r prerogatives, may be
exercised unwisely, capriciously, or even unjustly, but still it is not
to be denied. It has been recognized and exercised in all ages of the
world, and with the sanction of the best of men. It is as unavoidable
and healthful as the changes in the body to adapt it to the increasing
vigor of the mind, in its progress from infancy to age. The progress of
society depends on the exercise of this right. It is impossible that its
powers should be developed, if it were to be forever wrapt up in its
swaddling clothes, or coffined as a mummy. The early Christians
submitted quietly to the unjust laws of their Pagan oppressors, until
the mass of the community became Christians, and then they
revolutionized the government. Protestants acted in the same way with
their papal rulers. So did our forefathers, and so may any people whose
form of government no longer answers the end for which God has commanded
civil government to be instituted. The Quakers are now a minority in all
the countries in which they exist, and furnish an edifying example of
submission to the laws which they can not conscientiously obey. But
should they come, in any political society, to be the controlling
power, it is plain they would have the right to conduct it on their own
principles.

The right of revolution therefore is really embedded in the right to
serve God. A government which interferes with that service, which
commands what God forbids, or forbids what he commands, we are bound by
our duty to him to change as soon as we have the power. If this is not
so, then God has subjected his people to the necessity of always
submitting to punishment for obeying his commands, and has cut them off
from the only means which can insure their peaceful and secure enjoyment
of the liberty to do his will. No one, however, in our land, or of the
race to which we belong, will be disposed to question the right of the
people to change their form of government. Our history forbids all
diversity of sentiment on this subject. We are only concerned to show
that the scriptural doctrine of civil government is perfectly consistent
with that right; or rather that the right is one of the logical
deductions from that doctrine.

We have thus endeavored to prove that government is a divine
institution; that obedience to the laws is a religious duty; that such
obedience is due in all cases in which it can be rendered with a good
conscience; that when obedience c