Lynchburg Virginian

Fanaticism.—Wm. Lloyd Garrison and his disciples have lately put forth their creed, in the form of resolutions, the character of which may be inferred from the following, of which the remainder are the legitimate results: 'Resolved, That man was never made to govern man, but to be governed by his God; that this proposition is clearly established by the Christian Scriptures, by the nature of man, and by the experience of all human governments, and inasmuch as all efforts of men to govern men have ended, and must of necessity end in anarchy and blood.' We find, too, in the papers, a letter from Edmund Quincy, said to be a distinguished member of the legal profession in Boston, to Gov. Everett of Massachusetts, resigning his commission as a justice of the peace, for the reason that he 'cannot conscientiously discharge the duties imposed by the office of a conservator of the public peace, which necessarily involve the assumption of the right on the part of the community of taking human life; which assumption, (he says,) whether made by individuals or nations, I believe to be a sin against God;' and likewise because he wishes by this act to absolve himself 'from the guilt incurred by taking the oaths of allegiance to the Anti-Christian constitutions of the State (Massachusetts) and the Union, at the time I accepted the office.' He adds: 'Though I hold an oath of allegiance to any government, founded upon the right of taking life at its discretion, to be absolutely void, ab initio, being contrary to the allegiance due, and due only, to the Most High, still I cannot feel myself discharged from the sin of rebellion against the government of God, without a public abjuration of all allegiance under which I may have placed myself to any existing human government. I do, therefore, in the presence of Almighty God, and before you, as Chief Magistrate of this Commonwealth, hereby abjure and renounce all allegiance which I may at any time have acknowledged myself to owe to any government of man's institution. And I call upon Him and you to witness that I have put away from myself this iniquity forever!' And more in the same strain! These fanatics commenced Abolitionists—and their dogmas, in reference to slavery, have legitimately driven them to the absurdity of denouncing all human governments as infringements of the rights of man and the authority of God. How long would society last—and in what a condition would it be—if the dogmas of these wild fanatics were extensively embraced? For, (to vary somewhat Dr. Franklin's interrogatory,) if men are so vile notwithstanding our numberless penal statutes, and with prisons and gibbets staring them in the face, what would they be if all restraint were removed from their bad passions, they might go forth to 'spoil God's heritage,' without dread of an earthly retribution, and fearing no hereafter?