Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1841-10-13
LETTER FROM BROTHER coTTINo.
East Bethel, Sept, 80, l84l.

LETTER FROM BROTHER COTTING.
The following letter came into my hands, since
my return from The Convention of which it speaks.
1t is now published for the valuable sentiments it
contains.
Rutland, S1pt. rs, l54l.
My BRoTHER MURRAY:-
If no! too late, append my name to
the "call Cor Baptist Anti-sIavery Cou-
venlion 10 be held at Waterbury On the
10Th September" believe it 10 be the
duty o: all who profess to love and obey
the Lord Jesus Christ TO come out OF Bah
y!on that they be not partakers Of her
sins and that they deceive not of her
plaques. AboIitionists. with all the fanat-
icsm and reck!esness Of cons, quences
charged upon them by their enemies, have
yet utterly failed in their attempts to place
before the eyes of this nation in lis true
light. the impir,y, wickedness and guilt,
of American slavery. Do slave holders
and their abet;ors know whose cause they
defend, and 10 what communion they be-
long2 Do they buy and sell men and
women in their markets, as they do their
cattle, making merchandise Of them O.
And has not Babylon The great, the moth
er OF haro;s and abominat;on of the
earth, (he church of Rome) done the same
for twelve hundred years? Read cata-
que OF her wares, Rev xviii. IL, 49,
among which you will find "slaves and
souls of men," 1t is rendered "bodies'
by Cruden in his Concordance, and in
Ezekiel xvii. IS, it is translated persons
"They traded the persons Of men aud
brass in the market" Slavery has exist
ed in heather nations from time immeno-
rial, and there is no power in heathenism
10 abolish or mitigate it. Christianity
must do this. The christianity therefore
of this nation in not The christianity Of the
Bible. And small indeed and feeble must
be the Claim Of that man, or body Of men,
to be "dcemeG, held and taken" to be
christian, whatever otherwise may be their
preIentions, who can mold, buy and sell the
bodies and souls Of men. the image of their
Maker, as they do Wheat, and beasts,
and sheep, and horses" for eaio,-"whose
possessors slaY them and hold themselves
no. guilty; aud they that sell them saw,
Blessed 1.-The name Of the Lord: for | am
rich: and their own shepherds pity them
not" Zech. xi. S. From such apostles,
o We mtred heads. preserve the church :"
and from such christianity may tue good
Lord and Shepherd OF the sheep deliver
and save us all.
Did ever slave-hoIding, slave-tradne
nation escape the just judgments of heaven,
that christian America. or that American
christians should expect TO escape! Did
slavery ever, or does it now exis, in
worse form, or under worse system of
leg"Ized liberation, 10 any nation, Ma
hometan, Popish or Pa gan, than it exists
at this moment in these United States !?
The moral government of God is founded
in the eternal fitness of things. It is the
image. the transcript of the eternal and
interchangeable Mind, the Maker of all
things. Where now are ancient Egypt,
Tyre and Babylon, for their cruelties in
enslaving and selling menu Aud where,
| may add, is modern Spiritual Babylon,
which has made merchandise of men for
twelve hundred years2 Is it not high
time for all of every name who claim to
be called christian. and who love their
own peace and safety. to come on, and
separate themselves from her, lest having
been partakers Of her sins. they receive