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1RIt I-, T I ()R I   N ()O',
TilE author of this Discourse asks for candor on the part of hit
readers.  Ilc would not be understood as denying what he is obli(,e(l t(~
omit mention of,-namely, the inestimable benefit and blessilg that
Christianity has been to the world;  the practical good which  tle(
Churchl in all ages has done; and the virtues and private graces that
i)loomi in beauty in the members of every sect, under every form of
I)elief.  IHe is not giving, in a single sermon, a history of the Christiain
Religion; but is only moved by the troubled and grievous state of the
times, to reflect upon the sad and perverse mistakes of Christians,
their fatal aberration from the aim of their Master, and the frightful
misery and transgression resulting therefrom. Whatever else may be
true, and gratefully acknowledged as being so, it is true likewise, that
Christians regard their religion, first as a system of doctrines  and
it crward as a power of charity; and that, in consequence, the Christian
Church of this country tolerates, if it does not defend and support, the
Institution of Slavery, and discourages efforts to remove it. The inference is that Christianity itself is yet to be made Christian;-for Love
only can remove IHate, the Spirit of Ihumanity alone can " heal the
)roken hearted, proclaim deliverance  to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to thlem that are bound, and set at liberty them  that are
I lruised."
29771-5 
, I 
I) l     C  ( ) U!{  S   I. 
J-)11N, xiii. 34-a5 -  A.xEW- (CO31-1MANDIENT   I {V1!E UNTO)'l:  TII1AT YL
I.ONve ONE AOTR.ANOTtUER   A   I IIAV  L)OVED YOU,  TIIAT YE ALSO  LOVE  (ONE
ANOtTIER  1BY TillS SIIALL  ALL MEN  KNOW  TIIAT YrE  ARE 3I~Y I)SCI1LES,
IF Y-E ILI\A-E LOVE ONE TOWARD  ANOTIREi.
A   -NEI  commandmenlt this indee d   If it had ever been
given befoire by serenle philosophers to their calml disciples, met
in the stillness of academic groves,  when before was it ever
spoken to troubled and persecuted men: by one who  was hated
and hunted for his life??When before was it ever addressed,
znlid( pressing dangers. to a small band  who  were to array
themselves against the power  and wealth and infidelity of the
world   T WThen Jesus bids his disciples to love one another, he
is,iving them no direction of a merely politic nature, and valid
tfor their peculiar occasion alone; —he does not say, as a
military leader might to his forlorn h1ope,    be united,  hold
togethler, stand ftst a compact body, for union only can secure
victory."   The command is a. permanent rule for all Christians
throug,h all time, and not only a word for an emergency.  It
inculcates  a principle of  conduct, to  hold good under  all
cireumstances. a'nd no order of the day to be superseded  by
a.i(otlier wheii,lc asii-ti calls for I change of tactics,   All christittiaits' w)/vlImtcy\t;,g,..,lll,,c,,r ('(.Otiti;0iI1. it liftb S eoitillct or ini 
them.   and 1y this taken of k )i)editi:a(:rc t~ ), l;1i()\  as I;;Towvers.  Their relation to each other as "brethren iand disciples
is to furnish  them with motives and power sufficient to breakl
the force of enmity, rivalry, malice and oppression, to oblitcrate the fanciful but prevailing TdistinCtions of class, costume and
property,  to abolish  the  old hostility betvween  strong  and
weak, wise and ignorant, rich adcl poor, low born and gcntle
to make  mnci  sympathizers and co-workers together, full of
benevolence and benleficence reciprocally in all the affairs of
life.  The commandmllent to love one another is a commancldment
to d(lo all this; to consider, aid, forgive and bless one a,nothCer, —
even  as Christ aided,  for,gave, and blessed us.  Well  might
such  a command(ment be called,cv.  HIow it would  have
amazed the listeners in any school at Athenls or Rome! Hiow
it would have astoniishedl those who sat at the feet of GCmaliel!
AVWhat derision it would have called forthl from the long bIcarded
members of the Sanhedlrim!  Whlat! love a( publicani  a fisherman, a Galilean, a Samaritan!  Wha,t wonder cnding in andmiration did this commandment,  illustratced by Christian  lives,
awaken amolng the selfish, luxurious people of Asia and Europe!
A new commandment it proved itself to be, by  the spell it
cxerted upon human discord.  And were Christ to utter these
words to-day in any conclave or assemlblv  ilhatsocvcr, in  any
collegiate or legislative hialls, in any court of justice,C in lly
g,athering for political, sectarian or even hiumaie Iand( religious
p)urposes,-would they not break upon thc ears of men  wvho
cared to take in their irm port, withl all the startlinr fo)rce of
io velty't
Wc ttli aout rc1igi,a k   iiystelcs  -W iat ImysteVy of riigIon
tu'1'thi: S.k1 hou1i,:::?iar:.;l~,   -l[~k a'..~..:!.l:;?C1.?,(..  i}'..l'[ ~ 
metaphyslcs pnzzle the human mind haF so mlich    So imrp:lpi:!l:.l  is it felt to l)e, that men al)andlon all attempt to reacl)
:Ifter it, call the effort visionary, and the result delusive, anl
fill back upon the ancient andl approved maxims of self-seeking.
tind even the christian church itself, as if in despair of any
general obedience of its Lord's command,  limits it to the
few,  the: church  members,"  so called, the " elect,"  anI
regenerate disciples.  Every other mystery is thrown open to
mankind, this one mystery of fraternal love is reserved for the
select bodly of the'converted" who have been newly born from
heaven.  Christians themselves in their very capacity as christians, instead of making this love of Christ the test, and sole
test of discipleship, have thrown that into the background, and
bought forward another, which could be more easily accepted.
It is the simple truth that christians of all sects have, and still
do, substantially reverse the principles of Jesus. Christianity
.in every existing shape, is, as professed, distinctly a system of
opinions.  Jesus said "Why call ye me  Lord,  Lord, and do
not the things which I say I"  Ilis disciples of every  name
read the declaration baekwards,-' Why do ye the things that
I say, and call me not Lord,  Lord?"'   " Speak not," Christ
says, " of prophesying in my name, and casting out devils, anI
performing all manner of wonders;-but love your neighbor as
yourselves."' Believe,  believe,"  clamor  the churches;  believe the trinity; believe the atonement; believe the divinity of Christ; call him Lord, Lord; believe in the bible-and
the miracles; believe, prophecy in the name of Jesus; pray in
his name -and  you  need  not trouble yourselves  with the
casting out of the demons that possess you; believe that Christ
is the o,ly Soit of G(,(l -  off,.ll salll men know that you are
hiis,lisciles' 
Christianity, as now existing on earthl is I repent, a systen
of metaphysics. AMen consider that their belief, — tleir opiniolns.
well or ill founded,- their  notions, crude,  blind, prejudiced
though they may be, will ensure for them the blessing of
Christ, however atrocious be the deeds they do, however
unloving the dispositions they entertain. The christian chlurchl
is builded on human philosophy, and its extension is but the
extension of one or another form of philosophy.   Every sect
has its unalterable and saving creed; the spread of christianity
is but the multiplication of sects, and therefore the multiplication of creeds. Each new branch of the vine, has been a
new heresy. The spirit of contention, and not the spirit of
charity, has distributed christian communities far and wide,
and planted churches in every part of the earth.  Each denore
ination represents a quarrel; and how many congregations!oWe
their existence to a feud?  ilow  many  spires are pushed up
into the skies out of spite?  So it has ever been.  Had all the
time that has been spent in discussing christian dogmas been
devoted to doing christian deeds, the earth would present a
very different aspect from that which it presents now.   We
might have fewer sects, but we should have fewer miseries and
sins. We might not have so many churches, but we should
have, in greater abundance, the spirit of Christ. But christians
care more for dogmas than they do for charity; and are ready
to quarrel and persecute, and hate one another, and to utterly
eradicate the spirit of their master in their zeal -to make valid
a distinction, or to establish a quibble.
Christendom, alas, that we must confess it! is a group of
hostile sectarian schools, debating their problems of philosophy
in a temper of bitterness,  which  make  of one body  many
members, instead of making, of manv members (one body.   This 
(,)
is no exaggeratced or heated statement.   All know that in every
existing denomination, not excepting the most liberal, a, creed
is the test of discipleship; all know tlhat the wars of the creeds
have created and multiplied sects, sectarian establishments,
churches, congregations and preachers;-all know  that christian operations are all but universally sectarian, in their basis
and purpose, and that the burden of christian instruction is
controversial and dogmatical; all know that the relation of the
sects of christendom to each other, is and ever has been one of
jealousy and hostility, to such a degree that the hatred of
theologians has passed into a proverb; that individual christians,
always join battle first upon points of faith, and if they
cannot agree here, will break an already existing friendship,
and violate the dearest ties of kindred; —-all know that for
every ten who will listen to a discourse of charity, a hundred
will throng to hear a preacher of polemics,  and that for each
dollar given to the cause of brotherly kindness, ten are contributed to diffuse the doctrine of the sect. Must we not then
confess that credence is put before love, that belief is made
the test of discipleship, and that christians by the very best
evidence of conduct, declare that they may safely be guilty of
"malice, hatred and uncharitableness," provided they are sound
in philosophy?
It is on dogmatical grounds generally that men unite
themselves with christian churches and societies. It does seem
as if at this epoch of the church, christians might agree to differ
upon matters of mere speculation, and might believe enough of
the substance of faith to make subordinate its diversities of
form. Cannot men who love one another as Christ loved them,
worship with a single heart the living God, without regard to
the subtle definitions of Ihim that haunt the secret hiding
C')
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10
places of the brain?  Cannot persons whlo love one anothler as
Christ loved them, love and serve  their  corinmon  master
according to his own direction and bidding, u-ndisturbed by the
arbitrary theories which they may severally entertain respecting his interior nature? Unhappily it seems to be impossible.
We must all believe alike, though in the effort to produce the
required intellectual conformity, the most violent injustice be
done to christian feeling and to christian principle.   Oh! how
new even to-day, is the commandment to love one another!
Persons are not even admitted to the communion, save in very
few churches, however pure and self-sacrificinlg of heart, if
they have a reasonable doubt upon any point of the creed; and
how rarely does it happen that any are forbidden the communion by reason of a base and ignoble life? It seems often as if
but for the stimulus of quarrel and controversy the institution
of religion would decline. A friend said to me, not long since,
"what would become of the churches if it were not for these
dogmas you complain of?  It is only as sectarians that people
go to meeting. They go, not out of love to God, but out of
disagreement with man. They go in the spirit of unbelief, and
not in the spirit of belief; they go to hear their opinions
echoed, and the opinions of others confuted; and if all people
believed alike, or ranked belief among secondary things, the
mission chapels would be empty, the meeting houses closed,
and the sanctuaries deserted." It was a hard saying and far
too sweeping, but it sunk like lead upon my heart, as I thought
how near it camie to the truth.
" By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye
have love one toward another." We can scarcely credit the
fact that these words were spoken by the founder of a religion
which has accepted a principle directly opposed to their spirit
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and even to their letter;  a religion whlich, it is scarcely too
much to say, has built itself up, and extended itself, by making
of secondary importance what the Master placed first, and
ranking among the incidental effects of faith, what he declared
to be its efficient and permanent cause. HIow strange a commentary does christian history furnish upon the idea of Christ!
Hlow plainly does it prove that christians may be guilty of any
atrocity, if they only hold fast the faith, and that the purest
life can sa-ve none who have incurred the slightest taint of
heresy.
In 1179, Pope Alexander III. convened the Tlhiid Council
of Laterain, for the purpose of establishing new canons of
discipline and morality for the church of Christ;-no  doubt a
most needful work. At these councils the most learned and
influential of the christian fathers assembled, and the Holy
Spirit was expected to preside. Surely no more solemn call
could be issued than this, in an age of wars and wiles, to
make new rules of discipline and morality for the christian
church.  And what was done?  Why  the main business was
the condemnation of sundry sects of christians, including the
Albigenses, and the last canon stated, that although the church
abhors the shedding of blood, it does not refuse the countenance
and support of the temporal laws of christian princes, because
the fear of corporal punishment is sometimes efficacious in
producing spiritual reformation. And who were the Albigenses'!
They were a class of christians in the South of France,
unobtrusive and simple people, of extreme purity of faith and
life, approaching more nearly than any other religious body to
christians of the earliest centuries; but as they did not recognize the authority of the pope, it was decided in general
council to be an act of christian tmorality, not to bring a 
number of them to Rome to purify the ecclesiastics, but to
pronounce them accursed and to waken persecution against
thean.  Shortly after the breaking up of this Council, and as
one of its results, followed the crusade against the Albigenses.
The cross, on which the Saviour suffered, laying down his life
for mankind,  was blazoned as an emblem in blood red letters
upon coats of mail, and gave shape to the sword hilts of
warriors, and he was best known as a disciple, who dyed both
redder in his brother's gore.  No more merciless persecution is
recorded in history than this.   Every sort of ferocity  was
practised; the war raged for twenty years; the Albigenses were
extirpated in France; the country was devastated; the very
language and poetry of the Troubadours became extinct, and
whatever of justice and humanity there was, was trodden out
also under the iron heels of the soldiery. Yet these men were
Christians; these bigoted prelates and pitiless nobles were
Christians; these exterminating decrees were uttered  in  the
very name of Christ; these exterminating lances were levelled
in his honor; no one doubted that. Where was the new commandment then? The inspired church had never discovered
among its articles of faith this one which should have led them
all. The doctrine of papal supremacy was more vital than the
precept, "Love one another as I have loved you."   Jesus
cured people as a means of spiritual reformation,-his disciples
put them to the sword.
But this was in the Catholic church. The Protestants have
done no better. The new commandment was as unintelligible
to the Protestants as to the Catholics. Take another instance.
" The Westminster Assembly of learned and godly Divines,"
convened in 1643, and continued in session more than five years.
Its llmemnbers   crc amolng the wisest, gravest and best of mcn,
12 
seriously intent upon promoting the interests of the church,
and their meetings, eleven hundred and sixty-three in number,
were characterized by the utmost order and decorum. They
produced a Directory of Worship, a Confession of Calvinistic
Faith, a Form of Church Government, and two Catehisms, ininculcating earnestly the duties of public worship, reading of
Scriptures, private and domestic prayer, and setting forth a
complete system of practical duty, drawn chiefly from the Old
Testament. But in the very midst of their sessions, the Presbyterian party, being in the ascendancy, brought forward and
passed an ordinance against blasphemy and heresy, which
enacted that for certain specified offences under this head, if the
party on trial should not abjure his error, or having abjured,
should relapse, he should suffer death, as in case of " felony,
without benefit of clergy." Fortunately, the sword of the
civil magistrate was not in the hands of ecclesiastics, to execute
this ordinance; but the heart to execute it was here. Where
was the  "new commandment" then?  And how new would
the commandment, " Love one another, as I have loved you,"
have appeared in those days. Men's eyes were not open to
read it. They thought themselves as good Christians, and
better, for their intolerance and hate, because it showed how
completely they had surrendered themselves up, heart and soul,
to the demands of their creed.@
* In 1644, a tract was printed, entitled, " WYholesome Severity regonciloed with Christian Liberty, or the True Resolution of the present
Controversy concerning Liberty of Conscience." Among other things
the author says,-" Under these fair colors and handsome pretexts,
(namely, of Equity and Brotherly Love,) do Sectaries infuse their
poison, I mean their pernicious, God-provoking, Truth-defacing, ChurchruinaLting,,, and State-shlaking Toleration.  The plain Engl(ish of the
ustio  is this,-Wheter the Christia  magistrate bc  keeper of  th
,juestion              iscis-lelo  h   hita   aitaeb   keeper of both
13 
14
But this was long ago.  True;  but things are substantially
not much better now.   The most liberal body of believers in
our own community has excluded from the company of disciples, one whose faithful, humane and spotless life, would honor
any Christian fraternity, because he differs from them in opinion on some points of historical criticism and speculative theology. The Christian Church universal of this country,-I
state but a common place truth,-is blind and indifferent to the
most hideous institution now existing under the sun; an institution which, on an enormous scale, outrages human rights and
crushes human nature-which indeed has been truly said, and
long ago, and by one himself entangled with it, to comprise in
itself literally or by implication, every species of iniquity and
wrong. It is notorious that the Churches in the Southern
States, one and all, apologize for slavery and defend it from
the Bible; and that the Northern Churches, with here and
there an insignificant exception, are silent upon it, tacitly give
their influence in its favor, openly rebuke every attempt to
expose its enormity,-and too often plead for it as once at least
sanctioned by divine and by apostolical authority. The persons
who engage in the effort to abolish the institution of slavery
are,  for the most  part,  unconnected  with  the Church;
tables; whether he ought to suppress his own enemies, but not God's
enemies; and preserve his own ordinances, but not Christ's ordinances,
from violation," etc. And another writer delivers himself thus:-" A
Toleration is the grand design of the Devil, his master piece, and chief
engine he works by at this time, to uphold his tottering kingdom; it
is the most compendious, ready and sure way to destroy all religion,
lay all waste, and bring in all evil; it is a most transcendant, Catholic,
and fundamental evil for the kingdom of any that can be imagined:
as original sin is the most  fundamental sin-all sin-having  the
seed and spawn of all in it; so a Toleration hath all errors in it,
and all evils."' 
an(l  there  is  too  much  truth  in  the saying,  that  the
churchl  has been  the  great obstacle  in  the  way of this
movement of humanity.   But the churches of this country
deem themselves no less christian on this account.  Nay, they
regard themselves as all the more, and all the more peculiarly
christian, in their indifference to philanthropic enterprise.Christianity, we are told, is a scheme of redemption for the miraculous regeneration of human souls; the Christain is one who
holds the orthodox faith, believing in the supernatural being
and power, and in the vicarious merits of Christ; and it is the
duty of the church to explain and defend its doctrines, to bring
people to its sacraments, and make them assent to its creeds.
The great company of disciples, which is the body of Christ,
have nothing to do with the abolition of those evils which
express human rage and hatred, and ordain malice, pride and
selfishness as permanent institutions of society. But where
then is the new commandment? and what becomes of the
Savior's test of discipleship?
Last week was anniversary week, the'" Holy Week of the
churches." Boston was full of christian divines, assembled in
their several conventions, to discuss the interests of their
religion. Every sect was represented; the meeting houses
were thronged from morning till night. Prayer was ceaseless,
preaching was incessant. The Bible Societies, Sunday School
Societies, Missionary Societies, held high counsel. There were
theological discourses of every shade, all bristling with The
most approved dialectics. Metaphysics held their orgies.While thus the people were streaming to and fro, hymn book
and prayer book in hand,  while the doctors were disputing
about Trinity and ttnity, Christ and the Holy Spirit, Original
Sin and Atonement, duties to the Hiindoos and the Cherokees
15 
the best mode of instructing children in the doctrines of the
Gospel, and gathering them into the fold of Christ; —in the
very centre of the city, in the very halls of christian Justice,
Christ himself, in the person of one of the least of his disciples,
was arraigned before Pontius Pilate. There sate the procurator on his tribunal; there were the mercenary soldiery, filling
the avenues, and desecrating the halls of the Temple of Justice,
and polluting the very air of the sacred chamber with their foul
presence; there were the hired ruffians, from the sinks and kennels of the town, stalking insolently up and down before the seat
at which they should have been arraigned as malefactors; there
stood the prisoner bound and guarded; and what was his crime?
Why: he had declared himself a ki/ig; the king of his own
person; he had asserted his absolute dominion over his own
limbs,-his own regal autocracy of will,-his natural right to
come and go as he would.   "Art thou such a king?" he is
asked. " I am a king." Then come the false witnesses with
their testimony. Some kindly persons will compromise, buying him off with money. A message arrives from the Southern
head quarters, saying, "if thou let this man go, thou art not
Cesar's friend."   The multitude clamor without, this time
however, that the prisoner be released, and that Barabbas be
given up. All this goes forward in broad day, for successive
days, in a city crowded with people who had come up to the
great passover festival. The prisoner is condemned; and ere
that mighty concourse of pious christians has dispersed, his
insulted form, manacled and guarded by nearly two thousand
armed men, is led along our modern via dolorosa, toward the
place of infamy and pain beyond the city. What a cormmentary
this upon the christianity of christendom; the christianity of
the puritan city, the "Paradise of divines! "  So once more
-f
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has Christ been delivered over to his tormentors to be scourged
and crucified.  Once more has the purple robe been flung upon
him, and the sceptre of reeds been placed in his hand. Once
more in the holy city, at holy time, amid circumstances brutal
and insulting as at first, has the form of a man, made in the
image of Christ, been sold to an ignominious doom. Where was
the church?  Where was the body of disciples?  Where  was
the new commandment?   The church was settling  its own
matters; and the disciples were engaged in saying " Lord,
Lord," in churches and vestry meetings; and the new commandment was too new to have come to their knowledge.  Did
they not call one another brothers and sisters at the communion
table, and was not that enough?
But, brethren, what are we to do with this new commandment? There it stands, unrepealed, in all its significance.
" As I have loved you, love ye also one another;  by this shall
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one
toward another."   " As I have loved you."  Yes, as I have
loved the poor and outcast, and persecuted and defenceless, and
laid down my life for them; so love ye one another. I know
this is a hard commandment, and hard to be obeyed. But are
we at liberty then to disobey it, or to set it aside? I know
that Christian love is no mere emotion, or impulse - no
passionate or tender feeling of commiseration for the unfortunate. I know that it is a high and solemn principle, thoughtful
and comprehensive,-that it embraces all, the sinner as w1I as
the sinned against, the persecutor as well as his victim, the
master and the slave alike; that it is never violent or vindictive,
never makes kindness towards one justify cruelty toward
another. I know all this very well; but because love is not all
pity, shall we say it is not pity? because it bids us bless the
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persecutor  as well as the  victim, shall we say it does  not
bid  us  bless  the victim?   Because  we  cannot keep  the
whole law at once, shall we excuse ourselves from keeping
any of it?  The  whole duty under the new  commandment
is not offered to us at one and the same  moment, and we
must meet it as it comes, fulfilling it in its most obvious sense
first; by obedience to the easiest, learning to obey the hardest.
But how, even then, can we fuilfill it at all'! it is asked. What
could we have done in a case like this of last week? What could
Jesus himself have done had he been there?  I cannot tell.  It
is enough, that where there is a will, there is at way.  Questions
of conduct are always perplexing, even in trifling matters.  No
one can judge for another.  Modes of action must differ with
individual minds and characters.  But the motive which shall
prompt to action of some kind may be the same in all. Modes
of action are suggested by the intellect and judgment; and
must vary widely as these. Motives of action spring from the
heart and conscience, which are common to all mankind. One
thing we all can do  we can feel as Christians should; if we
feel 2tot, we can do nothing; and it is because we feel not, that
we do nothing.  And after  all, feeling is doing.  Feeling
w['ill express itself in characteristic ways.  What is in us  mtust
come out of us. If nothing comes out of us, there is nothing
in us. If the effect we produce be evil, it is vain to pretend
that the cause that produces it is good; that pity expresses
itself in indifference, mercy in callousness, and humanity in
inhuman allegiance to inhuman statutes. Judge the tree by its
fruits. If but one in a thousand of those nominal and professing
Christians in Boston had been a real Christian, that strange,
that hideous outrage never could have been perpetrated; the
law  never could have  been  executed;  the  infamous statute
I 
19
never would have overridden the new commandment.  Withort  a
blow struck, without a hand lifted, the power of the government
would have fallen down and expired, unable to breathe in that
atmosphere of humane feeling. No commissioner would have
issued a warrant of arrest; no officer would have served it,
policemen would have resigned their trusts; the military would
have disbanded, rather than array themselves in such a cause;
no wharf, no ship, no carriage or conveyance of any kind would
have been furnished for the unholy work. The slave hunter
would have been an outlaw, denied shelter, food, service, —
proscribed, avoided in the streets, pointed at as an enemy of his
kind.  The foot of the intruder would have found no resting
place, the blight of an unuttered and unutterable indignation
would have fallen upon  his heart, the slow, unmoving finger
of scorn would have pointed him  his way back to the place
whence he came. ITad Boston been full of real Christians the
last week, a virtue would have gone oult from it. wvhibch the
slave owner could neither have resisted nor met; he never
would have dared to seek his  victim in a Christian city,
full of Christian divines on the Holy Week of the year.
One thing, brethren, I am here earnestly to say,-that this
new commandment sums up our Christian duty, and defines the
conditions of discipleship.  " By this shall all men know that
ye are my  disciples, if ye have love one toward another."
Nothing can be plainer.  To forget the commandment: whatever else we may remember, is to forget Christ; to abuse it is
to abuse Christ  to deny it is to deny Christ.  Let this be
distinctly understood.  According to the express declaration of
the founder of our religion, we are Christians, just so far
as we heed this new commandment, and iro farther.  Were this
clearly seen and comprehended, I believe thlat the statl  of ourl 
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public affairs would wear altogether  t new  aspect.  In our
community there is a deep and wide love of religion, as religion
is understood. Our people have a profound respect for what
they consider to be Christianity. If their faith is rudely
assailed, their formulary of doctrine denied, their Bible insulted,
or their worship disturbed, they express the utmost horror
and indignation; they do not spare the blasphemer of their
dogmatic Christ, or the impugner of their inspired creed.  But
a, wolf may enter the very fold of Christ and take away one of
the sheep, and they have nothing to say. If a law were to be
passed, denying to our people the privilege of worshipping God
according to the dictates of their consciences, prescribing a
service book or a set of authorized articles, they would break
out into open rebellion; they would raise the cry of blasphemy,
and in the name of God would make the edict of no effect, and
if necessary would trample it under their foot. But a law has
been passed bidding them send one of their brethren back to the
scourge and sorrow of bondage; and they make it a Christian
duty to obey, and will violate a great many other Christian
duties in order to fulfill this one.
Let it now be understood that this is Christianity; that the
new commandment defines the conditions of discipleship; that
none are Christians, or can inherit the blessings and privileges
of Christians, who do not feel the force and endeavor to enact
the purport of this; let it be once understood that it is vain to
call Christ "Lord, Lord," if we do not the tldngs which he
says;- and the whole force of moral and religious feeling,
that now is so watchful and mighty against the encroachments
and assaults of unbelief, would turn and concentrate its awful
power against injustice and inhumanity, and in a whirlwind of
inldignation would  swecep awavy  o)ppression  and opprcssion's 
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edicts from the land. Let Christianity be not a dogma any
longer, but an obedient and humane life, and the thing is done.
But so long as we fetter with bands of metaphysics and confine
in churches and sacramental rites, the only power that can
possibly overcome iniquity, the cause of Christ is desperate
indeed.
Here,  my  friends, is the simple issue.   The  cause  of
humanity-the  anti-slavery cause-is  the cause of  Christ,
inasmuch as it involves directly, and in all its applications, the
principles of brotherly love. In every scourged and vilified
slave, I see the person of the crucified. Over against every
statute, signed by the President, and enforced by legal penalties,
is set the new commandment uttered by the Christ, and
enforced by the more dreadful penalties which the divine laws
of the universe visit upon transgression. The former must be
explained, and argued and defended anew, on each occasion of
its application. The latter is easily comprehended; each heart
knows it to be true; each conscience upholds it, and nothing
but deceit and self-seeking can set it aside. And if we would
learn how to fulfill it, we have but to think how Christ loved
all, loved them and died for them; we have but to put him in
the position of every poor, forsaken, distressed, persecuted and
injured man,-in the place of the beaten a;d crucified slave,and then remember the words he spake, -" Inasmuch as
ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye  did it
Rioot ctiito iile."