It is not our purpose to go into a full discussion of this broad subject in this place. Each branch of it would require more space than we can devote to the whole. There are a few points, however, which it is essential to consider, to meet the demands of the general object which this volume is designed to serve; and these we propose to view chiefly in a practical rather than a theoretical light, and to note the principle which is sanctioned from the action which is taken upon it.

ALL MEN SUBJECT TO CIVIL AUTHORITY.

The authority of civil government extend to all men, and all organizations of men. It rests ultimately upon the fact that civil society is ordained of God. This is declared in His word. The first civil duty of every citizen, therefore, is to render obedience to the lawful government under which he lives. When he violates this duty, he puts himself without the pale of its protection, and renders himself liable to punishment. There can be no exception, in either of these aspects,-as to the duty, or the consequences of failure to discharge it,-in the case of any persons or classes of persons. These are obvious truths, and are commonly admitted.

OBEDIENCE TO CIVIL AUTHORITY A RELIGIOUS DUTY.

If civil society is ordained of God, and if civil government derives its authority from Him, then obedience to civil rulers is not only a civil but a religious obligation; and hence it follows, that any infraction of this duty, either in omission or commission, is not only an offence against the laws of the land, but is a sin against God. Here, likewise, there are no exemptions. The religious as well the civil sanction binds all men, whether they believe in God or deny Him, whether they have religious affections

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or are corrupt. The obligation is perfect, and if disregarded or violated, the sin is complete; and they rest upon God's ordinance, and not upon men's views of it or their feelings in regard to it. An atheist is bound to render obedience to civil authority as really as any one else, and if he falls short of this he sins as really as any other person. His unbelief can neither destroy his obligation nor cancel his guilt.

While this is so, the weight of obligation and the heinousness of guilt may be affected by men's light and advantages. This all men admit, and this the Scriptures teach. Hence, a man who has been taught from childhood to render religious obedience to civil authority, and in whose soul dwells the power of divine grace,—who recognizes the full weight of Christian obligation in all things, and gives to it the voluntary homage of his heart,-is deemed a far more guilty man, when he commits treason against his country, than is he who commits the same crime and yet who has enjoyed none of these advantages, but has been sunk in ignorance and corrupting immoralities all his life. This doctrine commends itself to every man's common sense, and has the sanction of Scripture.

MINISTERS TO PREACH SUBJECTION.

The same doctrine holds good in the practical application of the principle to ministers of the Gospel. They with all other men are bound to render religious obedience to the civil authority. But in the sight of God, simple obedience on their part, while a high duty in itself, is at the lowest point in the scale in this class of their duties. They are not only to obey the powers that be, but they are in this to be an example to others; and, above all, they are to preach this truth to the people; to give instruction in all the principles of God's word in regard to obedience, to

point out the obligation, and to hold up the guilt of violating it.

Nor are they to deal in vague generalities and abstractions on this theme, any more than upon any other doctrine of the Scriptures. They are to point out in what obedience consists, what it involves, and what it demands, in heart, word, and deed, just as in regard to any other religious duty; and they are to declare wherein it may be violated in any of these respects. They are to endeavor to make this as plain, both regarding the duty and the sin of violating it, as any doctrine of salvation, for all are alike from God; and, indeed, if duty and sin are involved herein, even salvation may be endangered or promoted by a wrong or right direction given to the judgment, heart, conscience, or conduct, in reference to this as truly as to any other subject of revelation. In a word, all that God has declared upon these themes, the minister is bound to unfold to the people.

OMISSION OF THIS DUTY A SIN.

If such be the weight of obligation resting upon a minister, under such a view of his office, his guilt must be correspondingly great if he barely omit this branch of his public duty. The failure to instruct the people upon these themes, to the full extent that they are revealed in the Scriptures, becomes, in him, a heinous sin; for he is placed in the pulpit by the authority of God for this very purpose.

It may be further true, that the time when especially this duty should be fully met, is the time when men openly set at naught these obligations,-when they turn against the authority of lawful civil rulers, and combine and conspire together for its overthrow; and more especially may this be true when so great a scandal rests upon the Church itself, when the people of God, to so great an extent, meet

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in His sanctuary to hear His law from the priest's lips, and then turn deliberately against that lawful Government which God in His providence has placed over them; and most conclusively must this be the time for God's ministers to cry aloud and spare not, when the members of his Church extensively engage in the work and guilt of treason and rebellion with others not only, but when they take the foremost ranks in the movement, and plead religious obligations as a justification. Then, above all times, is it a minister's duty to declare the law of God, and warn his people of sin. If he omit it, he is verily guilty. If he discharge it, he is but doing his official work.

THE CROWNING GUILT.

What, then, must be thought of that class of ministers whose guilt consists not merely in the omission of this duty, but who publicly and privately counsel open resistance to the civil authority?-who prostitute the pulpit to preaching rebellion against their civil rulers, and who become leaders in a stupendous revolution against a popular Government, and the open advocates of war upon it which is slaying millions of their fellow-countrymen, and filling the land with widowhood and orphanage?

And what shall be thought of the religious press which openly teaches such doctrines, and becomes the most powerful ally, with the pulpit, in leading the people of God into these crimes? Under the garb of religious doctrine, it teaches that which is at war with its first principles; under a pretence of piety, it openly encourages sin; with the plea of serving God, it is the most powerful agent of the devil; pretending to a regard for human life, a desire for peace, and a horror of blood and carnage, it is directly aiding those who have raised the standard of a bloody rebellion against a Government which, by the con

fession of their ablest statesmen, never injured them, and whose power and patronage had always been in their hands.

If guilt surpassing this has ever been committed, since time began, among so enlightened a people, and under pretence of religion, the case has entirely escaped our notice.

DISLOYALTY PUNISHABLE BY THE STATE.

It becomes an interesting question, What does disloyalty deserve, and who may mete out its punishment? Upon this men have disagreed, and do still.

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That the civil authority may punish it, no one doubts. Treason, its highest type, is a crime committed directly against the State. It seeks the overthrow of its authority, or the destruction or usurpation of the Government. all countries it is regarded as the highest of crimes, for it perils the Government and all it guards, and hence it is generally punishable with death, though some degrees of it with banishment or with the heaviest civil disabilities. The Constitution of the United States defines tre ison, and the laws enacted under it declare the penalty of death.

There is also misprision of treason, and there are other crimes which come under the general designation of disloyalty. As these, in all their grades and degrees, are crimes against the State, they may be punished by its authority.

We of course use the term "loyalty" not in any legal, but wholly in a popular sense. We are not aware that the word is found in any of our statute laws as a legal term. But this is of no consequence; all understand what is meant by it, as applied in the contest now raging in our country. Nor is it of the least moment where, how, or when, the term originated. It is amusing to see how

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