The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1843-10-19

" tuCullCutcu. Anu ulSO give DOuuS " ~
# penal sum of one thousand dollars, wit
S sufficient sureties conditioned that sue
t person will never become charge TO an
= county in this Stale as poor person, an
! at all times to demean him or herself il
| strict conformity with the laws that nov
are or hereafter shall be enacted. 1t ais
imposes fine of FIVE hundred dollar
| lone half of which shall go The county
aud one half 10 the person prosecuting,
} upon all persons who shall harbor, hire
or In any aO0y gire SuStenGnce 10 any ne
gro or muallo who has not such certfi
: cate, and given such bond Provided hi
shall not effect any person residing in thu
State at the passageo OF this act.-A6Strac
Of tie SIare Code Of Illinois.
These are the laws of Illinois. Now
listen TO the laws of God. In Isaiah xiv
Sd and 4lh verses, God thus enacls -
"Take counsel, execute judgement; max
ing thy shadow as the night in the midst
of the MONDAY ;hAd g the oulcasts, bewray
not him that WI fe,h. Let my outcasIs
dwell with ,h@hF6ab; be thou covert
to them from the face Of the spoiler.'
The State of Illinois says that you shall
not harbor or secretc a runaway slave
The statute Of the Most High says, Hide
the outcdsts, lie covert 10 them from the
face of the spoiIer.' Now which will
you obey2
In Dleut xii. Is, l6, it is enacted thus:
Thou shalt not deliver unto his master
the servant that has escaped from his mas
ter unto thee: he shall dwell with thee,
even among you, in that place which he
shall choose, IN one of thy gates where it
lketh him best: thou shalt not Cypress
him. Here is an express, direct COM
mand not 10 give up the slave that escapes
from his master Consequently that clause
in the Constitution if it means this, which
do not admit, which requires us to give
Up fuo tive slaves, is null and void, aud Of
no binding force at all, and it Is 10 be
looked upon as nugatory, and ought 10 be
disregarded and dlsobeyed forever and
ave by all those who fear God more than
they fear man. If there is any part of
the Constitution or any law of Illinois,
that requires US TO break the law of God,
then call on you my brethren TO come
and help me trampo them in the dust.
Take an instance. There is an aged
saint whom Christ hath redeemed with
his own blood. She is weighed down
with the weight Of sixty years. She is
claimed as piece Of property, and made
to work in the field absolutely Without
clothing. On certain occasion her pre-
tended master commands her to do one
thing, her mistress anolber. She can no.
obey both, and does that which her mis-.
lress requires The master flies into
passion, lies her with rope around the
waist to tree, and beats her with hick-
ory pole, such as oxen are driven with,
Till it is broken to shivers, and till the
suffering victim, faint from loss OF blood
and pain, sinks upon the rope. The mas
ter then calls upon his wifo TO bring the
razor and the gimbIet that he may pate
off the soes Of her feet, and bore into the
bones 10 prevent her escape. But in the
Providence Of God she is saved this last
outrage, and gets away. With felgned
in6rmities added 10 those that are real,
hobbling along bent over the top Of her
staff, she makes her way from the land OF
who's and chains. She has slept out un-
der the open heavens - endured the pelt,
inos Of the storm, and lived for weeks on
the wild grape and the hawthorn. She
comes TO your door emacated, ragged,
shivering, aud asks your mercy. Will
you turn her away? Will you shut your
door in her face, or will you shelter, feed,
clothe and comfort her! Say, will you
give the old woman up? Will you be-
wray the wanderer! Will you, or will
you not, hide the outcast? Will you
obey God or the statute of Illinois? Re.
member the violation OF one law subjects
YOU to fine and imprisonment in the coun.
ty ilil-lhat of the other to eternal dam
nation. Who will you o5ey2 will
not believe that there is single person
in this house who would not, contrary to
the accused statutes of Illinois, harbor,
secrete, feed, cIohe and help on their
way, the poor fugitive. No. blessings on
the head Of those who help Gods outcasts.
Well, if it is right and duty to disre-
gard one human law which conflicts with
the Divine, why not another, another, and
ano!her2 And where will you stop p
You can not stop till you have trampled
under foot every law which requires you
10 violate Gods law. But some one will
haply start up here with this saying
there is penalty, penalty = if you
violate human laws you must abide the
penalty Well, let them bring forward
their penalties their ines and imprisoE-
ments. Let them heat their furnaces
seven times hotter than is their wont let
them starve their lions open their amphi-
theatre of wild beasts - prepare their
thumb-screws and other instruments of
torture to make us tell where the fugitives
lie concealed let them erect their crosses
and set up their gbbets and prepare their