The higher law, in its relations to civil government : with particular reference to slavery, and the Fugitive slave law

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RELATIONS TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT

Preface

It affords me no small pleasure to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. The slave, manacled and dumb, is forbidden to assert, either by word or deed, his right to the inalienable and priceless inheritance of liberty. In this sad condition, who shall more deeply sympathize with the bondman, or more strenuously advocate his claims, than the ministers of Him who came "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound ?" But there is more than a work of mercy involved in this issue. The highest principles of the Christian faith have been impugned, and if ministers were inclined to stand aside, they could not, without an utter forfeiture of character. It is their business to proclaim the Higher Law, and the Higher Law as paramount to all other laws. They are heralds of the kingdom of God, and when that kingdom is contemned, they must appear in its defence, or Christ is betrayed in the house of his friends. This task is incidental to the statesman,

VI PREFACE.

but not to the minister, for he is charged with this very work — he is set for the defence of the Gospel.

The reader will find here a full and consecutive development of those principles which, in another relation to the public, I have felt, and still feel, it my duty to maintain. Others may view the subject differently, but I cannot have a clear conscience and remain silent in the presence of such injustice to man, and such impiety to God. "First pure, then peaceable," should be our motto. The question is no longer diminutive and local. It fills the whole land, and compels every man to take a position on one side or the other — against slavery or against liberty. There is no longer any neutral ground.

More commonly the occurrences by which great principles are tested, are in themselves of slight importance. But in the present instance the reverse is strikingly true. The very existence of the church and of the government, is involved in the now pending question of emancipation. To all human appearance, we must either put away oppression, or yield the high religious and political advantages we now hold.

Aubuen, July 5, 1852.

Introduction

If human laws are the highest, they certainly ought to be obeyed at any and every hazard. Their agreement or disagreement with the law of God is a matter of no consequence : they may be right, or they may be wrong, but in either case, if we acknowledge their supremacy, the subject must obey, and as much in one case as in the other. This conclusion cannot be resisted, if the premises on which it rests are allowed to stand. Our present inquiry, therefore, is one fraught with the deepest interest to human welfare. It lies at the very foundation of duty. The question is alike important to civil and to religious obligations.

It is obvious that no ex cathedra decision on this subject can avail any thing ; the question of supremacy— if supremacy exists anywhere — must be determined by an appeal to facts. JVCere Irypothesis will not answer in so serious a matter : neither 2 will prescription, nor tradition. We can rest on nothing short of those substantial elements of knowledge of which our own consciousness takes cognizance.

Some may consider the question already settled — a foregone conclusion — and object to re-opening it. "We once considered it so, at least so far as this country is concerned; but recent circumstances have materially changed this opinion. The supremacy of the Divine law is no longer an unquestioned truth among us. Of this we need no other proof than the fact, that when a distinguished citizen of this state lately declared, in the Senate of the United States, that " there is a higher law than the constitution,"* the declaration, instead of eliciting an instant and cordial approval, drew down upon him a storm of invective. For the utterance of a truth which must ever be fundamental to Christianity, he was charged with seditious and treasonable designs against the government of the country. These charges were not hastily made, in the excitement of debate, but were the cool, deliberate sentiments of men who

* "It is true, indeed, that the national domain is ours. It is true it was acquired with the valor and with the wealth of the whole nation. But we hold, nevertheless, no arbitrary power over it. We hold no arbitrary authority over any thing, whether acquired lawfully, or seized by usurpation. The constitution regulates our stewardship ; the constitution devotes the domain to union, to justice, to defence, to welfare, and to liberty. But there is a higher law than the constitution, which regulates our authority over the domain, and devotes it to the same noble purposes. The territory is a part, no inconsiderable part, of the common heritage of mankind, bestowed upon them by the Creator of the universe. We are his stewards, and must so discharge our trust as to secure in the highest attainable degree their happiness."— Speech of Gov. Seward in th<e Senate, March 12, 1850.

INTRODUCTION. 15

speak only what they think. The y were made again and again, in Congress and ont of Congress, by secular men and ecclesiastics, from the press and the pulpit. As a specimen of them we give the following from the Washington Repuhlic — a leading political paper, published in the District of Columbia :

"We have endeavored to show into what labyrinths of error a statesman runs when he acknowledges a higher law than the constitution, and his oath to support it. We need not dwell more on that point. We have seen that Mr. Seward has culled the field of fanatical declamation of its choicest flowers; and in admirable English and neatly elaborated periods, avowed an independence of constitutional obligation, which, if followed by others, must end in the annihilation of all government, all law, all rights. Every other man in the United States has just as much right to set up a law in his breast, ' higher than the constitution,' as Mr. Seward has. And as constitutional law is the highest man can make, it follows that every man may break municipal and legislative law with yet greater impunity. Anarchy and bloodshed ; the law of the strong arm ; the law of the sword ; the Lynch law, and kindred enormities, are the sequence of a doctrine like this. Anarchy, in its worst form ; and the law of force, in its crudest aspect."

WTien such language as this is allowed to pass unrebuked, it is time for those who believe in a Higher Law to state their views without equivocation or evasion, and with whatever of argument they can command. Unless we greatly mistake, the first principles of both natural and revealed religion are openly assailed. It is barely possible, however, that those who hold the sentiments contained in the above extract, only intend to assert that human enactments have a conditional supremacy. They mean, perhaps, no more than this — that in the arrangement of Providence, the laws of man are assigned as an ultimate standard of right, to which it is the will of God that all men should bow as to himself. But this explanation, though, it may relieve the case of that stark infidelity which must otherwise attach to it, is by no means satisfactory. It is scarcely less objectionable in any respect, and probably more mischievous in practice, than avowed skepticism. I shall not here enter upon the argument by which this phase of the question is so easily met and refuted, as it will come up more properly in another place ; but it may be well to state, in the outset, that all conclusions based upon such an explanation are utterly sophistical. ~No higher law, existing under such modifications, can have any effect upon the conduct of men. "We may as well — and better — have infidelity without this poor disguise. The thin drapery of religion thrown over the disgusting form of atheism, may deceive the unsuspecting, but cannot change the nature of things, nor lessen the disastrous consequences of error.

These statements sufficiently disclose the motives which have led to this work. The writer has no wish to engage in a semi-political controversy ; he

ENTRODITCTION. 17

is quite willing to leave politics to those to whom such things more immediately belong. But a full conviction that a blow is aimed' — -whether maliciously or ignorantly, he does not say — at the very existence of religion and the best interests of the state, leaves him not at liberty to decline the investigation. Nor is it probable that the discussion will soon end. The burden of determining anew, or at least of re-asserting what are the rights respectively of civil government and of Christianity, seems to be thrown upon this age. The lessons of history appear to exert little influence, and the great problem of human rights must be solved once more. May it be, not as heretofore, on fields of blood and carnage ; but with the more powerful, yet bloodless, weapons of truth and righteousness.

In conducting this discussion we shall not be confined to any single aspect of the subject ; much less to a survey of the Higher Law in the abstract. The existence and claims of such a law constitute an all-pervading truth. We shall find traces of them in every thing around us — in man, in civil government, in the external world, and in whatever presents itself to our observation. This is not simply a question of jurisprudence, or of ethics, or of theology; but rather of all combined — of truth in general.

Chapter II. The Highek Law

SECTION L

MANIFESTATION OF THE HIGHEK LAW.

The law of God is indicated in the following ways :

1. By the natural constitution of things.

2. By the course of Providence.

3. By direct revelation.

nature.

That man is not left wholly to self-regulation, is a truth so obvious as to require no proof. That he is a being affected by influences beyond his control, has never been denied, and never can be by any sane mind. It may be difficult to determine what these influences are, or to what extent they are to be regarded in the practice of life ; but the fact of their existence admits of no dispute. One or two facts in relation to physical existence will illustrate this remark. Death, though it may be accidental, cannot by any possibility be prevented. As an ul-

MANIFESTATION OF THE HIGHER LAW. 19

timate event, it is absolutely certain. The mode of subsistence, however it may be varied, is, after all, essentially the same in all human beings, and wholly unalterable. Man can subsist only by nourishment, received into the system through the appropriate organs of nutrition. Again, he must have air to breathe, or death immediately ensues. The circulation of the blood is another condition of life, equally incontestible.

That the constitution of things clearly unfolds a higher law than man can ordain, has been partly shown in the preceding observations. But the argument may be extended much farther. !No one will pretend that the several endowments and conditions of human nature do not point to certain correspondencies in practical life. For instance, the demand for food evidently points to some exertion to procure food, or, in other words, to the great law of industry so clearly revealed in the Scriptures — • " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground." The social feelings as evidently indicate that man was made for society, and point to the marriage relation, no less distinctly than the written word, which says, "It is not good that the man should be alone." "Let every man have his own wife." Again, the desire of happiness prevalent in every human breast, connected as this desire is with a consciousness of dependence upon others, intimates the duty of reciprocal kindness, as plainly as the law, which says, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." These are only a few of the numberless instances in which the will of the Creator is made unmistakably plain, by the constitution that he has given us, or the circumstances in which he has placed us. It would not be possible to misapprehend the design in either of the instances referred to : at all events, it would be quite as impossible to do so as it would to mistake the use of our natural faculties, and attempt to walk on the hands instead of the feet, or to hear with the eyes instead of the ears.

Now, the use of these simple truths is this : they show, beyond all controversy, that at least in some things we are bound by conditions — that is, laws — which we must abide, because it is not in our power to set them aside. That is to say, physical existence acknowledges a higher law, whether we intellectually and morally acknowledge it or not.

The question then, so far as relates to some kind of a law, is settled.

But we are in search of a moral law, and until this is found, it does not become positively certain that man may not do as he pleases in things of a moral character. If we admit the claims of Christianity, the argument is at an end, for that is professedly a revelation of the law of God. Or if we even admit the existence of God, the result is the same. The nature of God makes him the Supreme Lawgiver. He could not be God if he were not the highest ; and if the highest in any thing, then is he

MANIFESTATION OF THE HIGHER LAW. 21

the highest in every thing — 'in morals as well as in physics. But if even his existence is denied, the conclusion yet remains good, that there must be a higher law. We have seen that physical life, or nature, is " held fast in fate," and this, irrespective of all questions touching the existence or non-existence of a Supreme Being. Our moral nature, whatever it may be, is circumscribed by limits and conditions strictly analogous. As we cannot resist death, nor live without nourishment, so neither can we carry virtue, or any crime, beyond a given extent. Man's will is not supreme in the department of morals. He cannot love and hate the same being at the same time ; nor can he be good and bad at the same time. He cannot blend vice and virtue, nor change the nature of the one or the other. "What is right, is right in spite of him ; and what is wrong, is wrong in spite of him. Hence it is clear that in these particulars he is controlled by a law above himself, the conditions of which he is unable to change, and the authority of which he is equally unable to throw off. He is, moreover, unable to separate himself from moral character ; his nature has in it the elements of morality, and he may be either good or bad, but he cannot avoid both of these conditions, and remain exempt from either virtue or vice. Nor can the influence of numbers make any difference in his moral relations. The united voice of the race might decree that vice should

be virtue, and virtue vice ; or, that neither vice nor 2* virtue should have any existence, and the decree would be just as powerless as if it had affirmed that man should not die.

PROVIDENCE.

Providence is the term which we employ to designate the course of nature. The constitution of things proclaims for what they are fitted, but it does not necessarily determine what their practical operation shall be. Not that the things themselves have power to change their destiny, but that the Author of nature may not be governed by what seems to us the natural use of the things he has made. Is the Divine providence, then, in accordance with the natural constitution of things, or not ? The affirmative of this question is certain, beyond all contingency. We have already seen that the great laws of man's physical and moral being are sovereign — that they are not subject to his will, and cannot be set aside by him — 'that they are woven into his nature, and must have their course. The question now arises — Have these laws, thus wrought into the constitution of man, declined ? Are there any exceptions? — and if so, do they indicate that the universal law is not steadily maintained in the government of the world ? The course of Providence seems to be eminently in harmony with the creative law. Death is no more incidental than it was at first ; mortality prevails over all men with the same undeviating certainty that it did over the first genera-

MANIFESTATION OF THE HIGHER LAW. 23

tion. The mode of subsistence is likewise unvaried. Food and air, and the operation of the vital functions, are just as indispensable now as they ever were. Remoter laws also are equally unimpaired. The earth still yields its harvest only to the hand of industry ; the social relations still have their full attractive force, and confer the same benefits as of old. Nor is charity less indispensable than it used to be. In these respects all things remain as they were from the beginning ; the creation and perpetuation of the race involve precisely the same principles.

The moral administration of Providence is marked by the same exact regard to constitutional principles. Man has not been able to surpass himself; his crimes and his virtues are still those of man. He has not done either good or bad as he might have done, had it been possible for him, at will, to rise above or sink below the powers which God has given him. Good is good, and bad is bad — now as heretofore. Virtue finds its reward, and vice its punishment, with as much certainty as at any former period — that is, invariably. We say, invariably, because there are only slight exceptions in the actual result, and none at all in the administrative law. Any apparent irregularity which we may detect, grows out of the almost incomprehensible sweep of retributive Providence. This is only a preliminary state, and the conduct of its affairs must, in some degree, be modified by considerations connected with a future world. But this is no abatement of order- — no variation of principle — no change of law. The effect may be delayed, but the cause does not cease to operate. The culprit may be shielded for a time, yet vengeance is sure to overtake him, unless he repents. God does not relinquish his purpose. We conclude, then, that the course of Providence is affirmative of all natural indications. The Governor of the nni verse is carrying out the designs of the Creator.

REVELATION.

Of the will of God, as manifested in revelation, but little need be said. It is too plain and too decisive to require comment in a preliminary inquiry like this. If we admit revelation at all, we admit it in its character of law. That the revealed word of God sanctions and upholds all the great principles embodied in the constitution of the world, is a self-evident truth. The Bible is the Higher Law, in fact and in form. It is a formal announcement of the Divine will as the Divine will. In it God, in his character of Creator, and Upholder, and Governor of all things, prescribes to man the rules of duty, accompanied by all necessary prohibitions and penalties. What is silently expressed by creation and providence, in the Scriptures is made to assume the shape of speech. That more is comprehended in the written word than in the teachings of nature, was to be expected, and does not vary the case,

MANIFESTATION" OF THE HIGHER LAW. 25

since the difference is only in degree and not in kind. As in nature the law is expressed in the work, so in revelation the law is contained in the word. Hence the terms word and law are often used interchangably in the sacred writings. The creature could not exist without its inherent constitutional or organic law ; neither can the word of God exist without its essential qualities — supremacy, holiness, wisdom, benevolence. This word is undoubtedly the brightest, latest, fullest manifestation of law that can be conceived. It is God breaking the silence of eternity with an audible utterance of his own character and purposes. Where nature but hinted, this gives a full exposition ; and so copious is the information, that nothing but irreverent curiosity or selfish pride can ask for more. It is true that Divinity assumed the office of Lawgiver, when the unalterable relations of things were fixed ; that, however, was not all the law man required — nature's code was not enough to meet all his wants — he had hopes and fears that could not be satisfied till life and immortality, with all their conditions, were brought to light through the gospel. He needed not a higher law than had been stamped upon nature, but a reaffirmation of the original decree, with the addition of such provisions and illustrations as are rendered necessary by the present lapsed condition of humanity. Having this, he needs no more.

Section II. Character Of The Higher Law

In characterizing the Divine law, we shall of course have reference to its most perfect form — to the writ^ ten word — and especially to that written npon tables of stone. But where shall we begin ! The law itself is a wonder — an aggregate of wonders. All Scripture was given by inspiration, but the law was written with the finger of God. From this assemblage of magnificent requirements it is not easy to select, even for the purpose of admiration — so fully has Godhead left its stamp on every part. All is equally excellent, and equally authoritative — not one jot or tittle shall fail. Resistance in the least, is resistance in the greatest ; " for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." It is here as in the chain of nature — ■

" whatever link you strike,

Tenth or ten-thousandth, breaks the chain alike."

Each precept is clothed with all the authority of the Eternal, and disobedience, however slight, sets that authority at defiance.

It will readily be admitted that this law is an adumbration of its author. God himself shines forth in every word. The law of God — whether we understand thereby the several precepts he has given, or the Scriptures generally — is a revelation of his

CHARACTER OF THE HIGHER LAW. 27

mind, and will, and nature, incomparably more perfect than could be obtained by any other means in this life. We must not, however, forget that this law is not himself. It may be like him — a transcript of his mind — but it is no more than a transcript. So man bears the image of God, but man is not God.

Thus, while we do not deify the law, we nevertheless make it the perfect work of a perfect God. We do not worship the law, but accept it as a bright and beneficent expression of the Divine character, and as the only sufficient rule for the government of conduct. The points to which we wish more particularly to direct attention are the following :

SUPREMACY.

Han's nature being subordinate, can never rise above the Divine law. A law of God once given, remains in force till repealed by Him who gave it. We cannot exempt ourselves, because the relation between Him and us cannot be changed. Between the creature and the Creator — the finite and the Infinite — there must ever be the same undiminished difference. In Him centres the right to rule, and in us the necessity to obey. He is ever God, and we are ever his creatures. There can be no change of natures. He cannot cease to be God, nor we to be men. This, duly considered, must forever establish his claims, not barely in the things where we have his special direction, but as our Supreme Governor, whose authority is always to be acknowledged, even though we may not be able to ascertain his will.

Men have ingeniously sought to evade the force of this law by alleging that its supremacy is confined to particular departments of duty. It has been affirmed, for instance, that in matters of faith or religion, the Bible is the highest authority, but not in matters of state. This is a miserable evasion. The Divine supremacy extends to every thing, and to one thing as fully as to another. Matters of religion are no more under God's direction or authority than matters of state. His supremacy is universal and unlimited, throughout all time and all space. But it is claimed that institutions existing by Divine authority are exponents of the Divine will, and that we are to receive their decrees as the decree of God. This, also, is a fallacy. Before God there are no institutions of the kind now alluded to ; he has erected no infallibilities of a corporate or social character. Tie has not delegated his authority so as to sanction an infringement of his own immaculate government. All institutions, and all men, in their public as well as their private acts, are subject to the law of God. If institutions had discretionary authority — if they might do as they pleased, without reference to the Bible — 'then their enactments, though wrong, might be obligatory. But institutions of all kinds are as strictly bound as individuals, and they have not the slightest authority to do wrong

CHARACTER OF THE HIGHER LAW. 29

themselves ; much less have they authority to compel others to do wrong. The law of God in reference to all things human, is semper et ubique eadem — • always and everywhere the same. How preposterous, then, to allege Divine authority for a wanton exercise of power ! There is no power but of Gocl. Men have his authority to do right, but they never can have his authority to do wrong, or to force others to do wrong. This wonderful law is over all equally. The king and the subject, the prince and the peasant, are alike amenable for their conduct to the one Lawgiver, who is able to save or to destroy. Most healthful would the entertainment of this essential truth be to the heaven-defying multitudes who arrogate to themselves entire self-control, because God has laid upon them certain duties involving the exercise of common-sense.

HOLINESS.

The purity of the law is another of its peculiarities. " The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." It must be so, for a holy God could not be the author of an unholy law. His law must be, like himself, infinitely pure. Nor does this wonderful purity flow from any contingency ; it is not an incident attaching to the Divine law. God made the law in accordance with the eternal and immutable integrity of his own nature. He could not make an unholy law. It is this essential attribute of his law which makes it so unwelcome to wicked men. To all such, the law is a voice of condemnation, because their deeds are evil. The pure requirements of the Most High impose a sovereign restraint upon corrupt nature. Hence, the rebellion among the wicked — they cannot endure commands that check so effectually the cherished propensities of their depraved hearts. " The carnal mind is enmity against God — it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." It is this amazing truth that gives such especial importance to the doctrine of regeneration. " Without holiness no man shall see the Lord," because no man, without this qualification, can be at peace with him. God and the wicked are necessarily and eternally enemies— except as the latter may be saved from their sins. The conditions of the Divine administration are reformation or destruction. The sinner must repent or perish.

WISDOM.

Here only has law an indisputably perfect adaptation. Its application to man is especially remarkable. Human laws bear heavily upon us at many points. Ignorance, and selfishness, and depravity, have corrupted legislation, till earth groans under legalized wickedness. Not so with the code of heaven. Its strictest prohibitions, its severest penalties, and its highest injunctions, are alike admirably adapted to the wants of humanity. Man needs just such restraints, just such penalties, and

CHARACTER OF THE HIGHER LAW. 31

just such, commands. Not one enactment too few, not one too many ; not one too lax, not one too stringent. What a harmonious blending of authority with constitutional wants ! Verily, none but the Creator could have instituted such control. The governing power is applied to man as gently as the seasons are to nature, or as the elements are to his body. The air we breathe, the light which we see, the water which laves us, the fire that warms us, and the food which nourishes us, are not more carefully and wisely adjusted to our physical powers, than are these written laws to the government of our moral nature. Let the skeptic reflect on this mysterious gentleness of Omnipotence, and learn to adore a power which never exerts itself amiss.