Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1861-07-24
SERMON OF REV. R. A. cARUTHERs.
PUBLIsHEp RY REouEsr.

cause pay We tribute also" Rom l3.
The human family are the subjects of two.
told relation, embracing our duty to God and
the relations we sustain to each other: God
the supreme Ruler of the universe, has made
provisions for the regulation of both; for the
first in ecclesiastical law, and for the second
in civil government. The powers that be are
ordained of God; hence, whatever partans
truly to the political interests of the nation is
the legitimate work of men fearing God and
working righteousness.
AS God has constituted mankind the proper
subjects Of government, and has ordained
powers for that purpose, it will follow, from
the consistency of the divine mind, that there
is perfect harmony between the law and the
wants of its subjects-such complete adapta-
tion of the one to the other, that where the
law is properly administered the subjects will
not be sensible of the restraints which it i'm
poses. Such has been the Government of the
United States, when administered according
to its constitutional provisions. Wherever the
principles of the Declaration of Independence
have been regarded, the law-abidipg portion
of community have grown old and gray headed
without having realized that they were govern
ed at all. Law only gals and irritates the
iawless.
Law, to be correct, must be based upon the
Scriptures. The Bible is true to nature, to
the nature of God, and the nature of man.
rupted nature, and to bring us into harmony
with the mind of God. That form of iurispru-
dence, then, which will best promote the le-
gitimate interests of the human family, must
reflect the principles of the law of God, a
synopsis of which is found in the Golden
Rule. ssTherefore all things whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even
so to them" Matt. vii, u. A transgression
of the law is sin and this axiom of the Bible
is true, whether we speak of our physical,
mental, or moral nature; whether we have
respect to our dudy to God, to our neighbor,
or to ourselves; and the uncompromisng de-
mand OF the law, according to the high pur-
pose of God, is, ssThe soul that snneth, it
shall die" Sin is an element of destruction;
ii is disease in the organic structure of a
thing; it is beginning of dissolution-a
suspension of the laws of being. The per-
fection of sin is death. Sin destroys the sim
ner, but leaves the law intact. The man that
sins against the laws of his organism does not
destroy the laws of organism; he only sus-
pends their operation in respect to his own
person, and destroys himself. He that in his
own person violates the laws Of sight becomes
blind ; he that violates the laws of mind be-
comes insane he that violates the moral law
of God destroys his morals he that sins a.
gainst Christ forfeits his Christianity. So
also political transgresson will result in po-
li.ical death, and violation of the scriptural
department of the body polite, whether we
speak of civil, political or ecclesiastical law.
American slavery, in exacting more Of our
neighbor than are willing to concede to
him, is violation of the Golden Rule; in
Withholding from the bondmen an open Bible;
a sacred marriage relation, and in the separa-
tion of families, it is sin against God; and
in depriving him of liberty it is sin against
the Declaration Of Independence, which pro-
lnty,
And because it is aSSin, it has proved itself
to be an element Of destruction wherever it
has been even tolerated.
It is true, the Hebrews had a form of servi-
tude, but it was not the form existing in the
United States; it differed from it in many i'm
portant particulars. The Hebrew law recog-
nized no right in Jew to sell a servant they
could only be bought of the heathen. The
law required the circumcision of the servant
and, according to the best Jewish historian,
the rite must be conferred within year from
the time of purchase, and by the consent of
the servant otherwise he sent away
without the benefits of disciplinary probation
as member OF Jewish family-to wit, Incor-
poration into the Church of God, and the
right of citizenship to himself and his chill
dren after him forever. For being circum
cised he became an entered apprentice to the
Jewish polity, both secular and religious, and
in due time graduated into all the rights and
privileges OF the native born circumcised sons
of Abraham. This emancipation might take
place at any time by the consent of the
Master, but was affected by force of law every
fifty years at the greater Jubilee. On the
seventh year the Hebrew servant sswent out
free for nothing" but at the end of seven
sabbaths of years liberty was proclaimed
'sthroughout all the land unto all the inhab-
itants thereof" Levitt. Xxxv. IL. To whom
does proclamation of liberty apply Not
from ofo oIa
go out free. In the case before us the SER
want of Jewish extraction was already free.
Other provisions applied to his case; but
here all the residue of the inhabitants in |
bonds are made free; and to whom could it |
apply but to the persons bought of the hea-
then? Hence, upon the proclamation of the |
of liberty not bondman was left |
in all the borders of Israel. Give us such |
provisions to regulate American slavery; buy |
none but such as you are willing to incorpo- |
rate into your family and instruct religiouslv; |
give them an open Bible and sacred marriage |
contract allow them family hearth and |
family graveyard, and once in fifty years pro-
claim liberty to all the inhabitants of the land,
aud our opposition is at an end. But the A
merican slave is not thus compensated for
bis years of toll and suffering bound to the
EAR, and lashed on forever, he is made a mere
,hattel, and taught no higher aspirations than
beasts with horns and hoofs.
American slavery has lived long enough to
have history, and the character it has de-
Teloped proves it to be a monster ruinous as
ieath and as unsatistied as the grave the
olague-spot marks the hand that touches it,
md those that would befriend it are the first
% be sacrifsed upon the altar of its cruel lust.
70 satisfy ourselves of the despotic nature of
hat system covertly introduced into our ma
Ional structure, in the use Of the terms Goth
,r persons and 'spersons held to labor" let
is turn to the history of the M. E. Church.
No other document in the land so well indi
,ates the change wrought in the Southern