falls altogether upon the guilty nation. War, therefore, to be righteous, must always be a defensive war, and morally inevitable, such as was that against the recent slaveholders' rebellion in this land — a most un- provoked, cruel, villainous conspiracy to de- stroy our civil and religious liberties, and every thing we held sacred and precious, and extend the dark and grinding reign of oppression, with all its abominable barbarities, over the whole country. The loyal people were compelled to fight, or the Eepublic must perish. The great RELATIONS OF MINISTER^ TO WAR. 157 interests of truth and righteousness, not only for this land but for all lands and throughout all time, were vitally involved in the contest. Such a struggle was not only justifiable on the part of the nation, but it was a most solemn duty. All other wars are to be condemned and opposed, especially by Christian ministers. What, then, are the ethical relations of the Gospel ministry to a righteous war ? We reply : 1. Prayer. God has revealed himself, not only as the righteous sovereign of the universe, but as the hearer and the answerer of prayer. They who have God on their side have no reason to fear. God always gives or withholds victory, as it pleases him. Hence the duty and the encouragement of prayer, in case of a war, for righteousness' sake. But especially are min- isters bound to pray in such a cause, that the fear of God, and faith in his power and wisdom, and every other needed qualification, may be given to those who stand up in the face of danger for truth and righteousness. 2. Ministers are bound, also, to bestow a pro- portionate share of their labors to instruct the people in the justice of their cause, and their duty to uphold it, and encourage them to hope iu him who loveth righteousness, and will surely further the interest thereof. 158 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. 3. They ought, during the war, to he espe- cially earnest, diligent, and faithful in the great work of the ministry generally. And if so, it is evident they will have their hearts full and their hands full, and their whole time and strength thoroughly occupied. ~No work is so great and important as that of a faithful min- ister in a righteous war. Just as a nation stands on grounds of truth and righteousness, and is made conscious of so doing, will she be strong and of good courage. The spiritual and moral power thus brought into action will be sure to develop such abun- dant moral and physical resources as the na- tion never dreamed she possessed, and be sure, also, to give a life, and a heartiness, and a fidel- ity in the use of these means, which, under God's blessing, must finally be crowned with a glorious triumph. Here, then, is the true work of the minis- try, and here, also, their greatest strength in a righteous war. They stand, as officers and la- borers, at the fountain-head of these all, ener- gizing moral and spiritual influences which alone can insure victory to a faithful but imper- iled people. The very springs of a nation's life and power are in their hands; and, if faithful to their high trust, they may do more RELATIONS OF MINISTERS TO WAR. 150 in their proper position to encourage a nation, and bring about successful results, than the greatest generals, or the wisest statesmen, or the strongest embattled hosts. But, on the other hand, if ministers do their peculiar and most important work with heartlessness, and especially if they quit it for any other employ- ment, they must bring most painful conse- quences upon the country, and involve them- selves in great guilt. But suppose the Government lose sight of the true character of the Christian minister, and attempt to force them out of their proper posi- tion in time of war, and assign them to other posts, civil or military, such a policy must draw down unspeakable disasters upon the contest in which they are engaged. It is the folly of cutting off the roots of a tree and en- grafting them upon the branches. These last may be thus numerically somewhat increased, and look bravely for a time, but the whole tree must erelong wither and die. It is spiritual and moral power that ever must be the life and strength of a people. To diminish this spiritual and moral power at any time, and especially during war, is most ruin- ous infatuation. But the great work and busi- ness of the Christian Ministry is to cultivate 160 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. this power, and, therefore, to take them off from their peculiar duties is not only a sin against God, but a very foolish policy, also. A faithful preacher of the Gospel, at his post, wields the mightiest influence in the State; but a soldier-minister is Sampson shorn of his locks, fit for scarcely any thing but to make sport for the Philistines. The professed min- ister who does not see this, shows that he never had adequate scriptural views of his high and holy calling, as an embassador of Christ, to proclaim peace and salvation to the world, and to uphold truth and righteousness among men. The Church may well afford to lose such min- isters; they may make better presidents, or governors, or soldiers. Their proper place is manifestly not that of the Christian ministry, and they probably mistook their calling when they entered into it; and they never ought again to return to it, unless altogether changed in their views and the spirit of their minds. It was, therefore, we doubt not, great na- tional folly and sin, when, in the late war, ministers of the Gospel were enrolled in the draft — far more so than had the Government compelled by law all the generals and other high officers to go into the ranks, and do the duty of common soldiers on the field of battle, RELATIONS OF MINISTERS TO WAR. 161 or the 1 leads of departments at Washington to occupy their time in discharging the labors of clerks in their several offices. The folly and wickedness of such a policy, if persevered in, would soon be felt in the enormous evils it would bring upon the country. And we are confident that much less of treasure and pre- cious life would have been squandered had the Government simply called upon ministers of the Gospel throughout the land to be es- pecially faithful in their peculiar, solemn, and most important position during the war. And had not the people, in most of our congregations, been more wise in their views and spirit than the National Administration, and provided, in most instances, by great pecuniary sacrifices, for the exemption of their ministers, most dis- astrous might have been the consequences to our beloved country. But why, it may here be asked, did not the different Christian denominations, as such, unitedly and earnestly protest against this enor- mous folly and terrible evil of compelling min- isters to cast aside their peculiar work, so full of potent, most needed, and blessed influences, especially in time of war, and become soldiers ? Why this dumbness of the Church? Many causes will doubtless be given ; but was not the 11 162 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. most powerfully operative of these the cor- rupting and paralyzing influence which South- ern slaveholders exercised, for years past, over nearly all the religious denominations of the North ? This terrible influence brought a thick darkness over our churches, enfeebled all their moral sensibilities and energies, and robbed them of that true spiritual heroism which would have made them manfully to stand up and vindicate their peculiar and rightful position against the most unwise and wrong policy of the Government.* *A chaplain in the army, if faithful, is certainly a most self-sacrificing minister of Christ, and will be highly and generally esteemed and loved for his work's sake. But a Right Reverend or a Reverend General, or Colonel, or Captain even, the world ought to pity, but they can never really re- spect him. Bishop Polk, of Louisiana, after he had made up his mind to accept a General's commission in the Confederate Army, came to consult Bishop Meade, of Virginia, the senior Bishop of his Church, South. The latter, though himself laboring under the secession delirium, replied : " Had you asked my advice, sin, before committing yourself to your present course, I would certainly have endeavored to dis- suade you from it," etc. ETHICS OF JUSTICE OR VENGEANCE. 163 CHAPTER XXIV. ETHICS OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE OR VENGEANCE. So much has a sensibility to the claims of justice been lost by some, either from their own practices, or association with unprincipled men, or evil instruction, that they endeavor, in every way possible, to confound right and wrong, and fava? the escape of evil-doers. Take a single example of this. They cry out against executing justice upon traitors and other malefactors as the indulgence of a venge- ful or vindictive spirit. By this wicked sophis- try multitudes are deceived; even members of Congress, and still higher public officers, have been confused and nearly paralyzed by this artful cry. But it ought never to be lost sight of that the terms vengeance, vindictive, etc., and their synonyms, are used in two very different senses. To discharge the claims of justice and uphold the authority of law by the de- served punishment of bad men, this is one 164 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. kind of vengeance ; but to manifest a malig- nant hate of others, by inflicting suffering upon them, though perhaps innocent, or, at least, not proved guilty, this is quite another species of vengeance. The first of these is a most important vir- tue, without the exercise of which, by proper authority, no one is safe, and society must be destroyed. The other is a hateful and most in- jurious temper, destructive alike to the rights of individuals and to the community. The first is so excellent as to be claimed by Divinity : "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Kom. xii: 19); that is, I will give transgressors their merited reward. The gov- ernment that does not suitably avenge the wrongs of the injured, fails in one of its high- est duties. It lowers respect for law ; it ex- poses the weak and unprotected to the oppres- sion of the strong, the selfish, and the cruel ; and so tends speedily to break down all society. He who has the right and the power to punish evil-doers, and will not exercise his right and power, becomes himself one of the worst of evil-doers, the greatest enemy of the peace and safety of his country. He opens wicje the door to private violence, the fury of ETHICS OF JUSTICE OR VENGEANCE. 165 mobs, and almost every form of outrage. The public officer guilty of such criminal weakness or connivance in the escape of villains, ought himself to be arraigned and condignly pun- ished. He is justly to be regarded as a public enemy. " Judex damnatur cum nocens solvitur." The judge is rightfully condemned who spares the criminal. It was well said, by a public speaker, at a late political meeting in Mary- land, in answer to this most wicked and inju- rious sophistry, which artfully attempts to con- found right and wrong, and favor the impunity of bad men, "But it will be said, when we would punish traitors, ' Will you indulge in re- venge? Has there not blood enough been spilt?' Yes, we reply, in one sense blood enough has been spilt, as in the case of the poor Deering family; but does not justice demand other blood ? Ought not outraged law, an outraged country, and outraged human nature to be vindicated upon the head of this most foul murderer ? " Those who seek to confound justice with a malignant revenge may, at times, be thought- less people ; but it is to be feared that they are usually secret sympathizers with the wicked, with whom, as in the case of the late rebellion, they had not the courage to stand openly, but 166 ETHICS FOF THE TIMES. now seek to shelter their guilty friends by sophistry and the affectation of superior hu- manity. Such cowardly traitors are, in truth, equally the enemies of their country and God's government with open and more manly rebels. The selfish, cruel character of the " policy " that spares and pardons, and too often rewards open and secret traitors, is now becoming ter- ribly manifest, in the fresh and wide-spread outbreaks of robbery, murder, and savage mobs at the South. Who is mainly responsi- ble for these most atrocious scenes, not only agitating Southern society to its very founda- tions, and filling with terror every friend of peace and Union there, but threatening the safety of the whole country and the destruc- tion of all we hold precious and sacred as a Christian republic? ETHICS OF REPRESENTATION. 167 CHAPTER XXV. ETHICS OF REPRESENTATION. There soon appeared, under our Government, a difference of views in regard to the position of those elected to seats in legislative bodies. Upon only two of these views is it here neces- sary to dwell. The one is, that the legislator was left en- tirely to the exercise of his own discretion, free to do whatever he thought best for the country. According to the other view, the legislator elect is simply an agent of the people, and, as such, is bound, in all things, to obey their instructions, or to do whatever he has good reason to believe would meet the approbation of his constituents, were it submitted to them. The first of these opinions was usually held by those known at the different periods of our political history as Federalists, Whigs, Repub- licans, etc.; the second was maintained by the Jefferson ian Democrats, etc. It is here worthy of remark, that few ever seemed to have extended their thoughts beyond the members of legislative bodies. But is it 168 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. not the fact that all in official positions under our Government stand in this respect precisely on the same ground? They are alike repre- sentatives. We will treat the point, therefore, as a general question. The fundamental principle of our Govern- ment is, under God, the sovereignty of the people. To them belong inherently all power, legislative, judiciary, and executive, and the power, also, to change the Constitution, which they adopted, whenever they please. The people have no superior on earth, none who can law- fully suppress, defeat, or disobey their will. There is no appeal from the decision of the people. In a word, their voice is ultimate and sovereign. Let it be subjoined here that the majority expresses this sovereign will, to which all must submit. But, as it is manifestly impossible for mill- ions of people, scattered over so vast a terri- tory as ours, to exercise the powers of govern- ment themselves, they must choose represent- atives to. carry out their views and wishes — in other words, to exercise legislative, judiciary, and executive powers. These are all merely servants of the people, whose duty it is to do the work of the people. It is clear, therefore, that these representatives, by whatever name ETHICS OF REPRESENTATION. 169 known, all occupy the same relation to the people that the agent does to his principal. What, then, are the principles or rules that ought always to govern the agent ? 1. If the principal intrusts his business alto- gether to the agent's discretion, he ought faith- fully to act according to his best judgment. 2. If certain general instructions are given to him, these he is bound carefully to follow. 3. If special directions are imposed upon him, he must rigidly carry these out, or as. far as possible. He has no discretion here. To use the supercargo's maxim, he "must obey orders, if he breaks owners." But suppose, it may be asked, the agent be- comes convinced that his instructions are not judicious; that if his principal were on the spot he himself would change them ; indeed, if he acts as directed, he must greatly injure his principal. What ought he to do? We answer: if he has time, and the matter is se- rious enough to require it, he ought to inform his principal of the facts of the case, and await further instructions. But when the instructions are come, and he supposes them so unwise or wrong that he can not conscientiously obey them, what then must he do? Certainly he ought not to act 170 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. against his own conscience, and, therefore, as an honest man, he ought at once to resign. This he is morally bound to do. The ethical principles here are perfectly clear and simple, and such as must commend themselves to every upright man's conscience. Now, all who hold office under our Govern- ment are servants or agents of the people, and ought to obey, or resign. But if it be asked, Who are the sovereign people whose voice must be obeyed? we re- ply certainly not the people who are to come hereafter on the stage of life, nor those who have already passed oft* the stage, but the present, living, active population. These last, our co-existing fellow-citizens, are, under God, our sovereign ; and our duty, as trustworthy servants, is to obey or give up the public agency that has been committed to us. If the forego- ing ethical views are correct, all officers of the Government, State and National, are under not only political but moral obligations to obey the people, or yield their positions to those who can. We hesitate not, therefore, to say that any officer, whatever his position, who, instead of carrying out the views and wishes of the sover- eign people — that is, of the majority who placed him in trust — disobeys these, or, what is still ETHICS OF REPRESENTATION. 171 worse, sets himself to break down his party, especially by playing into the hands of their opponents, that man is not only unfaithful politically as a public servant, but he is a bad man. His conduct here clearly shows that he is without moral principle, and utterly un- worthy to be trusted in any of the relations of life. We have, unhappily, had such men among us, high in office. But such have hitherto been the intelligence and virtue of the people, that these deceitful, unprincipled men soon sunk into political impotence and universal contempt. In the series of the por- traits of the Presidents of the United States in the rotunda of the Capitol is that of the late apostate provisional President Tyler, sus- pended, as the papers state, head downward. "What a warning to all Benedict Arnolds and other traitors, civil and military! No public officer can plead ignorance of his position in this land of a free press, and free speech, and almost daily popular conventions. The signs of the times are with us too clear to be honestly misunderstood. If, indeed, a pub- lic officer merely doubts, or, rather, is not cer- tain that he fairly represents those who placed him in power, he ought at once to seek further light, or quit his position. 172 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. CHAPTER XXVI. ETHICS OF GOVERNMENT. By government, we mean the whole body of legitimately-constituted authority; in other words, the Administration, the chosen servants of the sovereign people to carry out their views and wishes. To men in such a position — so important and responsible, involving the well-being, and often the very being, of the whole country — there can be but , one alternative : obey or resign. JSTot to do the one or the other is not merely a political offense ; it is also an ethical wrong. But it is a fact that public men and admin- istrations have almost always been behind the people. Was it not signally so in the late ter- rible crisis of our country ? Honest as was the President, and capable as were the most of his Cabinet, they had still, at every step, to be dragged to their duty. "Why this was generally so, why men in public office often seemed so paralyzed and feeble, we can not here stop to inquire. ETHICS OF GOVERNMENT. 173 Making every allowance, however, for that prudent hesitancy which a feeling of great re- sponsibility must often naturally produce, and taking into consideration, also, those clearer and wider views of things which their lofty position might present, but which are nearly hidden from the dwellers in the vale below — making the largest allowance for these, we are yet compelled to believe that there was not a small amount of blameworthy short-sightedness and inefficieney in the late President and his Cabi- net. Contrast the call, with bated breath, at the beginning of the war, for seventy-Jive thou- sand men and a hundred millions of dollars with the instantaneous outburst, in thunder tones, from the whole loyal people : " There are FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND MEN AND FIVE HUNDRED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS! CRUSH DOWN AT ONCE this most wicked rebellion ! " Nothing more sublime was ever witnessed under the wonder- working providence and Spirit of God. He who manifested his power at Pentecost, then solemnly spoke through this loyal nation. New life from that moment seemed to enter into the Government, but it too speedily began to slacken and falter, and almost invite disas- ter. Rebels were thus reinvigorated, and loyal people discouraged. Still, the people faithfully 174 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. rallied round their chosen Government, and continued to hope even against hope. But there thus came a time when treason at the South and treason within the loyal States, manifestly taking fresh courage from the effete- ness of the Administration, were laying plans to involve the whole country in a revolution- ary struggle more vast and terrific than ever ill-fated France endured in her darkest night. A private citizen, at that time, was so deeply impressed with this view of things, and the fearful perils hanging over our country, that he felt constrained to address the following letter to a friend, then a member of the Ad- ministration at Washington: "September 17, 1862. "Dear Sir: I would call your attention to the inclosed slip. It is the leading editorial of , just issued. "It was written before the recent terrible disasters in Virginia. Had it been penned after these sad evidences of incompetency — to use the softest expression of public senti- ment — it would probably have assumed a darker hue. "There are, East and West, signs of the times thickly gathering, in the contemplation of which I can not but feel grieved and alarmed. These all indicate a fast waning popular confidence in the President and our rulers generally. This is, of itself, to be deplored, because every thing among us must ultimately rest upon the people. No Administration can stand long or do much good if the great heart of the people is not decidedly with it. And never has an Adminis- ETHICS OF GOVERNMENT. 175 tration received so liberal and energetic a support as the present has till recently. "But this is not the worst of the case; for, just as was to be expected, too many of the discomfited adherents of the late imbecile, traitorous Administration, who have been con- tinually on the watch for their opportunity, are now mani- festly striving to take advantage of this unhappy state of the public mind, by throwing out hints and half-formed plans, which, so far as these take with the people, or any consider- able portion of them, will operate most disastrously. I need say nothing to you of the ominous falling off in the Republi- can majorities in the late elections. " A calm and quite wide survey of these things convinces me that our beloved country was never in more danger than at this moment. But I trust that God, in his mercy, will avert the awful crisis before us, and that the world will be spared a second and much more aggravated 'reign of TERROR.' " A very large proportion of the wisest and best and most patriotic men, in all parts of the land, begin to fear that, through a want in our rulers of a right apprehension of the position and perils of the nation, or of a manliness to meet their responsibilities, or something worse — or all combined — our country is now on the edge of a precipice. Nothing but an instant and overwhelming demonstration, on the part of the Government, of a rising up to the greatness of the work and the danger before us will reassure the public mind. Such is a very brief but, I believe, faithful sketch of the 'signs of the times.' " As for myself, you know how long I foresaw our present troubles, and how often I raised my voice, during the last twenty-five years, to avert them. I always hoped that, in the honest, earnest use of Christian and Constitutional means, we should peacefully escape these evils. "I used, in times past, to liken our country to a gallant 176 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. ship, richly freighted, under a full pressure of canvas, plow- ing her way over the Atlantic, but nearing, every hour, Cape Horn — the region of storms. If she weathered this, we had the broad Pacific before us. The tempest is now upon us. Shall we be wrecked? Increasing multitudes fear we shall. But let the captain and his mates — the crew have always shown brave hearts and strong arms — let the captain and his mates, I say, only 'quit themselves like men, and be strong,' and we shall speedily and safely double the Cape. " My motto, as I have often expressed it to you, years ago, still continues — Be Republica nil desperandum. I can not help, at times, indeed, having painful misgivings ; but, thank God ! hope predominates. All my influence, as an old citizen, I put forth in behalf of the Administration, because I believe that it is honest and capable, and that our best interests as a people are in its hands. And my continual prayer — in the closet, at the family altar, and in the sanctuary — is, that God would grant abundantly wisdom, integrity, and strength to our rulers, and understanding, patriotism, and energy to all our people. " Let me here add a word about the editorial above alluded to. Its a?iimus can not, I think, be mistaken — serious, but hopeful, honestly looking evils and mistaken men full in the face, fearlessly pointing out what only can save us, and earnestly calling on all ' good men and true ' to rally around the Administration. Mere politicians, and selfish men gen- erally, may think little of such views and appeals, but they will commend themselves to the moral sense, the patriotism, and the religion of the country. Your friend, etc., The Administration seemed for awhile to re- vive; more vigorous endeavors were put forth, and the hearts of the people were encouraged. ETHICS OF GOVERNMENT. 177 But disasters, soon after, began again to thicken, and it became manifest that we must rise above a mere expediency policy, which had hitherto too much ruled, and come manfully up to our moral obligations. Accordingly, the long-delayed Emancipation Proclamation was sent forth, and our colored fellow-citizens, North and South, were called to rally around the national standard. They did so, magnani- mously and bravely, on many a bloody battle- field, aud victory every-where soon crowned our efforts, and brought triumph and peace to a united Eepublic. We subjoin here but two questions, involv- ing, however, very serious ethical considera- tions : 1. Might not the bottom of the rebel tub have been knocked out at the very beginning of the rebellion by proclaiming at once the abolition of slavery, and so hundreds of thou- sands of precious lives and millions of dollars have been saved to the country? 2. Since this most unprovoked and wicked rebellion has been put down, has the General Government faithfully performed its great duty of justice upon its principal leaders, civil and military, and so vindicated the majesty of law, made treason odious to all coming generations, 12 178 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. and brought a true and permanent peace to our country? Nothing was more clear and generally ac- knowledged, both by loyal and rebel people, than the fact that slavery was the great cause of secession and the dreadful consequences it involved; and the whole course of the war most plainly showed that slavery was its main support. Of these facts the loyal people gen- erally soon became convinced, and, hence, they called out continually for the destruction of this monstrous evil. But the Administration delayed, and delayed, and delayed, till death and mourning darkened nearly every loyal hearth-stone, and millions of dollars — the hard earnings of the people — were sunk forever. The benign results of emancipation, so clearly predicted and plainly shown from the first, soon followed. But why was not this measure adopted at the beginning? Where does the blood-guiltiness for this wicked procrastination of justice chiefly rest ? Making every proper allowance for the reasonable ap- prehension of furnishing occasion for traitorous outbreaks in the North by so decided a measure, we still think that, through the want of a high sense of moral obligation and the undue influ- ence of a low political expediency, and, espe- ETHICS OF GOVERNMENT. 179 cially, a deficiency of an enlightened, generous confidence in the loyal people, the Administra- tion exhibited no small evidence of a deplorable ethical and political deficiency. Indeed, the Government rarely took a step in advance till absolutely compelled by loud and long-con- tinued popular urgency. Hence, it was em- phatically the people's war, the people's tri- umphs; and nearly the whole honor of the glorious issue belongs not to the Admistration, but most manifestly, to the people. And what can be more evident at this mo- ment than the unjust action of the General Government ! Is it the misdirected ambition of the President or the timidity of Congress which is most to be blamed ? Nearly every measure which justice and the safety of the country so urgently call for is defeated, or so frittered down by compromise as to promise little good, but make terribly certain a harvest of woe for the future. It is not traitors that are now being punished, but Union men — men faithful to their country in the darkest hour of peril, sacrifice, and suf- fering. Traitors are every day made to rejoice in the spoils of victory. We need not be sur- prised, therefore, that the spirit of hate and secession is taking fresh courage, and is again 180 ethics for the times. rampant at the South, and that the day of a peaceful and safe reconstruction is now further off than it was at the close of the war. Where rests all this fearful blameworthiness? Cer- tainly the present disaffected, agitated, and most perilous condition of our country, after her late decisive and glorious victories, argues a terrible load of guilt somewhere. Intemper- ance in high places and low, a mad ambition, a shameful moral imbecility, and a traitorous spirit, seem all to have conspired in most unholy alliance for the ruin of the Republic* * It is melancholy to reflect how many men of large influ- ence among us, and high in office, have wrecked themselves, and brought incalculable mischief on the country by this one crime of drunkenness. Some years ago, the writer saw a man in the antechamber of the United States Senate-chamber, then filling one of the highest positions in the General Government — a man who enjoyed the most liberal confidence and support of his party, and who might have been the next President. But had it not been for previous acquaintance, and the place I met him, and his dress, I would have taken him for a low, drunken porter, or some common laborer of similar habits. Even his party was obliged, at last, to give up,the poor sot, and he soon sunk into oblivion. And how many since have run the same disgraceful course and arrived at the same miserable end! And how many now in public life, and lofty places, too, are there, though so often and solemnly warned, treading the downward path, a' reproach to themselves and a curse to the country. ETHICS OF GOVERNMENT. 181 But we trust in God. lie who often, and mercifully, and wondrously rescued us in the late bloody struggle, will yet send us deliver- ance in his own time and way. Let a true Christian ethics be studied, and reverenced and restored to supremacy in ourland ; let the people determine, in the fear of the Lord, that they will " do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God," and we have every thing to hope for. Do not Heaven's past deal- ings with us give most encouraging assu- rances that there is yet a bright morn and a glorious day before us? God maketh "the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder thereof he restraineth." The craft and the folly, the drunkenness and the mad ambition, the timid policy and the want of a sound, manly, lofty ethics in so many, all these evils And it is one of the darkest signs of the times, that when one of these victims of strong drink has, on some public occasion, outraged the feelings of a brother official, he has turned upon him, in contemptuous wrath, and inflicted a scathing rebuke upon the poor wretch ; but no effectual meas- ures followed for his expulsion from his high place. Tho country has still to suffer from the misconduct of such men. Shall they be permitted speedily to ruin us? Not if we solemnly determine never to vote for any but strictly temperate 182 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. will the Almighty, infinitely wise and merciful Sovereign, so direct and control as finally to glorify his own great name, and humble us in the wondrous and abundant deliverance which he will — we trust very speedily — graciously bring to our beloved but now fearfully imper- iled country. ETHICS OF ELECTORS. 188 CHAPTER XXVII. ETHICS OF ELECTORS. On what grounds are candidates for public offices usually selected ? Availability, we reply. This is the one great consideration. It is not, Is he a good man — a moral man; or even is he competent in point of intellect and intelli- gence, and minor qualifications, fitting him to become an able officer; but is he available; that is, is he the man most likely to be elected ? Availability is the sine qua non, " the one thing needful." The candidate must be the most available man, whatever else he may want — morals, sense, respectability, etc. It is this understood condition that brings for- ward so many improper candidates, and puts into office so many incompetent and too often very bad men. And this only condition, availa- bility, is itself a powerful means of corruption, political and moral. It debauches the public mind, and leads all who are seeking office to do so by the practice of disingenuous arts to be all 184 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. things (in the bad sense) to all men, even the vilest; so that we rarely expect to find much honesty in a politician. And by the time such a man has reached much political eminence, he has usually lost whatever of integrit}^ he once had. And for all this corruption, and the mis- erable malfeasance in public affairs to which it gives rise, political parties are usually most to be blamed. Parties, as heretofore existing, vir- tually hold out premiums for artful, bad men; and by party manipulations, these bad men are usually made worse. And if this party policy is not soon arrested, the country must be ruined. Nothing but the adoption of a sound ethics here can save us. This teaches us that the first quality required in a candidate ought to be, Is he upright f then, Is he competent for office intellectually, and of such health and strength as will enable him to perform its du- ties? A BAD MAN, HOWEVER ABLE, CAN NEVER make a good OFFICER. Let this be deeply en- graven on our hearts ; let it never be forgotten by the elector : A bad man, in the ordinary walks of life, can not be a good public officer. Whatever of intellectual qualifications he may have, his want of moral worth will be sure, in the end, not merely to neutralize the excellen- ETHICS OF ELECTORS. 185 cics he may possess, but render his general in- fluence injurious to the public welfare. Such an official is only the more influential as a cor- rupter of future candidates, and the commu- nity generally. Let nothing, then, ever induce us to, vote for an intemperate man, or a man immoral in any respect, whatever his talents may be; for just in proportion to these last will he, if a bad man, be mischievous, working the more effi- ciently to do evil. Oh, that the public were fully awake to the unspeakable importance of good morals in public officers ! It is painful enough to see any man, however humble his position, become the victim of the intoxicating cup, and so demoral- ize, degrade, and ruin himself. But how much more deplorable the consequences of intem- perance in our public men ! And yet we little think, when we hear low, factious harangues by men in lofty places, addressed to packed assemblies of vile, selfish partisans, or read of corrupt compromises and other evil meas- ures in Congress, and of disreputable debates there, and the disgraceful violence that so often results from these— we little think that drunkenness is the chief elenient in all this mischief. Sober men do not act like fools or 186 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. bullies in Congress or out of it, in public office or private life. The intoxicating cup is at the bottom of these terrible evils. But there is another most potent corrupter of morals and of public men, which ought not here to be passed over in silence. It is slavery. Slaveholders are very generally men of strong drink, and never can rise to much of a true morality. They who withhold the wages of labor must necessarily corrupt their own hearts, and deeply impair their intellects also. Hence, Southern men in public offices have usually been not only low in morals, but al- ways greatly deficient in common-sense, or a sound, sober, practical judgment. The miser- able evils brought upon the country in times past by such men, put in office chiefly through servile parties at the North, are not to be de- scribed. It is to be hoped, however, that the terrible experience of our late civil war will open our eyes to this folly. A recent utterance of John Yan Buren, as it was reported, " Dem- ocratic Presidents do not die in office ! " is a most significant index to these evils. The low morals and ferocity growing out of slavery made the South the land of pistols and bowie-knives, the paradise of assassins. A re- ward of twenty thousand dollars was offered a ETHICS OF ELECTORS. 187 few years, in the public prints at the South, for the head of a most upright, respectable, and benevolent citizen in the North ! And one hundred thousand dollars were there also held out to any villain who would assassinate Mr. Lincoln! A true ethics demands of us never to select candidates for office, and never to vote for men as candidates, who are demoralized by intemperance, slaveholding, or any corrupt practice. Such men are unlit, in head, heart, and manners, to fill any office in a Christian republic. 188 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. CHAPTER XXVIIL PRESENT ETHICAL RELATION OF THE FREE LOYAL STATES TO THE LATE SLAVEHOLDING REBEL STATES. Two facts will plainly show the ethical rela- tion of the first of these classes of States to the other. 1. The free States, from their social position and education, could not all along but see and feel the injustice of slavery, and the monstrous evils growing out of it, not only to the States themselves in which it unhappily existed, but to the whole country. And yet, for the sake of a supposed gainful intercourse with the slave States, they were will- ing to wink at the enormities of slavery, to yield to its arrogant demands, to get and continue their favor at almost any price, and to perse- cute, most shamefully and cruelly, any among us at the J^orth, however benevolent, peace-, able and respectable, who dared to say a single word against oppression, or to lisp a warning about the terrible evils it must, if not put away, bring upon the whole land- Another fact : RELATION OF LOYAL TO REBEL STATES. 189 2. The free loyal States have, at this moment, through the good providence of God, the means of education, and of Christian influence gen- erally, in rich abundance. Their ethical rela- tion, therefore, to the late slaveholding portion of our country is perfectly clear. Surely they ought, if they would make some amends for their past selfish, unrighteous course here ; if they would save their miserable fellow- citizens at the South ; if, indeed, they would save themselves and the country, they ought, we say, to feel and manifest the deepest con- cern for the people of the late slaveholding States, to pray much for them, to give most liberally and labor most earnestly to educate, and evangelize, and in general to elevate and bless the whole Southern population, white and colored. Has not the God of providence " shut up " the free States to this most benign work ? In no other way can we save ourselves and our beloved country than by fidelity in this great and truly Christian mission. But are the churches and the people generally of the free North doing all they can here ? There is no time to be lost. Reconstruction on any plan, without this foundation Christian work, will be sure destruction to the whole country. 190 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. CHAPTER XXIX. THE ETHICS OP PARDON. This has recently grown to be a very im- portant subject among us, and as such it seems proper to discuss it in the present treatise. The pardoning power must be lodged some- where in every government of man. Other- wise, such is the imperfection of human tri- bunals that the innocent might, at times, unjustly suffer. To obviate this a true ethics calls for a pardoning power in every human government; but, at the same time, to prevent the abuse of it, and the unhappy consequences thence resulting to the community, a true ethics demands also that this power be exer- cised only when the Executive is convinced, from the record of trial, that there is reasona- ble doubt of guilt, or other evidence has since come to light in favor of the condemned, or the public good, in some way, clearly requires the remission of the sentence. These views are accepted, under all Christian governments, as right and safe. And under such govern- THE ETHICS OF PARDON. 191 ments it is also universally held that all ac- cused persons are to be regarded and treated as innocent till they are legally proved guilty. But if this latter view be correct, then it is evidently worse than folly to speak of pardoning a person who has not been tried and condemned. But, further, with us the President, as such, is Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy ; and, therefore, in either branch of military serv- ice, or a military district under martial law, the Commander-in-chief may, for reasons which he deems sufficient, grant an amnesty, or certificate, exempting the suspected or accused individual from trial by court-martial. The necessity of the case, it is thought, required that such a power should be possessed by the generalissimo. But these amnesties, or certificates of exemp- tion from the processes of military courts, are manifestly no bar to the exercise of jurisdic- tion by the civil courts; they ought never, in this way, to prove a refuge to traitors from justice. Otherwise, the President, if plotting against the country, might paralyze the pub- lic defense by pardoning beforehand the tools of his traitorous policy.* * In Art. XI and Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States, we find a principle laid down making pro- vision against evils of this sort. 192 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. What, then, are we to think of the many so- called, but very improperly called, pardons re- cently granted to traitors ? They may exempt those who receive them from the action of courts-martial; but such persons are just as liable as ever to be arrested and tried before the civil courts. As a security against such a process of justice, they are not worth the paper they are written on. After, indeed, such trial, the President, if he deem it right, may extend pardon to persons so condemned; but the very idea of pardon before conviction is preposterous. It would completely nullify the power of the people for defense against the machinations of traitors, and so subject the whole country to be ruined, even by the most contemptible handful of bold, bad men. THE ETHICS OF CONSEQUENCES. 193 CHAPTER XXX. ETHICS OF CONSEQUENCES. The relation between ethics and truth is most intimate and inseparable. By truth, we here mean not veracity, or the virtue of truth- fulness, but the exact ideal representation of things. When this is expressed in words, these are said to be true; that is, they convey an ac- curate account of an exact ideal of things. Ethics demand, moreover, that not only what we say should be true — that is, an accurate ac- count of our thoughts — but that these thoughts themselves be an exact representation of things. And just as our minds are in a sound moral condition will we love truth, seek after it, and faithfully defend it. And not only so, but this love will embrace all the logical con- sequences of any particular truth, to the knowledge of which we have attained. Hence, our minds will naturally travel onward toward all the consequences or logical results of any truth we may hold. We feel that all truth is precious, and that each truth must harmonize 13 194 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. with every other truth, and with the whole system of truth. We do not, indeed, blame the man who holds a truth, but refuses his assent to a logi- cal consequent of it, which he can not, or at least does not, as yet see ; but we must despise him who, from want of moral courage, closes his eyes against the fair consequences of the position which he professes to hold, or, still worse, if he discerns these, but is not willing frankly to avow them. Such being our nature, we need not be sur- prised to find that the tendency of the indi- vidual mind, and of all communites of men, has ever been to follow up, and maintain, and re- duce to practice all the legitimate consequences of any and every position held to be true. We feel that it is our duty, as rational, respon- sible beings, to give this tendency free exer- cise; that not to do so is pusillanimous and dishonest. We can not respect ourselves if we resist this tendency ; and the nation or people who are guilty of such inconsistency must also lose their self-respect, and become a prey to unrest, and at last fall to pieces* We must travel onward with truth, or perish. There is no standing still here. Progress — peaceable or violent — progress is our destiny, if we would ETHICS OF CONSEQUENCES. 195 be saved; and to shrink back from this des- tiny, is to sink into contempt and utter ruin. The foregoing remarks will, we think, throw much light upon the past and future history of our country. As, first, 1. We may see that our late terrible civil war was inevitable. We had, at the very beginning of our national existence, proclaimed to the whole world that liberty was a native and inaliena- ble right of man ; but, in the very teeth of this clear, solemn avowal, we permitted slav- ery to exist among us. The logical and ethic- al inconsistencies of such a position could not long be endured. We must either abandon the principle or admit its results. Had we Christian character sufficient as a nation, we would have long since peaceably settled the difference between the free and the slaveholding States, and made liberty univer- sal. But if we had not the wisdom and up- rightness to do this good work, a bloody strug- gle must be the result; and in a nation so largely free and strong as we were, it could not but be a struggle so gigantic as the world never before witnessed. The exact truth on this subject was pithily expressed by Mr. Lin- coln, when a candidate for a seat in the Senate I 196 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. of the United States. "We must" said he, " BE ALL FREE OR ALL SLAVE ! " III a WOrd, the logical consequences of a truth held must, sooner or later, come out, and be practically established. God has now, in the most signal manner, for- ever settled the question among us by the ar- bitrament of the sword. Slavery has in our country been mortally wounded, and whatever troubles may attend its dying agonies, die it must ; and the nation, thus mercifully delivered, will move onward with renewed strength in the path of universal freedom. And we are verily persuaded that he who would be bold enough to depict but the one half of the glo- rious future soon to be realized among us, would be almost universally looked upon as a weak visionary, if not a downright madman. But are not the teachings and the warnings of these visionaries of the last half century, now received among us as sober truths, our most precious possessions, the very corner-stone of our nation's power, prosperity, and glory ? In- structed, then, and encouraged by the past, let us all now come, with united hearts and hands, to reconstruct our noble national edifice upon the sure foundation of equal rights and uni- versal liberty. ETIIICS OF CONSEQUENCES. 197 2. Universal suffrage must, erelong, be es- tablished among us. The whole history of our country has shown this. We started into national existence with restrictions upon the ballot, more or less, in every State. But these have nearly all disap- peared. Some, indeed, have grieved over this forward movement, resisted it, and wondered at their own want of success. But a little re- flection, we think, must convince such opposers that their resistance is futile. Every great principle adopted by a people must, in due time, bring into existence all its logical conse- quences. "We must deny the fundamental prin- ciples of our Republic, that freedom is the in- alienable right of man ; every one born in this country is a citizen thereof by his birth ; and that the people are sovereign — we must deny these great foundation truths, if we will not have universal suffrage. This last is the right of rights, because the only barrier by which all other rights can long be protected and maintained. Withhold the right of suffrage from any class of our fellow-citizens, and this pariah class is already virtually enslaved, and the legitimate consequences of their oppression will be sure rapidly and fearfully to manifest themselves. Continual unrest and final revo- 198 ETHICS FOR TIIE TIMES. lution must be the result. All must and ought here to stand on equal ground. Any departure from this principle, or falling short of it, is both a logical and an ethical inconsistency that time will sweep away from our country, if we are destined to grow and prosper and occupy an honored and influential position among the great powers of the earth. But universal suffrage, in its true import and power, is not accomplished merely by putting the ballot into the hand of every ca- pable citizen. Universal suffrage is not only the logical and ethical result of popular sov- ereignty, but it is also a logical and moral re- sult that universal suffrage should at all times control, as much as possible, every servant of the people, whatever his official position in the Government. This consideration, fairly fol- lowed out, must ultimately bring almost every appointment to office, from the highest to the lowest, to the direct decision of the popular ballot. Hitherto the people have made certain ap- pointments to office through electors, and the officers thus chosen have been permitted to exercise a vast official patronage by appointing others to office. But this has been found often to defeat the will of the people, practically to ETHICS OF CONSEQUENCES. 199 despoil them of their sovereignty, and, what is still worse, to open a wide door to most shame- ful and disastrous corruption. Mr. Lincoln, for example, was defeated when a candidate for a seat in the Senate of the United States. The vote of the electors was against him, and yet he had the larger popular vote. This is not at all an uncommon case, though it is manifestly in the very teeth of popular sov- ereignty. Such inconsistency can not, there- fore, he much longer endured. The people will, and ought to, vote directly for Senators, * President, etc., and thus close the door against^ defeat through the unfaithfulness of electors. But there is still a further evil here. It grows out of the enormous patronage hitherto con- ceded to certain officers. Suppose, for example, a Provisional President — that is, one who came into his high office by the death or some constitutional disqualification of his predeces- sor — suppose such an one, we say, so utterly wanting in honesty and patriotism that he is willing to use his vast power of removal and appointment to office in such a way as to dis- appoint and demoralize the party that elected him, play into the hand of the opposition, and do sore injury to his country — indeed, fearfully risk its ruin ; and all this simply to bring about 200 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. his own re-election. Such a thing, hase as it is, may be done, as we already know by sad experience. But can this evil be much longer tolerated? The remedy is obvious, and we must, sooner or later, come to it, so sure as the right of self-preservation is felt, and so sure as a true ethics demands that we follow out to its legitimate results every great principle recog- nized by us. These high offices must be di- vested of their means of corruption as fast as possible; and the people must themselves, as far as possible, directly choose all public officers. Then we shall no longer see a man occupy- ing one of the most important positions under the Government — that of Speaker of the House of Representatives — with the price of treachery, a written promise of a first-class foreign em- bassy, in his pocket. And no more shall we see a man thrust into the venerable post of Chief- Justice because a supple tool to an arbi- trary President. If the people are not, and never can be, competent to choose their own servants, our Government is so far a failure. But, in this case, logical consistency and a sound ethics de- mand of us that we here effect, as speedily as possible, such a change in our Constitution as shall remove or greatly modify the sovereignty ETHICS OF CONSEQUENCES. 201 of the people. But, if this really be so, do we not need a Napoleon, and shall Ave not soon have one? To us there can be no half-way, reasonable, befitting, honest standing-place. We must be a true, consistent, Christian Re- public throughout — the freest Government on the face of the earth — a genuine Democracy — or, erelong, become a military despotism. But one remark more and we close this head of our discussion. Has it not hitherto been the great mistake of our statesmen, and public officers generally, that they have shown a want of entire, cordial confidence in the people? Hence their endeavors, in many cases, to cover up, as much as possible, their proceedings and their measures from the people, and their little concern to ascertain the real views of the people ; and even where these were known, their fre- quent attempts to counteract them. No sooner have they got into office than they really ap- peared to have " forgotten the hole of the pit whence they were digged," and to have become possessed with the idea, " We are the men, and wisdom will die with us ! " Poor, mistaken men ! Has not our whole political history proved that the people have ever been, in point of wisdom, virtue, and manly self-sacrificing patriotism, ahead of the Administration, espo- 202 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. eially at each great crisis of our country ? But the people are always generous and magnani- mous. Notwithstanding the many offenses and shortcomings of statesmen and parties, the people have continued to confide in them till they have overwhelmingly shown themselves utterly recreant to their high trust. They have then cast these unfaithful servants down with such a manifestation of popular contempt and abhorrence as has sealed their political doom forever. Is it not just so now with the sham Democracy ? It is dead, dead ! but its relics are, doubtless for some wise purposes, left to remain a stench in the public nostrils. The people will rarely fail to sustain the statesmen and the party who show themselves worthy of the people. We can not honestly doubt this, and be the intelligent, upright friends of a true American Democracy. 3. Freedom of intercourse between us and all other nations will become more and more unrestricted, and, at last, be perfectly estab- lished. Different countries differ exceedingly in sit- uation, climate, and soil. Each has its peculiar advantages and productions, and no one can supply itself with all it needs, especially at a high state of civilization. ETHICS OF CONSEQUENCES. 203 These facts show clearly enough the divine intention that nations shall be mutually de- pendent, and that there ought to be a fair, free, and kindly interchange of benefits. Such intercourse must tend to promote mutual know- ledge, respect, and friendly feelings, and thus greatly help forward a general and high state of civilization. It is, therefore, not only the best policy, but a great duty of every people to cultivate the freest possible intercourse with all other na- tions. We say the freest possible, because such have unhappily hitherto been the mistaken views, and the consequent narrow, selfish leg- islation, in most countries, that other nations could not at once open a free trade with them without exposing themselves to great loss and, perhaps, ruin. Such communication must, therefore, be the work of time. But it is our duty, and that of every people, in the meanwhile, to do all we can to usher in the day of a perfectly unrestricted commu- nication between ourselves and all other na- tions. And do not our free institutions, so far in advance of those of all other people, give us peculiar advantages here to pursue a most liberal policy? Let us, then, be examples in this respect, and by such an enlightened and 204 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. high moral position we shall the sooner secure to ourselves the greatest economic benefits, besides the growing confidence, good-will, and honor of all other people. The day will come — and may a good Provi- dence hasten it ! — when mankind, however di- vided into nationalities, shall really form but one great, united, happy family, each feeling its best interests involved in the welfare of the whole. And when that long-hoped-for day comes, the whole earth will exhibit such a scene of purity, power, prosperity, and happi- ness as shall far transcend the brightest dreams that ever Christian philanthropy has dared to indulge. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." (Isaiah xxxv: 1.) 4. It is morally certain that Christianity will finally prevail over the whole earth. "We say nothing here of either the scriptural prophecies or the scriptural promises, which make our position sure to every believer in God's Word. We confine ourselves now to the ethical view of our subject. Let any serious, intelligent reader examine the different forms of false religion, as heathen- ism, in its vast varieties, Mohammedanism, etc., and he will quickly discover that they have ETHICS OF CONSEQUENCES. 205 little power to elevate a nation ; that they all have in them the seeds of weakness and decay; that those who retain them must, in the advance of the world, be left far behind to feebleness and contempt, and, sooner or later, to ruin. But Christianity is vital throughout, and it has in it all the elements of illimitable progress. It is an inexhaustible ethical power, which will ultimately raise the whole human family to the highest point of perfection, moral, intellectual, physical, and economic, that the constitution of human nature and the world permits. With Christianity in our hands, and peering as keenly as we can into the future, we must feel assured that we can not descry more than a faint glimpse of the glory in reserve for Christian nations. If this be so, and the whole history of the world and every examination of the sacred Scriptures make it manifest, then it is ethically certain that Christianity must ultimately tri- umph over the whole earth, because the great principles of Christianity, now embraced by millions, must be followed out into their log- ical consequences — in a word, just as all false religions must in time perish, because their logical results must weaken, retard, corrupt, and finally destroy all the peoples who receive them, so Christianity, as its logical conse- 206 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. quences are developed in the continual progress of those nations who embrace it, is thus ethic- ally sure to vindicate itself. Must not, then, mankind abjure their moral nature, cease to be men, or Christianity universally prevail and lift the whole world up to the highest point of civilization and happiness? VIEWS OF OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE. 207 CHAPTER XXXI. ETHICAL VIEWS OF OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE. What are the views which a true ethics will warrant us to take of the future of our country ? Thoughts on this most interesting subject have now and then been incidentally thrown out in the preceding chapters, but it may here be in- structive and cheering to revert to these, and again glance at them in combination with other thoughts of similar character, all tend- ing to throw light over the prospects of our beloved country. We confidently anticipate, on moral grounds, such a bright future of power, prosperity, and happiness, in comparison with which all our past progress, wonderful and unparalleled as this has been, shall be as nothing, and such a continually-enlarging influence for good toward all nations of the earth as no country was ever yet privileged to exercise. But it behooves each one of us to consider that all may not be sun- shine yet before us. The history of the world has abundantly taught us that great good ever 208 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. comes through great suffering somewhere. Through what painful strifes, aye, bloody strug- gles, we may have yet to pass we know not. " Woe unto the world because of offenses ! for it must be that offenses come ; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." (Matt, xviii : 7.) The exceeding folly and wickedness of some may again involve us in the hor- rors of war. Still, we can not doubt the ulti- mate future of our beloved country ; that it will, under the wonderful workings of a good Prov- idence, be surpassingly glorious. And this we assuredly believe, because, 1. We have an open Bible and a free Chris- tianity among us, as God sent these down from heaven to bless and save the world. In how many lands professedly Christian is the Bible a prohibited book; its light is care- fully concealed, lest the people should see it, and come to it, and drink in its inspiration for freedom and progress in every thing that is elevating and good. But this Bible, felt to be so dangerous by a false Christianity, su- perstition, and despotism, we have each one of us in his hands, and no one dare, hinder us from faithfully improving its instructions to our highest advantages for time and eter- nity. Its blessed influences in this way, all VIEWS OF OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE. 209 over our free land, can not be estimated. But, further : We have also a free Christianity, just as it came down from heaven. Among every Euro- pean people there is an established Church, and that necessarily so modified as to adapt it to purposes of State. But all these modifica- tions, if closely examined in the pure light of the Scriptures, will be found to be so many cor- ruptions of Christianity, which hinder its best influences, while they continually tend to blind and oppress the great mass of the people. Such ecclesiastical establishments hold out daz- zling rewards to the ambitious, throw obsta- cles in the way of all true spiritual religion, and so cunningly raise up interested, zealous partisans of the Church, but make, for the most part, very poor Christians. Hence, were it not for the salutary operation of an active and growing dissent, such establishments would ex- tend the reign of darkness and a crushing des- potism over the whole land. Jlence, when Wesley and WTiitfield, and their coadjutors, commenced their faithful endeavors to revive and spread a pure Christianity in their native land, they could scarcely have experienced more bitter persecution in heathen countries than was exercised upon them by ministers and mem- 14 210 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. bers of the Established Church. And yet this establishment was one of the best then existing in Christendom. The wealth, the power, the pride, the worldly grandeur of an established religion are sure fearfully to paralyze it for good, and render it a most politic and potent instrument of popu- lar degradation and oppression. But we, in this free, happy land, are privi- leged with an open Bible and a free Chris- tianity; and these have mainly made us what we are, a free, intelligent, enterprising, grow- ing people, yesterday but a handful and poor, and now taking our place among the richest and strongest nations of the earth. Yes, these possessions, an open Bible and a free Chris- tianity, have made us what we are, a truly Protestant people, favored above all others. And who can describe the blessings yet in store for such a people ? But consider again : 2. The people are sovereign in the United States. In other lands sovereignty dwells in one particular spot, or in one man, or in a small select body. Paris was, and perhaps is yet, France, the real sovereign of the -country. As Paris went, all went; if Paris was captured, all was gone — the whole country subdued. In Prussia, a purely military monarchy, the king VIEWS OF OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE. 211 is every thing. His sovereign will rules, how- ever the people may disapprove and murmur. Their condition and destiny are in his hands. He can bring the nation to power and pros- perity or ruin it, as he pleases. But among us the people are the only sov- ereign. They rule ; their will must ultimately prevail, and constitute the supreme law of the land. Here, then, we see, not the power and wis- dom of one man or of a select few, but the vast, accumulated intelligence, capacity, influ- ence, wealth, virtue, and energy of the whole people, some thirty or forty millions now, all thinking, feeling, acting for the good of their country. It is their possession, their home ; its present is theirs, its future is theirs — their honor, their power to bless and be blessed. Who can measure the light and the strength of such a sovereignty ? It is foolish to compare these with the wisdom and the pewer of one man or a select few. Hence, all the despotisms, the thrones, and aristocracies of the Old "World stood aghast at the demonstrations of popular sovereignty in crushing out our late rebellion. They feared us much before ; but never till then had they any adequate conception of the might of popular sovereignty. What miracles 212 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. of greatness and grandeur must, under God's providence, characterize the future of such a people ! 3. The history of the last few years has made us acquainted with ourselves, as well as it has taught the other nations of the earth what we are. No one among us ever dreamed, even in his most sanguine moments, how strong was the Union feeling, how vast the resources, how tremendous the energies of a free people, our truly democratic sovereign. We never can forget what our country did when the hour of trial came, and we have taught all other nations what popular sovereignty, a free people and free institutions, can accomplish. No longer is it hidden from the world what a glorious future is before our country. And this example of a truly Christian republic will arouse all other people, and put them upon fresh endeavors to break their bonds and enter upon the same glorious career. We can mention here only one other thought shedding light upon our future : 4. God, in his infinite wisdom and goodness, has seen fit to make us the world's chief de- positor} 7 of free institutions. What an honor ! How responsible the trust ! vraws OF our country's future. 213 Such a position can not but be most exciting and invigorating. It must stir us up to works of peace, and to achievements of war (when manifestly called of God to the awful duty), such as the world's past history has never yet recorded. Such a position will also tend more and more to call the attention of all other people to us, and fix their gaze upon this model democracy. If faithful to our high trust, our example will be full of instruction and freighted with richest blessings to all other nations of the earth. Notwithstanding, therefore, there is yet so much of evil among us — such moral and po- litical ignorance, such partisan blindness and bitterness, such servility and infatuated cling- ing to miserable expediencies, such atheistic hate of true liberty — true only because Chris- tian liberty — notwithstanding all these evils existing among us, and throwing every possible obstacle in our way, still our path, under God's blessing, will be ever onward and upward. As the lion shakes the dew-drops from his mane, so a sovereign people, in their might and their majesty, will shake off the influence of bad men and bad measures that would hinder the advance of free institutions. The stately step- pings of our heaven-blessed Republic, the grand / / p £42/3 214 ETHICS FOR THE TIMES. %?< depository of the world's rights and destiny, will be increasingly understood, admired, and imitated by all people, till the rapturous shout of universal liberty comes up from every vale and is heard from every mountain-top. Greater is He that is for us, than all they which be against us. "IN GOD WE TRUST.' THE END. Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Dec. 2004 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 544 223 9 liil