UUSB LIBRARY
 
 A PLEA 
 
 FOR 
 
 LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE, 
 
 AND 
 
 PERSONAL FREEDOM 
 
 FROM 
 
 MILITARY CONSCRIPTION 
 
 IN LETTERS TO 
 THOMAS LORING, ESQ. 
 
 BY JOSHUA WILDER. 
 
 A PLACE FOR EVERY MEMBER IN THE BOOT, AND ALSO IN 
 THE BODY POLITIC AND EVERY MEMBER IN ITS PLACE. 
 
 HIXGHAM : 
 
 PRINTED BY J. FARMER. 
 JANUARY, 1840.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN addressing these Letters to you, Sir, I have endeavored 
 to fulfill the duty that I voluntarily took upon myself, some 
 time since, in the very short interview that took place be- 
 tween us ; when, on your asking of me what were my views 
 on the question of excusing from Military Service those per- 
 sons who could not conscientiously do such duties, I replied, 
 that as my views on the subject were somewhat different 
 from the most commonly received opinions, I would endea- 
 vor, if I could find opportunity, to write out my mind there- 
 on ; and, also, on the subject of having in the State none 
 other than a Volunteer Military Corps, to be paid for their 
 services. But, in addressing these Letters to you, Sir, I am 
 far from supposing that you favor the views that I have here 
 expressed, excepting on the rights of conscience, which you 
 hold sacred, as you have shown by your noble and praise- 
 worthy defence thereof, made in the Legislature of the State, 
 at its session of 1839 ; for which you have my grateful 
 regard. 
 
 The Letters are of greater length than I had supposed 
 would be necessary, to illustrate my views with argument, on 
 these subjects. A better tact at writing, would have enabled 
 me to make them much shorter ; but, as I could apply no 
 more talent to the work than what I possessed, I shall sub- 
 mit them to you, Sir, to make such use of them as you may 
 deern proper ; hoping that they will not meet with sudden 
 destruction, nor any, until the sentiments they contain shall 
 be more generally known ; and, as far as they may be right, 
 acknowledged.
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 HAVING made some prefatory remarks, I shall 
 now commence my plea for the rights of the consci- 
 entiously scrupulous, and all others, to whom the 
 personal service of Military duty is a burthen ; and 
 then proceed to offer arguments in favor of estab- 
 lishing the Military Corps of the State, upon Volun- 
 teer enlistments, and an equitable compensation 
 for services. 
 
 And, here I shall state distinctly, and unequivo- 
 cally, that it is my belief, that a Government of 
 Laws, and of Civil Officers to execute them, and a 
 Military establishment, to add strength and power 
 to the civil authorities, when resisted by violence 
 at home or abroad, are necessary, in the present 
 existing state of the world. That it will always 
 continue to be so, is more than I believe any per- 
 son knows ; nor is it necessary for my present pur- 
 pose here to consider. 
 
 Having endeavored to base some of my arguments 
 on Bible authority, I shall here say, that the Scrip- 
 tures of the Old and New Testament, especially 
 those of the New, are admitted, by the most civil- 
 ized nations, as the best written rules, taken as a 
 whole, by which to model and subject to action, our 
 Moral sentiments ; and every man in this State, 
 who honestly governs himself as he believes the 
 Scriptures dictate to him, stands acquitted to his 
 1*
 
 Creator, and also to the reflecting-, sober, upright 
 part of the community that know him. Why is it 
 so ? Surely not because his particular views of 
 faith and practice are to be taken as rules or models, 
 by which a whole community, or perhaps any few 
 members of it, will find it their duty to be govern- 
 ed ; jt is rather because he appears to aim to walk 
 uprightly, according to the Scriptures, as he under- 
 stands them and what makes it more evident, that 
 the Moral sentiment, of the thinking, sober and in- 
 telligent part of civilized communities, is founded 
 on, or drawn from the Moral sentiment made man- 
 ifest in the Scriptures, especially the New Testa- 
 ment, is, that when any great moral question is be- 
 ing discussed, an appeal is made directly to the 
 Christian Scriptures, for, or against, the controvert- 
 ed points ; and their authority is but seldom ques- 
 tioned, even by those who disbelieve their being 
 of divine origin. Their pure and highly elevated 
 moral tone commands the respect of most men who 
 are desirous of establishing order and harmony 
 among the dwellings of men on earth. 
 
 The foregoing remarks on the authority of the 
 Scriptures, as a governing rule, to those who re- 
 ceive them as such, being admitted, I shall, in the 
 remarks that I shall hereafter make on my propos- 
 ed subject, regard every person's conscience, which 
 appears io have been formed by any Moral senti- 
 ments drawn from the Bible, and more especially 
 from the New Testament, as sacred to him that 
 holds it, as is the temple of God, which none can 
 with impunity defile ; and so I would, also, every
 
 other person's conscience, even if it were formed 
 in the worship of idols. 
 
 Here a question may be asked Can persons 
 conscienti6usly differing in their apprehensions of 
 duty be right ? I answer yes not only as they are 
 individually affected, but also as such differing may 
 effect the greatest good of the whole. There is no 
 more necessity that they should think, or believe 
 alike, or act alike, to constitute them upright, hon- 
 est men, promoting their own and the world's great- 
 est good, than there is for them to look alike, or 
 speak alike, and to eat and drink and labour alike, 
 and so on, to make them equally happy and equally 
 as useful in the society where they reside. As no 
 t.wo persons are ever, in every particular form and 
 circumstance, alike, we must consent to think and 
 act somewhat differently, to effect the most good to 
 ourselves and the community. That our very dif- 
 fering views, condition and circumstances, are in 
 some respects the result of our, or of others vices, 
 is very true ; and so also are many of the pains and 
 afflictions that variously befall us. If we are free 
 from superstition and pride of character, and al- 
 ways act honestly, we shall often, in the judgment 
 of others, appear to believe, and to act, inconsist- 
 ent with ourselves, others not knowing our prog- 
 ress, and, what is more controlling, our, and the 
 world's, actual change of circumstances ; therefore 
 it was, as I believe, that our Lord taught his Dis- 
 ciples to "judge not, that ye be not judged." Crim- 
 inating others begets the spirit of recrimination in 
 them ; and thus, the beginning of warrings, and 
 the destruction, often terrible, that follows.
 
 8 
 
 Our Lord taught his Disciples by general princi- 
 ples, never binding them to any one formal line of 
 conduct or of worship, but ever holding them bound 
 to abide in "Supreme Love to God," and unfeigned 
 "good will to men." And I shall here say, that I 
 believe there may be circumstances, when Christ's 
 disciples might find it their duty, to arm themselves 
 with carnal weapons, even when Supreme Love to 
 God and good will to men, controlled their every 
 action as in obedience to the command of Christ, 
 did his disciples of old sell their garments to 
 purchase them swords ; suffering them, also, to 
 use them, (or one of them,) to the shedding of hu- 
 man blood ; commanding them at the proper time 
 to "put up the sword into its sheath ;" healing all 
 the evils or wounds which his disciple had been 
 suffered to inflict, by his permit ; instructing them 
 also, that those that had recourse to the sword, 
 would be likely to perish by it. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Believing, as I do, that our Lord taught his chos- 
 en Disciples, to suffer wrong without repelling the 
 wrong doer by physical means, I cannot but believe 
 that the work of redeeming man from his uncon- 
 trolled lust and passion to injure his fellow man, 
 will be far better promoted., by them, in observing 
 the non-resistance 'doctrines in their practice as 
 well as by their precepts ; therefore, laws that 
 would make any of those persons at this day do mil-
 
 9 
 
 itary service, who believe it their duty to promul- 
 gate the non-resistance doctrines as taught by our 
 Lord, either by precept or by example, \yill tend, 
 so far as said laws can, to destroy not only the 
 liberty of certain subjects of the State to worship 
 God as conscience dictates, but also to counteract 
 the best means of converting the ignorant and in- 
 considerate, who are disposed hastily to resort to 
 deeds of violence (to redress some supposed or real 
 injury) from the evil of their way, to a more peace- 
 ful adjustment of their real or supposed wrongs. 
 
 But, say those who do not believe it to be their 
 duty to submit to an insult without seeking revenge, 
 not having so "learned Christ," Who shall exe- 
 cute the law upon the lawless, and upon the vio- 
 laters of the rights of others ? Shall they go un- 
 punished ? I answer, no. But before I make it the 
 duty of some to execute the law, as ministers of 
 righteousness,. I will endeavor to show, that it is 
 physically, and morally certain, that there are 
 those to whom it does not belong. That many are 
 physically disabled from becoming personally the 
 executors of the most righteous of laws, needs no 
 illustration. The best means to relieve them from 
 a burthen that they are not qualified to bear, will 
 be a subject for discussion hereafter. 
 
 That some persons are morally disqualified to 
 perform certain acts, is clear ; and among those acts 
 is that of executing vengeance, by the order of oth- 
 ers, upon persons that they may believe have brok- 
 en no righteous law, or if having broken some law, 
 that they were ignorant of it ; and therefore in their
 
 10 
 
 circumstances they could not have done otherwise. 
 To such, the moral sentiment of some persons would 
 bind them to show no other offensive or defensive 
 weapons than kindness, and unfeigned forgiveness, 
 in the holy spirit of charity, believing ourselves (for 
 the writer of this does believe himself) bound by 
 the precepts and practice of our Lord to forgive our 
 enemies, and do "good to those that hate us," hav- 
 ing entire confidence in the wisdom of God, as man- 
 ifested in the Gospel, thus to promote the greatest 
 happiness of both parties concerned. 
 
 We also believe that the good to be gained by 
 two belligerent persons, or nations, practicing on 
 the precepts of our Lord, to be many fold greater 
 than it would be if the parties were to seek ven- 
 geance and persue it, as is most commonly practis- 
 ed, till the weaker of the two yields from necessity, 
 some matter of the dispute, recruiting again, per- 
 haps, for another contest. 
 
 There are many of us holding the non-resisting 
 opinions, that believe without the shadow of doubt, 
 that there has ever existed, and that there ever 
 will continue to exist, an omniscient and an omni- 
 present God, and that man is his offspring, and as 
 such, we are in duty bound to devote every power 
 and faculty that he has epdowed us with, in obedi- 
 ence to what we believe he requires of us. Very 
 many of such are morally incapable of uttering a 
 falsehood, knowing it to be such, and of taking the 
 name of the Lord our God in vain, and of doing very 
 many other acts which we believe are expressly 
 forbidden by him. And, why is it that so many of
 
 11 
 
 the devoted children of their Creator, have been, 
 and continue to be, ready to suffer every torture 
 that human invention can inflict, and even death 
 itself, rather than do that which they believe their 
 Creator forbids ? It is not because it is gratifying 
 to any of their natural propensities or carnal desires 
 thus to suffer. It must be because they believe, 
 and believe too, without the shadow of a doubt, 
 that if they forsake the truth, and their duty, as 
 they understand it, that God will not hold them 
 guiltless. 
 
 And can it be through weakness, or self-will, or 
 the want of honesty, or by darkness and delusion, 
 or from any unjustifiable cause, that those who have 
 offered themselves up, to do in all things, and at all 
 times without reserve, the will of their Creator, as 
 made known through the Gospel of his Son, should 
 misunderstand so plain a precept as the following, 
 given by our Lord to his disciples, c: But I say unto 
 you love your enemies ; bless them that curse you, 
 do good to them that hate you, and pray for them 
 that dispitefully use you, and persecute you ;" and 
 also very many other commands equally plain and 
 binding on the consciences of devoted persons who 
 have such precepts engraven on their hearts, as 
 they believe, by the finger of God ? Is it strange 
 that they should refuse to learn the art of war, the 
 most expert method to execute vengeance and death 
 upon an enemy, whom by the command of the 
 Lord and Saviour, whom they serve, they are 
 taught to love, and to do acts of kindness to, rath- 
 er than injury ? Certainly not. Self interest or
 
 12 
 
 personal gratification, the fountains from which de- 
 lusion and consequent weakness and death are 
 drank, has little or no controlling- influence on per- 
 sons thus governed by moral principle, and abiding 
 the issue for life or death. Some will say that such 
 conscientious persons are deluded, and wrong in 
 their belief. I would ask such, if they have the 
 means of convincing them of their error, or chang- 
 ing their belief ? Can you do it by giving them the 
 New Testament to read ? With the language and 
 spirit of this book, they are much acquainted. It 
 is morally impossible for them to alter their belief, 
 or change their practice, and be sincere and honest 
 in their devotions, until some new light or evident 
 truth dawns upon their mind, revealing to them a 
 better and more perfect way. We cannot create 
 belief or faith ; it is the gift of our Creator. We 
 can govern ourselves by its evidence, and thereby 
 maintain a good conscience, and we can reject its 
 moral suasion, and thus make shipwreck of "faith 
 and a good conscience." Therefore, until some- 
 thing shall be done that will change the belief of 
 persons who think that they ought not to learn the 
 art of war, it will avail nothing to compel them to 
 learn it, and, thereby violate their more than con- 
 stitutional rights rights that existed prior to any 
 written compacts, and, also, to the time when men 
 forsook the laws of nature and of nature's God, and 
 sought out many inventions, substituting their 
 might as a rule of right, rather than allowing to all 
 their inalienable right to serve God as they believe 
 he requires them.
 
 It cannot be thought strange at the present day 
 that persons can he found amon<r many of the Chris- 
 tian sects acknowledging- the Mew Testament as a 
 guide, who believe that the Creator of man has 
 destined him to become in morals, more perfect 
 than in ages past, or in the present age. Believing 
 thus, they see, or think they see, the wisdom of 
 Christ in giving us the precept, " love* your ene- 
 mies,'' c., olfering as a reason, that " ye may be 
 the children of your Father who is in heaven." 
 
 The faith of reflecting Christians is made strong- 
 er by arguments drawn from the philosophy of 
 Christianity, or the reasonableness of the precepts 
 it inculcates, to render good for evil. It being evi- 
 dent that when two persons or nations, differ, each 
 party is frequently in the wrong, through the cov- 
 etousness or ignorance, perhaps, of both ; conse- 
 quently neither the one nor the other party has 
 justifiable cause for molesting or injuring the other. 
 And what will restrain violence so eliectuaily as 
 forbearance, even after one party has been smitten 
 on the cheek by the other, which last I will here 
 admit to be the aggressor ? What here does phi- 
 losophy teach us ? What does experience teach us? 
 Does it teach us that the better way is for the par- 
 ty attacked to give a return blow, receiving anoth- 
 er, and so on, until each party, as is very common- 
 ly the case, becomes so exhausted and tired of the 
 contest as to be willing to cease from its work of 
 death and leave the disputed points as they found 
 them ; or does it teach us that forbearance, and per- 
 haps a long or a short discussion at the commence-
 
 ment of their dilTerings, would have shown, if not 
 clearly, yet in a good measure, the merits and er- 
 rors of each, and brought to the party that mostly 
 coveted the rights of the other, the greater con- 
 demnation ? 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 In this letter, I shall make some comments on 
 what I believe to be Anti-Christian in the practice 
 and professions of some Christian sects, and also of 
 many individuals, who, not regarding the precept 
 of Christ against swearing, have, as I believe, in- 
 considerately retained the practice of not only binding 
 themselves in Creeds, and by Vows, but also in their 
 intercourse with men, as when they assert without 
 reserve that they will, or that they will not, do this 
 or that. Any positive assertions made, or religious 
 Vo\vs taken upon us, are as binding as would be an 
 Oath, and are the substance of an oath ; which our 
 Lord gave his disciples sufficient reason for not tak- 
 ing upon them, the substance of which was, that 
 they could not alter any of the works of God, or the 
 la\vs of nature ; and St. James adds to his very pos- 
 itive injunctions against swearing, " lest ye fall in- 
 to condemnation." We cannot control circumstan- 
 ces, but they are ever controlling us. I may have 
 believed it to have been my duty, to have taken the 
 profession of a soldier, and sworn to the faithful 
 discharge of the duties of the profession, but some 
 circumstances occurring that I did not, and could
 
 15 
 
 not foresee, may have been the means of enlight- 
 ning my mind on the impropriety of my continuing 
 bound to its duties ; I sue for a discharge, ahd plead 
 that the duties of my profession are revolting to my 
 humanity, and as they have been and are likely to be 
 imposed upon me, I shall be the instrument of doing 
 to my fellow men much more harm than good. But 
 my oath, binding me to the service, is presented to 
 my view, and in it I read my condemnation if I with- 
 draw without permit, which I have no means of 
 obtaining ; and to continue in the service, in any of 
 its departments, will make me accessory to the 
 deeds of murder that may be acted ; and an acces- 
 sory I can no longer conscientiously be, and, leav- 
 ing the service, I retire with all the condemnation 
 that my broken promise brings upon me. But it is 
 our duty to fulfill every engagement that we may 
 have voluntarily made, so far as it depends on our 
 personal agency unaffected by controlling circum- 
 stances. We are to let our " yea be yea, and -our 
 nay be i: 
 
 I will here add that I believe no person can, con- 
 sistently with the commands of Christ against 
 swearing, bind himself to any religious creed or sect 
 that forbids him, under all circumstances, to use 
 carnal weapons. For, as I have elsewhere stated, 
 our Lord did, on one occasion, arm his disciples, 
 suffering one of them to draw and use his sword to 
 the shedding of human blood. 
 
 We ought not to be bound or even tramelled by 
 any creed or to any society that would limit us in 
 the freedom of our consciences to serve our Creator
 
 16 
 
 or to benefit our fellow men in any way that our 
 understanding m:iy dictate to us in the spirit of 
 charity. Tin; spirit of the Gospel goes to make 
 every man a n-holc man, a perfect man, and necessa- 
 rily a freeman ; being- bound to do nothing 1 to his 
 fellow men that he cannot do in the spirit of love 
 and charity, and with a single eye to the divine 
 will of his Creator. 
 
 Bind men to Creeds and Forms, and they soon 
 become measurably satisfied that the observance of 
 them is their only safe road to salvation ; and 
 their eye, that may have been single to the will of 
 their Creator, as manifested to them from time to 
 time, and "from faith to faith, 1 ' will be moreorless 
 withdrawn therefrom and fixed on their Creeds and 
 Forms. They will make l/tcin their image of God, 
 and worship them as a God ; having turned their 
 eye off from the true light, that lighteth every man 
 that cometh into the world, they voluntarily, (or 
 through the "wiles of satan,") have, after being 
 once made free, and therefore happy in the full en- 
 joyment of a pure and upright conscience, held sa- 
 cred only but by an entirely free and full devotion, 
 and pure worship of the one living true and holy 
 God ; in which spirit of devotion and pure worship 
 they also unfeignedly served their fellow men. I 
 say they have again (after being once thus made 
 free) taken upon them a yoke of bondage, under 
 the slavery of which, they measurably cease to 
 serve or worship a living God ; and are thereby 
 tramelled in their usefulness to men. 
 
 I shall now quote one more doctrinal precept of
 
 17 
 
 our Lord, that I believe tends to justify many per- 
 sons from becoming military men, or placinsr them- 
 selves liable to do its duties : " Wherefore, I say 
 unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be 
 forgiven unto men ; but the blasphemy against the 
 Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." And 
 whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of 
 Man, it shall be forgiven him ; but whosoever 
 speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be 
 forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the 
 world to come." 
 
 This doctrine, to me certifies positively, that no 
 person is held accountable to his Creator for any 
 other sins than such as he may commit against a 
 greater or a less degree of light, affecting his -con- 
 science ; for, in another precept, Jesus said, that 
 the Comforter, or the Holy Ghost, "will reprove 
 the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
 judgment." 
 
 Now I ask, by what moral law do Legislatures 
 consign to misery and death (in the destructive 
 wars which they carry on) so many of their fellow 
 men, and men too, drawn out for such service 
 against their wills, and often against their moral 
 sentiment ? They are pressed on by their superi- 
 ors, to face danger and death, to effect purposes, 
 the wickedness of which their better judgments 
 condemn, knowing well, or believing, that those 
 who may be designated as their enemies, have been 
 guilty of no fault deserving violent chastisement, 
 much less sudden death. In almost all wars, con- 
 ducted as they hive been in ages past (but I am
 
 18 
 
 happy in believing much less so in the present) the 
 innocent, in each of the belligerent parties, are as 
 much subjected to violent chastisement and death 
 as arc those who arc the most guilty promoters of 
 them. Being aware that if we consent to enroll 
 ourselves as soldiers, we make ourselves liable to 
 become partakers with the State in her sins, the 
 greatest of which committed in her wars, is the 
 punishing the innocent with the guilty, we shrink 
 back from the service, holding ourselves the ser- 
 vants of God only, and not the servants of men ; 
 claiming the privilege as our inalienable right. 
 
 I am aware that governments presume that every 
 person found in arms, (and often also those who are 
 not,") if not for them, arc against them having 
 evil intentions. The presumption might in part be 
 admitted if none but Volunteers in either of thebel- 
 ligerant parties were made subject to the evils of 
 the contest. When governments shall cease to 
 conscript persons into their military ranks, there 
 may be less complaint of the wickedness of their 
 wars. 
 
 I have yet one greater objection to wars, and to 
 becoming a soldier, drawn also from the foregoing 
 precepts. The precept instructs me, most clearly, 
 that none are guilty, and therefore that none ought 
 to be punished, excepting those who disregard the 
 evidence of holy truth, enlightening their minds. 
 As / may not know or believe that very many of 
 the denominated enemy have ever sinned against 
 any light that has manifested to them the right- 
 eousness of the cause that I may be designated to
 
 19 
 
 defend and fight for, how can I become God's a- 
 venger on those that I have no evidence he has 
 designated as guilty of any crime that ought not to 
 be pardoned ? 
 
 AVere a public officer lo show me a person of 
 whom he was in pursuit, that I had good cause to 
 believe had, in violation of evidence more or less 
 clearly manifest in his mind, committed some plun- 
 der in the night, or violence on the person of a fel- 
 low citizen, requesting me to assist in apprehend- 
 ing him, I should readily exert whatever of ability 
 I possessed ; and if, in the contest, I should believe 
 that the criminal would take the life of the officer, 
 unless I immediately interposed by the only possi- 
 ble alternative, to take the life of the criminal, I 
 believe that it would be my duty to do it, and I 
 should unhesitatingly attempt the act. I should 
 consider the officer as God's agent, and appointed 
 (in the supposed case) his avenger, and that his life 
 was more sacred than was that of the criminal. 
 Not that I admit that the sanctity of the office of 
 him that is appointed to execute the law sanctions 
 his every act. The sanctity of the office is created 
 only through the sacredness of the orders entrusted 
 to the officer. If he receive unrighteous orders, 
 and execute them, the sanctity of his office ceases 
 to exist, and he is not then the u messenger of God 
 to us for good." 
 
 I have extended these remarks to expose the fal- 
 lacy of the excuse often made by inferior officers 
 for executing the unrighteous command of their 
 superiors. If their superiors have imposed false
 
 20 
 
 coin upon them, then on their heads only should fall 
 the weight of the blo\v. 
 
 Having 1 endeavored to give you some of my rea- 
 sons why certain persons believe that they are not 
 in duty bound to learn or to practice the art of war, 
 I will here add one more, that those who are read 
 in the history of the first two centuries of the Chris- 
 tian era, advance as a further confirmation of the 
 correctness of their views and conduct. 
 
 Thomas Clarkson, in his Portraiture of Quaker- 
 ism, vol. 3, New York, 1806, has quoted largely 
 from very many of the early Christian writers, show- 
 ing most conclusively, that almost all persons who 
 became converts to Christianity, for the first two 
 hundred years, relinquished the profession of arms; 
 and in very many instances, at the cost of their 
 lives ; pleading as the cause of their abandonment 
 of the profession, that they were Christians, and 
 therefore could not fight. He says, also, that his- 
 tory allowed to the Christians of that age, the 
 character of holy and devout men and women, 
 practicing every virtue inculcated by the founder 
 of their religion. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 I shall notice in this Letter the ill-adaptedness of 
 the Military Corps of the State, by its conscriptive 
 Jaws, to its present or probable future wants, in 
 connection with argument, on the just claims of 
 many other persons than those of the conscientious-
 
 21 
 
 ly scrupulous from military conscription, and also 
 give some of my reasons why a government having 
 military power is necessary. 
 
 The human family, like the stars in the firmament 
 of heaven, are created for useful purposes ; but no 
 two appear to have been created for one and 
 the same purpose. Some planets move in one 
 sphere with great rapidity, while others, moving in 
 opposite directions and with less velocity, appear 
 not to interfere in their progress with each other ; 
 unlike man only in not being possessed of will and 
 power by which they can contravene the laws of 
 nature and of their creator God. 
 
 But men are not inanimate machines, without will 
 and power, therefore we move onward in accord- 
 ance with nature's, and her own Creator's laws, 
 only as we may have been by him first propelled, 
 and by knowledge made more or less acquainted 
 with them, by exerting the power that wisdom im- 
 parts, upon our ?c?7/s, to subject them thereto. 
 
 It is from creation which we can, thus in part, 
 comprehend what we may well learn, that man can 
 never arrive to that freedom and consequent per- 
 fection of his being, which will effect his, and the 
 greatest good of the whole, so long as he shall con- 
 tinue to violate, rather than move onward in ac- 
 cordance with its laws. If man will continue to 
 move in other spheres than those plainly marked 
 out for him by his Creator, through Nature and 
 Revelation, he will ever be liable to injurious col- 
 lisions and premature death. 
 
 To illustrate more plainly the subject that I have
 
 22 
 
 proposed in this letter, than I can well do in bring- 
 inir to view the order and harmony of the heavenly 
 bodies only, I will endeavor to show that there 
 ouorlit to be the same order and fitness of position 
 in the government of the body politic of this Com- 
 monwealth, from its highest, to its lowest members, 
 that is necessary in the human body, to constitute 
 it a perfect body, without rent or schism. 
 
 That there is but little of order in the present 
 Military Department of the Government is evident; 
 and, it is occasioned, as I believe, by the wrong de- 
 signation (by the heads thereof) of many members 
 of the Body Politic, to improper places therein. 
 
 The Body Politic of the State is made up of many 
 members, none of which can be taken from their 
 proper place without injury to the whole. Like the 
 human body, there must be a head to direct, and 
 an eye to see, an ear to hear, and an arm for de- 
 fence and for a great variety of other purposes. 
 Therefore, let us, in designating to duties the mem- 
 bers of our community, be careful to let every mem- 
 ber of it move in such department of society as he 
 is best fitted for ; placing at the head him who is 
 well qualified to perceive all the wants of the body 
 and put in motion such members of it as will exe- 
 cute in the most direct arid best manner the duties 
 to which they are called. 
 
 Those persons who are to fill any situation in the 
 body politic, must be well fitted to the place they 
 are to occupy, or they will cause schism in the body. 
 Who, occupying the head, as do the Legislature of 
 the State, would be wise to call upon a non-resist-
 
 23 
 
 v 
 
 nnce man to execute vengeance upon evil doers ? 
 And who could commend the head for its discretion 
 were it in want of a strong arm for defence, if it 
 should place to that department in the body (as our 
 heads have done) muny members of the political 
 community that are no more adapted to do the du- 
 ties of the arm, than is the eye, or the ear. Time, 
 labour and money, spent to habituate the ear to do 
 the duties of the arm, or any other than those 
 of its office, would be worse than lost, as it would 
 more or less tend to disqualify it to serve in its 
 more appropriate duties. And thus it is in the at- 
 tempt to make soldiers of many members of the 
 body politic, in this State and elsewhere. Time, 
 labour and money are spent, to organize and equip, 
 train and discipline, no inconsiderable portion of its 
 citizens that never will be any benefit to the State 
 in her military corps. 
 
 The weakest finger of the hand, can better sup- 
 ply the place and do the duties of the arm, than can 
 very many of those citizens who are enrolled in the 
 Militia of the State, discharge the duties of actual 
 service, in cases of emergency, when effective men 
 only, and not forms and shadows, could be consid- 
 ered useful. Such disqualified and misplaced per- 
 sons in the body, would be worse than useless, as 
 would soon be manifest from the consequent rent 
 that would ensue. Had they been left unmolested 
 to discharge such duties in the body politic as they 
 were best qualified to perform, the Corps would not 
 have been so unwieldly, nor would its life and sin- 
 ewe, (which wealth gives,) have been by them di-
 
 24 
 
 ininisheiL or the rent through them experienced ; 
 and the Slate might, through their labors in their 
 accustomed occupations, have been enriched, and 
 tlms strengthened in its vitality, the energy and 
 pou-er of which, gives to the arm its greatest 
 weight of action. 
 
 From the foregoing remarks, it may perhaps be 
 inferred, that the writer would leave the burthen 
 of military duty upon a selected few of the citizens 
 of the State, thus imposing upon them a burthen 
 which neither he, nor his conscientious friend, nor 
 others, not qualified to perform its duties, would 
 lighten with one of their fingers. 
 
 Here I shall answer, not for myself in every point 
 of view, but as I suppose some conscientious per- 
 sons might well reply ; interspersing some argu- 
 ments in favor of my views, and endeavor to give 
 some reasons why I consider Governments and Mil- 
 itary power justifiable under the Christian dispen- 
 sation. 
 
 Those, then, who may believe that no civil gov- 
 ernment is necessary, other than church govern- 
 ment, or some other like government, not having 
 authority to enforce their decisions by the sword, 
 might reply, that they do not believe, that, from 
 the time that our Lord first began to promulgate 
 his Gospel, it has ever been necessary or righteous 
 for any person professing the religion that he taught 
 to coerce with carnal weapons any person or per- 
 sons, whether belonging to their community or to 
 others, to respect their rights of property or of per- 
 son ; therefore, they cannot voluntarily contribute
 
 25 
 
 their mite, much less their personal aid to any mil- 
 itary establishment. But if others do believe co- 
 ercing- military power to be more or less necessary, 
 on them, and on them only, ought the burthen to 
 rest ; for, if we were voluntarily to contribute to the 
 support of what we believe ought not to be support- 
 ed by Christians under any circumstances, we should 
 give the lie to our belief and profession, and there- 
 by not only injure our usefulness, but bring upon 
 ourselves that, which for the love of life, we could 
 not endure, the condemnation of God, and a separ- 
 ation from the saints in Heaven. Against persons 
 using such arguments, believing them honest, I could 
 not reply that they were unwilling to bear their 
 part of the burthen necessary to the public good, 
 as it would unjustly accuse them of sordid motives, 
 of which they manifest no signs. 
 
 In such a defence I cannot but see that those who 
 make it, are, being honest, as totally disqualified to 
 voluntarily take any such burthens upon them, as 
 they would be to commit any other criminal act. 
 And for myself I here say that much of the forego- 
 ing argument is in defence of my own views on the 
 rights of conscience ; riot because I believe no mil- 
 itary can righteously be supported, (they not hav- 
 ing considered that but few of the heads of govern- 
 ments are Christian) but for many reasons, other 
 than physical inability, I do not believe it my duty 
 to become a member of the Corps. The first that 
 I shall here make is, that as a believer in every pre- 
 cept of the Gospel that I can understand, I should 
 feel myself greatly condemned to resort to arms to 
 3
 
 26 
 
 defend myself, or others, unless a high sense of 
 duty should make it clearly right. 
 
 I believe that almost all public wars, or civil wars 
 of any kind, have their origin in the lust and wick- 
 edness of both the parties. Like individuals, each 
 one sees, or thinks he sees the errors of the other, 
 but is blind to his own. It may not be so always 
 it is not so at all times in individuals who differ. 
 
 I shall here offer one or two more reasons that 
 hold me, as an honest man, founding my faith on 
 what I consider important revelations in the doc- 
 trines of the Gospel, from resorting to the sword 
 in unison with a military corps to avenge supposed 
 wrongs. I believe that God has ordained the sword 
 to be used against evil doers only ; and against such 
 I believe it is mostly used ; but I also believe that 
 the evil doers are usually of both the contending 
 parties, and covetous of other's rights ; that there 
 is a holding back in both parties, through covetous- 
 ness, that which if yielded would tend to produce 
 the greatest good of both. Were the heads of the 
 parties often to drink deep (while controverting the 
 matter in dispute) from the inexhaustible fountain 
 of Gospel truth, and purge themselves from all cov- 
 etous and ambitious desires, there would soon be 
 no just cause of war in the minds of either party. 
 But it is not so and the remark that has frequent- 
 ly been made, that an honest man is not to be en- 
 trusted with the conducting of State affairs, is too 
 much held as a sound maxim. That one or the 
 other of the contending parties is wrong, through 
 covetousness, "which the Lord hateth and the right-
 
 27 
 
 eous hateth," will be admitted ; and however incon- 
 siderable the subject of dispute may be, the sword 
 is resorted to, and when all the judgments designat- 
 ed for the contending parties shall have been ac- 
 complished by him whose laws whether of nature, 
 or of revelation, can never with impunity be violat- 
 ed, the maimed and exhausted, who supported and 
 bore the burthen, and lived through the trial, have 
 usually but little more to console themselves with 
 than their manifested bravery and skill, in thus 
 ignorantly executing judgments upon each other's 
 devoted heads. "He that taketh the sword, shall 
 perish by the sword," was uttered by him who also 
 said "He that hath ears to hear let him hear." 
 
 I shall now continue the examination of the com- 
 patability of a military power, under the Christian 
 dispensation. I believe that at the time Jesus said 
 " it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up 
 the Ghost," neither he through the power of God 
 nor God through him in his life, death and resurec- 
 tion, had done comparatively little more than com- 
 plete, (not only through the agency of his wonder- 
 fully adapted person but especially through the per- 
 fection of the Wisdom, Love and Truth, and every 
 other virtue which he possessed without measure,) 
 a new code of Laws, or ways and means that were 
 and ever will be, through the agency of the Holy 
 Ghost, most perfectly adapted to the nature and 
 various conditions of man to effect his greatest good 
 in redeeming him from ignorance and sin, misery 
 and death, to the light of truth, and freedom from 
 sin and misery to life and immortality.
 
 28 
 
 This plainly delinenated chart of the narrow 
 though straight road from earth to heaven,- or code 
 of laws, that " he who runs may read," had been 
 exhibited in full to but few of the sons and daugh- 
 ters of men at the time of its completion. Although 
 a less perfect form of it was beheld by Abraham, 
 and many other saints of old, to their great joy in 
 future hope, its full glories to see : and as this chart, 
 by its Great Author, has been withheld or made to 
 appear dressed in almost numberless unmeaning 
 and obscuring costumes, and, as there has been as 
 yet but few of the world of men (as there were but 
 few when Jesus said " it is finished") who have 
 been brought by its redeeming power to the gov- 
 ernment of its laws ; therefore, I have not the shad- 
 ow of a doubt that so long as there are in society 
 unredeemed men who can, in defiance of some mor- 
 al principle showing them their error, commit harm, 
 plunder or violence, either through art or deception, 
 in secret or openly, or by any means whatever, up- 
 on the rights of others, whether of property or per- 
 son, God will not only make manifest his justice 
 but also as far as he can (by reason of the imper- 
 fection of man) his judgments also to their condem- 
 nation and accountability to those of the commu- 
 nity they may have harmed. 
 
 If God did not provide some means or way to con- 
 vince or show such transgressors that they must 
 and would eventually be greater sufferers than gain- 
 ers by the practice of error, they would ever con- 
 tinue to reject the principles of the Gospel, if it 
 were proclaimed to them by the Son of God himself,
 
 29 
 
 and they would become in time, if not cut off by 
 judgments, more or less like brutes of many grades 
 and kinds, the worshipers at the shrine^pf power, 
 the stronger making prey of the weaker, from him 
 who might be the most powerful down to him who 
 might be the last that they could plunder or devour. 
 As it was ordained by God from the day of the 
 first transgression, that there should be enmity be- 
 tween the seed of the deceiver and the seed of the 
 woman, and that the seed of the woman should 
 bruise the deceiver's head, and as he has ordained 
 governments to execute vengeance upon evil doers 
 and not upon those who are made free from sin or 
 transgression, and as Christ made no provision 
 in his new covenant for pulling down or for remov- 
 ing any of the governments of the earth that exist- 
 ed or that ever might exist when he said "it is fin- 
 ished," but did. in the days of his flesh, pay tribute 
 for the support of holy things, and rendered to the 
 rulers of the earth their dues, I cannot show any 
 cause for questioning the sanctity of Governments 
 taken as a whole ; not only for the suppression of 
 evil doers that may rise up against their authority, 
 but also to act as God's vicegerents, to execute his 
 vengeance upon the wicked of the earth in heavy 
 judgments poured out upon one another ; in which 
 judgments God can by and through their wrath es- 
 tablish praise to himself, and the redemption of the 
 oppressed and bowed down throughout the earth. 
 Here I will add, that if it is God's will, and I believe 
 it is, to use a military power to execute judgment 
 
 on earth, let it be like the sword that they use, so 
 3*
 
 30 
 
 organized and supported as will render it most effi- 
 cient in the work of destruction. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 In this letter, Sir, I intend to re-examine some 
 points of my former arguments, for the purpose of 
 adding weight to some important ones that I have 
 but too lightly noticed ; and then proceed to show, 
 what I believe to be the only justifiable ground, 
 guarding the rights and the greatest good, of all the 
 parties concerned, upon which to call into being and 
 to maintain a Military Corps in the State, viz : Vol- 
 untary Enlistments. 
 
 Having admitted, and endeavored to make it evi- 
 dent that Governments have not only the right, but 
 that it is their duty to enact laws in consonance with 
 the laws of nature and of God, tending to produce 
 the greatest good of the whole ; and also like nature, 
 to suffer no person to violate them with impunity, 
 pardoning the innocently ignorant, but punishing 
 those who knowingly and willingly violate the rights 
 of any person or community ; having also admitted 
 that through covetousness and various other causes, 
 men frequently combine in greater or less numbers, 
 and with carnal weapons plunder or commit violence 
 upon the property or person of others ; and as no 
 one person can, without or with the sword, exert a 
 power sufficient to arrest and confine for judgment, 
 any powerful combination of lawless depredators, 
 therefore the Body Politic is in duty bound to arm
 
 31 
 
 and equip, and well maintain, at the general charge 
 of the whole body, a sufficient number of most per- 
 fectly armed and epuiped persons who are by na- 
 ture and God, well qualified in their every capacity 
 to act as an arm of defence in ready obedience to 
 the commands of the head, to arrest, if having pow- 
 er sufficient, said lawless person or persons, that 
 they may have opportunity to plead and exonerate 
 themselves from the charge of evil intent. But if 
 said person or persons offer resistance with deadly 
 weapons, the State is in duty bound, through the 
 agency of her well appointed power, to exert so 
 much thereof as will most effectually suppress, by 
 greater or less judgment, said lawless depredators. 
 
 The head and arms, and all the other members 
 of the body, necessarily called to learn and serve 
 in any of the aforesaid duties, to receive such com- 
 pensation for their time and services, as will induce 
 a sufficient number of the best qualified persons to 
 engage therein ; leaving all those out of the military 
 corps who are any way disqualified to discharge its 
 duties. 
 
 There is one very important point in this plea, 
 that I have not directly brought to view in my for- 
 mer letters, the partial inability of many persons 
 from physical and moral causes, that more or less 
 disqualify them for the duties of the soldier. 
 
 The writer of these letters, never in but one in- 
 stance obeyed the injunction of the law, and then 
 he was not of age, to equip, arm and answer to his 
 name, as an enrolled soldier, although for many 
 years he was liable, and hard pressed to do said du-
 
 32 
 
 ties, the law having- made no provision for his re- 
 lease, and therefore he well knows how much some 
 persons may suffer that are pressed to appear in 
 arms, who have not fully made up their minds, that 
 no considerations or consequences can induce to do 
 so. Restless were his days, and disturbed was his 
 sleep at night, before he fully resigned himself to 
 disregard such calls, and abide the issue. 
 
 If the heads of the State are desirous to root out 
 honesty in its members, let them continue to impose 
 fines and execute them by imprisonment, upon those 
 who have it, and then the youth arid others who 
 have but a small share of it, and that much buried 
 in the rubbish of cares, will become to them an easy 
 prey. It is from the' shoulders of such persons and 
 the young and tender who are not so fully grown in 
 their conscientious scruples of military duties as to 
 be unmoved by the power of oppression, and also 
 from the shoulders of all other persons more or less 
 disqualified from any and every cause, of every 
 name and nature, that this burthen should be re- 
 moved. It is in behalf of the rights, the inalienable 
 rights of those of my fellow citizens, and also for 
 the purpose of having a military corps of perons in 
 this Commonwealth so organized and so allied to 
 the government of the Bddy Politic, holding them- 
 selves ever ready to accomplish whatever duties 
 the Head may direct, that I wish some change to 
 be made. It is in the hope of rendering some aid 
 in effecting the more speedy accomplishment of the 
 foregoing objects, that I have taken my pen to com- 
 mit to you, Sir, and through the press to the public 
 these Letters.
 
 33 
 
 There is one more point, although I am limited 
 for time and means, that I cannot honestly pass 
 without noticing. It refers to the onerous consid- 
 erations or equivalents as they are termed by some 
 to be demanded of those persons who cannot con- 
 scientiously do military duty, and also of others re- 
 fusing to do it from any cause, not recognized by 
 law : to be paid in money, into the appointed hand 
 of him who is to sec that it is appropriated to be- 
 nevolent purposes. Here I ask, will the end justi- 
 fy the means ? We not having withheld any thing 
 from the stale that she has a right to, yet she de- 
 mands our personal services in her military corps. 
 We reply, according to circumstances, the consci- 
 entious part : That God has not designed us for the 
 corps, and that he is greater than the State, there- 
 fore we worship him. The State replies, your per- 
 sonal services, or your money as an equivalent it 
 shall be put to the best of uses. We reply that the 
 end will not justify the means you must first have 
 good claim on our persons to demand our property 
 as an equivalent. To make her claim good, the 
 State must first show that she has the right to com- 
 pel any of her citizens to do military duty in disre- 
 gard of their conscientious scruples ; for if she has 
 no rightful claim on their persons, she cannot have 
 a righteous one on their property, as an equivalent. 
 
 Here I submit a question Are those who are 
 scrupulous of bearing arms, guilty of an injurious 
 act against the welfare of the whole ? Before an 
 affirmative answer can here be given, the New Tes- 
 tament and its author, with every remembrance of 
 its doctrines, must be struck into oblivion.
 
 Those members of the community who deny the 
 of the State to their involuntary services in 
 any of its departments, without compensation, in 
 which denial they can support themselves, may an- 
 swer in their defence against having 1 their money 
 transferred from their pockets to charitable uses as 
 an equivalent for their personal service in the mil- 
 corps, that they deny the right of the State to 
 compel them to do any service for her without pay- 
 ment. Therefore, -the State having no right to 
 conscript them into the military corps, she can have 
 no right to demand their money, as equivalent, on 
 their neglect of personal duty, for if their money is 
 taken from them without their consent, and appro- 
 priated to nroocl purposes, they are not the less 
 wronged. I>uccaniers may do thus, but those whom 
 they plunder are not the less injured. 
 
 This device might be pleaded in sanction of every 
 species of plunder, and those who resort to it as a 
 device to get at the property of others, as an equiva- 
 lent for personal services of which they have no 
 right, if weighed in the balance, will be found want- 
 ing. If the demand of the government is well bot- 
 tomed, why put the monies to charitable uses rath- 
 er than into the common funds ? The answer must 
 be that, they would not be so readily yielded. 
 
 This plea, for thus imposing fines on military de- 
 linquents, is made in want of substantial ground to 
 bottom them upon, and is at best a device, which 
 can deceive the ignorant and awe the timid only. 
 And as in all conscientious matters, so in this, the 
 weight of the burthen will fall most heavily on those
 
 35 
 
 who are weak in the faith of their profession. Every 
 man first commences a child in moral principle, and 
 if he shall bear up under all that oppresses him in 
 tender youth, he will soon be uncontrolled by the 
 oppressions of men. Every virtuous man should 
 cultivate, rather than repress, any moral sense that 
 manifests itself in young 1 or old. He who should 
 offend the young, that believed in him, Jesus de- 
 clared, had better be by a millstone's weight in the 
 depths of the sea. 
 
 The Conscriptive Military Laws of the State are 
 not only injurious to all whom they oppressively 
 effect, but, also, like all of Nature's Laws, far more 
 injurious to those who covet to themselves some ex- 
 clusive easements, or indulgencies,~or peculiar ad- 
 vantages over men of equal merit ; by which covet- 
 ous appropriations, others' justifiable claims are 
 more or less perverted from their designed uses. 
 Those who pervert the bounties of nature from their 
 most beneficial uses, cannot escape receiving them- 
 selves the greater of the evils attending every such 
 violation of the right ; and such perverters, will 
 ever grow, if willful, blinder and blinder to their 
 fate the nearer they approach it. until judgment 
 commences her retributive work. From this truth 
 let no transgressor think to escape. 
 
 What does this State expend yearly for the sup- 
 port of her Military, as now organized? Throwing all 
 the items of every individual offering called for by 
 its laws, demanding the personal service of its citi- 
 zens and their necessary expenditures, &c. into the 
 scale, the sum footed would astound any one man
 
 36 
 
 in this community who might be held liable to its 
 payment. But it would be no more than the bona- 
 fide sum that it now, under its conscriptive laws, 
 disburses through the contributions of the less able 
 of its citizens. And what has the State to show to 
 balance this account has she Military power or 
 only the shadow of it ? So far as effective power 
 might be wanting, organized as it is, no insurrec- 
 tion arising from the usual or any probable causes 
 would be likely to be put down by reason of the 
 herterogeneous compounds of its nature ; the "hay 
 wood and stubble" of its composition would kindle 
 more flame than the most virtuous of their citizens 
 could extinguish. Neither would their discordant 
 compounds be of much worth if called to repel an 
 invasion; their unweildly composition would require 
 as much, perhaps more, valuable power of some 
 other kind to move them onward, than theirs would 
 be worth in its application. 
 
 The military power of the State ought to be as 
 concentrated as circumstances will admit, otherwise 
 it may not be a power in fact but in name only. I do 
 not mean by the concentration of power as here 
 used, that whatever of power there may be in the 
 Militia of the State should be all brought to rest at 
 any one point in the State, or elsewhere. The 
 power that does in fact eiist in every division or 
 subdivison of it, ought to be freed from everything 
 of every name and nature, so far as circumstances 
 admit, that tends in any of its locations, in anyway 
 to lessen its weight or usefulness. As it is now 
 composed, its real power reminds me of valuable
 
 37 
 
 weights, encompassed and so mixed up with a va- 
 riety of compounds that nothing short of some ren- 
 ovating process, or breaking up of the heterogen- 
 eous masses, can so bring them back to their prop- 
 er elements that their true weight or poicer of the 
 State will be so concentrated in every town that 
 the lawless may be made to fear a power in /acf, 
 which they would disregard in/onnonly. 
 
 That there are some persons in every communi- 
 ty much better fitted to compel, by physical coer- 
 cion, the lawless and disobedient to cease from their 
 violence, than are others, none can doubt.* A few 
 off/wse, well organized and perfectly equipped would, 
 if well rewarded for devotion to their duties, awe 
 turbulent rioters, neither in soft clothing or menial 
 rags, that presume to disregard the natural and con- 
 
 *Here the question may he asked, why this difference ? 
 Being limited, I can here only say, that in moral, or, as some 
 would please to term them, in religious attainments, we com- 
 mence as children ; therefore a difference by reason of growth 
 -and also like them in the attainment of the physical sci- 
 ences, some are far better qualified by nature and God, to 
 receive many of.the important truths contained therein, than 
 are others ; who, likewise, having differently constituted 
 minds, will he better qualified to attain a knowledge of other 
 equally important truths, and perhaps far better adapted in 
 their physical capacity to the execution than to the designing 
 of any work such will make good soldiers, under the com- 
 mand of righteous, intelligent officers. In these particulars 
 God has made us to differ "we having nothing that we have 
 not received." But holding, as I do, that man is a free agent, 
 having power to do, and also not to do, many things that he 
 does do, which fact can never be disproved, I admit that our 
 differing is frequently a fault, for which we justly receive 
 condemnation. 
 
 4
 
 38 
 
 etitutional rights of the weaker part of communities. 
 But they must be attached to the government and 
 its righteous laws, and to the peace and welfare of 
 the community. And what will tend thus to attach 
 them ? To the government they will feel bound 
 by the righteousness of its decisions and by its lib- 
 erality to them* And what will induce them to re- 
 gard the rights of the community ? The liberality 
 extended toward them, through the support the 
 community give the government for this very 
 thing. And not until the community shall contrib- 
 ute to the support of their government, which shall 
 pledge itself to the support of the Military power, 
 will they, or the State, be made sensible how few of 
 its members will be necessary to devote a portion 
 of their time to fiting and preparing themselves as 
 the protectors of the rights of those who shall have 
 willingly guaranteed to them a reciprocity of favors. 
 Any customs, forms, or practices, of any name 
 or nature, however sacred they may have been 
 held, or however useful the observance of them 
 may have been, cease to be binding upon any peo- 
 ple, so soon as the greatest good of those who prac- 
 tice or observe them, and of the whole through 
 them, can no longer be accomplished by their con- 
 tinued observance ; of whiph each individual is alone 
 his judge, or rather God, whom he worships, judges 
 for him, (which judgment, if he submit to, well if 
 not, it will rest on him to his condemnation ; it is 
 thus that God is the judge of the righteous, as he 
 is also of the wicked,) and he may also be judged 
 or directed, on being called out of said forms, to
 
 39 
 
 testify against their use, believing-, by reason of the 
 immoral, covetous and hypocritical practices, in 
 many things, that those, or many of those, who 
 continue to observe them, worship not the living 
 God, \vho in days of old ordained the establishment 
 of them for good purposes, but the forms only, and 
 them much for the purpose of being regarded by 
 others as religious men ; from such men, the inno- 
 cently conscientious, ever regarding justice and 
 truth, will, as have our fathers, receive persecution ; 
 fulfilling from age to age, in our bodies thus devot- 
 ed for the good and the redemption of the world, 
 "tlrnt which remains" to be fulfilled " of the suffer- 
 ings of Christ ;" it being the spirit of Christ ruling 
 in our hearts and consciences that calls forth the 
 madness and the violence of man upon us, as it was 
 the spirit of God in Christ, whom they knew not, 
 that caused the Jews to hate him. Until persecu- 
 tion ceases, God through Christ will not have com- 
 pleted man's redemption, although he in the figure 
 of his body wrought out and manifested every pro- 
 cess necessary for us to begin, and through the self 
 same Christ or the Holy Spirit, to carry on and ac- 
 complish the workin ourselves and to the uttermost 
 ends of the earth. And thus it is with the custom 
 of war it is ceasing to be the best means, (by reason 
 of man's progress from ignorance of the laws of 
 nature, and her God, to a more perfect acquaintance 
 with them) as in days of old, and to many at this day, 
 to judge and punish the wicked of the world ; and 
 as from time to time it shall cease to be necessary 
 for judgment, Christ will say to his devoted disciples
 
 40 
 
 "put up thy sword into its sheath." Had Peter at 
 some subsequent time, not having the sanction or 
 command of his Lord, but through fear or any oth- 
 er cause, taken the sword, he must have perished 
 by it. As the act of taking would have been an as- 
 sumption of /it's, done in his own w//Z, it would have 
 been sinful, and called down upon him some just 
 retribution, or the judgment of the sword of justice. 
 It is my firm belief that the good people of this 
 Commonwealth would be highly benefitted if there 
 were no more than one Military Company of fifty 
 persons, rank and file, more or less, as considered 
 best, to one legal Representative, throughout the 
 State, constituting a corps of about twenty-five 
 thousand men, to be perfectly equipped, and as 
 fully compensated from the public chest for all the 
 time they are called upon to devote to the duties of 
 their callings as are the Representatives who spend 
 so much time to accomplish that which can never 
 be accomplished the remodeling of Injustice, Op- 
 pression, Disorder and Weakness, into Justice, 
 Freedom, Order and Power. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Having, Sir, unexpected opportunity and means, 
 I shall, in this short Letter, give you some of my 
 views on the measures to be adopted to carry into 
 effect, not only the most ample release of all per- 
 sons who may believe it morally wrong for them to 
 do military duty, but of all others, in every condi-
 
 41 
 
 tion of life, to whom the service is a burthen ; and 
 also my views of the most justifiable, liberal and 
 orderly measures to be taken to organize and well 
 sustain an efficient Military Power in this Common- 
 wealth. 
 
 That it will be the duty of the Government to 
 maintain its present form, or shadow, of military 
 power, until it can avail itself of the substance, is 
 true. Forms and shadows have some controlling 
 influence on the ignorant and fearful part of every 
 community, who, so long- as they can be made to 
 believe that in them there is substance and power, 
 are as well controlled and feasted for the time, as 
 are the more wise and thinking, with realities. 
 
 The Government, believing that her old military 
 structure is rotten, and liable to fall on the heads 
 of those whom it was intended to protect, if wise, 
 will not only forsake it, but, in constructing another 
 for like purposes, choose such materials as will be 
 most certain to answer the purpose intended, count- 
 ing the comparative bonafide cost of them to the 
 whole community, who will have to foot the bills, 
 as well as receive the benefits. 
 
 If the State believes, then, that she is in want of 
 fifty workmen, more or less, to labor as a military 
 corps in her defence, and that as many of such corps 
 ought to be located in every town and city of the 
 Commonwealth as said town or city may be legally 
 entitled to send Representatives to the Legislature, 
 not regarding their fractional privilege, and if she 
 will engage to pay to every member of said corps 
 as great a sum per day, and every fractional part 
 4*
 
 42 
 
 of a day, for their services, as she pays to said Rep- 
 resentatives, she must authorise the civil officers of 
 her towns and cities, from date, to enrol the names 
 of such sane and well qualified persons, not exceed- 
 ing fifty, more or less, as may offer themselves for 
 the military service of the State, for one or more 
 years, (but no one to be bound to said service for 
 a longer time than he may choose, as his services 
 will be less useful, and others may be kept back,) 
 as a member of the first, second or third military 
 company, as the case may be, of the city or town 
 
 of , under the new organization, and so soon 
 
 as twenty such persons, more or less, shall have 
 thus enrolled themselves, said civil officers shall 
 call a meeting of said persons to sign their certifi- 
 cate of voluntary enrollment, in form somewhat like 
 the following : 
 
 We, whose names are by us here subscribed, be- 
 ing of sober and sound mind, and free from any in- 
 cumbrances that essentially disqualify us from a 
 faithful discharge of the duties of a citizen or mili- 
 tary soldiers of the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
 setts, do, on subscribing our names to this certifi- 
 cate, voluntarily enroll ourselves members of the 
 
 First Military Company of under the new 
 
 organization, hereby severally subjecting ourselves 
 to do the duties required by the laws of the State, 
 &c., until we shall have made known, or any one 
 of us, to the Commander of said Company his inten- 
 tion of withdrawing his services therefrom, or shall 
 have been dismissed by the major vote of said com- 
 pany for inability or delinquency, as the case may
 
 be, &c. The signing of which shall absolve said 
 persons from any former military obligations to the 
 Commonwealth ; and under the direction and pres- 
 idency of said civil officer they shall be immediately 
 legally authorised to proceed to the choice of such 
 officers as may be by law deemed necessary for 
 their government ; said proceedings to be returned 
 by the civil officers to the constituted authority for 
 his approval and legal commission ; and the com- 
 mander of each company shall, through the com- 
 pany's clerk, keep open the roll of certificate enlist- 
 ment to receive names whenever there shall be a 
 less number than the law may require to constitute 
 a full company. 
 
 So soon as the civil officers of any of the cities or 
 towns of this Commonwealth shall certify to the 
 Commander-in-Chief, and he shall have authorised 
 them to, they shall publicly announce to their citi- 
 zens that there have been so many military com- 
 panies organized, under the new organizing laws 
 of the State, as are bylaw required, and that all and 
 every person within its limits, excepting field offi- 
 cers and the aforesaid volunteers, released from 
 any further involuntary military service. 
 
 It is true some laws rather novel in their nature 
 will be necessary to carry through this very liberal 
 plan of Voluntary Service and compensated labor. 
 I will notice but such as I think essential. The 
 company first organized in any town or city to be 
 called No. 1 of said town or city, and the next thus 
 organized to be called No. 2, and so on to the com- 
 pletion of the requirements of the law. Said com-
 
 44 
 
 * to rank by the seniority of any anterior 
 commission under the seal of the State, &c., which 
 its commander elect may be able to produce ; also 
 ro title themselves as they may please. Organized 
 companies to vote in, and, for inability or misde- 
 meanor, to vote their members out. 
 
 No member of any company to draw pay for his 
 services unless he shall answer to his name, duly 
 equipped, &c. on the call of the roll ; and be subject 
 to no greater fine, in addition to his loss of remu- 
 neration, than what may be voted to be assessed 
 upon him for non-appearance only, by his fellow 
 companions, which sum shall never exceed in 
 amount his legal compensation for one day's service, 
 and said fine may be held to defray the contingent 
 expenses of the Company. 
 
 Delinquency in non-appearance, and for any other 
 causes, to be decided and recorded within six days 
 by the officers and clerk of the company. 
 
 The record of the companies to be subject to the 
 inspection of any of its members, or any civil officer 
 of the town or city, e. 
 
 The company last formed in any city or town to 
 disband itself on their being a diminution of its rep- 
 resentatives and perhaps other laws, the writer 
 not being at all acquainted with military forms or 
 law. 
 
 I will here add, that I could conscientiously pre- 
 side at the organization of a military company as 
 proposed, as readily as I could give my vote for a 
 commander-in-chief of the State's civil and military 
 departments, as are our governors, or give my vote
 
 45 
 
 for any officer whom I had reason to believe would 
 support a military power ; provided that the gov- 
 ernment should not think it necessary to raise more 
 of such companies than I believed the public good 
 required. And I will here improve this opportuni- 
 ty to say, that I do not believe there are any cir- 
 cumstances, at home or abroad, that would justify 
 the State in requiring her citizens to maintain more 
 than one full company to two town- or city repre- 
 sentatives ; but of this the citizens will decide as 
 soon as they shall be called upon to pay, rather 
 than plunder, those who are called upon to protect 
 them. 
 
 It will be perceived by those who may acquaint 
 themselves with the foregoing plan of Voluntary 
 Enlistment, c., that there can be but little doubt 
 of an immediate organization of full companies un- 
 der its provisions, in as much as paid services 
 are more readily obtained than are unpaid ones ; 
 but it may be urged as an objection, that so soon 
 as the citizens of towns and cities shall become ab- 
 solved from involuntary service, through the organ- 
 ization of the number of companies required to 
 effect their freedom from the burthen of military 
 duty, the newly organized companies will immedi- 
 ately disband, and the State be left without a mil- 
 itary defence. And for what cause ? Will they 
 not be as well paid as they are for other services 
 to the State or to its citizens ? If not, they will 
 be in duty bound to withhold their protection from 
 those who may be unwilling to guarantee to them 
 a reciprocity of favors.
 
 ERRATA. Page 24, eleventh line from the top, lor 
 friend read friends. Page 28, ninth line from the 
 top, lor made read suffered. 

 
 *