rishable. Secession means war; and
war means tears and ashes and blood. It means bonds and imprisonments,
and perhaps even death to many in our beloved Brotherhood, who, I have
the confidence to believe, will die, rather than disobey God by taking
up arms.

The Lord, by the mouth of Moses, says: "Be sure your sin will find you
out." It may be that the sin of holding three millions of human beings
under the galling yoke of involuntary servitude has, like the bondage
of Israel in Egypt, sent a cry to heaven for vengeance; a cry that has
now reached the ear of God. I bow my head in prayer. All is dark save
when I turn my eyes to him. He assures me in his Word that "all things
work together for good to them that love him." This is my ground of
hope for my beloved brethren and their wives and their children. He
alone can provide for their safety and support. I believe he will do
it.

WEDNESDAY, January 30. Write a letter to John Letcher, Governor of
Virginia, in which I set before him in a brief way the doctrines which
we as a body or church, known as Brethren, German Baptists or
Dunkards, have always held upon the subject of obedience to the
"rightful authority and power of government." We teach and are taught
obedience to the "powers that be;" believing as we do that "the powers
that be are ordained of God," and under his divine sanction so far as
such powers keep within God's bounds. By _God's bounds_ we understand
such laws and their administrations and enforcements as do not
conflict with, oppose, or violate any precept or command contained in
the Divine Word which he has given for the moral and spiritual
government of his people. By _government_, to which we as a body
acknowledge and teach our obligations of duty and obedience, we
understand rightful human authority. And by this, again, we
understand, as the Apostle Paul puts it, "the power that protects and
blesses the good, and punishes the evildoer." The general Government
of the United States of America, constituted upon an inseparable union
of the several States, has proved itself to be of incalculable worth
to its citizens and the world, and therefore we, as a church and
people, are heart and soul opposed to any move which looks toward its
dismemberment.

This is in substance what I wrote to John Letcher, Governor of
Virginia.

I likewise attend Abraham Shue's sale: The candidates for seats in the
Convention to meet in Richmond were on the ground, actively