Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-09-03
WHOLE NO. 283.

60 provide for our own safety, and perform
or own duties without the audacious inter
ference of foreign emissaries Ifhe have re-
ally The philanthropy which he processes, and
wolHd remove evils by doctrines and Ian
guage IN their nature revolutionary, which
touch the very existence of established go-
verninent, let hun go back TO Europe, and
there, at his own home, undertake 10 redress
the wrongs Of India, to stay the oppression Of
Ireland, TO relieve England from tithes and
taXutiun-to the prostratIng of the triple pow
er OF the Priesthood, the Arstocracy, and
the Ihrone-and he would perhaps receive
~ his own person a practical lesson of the
degree OF liberty there enjoyed
With our own fellow citizens, who have
united III those associations, those who are
indeed of us, and with us, and embarked to-
gethcr in the same ship, would most affec-
tionately commune, and earnestly reason
Among them | see the names of men i'm
whose purity and piety ] have the utmost
confidence, and doubt not there are many
others equally entitled to regard. l would
beseech them to S.sc&rd those dangerous alb
stractions which they adopt as universal rules
of human conduct, without regard to time,
condition or circumstances, which darken
the understanding, and mislead the judgment,
and urge them forward to consequences from
which they will shrink back with horror. I
would ask them to reflect that humanity and
benevolence are not to be promoted by mea-
sures of insurrecton and massacre: that the
religion they profess is not to be advanced
by forgetting the precepts and the example of
their Divine Master. Upon that exam pie
would ask them to pause. He found slavery,
Roman slavery, an institution offhe country
in which he lved-Did lie denounce it? Did
he attempt its immediate abolition? Did he
do any thing, or say any thing which could
iii its remotest tendency encourage resis-
tance and violence No, his precept was
"Servants, Slaves obey your masters" And
one of his immediate apostles sent back the
runaway slaves OneSisnus to his master,
Philemon, with an aflectionate epistle. Not
that the Saviour of the world approved of sla-
very any more than he did the crime Of the
woman, who, taken in the very act, was
brought before him. and when he declared
that he did mol condem,, but told her to GO
and sin no more. 1t was because he would
not interfere with the administration of the
laws or abrogate their authority. lie did not
attempt the immediate removal Of any civil
institutions OF the country however unjust
and oppressive, but sought only to lay down
precepts and establish religion, which as it
extended and strengthened, should, by its in
fuences, ultimately, but gradually, quietly
aud peaccably remove them all. So let it be
with us. Let it be our work, humbly ard fer
venlly, to endeavor to maintain our free in
stitutions with the strong assurance that if
these are sustained they will in due time pro-
duce, by mild and moral means, their natural
effect of universal liberty. | would beseech
these gentlemen to reflect whether the great
cause of human liberty is to be advanced by
putting in jeopardy our Government and our
Union under which we have prospered as no
people has ever before prospered, and which
is shedding upon the nations of the earth a
light which no political luminary has ever be-
fore shed. What though there are abodes
of darkness which i: has not yet illuminated?
What though there are fetters on human
limbs which It's sweet influences have not yet
dissolvcd.-Won you therefore destroy il?
Wouldyou blot out the sun because il has not
yet melted the polar ices and covered the
whole earth with verdure? Would you ban
ish Christianity itself because it has not yet
produced its perfect work of universal peace,
benevolence and joys