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relatively, that is in the connection in which it is employed, nothing whatever can be learned either by suggestion or otherwise. The time has not yet arrived, whatever views of "progressive ideas," or of progression itself, we may see proper to entertain, when we can, with safety either to ourselves or to those who are under our influence, thus treat any portion of the Word of God.

We have said that the Psalms were used not only in the public. worship of the Tabernacle and Temple, but that they were likewise employed for purposes of private and social devotion by the Jews, (see Ps. cxxxvii: 3,4); as they ever have been by the Christian believer. Amid all her untold sorrows and tribulations, the Church of Christ has ever found therein the richest legacy of the Spirit of God for sustaining her spiritual life, and giving shape to her devotional meditations and her prayers. Though it is a matter for deep regret, that these precious words should be comparatively so little studied and appropriated, even by the followers of Christ, until the heavy hand of some severe affliction drives them, for counsel and consolation, to the Divine Word, and unlocks to their crushed and saddened spirits the most precious and inexhaustible treasures of this wonderful portion of that word; which, by its hallowed record of the experience, and spiritual conflicts, and trials of God's dear children in past ages, cheers their hearts, and leads them to childlike acquiescence in all the dispensations of His Providence concerning them.

To conclude, I might, and perhaps ought to have allowed the consideration, that, in my present position, it is wholly impracticable to obtain the learned treatises which have been written in the attempt to elucidate the meaning and use of the word which we have herein endeavored to explain, to operate with me, to defer the preparation of this article, until I should have had the opportunity of again consulting them; since it is only fair, and a proper tribute to the memory of those whom love for the truth (and not the debasing desire for pecuniary gain) have prompted to laborious efforts to cast light upon any portion of the Word of God, to take their labors into respectful consideration. But-as I am not aware that any writer, since the period when the meaning of Selah became a matter of uncertainty, has adopted the exposition of that word as here presented; and which, as it appears to me, is adapted to do good, if adopted; or to awaken interest and useful inquiry even, if rejected-I have thought it not improper to pro

ceed with my labor. Some have, indeed, advanced the view that the word is an abbreviation for "Return, O Singer;" but have not, so far as I can recollect, pursued the explanation to any satisfactory results; or even to any thorough attempt to ascertain to what part of the Psalm the singer or worshiper should return. I have humbly endeavored to do so-with what success must be left to the determination of Time, as developed by the efforts of those who feel sufficient interest in the matter to give it a careful and thorough examination.

A military camp-even though there be (as there is in this instance) associated therewith the idea of all that is noble and inspiring in pursuit, and all that is sacred to freedom and humanity in the great end to be attained-would be but an indifferent and inadequate place in which to pursue investigations of this kind, even if the appliances of learning and criticism were therein available; and it is much more so in their absence. Nor should I have attempted this essay in the circumstances, had not the theme been familiar to my mind through a long period; and at the same time a little leisure permitted continuous effort in its preparation, during the days of convalescence from a long-continued and prostrating attack of fever, and during which I have not been able to perform the more arduous duties of the chaplaincy. I know full well how partiality for a favorite idea or theory may hinder the mind from perceiving difficulties which lie in the way of its adoption, and which may be very obvious to those who are not thus influenced. Nor could I, without great presumption, claim to be exempt from such a failing. I can, however, truly say that I have endeavored, patiently and sincerely, to rise superior to it, and to give full consideration to any and every difficulty which has occurred to me in the prosecution of the inquiry.

And I now commit the results to our readers, with the sincere prayer that the Holy Spirit may guide us into the knowledge of all essential truth.

BROWNSVILLE, ARK., Dec. 4, 1863.

ART. IV.—Perjury Exemplified in Secession.

THE degradation of public morals, which is exhibited in the loose ideas entertained on the inviolability of an oath, is one of the saddest phases presented by the present wicked insurrection. For the notion seems to prevail among both the active participants and the abettors of the rebellion, that they have perfect liberty to avail themselves of all the advantages accruing from taking an oath, and be subject to none of its penalties; that they can assume this most solemn obligation with no intention of fulfilling it, and yet be guiltless; or, after swearing with intention of fidelity, can, at their own convenience, change their purpose, and, with the facility wherewith we cast off an uncomfortable garment, can divest themselves of every restraint. It is held that the authority which imposes the obligation is not valid; that the Government has no right to exact an oath of those who do not approve of all its acts; and, therefore, they are not bound in conscience to abide by that which, for some advantage, their lips have uttered. Forgetting the truth, obvious to all but those who are corrupt in heart, that if the Federal authorities do illegally impose the oath, the sin lies in taking it a consideration which every good man ought to weigh fully before he places himself under its requirements, else he can not be guiltless of a profane appeal to God, since he subjects himself to that which is no legitimate authority, either knowingly or without due reflection. The scandalous immorality of all who plead want of jurisdicion as an excuse for violating an oath to the Government, is self-evident to all except those who are fully set in perverseness; for the Federal authority is both constitutional and in vigorous action, and the only legal power in the land. For until a Government subverts all the ends for which it was instituted, becomes intolerably oppressive to the great body of the people, and its evils can not be met by constitutional remedies provided for its amendment, when rebellion is the only resource still left, the minority is bound to submission; unless we overturn all constituted rule, and relapse into the anarchy of barbarism. Nor was it pretended, when this insurrection began, that such a state of affairs existed. No specific act or general line of policy could be pointed to by the leaders of the rebellion wherein the General Government had oppressed them, or deprived them of any of their

vested rights. All that could be adduced in justification of the course, was the unfriendliness of the great body of the people to the special privileges of the minority, and the fear for the future that such unfriendliness would result in oppression. But the Federal officers, who assumed rule on the 4th of March, 1861, were constitutionally elected and lawfully inducted; and had the rebellious States remained faithful to their allegiance, there is not the shadow of a doubt that the laws would have been faithfully administered, with a due regard to the interests of the whole country. Besides, these powers were the visible representatives of the Divine authority on earth, and had a right to administer the Government over which, in the Providence of God, they had been called to preside. To say, then, that such an authority had no warrant to impose the obligation of an oath, or when it was so imposed should not be kept, argues a moral obliquity, consistent only with the thought that those who so hold are given over to strong delusions that they may believe a lie.

I. In order to a full understanding of the subject, it will be necessary to consider the oath in the light of a moral and legal act, and therefore it must be viewed with reference to the Divine law and the usages of civilized society. And it may be safely asserted that there are none of the teachings of Revelation more distinct than its utterances on this subject; and that the laws of nature and nations, as interpreted by the ablest publicists, are perfectly clear and explicit on all the general features, differing only on such details as are insignificant and trifling. It is necessary to the well being of society that the ideas on this subject should be settled and distinct, since it may be considered as the foundation of the social compact. For if there be no method by which we can rely on each other's veracity, if the highest and most solemn expression thereof has no binding force, then the problem of society becomes impossible; and indeed men would exhibit a repellant individuality in keeping with the delirium of those deistical phi-` losophers, who contend that the original condition of mankind is that of mutual hostility. And still further, if, after society is formed and men united to each other by the bonds of civil law, there be no power to enforce the oath and no obligation of morality to keep it, nothing prevents the disintegration of the social compact back again into mutually repellant individuals. The violation of the judicial oath considered as the vinculum of society, is the sense

attached to the term Perjury, as used in the following pages; not the narrower meaning, which obtains in the courts of law. Legal usage confines Perjury to that species of false swearing, where a person, giving testimony under oath before a court of justice, asserts what he knows to be false in a matter vital to the question at issue. But the commonly received signification given to the term Perjury is exactly expressed by Cicero: * "What you swear from the sentiment of your mind, as conceived in words employed according to our usage, not to fulfill this is perjury."

It must be conceded that speech was given to us for the purpose of communicating our thoughts to each other; and that its intent is to subserve truth and not falsehood; to convey and not to conceal the real sentiments of the heart. He that inspired language along with the breath of life, being the God of Truth, willed that His creatures, made in His own image, should also show forth His character and attributes. Truth is, then, the normal condition of communication, and our nature is perverted by a departure from this. To advance one step further, when there is attached to the communication the assertion that it is true, there is also superadded a new obligation, differing in this, that while the naked declaration presupposed truth as its basis, this affirmation excludes falsehood by a specific caveat that its possibility has been considered and provided against. So that, by this process, a true man must deem his moral being pledged to the support of that which he asserts, and his character to stand or fall by the manner he abides by that which his lips have uttered. The naked assertion is all that is required of a man in whom the sense of virtue is complete; and hence it has been frequently doubted whether an oath was not rather an evil than a good. But it must always be borne in mind that both Revelation and human laws contemplate man just as he is; not perfect, but a fallen, sinful being, whose imperfect sense of morality must be fostered by every help, and guarded by every possible restraint. Hence the reverence for the Being that made us, and the fear of punishment from Him who has power to destroy as well as to save, comes forward as the highest and most solemn addition to the simple obligation of truthfulness. For, to the general and implied condition of veracity, which excludes falsehood negatively, is added the second obliga

* De Off. III: 29.

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