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THE 
 
 RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR; 
 
 AND 
 
 f 00iti0E 0f m 
 
 AT THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 THREE DISCOURSES, 
 
 PPwEACHED AT W^yj^RTOWN, N. Y., 
 
 By Eev. IJ. W. KEYNOLDS. 
 
 V 
 
 WATERTOWN, N. Y. : 
 
 SOLD AT TUE BOOKSTORES AND AT RAND's, 
 
 1861. 
 

 For Civil War, tlia'. it is an evil I diSiiute not. But that it is Jba gi-eiiest of evils, that 
 I stoutly deny. It doth indeed appear to the mi?judging to be a worse calamity than 
 bad government, because its miseries are collected witMu a short space and time, and 
 
 may easilv, at one view, be talten in and perceived When the devil of 
 
 Tyranny hath gone into the body politic, he departs not but with struggles, and foaming, 
 ap.d great convulsions. Shall he, therefore, ve:^ U forever, lest, in going out, he for a 
 moment tear and rend it?— Miltos. 
 
 It is impossible for a nation, even while struggling for itself, not to acquire some- 
 thing for all mankind. — Motley. 
 
 Whatever is just, is always true law; nor can true law either be originated or abro- 
 gated by any written enactments. — Cicero. 
 
 Tyranny is against the law of nature. — Aristotle. 
 
 Slavery is introduced through human wickedness ; but God advocates Liberty by the 
 nature he has given to man. — Blackstoxe. 
 
WHAT IT MEANS. 
 
 A brief word, by way of explanation, will account for the appear- 
 ance of this i'aniphlet. 
 
 The first Discourse having been delivered, a-reeably to previou.s 
 notice, it appeared that a few persons were displeased— the disatfected 
 b/in-'of two classes: 1st. Those who disliked the topic too much 
 to allosv tlicm to hear the sermon, and who —asstiming that the 
 r.iKATMENT would be objectional3ie,— were willing to derive their 
 impressions from report, merely. 2d. Those who attended that 
 service expecting to dislike the address, and who heard without 
 apprehending— as appears from their subsequent statements. 
 
 My best defence, against misapprehension and misconstruction, 
 appears to be to lay the Discourse before those who may feel any 
 interest in the subject, in the form in which it was actually delivered. 
 
 The other Discourses have grown out of the first; and are included 
 in the publication because they were designed to illustrate and fo;tily 
 the more radical sentiments originally expressed. 
 
 The Sermons will be found not so much echoes of public opinion, 
 a^infimations of a sentiment destined to assert itself triumphantly, 
 if [ mistake not, in a few months, in American politics. If the 
 pamphlet should happen to be read by those not yet prepared to 
 accept its teachings, let ma request them to suspend their final 
 decision until the events now pending sludl have spent their force on 
 the public mind. 
 
 I have heard it objected, that any agitation of the Slavery question, 
 in the present crisis, is injudicious, because tending to revive party 
 divisions and divert attention from the business immediately before 
 
IV 
 
 us. In relation to the objection, I regard the people of the Free 
 States as already decisively committed to the War ; the Government 
 will be sustained, and the Union will be preserved ; and the thing 
 we shall soon be obliged to decide, is. What to do with the Arch 
 Criminal that has made all the mischief? I agree with gentlemen 
 who say that when the house has been set on fire, the first necessity 
 is, to smother the conflagration ; but I beg to remind them, that the 
 next dictate of reason and self-preservation, is, to set the police on 
 the INCENDIARY,, in order that we may never incur the like calauiity 
 
 in future. 
 
 E. W. REYNOLDS. 
 
 May 21', 18G1. 
 
I. 
 
 SLAVERY, 
 
 RETEOSPECTIVE, ACTUAL, AND rROSPECTIVE. 
 
 Remember Ihe clays cf ol'.l.— Peut. xxxii, 
 
 There is ahvays profit in recurring- to the Past, if the retro- 
 spect be intelligent, and the view comprehensive. In that case, 
 tiie wise man will find, in the . surviving memorials of human 
 history and experience, much pertinent instruction, — much to 
 admonish, to encourage, and to guide. For humanity, in its 
 various phases, and in its widest extremes, is impressed upon 
 "the days of old." In its records, the rival principles that 
 have always divided the world, and that still enlist the interest 
 and power of mankind, have left the traces of their essence, 
 their influence, and their results. 
 
 "What can be more impressive or instructive, than to reani- 
 mate past ages, and to see the passions which Ave have espoused, 
 or the passions against which we are marshalled in conflict^ — 
 displayed in their true nature, and ripening their legitimate 
 fruit ? Eor History repeats itself, from age to age, from land 
 to land,— like the splendid sunsets that embellish the West, 
 and hke the tornadoes that darken the tropic seas. A few 
 great principles, beneficent and divine — and a few great pas- 
 Fions, pernicious and human— have furnished the materials of 
 all the conflicts in which the nations have participated, and 
 which it is the business of universal history to describe. Dip 
 into what annals we will,— grope back to an antiquity however 
 
6 TirE TtELATTONS Of ^LAVEHV TO TilK WAT. 
 
 remote, — revive the concerns of a people however obscure or 
 strange, — and we come, at once, upon these familiar elements of 
 our nature, that are playing in our latest politics, nnd coloring 
 1he character of every living man,— tliese indestructible ele- 
 ments, which Divine Providence is weaving into a succession 
 of dramas, for the vindication of Justice and Truth, for the 
 discipline and perfection of the world. 
 
 if it be instructive to recur to "the d.TS'S of old,"' in times 
 of social tranquility, how much more so must be the retrospect, 
 when Hociety is agitated and confused, — when the Government 
 is asflailed by Anarchy — v;hcn delirious pasaions echpse the 
 pcrenity of reason — when the present scene is too much dark- 
 ened by the smoke of the combat to admit of distinct impres- 
 sions; and when we are thrown back upon the Past for soud 
 footing, and for a serene, unbiased wisdom. There are fiicts 
 find experiments, impressed upon the olden days, well qualified 
 to enlighten us in our duty, and to admonish us of our dangers, 
 ill the critical times upon which we are cast. I shall endeavor, 
 on this occasion, to bring to light such facts, or such e:xperi- 
 cik-es, out of the Past, as seem qualified to subserve the 
 I)urposes of an enlightened patriotism, in the present crisis of 
 affairs. 
 
 In re-reading Macaulay's History, recently, I was struck by 
 the fact, that the great social Evil, which, in this country, has 
 been the occasion of so much discord and the spring of such 
 imminent danger — was abolished, in the English nation, not 
 only without violence, but without notoriety. In the Thirteenth 
 Century-, Slavery was universal in England; but, by the Fif- 
 teenth or Sixteenth Centuries, it had entirely disappeared from 
 the realm. Yet, this great social revolution seems to have 
 .gone silently forward, involving no great controversies, and 
 attracting no special attention from cotcmporary observers. 
 It became the object of no legislative enactments, and it pro- 
 voked no physical force ; but it faded out of the civ^lizatiou of 
 England under the intensifying power of moral causes, and no 
 man can tell, precisely, at what period it ceased to stain the 
 web of Society. 
 
TlIK RELATIONS OV SLAVERY TO THE VTXR. / 
 
 If WO inquire for the causes that produced that ffreat change, 
 in so peaceful a innauer, and by such imperceptible degrees, 
 we shall find that the main cause was the feeling of the Churcil, 
 touching the institution of Slavery. The Christian Church, 
 from the beginning, in all countries, had been hostile to the 
 practice of slave-holding. It had uniformly made its power 
 felt, in mitigating or restricting the Evil, as fast as it became 
 strong enough to make its authority respected. The idea of 
 possessing pr. >purt7 in Man was repugnant, from the first, to 
 the faudamental .1: aths of the Gospel; and there is hardly an 
 Uiubtrious nuruo on the roll of the Church, that is not asso- 
 ciated with some protest against Slavery, or with some effort 
 for its abolition. Since this was the common sentiment that 
 swayed the Christian teachers, it followed, naturally enough, 
 that soon as the Church obtained ascendency over a tribe, or 
 nation, it should bring its power to bear, persistently and 
 inflexibly, upon the unjust distinction of Master and Slave. 
 
 This was really the case ; and another thing to be noted, is, 
 that the Church, in the Middle Ages,— not only in England, 
 but in all the countries of Europe,— had all but absolute 
 poioer to execute her purposes. Those who professed Chris- 
 tianity, believed implicitly that the Church held the keys^ of 
 Heaven and Earth, and could admit the dying to endless bliss, 
 or banish them to endless pain. In that rude age, when the 
 Norman lords were above the restraints of Civil Law, and 
 their vassals below its protection— the only hope of the weak, 
 was in the power of the Church, which could bless or damn 
 the soul of the haughtiest baron. Generously and nobly, m 
 most instances, did the priests use that ten'ible engine of Super- 
 stition. When the gi'eat Norman chiefs lay in the agonies of 
 death, the blessing of the Church was of more value than all 
 the crowns of the world ; and when that blessing was made 
 dependent on the instant liberation of those bondmen for whom 
 Christ died, the parting sinner was not likely to hesitate where 
 duty and interest so palpably met. So faithfully did the 
 Christian teachers employ their tremendous ecclesiastical influ- 
 
O THE RELATIONS OF SLAVEUY TO TUE WAR. 
 
 ence, for the benefit of Societ}', that Slavery became utterl}' 
 exterminated in England, and the servile class elevated into 
 manhood, before the advent of the Koformation. Ar.d so 
 unquestionable was the agency of the Ancient Church in 
 achieving the salutary revolution, that Sir Thomas Smith — one 
 of the ablest Protestants in the court of Elizabeth — bears the 
 strongest testimony to the fact. 
 
 Although NEGRO SLAVERY, a ccntury or so later, prevailed to 
 Bome extent in England, it never received the general sanction 
 of the Courts; and, in the celebrated decision of Lord Mans- 
 field, made in 1772, it was shown that no slave could be 
 retained, against his will, by the law of the realm. Slavery 
 was a condition so " odious," in the language of Lord Mans- 
 field's decision, that nothing could be suffered to support it 
 but positive law; and that support it never had from the law 
 of England, either in Britain or in the Colonies. 
 
 In America, when the Church was brought face to face with 
 Slavery, at the organization of our Government, the combat 
 was to be waged under different circumstances. Society had 
 undergone great changes, since the Middle Ages ; and some 
 of the changes were adverse, and others were favorable, to a 
 successfal contest with Slavery. The Keu:>rmation had broken 
 that iron machinery of the Church, which had been so service- 
 able iu former times; and it was our weaker Protestantism 
 that had to grapple with the American slave-holder. Keligion 
 had ceased to be that stern and palpable "terror to evil-doers," 
 which it had been when the Priest was supposed to hold the 
 keys of Heaven; and it could not, therefore, exert as vigorous 
 H restraint. On the other hand, the progress of Society had 
 widened and confirmed all those sentiments of humanity, which 
 are hostile to Slavery. The Institution had become, from gene- 
 ration to generation, more aud more odious. The tendeuLy of 
 all History, from the opening of the Reformation ojiward, was 
 to render every form of tyranny unpopular, — to unsetlle tin; 
 old wrongs, — to inspire sympathy for those struggling for their 
 rights; and to create lively anticipations of the rapid spread 
 of Liberty over the world. 
 
THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 9 
 
 Such were the ch'cuinstanccs under wiiicli tlie American 
 Churcli, eighty years ago, was .suumioned to encounter that 
 great anomaly of our repubhc — American Shivery. I say 
 that the Cuurcu was sunuuonetl to encounter this Evil, — not 
 forgetting, however, that the State Governments, and the 
 Federal Convention, were also agitating the subject ; and that 
 Slavery provoked, from the first, the resolute opposition of 
 most of our revolutionary statesmen. But, from the nature of 
 the subject. Slavery had always been regarded us pre-eminently 
 a moral subject, — as something over whicli Kelicuon liad pecu- 
 liar jurisdiction; and as a wrong on the natuue of man, so 
 patent and notorious, that the Christian teachers must, as a 
 matter of course, strive unremittingly to have it done away. 
 
 Nor did the conflict, at first, threaten to be very severe. 
 The predominant sentiment of the nation was an anti-Slavery 
 sentiment, and it found a calm and strong utterance from 
 Virginia to Massachusetts. Only in the Carolinas and in Geor- 
 gia, were there indications of a settled devotion to Slavery, or 
 a determination evinced to pcn-petuate it, at all hazards. The 
 great body of intluential men, in other states, esteemed Slavery 
 as a blot upon the nation; and their sympathies and convic'tions 
 were lieartily opposed to its perpetuity. Sucli being the state 
 of public opinion, it seemed every way proljable that such 
 influences would emanate from our Government, and especially 
 from om- Churches, as to involve, at no distant day, the peaceful 
 removal of the one great Evil that impe<led our social pro- 
 gress. Unexpected developments disappointed this reasonable 
 expectation. The manufacture of Cotton rendered slave-labor 
 profitable in the Gulf-States, uiid opened a lucrative commerce 
 in slaves, for the states of tlio Interior. At the same time, the 
 acquisition of new Slave Territory, gave a broader base to 
 the Institntion, on wliich to resist the humane, freedom-loving 
 public opinion of C!histen<loni. 
 
 Tben came the trial of tlie vigcn- of the American C'hurcli. 
 
 "When the tide of Improvcnient began to set l)ackward, then 
 
 was the time for the Cliurch to have thrown all its power 
 
 against the ebbing waters. When a great Temptation came 
 
 2 
 
10 THE RELATIONS OF 8LAYBRY TO THE WAR. 
 
 to stimulate the lust of the nation, — when temporal (rain wum 
 set before the Eternal Right, so that the contact of wealth and 
 luxury might dazzle the eye and seduce the conscience, — then 
 was the time for the Church to revive the image of Liberty, of 
 God, and of responsibility. When Slavery began to reveal 
 its despotic purpose, — when, not content with the subjugation 
 of the black man, it assumed to domineer over the white, — 
 when it proceeded to crack its plantation whip over Congress, 
 to bully timid statesmen, and to gnash its teeth against the 
 bold champions of Freedom, — then was the time for every 
 pulpit to blaze with the lightnings of Divine Truth, and for 
 every Christmn man to invoke the Almighty Name, till the 
 nation should be awake to its peril, and the moral apostacy of 
 the land rebuked. 
 
 The American Church was not equal to the emergency. It 
 bent before the roaring beast it ought to have taken by the 
 horns ; and it apologized for the system which even a Deist 
 had pronounced "the sum of all villanies." That sacred 
 Institution which Jesus Christ had founded among men, as 
 a refuge for the weak, — as the hope of the merciful, — as the 
 means of breaking every yoke, and setting every captive free, — 
 even that humbled itself before the arrogance of Slavery, and 
 held its peace ; while Liberty fell in the streets, and Honor 
 veiled her face. It was the saddest, most shameful, most 
 perilous day of our history, when the Christianity of this land 
 was bribed and badgered into submission to Slavery. No — 
 there was a sadder, more shameful, more perilous day even 
 than that: the day that the most venerable bodies of the 
 Church conspired to pronounce Slavery divine, and to stigma- 
 tize as Infidels, the faithful men who suffered for freedom ! 
 
 I suppose it is now clear, to the minds of American freemen, 
 that the Church committed a great error, if not a great crime, 
 in having made any terms %vith Slavery. If the pulpit and the 
 religious press had refused to compromise with slave-holding, — 
 if the Churches had excluded slave-holders from the commu- 
 nion, — if every minister, ordained to the eervice of Christ, had 
 labored to array this wrong before men under the odium of 
 
THE RELATIONS OF etATERY TO THE WAR. 11 
 
 Divine condemnation, — it could not have been perpetuated to 
 this day. The voice of Religion would have 80 ratified the 
 moral convictiouB of our people, and lent such authority and 
 vigor to the best feelings of our nat\ire, that Slavery would 
 have been extinguished, peaceably and imperceptibly, by a 
 process similar to that which eradicated it from England, 
 With vigorous moral causes working for its removal, the 
 fcubject would have entered less into our politics, — it would 
 have had little or no opportunity to vitiate the Government, — ■ 
 the rancorous hostility between the North and vSouth would 
 have been averted, and Treason would never have dragged 
 our flag to the dust. 
 
 The moment the Church consented to ignore, or tolerate, the 
 enormous sin, Slavery began to be dominant in our politics, 
 and the Government began to be prostituted to its purposes. 
 In private circles, it became fashionable to apologize for Slavery, 
 and to deny or extenuate the abuses which the system involves. 
 In public life, the path of ambition became the path of subser- 
 viency and compromise. This despotism came to possess the 
 offices and the honors of the Republic, and it dispensed them 
 to those who could abase tliemselves most, as the tools of its 
 wicked policy. 
 
 While the masses of our people were thus yielding to the 
 disastrous retrogression of public opinion, a small band of 
 earnest men, whom the popular sophistry had not infected, 
 rallied to the standard of Liberty. Through calumny, perse- 
 cution and violence, they kept their ground, and made their 
 voices heard through the land. They have never been a very 
 lovable set of men ; for in Politics they have been as stern as 
 the sternest Puritan — and in Religion, lax as the most specula- 
 tive Rationalist. They have dealt in the severest language ; 
 they have advocated the extremest measures ; they have courted 
 the hatred of Church and State. But, they have been, as a 
 party, a sort of providential break-water against an overflow- 
 ing political apostacy ; and, when the history of the last thirty 
 years shall be honestly written, the Garrisouian party will 
 occupy, perhaps, as honorable a place in our annals, as the 
 Puritans already occupy in the annals of the Stuarts. 
 
12 
 
 THE RELATIONS OF .«LAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 Meantime, the development of the .skive-holdin- despotism 
 has borne siieh fniit as no man foresaw who consented to 
 tolerate its n-,..wth. The ef^bcts of the system have been so 
 palpably retributive, as to evince a Divine agency working out 
 its destruction, if not the destruction of those leagued with it 
 We are too much in the habit of estimating the evils „f 
 Slavery, with reference to the Negro race. Its direct and 
 obvious effects upon the slaves themselves, are, doubtless, 
 revoltmg enough, in many instances; but the most terrilic 
 effects of the system appear, not in its results to tlie negro, 
 but m its results to flu- white- man. .Slavery may not be an 
 obvious injury to every individual slave; but I maintain that 
 It IS an obvious injuiy to every individual master,— to every 
 free family,— to every State, and to tl,c very life of the 
 Republic. Forty years ago, actuated by conmiercial selfish- 
 ness, and by our antipathies to the African race, we supposed 
 that the perpetuity of Slavery wovdd damage nobody but the 
 helpless negro. But, behold how God has punished our 
 cruelty, and confounded our expectations ! The African race, 
 m America, has passed through a baptism of fire; but it has 
 multiplied, as the Israelites did under the oppressions of Egypt. 
 It has become a more civilized and mighty race ; drawing from 
 its task-masters more mental vigor, and greater relish for free- 
 dom, from year to year, till it has become a terror in tlie land, 
 no longer to be trusted, hardly to be restrained. 
 
 While God has thus been strengthening the servile race, He 
 has been weakening their oppressors. While the negro has 
 been rising toward Civilization, the white man of the South 
 has been sinking into Barbarism. Ignorance and Superstition 
 Cruelty and Vice, Violence and Anarchy, reign paramount in 
 the slave-holding States. There never was seen such a sudden 
 and wholesale relapse of great communities into hopeless bar- 
 l)arism. The records of the social life of those States has 
 been, for some years, like pages gathered from the annals of 
 the Tenth Century. Such violent despotism over private judg- 
 ment,— such sanguinary sway of lyncli law,— such subjugation 
 of cities to brutal mobs, and of States to revolutionary anar- 
 
TUE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. lo 
 
 chy, — 8uch swaggerinn- preten.'sions to honor and chivalry, 
 united with crimes that only the hangman can [)roperly pun- 
 ish, — such spectacles which make up the every day life of the 
 South, almost jiersuade a man that he is reading a chronicle of 
 the Middle Ages, and uot an American newspaper, reporting 
 contemporano( )us eveuts. 
 
 As little did we foresee the ett'cct of Slavery on the safety 
 and integrity of the American Government. "When it clamored 
 for protection, we never thought it would aspire to rule. When 
 it aspired to rule, we never thought it would conspire to ruin 
 the Repul)lic if it were voted out of ] tower. ]Jut, such is the 
 nature of the system, that it makes everything it touches sub- 
 servienl ; and, soon as it comes to be resisted, breaks every 
 treaty, defies every consequence, and malignantly stabs the 
 nation tiiat has warmed it into power. Itself based upon 
 injustice, I'apine and cruelty, it is not conciliated l)y fair i»lay, 
 or restrained 1)y considerations of social well-being, or affected 
 by the prospect of boundless carnage. It is a creature of 
 lust, aggression and violence; and its legitimate influence is 
 always fatal, just in proportion to its power and opportunity. 
 
 With the nature and tendencies of Slavery so clearly dis- 
 closed, as they now are, in the state of Southern society and 
 in this most wicked Rebellion, if there is an American freeman 
 who can apologize for it any longer, it must be a case of 
 infatuation utterly without parallel. And if this bloody quarrel, 
 which Slavery has ruthlessly provoked, is ever settled without 
 rooting the deadly curse out of the land, we shall bequeath a 
 new quarrel to our children, and untold calamities to mankind. 
 We were willing to tolerate Slavery, from a sense of constitu- 
 tional obligation; and wo would even violate conscience to 
 keep the faith our fathers were believed to have bound us by. 
 But, since Slavery was not content with being tolerated, but 
 insisted on being our dictator ; since she will be our autocrat 
 or our destroyer ; and since she has taken down the sword and 
 summoned us to mortal combat — away with all forbearance, 
 and all compromise, and let the wicked harlot die. She has 
 released us from the old compact, whatever that may have 
 
14 THE RELATION? OF SLAVKRY TO THE WAR. 
 
 involved ; and God be thanked for the madness of despotism 
 tliat has broken the dangerous bond. She has exasperated 
 every freeman, by forty years of insolence,— by forty years of 
 broken faith and culminating crimes; and now by the just 
 God in Heaven, and by the holy instincts of Freedom, she 
 shall perish by the sword she has compelled us to draw ! 
 
 We have endured everything from Slavery that human 
 nature can endure, beause our temper is forbearing, our man- 
 ners pacific, and our pursuits compatible only with peace. We 
 have consented to be a reproach to civilized nations, because 
 of our complicity in this great wrong. We have consented to 
 bear more than our just proportion of the burdens of Govern- 
 ment, and have received less than our just share of its emolu- 
 ments. We have submitted to have our citizens mobbed, 
 imprisoned, and hung, for no crime but that of being born in 
 a Free State, and loving their natural birthright. We have 
 endured insults and aggressions, fraud and violence, in the 
 halls of Congress, and in our own free cities. We have given 
 up the weak to the fangs of the slave-hunter, and seen the 
 mark of the beast set upon the forehead of our most illustrious 
 men. All this has not been enough. Slavery has demanded 
 more ; and, when we refused to grant more, she seized her 
 wicked bludgeon, and tried to demoHsh the fabric of that fair 
 Union which had sheltered her treasonable head. Now let 
 her have what she has invoked. Let it be war to the death. 
 Let the monstrous Aggressor find no shelter, henceforth, under 
 the flag she has profar:ed and betrayed. 
 / I rejoice that the time has come, at last, \vhcn a man may 
 characterize this odious outrage upon humanity, in the lan- 
 guage it merits, and have all his brethren say, Amen. All 
 political controversies, in this land, have become narrowed to 
 a single point : Do yon love Slavery ? — Yes, or No ? If you 
 love it, then you love the mortal enemy of this Government, 
 of CiviUzation, and of Christianity ; and if you are not a traitor, 
 you avow yourself the friend of the Arch-Traitor, and the 
 difference is not worth sticking for. On the other han^ if you 
 don't love Slavery, you hate it ; and, hating it, you, ecirdially 
 
THB RELATIONS OP SLAVERY TO TUB WAR. 15 
 
 sup})ort the Press, the Phitform, and the Pulpit, that are now 
 locking hands to extenninute it. Thus, all former distinctions 
 disappear, and all good men coalesce in one great Party, — the 
 party of Patriotism, of Civilization, and of Religion. Who i« 
 it that stands outside the Ring, with the assassins of Balti- 
 more; and the piratical Crew that have conspired to burn our 
 free cities, and murder our Chief Magistrate? There are 
 none left. "VVe are all in the ranks of Liberty — a brotherhood 
 of Patriots and Christians — with the noblest banner on earth 
 waving over us. In past times, I have been among those who 
 suffered some inconvenience by speaking against the great 
 Despotism ; but I never murmured at the temporary disappro- 
 bation under which I stood, for I saw that the fullness of time 
 had almost come, when the sternest opponent of Slavery would 
 be justified by all men. That dny is novi^ at hand, and my 
 grateful heart glows in its beams. True, I regret that this 
 consummation was not effected by peaceful means ; but we 
 must accept what God appoints ; and since war is the instru- 
 ment of our deliverance, I accept the war. I accept anything 
 rather than a return to that servility of spirit, that allowed 
 Slavery to lord it over the heritage of freemen. 
 
 I compassionate the Southern people, so hopelessly involved 
 in the swift-footed vengeance that must sweep their land. They 
 are not, radically, more guilty than ourselves ; only the diaboli- 
 cal system that has possessed them so long, has inoculated 
 many of them with its own malignity. I feel like making great 
 allowance for the bad schooling those people have suffered 
 from. So deplorably has Slavery enervated tiioir moral princi- 
 ples, and darkened their sense of right, that they no longer 
 realize either what they do, or what they are. They are the 
 saddest victims of their own oppression. They are like drunk- 
 ards, besotted by their cups, and madly clinging to the terrible 
 vice that has ruined them. ! for their sake — even more than 
 for our own — -let us swear eternal hostility to the system that 
 has perverted a noble people, and turned a fruitful land into 
 a howling desert. True, wo must draw the sword against 
 them, — for their salvation and ours, we must appeal to the God 
 
W THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 of battles, — but, as Heaven is our witness, Compassion shall 
 temper the warfare they have provoked ; and our vengeance 
 fall, only, upon that .villainous despotism, which has brought 
 discord between us. 
 
II. 
 WAR AND PEACE: 
 
 THE KEAL CAUSE-TEE FINAL TiEMEDY.* 
 
 nut the Wisdom tliat is from above, is first pure, then peaceable.-JAMES iii, 17. 
 
 I shall speak, this morning, of the Conditions and Securities 
 of Peace. The topic is seasonable and important. In no expe- 
 rience of mine, has it ever assumed such magnitude. Under 
 a social convulsion that shakes the Kepublic, from its marbU; 
 Capitol to the rudest cabin on the frontier,— under the turbu- 
 lent emotions that pervade even our churches and our homes,— 
 under the great emergency that has flowered out, in this calm 
 May season, in martial l)anners, in the tramp of stern brigades, 
 an<l in the crimson panoply of AVar,— who does not recall, with 
 a poignant regi-et, the blessed days of concord and peace ? 
 
 We are not a people who love dissension, or who profit by 
 violence. We love Prace ; and we have shown ourselves will- 
 ing, more than once, to make sacrifices in order to seciu'e it. 
 Our taste, our temper, and our interest agree in this. We 
 have not been fpiick to tire at an insult, and ready to avenge a 
 wrong with a blow. ^Vc have not boasted that our honor was 
 tender, or bragged that our valor could parali/.e^tlu; worl<l. 
 We have had little to say about being a " chivalrous " people; 
 though we have tried to pay our debts, to educate our children, 
 and make our siuTOundings tidy and rcsi)ectable. We liavc; 
 bt«cn patient and diligent— anxious to avoid unpleasant subjects, 
 and willing, for the most part, to mind our own business. Our 
 
 * This (riscourse was not written out in full. I cannot, tliei-cforc, rc-i"-o<Ui(:e Uio ciiUrc 
 language employeil in Us delivery. 
 
 3 
 
18 THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 grievances we have handed over to the professional politicians, 
 that they might fight them out, on the platform and in Con- 
 gress, with as little scandal and loss of time as possible. So 
 thoroughly has the love of peace possessed us, — I mean the 
 great body of the people of the Free States, — that martial 
 exercises had degenerated into farces and holidays ; the soldier 
 had become a mere actor to the sanguine speculators in human 
 progress ; and the great armories and navy yards were regarded 
 as relics of Barbarism. And yet — with all this love of peace — 
 with all our solicitude to guard it and perpetuate it — with all 
 our confident persuasion that the millennium of peace would 
 remain unbroken, — here we are, all at once, plunged to the 
 neck in War. 
 
 Who is to blame for this dire catastrophe ? Some charge 
 the crime upon the Abolitionists ; some, upon the disappointed 
 demagogues of the South ; some, upon the Republican Party, 
 and others, upon the Ministers. I think the real responsibility 
 rests with neither. The true source of the disorder is to be 
 sought elsewhere, as I shall presently attempt to show. 
 
 While the Nation has been falling into war, some of the 
 Churches have been equally unfortunate. The catastrophe has 
 been equally unforeseen — equally unprovoked — in the churches 
 and iu the nation. For, if our fellow-citizens have been friends 
 of peace, and solicitous to secure and perpetuate the genial 
 blessing, the same may be said of our church people. How 
 often have they said, with David, '^ Behold how good, and how 
 pleasant a thing it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity." 
 On the score of enjoyment, and of temporary interest, at least, 
 how ardently is peace to be desired. Members of churches 
 have alvvn \s folt this, and they have felt that many things might 
 be safely sacrificed in order to pi-omote concord. The Clergy 
 have had even stronger motives to preserve, by every menus 
 in their power, unity and peace among their members; I'dp 
 their pecuniary interest, their tranquility of mind, and their tem- 
 porary reputation,. have all been involved in it. There can lu- 
 little doubt — reflecting on the average temper of human nature, 
 and on the real situation t)f the Clergy — that most of them 
 
TUB KBUATlOiNK OK SLAVKKV TO TJlli WAU. 10 
 
 have suppressed some of tlieii- conviclioiis, and sol'Lened the 
 severity of many a rel)uke as it nislie(l to tiieir hps for utt(!r- 
 jince— from a dread of woundiiii^- somebody's feehngs, or 
 alienating somehody's patronage— and thereby giving occasion 
 !',.r turbulence and complaint. If those people who have taken 
 oUence at what tlie preacher has actually spoken,— (believing 
 that he has wantonly wounded them,) — could know how much 
 moi-e he lias \vithheld, out of regard to their feelings, they 
 would, perhaps, mitigate their censure. 
 
 And 3'ct, with all our anxiety to i)reserve peace in the 
 churches, ])c:u-e has not lieen preserved. With all our sacri- 
 fices, witii all our forbearance, discord has broken in. With 
 whom, or with what, rests the responsibility? I shall try to 
 show whei-e the fault lies. This will lead me to e.xhibit— as I 
 projjosed, in the beginning — the Conditions and Srrurifies nf 
 [V;ice. 
 
 If you were to enclose two Ijands of men in a tropicrd gar- 
 <],,ii — liny, in I'aradise, if you i)lease — whose characters, tastes, 
 interests, and ambitions were absolutely opposite, do you think 
 it would be a peaceable community ? One band hves l)y rob- 
 bery; the other, by industry. One is lawless and prolllgate, 
 i\- )mineering and aggressive ; the other is diligent and decorous, 
 thoughtful and just. What one admires, the other holds in 
 contempt; and what one abhors, the other loves. With feel- 
 ings, interests, and pursuits in radical conflict, how coidd they 
 share the same province, in peace ? Grant that their domain 
 contains bread enough for both, — grant that the dew and rain 
 fall upon both alike, — and grant that some preacher stands 
 among them, entreating them to love each other. Do you think 
 that all this would avail to make a peaceable connmmity, where 
 the radical elements of character, the desires and impulst-s of 
 the two parties, were diametrically repugnant ? I tell you 
 nay: there can be no real concord between things essentinlty 
 evil and things essentially good. 
 
 Now, the American Eepublic is that Paradise we have sujt- 
 posed. Slave Society and Free -Society arc the two bands 
 that possess it together. Their characters and tendencies, their 
 
20 TUB RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE AVAR. 
 
 aims aiul desires, arc completely hostile. Slave Society rests 
 upon robbery — for it holds by force, what it has no chiiui to 
 hold in e(|uity; asserting- that claim of property in man which 
 is repugnant to natural justice. Free Society rests upon ilie 
 voluntary industry of the people, and is gvuirded by equity. 
 Slave Society tyrannizes over the weak; Free Society extends 
 over the weak, the protection of Law. Slave Society makes 
 brute force supreme; Free Society makes Justice supreme. 
 In Slave Society, a handful of aristocrats govern the State, 
 and the masses of the inhabitants are disregarded like cattle. 
 Jn Free Society, political power is distributed among all the 
 people ; and the most vigorous thinker is the mightiest man. 
 Jn Slave Society, ever3'thing is at the mercy of an mitliinking 
 and capricious Despotism, and the tendency of community is 
 irretrievably downward ; but, in Free Society, great questions 
 are settled by discussion, by reilection, by reason; — every 
 man's interest is safe, because natural justice is revered, and 
 everything is open to investigation; — and so the comnumity is 
 continually being elevated, and fortified by the ]n-ivate con. 
 science and public intelligence. 
 
 Such are the two hostile interests that have been subsisting 
 in this Ke[)nblic, from the beginning. Our fathers — with many 
 scruples [Uid doubts — set them up housekeeping, in the same 
 edifice, because they supposed that Slave Society would soon 
 die a natural death, and they were st;arcely prepared to kill it 
 by violent means. For eighty years, these two types of Society 
 have been developing in the Nation, — eacli according to its 
 natures, — each obedient to its own instinct. In the exact ratio 
 of their growth, has been tlieir aggression upon each other. 
 AVlien the house began to resound with their strife, all the 
 ])ea('e-m9kers turned out to settle the quarrel. The more they 
 tried to settle it, the more fiercely the quarrel raged ; and, step 
 by step, by a series of ineffectual (compromises that only irritated 
 what they were expected to heal, we have journeyed on to 
 Civil AVar. 
 
 Now, there are men, I dare say, who will never cease to 
 marvel at the perverse obstinacy of the American people, in 
 
THE RELATIONS OF SLAVEP.Y TO TllK WAK. -1 
 
 keeping up agitation. Why coukrnt they let Slavery nlono ? 
 Why could'nt Slavery let thoni alone ? A\Tiy eouUriit we have 
 hud peace ? Why has no power been given us to put down 
 this everlasting nigger question ? AVhy won't men let it alone ? 
 and why, of all other men, won't our minister let it alone ? 
 The mystery is, doubtless, very great ; but shall we not make 
 :in attempt, this pleasant morning, to look into it, and gain at 
 least a clue to the reason V 
 
 Suppose you plant Canada thistles on one side of your 
 garden, and a bed of strawberry plants on the opposite sitle, 
 and charge them not to meddle with each other ! You will 
 soon find that they will meddle with each other — not because 
 they are willful, but because each nuist obey the law of its 
 own nature. Now^ Slave Society and Free Society have their 
 lioculiar instincts, and each develops agreeably to its ov.n law. 
 They must encroach upon each other, they must eonlVict, they 
 must quarrel; and, what God and Nature have thus made 
 hostile, we cannot join together in harmony. 
 
 Slave Society imbues those who grow up under its s})irit, 
 with a despotic and lawless disposition. Free Society imbues 
 people with a sense of justice, liberalizes and elevates the mind, 
 and prepares the heart to feel the liveliest sympathy for the 
 weak and the oppressed. Thus, the tendencies of the two 
 systems — by their legitimate operation — involve collision and 
 strife. How can we help ourselves ? Can the man who was 
 nourished at the breast of Despotism, be otherwise than tyran- 
 nical ? Can the offspring of Liberty disown his mother, or 
 resist the generous impulses that spring from his blood ? AVe 
 nuist all have noticed how vain it is, to attempt to override or 
 suppress an hereditary trait; and these instincts that are born 
 with us, and fostered by the society in whicii we are reared, 
 cannot be controlled by any arbitrary edict. We may as well 
 make up our minds to face the fact, first as last : There will be 
 no peace — at best, only a short truce — while these belligerents 
 occupy the same house. We need a public opinion, in America, 
 that shall recognize this Fact, for this is the first condition of 
 Peace. 
 
22 THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 We have ;ill railed, more or less, at the ultra men of the 
 South — at the " fire-eaters," as they have been named ; — but 
 we might as well rail at the Canada thistles, when they manifest 
 a desire to monopolize the garden. They are obeying the 
 instincts of Slave Society; and your entreaties and expostula- 
 tions — as the event has repeatedly proved — might as well have 
 been addressed to thistles as to that class of men. 
 
 Suppose a company of Indian Thugs come into the neigh- 
 Ixirhood, buy a certain amount of real estate,- and settle among 
 IIS. It is the profession of the Thug to murder; and, in him,, 
 the tendency to murder has the force of an instinct. Murders 
 are perpetrated; the community is in arms; and the Thugs 
 are disposed of agreeably to law and equity. But, however 
 heinous the crime, it was no greater than was to have been 
 ex]iccted, in view of the habits of the Thugs. So with Slave 
 Society. All its habitudes and instincts are aggressive and 
 destructive. Don't abuse my metaphor, and misapprehend my 
 idea.' I am not denying that individual slave-holders may be 
 very fair men. Some natures are proof against the worst 
 social influences. I speak of the system of Slavery, in its 
 essence and general effects. And I say, without the fear of 
 my position being successfully controverted, that the most 
 odious developments of Southern Society are the legitimate 
 outgrowths of Slavery, — things which it is idle to protest 
 against, so long as we foster the seed that produces them. 
 
 We have complained, also, against the ultra Anti-Slavery 
 men. But, candidly and philosophically viewed, what have 
 tliey done but obey the instincts of Free Society ? It was 
 just as natural for Free Society to develop the Abolitionist 
 party, as it was for your strawberry bed to throw out " run- 
 ners " toward the Canada thistles. How futile it is to quarrel 
 with any such settled tendency of nature. How unwise it is 
 to ignore such facts, instead of accommodating ourselves to 
 them ! We might as reasonably attempt to resist gravitation, 
 or any other natural law, as attempt to carry out a peace 
 policy, in violation of these immutable conditions. 
 
THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 23 
 
 Free Society fills every bosom, that is open to its influences, 
 with the love of free institutions — with the love of justice, 
 mercy, and manhood ; — and it inspires us, at the same time, 
 with an irrepressible abhorrence of the injustice, the profligacy, 
 and the ignorance which are the fruits of Slavery. Under this 
 influence, it is impossible that men should hold their peace. 
 The full heart will make its emotions audible in burning w^ords. 
 Almost involuntarily — almost against a man's will — he thun- 
 ders out his hatred of tyranny, and chants the hymns of Free- 
 dom. It is the Holy Spirit of God that impels his utterance ; 
 and Timidity and Compromise have no padlocks strong enough 
 to shut the mouth of a live man, when the trumpet sounds and 
 the Hour has come. 
 
 Thus far, I have tried to show the true conditions of Peace, 
 from the nature of the two interests that are warring with 
 each other, in this country. I shall now proceed to show that 
 the preceding view is confirmed by the principle brought to 
 view in the text : " The wisdom that is from above, is first pure, 
 then peaceable." 
 
 Consider, then, how ob^•ious it is, as a general fact, that, 
 when a conflict takes place, in society, between the good ele- 
 ments and the bad, there can be no permanent peace, imtil the 
 bad elements are eradicated. A bad princij)le in tlie social 
 system, is like a disease in the human system ; — it is a source 
 of irritation and unrest, to the whole body politic. The patient 
 is in ceaseless pain, apprehension, and depression ; and, even 
 when he affects to rest, he moans, and tosses his limbs about, 
 and starts as from ghastly dreams. How will you restore tlio 
 man to his natural tranquility, and to the enjoyment of his 
 existence ? Will 3^ou sit at his bed, and sing a lullaby ? Will 
 you expatiate on the blessings of rest ? "Will you remintl liini 
 how commendable it is to be quiet and serene ? Or, will yon 
 endeavor to expel the man's disease, and ensure him ti-aiKjuilily, 
 by first endowing him with health ? 
 
 My bretliren, that patient is our Countr3^ If you wuuld 
 not mock tlie misery of a man, by affecting to lull him to rest 
 while his malady rendered rest impossible — w hy will you mock 
 
24 THE RELATIONS OP SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 the ao-miy of our country, by siiioing lullubys, and ignoring 
 the distemper that brings all the pain ? American Society has 
 always had in its blood one virulent distemper. That distem- 
 per has been the source of all our trouble, agitation, discord 
 and danger ; and now it has assumed an alarming phase. It 
 has broken out in the ghastly form of treason. Now, what 
 does the Crisis require, at the hands of reasonable and faithful 
 men ? "What can it require, but the radical cure of the Patient ? 
 Purify the social system, and the American Eepublic will have 
 peace. This is the inflexible logic of the hour, in my estima- 
 tion, and all remedies that come short of it, will only betray 
 us into deeper misfortune. 
 
 If you ask by what means Slavery is to be abolished, in this 
 country, I must say, that I am not competent to inform you. 
 But, coming events will declare them. God will show us the 
 means, as the great controversy goes forward. Let there be 
 a will, and there will be a way opened. The course of Eight- 
 cousness is never impeded, except by human prejudice and 
 fear. Meantime, I hold it the patriot's first duty,— next to the 
 rescue of our soil from Rebellion,— to exert himself to create 
 a right public sentiment, in relation to the final disposal of 
 Slavery. The great question will come before the American 
 people— sooner, perhaps, than w^e apprehend ; and it is of the 
 first importance that we be prepared to meet it, in the true 
 sph-it of Christianity, of Eeason, of Philosophy and of Justice. 
 And I appeal to all my brethren and fellow citizens— whether, 
 in time past, we have not been too devoted to the interests of 
 partizanship, and too negligent of the claims of our Country, — 
 whether we have not been too jealous of having Eeligion 
 approach the province of Politics,— whether we do not now 
 obviously need the light of the heavenly wisdom to reveal the 
 path of duty,— and whether the hour has not come foi- men 
 of honor and intelligence, to put away all the prejiKlircs and 
 iealousies that have hitherto blinded tluun; while they bring 
 all the gifts of their nature together, and offer them— as an 
 oblation to God— on the altar of Christian Patriotism. 
 
THE RELATIONS OP SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 25 
 
 I have spoken these words in the interests of Peace ; and 
 because I know that no peace is possible except by apprehend- 
 ing the real cause of the disturbance, and manfully putting it 
 away. I love peace so well — I prize it so highly — that I will 
 do what I can to secure a substantial peace, and not a mere 
 deceptive truce. This Slavery agitation has not only been the 
 bane of the Nation, but the sorrow of the Church, these many 
 years; but there is no hope of getting rid of the agitation, so 
 long as the exciting cause continues to exist. For the sake of 
 every interest that is dear to us, as Patriots and as Christians, — 
 for the sake of social tranquility and brotherly love, — let us 
 unite to put down the great offence. For my own part, I am 
 willing to incur temporary censure, and to suffer temporary 
 loss, if I can contribute anything to the formation of a public 
 sentiment that shall restore true peace to this Country, by 
 renovating the social system. 
 
III. 
 THE CLERQY: 
 
 THE EELATION OF THE PULPIT TO SLAVERY. 
 
 " Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord." — Isaiah i, 18. 
 
 The faculty of reason is the crowning glory of our nature. 
 By virtue of it, men are capable of immeasurable improvement. 
 It is the bond between them and superior beings. It is tlie 
 great attribute — common to God and man — by which the 
 Divine Being communicates his will ; estalilishes intercourse 
 with his creatures, and sways over them a moral government. 
 Reason is, to a human being, just what a rudder is to a ship, — 
 it is the means by which God steers him in the direction of the 
 monil law. 
 
 1'tioic ;s always hope of people who are susceptible of being 
 reasoned with. The better argument, the nobler influence, 
 sway;; thorn. The evidence from without, is justified by the 
 tribunal within, and they say, " This is conclusive ; this is 
 enough." It is only the people who can not, or will not, 
 reason, who baffle us to the last; and who — hearing neither 
 Moses nor the prophets — would not be persuaded though one 
 should rise from the dead. As Henry More quaintly observes : 
 " When a man is so fugitive and unsettled that he will not 
 stand to the verdict of his own Faculties, one can no more 
 fasten anything upon him, than he can write in the water, or 
 tic knots of the wind." 
 
 As God has no higher influence to exert than the influence 
 of reason, He can delegate none more potent to His servants. 
 
THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. Zl 
 
 The ministers of His kino;flom are authorized to reason ^viMl 
 mankind; and they are bound to reason faithfully, kind)}', [-'.•:- 
 sistently. But the result iimst he left to the Searcher oi : .; 
 hearts, and the Judge of all motives. 
 
 It is our lot to live in eventful days, and to particij^ate in 
 momentous controversies. It is our fortune to be troubled and 
 tried. It is our fate to be divided and shaken. Every man 
 must be responsible for his own actions, and God shall be the 
 Judge between us. It is the lot of the Clergy of the Freo 
 States to differ, widely, from part of their congregations, on 
 the subject of ministerial duty. It is their fate to incur, on 
 account of this difference, no little censure and opposition. I 
 have called this congregation together, this evening, for ihe 
 })urpose of reasoning with those who object to the position 
 taken by the clergy, in their occasional discussion of national 
 affairs. 
 
 I. In the first place, let us group together three or four 
 significant facts : 
 
 First — The Clergy of the Free States, with few exceptions, 
 hold the same views concerning American Slavery. Divided 
 into various sects, arrayed under hostile denominational ban- 
 ners, and rivals in ecclesiastical influence, they are substantially 
 united in their estimate of Slavery, and of the treatment it 
 should receive at the hands of a Christian people. Such unani- 
 mity of opinion probably never before characterized a body of 
 intelligent men, so variously trained, and difiering so widely on 
 other questions. 
 
 Second — What is the fair and natural inference to be drawn 
 from this fact ? Have these men entered into a conspiracy to 
 hold and propagate particular sentiments ? This can not be 
 the case, for there is scarcely any intercourse between them, 
 beyond their denominational lines; and they are too much 
 estranged by sectarian jealousy to have come into any pre- 
 meditated concert of action. Have they any personal interest 
 to subserve, by taking an attitude hostile to Slavery, or by 
 favoring the ascendency of a particular party? This can 
 hardly be ; for they seek no office in the gift of any party, and 
 
28 THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 they covet no spoils consequent upon a partizan triumph. If 
 there be a class of men in this land, above the suspicion of 
 being actuated by mercenary motives, in their political action, 
 or in their strictures upon public measures, it is the Clergy. 
 As a class, they live by the favors of no party, but they arc 
 independent of all parties. Their private interest is in no 
 way affected by the vicissitudes of parties ; and whether their 
 influence is cast in favor of a particular party, or against it, it 
 is not cast in the interest of selfishness. Some of the Clergy 
 have, indeed, spoken to the prejudice of their pockets and of 
 their peace; but no man can convict them of having been 
 actuated by a sordid motive, in trying to awaken the public 
 conscience to the iniquities of Pro-Slavery politics. 
 
 If the Clergy have thus imbibed strong Anti-Slavery con- 
 victions, without concert or mutual understanding, — and if 
 they are now proclaiming these convictions, independently of 
 any private motives, and, in many instances, against their per- 
 sonal interest, — what is the reasonable inference ? The infer- 
 ence is, that they are, at least, sincere in their convictions, and 
 honorable in their purposes. Are they, then, so ignorant, or 
 so imbecile, as to be disqualified for holding a weighty opinion 
 on- questions involving the well-being of their country ? If so, 
 it is remarkable that they should be located among the learned 
 Professions, and referred to, in the familiar language of Society, 
 as Teachers. What, Teachers ! — and not qualified to decide 
 whether the discussion of Slavery comes, or does not come, 
 within the province of the Pulpit ? Teachers ! — and not 
 qualified to state the simple facts concerning the history of the 
 system, the relations of the Church thereto, and the estimate 
 formed of it by Christians and Patriots, in the different ages 
 and departments of Christendom ? Teachers ! — and yet con- 
 tradicted by hot-headed party men, who do not even claim 
 extended information, and who derive their apinions from fifth- 
 rate newspapers, notoriously conducted in the interests of 
 partizanship ? I ask you all, as men responsible for your senti- 
 ments and your actions, what is thej'casonable inference from 
 these things? 
 
THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 29 
 
 TutRD — Not only ure nearly all the Clergy of the Free 
 States, in all denominations, in agreement as regards the sub- 
 ject of Slaver}^, but an immense majority of the jseo/»Ze of these 
 States, manifest a similar unanimity of sentiment. This has 
 not always been the fact ; but it has come to be. A deliberate 
 observation of the effects of Slavery in American Society, — a 
 prolonged experience of the tendency of the system to demor- 
 alize our politics, — have brought almost all the intelligent 
 people of the Free States, as well as a respectable minority in 
 the Slave States, to the belief, that Slavery is not only wrong 
 in the abstract, but a pernicious and dtlngerous thing to foster. 
 
 Fourth — With the Clergy, and this large majority of the 
 American people, all Christian nations agree. The public 
 Opinion of Europe is about unanimous in condemnation of 
 Slavery ; the last vestige of the system is just now disappear- 
 ing, in Russia ; and there is not a man, among the great 
 nationahties of the East, eminent for either learning, patriotism, 
 or piety, who would dishonor himself far enough to become 
 its advocate. 
 
 II. So much for Facts. Now I ask, what conclusion a 
 reasoning mind must naturally draw from them ? That the 
 Clergy are in the way of their duty, or out of it, in the hostile 
 attitude they occupy toward Slavery ? 
 
 Here are two great Armies being joined in conflict : On one 
 side. Freedom — on the other, Despotism. On the side of Free- 
 dom, are Civilization, with all the Arts that have embellished the 
 world, — Learning, that has opened illimitable fields to the mind 
 of man, — and the Christian Religion, that has refined our social 
 life and sanctified our homes, while revealing, beyond this 
 clouded isle of Care and Trouble, a sweet celestial shore. On 
 the side of Despotism, is brutal Ignoi-ance, hand-locked with 
 debasing Superstition. She is marshaled on by I'uffianly vio- 
 lence, with Law and Justice trampled under her feet. Beliind 
 her, are Desolation and Mourning, and the long perspective of 
 Barbarism. 
 
 Such are the two parties now arrayed in hostile lines. Can 
 you doubt which side the Clergy must espouse ? Can you 
 
30 THE RELATIONS OP SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 wonder at the choice they have niacle ? As friends of their 
 Country, — as champions of their race, — as teachers of their 
 Eeligion,— how could they hesitate ? Do you claim that they 
 should not commit themselves,— that they should be indifferent 
 to the great decision now impending ? Then God should take 
 the souls out of their hosoms, and give them an oyster's life, 
 in place of the immortal love of liberty He has kindled there ; 
 for, constituted as we are, it is impossible to be indifferent 
 when swords are to be crossed in the name of our Country's 
 fame and freedom. But they will divide their congregations. 
 This is to be lamented, but it is no excuse for silence. A min- 
 ister better divide the spirit from the body, than be dumb as a 
 clam, at such an hour as this. There is nothing a minister can 
 suffer from, half so calamitous as the loss of self-respect ; for 
 that is the mainspring of whatever power there may be in the 
 man. It is unpleasant to be misjudged and traduced ; but, to 
 be a conscious poltroon is to forfeit every claim to the confi- 
 dence of community. 
 
 If a minister will be a faithful Leader, and not a ductile 
 dough-face, he will be in advance of some of his people. He 
 will\reak ground that is not familiar— not already tracked 
 over by the feet of the multitude. It is his business, as a 
 Teacher, to keep on the frontier of Public Opinion,— to be 
 governed by the facts that have come to his knowledge, and 
 not by the irrational prejudices that time has refuted, and that 
 he can no longer respect. It is his business, as the Friend of 
 his Church and as the Servant of Mankind, to keep abreast of 
 the best thought that is moving through Society,— to keep in 
 the van of Christian Civilization ; and he should not be expected 
 to tack and drift, because some of his people— not looking from 
 his stand-point— think that he has transcended his province. 
 Such things should neither change his purpose, nor perturb 
 his spirit ;^but he should say, "I'm sorry, brethren, we're not 
 to sail together any longer; but, since you insist on paddling 
 out of the fleet, you shall go with our blessing. We must 
 sail by the Chart ; and we can't alter the course of the flag- 
 ship, for the sake of keeping you in the squadron." 
 
THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE ^VAR. 31 
 
 III, A minority of our people have contracted tlie habit of 
 declaring, that " a minister has no business to meddle witli 
 Slavery." There are a few persons, holding this opinion, 
 whom I sincerely esteem, and I desire to reason with them on 
 the question. It is possible that 1 shall present considerations 
 which have not occurred to them, and which will tend to place 
 the subject in a different light. In the first place, in affirming 
 that " a minister has no business to preach against Slavery,'' 
 you assume to know, better than he does, what his business 
 really is. I think you are bound to show how you come to be 
 so much better informed than I am, on a subject to -which I 
 have given my chief attention, but whii-h lies outside of your 
 own calling. 
 
 AVhen you employ a lawyer to conduct a cause, do you 
 undertake to instruct him how to extract his testimony, or how 
 to make his plea ? Or, do you concede that he is the best 
 judge of his own business ; and that any interference on your 
 part would be both a reflection on liis intelligence, and a 
 damage to your interest? When you call a physician to 
 minister to your malady, do you, at the same time, profess to 
 understand the case better than he does, or ofter to dictate 
 what remedies shall be employed ? If you actually supposed 
 yourself wiser than the physician, you would not send for him 
 at all. 
 
 Now you employ a man to stand in the pulpit, as a Teacher 
 of the Christian Eeligion, and of the moral obligations of man- 
 kind. In engaging him to teach, you are supposed to believe 
 him qualified to teach. You believe him qualified, because he 
 has made Religion and Morals his special study. You have, 
 yourself, general impressions and convictions on those subjects, 
 (as you have general impressions and convictions in relation to 
 liaw and medicine,) but you have not qualified yourself to be 
 a Teacher of one, more than of the other. And yet — (now 
 mark your inconsistency,) — when that man, whom you have 
 placed in the pulpit expressly to teach, happens to oftend some 
 of your prejudices, you tell him that ho has made a mistake, — 
 that he has no business to say such and surh things, — and 
 
32 THE RELATIONS OP SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 sometimes you even deny matters of fact, merely because they 
 had not come to your knowledge. By this course, you reverse 
 the relations of the parties ; for, whereas you jn-omoted me 
 awhile ago to be your Teacher, in relation to the specific sub- 
 iect which I had made my life study, you are now assuming to 
 be mine. But, the worst phase of your censure is, that you 
 assume to know my duty better than I know it myself, which 
 is an aggression upon my personal liberty, to which I can sub- 
 mit on no account. 
 
 Why has a minister no business to preach against Slavery ? 
 It is universally assumed, and believed, that it is his business 
 to expose every form of sin ; and, by making it odious and 
 repugnant, — and by exhibiting its destructive consequences, — 
 persuade mankind to put it away. Among the sins of the 
 world, what rank does Slavery occupy ? This can be deter- 
 mined, only, by reflecting what Slavery is— in its essence and 
 in its effects. 
 
 "Slavery," is defined by Webster, as "a state of entire 
 subjection to the will of another." " A Slave," says the Code 
 of Louisiana, "is in the power of the master to whom he 
 belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his 
 industry, his labor ; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor 
 acquire anything, but which must belong to his master." In 
 the language of the Laws of South Carolina, " Slaves shall be 
 deemed, taken, reputed, and adjudged to be chattels personal 
 in the hands of their masters, and possessions to all intents 
 and purposes whatsoever." 
 
 Under the mildest form, then. Slavery asserts an absolute 
 ownership in man. That is, under Slavery, one human being 
 may own another human being, in the same sense in which you 
 own a horse or a dog. The slave's person is absolutely at the 
 master's disposal, — the slave's labor, virtue, and will, are in the 
 master's power,— just as the body of any brute, which you may 
 own, is in your power. Now, in asserting this absolute claim 
 of ownership in human beings. Slavery usurps the prerogative 
 of the Almighty. "All souls are mine, saith the Lord." Since 
 all men belong to God, no man can belong to his brother man. 
 
THH RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 33 
 
 God gave man dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowl 
 of the air, and the fish of the sea, but not over his own unage ; 
 and any claim of property in man, is unlawful and impious : — 
 unla\^i"ul, because not authorized by the Divine Statute, and 
 impious, because a flagrant invasion of God's pecuUar pre- 
 rogative. Thus, Slavery is a great wrong, in its very essence. 
 Even where the master is kind, and where the servitude is 
 mild, the slave is wi-onged in this : that his manhood is ignored, 
 and he is ranked with cattle ; and that none of the thoughts, 
 privileges or rights, natural to a human being, are secured to 
 him. The man who is kind to his horse or his dog, wnll pro- 
 bably be kind to his slave ; but, the very fact that the slave is 
 degraded to the level of the horse and dog, constitutes the 
 moral indignity which o^ir Eeligiou sternly rebukes. 
 
 Eemember, then, that Slavery is wrong, in its very essence — 
 in every conceivable instance. In the next place, consider 
 what an outrage it becomes where the master is cruel, licen- 
 tious, depraved. It is not necessary to suppose slave-holders 
 any worse, by nature, than other men ; though no reflecting 
 person can fail to see that the eflects of the system are exceed- 
 ingly demoralizing. It cannot be denied that those who are 
 abusive or cruel to their brute property, must be at least 
 equally so to men and women, who, like the brutes, are abso- 
 lutely in their power. The master who is arbitrary and capri- 
 cious, profligate and violent, has a power over the person of 
 the slave, that is little short of infernal. I do not speak of 
 blows from the lash, or rigorous service in the field, mitig.ated 
 by no reward and cheered by no hope. The slave so circum- 
 stanced, is exposed to worse indignities. The honor of man 
 has no defense. The modesty of woman has no refuge. Tho 
 best instincts of human nature are brutally violated. Not one 
 of the domestic sanctities, or relations, is secure from despotic 
 and lawless outrage. "We may try to flatter ourselves that 
 such instances are rare. Unhappily, they are frequent. Nor 
 is it so much the fault of the slave-holder as it is the necessary 
 consequence of the system of Slavery, which disarms the weak, 
 5 
 
34 THE RELATIONS OP SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 incites the strong, and oflfers both the temptation to outrage, 
 and boundless opportunity to satiate the worst passions. 
 
 Let any man reflect what human nature is, among the ave- 
 rage men of the South, or even of the North ; let him reflect 
 that those men are the absolute masters of other men, of 
 women, and of children ; let him remember that the slaves 
 have no defense against the avarice, the lust, or the cruelty of 
 their masters — and how can he fail to see that the system ofiers 
 every invitation to outrage, and that it involves, as its daily 
 consequence, the blackest sins against which the law of God 
 is arrayed ? 
 
 If we look at the social results of Slavery, as developed in 
 the ci\alization of the South, we see that the fruit is consistent 
 with the seed. All good influences retire before the scourge. 
 Education is discouraged. Liberty of speech is denied. Enter- 
 prize withers, and even the soil becomes sterile. The Church, 
 poisoned by the baneful social atmosphere, mutters delirious 
 sophistry, and becomes the pimp of the slave-holder. Pre- 
 sently — all the vigorous timbers of Society having rotted 
 away — the foundations of social order break up. Entire States 
 slump into Barbarism. Anarchy comes up, ^vith mobs for its 
 authority, and with Treason for its watch-word. It is the 
 last result of Slavery — private hcentiousness reaching out to 
 demoralize communities — the despotism of the private Planta- 
 tion raving to assert itself in the Capitol of the Nation. It is 
 the great scarlet Abomination culminating in maturest bloom. 
 
 Such is Slavery — a system combining, in its essence and in 
 its results, a greater volume of Iniquity than can be found 
 under any other name. Yet, we are told that a Christian 
 minister has no business to meddle with it ! God says to the 
 minister, " Cry aloud and spare not : lift up thy voice, like a 
 trumpet, and show my people their sins !" But, some of the 
 congregation say, "Nay; thei'e be sins among us which the 
 minister is not to expose : He must be silent concerning our 
 great national Iniquity, lest yieople accuse him of ' preaching 
 politics,' and he break up the Church !" That is to say, the 
 minister may denounce those sins that are like m,ole-hills — and 
 
THE RELATIONS OT SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 35 
 
 especially those antiquated sins that have ceased to be prac- 
 ticed ; but, before this great Malakotf of Iniquity, that threatens 
 to desolate a hemisphere, he must be dumb. In other words, 
 a Christian Church, organized expressly to malce war upon all 
 sin, is in danger of going to pieces, if the pastor offers to wake 
 up the the public conscience in relation to the most notorious, 
 and most dangerous sin, now thriving in this world ! 
 
 I have not alluded to the most abhorrent features disclosed in 
 the practical operation of Slavery. I have said nothing of the 
 necessary reaction of the system, in demoralizing white fami- 
 lies — in corrupting the youth, in destroying female delicacy, 
 and thus tainting, at the domestic fountain, the moral life of 
 Society. I have not alluded to the disgusting exhibitions of 
 immodesty and brutality, that are presented in the slave-mar- 
 kets ; exhibitions that degrade the nominally Christian cities 
 of New Orleans, Savannah and Charleston, to the level of 
 Constantinople. Nor have I said anything of those well- 
 authenticated cases, in which the enormity of Slavery culmi- 
 nates in a union of lust and avarice, that outrages brutehood 
 as much as it shames humanity, — cases in which the master 
 becomes bound to his slave by the closest tie of nature, and 
 sells his own child into perdition, as he would sell a calf to the 
 butcher ! 
 
 These are the incidental and natural effects of Slavery. 
 They are the notorious fruits of the system. If there are 
 any persons among us ignorant of the facts, or disposed to 
 question them, they have neither reflected on the nature of 
 Slavery, nor availed themselves of information accessible to 
 any person disposed to investigate the subject. Such, I repeat, 
 are the nature and effects of Slavery; aud yet, it has been 
 said, that a preacher has no business to lift up his voice against 
 this colossal sin ! If it is not his proper work to expose this 
 unspeakable outrage, I beg to know what his proper work is. 
 It has been said, that the stability of our Churches would be 
 periled, if preachers persisted in exposing Slavery to the con- 
 demnation of tiie Divine law ! Is it meant b}' this, that there 
 are men in the Churches, who will support them only on con- 
 
36 THE KELATIONS OP SLATERY TO THE W^R. 
 
 dition that ministers remain blind and dumb before this intole- 
 rable wrong ? Is it meant that the Churches have become, in 
 some sense, allies of the slave-holder— since, by exposmg his 
 sins, we rupture their unity ? 
 
 IV. Ha\'ing now shown that Slavery is of such a wicked 
 and destructive nature, that ministers must assail it, in the 
 name of their Eeligion, if they are obhgated to assail any 
 sin whatsoever— I proceed to show that the position of the 
 Clergy is fortified by the general sentiment of Christendom, as 
 expressed by Theologians, by Jurists, and by Statesmen. 
 
 Lactantius, who was tutor to the son of Constantine, " was 
 faithful in his denunciation of Slaver}'-, and reckoned the work 
 of redeeming captives and slaves the most divine of human 
 employments." 
 
 St. Cyprian, an eminent Christian mart}T of the Second 
 Century, says, in his Address to the Bishops of Numedia, 
 " Both religion and morality make it a duty for us to work for 
 the deliverance of the captives. They are sanctuaries of Jesus 
 Christ, who have fallen into the hands of the Infidel. It is 
 Jesus himself whom we ought to consider in our captive 
 
 brothers ; it is Him whom we should deliver from captivity 
 
 Him who has delivered us from death." In his Treatise against 
 Demetrius, he uses the following severe languao-e : " You 
 expect from your slave that he be devoted to you, man of a 
 day. Is this slave less a man than you ? He came into the 
 world on the same conditions,— your equal by his birth, by his 
 death,— provided with the same organs ; endowed, as well as 
 you, with a reasonmg soul ; called to the same hopes ; subject 
 to the same laws, as well for the present life, as for the time to 
 come. You oblige him to obey you and be subject to you ; 
 and, if he happen to forget for one moment the right }'ou have 
 to command him, — if he neglect to execute your orders with a 
 rigorous precision, — misfortune to him ! . . . Miserable 
 man ! While you know so well how to mamtain your quality 
 of master over a man, you are not wilMng to recognize the 
 Master and Lord of all men !" 
 
TIIB EELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 37 
 
 St. Ambrose, who lived in the Third Centurj, held similar 
 sentiments ; and he ordered that priests should sell, if neces- 
 sary, even the sacred vases of the Churches, to redeem slaves. 
 How difterent the feelings of that great Prelate from the policy 
 of those who would close a minister's lips against any con- 
 demnation of Slaveiy, for the sake of retaining a few dollars 
 in the treasury of the Church ! 
 
 When Louis X, in 1815, enfranchised all the serfs belonging 
 to the Crown, he made the noble declaration that " Slavery is 
 contrary to nature, which intended that all men by birth should 
 be free and equal ; that, since his Kingdom was denominated 
 the Kingdom of the Franks, or Freemen, it appeared just and 
 right that the fact should correspond with the name." 
 
 As early as the Fifth Century, Slavery was condemned from 
 the chair of St. Peter. Pope Paul III " imprecated a curse 
 on those Europeans who should enslave Indians, or any other 
 class of men." Leo the Xth, declared that " not the Christian 
 religion only, but nature herself cries out against the state of 
 Slavery." "In 1102, St. Anselm hold a national council in St. 
 Peter's Church, at Westminster, in which, a canon of the 
 council prescribed — " Let no one, henceforth, presume to carry 
 on the wicked traffic, by which men in England have hitherto 
 been sold like brute animals." 
 
 Wycliffe, who has been called " rhe morning star of the 
 Reformation," asserted " that it was contrary to the principles 
 of the Christian religion, that any one should be a slave." 
 Coming down to our own country, we find the sentiments of 
 the great Christian leaders the same, as regards this subject. 
 Whitfield and Edwards, the champions of Calvanism ; Wesley, 
 the father of Methodism; Winchester, the Universalist, and 
 Charming, the Unitarian, were all bold in their denunciations 
 of Slavery. 
 
 Such has been the feeling, and such the practice, of the 
 Christian Church, in all its branches and in all ages ; and yet, 
 in opposition to this " cloud of witnesses " — absolutely filling 
 the liorizon of Christian History — men now undertake to main- 
 tain, that a minister deviates from hi-s legitimate calling in 
 
38 THE RELATIONS OP SLAVERY TO THE "WAR. 
 
 exposing this wicked system. The truth is, that he deviates 
 from his true caUing, only, when he is persuaded to let the 
 subject alone. Then, all the faithful standard-bearers of Chris- 
 tianity, who have maintained the cause of Freedom, in past 
 ages, through good and evil report, rise up in judgment against 
 the timid time-server, who denies his Lord by forsaking those 
 who are in bonds ! 
 
 But I must hasten on, and show you how Slavery is regarded 
 by the jurisprudence of Christendom. Sir William Blackstone, 
 who reiUciias to this day, I believe, one of the best authorities 
 in the lesral profession, holds the following language : " The 
 law that supports Slavery, must necessarily be condemned as 
 cruel; for every feeling of human nature advocates liberty. 
 Slavery is introduced through human wickedness ; but God 
 advocates liberty by the nature he has given to man. In popu- 
 lar language, we speak of good laws, and bad laws. The 
 Bible, which generally uses the popular language, speaks of 
 ' mischief framed by a law.' It remains true — strictly and 
 philosophically speaking — there is no law contrary to equity." 
 
 In this doctrine, all the British Judges of eminence, are 
 beheved to have concurred — excepting only the infamous Jef- 
 freys, whose dissent, considering the character of the man, 
 really lends weiglit to the opinions of such jurists as Black- 
 stone, Mansfield, and Chesterfield. 
 
 The estimate of Slavery, made by our own most illustrious 
 statesmen, is well known, already. I will detain you long 
 enough to quote the testimony of a few of them, by way 
 of completing the argument. Almost all the leading men of 
 the revolutionary period, have left us the testimony of their 
 hostility to Slavery. Governour Morris declared before the 
 Constitutional Convention — " I never will concur in upholding 
 domestic Slavery. It is a nefarious Institution. It is the 
 curse of Heaven." William Pin(ikney characterized Slavery as 
 " iniquitous and most dishonorable ; founded in a disgraceful 
 traflftc ; as shameful in its continuance as in its origin." He 
 adds that, " by the eternal principles of natural justice, no 
 master has a right to hold his slave in bondage a single hour." 
 
THE RELATIONS OP SLAVERY TO THE WAR, 39 
 
 John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States, stig- 
 matized Slavery as *' a sin of crimson dye." Patrick Henry, 
 the orator of the Eevolution, said : " I will not — I cannot 
 justify it." Four of the early Presidents have recorded their 
 testimony against Slavery. Washington said, that it was 
 " among his first wishes to see some plan adopted by which 
 Slavery might be abolished by law ; and that for this purpose, 
 his suflrage should not be wanting." John Adams declared 
 that, " consenting to Slavery is a sacrilegious breach of trust." 
 Madison believed it " wrong to admit in the Constitution, the 
 idea of property in man." But Jefierson excels all his con- 
 temporaries in the amplitude of his testimony on the subject. 
 He declared his belief that "the day is not distant when the 
 public mind of this country must bear and adopt the proposi- 
 sition for emancipation, or worse will follow ;" and that " if 
 something is not done, and soon done, we shall be the murder- 
 ers of our own children." He characterizes Slavery as " a 
 hideous blot," — as " a bondage, one hour of which, is fraught 
 with more misery than ages of that which the people of this 
 country rose in rebellion to oppose." In the latest of his pub- 
 lished letters, he says : ' " My sentiments on the subject of 
 Negro Slavery, have long since been in possession of the 
 public, and time has only served to give them stronger root. 
 The love of justice and the love of country plead equally the 
 cause of these people ; and it is a mortal reproach to us, that 
 they should have pleaded it so long in vain." 
 
 I have thus tried to lay the subject of Slavery before you, 
 so that you may see the essence of the system, its pernicious 
 effects, and the light in which it has been regarded by the best 
 minds in Christendom, throughout all ages. No person, who 
 has attended me through the discussion, can fail to see the 
 obligation resting upon a minister of Christ, to expose and 
 resist this monstrous iniquity. If the Gospel of Christ is hos- 
 tile to any sin, it is hostile to this. If the Clergy have 
 authority to rebuke any wrong, they are obligated to face the 
 system of Slaveiy with their sternest indignation. 
 
40 THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 Especially urgent, at.thii time, are the claims of Patriotism 
 and Liberty upon the American Clergy. You have sent your 
 young men to the field, to vindicate your country's honor. 
 You have declared that it is every man's duty to do the best 
 he can, in hia ovra province, to aid his country, in this hour of 
 its peril. Shall the Clergy of this land do nothing ? only 
 mutter abstractions that nobody now hears or heeds ? Is there 
 nothing ministers can do to aid the holy cause that fills every 
 man's bosom ? If there be anything, what is it ? They have 
 their function, at this time, as you have yours. As soldiers of 
 Jesus Christ, let them be as bold and faithful as the men you 
 have sent to the tented field. Let them bring the Divine Wis- 
 dom — which they are authorized to administer — to interpret 
 the problem of the times. Let them show you what Keligion 
 has to say about the solemn crisis in which you stand. Lot 
 them persuade you to hear the Divine voice, that speaks out 
 of the smoke and thunder of this great convulsion. 
 
 Will you have your minister serve you in trivial matters, 
 and will you reject his assistance when your house is on fire ? 
 Look at your situation, in this eventful hour that is even now 
 sounding over head. The unchained devil of Despotism is 
 loose in the land. The veil is rent from the temple of Liberty. 
 Over half the area vi tiiis Republic, the darkness of Barba- 
 rism has fallen at noi Jii-day, and the Genius of America hangs 
 crucified among thieves I Do you want your minister to 
 ignore all this, lest, in the fervor of his soul, he oflfend some- 
 body's scruples, and inadvertently " preach Politics ?" Do 
 you want him to be a spaniel parasite, gliding about between 
 the legs of taller men, and barking for the man who will give 
 him the most meat ? Or, do you want him to stand up as 
 God's freeman, testifying to what he knows, esteeming his 
 manhood greater than pelf, humanity more sacred than any 
 Church interest, — and so striving to reach the summit of the 
 great Occasion ? 
 
 For my part, I have not waited to this hour, to make my 
 choice. I esteem Churches so far as they subserve the inter- 
 ests of right and of truth ; but when they abjure these, they 
 
THE RELATIONS OP SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 41 
 
 forfeit the blessing of God, and the respect of man. Never 
 fear that the free and strong assertion of righteousness will 
 harm the Kingdom of God. If the Church is imbued with 
 spiritual life, it will abide the shock ; but, if it is marked only 
 by a dead faith, it better be buried. No earnest man stands 
 in the pulpit, in our time, to galvanize a corpse ; and, when the 
 event has proved that there is no life in the Church to respond 
 to the claims of humanity — how clear it will be, that we do 
 not belong to the body of Christ, and are not members of his ! 
 
 In conclusion, I repeat what I said in this pulpit, some 
 months ago : 
 
 Any society may secure a timid, deferential servant who shall 
 repeat the truisms of morality and the pass-word of the sect, 
 in the dull monotone of a soul caged up from heaven's liberty ; 
 but, how much better to have a self-poised, conscientious 
 teacher, whose formula of ministerial duty is not borrowed, but 
 fashioned by his own creative instinct, and who stands, not by 
 human sufferance only, but by a divine sanction, witnessed by 
 personal force, influence and success. A society may find " a 
 beloved pastor," trained in all the proprieties of clerical pru- 
 dence, who holds no opinions that are not marketable, and who 
 dares not confess what ticket he votes at the presidential poll; 
 but is it an automaton that people deliberately choose, to dis- 
 pense for them the mysteries of tlie kingdom of God ? When 
 they come to the; altar of prayer, l)ur(lened with the labor of 
 life; 'when they fly to the tents of faith, seeking refuge from 
 over-mastering trouble ; the only soul that can speak effectively 
 for them, wisely administering the sacrament of care and sor- 
 row, must be one in habitual alliance with the spirit of God, 
 and in the daily exercise of that liberty which invites the 
 expression of all its convictions. 
 
 Grant that possible abuses are invf)lved in the freedom of 
 pulpit utterance; they are also involved in the freedom of 
 voting. Shall wo therefore abolish the ballot box ? A free 
 o-overument invites the notorious abuse of demagogueism ; but 
 it is better to l)ear witli the abuse than exchange it for an 
 Austrian police ; for there grows in the land, besides this cum- 
 6 
 
42 THE TvELATIOXS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 brous weed, a superabounding affluence of social good, that 
 no military despotism is allowed to trample out. So, a free 
 pulpit may sometimes vex the pews ; but people know that the 
 man who stands in it is giving them his honest thought — the 
 latest child of his wedded heart and brain ; and that he con- 
 fides it their courteous hospitality, for the time being, whether 
 they are capable of loving it or not. 
 
 We suppose that no Protestant preacher assumes infallibility, 
 or claims to be exempt from practical errors ; but it seems to 
 us that the man who makes it the business of his life to study 
 the Grospel, and to consider the application of moral principles 
 to the affairs of tliis world, ought to be expected to hold clear 
 convictions, and to announce them with boldness and energy. 
 His very dogmatism may grow out of the fervor of his con- 
 victions ; and it would be wiser to trace the processes where 
 his reason has traveled, at the lofty behest of the spirit, than 
 rashly rebel from a conclusion that he may even defend with 
 rhetoric as rough as brickbats. What we want, in the Chris- 
 tian churches, is not ductile ecclesiastics, polished up as Sunday 
 reflectors of the average decency; but long-armed thinkers, 
 who can reach sardonic infidelity asleep in the pew ; and.broad- 
 breasted evangelists, who dare fire a celestial volley into a 
 wicked caucus or cabinet — not fearing the stain of the powder 
 on their raiment, so long as the lead carries terror in the for- 
 tress of the devil. We want in the churches, bold men, who 
 can face the heat of occasions, and strike when the iron is hot; 
 loving men, who regard their congregations too tenderly to 
 flatter their pride, or foster their caprices ; faithful men, who 
 wed their faculties and their fame to the principles of Chris- 
 tianity, and abide whatever fortune these may involve; conse- 
 crated men, who — drawing their vitality from the life of God — 
 stand on the mountain of faith like cedars, winning vigor from 
 the tempest, and everlasting verdure from the sky. 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 [From the Nuw York Times of May Kith.] 
 
 The Question of Slavery and the Present Rebellion. 
 
 We have iiisiritcJ, from the bcgiiuung of the wicked and baseless 
 rebellion which now agitates the country, that tlie riucstion of Slavery- 
 had nothing to do with it, and that the object of this great uprising of 
 the 1 )yal people was — not to interfere with Slavery, but to sustain 
 the G jvernment and Constitution of the United States. We have 
 been confirmed in this position, by everything said or done by the 
 Government, in this connection. In his first Proclamation, President 
 Lincoln declared that, in the prosecution of the measures for the 
 suppression of the rebellion, theic would be no interference with the 
 rujhU of ■property. General Butler, at the very outset, returned to 
 their masters, fugitive slaves who had tied to him for protection. AVe 
 believe the general sentiment of the people commends this position 
 of the Government. 
 
 Nevertheless, it cannot be concealed that the progress of events, 
 always rapid in revolutions, may compel a change in the policy of 
 the Government, as well as in the sentiment of the people, upon this 
 subject. The Southern leaders propose to conduct this war with a 
 most extraordinary disregard of the laws and usages of civilized 
 warfare. They have begun, by authorizing piracy and the wholesalo 
 plunder of private property. They set prices upon the heads of loyal 
 citizens. It can scarcely be supposed that such barbarous rules as 
 these can be put into practical operation, without working a radical 
 change in the spirit of the war and the sentiment of the world. 
 
 As Slavery is the most vulnerable point of the South, the time may 
 come when the Ciovcrnmcnt will bo compelled, in self-defence, to 
 inquire into its relations to that institution, in time of war. And, as 
 pertinent to that (luestion, we copy the following remarks on this 
 point, made by John Quincy Adams, April U and 15, 1842;— they 
 will be read with interest at the prcricnt moment : 
 
44 THE RELATIONS OK SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 " I believe that, so long as the Slave Statics are able to eustain their institutions 
 >\ithout going abroad, or calling uiion other parts of the Union to aid them, or act 
 on the subject, bo long I will consent never to interfere. I have said thin, and I 
 repeat it ; but if they come to the Free Slates, and say to them, you must help us to 
 keep down our slaves,— yon must aid us in an insurrection and a civil war,— then 1 
 Kay that, with that call amies a full and 2>knary j)mver, to this House and to the Senate, 
 over the whole subject. It Is a war poiver. 1 say it is a war power ; and, when your 
 country is actually in war, whether it be a war of invasion or a war of ins-nrrectkm. 
 Congress has power to carry on the war, and 7mist carry it on according to the laws of 
 war: and by the laws of war, an invaded country has all its laws and municipal 
 inetitutions swept by the board, and martial law takes the place of thorn. 
 
 •' This power in Congress has, perhaps, never been called into exercise under the 
 present Constitution of the United States. But when the laws of war are in force, 
 what, I ask, is one of these laws ? It is this : that when a country is invaded, and 
 two hostile armies are set in martial array, the commanders of both armies have 
 )wwer to emancipate all the slaves in the invaded territo,y. Nor is this a mere 
 theoretic statement. The history of South Ameri(-a shows that the doctrine has 
 been can led into practical execution, within the last thirty years. Slavery was 
 abolished in Columbia, first, by the Spanish General Morillo, and, secondly, by the 
 American General Bolivar. It was abolished by virtue of a military command 
 given at the I'.ead of the army, and its abolition continues to be law to this day. It 
 was abolished by the laws of war, and 7iot by municipal enactments ; the power was 
 exercised by military commanders, under instructions, of course, from their respec- 
 tive Governments. And here I recur again to the example of General Jackson. 
 What are you now about in Congress ? You are about passing a grant to refund to 
 General Jackson the amount of a certain fine imposed upon him by a Judge, under 
 the laws of the State of Louisiana, You are going to refund him th'^ money, with 
 interest; and lir's you arc going to do, because the imposition of the fine was 
 unjust. Andw^Ly was It unjust? Because General Jackson was acting under the 
 laws of war, and because the moment you, place a milUai-y commander in a district 
 which is the theatre of war, the laws of war apply to that district. 
 »♦*******»•• 
 " I might furnish a thousand proofs to show that the pretensions of gentlemen to 
 the sanctity of their municipal institutions, under a state of actual invasion and of 
 actual war, whether servile, civil or foreign, is wholly unfounded ; and, that tho 
 laws of war do, in all such cases, take the precedence. I lay this down as the law 
 of nations. I say that military authority takes, for the time, the place of all ninnl- 
 cipal institutions, and Slavery among the rest ; and that, under that state of things, 
 60 far from its being true that the States where Slavery exists have the exclusive 
 mnnagement of the subject, not only the rresldent of the United States, but the Oom- 
 maiiMier of the Army, haspawer to prder the universal emancipation of the slaves. I 
 have given here, more in detail, a principle which I have asserted on this floor 
 before now, and of which 1 have no more doubt, than that you, Sir, occupy that 
 chair. I give it in its develojiment, in order that any gentleman, from any part of 
 the Union, may, if he thinks proper, deny the truth of the iwsition, and may main- 
 tain his denial ; not by indignation, not by passion ;uul fury, but by sound and 
 Bober reasoning from the laws of nations and the laws of war. And if my position 
 can be answered and refuted, I shall receive the refutation with pleasure ; I shall be 
 glad to listen to reason, aside, as I say, from indignation and passion. And if, by 
 the force of reasoning, my understanding can be convinced, 1 here pledge myself to 
 recant what I have asserted." 
 ♦ ♦*********♦ 
 
 There is, in this declaration, from one of the ablest publicists this 
 country has ever known, matter worthy of profound consideration. 
 
THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 4r) 
 
 Its main position is, tliat in war the military law supersedes, and, for 
 the moment, annuls the civil law. It is for the Commander at the 
 head of the Army, to declare what shall be law in any military dis- 
 trict within his control : and the only question he has to ask himself 
 is, what will host i)ronK)te the efFicioncy of his military operations. 
 The moment a Federal army is marched into any Slave State, the 
 general, at the head of it, has power to decree the emancipation of 
 every slave. 
 
 This is a prodigious power, — one which, it is to be hoped, our 
 armies will not be compelled to exercise. But no man can shut his 
 ej'es to the possibilit}', — the probability even, — that this contest will 
 be waged, by the rebel forces, in a manner so regardless of all law, 
 and all humanity, as to compel a resort to every weapon which tho 
 laws of war legitimately place at our command. 
 
 The South has begun, by waging a piratical irm- upon prkmt-e 
 property. In this, they take us at prodigious disadvantage. The 
 sea is white with the sails of our connnercc, and millions of dollar.s 
 may be plundered, and thousands of our lives taken by their priva- 
 teers, while they have no commerce exposed to retaliation. They 
 have struck a blow at our "peculiar institutions," — at commerce, in 
 which millions upon millions of our property are invested. We sug- 
 gested, some weeks ago, that the issuing of letters-of-marque would 
 be almost certain, sooner or later, to lead to measvrres of retaliation 
 upon tlieir peculiar property, — the only property they have which is 
 vulnerable to assault. 
 
 At present, public sentiment indorses, fully, the policy pursued by 
 
 General Butler, and set forth in his letter to Governor Andrew. But 
 
 . . . ' 
 
 after the Southern privateers have fairly commenced their murderous 
 
 depredations upon our commerce, it will be impossible to restrain our 
 
 people from wielding every weapon which the laws of war place in 
 
 their hands. 
 
 [From a Report of thn Boston Annivorsarics, pnlilished in tlic New- York Tr'ilrwm 
 of June 3cl.] 
 
 The annual meetings, of the American Anti-Slavery Society, were 
 postponed by the simultaneous decision of many minds, through a 
 wise unwillingness to risk even a ripple against the grand reformatory 
 wave which Divine Providence is now so gloriously rolling over the 
 nation, in this magnificent war for Freedom and the Constitution. 
 
 But, glad as this people would have been to have heard the splen- 
 did orators of Anti-Slavery, whose peerless eloqucnco all admit and 
 
46 THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 admire, there was no need of it this year, as a specialty, when all the 
 speakers, at all the meetings, from the Tract Society downward, had 
 no other text than the War— Freedon— and Slavery. The tenor of 
 ever speech was AVar— the base was Slavery— the deep, sub-base was 
 Abolition. 
 
 Dr. Tyng said, before the Boston American Tract Society, that 
 slave-holding— that is, holding men and women in bondage— was a 
 crime. Hear me, added he, as they were uproarious with applause, 
 Slavery ought to be abolished— Slavery can be abolished— Slavery 
 shall be abolished— Slavery will be abolished— by this war. If to 
 believe that, and to work for it, is Abolitionism, them I'm an Abo- 
 litionist. 
 
 Quoting from a South-side clergyman, who argued that Slavery was 
 a divine institution— " Yes," said the Doctor, "as hell is a divine 
 institution, and destined, I hope, to go to the devil with the close of 
 this war." 
 
 Beyond denial, this speech of Dr. Tyng was, as The Traveller has 
 intimated, the boldest and most eloquent speech of the kind, ever 
 listened to by Boston orthodoxy. Middlemen and ultra conservatists, 
 that six months ago would have turned pale and stood aghast at such 
 a belching of fanaticism, now bent over and applauded to the echo 
 the strongest patriotic and Anti-Slavery blasts of the lion-hearted 
 Doctor, who seemed, as the French say, in a state of perfect abandon 
 to his theme, and yet of entire control and choice of his language. 
 The inspirited afflatus was plainly upon him. The sacred furore was 
 clear to be seen. 
 
 Abolitionists, proper, had nothing to do but leave the course clear 
 for such a fiery charger, whose neck was clothed with thunders by 
 this glorious war for the Union, the Constitution, and Freedom. 
 Nevertheless, at the three public meetings of the Church Anti-Slavery 
 Society, not a few strong things were said and done, by the Revs. 
 Messrs. Webster, Blanchard, Cheever, Davis, Thorne, Fee, Bailey. 
 Smith, Lewis Tappan, and others. 
 
 The resolutions adopted were vigorous, and wisely in advance of 
 those births of Providence which are rapidly ripening, and which, 
 there will not be wanting strength to deliver when their hour has 
 come. One of them declares: — 
 
 -That, in our Jud-mcnt, the guidiug Btar, through the war luto which we have 
 been forced, is the purpose of God in regard to Slavery, as made kno^^al by llm 
 word His Ppirit, and lliB providence ; and if our Government i« stiU dreaming that 
 this .trn.'gle can be successful, while the laws of Jehovah are ignored and Ins com- 
 mand, • Let tde orrBESSKD oo fkee,' Is disregarded, then there is preparing for u« 
 a terrible awakening." 
 
THE RELATIONS OV SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 47 
 
 Another resolution qnotes at lonpth from the colclirated ppecch of John Quincy 
 Adams, in 1S42, and asserts, with confidence, " that, in the order of Divine Provi- 
 dence, the time has come for the people and the Government to avail themselves of 
 the rights of the war power, as argncd by John Quincy Adams, and to declare an 
 act of emanHpation as the only means of averting the horrors of a wide-spread and 
 most Woody servile insurrection." 
 
 The Ministry and Churches were recommended to sign and circu- 
 late a memorial to the President of the United States, that, as the 
 Chief Magistrate of the Nation — " the minister of God for good, not 
 bearing the sword in vain," — and having the undoubted Constitutional 
 right, b}^ the war power, with which he is intrusted, to "proclaim 
 Liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof,"— 
 that he call, by proclamation, upon all the inhabitants of the United 
 States of all conditions, bond and free, to aid in supporting the Gov- 
 ernment, — assuring them all of its impartial protection under the 
 common flag of our National Union and Freedom, 
 
 A petition was forthwith drawn up, and signed by upward of 
 twenty-five representative clergymen of different denominations, from 
 all parts of the country, and forwarded to Washington. 
 
 [From a Washington letter in the New-York Times of May 31st. J 
 
 Probable Effect of the War upon Slavery. 
 
 The impression gains ground that there can be no end to the present 
 war, no compromise, no peace, which leaves the cause of it in exist- 
 ence. The irrepressible conflict having taken this sanguinary char- 
 acter, can no more be staid while >Slavery exists. It has been 
 resolved, by the whole people of the North, that the Union must be 
 preserved. The Government responds to this popular outburst of 
 patriotism, and re-echoes it in official instructions to our Foreign Min- 
 isters. This is the one great point determined, and it is now becom- 
 ing evident that it cannot be made final and sure without a complete 
 overthrow of the institution of Slavery. 
 
 How, then, shall this great revolution in Southern society be 
 effected ? It can be accomplished by making war upon it, and noth- 
 ing seems to be more proba})le than that abolition will be a necessary 
 result of war. The war will cost hundreds of millions, directly and 
 indirectly, to the Government, hundreds of millions to the rebels, and 
 the event will leave the weaker party in a condition little short of 
 ruin. 
 
 Is it not better to look these facts in the face, in the beginning of 
 tlie contest, and make an effort at compromise, on the broad and per- 
 
48 THE RELATIONS OF SLAVERY TO THE WAR. 
 
 manent basis of peaceful and gradual emancipation, with compensa- 
 tion ? It may be necessary that the South shall receive one or two 
 overwhelming defeats in the battle field, before its people will consent 
 to so radical a measure ; but, in the meantime, it will be well for the 
 people of the North to have it under consideration. If Congress 
 should adopt a resolution in favor of calling a General Convention of 
 the States, looking to the adoption of such a compromise, it could 
 not fail at once to arrest the attention of thousands of Southern men, 
 who would prefer such a settlement to a continuance of destructive 
 war. 
 
 If, for instance, it were agreed that Slavery shoul<l be abolished at 
 the end of ten years, and, in the meantime, to be greatly modified 
 and improved in its grosser features, on condition that the owners 
 should receive, in United States' Stocks, an average of one hundred 
 dollars per head for their slaves, the alternative would be seized with 
 joy, by a large portion of the Southern people. The cost of this 
 arrangement, to the Government, would be about four hundred mil- 
 lions of dollars, which is less than a war of four years would cost to 
 either party. 
 
 Provision for the abolition of Slavery at the end of ten years, would 
 give no shock, immediate or remote, to the frame-work of society, 
 even in a time of profound peace and prosperity ; and in the actual 
 circumstances of the case with a destructive war raging, which abo- 
 lition would put an end to, it would be the very best thing the South 
 could do, even without compensation. The sum, proposed to be paid 
 to the slave-holders, is probably not more than one-fourtli of the cash 
 value of the slaves before the rebellion commenced ; but it is fidly 
 half their value at the present moment, and is more than they would 
 fetch a year hence, if the war continues. It is also to be an advance 
 payment, for the liberation of the slaves at the end of ten years. 
 With that ready capital, the South would at once enter ui)on a career 
 of prosperity and progress unparalleled in its previous liistory, and 
 the North would be more than compensated for its share in the 
 burden, by the revival of business. 
 
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