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 EEVIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 REV. W. W. EELL'S THANKSGIVING SERMON, 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. ISAAC J. P. COLLYER, 
 
 DELIVERED IN 9:HB 
 
 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
 
 NEWBURYPORT, DEC. 29, 1850. 
 
 «• We, the trembling, proscribed and hunted fugitives from chattel slavery, now scat- 
 tered through the various towns and villages of Massachusetts, and momentarily liable 
 to be seized by the strong arm of government, and hurried back to stripes, tortures and 
 a bondage, " one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which 
 your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose,"— most humbly, importunately, and by the mer- 
 cies of Christ, implore you at this distressing crisis, to " hft up your voices like a trum- 
 pet" against the Fugitive Slave Bill, recently adopted by Congress, and designed for our 
 sure and immediate re-enslavement.— [T/te fugitive slaves' appeal to the clergy of Mat' 
 sachiisetts, adopted at a meeti7ig of fugitive slaves held in Boston, Oct. 5, 1860. 
 
 KEWBURYPORT. 
 
 CHARLES WHIPPLE, 
 
 Jaxuart, 1851. 
 

 NEWBXTRTPORT : 
 
 HUSE & BllAGDON, TRINTERS, 
 
 DAILY UNION PRESS. 
 
V^^ M n Newburyport, Jan. 15, 1851. 
 
 ItEv. Mr. Collyer : 
 
 _ Dear Sir— The undersigned, Laving listened with oreat rleacure to i 
 
 tn. ^ '^'' '""'^L^'P^^^^"^ ? ^r^^^'^^'* - ^m of the san,e for plblicu^- 
 Very respectfully, yours, 
 
 JosnuA Coffin, 
 Leonaud Withington, 
 C. L. Emerson, 
 J. H. Young, 
 Joseph Morss, 
 B. D. ArpLETON, 
 Natiianiei. Foster, 
 "VV. J. Badger, 
 Charles Butler, 
 Daniel P. Pike. 
 Edmund Smith. 
 
 Tn M . T ^ Newburyport, Jan. 18, 1851. 
 
 ^iXrS "" ^"™' ^'^- ^^^- I"=°»^«" WiTHINOTOK. D.D., 
 
 publication, and with ^It^l^^^lSp. '" "''"°"^ '° "^ 
 Yours, most respectfully, 
 
 Isaac J. P. Collyek. ^ 
 
REVIEW 
 
 He that is first in his own cause seemeth just ; 
 but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him. 
 
 [Proverbs, xviii, 17. 
 
 These are days of agitation. Our nation is tossed most 
 fearfully upon the sea of strife ; and all, whether they will 
 or not, must act a part in the struggle. The question 
 before each should be, "How shall I perform my part 
 aright ?" Many, we are aware, will excuse themselves by 
 saying, "I am no leader in these matters." True, my 
 friends, there are in all communities, controlling spirits, 
 and it is not unfrequently the case that the humble and 
 obscure suffer exceedingly, both in their feelings and in- 
 terests also, because they occupy no prominent place in 
 society ; or because those who do control, either refuse to 
 speak in their behalf, or they turn upon them with the in- 
 junction of silence. But all this does not remove or lessen 
 our responsibility to ourselves, our families, our country or 
 our God. My brethren will bear witness that we have 
 said very little, in the desk or out of it, on the agitating 
 questions of the day. We have waited patiently, yet not 
 without solicitude, to hear the voice of some lover of lib- 
 erty — liberty in the larger, nobler and philanthropic 
 sense — to speak out with strength and emphasis on the 
 
all-absorbing subject of the times. But no other than 
 myself can perform my duty — none save yourselves can 
 perform yours. We must act each for himself; — let it be 
 done with a single eye, and let us meet every emergency 
 with candor, calmness and decision. 
 
 I need hardly say that the cause of the present wide- 
 spread excitement is the diversity of opinion on the subject 
 of slavery. After having gained so much at the late ses- 
 sion of Congress, we had hoped that the abettors of slavery 
 would have remained quiet; but to our surprise, there is 
 still apparent a desire to agitate, and an endeavor to 
 trench upon the domain of freedom. And what now is 
 the demand ? Why, first, that we all be silent ; and, sec- 
 ondly, that we aid in the work of oppression on pain of 
 being branded as guilty of "sedition." A painful example 
 of this manner of spirit is exhibited in a published discourse 
 delivered at our late Thanksgiving festival, by one of the 
 Ministers of this town. 
 
 We confess a degree of reluctance in reviewing this 
 discourse ; not because of its strength, for its weakness 
 must be apparent to every reader ; (the wrong side of the 
 question pursued with hard denunciation \& always weak,} 
 but because reputable persons have requested its publica- 
 tion ; nevertheless, the cause of truth and human rights 
 demands it at our hands. We may speak plainly but we 
 hope to manifest a christian spirit. While indulging how- 
 ever a slight review of this sermon, let us be distinctly un- 
 derstood as assenting most cordially to many connnenda- 
 ble thoughts suggested by its author. First, the hand of 
 God is fully recognized in rearing this fair republic ; all 
 this we believe, though we may question whether He 
 ordained all the means in connection with its origin and es- 
 tablishment. For we remember to have been told that 
 
there were strife, noise and bloodshed. This is true; there 
 was, on the part of our fathers, an uncompromising disobe- 
 dience to hivvs estabhshed by the British sovereignty; this, 
 be it remembered, had much to do with the achievement 
 of our glorious independence. 
 
 We respect and approve our author for ascribing very 
 fully our union and consecpient strength, to the agency of 
 the ever-blessed Bible. The Bible is the shield of our 
 liberties, and the sacred truths thereof are the safety and 
 glory of our land. Happy indeed were it for the nation, 
 if ministers and others would forbear to pervert its plainest 
 teachings, — if they would regard its golden rules, and allow 
 their philanthropy, benevolence, and charity, to be guaged 
 by its divine precepts ! 
 
 Another worthy feature of this discourse, and one which 
 w^e heartily approve, is the rebuke therein duly adminis- 
 tered to man, because of his forgetfulness of the common 
 blessings of a Divine Providence. " The daily, hourly 
 mercies of our God," saitli the discourse, " have enough 
 of goodness in them to employ our hearts and our tongues, 
 in praising his adorable goodness and his unspeakable 
 love." We wish that this sentiment had been remembered 
 throughout the disccurse, and that the preacher had not 
 so far forgotten his theme, or his text, as to spend his hard 
 epithets against the philanthropists of "Merry England." 
 Not only does he appear to forget the great lesson of his 
 text — that men should render unceasing praise to God — 
 but he thus points his lance directly at the heart of the 
 heaven-ordained, the great and glorious Missionary enter- 
 prise. Are there not disorders and wickedness in our own 
 country as well as in England? And the doctrine this 
 discourse teaches, is, that we must see to the conversion of 
 all the wicked men amoiii:^ us, and the correction of all 
 
8 
 
 our own disorders, before we venture to send a tract or a 
 Bible to the perishing heathen abroad ! We are to tell 
 not the heathen of their crimes — to point not to "the mote 
 in the eye of our brother," until we have exterminated all 
 the evils existing at home. England's philanthropists, in- 
 timates the author of this sermon, must cure all the evils 
 of home before they may tell us, and the rest of the world, 
 that slave-holding is a crime I 
 
 Again, we readily commend, of course, our author's 
 notice of God's preserving care. He has kept us from the 
 strife of arms — from the ravages of disease — and feasted 
 us with blessings such as no other hand could provide, and 
 no other heart had a disposition to afford. In all these 
 features of the discourse are we agreed. God is our pro- 
 tector. The Bible is our " chart and compass too." Our 
 union has many advantages, and affords many blessings, 
 and with all its faults we love it still ; and had the preacher 
 persevered in this strain throughout his discourse, we 
 should have allowed his production to have passed without 
 notice. But he does not thus persevere; and where is the 
 issue between us ? 
 
 It is in reference to the extent of our liberties — the 
 character of the actors in the drama — the cause of the 
 present commotion — the remedy proposed — and the object 
 attributed to those attacked. Our author proceeds to in- 
 form us that " the union of these States in one govern- 
 ment, and the blessings which are connected with it, is the 
 most precious temporal gift that God has bestowed upon 
 the nations of the earth." It would seem by this state- 
 ment, that all the blessings connected with our union are 
 for the benefit of the nations around us, while yet it is evi- 
 dent, from the general tenor of the discourse, that its author 
 means to represent these blessings as our own possessions. 
 
Here naturally arises the question, wherein is found the 
 great blessings referred to ] Is it not in the security of 
 our liberty I And is not this very obviously the idea in 
 the mind of the preacher, as he speaks of the struggles of 
 Germany, Italy and France, and of tyrants stamping out 
 " the last lingering spark of true freedom in a small Elec- 
 torate f Is not the same thing in his mind when he 
 speaks of ou?' becoming " a prey to one or a hundred ty- 
 rants V We have been a blessing to the nations ; and in 
 what respect 1 More than one ; — but chiefly because we 
 have, by our example, said to them, " Throw off" the yoke 
 of oppression, and break the bonds of tyrants !" The 
 European nations have been mightily aroused, as they have 
 looked towards us — the eulogies of American freedom have 
 been sounded from pole to pole, while among oiu'selves our 
 dearest earthly boon is felt to be — Liberty. 
 
 Such blessings as religious toleration, our popular free 
 school system, our wholesome laws, and our generally well 
 regulated government ; these belong to us. But have they 
 come without any "noise of clanking machinery as in 
 man's devices " — without the noise of battle or the clash 
 of arms 1 No ! Our fathers fought, they bled, they suf- 
 fered and died, to obtain them — nor would they have ever 
 become our possession but for that freedom which under- 
 lies them all. And now, my friends, cut off' our liberty, 
 hamper the press, destroy the freedom of speech, and what 
 is this country to you or to me, more than any other \ — 
 Invade and crush our liberty, and in what respect is our 
 condition preferable to that of the subjects of tyrants, or 
 of the oppressed of other lands \ For what purpose is the 
 imion of these States in one government? To protect 
 from foreign foes, to prevent internal discord, to secure 
 against oppression, to maintain our independence. The 
 
10 
 
 question here arises, are these great privileges invaded ? 
 We verily think so ; and it is in respect to the means by 
 which they are attempted to be infringed, that we differ 
 from our author. 
 
 On page 16th of the discourse under review, he states 
 " that we already possess the largest liberties any honest 
 man can wish ; the largest liberty to every indivldudi ^ 
 compatible with justice, and righteousness, and welfare to 
 all." Is this true ? I hear three millions of enslaved ones 
 answering in groans, sighs and tears, " No ! no ! it is 
 not true !" I hear the same decided response from mil- 
 lions more of free and honest citizens. A disfuified and 
 venerable citizen of Massachusetts may not tarry in South 
 Carolina, for the purpose of testing its iniquitous laws for 
 the imprisonment of our free colored seamen, even though 
 commissioned under the auspices of his own State. A 
 Methodist there, may not recognize his book of discipline, 
 except by denouncing a part of it as a dead letter. 
 
 The lover of universal liberty, as he passes into the 
 sunny South to enjoy its softer chmate, must at once, on 
 the one hand, sell his principles, or retain them in silence ; 
 or he must, on the other hand, encounter the insults of 
 high-handed and lawless violence, as have his brethren 
 before him. 
 
 " The largest liberty to every incUviduair It is evident 
 that our author does not recognise the slave as a citizen ; 
 he speaks only of the free ; but this clause we think must 
 embrace him, if he is a human being ; and if it does em- 
 brace our colored brethren, have they " the largest liberty" 
 they can wish? 
 
 On one of our canal boats of late was a colored family, 
 and the boatmen, in cruel sport, told them that the slave 
 
 [*Tho italics are ours, iu uU our quotations. ] 
 
11 
 
 catcher was ready to seize them. The man fought des- 
 perately, and kept the boatmen at bay until morning, when, 
 rather than be carried back into that hberty, which the 
 sermon tells us is "the largest any honest man can 
 wish" he, with his wife and child, plunged into the 
 canal to end their days. That "the largest liberty any 
 honest man can wish f May our Heavenly Father save 
 us from the tender mercies of such a doctrine. What 
 means this haste of the fugitive? What this constant 
 hazard for a free shore, if this liberty be so large ? But 
 we are told it is not only " the largest liberty any honest 
 man can wish," but " the largest compatible icith justice 
 and righteousness" A man, made in the image of his 
 God, is robbed of his liberty, subjected to the pains of the 
 severest, unremitted toil, kept upon the coarsest fare, 
 exposed to the lash of an unfeeling overseer, subject to be 
 torn and abused by a drunken or high-mettled master, sun- 
 dered from his wife, children, and parents, and all this 
 is, forsooth, "the largest liberty compatible ivith justice and 
 righteousness .'" This, my friends, is the most astounding, 
 unscriptural, false, and anti-American doctrine that we 
 have ever known to be uttered by a preacher of that Gos- 
 pel, which proclaims liberty to the captive. 
 
 We have heretofore indulged the idea that lihertij, — 
 freedom, and not slavery with its attendant crimes and 
 curses, was compatible with justice and righteousness ; and 
 this idea we have gathered from the Holy Bible. 
 
 "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" saith the 
 Lord — " to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the 
 heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye 
 break every yoke?" At'a time of fasting and penitence, 
 when the people are about to enter into covenant with 
 their God, this is His decree ; and ^^t, is this liberty not 
 
12 
 
 compatible with "righteousness V And again saith the 
 Redeemer of men, " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon 
 me, because the Lord hath anointed me ***** to proclaim 
 liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them 
 that are bomid." Such is the appropriate province of all 
 God's ministers, as exemplified before them by their great 
 Master; nor should one of them any more teach that sla- 
 very is " compatible with justice and righteousness." 
 
 But it was thought by the oppressor and his advocates, 
 that the liberties of the people were too large. There 
 was a fear lest the free States of this Union should dare 
 think it their privilege to afford an asylum for the fugitive 
 from cruelty and oppression. ''Justice and Righteousness" 
 demanded that something should be done ? If the Hun- 
 garian refugee should succeed in reaching our shores, we 
 will call out our eloquent men to welcome them to our 
 hospitalities and homes. But let one of Africds sable 
 ones, stolen from his native home, and driven thence to 
 toil in the rice swamps of the South — let one of these 
 dare to seek a shelter in the free States of our Union, then 
 a law is at once instituted that will insure his recapture — 
 and the cloven hoof of tyranny is promptly hfted to stamp 
 to the dust his liberties, and he committed to despotic 
 power. "Consistency, thou art a jewel!" 
 
 One of the objects of the discourse under review, is to 
 make you and me obedient to this law^ — a law designed 
 to crush all hopes of liberty that may have been enkindled 
 in the breast of the enslaved. And some may be ready 
 to ask, " Is not this well I Should we not be obedient to 
 the laws of our land ?" Yes ! when those laws are in 
 keeping with the divine law, and when they do not bind 
 the conscience that is enlightened by the Bible. Does 
 tlie law in question contravene the divine law, and bind 
 
13 
 
 the conscience 1 Yea, and more. It is anti-christiaii. 
 Religion teaches to do unto otliers as ye would that others 
 should do unto you. Who of us would like to be ensla- 
 ved I But here is a law that enjoins it upon us — to aid in 
 enslaving others. Shall I obey such a law ? Sooner let 
 a prison be my abode, and chains bind these hands to the 
 cold dungeon's walls! 
 
 This fugitive slave law forbids that I should shelter one 
 of these refugees, or that I should give him a cup of cold 
 w^ater, to assist him in his flight for that freedom which we 
 hold as such a precious "gift" of God. Shall I obey? 
 A certain member of Christ's church is passing my door, 
 hastening for freedom. He accosts me, and the following 
 scene ensues: — "I beg," he says, "for a little refreshment." 
 Are you running for liberty ? I enquire. He responds in 
 the affirmative. Then you must not come to my house, 
 for the law forbids me to harbor you. " Will you then, 
 saitli he, "give me a bit of bread to soothe my hunger?" 
 By no means, I reply : " the law forbids me to aid your 
 escape." 
 
 Now wdiat, after all this, shall I meet in the terrible day 
 of Judgment ? W^hat will be addressed to me, save these 
 awful words, saying, •' I was a stranger and ye took me 
 not in, I was hungry and ye fed me not. Inasmuch as ye 
 did it not unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye 
 did it not unto me." 
 
 Shall I then obey a law so directly and positively op- 
 posed to true philanthropy, to humanity, and to the higher 
 law of God ? Obey a law, so cruel in its design — so op- 
 pressive in its nature — so severe in its penalties, as well as 
 so contrary to Christianity ? How can we do it ? 
 
 If I am asked, then, what my course will be, my answer 
 is ready. I would not slander our magistrates, nor abuse 
 
14 
 
 our representatives, but I would use every philanthropic 
 and becoming means for the repeal of the obnoxious stat- 
 ute, and suffer the penalties of disobedience until such 
 repeal shall be effected. " But you would not teach insub- 
 ordination to the lawst" No! not when those laws are 
 enacted for the suppression of crime, or the reward of vir- 
 tue — for protection from oppression, or the security of lib- 
 erty. But this law is opposed to all this ; it is crushing 
 and destructive to human rights. " Whence learned you 
 that you may thus disobey the laws of the land?" I 
 learned it from the history of our revolutionary fathers — 
 I learned it from the history of christian martyrs — I 
 learned it from my mother's Protestant Bible — I learned 
 it from the noble example of heroic men of old. Once 
 certain men, " who feared not God nor regarded the wel- 
 fare of man, to serve their own base ends " caused to be 
 enacted a law that no man should call upon the name of 
 any God save the king. "But Daniel went into his house ; 
 and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jeru- 
 salem, he prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he 
 did aforetime." Said the three Hebrews, " Be it known 
 unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor 
 worship the golden image which thou hast set up." Said 
 Peter and John, " Whether it be right in the sight of 
 God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye !" 
 NoiD it is enjoined that we must fall down to this image. 
 We are taught by the sermon under review, that we are 
 bound by the most solemn contracts to carry out these 
 enactments ; and if we refuse to do so we are guilty of 
 forswearing ourselves. But who, we ask, has thus bound 
 us? Why, the "instrument," saith the discourse, that 
 holds the states together. This we deny, and suggest that 
 the whole design and objcci of that instrument is to pro- 
 
15 
 
 mote liberty and the happiness of all the people. Nor 
 have we any right, whether by delegation or otherwise, to 
 establish laws for our nation that so directly conflict with 
 the law of God, as well as with the design of the consti- 
 tution itself And it is an assumption of power not given 
 them who made it, and therefore not binding on ourselves. 
 And when such laws come to be enacted, and the people 
 are compelled to obey them, talk not to me of the " bles- 
 sings of the union." The remembrance of the blessings 
 the union has afforded only tends to make these afflictions 
 the less endurable. 
 
 Herein you see the drift of the discourse before us ; first 
 to eulogize our liberties — the liberty of the white man — 
 to extol the blessings of our common country, and, at the 
 same time, to stay the hand of mercy that would relieve — 
 and to bind the galling chains of the enslaved so as never 
 to be broken. Is this the spirit of the Gospel \ Did not 
 Christ die for the slave ? Did He not give His life a ran- 
 som for them \ And if so, how incompatible is this doc- 
 trine with the principles of Christianity! 
 
 The second prominent apparent design of the discourse 
 under review is to disparage that large class of the com- 
 munity who have dared to say that the enslaved should be 
 free. The position of the preacher on this point appears 
 very singular. With the diminutive view he entertains of 
 them, we should hardly have supposed he would have 
 spent so much strength upon such a feeble folk. Our au- 
 thor's battery is, however, directed against them in the 
 following language : " The great question now before this 
 land is, union or disunion. The ravings of moon-struck 
 fanatics, and the movements of the well meaning, hut 
 thoughtless multitude, have at last brought about this vital 
 issue." We would that the gentleman had not forgotten 
 
16 
 
 his text here, and have allowed his tongue to cease from 
 " praising God for his wonderful works to the children of 
 men," to spend his hard words against those " who are 
 made to differ" from him. But let us look a moment at 
 this point. Who are these moon-struck fanatics 1 We 
 rememher that the late J. Quincy Adams argued the right 
 of petition, and was very efficient, thereby, in bringing 
 about this state of things. Was he a raving fanatic? — 
 We remember also to have heard the voice of that warm- 
 hearted philanthropist, William Ellery Channing, in that 
 old cradle of liberty — Fanned Hall, defending and en- 
 courao-ingr the friends of freedom. Did Channing live in 
 moonhght? Was he one of the "moon-struck fanatics'?" 
 The late excellent Chief Magistrate of Massachusetts 
 has promptly given his high sanction to all the anti-slave- 
 ry documents, of our anti-slavery legislature, for many 
 years. He has attempted to test the constitutionality of 
 that law of South Carolina, which condemns to imprison- 
 ment our free colored citizens when found there. He has 
 in his proclamations, denounced slavery as a heinous evil ; 
 and by such means, has he not greatly assisted to bring 
 about our author's "vital issue, union or disunion V And 
 by this, is it not seen, that the sermon under review places 
 our Governor among the fanatics, or the thoughtless mul- 
 titude. And are such men as Palfrey, Mann, Hale, Sum- 
 ner, Philips, (of Salem,) and a host of others Uke them, to 
 be gravely recorded as lunatics 1 And are these to be 
 silenced by the intimation that they have never lived but 
 in moonlight ; and that too, by a minister of Him who 
 was meek and lowly I Number up the hosts of good and 
 strong men, of all secular professions ; and the thousands 
 of God's ministers, from all denominations of the land, 
 who have identified themselves with the great and elevat- 
 
17 
 
 ed cnusc of freedom ; and all these, according to the dis- 
 course before us, are of "moon-struck fanatics or the 
 thoughtless mukitude." We have read, "Thou shalt not 
 speak evil of the ruler of my people," but here, Governors 
 and Statesmen are all classed together, as "noisy, brawling 
 demagogues, who fear not God, nor regard the w^elfare of 
 man, prostituting the sacred name of philanthropy to serve 
 their own base ends" — as "disregardmg the most solemn 
 compacts that themselves may stand in appalling notoriety 
 upon the ruin of all things ;" and all this is followed with 
 the startling sentence, "It becomes every one that fears 
 God to fill his heart with gratitudc****for his distinguish- 
 ing mercy, that he may be ready, if need be, to resist these 
 advocates of evil to the very deaths Charity, where hast 
 thou flown ? How could this professed minister of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ essay thus publicly to impugn the mo- 
 tives, and to blast the reputation of such a host of his 
 brethren 1 
 
 Nor let it be said that we mistake the allusions of the 
 preacher, or the drift of his worse than "fustian" remarks. 
 The sermon intimates to us with sufficient plainness, that 
 its attacks are meant for many who have had an influence 
 in our legislatures — many who have preached sermons 
 and published newspapers, and sent up prayers in behalf 
 of the slave and his pretended owner. 
 
 We may however be told that we mistake the design 
 of the sermon — that it was not intended to abuse the 
 true philanthropist, or impugn the motives of the good — 
 but to allay the present agitation. To all this we 
 are ready to reply, if we have thus mistaken the drift 
 of the discourse — then has its author very sadly mis- 
 taken the means suitable to his end. This sermon allay 
 the present agitation ! the lash of the taskmaster as soon 
 
18 
 
 assuage the grief of an enslaved mother, when her infant 
 has been torn from her embrace, by the trafficker in human 
 flesh. 
 
 The author of tlie discourse under review ascribes the 
 entire cause of his vital issue to the anti-slavery North ; 
 that the abuse of the North upon the South is dri- 
 ving our brethren from us. And why did not our 
 brother think, that by the irritating sentences of his 
 sermon, he may drive his brethren away from him, and 
 thereby cause "the hateful cry of disunion" to be heard in 
 his own neighborhood ? No, my friends, the slavery de- 
 fenders, the slavery apologists, have irritated and hardly 
 treated the true philanthropists. Matters were becoming 
 quiet in this neighborhood — those who chose to do so had 
 approved by letter and otherwise, our compromisers — the 
 public mind was settling down peacefully, and our thanks- 
 giving festival was approaching ; the time had arrived for 
 the people to assemble with the Elders, and exclaim, " O 
 that men would praise the Lord, for his goodness, and for 
 his wonderful works to the children of men !" But instead 
 of this, the people arc aroused from their quiet and peace, 
 and the day of praise and rejoicing is made use of to de- 
 claim weak and bitter denunciation. The grasping spirit 
 of slavery, and the constant clamor of the South against 
 the North, because of its anti-slavery attitude ; and this 
 constant disturbing of the public mind by pro-slavery men 
 at the North ; — these and such like means have tended to 
 awaken and keep alive those pernicious disturbances, 
 which being charged upon anti-slavery men, are asserted 
 to have brought about a "vital issue" in the country. All 
 this may well remind one of a certain Emperor of Rome, 
 who set fire to the city, and charged it upon the christian 
 residents therein. 
 
19 
 
 With reference to the consistency of this production, 
 Httle need be said. The author arouses the community 
 with the cry of " dangerr and then anon he adds, "when 
 I see the hand of God in our mercies hitherto, / confess I 
 have 710 fears for this union at present" and thus is raised 
 a false alarm. Again he tells us that God allowed the red 
 man to keep this land from being overrun by beasts of 
 prey, until He found them that pleased Him, and to them 
 He gave it. And, also, after acknowledging the union as 
 the gift of God, and its subsequent preservation to the 
 mercy of God, he turns and affirms that it is to be contin- 
 ued in our possession, only by "the determination of all 
 good men that it shall be preserved." Divine aid is ap- 
 parently no longer required. 
 
 The sermon at length calls our attention to the remedy 
 for the existing evil, viz : "the gospel of grace in the Son 
 of God." This is good, and this we believe, when the gos- 
 pel is preached in its purity, and not perverted. But when 
 a class of men in the North, and the professed ministers of 
 Christ at the South, proclaim that slavery is a divinely or- 
 dained institution, and sustained by the sacred scriptures, 
 when, we ask, will such a preached Gospel cure this evil X 
 
 And now, my friends, in taking leave of this subject, we 
 have to say, no unkind feelings are entertained toward the 
 author of the sermon. I only hope that we may hereafter 
 spend our strength in the removal of all evils, slavery 
 among the rest, for this is at the root of all the present 
 troubles. "But you mistake again. The object is to cure 
 the evil of ^o^/V^z^iW, not the evil of slavery." What! heal 
 the evil of agitation while slavery exists ? Why, it is like 
 the frogs of Egypt — in all our midst. There can be no 
 resolution passed — not a foot of soil bought or sold — not 
 AW office of the most inferior class filled or vacated, but 
 
20 
 
 slavery obtrudes its demand, that the pecuHar institution 
 should be guarded well. Allay the agitation, with such a 
 monster in the midst of us ! As soon may you allay the 
 agitation in a menagerie, filled with spectators, and all the 
 beasts of prey let loose among them. 
 
 And now, my friends, what is our duty ? It is to en- 
 courage the continuance of our union, and at the same 
 time do all in our power for the removal of the accursed 
 sin of slavery ; to say to the law-makers and rulers of our 
 land, we cannot obey any law that is opposed to God's 
 law and that binds our consciences ; and if you demand 
 it, we will go to prison and to "death ;" we will suffer the 
 penalties of our disobedience, but we must obey God 
 rather than man. And in the future let us elect such men 
 to office as will properly regard "The Higher Law !" 
 
 EBRATA.-0n pago 11th, 6th line, read " Thh " for " Thatr 
 
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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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